It must be Thursday again. My, how time flies.

I'll just thank Katmom and Minnakoda for their help and let you get on with the reading.

Jaden

I woke up in Lily's bed when the sun was shining in my eyes. Mr. Peter wasn't in the room yet, so I thought it must still be early. Maybe I could sneak back into my room without anyone noticing I was gone at all—they would likely be worried if they knew I left. After saying bye to Lily and promising I would be back soon, I hopped down and tiptoed back into my room, where I found Mr. Emmett, Miss Bella, and Mr. Peter all crying.

I hoped they weren't too mad at me for getting out of bed, but I couldn't sleep. Miss Bella was snoring on the little bed Miss Maria brought in and I remembered what Mr. Edward had said about Miss Bella falling down if she got too tired, so I didn't want to wake her up. Instead, I crawled out of bed and went for a pee. Boy, it sure burns when I go, but Dr. Singh said that would go away real soon. I really hoped he was right because there is nothing fun about feeling like you've got fire coming out of your willy.

Why do they call it a willy anyway? It's a penis, right? Hm…maybe I should ask Mr. Emmett sometime.

Miss Annie and Mr. Chris were busy at the nurses' desk, so I snuck past them down to Lily's room. Mr. Peter must have gone home because she was all alone. I remembered what Mr. Peter said about reading to her, so I crept back into my room, being sure to be sneaky and super ninja quiet while I grabbed the first book I could find, then ran back into Lily's room.

"Hi, Lily, it's me, Jaden. We met the other day, but I don't know if you remember me. My room is down the hall. I'm sorry that you hurt your head and have to sleep so much. Your daddy said that you might like to have me read Harry Potter books to you. I hope you're okay with Order of the Phoenix; it's the first one I grabbed.

"Can I get up on the bed with you?"

I watched her hand twitch, so I took that as a yes. I crawled up and sat beside her, careful of her tubes and stuff.

"Can you squeeze my hand, Lily?" I asked her as I took her hand in mine. It took a second or two, but she squeezed me.

"Awesome! Okay, so one squeeze means yes, two means no, all right?"

One squeeze. I took that as a yes so I talked to her for a few minutes and kind of introduced myself better to her so she wouldn't be scared of stranger danger. I told her a little bit about how Mr. Emmett and Miss Rosie were taking care of me.

"The grownups all think I lost my words, but I just don't want to talk to them about what happened because it scares me, it makes me have nightmares real bad.

"I'm talking to you because you won't ask me about the bad stuff, so you're safe. Besides, you're a kid, and you seem nice enough to me. Do you think we can be friends when you wake up? Maybe you can come play at my new house. You'll like Mr. Emmett, he's awesome and Miss Rosie is really pretty. Your hair is gold like hers. There's also Mr. Jasper and his cowboy talk and Miss Alice who is going to have a baby, and Miss Bella who had a baby but she died, and Mr. Edward who is like a rock star with a scrunchy face, and Missus Esme and Doc Cullen, who are Mr. Emmett's parents. Doc Cullen isn't like the other doctors, though—he doesn't poke me or make me hurt the way Dr. Singh had to.

"Would you like me to sing you some songs? Miss Bella said that Missus Esme used to sing to her when she hit her head and couldn't wake up. She said that it made her feel better. Do you think you would like that? I have to warn you, I'm not very good."

Lily squeezed my hand, so I sang. I sang every song I knew and made some up when I ran out. I finally had to give up, so I picked up the book I brought and started to read to her, stopping every now and then to explain things that she might not understand.

I know I shouldn't have been in there, but I couldn't help it; Lily makes me feel better and it felt good to talk again.

So yeah, the grownups were all crying when I tried sneaking back to my room, and Miss Bella said that she would explain why later. Mr. Peter seemed really happy and he made me promise to come see him and Lily before we left the hospital.

Mr. Emmett said that I needed to take a bath or a shower before we could leave and that I had to see Dr. Singh, Mr. Scott, and Zafrina as well. It was looking like today was going to be a looooong day.

~!~!~!~

Actually, it wasn't too bad. Dr. Singh came early and made me pinky swear that I wouldn't go skydiving for at least a month, which was silly because I've never even been on a plane before and don't have any plans on jumping out of one any time soon.

Mr. Scott came to give me some presents. He gave me some new markers and some BIG sheets with words on them and wanted me to draw what I thought of when I saw the words. He said it was like homework and that he wanted me to bring my drawings to show him when I came back next week to see him. I thought that was fair enough and really, drawing isn't homework, drawing is fun. I liked him WAAAAY better than I liked that nasty Heidi the Horrible. I know they are the same kind of doctor, but Mr. Scott made me feel more comfortable, and he didn't push me too hard.

