Twenty minutes later and they were on the way to the church. Emily had a panic attack and that kept them in the car for a while after they arrived. Eddie and Jamie calmed her down and let her decide when she was ready to go in.
"I'm ready." She says softly.
"You sure?" Eddie asked.
"Yes." So the three walked in and sat next to the Reagans with Emily in the middle. No one said anything about them being late or the shaking of Emily's hand. An hour and a half later and they were on their way to Frank and Henry's. Emily was feeling much better. When they got out, she took a deep breath and hid herself halfway behind Jamie to his right and Eddie was to her other side. Jamie opened the door and let Eddie in first and squeezed the small hand that had taken his. He led the two of them over to Frank and smiled when Emily went in for a hug.
"Hey kiddo. You ready for this?"
"I think so." She smiled. Erin and Linda walked out of the kitchen and waved.
"Hi I'm Emily." Emily smiled and waved back. Jamie moved himself and Emily to one of the couches and Eddie immediately sat on her other side. Now Emily could focus on one side of her surroundings, instead of all four. That gives her the opportunity to breathe and take things slow.
"Hi Emily, I'm Erin and this is Linda. Feel free to call us what you feel comfortable with, okay?" Emily nodded and reached out to shake their hands. She could tell this was about to get harder. She heard the loud footsteps coming in from the backyard and beginning to run through the house. Jack and Sean were horse-playing. She visibly flinched and leaned into Eddie's side a bit more. Linda went to go after them, but Frank held up a hand and took care of it himself. He sent them outside until they could calm down a bit. Danny walked in with Henry and immediately stopped himself from saying whatever it was that he was going to say.
Emily had let her body relax, but she was still squeezing both Jamie and Eddie's hands. She obviously had PTSD and they all knew it. They did notice that Eddie and Jamie seemed to be very protective of and comforting to her. They of course were the only two who knew all of what had happened to her, she took solace in that.
"Hi." She said barely above a whisper. Danny's face immediately softened, and he moved over to her but kept a distance, so she still felt comfortable.
"Hey kid. I'm Danny. I don't mind what you call me, as long as you're okay. Let me know when you need a break from the boys, they can be a bit much sometimes. They don't mean any harm, but they take after their old man." Emily smiled and let go of Jamie's hand to shake Danny's.
"I will. Thanks." She smiled. Emily turned to Henry, still smiling.
"That obviously makes you Henry. Hi." Emily counted in her head and realized she'd met almost everyone and hadn't had another panic attack and she was proud of herself for it. Henry smiled and shook her hand. Nicky walked in from upstairs. She had decided to study for her next phase of academy testing.
"Hi. I'm Nicky."
"Hey, Emily." She smiled and shook her hand. Emily fell into a conversation with all of them and the boys eventually came in and roamed into the room and sat on the floor. Emily could tell they were feeling just as awkward as she was and that made it feel easier to get through this. Eddie tried to stifle a yawn but failed and Emily had also laid her head on Jamie's shoulder. They were only slightly regretting staying up so late.
"Late night?" Henry asked.
"We watched the first four Harry Potter movies yesterday. Turns out we're all potter heads." Jamie replied.
"We quoted half of the lines in each movie. I hadn't seen them in a couple of years but still remembered them pretty well." Eddie added.
"Yeah and we got some stuff to decorate my room and most of it was Harry Potter, because the books, and the movies too, I guess helped me through a lot. I always turn to them when I'm struggling but yesterday was epic." Emily said suddenly wide awake and Jamie smiled inwardly. She was getting more comfortable around them, but she was still nowhere near ready for Lena Janko.
"Sounds like you're adjusting well." Frank replied with a smile.
"I am." Emily replied as Henry got up to go check on the food in the kitchen.
"Good, I'm glad." She smiled and started talking with Nicky. The two ran off to walk around the neighborhood and Eddie was pacing the whole time they were out. She was freaking out about Emily and if she was okay. But she knew Nicky would call if there was a problem.
It was another hour later, dinner was ready, neither of the two were answering their phones so Eddie, Jamie, and Erin took it upon themselves to go and find them. They walked two blocks east before they saw the lights on the fire trucks, ambulances, and the squad cars. They immediately sprinted over and showed their credentials and were let on scene. The girls had been hit by a car and it was pretty serious. Both of them had already been transported to the hospital. The driver had been drunk and suffered minimal injury. It took both Jamie and Erin to hold Eddie back and drag her away. When they got back to the house, they explained what happened and suddenly the house was empty. The cars were full and on their way to Saint Victor's Hospital. Linda spoke to some of her co-workers and tried to find out where they were.
Nicky had dislocated her shoulder, broken a handful of her ribs and had nasty wound on her leg that required well over a hundred stitches to close it. She had been mildly sedated with pain medication and her phone had been destroyed at the scene. Nicky explained that she saw the car coming at the last second and pushed herself and Emily as far away from it as possible. That act is why they were in the hospital and not the morgue. Emily was in surgery, so Eddie and Jamie left them all to go up and sit in the surgical waiting area.
The doctors were performing a craniotomy to release the pressure on her brain. She too had broken ribs, lacerations with multiple stitches and she broke her ankle in the fall. She was extremely lucky that Nicky had seen the car, they both were. When the doctor came out and told them that she was going to fully recover they smiled and thanked him before collapsing into each other's arms. When she was out of recovery, they were going to put her in Nicky's room as well since they were family. The social worker showed up when Jamie texted her and noted that they had all handled this to the best of their ability and that there would be no problem with her continued experience in their custody. Every Reagan, even Jack and Sean breathed a sigh of relief at that.