DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT own any of the characters from ADJL. They belong to Disney. I do however own the angel, Joy, as well as anyone else you don’t recognize.

God loves you
Enjoy!

A/N: This story just came to me while reading over “Me and Emily.” You can say this takes place after “One Rose Too Many Thorns” but before “Blessings in Disguise” starts. That means Emily is probably seven and Anna is about two.

“A New Flower in Bloom”

Rose sighed as she looked over some photographs that had been taken at Anna’s first birthday party. Her youngest daughter was the sweetest little girl Rose had ever known, next to Emily that was.

As Rose continued to look at the pictures, something caught her eye. It was something that had always been there, but as Rose’s azure eyes caught sight of it, she found she just wanted it gone.

As she glanced down at the offending birthmark, she heaved a sigh.

With a shudder, Rose realized there was only one way to make it happen.

She hated the thought of going through surgery, even if it was minor. She had always hated hospitals ever since she was little.

It had to do with a procedure she had done when she was eleven. It was a good thing Joy had been with her, otherwise Rose didn’t think she would have made it through in one piece.

As her thoughts floated to her angelic friend and mentor, she wondered where Joy was now. She really missed her and she knew Emily felt the same way.

Just then, Jake came into the room. He sat down beside Rose and put an arm around her.

“Hey.” He greeted. “What’s up, Rose?”

Rose grinned despite her apprehension of what she was about to do.

“Nothing much.” She replied. “Jake, what would you say if I told you I wanted to get my birthmark removed?”

Jake was taken aback by Rose’s question at first.

“Say what?” He asked in his signature way.

Rose giggled, despite the situation.

“Just what I said, dragon boy. I want to get my birthmark removed once and for all. I want to put the Huntsclan behind me for good. And the only way to do that is to get rid of this thing.” She said this last part while making a disgusted face.

“I say, go for it!” Jake said encouragingly.

“Will you come with me?” Rose asked. She blushed as she admitted, “I’m kind of scared of hospitals.”

“Sure thing, baby. The MacDaddy Jake’s all over it.”

Rose grinned as she laid her head on her husband’s shoulder.

The two had gotten married a year ago and they couldn’t have been happier.

Emily had been their flower girl and Haley had been Rose’s bridesmaid.

The ceremony had been wonderful, unless you count Fu crying half way through and then disposing of most of the food before anyone else could eat any.

“When do you want to do this?” Jake asked, breaking Rose out of her thoughts.

“As soon as possible.” Rose replied. “I want this thing gone. Its caused me enough problems.”

Jake nodded in understanding. He was glad Rose was finally doing something about her birthmark. He had half a mind to ask her why she hadn’t gotten rid of it before, but decided against it.

He knew she was probably nervous about going through it and he didn’t want to add to her stress.

“Rose is gonna do what now?” Trixie Carter asked as she and Jake, along with Spud sat in a diner a few nights later. They were eating pizza while just chatting.

Rose was taking care of the girls.

Besides, Emily was having a sleepover and Rose told Jake to go enjoy himself with Trixie and Spud. She knew he hadn’t seen them in a while.

“Rose is getting her birthmark removed.” Jake told his friends. “She scheduled the surgery for next week. I’m going with her of course.”

“So that’s why you asked Professor Miller to give you the test a day early.” Trixie guessed.

Jake nodded.

“Bro, do you think the birthmark can even be removed?” Trixie asked.

“Yeah dude.” Spud chimed in. “Isn’t it like magically implanted or something?”

Jake shook his head.

“I don’t think so. If it was, Susan wouldn’t have said they could remove it.”

Trixie nodded.

“Oh.”

“I just hope Rose is going to be okay.” Jake said worriedly. “She was pretty shaken after the appointment was made. She doesn’t like hospitals much.”

Trixie shook her head.

“You mean to tell me that little miss ninja thang is afraid of hospitals? Peyaz, Jakey.”