Miss Alice told me that she made me a special place in my new room for doing art and I couldn't wait to see it.

I was sad to say goodbye to Miss Zafrina. I liked her and Miss Maria the most of ALL the people who worked at the hospital. She gave me a big hug and a big shiny balloon. She also said that I could come visit her anytime I wanted and maybe she would come see my new house sometime. I thought that was a great idea.

Miss Maria gave me a card made out of a Popsicle box and I laughed. When I gave her a hug, she squeezed me tight and whispered something to me. "You are a very special little boy, Jaden, and I know you're going through a rough time. Just remember that we all love you very much, okay? You are a GOOD, kind and wonderful boy, and I'm glad you're my friend. Please come and visit us soon, okay?"

I leaned in and whispered back, "Thank you, Miss Maria. I love you too."

I don't think anyone else heard me, at least I hoped not, but I didn't want to leave without telling her thank you. She was my angel—well, not like Mommy, Casey, or Emma are, but my hospital angel and I was going to miss her.

"Want to go see Mr. Peter and Lily while I grab the rest of your stuff?" Mr. Emmett asked.

I nodded and let Miss Maria take my hand and walk me over. Mr. Peter smiled when he saw us.

"Jaden! Did you come to see Lily before you go?"

I nodded again as I let go of Miss Maria's hand to walk over.

"I'll give you some privacy," he said as he left with Miss Maria.

As soon as they were gone, I crawled up on the bed and took Lily's hand. "Hi, Lily. Are you awake?"

Her hand squeezed mine and I gasped when she opened her eyes a little. "Oh! You have the prettiest blue eyes, Lily! They're like Miss Rosie's!"

I waved at her, but I wasn't sure if she was really looking. Mr. Emmett had explained that even though her eyes might open, she wasn't exactly awake.

"So, um, I'm leaving today. I'm getting out of the hospital and moving in with Mr. Emmett and Miss Rosie. They're having a party for me too. I wish you and your daddy could come. I know that I don't know you very well, but I like you, I think we'll be good friends when you wake up."

Lily squeezed my hand really hard and wouldn't let go.

"Ow! I'll come visit, I promise. I'll come whenever I can. I'm not leaving forever; I just can't sleep here anymore. I won't be far.

"When you wake up we'll have a party. A BIG party, and we'll be best friends, I promise. Please don't squeeze so hard, I'll come back, I swear."

She stopped squeezing after a few more seconds. When she did, I leaned over, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and wiped away the tear that was running down her face before I jumped down and ran to my room. I had an idea and I needed to do something before I could leave the hospital for good.

"Ready to go, buddy?" Mr. Emmett asked when I ran in.

I shook my head as I grabbed what I was looking for.

"Where…?"

It only took me a second to run back to Lily's room. I crawled back up onto her bed and put Chocolate in her hand. "This is my favourite friend, Chocolate. He's a moose. I think you might need him more than me right now. So, can you take care of him for me? This way you know I'll always come back because you have him."

I kissed Chocolate's head between his antlers. "I'll miss you, Chocolate, but you need to look after Lily now, okay? I'll be back soon. I love you."

Before I started to cry, because I was sooo close to bawling my eyes out at the thought of leaving Chocolate behind, I ran out of the room, into Mr. Emmett's arms, where he gave me a hug when I started to cry. I didn't even care if he had heard me talking to her either.

"Are you sure?" he asked, rubbing my back.

I nodded. It hurt to let him go, but I would see him and Lily soon.

"Ready to go?"

As ready as I'll ever be. Miss Maria wheeled me out to Mr. Emmett's Jeep. Awesome! I always wanted to ride in a big Jeep. Maybe he would take the top off in the summer and we could drive around with the wind in our hair.

I gave Miss Maria one last hug before Mr. Emmett helped me climb into the back and strapped me into my new booster seat. As much as having to use the little kid seats made me feel like a baby, I had to admit that I loved my new one—it had cup holders and it was even covered in camouflage material. It was a real man's booster seat.

"Take care of our boy, Emmett. I'll see you guys in a couple of days. Bye, Jaden!"

I waved to her as Mr. Emmett hopped into the front seat. "Ready back there?"

I nodded.

"Let's go, then."

We drove for a few minutes before we reached a really nice neighbourhood that had a HUGE park and a pool. All the houses were big and VERY different from my old one, which was small and not nearly as new.

"We're here, buddy," Mr. Emmett said quietly.

I looked at the house and saw a lot of balloons and a banner. It said Welcome Home, Jaden!

