37

It's been a few day since we ate at Lisa's house with Maggie, and so far everything has been pretty good; Jake is working on his words, Lucas said work is doing better than it has been in a while, and the twins are as adorable as ever.

I was watching Jake hold onto furniture and cruise around the room with Alex and Toby strapped into their little bouncy chairs that they can take naps in. Just as Jake reaches my legs there's a knock on the door, so I grab his hand to walk with me and go to answer it.

I unlock the door and open it only to find Lacey standing on the other side of it with a bag in her hand and an apprehensive look on her face.

"Uh, hi." I say surprised with Jake gripping at my leg.

"Hello Jessica." Lacey replies fiddling with the strap of her bag.

"Uhm come on in. I wasn't aware that you were coming by today." I saw opening the door wider so she can come in and then putting Jake on my hip.

"Yeah Lucas said I should come by one day so we could figure out a visiting schedule."

"Oh well he's not back from work yet, but you can take a seat over here I was just playing with the kids." I say walking back to the couch.

We sit in a sort of awkward silence with me giving all my attention to the children and her watching me with a look in her eyes that I just can't decipher. I'm about to attempt to start a conversation with her when the house phone begins to ring.

"Hello?" I stand up because I find it hard not to walk around when on the phone.

"Hey babes it's me. I'm leaving the office now." Lucas says on the other side.

"Oh ok, should I start dinner then?" I hear the sound of a car unlocking.

"Yeah that would be nice, what are you planning on making?"

"Maybe some chili so Jake can enjoy it too ya know." I reply wondering when I should tell him that Lacey is sitting in our living room.

"Yeah that sounds good, don't overwork yourself okay I want you in good condition when I get home." His voice cuts of a little when the phone connects to the hands free calling in the car.

"Mmhmm I'm sure you do. So I have something to tell you before you get home."

"What? You sent the kids to my mother and you're currently waiting for me in a - Learn how to drive why don't you!?! What was I saying?"

"What was that?" I say holding in my laugh and rummaging through the fried for the ingredients I need.

"Some idiot cut me off then had the nerve to be mad at me; I swear once everything settled we are moving to the suburbs."

"Well at least you're okay. But back to what I had to tell you..."

"Alright spit it out I can tell you're stalling by now." I can tell there's a smile on his face.

"Okay well a few minutes before you called, Lacey showed up at the door."

"Did she say what she wanted?"

"She wanted to talk about the visiting schedule for her and Jake." I say washing and cutting up the vegetables with the beef cooking on the stove.

"Alright we can talk more when I get home okay?"

"Yeah I'll see you soon then." I say getting ready to hang up.

"See ya. Mwah." He imitates a kiss.

"Mwah, bye." I put the phone back in its charging station and walk into the living room.

"Sorry I was gone for so long." I say letting Lacey know I was back.

"It's no problem really I enjoyed spending time with them." She smiles.

"Well I'm taking them to the kitchen to make dinner; you can come if you want to."

"Sure, could you just point me to the bathroom first?" I point her in the right direction and take the kids to the kitchen; close enough that I can still see them but not enough that they could potentially hurt themselves.

Jake is sitting in his highchair sucking on some frozen strawberries and the twins are in a portable crib. I begin to season the beef and add the vegetables just as Lacey walks into the kitchen and takes a seat at the island.

"What're you cooking?"

"I'm just making some chili."

"Well it smells good, I didn't know you could cook."

"I'm sure there are a lot of things you don't know about me." I say stirring in the kidney beans and the tomatoes.

"Yeah, look I don't know if you're going to believe me but I really am sorry about the way everything went down and I know I could've handled things better initially, but I just didn't know what to do. When I saw you guys at the doctors office it was like fate to me, and I just knew that he would be in good hands with you guys and clearly he is." Lacey states looking in Jakes direction.

Of course this is when Lucas decided to walk in through the front door, though quieter than usual. I hear him drop his bag and keys before his footsteps come towards the kitchen.

"Good evening." He says walking up to me and planting a kiss on my lips.

"How was work?" I say hugging him with one arm and stirring with the other.

"Not bad, I hope you don't mind but I let a stray follow me home." Lucas says just as the door opens.

