It's a long one this time. I couldn't be bothered to split it into two basically :)
It's not the most uplifting chapter by and large but still, enjoy x
Caleb left the apartment later, acting as though nothing had happened when he passed Christian and Ana in the hallway.
Christian said nothing and Ana showed him out of the apartment, glad that he'd been able to leave without losing a limb courtesy of Christian.
It was on the Saturday afternoon that Christian, Ana, and Jess were sitting in a large echoing room somewhere in the City that Jess didn't recognise. Someone else that she didn't recognise signed a thick wad of papers before looking up with a smile
'Well, Mr Grey and Miss Steele, I'm happy to confirm that you are now officially Jessica's parents, well done, here's your paperwork'.
The three of them went to lunch together to celebrate before eventually making it to the Grey house as the sun was going down for a larger family celebration, which included Ethan, Kate and Harry, who had been looked after by the Grey's whilst they were at the official signings.
Encouraged by Caleb, Sawyer and Christian, Jess had decided to join the track long distance team, and was behind on training. Sawyer's idea was to jog with her around the sizeable grounds of the Grey house before it got fully dark, and then she could come back in and celebrate with them all.
Twenty minutes later Jess came into the main room of the house as Sawyer made his way to the kitchen. She was red in the face and breathing deeply, taking a drink that Elliot offered her in a tumbler glass.
Jess took the orange drink and downed it quickly, glancing up at Elliot 'has this got alcohol in it?' He glanced down at her now empty glass 'Well it did, do you want some water or something?'
She nodded, still breathing deeply as Harry ran over to her, immediately running into her arms as she stood up, holding him on her hip. 'Mama, Mama, Lelliot took me to see the boats!' She smiled, kissing her son on the forehead 'we'll take you out in them one day okay?' He nodded, looking excited and she put him down again.
Everyone spoke for a while and Ethan and Mia volunteered to get more drinks from the wine room in the basement, which Harry seemed interested in, not interested by the adults talking and Ethan saw his expression 'You want to come too?'.
He nodded and Ethan laughed, taking the little boy's hand 'come on then little man'.
As they left everyone started talking again and Christian offered Jess another drink but she shook her head 'I'll pass, I don't feel 100%'. He nodded, seeing that she was slightly pale and put his arm around her shoulder, his voice quiet so no one else overheard.
'That you, by the way'. Jess looked up with surprise and confusion 'What are you thanking me for?'.
'For giving me the chance to prove myself, to you, to my family and to Ana and Harry'. Jess shook her head, smiling 'it's not us you had to convince Christian, it's yourself'.
He smiled and they all looked up at the ceiling as a clap of thunder echoed through the house, the coming storm having clearly arrived. Carrick shook his head 'Seattle weather eh? Never seems to stay nice for long'.
They all agreed and heard another rumble of thunder before two flashes of lightning lit up the room, making the lights flicker quickly.
Elliot glanced at Carrick 'Think the lightning hit a fuse or something?'. Carrick nodded as the lights continued to rapidly flicker and Christian removed his arm from Jess, checking his Blackberry quickly
Jess was looking confused and was looking around the room with an anxious look on her face. Carrick glanced over 'Jess, are you okay?'.
She looked up, not really seeing him 'what's that smell?'. Everyone glanced at each other, not able to smell anything.
Elliot glanced at Ana and back again 'J, are you sure you're okay?'.
She almost started to nod before collapsing to the ground with a deep, heavy thump on the thick rug. Before anyone could move or even breathe, Jess was jerking, her whole body twitching and convulsing.
Grace knelt beside her immediately, throwing her glass of champagne to the floor without thinking 'someone keep Harry out, she's having a seizure'.
Kate was the first to move to the main doors, leaving and quickly closing the door behind her, so that she could stop Harry coming in the door or seeing anything.
Grace quickly cushioned Jess's head and watched closely as she simply let her tide out the seizure, as there was nothing she could do until it finished.
She looked up at Christian quickly 'when was the last time she had a seizure?'. He looked shocked and lost 'I- I didn't know she had them!'.
Grace looked unimpressed but watched as Jess's spasms and jerks started to slow down, her eyes half closed and her breathing heavy and shaky as she moved the girl into the recovery position, her voice quiet.
'I don't know why she didn't tell you herself but I wasn't allowed to- patient confidentiality. She's light sensitive'. Grace glanced down at Jess, who was still not fully conscious and her breathing shaky and heavy
'We need to take her to the hospital, she's not regaining consciousness properly, it might be nothing but I'd like them to do a test'.
Christian swallowed, eyes hot and prickly as he watched his daughter attempting to breathe properly, her eyes unfocussed and half closed, and her body still having small spasms.
