Truth Comes Second

Released

Author's Note: My plan to update a bunch during my break didn't go as planned. Sorry guys! I'll try to update as often as I can, but I have to start working in a hospital next week. 

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Julie's POV:

I sat on my bed and I struggled to throw my dress over my head. I made the nurses stop trying to help me get changed a couple weeks ago. I felt so helpless having somebody trying to change my clothes.

Kenny had given me boxes of clothes that people had donated to Hunter and me. Apparently a bunch of strangers felt bad for us and wanted to help out. Hunter was lying on my bed next to me. I had put him into a pair of denim overalls and a shirt with cartoon frogs covering the soft fabric.

"How are you feeling, Juliet?"

I looked up to see Detective Cameron standing in the doorway. He offered to drive me to Carrie's house. He already knows where it is because he drove Carrie there when she left the hospital.

"I'm alright," I said.

"Good to hear," he said. "We should probably be heading out before it gets too late."

I nodded my head and picked up Hunter. Kenny had given me a blanket so that I could wrap him up to stop him from getting cold. I wrapped him up and planted a kiss on his forehead. Cameron pushed the wheelchair over toward the bed. I was able to walk, but I knew trying to get down to the parking lot was too much for me to handle. Especially if there were a lot of reporters downstairs. I got into the wheelchair and I let Cameron roll me out of the room. He already brought my bags down to his car.

I held tight onto Hunter as Cameron rolled me down the hallway. When we passed the nursing station, Kenny walked out with a clipboard in his hands. He gave me a soft smile and I reached my hand out to grab Kenny's wrist. Cameron saw this and stopped pushing me.

"All ready to leave this place?" Kenny asked me.

"Thank you so much," I said, avoiding his question. "You've been so helpful and nice to me."

"I'm just doing my job, Julie. I hope you and Hunter will be okay."

"We should be."

Now that we were going to be out of the hospital, I could start trying to find Jimmy. I had no idea how I was going to do it, but I needed to. I needed to get our family back together. Tommy told me that he was with Jimmy. I needed to find a way to break the two up. I wouldn't let Tommy live in the house with Hunter.

Kenny and I said our goodbyes and Cameron continued pushing me down the hallway. I bounced Hunter in my arms and watched him giggle as we entered the elevator. There was a loud beep for every floor we passed, and when the doors opened, I could see the busy lobby. People sat slouched in the chairs in the emergency room and nurses and doctors speeding past us. The wall of the hospital was made mostly of large windows. Reporters were flooded around a black car parked in front of the door. There were police officers pushing the crowd of reporters back.

"It's best if you don't say anything," Cameron warned me.

I curled Hunter into my body and I kept my head down. The door opened up and I could see the flashing of cameras and the questions of the reporters all mixed into one. Another man opened up the passenger door of the car. Cameron quickly helped me into the passenger seat. The officers were shouting at the reporters to stay back.

"Julie, I need to put Hunter in his car seat," Cameron said. He had to bring his mouth up to my ear so that I could hear him.

I didn't notice how tightly I was holding onto Hunter. I wanted to put him in the car-seat myself, but I had no idea how to do that. The last time I was in a car was when we went to Taylor's.

"Do you know how to do it?" I asked him.

"Yes. Don't worry." Cameron smiled at me. "I have two nieces. I've done this before."

I looked over my shoulder at the baby-seat that was strapped down. I handed Hunter over to Cameron. He closed the car door and the chaos going on outside became muffled. I watched as Cameron secured all of the straps over Hunter.

Cameron got into the driver's seat, and the officers moved so that they could clear a path in front of the car. Cameron turned the key in the ignition and the headlights lit the way in front of us. This made the reporters jump at the car. All this commotion made me wish that I was curled up in bed with Jimmy and Hunter.

"They're crazy," I said.

"The media is horrible to deal with," Cameron told me. "It should die down soon though, don't worry. It won't pick up again until we catch Jimmy and Tommy."

"How long do you think that will be?"

Cameron turned his head to look at me. He tried his best to control his expression, but I could see the shock in his eyes. I never talked about Jimmy with any of the detectives, but I wanted to know what they know.

"Hopefully, not long," he said. "We have a few a leads out west."

"How far west?"

Cameron looked back at the road and started to drive forward. Most of the reporters jumped out of the way, but a few started to bang on the back windows. I turned around and looked at Hunter. I hoped this wouldn't scare him because I didn't want him to start crying. I wouldn't be able to comfort him until we got to Carrie's house. Hunter didn't make a noise, and we pulled out of the hospital parking lot.

I looked around as Cameron drove to Carrie's apartment. I wanted to remember where everything was so that I'd be able to get around without Carrie. She couldn't know that I was looking for Jimmy and if I found him she could never know.

Jimmy's POV:

Tommy and I wasted the day playing cards. There wasn't much that we could do, and even though it may have started a few arguments between us, it was better than being alone. My mind always raced over the thoughts of Julie and Hunter.

Tommy was sitting on the couch and I sat on the floor on the other side of the coffee table. We were in the middle of the game when Tommy looked up from his cards and at the TV. We always kept it on the news and never turned it off. His lips curled into a smile and he set his cards down on the table.

"You should see this, Jim," he told me.

I turned around to see Julie being helped into a car. She had lost a lot of weight and her dark hair was tied back. Hunter was bundled up in her arms. I could barely see him, but he looked so much bigger than when I last saw them.

A man was much too close to Julie. He was helping her into the car and then was leaning into her body. He then picked up Hunter. I slammed my cards down onto the table and grabbed the remote turning the volume even higher.

Julie was out of the hospital. I could now try and find her.

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