Just a Few More Days

Nathan yawned and shifted closer to Haley, trying to sneak a few more minutes of sleep in. He nestled his nose in between her shoulder and ear and placed his hand on her stomach, his thumb moving in small circles below her belly button, a habit he had started after her stomach had started growing.

"Just a few more days," Haley murmured, her eyes still closed.

"Did I wake you up?" Nathan asked, alarmed. She needed her rest.

"Well, that did kinda tickle…but no, I was already up- I just wasn't ready to admit it yet."

"You sure? I mean, you should probably go back to sleep and-"

Haley cut him off.

"Nathan. I'm fine- I woke up maybe five minutes before you did, and trust me, I slept fine last night."

"Well you were tired- you helped decorate the nursery all afternoon, which you shouldn't have be-"

Haley interrupted him once more.

"I didn't move any boxes, and you wouldn't let me in last weekend when you were painting, so I didn't inhale any fumes or anything. All I did was put a few pictures up and tell you where to move things- I sat in that rocking chair your mom gave us before we moved out of the house; which was very comfortable, by the way." After finishing her speech, she shifted so that her back was no longer to his stomach and chest, so that she was lying on her back and looking up at him. "You're so protective of this baby!" she joked.

"I know, its just that we're only a few days away and I don't want anything to happen to you now that we've made it this far."

She reached up and put her hand on his cheek.

"I know, and that's really sweet- as long as you stay away from gangsters and loan sharks, we should be good!"

The look on his face was one of pure astonishment-she had been so mad about that, and now she was able to joke about it. It was awe-inspiring.

By the time he came out of his thoughts, Haley had started laughing hysterically.

"The look….on your face…" she couldn't even finish her sentence she was laughing so hard. She leaned onto her side, burying her face in his chest. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…Oh, I have to pee…" she trailed off as she rolled out of bed and walked to the bathroom.

Man, he loved that woman. He rolled onto his back, and putting his arms behind his head, looked up at the ceiling. He was gonna be a father in a few days. Again. Just then, he heard a cry through the baby monitor stationed on his nightstand, signaling the awakening of James, his one and a half year old son. He pushed himself out of bed and walked down the hallway to get him out of his crib.

"Hey buddy," he whispered as lifted him from the crib and placed him in the crook of his arm. James instantly nestled into his chest- usually Nathan would hold him on his hip, but because James was still kind of sleeping, Nathan held him like he did when he was tinier. James had grown so much in the eighteen months he had been alive; when he was born, he was so tiny that Nathan often thought he had the wrong child- how could someone as tall as him have a son who was the length of his father's forearm? But then he remembered that Haley was James' mom- petite, tiny Haley. However, once they brought him home, James grew and Nathan could tell he was going to take after him in more than one way: his son already had the beginnings of Nathan's smirk, as well as his height and his restlessness. "You're okay. You just wanted some company in here, didn't you?"

"Daa-e." James murmured before he yawned and nestled in closer to Nathan.

"He just said 'Daddy'." Nathan turned and saw Haley in the doorway, smiling. Nathan's face broke into a grin and he nodded, to excited to get anymore than one word out.

"Yeah."

"Nathan, you do realize that's his first word, don't you?"

Nathan only nodded harder; his grin growing more- if that was possible. He felt like his face might break. By now, Haley had walked- well, waddled- her way to her husband and son, leaning against Nathan's free side as she attentively watched James.

"Hales."

"Hmm?" she responded distractedly, still watching her son.

"Our boy is learning to talk…and he said my name!"

"Its great, Nate," she said, only taking her gaze away from James for a second to give Nathan a brief smile.

"Hales."

"Hmm?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Yes, there is. Are you upset that his first word was my name and not yours?"

Haley shifted her head so that her chin was on his shoulder and gave him a defiant look.

"No."

"You sure?"

"Yes, Nathan, I'm sure- why should it matter what our son's first word is? I'm just glad he's talking!"

"Okay, Hales." Nathan decided to drop the subject because he knew stress wasn't good for her, but he also knew Haley, and he knew that it probably irritated her that her firstborn son didn't say "Momma" first.

"Thank you. I'm gonna go make breakfast…waffles?"

"Sounds good."

Haley nodded and started to leave James' bedroom, but Nathan wouldn't remove his arm from around her shoulder.

"Hey, c'mere." He softly demanded. She turned back around so that she was leaning into his side again, and Nathan put James back in his crib before facing her.

"What?" she asked impatiently, but Nathan didn't answer her. Instead, he placed one hand behind her head and one on her expanded stomach. He leaned in and kissed her softly before bringing his head back a mere few inches to meet her brown eyes with his blue.

"I love you."

Nathan instantly saw the smile in her eyes, although she tried not to let it play across her face. She wrapped her arms around his waist and looked at James sleeping in his crib.

"Can you believe we're having another kid?"

"Yes and no. I mean, I always wanted a couple of kids, but it seems like just yesterday that James was born."

"Well, it kinda was…he was only 9 months old when I found out I was pregnant with this one," she said, pointing at her stomach. Nathan instinctively reached his hand out to touch her belly.

"Has she been kicking at all this morning?" he asked as he turned Haley towards the door, walking them to the kitchen.

"Surprisingly, no…why don't you talk to her, wake her up?"

