Hailey held herself up over Jay and whispered, "Thank you for the flowers and chocolate earlier," before going back to kissing his throat.

Jay chuckled and held her waist, "I don't think I was the one who gave it all to you."

Hailey rolled her eyes and breathed, "Okay," in his ear.

Jay slowly sat up holding her, "Hailey…"

"No, no, come on," Hailey whined softly, "Drew's sleeping."

"We're still on the couch," Jay said, "And I want to talk to you about something."

"Right now?" Hailey asked, "Come on, Jay, talking can wait."

"I would feel better talking now because I've already put this off long enough," Jay brushed her hair back.

Hailey faltered and sat back in on his legs, "What are you talking about?"

"I know your dad was trying to get a hold of you today," Jay said softly, "So how did things go with your mom?"

Hailey chewed her lip, "I don't want to talk about this."

"No, Hails," Jay squeezed her waist, "Now is a good time. The baby shower's in a few days, we need to talk about your parents and their…involvement."

"I really don't want them involved," Hailey looked down.

"I know, but I also know that we won't be able to avoid them," Jay pulled her closer against him, "And the third thing I know is that your dad doesn't approve of this."

Hailey took a deep breath, "You saw that?"

"I did," Jay rubbed her sides.

Hailey shook her head, "My mom seemed nervous, but she knew why we wanted to do this."

"Yeah," Jay breathed.

"It's not like it's his baby," Hailey said louder, "It's not like he'll be raising him."

Jay nodded along and ran his fingers through her hair.

Hailey's jaw clenched, "He couldn't successfully raise three children, why is he suddenly interested in mine?"

"I…have no idea," Jay said.

Hailey pushed off of him and walked to the kitchen, "Where's that vodka you bought last week?"

"Hailey, we're not doing this," Jay followed her.

"You don't have to, but I am," Hailey searched through the cupboards, "You stressed me out."

"Me?" Jay laughed softly, "How did I do that?"

"You brought my parents up," Hailey pulled the bottle out, "I was all ready to have sex on the couch and you have to bring up my parents," she unscrewed the top and took a drink from it.

"Hey, hey," Jay stepped forward and set a hand on the bottle, "Hailey."

"This is how I deal," she coughed before drinking again.

"No," Jay breathed and lightly tugged the bottle away, "This isn't healthy," he held her to his chest and kissed the top of her head, "Relax for me."

Hailey breathed out and pressed her face into his shirt, "I hate that they've done this to me."

"They didn't break you," Jay whispered and set the bottle on the counter.

"They're in my head all the time," Hailey looked up at him, "They're trying to wedge themselves into my family."

Jay rubbed his hands up and down her back, "Your mom cares about you and wants to help. Your dad," he shook his head, "I don't know what his deal is."

Hailey reached behind him and grabbed the vodka, "He's a horrible dick of a person and an awful father."

Jay sighed and watched Hailey drink the alcohol, "Hails."

"Fine, fine," Hailey breathed and put the cap back on the bottle. She put it away, "I needed to take the edge off."

"I know," Jay pulled her back in his arms, "You can't let him get to you though."

Hailey rubbed her face, "How do I reply to him?"

"I'll take care of it," Jay shrugged.

Hailey paused and looked up at him, "What?"

"I will go talk to him," Jay said, "I'm going to take care of this. He's not going to bother you about our family any more."

"I can't have you do that," Hailey shook her head.

"I want to," Jay squeezed her arms, "And I'm going to. End of discussion."

Hailey stepped back and crossed her arms, "Huh."

"What?" Jay asked.

"You thinking you can take on my dad…kind of hot," Hailey smirked, "I'm loving the confidence."

"I – hey," Jay laughed, "I've got this."

"Mhmm," Hailey nodded, "I'll let you try."

"Okay," Jay picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, "Let's go."

"Go where?" Hailey laughed and gripped his shirt.

"I think I remember you saying something about a party on the couch," Jay dropped her over the back of the couch.

Hailey laughed harder, "I did."

"So let's go," Jay repeated with a smirk and climbed over the back on top of her.

"Hey pretty mama," Kim smiled as she walked across the bullpen to Hailey.

Hailey laughed softly, "Hello."

"So," Kim set a small piece of paper on Hailey's desk, "I'm thinking of subs for your baby shower, but little ones, like baby subs."

Hailey smiled, "I love that."

"And baby cupcakes and baby bags of chips," Kim continued.

Hailey nodded along and looked at the menu on the paper, "Good enough for me."

Trudy came out of Hank's office, "Stop." Both Hailey and Kim looked up at her. "Subs, chips, and cupcakes?" Trudy asked, "Are you kidding Burgess?"

"What's wrong with that?" Kim asked quietly.

Trudy raised her eyebrows, "Baby showers are supposed to be fancy events."

