Small Choices lead to Big Changes; Big Changes lead to Big Choices

Jag looked at his daughter with confusion "Wait...what did you tell him sweety?" he wrapped his arms around his daughter alittle tighter, pulling her against his chest

!@!

Alex slowly slid down, walking after Wynn with his hands in his pockets, definatly not happy-go-lucky normal-Alex.

Amanda frowned "Thats good that she's gona be alright but...I feel so bad" she whispered, glancing at Amanda then back to Cole "Do they have any clue whats going on?"

Cole sighed softly, kissing Amanda's cheek lovingly. "I know you do, so do I," he murmured. "Especially since it's like, a double whammy for the poor thing. First heart break and first emergency run to the hospital." He shook his head, watching as Gracie's head turn towards them. Her eyes were shut, and her breathing was calm and deep again as she fell asleep. "They don't, really. They're testing her for a number of things, including this weird...blood-cancer thing." He shuddered. "They doubt she has it, because the youngest ever reported case was a male of age nineteen. Usually guys get it, too. But they figure she had better odds of developing it because of the Albino gene and all." He shook his head, his eyes almost tearing because he felt so bad. "I wish I could help her some way, yaknow?"

The trip outside was a short one, being they were on the first floor and the door to the cold world around them was long a few hallways away. There were seldom noises out here, and one could see their breath if they squinted hard enough in the dull yellow light. Wynn sat down on a bench, letting her eyes slide shut for a moment. Then they opened. "Are you mad at me, Alex?" she asked him quietly.

==--==

Katrina cried harder, but softer. "I-I to-Tolded him wh-what the st-stupid People-People T-T-T-Told me," she sobbed, rocking herself in his arms. "I T-Told him-him what's-what's gonna-na Happen to Grac-Gracie. I don't wanna do it no more, Daddy, it makes pe-people upset." She was hysterical now, crying more violently that she ever had before. "I don't wanna, I do-don't wanna!"

Suddenly, it clicked in his head "Oh sweety. I'm so sorry" He said, hugging ehr closer now "Why didn't you tell me you were seeing things before?" Maybe there was still away to get ahold of that..special..doctor. The one who gave Jack the medicine when he was little to subdue his visions from being so strong.

Jag kissed the top of her head, rocking "It'll be okay sweety" He glanced up at Jack, then back at Katrina.

!@!

Alex looked around a minute before sitting down next to her. After a minute he answered "No....why would you think that?" He asked, glancing over at her. It was better, being outside the building. The voices felt as if they were under a blanket; muffled. There was just something about crisp air that calmed him down.

"T-That's horrible" Amanda said, gasping lightly and looking over in Gracie's direction "Say she does have that...what do they do to treat her?" She asked, glanicng up at him, wide-eyed.

"I know," Cole murmured, shutting his eyes and running his fingers through his hair. "The doctors told me, if she did--which, sadly, a few of them think she does--that there's two major steps to treatment. The first is radiation treatments to her chest and abdomen. They told me it'd be, well...excruciating for her." He winced horribly at the thought. "You'd, ah, probably have to help her get dressed and stuff, and she'd probably have to be home for a while. It'd be too hard for her to be walking around school in so much pain. They're like burns, the one doctor told me. Not terrible burns that bubble, but horribly painful burns. The second step is blood transfusions. They take all of her blood and replace it. Not at once, but slowly, until the cancer's gone. Which would take weeks, and a constant replacing of needles, and there's a possibility it wouldn't work...." He looked at his knees, sighing heavily and feeling a few tears roll down his cheeks.

