Hello, it is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter! Whew, this update has taken a long time. I decided to get organised early last week and begin editing this story ready for uploading today but I couldn't find it. Which was weird because I know that I texted Shannon about it when I first wrote it in January 2023! Eventually, I found it in not the usual folder. And because it's quite old, it took a lot of editing. But it's finally here and one that I am glad to be able to get it out. I love when I concoct entire concepts based on one bit of inspiration. This chapter is inspired by The Last Of Us HBO series. I wanted a reason for Jorginho (Jessie and James' ex-Team Rocket pal) to need to reluctantly take James' daughter under his wing. So, I came up with this! I hope you enjoy - it's a bit of a long one. We get a nice glimpse of older, big brother Justin here too :)
Ages:
Justin: 32
Jorgie: 13
Jorginho: 53
A hand scarcely catching at the lean frame of his chest, Justin swallowed a mouthful of invisible sand and knew that he hated how he was feeling. Oh, how he wished that the sensation in which overtook him in the seconds before he strode onto a stage was filling every inch of him there and then.
He would do anything to experience that in that moment. He would use any three wishes that he may be blessed with so that he could be about to embark on yet another exhilarating performance!
But he was not.
Justin had to go into the room where his only little sister was. And more so than anything else, oh how he loathed that he wanted to be anywhere than inviting himself into a room with her.
Nevertheless, as if he really were preparing his lungs to give everything their all, he took a mighty breath and somewhere found the strength inside of himself to move his hand away from the center of his chest and open the door instead.
He had to jolly Jorgie along. Someone had to.
Touching the top of his head with his left hand as if he were yearning for the protection of his wide brimmed headwear, he concocted a smile from thin air and tried to do what he had done for the past thirteen years.
Be a big brother.
In those confusing times, that is all that he could do.
"Are you ready to get going, Jorgie?" he entered the bedroom of his father and stepmother to join his little sister, his hand falling away from his head and then they both slid into the pockets of his skinny jeans.
It was evening time. The warmth of the day hung around in the air. But his pale arms were tinged with goosebumps.
Jorgie somehow managed to tear her eyes away from where she was staring at no place in particular. Not at the bed her parents had made that was still in the neat state in which it had been left, apart from the body dents that her and her only younger brother had left when they sought comfort in the middle of the night.
Not at the window. It was left cracked open as if it were waiting for people to find their way home. She did not even look at the last of her luggage offering her the tiniest of walls of protection.
Justin had not been able to tell where his little sister was staring. But he could at once see that she was trying to take in his face when she heard his voice and felt his company.
"I guess." She murmured. Jorgie, however, did not make any moves to show that she was trying to jolly herself along, as he was doing with her. Bottom remained fixed on the carpet with one leg stretched outwards, her other knee bent as her foot planted on the ground.
In the seconds after she allowed her words to find her, her cheek nestled against her own bony knee cap. In not much more time at all, Justin found words to say. He even decided to crouch down on the carpet with her.
He could already tell that he was going to have his work cut out for him and, oh how he wished that things could just be straight forward.
"Come on." He encouraged with a directional motion of his head rather than an offering of the hand. In the moment that he realized that he was going to have to try hard, he accidentally trod the line of being a little bit firm. He rectified it by trying to bring some light to a very dark situation. "Johnny is already in the car with Elijah." Jorgie's head did not leave her knee. "Do you really want him to have to answer your brother's big questions of his all on his own?"
No sounds filled the room apart from the low rumbles in which came from the vacant house. It protested its unusual lifelessness. Justin's joke fell flat.
But was it really a joke? Was it really anything than a desperate attempt at something – anything?
Justin did not mean for it to sound like a guilt trip. But Jorgie felt the breeze of the that possibility from the way that she understood what kind of questions were sure to grace her younger brother's inquisitive mind.
She had heard them repeatedly in the middle of the night and before any of them knew what to do.
She did not know how Eli was going to answer any of them. She did not know if anyone could. Jorgie did not know anything at that point of her life. And that made her blood run cold.
"I'm not sure I've packed everything." Jorgie suddenly moved her body along with her words, tugging her cheek away from her kneecap and preparing to stand up as if she were going to survey the room to check for things that she might have missed.
Her room.
And then it dawned on her in the same way that the end of summer crept up on you slowly and then all at once.
She was in her parent's room and not her own one. If she took one small thing from there then she would wish to take everything. And it would not stop there.
Justin knew what was coming. He mirrored Jorgie and stood up when she did and this time, he did offer her his hand as he watched her eyes react to the small world in which was surrounding them both.
"Anything you've forgotten, we can come back for." He reassured his little sister, his pale hand stretching out towards her but not finding itself an equally porcelain companion. With his other hand, he brushed a thin, single strand of hair out of his eyes as if it were that which was blurring his vision. "We can come back, you know." His voice quietened down to the softness of that strand of hair. "Any time you like."
Jorgie stopped taking in everything that her parents had left behind and she glanced down past her shoulder, to the hand decorated by two silver rings on different fingers. To the hand that belonged to her brother. To the hand that was encouraging her.
But encouraging her to do what? Encouraging her to go where?
Away from home, were the words that tasted rancid on her tongue.
Further away from her parents, was the thought that tugged her stomach down as if she were an anchor being dragged to the depths of the sea floor.
She could not, no. She could not then. She could not ever.
It was not as simple as coming back to visit. It was not even as simple as staying put because she did not wish to face the reality that her and her brother and a dozen other people then found themselves in.
Jorgie forwent stamping her foot. She may have done when she was the height of Justin's own kneecap, and he would have laughed at her for it, but she was then a teenager, and she knew better. Or rather, she knew differently.
All the same, her socks enveloping her narrow feet grew roots into the ground and Justin knew another battle existed ahead of them both as her arms hugged around the denim of her dungarees.
"I don't want to go." Jorgie protested. Her words were not a surprise to Justin because he had heard this point ringing out from the moment that she said that she was not sure if she had packed everything, let alone when they allowed themselves to be known.
All the same, Justin who was still standing, drew another plentiful breath into his lungs as if after this little moment in time, a stage really did await him. Of course, it did not. All that awaited him with the unknown. Nothing but the unknown.
Truth be told, he was as frightened as Jorgie. But he knew that he could not show it. For more than just her sake. For the sake of all their parents who were no longer around.
"I know that you don't want to go." Justin began his words carefully and precisely as if he were forming the lyrics to accompany one of those melodies of his that sang through his heart. Once again, his voice was an empathetic wisp of air. "But if you just come with me-"
This lyric would go unfinished.
Jorgie's feet had not only sprouted roots, but her bottom had as well. She planted herself down on the carpet to be closer to her soil.
This time, her arms enveloping around her own chest was more than a way to comfort herself.
