Homeward Bound//Sam Kiszka x OC!Layla

3 + 1 Makes Four

    Sam was absolutely exhausted. In between jet lag, the album release party, interviews, press releases, he was toast. Being a husband and father didn't stop on his time either. He parked his car in the garage next to his wife's truck. He could hear the music coming from the kitchen as he stepped out. He walked inside, slipping his shoes off into the mud room, standing in the doorway, watching his wife dance around the kitchen with their daughter in her arms singing From This Moment On by Shania Twain. She smiled at him, beginning to sing to him, "You're the reason I believe in love and you're the answer to my prayers from up above." A blush crept across his cheeks. Layla often had '90s country days, where she would clean and just want to throw a playlist on without skips. He stepped off the doorway as Forever and Ever, Amen began to play, sandwiching Juniper in between her parents, beginning to sway to the song, singing to Layla, "As long as I live, this love that I give is going to be yours until the day that I die."

    Layla spotted something behind him, he turned his head to find Ivy with her camera. "Is it a photo shoot day?" She grinned up at him, "Sorta. Let's go lay Beans down for her nap and I'll explain." He followed his wife down the hall into their daughter's room. She laid the tired girl down in her bed. Juniper looked up at him, "Daddy, kiss." He walked over and crawled into her bed with her, laying beside her. Juniper laid her head against his, pulling her mother into bed. Layla got in bed behind her, thankful they decided on a Montessori bed. Juniper fell asleep almost immediately sandwiched between her parents. Sam brushed a sweaty hair from her face, "What's Ivy taking pictures of? Because I don't want to be a party pooper, but I've literally been in front of a camera constantly and I'm tired." Layla smiled lightly at him, "I'm late." He looked at her questioningly, "Late for what? I have the day off, you literally can just tell me that you need to be somewhere? She's my daughter, too."

    She laughed, stroking the side of his face with her hand, "My darling, I'm late. Like, two weeks late." He stared at her with narrowed eyes, until it looked like he fully got it. "Oh my god, like, your period is late?" She laughed again, nodding at him, "Two weeks." He gasped, mouth agape at her, "And you didn't say anything to me?" "You're kinda busy, baby. I wanted to make sure I didn't get it randomly." "I'm busy, but not for this." He sat up, looking down at her, "Baby, you have to know my career doesn't come first." She sighed, brushing the hair out of Juniper's face, "No, I know. But you guys have been working really hard on this album and I didn't want to be the one to distract you. I've already been bombarded with follow requests." He looked at her questioningly, "From fans? How'd they find you?" "They found me, not Beanie. Probably through your following. Ivy's business page blew up and Savannah's been flooded with follow requests, too. But she's not letting people in. She has a burner account on twitter and said they're trying to figure the three of us out, screaming and crying that you guys aren't single." "Okay, but Jake and I have never been single." "Correction, Jake's never been single. You've been and been a whore." "When I was seventeen and eighteen. I'm twenty-two, babe and a whole husband and father."

    She nodded at him, "Do you want to sit with me while I test, or wait outside until they're ready?" He gave her a weird look, "You mean you don't want me to sit in your lap while you pee and scream like our daughter's done for the past two years?" She shook her head at him, "You're bigger than me, fucker. I haven't been able to peacefully go to the bathroom since I've given birth." "It's been longer than that. I've been just walking in on you peeing since we've been fucking." "You wonder where she gets her personal space issues from." "I don't wonder anything, I had my hand attached to your stomach her whole pregnancy. She's just a mini me with your 'tude." Layla scoffed at him. "I said what I said."

    Ivy peeked her head into the door, "I have everything set up if you're ready." Sam looked at his wife, linking their fingers, kissing her fingertips. "I'm following your lead, I've never been with anyone while taking a test before." She looked at him, "Didn't you have a pregnancy scare with Jade?" "A scare, yes. But I didn't test with her, and I wasn't with you when you found out about Beanie." "You were the only thing on my mind when I found out about Beanie. How the hell we were going to raise two kids." He laughed, "Look at us now, about to raise two kids." "Not like that." He kissed her fingertips again, "Let's go, grouchy. Them hormones are already making you grouchy." "I'm not grouchy. I just can't believe you've never been through this. It's stressful." "Yes, but this is a pregnancy we've planned for. If it wasn't, and we weren't ready, we would've prevented it." "I love you." "I love you. Let's go see if we have our boy yet because I have a full day tomorrow."