"I'm really not a fancy person," Hailey said, "I love the idea of it being casual."

Trudy grabbed the menu from Hailey's desk, "So casual that there will be Captain Morgan?"

"Hailey loves whiskey," Kim defended.

"It's a baby shower," Trudy shook her head, "No alcohol."

"Whiskey does seem a little much," Hailey admitted softly.

"You're not even pregnant," Kim said.

"Then do wine," Hailey said, "That's fine, right?"

Trudy rolled her eyes, "Sure."

"Awesome," Hailey smiled.

Kim sighed, "Okay," she took the menu from Trudy and fixed it, "And we'll do the diaper raffle and I figured since we can't play games about the size of the baby in your stomach, we can do a guessing game. I'll have a calendar and people can bet on when the baby's born."

"And win what?" Trudy crossed her arms.

"Can you stop being so critical?" Kim shot at her.

"Sounds fun," Hailey lightly hit Kim's arm.

"Thank you," Kim whispered.

Hailey nodded, "And thank you for even putting this on for me. I really appreciate it."

"Of course," Kim smiled slightly and walked away.

"What was that?" Hailey breathed to Trudy.

Trudy shrugged, "This is just our first Intelligence baby, things need to go well."

Hailey shook her head and looked back at her computer screen.

Trudy looked around the near empty room and grabbed a chair to sit next to Hailey, "Girl talk, let me give you some advice."

Hailey bit back a smile and faced her, "Yes?"

"Your baby's going to be born addicted to drugs," Trudy started quietly, "Have you and Jay thought about the baby being born early?"

Hailey bit her lip and glanced to Jay's empty desk, "Not too much. We know he'll probably have to stay in the NICU, but we haven't talked about him being a preemie."

Trudy nodded and stood, "Just something to think about, especially if you're going to be placing bets on his due date."

Hailey sighed and watched her walk away. She ran a hand through her hair and opened her calendar on her computer. Technically the baby was due in just over nine weeks. She had the date highlighted in December and honestly hadn't considered that he'd be born in any other month. She swallowed and closed the window. She couldn't let that new fear take control of her thoughts for the day.

Jay parked his car in front of Hailey's parents' house for maybe the fifth time in his life. He sighed and shook his head, turning the car off and jumping out. He walked up to the front door and took a deep breath before knocking.

He looked around, secretly hoping no one would answer, but he wasn't so lucky when Rob Upton opened the door.

"Jay," Rob said.

Jay nodded, "Hello, sir."

"So you can come talk to me, but my own daughter can't even pick up the phone when I call," Rob stepped back and held the door open.

Jay winced and set his jaw as he stepped in, "She wasn't quite sure what to say to you."

"I'm her father," Rob shook his head and led the way to the kitchen table.

"Well, you definitely insulted her choices and her family," Jay stopped short of the table and put his hands in his pockets.

Rob turned, "Excuse me?"

"You had no right to call our child a crack baby," Jay said, "You don't understand anything about what she's going through."

"What do you have against me?" Rob countered, "You go and marry my daughter in a shotgun wedding, then you pressure her into adopting a baby that will make her life harder-"

"You have no idea what you are talking about," Jay's fists clenched, "She was not pressured. In fact, adopting the baby was her idea. Crazy, right?" He couldn't believe the words were coming out of his mouth right now, but the protective husband and father in him was starting to come out.

Rob shook his head, "Have you even personally considered what it will be like to raise a child with a disability or disabilities?"

"I…yes," Jay put his hands on the back of a chair, "I have and I have no regrets or worries about it. In case you've forgotten, Drew actually has autism himself and yes we've had some problems, but we're all figuring it out together. Hailey and I are good parents."

"I want you to come back and tell that to me when this baby is born early and can't breathe on its own or when you're draining your life savings to take care of it," Rob said.

Jay breathed shakily, "The baby's a boy. We're having another boy."

"Doesn't change the sentiment," Rob walked to the fridge and grabbed a water bottle.

Jay's jaw clenched and his grip tightened on the chair. He swallowed before saying, "Stay away from my family," under his breath.

Rob looked at him, "What'd you say, son?"

"I'm not your son," Jay turned to face him, "And I said to stay away from my family."

Rob raised his eyebrows and set the water down, "You're talking about my daughter."

"You barely talk to her anyways and when you do it always ends in a fight," Jay said slowly, "You do more damage than good when you're around her, so I highly suggest you steer clear of her for a very long time." He turned to leave, but was surprised to see Christine standing in the doorway.

"Jay," she whispered, "What're you doing here?"

Jay blinked and lightly chewed his lip, "I-"

"He's leaving," Rob said roughly, "He seems to think he knows what's better for our daughter than her own father does."

Jay swallowed hard. He walked out of the room to the front door and took a deep breath before stepping out.