"Honey I'm home!" Screams a voice I haven't heard in a while and footsteps come running towards us.

"Brian it's good to see you." I exclaim giving him a side hug.

Only then do they take notice of Lacey who is awkwardly sitting at the island looking at her phone.

"Oh hello there, I'm Brian." He says putting his hand out for her to shake.

"Lacey." She responds shaking his hand.

The moment she says her name I can tell by the look on his face that he recognizes her, but doesn't say anything.

I continue cooking while Lucas plays with the kids and Brian strikes up a conversation with Lacey as if we haven't already told him everything.

"Alright everyone dinner is ready help yourself, I'm going to feed the twins then I will be back. Brian could you share out food for Jake please."

I grab Toby and as I was about to grab Alex, Lucas beats me to it saying he'll help.

Just as we leave the kitchen I hear Brian yell. "How are you going to help her with no boobs man?"

"I'll figure it out."

We get into another room and close the door behind us and Lucas hands me Alex so I can start feeding her and Toby at the same time; an art that I have semi-mastered. I know somethings up because Lucas only comes to help me when I need to burp them.

"Ok what do you need?"

"What makes you think I want something?"

"Maybe the fact that you have no breasts to breastfeed with."

"Well I pretty much always come to help you burp them so why not?"

"Yeah whatever, but really what's bothering you? Talk to me." it takes him a few seconds before he decides to speak.

"I'm kind of scared."

"What's there to be scared of?"

"Lacey, showing up like this and wanting to be in Jakes life. I'm scared of all the possibilities."

"Well don't be. We are still his family and we have taken care of him for a good 6 months and none of that changes just because she showed up." I say shifting Toby in my arms.

"And what about this whole visiting schedule? Would she just come over once or twice a week and spend some time with him? Can she take him out? Do we have to stay with them the whole time? We need to figure this out."

"I really hope we do. Now help me burp these two and we can go eat."

Once the twins were burped we walked back into the kitchen and put them in a rocker so we could grab our food. Everything seemed normal when we walking into the kitchen, Jake was a mess with food on his bib and all around his mouth while Brian and Lacey talk, well Brian did most of the talking and Lacey listened.

"Thank you for dinner my lady it was delicious." Brain said after pretty much licking his bowl clean.

Everyone else gave their words of appreciation after and Jake even gave a few hits to the table which I'm going to take as a compliment.

"Okay it's getting late in babyland, Brian would you mind helping me get the kids ready for bed?" I say posing it as a question when in reality it's a demand.

He grabs Toby and Jake while I get Alex. As remake our way out of the kitchen I may eye contact with Lucas and motion for him to start talking to Lacey about everything.

Brian and I make our way up the stairs quietly and carefully, heading to the twins room first. He sets Jake by their toy chest and I tell to Brian to strap Toby onto a changing table.

"So, what do you think of Lacey?"

"Well she seems nice and from what I could tell, she seems genuine about wanting to be in Jakes life again." He says wiping down Toby and changing his diaper.

"You really think so? I couldn't tell she was pretty much walking in eggshells around me."I reply putting baby powder and cream on Alex.

"Yeah I could sense she was a little cautious, but if there was any hostility I didn't see any." Brian shrugs.

"So much is happening and I don't know what to do anymore." I say putting a new diaper on Alex.

"You guys are a team. Nothing can bring you down. Where are their clothes?"

"Bottom drawer. And yeah I'm not worried about our relationship, it's just things only just got slightly normal ya know." I tell Brian while rubbing a fussy Alex's tummy.

"Oh please when has anything about your relationship been even remotely normal? I mean you guys love each other now but you are so unconventional it's almost funny." Brian bumps our shoulders together while sliding Toby into a onesie.

"Oh trust me I know that. Gosh three kids and we aren't even married, my ancestors are rolling in their graves." I take Alex off the table and settle her into her crib while Brian does the same with Toby.

"Jake ready for bed babes?" I ask walking over to him with open arms.

He uses the toy chest to stand up and reaches his arms for me whining slightly. I pick him up and he cuddles into my chest relaxing like all is well I the world.

