"Oh darling, that's not necessary. I wasn't ever going to make you follow through on that".
"I know, but a deal is a deal. I want to follow through".
"Well, she has to get well first. She can't fly with an ear infection".
"True".
They chatted a little more and she gave him a back scratch.
"How is your ear infection?"
"Getting better. I'm almost out of medicine, time for a refill soon".
She gave him a neck rub for a little bit and then they switched.
After her neck massage, they made love a couple times and then fell asleep all wrapped up together.
***The next morning***
Jonathan woke up first, when his alarm went off.
Jennifer was asleep on his chest.
He kissed her head and eased out from under her and headed to the shower.
She woke up when the shower cut on, and headed to start the coffee.
He came in and wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck.
"Morning".
"Morning. Want me to make you an omelet for breakfast?"
"No thanks. I have a breakfast meeting".
Savanna came downstairs and then went straight to Jennifer.
Jennifer picked her up and hugged her.
"Good morning lovebug. How do you feel?"
"Better, actually".
Jennifer smirked.
"Let's take your medicine".
"No, it's yucky".
"I know, but you can drink some water right afterwards and then I will make you a yummy breakfast".
"Panacakes?"
"Sure, if that's what you want".
"Ok".
Jennifer sat her on the counter and got her meds ready.
Just then, McKenna started to cry.
"I'll get her, it's ok".
Jonathan came back a few minutes later with McKenna, and put her in her highchair with a bottle.
Savanna was still sitting on the counter with Jennifer, helping her mix the pancake batter.
"Bye darling, I'll see you tonight. I love you".
"I love you too, have a good day".
Jennifer kissed Jonathan a few times.
"Bye sweetie pie, have fun with Aunt Jennifer, ok?"
Savanna nodded.
She put her arms up to him, wanting a hug.
He picked her up and hugged her for several minutes.
"I'm not mad at you anymore, actually".
"I'm so glad".
He gave her a kiss and put her back on the counter.
Jennifer walked him to the door.
"See, I told you it would work out".
"I know. I should listen to you more often".
"Or you could just realize that this is just as life-changing for her as it is for you, with the exception that you have coping skills and she doesn't".
"You are so smart. Play your cards right and I just might marry you".
"I'm going to hold you to that. I love you".
"I love you too".
Another kiss and then he left. Jennifer went back to the kitchen.
"Aunt Jeffer, did you give Jonathan another kiss?"
She chuckled.
"Yes, I did".
"But Aunt Jeffer, if you give him all the kisses now, you won't have any for your wedding".
"Trust me, lovebug, a woman in love never runs out of kisses".
"Never?"
"Never. I give you lots of kisses all the time, have I ever run out?"
"No and if you did I would cry".
"Me too".
They finished the pancakes and because she was sick, Jennifer let her have extra syrup.
Luke woke up around 9, and joined them for pancakes.
After breakfast, they snuggled up on the couch and watched movies. One of the antibiotics made Savanna sleepy, so she fell asleep.
Jennifer grabbed the phone and called Jonathan's office.
"Hello?"
"Can I speak to Jonathan Hart please?"
"Certainly, one moment".
"Hello, this is Jonathan Hart".
"Hey, it's me. Can you stop and get her a nightlight? Something girly and princess-y, or Barbie, if you can. I promised her we would get one, but I don't want to get her out and she's asleep right now".
"Yeah, sure. I can also pick up dinner if you want."
"That sounds good".
"Do you like sushi?"
"Yes. Where are you thinking?"
"Arigato's".
"Oh, that's a great place. Hang on, let me get up and get the menu".
She ran and got it and came back.
"Ok, get the kids some Chicken Fried Rice-a large one. We can all split that. And get them some sweet and sour chicken. As for me, I want a Tokyo roll, and an avocado roll, and a crunchy crab roll. And if you want sashimi, I will split it with you".
"Perfect. I'll pick it up on my way home. Everything else alright?"
