"Easy does it Jess, you know the ketamine makes you feel a little sleepy for a bit" Trent said as he helped Jess slowly walk towards the carpark, he stood on one side of her to easily intervene if she started feeling dizzy, Pepper had placed herself on the other side of Jess incase she was needed, Brock walked on the other side of her, Sonny and Clay were behind them, Jason and Ray had gone ahead to get the cars ready to leave for the warehouse and to call Jay, informing him they were on their way out, the team had offered to take Jess straight home and stay there until he and Zah got home that night considering that Jess had basically been sedated, and she had an early start the next morning to go and see Doctor Carmichael, but Jay had refused their offer, he argued that Jess could easily rest at the warehouse for a while, whilst the medication continued to work its way out of her system, that Jess had so far not been able to attend one of Zalie's training sessions, and that it was extremely important for Zalie that Jess was there when she could be, so that Zalie couldn't look back and say well mum always put the team first, even when she was home and Zalie could be put first, and that if the boys were that worried about the drive on the morning, they could head of tonight once Zalie was home from swimming and in bed for the evening, then they'd all get a reasonably decent sleep up there, as they'd need to leave by 0815 to be at the hospital by 0830, instead of leaving Vah beach by 0430, but Jess would be attending the session at the pool regardless, she'd sit there in between the sessions while Zalie had her break and help her do her homework and had a snack, she'd spend the afternoon and early evening being a mum tonight and nothing else
"Think Bookworm's more protesting against being made to get up and walk" Sonny said laughing at how unmotivated Jess currently appeared to be
"Ha ha, you're hilarious" Jess grumbled with a small smile as she was putting all her energy on being up and moving around
"I aim to please" Sonny said proudly at getting a small smile out of Jess, even if it was slightly sarcastic as well
"I don't understand why I need a full escort, I've been to the warehouse before" Jess said protesting slightly against the fact that everyone was going to be there
"You have, we haven't" Brock and Clay both responded in unison to Jess's comment about her going to the warehouse before
"We wanna see where the magic happens" Sonny added to the conversation
"You want freebies, admit it Sonny" Jess responded sarcastically taking another dig at Sonny as they arrived at where Jason had parked his truck, he opened the front passenger door so Jess could get in
"Well, if your dad happens to offer something, I ain't gonna say no, that is just to inhospitable of a southern gentleman" Sonny said in response to Jess's comment about him wanting freebies as he climbed into the back seat with Trent taking the other side, Brock was in the process of loading Pepper up in his car with Clay and Ray also hopping in, after dropping Jess of they'd stop back and pick up Ray's and Clay's cars before heading home, but there was no point in their thinking taking all the cars out to Jay's warehouse
"Who's a southern gentleman, don't see one in here" Jess said pretending to look around Jason's car confused, this little display earned her a laugh from both Jason and Trent, Jess was clearly starting to feel better, these little bits of sarcasm were her way of showing she was going to be okay, no matter how bad things looked
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"There's my baby girl, think someone is a bit tired still, how was your appointment" Jay said, he'd met them in the car park and as soon Jason had pulled up he immediately had the front passenger door open and was helping her out of the car
"It went good, drains are all out, kidney function is back in normal range and I'm back in remission" Jess said after letting out a huge yawn
"That's what I like to hear, come on and dad will show you where you can relax and close your eyes for a bit, lean your weight on me, that's it" Jay said pulling his daughter in nice and close as he felt her weight combine with his as she sunk into his arms, Jay could tell that Jess would easily need a few more hours of rest before she'd become functional
"That drug really that good Trent" Jason asked looking at Jess then at Trent
"Ketamine injection" Jay asked turning his head back to look at Trent, he knew Jess had been given something, but not sure what it was
"Doctor Shah had to give her one, pain spiked after she took the drains out and bandages of, apparently Jess freaked out" Trent said confirming that it was ketamine to Jay that his daughter had been given
"Glad she's been booked in to see Doctor Carmichael tomorrow, they wanted to give the CBT time to work, but she needs something done" Jay said as the whole team made their way inside and started following Jay through to the location where Jess would be able to rest
"She spoken to you about it" Ray asked curiously
"A couple of times, you can usually tell when it's getting bad, and when it's not, the nerve damage was always a risk with her first surgery, simply due to how aggressive they had to be down there" Jay said as he gently stroked his daughters hair while they walked
"She say what it actually feels like" Clay asked, he was interested to know what the pain felt like to Jess
