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As always, I don't own anything other than the plot line.
Help Is Here.
The worry in Jasmine's voice told her she needed to get to Ethan's now and so after quickly explaining to Troy, she was out the door and on her way there.
Jasmine had met her at the door and had explained everything to her as quickly as she could, Ethan was becoming increasingly vulnerable and didn't want to break down in front of Summer, so leaving them alone for too long wouldn't have helped.
Gabriella had listened intently to everything Jasmine had told her and had immediately reassured her that everything was going to be okay, but Jasmine would need to keep her cool, Ethan was going to need her now more than ever and her getting upset wasn't going to be any help at all.
Jasmine led Gabriella through to the lounge and found the siblings exactly how she had left them, Summer playing quietly on the floor and Ethan sat on the sofa staring off into space. Summer was the first to notice their presence in the room and being the inquisitive little girl that she was wanted to know who the new person was, so she went to introduce herself.
"Hey Summer," Jasmine greeted, as she picked her up and rested her on her hip. "This is my Mum Gabriella; she's here to help because you and Ethan can't live by yourselves anymore, is that alright?" Summer nodded and waved shyly at Gabriella.
"Hey honey, we're gonna go and see your Mum in a little while, do you want to go and get some stuff together?" Summer now had her thumb in her mouth and so nodded silently and let Jasmine put her down before heading off to get her things together.
Gabriella and Jasmine silently moved to sit either side of Ethan, they didn't want to scare him, but their movement had already alerted him to their presence. He lifted his head from staring at the wall and smiled softly at Jasmine before turning to Gabriella.
"Hey Mrs B, thanks for coming."
"It's not problem sweetheart, I'm just glad you've trusted me enough to help you." Gabriella couldn't help but notice how Ethan blindly reached for Jasmine's hand and how Jasmine's thumb was running back and forth over his knuckles reassuringly.
"I wasn't gonna say anything straight away, I wanted us to hang out for a bit first, I didn't to ruin Jasmine's day, but when Summer told her Mum was in hospital I didn't really have a lot of choice."
"You did the right thing though honey, making the decision to tell us, it doesn't matter that you were going to do it later, you made the decision and that's what matters, will it be okay to go and see your Mum now or do they have specific visiting times?"
"Mum's got her own room, so we can go in whenever, I don't know what I'm going to say to her though, we don't doing lying, we tell each other everything, especially since Dad died."
"It's fine Ethan, we'll be there to support you, she's your Mum, she'll understand that you were only trying to do what you thought was best for you and Summer, she won't be angry Ethan."
"I know she won't, I just don't want them to split me and Summer up."
"They won't sweetheart, that's the one thing I promise you we'll have control over, I think there maybe already be somewhere you can both go."
TGTGTGTG
Miranda Kean had been in hospital for five months now and over that time she'd only ever had two visitors, her son and daughter. She always knew when they had arrived; there was a lot of commotion as they made their way onto the ward and the nurses would often laugh at home excited Summer was to see her Mum, despite the current situation the young family was in.
Today however, she could tell it wasn't just her children because the commotion stopped and they had a conversation with the nurses before appearing in her room with two extra people.
"Mummy!" Summer was always the first to enter the room and would always give Miranda a hug, but she would always ask first, she didn't want to hurt her Mummy.
"Hey sweetheart, it's okay, you can cuddle with Mummy today, I'm feeling really good," Summer smiled happily and jumped up onto Miranda's bed, cuddling into her Mum's side as she savoured the hug only a Mum could give.
"Hey Mum, how you feeling?" Ethan came in next and while he circled the bed to give Miranda a hug without squashing Summer, Gabriella and Jasmine waited in the doorway to let the family have some deserved time together.
"I'm feeling really good sweetie, they started me on my new medication last night and I'm already noticing the difference."
"That's really great Mum, this is my friend Jasmine and her Mum Gabriella, they came with us today because I've got some important stuff to tell you."
"Well then you ladies better come on in, there's room for us all, I'm Miranda by the way."
