Jessie walked through the arena tired, sad, and worried. Her dad was still going through chemotherapy and radiation and she was in over her head stressed from it all. Not to mention that she had to go back to work and couldn't be at home with him. She was barely focused during the creative meeting. Stephanie understood though so she didn't say anything to Jessie. After the creative meeting Jessie didn't notice when everyone left. She just kept sitting at the table staring off into space. Stephanie sighed and left the room, sending Jessie a sympathetic look. Once outside the door Stephanie bumped into Kurt who was coming to see her "hey honey" he said, kissing her lips. He noticed she wasn't herself "what's wrong?"
"It's Jessie" she said to him. She cared for the little girl and hated to see her world crashing down upon her "she's so...out of it. She's like a walking zombie".
"Lemme try talking to her" Kurt said to Stephanie, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder "maybe I can help. I mean I can see where she's coming from since I lost dad at about her age and all, I mean she hasn't lost John yet but I maybe can sympathize with her and all". Stephanie nodded and Kurt walked into the room. Jessie was still sitting in the same place. She was staring out the window and Kurt could see unshed tears in her eyes. He walked in and sat in the chair beside her, she still took no note of not being alone in the room "Jessie" he said softly "honey". She looked at him, but it was more like she was looking through him than anything "what's wrong?" That seemed to set her off 'good' Kurt thought to himself as he saw the fire in her eyes 'maybe then she can get things off of her chest'.
"What's wrong?" she asked loudly, getting up and pacing the room "what's wrong? My father has cancer is what's wrong. All day long people have been coming up to me and asking how I'm doing, and trying to make me smile. Well you wanna know how I'm doing Kurt? I'm doing really shitty. I spend day and night thinking about dad and worrying about him. If I'm around him I watch him like a hawk afraid that he's gonna disappear or something. At night I have these dreams. They're always the same too. I dream that we're all gathered in dad's hospital room and he dies. After it I just sit up the rest of the night and the lack of sleep gets to me". She turned toward Kurt then and Kurt could see how weak and fragile she looked "I don't know how much more I can take" she told him honestly. Kurt got up and wrapped his arms around her, sitting back down in his chair with her on his lap. She put her head on his shoulder and cried for all she was worth. Kurt let her cry, he knew she needed to get all her emotions out and that it would maybe make her feel a bit better.
"I lost my father when I was younger" Kurt told Jessie when she had calmed down. "He was an architect. He was working on this huge building and fell. It devastated me. Of course me being, well me, I pushed on. I kept going like nothing had ever happened. Finally about 6 months later I cracked. Someone said something that triggered something in me and I just lost it. I wailed on them. Verbally that is. I just went off. But you know, after I felt a bit better. I was a long way from being 100 but I was on the way".
"I'm scared Kurt" Jessie said quietly. Kurt gave her a squeeze before speaking.
"You know your dad has to be one of the toughest people I know. To go through what he's going through is tough. It's the toughest thing someone can go through" he pushed Jessie's face to look at him then "but Jessie he will make it. He's fighting it and from what I've heard Randy and Trish say he's doing better than the doctor's expected him to be at this point. He'll get through this".
"I know" Jessie said "he needs a bone marrow transplant you know. They have him on some list to get it but they aren't sure when he'll be able to. They said if they could get something called cord blood that could be used too. I'm not sure what that is though".
"Oh" Kurt started explaining "its when babies are born they take blood from the mother's umbilical cord. They save it and they can use parts of it in transplants, like the bone marrow one, or blood whatever". Jessie nodded. "You ok now?" Kurt asked Jessie, she nodded, still laying in Kurt's arms. "Tired?" he asked, she nodded. "Come on" he got up from the chair, her in his arms. "I'll take you to my dressing room and you can sleep. I'll make sure of it". He carried Jessie down to his dressing room and laid her on the couch. He put one of his sweatshirts under her head and put his leather coat over her. She closed her eyes and fell right to sleep.
"Hey" Sylvain asked Paul London as he walked down the hallway "have you saw Jessie?" He hadn't seen her all night and he was beginning to get worried.
"Sylvain" Kurt called out. He had heard his question "she's in my locker room, sleeping. Apparently she hasn't been getting any lately". Kurt then walked out for his match.
"Merde" Sylvain cussed quietly under his breath "I knew it. Those damn nightmares".
"She's having nightmares?" Shelton asked, coming up to Sylvain. He had overheard what he said and couldn't help but ask about it. He cared about Jessie, like quite a few others backstage, and worried about her.
"Oui" Sylvain said "well actually I know of one. She woke me up when she had it, but I know now that she has been having them more than just that one time. If she isn't sleeping then she's having more of them than just that one time".
"Damn" Shelton cussed "as if that poor thing hasn't got enough on her plate right now".
