In all the years Max had worked and lived with the Harts, nothing had ever surprised him, not the adventures, the constant trouble they always managed find themselves into but when Jonathan said that they were having a baby, Max was sure he'd misheard, and When Jonathan repeated himself, Max was stunned into silence, for maybe the second time in his life.
"Mr. H, are you sure this is a good idea?" Max sat down at the bar and pulled the glass out of Jonathan's hand and drank it quickly
"Honestly, Max, this is still all new to me," Jonathan smiled, he could literally feel his insides dancing, this was something he'd wanted since he'd met and married Jennifer, a little girl with bright red hair and large brown eyes, a tiny ballerina that when he would come home from work, would run into his arms and he could swing around.
Max saw the twinkle in Jonathan's eyes and knew that his next question would probably pop the excitement bubble but it had to be asked
"How's Mrs. Hart taking this news?" He remembered after she lost the last baby, how she stayed in the garden for hours, just staring or crying only stopping when Jonathan's car was heard coming over the bridge, then she would run to bathroom, quickly wash her face, put eye drops in her eyes to reduce the redness and then greet Jonathan as if she hadn't been in a trance all day.
"She was very tired so the doctors decided to keep her in the hospital," Jonathan had called Max earlier to explain that she'd hit her head in the park but that they would both be home after sometime.
Max nodded, knowing that she would keep her feelings from Jonathan, she would never want to make him upset as well. As open as the two of them were together, there were something's she felt he didn't need to see like her cry.
"So what happens next" Max asked quietly
"We can't do anything until we hear the heartbeat in a few days then we can make a decision but there's a slight complication" Jonathan didn't want to worry Max further but he knew that Max would be furious if something happened to Jennifer and Jonathan didn't tell him beforehand.
"What type of complication" Max started to hyperventilate, if something happened to Jennifer, He was sure Jonathan and himself would be completely lost.
"It's her heart, she lost consciousness for a bit but I think she'll be okay, she's in a great hospital and being taken care of, I'm going to take a quick shower and a nap then go back to the hospital." Jonathan came out from around the bar and hugged Max, "We're having a baby!, When Jennifer comes home, we're going to celebrate big time!"
Jonathan went upstairs and Max waited until he was sure Jonathan was asleep then slipped out, he knew that Jonathan was exhausted and that he would never hear the car backing out of the driveway.
Max drove in silence to the hospital, he would never admit to either of them but he knew that this baby was a bad idea, that both Jonathan and Jennifer would be devastated all over again.
Max had never met such passionate people before; He'd forgotten what it had been like to be that in love with someone, that the only thought getting through the day was the fact they got to make love at the end of the day and they certainly did.
Over the years, Max had invested in a pair of heavy duty noise cancelling headphones because the moans from the bedroom above his made him feel like he was living in an adult movie. Max learned quickly that when it came to Jonathan and Jennifer, he better knock because a few times, he opened the door too quickly and caught them in the act, one time after a particular anniversary dinner, he thought they'd gone upstairs but they had only gotten to the top of the stairs. After that night, Whenever Max saw the champagne was being brought out; he would stay at a hotel nearby to avoid the awkwardness.
But the passion aside, He'd never been around two people more willing to help total strangers, whether it be through Mission Street or one of the countless other foundations they donated to anonymously, Max was proud to be with them. It almost made up for the secret he had been hiding from Jonathan.
Right after Jonathan and Jennifer had gotten married, He'd received word that Jonathan's mother, in between the births of Jonathan and the baby that would eventually take her life, Jocelyn had given birth to a third son named Daniel but had been put up for adoption in New York and had his name changed to Reeve Grant, the letter Max received at been from Bellevue Hospital, asking Jonathan to come because This alleged brother was in desperately in need of a kidney and Jonathan was the only match, Max immediately felt awful knowing that this man's life was in danger but he always had to think about the fact that Jonathan had very memories of his mother and of even having a brother and he would never want to disrupt with all of Jonathan's success and happiness, later he found out that Reeve Grant received a transplant from a motor vehicle accident victim which lessened Max's guilt but he still felt awful for never telling Jonathan that he had family on the East Coast.
And that Hart wasn't his real last name, that he'd been born Jonathan Charles Hartman but Jocelyn had abbreviated their name, probably so her parents, who were wealthy wouldn't be able to find their daughter and grandsons. But as much as Max was able to dig up about Jocelyn's past, he never could find out why she ran, Max supposed it was because the scandal of a pregnant daughter but after she passed away, to only bring back one of her boys never made sense.
