XxX
Jordan hummed softly as she brushed aside Eilís' dark curls while she dozed beside her on the couch. For having just begun her fifth year, little Eilís had proven herself once more to be an old soul. Since they had received the call about the crash, she had been perfectly at ease with her world being thrown into chaos and her schedule completely turned upside down. Somehow, their little girl had found the silver lining in it all, a trait Jordan was sure she inherited from Nigel.
Eilís had decided it was fun getting to camp out at the morgue with Lily and Madeline while they waited for their daddies to come home, saying it was best that they were all together, and she was constantly finding ways to make those around her smile. More than once, Jordan had found her sitting with one of their staff members, relaying some tale to distract their worried thoughts or just simply holding their hand while they cried.
Eilís wasn't old enough to understand that there was a chance Nigel might never come back to them, or maybe she was, but Jordan continued to encourage her bright outlook and big heart because it was the only hope they had left.
Internally, however, Jordan was seething, knowing if she didn't focus on her anger than her fears would take hold.
Jordan had asked Nigel not to go, citing that she had a bad feeling about the whole thing, but he had insisted that it was a simple routine DMORT and that he'd be back in 24hours.
They had signed up for the response team years ago, when they didn't have anyone to worry about but themselves. In more recent years they had taken to drawing straws on who would head out on the recovery since someone had to stay home with Eilís, but Nigel had been the only one called up this round since Jordan was in no state to assist on a DMORT.
Her hand traced circles upon her steadily growing bump and she stifled her sob. She had scheduled an appointment to find out the sex the day after Nigel was supposed to get back, but she had cancelled it once the call had come in, knowing she didn't want any joy or happiness in that moment, not when so much hung in the balance.
Her ears caught the sound of sprinting feet and she carefully shifted to see the door. Lily appeared, her exhausted face hard to read and her wide eyes giving no hint as to her news.
Jordan swallowed hard, "L-Lily?"
"They found them, all of them! Alive!" She finally breathed, hardly able to believe it herself, "They are airlifting them to Concord."
Jordan instantly went into action mode and began collecting her things, "I can make it there in an hour if I—"
"Jordan—Jordan!" Lily called gently, taking hold of Jordan's arms and forcing her to stop. Jordan began shaking, worrying her lower lip, "They are going to check everyone over at Concord, and then fly those who are stable enough to Massachusetts General."
"Who—who isn't stable?" Jordan felt weak on her feet.
"Garret has a broken rib, they will probably keep him at Concord, and—" Lily sighed, weighting her words carefully, "Nigel's arm was sliced pretty badly in the landing."
Jordan's eyes grew wide, her thoughts abandoning reason in their rush, "Then I—I need to get there as soon as I can. If he's gone this long without treatment, the infection—"
"Mummy?"
The little voice instantly reset her, and Jordan knelt beside her daughter, "They found Daddy!" She tried to smile through the tears.
"In the mountains?" Eilís yawned, rubbing at her sleepy eyes.
"Yeah, in the mountains." Jordan answered, squeezing her tiny hands, and holding them to her cheek, "He's at the hospital right now, but we'll get to see him real soon."
Ever serious, Eilís looked at her mother and asked, "Do you think he made snow angels without me?"
"No, baby, I don't think he did."
Eilís nodded, content with her mother's answer, and reached for her shoes, "Do you know birds make snow angels sometimes?" She shared as she pulled the boots on.
"Is that so?" Jordan bopped Eilís round nose, admiring all the pieces she found of Nigel in their daughter. From her chocolate eyes to her sweet, full smile, to her caring heart and her knowledge of the most random things.
Eilís nodded her small head sagely as she struggled to pull on her jacket, Jordan stepped in to help, "It was in a book Daddy read to me the night before he left, about tracking footprints in the snow."
Jordan sat back, forever in awe of her daughter's calm, brilliant demeanor. She really was the best of both of them, but she was also so much more.
Lily's phone rung and she hurried to answer it, "Yes, this is Lily. Alright, we are heading that way." She snapped the cell shut and Jordan didn't need any more prompting before she picked up her daughter and they headed to the hospital.
XxX
Jordan hugged Eilís closely as their small group ran into the lobby which was already bustling with activity.
"BUG!" Lily threw herself and Mad into his arms the instant she saw him, every emotion she had been bottling up for days now was flooding over with no end in sight.