Nathan grinned. There were few moments when Haley let him talk to her stomach, so he'd take the opportunity while he had it. He finished walking them to the kitchen, stopping at the counter. Haley put her back against the counter and her hands on the countertop, and began to hoist herself up.

"Whoa,whoa,whoa! What are you doing?" he stopped her before she could jump up.

"Um, Nathan…in case you didn't notice, there's this little thing called a height difference between us. I was gonna sit up here so it wasn't so hard for you to get to my stomach," she said looking up at him.

"Nuh-uh. Jumping like that can't be good for the baby and even if I lifted you up there, there's no way you would be able to get comfortable."

She sighed. "You're right. I hadn't thought of that."

"Exactly, so lets sit on the couch."

"Fine." She replied and began to walk to their living room, with Nathan behind her, his hand on her back. "Nate, I can still walk, you know."

"Yeah, I know, but I still like being close…just in case."

Haley smiled at him. He had been so much more protective during this pregnancy than he was with James- she guessed that all the scares they had with James had been enough for Nathan in a lifetime, so he was probably trying to prevent anything from happening to her or their baby girl this time through. When she got to the couch, she reached out for Nathan's hand so that he could help her sit, but it was still hard.

"Stupid couch- why's it so low? No, its not the couch's fault. Stupid stomach- I'm huge! HEY! It's not my stomach's fault- it can't help it. It's you. You are the one who made me huge, and as excited as I am about our little girl, could you not have, like, held back or something? I mean really…give me at least a year in between the next children, okay?"

Nathan silently sat beside her, pulling her legs up so that they were stretched over his. After getting her situated, he reached a long arm out to put a finger on her lips.

"Haley?"

"Hmph?" she grunted back. Nathan had to hold back the laugh that was fighting to come out- she was just so d- - - adorable when she was pregnant and mad. Besides, he knew she didn't really blame him- she was just frustrated with her inability to the things she used to be able to.

"Your stomach is fine. You know why?" he asked, leaning down, placing his chin on her stomach, and looking up at her. "'Cause our little girls in there."

Haley smiled and put her hand in his hair, running her fingers back and forth from his hairline to the nape of his neck. Nathan leaned back down to her stomach, placing his ear next to her belly button.

"Hey, beautiful…its me, Daddy. So, I just wanted to check in and say hey but as far as we know, you're not up yet, so… there's only a few more days until your due date- you ready for the world yet? You're gonna have the best time here- your mom is the best there could be, and she loves you so much already, and so do I. Your older brother, James, isn't quite old enough to understand what's going on, but I'm sure he would be psyched if he did. So- what's it gonna be, baby girl? You gonna be the next woman prodigy of basketball, the next genius of Tree Hill, or the next super-mega-fabulous singer? I prefer the first, honestly, but if I had to choose a second place, then I would definitely go with the second-"

He was cut of by Haley's hand colliding with the back of his head and a swift kick to the cheek. He sat up abruptly and gave Haley a crazed look, pointing at her stomach.

"She kicked me!"

Haley was doubled over, half in laughter and half in pain.

"Yeah, I know- I kinda felt it…she is inside my stomach, Nate, in case you had forgotten."

"No, but its…its like you guys were thinking the same thing or something- she kicked me right as you hit me for saying the thing about basketball being the best-"

"Ow!" Haley interrupted again.

"What? Hales, are you okay?"

"Yeah, she just kicked really hard that time- every time you say anything about basketball being the best, she kicks."

"See? Its like you were thinking the same thing!"

"Hm. Maybe she'll be a momma's girl."

"Oh, please. James is so a momma's boy!"

"Then why'd he say your name first?"

"HAH! I knew it! I knew it bugged you that he said my name first!"

Haley stubbornly crossed her arms over her stomach.

"No, it doesn't." she said defiantly. "I already told you that, Nathan."

"Then why do you look so mad?" he asked.

"Um…hey! How about those waffles?" Haley changed the subject and quickly, or as quickly as she could, walked to the kitchen and began to pull out the ingredients for waffles.

"That sounds great… I'll go get James." Nathan replied, chuckling.

He began to walk to James's room, but was interrupted by Haley.

"Hey babe- will you bring me one of your sweatshirts? Its kinda cold in here."

Nathan didn't respond. Instead, he walked across the kitchen to stand behind Haley, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his hands on her stomach. He rested his chin in the crook of her neck, burying his face in her hair.

"Yeah, I could. Or I could do this," he said as he pulled her close to his torso, running his thumbs over her stomach. Haley leaned back so that her head was against his chest and breathed in.

"Hm. You could. But, you see, if you do that, I can't make you breakfast." She refuted, her head still against his chest with her eyes closed.

"Eh, that's okay. I'll grab some cereal later. . . I'm not that hungry anyways."

"But, Nathan," Haley turned so that she was facing him, and placed her hands on his waist. "I am. And I'm craving waffles. And I cannot make waffles with you there. So…please?"

Nathan sighed, but then grinned at her reasoning. She knew that if she pulled the pregnancy card, he would do anything for her, and she used it to her advantage.

"Sure.I'll be right back."

Haley moved her hands from his waist to behind his neck. She tugged him down to her and kissed him soundly. "Thank you!" she said cheerily, and turned back to the counter so that she could make her waffles.