"I know" Sylvain interred "she is rooming with me tonight though so I am going to make sure she sleeps. I will stay awake all night if I have to". With that he said goodbye to Shelton and headed for Kurt's dressing room. When he got there he half smiled at the sight that greeted him. Jessie was curled up on the couch still wrapped up in Kurt's leather jacket. Her hair was disheveled and she was taking deep, even breaths. Sylvain didn't have the heart to wake her so he just took Kurt's jacket off of her, picking her up in his arms and out to his rental. Once he got there he buckled her into the passenger side and went to get in the driver side. He got in and buckled up before pulling out of the parking lot and heading toward the hotel.
Sylvain made it to the hotel in a few short minutes. He managed to juggle Jessie and the bags inside and up to the room, only getting a few weird looks from people. Once they were inside the hotel room Sylvain laid Jessie on the bed. He took out his night clothes from his bag and went into the bathroom to change. He came back out in a pair of blue boxer briefs. He went over to the bed and shook Jessie lightly. "Honey" he said quietly "cherie". Jessie opened her eyes slowly and Sylvain smiled at her. "We're back at the hotel, do you want to change into your sleep wear?" Jessie nodded and got up. She went over to her bag and dug out some clothes. Then she disappeared into the bathroom to change. She came back out wearing one of her dad's basketball jerseys. She went over to put her dirty clothes in her bag and Sylvain couldn't help but notice that she was wearing a black thong. He pushed the dirty thoughts from his mind though because he knew she wasn't in the right frame of mind. Once she was finished putting her clothes up Jessie shocked Sylvain by getting into his bed with him instead of getting in her own. Once she was under the covers Jessie snuggled up to Sylvain. Not to say he minded though, he definitely didn't. He just pulled her closer to him and let her lay on him.
"Goodnight Sylvain" Jessie said closing her eyes. Sylvain kissed Jessie's forehead and reached over to turn off the lamp before settling back down.
"Bonne nuit" he said to her, closing his own eyes and drifting off to dream land. Later that night Sylvain woke when he felt Jessie moving in his arms. She was in the midst of another nightmare. He softly shook her, calling her name a few times. She shot up out of bed, wide eyed and breathing hard. He touched her shoulder lightly "cherie, are you ok?"
"I guess so" Jessie said, sighing heavily "just had the same dream I've been having for a while now".
"Why don't you call your dad?" Sylvain suggested "maybe hearing his voice will help you".
"Sylvain" Jessie said looking at him "I can't do that. I mean he had chemo and radiation today he's probably dead asleep, I don't want to disturb him".
"Cherie" Sylvain said gently "he is your dad, you could never be a disturbance". Sylvain reached over and took the phone off of the cradle and handed it to Jessie. She took it as Sylvain dialed the number. It rang a few times before John's tired voice came through the speaker.
"Hey daddy" Jessie said softly, smiling as she heard his voice. "No nothings wrong" Sylvain sent her a 'tell him' look. "Well ok that's not true. See I've been having these, nightmares I guess you could call them ever since you were diagnosed with cancer. I have one and wake up from it then I'm afraid to sleep for the rest of the night" Jessie listened as John said something to her "I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to add more to your plate than you already have...I know daddy" Jessie let a few tears fall from her eyes at her father's words "ok. No I'm not crying" Jessie laughed when John said 'bullshit' to her. "Ok but just a bit...I'll try. Ok I will. Ok. I love you too daddy, very much, I miss you. Bye". Jessie hung up and turned to Sylvain with a smile. "Thanks for making me call him. I feel better now".
"Good" Sylvain said as he placed the phone back on the cradle. "Now let's go back to sleep". Jessie laid down on Sylvain's chest again and he wrapped his arms around her.
"Sylvain" Jessie said, tentatively.
"Yes cherie" he answered her, eyes closed.
"Will you..." she paused "nevermind".
"What cherie?" he asked, looking at her questioningly. "Ask".
"Will you sing to me?" she asked him "it helps me sleep sometimes".
"Oui" he said "beware though, I can not sing. I will sing to you something that an aunt of mine used to sing. She was Hawaiian. She had a different father than my mother. She would sing this to me to help me sleep". With that Sylvain started singing a beautiful Hawaiian song that was familiar to Jessie.
Haaheo ka ua i nâ pali Ke nihi ae la i kanahele E uhai ana paha i ka liko Pua âhihi lehua a o uka
Aloha oe, aloha oe E ke onaona noho i ka lipo "One fond embrace", a hoi ae au
"Until we meet again." When Sylvain finished the song Jessie smiled.
"I love that song" Jessie said. "It's from Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has A Glitch".
"Oui" Sylvain said, chuckling at Jessie's child-like quality "it is, I remember hearing it when we watched it with les enfants. Now let's sleep, we have to go to the next town tomorrow". Jessie snuggled into Sylvain's embrace and for the first time in days she had a peaceful sleep.
A/N: I know I probably got a few details about Kurt's past wrong in this chapter seeing as I couldn't find a source that told about it but I went on memory from reading his book