Okay guys, got another quick chapter for you all. Just wanted to get to the main plot point. So here we go.

"This doesn't feel too bad." Jem was actually managing to take a few steps without using his cane.

He was finally getting to a point where he was recovering some of his strength. His face didn't look as gaunt as it was. And above all else. He was FINALLy able to eat some solid foods again. No more soft food and diarrhea shits for him. He still wasn't allowed a steak. But now he was able to finally eat something different. He never thought in all of his years he would be so happy to eat just plain chicken breast, broccoli and white rice. He used to hate it when he was in his initial bodybuilder days. But after weeks of eating nothing but soft food, it was like a five star meal.

"That being said, I still get winded if I walk for too long." He said as he didn't look like a complete corpse anymore. He was slowly gaining more and more weight back.

But it was just enough to get him up form a corpse to slightly malnourished looking. But he would take what he could get.

"See? Give it some more time and you'll be out of that suit in no time." Winter said as Pietro's rehab suit was doing its job.

When it sensed Jem was getting stronger it would increase the resistance as expected. But not so much as to piss him off. And so far it had been a boon to his rehab. Jem still couldn't wait to get out of it. It felt like he was in some weird crossover between a full body cast and a puppet. He felt like the great value robocop.

"I'm just glad the hospital is finally releasing me." He said as he was looking forward to leaving this place.

Winter hadn't told him about anything that had happened since he was unconscious. Anytime he asked about it, she just kept avoiding it. She would always say that he needed to focus on his recovery and that was all. Jem didn't think too much into it. It was hard to use your brain when your body felt like it was walking in jello. But now that he did have some more time to think, it confused him. Why was Winter being so secretive? Did something happen to Atlas while he was away? No, that couldn't have been it. Otherwise she would have let that slip out. Winter may have been stoic, but he knew her long enough to know when she was lying. But this time it seemed like she was intentionally avoiding saying anything?

"Yeah, I'm sure your family will be happy to see you." She said as he raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you mean my parents and grandparents?" He asked as she went silent.

"Well...yes, and more." She said as Jem noticed she had the slight twitch in her lip that something was off.

"More?" He asked as he didn't know he had that many people in his family who knew about Remnant.

"Let's just say when we get back there's a lot of people waiting for you." She said as Jem groaned a little.

How many people knew about Remnant now? At this point what was the point of keeping it a secret if so many of his family members knew about it? Did they just show up at the family reunion and explain that their cousin/nephew/sibling had fallen in love with a big tiddy ice queen and started a family with her?

Wow now that he thought about it that sounded like the most basic bitch weeaboo fantasy there was. And he felt sick to his stomach thinking about it. The last thing he wanted was for everyone to think that he had ended up falling in love with a cartoon character.

...

Okay, he technically had. But she was actually real this time! It wasn't like when he was a teenager and he had a crush on Kurenai from Naruto.

"She's not real you fucking virgin!" He could still hear his uncle laughing.

"SHe's real to me!" Boy he cringed at that memory.

Puberty was one hell of a weird time for him.

"Alright Councilman Cotton, one final checkup, and you'll be good to go home." Dr. Sins said as he walked into the room.

But for some reason all Jem could focus on was the nametag.

"...Thats not your real name is it?" He asked as he looked over the doctor.

Bald head...muscular physique...lab coat...

"Uhm, Winter? Is this a joke?" He asked as Winter looked confused.

"No...this is the doctor who's going to check you out." Winter didn't know why Jem looked so uncomfortable.

"Don't worry Mr Cotton. I promise this won't be as bad as you think." Dr. Sins said as he pulled a rubber glove on.

PLAT!

The sound of the glove smacking against his wrist as he pulled it tight made Jem super uncomfortable.

"Okay, you guys are messing with me." He said as there was no way this was real.

"Uh, no. This is your doctor, why are you acting so-" Winter suddenly looked at the doctor and then his nametag.

You could hear the sound of a hamster wheel turning.

And then her face went bright red.

"YOU PERVERT!" She screamed as Dr. Sins just looked confused.

"I'm sorry? Is something the matter?"

One hour later

"Oh come on! Dr. Sins? And he looks exactly like Johnny sins? What was I supposed to say?"

"Oh I don't know. Maybe just shut up and let him check you out?!" Winter was still embarassed.

While the good doctor got a laugh out of it. He was a little weirded out that his name and appearance matched what Jem was describing.

"Look, I wasn't going to take the risk by staying silent."

"YOU WERE IN A COMA FOR SIX MONTHS! I WOULDN'T JOKE LIKE THAT!"

Oh...thats right.

Jem suddenly realized he made things awkward as hell.

"Okay, I'm sorry. But come on, you got to admit, it was a perfect setup." Winter just blushed and refused to dignify that with a response.

"Look, we're almost home. Let's just forget this ever happened." She said as Jem agreed.

But he swore to God if he saw Dr. Sins again and he was an astronaut now then he was going to lose his shit.

They pulled up to Winter's house. It hadn't changed much since Jem was in the hospital. He did notice there were a lot more dead leaves on the ground. Made sense, he went into his coma in the warmer months, makes sense he woke up around Fall. Winter helped him out of the car as he got his cane to help him stabilize himself. Doctor's orders were that he still had to use his cane, but he was fit enough to be released from the hospital as long as came by once every two weeks for checkups. He was still on medical leave from political duties for at least another two weeks.

Ironwood said he was going to need it.

Jem walked in the door of the house.

Only to be shocked.

"What the? Everyone?" He asked as he thought this had to be a surprise party.

He saw his aunts, his uncles, his cousins, EVERYONE.

What the hell? What was everyone doing here?

"Oh! It's a surprise party!" Jem laughed as that was the only reason.

Except nobody was smiling, and nobody was yelling surprise.

"Uh, guys? Pretty sure you're supposed to yell surprise? What's wrong?" He asked thinking he did something wrong.

Then he looked down at his exoskeleton.

"Oh, don't worry about this! This is just temporary! I'll be walking on my own in no time!" Still nothing from his family.

What was going on? Why did everyone look so down in the dumps?

"Jem...you should sit down." Reginald said as he led Jem to the couch.

"What's going on? Why are you all acting weird?" He asked as Nala walked over and sat beside him and held his hand.

"Daddy..." She tried to say more but the words got stuck in her throat.

"Guys...What's going on? Why is everybody here? Why do you all look like that." He asked as Nala handed him a glass of water.

"Look son, a lot of things have changed since you were away." Jem's father said as Jem nodded.

"Look, if you mean with Atlas, I get it. I've been gone for six months, but don't worry I plan on getting back to work as soon as possible." He said as everyone shook their heads.

"It's not Atlas..." His mother said as Jem raised a brow.

"Then what is it?" He asked.

"It's home Jem...America." Mom said as Jem didn't know what was going on.

"What? Winter told me taxes had gone up but I'm sure it can't be that bad." He said as Winter sat on his other side.

"No Jem, it's not the taxes." His father said.

His father took a deep breath as if he was scared to say what came next.

...

...

"It's gone...everything is gone."