11

What seemed like an eternity, only a few weeks, they were allowed to take Addison Marley Scott home. Marley could not have been happier. She spent most of those weeks at the hospital. Jordan couldn't have been more thrilled, sarcastically that is. He had gone six years of having all the attention, so one would be able to see where some jealousy could arise from. Jordan locked himself in his room and would only come out if any meal was to be eaten, other than that he would refuse to come out.

"Hey bud, do you wanna go play catch in the yard?" asked Brian.

"NO!" Jordan shouted.

"Come on its what we always do on Sundays. We never miss a Sunday catch day."replied Brian

The door slowly opened. "We can't miss OUR Sunday football right?" 

"Fine!" Jordan pouted. He stomped all the way down the stairs and out the front door then stood at the other end of the yard with his arms folded. "Are you going to throw me the ball or do I need to throw it to myself?"

"Well I can't throw you the ball and expect you to catch it with your arms folded. There's no way that you can unfold your arms in time to catch the ball before it hits you." Brian joked.

Jordan stood there with no response but a raise eyebrow. So, Brian tossed him the ball. Jordan caught the ball. "you didn't think I could, did you?" A sassy Jordan asked.

"Nope, but you sure proved me wrong." Brian said with a smile. "Now how about you ditch the attitude because your baby sister can't catch a football yet and I need a partner."

10

As tough as it was to leave her family back in Seattle, Marley couldn't be happier to finally sleep in her own bed, but not as excites as Jordan. As soon as Brian put the car into park, Jordan whipped off his seat belt and ran into his bedroom and pulled his covers over him to go to bed. "Looks like someone could not wait to get home." Brian chuckles.

Marley walked into the living room to lie down on the couch. She had been feeling extra sick today. It wasn't like an actual sickness, it just felt sick to her stomach. She had figured it was motion sickness or something else, nothing big. Brian walked in, "whats wrong?" he asked.

"Something doesn't feel right. I've just had this sickening feeling that something is wrong." Marley held her belly. "I think I'm just wore out."

"Get back in the car, I've driven for basically a full week, what's a few more miles to the hospital. You can never be too sure." Brian reached over to help Marley off the couch. Brian put Marley back into the car, ran upstairs to get Jordan and heard Marley yell from the garage.

"Brian HURRY!"

Brian ran down the stairs holding Jordan, "Marley what happening?!" She was passed out in the front seat. Brian broke several laws driving to the hospital, but was cautious as ever. He figured that by the time an ambulance arrived it would be quicker to just drive to the ER himself.

"What's wrong with mommy?" Jordan asked from the back.

"Put your seat belt on and don't worry." Brian said with a scared look on his face.

They pulled up to the hospital and yelled for help. He explained that she wasn't feeling okay and just thought that she had motion sickness from all the driving. He said she passed out when they were getting ready to head to the hospital. Brian worried, more than ever, held Jordan's hand and walked to the waiting room.

Brian sat there watching Jordan play on his tablet for what felt like hours upon hours. He called his parents and brother, all of which were on their way. He left messages for Marley's parents and siblings and said that once he hears something he will call back. Finally someone walked out to him. "Whats going on no one will tell me anything!"

"Mr. Scott, your wife she went into preterm labor. She had severe bleeding..." The doctor explained.

"Is, is she ok!? Is the baby?" Brian questioned

"Your wife, she is fine. And you're the father of a baby girl. Do you want to see them?" Brian hugged the doctor. He didn't even know who he was, he wasn't the one they had been seeing, but was extremely grateful.
Brian backed up, "Oh sorry, its just no one would tell me anything and I was starting to get worried."

"I'll take you to your wife's room, and when you're ready I can have a nurse show you to where your daughter is, seeing as how she's a premature we're keeping a very close eye on her." They walked up to where Marley was sleeping. The doctor explained what happened and how they proceeded. He told Brian to just keep an eye on his wife and make sure she takes it easy when she leaves, but she is going to be at the hospital for a while. He explained that the baby would definitely be staying longer because she's a premature and there are all sorts of problems that may arise.

