A Love Like Ours

14. Babies and Bugs

Jay jumped up the steps to the house two at a time and came to a stop on the porch, tapping his fingers on the glass window in the center of the door as he shoved his keys into his jacket pocket with his other hand. On the other side of the door he could hear the shouts and scrambles toward the door and after a minute, the door swings open, Stella shooting the sergeant a wide grin as she greeted him, moving to the side to allow him to come inside the house.

"Kelly's just getting her now, they've been hidden upstairs for a while because they knew you were coming." She says as she shut the front door behind him.

She leads him through to the living room and offers him a seat on the couch as he waits but he shakes his head.

"If I sit down, Mae will weasel a delay out of me, I've gotta be ready to just leave otherwise we'll be here all night." Jay replies, earning a chuckle from the firefighter in return.

Stella turns on her heels to face him completely before crossing her arms over her chest. "Well she's had a great time, and she's been perfect as always."

Jay hooks his eyebrow up. "Are you sure we're talking about the same kid?" He asks.

Stella laughs before deciding to scoot past him and make her way back over to the stairs, standing at the bottom and with a stern voice she shouts upstairs. "Nathan Matthew, get your butt down here!"

Jay's not sure exactly what he hears but he swears there is a pair of giggles coming from one of the rooms upstairs and he locks his gaze with Stella across the room. She subtly shakes her head, unable to help the smirk that climbs up her face. She looks back up the stairs.

"Kelly! You gotta get him." She shouts, and she gets a large hum in return but from the opposite direction she was expecting and she sends a confused look toward the kitchen.

Responding to his name, Kelly appeared in the doorway from the kitchen, holding the youngest one on his hip. "What's up?" He asks.

Stella knits her eyebrows together. "I thought you were upstairs."

With his spare hand, Kelly points behind him into the room he had just left. "I was getting Ben cleaned up," he replies before sending the sergeant a nod. "Hey, Jay."

"Hey," he greets back before deciding to take a shot at it himself, trekking over to the stairs and leaning forward over the first two steps. "Macie, come on!"

From the top of the stairs, there's a faint reply coming from his daughter. "We're not here!"

Jay narrows his eyes, staring blankly in front of him for a beat trying to work out how Macie thought that would work before sending a brief look over his shoulder. "Can I go get her?" He asks, earning a nod from Stella in return before he took off upstairs, following the sound of Nate trying to shush Macie from making any noise and stepping through the partially open door into the four-year-old's bedroom, Jay spots the familiar pair of shoes poking out from under the bed and he leans up against the doorframe, tilting his head slightly.

"Mace, I can see your shoes."

Slowly, the shoes retract under the bed and Jay tries not to laugh. Then a soft whisper could be heard from the floor. "No you can't."

Jay shoves his hands into his pants pockets, crossing one leg over the other. "C'mon Mae, you and Nate can have another play date soon."

"But I don't want this play date to finish."

He bobs his head slightly. "I know but it has to, you have school tomorrow and Nate's mom and dad have work tomorrow so you can't stay here."

"Can't we just have five more minutes?" She pleads.