"It's nice to meet you Miranda and to put a face to the name," Gabriella said, as she came and lifted Summer off of the bed so she could get out all her toys and play in the corner.
"It's nice to meet you too ladies, I can't say I've heard much about you Gabriella, but I've definitely heard a lot about you Jasmine."
"Well now I just feel embarrassed, thanks Ethan," Ethan simply shrugged as Jasmine gave him a quick reassuring hug, before heading over to play with Summer, knowing that Ethan needed to have this talk alone with his Mum, with Gabriella there as his support system.
"Mum, there's some stuff I need to tell you and Gabriella and Jasmine already know, that's why they're here today, but you need to know that I'm really sorry and I don't want you to be angry or upset 'cause…"
"Ethan," Gabriella stopped Ethan's rambling and made him look towards her. "Your Mum will understand, just stay calm and explain it to her life you have us." Ethan nodded slowly and took a deep breath, as Miranda gave Gabriella a thankful smile and took her sons hands in her own.
"Gabriella's right Ethan, whatever it is, I'll understand, I won't be angry or upset, just explain it to me slowly and calmly, alright?" Ethan nodded and gripped onto Miranda's hands tighter.
"Mum, Summer and I…we haven't been living next door, I've hardly even seen them in the time you've been in here. Summer didn't want to stay with them, she said she wanted her own room and all of her things around her, so I told her we could stay at home, but she just wasn't allowed to tell anyone, not even you. So that's what we've been doing, staying at home by ourselves and to begin with everything worked out just fine, I was able to use the card you gave me to get money out for food and stuff and nothing happened that we couldn't cope with. But then the bills started arriving and I just left them because I thought you'd be home soon and then you could pay them, but you kept getting worse and you weren't coming home and the bills were piling up and now the final demands have arrived and if we don't pay them they're gonna turn everything off, but I don't know how to pay the bills and if I told you then you'd know we were still at home and…I'm sorry Mum, I'm so so sorry." Ethan broke down in tears and Miranda was quick to pull him into a hug, holding him against her chest and shushing him until his tears finally subsided.
"Ethan sweetheart, look at me please," Ethan slowly sat up and let Miranda wipe away his tears before she took his hands back into hers. "I'm not angry or upset with you honey, you were doing what you thought was best for Summer and I can never be angry at you for doing that. I knew that something wasn't right anyway, when you brought me my post and I had statements sent from the bank, you had always been taking more money out than I had expected you to, especially because I thought you were staying next door, but it wasn't big amounts and the money wasn't low and I trusted you with whatever it was you were using it for, so I didn't say anything, I just let you get on with it and kept a bit of an eye on it. The main thing that caught my eye was that next door never came and visited me with you, they never gave you two and lift up here and neither of you ever mentioned them. I did bring that up, but whenever I did, you changed the subject and Summer would completely ignore me. I should've looked more into that, but I never did, I tried, but I've just been so tired in here that I never got there and you two always seemed okay when you visited me so there was never anything to cause major alarm. Now tell me, when are they going to turn things off?"
"The end of the week, I'm sorry Mum; I didn't know what to do, can you pay them today? Gabriella has them with her."
"Well if Gabriella has them with her then yes, I can phone the companies and pay them over the phone." Miranda pulled Ethan into another hug, as Gabriella pulled the bills and some credit cards out of her bag.
"Ethan wasn't sure which credit card you'd need to use to pay them, so we brought them all with us rather than trying to guess," Gabriella handed the bills to Miranda and allowed her to take the right credit card before putting the rest back into her bag.
"Alright, I'm going to pay these and then everything is sorted and there's nothing else to be told, correct?" Ethan nodded and handed Miranda his phone. "You go and wash your face and then go down to the canteen with the girls and get something to eat and drink bring back some coffees for Gabriella and I, alright?"