"Thank you, I'm not sure exactly what you said and you're going to need to explain it later to me but I just want to be with my wife right now." Brian walked over to Marley's bedside. Brian holding Jordan in his arms, walks over and places him on the couch by the window and asked a nurse for an extra blanket. He grabbed Marley's hand and sat next to her.

Brian's parents walk in, "Brian, how is she?" asks his mother.

"She's fine, I can't leave her side. I haven't even seen the baby yet. I can't leave her alone and Jordan asleep on the couch." Brian walks over and hugs his mom.

"Go, we're here now, go see her. We have things handled here. And your brother is on his way." Brian's dad said reassuringly. Brian leaves the room and asks the nurse to take him to his daughter.
They reach the NICU and the female nurse explains that the baby is going to be smaller than normal, and that he needs to be extra careful, but not to worry she hasn't had any problems since arriving at the NICU. Brian puts on this blue paper like robe over the front of him.

He walks over to the incubator and he's just overwhelmed with joy and happiness. Brian, a man who has refused to cry over his best friend's death or anything else, let a tear roll down his face. "When can I hold her?"

"You can't right now but you can put your hands through these holes and touch her." the nurse replied. Brian put his hand inside the incubator and was shocked that something so small was doing so well. She was about the size of his entire hand. Its a miracle that she's even alive. Marley was only 25 weeks along.

"How is it possible?" Brian asked.

"What?" replied the nurse.

"That a baby this small is perfectly fine. She is breathing on her own, no problems no ANYTHING?"

"Its amazing the things that happen. I and the doctors have no idea. I guess you can say that miracles do happen. Sometimes its nice knowing that there is something to believe in other than science." The nurse smiled.

"Addison," whispered Brian, "you're already a handful and I haven't even picked you up."

"That's a beautiful name." Brian's mother said as she put her hand on his shoulder. "Beautiful just like her mother. Oh and if you're wondering, shes awake, but has no idea what has happened. I thought I'd leave that to you and the doctors. Go, I'll stay here."
Brian kisses his mother on her cheek then leaves.

"Brian! What's going on, why am I here? What happened?" Marley weakly asks.

"Its okay, you're fine. We had a little bit of a scare but its okay and we're golden." Brian says as he sits beside Marley. "Oh and you are the mother of a beautiful baby girl."

"Well of course she's beautiful have you seen me?" Marley says as she falls back asleep.

9

She sits there, beside his bed. Tubes coming out of his body, machines beep, oxygen is being pumped. For a moment she couldn't hear any of that. She grabbed his hand, its warm but she doesn't feel him. He's not there, it just doesn't feel right at all. She doesn't feel like she's even in her own body. Its as though she is watching herself beside her husband. "It must be a dream. There's no way this is even real." Marley thinks to herself. "I would totally believe it if I wasn't trying to wake up from this nightmare for the last two hours."

"Mrs. Scott, whenever you're ready." The nurse whispers.

"NOT YET!" Marley barks back. Shes not ready for this. No one is ever ready to pull the plug on anyone, especially her husband. No one should ever have to do this. There's so much to live for. The children are both under 10. There's so much living and growing left for all of them. "There's no way that I can do this." Marley thinks.

"Brian," She whispers, "Its me, you probably already know that," Marley continues, "If there's any way you could just wake up, right now, move, flinch, anything, just do it. Do it now!"

*Nothing*

"I hate you for making me do this, but..... you, I love you." Marley looks up as to try to hold back the flood gates from her eyes to burst. She has always been great with holding back all those tears. "I never had the way with words that you had. I never could sweep you off your feet with the flow of words pouring out of my mouth, that was you. Brian, I love you," She squeezed his hand, "I know you can hear me, you've never left me, but you need to go. You go." Marley leaned over and kissed his head. Tear streaks down her face, one lands on Brian's face. She can't hold it back any longer. She wants to look away but can't. She can't take her eyes off Brian. Marley takes a deep sigh and closes her eyes, to pretend she's not in that room, or situation. "Okay, I'm ready."




