Endless || Jonah Marais ✓

♪ SIXTY-TWO ♪

"COFFEE!" Aurora shrieks, reaching for the cups in Jonah's hand when he the walks back into the hospital room. "COOOOOFFEE!"

"Here," he chuckles, placing a kiss on her forehead as he hands her the caffeinated drink. "You do know you're supposed to be resting, not yelling, right?"

"Aww," she juts out her lower lip. "But where's the fun in that?"

"How are you feeling?" Callie questions, shutting the door behind her with Jack by her side and a nervous expression on her face.

"Horrid," Aurora pouts, crossing her arms. "It's been so long since I've seen the light of day, I've forgotten what it looks like. But you, on the other hand," I point a finger at her accusingly, "look like you've seen Death himself."

"How do you know Death is a guy? Maybe it's a girl, or maybe Death doesn't have a gender at all and is ju-"

"Callie," Jack brings her rambling to a stop. "You're procrastinating again."

"Fine," the girl huffs, sitting down in one of the chairs next to the bed as Jack takes the other one. "There's something important I've been needing to tell you guys."

Aurora shares a worried look with Jonah, tugging on his hand until he sits beside her. "Are you pregnant? Because I call godmother if you are."

"Aurora, you can't just ask people that," Jonah chastises, not sounding shocked in the slightest. "Whatever it is, Callie, we're here for you."

"I promise I'm not pregnant," she smiles humorlessly, wringing her hands together anxiously. "It's actually about my dad."

Aurora furrows her eyebrows together, never having heard her mention the man before.

"He's," Callie takes a deep, shuddering breath, as though it was paining her to speak. "He's trying to fight for custody over me."

"That's a good thing," she states slowly, still not understanding why she sounds so distraught. "Isn't it?"

"No," she shakes her head vehemently, attempting to blink away her tears. "He used to beat me, all the time. And if he wins this fight, I don't think I could live through all of that again."

Shoving her coffee into Jonah's hand, Aurora climbs out of the bed, pulling Callie into a tight embrace, trying to hold back her own tears.

"He's not going to win," Aurora states firmly, resting her chin on her shoulder as her cries soak hers. "Jonah and I are your parents now. That bastard can go fuck himself."

This earns a weak laugh from the girl as she pulls away, wiping at her eyes.

"So, has a court date been set?" Aurora asks. "Who's your lawyer? Whoever it is, they best be great. Or do you not have one yet?"

Callie glances at Jack, who takes her hand in his.

"The date has been set for my birthday, December thirteenth. And, yes, I've got a lawyer. He's won most of his cases, from what I've seen, so I'd say he's pretty good."

"That's great," she grins. "What's his name?"

"Charlie Daniels."

"That's - that's great," Aurora repeats, sinking back onto the bed. "He makes all his cases his first priority, no matter what."

"Aurora," Jonah begins, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"I'm fine," she snaps, brushing him away. "When's your first appointment with him?"

"November third," she informs her. "So, it's only two days away."

Amelia, Aurora's favorite out of all of the nurses that had visited her, walks in with paperwork in her hand. "I'm sorry to interrupt but two of you are going to have to leave while I check her stats. And when that's over, Aurora will be discharged."

Callie nods, giving her a reassuring smile before walking out, Jack trailing close behind her.

"Jack!" Aurora shouts, bringing the boy to a complete stop as he looks over at her confusedly. "No matter what, Callie is never to be alone with my dad. Do you understand?"

"Of course."

××××

"Are you cheating on me?" Aurora crosses her arms, glaring at her boyfriend accusingly.

Not long after her conversation with Callie, Aurora had been discharged from the hospital, which caused a massive blanket of relief to spread over the entire place. She was back home, sitting next to Jonah on the couch as everyone else scoured the kitchen.

"Because it's been, like, three minutes since you've hugged me or shown any affection whatsoever. If you want to break up with me, ju-"

She's interrupted by Jonah tackling her into a tight embrace, knocking her back against the cushions.

"I'm not cheating on you," he argues, keeping his arms secure around her waist as he rests his head on her stomach. "And I'm most certainly not breaking up with you."

"Mhm." Squirming around, she struggles to escape his grip. "You're just tired of me. Is it because I'm needy?"

"I'm tired of you being needy," Jack jokes, raising his hand as he and Callie reenter the living room - to which Callie responds to by swatting his arm.

"Aurora," Jonah whines, looking up at her with pleading eyes. "I'm very sorry for disregarding your neediness for a whole three minutes. You have my attention 24/7."

"Only 24/7?" She asks, offended. "I'll have you know, Mr. Frantzvitch, that I require attention 25/8. If you're not going to take this relationship seriously, I might just go and date Aaron-"

Jonah cuts her off by planting his lips firmly on hers. Taken by surprise, she instinctively stiffens, before slowly melting in his hold, the butterflies she feels every time they kiss erupting in her stomach.

"GET A RO-" Carmen throws a pillow at the curly haired boy, muffling his retort as she walks in.

Aurora giggles as Jonah pulls back, resting his head in the crook of her neck as they continue to cuddle together.

"Do you still think I'm cheating?" He questions, his arms remaining locked around my waist.

Smiling down at the amazing boy she's lucky enough to call hers, not needing to think about her answer for even a second, she realizes that one thing she had told the nurse while pumped full of antibiotics was true.

"I never doubted you in the first place."

She really does hope to marry this boy one day.