I know, I suck. I'm going to quit promising a update date and just do them when I get a chance. I'm sorry guys. I know you're sick of hearing my excuses, I just write when I have time lol. But I hope you enjoy this! It was originally gonna be a Valentines day one but I didn't get it done in time, so it's been changed a bit. It ended quite differently than I originally planned, but I couldn't help myself.
Hope you all enjoy!
Thirty Two Weeks Pregnant
Erin had been on bed rest for about two months, and she was on the verge of a mental breakdown. While she loved Jay and their friends for trying to make this whole thing easier on her, they were all driving her crazy. Will and Nadia had set up a schedule in which they both, along with Ruzek and Burgess, not only kept Jaelyn while Jay was working, but also sat with her. They would all eye her closely and get on to her if she tried to the do the tiniest of things.
Jay however, was the worst out of all. If she so much as moved, he was on her case. She knew Jay, and everyone else, meant well but she didn't know how much longer she could handle this.
"Erin Halstead! What are you doing out of bed?" Jay scolds as he sits the paint roller down in the bucket before turning to face her, his hand on his side, eyebrows rose. Nadia and Will, who were busy helping Jay paint the nursery, turn to look at her as well.
"I'm bored Jay," She groans, her hand coming to rest on her very swollen stomach. "I can't stare at the same four walls anymore."
"Er, you have to. You're almost there –"
"I'm very aware of that Jay, but I'm telling you if I don't get a change of scenery, I'm going to murder you in my sleep." Jay glances from his wife, to Nadia, before looking to his brother. By the looks on their faces, both obviously agreed with him but neither was brave enough to speak up to a very hormonal Erin.
Jay lets out a frustrated groan. "Ok fine, come on. We'll set you up in the living room." He reasons as he begins to walk toward her. He reaches for her arm but she yanks it from him.
"No, I don't want to sit in the living room alone. I want to sit in here with you guys and watch you work."
"No Er, it isn't safe. You don't need to be breathing the fumes from the paint." Nadia quickly pipes in, trying to reason with her best friend. This of course, only earns her a glare in return.
"Then open the damn windows!"
"Er –"Jay tries to soothe his wife, but was met by the same glare that Nadia had received. Erin turns to Will, desperately pleading for help.
"Will that would be ok right?"
Will glances back and forth between his brother and his sister in law, trying to figure out the best approach to this given that his brother was shooting him a dirty look. Finally, he sighs. "I mean with the windows open, and maybe a few fans it'll be ok for her to sit in here. But Erin, you have to sit and rest and keep your feet up. Make sure you're taking care of little man while you do."
"I can handle that!" Erin grins waddling her way over to the big plush chair she had talked Jay into for the nursery since they would spend a lot of time in here with their son. She sits down, quickly propping her feet up on the footrest and her hand comes to rest on her stomach. Will, Jay and Nadia all glance back and forth amongst themselves at the smug look on Erin's face before she interrupts them. "What are you waiting for? Get back to work!"
"Hey where's Jae?" Jay asks walking into the kitchen, freshly showered after his run that morning.
"Still asleep," Erin says glancing up to her husband from over the rim of her decaf coffee. She absolutely hated it, and Jay wasn't happy about her drinking it either, but they had quickly came to some sort of agreement over it due to Erin's instance of her morning cup.
"Seriously?" Jay asks rolling his eyes and looking to Adam who sat at the table with Erin as it was his day to "baby sit" as Erin called it. "The only thing you had to do was wake her up and send her to Erin to get dressed. How damn hard is that?"
Adam's eyes widen. "Dude, she's evil. She freaking bit me!" He says pointing to his arm, where sure enough there were tiny teeth marks.
Erin couldn't help but laugh as she brings her cup back up for another drink. "That she gets from her father."
Jay narrows his eyes at his wife before rolling them. "Yeah, whatever." Before either have time to make another comment, he turns and sprints up the stairs to his daughter's room. He makes his way inside and laughs as he sees her passed out in the middle of her bed. Her crazy curly hair had fallen from her bun that Erin had put in the night before. Her sleep shirt had ridden up exposing her little tummy and one arm was thrown over her eyes to block out the sun while the other tightly held on to the pink cheetah blanket she was forever attached to. Given her age, he and Erin had spent much time trying to wean her from it, with no luck. She needed it every night to go to sleep. His smile grows as he lies down next to her on the tiny toddler bead. "Wake up sleepyhead."
Jaelyn slowly opens an eye to look at her father but quickly snaps it shut and turns opposite of him. "No."
"Oh come on Jae, I have a surprise for you."
Slightly intrigued, Jaelyn turns back to face her father. "Surprise?"
Jay smirks before nodding his head. "Happy birthday baby girl." He says finally moving his arm from behind his back to show her the stuffed Minnie Mouse he had picked out for her. It was just his size and he knew the night before when he saw it in the store, she had to have it.
As soon as she sees it, her eyes widen in glee and she reaches for it. She takes it from her father and snuggles it, sending him a huge smile. "Thank you daddy."
"You're welcome baby," He says reaching over and pulling her into him so that her head rested on his chest. "How are you already five munchkin? You're making daddy sad."
"Don't be sad daddy," Jaelyn mumbles, glancing up to her father. With her arm still wrapped around her Minnie Mouse, she reaches up and places her hands on both sides of Jay's face. She moves her hands up, making her father 'smile', which in turn makes Jay laugh.
"I can't help it; you're getting too big for me. You need to stay my baby forever."
"I will daddy. Forever and ever."
Jay offers her a sad smile, knowing it won't be true, but forever wishing it could be. "That's my girl."
