Hi everyone, back again with another chapter.
I hope everyone enjoyed the previous chapter, here's the second part of the Upstead Christmas holiday.
I'll try and get another chapter up before Christmas however if I don't I hope everyone has a great Christmas.
Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this.
It was around 1 in the afternoon on a sunny crisp winter day, Hailey was waiting around in the kitchen waiting for the coffee machine to finish. A loud crash came from the front door and then there was a voice, "Hells bells." A woman shrieked, Hailey instantly recognising the high pitch shriek of her mom.
Hailey quickly rounded the corner to the front door. "Mom, it's so good to see you." Hailey replied excitedly as she slighted chuckled at the sight of her Mom, see had her arms full of bags which Hailey assumed was full of food. Hailey took some of the bags off of her mom's arms setting them down next to them.
Hailey's mom engulfed her in a massive hug, "It's so great to see you Hailey, I've missed you so much." Hailey's mom spoke.
"I've missed you so much as well mom." Hailey replied, they pulled out of there hug a few moments later. "Where's dad?" Hailey questioned, as she hadn't seen her father yet.
"He's out at the car somewhere getting the luggage, you know how much I always pack so he's been moaning the whole way here." Hailey's mom chuckled. The two of them made their way to the kitchen, sitting around the island sipping on coffee having a catch up.
Jay had just got out of the shower, he had thrown on a pair of soft sweatpants and was topless showing off his abs. Jay hadn't heard Hailey's mom come crashing through the door so he was unaware of her presence. "Hails, is the coffee ready?" Jay shouted as he came into the open plan living space.
Hailey's mom heard the voice and turned to face Hailey, her face lighting up as she saw Hailey looking back at her with a little smile, she knew instantly who the male's voice was. "Oh wow, you must be Jay." Hailey's mom excitedly spoke as Jay came into view.
Jay froze in place as he heard the unfamiliar voice, Jay was a little shocked as he guessed that the woman was Hailey's mom. Jay flashed the woman a warm smile as he rounded the kitchen island and stopped by Hailey's side, his arm finding its way around Hailey's waist. Jay was a little unsure what to say so he was hoping Hailey would introduce him.
"Mom, this is my boyfriend Jay." Hailey spoke with a massive smile on her face as she rested her head against Jay's chest. "Jay this is my mom, Jennifer." Hailey spoke softly.
"It's great to finally meet you Jennifer, Hailey has told me lots of great things about you." Jay finally spoke up, Jay was a little embarrassed that the first time that he had met Hailey's mom he was topless in sweatpants.
"Please call me Jen, it's great to meet you as well Jay, Hailey hasn't stopped talking about you since you became her partner." Jennifer responded, smiling at the sight of Hailey and Jay together.
"You have an amazing daughter, she's saved my ass on so many occasions and I don't know where I'd be without her." Jay spoke as he smiled down at Hailey, Hailey blushing slightly at Jay's words.
Hailey's dad came into the room, grumbling to himself about how much stuff Hailey's mom had brought with her. "Dad, this is my boyfriend Jay." Hailey spoke up before her dad had noticed Jay presence.
Hailey's dad looked up and saw Jay for the first time. "It's great to meet you Jay, I'm Alexei but you can just call me Al if you like." Alexei spoke as he rounded the island nearing Jay and extended out his hand. Jay shock his hand as he was met by a small smile from the old tanned man.
"It's nice to meet you Al." Jay responded. "Do you need any help with getting your things out of your car?" Jay questioned, the old man accepting Jay's help as he headed for the front door, Jay heading in the direction of the bedroom to get a top and shoes.
"Wow, you've hit the jackpot there Hailey." Jennifer spoke a few moments after the two men left the room.
"Yeah I know, since we got together it's been amazing, I've never been so happy." Hailey responded excitedly.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me that you were together Hailey, how long has this been a thing." Jennifer questioned.
"I was going to tell you however I thought I'd surprise you instead, we've only been together for around a month." Hailey informed her mom. "I've always had feelings for him however I was scared to admit them as I didn't want to ruin anything that we already had, however there was a serious incident which had made me realise that I didn't want to wait any longer." Hailey continued, a little hesitantly as she didn't want to remind herself of the shooting.
