Randy, Mark and Alexis came through the door of John's house awhile later. Everyone was still in the place they were in when Alexis had left. John looked over at them and waved then gave a weird look as Randy and Mark started upstairs "where are you two going" he asked. Randy and Mark stopped in their tracks, looking suspicious. They knew that John hadn't been told about about Jessie running away and both were trying to think up something to tell him. Marc, who had been watching everything sighed, he knew that there was no way John would let it go so they had to tell him.
"Earlier" he said, gaining the attention of John and everyone else in the room "I went up to check on Jessie, she wasn't in her room". John looked like he was going to say something but Marc trudged on before he could "so while Sean and I were getting food Maven went out to look for her. He found her at the train station and brought her home, she snuck back up to her room".
"And you weren't going to tell me" John stated, clearly pissed off. He couldn't believe that they were just going to keep it a secret from him.
"John you were so messed up from the pain medication you were on, I thought it would be better to just find her and bring her back no harm done" Marc said, trying to calm down.
"Help me upstairs" John said "I wanna talk to her, see what's up".
"John" Randy said "I know what's up with her. It's because of Mark and I. She thought we were upset at her because of what Josh's lawyer said to us and all. Let us talk to her and straighten things out". John sighed and nodded.
"Alright but I want to talk to her after your done. I know she's probably upset about me being shot and I wanna talk to her about that" Randy and Mark nodded.
"Ok we'll come back down when we're done talking to her and carry your broke ass up there so you can talk to her" Randy joked with John. John flipped him off, laughing.
"Man my ass ain't broke, just punctured" Randy laughed and nodded. Randy and Mark then made their way upstairs to talk to Jessie. Randy walked up to the door and knocked.
"Can we come in" he asked Jessie, sticking his head in the door. She looked a bit surprised to see him but nodded slowly. Mark and Randy made their way in the room and sat down on Jessie's bed. It was quiet a few minutes, each of them not really knowing what to say.
"We heard you ran away earlier" Mark said finally. Jessie looked down at the bed cover and shrugged. "Why honey?"
"Easier on everyone" Jessie mumbled.
"How sweetie? How is it easier on everyone if you run away" Randy asked Jessie.
"Because, dad wouldn't have people hating him because I'm in his life. You guys wouldn't hate me for people thinking you're perverts and control freaks. It would just be simpler if I was gone from everyones lives. You know you didn't have this much drama going on before I got here. I just figure that I'll leave you alone, and things will go back to normal." Jessie put her head down and started tearing up. She didn't want to say what she said but she knew that it was true. Mark scooted over on the bed and lifted Jessie up into his lap. He gently lifted her head to meet his gaze.
"Jessie we don't hate you" he said with conviction "that dipweed of a lawyer Josh had said what he did because he knew it would get to us. We acted how we did because it hurt our feelings and we couldn't just get over it like we should have. We didn't know that it would hurt you like it did honey. I'm sorry".
"We don't hate you sweetie. I can't even remember what my life was like before I met you that day. Your dad would be so lost if you just up and left him. I see how he gets whenever he talks about you, or when he's with you. Jessie, each and every one of us loves you, and would be empty without you in our lives." Jessie lifted her head and looked over at Randy when he said this.
"Really" she asked, tearfully. Randy smiled and pulled her over to him. Hugging her tightly to him.
"Really" he said, kissing her forehead. "Sweetie your kinda hot" he said, worriedly.
"Thanks" Jessie said smiling, cheekily. Randy gave her a dry look and turned to Mark.
"Feel her forehead" he told him. Mark leaned over and felt Jessie's forehead.
"She has a temp" he said "sweetie how long were you out in the rain".
"About 1/2 an hour I guess" Jessie said, leaning her head on Randy's chest. She was beginning to not feel good.
"Looks like you got yourself sick" Mark said. Jessie made a face.
"Your dad wanted to talk to you" Randy told Jessie. She looked up at him and nodded.
"Is he mad that I ran off" Jessie asked.
"No not that I could tell he just wants to talk to you about him getting shot and all and how the trial went I guess" Randy said, he knew John wasn't mad at Jessie for running off. John knew that Jessie didn't handle things well and had tendencies to run off.
"We'll go get him and bring him up" Mark said getting up. Randy put Jessie back on the bed and followed Mark out the door. A few minutes later Jessie heard Mark and Randy walking up the steps and John telling Randy to watch his hand because it was coming dangerously close to John's butt. They came through the door and the guys dropped John on the bed. He muttered something about kicking their butts and they left him alone with Jessie.