“I’m not kidding.” Jake replied. “She’s okay for short procedures and things, but if it’s anything major, it really gets to her. I don’t know why though.”

“Maybe you should ask her.” Spud suggested. “I’m sure Rose will tell you.”

Jake nodded. He resigned to ask Rose the next day. He knew she would probably be tired from taking care of Anna and supervising Emily’s sleepover to talk about it tonight.

The night before Rose’s procedure to remove her birthmark, Jake asked the question he had been wondering about for the past few days now.

They had just put Emily and Anna to bed and were now just settling down themselves.

“Rose?” Jake started. “Can I ask you something?”

Rose nodded as she laid her head against Jake’s shoulder.

“You know you can ask me anything, dragon boy. What’s up?”

Jake took a deep breath.

“Why are you so afraid of hospitals anyway?”

Rose sighed as she tried to answer his question without causing herself to have a nervous breakdown.

“It happened when I was eleven. I went into the hospital to have my spleen removed and something went wrong. Thank God Joy was there with me.”

“Amen to that.” Jake agreed. “So what happened?”

Rose closed her eyes as the memories took over her mind’s eye…

Rose opened her blue eyes to find herself in a room full of bright lights. She was laying in a hospital bed and she felt extremely nauseous. Her stomach was also hurting pretty badly.

She was about to say something when a familiar Irish lilt stopped her.

“Rose, it’s okay. I’m right here. You did great. You need to rest now. You’ll be able to come back to my house soon.”

“Joy?” Rose asked softly. She was surprised at how scratchy her voice sounded.

The moment she spoke, she felt the nausea grow. She swallowed hard before saying Joy’s name again.

Joy got the message and placed a bucket in front of her charge.

Once Rose was done, she was still feeling sick and all she wanted to do was lay down. She was also in tears, which didn’t help the pain either.

“Rose, shh, it’s okay, sweetheart. You’re gonna be fine.” Joy assured her.

“Joy, it hurts!” Rose cried desperately.

“I know love, I know. It’s gonna hurt for awhile. But you’ll feel better soon.”

Rose tried to listen to the Irish angel and take her advice, but it was hard.

Just then, a nurse by the name of Martha came in. She wasn’t very versed in pediatrics yet and her bedside manner left a lot to be desired.

“You’re awake.” She said in a tone that suggested it was about time. “Good. Now once you can sit up, you can leave and I can take my break.” She then proceeded to help Rose do so.

Joy saw Rose’s expression and hastened to help her.

“Excuse me, but Rose just woke up from major abdominal surgery. Shouldn’t she rest for a while before attempting to sit up?”

Martha gave Joy a look as though she didn’t know what she was talking about.

“All I know is what they told me.” With that, she prepared to help Rose sit up.

The moment Rose tried, she was overcome by dizziness that quickly turned into nausea.

“I can’t!” Rose cried. “It hurts too much!”

“Rose, it’s okay,” Joy assured her. “Come on now. Let me help you.” With that, she reached out and helped Rose lay back down. “There you go. That’s it.”

Martha glared at her.

“The protocol states that once patients are awake, they need to either sit up or start moving around in some way. That’s

the standard protocol for short procedures.”

“Rose didn’t have a short procedure.” Joy told her while trying to keep Rose calm.

The young girl was in tears and Joy knew if she didn’t calm her down, she was going to throw up again.

“Rose, shh, it’s okay, darlin’. I’m right here.”

“Joy, I…I’m gonna…” Rose’s voice trailed off as she started to gag.

Joy got the bucket in front of her within seconds and helped her to sit up as best she could for the moment.

After Rose’s stomach had calmed, the Irish angel managed to get her breathing under control.

Needless to say, it was a hard night for Rose. She was in pain for most of it and she also got sick off and on from the anesthesia.

It wasn’t until around six o’ clock that morning when Rose finally got some sleep.

Joy kept watch over her and prayed that she would be okay. She knew they were all in God’s care, but she was still worried for Rose…

“Man, that nurse should have been fired.” Jake commented when Rose was done telling him the tale.