Home.

This wasn't my home, not really. My home is where my mommy makes cookies and sings to me; it's where my stuff is. This was Mr. Emmett's home, not mine.

I sniffled a little and wished for a second that I hadn't left Chocolate with Lily. I was scared and I was sad and everything was about to change.

"You okay?" Mr. Emmett asked.

I shook my head. No, no I'm not.

"There's a lot of people in the house. Do you want to wait a bit? Maybe have the party another day? I totally understand that you're probably freaking out. Do you maybe want to go for a walk to the park and chill out a bit? You're shaking."

Hm…I WAS shaking. The park sounded like a good idea, so I nodded.

He unbuckled me and helped me down to the paved driveway. I looked at the house, silently asking about the party.

"Do you want me to tell them to leave?"

I shook my head. I didn't. I wanted to see his family—just not right this second.

"I'll tell them to hold tight while we go to the park." He pulled out his phone and started pushing buttons. After a few seconds his phone chirped or burped or something and he smiled. No sooner than he had put his phone back in his pocket, Miss Rosie came out onto the front porch and waved and smiled before she started walking toward us. He walked a few steps toward her, took something from her hands, gave her a kiss, and then came back a second or two later with a couple of juice boxes. He popped a straw into one, handing it to me before he crouched down. "Piggyback?"

I took a sip of juice and hopped up on his back, hoping I wouldn't squeeze the box and get him wet. Before I really had a chance to worry too much, we were jogging down the street. It was hard not to laugh as I bumped up and down on his back.

He didn't set me down until we reached the park. I slid down his back and walked to the swings. He grabbed the one beside me and we went back and forth quietly for a while before he started talking.

"I'm sorry, Jaden."

Why was he sorry? What did he do?

"I'm sorry that you're scared and that you have to get used to living someplace new with people who aren't your parents. I wish…I wish you didn't have to go through this.

"I'm sorry that you don't trust me enough to talk to me. I don't know what happened, but I hope you'll tell me someday because I'd like to fix whatever it is."

He sighed loudly and when I saw his face, it made me feel so bad. He looked so sad. I did that. I made Mr. Emmett cry.

When he started to cry harder, I got off my swing and walked over to him, climbing onto his lap and giving him a hug.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Emmett, I didn't mean to make you so sad. It's just that…words make it…hard."

He smiled when he heard me whisper. "You know that you don't have to use those words, right? I mean someday you will need to talk about it to make it better, but you don't have to do it right now.

"If you're not comfortable talking ALL the time, you don't have to. It just makes it hard for us to know when you need something. This is all so new to us that we really need your help to make sure we do a good job. We don't know all your favourite foods, or what your favourite movies are, or when you're hurting if you don't tell us." He wiped the tears from his face. "How about you talk when you're comfortable and we'll go from there. Does that sound good?"

"Yes."

"Please believe me when I say that we all just want to help you."

"I do, Mr. Emmett. I trust you the most."

He smiled. "Thanks, little buddy. So, can you please call me Emmett or Em? You can drop the mister."

"I can try, but Mommy always said that it was a sign of respect to use mister. I don't want to disrespect you."

"You won't."

We swung back and forth a couple of times before he stopped. "You ready to go to your new home? I realize it's not your home home, but it's where we hope you'll be living for a long time and maybe one day you will be able to call it your home."

I was afraid to ask the next question, but it needed to be asked. "So, you really want me to live with you?"

"Very much. We ALL do. We all love you, buddy, and maybe one day you'll grow to love us too. My mom always says that home is where you are loved, so I keep praying that someday you'll think of us as home."

"I love you and your family already. But that doesn't mean I have to talk all the time, does it?"

He shook his head. "No, you don't. It's your call to make when and if you want to talk. Again, if a party is too much for you right now, I can tell them all to go home and come back another day."

"Will there be cake?"

"Yup."

I smiled at him. "Well, let's go, then!"

Mr. Emmett, er, Emmett, piggybacked me back to the big house. It was quiet when we opened the door, and I was afraid they would jump out and scare me, but they didn't. Everyone was sitting in the living room watching TV.

Holy crow! What a HUGE TV it was! It looked like a movie theatre screen. Cartoons were going to look so awesome on that big thing. Maybe living here wasn't going to be so bad after all.

Everyone waved hello and smiled at us, so I waved back before something caught my eye. I kicked at Mr. Emmett…gah…Emmett until he put me down and I walked over to the coat rack—MY coat rack from my old house. They had put it lower on the wall, at Jaden level, just like it was at the other house. I touched it to make sure it was real and smiled when I thought about the day my daddy had put it on the wall and pretended to hurt his thumb when he was hammering.

