Chapter 29: Miracles.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fosters.

AN: In this chapter, it's been three and a half months since the writing session in Jax's garage in the previous chapter. Please leave a review.

Connor's POV:

The past three and a half months flew by at a lightning pace, and now we are entering the final two months of high school at Anchor Beach.

Jude and I returned to the shooting range. We spent at least five hours a week honing our skills. We were both determined that if we were ever caught in a situation like the shooting again, we would be more prepared, and more able to fight back and help others. We had also followed through with what Jude mentioned in Vegas, and had went and checked out apartments for us to live in after high school.

During that time, the entire group had been attending group therapy sessions to deal with the trauma from the shooting. Jeremy finally got his cast off his arm and was able to return to playing his beloved bass guitar. Jude and I continued to write stuff with Jax, Austin, Castor and Jeremy as a method of catharsis and release. We have written eight more songs with them. My uncle paid for us to use a recording studio for a couple of weekends, and we recorded a cover of the song "My Demons" by Starset, with Jude and I singing vocals.

I loved it so much that I talked to my Uncle Evan, and he scheduled more time at a recording studio for us after graduation. He even said something about calling in one of his seemingly endless number of favors to get the band a recording contract. Jax and the others in the band asked us if we'd be interested in singing in the band as the full time vocalists, and after our first experience in the studio, we both readily agreed. We both agreed that it was fun to do, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it, and we were good at it.

Back to the present though.

I met Jude at his house, an hour and a half before school started at 7:30, as was our normal morning before school routine. We piled into the Aston Martin and drove up to the beach next to Anchor Beach. We always went for a short walk in the mornings before school, to help us wake up. Jude and I alternated between buying breakfast during our walk. Today's breakfast was a assortment of fruits, with a bottle of water for me and a French vanilla latte for Jude.

We stopped to sit down and finish our food, and after we had disposed of our trash, we commenced something that had became something of a morning ritual.

Jude painted our nails.

He painted his the usual blue color he had always loved. He painted my middle fingers blue, while the other fingers he painted red. It was a deep crimson color, that was as close to blood colored as you could get.

This had become a usual thing for us, something that we were know for, although nobody really knew the true meaning behind the nail polish. The symbolism of the act, it's true meaning as a symbol of mutual solidarity and our unbreakable bond, remained known only to us.

The act relaxed both of us, made us feel better, stronger, more confident.

Jude made eye contact with me and smiled.

"What?" I asked him.

"Nothing." He said, "I'm just really happy today."

I smiled back at him.

"Me too." I said, leaning forward.

He met me in the middle and place a kiss on my lip. I felt his tongue tracing my bottom lip, and I opened my mouth to permit its entrance.

Even now, six years after I met Jude, I am still not used to how much kissing him, especially in this way, took my breath away.

After ten solid minutes, we separated. Both of our faces were flushed, and our lips swollen. I wrapped him in a hug.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Connor." He said, "I've gotta ask you something."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well, senior prom is in two weeks." He said, "Do you wanna go? Or do you wanna just stay home and have a movie marathon or something?"

"I think we should go." I said, "We've only been to one dance together this year, and we ended up leaving early because somebody with the initials JJAF got us kicked out because he punched somebody in the face for flirting with me on the dance floor."

Jude started laughing.

"He was asking for it." Jude said simply.

This was true.

Earlier this year, we went to the winter dance together. Some guy started flirting with me in front of Jude. After the guy propositioned me for an evening of sexual activity, within earshot of Jude, Jude punched him full on in the middle of the face. He tried to leap on him, but I held him back. We were subsequently asked to leave.

"I distinctly remember you saying that what I did was hot." Jude joked.

This was also very true.

After we had been removed from the dance, Jude and I spent the next hour until it was time for us to go home making out in the janitors closet.

I laughed at the memory.

"Silly boy." I teased him, hugging him tighter, kissing the side of his head a bunch of times.

We stayed there in each other's embrace for another ten minutes before we decided that it was time to walk back to the school and meet up with the others.

Soon after, we stood in the courtyard talking to Jeremy, Austin and Castor about stuff with the band.

"So has your Uncle gotten back to you about the whole recording contract thing yet?"Austin asked.

"He mentioned that he was going up to San Francisco this weekend." I said, "He said he was going to talk to some old acquaintances about it. I wouldn't worry about it though. He's never failed me before. I doubt he will now."

"We know." Jeremy interjected, "But this is a really huge deal for us. For you and Jude as well, since you are both officially in the band now."

"We know it's a big deal." Jude said, "But these things take time to set up. It won't happen overnight. There's a lot of things that have to be negotiated first."

Castor nodded his agreement.

"In the meantime," Castor said, "We need to practice. Practice the songs we've already written, finish the songs we've almost finished. Jude and Connor, you both need to learn the words to the songs we wrote before you guys came in."

"Yeah, no kidding." I muttered, "I have no idea how I'm gonna remember all the words to Demon's Charm. I mean... what in the name of all that is holy in this world possessed you guys to write a song that is fifteen fricken minutes long?"

"Hey don't look at us." Jeremy said, "That song is Jax's monstrosity. Oh, did you two finish that one song you started writing last session?"

"Yeah, we did." Jude said and nodded, "We ended up calling it Empire of Dust."

"How many songs do we actually have in total?" I asked.

