Page 149 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

“Wait! No, don’t-” Jill started to say only to release a whimper when Caleb and Emma grabbed Shane’s hand and ran off, dragging Shane behind them and leaving her standing there, struggling not to panic. Swallowing hard, she glanced at Marc to find him watching her with that devious look in his eye that still had the power to terrify her.

“You’re it,” Marc whispered, shooting her a wink that left her whimpering as she watched him go.

“But I don’t want to be it,” Jill mumbled weakly.

“Would you like me to distract them with a movie and the promise of ice cream while you take a shower?” Logan asked, pulling her back into his arms so that he could kiss her forehead.

“I really would,” she said with a sniffle, making him chuckle.

“Before I forget,” Logan said, pulling a black cellphone out of his pocket and placed it on the counter. “The little sugar addict told me to give this to you. The password is your birthday.”

She watched as Logan made his way out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him as she replayed the words, “You’re pregnant,” several times in her head and-

They were having a baby, Jill repeated to herself, wondering when it was going to feel real. She just…

She couldn’t believe that this was happening, Jill thought, unable to help but smile as she ran her hand over her flat stomach before she picked up the phone and typed her birthday in only to frown when she saw that there were over two thousandmessages waiting for her, a thousand missed calls, and around five hundred emails.

Curious, Jill opened the phone app and scrolled through the voicemails until she came to the one dated the night that they kicked her out and after a slight hesitation, she hit Play.

“We really screwed up tonight, Jill,”the message began playing, making her swallow hard as she listened to her sister explain how sorry she was about what happened. She explained that they didn’t have a choice, but that they should have handled it better before Jill went to play the next message, this one from her father telling her how much he loved her before he reluctantly hung up.

For several hours, Jill sat there listening to voicemails, reading texts, and emails from Madison, her father, Chris, Izzy, and Marc as they told her how much they missed her and loved her. All the plans they had, her father’s plan to go with her to the island, their plans to remove her mark and do whatever it took to bring her home. They told her how much they hated this, how badly they wanted to see her, but that they couldn’t because her presence in the Sentinel compound was a secret and they were afraid of drawing attention to her.

They hated being away from her, but they didn’t know what else to do until the voicemails changed from hope to absolute devastation when they found out that she died. God, the pain in their voices. She listened as her father cried while he struggled to get the words out that he loved her, watched Marc break down as he showed her their little brothers, and listened while Madison cried as she struggled to tell her all of those things that she never got to tell her.

When she couldn’t take it anymore, Jill placed the phone down on the counter and slowly exhaled before drying her eyes and made her way to the bedroom only to feel her lips pull upinto a watery smile when she spotted Logan passed out on the bed with their babies.

God, she loved them so much, Jill thought, grabbing the folded blanket off the end of the bed and pulled it over them before leaning over and kissed Shane’s cheek. She ran her fingers through his messy hair before she leaned over him and-

“Kissy!”

-felt her lips twitch as she kissed the top of Caleb’s head. After giving him an extra kiss, Jill made her way around the bed and tucked in Logan before she found herself staring at their baby girl. She took in the band-aids on her throat and found herself closing her eyes and slowly exhaling.

She was safe.

Repeating those words to herself, Jill opened her eyes and leaned over and kissed Emma’s forehead before she leaned over and gently brushed her lips against Logan’s, careful not to wake him and found herself wondering if he had any idea just how much she loved him. She never thought that she could love someone this much, Jill thought as she watched her family sleep for another moment before she made her way to the bedroom door. She quietly opened the door only to find Madison standing there, wringing her hands together as her mouth worked soundlessly and-

“I think this is the part where we stand around awkwardly, trying to figure out what we’re supposed to say,” Jill said, swallowing hard as she stood there, unable to take her eyes off her sister, terrified that if she looked away for even for a second that Madison would disappear.

“And make small talk,” Madison murmured in agreement as she continued wringing her hands together.

“We should add a few moments of awkward silence, too,” Jill added with a solemn nod.

“We should definitely talk about the weather,” Madison agreed as her lips pulled up into a watery smile.

“Absolutely, it wouldn’t be an awkward conversation without mentioning the weather, which has been beautiful lately,” Jill added, releasing a shaky breath as she struggled not to cry. She-

“I’m precious!” Chris snapped from wherever the hell it was that he was, making Madison frown.

“He just found out that I’m the favorite,” Jill said with a helpless shrug.

“It was only a matter of time,” Madison murmured, nodding in agreement.

“This feels like a good time to add one of those moments of awkward silence,” Jill suggested, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Madison murmured as her eyes flashed red.

“It definitely enhances the awkwardness,” Jill said, swallowing hard.

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