===-===

Wynn swung her legs. "'Cause I kissed you and you didn't care," she grunted, frowning deeply. "I thought you liked me. Well, at least, you acted that way. And Falcon kept telling me you did." She touched the locket on her neck. "And she said that I should kiss you when I got the opportunity to. And I did. And you didn't really do anything. So I thought you were mad at me." She looked over at him, frowning deeply. "I'm confused."

~~~~~

Katrina's cries softened, but were high pitched whimpers. "I thought you-you'd be-b-be ma-mad at me," she sobbed. "I th-thought Me-Meg woul-wouldn't lov-love me anymo-r-res." That was the first time she ever had called Meg, 'Meg.' "'Cau-cause I--I kn-know who-who my-m-m-my really Mommy i-is, and-and, I--I--I want her ba-back, ju-just to sa-say hi. I--I know she--she do-did-didn't lov-love me-e. She li-lied." Crying harder, Katrina covered her ears. "Nooo, shut up!" she wailed, bouncing and kicking and squirming.

Amanda was already in tears; that sounded horrible. She glanced over at Gracie "Oh Grace.." She mumbled, reaching out a hand and lightly moving some hair out of her face. She prayed this would all work out..

(Sorry, short reply to awesome post )

!@!

Alex looked over at her "You kissed me?" He asked, titlting his head. See, Alex had been trying to hard to block the thoughts out, that he had barely noticed. "Well..I mean. I really do like you, alot. Like, alot alot. I thought Grace told you I did? She said she sent you at text on Christmas saying that. I mean, like I said though, i really like you. I guess, I was so busy trying to get the thoughts out of my head- especially Gracie's, those were heartbreaking.." he contined on, babbling.

!@!

Jag looked at her, eyes wide. Not even Jack had been this bad "Shh, katrina, shhh, its okay. Its okay. I'll gett the voices to stop. Or try to. I promise sweetheart, everythings going to be okay, just calm down. You gotten tell them no in your head, not outloud" He whispered, kissing her forehead and rocking her.

Hysterical, Katrina continue to move around violently. That was, until she registered her father's words. She stopped her squirming and sat there, gasping and sniffling and rubbing her eyes. "That works?" she asked, looking up at him, seeming painfully hopeful. "Not out loud?" Katrina's eyes gleamed, as she was obviously as well painfully confused. She started rubbing at her forehead, her eyes closed. It was clear what she was thinking, because she said it aloud, too: "Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up." She was just mumbling those two words over and over again.

Meg arrived back in the room. She stood in the doorway, watching Katrina mumble and hit herself in the head. Her eyes went round and she looked at Jag, mouthing, "What...!?"

-----

Slowly, with a half smile on her face, Wynn nodded. "Yeah, I did." She opened her mouth to speak again, but he was babbling. She managed to interject a, "No, Gracie didn't, she was just teasing you." but that was it. He kept talking on. And on. And on. She arched an eyebrow, and then smiled. Okay, Mr. Thoughts, she said in her head, fully aware he'd hear her. Can you hear me now?

She did something bolder than she'd ever do; she reached out and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulling him forward and kissing him full on the lips. She shut her eyes, keeping her fists full with his shirt, so that he couldn't pull away.

------

{*ruffles hair* It's okay, it wasn't awesome, it was just, informational. }

Cole wrapped his arms around Amanda. "But remember, there's always a possibility that she doesn't have it." He nodded, kissing her cheek lovingly, and hoping she hadn't noticed his own tears. "And we've got plenty of good things going on right now, and so does Gracie. She may be sick, but she has two wonderful best friends to take care of her. She has you and me. We have a baby." He put his hand on her stomach. "Not yet, but we will soon, if you think about it. There's hardly anything to get upset about. Everything's going to be fine."

Jag looked up at her, still wide eyed, then looked back at Katrina. He then, after a moment, mouthed 'She sees things. Like Jack used to'.

He still craddled Katrina in his arms, afraid to let her go.

!@!

Alex had been in mid sentence when she did this, and yelped slightly. His eyes were wide and he just sat there for a moment before he hand moved behind her head, his eyes closed, and the other hand rested on her knee. Then, he kissed back.

!@!

"YEah...and she's a tough little trooper...our tough little trooper" Amanda whispered, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his chest "I have a question. How young was she when he parents died?"

Cole smiled weakly. "I know," he murmured, holding her as close as the chairs would allow (being that the chairs had armrests, and it was sort of hard to lean over the armrest and be comfortable). "She was..." He closed his eyes for a brief second. "Three. I think. Two, maybe," he murmured. "I almost think it was for the best sometimes, though. Her parents...my uncle and aunt were..." He shook his head. "They treated her oddly. They had wanted a baby for so long, and when they finally had Gracie, they were disappointed that she wasn't the perfect one they wanted. She wasn't a blond-hair-blue-eyed beauty. She was a puny, six week early thing that barely survived delivery and had a "visually crippling" deformity of being Albino, as my aunt put it." He sighed, shaking his head. "They were weird...."

-------

Wynn felt content. At least this time you're noticing that I'm kissing you, she teased, finding this statement so funny that she pulled away, giggling. Her eyes opened for a moment, and she smiled happily. "Toldyaso!" she murmured, kissing him again. Partly she was doing this because she wanted him to feel better; she was used to the happy-go-lucky Alex, not the moody-I'll-frowny Alex. She figured that if she cheered him up like this, maybe his head wouldn't hurt so badly. Either way, she was also rather lonely, having been dumped four times in the past two months by the same stupid guy.

--~_~--

Meg's own eyes went round. She walked over, kneeling down next to Jag. "Sweetie," she whispered, touching Katrina's arm gently. "Stop doing that, honey, you're gonna hurt yourself."

Katrina quieted. Her eyes opened and she looked up at Meg. "Mama," she whimpered, putting her arms up. Meg moved so she was kneeling taller and wrapped her arms around the little girl.

"It's okay, baby, I'm here," she whispered, kissing Katrina's cheek and hugging her close. "I'm right here, you're okay, Daddy's here, too, you're alright, everything's alright."

Jag slipped on arm from around Katrina and put it around Meg, holding both of them close.

Then there came a groan from the bed; Jack had woken up.

!@!

"Thats horrible..." Amanda said, looking at the teenage girl and then back at Cole "Hey Cole...?" she asked "I know your parents adopted Gracie' and all but.." She didn't finish the sentence, to see if he would catch on what she was thinking.

!@!

"Hm..Whatever" Alex mumbled. He had been waiting on this for atleast the most part of the year. It sure did cheer him up alot, that was right. Alex pulled away, his hand still on the back of her head, and smiled, leaning forward and kissing her lightly on the lips again and then leaning back "Wow.."

Wynn giggled happily, smiling at him. She released his shirt, but kept her hands on his chest, and leaned so she was laying against him, her legs tucked beneath her. "Are you okay now?" she asked quietly, staring up at him, her eyes sparkling with concern. "Really, are you?" She ignored the nurse who was peeking her out of of the front doors to watch them curiously.

------

Cole blinked. "But what?" he asked, tilting his head to one side. It was three in the morning and he was stressed and exhausted; cut the guy some slack!

Gracie mumbled in her sleep, her hand moving besides her head slightly, fingers twitching. Then she stopped moving, an almost-peaceful expression on her face.