Seattle held so much more than what they anticipated. Passive aggressive comments, dagger stares, and more eye rolls than one pair of eyes can ever preform, or watch. But all of that was the opposite of what actually happened. The only tears that were shed were one from laughing too much, and from Jordan stubbing his toe on grandma's coffee table. Conversations were never dull, there was always something to reminisced about or even laughed at. Marley could not remember when she had laughed this much with her parents and family. She leaned over to Brian, "I can't think of a time besides one Thanksgiving, where my whole family sat down at a table and ate a meal where no one was upset."

"It's nice isn't it." Brian smiled and put his arm around Marley.

Marley began to cry.

"What's wrong?!" Brian asked

"Its my emotions that are flying all around. I'm not sad, it really is nice." Marley laughed. They spent more time in that house than they did touring Seattle like they had planned. The whole itinerary was thrown out as soon as Marley sat down at that dining table when they first arrived. Which Brian was completely alright with.

Brian grew up with always having his family close. There was rarely a time when all of his family was not seated at the dinner table for dinner. He spent a great majority of his youth being around all of his siblings and parents. He did understand how Marley has handled not being so close with her family. He wasn't about to push her into something she didn't want to do, but knew eventually things would fall into place.

The final day of their stay arrived, and Brian, Marley, and Jordan drove up into the mountains, to a spot that over looked the city. "One of my boyfriends in high school used to take me up here." Marley chuckled.

"ONE!!!" Brian gasped. "You must have been quite the popular girl. I mean look at ya, I can't be totally mad." He laughed, "I mean, I ultimately won because you married ME and decided that I was a good enough choice to have a couple of kids with."

"Listen here bud, I was the one who lucked out and landed the hottie." She replied.

"Um, okay this is kinda gross, mom!" Jordan said disgusted. Marley and Brian laugh then smile at each other. It was cute the way that they looked at each other. It was almost as though they had feel in love all over again. But that feeling has never left them. It just was one thing that seemed too good to be real. But when you live in something that seems too good to be real, it is real, its no different than anything else.

Brian pulls the car over, "Your mom wasn't joking when she was telling us how pretty it was up here was she bud?" He asks Jordan.

"Its just Seattle dad, whats the big deal?" Jordan said without looking up from his tablet. Brian and Marley weren't too concerned, he didn't really understand the beauty. They stood over by the edge of the cliff, Brian holding Jordan and Marley with her arm around Brian.

"Its not a big deal, but it sure is nice." Brian exhaled, "Kind of like us."

Marley looked up into his eyes, smiled and kissed him. "Lets go home."

8

Well, the drive to Seattle was probably worse than flying with a newborn. Every so many miles they were reminded what it was like to take this trip without hearing "when are we going to get there, who is this, who is that, why are we going, why haven't I ever met grandma and grandpa?" All were good questions but there was only a few times that backseat was silent. Finally when they arrived to Seattle it was about noon, and Marley became super nervous. "Could you pull over for a second?" Marley quietly asked.

"Uh, yeah sure whats going on?" Brian confused pulled the car to the side of the road. Just in time for Marley to open the door and nearly miss the car barfing. "I'm smart enough to know that you're too far along for morning sickness, whats wrong?"

"I don't think this was a good idea. We should just turn around and leave. They haven't even seen us since our wedding. It's not ok! Its all going to go to badly." Marley frantically exclaimed. "Brian, they never tried to visit and neither did I."

Brian grabbed Marley's hand, "Its ok, life happens. The point is that we're here now and I'm not about to turn around because I'm too tired to drive anymore and quite frankly I have some questions to ask and Jordan NEEDS to meet his family! So saddle up and lets do this!" Marley smiled, he always has questions, hes a lawyer, and he always has a point. No wonder he is so good at his job.

They turn up a driveway to a gate. "I think we're lost." Brian said looking at his navigation as though it was broken.