"It's you that I don't want to go with!" her voice rose in pitch as she did the opposite of rising to her feet. She peered upwards from the floor at her brother, and it was not merely her ponytail in which was pulling her face tight.
And yet, almost as soon as these words erupted from her, her face unclenched. It was then, however, Justin's turn to feel as though he had just applied a cleansing face mask that had caused all his pores to tingle.
After his little sister's voice had risen, the heat began to rise in his stomach and make its way as a thorny blush up towards his neck, blotting his pale skin with various shades of scarlet.
Jorgie flinched and hurriedly looked away and not just because something had begun blurring her own eyes, fiercely wiping them before any wetness that she simply could not allow came spilling out of her.
She had gone too far.
After all those years of playful bickering and mock sibling rivalry, was she finally looking back at the line she had crossed? Had she pushed Justin too far? She was going to see him losing his temper at her for the first time in his life.
Jorgie certainly thought as much from the mottled rash that she sensed was taking over more of her brother as each second passed.
She could not have been more wrong. Justin showed just how determined he was to be a sheltering safe space to those he loved from the instance that he crouched back down to his knees and in all the moments that followed.
Jorgie could hardly see the ring kissed hand that was being held out to her once again, but she could feel it.
She experienced the tightness of her brother's throat alongside him.
"Jorgie, talk to me." He whispered and this made her do something bigger than crumple. She froze as she stayed seated on the carpet, and she watched Justin's hand retract from the corner of her blurry peripheral vision.
She had not wanted that as little as she wanted anything else in which had happened to them both. However, in hindsight she knew that her brother was only giving her space. Space to grieve. To come to her senses. Space to discover remorse.
In the next few twitches of the clock hand, after the only sound that transpired between the two of them was the sound of forlorn, heavy breathing and the absent grunts of the household, Jorgie knew one thing was destroying her and one thing only. And she showed it without words and in the way that she reached for Justin's wrist after it had hidden itself from her once again.
Oh, how it completely broke her that she snapped at him. But he was still there. How it shattered her to her core that she had rejected him, but he had not left the room, not even once. Not even for a second.
She felt like he was all she had left.
All Justin had left was the ability to see through his big brother duties at no matter what as he felt Jorgie drawing his hand towards her face and resting his open palm against her cheek.
He could have sworn that there were little droplets of water left against his skin once she let him go again. But all he could focus on at that time was waiting to hear her words and predicting his own heart being ripped from his chest at the sound of them.
"This isn't the way that things are meant to be." Jorgie began and from the split second in which she had discovered some of what she wanted to say, Justin showed that he was far away from the jokingly reluctant big brother figure that he had been to a toddler.
His hip was attaching itself to his little sisters from the side and a narrow arm snaked around her shoulders.
Yes, he definitely felt moisture absorbing itself into his palm like welcomed rain on a glossy green plant leaf. He did not realize how clammy feeling like an orphan could be.
Justin opened his mouth before he could consider that it was not the time for him to get his words off his chest.
"I know, Jorgie. I know things are less than ideal right now but-"
They both might have been mountains away from the two with the antics that brought such amusement to those around them but there and then showed that Jorgie could never be too far away from the toddler that refused to comply!
Now that her meadow green eyes had managed to absorb her tears as if they were a reservoir instead, the water had turned to strength and, despite it all, she looked at her eldest brother as if she were growing tired of his maturity.
"You said that I was to talk to you." She pointed out.
How his little sister's accent molded itself to whatever space she was taking up and surrounded by had always been a point of laughter when it came to Justin. Then, however, it made his cheeks sting a little bit to hear a dialect mirroring his own being so very blunt towards him.
She had some cheek!
Yet the more that he allowed his first emotions to settle down, he realized that not only was he glad to have just a glimpse of normality still around, but Jorgie was right.
She would have once rejoiced in such a notion!
Before Justin's words revealed themselves, his hatless head bobbed. Jorgie felt herself further underneath her big brother's armpit as if he were her own personal umbrella.
"Go ahead." He unwrapped his arm from around her but this time it was not to give her space. Both of Jorgie's small hands found themselves in the hold of Justin. They both looked down at their clasped digits rather than the faces of each other. "Tell me why you don't wish to come with me."
In that moment, Jorgie broke free of the silent agreement to mirror one and other and she took a glance across at Justin's face.
There it was again, another moment where she felt like her heart was shattering and yet coming together all in one go.
How almost wonderful it was how well Justin took rejection. If she thought of the reasons why all too much, then no doubt would her heart turn into glass all over again. But truly, she thought, how sweet it was that he was putting his pride on the line to validate her own thoughts and feelings.
She never realized before how much he was like their dad.
Oh, how deeply she ached for the person lost inside his son.
"Before… Before all of this happened…" Jorgie began. She could feel Justin's fingers entwining through hers rather than merely just holding them. "Days before all of this happened, I talked to daddy about what I wanted to happen if everyone were to go away..."
Jorgie believed the worst thing to happen as she prepared to say all of what she needed to say was hearing them ringing in her own ears and confirming the fact that all of that had really happened. That it was not a bad dream. It was a nightmare. A nightmare taking place in real life.
However, when she felt Justin's fingers leaving hers like a ship bidding farewell to the docks, she all at once realized that she could not have been more wrong.
That was, in fact, the thing that she least wished to happen.
More than just her hand felt the cold as Justin leaned away from her, his neck sloping and his eyes becoming discs.
"Did you know that something was going to happen?" Justin asked and he could not stop his voice from elevating. Growing louder, no. But elevating, yes. He could not prevent the fear in his tones. The fear which was also perverse curiosity.
Jorgie, on the other hand, wanted to completely shut down at the way Justin was coming across. She longed to attach her whole body against his hand. But she restrained herself, believing that if her words managed to not push him away then her actions certainly could.
"No!" she exclaimed, seeing the shape of her brother from behind distortion once again before this time looking down at her sad little legs, not wanting to see him slipping from her too. Although she filled her vision with herself, she could have sworn that she was slipping away with desperation to be seen and heard. "I didn't make this happen! I didn't!"
The soft clicking noise that appeared from Justin's tongue spoke everything before his words decided to. Because of the horror that was causing Jorgie's heart to hammer inside of her ears, she was not at once soothed by this subtle gesture.
Thankfully, more obvious, more enveloping ones presented themselves, and, soon enough, Jorgie's shoulder was tugged back underneath Justin's armpit, and both of his arms were around her. They could apply a lot of comforting pressure despite their shape.
Jorgie felt her breathing becoming her own again the longer that her brother softly planted his dome of a skull against her much smaller one. For all the ways she had grown up to tease him, his words had the power to drain water from her eyes and terror from her heart.
