AN: I wanted to mention this today because I just heard about it. On Monday, Dana Reeve passed away from lung cancer. She was only 44 years old. For those of you who don't know who she was, she was Christopher Reeve's wife. Christopher Reeve was the star of 'Superman' and after suffering a tragic fall off of a horse, he was paralyzed from the neck down. From what I've read, she even starred on All My Children. Dana Reeve was an inspiration to me for all the work she has done and the courage and strength she has shown. I just wanted to share this with you all and hope that you can take a moment, and maybe even say a prayer for her family. –Danielle

Ch. 9

Returning Home

Babe and Adam both helped JR out of the truck and got him into his wheelchair, and Babe started pushing him towards the house.

"It looks so weird with those ramps." JR pointed out.

"Well, we can paint them so they will match the house." Babe suggested.

"You want to paint my ramps?" JR asked.

"Well, yeah." Babe said.

JR shook his head, "It's going to be a long day."

Babe looked down and rolled her eyes.

"Well, let' go in. Someone is very excited to see you." Adam said to JR, and JR smiled.

Babe looked down and saw the look on JR's face and also started smiling. She pushed him up the ramp and through the open door. Adam opened the doors and they saw Stuart and Marion, Tad, Kendall, Krystal and Jamie all standing there, waiting for him.

Jamie saw Babe pushing JR and his smile disappeared, and Babe looked away from him. When Kendall and Babe saw each other, both of their smiles faded and they gave each other dirty looks.

"Welcome home, JR!" Stuart said, reaching down to hug JR.

"Thanks, it's so good to be home." JR responded.

While everyone took their turns hugging JR and talking with him, Babe snuck off to go and get Little A.

After JR had talked with everyone he looked around, "Where is my son?"

Just then Babe walked in with Winifred who was holding little Adam.

"There he is." JR smiled and held out his hands for his son and pulled him into a tight hug.

Babe smiled and tried to blink away the tears caused by the adorable scene. JR was quietly talking to his son and Little A was smiling and playing with his daddy's face.

Babe grabbed a camera from off the table and started taking pictures of the scene, and then she started taking different pictures of everyone.

After a while, Babe was standing off on the wall just watching JR talk with Tad and Stuart. Kendall walked up to her.

"What do you think you are doing here?" She asked.

Babe sighed, "Listen Kendall, I'm not going to ruin JR's day because you want to be your usually bitchy self and draw all the attention to you."

"Excuse me?" Kendall asked, and Babe rolled her eyes.

"Go away Kendall!" Babe said.

JR looked over and saw Babe leaning against the wall next to a very red-in-the-face Kendall. Kendall looked like she was about to jump on Babe.

"Excuse me guys." JR said to Tad and Stuart and wheeled himself towards Babe and Kendall.

"Hey JR." Babe said to JR, and then glanced at Kendall and shook her head.

"JR, tell her she needs to get out of here." Kendall demanded.

"Don't tell him what to do. This is his party and his house, not yours. He doesn't have to meet your every demand." Babe told Kendall off.

"Babe... why don't you go?" JR said to Babe.

Babe turned to JR and opened her mouth.

"Babe will you just please go... and get me some cake? My dad bought me a cake and I haven't got to eat it yet." JR said to Babe.

Babe closed her mouth and nodded, and with one last look at Kendall she headed towards the table full of food.

"JR, what is she doing here?" Kendall asked.

"She is here to take care of me." JR informed her.

"You are letting that slut take care of you? JR what are you thinking?" Kendall asked.

"Listen Kendall I know you are worried about me, but I know what I'm doing." JR said to her.

"Apparently not." Kendall grabbed her purse and walked out of the house.

JR sighed and rubbed his head.

As Babe got a piece of cake and put it on a plate for JR, she spotted Jamie walk by her.

"Jamie?" Babe called out.

He turned and gave her a dirty look, and then turned and kept walking. Babe sighed and then grabbed a fork and turned to JR who was watching her. She walked up to him and handed him the cake.

"They had three different kinds of cake but I remember you have always been a vanilla frosting man." Babe said.

"Yeah, I can't believe you remember that." JR said.

"The reason I remember is because I always craved chocolate cake with chocolate icing and you would never eat it because you liked vanilla and not chocolate. So we always had chocolate cake stocked in this house, and never vanilla." Babe smiled at the memory.