"Yeah, we are just hanging out. She's been pretty crabby, but she just fell asleep, and I just put McKenna down for her nap. How was your meeting?"
"Productive. I didn't get all of what I wanted, but we made progress, so that's something. I love you".
"I love you too. See you when you get home".
She blew him a kiss and hung up.
When Jonathan got home, Jennifer was on the couch with Savanna and McKenna. She was being extra smiley and was so happy.
Savanna wasn't in a good mood but she wasn't crying.
"Hi darling".
He leaned over and gave her and upside down kiss.
"Hi".
McKenna started squealing loud for him to pick her up.
He set their dinner down and came over to the couch.
He took McKenna from Jennifer.
"What is it? Did you miss me today or something?"
She started blowing raspberries and laughing.
"Savanna, I have a present for you".
"A present?"
"Yeah, a present".
He pulled the nightlight out of the bag and handed it to her.
"It's the nightlight we said we would get you".
He had found a Barbie one and a princess one and got her both.
"It's Barbie! And the princesses!"
"What do you say?"
"Thank you".
She crawled across Jennifer to him and hugged him.
Jennifer took McKenna and put her in the highchair with a bottle, and then started getting their dinner on plates.
"Savanna, can you go upstairs and ask Luke to come down for dinner please?"
"Ok".
She came down a few minutes later and found Jennifer.
"He said no".
"He said no? Did he say why?"
"No, he just said no and leave me alone".
Jonathan went to get him while Jennifer kept getting their dinner ready.
She could hear them coming down the steps.
"There are just things that aren't negotiable, and coming to the dinner table is one of them".
"But why can't I eat in my room?"
"Because we want to eat together as a family".
They sat down and ate. Jonathan had surprised Jennifer by getting them more than what they said. He had gotten a large chicken fried rice, and a large shrimp fried rice, sweet and sour chicken, sweet and sour shrimp and their sushi rolls and sashimi.
Luke took some of the shrimp fried rice and sweet and sour chicken.
Savanna wanted chicken fried rice and sweet and sour chicken.
When she saw Jennifer put the sashimi on her plate, she wanted a piece.
"Ok, here you go".
She picked up a piece and put it in her mouth.
"Aunt Jeffer?"
"Yes, lovebug?"
"This is gross, actually".
"You don't have to finish it. Here, spit it into a napkin".
She ate all of her chicken fried rice and most of the sweet and sour chicken.
Jennifer gave her the next dose of medicine when she was finished and she went to lay down on the couch.
Luke finished his dinner and went back upstairs.
McKenna fell asleep in her high chair.
"Well, it looks like we get a romantic dinner together after all".
Jonathan used his chopsticks to feed her a piece of shrimp.
She kissed him and sat with him while he finished eating.
"I bought Luke and I some tickets to a playoff NFL game, but he wasn't being nice earlier, so I didn't even tell him about it".
"When is the game?"
"Two weeks".
"Maybe he's just in a mood".
"Wanna know what kind of mood I'm in?"
He leaned over and kissed her neck.
"Yeah, well, once the door is locked, you can show me".
"Deal".
It was time for Savanna's first dose of her night time medicine, so Jennifer went and picked her up and took her to the kitchen counter.
"Ok, it's day 3, so you are supposed to take this new medicine today. I don't know what it's going to taste like, but if you don't like it, you can have some water afterwards".
"Ok."
She poured some into the medicine spoon and then gave it to her.
Savanna made the most awful face, but didn't spit it out or cry.
"Good job. Do you want some water?"
"Yes, please. In my princess cup".
"Ok".
She made her some ice water and then Savanna took it back to the couch.
Jonathan did the dishes while Jennifer put away the leftovers.
They looked up and noticed that she was just running in circles around the coffee table, over and over and over.
After they cleaned the kitchen, Jennifer went and switched out laundry and Jonathan helped her fold it.
They came back into the kitchen and set the laundry baskets on the end of the kitchen table.
They looked over and Savanna was jumping on the couch like a bunny rabbit.