"I know you didn't." he murmured, his words travelling straight into her ear thanks to their proximity. He could feel the rhythm of Jorgie hammering through her small frame and he wanted nothing more than to soothe her worries away. All of them. "Take your time and tell me everything."
And so, Jorgie did.
After encouraging a plentiful breath into her own lungs and preparing to embark on quite the adventure of her own, Jorgie told Justin everything that had been discussed. She once again made it clear that she could not have known and it was just something that had been on her mind for a long time and for some reason, on one particular day she decided that she revered her father enough to confide in him.
Of course, she did.
For all their differences, the trait in which Justin and Jorgie shared the most is that they knew that they could tell James anything, no matter how big it was and no matter how small. Whether it was first thing in the morning, or they were waking him up in the middle of the night to unload their woes.
One thing that was different between the two siblings was that Jorgie was half from another world. She was the child of an angel.
Her mother, Lynne, was experiencing her second life down with everyone in our circle. Justin used to joke that he wished his little sister could live up to the nickname of Cherub that their father had bestowed upon Jorgie!
From the beginning, James and Lynne had a plan as to where their children were to go if, for some reason, the worst happened, and James was no longer around while Lynne had to live up to her end of the bargain and spend some time in the land above.
They could not have predicted that it was so very necessary for them to have a plan in place. Nobody could have imagined what was going to happen. Not even Lynne's son with Jordan - JJ - who closely followed the stars and believed that he could predict when all those made of the heavens and born of the heavens were being called elsewhere.
It was far more than tragic when everybody who carried a little piece of heaven above in their DNA were snatched from the soil. And I still have not decided that it was catastrophic, or it was beautifully poetic that James had sensed Lynne flickering from the moment that she had prepared to twitch away.
He had sensed her plight and reached for her hand. Jessie, who was made of things completely different to someone born of beyond still had the power of love inside her and knew when her husband was in distress too. She reached for him and the three of them flickered away into nothing. Jordan followed on his own. JJ disappeared from behind his telescope. Morgan had suddenly become one of the stars after looking up at the evening sky.
Many people who completed our circle left us behind.
James and Lynne had always had a plan in case of tragedy. Over the years, it had been sculpted and molded but one had always been in place.
In the days before the incident, Jorgie had voiced a desire to change the plan herself as she had grown taller. And when tragedy had struck, she realized that it had not been a pie in the sky idea that she had dreamed up.
She had not wanted her parents and Jessie and everyone else being snatched away to be a part of her reality. But she still wished for this other idea to come true.
Jorgie saw her big brother taking it all in, them both back to sitting side by side rather than fingers intertwined but their positions on the carpet were mirroring each other except for the slight difference that Justin was tugging at his own bottom lip with his fingers as he sat.
Jorgie's cheek had been sewn against her kneecap once more.
"I don't understand." Justin said finally. From Jorgie's point of view, she had been crystal clear and yet there seemed to be room for improvement on her part. His lower lip continued to be plucked at in between words. "Dad didn't say anything to me. If there was to be a change of plan then-"
Justin had better get used to having his words being unfinished!
Jorgie had felt her insides quietening down following the heaviness of letting the truth out of her but now that her eldest brother was voicing what he too wished to say, she could not stop herself from getting fired up all over again.
And here Justin was believing that it was managing to say the name of one of his absent parents that was going to scald the most.
"I'm not making it up!" Jorgie insisted, living up to the legacy of the Williams' blood stored inside of her as well as the fiery shade in which offered her hair tone. Justin's eyes were the round shape of vinyl records once more and they appeared even bigger from the way that his head tilted towards his little sister. "I'm not lying. I'm not making anything up."
Funnily enough, as Jorgie's words quietened down and her lower legs stopped twitching, longing to carry her up towards the ceiling so she found herself that extra bit of authority, Justin heard her even more clearly.
His eyelashes clapped together, for a moment hiding his rounding eyes and giving him a moment to consider. To consider all that he was hearing. All that Jorgie was saying. To think about all that was tumbling around inside the chambers of his mind.
He thought about going back to old antics and revolving his irises in their sockets. But he knew his youngest sister. He took his own turn to rest his head against his own kneecap but, unlike Jorgie, it was the center of his forehead that was bedding against the bone of a knee.
"I know you're not fibbing." Justin consoled in a tone of voice that was more prosaic than it was reassuring but it still did wonders for Jorgie. More than just her mouth quietened down. Her bottom nestled more at ease against the carpet. Justin wished that he could feel the same. "It's just…" his words threatened to be snatched from the tip of his tongue before they fought to form. "Things have always been this way. Even if Mum managed to stick around… It was always meant to be me."
Above everything on that day, it was this in which caused Jorgie to feel like either her body was getting exceptionally large around her heart, or it was her heart that was rapidly shrinking deep inside of her. And this time, it was not Justin's seeming sadness surrounding rejection that was shattering her heart in the same way that his bravery towards that same circumstance could do the same thing.
Jorgie's eyelashes felt spiky and wet as her eyes blinked together multiple times.
It was hearing the word Mum tumble out of Justin that cut her the most. She usually giggled at how polite and upper crust that word sounded coming from him. How interesting that their dad ended up with a son that reminded him of a safer version of home.
During that moment, she was not laughing.
At times in the middle of the night when she laid awake with Johnny Jinn on top of the duvet where her parents were meant to lay, they could kid themselves that they were the only people that had utterly lost everything. But in the light of day, they saw that this was not the case.
And on that day and after Justin spoke his own words, she knew that he had lost equally as much.
He was also risking losing her because, from his point of view, Jorgie did not wish to go back home with him unlike Johnny who had not who had not protested for once in the slightest.
Jorgie knew that she had to get her truth across. It was not as a serious situation as what had snatched everyone away, but it almost was.
Her little hand cupped over his knee as she plucked words from inside of her.
"I do want to be with you." She began and the way that she could see Justin's pupils expanding upon hearing this caused Jorgie to softly swallow and realize that she could not just hold onto his kneecap. Along with her next words, the whole of her fist was wrapping around three of his fingers. "But I want to be with him too."
The smallest puffs of air escaped from her nostrils while she did not let go of her brother's fingers. Catching her off guard, a proper puff of air oozed from Justin, and it came from his gently parted lips.
From her point of view, as two frown lines penciled in between his eyebrows and his eyes then squinted together, it looked as though he had a migraine coming along. But Justin was only thinking.
The more that he thought about it, the more that he could not help but see where Jorgie was coming from even if they had not discussed the ins and outs of it all, let alone her reasons why. He did not have to think about it too hard at all to know that he too once wanted someone so much and not knowing why did not dampen that yearning.