"I hope you don't mind, but we put your stuff around the house as much as we could," Miss Rosie said from behind me. "If you don't like anything or want something moved, please let us know—this is your house too and we weren't sure where to put everything."

I nodded before I turned around to hug her. "Thank you, Miss Rosie," I whispered.

She started to shake, then hiccupped. After a minute, she wiped her eyes, then asked if I wanted to see the rest of the house. We walked from room to room and I noticed that there really WAS something of mine in just about every room.

Miss Alice and Missus Esme met us at my bedroom and they looked really nervous.

"Um, well, Jaden, this is your room. Missus Esme and I did our best and I hope you like it. Please remember that nothing has to stay and everything can be changed if you're not happy with it. Nothing is set in stone, got it?"

I nodded before walking into my new room.

Holy shit.

Oops, didn't mean to curse, but WOW! It was the best room I'd ever seen! It was even better than those cool rooms in the catalogues! It was painted blue, but not normal blue, it was unlike any blue I had ever really seen on a wall before. My name was painted on one wall in really fun letters, like happy letters, and it made me smile.

By the door was a HUGE desk with a nice chair and a ton of art supplies. There was an easel too, which meant that I could paint like a grownup. There was something else on the desk, it was flat, and when I got closer I knew exactly what it was. I looked at the laptop, then at Miss Rosie, then back at the laptop, and back at Miss Alice and Missus Esme. They were all smiling and nodding. I picked up the laptop and hugged it to my chest. My own computer! I never ever thought I'd ever have my very own computer! I set it down gently, afraid of breaking it and started jumping up and down because I really didn't know what else to do. I was so happy!

I ran over by the beds…yes, beds! I finally had bunk beds! There was a cargo net at one end for climbing up, and a slide at the bottom for getting down. The bottom bunk stuck out a bit and Miss Rosie said that it could turn into a couch too.

My new comforters were blue camouflage and soooo cool. I ran over and climbed up the net, flopping onto my new bed and wishing I hadn't. Ouch! I forgot about my kidney being sore.

I must have made a noise when I hurt myself because Miss Rosie ran over and looked worried. "Are you okay?"

I nodded and let go of my sore side. She smiled and kissed my cheek. "You're too excited to care right now, aren't you?"

I grinned at her so hard I thought my cheeks would crack.

"Want to come with me? I want to show you some other stuff."

Miss Rosie stepped back as I made my way toward the slide at the foot of the bed and slid down. Man, that was FUN!

Taking my hand, Miss Rosie led me to a door. "This is your own bathroom, buddy. You don't have to share it with anyone, it's all yours. You won't have to worry about dealing with Emmett's stinky butt now."

I laughed so hard I hurt my side again. Not wanting to show it, I pretended to be interested in the stuff on the shelves under the sink, which were full of bubble bath and REALLY cool tub toys.

"Emmett thought you might like to have some boats to race in the tub. Don't be surprised if he comes in here and tries to snag them from you. I think he bought them more for himself if I'm being honest."

I turned and nodded at her, wanting her to understand that I was happy. I could have a lot of fun in my big new tub with these toys.

When we came out of the bathroom, I saw something in the corner that I had missed. Beside a super cool egg-shaped chair was my toy box from the old house. I walked over, got down on my knees and stared at it. Were my old toys in there, or would it be all new ones?

"Jaden? You okay?" Miss Rosie got down on the floor with me, sitting with her legs crossed like she was sitting on the story mat in our classroom.

I leaned over so I was resting my head on her arm. "Yeah."

"Do you want me to leave you alone?"

"No, please stay. I'm just…"

Her voice was quiet when she took the words out of my mouth. "Scared?"

"Yeah."

"Open it up, sweetie. I think you'll be happy with what's inside."

I moved toward it and slowly opened the top. Miss Rosie was right! I WAS happy. It was my old toys and books.

I hugged my toy chest and sighed as I breathed in the smell of home. "Thank you."

"There are two more bins in the closet with more of your toys. We kept the shelves in your room clear so you could put them where you want. This is YOUR room, sweetie, and if you want to change ANYTHING at all, just tell us and we'll do it."

I tried to make sense of it all—my old life and this new life all mixed together. Maybe someday I'd understand it all.

Rosalie

Esme and Alice must have left when I was so caught up in what was going on with Jaden. I watched as he stared at the contents of his toy chest. He picked up a couple of toys, holding them to his chest and smiling, some he smelled and smiled, while others seemed to make him sad.

Emmett knocked quietly on the door before entering. "How're my two favourite people doing?"

