AN: Happy Holidays everyone! Hope everyone is excited for when we finally get Chicago PD back next week!
Jay remembered back when going to the cabin meant one duffel bag of his stuff and stopping for groceries for himself when he got close. Now the bed of the truck was pretty much packed with stuff. A weeklong trip with two children under five required a lot of stuff. His wife Hailey was riding shotgun while the two happy toddlers were in the back and he wouldn't change it back to the old way for anything.
"Daddy, my song." Two-year-old Emmy said from the backseat of the truck.
"Your right Emmy this is the song Daddy would always sing to you." Jay said after hearing the song that had come up on the playlist. When normal lullabies didn't seem to work when both his kids were babies he quickly gave up and started trying rock songs. While Emmy had gravitated to Dropkick Murphys, Danny had been more of a fan of The Gaslight Anthem.
I traveled far and wide
And laid this head in many ports
I was guided by a compass
I saw beauty to the north
"Hails can you put on Great Expectations next?" Jay asked gesturing to his phone that was in the holder on the dashboard. Since Emmy's song was playing it was only fair to play Danny's next. He looked at both his children in the rearview mirror and saw Emmy happily kicking her feet in her carseat.
"Daddy sing?" Emmy asked. While Jay knew he was not a great singer by any means if it made her happy he would do it. He lightly sang along and saw Hailey smiling out of the corner of his eye. Once the song finished he saw a huge smile break out on Danny's face as the opening notes of the song played. Danny didn't wait for Jay and started singing along. Jay pulled up to the cabin as the chorus started playing so he promised Danny he would restart the song once they were all settled in the cabin.
And I saw tail lights last night in a dream about my first wife
Everybody leaves and I'd expect as much from you
I saw tail lights last night in a dream about my old life
Everybody leaves, so why, why wouldn't you?
"Daddy what Mommy song?" Emmy asked as Jay unclipped her from her car seat.
"Daddy doesn't have a lullaby for Mommy, Emmy." The two and half year old pouted at the thought. While Hailey said she looked like a mix of them Jay was adamant that besides her green eyes Emmy was a mini Hailey.
Danny looked at Jay with confusion on his face. "Home Depot song?" Jay had an identical look of confusion (everyone said Danny was basically his twin) until he understood what his son meant.
Hailey helped him climb down from the booster seat and came around to the other side of the truck. Hailey crouched down so she was at Danny's eye level. "What's the Home Depot song?"
"When I took Danny with me there last week a song might of come on the in store speakers and I might of started singing along a little because it reminds me of you."
"What song?"
"Nope it's embarrassing."
"Oh come on."
"Not happening." Jay said walking towards the truck bed.
"Danny, buddy can you sing the song for Mommy?" Hailey asked.
"Oh you play dirty." He then lowered the tailgate of the truck and pealed back the truck bed cover.
She smiled at him as she headed into the cabin, "You can't blame a girl for trying."
The first night whenever the Halstead clan made it to the cabin, it was what Hailey described as loosely organized chaos. This time both Danny and Emmy were so excited to be at their home away from home they had wore themselves out and were lying in bed.
"Tell me." Hailey said handing a mug of tea to Jay and putting her own down on the coffee table.
"No."
"Please?"
"Hailey it's not a big deal and you're going to make fun of me."
"Come on I swear I won't laugh."
"Ok fine." Jay pulled up spotify and Hailey hadn't expected the pop song that came out of the Bluetooth speaker.
"Really?"
"It's because of the chorus."
And on the way down
I saw you
And you saved me
From myself
And I won't forget
The way you loved me
On the way down
I almost fell right through
But I held onto you
As the chorus played Hailey motioned for him to put the mug down and took his hands in hers. Jay let go with one hand and used the other to playfully twirl Hailey around before wrapping her in his arms.
"You did save me from myself. When I was spiraling you were kick in the ass I needed to go to therapy and find the veterans support group. Now it's you and the kids, if I feel myself starting to go down I know I have a net to catch myself because I'm never going to let myself hit rock bottom like that again. Because of you three."
"Aww that is really sweet."
"Thank you for not making fun of it."
"Of course." The couple shared a sweet kiss before a voice pulled them from their moment.
"Mommy, Daddy I knows I supposed to tell you when I gotta pee." Emmy said from the doorway.
"Aww parenting duty calls." Hailey said breaking out of the hug as she guided Emmy to the bathroom.
"Yeah the joys of potty training... again." Jay said from outside the bathroom.
"I'm doing good with the pull ups." Emmy said as Hailey flushed the toilet.
"Yes you are doing great. Now back to bed munchkin." Jay said and picked Emmy up and as he carried her back to bed he started humming her song.
AN:
Song list
Emmy's song- Rose tattoo by Dropkick Murphys
Danny's song – Great Expectations by The Gaslight Anthem
Hailey's song – On the Way Down by Ryan Cabrera
And as usual Reviews make me smile so please and thank you. Also this one shot is brought to you by the fact that my two month old's favorite lullaby is actually Rose Tattoo.