Colby's POV
"I'll take care of her." Nate said as I set Juniper on her feet. "I'll join you guys in a minute, I just want to check on Jules." I said as Nate nodded.
"Take your time. We're gonna go find a snack." Nate said and took Juniper's hand.
"Hurry back." Juniper said with a serious tone as I grinned. "Just gotta give sissy a fairytale kiss so she can way up." I said then winked at her before turning towards the others.
It was hard trying to stay strong knowing that the kids were going to have to see Julia as beaten and battered as she was.
They've seen her hurt before but this was next level.
Julia's throat was slashed and she was stabbed a couple of times. Not to mention she was shot by Snake.
She lost so much fucking blood.
"Ready?" I asked the three older kids as they nodded. "What happened to her?" Little Sam asked as I sighed.
"Do you really want me to get into it?" I asked quietly. "Tell us everything. We can handle it." Jenna said as I nodded.
"I'll give you little bits at a time." I said as I opened the door to where Julia was.
I felt my heart ache, seeing how damaged she looked. She was attacked to a bunch of monitors, including ones that were monitoring the baby.
"What the hell happened?" Jenna asked with a thick voice as adult Sam looked up. I didn't even realize he was sitting in here with Julia but it didn't surprise me.
"I know you wouldn't want her to be alone so I sat with her until you came around." Sam said with a reassuring smile.
"I appreciate that." I said quietly as he stood up. "Hey, guys." He said and waved to the kids. "Hi, best friend." Little Sam said with a grin. "Hey, best friend. Long time no see." Adult Sam said then came over and ruffled little Sam's hair.
"Are we gonna get to stay with you guys?" He asked with a hopeful tone as Jenna walked up to Julia.
"I'm not sure. We can talk about this more in a little while. Visit with Jules." Sam said then left the room.
"Tell us what happened." Jenna snapped as I sighed. "It's a long story, Jen." I said quietly. "Well tell us something!! Look at her!" Jenna yelled as Carter frowned.
"Did you do this?" He asked as I shook my head. "No." I said then went over to the bed, taking Julia's hand.
"She had a lot of people out to get her." I explained, keeping my eyes on Julia. "She fought all of them by herself. She won but obviously got injured." I said as Carter looked up at me.
"Where were you?" He asked as I frowned, slowly running my fingers through Julia's hair. "I was being tricked. They wanted me to be against your sister and I fell for it." I said with a shameful tone.
"How could you do that? Julia would never trick you." Little Sam said as I nodded. "I know that." I hummed and looked at Julia again.
"I was wrong and I'm sorry." I said not only to the kids but Julia. I didn't know if she could hear me but I was going to spend the rest of my life apologizing to her.
"Who was after her?" Carter asked as I closed my eyes. This was the part of the story I didn't know if I wanted to tell them that their mother was involved.
I knew I was going to leave out that Julia was the one to kill her.
"A lot of people. But she's tough and fought hard." I said then leaned down and kissed Julia's forehead.
"You guys can stay in here if you want. I'm gonna get back to Juniper." I said then stood up straight.
"Are we staying down here?" Little Sam asked as I shook my head. "I gotta get us a hotel or something." I said as Jenna looked at Julia with tears in her eyes.
"She's gonna be okay." I said quietly, putting my hand on her shoulder.
The simple gesture was enough to get her to break down.
"It's okay." I whispered and pulled her in for a hug. I honestly didn't know what to do considering only time would tell if Julia would be okay.
I had a strong feeling she would be alright considering how well she was taking on the treatment.
It was just hard to fully believe when I knew her heart had stopped entirely for a while.
"I'm sorry I've been so mean to her." Jenna sobbed as I hugged her close. "You're sisters. You're supposed to fight and be mean." I said and ran my fingers through her hair, trying to get her to calm down.
"I don't want her to die." She cried out. "Shhh...take a deep breath, Jen." I soothed, looking up at her brothers.
"Do you think she's gonna die?" Carter asked as I shook my head. "No. She's gotten through a lot. I doubt this will be any different." I said as Jenna hid her face in my chest.
"How about we just let her rest while we find a hotel." I suggested as Carter brought his hand to his sister's back, rubbing it in an attempt to calm her down.
"I don't want her to be alone." Jenna said with a sniffle and pulled away, looking up at me.
"People will be visiting her all day. She would want you guys to get situated." I explained as she nodded.
"We'll come back later. I promise." I said then looked at the others.
"Bye, Jule. We love you." Little Sam said quietly as I led Jenna out of the room.
It was hard seeing the kids so sad, but I understood why. Julia looked pretty bad and it was scary seeing her connected to all the equipment.
I know Julia would pull through though. She was strong and wasn't going to let them win.
She fought so hard, I couldn't imagine her stopping the fight now.
I led the kids out of the room then down the hallway.
"Everything okay?" Adult Sam asked as I nodded. "I'm gonna get the kids and I situated in a hotel." I explained as Jenna sniffled next to me.
"Want me to come with?" He asked as I nodded. "Yeah. Can we get someone to sit with Jules. I wouldn't want her to wake up to an empty room." I explained as he nodded.
"Of course, I'll tell Jeremy real quick." He said as I nodded. "Have you see Nate and Juniper?" I asked as we walked down the hallway.
"Uhhh...I think I saw them walking that way." He said and pointed to the left. "Awesome, alright. Meet upstairs in like five minutes." I said then led the kids towards where Sam pointed.
We walked for a little while before I heard Juniper giggling.
"I know that laugh." I said causing her to look up. "Is sissy okay?" She asked as I held my hand out so she would come take it.
"She's gonna be okay." I said, hoping that was genuinely true.
I knew I probably shouldn't have been so optimistic around kids who didn't know the full situation but it was the only comfort I could offer.
"Where are we going now?" Juniper asked with a sadness in her voice. I understood that she was a kid and this was probably extremely overwhelming.
There was no easy way to put any of this so I would just have to try and make it fun until we could go home.
"We're gonna go stay in the fanciest hotel we can find." I said as she looked up at me. "If there's no chocolate cake then it's not fancy." She said causing me to laugh.
"Well then we need some chocolate cake then." I said then looked at the three older kids.
"We haven't had dinner." Jenna said as I nodded. "Perfect. Cake for dinner." I said then looked at Nate and Sam.
"You guys coming?" I asked as they nodded. I could see on their faces that they were confused by my shift in mood.
I was still angry and hurt but now I had four lives to take care of.
These kids meant the world to Julia and she would want me to focus my time and energy on making sure they were okay.
Julia was strong, and I knew that. In a couple of days she would wake up and we would be able to continue our lives together.
Until then I would take care of the kids and keep them calm. This was all so scary to them but they were strong.
Strong just like their big sister.