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One week had passed since Holly was born. Jackie was exhausted most of the time, what with getting up with Holly in the middle of the night and such.
Holly tended to cry a lot, unlike Davey when he was younger, and Daniel, too. Although her mother was always willing to hold her and help her, she always seemed to want to be with her father the most.
It was twelve o'clock now, and Holly had been taking a nap, until Jackie heard her start to cry. She rushed over to the room, picking her up.
"Shh," Jackie whispered. "What's wrong, Holly? Are you hungry?"
"She just had a bottle like twenty minutes ago!" Hyde shouted from the other room.
Holly continued to wail. "Honey, why are you crying?" Jackie asked, rocking the baby.
She walked into the living room, where Hyde was sitting. They had gotten more furniture, and now the house seemed more properly fit, and was almost finished.
"She okay?" Hyde asked as Jackie sat down.
Jackie shook her head. "You try it." She offered Holly to Hyde.
He took her, and right away, she stopped.
Jackie scoffed. "Why do you like him?" she asked. "He doesn't even /do/ anything for you!"
Hyde laughed. "That's why she likes me. I don't smother her."
Jackie got up and stood up, facing the couch, and looking in the mirror behind it. "Oh my God, I'm so fat."
"What are you even talking about?" Hyde asked.
"You see this?" Jackie asked grabbing the nearly nonexistant skin around her stomach. "That's fat."
"That's /supposed/ to be there," Hyde pointed out. "You barely look any different now. If anything, you need more weight."
"Sure," Jackie said sarcastically.
"I think you look pretty hot right now," Hyde said with his eyebrows raised.
"Okay, yeah, even though I'm still in my pajamas, my hair's not done, and I have no makeup on." Jackie rolled her eyes.
"You always look hot." Hyde grinned as she sat down next to him, and they started kissing, even though Hyde was still holding Holly.
Jackie broke away quickly. "Not now, Steven. We still have to wait five weeks." She got up to make Holly another bottle.
Hyde groaned at the thought, which was quickly interrupted by the door being opened.
"Davey, that you?" Jackie called from the kitchen.
"Yeah!" Davey yelled back. He threw his backpack down and ran into the kitchen, where his mother was. "Come to my room, I wanna show you something from school!" He started pulling her away, but Jackie held herself back.
"Sorry, babe, I have to make Holly a bottle. I'll be right there, 'kay?" She smiled at him.
"Okay." Davey ran to his room after picking up the backpack that he had previously thrown down.
Jackie finished making the bottle five minutes later, and walked into the living room to find Holly asleep in her father's arms.
"Really?" Jackie asked, and brought the bottle back into the kitchen. She got back to the living room. "Here, I'll take her back to the crib," Jackie whispered, offering her hands.
Hyde handed Holly over. She laid in her mother's arms for a minute, and then woke up and started crying again.
Jackie sighed. "Holly, why won't you sleep for me?"
The baby continued crying, so Jackie walked back into the kitchen while Holly cried in her arms, taking the bottle she'd just picked up. She walked into the living room and sat down with her as Holly started drinking it.
"There you go, honey." Jackie smiled at her daughter.
Ten minutes later, Holly was finished and was now starting to fall asleep on her mother's chest.
"Steven," Jackie hissed to avoid waking up the baby. "Take this," she said, holding out the bottle.
Davey ran out. "Mommy, I thought you said you were gonna come-"
"Shh!" Jackie put a finger to her lips, but it made no difference. As if on cue, Holly started to cry again. "Oh my God. See what you did, Davey?" she snapped, then instantly regretted it after seeing the shocked look on his face. He ran back to his room, as Holly's cries only became louder.
"Steven, please! Come take her!" Jackie called. "She'll stop for you!"
Hyde came back in and took her. "Shh, it's okay, Holl," he whispered, gently bouncing her. Her cries subsided and she leaned her head against his shoulder.
"How do you do that?" Jackie asked, throwing her hands up in the air, then waved him off. "Go on, take her to the crib."
"I'm gonna wait until she falls asleep again," he told her.
"I have to go see what Davey wanted to show me," Jackie remembered, running to his room. She saw that the door was shut, so she knocked lightly. He opened the door right away, and she could tell that he had just cried.
"Honey." Jackie rushed into his room and sat on the bed with him. "What's wrong? Is it because I yelled at you?"
Davey just shrugged.
"Baby, you were crying." She placed a hand gently on his shoulder. "I didn't mean to yell at you; it's just been really hard here lately with Holly."
Davey just looked down for a long time.
"Baby..." Jackie sat in front of him so he had to look at her. "Talk to me."
"You're always with Holly," he mumbled. "You don't talk to me anymore, because you and Daddy are always feeding her or something. Even when Aunt Donna or Uncle Eric or Grandma Kitty is over, they don't talk to me either."
