… That’s totally normal…
I barely sleep at all.
At some time, I do though. Because as soon as I wake up, I jump, “Jesus Christ.” I mumble as I’m looking into brown eyes and Jag stares at me. Ella mumbles next to me as she rolls over and looks at us. “Where’s your leg?” Jag asks me, which makes her laugh when she realizes what is happening.
“It’s right there,” I tell him as I point over to the prosthetic. He looks confused as I laugh, picking him up and placing him between Ella and me.
“Your back is bumpy too.” It’s still so quiet out in the living room, as I imagine everyone is still asleep. Or maybe they have left.
“It is.”
“Why?” Ella looks at me in a panic and I nod my head, understanding. Jag looks down at his own leg and it makes me laugh slightly. “If you’re my dad. Then why…”
“I was in an accident.” I tell him, looking back to Ella, and she nods her head. “I’ll tell you the entire story one day. But when I was in the military, I was in a very bad accident.” He nods his head for a second as if he understands.
It almost seems in that second that Ella remembers where we are, and why we’re here. She jumps up and heads for the door. “Shit,” I mumble, trying to get up as she looks at me. “Ella, don’t.”
“No, I need to check…” her words trail as I just shake my head. “How?” She swallows. “How do you know?”
“He made me bring you to bed. Asked me to leave him there.. And to text the nurse.” I reach for my phone and sigh as I see the text back from the nurse and then a text from Fury, who was apparently the one who woke up when the nurse was here. But she left once Oz left. I look up at her and she exhales, sitting down at the end of the bed.
Pushing myself up and pulling the prosthetic over, I put it on as Jag looks at me in awe. A light knock sounds on the door. Ella gets up from the bed and opens the door. Ash stands, he looks up, and he grips a hold of Ella and pulls her in. “I know.” I can hear her whisper, but she doesn’t cry. In fact, since last night when I caught her out front, I haven’t seen her cry at all, and I’m not sure if I should be worried about that. He releases her and just looks down.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” He tells her before he looks back and sees me sitting on the bed. Pushing myself up, I walk over to the door where they stand and look at her.
“I can take Jag back up…” I trail, trying to make sure she knows that I’m making sure she feels like she can have the time alone that she may need. Her hand stops me as I turn away from her. Turning back to her, I can see the look in her eyes as she pleads with me not to go. Understanding what she needs, I slowly just nod my head, telling her I will stay.
“We’re heading back up soon. We can take him with us.”
“Thanks Ash.” She mumbles before he nods and walks back down the hallway.
Caroline and Ash head back a little while later with the boys and it’s just Khan, Ella, and myself.
“Oz asked me to manage it a few months ago.” He picks up the folders that Chik brought by earlier. “Obviously it’s all yours. He set this up before you came back.” He nods, but I can tell that he’s having a hard time with everything. “There’s a life insurance policy. He had a card for his account made for you.” He hands everything over and I can see in her head how she’s contemplating things.
She stares at the items in front of her. Reaching over, I place my hand on her knee, trying to give her a slight bit of encouragement. Her fingers wrap around mine and she squeezes as if she’s holding on for life and I’m the only thing keeping her head above water.
“Okay, Kid. I’m going to head back. Let me know if you need any.” She just nods his head before Khan looks at me, nodding to the door as he walks to it.
Following him out he sighs, “Fuck, even knowing this was coming doesn’t make it any easier.”
“Yeah,” I nod.
“You talked to him last night before…”
“Yeah.” I look up as he nods his head again.
“Will you, ugh—”
“Khan, I’m not going anywhere.” I shake my head before he nods.
“I’ll get them to cover for you.”
“Thanks.” I nod to him. He walks away before he stops and looks back.
“I know this isn’t the best time but…” he trails as he just shakes his head. “It’s just Ash was telling me…” he pauses again before he shakes his head again, but I know that he’s saying Ash told him I was in the bed with Ella this morning. “Why are you?”
“As fucked up as everything is. I’ll always make sure she’s okay and I’ll always love her.” He just stares at me as he shakes his head. “What?”