Jordan turned around, desperation layering her movements. Relief briefly found her when she saw Woody and Kate being tended to by the nurses as their families fussed over them.
"May I help you?" A sweet nurse asked, resting a calming hand on Jordan's arm.
"Um, I'm—I'm looking for my husband, he should have come in with the others." Her eyes were senseless, her thoughts panicked. The only thing tethering her to reality was the little, warm bundle in her arms, "His name's Nigel, Nigel Townsend?"
"Oh, yes, right this way." The nurse ushered the pair into a small room where Nigel lay fast asleep, "The cut on his arm was pretty deep but Concord cleaned and stitched it up and started him on some antibiotics. We are trying to get some fluid in him now as well since he was pretty dehydrated, but he should be fine in a couple weeks. The pain meds they gave him knocked him out for the flight, though, so we are just waiting for him to wake up and reassess him again."
Jordan nodded absentmindedly as she set Eilís on the floor and hesitantly started towards the bed. He looked so waxen, so still, and terror froze her steps. The nightmares that had kept her company in the dark hours instead of his arms were at the forefront of her thoughts. They tormented her over and over again with the same fear: a vision of him returning to her in a body bag instead of waltzing through the swinging door like he always did.
Eilís pulled her thumb out of her mouth and took her mother's hand, giving it a squeeze. Jordan gave a brave smile as she sat softly on the bed and pulled Eilís onto her lap.
The shift stirred his conscious and Jordan saw his eyes begin to flutter.
"Nigel?" Jordan's voice broke.
He sighed at her voice, and she smiled.
"Daddy?" Eilís tried, gently moving to hold his hand. Her smile erupted when he gave her tiny hand a light squeeze.
Finally, his soft eyes opened, and his smile parted his cracked lips, "There's my girls." His voice was worn, tired. But he wasn't about to let the pain win out and he forced himself to sit up, even as Jordan tried to get him to take it easy. He insisted upon hearing about their adventures the past few days, and Eilís was only too happy to oblige.
Their little one talked until she had run out of words and the late hour had gotten to her. She finally yawned, snuggling her head into her mother's lap.
Jordan looked to Nigel. Her fears had eased as the hours wore on and she could almost pretend things had returned to normal. The only problem was, they weren't. She only had to look at his cast arm and his cut-up face to have her peace shattered.
Nigel lay his head back, just smiling at her, "Mór."
"More what?" She wrinkled her nose.
"No, for the baby's name."
"You think it'll be a girl?" Jordan mused.
"No, it's a boy."
She scoffed, giving a playful roll of her eyes, "Mór is a girl's name, Nige."
"I'm pretty sure it's a unisex name, Jordan." He teased, "Besides, who cares? It's a good name."
Jordan just shook her head as she continued to play with Eilís' soft curls, "So you think a boy?"
"I do." Nigel winced as he extended he good hand to her, finally able to show the pain he had so carefully hidden from their daughter.
Jordan carefully moved Eilís onto the couch and blanketed her jacket over her before moving to sit on Nigel's bed and capturing his hand, "You aren't allowed to go on any more DMORTs." She ordered through her tears.
"Someone has to go." He grimaced as he shifted, and Jordan was quick to attend.
"Well, it doesn't have to be you." She decided, returning to her place by his side, "You have responsibilities here that you need to be here for. You can't just leave me with two small children, if anything—"
Jordan had refused to look at him until Nigel had weakly taken her hand, simmering her rant.
Leaning his head back, he sighed, "I missed you."
Her voice caught, and she could only nod.
"I…I thought I'd lost you…" She finally managed, hugging his hand between hers as ever fear and what if played through her head.
"But you didn't."
Her eyes were sharp, "But I could have."
"But you didn't." He insisted, "Life doesn't have any guarantees, luv, but we can't stop living just because we don't know what happens next." Tenderly, he reached up and caressed her face, "No matter what, I will always come back to you."
She closed her eyes, memorizing his touch, "Promise?"
"Promise." His stiff arms moved to make a place for her, and Jordan instantly curled up to his side, holding him close. The only place she'd ever want to be.
XxX
A/N: I did have a few other ideas for this family storyline I've been playing with but none of them are turning our how I want them to so I am just going to dive into my true one-shots and if I work out the others then I will post them with "Family AU cont." in the opening :)
XxX