"Good day she said it's like a mild tingling sensation, and she might feel a slight itch where her rectum and anal passage was sewn closed, bad day it feels like someone's continually electrocuting her and her bum feels like it's slowly being torn in two from the inside, and someone's digging a knife in continually to help tear her open, now with the constant pain from where she had the mastectomy surgery, it's coming on 3 fronts and can't relieve it, here we go baby girl, nice and cool and quiet" Jay said as he led the team into a little lounge area with a fold out couch that was already made up with a pillow and blanket, he helped Jess to lay down, her eyes immediately closed as her head hit the pillow
"This room is pretty cool" Sonny said looking around and the rooms contents, TV, fridge, microwave
"I had it added in case Luca ever needed to have Zah out here if she's sick, or if Jess was out here and needed somewhere to rest in private, or his back started giving him grief and he needed to stretch out instead of sitting at his desk" Jay said explaining the reason behind the room being there, it was more of a private staff room for he and Luca to utilise
"Or you get a migraine" Brock said reminding Jay that he suffered from them himself
"I've got a couch in my office for that scenario, but I wanted the kids to have somewhere comfortable in case it was needed, take it you're after the grand tour" Jay said with a small smile on his face
"Well if you're offering Jay" Sonny said with a childish grin, he'd seen the facility Jay had in Sydney, and he knew there was a good chance this facility would be similar
"After we've got his curiosity satisfied Jay, we need to talk about what Doctor Shah was talking to me about, and I have a few things I want to talk to you about" Trent said looking at the retired EOD legend
"Okay, so do we need to satisfy his curiosity, or just find something shiny to keep him entertained" Jay asked Trent while indicating to Sonny
"Hardly think you keep enough strippers on hand here to keep Sonny entertained" Jason chimed in
"True, but we had a roof leak out here in one of the storage rooms that damaged some stock, it's been wrote of as damaged I just need to sort it out for disposal if you lot want a look at it" Jay said hoping that the prospect of sorting through the water damaged stock might be enough to entertain the Texan
"So we can claim some of it if we want" Sonny asked curiously looking at Jay
"I usually donate it to local charities what wasn't claimed by my staff back in Australia, Michael, can you please show our visitors the clearance storeroom, they're going to help you and the others go through what's in there, and make sure there's some put aside for a front line combat medic" Jay said as he guided the rest of the team out of the room now he was content that Jess was fast asleep and took them to where an older male was waiting, this gentleman was clearly older than Jay who was turning 60 in less than 12 months time, on the other hand Jay looked younger than he truly was, and kept himself quite fit, he still looked like he could be active duty with the exception of the grey hairs that were outnumbering the dark brunette ones from his younger years, so this male could have been the same age as Jay as well for all they knew, Jay liked to make sure when damaged stock was being distributed to his employees and friends, that everyone got an equal opportunity to get something, he hadn't wanted Trent to miss out while talking to him about what he needed to
"Boss, why don't we sort everything out into groups then we work out what goes where, that way it's fair for everyone here, no one gets more than the others" Richard said explaining his own idea to Jay about how to distribute the items
"Okay, sounds like a fair idea to me, go at your own discretion" Jay said pleased with the suggestion that was offered to him, Richard turned to leave and the rest of Bravo with the exception of Trent followed him, Jay guided Trent towards the office with his name on it
"Boss" Trent asked curiously after the rest of the team were out of ear shot
"Took me a while to get him to stop calling me sir, lesser of two evils" Jay said laughing as he let Trent into his office
"Isn't he a bit old to be working" Trent asked eager to know how old the guy was
"He's reliable and earned my trust, same as a lot of his team" Jay said as he sat down behind his desk
"Ex military" Trent asked sensing that the old guy was probably a vet, calling people in authority mam or sir was a problem that could be hard to break, especially for the old school military
"A lot of the staff here are, sure they have there problems, some worse than others, but if they're prepared to make a go of things, I'll do what I can to help them get their lives sorted and on track again" Jay said bringing up some notes on his computer, he had another meeting coming in soon he needed to prepare himself for, Jay liked to help people who needed the help, providing that they truly appreciated the help he offered and didn't take it for granted
"So off the drugs and alcohol" Trent asked, he knew that a lot of vets struggled transiting out, they would occasionally turn to those two options as a way of coping with their issues
"2 things I won't tolerate out here, I found that they help keep each other motivated to keep clean, they've got a pretty good idea of the horrors that we've seen in life, they done the work to renovate the accommodation they found, work as a team" Jay said explaining how Richard and his men pulled together
