Shattered By Broken Dreams

At the hospital Jimmy waited patiently with Zacky while the doctors rushed to help Legend. All Jonnie needed was a few stitches before she was able to join them in the waiting room.

“You ok?” Zacky asked as she sat down between the two of them.

“Yeah” she nodded and lowered her gaze to the floor.

“You did good you know” he nudged her

“Yeah, you did real good” Jimmy agreed.

“I’m not a hero,” she said through tears. “I only did what I thought my dad would do”

“You’re my hero” Jimmy said putting his arm around her. “My son would be dead if it weren’t for you. I’ll make you pancakes everyday for the rest of your life.”

She faked a smile put her head down on his shoulder. “Where is Seven?” she asked.

“She’s waiting outside the operating room” Jimmy said.

“If you guys don’t mind, I think I’m going to go see Blade while I’m here.”

“Sure, go ahead” Jimmy nodded.

They watched as Zacky disappeared down the hall. Jimmy got up and walked over to the vending machine. When he walked back over to Jonnie, he had two cups of coffee. He handed her one and sat down again.

“Uncle Jimmy, do you think my dad is going to be angry?” she asked.

“Why would you think that?”

“I can’t seem to do anything right when it comes to him”

Jimmy set his coffee down on the table and lowered his gaze to the ground. He had to think for a minute before responding so he could make sure he got his point across.

“As a father, we only want what’s best for our children. We have been your age and we know that you will make bad decisions just like we did. So, we try and make sure that you don’t make the same mistakes we made. Maybe your dad is a little too strict, but believe me when I tell you, you have no idea how lucky you are.”

“If Legend came to you and told you that his dreams were not your dreams would you deny him the chance to try and achieve his?”

Jimmy shook his head no “I think this is a conversation that you really need to have with your father” he smiled.

She nodded just as her father walked through the doors. When he spotted her, he walked right over to her and knelt down in front of her. “Are you ok?” he asked.

“Just a few stitches” she nodded.

“Thank God” he hugged her tightly. “You have no idea how worried I was.”

She lowered her eyes to the ground. “I’m sorry…I…”

“I’m not finished” he said and lifted her chin so that she was looking at him. “I am the proudest father on the planet right now. What you did tonight was so brave and had it not been for you, we’d all be planning for multiple funerals right now. I don’t say it enough, but I love you, Jonnie with all my heart I love you.”

She wiped the tears from her eyes. “I love you too, daddy”

Blade’s Room

Zacky walked into his son’s room and sat down in a chair beside his bed. Blade was awake and watching television.

“What are you doing here so late?” he asked his father who looked exhausted.

“It’s a long story” Zacky smiled

“It’s not like I’m going anywhere anytime soon”

“Well, we found Laura and right now Legend is in surgery, Jonnie got a few stitches, but thankfully, Seven and Lyric weren’t hurt.”

“Melody?” he asked hopeful

“I don’t know. When we left, they hadn’t found her yet.”

He turned his gaze back to the television hoping that she was ok. The whole time, he’d been awake, he cursed himself for not saying something about Laura being around. Had he known the story, he would have gone straight to Matt and Brian the first time he saw her all those years ago at melody’s birthday party.

“There is something that I want to talk to you about” Zacky said.

“What is it?”

“The letter from your birthmother. When I asked you if you wanted to go and meet her and you said no, Brian and I went anyway.”

“I know” he said.

“How?”

“I wanted to see what she looked like so I went and waited in the parking lot.”

Zacky nodded not surprised that Blade would be curious. “Well, the thing you don’t know and I myself didn’t know until that day is that I know you mother. We all do.”

“What?” Blade looked at his father waiting for an explanation.

“It was a closed adoption so we had no idea who your birth mother was. The truth is, when Jonnie was born, Johnny hired your mother to work as her nanny while she paid her way through college. After a while, Johnny had to let her go though because she just wasn’t right for Jonnie.”

“So do you know who my father is?”

“Yes” Zacky nodded.

“Well?” Blade waited not knowing that he was in for the shock of his life.

“Harley, your birthmother, and I had an affair. I don’t know why I did it. We were drunk one night and it just happened and we swore we wouldn’t let it happen again, but it did. It continued for months until Aubrey and I got married. I am your father. Your real father.”

Blade looked at him having heard the words he just said, but not understanding just the same. “You? You mean this whole time my father was right in front of my face?”

“Yes, but like I said, I didn’t know or believe me I would have told you”

“Where is mom?” he asked meaning Aubrey.

“She’s at home and she knows. I told her earlier”

“And?”

“and she isn’t taking it well”

“You cheated on her?”

“Yes, and I’m not proud of that.”

“are you going to get a divorce?”

“I hope not, but if that is what your mother wants, I can’t stop her.”

Blade shook his head. “This is so fucked up”

“Yeah” Zacky agreed. “I think you’ve had enough excitement for one night though, I’m going to go home and see if there is any news on Mel.” Zacky stood and hugged his son goodbye. “I’ll be back after I’ve had some sleep”

“Ok. Please let me know if you hear about Melody”

“I will. Now, get some sleep”

When Zacky left, Blade picked up the plastic water pitcher that was sitting on the table beside his bed and threw it across the room.

--
Downstairs…

When the doors to the operating room opened, Seven stood up from the floor where she was sitting waiting patiently. Jimmy walked over as the doctor came out.

“Is he ok?” Seven asked

“He’s going to be fine” the doctor smiled. “The knife didn’t hit any major organs and we were able to stop the bleeding. He’ll be sore for a while and will have to take it easy, but in a month or so, he should be good as new”

Seven hugged Jimmy who was crying tears of joy. “Can we see him?” Jimmy asked.

“Sure, we’ll come and get you as soon as the nurses get him settled in his room. He will be heavily medicated though so he may not be coherent. Don’t stay too long, he needs to rest”

“Thank you” Jimmy said and the doctor nodded and walked away.

An hour later the nurse came out and led Seven and Jimmy to Legend’s room. He was lying in the bed with pillows propped up behind his back. His eyes were half open and half closed, but they opened fully when his father and fiancé approached the bed. He smiled at the sight of the two of them.

“I’m hungry, did you bring pancakes?” he joked.

“I will get right on it and bring you some in the morning. How’s that?” Jimmy asked.

“That works” he smiled.

“How do you feel?” Seven asked.

“I feel like I just had the best drugs of my life. No pain for sure”

“Well, the doctor said we should let you rest. So, I’m going to go wait outside while you two say goodbye. I’ll be back with your mother in the morning.” Jimmy kissed his son’s head and walked out of the room.

Seven took Legend’s hand in hers. “Hey how’s Mel?” he asked.

“We don’t know, we haven’t heard yet”

“Call me when you do?”

“Of course.”

“I should go, my mother is probably out of her mind right now.”

He nodded and held out his arms. She hugged him lightly afraid she was going to hurt him. “I love you” she smiled as she pulled back from him.

“and I love you” he smiled and she kissed him before standing back up.

“I’ll come see you tomorrow, ok?”

“You better” he winked and she kissed him again. When she walked away she turned in the doorway and waived. He blew a kiss to her just before she disappeared.

When Jimmy and Seven went downstairs they met up with Johnny, Zacky and Jonnie and headed back to the house. Johnny had filled them all in on what transpired after they left while they drove home. All of them had one thought on their minds. If Brian was able to get Melody out of there, why wasn’t she brought to the hospital?