Chapter 5.1

Jessie awoke the next morning to the smell of banana bread toasting on a campfire, yawning as she soberly pushed her covers off her. She'd had another nightmare that had left her feeling rather tired since she hadn't been able to get much sleep. Lisa's sleeping bag was empty beside her and so was Jack's bedroll on the floor across from them. She yawned again as she sat up, Cougar still sleeping beside the bed next to her. She smiled, letting the cat sleep on as she quietly got out of bed and made her way to the door. Jack and Lisa were sitting at the campfire together, Jack preparing breakfast for them and she sleepingly stumbled over to them, cuddling up against Lisa. 'Morning.'

'Morning honey.' She chuckled as the girl closed her eyes and laid her head down on her shoulder, still dressed in her fleecy onesie. 'Were you warm enough?'

'Mmhmm.'

Jack smiled as he glanced back at them, still stirring the stew in the pot over the fire. They both looked so cute together. 'You have a good sleep Jessie?'

'Mmm.' She mumbled with a slightly dazed tone, still not fully awake as she rested against Lisa.

'Maybe you should go back to bed for a bit longer honey.' Lisa placed her arm around her, resting her cheek on her head. The girl had been rather restless all night. 'We'll get you for breakfast.'

'No, I'll stay out. I wan-' She was interrupted by another yawn. 'Want to watch the sunrise.'

'Here.' Jack poured some coffee into a mug and handed it to the girl. 'This'll wake you up.'

'Thanks.' Jessie opened her eyes, taking a couple sips as the hot drink warmed her hands. 'Well, you certainly make a better cup of coffee then Robert did. I swear his stuff was so strong a horseshoe would have floated in it.' Both of them chuckled and the girl smiled, the coffee doing the trick in waking her up. She looked at Lisa with a cheeky glint in her eye as she awakened, feeling a bit better now that she was awake and with them. Sharing the bed with her and her big cat mixed with her nightmare had made for an interesting night. 'I trust you had a good sleep.'

'Between you and Cougar, hardly.' Lisa teased back. The bed wasn't big enough for the two of them as it was but with Cougar insisting on sleeping between the two of them it was nigh impossible not to fall off. She'd woken a couple hours after going to sleep to kick the cat off the bed. With Cougar's loud purring in her ear and Jessie stirring every half hour and mumbling in her sleep she'd been lucky to catch two winks. 'She's staying off the bed tonight, she can go snuggle up on Jack.'

'Poor Cougar.'

'Poor me.' She replied with a chuckle. 'I'm glad you managed to get some sleep, I didn't get much.'

'I'm sorry for Cougar keeping you awake.'

'It's okay honey, I won't hold it against you. Cougar however-' She glanced around. 'Where is she anyway?'

'Still sleeping.'

'Breakfast is almost done.' Jack announced as he checked the stew he was heating. Lisa went to get up to help but he motioned for her to stay put. 'I'll take care of it Lis, you just sit back and relax. I've got it all under control.'

She nodded as he headed over to the cabin to grab the plates and looked back down at Jessie. 'I heard you talking in your sleep last night, you were thrashing around a bit too. Did you have a nightmare?'

'Yeah.' Jessie sighed, resting in Lisa's hold after she put her empty mug down. She'd hoped that she didn't disturb her by her restlessness but obviously she had. 'I'm sorry Lisa, I should have slept on the floor. I will tonight so you can get some sleep.'

'Nonsense honey, you're still healing and sleeping on a hard, cold floor won't help you. I don't mind.'

'You sure?'

'I'm sure sweetheart, don't worry about it.' They fell silent again for a few minutes, staring into the flickering flames of the campfire. The sun still wasn't up just yet, dawn was still a little while away but the stars had started to disappear as day slowly began to come. She looked down at Jessie, trying to read her expression. 'Do you want to talk about it honey?'

'It's just the same old nightmares.' She sighed again. 'There's nothing to say about them. They'll leave me eventually.' I hope. 'I'm alright Lisa, you don't need to worry about me. I'm just fine.' She'd convinced herself of that so many times she could say it without batting an eyelid. She watched the coals burning, the slowly moving light almost hypnotizing her. 'Lisa, what you said last night, about not taking the place of my mother-' She paused for a moment. 'One day I hope I can call you Mom.'

'I hope you can too, Sweetie.' Lisa smiled, kissing her head gently. 'I'd be proud for you to call me Mom.'

'Alright, dig in while it's hot.' Jack announced, interrupting their conversation as he brought the plates over and served up the food. He passed the girls their breakfast and sat down next to Lisa to eat his. 'There's plenty more if you want seconds.'

'Thank you Jack.

'Thanks Jack.' Jessie dug into her breakfast, resuming staring into the fire as they ate their meal in silence. She finished off her toast and stew then grabbed a couple pieces of the banana bread Jack had heated up.

'Gosh Jessie.' Lisa exclaimed as the girl took a third piece of banana bread. It was good to see her have such an appetite. 'You are hungry this morning.'

'Must be the mountain air.' It was definitely something, most of the time she hardly ate but today it was like she'd never be able to get full. 'Its given me a big appetite.'

'Well, if you're both finished we should get moving if we want to watch the sunrise.' Jack exclaimed as he put his plate down next to the empty pot to be cleaned. 'We've got a little ways to walk and if we don't leave shortly we're going to miss it.'

'I better go get dressed then.' She quickly got up, handing Jack her plate before hurrying off towards the cabin. 'Won't be long.'

Lisa chuckled as the girl disappeared into the cabin, the door half slamming shut behind her. 'Jessie seems to be in good spirits this morning.'

'She does.' He agreed, scraping the scraps off her plate into Cougar's food bowl. 'I think she'll be alright in time Lisa. She's a strong girl.'

'I like seeing her happy and childish for a change.' She admitted emotionally. 'She missed out on so much growing up, she never had a childhood. She had to grow up overnight.'

'We can't go back and rewrite the past Lis, it's in the past and there's nothing we can do about it. All we can do moving forward is give her the things she never had. A home, family, love. The other things she missed out on will be a result of those three. That's what this weekend is about for her. Making happy memories with people she loves.'

'It just makes me so angry sometimes, thinking about what's happened to her. She had another nightmare last night, I could see in her eyes when I asked her the fear and pain she holds inside. She never deserved any of it. She should have had a proper childhood. She should have had parents that loved her-'

'Lis.' He gently interrupted her, placing his hand on her shoulder. 'Your doing it again. You're getting yourself worked up. Take a deep breath. You can't change her past.'

Lisa blushed, slightly embarrassed as she did what he told her. She closed her eyes and took a couple deep breaths. Getting worked up was one of her weaknesses, especially when it came to Jessie. She knew she had to learn to control it. It just made her so mad though to think of the girl's past especially when she could see the irreversible damage it had done to the girl, emotionally and mentally. She opened her eyes again, calm again. 'I know I've got to stop doing that. You must think I'm silly and over emotional.'

'I don't think that. It shows how much you care about Jessie. I know you want to make things right for her but you can't change the past. She's going to need your help moving forward. That's where you need to direct your attention.'

'Your right.' She sighed. 'Thank you for reminding me of that.'

'Your welcome Lis.' He kissed her cheek gently. The sound of footsteps interrupted their moment and he stood up as the girl and her cougar joined them. She'd changed into jeans and a shirt, a warm coat over it since it was still chilly. 'You ready Jess?'

'Yep. All ready.'

'I'll just grab my camera.' Lisa headed to the SUV and grabbed her camera then joined them again. 'Alright, let's go.