Hailey passed Jay a bowl to dry, "Now that we're alone, are you going to tell me what you talked to my dad about?"

Jay glanced at her as he wiped the serving bowl dry, "Just that he doesn't understand the entire situation and that we're doing this together."

Hailey slowly nodded, "How'd he take it?"

"Not well," Jay sighed and put the bowl away.

"Did something happen?" Hailey asked.

Jay shook his head and dried off the pan she passed him.

"Jay," Hailey said softly.

"I'm fine," Jay shrugged, "Don't worry about it, okay? He now knows where we stand with the baby and he shouldn't be bothering you anymore."

Hailey bit her lip and looked back to the sink to finish washing the pots and pans.

Jay sighed and leaned against the counter.

The sound of Animal Planet from the TV in the living room filled the empty silence. Neither knew exactly what to say to the other to ease the other's worries.

Hailey couldn't stop thinking about having a premature baby. The idea of having a tiny baby breathing through machines terrified her and she was kicking herself for not bringing it up earlier.

Just feet away, Jay was having the same thoughts. His father-in-law had actually scared him and he couldn't believe he hadn't considered it before.

"Jay," Hailey said at the same time Jay sighed, "Hailey."

"You first," they both said at the same time.

Hailey laughed weakly, "Go, you."

"No, no, go ahead," Jay shook his head.

"Are you sure?" Hailey asked.

Jay smiled slightly, "Yeah, I'm sure."

"Okay," Hailey took a deep breath, "Um, before you came back to work, I was talking to Trudy and she brought up-"

"No!"

"Drew," Jay threw the towel into the sink and ran to the living room with Hailey on his heels, "What's wrong?"

"It's dying," Drew's lip wavered and he pointed to the TV, "The baby koala bear isn't going to live. It's too small and its mom doesn't want it."

Hailey quickly sat next to him, "Honey, things like that happen all the time in nature. As sad as it is, it's life."

Drew breathed shakily and whined, "No, no."

"Hey," Jay softly rubbed his back, "Deep breaths."

"Don't touch me," Drew jerked away, "I didn't know babies can die!"

Hailey sucked in her breath and made eye contact with Jay.

He moved to sit on the cushions next to Drew, "Bud, I think we need to turn the TV off."

Drew ignored him and stared at the TV. He started crying, "It died. The baby died."

"Okay," Hailey said softly and turned the TV off, "Let's go up to bed and we'll read, maybe we have a book to help us understand what you saw."

"No, no," Drew pulled away from them and stumbled into the coffee table, "I need to watch. The episode wasn't over."

"Drew, it's not a good idea right now," Jay stood, "Let's go upstairs."

"No!" Drew lunged for the remote on Hailey's lap.

She gasped as his elbow connected with her chin, "Drew!"

"Hey, no," Jay grabbed him around the waist and lifted him up, "You do not act like this."

Drew sobbed and fought against Jay's arms, "Put me down, put me down."

"You okay?" Jay asked Hailey quietly.

She nodded and rubbed her chin, "I'm fine."

Jay nodded and carried Drew up the stairs.

"You can't do this, you're being mean," Drew cried.

Jay shifted Drew in his arms and set his own chin on top of Drew's head, "Breathe with me."

Drew shook his head fast, "Let me down."

Jay tightened his hold on Drew as he reached in the closet for the weighted blanket, "We're going to sit together and wait this out, okay?"

"Nothing's okay," Drew kicked his legs.

"Don't talk like that," Jay said softly and sat on the bed. He wrapped the weighted blanket around Drew and started taking exaggerated deep breaths.

Drew whimpered and covered his face, "You can't make me."

Hailey walked in with a glass of water and a Hershey's bar, "How're we doing?"

Jay shook his head and gently took one of Drew's hands and set it on his chest.

"No, no," Drew whined.

Hailey set the water and chocolate on the nightstand then sat next to them, "We're not leaving you; we're going to figure this out together."

Jay nodded, "Whatever it takes."

Drew pushed again against Jay and cried harder.

"Let's try," Hailey started quietly and gently pulled Drew off of Jay's lap and laid him against their pillows. She worked quickly to wrap the weighted blanket around him, "There you go," she whispered.

Drew struggled for a minute before giving up and pulling the blanket over his head.

Jay sat against the headboard, "I'm going to put a hand on you, just as a reminder that I'm here."

Drew whined in response and curled up under the blanket.

"Okay," Jay said softly and put a hand on Drew's side, "Mom and I are here when you're ready."

Hailey nodded, "We care about you a lot and we want to talk about this all with you."

Drew continued crying for a few minutes before he slowed to a whimper and stuck his head out from the blanket.

"Hi," Jay breathed.

"Hi," Drew hiccupped and blinked past the tears in his eyes.

