Bumblebee POV
It's been a challenging three days. Jamie has gotten over thinking she failed J.R. and takes care of her with Cade's help. I doubt she doesn't think about how she failed J.R. Jayce has stayed in her room, which is a good thing since she's been a challenge. Not so good that Izzy, Tessa, and Vivian have seen the seizures and panic attacks Jayce goes through while trying to help her, but they still go to her room, hoping to help her and prevent the seizures and panic attacks. Add how Jayce gets very little sleep before having nightmares.
"I can't believe that's what she goes through," Tessa comments. The three girls, Hound and I, sit on the couch watching T.V. while Crosshairs and Drift deal with Jayce. Jamie and Cade are in the medbay, checking on J.R.
"Cade and Crosshairs warned the three of you," Hound comments.
"The more support, the better, hound," Tessa tells him.
"I don't know, Tessa. Five of us have supported both Jayce and J.R., but they keep getting worse mentally," I point out.
"Are you guys delaying that conversation?" Izzy asked though I can tell she doesn't want the conversation to happen.
"It's tricky, J.R. seems to be recovering, but the fear Jayce will kill herself has her thinking she wants to die first. So, we've been more focused on Jayce, which is what J.R. wants us to do; we're not neglecting her. We don't know what Jayce needs to see or hear to know Jamie is ok. I don't think the reason she has the terrifying thoughts is Buddy's passing now. Jayce could recover in a month, six or not at all; we don't know. We don' want to assume she can't recover either," Hound explains.
"You know how Jamie and J.R. will be when they hear Jayce can't go on adventures with them," I add.
None of the girls said anything else. I think they were thinking about how they can help.
Jamie POV
J.R.'s lung is healing well. I'm able to take her off the ventilator slowly.
"Maybe we'll be able to remove the breathing tube by the end of the day," I tell Cade, "but not the chest tube. The lung is still healing, but J.R. should be able to breathe on her own without a problem."
"We still keeping her in a coma?"
"No, but she might need to be heavily sedated, considering how much she struggles with the pain," I sighed.
"How is she?" Crosshairs asks as he walks towards the bed. I hated telling him how J.R. is doing, "it's ok, Jamie. I know you're doing all you can. Let's try minimal sedation and the pain medication we've been giving her for now."
"You know she might still need to be kept on the ventilator. We're working on slowly taking her off."
"It's ok," he says as he crouches down and hugs me.
"I know what needs to be done, Jamie, go take a break for a while," Cade insists. Crosshairs gets up and carries me out of the room.
"Cade's right, you need to take a break," Crosshairs says as he sits on the couch with me on his lap. Bumblebee, Hound, Izzy, Tessa, and Vivian are already watching T.V.
One hour later
Crosshairs POV
"She's asleep already," I pointed out and stood up as Drift walked towards us.
"Already? Damn," Drift comments as he takes Jamie from my arms though I still went with him to Jamie's room.
"She's been so worried about J.R.," Drift comments as he lays Jamie on the bed.
I tell him J.R. is getting better and might be taken off the ventilator by the end of the day. It's good news, but we both know she still has a long way to recovery.
"Just wish we can figure out how to help Jayce recover," he says in a sad tone, "she's asleep but not for long."
"I'll stay with Jayce. Go downstairs and watch T.V. with the others for a while."
Drift nodded and left the room.
The day was the same regarding Jayce. Izzy, Tessa, and Vivian tried to help the best they can. Not even telling her J.R. might be off the ventilator today helped her.
By six in the evening, Cade and Jamie decided J.R. can be taken off the ventilator, but it'll be a few hours before she wakes up. Everyone still wanted to watch and see if J.R. will be ok off the ventilator.
"You sure it's ok for Jayce to be here?" Jamie frets.
"It's ok, Jamie. I'll get her out of her if needed," Drift assures her.
"Ok, well, J.R. still needs a little oxygen support but not enough to still need the ventilator."
I watched her slowly remove the tube and place it in a bag Cade held open before placing the oxygen mask over J.R.'s mouth and nose. Cade left to take care of the bag.
"All right, the infusion finished. J.R. should wake up by morning. I'll start the pain medication infusion, but the rate will be slow. Enough to keep J.R. from being in unbearable pain when she wakes up...I hope."
Jamie sits by the bed, keeping a close eye on J.R. Jayce looked at Drift, unsure if she's allowed to go near J.R. Drift holds her on his lap as he sits on the chair at the other side of the bed. I'm able to move Jamie so that I can sit down with her on my lap. We forgot the others are in the room until I looked up and watched everyone leave.