Of course, they were entirely different situations. But Justin had always been allowed to follow his heart. He had always been allowed – no, encouraged – by his parents to follow his own path and make his own decisions. If he was to partially be Jorgie's caregiver for the foreseeable if she still wanted him to any degree, then he knew he had to guide her with the same guidance that he had been offered.
He never dreamed that he would have to parent his little sister. He did not know how he was going to do it. But he knew that he had to begin with instilling her that every thought and opinion and feeling of hers was seen, heard, and cradled by him.
Jorgie could not help but audibly gasp when she felt Justin's other hand that she was not holding cupping over her right hand, surrounding it.
She should have known she could count on him as much as their father.
"Why don't you come and join us for tonight, yeah?" he said, his hand briefly moving away from hers to brush across her forehead that possessed no wandering hairs before it fell back to where it truly needed to be. "I'll phone them both in the morning and see what he has to say."
A second audible gasp could not help but escape from Jorgie and she did not hold back her other gestures either. For a split second, her forehead rested against their joint hands before she realized that she needed more verbal confirmation rather than just the quiet, single chuckle that escaped Justin's throat as his hand momentarily went in between the blades of her shoulders to encourage her closer.
"Will you really?" she asked, looking into Justin's eyes properly for the first time on that day. Not only did she see the father in which they shared and being okay with it but, most of all, she saw that eldest brother of hers that she had always adored. Had always trusted. And it was so good to know that times such as those were no different.
Justin went back to patting the center of the top of her back a couple more times. His voice was like the flat road that they would surely take to his house, but it was full of sincerity.
"Of course." He confirmed and he believed that it would be enough. And yet, for a rare occasion, he did not scoff when it became plain that his little sister craved more.
Both of her hands were on the outside of Justin's ones, and they were clutching onto both with vehemence.
Her intention became clear with her words, but Justin guessed them from the second that her nails lightly dug into his skin.
"No, you have to promise." She told him with sudden seriousness, her eyebrows lifting straight back and her eyes locking onto his for longer than they had ever done before.
Justin's head habitually swung from side to side, but Jorgie would go on to learn that it was out of something other than disagreement towards her expectation. He did not let out full chuckles, not yet.
But a second sound escaped from his parted lips that showed laughter was not as far away from him as it had been when he woke up that morning.
His eyes attached onto his little sister's as much as she was portraying towards him. And, furthermore, he knew how to seal a promise with her.
This time it was not just his hand that was being held out towards her. It was much less.
"Promise, Jorgie." He told her. After their pinkie fingers locked together, he humored her by using his strength and just those small fingers attached to tug her, so she was forced to fall into his arms. Her own throat did not formulate chuckles. But more sunshine prevailed in her eyes than there had been for what felt like forever. She tried to hide it by resting her nose against Justin's shoulder. "So, do you want me to carry you to the car for old time's sake?"
When I heard this story for the first time and still as I look back upon future reflection, I could not help, and I cannot help but believe that this could have made Jorgie's warmer disposition chill all over again. The realization that she still had to leave could have encouraged her to never smile again.
But she had to be brave. She simply had to be brave, Justin told her of such in not too many words. She could tell that he was trying his absolute best to jolly her along. So, she felt that she owed it back to him to at least be receptive.
Owed was the wrong word. She wanted to. She was desperate to make sure he was okay as much as he felt like it was his duty as well.
Regardless, Jorgie gave him a look – a nose creased and narrowed single eye look – and pushed both of her palms against his lean chest to prove a bit of a point.
"Like you have the strength." She told him with a flatness to her voice before it suddenly elevated as not only did Justin capture her wrists against him with his own hands, but he made a sudden grab for her, securing her against him and preparing to lift her up off the ground.
Jorgie knew when to let something go. She could have tried to prove a further point by fighting against him some more, but she did not, instead relinquishing into his power and reaching for her backpack off the ground as he lifted her away from the carpet.
She liked to think that she was doing him a favor by letting him win. But the truth was, she was happy to be up there, with her eldest brother using all his strength to carry her and her legs wrapping around his stomach.
She felt sheltered from all of life's storms like she was a toddler again. She felt guided. Loved.
Jorgie clung onto him before they left the room.
She could have sworn that she could viscerally feel the lump in her throat shared from Justin as he fought past it to say words.
"Oh, you have no idea how strong I am." He muttered to prove a point, holding onto his little sister even more after that and the lines blurring between who was benefitting from the closeness the most. Neither of them wanted to leave the house behind. But at least they could do it together. "Let's get going."
The word together echoed around the room before they both left even if it was not actually spoken. How funny that this word found a place for itself even after Jorgie described her determination to go anywhere else but home with her brother.
But that was not the truth. That was not it.
In the same way that some sort of destiny was calling everybody who had disappeared from our lives, she knew that something was awaiting her. She could only hope that where she wished to head wanted her as much as she wanted it.
She could only dream that he wanted her as much as she wanted him.
Jorgie would find out in the morning.
For now, she felt like a little child being carried off to bed. Like a little child being carried somewhere much safer. And she was.
Because, no matter what home opened its arms to her and no matter what path awaited her, she was adored. The morning would reveal the identity of the path. And it did.
Jorginho could not believe it when Daisy had told him that he had received a phone call from Justin bright and early and, thanks to his devotion to not only the absent folk but to everyone, he of course did not hesitate to be available to have a discussion.
He could never have dreamed what kind of discussion he would find himself involved in. And even after he found out, he still could not make sense of any of it.
Jorginho never dreamt that he would be so wanted. But the realization came slowly and then all at once after he had had a bit of a hazy discussion with Justin and was then climbing into the vehicle with him.
His life had turned around when Jessie and James were snatched from him. And the wheel had not yet stopped spinning!
Justin was sitting in the seat of his car and with the keys in the ignition, one hand on the steering wheel as Jorginho flopped himself into the passenger seat, at once reaching for his own seatbelt as well as words to say.
He continued the conversation because, to tell you the truth, there had hardly been a moment of silence between them. There had been so much to discuss.
"I just don't get it." Jorginho said with two lines etching down the center of his brow, clicking his seatbelt into place before reaching for something else to adjust. He tried to spy Justin in the rearview mirror as both his body and his hand jolted his own seat backwards. "Why would she want me?" these words made their way into the atmosphere before with one final jerk of his body, Jorginho's seat was situated correctly. Now that everything was as it should be, he altered his words instead. "Something as serious as this, James would have said something to me."
Whether or not Justin flinched at the parental name of his father being spoken as if it did not carry the weight of the world during those moments, neither of the two men acknowledged or even noticed this.
The car engine beginning to rumble as Justin focused on pulling off the drive of Daisy and Jorginho's home, he was quick to fathom out his own response despite everything and his words made themselves as clear as his vehicle having its own say.