"Are you ready to talk?" Hailey asked.

Drew shrugged, but still sat up with Jay's help.

"We should probably start by talking about the koala bear," Hailey said.

"Oh no," Drew put his head in his hands.

"When people or animals die, it is very sad," Jay nodded.

"And it's okay to be upset," Hailey added.

"I just don't understand why baby animals need to die!" Drew sighed, "Baby animals didn't do anything anywhere to deserve to die."

Hailey bit her lip, "We don't know why it happens either."

"It was a baby koala bear," Drew looked between the two of them, "It wasn't going to hurt anyone!"

"I know," Jay gently tugged Drew closer to his side.

"I'm guessing if baby koala bears can die then baby people can die too," Drew mumbled.

Hailey breathed deeply, "Yes, baby people can die too."

"Great," Drew scratched his arms and squeezed his eyes close against the tears that started to form, "What if our baby dies?"

Jay looked to Hailey and reached over to squeeze her arm when he noticed she was near tears as well.

She shook her head and closed her eyes to take another deep breath.

Jay nodded and realized she was on the same page that he was. Their baby could die and he truly didn't know what they'd do if that happened.

Hailey blinked her eyes open and rubbed her face, "Drew, Dad and I need to tell you something."

"Oh my god it already died," Drew fell backwards against the pillows.

"No, not at all," Jay gently pulled his arm to have him sit up again, "The baby's still alive, but the baby's probably going to be sick when it's born. W-We…"

Hailey set her hand on Jay's knee and squeezed softly, "We know it's very scary to think about, but we have to keep positive."

"Could it die?" Drew whispered.

"I don't know," Hailey said softly.

"How do we make it not die?" Drew asked.

"Um," Jay bit his lip, "Well, when the baby's born, we make sure to give him everything we can to help him stay healthy."

"Like money and cake?" Drew guessed.

Hailey sadly laughed, "No, like our love."

Drew scrunched his nose, "You can't give love."

"We can tell him we love him a lot," Jay said, "And we could hug him if we're allowed."

Drew's eyes widened, "If we're allowed? What does that mean?"

Hailey breathed shakily and lightly rubbed his arm, "The baby might be born early and if that happens, we might not be allowed to hold him right away because our germs could hurt him."

Drew chewed his lip and lightly scratched his arms, "But then…that's just sad."

"It's really sad," Jay nodded, "So we have to really hope that the baby is born healthy and safe."

"Not like the koala bear," Drew said quietly.

"Right," Hailey gently took his hand in hers and squeezed softly.

Drew looked down at the blanket and sighed, "This talk made me really sad."

"It made us sad too, bud," Jay lightly nudged Drew's shoulder.

"Do we still have to read a book about it?" Drew asked.

"Not today, but we should probably learn more about it soon," Hailey said.

Drew sighed and laid backwards, "Great, more sad talks."

Jay laughed softly, "I know it's not exciting, but it's something we should all talk about."

"Fine," Drew mumbled.

Hailey bent down and kissed his forehead, "Should we watch a funny TV show to get our minds off of it?"

"Please," Drew sat up, "Can I put on comfy clothes?"

Jay chuckled, "Go ahead and just put your pajamas on."

"No, I put pajamas on after my shower," Drew crawled over Jay's legs and looked at the clock, "I still have a while before I need to do that," he hurried out of the room.

Hailey sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "That was hard."

Jay nodded, "I wasn't expecting that."

Hailey leaned into him and closed her eyes.

"What were you going to tell me before this all started?" Jay asked softly.

Hailey weakly laughed, "That I was worried the baby will be a preemie."

Jay shook his head, "I was actually going to say the same thing. Your dad brought it up and it honestly kind of spooked me."

Hailey smiled and sat up, "Spooked?"

"Like a little scare," Jay smirked.

Hailey shook her head and laughed softly. She lightly kissed him, "Platt actually brought it up too and I felt the same way."

"What if he really is a preemie?" Jay asked quietly.

"Then we deal with it when it comes," Hailey breathed, "We can mentally prepare for it, but I don't know if we'll really know what to do or even just expect until he gets here and we see what we're all facing."

Jay nodded and breathed out slowly, "Yeah."

Hailey hugged him tightly, "I'm terrified, but I don't regret our decision."

Jay held her close and kissed the top of her head, "Neither do I."

"Thank you for doing this with me," Hailey whispered.

"I wouldn't want to do this with anyone else," Jay replied.

A/N: Hey! Hi! I'm back and gosh this was hard to start writing again. I actually came up with an entire list while I was on vacation of future chapter ideas (and even one-shots!), but of course I didn't plan out this chapter and didn't get my groove back until the last half or so, so I'm sorry if the beginning isn't great. That being said, I'm super happy to be back and am excited for what's to come! I hope you like it!