"What happened?" Jennifer asked, not pushing for answer though as she saw how uncomfortable Hailey was talking about it.
Hailey paused for a second before starting to speak. "Jay was kidnapped and beaten while he was helping a mother and child, he was missing for a while and we eventually found him. I was the first one to find him inside of an abandoned factory, after we reunited Jay went back to help the woman he was kidnapped with and she shot him in the chest." Hailey spoke quietly, her eyes starting to water at the memories of that day.
Hailey's mom gasped listening to Hailey, she saw how upset Hailey was getting reliving that day, she held Hailey's hand giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Oh my god Hails, I had no idea, you should have told me I would've come down to be there for you." Hailey's mom spoke softly, sounding shocked.
"There was a lot of people there for me mom, once Jay was out of the coma it was much easier to deal with, before Jay woke up it was absolutely horrendous, I was inconsolable." Hailey spoke.
Hailey could hear the sounds of footsteps going back and forth on the gravel and smiled slightly knowing that Jay was recovering and was going to be okay. "Anyway, Jay is now recovering and should make a full recovery so that's all that matters." Hailey continued as she shared a smile with her mother.
After a few minutes of chatting about random things Jennifer noticed the silver bracelet that was glistening in the sun around Hailey's wrist. "Wow, that bracelet is beautiful Hailey, I absolutely love it." Jennifer spoke while admiring the bracelet.
"Jay brought it me for Christmas, I absolutely adore it." Hailey responded, a massive smile on her face as she saw Jay heading towards the hall with bags hanging of him.
The 4 of them spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking all of the food that Jennifer had brought with her. Hailey and her mom prepared some food for the Christmas Day feast, Hailey opening up to her mom about her and Jay in the process. Jay had been relaxing on the couch for the majority of the afternoon, he was feeling the effects of the long walk he and Hailey had done the day before.
Hailey's mom cooked up a pasta dish in the early evening as they sat around the table together listening to stories about the Upton family, Jay thoroughly enjoying listening to the embarrassing stories about Hailey in her childhood. Jay had felt comfortable around Hailey's parents, he had been nervous to meet them however when he saw how similar Hailey and her mom were it made it easier for him, also her father seemed like a chilled out, joyful man.
All 3 of Hailey's brothers had arrived quite late in the evening, they had all endured long journeys so they all headed for bed when they arrived. Hailey and Jay headed for bed a little after they arrived, Jay sat up for a while after Hailey fell asleep, he was really excited for tomorrow. He hadn't had a proper family Christmas for a very long time, so the prospect of a big family Christmas was so exciting to Jay, plus he couldn't wait to surprise Hailey with her special present.
It was Christmas morning and everyone in the house was so excited, it was around 8am in the morning when Hailey's mom rounded everyone up for breakfast. She had cooked up a massive pile of pancakes, something she did every Christmas morning as part of their Christmas traditions.
Jay had the chance to properly interact with Hailey's brothers. Hailey's oldest brother was Michael, he had a 6 year old son with his wife Laura. The middle brother was Tim, Tim was very different physically to the rest of her family, Hailey's family was quite short in height however Tim was probably around 6'4 and was very muscular. His wife was Alice who he had a 3 year daughter with called Zara. Hailey's youngest brother was Chris, he was the only one without kids and his girlfriend was named Amber.
All of Hailey's brothers were older than her so they always were very protective over her, especially when it came to her boyfriends. However with Jay they sensed that Hailey really trusted him so they were very warm and welcoming with Jay. Tim was brother that got on the best with Jay as they both had backgrounds as soldiers, he understood how to act around other soldiers so he got on well with Jay.
The 12 of them enjoyed sitting around the table eating their pancakes, all of them really happy and full of joy. It was around 9 when everyone headed for the living room, Hailey's family always opened presents as one big family each year. The 2 kids Tom and Zara started off opening their presents, both of them being spoilt by everyone in the family. Tom received toy soldiers, police officers, firefighters and cars, he loved all things to do with soldiers and emergency services and always loved speaking to his uncle Tim about his job. Zara presents consisted of princess toys and items of clothing. Hailey got her a big teddy bear which she instantly feel in love with.