I smiled at him as he sat beside me, his hand quickly finding mine. I gave him a squeeze.

"We're good, I think. How're you doing, Jaden? Are you happy with your room?"

He turned and crawled over to sit in my lap. "Yeah, I like it a lot. Thank you." His voice was strained and whisper-quiet when he spoke. "I'm tired. Will people be mad if I take a nap?"

Emmett leaned in and hugged us both. "Nope. If you want to snooze, you snooze. We'll all still be here when you wake up."

"Miss Rosie?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you stay?"

I held him closer. "Of course."

"We're going to have a barbecue for dinner. Is there something you want? Burgers? Hot dogs? Chicken? A buffalo?"

Jaden shook in my arms as he giggled at Emmett's silliness. I had a feeling, though, that Em would have hunted down a herd of buffalo if Jaden had asked for it.

"It doesn't matter, I like it all," he whispered, yawning.

Emmett hugged us again, placing a sweet kiss on each of our heads. "Have a good sleep, you two."

"Love you."

He leaned in for a proper, but very chaste kiss. "Love you, too."

Emmett left us there on the floor, where we sat in comfortable silence for a moment or two. "So, do you want to curl up on the bottom bunk?" I asked, running my fingers gently through his hair.

When the little guy nodded, I picked him up and carried him over and laid him down. I grabbed one of his non-Chocolate stuffed animals and Emmett's old quilt before settling in with him. He sighed contentedly as he curled into me, wrapping his casted arm around my waist, then sticking his thumb in his mouth.

"I'm glad you're talking again, Jaden," I said, as I began rubbing his back.

I heard a wet sucking sound as he removed his thumb from his mouth. "Shh, don't tell everyone. Mr. Emmett…I mean, Emmett said that I didn't have to talk if I didn't want to. I don't want to talk to EVERYONE yet. Please don't tell on me."

"No, of course not. It's your voice, sweetie, and I'll respect your choice not to speak to everyone. I'm just saying that I'm glad it's back. I'm also saying that I'm glad you chose to come live with us. It makes me so happy."

"Mm," he hummed as he put his thumb back in his mouth. "Me too."

It didn't take even thirty seconds for his breathing to even out and for him to fall asleep. Occasionally he'd stir a little, give a couple of pulls on his thumb, then settle down again. He slept peacefully for the first time in a while, or at least that I had seen.

My mind drifted to thoughts of a future with Jaden as a permanent fixture in our lives and how he was going to adapt to his new family. Would he ever be able to call us something other than mister and miss? I noticed he was trying to drop the formality with Emmett, but he was struggling. It would likely take us a while to get him over that. Maybe when and if he felt we were more family than his teacher and his teacher's fiancée he would find it easier to be less formal.

I was still reeling over the fact that he was home with us now, that we had temporary guardianship, and hopefully will be granted permanent status when we got the requirements of the state covered. From there we can adopt him, if he wants us to, and we can officially call him ours. The fear of losing him would be gone and we could all finally breathe a little easier. Just knowing that one phone call or knock on the door could end this made me nervous. I was too invested in him; losing him would kill Emmett and me both.

Although I was scared shitless of something happening to Jaden, I knew for a fact that he completed us. He would make me and Emmett stronger in so many ways, and the more I got to know him, the more I realized that I was NOT my mother and that I had a huge capacity to love and to do so unselfishly. I would NEVER treat Jaden like an accessory, like a Coach bag, and I would do what I could to make sure that he never felt like he wasn't good enough.

I would love him unconditionally.

I already did.

Fiercely.

That's a whole lotta Jaden. I hope you survived the cuteness overload.
What're your thoughts on how Rosie's reacting to everything that's going on?

So...a little update on my situation...I might actually be moving home this weekend! Woo Hoo! I can't wait to get back in my own space where I can spend lazy Sundays writing this story and curling up with Knuckles for a cuddle. Being displaced has been hard but I've learned a lot and have been blessed with a great family and friends to get me through this.

Including you guys.

Thank you.

Please don't forget to support Fandom for Preemies! I have the anthology and it's IMPRESSIVE to say the least. For a $5 donation to the March of Dimes, you can receive this mammoth anthology (almost 1300 pages long!). Go to fandomforpreemies DOT blogspot DOT com for more details. It really is a great cause, and those of you who have read my story Road Maps will likely be interested in my submission.

Also, I've posted my O/S for the Countdown to Halloween, Emmett's Awesome Halloween Extravaganza whish is now posted here on my FFN account. Plot summary: Emmett has been plotting and planning for a while on how to scare the crap out of his friends. Join them on this particularly spooky Halloween for a little fun.