"So you finally going to tell us what's so special about this new watch of Bookworm's" Sonny asked as he quickly shoved some clothes in a small overnight bag, it was the day before the wedding and all the guests had arrived in town. Critter had arrived two days with Dede, and Dede's younger sister and mother who were staying at the villa with the rest of them, while the rest of the guests were staying at a hotel in town, later tonight the boys would be hitting the town to celebrate Luca's last night as a free man, but for now they were still at the villa
"And why we're all going to be wearing one eventually" Jason said curiously as he finished packing his bag to take to the hotel they were all staying at tonight, after all it was bad luck for a groom to see his bride before the ceremony and they didn't know what time they would be finishing up, a private function room had been arranged at a hotel in Milan which was about an hours drive from Lake Como so it had been decided it would be easier to simply crash there tonight and have a chauffeur bring them all back to the church in the afternoon
"Jess went swimming in the lake right with Naima, Dede's sister and the kids" Trent said annoyed with the questions, he'd wanted to wait a bit longer to make sure it all worked properly before telling them about it
"Yeah, you can see them from the window here" Sonny said looking outside
"That, is her vital signs, her blood sugar levels, while she wears the watch, I can monitor her without interrupting what she's doing to get a reading, and if her readings go out of the normal ranges it will alert me so I can check on her, it can also be used to record food and fluid intake, when she has medication, send reminders if she's due for medication, track how she's sleeping, eventually her profile should develop to predict her needs, tell if she's starting to become to dehydrated, needs calories, if she's fatigued and needs rest. She can halt the transmission temporarily then upload the data all at once if she needs to and it's fully encrypted as each profilehas it's own unique identity code and password you need to put in to view the profile, it also acts as an emergency beacon if she gets separated from the rest of us and I can monitor her condition till we locate her, is operable under water up to 200 meters deep, and can transmit via satellite if outside the 30 click operational area" Trent said pulling out what looked like a phone and tapping a screen, it brought up Jess's name, her heart rate, temperature, how much her body was moving, steps taken, anything Trent could have possibly wanted to check was on that screen and she wasn't even in the same room as them, he'd even be able to tell if she was sleeping and how good a quality it was while Jess had the watch on
"And that's why you'll all be wearing one eventually I'm guessing" Eric said realising that the watches would let him or Trent know if someone was under the weather and trying too hide it, or potentially having trouble sleeping, it would also allow for tracking and monitoring of casualties in emergency situations while a rescue attempt was being mounted and they wouldn't be stuck having to wait for satellite confirmation to confirm survivors
"What's that alarm" Jason asked noticing the beeping
"It's saying Jess has a low blood sugar level" Trent said checking the notification
"Which would probably explain why Bookworm's just got out of the lake and wrapping her towel around her, looks like she's giving herself an injection" Sonny said looking out the window
"Glucose shot, and she's having some gummy bears, she just recorded it on her end" Trent said showing them where the information just popped up that Jess had recorded herself so Trent could see she'd already taken action to correct the low reading and he didn't need to rush to check on her straight away, he could sit back and wait to see if it corrected itself before intervening
"That's impressive Trent, how ever did you come up with the idea for the watch" Eric asked impressed as he saw a number increase in value slowly and the background changed from red, to orange the blue, Eric guessed it was the low blood sugar reading correcting itself
"People wear smart watches all the time to track their health and fitness, so I figured why not see if one could be custom designed to monitor Jess's needs, so I just told Jay what I wanted and why, he done the rest" Trent said as he checked the number was in normal range before putting the device back in his pocket, he'd been trying to work out an idea for next rotation so he could keep of her case once she was given the all clear to increase her physical training activity, as well as keeping a buffer between her and the others if they were concerned about whether Jess was pushing to hard, having the watch with a portable reading device seemed like the perfect solution as Trent could physically show the others the readings if they were concerned
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"Ready for lunch baby girl" Jay said noticing his daughters arrival on the patio after her morning swimming, she looked a little drained but would no doubt find another activity to distract her this afternoon and tire herself out as much as possible so she'd get a good sleep tonight due to the fatigue as he guessed she would be nervous about the big day tomorrow even if she wasn't showing it
"Starving, I forgot how much swimming increases the appetite" Jess said taking a seat next to Luca
"Sugar level okay still after the low reading earlier" Eric asked curiously, Trent explained to him just before they came out that it looked like Jess was going to be having permanent issues with her blood sugar due to gastric dumping syndrome and the medication she would be given. He'd already spoken to both Aubree and Chelsea to make sure that nothing else was being kept hidden from him about what was going on with Jess, arguing that he couldn't focus on the wedding celebrations till he knew for sure that he was fully aware of everything that was going to be happening when they all got back to Vah Beach treatment wise
"For the moment, but need something better than glucose to keep them up for the rest of the day sir" Jess said smiling, glucose was only designed to give her a quick, short boost to get her out of trouble, her body needed something more sustainable to break down and she knew it
"Homemade mini calzones do the trick my nipotne" Nonna said appearing on the patio with a big tray of food, Alie was behind her with another tray, Zalie had already told them about Jess having a low blood sugar reading