"Excuse me, we don't jump on the couch".
"Yes, we do".
"No, we don't. Get down please".
Savanna kept jumping.
"Savanna Abigail, I'm going to count to 3 and if you aren't off the couch, you are going to time out. 1….."
"2, 3. I'm still jumping Jennifer Suzanne". Savanna raised her fist up at Jennifer.
Jennifer was in shock. Savanna had never been like this.
She marched over there and picked her up mid-jump and made her go sit in time out.
She set a timer for 5 minutes and then when it was over, she went to talk to her.
"Do you know why you are in time out?"
"Because I was jumping and you couldn't deal with it".
"That's true, because you have never been allowed to jump on the furniture. But it's also because you were being rude and disrespectful".
"Can I go now?"
"No, you may not. Why are you acting this way?"
"I wanted to jump like a bunny and you said no and I said yes".
"Do you want to spend the rest of the night in time out?"
"No".
"Then you need to start listening. Do you understand?"
"Yes".
"Ok, you may get up".
She got up and started running through the house. Jonathan and Jennifer watched her, too shocked to say anything. She was running back and forth across the living room, touching one wall and then running to the other side of the room to touch the other, over and over again.
"Do you think she's possessed?"
"I have no earthly idea. I've never seen her like this. She's never talked back to me before, ever. I didn't even know she knew my middle name. She is not acting like my Savvie".
"Maybe it's the combo of all her medicines".
She got out the medicines and looked at all of them. None of the medicine bottles said anything about mood changes.
She decided to call the doctor's office and see if the on-call nurse could tell her anything.
A few minutes later, she was on the phone with the nurse and Jonathan had gone to get Savanna to stop jumping off the counter of the built-in bookshelf onto the couch pillows she had put on the floor.
"Here, why don't you come color Aunt Jennifer a picture, to say sorry for talking back to her?"
He got her some plain paper and the box of crayons. She began furiously coloring back and forth, back and forth.
Jennifer described everything to the nurse and then the nurse asked her the names of the medications.
"About a half-hour before she started doing this, she had her first dose of Dexamethasone. At the present time, she is singing and is making a noise that resembles a rabid hyena being electrocuted. She's also talking back which is out of character, in addition to the endless amounts of energy that has come from nowhere".
"That will do it every time. Some kids just cannot handle steroids. She sounds very dysregulated".
"So, what do you suggest, because she has 4 doses of this left?"
"I will call you in another medicine to give her in it's place. You can try the night time cough syrup but I would wait about an hour before you give it to her".
"Ok, thank you".
She hung up.
"It's the steroid, and she said in an hour to give her the night time cough syrup". Jennifer set a timer for an hour.
"Sounds like a plan".
"savanna, do you want to sit on the couch and snuggle with me?"
"No. I hate that".
"No, you don't".
"I'm not doing it".
"Remember what I told you, that I know you don't feel well, but you still have to be nice?"
"I am being nice. I'm not screaming".
"I appreciate that. But you aren't speaking nicely".
"I don't care".
Jonathan came out of the bedroom in his pajamas. Jennifer suddenly had an idea.
"Let's go get your jammies on".
"Ok".
She went to the laundry room and got her jammies out of the laundry basket from the dryer and came back.
"Here, let's go to the couch".
They went to the couch and Jennifer tried to get Savanna's clothes off her but she wouldn't stay still.
It ended up taking the both of them to wrestle her clothes off her and then Jonathan pinned her down while Jennifer put her jammies on her.
She spent the next 45 minutes running back and forth across the living room and singing to herself, while Jonathan and Jennifer looked on with no idea what to do.
"Maybe she will wear herself out and sleep really well".
"What if you gave her a bath to calm her down some?"
"A bath when she's like this? She's liable to splash the water all over the bathroom".
"Good point".
When the timer that Jennifer had set went off, she got up and got her a medicine spoonful of the night time cough syrup.
Jonathan picked Savanna up and set her on the counter.
"Ok, take this and then you can have some water".
