A/ N: Hey guys! This is just a one- shot of many that might come in the same series as "Nothing I Have Ever Known" and "Something Was Missing" that don't really fit well in either, and could easily stand alone. Anyhow, I hope that you enjoy this! As always, any feedback is greatly appreciated:-D
Disclaimer: I don't own anything!
It was 6: 45 PM, and 23-year-old Jude Harrison- Quincy was picking up her three year-old fraternal twin children from her 25-year-old sister Sadie Harrison-West and her husband's house.
Jude parked her cherry red Mercedes in front of the West house, got out of the car and walked over to the driveway.
There, Jude saw Kwest, his five-year-old son Johnny, and her son Max attempting to play basketball with a plastic Playskool hoop, and a mini basketball in the driveway.
Jude watched the trio for a moment.
Johnny passed the ball to Kwest, Kwest passed it to Max who had his chubby child hands reached out to try and catch the ball, but failed. Max chased the ball, but his eyes seemed to meander everywhere except for where the ball was. Eventually Max's foot hit the ball, and he was able to pick up the ball.
Max threw the ball to an open space somewhere between Kwest and Johnny. Johnny ran towards the ball and picked it up with ease. Johnny then passed the ball to Max, and the ball flew towards Max's face, and he didn't even realize it until it hit him smack- dab on his nose between his eyes, and he fell to the ground.
Jude gasped, and then took off toward Max.
Kwest then realized that Jude had been standing there.
"Hi Jude," Kwest greeted his sister- in- law, and running towards Max, who was now sprawled out in an awkward position on the ground.
"Hey Kwest," Jude replied, kneeling down next to Max.
Tears were now falling from Max's eyes, and you could heard him resisting crying- Max had always been shy compared to his two and a half minute younger twin sister, Ari, however, his verbal skills were considerably more advanced then hers. Ari had yet to master even the most basic words, even though she almost consistently screamed inaudible words.
Jude took Max's hand, and Max looked her direction, although his eyes seemed to goggle in all directions. Jude presumed that Max was just dizzy from his sudden tumble.
"Mommy!" Max cried, holding Jude's much larger hand.
"Shhhh... Mommy's right here, baby boy..." Jude told the usually very subtle toddler/ child softly.
"I fall," Max told Jude.
Jude smiled slightly, relieved to know that Max seemed to be in okay condition.
"Yes, you fell," Jude confirmed, picking Max up off the ground, and holding him in her arms. Jude then surveyed Max's body quickly, making sure that no major damage had been done to him, her eyes stopping on his bleeding knees and palms of his right elbow.
"Um... Kwest? Would you happen to have any band aids?" Jude asked Kwest.
"I have Spiter- Man band aids!" Johnny intervened.
"Can you show your cousin where they are J- J?" Jude asked her nephew.
Johnny nodded excitedly.
"Come on! I'll share my band aids with you like we learned- ed to do in school!" Johnny called to Max.
Kwest looked at Jude.
"I'll help him. You can go get Ar; she's with Sadie inside; she had a panic attack about 15 minutes ago," Kwest told Jude, and Jude nodded knowingly, before heading inside.
Inside, Ari was hiding behind the couch, lying down on the floor clutching onto an old teddy bear with fluff coming out of it; the bear obviously had had better days. Ari was also quivering loud, inaudible, what might be described as phrases.
"Hey Sadie," Jude greeted her older sister, who was sitting at her kitchen table, watching Ari carefully.
"Hi Jude," Sadie said back.
"What happened?"
"Well about 15 minutes ago, a big dog came by and barked at the dog across the street. Ari must have thought that it was barking at her, or something, because she ran to the door, and threw up in the bushes to the side of the doorway. Once I got her cleaned up, I gave Ari her anxiety medicine, and the second I got it down her throat, Ari went to her 'hiding place', and she's been there since," Sadie explained in a fast- paced, mono-toned voice.
"Thank you," Jude told Sadie gratefully, walking over to the couch where Ari was, and crouching down. Jude then put her arms out.
Ari noticed her mother's presence, and her tiny body shook nervously, but she managed to get up off of the ground, grab her bear, and toddle over to Jude.
Jude scooped up her small, jittery daughter, and placed her on her hip.
Ari almost instantly clamed onto Jude like there would be no tomorrow, one of her hands fastened to Jude's arm, and the other clenching her bear.
Jude stroked Ari from the top of her head, down to the bottom of her back, as Ari rested her head on Jude shoulder.
Soon, Max toddled into the room, shortly followed by Johnny and Kwest.
"Hey guys," Jude smiled comfortingly at Max.
Max walked over to Jude, and smiled at her.
"Spidey- man," Max explained, pointing to the wounds on his knees and elbow, which were now covered with Spider Man band- aids.
Jude readjusted Ari on her hip, so that she could hold her with one hand, then reached her spare hand down to Max, who gratefully took it.
Jude smiled, relieved that Ari and Max were now more complacent.
"Come on guys, let's go see Daddy!" Jude told her kids, and they were off.
At 7: 50 PM Jude, Max, and Ari arrived at the studio.
Jude got Max and Ari out of their booster seats, put Ari on her hip, took Max's hand, and headed into the studio.
The trio headed down the center hallway, and into the fourth recording studio on the right.
Jude quietly opened the door, and walked into the studio. She then set Ari down, and let go of Max's hand.
Jude tip- toed over to Tom, who had a headset on because he was mixing a song, and tapped him on the shoulder.
