"What the hell is this Bookworm, because it certainly ain't beer, its disgusting" Sonny said as he spat the contents in his mouth everywhere. Bravo had retreated to the team room to start getting their gear together for this mission, as Jess had predicted the rest of the boys had gone straight to the 6 boxes she had placed on the table, and opened them, she had kept a straight face all morning but the sight of Sonny actually trying it had become to much for her to maintain her composure
"Well its better than half the gut rot you drink anyway Sonny,but I don't remember me saying that that was beer" Jess said laughing as the rest of the team looked on
"You said that you have 6 cases of it" Sonny said pointing to the boxes now coughing because of the taste
"I do, I didn't happen to say that those were the cases though, it doesn't even look like beer, read the label on the box" Jess said still laughing
"Feeding tube formula, wait so this is the stuff that you have" Clay asked looking at her
"Yep, every day" Jess said as she grabbed a container from her locker, opened it up and took a mouthful
"Ew, how can you drink it like that" Sonny asked screwing up his nose
"Easy, see this one here is vanilla flavoured, while that one there has no flavour, different coloured cartons, seriously you lot need to be more observant" Jess said, no longer laughing but still wearing the cheeky devious smile on her face, this earned small grins from the rest of the team, this was the Jess they knew
"But there is beer" Ray asked
"Yes, got you some decent stuff as well" she said, she had managed to source some Australian stuff
"Where is it" Trent asked
"Don't know" Jess responded
"What do you mean you don't know" Brock asked
"You'll need to ask the boss where it is" Jess said cryptically
"Jess where did you put it" Jason asked, Jess wasn't going to give a straight answer unless he asked directly
"Last I knew it's in Blackburn's office, he's stashed it with team supplies" Jess said, that answer satisfying the group, they would get it on the plane
"Well who's looking forward to having what 50 hour plane ride to Bali" Clay asked changing the subject
"At least we got Bookworm's beer to make it more entertaining" Sonny said with a smile now on his face, Jess's little joke now gone from his mind, his little sister was just making sure they all knew she was back and it was business as usual
"You can add about 5 hours onto that, then you have the timing right" Jess said a little annoyed about the time they were going to be spending on the plane
"Australia is longer" Brock replied
"No its not, and Australia has a lot more appeal to me then Indonesia, 55 hours to Bali, 46 hours to Cairns and 48 hours to Sydney, only place that's further is Perth, but even a 58 hour flight to Perth is more appealing than 55 hours to Bali, only thing Bali is good for is cheap shopping and even cheaper booze" Jess said in response
"Is that speaking from experience" Jason asked curiously
"Oh boy is it ever, schoolies week in Bali" Jess responded remembering the time, what she could from it anyway
"There is nothing wrong with cheap booze Bookworm, especially if its a Gucci assignment" said Sonny
"There is when you can't drink it anymore Sonny" Jess said softly, the comment had clearly hit a nerve
"What do you mean by you can't drink it, you're not crook anymore, you're back on your feet ready to kick some butt" Sonny asked surprised as the rest of the team looked on
"Sonny, my bowels will never recover, so why I may look and feel a lot better than what I have done in months, the damage was permanent, I've just learned to live with it, all those food and drinks I had to cut out of my diet, they're out for good" Jess said quickly regaining her composure, this was part of what had been said about loosing her total nutritional autonomy, and the psychologist telling her that she would still grieve the loss occasionally, telling Jameelah that she couldn't share the cake with her like she used to hadn't felt as hard as what this was. Maybe it was Jameelah's age that made the difference, it was a adult child relationship. Sonny was her brother, their relationship dynamics were different
"So that night before Djibouti" Sonny asked looking at her as the rest of the team looked on silently, Sonny Quinn was not a man who handled change very well, and Jess had been a regular partner in crime when he went out with Clay looking for girls, Jess would bail them out if they got in trouble by pretending to be their girlfriend to get a girl to back of
"Was the last time I would ever be able to drink alcohol and soak it up with chilli cheese fries" Jess said looking at him
"So what is it now if we go out" Sonny asked
"Water or clear apple juice if its available" said Jess, not the most appealing of choices but at least there were still some choices
"That's it" Sonny asked
"That's it" Jess responded
"So the beer supply" Jason asked
"Is all yours to enjoy, relax its okay, you can still drink and all that, it doesn't bother me" Jess said, she suddenly realised the whole team were suddenly on edge, unsure of what to do, having a couple of drinks together had been part of the culture of the teams for years, now it was an area Jess could no longer partake in like she used to and they didn't want her feeling left out after everything she had been through
"You sure" Ray asked concerned remembering the hard time Jess had had fitting in with the team
"Positive, besides who else is going to be able to give Blackburn a full report on what you all get up to, I'll still come out if I'm feeling up to it, just maybe not as much as what I used to" Jess said with a smile and a little laugh, sure it sucked she couldn't participate in that area of team life, but at least she was back on the team and that was the more important thing