Without saying anything he bent down and picked her up in his arms, glad of all the punishing work outs he'd done over the years. Grace and Ana quickly followed him out and Ana sat in the back of the car with Jess laid across the seats, her head resting on Ana's lap.
Ana looked down at her daughter, stroking her red hair gently as Christian sped through the Seattle traffic, Jess breathing heavily but her eyes still unfocussed.
Ana and Christian were holding hands as they waited on the cold plastic seat outside the room where Grace and a male doctor were tending to Jess. Beside them in equal silence were Mia and Ethan, who were simply looking at the floor or the wall opposite.
After what felt like a lifetime, Grace and the doctor exited Jess's room, closing the door behind them and Grace muttered something to her colleague and he nodded, walking away down the corridor towards the nurses' station, leaving Grace to face Ana and her three children.
She sighed
'so, she's fine. Jess has clearly been taking her medication but the lightning and the flickering lights mixed with the hard exercise she had done just before, that is probably what brought the seizure on… Jess should be fine, her breathing is normal, her heart rate has returned to normal, neurologically she is fine also. Jess obviously needs to talk to you both'.
She was looking at Christian and Ana and they nodded, glancing at each other 'Is she okay to see us now?'. Grace nodded 'Yes, she's fully conscious now. The only thing I'm going to say to you both is that Jess needs two parents right now, not people to shout at her, okay?'.
They both nodded and entered the room.
Jess was sitting up in the bed, attached to a machine that was gently beeping as it monitored her heart rate. She looked exhausted and upset as she saw her new parents standing at the door and close it behind them. Christian's voice was quiet but gentle.
'Please, explain this to me Jess. You have epilepsy J, that's something we need to know, I mean…how come we didn't?'.
She swallowed, flexing her fingers awkwardly, her voice quiet 'I don't…I don't like people knowing that I'm you know…'damaged'…even more than they already know. Until today you weren't legally my parents, my Dad in England always sends me money for my medication... I didn't want you to know… I'm already fucked up enough as it is… You didn't need to deal with that…I haven't had a seizure in years… Caleb is the only person I told… I didn't- I didn't want you to think I was 'broken'…'.
Ana sighed, shaking her head 'Oh honey, it wouldn't have made any difference. We just want you happy and healthy'. Ana sat down on the bed and pulled Jess into a hug, rubbing her back gently before pulling back and glancing at Christian with an encouraging smile
'I'll leave you two for a few minutes'.
She kissed Jess on the cheek lightly and left the room, gently closing the door behind her. Christian looked down at his daughter with a deep exhalation before sitting on the end of the bed.
'Firstly, Caleb has obviously tried to call you and got no answer, because he's messaged me four times seeing if you're okay. What do you want me to tell him? He'll come here if he knows where you are'. Jess shrugged 'tell him, he'll only find out later'.
Christian nodded, sending a quick message before putting away his phone and looking over at her.
'So, you have epilepsy'. She blinked 'looks that way doesn't it'.
Despite how annoyed he was at her, Christian laughed slightly
'Yes, yes. Well, I think we need to talk about this. What did you think you'd achieve by not telling us about this? I mean, I guess the social workers aren't really supposed to tell us private medical details when you're nearly 18, but still, you should have told us. This could have been much worse than it was, what if you were alone with Harry, what would you have done?'
Jess rubbed her face, shrugging uselessly 'fuck, I don't even know Christian. I just…I didn't want you to think I was even more fucked up, more of a burden'.
Christian laughed hollowly 'Jess, you've seen how fucked up I am, you having a disorder like epilepsy is hardly going to be a problem, alright?'.
Jess nodded, looking more relaxed again, sitting back in the bed against the pillows 'I'm sorry. Really, I am… I promise, there's nothing else, nothing I'm hiding. You already know about the other day…'.
Christian rolled his eyes, holding up a hand to stop her 'ah- no, please stop. I'll take a wild guess what happened alright, you're my daughter, I don't need to know what you and Caleb McManus got up to in your bedroom last week, alright?'.
Jess smirked and Christian frowned 'what?'. She laughed lightly 'you called me your daughter'. They both sat there feeling calm and happy as he gently took her hand, squeezing her hand gently 'we're going to be okay Jess'. She smiled back at him, feeling relieved and tired.
Forty five minutes later Caleb had arrived and Jess was allowed to go home again. He'd helped her change back into her clothes, which were the jogging leggings and pink sports top, an outfit that showed off her enviable figure.
Feeling exhausted, Jess tied up her long red hair and went out to the main area where Ana and Grey's were waiting, surrounded by a whole waiting room of people.
'Ana, can I go now?'. She nodded 'Papers have been signed, have you got all your things?'.
She nodded and looked around, freezing as she saw someone horribly familiar leering their way over towards her, a grin on his face as he came over, eyes locked on her. Jess only knew his first name –Jackson- and felt her heart sink when she saw him; he had been a repeated customer at the strip club.