"Hey babygirl" John said to Jessie. She had her head down and wouldn't look at him. "You ran away huh?" Jessie still wouldn't look up at him "Honey I'm not mad if that's what your thinking. I'm not mad at all". Still Jessie kept her head down and wouldn't look at John. "Babygirl what is it? Please look at me". Jessie finally raised her head up and John saw that she had tears streaming down her face, she was taking shaky breaths and shaking badly. "Honey babygirl come here come here to daddy" Jessie crawled over and John pulled her in his lap, ignoring his aching thigh. He laid her head on his shoulder and let her cry for a few minutes. "What brought this on" he asked once she had calmed down somewhat. She took a few breaths to calm down some more before speaking.
"Why does Stacy hate me so bad?" Jessie asked with a shaky voice "how could she hate me when she doesn't even know me".
"Babygirl" John said, his heart was breaking. He had no idea that Jessie would be feeling like this. "She is very, very messed up ok. She has mental problems. None of what she did was your fault and you shouldn't worry over why she hates you or whatever ok? She wanted me. She was mad because Randy left her when he saw that she was a leech and she wanted to get at me to make up for it and she got mad because I fell in love with Trish, that's it".
"Ok" Jessie said, laying her head down on John's shoulder.
"How do you feel about daddy getting shot?" John asked Jessie. She shrugged a bit.
"I was scared when it happened. I mean I looked over and you were unconscious and blood was..." Jessie choked up then, unable to go on. John hugged her tightly to him. "And when you came out at the hospital and you were on those meds it made me think of..." Jessie took a deep breath before going on knowing that she needed to say what it was. "It made me think of when I was about 9 and my mom was dating this guy, Todd. He was a druggie. He was always doing drugs and he got like you were and it always scared me. He would always want to hug me too and have me sit in his lap when he was like that and when you wanted me to sit on yours I got scared".
"Babygirl, I'm sorry you had to go through that" John said, choking down his anger at that Todd guy "If I had known that, that happened I wouldn't have taken the medicine. I coulda dealt with the pain. And baby I'm sorry you had to see me all bloody and unconscious. I know it had to have been hard on you. But look at me I'm fine now. It takes alot to put me down and believe me there have been a lot of times things have tried". John made a mental vow to not take any more medication unless he was not gonna be around Jessie or absolutely couldn't stand the pain.
"Been a long life huh?" she asked, smiling.
"Did you just insinuate that I'm old" John asked, raising an eye brow.
"Well you ARE the oldest person in the house right now" Jessie said before John tickled her a bit. She screamed out uncle and he stopped.
"No I'm your daddy. Sean, Steve, Matt, Dan, Randy, Mark and Maven are your uncles" John said with a smile on his face. Jessie shook her head, laughing. "Besides I am NOT the oldest person in the house right now thank you very much your uncle Steve is right downstairs".
"He may be older but he doesn't look older" Jessie said bolting down the stairs before John could do anything. She flew into the living room and plopped down on Randy. He let out an oompf sound before looking at her.
"Hi" he said, smiling.
"Uncle Randy" Jessie said pitifully. "I don't feel good" she then proceded to throw up all over him. He had this grossed out look on his face and turned green a bit. Mark turned toward him laughing slightly.
"That, young Randall is what you got to look forward to in about 6 months" Alexis smacked Mark, trying to hid her own giggles.
"I want my daddy" Jessie said, beginning to cry. Marc and Sean went upstairs to bring him down. Randy tried his best to console Jessie without getting the mess on her. Marc and Sean came down with John then and sat him on the couch. Once he was seated he called Jessie over.
"Come here to daddy babygirl" he said. Jessie got up off of Randy's lap and went over to John, wrapping her arms around his neck and crying on his shoulder. "Aww honey its ok. Its ok shhhhh". Jessie laid on John for a while, while everyone sat around talking. It was going on 4 am and most of the people started to leave. Only Mark, Alexis, and Randy stayed. John looked down and saw that Jessie was asleep. He looked over to Mark and said "man if you don't wanna sleep on the couch you can crash with Jessie in her room. I'd rather you did anyway so if she gets sick sometime during the night she don't have to call for anyone". Mark nodded and went and picked Jessie up. He took her up to her room and laid her in bed. Once he saw that she was ok he went into the bathroom and changed. He got in bed and Jessie snuggled up to him. Mark smiled and closed his eyes, drifting to sleep.
Over in Trish and John's room John laid in bed in his boxers waiting for Trish to come out of the bathroom. He had a big bandage on his thigh and he was trying not to look at it. Trish came out then wearing a short, white, sheer nighty. John almost choked on his tongue. Trish got in bed and kissed John deeply "I'm glad your ok handsome".
"Go out with me" John said suddenly. Trish laughed and kissed him again.
"I am honey remember" she said laying down.
"No I mean on a date" John said putting his arm around Trish's waist "tomorrow. I'll plan it all out. I'll go to T's and get ready and you stay here. I'll have Mark stay with Jessie".
"Sounds fun" Trish said kissing John again "goodnight Handsome".
A/N The T that John refers to is Marc its a nickname short for Trademarc