"Nope, just reach out and press 44382." Marley instructed. Brian reached out and punched in 44382 and the big white gate began to open. They drove up a small road to see horses on both sides of the road and a big brick house at the end of the driveway. "Welcome to my parent's house."

"Ok, What the heck is this?! You always told me that your family couldn't afford to even fly to our wedding. You had me believe that you grew up in a 'humble home'." Brian exclaimed.

"I did, this isn't the home I grew up in. My father is a very well known doctor. My mother, she works for the government. This is NOT what I grew up in. They decided that after I moved out and across the country to buy this house. I do not know what its like to have both parents home and not always at a hospital or at some meeting or ceremony. I practically raised myself. My parents did end up paying for their own flight out to our wedding, your parents probably never told you, its ok." Marley explained.

They hop out of the car and the front door opens, "There's my grandson!" hollers Dr. Samuel Avery.

"He's gotten so much bigger since the last picture you sent me." Said Sen Hailey Avery.

"Mom, I sent you a picture yesterday of him trying to shove two twix bars up his nose at the same time. There's no way he's gotten any bigger." Marley said condescendingly.

"And there's the happy couple that never even tries to visit." Sam said.

"And there's the grandparents who so willingly visit their grandson so often." Marley mumbled under her breath.
Brian grabbed Marley by the arm, "Don't, that's not a fight you want do you?" Marley shook her head and put on a forced smile. If she was going to spend 3 days she had better make the first one at least pleasant.

Marley grabbed the bags, only to have them taken from her hands by Brian immediately. Marley's parents looked confused then when she walked out from behind the car they noticed her large belly. "Um, what is this?" Hailey asked in wonder

"Well it looks like I'm pregnant again. Surprise!" Hollered Marley I figured I'd just surprise you. Since that's how all my news gets to you." Marley's mom rushed over to give her a hug. "This is definitely not how I expected her to react." she thought.

Brian nudged Marley and smiled. "See, so far so good, if not better than you thought. You chat it up with your parents and I'm gonna take a nap. Shouldn't be too hard to find an empty room in this big ol house."

Marley and her mom sat down in the living room and talked about school, Brian's work, Jordan, and especially about the little girl they were expecting. They just could not stop talking. They had so much to catch up on. It wasn't like they never talked to each other, they talked almost every day. Its just nice to talk face to face sometimes. Sam got called into the hospital for an emergency so he left a few hours after their arrival.

"So, how are YOU doing, you know with a 7 year old, a lawyer husband and school?" Hailey asked.

"School is out for summer, Brian is home every night, and Jordan, oh Lord that kid has me going everywhere and always keeps me on my toes. But I LOVE it/them. They just keep me going."

"Hows the pregnancy going? Any troubles?"

"Its much easier now that I know what to expect and no! Its perfect. Other than I didn't tell Brian for over a month and he flipped out because I knew and I didn't tell him."

"I would have flipped out too! But its okay, you told him and he's happy?"

"Of course he's happy, I was the nervous one. I wasn't sure I was ready for another kid I guess. I wasn't EXPECTING another kid at all. It was 7 years since my last one. Just kinda jumped out and surprised me."

"Have you thought of any names and are we sure its a girl?" Hailey said pulling out a tray of cookies from the oven.

"I want to name her Addison. It just has always been a name I've loved. I wanted to name her after my best friend in college. Not the prettiest but one hell of a friend. And YES its a girl. Its just perfect a boy and a girl!" Marley said then thought twice about licking the spoon covered in cake batter. "You know how hard it is to not eat this. The last thing I need is salmonella."

"That's not even a thing, its just what people say to keep you from being happy." Hailey said as she took the spoon from Marley's hand and licked it.

Brian walked into the kitchen right to Marley and kissed her on the cheek. "Glad to see you awake."

