The Messinger Sisters

Author’s note: Just so you know, there will be a slight time jump in this chapter.

Two and a half weeks after Christmas, the phone rang at the Messinger home. Everyone was there because it was easier to help Jay and Jack no matter how much they insisted that they were fine. Andi answered the phone.

“Yeah, hang on,” She turned to Jay and Jack. “Phone for you two. Do you want me to put it on speaker phone?”

“Sure, thanks,” Jay nodded. “Hello?”

“Tommy said I had to call you. And yes, the others told me you were okay just a few minutes ago.”

“Cat! You’re awake!” Jack grinned.

“How are you feeling, Sweetie?” Jay asked.

“I’m fine, Jay. Tommy has me on enough pain killers that I can’t really feel anything. How are you guys?”

“We’re good. They’ve finally reduced the meds we’re taking, thankfully,” Jay sighed.

“When are you guys coming home?” She asked.

“As soon as we can, Cat. I promise,” Jack stated.

“Good. Guys, this stuff is making me feel a little loopy so I’m gonna go now, kay?’

“Okay. We’ll see you soon, Cat,” They said their goodbyes and Jay pushed the speaker phone button to hang up.

“Hey Bobby, come here for a minute,” Bella and Bobby walked out of the room and upstairs.

“I wonder what they’re talking about,” Jay wondered out loud.

“Who knows?” Jack shrugged.

20 minutes later, the Bobby and Bella walked back into the room. “Listen, if you two keep improving the way you have been, Doc says you’ll be able to go back to New York. We’ll drive you there in a couple weeks, got it?” Bobby asked.

“Seriously? Awesome,” Jay smiled and curled back into Jack’s side. The two of them had gotten to the point where they no longer needed to use a crutch and were using a cane instead. Jack had begun trying to play his guitar again and it wasn’t as difficult as the doctor had thought it would be. Jay thought he’d just underestimated Jack’s determination to play again.

About three weeks later, Jay and Jack were riding back to New York with Bobby and Bella. As usual, most of the conversation was supplied by the two older siblings.

Jay gave directions once they reached Soho. They reached the loft building and Bella thought it looked like the lofts in RENT, though she would never admit to having actually watched the movie.

“Thanks guys,” Jay and Jack both climbed out of the car just as Scott, Cami, and Luke were walking out.

“Jack! Jay!” Cami saw them first.

Jay waved and smiled as the three of them rushed over. “Hey guys,” Jack grinned.

“Hey Bobby,” Scott leaned down to talk to their siblings after hugging Jay and Jack.

“Bella, the rest of Jackie’s band, Scott, Cami, and Luke. Jay’s sister, Bella,” Bobby introduced them

“Come on, the shopping can wait. You two need to get your asses upstairs,” Luke insisted. He grabbed Jay’s bags from her and started walking back into the building.

“Thanks guys,” Jay leaned into the car and hugged Bella before going to the other side and hugging Bobby. Jack hugged Bella and waved to Bobby. Then the two of them followed Luke into the building, Cami and Scott following them.

“Cat came home today, by the way. She was getting so antsy in the hospital. Tommy says her nose is completely healed and only has a slight bulge where it healed. Her cracked and bruised ribs are healed now, the broken ones should be completely healed in about a week or so. He had to replace her knee cap because of the damage to it. She’s walking rather well on it now though. She was using a cane for a while there. She’s still got the cast on her arm and wrist. Tommy says her wrist will take about the same time as her forearm to heal*,” Scott explained.

“Thanks Scott. Has he come back here yet?” Jay asked.

“No he hasn’t. He doesn’t even know she’s out of the hospital,” Cami answered.

“Good. Let’s leave it that way for now,” Jack instructed.

“How are the two of you now, by the way?” Luke asked.

“Wonderful. Jack’s almost completely back to normal with his guitar too, which is exciting,” Jay smiled.

“You almost couldn’t play?” Cami asked.

“Almost,” Jack stressed.

“Jay! Jack! You’re back!” Cat saw us first as we walked through the door.

“Hey Kitty. How are you feeling?” Jay asked, hugging Missa.

“I’m alright, I guess. How are you both?” She asked.

“Loads better than we were,” Jack admitted. He and Jay both sat on either side of Cat. “Where’s Sandy?”

“She’s out with her new boyfriend. She’s supposed to be back soon,” Lynn answered.

The group of them sat together in the room, mostly just talking about unimportant things until around 5:30 that evening.

“Lily, Kaleb, it’s time to go,” Marissa announced.

“Go? Go where?” Jay asked.

“They have a show tonight. We’ll see you guys there,” Cat decided.

“Cat, maybe you should stay here, ya know? Because of your meds,” Lily-Rose thought.