Jorginho then rotated his body to look at the younger male rather than his reflection in the rearview mirror. He could see that Justin was instead his reflection as his brow was knotting tighter together too.
"Jorgie wouldn't lie." He didn't look at the older male because he was focused on evacuating the street safely. Their words to each other were plainer than plain because, for a rare occasion, no radio sounds hummed in the air. "She desperately needs comfort right now." Justin was interrupted by his own swallow. "But she wouldn't seek it through lies."
A sigh instantaneously erupted from the nostrils of Jorginho that was still heard across the gentle moans of the car engine and tickled the greying hairs of his beard. He had spaces tucked in his heart for the various little ladies in his life and Jorgie occupied a fair few of them.
The situation was new for all of them, but he too quickly realized that Jorgie was the last person to act out to get attention. She had been raised by extremely doting parents who instilled in her that her feelings and her words were beyond important from the second that she began to express them.
Jorginho did not have the slightest idea why she wanted him. He did not believe that she was acting up in the slightest. But he just had to wonder if her parents had taken her sense back up to the heavens with them for her to say his name rather than her Auntie Daisy's.
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see what she says." He conceded a good amount of turns on the road later, his forearm beginning to rest on the ledge of the door and his fingers running over the silvering bristles underneath his nose before really rummaging through the wolverine grey on the sides of his jaw.
He would not find answers there. He certainly would not find his own comfort either. He was beginning to think how tumultuous everything had been as Justin dug his own words from somewhere.
"I guess we will." He spoke. He was hardly revolutionary in his speech. But if a time required blandness, then this was the occasion.
Justin did not wish to stare in the rearview mirror unless he absolutely had to. He felt as though he could open a boutique with the number of bags underneath his eyes that he had acquired during the night.
It had been a night of tossing and turning for him therefore Eli too.
And the conversation with Jorginho when he invited him over to talk over breakfast once Jorgie and Johnny had been picked up by their friend's mother had done the opposite of refresh him.
It had not exactly weighed him down because, to tell you the truth, most things did if he allowed his brain to dwell on the fact that he did not know if he was ever going to see his parents again. But he had not been able to come to a solid conclusion.
They had not been able to come to a solid conclusion.
He had only asked Jorginho if he knew anything about Jorgie and his father's discussion, not even whether he would consider it. He would surely feel his own heart breaking for his little sister if it were a no. She had already lost so much. And similarly, he did not know how to anticipate how he would feel if she was allowed to go with Jorginho.
He had just lost both of his parents. Did he really wish to let her go too?
Out of the corner of his eye, Justin exactly glanced over at Jorginho, habitually seeking his comfort. He could not fathom whether he was relieved or cut up when he had the older male's attention at once, his melting eyes softening towards him and a sturdy hand resting on his narrow shoulder.
Out of the bewilderment of it all, Jorginho had forgotten to check in on the man who was like his second younger brother.
Another segment of his heart.
"You can talk to me about anything, yeah, baby?" he began, causing Justin to feel like he was close to swerving off the road with how he was being addressed! It was hardly out of the ordinary for him. A paternal touch had only been absent a couple of days, but it felt priceless. "You must feel very lost right now."
Not growing accustomed to the touch on his shoulder that lingered but not grimacing away from it either, Justin's lower lip fell into the rest of his mouth as he knew he had to focus on passing through the busy junction before letting all his feelings spill out of him.
If he was going to allow them to do this.
He was the big brother. He needed to be strong.
This mantra played through his mind and resulted in these words, a scattered sigh leaving Justin's lips once they were parted once more, and his head swayed from side to side.
"To be honest with you, I haven't grieved for myself yet. Only for the two young ones." He commenced and he could feel Jorginho's grip tightening on his shoulder, his thumb bedding into his skin in not an entirely unwelcome way. "They've been warned of this life." His lower lip slipped back into hiding before it could overtly wobble. "But how could they truly be prepared?"
Jorginho had to look away when he saw Justin's large irises glossing over but his touch did not leave him for a single second. He sniffed empathetically and remained present in the conversation even if he needed to look away so as not to crumble himself.
"How could any of you be prepared?" he posed before he imagined Justin's shoulder shrinking underneath his touch. This encouraged him to look back over at the younger male, feeling no shame in the way that rain had begun to threaten to patter on the soil of his gaze. "You're very selfless, Justin. Having you around no doubt has brought them peace."
Justin, much like his father, often knew what he wished to say, even if he occasionally grew tongue tied when coming face to face with a person that he needed to express his truth to. However, Jorginho's words rendered him utterly wordless as he continued to drive the car, turning corners, and making his way to pick Jorgie up from her home-schooling group earlier than usual.
If the children somehow felt any peace, then it was a miracle because he certainly did not. Any bravery that they managed to conjure up was of their own merit and not borrowed from him because, although he only allowed himself to shatter in private before picking himself up along with the morning light, he felt as though he was a frail wisp in the wind and could be carried away by devastation at any moment.
It is interesting how it is oven the bravest of souls who feel the most cowardly. I know that Jorginho was thinking of this as he saw a resilient smile swiping across the lips of Justin, settling on reaching for words of humor rather than all the twisted feelings inside the knots of his guts.
He had to keep smiling through it all. Had to keep pushing. He had to keep going for family.
"I don't think my little brother can omit peace for a single second, and certainly not at this time." Justin put on a brave face and, despite the way that Jorginho could see right through him, his own mouth widened, and a lonesome dimple showed Justin's that it was not alone. It seemed as though the laughter – even if it was rehearsed – cleared Justin's pathways. He inhaled with intention and settled the car in a parking space outside of the community center. "No doubt will Jorgie brighten when she sees you."
While Justin's fortified chuckles died down to quietness, Jorginho's own mouth softened into a close-mouthed smile regardless of all the thoughts that were whirring inside of his mind, all the emotions hidden his belly and the loss that he too felt.
He could not believe that once upon a time he had run away from the opportunity to be a father. Children were wonderful. So full of openness and love and so happy to see you even if you felt like you did not deserve it.
Jorginho did not know what his answer was going to be if Jorgie asked if she could stay with him. He did not know why she wanted him in the little ways that she always had done, let alone this big way that she was posing.
In the same way that Justin had not even had a chance to gauge how Jorginho felt about it all, Jorginho did not know if Justin would truly be okay with only raising his little brother for the foreseeable. After all, it was always meant to be Justin. He was the next best thing. He was the one that James had envisioned being in charge. Lynne too.
Had James considered too? Had he and Jorgie really discussed all of that?
If Jorginho believed Jorgie too much without proof, then the dam of his stomach would surely burst, and all his emotions would flood from his eyes. Oh, how he missed James. How he missed his trust. His love that had no bounds, spilling out of him for anyone he considered worthy.
