Chapter 10: The Bad Dream
Jax walked into the room, ten minutes later, and Carly smiled. "Hey Babe." he said, shutting the door. "I locked up and checked on the girls."
"Okay." she nodded. "Thank you."
"No problem." he smiled, then took of his cut and put it over the chair, and took off his shoes.
"Can I talk to you about something?"
"Yeah." he sat down next to her. "What's up?"
"Um." she started. "I don't know how long I'll be staying in Charming, but for now, it will be for a little while." she paused. "When you were on the phone at the airport, Rachel begged me not to go back to New York. I'm not sure if something happened or if Kevin did something to her, but she looked really scared, Jax."
"If he shows his face here, he's dead."
"Well, I still need to talk to her and find out what did happen."
"He's dead... either way."
Carly ran her fingers through his hair. "Would you relax? We have nothing to worry about, because he's not here right now."
Jax laid back on the bed and sighed. "Okay, okay."
"So, you really don't mind... me and the girls staying here?"
He half way sat up. "I told you, Babe, stay as long as you need to."
"Okay." she nodded, then Jax got up and went to his dresser. He pulled out a pair of plaid pajama bottoms, took off his jeans, and put the pajamas on. "Cute." she smiled.
Jax turned off the light and crawled into bed next to Carly. "Well." he started, wrapping his arms around her. "There's kids present... I can't walk around in my boxers."
She giggled. "Yep, you're right."
"Uh-huh."
"Hey, tomorrow.... I'm gonna take the girls to my grandma's house for a few hours."
"That's fine." he slightly nodded. "While you're gone, I'll get Happy, Juice, and Chibs over here to install those flatscreens and get TiVo for Rachel."
"Rachel will be your best friend... that's what we had back in New York."
"Well, now, she can have it here."
"One of these days... I need to get me a better up-to-date laptop."
"Me too." Jax chuckled, then buried his face in Carly's hair. "Goodnight, Babe."
"Night, Jax." then both of them fell asleep within twenty minutes.
----
Hours later, Jax suddenly woke up because he heard a noise. He lifted his head and saw Lily standing at the door. He glanced at his clock and read the time. "3:50" He quickly and carefully got out of the bed and walked up to her. "Are you okay?" she shook her head, then he kneeled down to her level. "What's wrong?"
Lily wrapped her arms around his neck. "I had a bad dream."
"Okay." he nodded.
"Can you read me a story? Mommy always does when I have bad dreams."
Jax lifted her up. "Sure, Doll." then he carried Lily into her room and set her on the bed. As he sat down next to her, she pulled out a book from under her pillow. "What's this?" he asked.
"Mommy reads me this one." she said, putting it in his lap." She told me that my daddy read it to me, when I was a baby."
"That's cool." Jax said, then turned on the lamp, looked at the book, and smiled. "Adventures of Frog and Toad." he kind of whispered. "My old man used to read this to me when I was your age."
"Old man?"
"My dad... he read it."
"Oh." Lily nodded. she paused, then Jax grabbed a pillow and placed it on the headboard, and scooted back to get comfortable. "Where is your daddy?" she asked, scooting closer to him and laying her head on his chest.
"He got really hurt and he's..."
"Up in Heaven?"
"Uh-huh."
"Mommy told me that my daddy is in Heaven." she paused. "Maybe, your daddy is taking care of my daddy and they're playing checkers."
"Yeah, maybe." Jax nodded with a little laugh, then as Lily placed her tiny arm over his stomach, in that moment, he fell in love with that little girl. The same way he fell in love with Abel, the first time he held him. Jax grabbed Lily's blanket and covered her up, then opened the first page of the book. "Here we go."
"Okay." she slightly nodded. "Jax?"
"Yeah?"
"You're my best pal."
He kissed Lily on the top of her head. "So are you." he paused to look down at the book and started to read. "Frog knocked at Toad's door. 'Toad, wake up!' he cried..."
