Chelsea looked around the room that she had stayed in for almost a month, she looked at the monitors, the machines, and the furniture that cluttered the room.  Now there was more clutter, her bags.  When the door to her room opened she looked up and smiled as she saw Kevin walk in.  Chelsea had gotten the ok from her Doctor to go home and she wanted to surprise AJ and Nadia.  Being able to talk AJ into staying at the house for a little bit, telling him maybe it would be good for Nadia to just relax at home or go out to do something besides the hospital.  She then called her brother and asked him to come get her.

“So, you’re really going home.” Kevin replied when he saw her bags all ready to go.

“Yep, just have to stop by the nurse’s station and grab my release papers.” Chelsea told him.

“So how did you get AJ and Nadia to stay home?” Kevin asked as he picked up her bags.

“Told Alex I wanted Nadia to have a day away from the hospital, just for her to have some fun time.” Chelsea explained as she grabbed her cane.

“You need help?” Kevin asked.

“No, I got it.” She replied with a light smile as he opened the door.

The two walked down the hall towards the nurses station, when they got there the one nurse had Chelsea’s papers all ready to go.  With a relieved and bright smile Chelsea took them and then the two headed towards the elevators.  They stood quietly as they waited for the lift to come and pick them up, they stood quietly as it brought them down to the first floor and they were quiet all the way out to Kevin’s car.  He opened the door for her and helped her get inside; she was glad to see he had brought the SUV and found it easier to get into than a car.  When the door closed she closed her eyes and sighed.  Finally she was going home, out of the hospital and soon back to where things were normal, well as normal as they could be living with AJ.

“So what are you going to do if they aren’t home when we get there?” Kevin asked.

“I’ll just wait, just hope they don’t decide to pop in if they are out.” She replied as she lifted her head and looked at him.  “Have you heard from Jerald?”

“No he’s not answering my calls.” Kevin said as he pulled out of the parking lot.  “I take it you still haven’t told AJ.”

“No” Chelsea replied quickly.  “He’ll lose it, I know he would and I don’t even know if Jerald is actually going to do what he told me he was going to do.”

“Maybe I should talk to Mom tell her, he’d talk to her I’m sure.” Kevin replied as he quickly looked over at her.

“Jerald hasn’t listened to your Mom this whole time, what makes you think he’ll do it now?” She sighed.  “I swear if he lawyers up and comes after Nadia I’ll kill him myself.”

“You’re worried.”

“Yes I’m worried, the way courts are these days, he does have a point, I mean there’s AJ’s drinking and then they’ll look at me, someone who’s just getting out of a coma and can barely look after herself let alone a fifteen year old girl.”  Chelsea spoke but the more she thought about it the more worked up she got.

She figured Kevin could see it by his next comment.  “Well we’ll worry about it if it happens right now; just enjoy being home with your family.”

Her family, a family on the verge of getting ripped apart by someone who is supposed to care about her and there is no one she could really talk to about it.  She didn’t dare tell AJ because he might go off the deep end, like she said to Kevin, he would lose it.  Even she was about to lose it, it was always on her mind in the hospital, ever since that fight she had with Jerald in her room.

“You can’t take care of her alone Chels and if you can’t see that I’ll make you see it.” Jeralds voice played over in her head.  “I’ll take both of you to court and we’ll let them decide what’s better for Nadia.”

She would wonder if today would be the day someone showed up at the house and informed AJ that Jerald wanted to go for custody of Nadia until it was deemed that Chelsea and AJ were fit enough to take care of her.  It wasn’t like she was some drug addicted mother who left her child in dirty diapers all day long; she had a terrible accident and if anything needed Nadia there to help her get better.  She would sit alone in her bed wondering if today would be the day AJ would come busting into the room screaming about Jerald’s plan. Sometimes she would get herself so worked up she would snap at AJ or snap about something that was going on when normally it wouldn’t bother her at all.

“Car is in the drive way.” Kevin said and she looked up out the front window.

