Three Years and One Lifetime

7

A/N: I may be slightly busier this week so updates will be every couple of days. Also, chapters are getting longer (I'm averaging around 1800 words per chapter now). My goal is to write at least 1-2 chapters a week though :)

As Jay unloads the dishwasher the following morning, he relives the night before. He pulls out three plates: two ceramic, one plastic. He stashes away the two larger ceramic ones first, before setting the smaller plastic one on top, intentionally. 

He ended up serving them some microwave pasta, something Hailey assured him that Jaiyana would eat (he didn't know how to cook much else anyway). Hailey sat Jaiyana on her lap, opposite Jay. The whole time, Jay never took his eyes off them. Jaiyana chatted happily throughout the meal, unfazed by Jay's sudden appearance in her life. He managed to understand most of what she was saying. He felt guilty for the few instances he couldn't, but felt better after twice witnessing Hailey also shrug her shoulders, as if to say 'who knows?'. 

As he grabs a handful of cutleries to place back into the kitchen drawer, he remembers the dinner conversation he shared with Hailey as their daughter shoved pieces of pasta into her mouth with her little hands. 

"What's her full name? I heard you call her Jaiyana and Ana before, but- I was so shocked that night when Will told me about her, I forgot to ask if he knew..."  Jay trails off, a little embarrassed at having to ask for his own daughter's name.

"No it's fine" reassures Hailey, knowing the complexity and rarity of their situation. "Her full name is Jaiyana Trudy Upton" 

"Trudy? Man, Platt is going to be boasting about this for the rest of her life" comments Jay, letting out a laugh. 

Hailey laughs in response too, and they're both relieved at the light hearted moment. 

She can still see a little flash of doubt in his eyes though, and immediately knows what he's thinking. "You know that you're still her father on her birth certificate, right? Even if she has my last name" says Hailey.

Jay sighs a little in relief. "I'm not bothered at her last name, I just- I wondered if she had 'father unknown' listed on her birth certificate, given... everything. I hated the thought of that, me being a blank space in her life."

"You're not a blank space in her life, never legally and now not in any other way either" reassured Hailey. "I might have put 'father unknown' on her birth certificate to punish you after what I thought you did, but I would have never done it to her. She deserves the truth, always" states Hailey.

Jay nodded in response, understanding coloring his eyes. 

The evening took a brighter turn from there. After dinner, Jay searched the house, trying to find some sort of object suitable to entertain a small child. He eventually produced an empty laundry basket. They created a game of 'red light green light', where Hailey yelled out color-coded traffic demands, and Jay slid Jaiyana around the living room floor. He even took the game to the next level by imitating a dramatic series of honks, beeps, engine noises and the occasional police siren. 

In a strange way, it felt like their detective days again - Jay driving with Hailey giving instructions. Except now, they had a little passenger on board. 

After the first slightly slower round of sliding around the living room, Jay looked down at his daughter, checking to see if she was alright. She looked up and smiled at him, totally charmed. Jay grinned at Hailey before suddenly breaking off at a ridiculous speed. The little girl tipped back in the basket from the forward momentum, and her baby hairs lifted from the manufactured breeze. Jay momentarily stopped when her sweet giggles grew into deep, gleeful belly laughs.