Jorginho had once felt entirely unworthy. Now he realized it was stupid to be insecure.
He just wanted every piece of his best friend back.
Fortunately, one small part of him was still around. And before Jorginho or Justin could discuss things any more between themselves, she was rushing out of the community center with her messenger bag slapping against her thigh.
In the joy of realizing that Justin was not alone in the car, she did not bother to wave goodbye to one of the people running the center and who had walked with her out of the hall, instead bolting her way into the backseat and flopping against it.
She did not bother to rid herself of her satchel, already gripping onto the back of Jorginho's chair with such hope that it could turn the most hardened person into a puddle of goo.
"You came. You came for me." She spoke through the breathlessness in her lungs and the way that her eyes darted over towards her brother blurred her actions, making it seem that she was overjoyed from getting to go home early instead. It would not have been the first time! "I can go home with you then?"
Jorgie's short nails dug into the material of Justin's car before they even had a chance to dig into Jorginho. However, she had stopped flickering her gaze over to her big brother and her gaze of a meadow homed in on the man that she was sitting behind.
If her heart raced any further, then it would surely burst. She was bubbling over with such faith. Such hope. She knew her big brother would not let her down! He had such a way with words, and she knew that he would be able to convince Jorginho of how things needed to be during the phone call that they surely shared.
Hope is such a beautiful thing. The only trouble with it is that sometimes it is a severe drop from the top when reality becomes a factor.
This is what happened then.
Jorginho's stomach churned for a different reason as he knew he could not smile at the teenager – lest he get her hopes any higher – as he unbuckled himself from his seatbelt and turned over his shoulder, speaking with her.
Justin held his breath and peered in the same manner, already knowing that Jorgie's heart would splinter from just this, let alone Jorginho's uncertainty.
"I came to talk to you about all that, yes, sweetheart." He chose his words carefully but, just like her older brother anticipated, Jorgie's expression was already slipping from the desperation of hope towards the depths of confusion. Jorginho played with his beard rather than reaching for her and that told her even more. "I'm just a little confused."
Justin did not really know what to do and unclipping himself from his own seatbelt did not help. The conversation he had had across the breakfast table with Jorginho was clear in his own mind, but he was not sure he should spell it all out for his little sister.
He did not know how to break it to her. That he had not asked Jorginho. That James had not said anything to him either. And that Daisy was none the wiser to her half-sister's dream.
In the end, it was this that spilled out of him, one hand holding onto the steering wheel for comfort as he swiveled around in his seat to glance at the thirteen-year-old girl.
"Dad didn't tell Jorginho that you made your own choice, Jorgie." Justin said. Jorgie was not the only one who winced.
Jorginho knew he could not get in the middle of Morgan relations. He had done that once before and was vehemently reluctant to do it again, certainly when it was between siblings this time.
Between blood.
Briefly looking down at his own lap and where the hem of his khaki plaid shirt met the material of dark wash blue jeans, Jorginho was able to conceal his own hesitant shudder for most of the part. But Jorgie was not.
She had felt like a kid again when she had been informed by one of the tutors that her big brother was coming to collect her early because she had convinced herself that there was only one reason for that. She had felt weightless running out of the building. Like there was not anything to fret about anymore because her wish was going to be granted.
Now the very real feeling that her wish was going to be ignored was looming in front of her eyes. For a moment, she squeezed them shut and she shook her head from side to side.
When they pinged back open once again, a rainstorm had washed over her meadow, and she was trembling like a discarded leaf.
"Why does everyone think I'm lying?!" she howled, and she felt like her bag had suddenly turned into a monster and was suffocating her, so she reached for it, yanking up and off her neck before chucking it onto the back seat next to her.
Justin reacted by the hand that was not stretched behind him and resting on the steering wheel swiping from his forehead and through his locks, as bewildered as he had been during the early hours of the morning. When he did not know how things were going to turn out for them all.
Jorginho reacted more largely than that. He was long since free of the restraints of his seatbelt, so he began to clamber into the back seats along with Jorgie and her satchel to settle them both.
"I don't think that you are lying, kiddo." He started, clumsily plonking himself down on the middle seat of the car and reaching for Jorgie's hand even though he was convinced that she was going to shove him away, rejecting him before he could reject her again. "I just…" he knew to tread carefully. "Your father didn't have a chance to speak with me. And I don't know why you would wish for me over your wonderful brother."
He had taken the focus away from these words when similar ones had slipped previously, but the second time around he embellished them by glancing towards the front of the car and over at Justin.
With that warm brown gaze of his, he spoke how little that he wished to take the opportunity to raise Jorgie from somebody else. Even if it meant he and his wife's family wonderfully growing all over again.
He did not realize that not only had Jorgie not pushed his hand away but was still seeking his familiarity despite it all. She let out a loud sniff even if proper tears had not yet formed and thrust herself against him, her cheek nuzzling against his arm in a way that bought her comfort. It also gave her the opportunity to still look over at Justin.
"I don't want anybody over anybody else." She whined in a desperate attempt to keep everything from erupting from her, Jorginho's hand stroking the back of her neck, practically engulfing it with his reassurance and its size. "I… I just don't want to lose my parents and my brother so close together."
Jorgie's tones hushed down to a whisper and could scarcely be heard in between the swishing of her cheek against the plaid material of Jorginho's shirt. She, however, was positioned on the side of Jorginho's good ear and Justin had a naturally musical set of ears so the two of them heard everything.
Jorginho knew he was taking a risk but he began to gently push Jorgie away from his chest so they could address this point. Justin was the one to bring it up with words, his hand no longer steadying him with the steering wheel and fully sinking his chest against the back of his seat to be present with his little sister.
His eyes dampened. Even he did not know if it was due to how quickly they had widened or from something else.
"Jorgie, how on earth would you lose me too, you silly thing?" Justin's head swung from side to side and wordlessly in the air, Jorginho's energy wished to do this as well but in a different way.
He knew that Justin was only being a big brother, but he felt that he could have spoken another, sweeter name. He did not correct the younger man, becoming a paternal figure for both Jorgie and him, but his next words proved a point.
Justin's hands were roaming back in his hair to ignore the tremble of worry that Jorgie had stumbled across something that had never occurred to him.
What if something did happen to him?
"You are not going to lose your brother, little one." Jorginho reassured her, the gentle strength of hand pulling her closer to his chest once more by the back of her neck and he planted a kiss to the top of her head before letting her go again so they could all get to the bottom of everything.
Jorginho knew better than to take an inhale in between kissing her because he simply would have felt the duty towards his best friend's child overwhelming him and would show that devotion by tears trickling down to his beard, watering it.
In the same way, Jorgie knew better than to keep her worries to herself. Part of her was like Justin and feared spelling them out and facing that reality but she also knew that she would not have to face it alone.