"Yeah okay, I don't have any money though…"
"It's okay Ethan, it can be my treat," Gabriella said, as she pulled her purse out of her bag and handed Ethan some money. "I'll have a cake with my coffee though and bring something back for your Mum as well, okay?" Ethan nodded and thanked Gabriella for the money before quickly heading into Miranda's attached bathroom to washing his face and then heading down to the canteen with the girls.
TGTGTGTG
Ten minutes later all of the bills were paid and Miranda handed everything back to Gabriella so she could take it back to the house for her.
"If you don't mind me asking Miranda, what exactly are you in hospital for? Ethan's told us you've been in here since January, but he's never told us what for, feel free not to answer."
"No it's fine, I haven't had the chance to talk to an adult who isn't medically trained and knows more than me, you're not a doctor are you?"
Gabriella laughed. "No I'm not, I'm a High School teacher, my husband is a doctor, but he specialises in emergency medicine."
"Rather him than me, no basically just after Christmas I picked up a really bad couch and cold, it was so bad I was finding it hard to breath and one day I started panicking because I couldn't catch my breath at all, so Ethan phoned for an ambulance, they brought me to the hospital and I was admitted the same day. They thought it was something to do with my lungs to begin with, but after a shed load of tests they found out it was my heart causing the main problem. They said there was an operation they could do and after explaining it all to Ethan I decided to go ahead with it, but then I picked up an infection and I had to lose that before I was allowed to have the op. Anyway, it was about the middle of March when I was finally well enough to have the op and it all went well, they fixed what needed to be fixed and it seemed like I'd be out of here by the end of the month, clearly I wasn't. Because of the operation I'm going to have to be on medication for the rest of my life, which I can live with, taking tablets for life and not having a life…the choice seems pretty obvious to me. Anyway, the medication has to be tailored individually to each patient and to cut a long story short, the first three sets of medication they gave to me, I reacted badly to and was seriously sick, those were the times when Ethan thought I would be coming home and then I got sick so I couldn't. But, last night they gave me my forth set of medication and so far everything seems to be working out, I haven't been sick or had any bad reactions to it, which with the other ones I had by now, so things seem to be looking up. The doctors say if I carry on the way I am I could be out of here by the end of next week, the week after at the latest, but that's still another five days at the least, they can't keep living by themselves Gabriella, it's not fair on Ethan to be taking care of Summer." Miranda reached up a hand to wipe away a few stray tears, as Gabriella took hold of the other in comfort.
"Miranda I may have somewhere for them to stay, if you're willing to let them. I phoned my Mum this morning, just after Jasmine asked me to go over to your place, I told her the situation and she said as long as you're okay with it, then she'd happily have Ethan and Summer living with her until you're back on your feet. Her name's Maria, by the way, and she only lives ten minutes from my house and five minutes from yours, so the children can easily pop into yours to pick up the post and stuff and can come round to ours if Ethan wants to see Jazzy or if Summer wants to play with the twins, or if my Mum has a meeting then we'll have them for a while. Basically none of it will be an inconvenience to anyone and we really just want to help you, I know you don't know me at all, but I've come to know Ethan really well recently and I don't want to see him hurt or upset."
"I don't want to see him hurt or upset either, Summer as well for that matter. You're right, I don't know you very well Gabriella, but like you have come to know Ethan, I've come to hear a lot about Jasmine and from what I can tell, her and Ethan have come to be very close and I don't want to break that apart, I think he needs her now more than ever, so yes Gabriella, if your Mum really is sure, then I'd be more than happy for them to stay with her."
TGTGTGTG
"This feels really weird."
It was late in the evening as Jasmine and Ethan sat on the living room floor, leaning against the couch, as they cuddled up in sleeping bags. After the children had returned from the canteen and the new living arrangements had been explained to them, Jasmine asked if Ethan could stay at the Bolton's that night, giving him and Summer some time apart and allowing Summer to become accustomed to Maria's house without Ethan there as her security blanket, she needed to feel safe with people other than her brother.
Summer wasn't too sure about that idea to begin with, but after meeting Maria and being promised a take away tea of her choice, with some of Maria's famous double chocolate brownie's for desert, she was quickly won over.