The majority of Chris and Amber's presents were centred around the new house they had just moved into. Michael and Laura were given lots of things for their new baby girl, Laura was 24 weeks pregnant. Tim was quite hard to buy for so most of his gifts were either vouchers or expensive bottles of alcohol. All 3 of the brothers and Hailey had joined together and brought their parents a holiday away in the Caribbean for 2 weeks in the summer. Jay had brought Hailey's parents a bottle of whiskey and wine even though Hailey had told him that he didn't need to.
They had all finished opening presents, all of the family still sitting around talking to one another. Jay had hidden Hailey's present by his side the whole time as he wanted to wait until the end and surprise her. Jay placed the long rectangular box on Hailey's lap.
"What's this Jay?" Hailey questioned sounding a little shocked, she turned to face Jay with a confused look on her face as Jay was smiling back at her.
"It's your final present from me." Jay replied, loud enough that it caught the attention of the others.
Hailey slowly toke the wrapping paper off revealing another Tiffany & Co jewellery box. She slowly lifted the lid revealing the White gold necklace, at the base of the necklace was a white gold heart which was encrusted with diamonds. Hailey gasped when she saw the necklace for the first time, she froze in place just staring at the necklace unable to find any words to say.
Hailey's mom, who was sitting next to her leaned over to look at what Jay had brought Hailey. "Wow." Was all Jennifer managed to say as she looked into the jewellery box.
"Try it on Hails." Jay spoke, Hailey just nodded and Jay started to shift her hair out of the way.
Jay lifted the necklace out of the box and placed it around Hailey's neck, doing the clasp up around the back of Hailey's neck. Hailey was still speechless as she was admiring the necklace, a few moments later Hailey responded by wrapping her arms around Jay's neck, giving him a quick kiss. After she pulled away Hailey finally spoke, "This is absolutely beautiful Jay, I can't believe you brought this for me. I love you so much." Hailey spoke softly, as she rested her head against Jay's shoulder.
"You deserve it babe, you've done so much for me recently. I love you." Jay responded, his voice barely above a whisper.
The rest of the morning was spent preparing the food that Hailey's parents had brought with them, each person helping out making the process a lot quicker. After this was finished each member of the family disappeared to their rooms, getting ready for the rest of the day.
It was around 3 when everyone sat down for their Christmas meal, Hailey's mom had prepared a huge amount of food, probably enough for each person to have 2 or 3 meals. They shared lots of stories about previous Christmas memories, many about Alexei who got drunk each Christmas, this year was no different. He had drunk a good amount of the bottle whiskey Jay had brought him so he was just constantly laughing and joking around at the head of the table. Jay was asked a few questions about his background while they were eating, Jay opened up a little however he was hesitant to speak about his mom, seeing that Jay was uncomfortable Hailey tried to shift the conversation onto another topic.
Jay was sitting outside, it was a crisp evening, there was a thin layer of snow laying itself across the back of the lake house. Jay was having a moment to himself, he was thinking back to how much he loved Christmas, today had been really enjoyable for Jay. Having a proper family Christmas had been something Jay had been craving since his mother had died and today had been absolutely perfect, all of Hailey's family were exactly the same as she was so he felt really comfortable around them.
Jay's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door sliding open. Before Jay turned to see who it was a deep male voice rung through his ears. "Fancy a drink Jay?" Tim spoke, sounded a little buzzed already.
Jay turned in his chair sharply as he was a little startled by the deep male voice. "Yeah... sure." Jay replied sounding a little shocked. Tim passed Jay a glass of whiskey as he shifted over to a chair to Jay's right. Jay started sipping the Amber liquid, enjoying the slight burning sensation of the whisky.
"Hailey mentioned that you were a soldier, whereabouts were you deployed?" Tim asked, treading lightly as he knew soldiers were a little touchy when talking about their past.
"Yeah, I was a marksman in the rangers, I was deployed in Helmand province in 08 and Kandahar province in 09." Jay responded. Jay would usually open up to someone he had just meet however he trusted Tim. Not only because he was Hailey's brother, but because he knew Tim is a soldier so he understood what sort of things he would've witnessed. "Hailey motioned that you're a soldier as well." Jay continued.
"I'm navy actually, DEVGRU, I'm 2IC in alpha unit. I've been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq a few times and now I could spun up at anytime." Tim spoke, slowly sipping on his whisky in the process.
