Colby's POV
The next couple days were hard on the kids and I. We were trying to stay strong for Julia's sake but I could feel us all slowly falling apart.
I had no idea how to take care of and comfort five kids by myself. Granted, I had Sam, Nate, and Jeremy, but it was different than having Julia.
She knew how to handle situations that I couldn't. Like Jenna sobbing because I couldn't figure out what tampons to get her.
That was incredibly stressful but I was so glad I could call Stas to help me through it.
We tried to visit Julia every day but it was hard on Juniper. She was taking this the worst for obvious reasons.
Julia was Juniper's mom as far as she was concerned. Of course Juniper knew of her mother but she was in her cognitive life for only a little bit of time.
Julia was the one who raised her.
She was such a good mom already which was becoming especially apparent because her body and her were fighting for our daughter.
Whenever her vitals would go down. Julia's body would work extra hard to get her back to normal. It was making the process of Julia waking up much slower though.
As much as I wanted Julia to wake up, I wanted them to both live.
"I wanna see Jule." Little Sam said as I finished attempting to put Juniper's hair in pigtails. "We'll see her a little later. We're going to the park first." I said as he huffed out a breath.
"How can we possibly have fun when Julia is half dead?" He asked as I shook my head.
"She's not half dead. We're just gonna go let some energy off then we'll go visit her."I said then patted Juniper's head.
"We gotta grab the twins." I said as little Sam sighed. "They're gonna be mad." I said causing me to frown.
"Listen, I know you guys want to be by Julia's side twenty four seven but she wouldn't want that. She would want us to continue life as best as we could." I said as Juniper stood up.
"How do you know that? What if she wakes up and we aren't all there?" Sam asked as I sighed.
"We're only going to go to the park for a little while. We need the fresh air." I said then led the way to get to Jenna and Carter.
Sam had a point, mentioning how hard it would be for Julia to wake up with none of us around. I knew she would understand because she wouldn't want all of us sitting there all day every day.
Right now Sam and Nate were with her and if she was even showing a sign of waking up they would call me.
"Colby, can we bring sissy some ice cream?" Juniper asked as I chuckled. "You just want ice cream, don't you?" I asked as she nodded. "For sissy, duh." She said as I nodded.
"Yeah, we can get ice cream for her." I said as we made our way down the hall.
"Jenna, Carter, we're going to the park. Come on." I said as Jenna poked her head out of her room.
"We're not going to see Jule?" She asked as I sighed. "We are. We're going to the park first." I said as she crossed her arms.
"I wanna see Julia." She said as I nodded. "I know. We'll see her later." I explained as she shook her head.
"I'm going now." She said as I groaned. "Jenna, come on." I said as she closed the door.
"Wait here guys." I said to Carter, Sam, and Juniper then went to go into Jenna's room.
"Go away." Jenna said as I shook my head. "I don't know what your problem is, Jenna." I said and leaned on the door.
"I don't know what your problem is! Julia is dying and you want to go play at the park?!" She accused as I rolled my eyes.
"Enough. I want to be sitting with her as much you all do but we can't." I said as she clenched her jaw.
"Why?!" She asked as I closed my eyes.
"This is hard for everyone but your five year old sister is struggling to get through every day. Seeing Julia breaks her, so I'm trying to make you all happy by going to the park to get her mind off of it. Afterwards we'll go to see Julia." I said as she shook her head.
"What if she dies alone?" She asked, her voice cracking.
"She's not gonna die and she's not gonna be alone. Sam and Nate are there right now with her, they'll let me know any developments that would require us to go up there." I explained as she came over to me.
"I really don't want her to die." She said and hugged me. "Carter told me about mom...did you kill her?" She asked as I hugged her back.
"No. I didn't." I said as she nodded. "She did that to Julia, didn't she?" She whispered as I shook my head.
"I don't know." I said simply, scratching her back. "I bet she did. I'm glad she's dead." Jenna said and pulled away, wiping her cheeks.
"Me, too. Now enough about her. Let's go to the park then visit Jules." I said then reached for the door.
I knew it was hard on the kids, knowing we couldn't sit with Julia every moment of every day. It was obviously hard on me too but being away would be good for all of us.
It would give a sense of reality.
The drive to the park was silent since everyone was sad and stressed out. I was really hoping our little outing would at least break them out of their shell a little more.
It's what Julia would want for them.
"Colby, will you come push me on the swing?" Juniper asked as she took my hand.
"Yeah, of course." I said then looked at the other three. "Feel free to do whatever, just stay in my sight." I said as they nodded and went their separate ways.
Sam and Carter went off to the basketball court and Jenna went to go read under a tree.
"Everyone is mad at you." Juniper said as I helped her up onto the swing. "Yeah, I know." I said with a laugh.
"I think they just want sissy to wake up." She said as I nodded. "Yeah, I have a feeling she'll come back to us soon. She's a tough cookie." I said as Juniper giggled. "Coooookies." She hummed causing me to laugh.
"You're already getting ice cream." I said and started pushing her on the swing. "With cookies. Sissy wants cookies." Juniper said with a giggle.
I loved hearing her little giggle, considering I haven't heard in over a week.
She has had such a hard time, it was hard seeing her without that childish sparkle.
That's why this trip to the park was so important.
I knew it was pissing the older kids off but I could see Jenna looking up at the two of us, a small smile creeping on her face as Juniper squealed with laughter.
She knew that this trip was a good idea after all.
"Okay, guys. I think it's time to see Julia." I said and walked over to Sam and Carter.
Juniper was nearly asleep, her head resting on my shoulder as I held her on my hip.
That was honestly another reason I wanted to go through with this plan so badly. I wanted to tucker her out so she would sleep while we were visiting Julia.
"I'll get Jenna." Carter said then ran off. "Did you have fun?" I asked as Sam nodded. "You were right. We needed this." He said as I nodded.
"I think you'll see that I know what I'm doing from time to time." I said with a laugh.
"You're a great big brother." He said as Jenna and Carter came over. It melted my heart that he actually acknowledged that I was a big brother to them.
When we got to the car, Juniper was fast asleep which saved us a trip to the ice cream shop.
I would eventually get her ice cream but it could definitely be held off now which was good for me and the older kids.
Luckily she stayed asleep by the time we got to the base because then we would have definitely had to stop.
"How are things here?" I asked as we walked into the infirmary. "She's still killing it." Adult Sam said with a grin.
"No sign of waking up?" I asked as Nate shrugged, looking at her monitors.
"I think she's close. Her body is just so exhausted, it's not like we are waiting for a trauma to really sort itself out." Nate explained.
"So she could wake up today?" Jenna asked with a hopeful tone. "I mean it's possible." He said as Carter grabbed Julia's hand.
"I hope she does." Carter said as I nodded.
"I hope so, too." I said then leaned down and kissed Julia's head.