Three Years and One Lifetime

14

A/N: Thank you so much for over 3k <3

They take the next day off work to get settled into their new living arrangements. Jay picks up Jaiyana from daycare in the afternoon and entertains her so that Hailey can have some time to herself to finish getting her bedroom and bathroom unpacked. She obviously needs the alone time. She's flinched every time he's come within a two foot radius of her today, which he finds confusing after the moment they'd shared last night after putting their daughter to bed. Maybe he'd pushed her too hard? But his gut is telling him it's something different. In the past, he would have come to talk to her straight away, it was the thing that worked between them as partners. But this situation isn't work, it's so much more, and he's willing to give her that space if she needs it. 

Plus, he doesn't mind the extra time with his daughter. Jaiyana is the funniest, brightest, smartest kid he's ever been around. When she looks at him with those eyes that so closely mirror his own and gives him a smile that is so like Hailey, he's filled with a level of happiness and love beyond what he ever imagined was possible. 

He finds himself infinitely grateful to Hailey in a way he'd never anticipated. She's given him the absolute best thing in his life, something he never knew he wanted, and she'd done it when the easier thing would have been to give him exactly what she'd thought he'd asked for. He knows that, at the time, given the circumstances, it would have been easier for her - at least in some ways - to not go through with the pregnancy. He shudders at the thought of Jaiyana never existing. Just the split second image that flashes his mind is terrifying and nauseating. He quickly forces those unpleasant thoughts away and turns his focus back on making sure his daughter knows she's loved and wanted and treasured. He hopes to someday show those same feelings towards Hailey too. At no point in time, even when he was ignoring her, did he ever want her out of his life. Having her back now, in his home, with their child, is pretty close to perfect.

They're not quite there though. Things won't be truly perfect until she's here for the long haul. She still has a few items in her apartment and hasn't sold her furniture, having only agreed to a trial run. He still has faith in her though, he can see her settling herself when she's overwhelmed and purposely making herself stay when she'd probably rather jump and run. She's trying her best. So, he spends the afternoon with his daughter and leaves Hailey to decompress. 

By the time evening rolls around, the majority of her room is unpacked and she seems to be more at ease. He notices that she doesn't flinch under his touch when they accidentally bump elbows tucking Jaiyana into bed. So, with that in mind, he invites Hailey to watch a movie with him as they walk out of their sleeping daughter's room. 

10 minutes later, she joins him on the opposite end of the sofa. "So, what are we watching" she asks. For a brief moment, he's too distracted to answer. Her skin is shiny clean and flushed with color from the warmth of her shower. It's only when she raises an eyebrow expectantly that he snaps out of it.

"This" he says, smiling and hitting play. The opening credits to The Cutting Edge begin to light the screen, and she smiles in approval.

"A 90s rom-com about figure skating? I didn't think you were the type" she teases. "I didn't think you were the type either" he shoots back playfully. "Touche"

They settle back into the cushions, content to just sit and watch a movie together. It's been too long since they've felt that sense of normalcy.

By the time Kate Moseley and Doug Dorsey have skated their way to the Olympics, Jay and Hailey have melted comfortably into the couch, and Hailey's feet have somehow found their way onto Jay's lap. He may or may not have tugged them there somewhere around Kate's 'magnet' speech, he's not too sure. The analogy of magnets pushing away from each other over and over again when all you really needed to do was flip them over rattles both of them. They realise it's them. Years of circling and pushing away and one bad dream on one fateful night, and flip.