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AJ made Nick bring him back to the hospital after not being able to sleep or eat. He made a beeline for Alissa’s room and when he found out there had been no change, he went to see James in the nursery. Leighanne and Denise were both sitting there talking and holding the baby.

 

“How is he?” AJ asked quietly not wanting to disturb his son’s sleep.

 

“He’s good. The doctor was in again and reminded me that he would have to go home soon.” Denise responded.

 

“I can’t stay with Alissa and take care of him if they’re in two different places.”  AJ said irritated.

 

Leighanne got up and excused herself. AJ took her place next to Denise and ran his finger over his son’s tiny hand.

 

Denise sighed and knew she couldn’t continue to skate around what needed to be discussed.

 

“AJ, honey, you’re going to have to go home with James. There isn’t …….”

 

AJ looked at his mother angrily. “Don’t tell me that there’s nothing I can do to help Alissa. She needs me too. I’m not going to leave her here!”

 

“What are you doing for her right now?” she asked sharply. After taking a deep breath she started again. “Honey, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make this harder on you. I just don’t know what else to do.”

 

AJ felt bad snapping at his mother. “I know but I won’t leave either one of them. There has to be another way.”

 

Denise waited for a minute. “I might have an idea.”

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The doctor listened as Denise described a solution to the problem. AJ wanted to buy a home that he had been looking at and they wanted to know whether Alissa could be moved out of the hospital to the new house.

“How are you planning to take care of her there? She needs constant, around the clock care.”

 

“I have enough money to hire nurses who can take care of her. I will hire whoever you think is best and as many as I need to make this happen. You told me that my son has to go home and I’m not leaving without Alissa!” AJ snapped.

 

“I don’t think this is the best idea…”

 

“Look, you said there isn’t much you can do for her here other than to watch her for changes. I know your nurses are overworked and I can hire nurses that can just watch over Alissa. She’d had 24-hour care. If so much as one machine goes off, I will call 911 immediately and have her rushed here.”

 

The doctor started to say something but AJ cut him off.

 

“Please let me do this.” AJ begged. “I know my son needs to go home but I need to be with her too. This is the only way I can think of to make this work.”

 

The doctor thought about it for a few minutes and then reluctantly agreed to AJ’s request. He gave him the names and phone numbers of some nurses that did this type of work and signed off on it.

 

“When are you planning to move her?”

 

“I am going to call the realtor now. She will have things done by tomorrow and I’ll have everything set up over the next few days. At most, I’ll need four days.”

 

AJ jumped up and ran out of the room to call the realtor. She told him that it should be no problem since the house was already empty and he was offering to pay well above the asking price. Then he called the guys and told them what he had planned. They agreed to meet him in the morning to start putting things into place.