"Sure will Nonna" Jess said knowing she'd be able to pick at them throughout the afternoon and Nonna would have loaded them with some extra protein
"So we have sausage, mushroom and tomato and basil, pumpkin, ricotta and tomato, and for sensitive tummy's we have sausage with mushroom and spinach with ricotta and pumpkin, pancetta and basil with ricotta" Nonna said pointing to the different plates and explaining the flavours, as everyone started helping themselves
"Thanks Nonna" Jess said grabbing two of the ricotta filled ones and started to eat
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"Aren't you getting tired yet Jess" Alie asked he'd daughter after they'd played their third game of tennis for the evening
"No, not really, it feels good" Jess said her body was hurting but the endorphins were really kicking it
"No doubt it is, but let's take a break for a bit" Alie said laughingly as she pointed to a bench, her mama senses were kicking in which told her something was off with her daughter and it needed to be talked about, and Alie already had a strong feeling about what that problem could be
"Sure Alie" Jess said taking a seat, she pulled out a cold leftover calzone from lunch that day to eat while her stepmum talked
"You know it's okay to be nervous about what's going on" Alie said putting her hand on Jess's shoulder
"I'm not nervous about getting married tomorrow if that's what you're thinking" Jess said surprised and wishing that people would stop asking her if she was nervous
"I'm not talking about tomorrow, you'll have a big sleep tonight, then in the morning we'll have breakfast, then Laura, Zalie and I will help you get ready, then the car will take us all to the church and you and Luca will finally become husband and wife after waiting for all these years, all the troubles and set backs you've been through together, all those people who said you need to take it as a sign that the universe doesn't want you together, tomorrow none of that will matter anymore, you'll still have your challenges but they will no longer seem to be as difficult as this will prove to everyone that your bond is unbreakable regardless of what you're future holds" Alie said keeping her hand on Jess's shoulder
"I don't understand then Alie, what are you saying I'm nervous about then" Jess asked confused
"You're nervous about your future, about returning to duty, you're worried about whether you're going to be able to manage everything successfully, you're worried about what will happen if you can't regain your A1 classification and are permanently removed from active duty status, about how you're going to manage the chemotherapy side effects while still being on active duty, what if you have trouble maintaining your weight still or your blood sugars keep fluctuating. What I'm saying is that none of that matters as long as you remember that whatever happens you have an adoring husband who will always love you and do everything he can to help ease what's troubling you, and your dad and I are so proud of you for making it this far, we know how much you've struggled, whether you're of saving the world or stuck at home or in a hospital bed dealing with cancer again we will still love you and be right there. What I'm saying is don't look at things and think what if I fail and allow that to consume you because you've already achieved so muchthat it won't make any difference to what's really important in life" Alie said softly explaining how she saw things, she'd seen Jess's competitive side, her need to prove others wrong about her ever since she was a little girl, but she needed Jess to know that if things didn't work out with returning to duty, that she'd be okay, she wouldn't be alone and no one would think any less of her
"Do you think I'm making the wrong decision trying to come back, knowing what uncertainty my future holds" Jess asked moving in closer so Alie could cuddle her like she use to when she was younger
"I think that whatever happens you won't be satisfied unless you at least give it a good shot and we'll do everything we possibly can to support you, but make sure you are doing this for yourself and not anyone else, because to anyone whose opinions are truly important in your life just want to see you happy and will always be there for you regardless of whatever has happened" Alie said in the same soft soothing tone she would always use whenever Jess had been scared when she was younger, Alie knew what unnecessary stress could do to someone like Jess, the affect it had on the body and mind, if she could convince her to let go of it and keep sharing her burdens with Luca and them like she'd done so far, Alie had no doubt Jess could achieve whatever she set her mind to
"Speaking of support do you think you can talk dad into creating some better tasting rations that I can take into the field with me when I deploy, you know just so I'm actually getting some decent food while I'm there" Jess asked looking her stepmother in the eyes
"I'll do you one better, I'll tell Nonna that you want some decent tasting rations for when you return to duty, she won't give your dad a choice about whether he does them or not, she'll simply tell him he's doing it regardless" Alie said with a cheeky grin on her face, no one said no to her mother, not even her husband
"Yeah she would to wouldn't she" Jess said laughing at the thought of Nonna scolding her dad for not making whatever Jess had asked for, for Italian grandchildren it was an unwritten rule that if your parents said no about anything Nonna would always say yes, you wanted 2 servings of cannoli and your parents said no, go ask Nonna and she would get you 3 serves instead, and even a fourth if you were still hungry
"But considering your dad already has backpacker meals and shelf staple food in stock it shouldn't be to hard to get some of your favourite dishes turned into rations I wouldn't think, we might just have to sit down and brainstorm some ideas, think about what food would work the best, what the options are for preserving and all the rest, you okay now" Alie said explaining that she would help get the better tasting rations idea organised and off the ground when the time come, she hoped that it would be enough to help Jess feel relaxed and enjoy tomorrow
"I'm fine" Jess said still cuddled up close to Alie, the fatigue was really starting to set in now as she let out a huge yawn
"Think someone's ready for her bed, come on let's get our racquets away and get you upstairs and ready to go to sleep, you've got your big day tomorrow after all" Alie said noticing the yawn, Jess didn't utter another word, she just simply followed Alie's instructions and followed her upstairs