Kevin parked the car and shut it off and Chelsea waited for him to get out.  As he made his way around to the passenger door she saw the front door open.  Taking a deep breath she gripped her cane and waited for the passenger door to open.  When it did Kevin was right there helping her out of the SUV. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” AJ asked as he walked around the car.

“Oh well I can go back if you don’t want me here.” Chelsea replied with a smirk.

“Ye-ah right.” AJ replied as he took her arm and began walking her to the front door.  “So what are you doing here?” He asked again and it made her giggle.

“The Doctor told me I could go home today; I wanted to surprise you so I called Kevin to come get me.” She said as Nadia came out of the front door.

“You’re home?” Nadia asked as she walked up to the two of them.

“I’m home.” Chelsea smiled and to her surprise Nadia wrapped her arms around her and hugged her.  She looked up at AJ and he gave her a light smile, when Nadia pulled away they both walked into the house.

Chelsea sat on the couch as she watched AJ, Kevin and Nadia talk about what Chelsea was like when she was younger.  They talked about the dirt biking in behind the house, the times she would bother the brothers in their boys’ only Tree house and then the topic turned to Jerald, Kevin stating that Jerald wasn’t always such a big ass.  She thought back to that time as well and then her mind remembers the conversation she had with Jerald the night she woke up.  How, how could he do this to her, to her family, this was beyond caring about her, wanting what was best for her, how could ripping her family apart be best for her?  She ran scenarios in her head, them fighting Jerald for custody, AJ’s past being brought up, the recent slip up and the guilt he would go through if Jerald won because of it. 

“Take Nadia and go live with Mom, you can’t worry about him getting drunk, or being out all night, you need someone to help you until you get better, and then by then you will see you can do it on your own, you don’t need him.” Jeralds voice replayed in her head.

“Chels?” AJ’s voice said and it broke her from her thoughts.

“Huh?” She replied clueless to what was going on around her.

“Kev’s leaving.” He told her and she looked up at the youngest Richardson boy.

“Ok” She replied and she caught the frown that came over Kev’s face, she knew, he knew what she was thinking about. Chelsea hugged him and then stayed on the couch as AJ walked Kevin to the front door.

“Chelsea are you ok?” Nadia asked her and she looked at her daughter.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just a little tired I guess. Tell your…tell AJ I went to lie down.” She told Nadia as she stood up from the couch.

“Do you need help up the stairs maybe you should wait for him?” Nadia replied.

“No!” Chelsea snapped and then she took a deep breath.  “No, I can do it.”

She walked up the stairs one step at a time and made her way to the bedroom.  It was the first time she stepped foot inside the room since her accident.  Her eyes drifted over to the bathroom door and her mind replayed that afternoon.  Getting up from bed, wrapping herself in her robe and walking towards the bathroom, very innocent but in a flash her whole life had changed.  Closing her eyes Chelsea sat down on the edge of the bed and replayed Jerald’s words.  That’s when she started crying, the helplessness, the anger and the frustration building up inside of her and busting out all together.

“Chels?” She heard his voice say and she looked up seeing her husband standing at the door.  “Hey sweetheart what’s wrong?” He asked as he made his way over to her.

“I’m just tired.” She said hoping he would just leave it at that and go away.

“Those aren’t tired tears.” He replied and she knew he wouldn’t.

“I’m fine Alex really, I just need to lie down.” Chelsea said as she started to slid under her blankets.

“Are you sure?” He asked.

“Yes damn it I’m sure!” She snapped and she saw the look on his face.

“Alright” He replied and then stood up. “If you need anything I’ll be downstairs.”

When he closed the door, Chelsea laid down on her side and closed her eyes.  She didn’t want to snap at him, she didn’t want to be up here, she wanted to be down with her family, getting to know her daughter but she couldn’t.  Chelsea knows Jerald, she knew he would go after them, that he wasn’t just blowing smoke, she knew that if it did happen and Jerald won, he would never let AJ see Nadia.  She started crying as she realized what she would have to do, so she could keep Nadia, so Alex could see his daughter.  She needed to protect her family at all cost, even if it meant she had to let one of them go.