Gray Family Love Chapter 8

Never Give Up

1 Month Later . . .

It has been 4 roller coaster weeks. Kaylee was now 4 ½ months old. She had started laughing a couple weeks back, after Shane tickled her belly. Mitchie, of course had grabbed Kaylee's baby book, and recorded it under "baby's first laugh."

They were still trying for another baby, having decided to squeeze another one in, close in age to Kaylee. So far, Mitchie was not having luck. Her period was 2 weeks late, and she had been sick, but it had only been for 3 days. She was not getting her hopes up though.

Today, Nate and Caitlyn were coming to visit with Jessica, whose first birthday was in 2 weeks. Shane wrote himself a mental note to ask Nate why he had snapped at Mitchie.

"Shane, Nate and Caitlyn are here. Can you run up stairs and grab Kaylee for me?" Mitchie asked from the front foyer.

"Yeah, okay" he said. He climbed the stairs and walked into Kay's room. She was sitting up, and cooing to herself. Shane chuckled at the sight.

"Hey princess, what are you laughing at huh? You being a silly girl again?" he asked his little one. She looked at Shane and started to laugh again.

"Unca Shane!" Jessica yelled as she excitedly crawled towards her uncle. Shane squatted down to give her a hug with his left arm, since Kay was in his right arm.

"Hi sweetie, how are you? I hear somebody is turning 1 next week! Would that be you?" he asked his niece.

"Yeah, yeah, I turn 1" she said as she held up her whole hand. Shane just laughed at her.

"Come on Jess, let's go down stairs okay?" he said as he picked up Jess with his left arm, and balanced both girls in his arms. He slowly walked down the stairs.

"Hey Shane!" Caitlyn happily greeted him. After taking her daughter out of his arms, and passing her to her favorite aunt Mitchie, she gave him a hug.

"Hey Cait, it's good to see you again. Jess is getting so big!" he said as he watched Mitchie with his niece. Jess was playing with Mitchie's long hair, eventually starting to pull on it.

"Ouch, Jess, please don't pull my hair. OW!" Mitchie screamed, as Jess pulled harder and harder. Nate ran over and pulled her out of Mitchie's arms.

"I'm so sorry Mitch. She's never pulled hair before, since mine is always up. She might have pulled Nate's hair though" Caitlyn said, as Nate was helping Jess walk.

"Oh, Cait it's fine, it just surprised me that she could pull that hard, you know?" Mitchie said, as she slowly rubbed her head.

Shane walked over to where she was standing. Nate called their names.

"Guys check it out" he said. And with that, he let go of Jess. She was a little unsturdy, but she was walking . . . . on her own.

Caitlyn bent down and held out her arms. "Come on sweetheart. Look at you! Your walking, on your own" Caitlyn gushed. Jess finally made it to her mother's awaiting arms without falling. Caitlyn could not stop smiling, and was even crying happy tears.

"Aww, Jess, you took your first step!" Mitchie cooed. At that precise moment, Kaylee decided to cry.

"Hey Mitch, I think someone here is jealous" Shane said, as he handed Kaylee to her mother.

"Oh, sweetie mommy could never forget about you" Mitchie cooed to her baby girl, as she kissed her forehead, and Kaylee calmed down. When the crying had stopped, she laid her head on her mother's shoulder.

"Hey Nate, can I talk to you, man?" Shane asked. Nate stood up and followed Shane to the garage.

"What's up?" he asked Shane, when he was sure they were alone. Shane turned around to face him.

"When you called that time and I couldn't talk to you, why did you yell at Mitchie?" Shane asked Nate patiently.

"I'm sorry Shane. A lot of stuff has been going on with Caitlyn and I and I kind of just cracked. I didn't mean to yell" he said in a quiet voice. There was a moment of silence before anyone spoke.

"What kind of problems, Nate?" Shane asked.

"Caitlyn recently got promoted, and as a result she's barely been home. Jess said 'mama' when Cait wasn't there. Now her boss, Linda is assigning her to Boston, and she wants to go. But Lava, you and Mitchie, and Jason and his wife are all here. I don't want to go, and when I told Cait, she said how I was being inconsiderate of her feelings. She has been so stressed out she recently miscarried. That was the day I yelled at Mitchie" Nate finished, then sat on one of the lawn chairs in the garage.

"Nate, I'm sorry about what you're going through. I know it's not easy. Hell, Mitchie has endometriosis, man. She has under a 25% of having another baby. And Kaylee, well, my baby girl has a 90% chance of inheriting Mitchie's hypoglycemia. I can totally relate to what you are going through, alright? If you ever need to chat, call me up, alright man?" Shane asked, as he man hugged Nate.

Nate nodded. "Yeah, thanks Shane. I'm sorry about Mitchie and Kaylee. Hopefully things will work out for you guys" he said as Shane nodded.

"Nate you do owe Mitchie an apology though. She didn't know what she did wrong, so don't keep her guessing" Shane said as they walked into the house.

"Hey Mitch?" Nate asked Mitchie. She looked up from her conversation with Caitlyn and looked up at Nate.

"Yes Nate?" she asked, with a tiny edge in her voice.

"I just wanted to say that I am sorry I yelled at you. Cait had a miscarriage that day and it ate away at me. So I'm sorry" Nate said.

Mitchie got up and hugged her friend. "It's okay Nate. I forgive you" she said.

"Oh and Mitch? I'm sorry about what you're going through okay?" Nate said. Mitchie just slowly nodded.

"Okay, well I for one, am starving so who wants pizza?" Shane asked. Everyone nodded, and Shane ordered in.

After talking about possibly more babies, and lots more of the bands upcoming album, Nate and Cait left around 10, since Jess and Kay were asleep, and everyone seemed to have a case of the contagious yawns, except for Mitchie and Shane. After they put Kaylee down for the night, they walked back to their room, where they did not go to sleep right away.

"I love you, Shane" Mitchie said breathlessly, as she snuggled into Shane's sweaty chest.

"I love you too babe. Get some rest, okay?" Shane answered his wife, as they both slowly started to drift off into a deep sleep.

Though neither of them knew just how much sleep Mitchie was really going to need, they would soon find out.

A/N: Mwuhahaha, I am EVIL?!?! Somewhat of a cliffy, unless you are a good detective!! That was a less emotional chapter, and we figured out what was wrong with Nate!! Tragic, but everyone is slowly piecing their life back together!!! Yay!!

Next Chapter: Mitchie is sick and Shane is in Europe for the week!