Nathan rolled over in bed and found Haley smiling at him. He smiled back at her and said, "Good morning."
"Good morning." Haley replied before she kissed her husband. Their kiss lasted a few minutes.
When they were finished, Nathan smiled again and said, "Wow. That was one hell of a good morning kiss."
"Well, thanks. You praised me for it in my dream last night too,"
"Really? It must've been a good dream then, huh?"
"Hmm…it sure was. Maybe I should enlighten you?"
"Maybe you should."
Haley leaned on top of Nathan and started kissing him again. They giggled and kissed a few more minutes before there was a knock on their bedroom door. Nathan and Haley both stopped kissing and looked over at the door.
""Boys are awake." Haley said. "It's time to get up."
"No wait." Nathan said as he pulled her back from trying to go get off the bed. "Maybe if we're quiet they'll go away."
"No, Nathan, I—
He interrupted by kissing her lips.
"Mom…" a little boy called from outside the door. "We know you're awake. We can hear you."
"Yeah, we can hear you." A smaller boy's voice repeated. "You are busted."
"Oh no, Haley," Nathan said smiling. "We're busted."
Haley laughed and smacked him playfully and a toddler boy's voice spoke on the other side of the door.
"Ma, Da, open up!" He smacked his hand on the door.
"Come in, boys." Haley said.
Andrew turned the knob and ran into the bedroom and jumped onto the bed. Haley saw her other two son's enter and said, "Hey—Andrew did you get Cooper out of his crib again?"
"Yeah. He was yelling at me too and I was in the living room."
"Please, don't do that anymore, honey." Haley said as she lifted the middle boy, James onto the bed, then the youngest Cooper. "You could've hurt yourself or your brother."
"Sorry, Mom." Andrew replied.
"So what are you guys doing up so early on a Saturday?' Nathan asked. "You just started summer vacation. Don't you want to go back to bed and sleep in?"
"Nah, not today." Seven-year-old Andrew replied. "I can sleep in all summer. You said we could play basketball today."
"My tummy woke me up." James said, looking over at Haley from between Nathan and Haley. Two – year-old Cooper Lee Scoot sat in Haley's lap.
"It did?" Haley said, reaching over and tickling her three-year-old's stomach. "Do you want some breakfast?"
James nodded his head and Andrew asked, "Mom, can we have pancakes for breakfast please?"
"Sure." Haley said as she climbed out of bed and helped James off.
"Do you want to help me?"
"Yeah!" James replied excitedly.
Haley lifted Cooper from the bed and said, "Whoa, bud. You're getting heavy. Pretty soon, you'll be too big for mommy to carry you."
"Me big boy." Cooper said.
Haley chuckled as she carried her youngest son from the bedroom. James followed behind her, still carrying his brown stuffed dog.
"So are we gonna play basketball, Dad?" Andrew asked as Nathan pulled sweats on over his boxers.
"Well, I have to work later today, but we can go play while your mom makes breakfast, if you want."
"Okay, cool."
Andrew hopped off the bed and said, "I'll go get dressed."
He left the bedroom and as soon as he had his sweatshirt over his head, Nathan left too.
Jake walked down the hall towards the master bedroom holding two coffee mugs, one filled with coffee and other just milk. He reached the bedroom and pushed the door open with his boot. Peyton was just sitting up in their bed as he entered.
"Good morning gorgeous." He said as he set his coffee on the nightstand next to his side of the bed.
"Gorgeous?" Peyton replied as she took the milk from her husband. "I'm more than a few pounds over from gorgeous. I look like a blimp."
Jake chuckled, "No you don't. You are insanely beautiful."
He sat between his nightstand and Peyton and kissed her.
"So are you feeling better?" He asked when their lips separated.
"Yeah." Peyton replied, rubbing her pregnant stomach. "What time is it?"
"Almost 11:30. I guess you were pretty tired."
"Yeah, I was. Is Emma awake yet?"
"Yeah, Jenny is getting her dressed."
"Okay, well I should get up and get moving." Peyton said as she set her mug down on her nightstand. "Brooke is back from California and I'm supposed to meet her and Haley and the kids at Karen's in awhile. But I can't seem to push myself to get up. I feel like staying in bed all day. It's weird, I don't remember feeling this lazy and pregnant with Emma."
"Well all pregnancies are different, right? Just look at it this way," Jake said, moving his hand to her stomach. "You've only got a few months of being pregnant left before we finally get to meet him or her."
"That will be wonderful. But then we'll both be tired a lot because we'll have a newborn, a toddler and an almost teenager with a spontaneous attitude."
"Sure, but we'll handle this new baby and Emma together and Jenny loves playing with her sister and she's thrilled about the new baby, so she'll help too. And that spontaneous attitude she has is most often only with me."
"Well if you were home more to spend time with her…"
"All right." Jake sighed. "Let's not start this again. I'm sorry I'm working so much. I'll be home more when I have less to do."