"They're former seals aren't they" Trent said realising who they were
"There's a suprisingly large amount of the homeless veterans in the area that are former tier 1 operators, sure not everyone works out, but" Jay said smiling, he knew that these blokes couldn't hack a normal job in a workplace surrounded by people who had no idea what they'd seen or done in life, Jay tried to recreate as much of the military environment that they had been use to out here, but he also kept a very hands of approach as well, these guys didn't need management breathing over their shoulders, it wasn't how they were use to operating
"Seals look after there own" Trent said proudly
"Exactly, so what if I let them work as a team, I keep the complexity of their tasks simple, the environment quiet, and keep it structured, they then work out how they're going to do the task, when they're going to take a break, and they seem to be happy and content working here" Jay said explaining how he managed the retired seals
"A lot of them are probably dealing with TBI and PTSD aren't they" Trent asked looking at Jay, Jay nodded his head confirming Trent's suspicion, one of those would make it extremely hard to function in a mainstream workplace, Jay obviously found a way to manage those issues as best he could to allow them to work to some degree in the workplace
"There's usually one in play at least, what did you want to talk to me about" Jay asked looking at Trent
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"Did you see me in the pool mummy, I was really fast" Zalie said excitedly as they were in the car on the way home from the pool, she'd had a shower at the pool and was now eating her tea that they'd brought from home and heated at the pool, so all Zalie had to do when she got home was prepare her medication for night time feeds and jump into bed
"You were, but I don't know how I feel about you doing all those hours" Jess said glancing back at her daughter, it may have been the limited lighting, but Zalie did look slightly pale to her mum, and there were the start of dark circles under her eyes
"Jess, she's okay" Jay said trying to comfort his daughter that Zalie was okay
"Dad, she's 9 and swims Monday to Saturday, nearly 17 hours a week, plus she's got school and emotional stress and physical exertion are documented triggers for CVS, I'm allowed to be worried about her doing to much to quickly" Jess said firmly shutting her dad's comments down
"You can't make me quit" Zalie pouted from the back of the car
"Zah, I'm not talking about you quitting swimming, I know you love doing it, but I'm talking about making some changes to keep you healthy, physical burnout isn't fun, and you don't feel well do you" Jess said reassuring her daughter that she wouldn't be forced into giving up the sport she'd developed a real passion for, she just wanted her to be safe and healthy so she could enjoy it, not feel like she had to suffer or force herself to do it, it needed to remain fun as long as possible in Jess's eyes
"I feel a bit warm and tired, my head feels funny" Zalie said admitting to her mother how she was feeling
"You're staying home tomorrow, do your classes online and sleep" Jess said outlining to her daughter what would be happening tomorrow, the symptoms Zalie was feeling were all indications of a potential CVS episode on its way, rest was the best way to help head it off or at least minimise the intensity of the episode
"You and Cerbs can come to the warehouse with me for the day super Zah" Jay said looking back at Zalie through the rearview mirror, his little granddaughter could easily rest out there for the day with her best friend in the same room Jess was using today, that way Jay could help her with her school work when she needed it, and make sure the little girl got everything she needed if she started vomiting badly
"Can I still go to training with Coach Josh tomorrow night" Zalie asked hopefully looking at her mother and grandfather who were sitting in the front of the car
"Depends on what daddy thinks after he gets home from North Carolina tomorrow, I've got to go and see Doctor Carmichael at the hospital so I won't be home" Jess said not wanting to make any promises that couldn't be kept, if Zalie was vomiting tomorrow, there was no way she would be getting in the pool
"Are you going to be home tomorrow night" Zalie asked hopefully looking at her mother
"Sorry Zah, next day I promise" Jess said apologetically looking at her daughter
"Can you still video chat my story tomorrow night" Zalie asked looking at her mother, Jess had started teaching Zalie arabic, and would tell her a story each night she was home in the language her mother Sara had taught her, sure Jess had been a lot younger when she's started learning the languages, but she wanted Zalie to at least try to learn the language
"Sure can" Jess said proudly, she'd been initially concerned about whether Zalie liked their little night time language sessions, despite Jay's assurance that Zalie was simply loving the fact that Jess would take the time to spend with her, and not be focused on the fact she was learning another language, the fact that Zalie had asked whether Jess would be able to still do their night time session tomorrow night even though she was going to be away made Jess see that her dad was right about Zalie enjoying their time together
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