"No, I don't want to".
"You need to, it's the feel better medicine".
"No, I don't want to".
They tried to force it down her, but she resisted and ended up spilling the medicine and biting Jennifer's finger.
Jennifer poured another dose of it, and Jonathan held in her such a way that she couldn't move and then Jennifer poured it in her mouth and held her mouth shut while she swallowed it.
"It tastes yucky".
"Ok, let's drink some water".
"I want him to hand it to me".
"Fine".
She handed Jonathan the water cup, and he handed it to her and she drank it and then dropped the cup in the sink.
"Ok, bed time".
"I don't want you, I want Jonathan".
"Fine. Goodnight, I love you".
"You don't love me, you just love yourself".
Jennifer gave her a kiss and then headed to the bedroom to take a bubble bath.
Jonathan took Savanna upstairs and put her to bed.
"Unless you are sick, bleeding, or the house is on fire, you aren't allowed to come downstairs till morning, capeche?"
"Capeche".
"And we will deal with you being ugly to Aunt Jennifer tomorrow, got it?"
"Got it".
"Goodnight".
"Goodnight".
He went downstairs and poured Jennifer a glass of wine and took it to her in the bath.
She was crying and wiping away the tears when he got to the bathroom.
He didn't say anything, he just took his pajamas off and climbed into the bath with her.
It took some maneuvering but it ended up that he was behind her, holding her tight.
"She's never acted like that towards me before."
"I know. But darling, you said it yourself yesterday-before Caroline and Patrick died, you were only with her on the weekends and not every day. And now her whole life has changed. And she's doped up on that wicked steroid".
"I know. I tried so hard, but it hurt my feelings that she didn't want me to tuck her in. Did she give you any trouble?"
"Nope. And I told her that unless she was bleeding, sick or the house was on fire, she was not to come downstairs till morning".
"I hope she follows that, because she needs to rest."
"When does she go back to school?"
"Tomorrow".
"I will drop them off, and pick them up. You deserve a day to yourself after this".
He scrubbed her back for her and rubbed her shoulders.
"What if she was our kid?"
"If she was our kid, she would be grounded for acting that way."
"Maybe I'm not meant to be a mommy".
"Darling, you are being too hard on yourself. You are an amazing mommy and will be even better if we have kids."
"You think so?"
"I know so. You said it yourself just last night-her world has been turned upside down. In less than 5 months, she got a new baby sister and she lost her parents. And now that you and I are engaged, she feels like she's losing you too, so she's testing the limits".
"And to think I actually wanted you to take all of them to Disney world".
"We will. But it's up to us when we go. Not them".
He tried his best to make her feel better, but he wasn't able to make it completely go away.
They got out of the bath and dried off and got ready for bed.
Jennifer was beyond exhausted. Jonathan wrapped his arms around her and held her all night long.
***The next morning***
McKenna woke them up around 6:30. Jennifer went to get her and changed her and fed her a bottle.
Jonathan jumped in the shower and then after he was dressed, went upstairs and woke up Luke and Savanna for school.
Jennifer made coffee for her and Jonathan, and orange juice for Luke and Savanna.
She made everyone scrambled eggs and bacon, and had it ready when they came downstairs.
Jonathan got Savanna's antibiotics ready and she took them with no argument.
Savanna hadn't said anything to Jennifer yet.
Jennifer put their plates on the table, and was in the laundry room starting laundry when they finished.
"Ok kids, Uncle Jonathan is taking you to school today. Let's head to the car".
Jonathan came and kissed her goodbye and told her he would call her later.
"I love you".
"I love you too".
She and McKenna settled on the couch.
"You still love Aunt Jeffer, right?"
McKenna responded with a smile.
They spent a relaxing day and were just waking up from a nap when Jonathan and the kids got home.
The kids went straight upstairs and Jonathan yelled up the stairs that he was setting a timer.
"Hi".
"Hi, what's going on?"