Troy and Gabriella, well mainly Troy, hadn't wanted Ethan and Jasmine to sleep in her room where they could shut and lock the door, but had agreed to them sleeping on the living room floor and having a movie night, as long as they didn't make a load of noise or stay up ridiculously late.
"What feels really weird?" Jasmine asked, as she grabbed some popcorn from the bowl on Ethan's lap.
"Being here with you and not at home watching telly in bed or comforting Summer from a nightmare, most of the time she'd end up in my bed with me."
"How come?" Jasmine asked, as she took some more popcorn and then leant her head against Ethan's shoulder.
"Her nightmares would be about Mum dying or her becoming really ill and never coming home and she'd just be so upset that I wouldn't want to leave her alone and so I'd let her sleep in my bed so I could give her a hug and keep and eye on her."
"You're a great big brother Ethan; it's clear how much you care about Summer."
"I love her more than I could ever explain Jaz. She was five when Dad died, no five year should have to go through that, she didn't really understand what happened then and I don't think she really understands now. We've told her that he's in heaven with the angels and that he's looking over her and keeping her safe, but other than that, she really doesn't understand." Ethan wrapped an arm round Jasmine's shoulder, as she cuddled closer against him.
"No child should have to go through that and I'm really sorry that you had to."
"I'm really sorry that you never even got to meet your Mum, did she even get to hold you?"
Jasmine shook her head. "Dad told me they were going to place me on her chest as soon as they'd cut the cord, skin to skin bonding they call it. But as soon as I came out, my Mum, her name's Jessica, fell back against the bed and became all unresponsive. They took me away at that point and all they told day was that Mum was bleeding out way too much. Basically, about half an hour after I was born, I think, Mum died and Dad became a single Dad."
"Does it feel weird calling Gabriella Mum? I don't think I'd ever be able to call someone else Dad."
Jasmine shrugged. "It sounds wrong, but I feel weird calling Jessica Mum, but I think it's because I never knew her as my Mum. Dad explained to me that she was with the angels when I was really little and he showed me pictures of her, but because she was never there I never called her Mum. I asked Gabriella to be my Mum when I was two and I've pretty much called her Mum ever since, it just feels right. But she understands that sometimes when I wanna talk about Jessica, that I'll call her Mum because she really is my Mum…none of that made sense, but yeah…" Ethan chuckled, as Jasmine buried her face in his shoulder.
"It's okay Jazzy, I get what you're saying, you call Gabriella your Mum because she's the only Mum you've ever known, but Jessica will always be your birth Mum and you'll always talk about her that way. It would be different for me because I grew up calling my Dad, he's Steve by the way, Dad, I was taught to do that and because he was here I always did that. If a new man came into Mum's life it would be hard for me to call him Dad because I grew up with a Dad, where as you didn't grow up with a Mum so it was easy for you to call Gabriella Mum. Well that is complicated…how come you asked Gabriella to be your Mum?" Jasmine laughed and turned her head so it was no longer buried in his shoulder, but leaning against it again.
"Her and my Dad were really close, they'd been going through some really tough times and so because Grandma wanted to keep an eye on them both and 'cause it was Christmas, Dad and I moved in for the holidays. Basically, I don't really remember, but apparently I asked Grandma if Gabriella could be my Mum and I was insistent that we got a mug made asking her to be my Mum. Dad didn't know about it, so I kept it until the afternoon after all the other presents were opened and we'd had lunch to give it to her. She was pretty shocked, but Dad said he was fine with it happening, it was like me giving Gabi permission to be a constant in our lives and so she agreed and I've called her some variation of Mum ever since."
"That's really sweet Jazzy…just like you," Jasmine blushed as she turned her head to look Ethan in the eye. Their eyes locked and before they knew what was happening they'd kissed. It wasn't long or passion filled, but a sweet and meaningful peck, something both of them hoped would become Life Changing.
TGTGTGTG
Well it's not as long as it could be, but I really struggled writing it and it's out sooner than the last one.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! THANK YOU!