~~~~

Katrina, feeling bad again, pressed herself into Jag and shut her eyes. "I'm sorry Jack," she mumbled, covering her ears and curling up into a tight ball.

Meg looked up at Jag; there were tears in her eyes. She sighed softly, standing and moving away from them. "Hey, buddy," she said quietly, sitting on the edge of Jack's bed. "How ya feelin'?"

"What if we adopted her? I mean, I know she's like your sister and all...but..I think it'd represent something" Amanda whispered, looking down "I mean, I already look at her like a daughter"

!@!

Jag tried to calm her down, holding her into his chest and humming lightly.

"W-Whart..habbened.." Now, thats how he was talking now, because of the bandage wrapped around part of his mouth. He looked up at her, eyes wide as he took in his surroundings.

!@!

Alex smiled, wrapping one arm around her slightly "Yeah...alot better." he said, the smiling and happy look not leaving his face for a minute "Sooo....I take it you like me back?" he asked, looking down at her and smiling wider.

Wynn giggled. "Good! I knew that would cheer you right up!" She playfully tapped the tip of his nose. And then she snorted, rolling her eyes. "Of course not, you idiot. I hate your living guts and it would make me happy inside if you fell off of a cliff." She laughed, whispering in his ear, "That's 'Wynn-speak' for yes, you retard, of course I like you back."

------

Katrina shut her eyes lightly, sighing quietly. "I love you, Daddy," she murmured, relaxing in his arms. She managed to force herself to sleep, her little body stilling peacefully.

