Colby's POV
"Colby, are we gonna die?" Juniper asked as we drove to get ice cream. "Eventually, yeah. Not any time soon though." I said and focused on the road and our surroundings.
I wasn't exactly happy about bringing the kids out when things were so dicey but I had brought some extra protection so we would be totally safe.
"Can we sit and eat it there? I'm not ready to go back into hiding." Jenna said as I shrugged.
"We'll see." I said then pulled into the parking lot.
I felt bad that the kids have been cooped up for so long but it was for their safety and I wasn't going to change a thing about that.
This was a special occasion.
"Alright. I need you guys to really listen to me. You don't leave my sight for even a second." I said and turned to look at all of them.
"What if I have to pee?" Jenna asked as I blinked slowly. "Either you hold it or we all go." I said blandly.
"Jules said you can't be mean to us." Carter said as I rolled my eyes. "Me taking your safety seriously is not mean." I said then got out of the car.
Once all the kids were out, I took Juniper's hand then led the way inside.
I didn't usually get nervous about stuff like this but having the four kids out by myself when I knew how much they meant to Julia made me nervous.
If anything happened to them we would be devastated.
"Get whatever you want, guys." I said as the kids ran to look at the ice creams.
It was nice to see them get so excited about something as simple as ice cream.
Seeing how it happy they were made me feel excited to be a dad. I knew how dangerous it was to have a baby in this business but I already loved my daughter with my whole heart.
I knew I would do anything to protect her.
"Colby." Juniper said, breaking me from my haze. "Yes?" I asked and looked down at her. "Can you order for me?" She asked with a shy look on her face.
"Yeah, of course. What do you want?" I asked as she hummed, standing on her tiptoes to look at the flavors.
"Bubble gum." She decided after a minute. "Okay. Any toppings or anything?" I asked as she giggled. "Gummy bears." She said with a smile.
"Okay, kid." I said with a laugh then looked up at the girl taking our order. "She wants a cup of bubble gum ice cream with gummy bears." I said causing the girl to nod and start working on it.
"Should we get Julia something?" Sam asked as I nodded. "Yeah, we'll get her something when we leave. You guys can pick it." I said as Carter laughed.
"She's pregnant so she's gonna want something crazy." He said as I nodded. "Pickled flavored ice cream or something." I hummed then started walking to the register.
Once I paid and the kids got their ice cream we went to sit down.
I could almost feel the stress and fear melting away from the kids the longer we sat there.
It was nice getting to just see them in a stress free environment.
"Do you guys have any questions about what's been going on? I don't know how much I can tell you but I know it's been stressful." I said as the kids started eating.
"Are we ever gonna go back to school?" Sam asked as I sighed. "It's tricky. I obviously want you guys to have a normal life but it's hard. I don't know if we'll ever go back to Texas again." I explained, folding my hands in front of me.
"I liked Texas." Carter said with a sigh. "I know. I wish I could change things for you guys. You've had a rough life." I said with a nod.
"You make it better." Jenna said as I scrunched my brow. "Arguably I think I make it worse." I said as she shook her head.
"You and Julia changed our lives. Yeah, it's kinda not great now but you guys took us away from a worse situation." She explained.
"You're gonna make great parents." She said causing me to smile.
Jenna almost never expressed anything but annoyance to me and Julia so seeing her open up like this meant a lot to me.
It was nice to see she and the others understood our decision to do this.
Once we finished our ice cream I let the kids pick something out for Julia then we made our way back to the office.
When we got to the office, I brought the kids to the room, only to see that Julia wasn't in there.
"Where'd she go?" Carter asked as I shook my head. "Maybe she went to the infirmary. You guys just stay here." I said then went to go to the infirmary.
I didn't like the nerves that were filling my chest, not knowing where she was.
I knew she had to be down here somewhere but the fact I left her only to come back to her not being in the room made me nervous.
"Hey, man. You okay?" Sam asked as I hastily made my way down the hallway. "Have you seen Jules?" I asked as he shook his head.
"Not for a while, why?" He asked as I shook my head, my heart racing.
"Woah, she's down here somewhere." Sam said as he followed me down the hall.
When I got to the infirmary, I felt my heart drop seeing the empty room. "What the fuck?" I groaned then turned quickly.
"What's going on?" Sam asked as I clenched my jaw and quickly made my way towards my office.
"Colby." Sam said as he followed behind me. "Julia isn't in the room of the infirmary." I said then quickly opened the door to my office.
"This isn't the worlds smallesat place, Colby. She's down here." He said as I went over to my desk.
In the middle of the desk there was a note along with Julia's phone.
I'm sorry. Take care of the kids.
"FUCK!" I screamed then angrily started throwing things around on my desk.
I was angry with Julia for putting herself and out daughter at risk but I was more angry that I let myself fall for it.
"What if it's a trap?" Sam asked as my eyes widened. "Like the last time." I said then grabbed my phone.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked as I brought my phone to my ear.
"Colby?" Will asked as anger boiled within me. "Where the fuck is she?" I spat, feeling my chest ache with fear.
"What are you talking about?" Will asked calmly. "I know you have something to do with this. Where the FUCK is Julia?!" I yelled into the phone.
"Colby..." Will said quietly. "What did you do with her? I swear to god, Will, I didn't kill you last time but I fucking will this time." I seethed, pacing around the room.
"Colby, she's not here. I promise. Tell me what's going on...maybe I can help." He said calmly as I closed my eyes.
"She's gone. She's going to get fucking killed if you don't know any information." I explained and looked up at Sam.
There was a worried look on his face, one that I haven't seen in a long ass time.
He was as terrified as I was.
Will was silent on the other end of the line, leading me to believe that he knew something but didn't want to tell me.
"Spit it out, Will. Her life depends on it." I snapped as he sighed.
"She reached out to me regarding the information about what's been going on. I didn't know she would try and take this on herself." Will said as anger flooded through me even more.
"Why the fuck would you tell her anything?!" I yelled, running my hand through my hair.
"I owed her, Colby. After what I did, I knew she would hold it above my head. She promised she wouldn't do anything stupid." Will said as I rolled my eyes.
"Well she did." I said then leaned on my desk. "Where did you tell her to go?" I asked and closed my eyes.
"Seattle." He said as I nodded. "Great. Contact me immediately if anything about her surfaces." I said then hung up.
"Watch the kids." I said to Sam as I pushed passed him and went to leave the room.
"Colby, I understand why you're doing this but you can't." Sam said as he followed me.
"And why the fuck not? I'm not gonna let her kill herself." I said as he sighed.
"I'm just saying you're not going alone and without a plan. It's gonna take her a minute to get there and we have the plane. We need a plan first." Sam said as I sighed.
I knew he was right.
I knew I would have to do damage control here before I could chase after her.
I had to be the one to share the news to the kids that Julia was essentially killing herself.