Jackie frowned. "Honey, you don't understand how hard it is!" She paused to see a reaction, but got nothing. "Holly, for some reason, cries a lot. She's always up in the middle of the night, so I get no sleep, and she never sleeps during the day, unless she's being held by Daddy. She doesn't even like it when I'm holding her." Jackie laughed bitterly.
"Do you not love Holly?" Davey asked.
"No, honey! Of course I love her! She's my daughter! I love her just like I love you." She hugged him, and pulled back, hand still on his shoulder.
"How can you love Holly as much as me when you've known me longer?" Davey asked, confused.
"You'll understand once you have a kid or two someday." Jackie smiled, then stopped. "But I don't want to think about that. Come on, why don't you show me what you wanted to earlier?"
Davey smiled. "Okay." He pulled out a picture from his backpack. It was very obviously drawn by a kindergartener, but it was still sweet. "It's Holly, see?"
"That's so good!" Jackie smiled at him. "We'll have to save that, and we can show her once she gets older."
Davey smiled again, and Jackie stood up. "I've gotta check up on how your sister's doing now. I hope she's sleeping." She walked out into the hall and saw Hyde about to put her in the crib in their room. He noticed her watching. "Don't even try to come in here," he mouthed to her.
Jackie scoffed, but knew that he was probably right. A minute later, he walked out.
"She fell asleep a few minutes ago," Hyde told her.
"Good." She sighed. "I sort of yelled at Davey earlier."
"No kidding," Hyde said. "You apologize?"
"Of course!" She let her hands fall to her waist. "He forgave me. But I think he's starting to get a little jealous of Holly."
"Huh." Hyde sat back down on the couch. "I was wondering when that was gonna happen."
"I can't believe how much Holly likes you," Jackie said randomly.
"Well, it was about time. Davey's attached to you; now I have Holly." Hyde laughed.
"You're crazy," Jackie said. "I do everything for her!"
"You mean, you try to do everything for her until you give up when she won't stop crying. Then you give her to me," he joked.
"Shut up," Jackie said. Hyde couldn't tell if she was joking or if his comment actually got to her.
"I'm kidding, Jacks. I've already told you this: you're a great mom." He smiled at her. "Davey loves you, Holly... well, she will love you." He grinned jokingly and then took her hand. "And you know I love you." Well, now or never, he thought. "And... I really want to be with you. And I know you want to be with me, so... will you... marry me?"
Jackie gasped, smiling. "Steven... are you serious?"
"Would I joke about it?"
"I don't know!" she exclaimed, and then wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his neck. "Of course I'll marry you, babe. Wasn't I the one who rooted for this all along?"
"Well, last time I went to propose to you, things didn't go so well, as we both remember." Hyde smirked.
Jackie ignored his last comment and kissed him. "I love you so much, Steven."
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Two weeks later...
It was night. Jackie had finally gotten Holly to fall sleep in her room around ten; Davey falling asleep almost two hours prior to that.
After getting in her pajamas, Jackie got into bed, and a minute after, Hyde joined her. Once the lights were off, Jackie pushed the covers off of her.
"It's so hot in here," Jackie said. "We need to buy a fan."
"Sounds good," Hyde said. He reached over and started stroking her bare arm, up and down, giving her chills. He saw her shiver. "That better?"
"Much," Jackie agreed.
Hyde continued stroking her arm for a few more minutes. Then he put his hand on Jackie's bare stomach, since her shirt had risen a bit, and started gently rubbing in a circular motion. During the couple minutes of rubbing, he leaned over and kissed her neck repeatedly until she abruptly moved.
"Stop it," Jackie snapped, taking his hand off of her tummy and pushing his head away. "You're really turning me on." She smiled sheepishly.
"That was the point," Hyde said, going to put his hand back.
She put it back by his side. "Still have three weeks, babe."
"Can't we cut it three weeks short?" he asked. She rolled her eyes even though it was dark.
"No. So stop trying to make me give in." She rolled on her side and tried to sleep, but was unsuccessful. "Steven?"
"Huh."
"We... we haven't talked about the wedding," she pointed out.
Hyde rolled over to his side so he was facing Jackie. "I know. And Jacks-"
"Hold on. I know that you... don't want a big wedding. And honestly, I know it wouldn't feel right anyways. I haven't seen my father in years, we barely have any family, and we have two kids, so it's not like it would be the same. So, I'm willing to just skip the ceremony and get the legal document with you." She frowned at the bed.
"Wow." Hyde looked seriously at her. "You sure about this?"
Jackie nodded. "I mean, now... I'd almost prefer it."
"Well, when do you want to do it?"
"Soon." She smiled and kissed him. "Very soon."
So the next day they went to the city hall and were officially married.