Meg gently put her hand on his cheek, where she knew it wouldn't hurt him if she did so. "We don't know what you were doing, but you fell out of your window. You're pretty hurt, sweetie."

~~~~

Cole smiled. "I've seen her as a little sister, yes, but in more recent times...she's like my daughter. Which is weird, 'cause she's actually my cousin." He laughed quietly at that. "But, I you know what, I think she'd like that. We'll talk to her when she's awake, and figure things out." He nodded his head firmly, still smiling. "I'm sure she'll be okay with it."

"She's okay with it."

Gracie had awoken; in all honestly, she hadn't really been that deeply asleep. She smiled sleepily, looking exhausted and unwilling to be talking, but elated.

"I love you too" Jag whispered, and then sat back, watching Meg and Jack. His eyes started to drift close as well..

"I did?" He asked, then made a small gasping noise "Wight...wrings..did nwot wowrk"

!@!

Alex smiled "Good" he said stupidly, then laughed, holding her to his chest in a hug type guesture "So, Falcon is the evil sister right?" He asked, glancing at her "Thats what Gracie said"

!@!

Amanda was about to reply to Cole when Gracie spoke up. She looked over at her, smiling "Really? Thats..fantastic" She kissed Cole's cheek, and then Gracie's cheek, beaming.

Several Weeks Later
January 20th, 2011
Alex Averti's Birthday
The Park

Cole frowned down at Gracie, scratching the back of his head. "Are you, uh, sure you wanna go, Grace? You really should be just relaxing."

Stubbornly, she nodded her head. "I want to go, of course I want to go, Cole," she replied, looking up at him and shrugging. "It doesn't hurt too bad, I swear."

A week ago, Gracie's test results had come back. She had passed everything but the test for Cruoremrarus; her blood had a high content of the cancer, in fact. To put things lightly, Gracie had been devastated. The thought of having cancer terrified her, especially such an odd cancer like Cruoremrarus. But she had quietly buried those feelings and thoughts away, so that Alex, Amanda, Cole and Wynn wouldn't worry about her. The rest of her family, she realized, would worry, but she couldn't really stop that. The same day she was diagnosed, she got her first radiation treatment.

Radiation treatments, Gracie had discovered, were terrible. From her neck to her hips on the front side of her body, Gracie's skin was bright red and painful to the touch, as if someone had taken her and smushed her up against a giant frying pain. She had been aloud to come home the night of the diagnosed and treated, but she hadn't gone to school since then. However, news of her cancer had spread like fire through the school, and Wynn had brought over a garbage back full of Get Well type cards from Gracie's classmates. Gracie, of course, had been flattered, and she had spent all of yesterday reading each one and writing a thank you note--as well as making Alex's card. She had forbade him to even think about looking at his card early, or else she'd lock him in a fully-booked mental institute (so that he'd have to deal with listening to crazy-people thoughts).

Gracie had shooed Cole from her room and carefully gotten dressed. She wore a navy blue tank-top and a pair of shorts, along with her white sneakers and socks that lazily folded over the tops of her sneakers. She brushed her long white hair, staring into the mirror as she did so. She hadn't talked to Jack once in the past several weeks; even looking in his direction made her heart ache. She knew Wynn was with Alex now, but that didn't bother her one bit. She was happy for Wynn, and happy for Alex....

Okay, it did bother her, just a little bit. She felt left out and third-wheel-ish. Of course, she never voiced that, but she knew Wynn could tell. So Wynn--being the amazingly cool person that she was--had promised Gracie that she and Alex wouldn't kiss or anything in front of Gracie. The two still held hands and whatnot, but nothing mushy or too romantic (Wynn hated mushy stuff anyway).

Now Gracie was shutting her light off and carefully walking down the stairs, passing through the living room and out of the front door, sitting in the back seat. Most everyone else was at the party; Cole had waited for the last moment for Gracie, having had to run home and turn off something that he'd left on anyway. He buckled his seat belt, glancing back at her. "You alr--"

"Yes, Cole, I'm fine, I have the lap belt on. Drive! Before we're late!" Gracie fondled with the envelope in her hands, staring down at a sticker that was starting to peel.

Most everyone else was already at the park, the location of Alex's party. Wynn was there, standing at a picnic table, helping JJ spread out a blanket that would serve as a table cloth. The two were babbling about something, and Wynn was giggling and rolling her eyes.

Wynn set the large picnic table with the cake, plastic cups and forks, paper plates, napkins, and an array of little sparkly things she'd found at home. It wasn't glitter, but it was just as shiny as glitter.