She did not know if Jorginho wanted her or not. But he had not yet left her. And Justin had not either, even if she had expressed that she felt she belonged somewhere else. She felt that he would do some degree though.
Even if it were just a silly fear she could not explain, her subconscious knew that the likelihood existed because of a wiry thread that weaved in her DNA from generations before.
Misty had lost Daisy when Jordan and Lynne died. Maybe she was still around but she had to grow up so quickly.
The last thing that Jorgie wanted was for her own brother to become an impenetrable ghost of his former self.
"Maybe he's not going to go anywhere but he'll stop being a brother and become like a parent and he'll try to take the place of our dad and-"
The side of Justin's cheek stung warmly as if he had been slapped in the face. Once again, he was struck with that word and the reminder that he did not know if he would ever see that person again.
He was unusually rash in his speech. Yet he did not regret what he chose to say.
"I wouldn't." Justin insisted. He might not have regretted his words but, if he had to do this day all over again (heaven forbid) then he knew that he would soften his tone.
Fortunately, for a second occasion, Jorginho was there not to scold him but to balance things out a little bit.
As much as Jorgie disliked having to be pulled away from Jorginho's chest to converse, she too felt the comfort of when he brushed his hand across her face, tracing down the delicate shape of her nose.
"Precious girl, your brother might love you as much as your father, but he will always be your brother and only your brother." He told her, his finger making its way off the end slope of her nose before Jorgie absentmindedly caught hold of that hand, attempting to bring it into both of her own as if it was her comfort toy. "Neither could take the place of the other."
Jorginho was aware of how obvious it was that Jorgie needed his reassurance, but he knew that this did not mean that Justin did not need any. He was dreadfully aware that he could at any moment put his foot in it if he had not done already.
He made a point of reaching for the small ball of his shoulder with his right hand while Jorgie was still cradling his left. It was within this interaction that Justin's chest released a fraction of its tightness and Jorgie found her voice all over again.
"That's what I want, Justin to just be my brother." Her head bobbed once and her innocently rounded eyes investigated Jorginho's before searching to bring Justin into it all. Then they settled down towards her own lap rather than deciding who to continue to focus on. "I… I want him to be the fun one still." The skin of her neck quivered around her throat. "The one thing that reminds me that some things can still be normal."
Justin had been tossing and turning all night long wondering what the future held and what also had violently forced itself into his mind was the wondering of why Jorgie had wanted him so little and Jorginho so much.
Of course, on the surface, he believed that he had figured out why. He was the same age as her father. She looked at him like another dad rather than someone she would sneak up on and push a hat down over his eyes. She looked at him like someone who could protect her against anything because he surely could!
Justin could remind her of home and name which song was on the radio but that was about it, he had thought.
Why had he been so insecure? Why had he been so pathetic?
Not the type to gloat, he usually gave Jorgie more credit than he gave to himself. But he had given her a lot less than she deserved because he was giving himself less than he deserved too.
Of course.
He was a reminder of what was missing.
No wonder she needed to escape the misery.
Jorginho, with a hand only leaving Justin's shoulder to give him a bit of space, also allowed him to be the one to speak next. It was his turn. This was his duty. Even if it was the last turn that he took before Jorgie was handed over to Jorginho.
"The agreement has always been a certain way." Justin began and although Jorgie's eyes remained fixed towards her lap, her eyelashes spoke that she was listening. Jorginho was the one to turn his head at once. He noted that Justin was not usually so fixated on rules. "While I was with Sammy…" Justin trailed off and for some reason caught Jorginho's eyes apologetically before he continued his way. "Now I'm settled with Eli... But it still makes sense."
Jorginho felt overwhelming fondness for Justin welling up in his stomach that almost made him forget the despair when the younger man had caught his eye. It was this that made him reach for his shoulder all over again, his thumb tracing the bone, binding them both.
His gesture, however, also made it seem like they were portraying a united front. This is what Jorgie thought when her head began to slowly lift.
"Even if Jessie was still around, it would make the most sense for you to be with him." Jorginho's eyes searched for Jorgie's from the moment that they lifted, and, out of habit, his head started to bob up and down a centimeter at a time as he looked at her.
Jorgie's eyes remained fixed even if they along with the rest of her body had a sudden urge to run away that she simply did not know how she was able to breathe through. Jorginho felt comfort knowing a piece of James hung around in her and when she chose to gaze into his eyes.
Yet in that instant, he was left second guessing himself when the puddling that overtook her eyes made him want to disappear into thin air, nothing more than a broken man.
He had seen that look before and how he loathed how he always caused it within people.
"Why don't you want me...?" Jorgie managed to croak out before her shoulders lurched and her hands flew to her eyes, her body recoiling back away from Jorginho as much as it could in the car, hiding herself from him.
She decided that if he did not want her then she did not want him to see her face. Did not want to see him either.
Justin's breakfast jumped in his stomach even though it was lunch time at that point, and he should be hungry for more. He was not.
Automatically, his throat whimpered for his little sister and the palm of his hand landed on the top of her head, cradling it. But Justin did not speak. He knew that it was Jorginho's turn to reason with her, not for him to put words in his mouth and potentially even falsely reassure her.
There would have been a time in Jorginho's life where he would have closed at seeing such desperation, felt it scorching his skin as he knew deep down, he was capable of that same emotion and that made him uncomfortable.
Thank bloody goodness that he was long past all of that.
Though his own throat audibly gasped, he was quick to right the situation, pulling Jorgie back close to him and waiting for her to push him away.
His heart shattered while his voice thickened as she clung to him despite it all.
"Of course I want you, baby." He told her, not feeling his shirt wetting because Jorgie was still shielding her eyes with one hand while clinging to him with her other one. His eyes drew shut as he thought about what he truly wished to say rather than wishing to disappear from the situation he found himself in. "I'm just hesitant to take you away from Justin because he has already lost enough." His eyes momentarily opened to look over at Justin and his eyelashes were wet as he did so. "I want you as much as you want me. But I know you deserve the next best thing to your father and that is Justin."
Seeing the spiky blackness of Jorginho's eyes as well as hearing his words caused Justin to sniff and fiercely look down at his own lap, wiping his eyes hurriedly. He knew that he should reassure Jorginho that he too was the next best thing, that he knew no other man that his father cared about in the same way, and he too had no doubts that he would take care of Jorgie beautifully.
Perhaps even better than him.
And yet Justin did not bother to even try to find the words. He knew it was pointless. It was impossible. He could not speak past the searing burning that was ripping through the inside of his throat, not to mention his skin was showing a thorny blush for anyone that chose to look.
Justin just had to hope that as Jorgie momentarily pulled away and opened her mouth to speak to Jorginho that she had kind things to say. Or at least truthful.