"Well, there is the eight we've written together." Austin said, thinking, "The eight from the original demo. Plus the others that we have all written by ourselves, so I think we've got about... minimum of twenty eight. Maximum of thirty two."

"Jesus Christ." Jude muttered, "And some of them, in fact a lot of them, are more than seven minutes long. Hell, like eight of them are over ten minutes long. If we did eight songs a piece per album, that's enough for four albums."

"And we all write prolifically." Castor interjected, "So our archive will keep growing. We'll never run out of stuff to use."

"That's a good thing, though." Jeremy said, "As long as we write stuff at the standards of our current stuff.

A couple of hours later, Jude and I sat in chemistry together taking notes. Well... when I say we were taking notes, I mean Jude was taking notes, while I doodled and played footsie with him across the aisle.

"I need Jude Adams Foster and Connor Stevens to the main office please?" Lena's voice said over the PA system. Our teacher nodded at us and we leapt from our seats and bolted out the door. As soon as we were in the hallway, we reached out and took each other's hands.

"What do you think they want us for?" I asked.

"I don't know," Jude said, "Maybe they want info on a prank Alex or Carson have pulled or something stupid like that."

Jax and Lena met us outside the office, and Lena's eyes looked suspiciously red. Jax looked happy, excited, almost giddy. He was practically bouncing in his wheel chair. Jax has been happier than I've seen him since he was put in his wheel chair. For the first week of school after spring break, he didn't show up. Every time we try to get him to hang out on the weekends, he says he can't. No matter how much we bagger him about what is going on, he keeps his lips sealed.

Until today.

"What's up Jaxxy?" I asked him.

"You'll see soon enough." He said happily, "We're just waiting on the others."

We stood there for five minutes until the rest of "The Mafia" had assembled.

"Follow me everybody." Jax said

We followed closely behind him as he wheeled himself through the hallways of Anchor Beach, and eventually out to our usual lunch table by the "Makeout Tree".

"Okay, enough secrets." Jude said, "What the hell is going on, Jax?"

"You have all been wondering what I've been up to these last few months." Jax said, "First things first, Jude and Connor, come stand in front of me, one on either side."

Jude moved to stand on his right side, and I moved to stand on his left.

"Okay, now stay facing them." He told Jude and I.

"Jax. What are you doing?" I asked.

"For the last three and a half months, I have been up to something," Jax said, ignoring my question, "The day after spring break ended... I had a surgery done on my back. It was experimental, potentially dangerous, and very expensive. Every day after school, and every weekend I've been going to physical therapy. And yesterday was my last day of physical therapy."

"What does that mean?" Daria asked, "Just tell us, babe. The suspense is killing me."

Jax's mood changed in a split second, and he smiled widely at us.

"It means this." He said.

With shaky movements, he gripped Jude's left arm and my right arms with his hands. I could feel him trembling, and I could hear him breathing shakily. He tightened his grip on Jude and my arms like a vise...

...And he lifted himself to his feet.

I whipped around as soon as he let go of my arm.

Behind me, Daria almost fainted into Taylor's arms, and she burst out sobbing.

Castor sat down on the table's bench before he could collapse from the shock.

Jeremy and Austin both gasped loudly.

Alex and Carson just stared in awe and shock.

Jude and I stared at Jax.

He was standing there staring at us.

He was STANDING there staring at us.

"Holy mother of god." I muttered, "You... you're standing. You're fucking standing."

Jax continued to stare at us. After a moment of standing, he took a very slow and shaky step forward.

Seeing that was all I could take. I moved forward and gently wrapped my best friend in a hug, and burst into tears. He wrapped his arms around me and returned the embrace. After a second, I felt Jude wrap his arms around the both of us.

"Oh my god." I croaked. "You can stand. You can walk. But the doctors..."

"They gave me a thirty percent chance of walking again." He said, "I'm a gambling man. I took those odds, and it paid off."

A few seconds later, Daria pushed us off of him and wrapped him in a hug.

He held her as she cried into his shoulder. He pushed her away gently and held her at arm's length.

"Now I can actually dance with you at prom, Daria." He said, sounding choked up himself. Daria leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

"The doctor's told me to take it easy," Jax said, starting to get emotional, "Not to strain myself, and to try to walk at least a total of forty five minutes every day. But other than that... I can walk again, guys. I'll be able to stand and play guitar during band practice. I'll be able to dance with Daria at prom. I'll be able to walk across the stage to get my diploma."

His voice cracked as he said the final thing, and he could no longer held back the tears.

"I'll be able to walk down the aisle at my wedding." He said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

The tears he wiped away, were quickly replaced by new ones.

"I-I c-can actually l-live the l-life I-I always dreamed of." He said, before completely losing composure and breaking down sobbing.

His sobs were mixed with almost hysterical laughter, as he was pulled into a group hug by everybody in the group.

I had always believed in miracles. I knew, of course, that they were very rare, and that they only happened maybe once in a life time for normal people.

I was blessed enough to receive two.

I was given Jude.

I was given the love and support of my family (even though some took longer than others).

And Jax received his own miracle...

...His hopes and dreams were granted.

AN#2: One thing I regretted was putting Jax in a wheel chair. I know that this scenario is probably impossible in real life at the present, but with all the hell I've put these characters through in this story, I wanted to have something good. That's why I've brought in the whole thing with the band, and why Jax can now walk again. Besides, by 2019, maybe there will be some kind of new surgery that can help people who can't walk.