I couldn't believe Jamie and Jayce stayed in the room for three hours. The others would come by and stay for ten minutes before leaving, but they'd return. I think everyone came by three times. Now the tricky part; getting these two to bed. Both girls are fighting sleep.
"Time for bed, you two," I said, looking at Jayce. As I expected, Jayce refused.
"She'll be ok, Jayce," Jamie assures her.
"I'll be staying with her and will take care of her if she wakes up," I promised.
Drift carried her out of the room before she became distraught.
"Damn, I hope I'm right," Jamie fretts, "J.R. is doing fine. Her lung isn't fully healed, that's why she needs a little oxygen support, but I don't think Jayce will be able to handle a setback. We should have kept her in the dark until I knew J.R. wouldn't have a setback."
"It's ok, J.R. will be ok," I say before hugging her as Jamie cries.
Yeah, it is going to be a challenge getting her and Jayce to sleep.
I picked her up and carried her to her room.
"You still think this is your fault, don't you?"
Jamie said nothing, but that would be the only reason she'd be this upset about J.R.'s injuries. Should have had Drift take Jamie and I take Jayce. I got Jamie to lie in bed and watch T.V. so I could get Drift to come here.
Instead, I walked into a situation that's requiring my help.
Shit, already.
The fear on Drift's face is just as bad.
Jayce started crying immediately after the seizure stopped. I laid on the bed with her, and Drift sat on his knees.
"I want to go home," Jayce sobs, "I hurt J.R., and Jamie is struggling even though she doesn't know everything that's been doing on."
"They will not like it if you leave. J.R. knows you will not come back if you leave, and we'd have to tell Jamie. Eventually, she'd ask you if you're coming back," I explain to her.
"J.R. almost died from what I did. She's still going to be in a lot of pain for weeks-."
"Everything will be ok. She's recovering, Jamie is doing better, dealing with the usual crap, but we're helping her. You know her struggles aren't going away, but she's safe," Drift adds before texting one of the others. We stayed with Jayce until she fell asleep ten minutes later.
"You think she'd be ok with one of us going with her back to her dimension for a while?" I asked.
"You know that doesn't help her. Even though she's the one who's sick, she'd worry about Jamie and J.R."
With that, we went back to Jamie's room. She is still watching T.V. I stayed twenty minutes before going to the medbay, waiting for J.R. to wake up.
Five hours pass before J.R. wakes up. I've been sitting by her side, holding her hand.
"Crosshairs?" She asked, the mask muffling her voice. Her green eyes are looking at me.
I explained to her what happened after she lost consciousness but not what happened before.
"...don't move, the chest tube is still in. You'll be ok, are you in pain?"
"No," she replies, sounding sad and scared.
Damn, I know what she wants, but I can't lay with her while she has the chest tube in.
I comfort her the best I can while sitting by her. J.R. falls asleep ten minutes later.
Good, not sure if the drugs are making her tired, but sleep is good for her.
I lie on the other bed, hoping to fall asleep.
Five hours later
Jayce POV
J.R. watched as I walked into the room. Crosshairs is asleep on the other bed. She pointed to the mask she's wearing then the monitor.
"If you think you'll be ok," I say before taking the mask off, setting it within easy reach, and turning the oxygen off. Then she needed water.
"Much better," she said after drinking from her water bottle I filled.
"Until you have to go to the bathroom," I laughed.
"Oh crud, I forget about the damn chest tube. Wait for Jamie to check if it can be removed. I mean..," she trailed off
"It's fine, I know what you mean," I laughed.
We watched Crosshairs on the other bed.
"Oops," we both said before laughing.
Crosshairs moves to sit on the bed.
"What's so funny?" He asked.
"Nothing," J.R. says, smiling.
I tried to get out of the way but tripped on the leg if the chair landed on J.R.
"GET OFF!" She yelled as tears roll down her face.
"It's alright, Jayce, just an accident," Crosshairs says before trying to calm J.R.
"It hurts so bad," she sobbed.
That much pain, even with the pain medication that kept her pain free until now, shit.
"What happened?" Drift asks as he walks up to the bed.
"I hurt her again," I cried
"It was an accident, Jayce," Crosshairs repeats himself.
J.R. doesn't know what to do. Though she can't move much with the chest tube in place, I know it hurts to move, but it hurts staying still. Crosshairs can't sit with her on the bed either. Drift takes me to the front of the room.
"It's ok, you didn't mean to hurt her," Drift says as he hugs me.