Jackson winked at her, clearly leering at her 'fancy seeing you here Jessy, lookin' good'. She grimaced, looking physically sick 'I have to go'. She started to head towards the main doors and Jackson called after her
'it just ain't the same without you there. Star attraction and all'.
Jess looked as though she was going to vomit and Jackson immediately disappeared down the corridor, probably feeling the tension radiating off her.
Jess roughly pulled on her zip up hoodie and glared at Sawyer, who had only arrived a few minutes before 'where's my son?'.
Before he could speak Christian stepped in 'he's with my Dad, Kate and Ethan back at the house, he's fine'. Jess nodded, her face a mask of anger, shame and upset as she stalked out of the doors, everyone hurriedly following her, calling after her.
'Jess!' 'Jess, slow down'. Christian gripped her arm and she turned back to him, eyes dark and voice loud through the corridor 'GET OFF ME!'. In shock, Christian dropped his hand and she started to hurry off, ignoring everyone behind her.
Jess started to walk down the steps and into the light rain as Caleb hurriedly closed the gap between them as the rest of the group stopped on the steps, watching what happened, able to hear everything.
'Jess- JESS! Tell me what the fuck is going on here. Who was that guy?'
She turned, eyes full of angry tears and eyes dark.
'You want to know? You really want to know? Want to know where Elliot and Christian found me? I was in a strip club on the other side of the City, taking my clothes off for people like Jackson to give me the money so I could send it to my son. There, is that good enough for you? You want to see the marks, eh? There are some scars left over from when I didn't quite 'do what they wanted'- the bruises have gone but I've got some other marks if you really want to see them? People have always treated me like shit my whole life and you know what, I deserve it, half the men in this City have seen me in my underwear and think I'm nothing. Now I need to go and see my son'.
Jess turned to walk away but only got two steps away before she felt Caleb grab her hand and pull her back around to face him. He said nothing but simply kissed her, holding her body flush against his own, both ignoring the rain falling down on them.
Caleb pulled back and put a hand on her face so she couldn't look away
'I love you Jess, I love you for you, please understand that. I don't give a shit what you did before, you did it to look after your son- it's in the past. I don't care about all that, okay?'.
She swallowed and nodded, Caleb kissing her again.
Elliot looked at Christian with a smile 'I know you want to be an overprotective parents and all that, but don't ruin this for her'.
He shook his head 'Well, I'm hardly going to find someone better for her than Caleb am I?'. He shook his head and Grace exhaled deeply
'It's been a really, really long day. We should head home and get some sleep'.
Jess grumblingly apologised to the assembled adults for everything that had happened in the last few hours, but they all brushed it off, telling her to get some sleep and that it was okay.
As they headed over to the cars, Caleb quite pointedly told Christian that he was staying with Jess that night, there was no chance he was leaving her alone after everything that had happened. Christian wasn't exactly surprised and despite himself, he had to agree that he didn't want her alone.
Caleb had to drive his car back so took Jess and Ana back to Escala whilst Grace, Christian, Elliot, Mia and Sawyer went back to the much closer Grey house in Sawyer and Grace's cars.
Christian and Sawyer picked up an exhausted Harry and took him back to Escala, arriving a few minutes after Caleb had parked up.
Jess was clearly relieved and grateful to see her son, smiling at Sawyer and mouthing a silent 'thank you' as she hugged Harry tightly. He shook his head and waved a hand, indicating she didn't need to thank him.
Christian and Ana were getting drinks in the kitchen and filling Taylor and Gail in on the situation when the housekeep smiled
'Well, it's been an interesting first day of parenthood hasn't it?'. They all laughed lightly and Christian and Ana moved back out to the living room, stopping in the doorway and looking at the scene in front of them.
Caleb and Jess were asleep on the black sofa, one of his arms languidly over her shoulder as she was nuzzled into him. Harry was asleep across the both of them, with his chest against Caleb's own, the older boy with an arm lightly on the sleeping child, and Jess had a hand on her son too.
Christian glanced at Ana with a faint smile on his lips 'we should leave them, no point waking them- waking our daughter'.
'You're still in amazement about calling her that aren't you?'.
He nodded and she laughed 'Well get used to it Grey, you've got a daughter and a grandson now too- Granddad'. He raised an amused eyebrow 'well that makes you a grandmother doesn't it Steele?'.
She paled slightly 'oh god, it does doesn't it? God…'.
Christian nudged Ana slightly 'We should go to bed ourselves, unless you're getting too old for what I've got planned?'.
Ana couldn't hide the sparkle in her eyes as she grinned, putting down the half full glass of wine and walking speedily towards the bedroom, Christian following with a wide smirk.
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