Izzy and Parker (who went by his middle name, instead of his first name, Paolo) were giggling hysterically and chasing each other barefoot through the grass. Izzy was running after Parker, and then all of the sudden Parker would turn and run after Izzy. A toddler's version of tag is quite entertaining, if I do say so myself.

The two little ones were under the watchful eye of four people; JJ, Bo, Travis, and Talen. Talen beneath a tree, making sure that his little brother wasn't playing too rough. Bo and Travis were sitting at a chess table, playing their game and occasionally looking up at Izzy when she ran by squealing like a squeaky toy. And JJ, of course, being Izzy's mother, occasionally ran joined the play, too.

Falcon and Nate had gotten bored, so the two had taken a trip back to their younger days and climbed into the sandbox. Laughing, Nate was trying to fling Falcon down his sister's shirt when she wasn't paying attention. Of course, Falcon didn't take well to this, and to repay Nate, she was trying to get a fistful of the coarse grains in his eye. Haig and Cailyn watched it all from their seats on the grass. The two of them were deep in conversation over something that seemed important.

(Woah, long post 0_0)

Alex was sitting in a chair that Sarah had decorated with balloons and stickers (With the help of Logan) and dubbed it the 'Birthday boy' chair.

He had been alot happier since he and Wynn started datting. He was perfectly fine with not doing much infront of Gracie; mainly because, well, Alex didn't like people who made out infront of others, so why be one of those types of people?

The dye had faded out of Alex' hair now, and the tips surprisingly had no color. He really couldn't decide. Today, his long hair was shorter because Amanda had treated him to a haircut. So now, his hair swept lightly just above his eyebrows and was cut clean from around his ears, so you could actually see them. He looked different, alittle, but he was still Alex. His clothing consisted of khaki shorts, black hightop converse, and a purple shirt with the cartoon character Gir on the front.

Alex had been one of the first to realize what Gracie had, after the doctors, because he had been in the room while they were walking down the hall. He hand sank back into a corner, looking almost devestated that his 'little sister' had a blood cancer. Especially after hearing what would have to happen. But now, he kept an eye on her and also would come home with stuff from kids at school for her.

Sarah and Moxie were sitting in the shade, talking and smiling about something. Sarah was becoming alittle more prominant now, and it was easy to tell she was pregnant. She couldn't wait to figure out the gender, she already had names picked out for if it was a girl or boy. Occasionally they'd glance up at their partners, then back to each other.

Kam was over by a grill with Jag, talking at Jag flipped hamburgers and hotdogs. They'd occasionally glance around at everyone, but obviously they were having a good time, like they were younger again. Occasionally, Logan would run over, blabber about something, and then run around, clutching Stripe. Right now, he was on his way to the sandbox.

Amanda was walking around, sometimes going to the grill, sometimes going to the little ones and running around. She was only a month in now, so she didn't show hardly at all. She glanced up, hearing a car pull up, and smiled brightly

Out of the car hopped out a few people. The Tagens; Lisa, Dixon, Hope, Sable, Ivory, Halen, and Peter

"Hey Amanda!" Came the girl who gotten out of the drivers seat, Lisa.

(I'm gona find pictures, so that way they can look like who I find, and then I don't have to look for exact matches or whatver before I post descriptions)

{*shrugs* I know. xD}

{Good idea. }

Falcon and Nate looked up curiously. "Who's that little kid again?"

Nate shrugged. "Uhm...Logan, I think!" he murmured. "I can't remember. Who's kid is he?"

"That's what I just asked, stupid, not his name!" Falcon rolled her eyes. "Hey, cutie!" she called out to Logan. "Wanna come play with us?"

Gracie and Cole had also arrived, but a half a second ago. They parked on the opposite side of the place, so they came up behind Amanda and the rest. Gracie immediately quietly went over to sit on the ground near the trees after waving to Alex. She was afraid that he had invited Jack; if she he had, she wanted to stay far away from the entire party. Plus, she didn't want the new-comers who she didn't know to see her really. Because she was wearing a tank top, her bright red skin stuck out like a sore thumb--especially against the rest of her pale body and her long, braided white hair.

Cole poked Amanda in the side, kissing her cheek. "Hi, babe," he murmured. "Who's that?" Politely, Cole waved, too, trying to see whether or not he could remember this woman.

{Urgh, gotta go, reply this and repost rest sorry bye}