JR also smiled, "That was a long time ago."

"Actually not that long." Babe looked down at JR who was looking away, and then she walked away.

--------

It was a little while later, and everyone had left except for JR, Babe, Krystal, Adam... and Jamie.

JR was in his room with Adam getting changed, and Babe and Krystal were picking up in the living room. Jamie then walked through the doors, making Babe jump.

"Jamie! You scared me! What are you still doing here?" Babe asked.

"I could ask the same about you." Jamie said quietly.

Krystal dropped the bag full of trash she was holding and said, "I need to go and tuck Little Adam in." And she exited the room.

"I'm here to..." Babe started.

"Help, I know. It always seems like you are helping with JR. Between work and helping him, I never see you." Jamie said.

"Well, doing both is hard work and time consuming." Babe said.

By then JR had left his room and was heading towards the living room when he heard Babe and Jamie talking. He stopped to listen.

"Then stop working so hard. Hopefully you'll stop helping JR!" Jamie raised his voice.

"No, I'm not going to stop! He needs me, Jamie!" Babe yelled back.

"Like hell he does. You think he thinks that? You're dreaming. He hates you Babe. And as soon as he can, he is going to get rid of you." Jamie snapped.

"You're jealous aren't you?" Babe accused.

"Yes! JR sees you more than I do!" Jamie yelled.

"Well I'm sorry that I can't deal with your hurt feelings because I'm trying to help a man who really does need me! JR is supposed to be like your brother. So have you talked to him, or really seen him? He is in so much pain Jamie, and I'm not talking physical pain. Being paralyzed is not easy, and for JR it is so much worse!" Babe yelled.

"OK, so it's hard! I feel bad for JR, I really do, but I don't see why he is making you help him. He can just as easily find someone else. " Jamie growled.

"Your right, he could find someone. But I'm not going to let him. It was my choice from the very beginning to help him, and I'm not going to stop now. I am going to help him until the day when he gets out of that wheelchair." Babe said.

Jamie shook his head, "You are stupid for helping him after everything he's done and you're even more stupid to think he actually cares or is thankful for you helping him."

"No, Jamie, I'm not stupid nor is what I'm doing. Stupid is thinking you actually give a damn about your brother, which as of right now I know you don't. So you know what, I'm sorry I didn't take your feelings about me helping your brother into account. Now you need to leave." Babe said forcefully.

Jamie shook his head and turned and walked out of the room, not noticing JR sitting there and Jamie walked through the front door and slammed it as hard as he could.

JR stared at the spot where Jamie had just been and never really disliked his brother as much as he did right now. Jamie didn't care about JR, all he wanted was Babe all to himself and now that he doesn't have her he is throwing fits. JR shook his head and wheeled into the living room where Babe was massaging her head.

"Hey, what was that about?" JR asked.

Babe opened her eyes up and looked at him, "I... I'm not sure. I'm really sorry that you heard that."

"Hey, I've known my brother isn't the great guy everyone makes him out to be, and now you're finding out too."

Babe sighed, "He usually isn't like this." Babe looked around, "Well, I better finish cleaning this up."

"You're not the maid."

"No, but I am supposed to look after you. Part of that is not making your worry about cleaning your house."

"My dad will have someone take care of it. We do have maids you know." JR pointed out.

"That's right, I forgot." Babe smiled and looked around, "So did you have fun today?"

"Yeah, I did." JR leaned back and looked around.

"Good, because tomorrow is when the fun ends." Babe stared at him, and then cracked a smile, "I'm kidding JR. I would never make your life hell."

"Yeah, only on days that end with a 'y' right?" JR chucked.

Babe also laughed, "Well, I better get going."

"Are you coming back tomorrow?" JR wondered.

"Yeah, you're not getting rid of me that easy. I told you I'm going to help you until you get out of that chair and I meant it, so if you want me gone you better start working on getting up and walking around." Babe told him.

"Don't worry, I'll be working as hard as I can." JR said.

Babe walked by him, "Goodnight, JR. I'm happy your home."

"Thanks." JR wheeled around and watched Babe grab her stuff and stop at the front door, turn around and wave at him, and then walk out into the cold.

JR wheeled himself back to his room and shut the door.