A Love Like Ours

3. First Day

Jay was awoken by the force from both of the kids jumping on to him, one of them shaking his shoulders and the other poking at his stomach.

"You need to wake up!" The sound of Macie's voice shouting on top of him makes him groan and open his eyes, finding her face shoved into his.

He turns his head to the side and attempts to push them both off, but Alfie climbs back almost instantly and jabs his finger into his chest.

"Daddy wake up!" He screams, poking his father again, this time slightly harder and it makes Jay nod.

"I'm awake!" He says right before Macie flips onto Jay's stomach, making him cough.

That's when Hailey speaks up somewhat loudly from the doorway, grabbing both of the kids attention. "Okay, that's enough now, go back downstairs for breakfast."

The mere mention of food has both Macie and Alfie stop what they were doing immediately and look up like meerkats before scrambling to climb back off the bed. They almost knock Hailey over on their way out and rush to the stairs, only just allowing their mother to call out for them to be careful on their way down before they're gone.

In the sudden silence, Hailey looks over at her husband, who groaned again as he stood up and got out of bed.

She bites down on her lip to stop herself from smiling. "They weren't supposed to do any jumping, I only told them to wake you up."

He stares across at her from the other side of the bedroom with an unamused look in his eye. "Thanks for that." He says as he collects the pair of sweats he had been wearing the night before and threw them on before closing the distance on his wife, shooting her a short-lived furrow of his eyebrows. "You okay this morning?" He asks quietly, reminding them both of the events that transpired before they headed up to bed last night.

She nodded and pulled her mouth into a small smirk. "I'm all good."

Jay wraps one arm around her waist and leans down slightly, kissing her cheek quickly. "Morning." He mumbles.

"Morning." She repeats as he steps away again.

When they both make it down the stairs, they're surprised to find the kids already sat at the table, Alfie even strapped into his seat. It stops them in their tracks as they stare over at the table, the same question rushing through both their heads.

On a good day it would take Hailey and Jay a few extra moments to successfully get him in, it was the most fiddly clip either of them had come across and the vests and holsters they wear on a daily basis are littered with them.

So how the heck were they beaten by a two-year-old?

Macie shoots her parents a bright, proud grin. "I helped." She says and even with that, it still leaves both of the cops just as confused as they were before.

So they were beaten by a two-year-old and a five-year-old, and they still couldn't figure out how.

Hailey sends Jay a look over her shoulder and he continues to stare over at the table for a beat before shaking his head.

"I don't get it." He mumbles to himself as he steps forward toward the kitchen island, leaving Hailey behind in the doorway.

Still in slight disbelief, she blinks and changes the subject. "Whatcha want for breakfast."

"Waffles!" Macie's reply is instant and in the corner of her eye, Hailey catches sight of Jay mouthing the word at the same time as their daughter, having seemed to see it coming and it makes her smile.

Macie watches as Jay collects the iron from one of the overhead cabinets before she tilts her head to the side.

"Can I have syrup this time?" She asks.