He remembered all the times he heard Jonathan say to Jennifer "As long as I have you, Max and Freeway, my family is complete" but he knew that Jonathan felt that he was missing a piece of his own history and now with the baby coming, he'd be even more lost.
Max pulled into the hospital parking lot and sat there for a few minutes, wondering if going up to see Jennifer in the middle of the night but considering everything they'd been through, this might not be that bad.
He walked to the hospital switchboard and noticing that the security guard had fallen asleep, checking the board behind the guard, he saw "HART, J –Cardio Obstetrics" and knew it was her.
Max took the elevator to the floor and when he got to her room, he could see from the window that she was asleep, noticing a chair underneath the window, Max settled himself in for the night.
A few hours later, a Nurse came in to check on Jennifer's vitals when Jennifer was startled awake
"I'm Sorry, Mrs. Hart but this will only take a second"
"Of course," Jennifer was eager to get back to her dream, she had been dreaming that she and Jonathan had been stranded on an island and all they did was make love, her whole body was vibrating from Jonathan's being on top hers and she could practically feel the sand and water around them.
"Visiting Hours have resumed, Should I send your father-in Law in?" The nurse slipped a thermometer under Jennifer's tongue
"My father-in law? "Jennifer mumbled "You mean my father?" But Stephen Edwards hadn't seen or spoken to his daughter in years. Jonathan and Jennifer had quickly eloped days before their actual wedding and on the day of their actual wedding in Maryland, Stephen Edwards had found out about their elopement moments before he was supposed to walk his only daughter down the aisle, feeling betrayed, he refused to attend their wedding and Jennifer ended up walking down the aisle alone. Max would have gladly done it but Jonathan had made him best man and she did knew that being next Jonathan as they took their vows was something he was so excited about.
That was the first strike.
The second strike had been, when they'd come to the farm and she had announced excitedly to her father that after so many years, she was finally expecting her first child, his first grandchild but instead of sharing her excitement, he asked about what she was planning to do with her career and if she was willing to throw everything she'd worked so hard for so long, heartbroken at the lack of reaction and his coldness , she'd wondered out to the stables while Jonathan and Stephen exchanged harsh words, it ended with Jonathan saying that if Stephen kept up his attitude that he would never get to know his grandchild and that his only daughter would be never coming back.
That had been strike two.
Strike three and the end of the Ball Game was when she sobbingly called him to say that she'd lost her baby and the doctors had said, they weren't sure if she would be able to carry a child to term, this was something she'd wanted more than anything in the world and now it was gone. Stephen had told her that there was no time for tears, that she needed to get over it quickly, tragedies happen to everyone at one point in their lives and that she needed to get back to her career and being a wife. She remembered being stunned at his coldness and deciding after that moment, she would never speak again to him. He would never understand how to love someone and therefore she was tired of trying of constantly defending her life to him.
"No, I mean the man outside your room, he's been sitting there since last night, he said he didn't want to disturb you and that he would wait until you woke up to come in. If he's not related to you, I can call security,"
"No that is my father-in law, can you send him in?" Jennifer smiled, she knew it was Max; he would be the only grandparent that her baby would ever need.
"Sure," the Nurse finished checking her vitals and left, stopping at the door, she spoke quickly to Max, who Jennifer could him ask over and over again "Are you sure?" "Are you sure"
"Max," Jennifer finally called," it's okay"
Max had expected her to look much worse than she did, from the way Jonathan had spoken, he expected her to be hooked up to machines, with oxygen tubes out of her nose but she looked almost normal, she had some heart monitors attached to her chest and she was laying back looking like she did every Sunday Morning when he brought her and Jonathan breakfast in bed
"Are you? I mean..How are you?" Max wasn't sure if he should ask but when he saw her smile, he took her hand and squeezed it
"I'm better, I can't wait be home with my guys"
"Well, when you come home, I promise you ain't lifting a finger" Max would take good care of both of them
"Max, I promise once I get out of here…This baby and I aren't budging until it's born" Jennifer was determined that this baby be born. And if she had to stay in one place for the next nine months, she would.
It was so strange before Max came in, she'd been so unsure about having this baby but for some reason but When Max came in and she knew that would they would be taken care of even more so, suddenly all her insecurities left her. He was the type of father figure Jonathan had desperately missed growing up but managed to give him as he got older. He would be the ideal grandfather.