"There's my big girl!" Erin exclaims as Jaelyn enters the kitchen, her father right behind her. "Happy birthday my sweet sweet girl." She holds her arms out for her daughter, and before she has the chance to lift her, Jay steps up and places the young girl on her mother's lap. Erin gives him an appreciative look before snuggling her daughter, placing a kiss on the girl's temple. "You ready for your date with daddy?"
Jaelyn eagerly nods her head and Erin smiles. "Ok, let me fix your hair before you go because daddy didn't do such a hot job."
Once again, Jay narrows his eyes at his wife as he sits down in the chair next to Adam. "It's not my fault the kids hair is so out of control."
"Actually, it is." Erin says placing Jaelyn back on the ground to stand in front of her. "The curl is all you Jay."
"Whatever," Jay says rolling his eyes as Erin begins to bring a brush through the little girl's hair. She always remembered to grab the stuff she needed to fix her daughter's hair in the mornings before she came down stairs. Jay was perfectly capable of getting the little girl dressed, but he was ultimately helpless when it came to her hair.
"So shorty," Adam grabs her attention as he sits his coffee cup down on the kitchen table. "What torture are you putting your ole man through today?"
"Daddy is taking me to the mommy daughter tea party today since mommy is sick and has to stay at home."
Adam lets out a chuckle as he turns to look at Jay, who was raising an eyebrow at his friend. "Oh man, that sucks. I feel for you."
"Uncle Adam, why don't you come with us?" Jaelyn eagerly exclaims, jumping up and down.
"Jae, sit still." Erin mumbles, holding her comb in her teeth, and focusing on braiding her daughter's hair.
"Oh sounds fun shorty, but I gotta stay here with your mom." Adam quickly informs the little girl, earning a chuckle from both Erin and Jay.
"Oh no you don't," Nadia says walking in the back door that was in the kitchen. "I'm here to stay with her. Ruzek, you should go. I think you'd have a blast."
Adam shoots Nadia a look, earning a evil smirk in return from her as she sat down in the empty seat across from him.
"Pleasseeeee Uncle Adam." Jaelyn says turning to face him now that her hair was done. She juts out that bottom lip and waits.
"Come on Adam," Nadia says pointing to the little girl. "It's her birthday. You can't honestly tell her no can you?"
Adam glances back and forth from the challenging eyes of Nadia, the laughs and smirks coming from Erin and Jay, to the little girl standing in front of him giving him the hugest puppy dog eyes he had ever seen. He groans before nodding. "Ok ok. I'll go."
"Yay!" Jaelyn eagerly exclaims jumping up into her uncle's lap and hugging his neck tightly. "Thank you Uncle Adam!"
"Anything for my favorite birthday girl." He says hugging the little girl back.
"Never again Halsteads, never again!" A very annoyed Adam complains following his friend and niece out of the building. He wore a tiara, a pink furry boa, and honestly his face looked much like a clowns. Not only had he just sat through the last two hours of "tea time" where he got scolded every two minutes by Jaelyn,
"No hold your pinky like this."
"Uncle Adam! Use your manners!"
But then he had been drug throughout the mall where the tea party was and into the closest kids store, which just so happened to be Claire's. Jay gladly paid for all the things Jaelyn had picked out and then parked them at the fountain to wait while he grabbed her giant cookie she had spent the better part of the day begging him for.
When he returned, not ten minutes later, he found Jaelyn hard at work giving her uncle a 'makeover'. Jay had never had such a hard time holding in his laughter as he stared at his daughter, who was so unbelievably proud of her work, and his friend, who looked so completely ridiculous.
"Look at me!" Adam complains, following Jay to his SUV. "I look like a clown!"
"No comment here." Jay chuckles strapping his daughter in the backseat of the car. "Now shut up. She's happy with it. I have thing of wipes in here somewhere you can use to wipe that off with."
"NO!" Jaelyn exclaims from the backseat as Jay and Adam settle into the front. "Uncle Adam you can't take it off!"
"Oh come on Jae-"
"NO!" She argues back. "You don't like it?"
Adam glances to the backseat, ready to argue his point until he sees the little girls eyes watering slightly. He then turns back to Jay who simply raises his hand to inform him that he wasn't getting in the middle of it. "Of course I do shorty, I'm sorry. I won't take it off."
Jaelyn's smile grows before she turns to look out the window.
"Dude –"
"Shut up," Adam mumbles, cutting Jay off. "I know."
"Mommy, Aunt Nadia! We're home!" Jaelyn shouts, running down the hallway toward the living room, her Minnie Mouse still under her arm.
"Hey baby girl! Did you have fun today with daddy and your uncle Adam?" Erin asks, as the little girl crawls up on the couch to sit between her mother and her aunt.
"Yes! We went to the tea party, daddy bought me all kinds of stuff, I had a giant cookie and I got to give Uncle Adam a makeover!"
"Oh did you really?" Nadia asks eager to see Adam walk in the door.
"Uh huh! It was so much fun!"
"It sounds like it baby! I'm glad you had fun today." Erin says holding her daughter tight to her side as Jay and Adam walk in. Both Erin and Nadia glance up and neither can hold their laughter as they look at their friend. "Oh my god."
Smirking, Jay moves to sit next to his wife. He wraps an arm around her shoulders and leans down to kiss her temple before speaking. "Doesn't he make a beautiful girl?"
Unable to speak from laughing so hard, both Erin and Nadia just nod in agreement. Jaelyn beams proudly from where she sat.
Adam, however, rolls his eyes and groans. "I hate all of you!"
"Uncle Adam!"
"Except you, shorty. I love you, but the rest of you. I hate you all."