"Brian you can go back downstairs, Jake needs a bath so I'll be a while."

He agrees and makes way downstairs after giving Jake a goodnight kiss on the cheek. After bathing and putting Jake to bed I walk into the living room where everyone is sitting casually watching some movie.

"Alright all babies are asleep, hopefully for most of the night." I plop down next to Lucas.

Lucas wraps his arms round me and sends a devastatingly gorgeous smile my way, and with just that I know everything's going to be okay. I settle my head into the crook of his neck and enjoy the movie.

By the end of the movie both Brian and Lacey left; she decided it was time to go a while after it started and half way through Brian decided to go visit Maggie.

"How'd the talking go?" I ask stretching my legs.

"Well nothing's final obviously but we're gonna start small, once a week, then gradually add more days and so on. So what do you think about that?"

"It's good all of this can be handled out of court and stuff. I'm proud of you for handling this so well." I give him a swift kiss on the cheek.

"Well yeah he's her son too and if we can keep this as clean as possible the better it will be for the kids."

"I love how mature you're being and I love you." I state giving him a kiss.

"Love you too babes, now let's get to bed." He stands up and grabs my hand to help me up.

I move to go up the stairs but Lucas holds my hand stopping me from going anywhere. I look back to see him staring at my hand, more specifically the ring on my finger.

"You know, we should probably do something about that." Lucas says kissing the ring.

"Mhm maybe we should."

"Lucas what on earth do you think you're doing?" Lisa pestered.

"No, give it to me I know you're going to find a way to ruin it." Maggie stole the platter from his hands and walked into the kitchen.

With a perplexed look on his face, Lucas made his way over to me on his mother's couch watching everything unfold.

"You're enjoying this aren't you." He accused me with a slight smile on his face while taking a seat next to me. "Everyone bossing me around from the second we stepped into the house."

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I take immense pleasure in this moment. It's kind of funny to see you like this." I lean my head on his shoulder.

"Well enjoy it while you can, I won't be seeing you for the rest of the night." Lucas says with a pout. Tomorrow being the wedding we aren't going to see each other until I'm walking down the aisle.

The kids and I are staying at Lisa and John's with Lisa, Maggie, my mom and sister Jasmine, Adriana who got here a week ago, and Melissa who has yet to show up. While Lucas will be at the penthouse with Brian, John, a few buddies from work, and oddly enough my father.

I lift my head as Adriana come strutting into the room with a twin on each hip and Jake waddling close behind.

"Best friend, best friends baby daddy." She greets looking at us with our respective titles.

"You can't really call me that anymore ya know, we are getting married tomorrow." Lucas raises an eyebrow at her as she sits on a sofa across from us.

"Did you or did you not get my best friend pregnant, because if not then I don't know who's children I'm holding right now."

Just as they're about to get into it the front door opens.

"Knock, knock..." A familiar voice I haven't heard in person in a long time speaks. My suspicions are true as Melissa turns the corner and drops her bags at the door with a small smile on her face.

Though I know she's happy to see everyone in person again, her smiles don't quite reach her eyes.

"Ahh Melissa I'm glad you're finally here!" I push Lucas' arm off my shoulders and run to hug her.

"Hey girl, it's so good to finally see you in person and not on my laptop." I pull away slightly to look at her. "My gosh you are glowing."

"Yeah that California sun and heat does wonders." She says with a glint in her eyes that I can't recognize before it's gone. I finally release her to allow the others in the room to have their moment, by that I mean Lucas.

"Hey big brother,"

That's all it takes for him to rush over and engulf her in a hug.

"I swear if you leave like that again I will fly to California and drag you back myself." He mumbles into her hair.

"I'm sorry, really and truly. I promise to visit this time around." Mel pulls away slightly and looks up at Lucas.

"You better, things really went to s-h-i-t without you around here." He spells it out due to the little ears around us.

I introduce Adri and Mel before taking her to finally meet her niece and nephew who had no problems being cuddled in her arms due to the many video chats I've had with them around.

"Lucas would you be able to tell me where mom is?" She asks timidly.

"Uh she should be in the kitchen with John."

Once those words leave his mouth she is on her way.