"Jake, you keep saying that. You've been working almost every day since you found out about this promotion opportunity. So you'd better have less to do soon because in about three months we'll have a whole lot to do."
"I'll try. I promise." Jake leaned in to kiss his wife. Before they were finished, Jenny walked through their open bedroom door carrying a short, blond headed toddler dressed in a blue denim skirt and a pink tank top.
"Okay, kids in the room." Jenny said and her parents stopped kissing at once. "Don't you think you two do that enough? You'd better stop Dad before mom ends up pregnant with twins."
Peyton and Jake both laughed at Jenny's comment as she sat at their feet on the bed.
"Momma, Dada." Emma called, reaching for Peyton.
"Hey Em." Peyton said, smiling as she reached over and took her youngest daughter from her oldest and kissing the toddler's cheek.
"So I take it you're feeling better, Mom?"
"I am." Peyton responded confidently to Jenny while Jake blew raspberries on Emma's tummy, making her giggle. "In fact, Brooke and Lilly are home and I am going to meet them and Haley and the kids for lunch at Karen's and then we're going shopping. I'm taking Emma. Do you want to come to?"
"Yeah, definitely. It's been forever since I saw Brooke and Lilly. Are you coming too, Dad?"
"I wish I could honey," Jake replied as he stood up with Emma in his arms. "But I have to go to work."
Peyton shot him a surprised look as she was climbing out of bed. Hadn't they just talked about his working so much?
"You have to work today?" Jenny said disappointedly. "On Saturday? You've been working all week, Dad. Aren't you supposed to have a break?"
Jake glanced at Peyton, who was about to enter the bathroom, but she said nothing. He looked back at his daughter and replied, "I'm sorry, Jenny. I have to go to work today because we're starting a new project, but I'll only be gone for a few hours and I promise I'll—
"No it's okay, Dad."
Jake sighed as he sat down next to Jenny with Emma in his lap.
"Look Jenny bean, I know I've been working a lot lately, but it's only because I'm working towards a promotion I'm up for. And if I get the promotion, I'll be getting more money."
"I know, Dad. You told mom and me this when you said you'd be working more. I just thought that since mom is having another baby soon and my summer vacation starting, you'd want to be home more to spend time with all of us. I miss you and I'm pretty sure mom and Emma miss you too."
"I miss you guys too, Angel. And I will be home more soon. I love you so much, Jenny bean. You know that right?"
"Yeah, I know." Jenny said as she cracked a smile. "I love you too, Daddy."
She hugged him and Jake kissed her on her light brown head. Once Jenny let go of the hug, Jake grabbed his keys and cell phone from the nightstand.
"I should probably get going now." He said as he stood up and Peyton reentered the bedroom, now fully dressed with her hair up in a messy bun.
"I have to go honey." Jake said as he walked over and pecked Peyton's lips. "Be careful when you go out today, but have fun, here, can you take her?"
Peyton took Emma from Jake, but once she had left Jake's arms, Emma reached out for him and cried.
"Want Dada." She whined.
"Daddy has to go to work, sweetie." Jake said before kissing her cheek. "I'll be back later, princess. I love you."
Emma cried harder, still holding her arms out for Jake.
"Want Dada. Dada no buh bye."
Peyton bounced Emma up and down, trying to soothe her. Jenny stood up."
"Mom, want me to take her?" She offered her arms and Peyton handed Emma to her.
"Shh…it's okay, sis." Jenny said as she left the bedroom with Emma.
Jake stared at the door even after they'd gone.
"I've never seen her like that before." He said, looking back at Peyton. "Does she get like that when you leave her at daycare?"
"Sometimes, but not often and never that much. Listen to her, she's still screaming."
"I feel so bad for leaving now."
"So don't leave. Don't go to work today. Take a few days off and spend time with us."
"I want to Peyton, believe me, especially for Emma. But the boss says everyone on the crew has to be at the new site today."
Peyton nodded her head disappointedly. "Fine. Then you'd better go or you'll be late."
Jake sighed, "Peyton—
"Jake." Peyton interrupted. "Just go."
He sighed again before kissing her head then touching her stomach. "I love you…all of you."
"I love you too." Peyton replied before kissing Jake's lips and hugging him.
Jake smiled. "I'll see you tonight."
He left the bedroom and Peyton watched him walk straight down the hall, turn the corner and then heard the front door open and close. A minute later, Jenny's bedroom door opened and Jenny came back into Peyton's room with her sister in her arms.
"She wants you." She said and Peyton took Emma. Emma laid her head on Peyton's shoulder and Peyton rubbed her back.
"I'm gonna go get ready to go." Jenny said and she turned to leave the room but turned back to say, "Mom? It'll be different once the new baby gets here, won't it? Dad will be home more?"
Peyton replied, "Yeah, it'll be different. Your dad just wants to get as much work done as he can before the baby comes."
"He works too much, I think. I wish he would just work at home so he could be with us. I wish he were home more."
Jenny continued to her bedroom and Peyton whispered to herself, "Me too."