“Nope, I’m okay. And I need to get out and do something. I can’t sit here all day.”

“I know the feeling, my dear. Which theater?” Jack asked. Kaleb told them and then the three of them left to prepare for their show.

“Hey guys!” Sandy called as she walked through the door 20 minutes later. “Oh my god, Michael took me to this really great restaurant and, …” She stopped dead, starring at Jack and Jay. “OH MY GOD! When did you two get back? Why didn’t anyone tell me? Are you guys okay? How was the car ride back? Do you need anything?” She asked every question without a pause.

“We got back a couple hours ago. No one told you because you were out on your date. Yes, we’re fine. The car ride was boring. And no, I think we’ve got everything we need,” Jay answered all her questions.

The next afternoon, Archie showed up. Thankfully, everyone was there. Except Sandy, as usual. “Why didn’t anyone tell me you’d come back? And why are you here instead of your own loft?” He demanded, ignoring everyone else in the room.

“Guess why no one told you,” Jay rolled her eyes. “And she’s under doctor’s orders to stay with someone else for now.”

“Fine then. Come on, Cat, get your stuff. There’s room for you at my place.”

“There’s no way in hell she’s going with you,” Jack stood from his usual spot beside Cat.

“There’s no reason why she shouldn’t, Jack.”

“You must think we’re real stupid, huh? You put her in this situation. There’s no way she’s going with you,” Jay stood as well.

“Oh, and you’re going to stop me, are you?” He sneered.

“That’s the idea,” Ricky, Kaleb, Andy, Austin, and Scott moved to stand between Archie and the others.

Archie looked between all five guys standing in his way and then to the others all standing behind them. “Don’t think you can get rid of me like this. I will come back for you Cat!” He turned and stormed off.

Jay sat beside Cat and immediately noticed she was shaking. Wrapping an arm around her, Jay pulled the younger woman closer to her. “He’ll be back, Jay,” She whispered in a shaky voice.

“I know sweetie. Don’t worry, we won’t let him hurt you ever again,” Jay promised.

Jack locked eyes with Jay then nodded. “Ricky, would you be willing to let Cat come live with you for a while?”

“I would love to, you know that. But I can’t. I’m leaving for a couple weeks. I won’t be here,” He stated. “For the next two days, I can though. I’m not leaving yet.”

“Okay. Cat?”

“I’ll go,” She answered before he could ask.

“Okay. In the meantime, we need to get locks and such for the building. Or at least for our lofts, including the windows. He’ll do anything he can to try to get to her in here,” Jack turned to the others. Cat whimpered slightly and Jay tightened her hold on her.

“Maybe I should go back with him. I mean, he’s already put me in the hospital so it can’t get worse, right?” Cat looked up at Jay.

“No, Cat; It can and will get worse. True, he’s put you in the hospital already. Next time, you may not get so lucky,” Jay spoke, trying to keep the anger out of her voice but trying to get through to Cat at the same time.

“But he’ll hurt you guys too for keeping me away. I should just go with him.”

“Cat, we can take care of ourselves and each other, Sweetie. Don’t you worry about us, got it?” Jessie sat in front of Cat and Jay.

“But….”

“No buts; we’ve got everything under control, okay?” Jack sat back on Cat’s other side.

“Okay,” She spoke after a few tense minutes, trusting Jack and Jay not to lie to her. Cat stayed with Ricky that night, as planned.

They’d gotten so used to sleeping in the same bed that Jack had decided to sleep in Jay’s bed. The previous night they hadn’t slept in the same bed and neither of them had gotten much sleep.

Jay was curled comfortably into Jack’s side again when she got that niggling feeling at the back of her mind again. The one that told her to just lean up and kiss Jack. She’d been getting it without fail for nearly a month now and it was really starting to irritate her. She sighed, exasperated at herself.

“You okay, Jay-bird?” Jack muttered.

“Yeah, just thinking,” She answered. Ten minutes later, the niggling feeling hadn’t gone away. Fed-up with it, she leaned up and pressed her lips to Jack’s and the feeling stopped. “Sorry,” She muttered.

“Don’t be,” Jay could hear the smile in Jack’s voice before he leaned down a little and captured her lips. His hand slid up from her lower back to cradle her head as he deepened the kiss. He licked her bottom lip and Jay opened her mouth to allow the warm muscle in. Both of them smiled as their tongue rings clinked. They broke apart a moment later. “Don’t be sorry,” Jack said again.

“I’m not,” Jay smiled and curled her head back down and onto his chest.

Author’s note: *broken ribs take at least 6 weeks to heal, forearm breaks take 6-10 weeks, wrists take the same. I googled them :) Also, there will only be one maybe two more chapters to this story, not including the epilogue. I thought you should know that.