"How can anyone sleep when you can smell chocolate chip cookies being cooked." He replied

The three of them walked into the living room to where Jordan was asleep on the floor with the ESPN-his favorite show- playing. Brian picked up Jordan, "Looks like we aren't going on any sight seeing tonight." He took Jordan to his room and tucked him in goodnight.

Hailey grasped Marley's hands, "I've never really got to tell you how much you hit the jackpot with Brian. He just seems.."

"Perfect," Marley finished.

7

So there she sat, wondering how to tell her husband. She was skeptical to tell him about their first child, she knew he didn't necessarily want kids, but he didn't ever say he did not want kids either. They just never really talked about it. They didn't really ever talk about the future ever, other than that they wanted to spend it together and to be happy.

Sitting on the couch she twirled her phone in her hands. Fiddling with it, occasionally dropping it because she lost focus. Nervous on how to even bring up the conversation. "What would be a great conversation to even bring up a baby?" she questioned. From the back she could hear Jordan playing with his toys. He never could play quietly, as most kids do. That was o k, it drew her attention from where she wanted it to be. "Mommy," Jordan bellowed from five feet away, "can I have some ice cream?"

"We haven't had lunch yet."

"Well duh, after lunch." Jordan sassed. Marley wasn't a very big fan that he being 6 was the sassiest kid she had ever met. And she has been around children, that of elementary ages, since college some 9 years ago.

"If I didn't know that you got your sass from your father I would be worried."

"Mom, I don't even know what sass means. So don't use words I don't know."
Rolling her eyes she walked to the kitchen to make some lunch. Marley wasn't much of a cook. She could make the basics, but rarely would go all out and make meals from scratch. She just wasn't that kind of person, and Brian knew that. When they met her specialty was cold cereal, Ramen, and the Drive-Thru. So they normally had a sandwich for lunch everyday and no one ever complained.

Just as she was sitting down with Jordan to eat lunch, Brian comes through the garage. "What are you doing home?!" She asked

"I just need to talk to you." Brian said worriedly. "I... I just need to talk to you face to face."

"What's going on!"

"Nothing.. well er, I don't know. You tell me, I can't focus on work, or sleep knowing something is up and you won't talk to me."
Marley sat there in silence, "how in the hell does he know? Does he know? Is he mad?" she asked herself.

"What do you know? What do you know and why is it so big of a deal that you cant 'focus' on your work."

"What I got on my brain is that I know you're pregnant and WON'T tell me?! WHY what did I do? Why are you so worried to tell me? I'm your husband, you should tell me first!" Brian progressively got louder.

"Woah, slow down and probably lower your voice." Marley walked up to Brian and grabbed his hand. "I didn't know how to tell you. We never really talked about having kids or how many. Jordan kinda just happened, and well its not like we're trying. I'm happy I didn't know if you were or weren't. I was just worried at how to even bring it up."

"YOU JUST SAY I'm pregnant and its yours." Brian exclaimed.

"Ok, that makes it seem like I was sleeping around, why should I have to tell you that its yours. Lately, you've not been super approachable. I, I just wanted to get you in a good mood and probably tell you after our trip." Marley said softly.

Brian hugged Marley, "Sorry, I know work has taken over, it shouldn't. I should be able to leave it at the office or door, you and Jordan shouldn't have to feel like you can't talk to me. YOU should never have to hesitate to talk to me, especially about things like this. OF COURSE I'm happy! Why wouldn't I be? We never talked about it because I didn't think you EVER wanted kids. You've always joked about not wanting kids, I never thought you were serious but I never knew fully if it was an actual joke. Mar, I love you, I love Jordan, and I will love this one just as much if not more when it gets here. I'm sorry that you felt like you couldn't talk to me. Please, please never let that ever cross your mind. I'm your husband and am always here for you." He bent over, grabbed her face and kissed her passionately.

Marley pulled back, "how did you know? Its not like you're home when I have morning sickness."

"Oh hun, you left the pregnancy test on the sink for like a week straight. Seems like you already had pregnancy brain." Brian laughed. He hugged Marley then turned to look at Jordan with peanut butter on his white shirt, "ahh your mother's famous PB&J, that was the first thing she ever made for me, it won me over and I just simply couldn't stay away after then."