Tom turned around, and looked at Jude. His eyes were blood-shot, he had his silver- rimmed glasses on, his hair was a mess, and his clothes were hours beyond 'slightly wrinkled'.
"Hey girl," Tom smiled, as he pulled off the headset, and gave Jude an honest smile through his exhaustion.
"Hey Tommy," replied, and she leaned forward, and they pecked each other passionately on the lips.
Tom still sat stiffly in his chair, and began to stretch robotically in his swivel chair.
"Long day?" Jude asked, referring to Tom's appearance.
Tom nodded, as Jude began to massage his back.
"I brought some visitors," Jude told Tom.
Tom lips curved down when Jude told him that, but couldn't help but smile when Ari clamped onto his leg.
"This little one..." Jude picked up Ari, "Had another panic- attack today."
"That's what... the third one today, and the... eleventh one this week?" Tom asked, worry in his voice, which he didn't even attempt to hide.
"Yeah," Jude confirmed.
Tom looked down to see Max standing patiently next to Tom, looking at Tom with deep blue eyes that pleaded, yet didn't even ask for a thing besides for acknowledgment of his existence, and the basic necessities of life.
"Hey Big Boy," Tom look delighted at Max's indirect request for attention, as he picked up his son, and put him on his lap.
"Daddy. Spidey- Man!" Max beamed, pointing to his band- aids.
"You got an owie?" Tom asked his son.
Max nodded.
"Were you brave?"
Max seemed to pander this for a moment, before nodding his head bashfully 'yes'.
Max began to try and move buttons on the soundboard, but he always managed to miss, or touch them, but always moved his fingers in a different direction to another one, before doing it again.
Tom pulled off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes.
"Didn't you wear your contacts to work this morning?" Jude questioned. "You never wear your glasses at work," she commented.
"I did," Tom confirmed. "But then a while ago, I couldn't see anything, so I had to take them out," he said, as he set down his glasses beside the soundboards.
Jude nodded.
"So... I have a new song..." Jude told her husband, hoping to change the mono- tone, and rather morbid tone to things.
"Yeah?" Tom asked, as he looked at the soundboard, and began to move his fingers around it in a similar as Max had.
There was a long pause, before Jude suddenly spoke.
"Tommy!" Jude exclaimed. "I think that Max might need glasses!"
Tom looked shocked, but then he seemed to pander his wife's statement.
"I mean, he's always walking into things, things are always hitting him, and he does that thing like you do with your glasses off..." Jude reasoned.
Tom nodded, agreeing with Jude
Suddenly, there was a series of loud 'Bangs!' coming from another nearby room.
Tom, Jude, and Max all flinched, but Tom and Jude quickly identified it as a drum- set.
"Did you hear that, Tommy?" Jude asked her husband with concern.
"I did."
"And from the looks of it, so did Max..." Jude commented.
Again, there was a long pause of silence.
"Jude..." Tom finally began. "I've spent a lot of time with Maya, and other kids too, even if they're not what one might call my 'specialty', and... and..." Tom's trailed off, as his words became thick and goopy like peanut butter.
"And what Tommy?" Jude asked.
Tom didn't respond.
"Tommy?"
Tom didn't respond again.
"No running away, remember?" Jude told Tom.
Tom nodded slowly.
"Through sickness and worse..." Jude began to recite wedding vows to try and get Tom to say what he was trying to say.
"This isn't the time to joke, Jude!" Tom finally shouted.
Jude cowered at Tom thunderous voice.
"Tommy... the kids..." Jude bit her lip in slight fear.
"I was talking to this guy from marketing today, and I started to tell him about the kids once we were finished with business. You know, the father thing. Then, he mentioned that he was deaf, and that, well, Ari might be..."
"I've thought about that before..." Jude confessed.
"Me too," Tom agreed.
"I just... I didn't want to believe it," Jude said softly, almost in a whisper.
"Me neither," Tom agreed, as Max yawned, and his head fell back on the area between Tom's chest and shoulder.
Ari had been fast asleep.
Jude and Tom smiled proudly at Max and Ari.
"We did good," Jude commented.
"Yeah," Tom agreed. "We did; whatever their flaws. They're still our kids, and we love them."
"I couldn't have put it better myself," Jude told Tom.
Then, something dawned on Jude.
"You took your contacts out because you were crying, Quincy?" Jude questioned, like she was suddenly sixteen again.
"Maybe," Tom grinned secretly.
Jude pretended to pout, but he eventually gave up.
"Yeah, I did," Tom confessed.
Jude raised an eyebrow at how freely Tom told that to her.
Tommy grinned.
"No running away, remember?" Tom reminded his wife.
Jude grinned back. "Of course."
Jude then went over to the soundboard, and picked up Tom's glasses, and attempted to put them on his face, but failed, when they drooped down.
Jude snickered, and Tommy gave Jude a playful 'death look', but Jude continued to snicker.
"Stop starring at me like that, Tommy!" Jude whined.
"Then don't try to put my glasses on me with one hand!" Tommy shot back.
Soon, both Tommy and Jude were laughing quietly, hoping not to wake either of their kids.
Tommy put his glasses on his nose, and then pushed them up.
Tommy then carefully lifted Max, got up off his chair, and then readjusted Max on his hip.
"Come on Tommy," Jude rolled her eyes at her husband, even though she was really grinning like an idiot. "Let's go home."
And home never sounded so sweet.