Loving Jemima

16. Get rid of max

Matty

"Jemima!" William called frantically, Jem turned around running into his arms, he held her tight shushing her, stroking the back of her head.
"I can't find Arthur!" She told him. "Petey's coming to pick me up soon and I've lost Arthur! I can't leave with out him!"
"I know you said on the phone" he pulled her away from him pushing hair away from her face, his face turned an angry shade of red "What the fuck!" He gasped "what the hell happened to her face!" He shouted out at us.
"Max hit me" she said plainly looking up at him and pointing to max with a shaky muddy hand. He let go and came striding towards max.
"You fucking bastard!" He yelled at max "I let her go for you and you do this!" He pointed at Jem.

"William Wait!" Ed and Tom stepped in front of him.
"Move out my way Ed, I'm warning you, I'm not as timid as you think I am!"
"She has a concussion, she's confused!" Tom said
"Confused, can't you see her bloody face! She's got bloody stitches!"
"It wasn't max!" Ed protested and William's face softened a little
"William?" Jem asked and he turned around "did you hit me?"
"No I just got here Jemima! I haven't seen you in weeks! I've been Italy remember?" She shook her at him looking puzzled
"See!" Tom said pointing at her.
"Come Jemima lets go talk inside and get you cleaned up ok, you can tell me about Arthur." William spoke softly, guiding her back into the house.
"Arthur likes broccoli" she told him, he nodded and engaged her in her confused ramblings while gently cleaning the dirt off of her hands in the kitchen sink.

We sat watching him, he saw the fresh cuts on her arm and looked round at us shaking his head. He took her in to the lounge and laid her down on the sofa covering her with a blanket, kneeling down and stroking her hair the way he always used to.
"I love you. You came home. I missed you my sweet boy. Don't leave me again." Jemima smiled sleepily at William
"I love you too baby. Shush go to sleep, you're tired"
"I don't want you to go away again, will you stay with me?"
"Everything's going to be okay, just close your eyes baby."
"Why don't you love me?"
"I do jemima."
"Then why are you leaving me behind?"
"I'm sorry. Is that what you think....I'm sorry baby. I love you Jemima, now rest."
"Hmmm to the moon?"
"To the moon Jemima, always." William whispered at her stroking her hair until she fell asleep.

"I'll put the timer on, she has to be woken up in two hours" max told William
"I'm sorry max" William apologised while still watching Jem sleeping "I should have known you wouldn't have touched her."
"It's ok William, I take it that it was you she was phoning then?" He nodded not taking his eyes off Jem "she has a severe concussion mate, she's really confused as you can see." Max explained, William fiddled with Jem's hair "she's got some memory loss, they said it'll come back hopefully soon or in a week, maybe longer."
"I see, and her arm?" He asked looking at max
"She had a bad day the other day, there was this girl that visited who triggered a load of stuff, she's been banned don't worry."

"She's lost weight again"
"Yeah not too much though, just a stone. Umm she's got some other issues going on, we went to the clinic yesterday, she was going to ring you. She couldn't remember when you were back and didn't want to disturb you if you were working."
"How bad?"
"Heart, kidneys, anaemia, jaundice and the same malnutrition stuff again, she was tackling it well until the concussion, tackling it head on you know, she was feeling positive about it although it's only been a day. She says she doesn't feel ill, but I'm tracking it all making sure she takes all the new meds, Still working on the anxiety meds though and Milo stayed up late last night swatting up the nutritional stuff so hopefully..."
"Sounds like you're doing a good job max....thank you" William interrupted him and max nodded "but what happened to her face?"
"You wanna take this Matty?"
"It was me" I said hanging my head in shame again
"You are actually kidding me Matty!" William snapped annoyed "you hit her!"
"I was trying to hit max! I missed, she hit her head on a large rock, it was an accident I swear, but she doesn't remember, I may have led her to believe that max hit her, well I didn't correct her."

"I should have known, looks like you landed a few punches on Max's face as well as Jemima's. I take it he found out" He directed at max.
"In fairness we've only been together a week. She didn't want to rush into things, said it didn't feel right after you'd been so good about everything. I didn't even know you'd bloody broken up, she didn't tell any of us!"
"Yep that sounds like my Jemima, I thought that was the case last time I visited and after I spoke to peter recently, my Jemima's one of a kind....sorry max I mean your Emmy."
"No problem, and thank you." Max offered a hand out which William accepted and they shook. I was beginning to feel like the only bad guy in this scenario.

"Well I had better go, it might confuse her more if I'm still here when she wakes up. Keep me updated though, love you baby." William stood up kissing Jem's head and walking out "max you ever need any help, just call, I still care about her you know, I still love her, I just want her to be happy and healthy even if it's not with me. We're still good friends, if I can help I'd like too. Matty keep your bloody fists away from her or you and me are going to have a problem, accident or not!"
"Thanks" max smiled "oh that PTSD book you made I don't suppose...."
"I already gave it to her." William interrupted "just be patient with her max, make her feel safe and loved with out judgment and she'll come to you, if not get her to ring me, I don't mind. Look after her for me."
"I will, thank you again, I wasn't expecting you to step aside"
"Nor was I max, just don't make me regret it. I should go before I change my mind" he mumbled sadly giving Jem one last kiss on the head, he was clearly still just as in love with her as he was before despite what my sister thinks, maybe I could get him to come back that would get rid of max.

We sat watching Jem sleep like a family of meerkats on look out duty. Sandra came in and sat with us, she suggested that maybe Jem was acting out some her flashbacks or nightmares, which was possible, she had never told any of us what she saw or dreamt about, not even to max, just William and he'd never told us details, never broken her confidence like he'd promised. The parents and George decided to leave to let us have some family time and thinking it might help lessen her confusion if there were less people, which I was thankful for, we had actually had a nice time this morning before I broke my sister. It was probably going to be our last family get together at this house as we really wanted to move soon. Max's timer went off and Jem was still sleeping so he woke her up for a bit, she smiled when she opened her eyes to see his face looking at her. She was always happy around max and he was so protective over her, but I just couldn't get over the fact that my best friend was sleeping with my little sister, my extremely vulnerable fragile traumatised little sister.