"My unit witnessed a lot of fucked up shit in Afghanistan, we were in firefights with the Taliban all the time." Jay spoke, pausing for a minute to sip of his whisky. "I remember this one village we went to, we were sent in to extract the civilians as the Taliban were moving closer and closer to the village. I was on overwatch as 2 RPG's came out of nowhere and struck the truck that the civs were on in the convoy. I'll never forget the faces of the children that were killed by the ambush, we managed to get the majority of the civilians out however we lost 10 children and 6 women." Jay continued, his voice get quieter and quieter the more he continued.
"I feel your pain Jay, you never forget the faces of the young children that you couldn't save, whenever I see my daughter enjoying her life it makes you thoroughly appreciate how lucky we are. I saw too many children struggling to cling to life as we passed through villages, you try to help them in any way you can with the limited resources you have however it's never enough." Tim spoke softly, the two men sharing a look of understanding between them as they shared each other's pain.
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you injury your arm." Jay treaded lightly, not wanting to seem rude.
"No it's fine, our team was deployed unexpectedly after another seal team was taken out. They were on a night op raiding a house in a small village, when they entered they walked straight into an ambush, 2 or 3 guys strapped with S-vests were hiding in the house and when the team entered, they set them off and the whole house went up. Only 1 of the team survived." Jay gasped slightly at the sound of Tim's voice. "We were the only tier 1 asset available so we were deployed instantly. We spent nearly 2 months hunting down the people behind the attack, kicking down doors, going through any obstacles. We eventually linked the attacks to a high ranking member in the Taliban and launched a final assault, which is where i injured my arm. I was the machine gunner at the time, when we were engaging the Taliban I was hit with a ricochet and 3 bullet fragments were lodged in my arm, hence the scars." Tim explained
"Oh wow, I heard about the incident, it wasn't too far away from where my unit was based." Jay spoke, still in a little shock of Tim's story.
"It was probably the most satisfying operation that I've completed in the navy. Getting revenge for 6 fallen brothers was one of the best feelings I've ever experienced. Coming home and facing the families of the fallen soldiers felt so much better knowing that we avenged our fallen brothers." Tim spoke.
The two of them continued talking for a little while about the experiences in the military. Jay enjoyed talking to another soldier, it felt good to open up to someone else that would understand his pain and share the same emotions that Jay did.
Hailey and her sister in laws were sitting around the fire together sharing laughs and jokes with each other. Zara was playing with her new Christmas presents in the middle of them, Hailey loved being with her niece, Zara had always been a happy and cheerful child and she always improved Hailey's mood when she was with her.
"The necklace that Jay brought for you is absolutely stunning, he must have spent an absolute fortune on that." Laura spoke, as she was sipping on a cup of coffee.
"I absolutely love it, I've never really been a big fan of jewellery however the bracelet and necklace that he brought me are amazing, I never want to take them off." Hailey exclaimed excitedly as she looked down to the pieces of jewellery.
"He's a really nice person Hailey, I'm really happy for you. He's great with Tom and Zara as well." Alice spoke, she was meet by a big smile from Hailey.
"He's so kind and caring, he always protected me since we've been partners. Jay has always been good with children on cases at work, probably the best I've ever seen." Hailey spoke.
"Tom said he loves spending time with Jay." Laura spoke up. All of the woman smiling to each other as they saw Tim and Jay laughing with playing with Tom outside.
"If you don't marry that man Hailey I think it might have to jump ship. Jay is certainly very good looking." Amber joked earning laughs from the others.
Yeah he's definitely very good to look at." Hailey chuckled. "Seriously though, he's the first person I've been with that I see myself having a family with. I would love for him to be the father of my children, seeing him act so naturally around children makes me want children so much." Hailey continued, her eyes full of love as she stared at Jay through the window.
"You're so loved up Hailey, it's really great to see you happy." Alice spoke as she was playing with her daughter Zara.
"I'm the happiest I've probably ever been at the moment, I'm just really excited for what the future holds." Hailey spoke happily.
The family spent the rest of the evening playing games together late into the evening. Most of the adults were quite drunk by the end of the evening as many bottles of alcohol had been consumed, creating a very happy environment. It was around midnight when everyone heading for bed, each person tired from what had been another good Christmas for the Upton family.