A Love Like Ours

1. Prologue

Hailey threw the ball across the living room, sighing when it hit the edge of the basket and bounced off, flying back and ending up in almost exactly the same place she had grabbed it from. She waves it off, deciding to come back to it as she makes her way around the rest of the living room, clearing up after the chaos the kids had left before Jay took them upstairs for bed.

It was the price to pay for giving them an extra half-hour of manic in an effort to wear them out and get them to bed early.

The rest of the toys are put in their right bin, the legos were stepped on and put in the large tub left of the coffee table and the boxes are shoved into the corner of the room, the stray stuffed animals placed on top and the room returns to looking somewhat normal. She returns the leftover ball to the basket just as Jay comes back down the stairs.

She can't help but notice the defeated look on his face and she rests her hands on her hips. "How badly did you lose?" She asks.

Jay spins the corner and heads straight into the living room. "So badly," he replied, stopping opposite her. "I'll go up in an hour or so, move him into his room. I just wanna make sure he's really asleep this time so we don't have a repeat of Tuesday's fiasco." He says and Hailey cringes slightly at the memory of Alfie refusing to go back asleep in his own bed after having fallen asleep in Macie's room for three hours before he eventually passed out with his head hanging upside down off the couch.

Hailey takes a small step forward. "He'll come out of this phase soon," she reassures, really trying to hammer the thought into both of their heads because right now it didn't feel like there was an end in sight to the two-year-olds sudden obsession with his older sister. Hailey then furrows her eyebrows. "You want a beer?" She wonders.

There's a small lift to Jay's lips as he nods and he follows behind his wife as she makes her way into the kitchen and receives the drink from the fridge, grabbing one for herself too. She hands it over and Jay instantly cracks the top, smirking before taking a sip. He places the bottle on the counter, watching as she shoots him a weird glance.

She pulls the bottle from her lips and jerks her chin forward. "What?"

He shakes his head while trying to hide the tug on the corners of his mouth. "Nothing, I'm just thinking."

Hailey frowns. "About what?"

Jay shrugs. "About how we're not gonna be able to do this much longer," he says but it doesn't seem to clear it up any easier with her so he chuckles. "The drinking every day, we're really gonna have to cut down on the alcohol if we're taking this whole trying thing seriously."

The realization comes over her face with a small groan. "Don't remind me, I'm already starting to question how I'm gonna be able to function without my five coffees in the morning... God we really are crazy to be doing this, huh?"

Jay nods and they both grin at each other before Hailey quickly clears her throat, lifting her bottle in the air.

"To number three." She toasts.

Jay raises his arm, tapping the neck of the glass in his hand with hers. "Here here." He replies before they both simultaneously take a sip of the beers.

xxx

Later the following day, Jay was forced to look up from the file in front of him at the sound of a knock on the office door. He greeted his officer with a smile.

"What can I do you for, Kev?" He asks.

Kevin extends his hand, holding out pieces of paper. "I need your signature on these forms." He says.

Jay quirks his eyebrow. "What's that for?"

Atwater steps inside, closing the distance between him and his sergeant. When he got close enough, Jay took the collection from his hand, pulling it down on to the desk. He scanned his eyes over the sheet and after a beat, Jay looks back up the officer with curiosity. "Is there a particular reason why you're putting in for more overtime?"