"This is why I need to go home," I cried.
"No, Jayce..." J.R. started, but I can tell talking hurts.
Damn it; the infusion is just about finished. I can't increase the rate. Not sure if that would even help. Localized pain relief won't help. Damn it; she's going to be in so much pain for at least two hours.
I started prepping another IV bag of pain relief medication, trying to ignore J.R.'s crying, while Drift helped Crosshairs comfort her.
Now would be a great time for you to walk in, Jamie. I'm about to sedate J.R. to help her, but I don't want to do it if you won't agree with me.
Crosshairs tells me he and Jamie talked about sedating J.R., and she was leaving it up to him. He permitted me to sedate J.R.
I injected the drugs, and we watched J.R. fall asleep before I connected the new IV bag of pain relief medication, keeping the settings the same as before.
"It's ok, just an accident," Crosshairs repeated as he hugged me. I've been trying not to cry, but I can't keep myself from crying any longer. Crosshairs laid me on the other bed. I hate how this is routine now. He knows I could end up in a seizure, an anxiety or panic attack. Drift stood on the other side of the bed.
Drift POV
Crosshairs is right laying Jayce on the bed, considering her seizure record lately, but she does better sitting on someone's lap, being hugged.
"Let me try what usually works," I tell Crosshairs as he once again pushes Jayce back on the bed every time she tries to sit up.
Once I sat down, Jayce moved to sit next to me. I put her on my lap and hugged her while moving in a slow rocking motion.
Damn, she's crying uncontrollably.
It's not long before she's coughing from crying. I got her to drink water as we tried to comfort her and get her to calm down. A few minutes pass before I'm able to get Jayce to lie on the bed with me. It's not long before she falls asleep.
"I don't like this. Not the first time she's cried for a half-hour but what set it off this time is troubling," Crosshairs comments as I get off the bed and cover Jayce with a blanket. We sat on the chairs between the two beds, not sure what to do about Jayce.
Three hours later
J.R. POV
I wake up to Jamie, looking over me. Behind her, Drift and Jayce are sitting on the other bed. Crosshairs is on the other side of my bed, holding my hand.
"Oh, good, you're awake. I hate to do this, but I need you to sit up. I think you are healed enough to have the chest tube removed, but I need to make sure," she explains.
Crud, I know what she wants to do.
"It's ok, you've been in pain medicine the past three hours. Shouldn't hurt as much if it hurts," Crosshairs adds.
Jamie wanted to make sure I'm able to get enough air in and that my punctured lung is healing well. Crosshairs had to keep me from falling over as I did what Jamie asked.
"Ok, we can take the tube out."
I watched her and Cade get what they need. It's a quick procedure. They finished in five minutes.
"Good, now I can go home," Jayce says once she hears I'm doing better.
"What?!" Jamie exclaims.
Really, Jayce? Do you even listen to Crosshairs and Drift?
"I hurt J.R. she could have died because of what I did. She's still going to be in a lot of pain for weeks."
That's all she could say before crying. Bumblebee walks up to her and hugs her.
"That's no reason to go home, even though I have no idea what the fuck made you do such an action," Jamie tells her.
"Crosshairs, someone needs to get Jamie out of here. We know what can happen," I whispered.
I looked at Drift, hoping he'd get Jamie out of here. The room is silent for what feels like hours. I'm trying to stay calm since I'm still on the monitor. I don't know if Jamie has it set for an alarm to go off if my heart rate goes up.
I don't want to scare her or everyone else.
Crosshairs carefully moves me so he can sit on the bed and hold me. The head of the bed is at a 45° angle.
"You ok?" He asked as nice he positioned is.
"Yes, just a little pain," I replied. I couldn't move to hug him.
"It'll be ok, relax."
"You don't need to go home over what you did. I don't know what gave you that idea?"
Oh no, Jamie knows something is up.
"Look, Jayce, you don't need to go home over this, and we want you to stay," Drift jumps in, "now, come on, Jamie, I want to take you out for lunch."
I swear I saw Jamie blush a little as he led her out of the room. Drift technically announced to everyone he's taking his girl on a date. Jamie may deny they're together like that, but she's not fooling us. It was a funny ten seconds before I watched Bumblebee lay Jayce on the floor.
Fuck, no time to get out of bed before disaster happened.
Damn, Jamie almost found out what's been going on, and Jayce was panicking during the conversation. Please, don't let Jamie find out. Let Jayce heal mentally.
With the sight I'm seeing and the thought Jayce can't recover, I started crying.