"Mrs. Hart?" a Tech interrupted her thoughts, "We're ready to take you to have your sonogram"
"Right now?, But I thought It would be in a few days and my husband isn't here!" Jennifer knew how important it was to Jonathan that he be here to hear the baby's heartbeat.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am but this is really the only time we can do this" the Tech set up his machine
Jennifer had never been so nervous in her life, this was a moment that could make or break her, and if they found a heartbeat, this baby was meant to be and if they didn't, she would ask them to tie her tubes so that she would never have to deal with this again.
"We're ready" The Tech swabbed her stomach with cold gel and pressed the wand against her belly, Jennifer was afraid to look so she turned to her side so she couldn't look at the screen, Max could feel her nervousness and held her hand.
Suddenly the room filled up with the sound of a thumping noise
"What is that?!" Max had never heard such a sound before.
Jennifer's eyes filled with tears, "That's my baby"
16 years and 9 months later
Jocelyn Mae Hart was bored in class, she was supposed to be studying DNA cells and how they reproduce but she couldn't help it, her mind was on the boy in front of her, Henry Brewster was the captain of the football team, 6'4 with gorgeous long brown hair and dark brown eyes and he was currently kissing the School Bitch, Roxy-Lynn King, who was blonde with blue eyes and was determined to make Jocelyn's life a living hell from pushing her around in the hallways to stealing her clothes during gym, forcing her to wear her gym shorts all day, which would be great if she had long legs but unfortunately she had short legs, she wished she had legs like her mother, Jennifer or even resembled her mother at all.
Jocelyn had somehow gotten black hair and green eyes and was very short for her age, while both her parents were extremely tall, she supposed she looked like one of her grandparents but it was a long shot and from what her Grandfather, Max said that resemblance was overrated and it was her personality that matched her mother's except that while writing was her mother's passion and sports was her father's, Jocelyn wasn't sure what her passion was except maybe art, she loved sitting for hours in front of her canvas and sometimes late at night, while her parents slept, she snuck out and sprayed painted designs on the sides of abandoned houses on the rough side of town , graffiti art was a passion of hers.
And if her father ever found it was her, he would probably bury her in the backyard with her old hamster.
"Miss Hart!" Mr. Wakefield snapped his fingers in front of her face, "Please stop staring at Mr. Brewster and tell us what Chapter 6 on cell reproduction is about"
Jocelyn shook her head, "It means if one parent is A positive and the other is B positive, then the child will probably have B positive blood"
"Very good, now we're going to test our own blood to see what type of blood we have, A, B or O kind of people, everyone please take a needle and prick your finger,"
Jocelyn knew that her mother was O positive blood from when she'd had to have her gallbladder taken out the previous year and the nurse had repeated it back to Jennifer like a million times.
And Jonathan Hart was AB, she'd learned from when her father had donated blood to a charity drive and it was all over the news.
Except when Jocelyn pricked her finger, her blood type came out A, which wouldn't make sense
"Mr. Wakefield, I think I did this wrong" Jocelyn had never doubted who her parents were, she'd seen her birth certificate and the countless baby pictures as well as the video of her birth, which her father insisted they re-run on her birthday every year.
"No, you did that right, you've got A blood" Mr. Wakefield moved on to the next kid
"Hey, maybe you're adopted or were switched at birth!" Her Best Friend, Olivia cracked up
Jocelyn didn't hear her, she instead picked up her books with the blood sheet and ran out to the parking lot to her car that her Daddy had bought for her sixteenth birthday in Cherry Red, a Porsche to which her mother had "grounded" her father for spending too much and sped home to Willow Pond.
She nearly ran over the gardener, who was trimming the hedges by the gate but she was in a hurry and honked an apology, Jocelyn quickly drove up to the side of the house and ran inside
"MOM!" She yelled running through the house, she knew that her mother had to be in the house, it was so early in the afternoon, that Jennifer often ran errands and returned for lunch, when she didn't have a lunch date with her husband.
"Jocelyn! What are you yelling for? And why are you home? Are you okay?" She came out of her office on the second floor, she'd just returned from dropping off Baby Max at preschool. Jennifer hurried down the stairs
"No, I'm not!" Jocelyn showed the paper to her mother
"Jocelyn, it's a mistake" Jennifer was firm, she knew that Jocelyn often felt different but there was no doubt that she was Jonathan Hart's daughter.
"What if it's not?" Jocelyn looked up at her mother
Jennifer wasn't sure what to say.