Through sickness and in health

52

"Goodmorning lexie" Melissa smiles at me opening the front door. She's holding a jug of coffee, still in her robe and looking like she just woke up which is no surprise considering it is only just 6 in the morning.
"Morning" I smile back slipping past her
"Is Jason awake?" I ask
"Are you feeling okay dear?" She laughs, I shake my head laughing taking that as my answer.
"I didn't get my hopes up" I laugh walking upstairs to Jason's bedroom.

When I get to his room, max tips his head up looking at me for a second. When he sees it's me he puts his head back down on Jason's side. I feel bad having to wake him up but his check up is in 40 minutes and it's a 20 minute drive to the hospital. I walk over to his bedside and kneeling in front of him. I run my fingers through his full head of hair, but still surprises me how fast it grew back.

His eyes begin to flutter open, sleep clear in his eyes as they adjust to the light I turned on beside his bed.
"Good morning beautiful" I smile
"No" he grumbles closing his eyes again. J can't help but laugh as he rolls over and hides his face under in his pillow.
"Babe you have to get up soon"
"No"
"Jason"
"No"
"Jason Parker get your ass out of bed!" I stand putting my hand on my hip. I can see the amusement in his eyes when he looks up from his pillow, his face is still puffy but a small smile lifts on his lips.
"Come lie with me" he groans rolling onto his back and opening his arms.
"No"
"5 minutes"
"It's never 5 minutes"
"I promise" he sits up pouting and he looks so cute, I can't resist.
"5 minutes. No more" but I'm already running to the bed and jumping into his arms before I can regret it. Because it indeed was not just 5 minutes.

*~*

3 make out sessions and  3 tries to try and drag Jason out of bed later, he's finally up and going to his bathroom. Max sits outside the closed bathroom door waiting for Jason which melts my heart. 10 minutes later Jason walks out. Showered, teeth brushed, hair messy but hot and now dressed in a hoodie and sweatpants. I smile taking hold of his hand as we walk down the stairs together. All of a sudden Jason pauses on the stairs, my hand drops from his as I look at him with question.
"What's wrong? Do you feel dizzy? Nauseous?"
But I quickly realise it's none of those when I notice his clenched jaw and glare pointing ahead. I follow his gaze finding what made him so angry.

His dad stands in the living room, he's oblivious to the fact that Jason is staring at him because he's talking to Melissa. Only his side profile is visible.
"Jason, your mom said he's having a tough time at home right now. He wants to reconnect with you, and he still has joint custody of you. He's gonna be around" I say walking back over to him.
"I'm not going" he shakes his head, his jaw still clenched.
"The hell you aren't" i turn around seeing Melissa standing behind me looking straight at jason.
"If he's going, I'm not" jason says to her

"Jason Parker. This is your checkup. You have to go, you are going" I can see the fight disappearing in his eyes as his eyes soften. He shakes his head and rolls his eyes before storming past her, mumbling a quick 'fine' as he rushes outside.
"This is going to be a long day" Melissa sighs

Or she could have just told him not come because this day is already stressful enough for Jason and he doesn't need his dad showing up randomly when he clearly doesn't want him here.

*~*

"How are we feeling today then Jason?" Dr Harrison asks walking into the room. Jason is sat on the bed getting his blood pressure taken whilst me and Melissa are sitting in the two chairs in the corner of the room. Jack is at sending next to Melissa listening to everything and watching everything. The air is thick in the room making me feel claustrophobic.
"Fine" Jason mumbles looking down at his fidgeting hand. The nurse finishes taking his blood pressure and whispers something to the doctor as she walks out.

"Nervous?" He asks
"Nope" Jason sighs popping the 'p'
"Your sure? Your blood pressure seems to be a little bit high" dr Harrison says looking at Melissa and jack before looking back to Jason.
"Yeah well can you blame me for being a little bit on edge" Jason snips looking up. Dr Harrison looks a little bit caught back as he just stares at Jason looking confused.
"Sorry" Jason sighs looking back to his hands.
"We're going to take you down to get your MRI now. It should be about 20 minutes until we get the results so I have time to look over your scan and compare it. You guys can't come with him to the mri but he shouldn't be long" dr Harrison explains.

"Are we ready?" He asks looking back to Jason. I can sense Jason's nerves from across the room. He looks up at his mom then me, I give him a tight nod and a comforting smile.
"I guess" he nods hopping off the hospital bed.
"We'll be here when you get back" Melissa smiles at Jason hugging him.
"I hope not" he says looking at his dad when he pulls away from his mom. He doesn't say anything else as he follows the doctor out of the room to get his mri taken.
"Just give it time. He'll come around" Melissa says looking at jack.

She really doesn't know what her son went though at all.

In this moment I wish nothing more than for him to just disappear and give Jason some space to deal with this stressful day.