Prompt # 30: "I can't believe you dragged me into this!"
Hailey and Jay were en route to her nephew's fifth birthday party. She was behind the wheel driving as the attire Jay was wearing didn't let him be in the most comfortable situation to. She kept glancing over to him and chuckling to herself as he kept adjusting his jean chaps and shifting uneasily. He really did look adorable, but she knows he would just give her the death stare if she told him that. She already had to promise him hours in the bedroom to get him to agree to this. Not that it isn't a favor she isn't more than willing and super excited to accept. He lifts the hat he's wearing and scratches his scalp, clearly itchy from the costume prop, then lets out a loud groan.
"I can't believe you dragged me into this!" he whines, much like he did as they were leaving the house.
"I'm not dragging you into anything. You're thrilled you're Timmy's favorite. He idolizes you and thinks you're a hero. If anything it's me who should be pissed considering I'm his blood and he doesn't find Aunt Hailey nearly as cool as Uncle Jay."
She watches Jay smirk at that, one of his cocky and proud ones that used to make her roll her eyes, but now she just quietly adores.
"You're right, I'd do anything for that kid." He agrees.
They had been married now for two years and together for almost four, so Jay was just as prevalent in little Timmy's life as much as Hailey was. If the two boys weren't so infuriatingly cute when they got together, Hailey would consider being a little jealous she wasn't her nephew's favorite. But she wouldn't trade seeing their relationship for the world; especially since her brother had to go away on business a lot, so Jay was a prominent male presence for Timmy when Danny couldn't be around.
Timmy knew that his aunt and uncle were cops and while the little boy found that cool just in and of itself, he also loved cowboys. So he had been begging for weeks to his parents to have a cowboy sheriff at his party. When Hailey's sister-in-law, Steph, told her Hailey came up with the brilliant idea to have Jay do it. Which brings them to today, Jay looking like a full-on Woody from "Toy Story" with his real life detective badge strapped to his belt. He may have complained about the get-up a lot, but they both knew he would love every second of it once he saw Timmy's face.
A few minutes later they had arrived and were grabbing the gifts out of the car and making their way into the backyard. There were already kids running around and screaming, with a few adults scattered around nursing beverages or picking at appetizers. Hailey watched Jay's face light up once Timmy saw them and came running over in excitement and surprise.
"Uncle Jay, Uncle Jay, you did it, you look like Woody!" the little boy screamed.
"Hey bud! Do I? A little birdie told me you wanted a cowboy sheriff here today." Jay replies as he scoops him up and throws him in the air, Timmy laughing in delight.
"Aunt Ailey, look he's wearing a real cowboy hat!" the little boy continues, his adorable pronunciation still not fully formed.
Hailey leans over and kisses Timmy's cheek before stealing him from Jay and swinging him around. "I see! Isn't it cool? Happy Birthday! How old are you now, 14?"
"No, I five Aunt Ailey!" the teasing going over his head as he raises his whole palm up to her.
"Wow, a whole hand now?" Jay exclaims.
"YEAH!" Timmy says nodding and getting wide-eyed. Hailey and Jay trying to hold back their laughter.
"You know what that means? You can get the big boy cup when we go get ice cream next time!" Hailey tells him as she puts him back down.
"Awesome!" he says excited but quickly gets distracted when he hears his friends screaming in the background. He then grabs Jay's hand and starts pulling. "Uncle Jay, come on, come play and show everyone!"
Jay looks at Hailey and grins with a 'what are you going to do' shrug and she smiles back at him and watches her favorite boys walk away before she goes inside to bring in the gifts. She says hello to her brother, sister-in-law, and other family and friends she knows and they all look in awe from the sliding door watching Jay running around with the kids. A couple of hours go by and she's only gotten to talk to Jay in an adult way again when it was time to eat and the kids were forced to settle and sit down by their parents. Outside of that Jay had been playing Tag and Hide and Seek and pretending to be a real cowboy with them with a lasso her brother had bought. Hailey is now sitting with her mom and Steph right before dessert as Jay, Danny, and another dad are taking turns giving the kids piggy-back rides. It's quite a cute show to laugh at.
"Jay's so good with them. Maybe it's time for you two to have one of your own. You said your new role was way less risky." Steph says to Hailey.
She smiles back at her sister-in-law and politely nods, in full agreeance. "It is. And yeah, maybe." Is all she says despite.
Hailey's mom lights up. "Yes, Opa, please. Before you're all old and grey like me. And just think how cute your kids would be."
Hailey rolls her eyes. "Alright mom. Yes, maybe. He is adorable with them, isn't he?"
"Girl, if I wasn't already married to your brother, I'd practice to have 10 kids with Jay." Steph jokes and Hailey cracks up.
"Stephanie!" Hailey's mom rolls here eyes and then proceeds to act exasperated in Greek as the two younger women continue to laugh.
"Alright. Alright. Maybe we'll work on it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go grab my husband before he pulls out his back."
Hailey ends the conversation and makes her way over to Jay and the kids, smiling the whole way. Jay sees her and beams right back.
"What? It's not time to go yet, is it? We didn't do cake yet." Jay asks her while he sets one of Timmy's friends down.
"No, I'm just coming over to say hello." She tells him.
"In that case, your turn then?"
He jokes before she can even respond and seconds later he's pulling her up on his back and circling round and round. They both start laughing and Timmy runs over in excitement grabbing at Hailey's dangling legs. The little boy loving every minute of how goofy his uncle and aunt are being.
When Hailey and Jay finally get back home hours later Jay is beat. They don't even try to turn on the TV in the living room and instead make their way into the bedroom to wind down for the night. Jay is already under the covers and scrolling through his phone when Hailey comes out from the bathroom in one of his long shirts she uses as pajamas. He smiles softly at her, waiting for her to hop in next to him. Instead she makes her way over to his side of the bed and sits down partly next to him.
"Everything alright?" he asks her quizzically.
"Yeah. I just wanted to show you something." She replies, her face suddenly glowing.
She grabs his one hand and drapes it on her abdomen as she softly runs her fingers along his wrist. He raises his eyebrow and looks even more confused.
"We won't be able to tell or feel it yet, but in another few months we will…" she whispers to him, wondering if he'll catch on.
A light seems to dawn in his head. "Hailey…" he chokes out. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?'
She nods at him as her eyes form with happy tears. "I didn't want you to dress up today just for Timmy. I also wanted you to get practice for when you'll have to dress up for our child. I took the test a few days ago, it was positive."
Jay's eyes start forming tears as he sits up all the way to become eye level with her and pulls her close for a kiss. It's long and passionate, but also soft and sweet. And when they finally pull away they lean their foreheads on each other, embracing a long emotional moment. It's Jay who finally breaks it.
"I'd just like to throw it out there now that you're dressing up as Buzz for ours!"
They chuckle softly and enjoy true euphoria that wouldn't be possible without the start of their partnership all those years prior. Their thing that worked.
[A/N: Just a quick, fluffy little prompt before the show returns tonight. Fun tidbit, you may recognize Hailey's nephew from a holiday story I wrote last year. Anyway, We did it guys, we made it through Covid hiatus. Thank you to all the fan fic writers who have wrote some amazing stories and got us through, and to all the dear readers for supporting them. Here's to a good season 8 and hopefully Upstead endgame starting ASAP!]