All That Matters

Chapter 12

These past couple of weeks have been the craziest. So let's start with the good. My anniversary was absolutely amazing. We went to dinner at a beautiful restaurant on the 6th and had some fun time... wink, wink... and then the next day, since we had the concert over the weekend, was also Dean's birthday. And since a FFDP concert isn't the best environment we gave Dean the best birthday gift.

December 7, 2016

Houston, TX

"Hola Dean." I say as Joe and I stand in front of Dean and Renee's hotel room.

"Happy birthday bro." Joe says.

"What are you three doing here?" Dean asks as he sleepily rubs his eyes.

"We wanted to say happy birthday." Joe says.

"A simple phone call would have sufficed."

"And we wanted to give you your birthday gift." I say.

"You couldn't mail it?" he asks.

"That would be considered child abuse and we would get arrested." I say. He furrows his eyebrows. I hand him the baby carrier. "Happy birthday."

"Wait what?"

"We need you to keep her for a couple days." Joe says. "We have tickets to a Five Finger Death Punch concert for Saturday."

"And it's your birthday so we're killing two birds with one stone." His eyes well up.

"Really?" we nod. "Best birthday ever."

Next is my sister. We were able to post bail... It was a lot of money but between my parents, my brother, my husband and myself, we were able to pull the money together. It mostly came from Joe and myself and I know my sister won't be able to pay me back, but that's just something I have to deal with. She was released until her court date and sentencing 2 weeks later....

December 16, 2016

I didn't want Anjali to come so she's staying with Galina while my parents, Joe and myself go to the courtroom. Besides my brother's wedding, I've never been to the courthouse for anything serious. I haven't slept or eaten much since we bailed her out. Which in my line of work isn't the best thing in the world, but since I don't have a storyline that involves any action but it's still not a good idea.

"Babe." Joe says breaking me out of my thoughts. "Your leg is shaking like crazy." I look down at my leg, stop its movements and sigh. My mom has been absolutely silent. She hasn't said more than a few words in days. They bring my sister in and start the questioning. After about an hour and a half of that, the jury leaves to talk. Waiting for them was so tense. They finally came out and handed their decision to the judge.

"I can't do this." I say running out of the courtroom. I sit on a bench a few feet away from the room she's in. I put my head in my hands and take a deep breath. My sister is going away and I'm not in there to say goodbye. Just get up, go in there and say goodbye. But I can't, I can't get up it's like my ass is stuck on this bench. The door opens and Joe comes out, looking around for me. He spots me and walks over, taking a seat on the bench.

"8 years." He says. "Parole after 4."

So yeah, my sister is away for 4 years. Hopefully she doesn't do anything stupid so she stays longer. Christmas felt weird without her, but we made the best of it. I did make up for Joe's anniversary and Christmas gift in one. I got him that one-wheeled electric skateboard that he road around at Survivor Series. He was so happy and surprised to see it, he took it right outside and rode as soon as he opened it. The girls got clothes and toys and things like that. And Joe and I put our money together to get the four of us Space Jam 11s and Adidas Superstars. Of course the girls are going to grow up so we got an extra pair of shoes for both girls for later down the road. And of course Joe gave me my gift later that night...