“I know. She didn’t work there much longer. I just pray everything goes all right tomorrow.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine. The staff at HFCMC know us really well. They would never do something like that to you.”

“I know.” Rose agreed. “Besides, it’s not like I’m getting major surgery tomorrow anyway.”

“Exactly.” Jake agreed. “Now, come on. Let’s get some sleep.” With that, the couple settled down and let sleep take over…

The next morning, Rose awoke feeling really nervous. She had to fight the urge to throw up or start shaking. She forced herself to remain calm.

She prayed silently, asking God to help her through the events ahead. She knew He would answer her prayer in His own time.

After dropping Emily off at school and leaving Anna with Trixie and her little sister, Hannah, they were off.

When they got to the hospital, Toni greeted them like always. He paged Jeanie Mathews and Dr. Susan Larkin down and before Rose knew it, she was being prepped.

Jake was allowed to stay with her until she fell asleep, which helped calm Rose’s nerves.

After the ver set had been administered via an IV Jeanie had started, she explained that Rose could only give in twice if she felt sick. After that, she would have to fight it.

Rose told Jeanie she understood and Jake agreed to help Rose the best he could.

After Jeanie was sure Rose would be okay for the time being, she left to check on another patient.

“You’re gonna be okay, my Rosebud.” Jake assured his scared wife. “I promise. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

“I know.” Rose replied. “It’s just that I’m still a little scared.”

“I know. It’s okay to be afraid.” He assured her.

“Where have I heard that before?” Rose mused playfully.

Jake shrugged.

“It’ll be nice to finally be rid of this thing.” Rose said as she tried not to swallow.

Jake nodded.

“You can say that again.” He agreed.

Just as Rose was about to say something else, she started feeling tired.

Jake saw her close her eyes and tried to help her get to sleep.

He stroked her hair and encouraged her to give into the tiredness. He also assured her he was there.

Before Rose knew it, she was fast asleep.

Rose awoke a few hours later in the recovery room. She could hear Jeanie talking to someone next to her. The sound of Jeanie’s soft and soothing voice calmed Rose immediately.

“I think someone’s waking up.” Jeanie observed as she saw Rose’s azure eyes flutter open.

“Hey my Rosebud.” Jake greeted while planting a kiss on her cheek.

“Is it gone?” Was the first question out of Rose’s mouth after she was able to speak.

“See for yourself.” Jake replied.

Rose chanced a glance at her left wrist. She was pleasantly surprised at what she saw. Nothing. There was nothing there anymore. It didn’t even look like there had been anything there to begin with.

Rose grinned despite the tears of pain that had made their way down her cheeks.

She turned to Jeanie who was offering her a cup of apple juice.

“Thank you.” Rose said. Her voice was full of immense gratitude and Jeanie caught it instantly.

“You’re welcome.” She said sincerely.

“I mean it.” Rose insisted. “You’ll never know how much this means to me and my family.”

“I’m happy to help.” Jeanie told her. “After you rest for a little bit and drink some of this apple juice, you can leave. I’ll be back to check on you in about twenty minutes. If you need anything, feel free to call me.” She indicated a button on the wall near Rose’s bedside.

“Thanks.” Rose said.

“No problem.” With that, Jeanie was gone.

Heaving a contented sigh, Rose glanced down at her hand once again, just to make sure her birthmark was really gone.

She then whispered, “Thank you, Father. Thank you.”

Jake broke into her thoughts just then.

“So how does it fell to just be Rose?” He asked.

Rose grinned. She couldn’t help it. It felt great to know the birthmark was gone for good.

As for just being Rose-to totally have Huntsgirl and the Huntsclan completely behind her-well it felt amazing. Being just Rose sounded great to now ex-Huntsgirl. Being just Rose sounded more than great. It sounded fantastic. And just knowing she would just be herself from now on sounded perfect to her ears.

“Just being Rose sounds nice.” She answered. “It sounds really nice.”

THE END