----
Rachel walked into Carly's room and tapped her on the leg. Seconds later, Carly fluttered her eyes and yawned. "Rachel?"
"Yep."
"What time is it?"
"Eight thirty."
"Oh." Carly looked around. "Where's Jax?"
"I'll show you."
"What?"
"Come on, you gotta see this." Carly got up and followed Rachel into Lily's room. She saw Lily laying on Jax's chest, looking snug, and Jax had a book sitting on his lap- both sound asleep. "Isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen?" Rachel whispered.
Carly nodded. "It's... adorable."
"I took some cute pictures for you."
"Gee... thanks."
"Carly, you should totally be with this guy. I mean, how long did it take Lily to like Kevin?"
"About six months, maybe more."
"And it took one night... for this." Carly nodded, then saw the book Jax had, and smiled. "I totally approve and obviously Lily does too." Rachel paused. "All you need to do is... become his woman."
"Give it time, Rach." Carly chuckled. "Yes, I do like him, I can't deny that." she paused and shook her head. "God! That sounds so sixth grade... but anyway, I can't just say 'hey I want to be your girlfriend' after two days."
"Sure you can, Babe." Jax smiled.
"Ha-ha, you are so... busted!" Rachel laughed.
Jax opened his eyes. "Good morning."
"Morning." Carly nodded, then sat down on the bed.
"I'll just leave you two alone." Rachel laughed some more, then walked out.
"Brat! She set me up." Carly playfully rolled her eyes. "So, it looks like... Lily had a bad dream."
"Yeah." Jax nodded. "She wanted to me to read her this book, so I did."
"And you fell asleep?"
"Yeah."
"Well, the both of you look..."
"Adorable?"
"Yeah." she smiled.
Jax covered Lily a little better with her blanket, then said "So, what do you say, Babe?"
"About what?"
He gave her a 'are-you-kidding-me' look, then reached over, grabbed her arm, pulling her on the other side of him. "You know what."
"Do I?"
"Uh-huh." he nodded.
"Okay." she paused. "Can you give me a little time?"
Jax gave her a kiss on the top of her head, then said "Sure, Babe... take all the time you need." he ran his fingers through Lily's hair. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm one hundred and fifty percent sure."
Carly snuggled her face in the crook of Jax's neck and said "Okay."
A few minutes later, both of them heard "Smile!" followed by a flash of light, then both of them opened their eyes. "This is cute... I should totally make an eight-by-ten."
"Go ahead and make me a copy." Jax smiled.
"Done." Rachel nodded, then looked at Carly. "So, what's on the agenda today?"
"We're gonna go to my grandma's house for a while, so get dressed."
"Okay... give me fifteen minutes." then Rachel walked out of the room.
"So, Babe, what can we do... in fifteen minutes?" he said, with his eyebrow raised.
Carly laughed, then smacked his chest. "Jax! Really?" he shrugged his shoulders and she shook her head. "Uh... not right now, there's kids present, remember?"
"Fine then." he smirked. "You're all mine later."
She playfully rolled her eyes and tapped Lily on her leg. "Wake up, Baby Girl."
"Mommy." she whined. "I don't wanna."
"You have to."
"Why?" she asked, followed by a yawn.
"Because." Carly got off the bed. "We're visiting your great grandma."
Lily sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Is Jax going?"
"No." she shook her head.
"Why?"
"Because, Doll... I gotta stay to get the TV's and install them."
Lily looked at Jax with the saddest puppy dog face. "But I want you to come with me."
Carly opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Jax scooted closer to Lily and said "Okay, if you want me to go with you, then I will."
"Yay!" Lily cheered, then gave Jax a hug, wrapping her tiny arms around his neck.
"Oh my God!" Carly thought to herself, then said "Um... Baby Girl, I'm gonna go pick out an outfit for you." then she quickly walked out of Lily's room and went into hers, leaning against the door, and taking deep breaths. A minute later, she frantically looked for her badge. Once Carly found it, she put it into her box of tampons, and shoved in the bottom of her suitcase.