He should not have doubted his little sister again.
"So… So, I don't get a say?" she whispered, hurriedly wiping her own eyes though it was useless because other ones soon found their place on the lids. "I don't have a choice that my parents have had to go away and now I don't get to follow my heart…?"
Justin had not known how Jorginho was going to take it when it became clear that Jorgie wanted to be underneath his roof and in his care. For the first time in their marriage, this was something that he had not discussed with Eli. He did not know if his husband would be able to take it that Jorgie did not want him – did not want them both.
But Justin knew that it was not like that.
It was not choosing someone over another. It was about who made you feel safe. Who made everything feel normal. Who made everything feel like everything could be okay.
The answer to that was Jorginho every single day and Justin at a distance, there to pull her ponytail and make her laugh and see how many bits of cereal they could tuck inside their cheeks across the breakfast table.
Justin had felt like he had lost everything many times before, but he genuinely believed he knew the feeling of that when he watched his mum and his dad fade into nothingness. He felt powerless. So, he knew that he could not do that to Jorgie.
She had to make her own decisions. He would fight for her to be able to do that.
He fought past the burning sensation in his throat, and he took his turn to grip Jorginho's shoulder after the two men shared a mountainous glance between them both and released a sigh that was as deep as the wind.
They knew what they had to do.
"Of course, you do." Justin suddenly told Jorgie without conferring with words with Jorginho at all, his other hand doing more than just reaching for her shoulder, clambering into the back seat as well and on top of her satchel. She felt the desire to weep as soon as she felt his close presence, let alone heard his words. "You are a lucky kid because so many people wish to keep you safe and happy."
Out of Jorgie erupted a gasp of gladness that was also more like a weeping of overwhelm. Her little hand did not hesitate to reach up towards her own shoulder and cup over Justin's before gripping onto it as if she did not want to let him go after all.
She never wanted to let him go at all. She just knew what she needed from him. He had always been there to tease her but lift her up too, to show her a different path and to have a laugh. It would bring her sadness to not wake up to his face every day. But she knew that he was there for her regardless. And the same went for her with him.
All three of them shared flickering glances and then Jorgie and Jorginho's eyes locked onto each other. For half a second, Jorgie's heart lurched in her chest as she worried that Justin might have given permission but that still did not mean that Jorginho was willing.
Even if he had said that he wanted to be there for her. That still was not a guarantee.
There was something wonderful about eyes as expressive as Jorginho's. Sometimes he loathed that they told all before he was ready to speak. But in that moment, it was a blessing that they uttered their own words at any given time.
Jorgie saw the way that his eyelashes clapped together, and his brown eyes revolved with welcoming. Her two hands were on two solid balls of his shoulders and words came out of her before she could hold them back.
Before he could change his mind. Not that he would.
"I hope Auntie Daisy is okay with a new addition to the house." Jorgie said and at once, Jorginho's eyes had to flutter shut to compose themselves. They opened barely a second later and they were puddly with emotion rather than tears.
Jorginho's mouth stretched wide, and it was sincere this time, not like when he and Justin fought hard to portray bravery. This time, two dimples like ripe segments of fruit kissed on either side of his mouth.
His large hands covered either of Jorgie's cheeks before drawing her close to him, pressing his forehead against hers. But before her eyes could shut, relaxing for the first time on that day, Jorginho showed how true his next words were by the way that he needed to be pulled away from her so that he could look at her.
"I know Daisy like me will love having someone that she loves very much around every day. A piece of your dad too." He told her and Jorgie mirrored his beam before not being able to grant his wish any longer, needing to be up close against his chest and feeling his next words vibrating through the center of him. "A piece of both of your parents."
Justin heard these words and he looked on with his own smile beginning to form, a close-mouthed one but dimples of his own being given the permission to appear. He did not dream of interrupting their little moment like he had climbed into the back of his own car. When he saw the two of them embracing, he did not think about how much he wished he could have one too.
However, when one of Jorginho's arms was wrapped tightly around Jorgie and the other one opened, beckoning Justin, and he was involved in the embrace as well, it suddenly dawned on him how much he had missed that. Not hugs from Jorginho because they were not rare! But feeling like part of a family. A family he found himself part of rather than had created.
Jorgie was not the only one who needed to shut her eyes to fight back the tears when Justin was within one arm of Jorginho, and his little sister was tucked in the other. He had not felt so safe in a long time, it seemed. Part of him wished that he could go home with Jorginho as well.
But like he had expressed that Jorgie had a heart that she needed to follow, she had a path that was meant for her and her alone. He would sorely miss her - would miss the chance to raise her in a way. But she had made his chest clench with joy.
She had seen her own calling and gone after it. He did not think there were any more lessons to teach her. He hoped the lessons about loss would be easy on her or at least beneficial. And they were.
James and Lynne never dreamed that their cautionary plans would come to fruition. They never would have dreamed that their daughter would choose her own path either. But when they returned to earth alongside everyone else who had been lost to the heavens, James' heart beamed with such pride that it gave the stars that they all once had been a part of a run for their money.
Some things were just meant to be.
Jorginho was always meant to be a father even if he had run away from the chance the first time around. He realized the full capability of his heart when it let in a child who he was connected with by destiny rather than just love.
He had never been so glad to wear his heart on his sleeve when he woke Jorgie up with a grin every morning. He had never been so humbled by his failures and his mistakes. Whatever he had done or had not done lead him to that life.
He might have only been on his first life unlike Jordan and Lynne, but he too knew that he would do it all again in the exact same way.
Jorgie would run to him repeatedly too.
Yes, some things cannot be denied. Sometimes things are just right. And some things are just meant to be.
Jorgie had been called just like the heavens had called both parents. They were meant to become a whole new person thanks to the sanctuary that Jorginho provided. And James and Lynne were destined to see just how unconditional their heavenly love could be.
Needed to be.
For, just like their child, the chance to learn was about to take a whole new turn. And like Jorginho, they had the opportunity to embrace stronger than they had before.
The End.
There you go, thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :) I really liked getting to write Justin and Jorgie here. Usually in my stories she is a toddler and Justin is exasperated by her. But it was nice to see the way in which their relationship blooms. A lot of the dynamics are interesting here too. How funny that it's inspired by The Last Of Us and one of Pedro Pascal's famous, reluctant father roles but Jorginho is reluctant in a different way. Certainly a lot more soft than Joel Miller initially is :P The end of the story hints of something different to come for Jorgie's character. Time in the household of Jorginho and Daisy helps Jorgie realise some things and try things out. Certainly more adventures for James and Lynne after quite a big one of going up to heaven :P Thanks again for reading and I will be back next Wednesday to update this story once more so see you then perhaps!
Amy signing out :)