"Its not that good but I was really hungry so I'll eat just about anything." Jordan said licking the peanut butter from his fingers.

"Since I had to miss my lunch, get behind that counter and make me a sandwich woman!" Brian chuckled. Marley walked behind the counter took out two slices of bread and tossed them at Brian.

"Go ahead and make your sexist joke and while you're at it make yourself a sandwich. My show is on TV." She said slyly with half a grin and a raised eyebrow. Brian chased after her and they both fell on the couch laughing, only to have Jordan join in on the laughter and fun.

6

After returning back to work Marley learned that she was pregnant with another child. Mixed emotions flew around. How was she supposed to feel, They didn't really talk about how many kids they wanted in the first place. They never said that they didn't want to have kids, but definitely didn't talk about having a family. They were perfectly content with their lives then Jordan came along, which wasn't a bad thing, but it happened and they just went with it. Marley, confused with her situation, decided that she was overthinking it and may just let it go for a little while then tell Brian.

See Brian was up for a promotion at work and was focused on just that, and his family. But he let his work overshadow just about everything else. He would spend all day and many nights at his office to impress the big boss. Marley completely understood. She didn't hold that over him and never did, but she did feel pretty lonely many of those nights. She wasn't alone, she had Jordan, and another one on its way. But that didn't stop her from putting on a smile and not skipping a beat. School began to get more and more stressful, and being pregnant and not telling her husband didn't help any either. She wanted to tell someone. But decided that maybe after Brian gets the promotion, after school is let out on summer break, she would tell Brian and then let her family know. 

Now see Marley was the kind of person who liked to keep things to herself. If there was a problem she would find a way to get through it, or would just throw it into a, theoretical, hole and just move on. She figured that if she could throw enough things into that hole no one would know and she wouldn't have to bring them up ever. It was perfect, she could go on living her perfect happy life and no one would know. Marley hadn't talked to her parents or siblings since moving to Chicago for school some years ago. She didn't hate them or anything, but liked keeping her life to herself. None of her family bothered to ever visit her. She was lucky enough that Brian's parents offered to pay for her 3 brothers and 1 sister and her parents plane tickets to fly to the wedding. But only her parents came. They were very prideful about taking this handout and did make a big deal about it several times. Marley hated that every time she tried to talk to her family they threw her "perfect life" in her face. She figured that if some emergency came up she would be on the next flight home in a heartbeat. What was so bad about her and her life that her family hated?

School finally ended and Brian had finally gotten that promotion and was more than excited to hit up Seattle, where he had never been. "Now how wet is it there? Is it going to completely ruin my hair? Should I just plan on always wearing a hat?" he joked. 

"Ha ha very funny. Its not that bad, we'll buy you some really good hair products so that my family hates us even more." 

"Woah, whats wrong? Aren't you happy to be going home? You were the one who wanted to go visit your family for our summer vaca."

"Well, they haven't talked to me much since the marriage. None of these people have even met Jordan in person. None of them ask how we are. And all I get from them is what I see on their social media pages. They don't even bother to send wedding invites or baby announcements. It sucks.What did I do to be excluded from this family?"

"Babe, nothing. You have done nothing wrong. Your family can't afford to fly out here to Chicago, they hate handouts, and quite honestly they are the ones with the problem. See I hated that only your parents showed up to the wedding and I hated it even more that NONE of your family came to meet Jordan when he was born. But did I let that bother me, NO. I have the best wife, the raddest 4 year old, the best job, and to top it all off I hear that I'm up for 'Father of the Year' again this year. How about that?" 

Brian walked over and hugged Marley as hard as he could then kissed her almost as hard. "You are what wakes me up in the morning, Jordan is what wakes me up at night, and that my dear is all we need."

Marley wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. There is nothing more that they needed. Other than for her to tell him that shes pregnant again...