    They walked with linked pinkies into the bathroom, finding Ivy's camera set up, pointed directly at the toilet. "We're getting the whole thing, apparently." Sam sat on the floor in front of the toilet and watched as his wife unwrapped the test, and sat down and began to take it. Nerves began to set in. He'd be home more for this pregnancy, but was he really ready for a second baby right now? Juniper was only so big right now. They were just starting potty training with her and it was a trainwreck.

    He began to tap his thumbs on his knees. They had tons of press coming up, and photo shoot trips a couple hours away, and an upcoming tour. He was going to miss this pregnancy like he missed Juniper's and he hated himself for it. He didn't feel like he was being the partner he needed to be for Layla, especially while pregnant. Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was his busy schedule. They never had the best timing when it came to planning kids and pregnancy because she'd be left alone again. She'd be left alone again, and what if she miscarried again? And he wasn't there this time. They had barely made it out alive during her last miscarriage.

    Layla made eye contact with him once she finished, placing the test on the counter. "Baby, what's wrong?" He shook his head, not wanting his insecurities to ruin what was supposed to be a joyous moment. She held her hands out to him, "We have five minutes, let's go sit on the bed." He watched Ivy set a timer on her phone, messing with the settings on the camera. He followed hand-in-hand to their bed. He sat as she squatted between his legs. He heard the click of the camera and a soft, "I'll leave you two alone for a minute," before the bedroom door closed.

    His wife looked up at him, gray eyes full of concern, "Baby, talk to me. What's wrong?" Tears began to fill his eyes as he looked down at her, "I'm scared." Her brows furrowed as she laced her fingers with his, "Scared of what, my love?" "I'm going to be so busy with the new album that I'm going to miss huge chunks of your pregnancy again and you're going to get so stressed that you miscarry. Or two kids is going to stress you out so bad that you realize that you're doing it on your own to begin with, you might as well be a single mother and then you;re gonna move out and leave. Lay, I can't do life without you. And I'm really sorry that I'm not the partner you need me to be." Her face softened, as she pushed him back slightly, climbing to straddle his lap. She placed both hands on his cheeks, kissing his nose. "My love, if I didn't think we could do another baby, we wouldn't have been trying. I knew what I was getting into from the beginning. We're a family, baby, married. For better or for worse. Sometimes I get frustrated and feel that way, but look at all the time you spent at home helping raise our girl. And we've been over tour plans, you'll be home for most of this pregnancy. So you aren't missing huge chunks like you did Beanie's. You're my perfect husband." She placed his hands on her lower belly, "And you're the perfect daddy to your kids."

    He wrapped his arms around her back, burying his face into her neck, kissing lower and lower, eventually motorboating her. She threw her head back in laughter, "Stop it, goofy!" "I love you." She leaned down to kiss him. He licked up her face. "Samuel!" "Got you." He flipped her over, kissing all over her face. She grabbed his face, looking into his eyes, "Whatever comes out of this, we're a team." "The best damn team around." "You sure you're okay?" "You gonna be by my side?" "In sickness and in health, for better or for worse." He placed his forehead on hers. "We're gonna have another baby." "We don't know that yet, goof. We gotta read the test." "Let's go look." She pursed her lips and looked up at him, eyes sparkling. "Ivy's supposed to be photographing us." "What if we just sneak? Just a little peek and then we can act like we didn't." "Fine. Let's go."

    They ran giggling into the bathroom, not bothering to listen for their bedroom door and Ivy. She looked up at him, "Do you wanna look first? It was your idea." "Oh god, now that I'm in here, looking at it, I'm nervous." She laced her fingers with his, "Okay, we're in it together, flip on three. One...Two...Three." He flipped it, furrowing his brows in confusion, "Why did Ivy get this one and not one that just says pregnant or not pregnant? What does this mean?" She was looking up at him, eyes shining. He caught the look in the mirror. "Does it mean what I think it does?" "Mhm." "We're having another baby?!" "Uh huh." He picked her up, spinning her around their small en-suite bathroom. "Oh my god, we're getting our boy." "We won't know if it's a boy or not for a long time, goofy. Probably after the Nashville show." "I love you, I love you, I love you." He heard the click of Ivy's camera finally. She laughed, "I knew you guys wouldn't wait the full five minutes. I've been here the whole time."