"The entire car ride home was "No I didn't, yes you did", and I got tired of it and told them that it's a 20-minute drive to school and home from school, so when we got home, they can spend 20 minutes in their rooms".
"Well ok".
He leaned down and kissed her a few times, and McKenna wanted him to hold her.
Jennifer handed her over and then got up.
"What do you want for dinner?"
"Darling, I am going to make dinner tonight. You are going to go take a bubble bath and relax. I will come get you when it's time for dinner".
"Are you serious?"
"Yes, I am".
She hugged him and kissed him for a few minutes and then retreated to the bathroom.
About an hour and a half later, Jennifer was laying on the bed watching tv. She had taken a nice hot shower, and was in her comfy clothes, and had even read her book some.
Jonathan came in and took her hand and led her to the kitchen.
On the kitchen table was a dozen pink roses in a very pretty vase.
"I grilled some steaks and some shrimp skewers, and made you a chopped salad. How about a glass of wine with dinner?"
"Yes, please".
He held her chair out for her, and helped her get seated.
Savanna was sitting next to her, in her regular spot. Luke was sitting across from her, where he always sat.
McKenna was in her high chair, playing with a rattle.
They had a nice dinner and then Jonathan and Jennifer did the dishes together.
After the dishes were finished, Jonathan took Jennifer's hand and led her to the couch.
Luke came over and gave her a card he had made.
"Thank you for taking care of us."
He gave her a hug and a kiss and sat next to her.
She was so touched, she teared up.
She kissed him back and gave him a big hug.
Savanna was next.
"I'm sorry for being ugly at you. Thank you for taking care of us".
She climbed in her lap and hugged her tight.
Jennifer held her and hugged her back for several minutes.
Jonathan held McKenna out in front of him, facing Jennifer.
He began speaking in a high pitched baby voice.
"When you hear me say wah-wah-wah-bla-weh-wah, I'm really saying Thank you for taking care of me and changing my diapers and feeding me bottles. You are my most favoritest Aunt Jennifer ever".
McKenna was smiling and drooling all over the place.
She gave her a couple kisses.
"Ok, the kids made some promises. Kids, what are the promises?"
"We promise no more fighting".
"And no more talking back and not listening".
"And no more acting crazy".
Jennifer pinched Savanna's nose.
"Thank you".
"Ok kids, upstairs, get your jammies on".
Jonathan went and got Savanna's medicine ready, and then went and sat back down on the couch with Jennifer.
She kissed him and snuggled up to him and was playing with McKenna.
Savanna came downstairs and held up her pajama pants to Jennifer.
"Aunt Jeffer, will you help me?"
"Of course,"
She got her pants untwisted, and helped her put them on. They did the top next and then she climbed up in Jennifer's lap and hugged her.
Jennifer scratched her back and loved on her some.
Jonathan went and got her medicine for her.
"Ok, time to take your medicine".
She sat up and took it from him and then traded him for some water.
"Good job".
"Aunt Jeffer, am I still your lovebug?"
"Yes, princess. Always and forever".
"Is this the crazy medicine?"
"No. We aren't ever giving you the crazy medicine ever again".
"Ok".
Jonathan gave McKenna her bottle, while Jennifer held Savanna for a little bit.
"Ok lovebug, here's the deal. No more talking back and raising your fist to Aunt Jennifer, got it?"
"Got it. And no more giving me the crazy medicine".
"Got it".
They gave each other thumbs ups, and then Jennifer took Savanna upstairs to tuck her in.
When she got up there, Luke was already asleep.
Jennifer tucked Savanna in and read her a story and sang her some songs, and then kissed her goodnight.
"Goodnight Aunt Jeffer, I love you".
"I love you too, princess".
She gave her a kiss and then headed downstairs.
Jonathan had just gotten up to put McKenna down.
Jennifer gave her a couple kisses and then went and put on her nightgown while Jonathan put McKenna in her crib.
When Jonathan came to bed, Jennifer kissed him and wrapped her arms around him.
"I have a surprise for you".