“ So I went to visit Fletch for a week and I realised how much I missed that little idiot, I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in a long time. He wouldn’t listen to my pleas about moving back here though. ”
“But what if, hypothetically, said couple weren’t very good at spending time apart? What if, hypothetically, one half of the couple had a tendency to fuck things like that up?”
JT hiked Arabella up further on his hip, rubbing the now eight month old's back. "C'mon, baby," he murmured, kissing her forehead. He held the baby bag tightly, walking up the steps to his ex's apartment. Knocking on the door quickly, he bounced Aria on his hip, trying to keep her entertained.
Jen let out a sigh, running her fingers through her hair and she frowned when she heard a knock on her door. Getting up from where she was working at her desk she walked over to her door and opened it, smiling at her daughter and ignoring Jason. "Hey baby girl." She cooed.
JT sighed, smiling at her. "Hi, Jen," he said softly, trying to suppress his anger. "We need to talk, okay?" he said softly, letting out another sigh. "And I want to act like adults about this, okay? No immature ignoring."
Jen looked up, nodding slightly as she opened her door wider and walked into her living room. "Sorry about the mess, I've been dealing with some work stuff." She mumbled, her eyebrows furrowing as she thought over the things that still needed completing. The stress was slowly starting to build up on her and it was starting to show, she didn't feel like an eighteen year old girl anymore. "What did you want to talk about?"
JT held on tightly to Arabella. "It's okay. I understand," he murmured, walking to the couch and sitting down slowly, Arabella resting on his lap. "I want to, uh, talk about custody. I've been thinking and researching and I'd like to throw out the option of primary and secondary custody with you. I'd have primary custody, but you can have secondary. Basically, you've still got all the legal rights as her mother, but I call the shots. I just, uh, feel like that's the best for her," he explained.
Jen took a seat on the couch opposite him and nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Thank you." She smiled, her hands finding their way to her temples as she massaged them gently to ease the headache that was building. "Do you roughly have a time period for when this is happening?"
JT "Uh, no," he confessed, looking down. "As soon as possible, to be honest. I just--I want us both to be good parents for her, Jen," he confessed, shaking his head. He sighed, rubbing his neck.
Jen "Okay, I just need to work out my schedule and make sure I have no meetings arranged for the next few weeks then." She told him, reaching for her planner already and pausing at his words. "Yeah, I know. You've been a good parent, I need improvement."
JT nodded, watching her in silence. "And if you're worried about Maddy, you shouldn't be." He paused. "She's, uh, not the baby type. Which, honestly, tears me to shreds because I'll always chose Arabella over her, as much as I hate to admit it."
Jen froze at his words, her eyes falling to the carpet. "Okay, that's nice to know I guess." She managed to get out, trying to hold back the eye roll that she wanted to release at her name.
JT sighed. "I'm sorry it's not necessarily the ideal situation, Jen," he said, closing his eyes for a moment. "I know you don't like her..." he whispered.
Jen "It's fine, I don't really care." She told him, her attention turning back to her daughter. "Can I hold my baby?" She changed the subject.
JT laughed, nodding. "Yeah, of course," he said, standing up and walking to Jen. "She's just learning to crawl. It's crazy. Mom says I've got to start baby-proofing the loft."
Jen took ahold of Aria and cradled her to her chest, placing multiple kisses on her forehead. "God, I feel like I'm missing everything." She told him, peering down at her baby and smiling as she let out a yawn. "Probably best unless you want your stuff all over the place and your X-Box or TV smashed because she pulled on a wire." She teased, laughing slightly.
JT smiled, sitting next to Jen, watching Aria. "That'd be great," he groaned, laughing as he imagined the scenario. His smile faded. "That'd be the worst. She could get electrocuted...Oh my god."
Jen Jen shook her head. "Babe, she wouldn't get electrocuted but it might fall on her or something so it's best to sort that stuff out soon." She suggested, before freezing at the use of her nickname. "S-Sorry that just slipped out."
JT eyes widened, looking at her again. "It's...It's okay. Habits," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He fidgeted a bit with the ring that was on his finger.
Jen her eyes drifted to his ring and she gulped slightly, her gaze returning back to Aria who was now sleeping soundly against her chest. "Yeah, old habits die hard."
JT nodded. "Yeah," he whispered. He glanced at his ring, frowning. "Yknow, we were drunk," he said, shaking his head. "And I gave her the engagement ring I was going to give y--" he cut himself off. "Yeah." He frowned, looking around. He laughed once, shaking his laugh. "I'm sorry."
Jen closed her eyes at his words, trying not to say anything she would regret. Opening them again she shot him a small smile, moving Aria from her arms so she was lying against the couch and grabbed the blanket that was over the back of the couch and placing it on her daughter. "Look, don't say sorry it's your choice who you want to be with. It really doesn't matter to me."
JT watched his daughter carefully, seeing her squirm at the sudden movement in her sleep. "She likes to be up against something," he mumbled, standing up and walking towards her, carefully picking her up and lying her next to the side, so that her bottom was in the air and her one side was against the back of the couch. "She'll get fussy if she's not," he explained, rubbing her back softly. "She also likes harder surfaces to sleep on. If it's not hard enough, she'll wake up and throw a fit. She's very particular, just like you," he joked, smiling a bit. "She's got your attitude."
Jen nodded her head, taking the information in as she watched him with her and moved over so there was more room on the couch if he wanted to sit there too. "My attitude? Now you make that sound like a bad thing." She teased, quietly laughing. "I'm sorry I left you to deal with everything on your own."
JT shrugged, sitting down in the space that Jen had made. "It's okay," he said. "I like being a dad. Never thought I would, to be honest," he laughed, looking at Jen. "It's nice to just, like, have someone with you all the time, even if they cry all through the night." He smiled. He looked around the room, and then back at Jen. "How's your, um, work coming along?" he asked.
Jen "I never imagined having kids at all, nevermind so young so this has just been pretty crazy actually." She mumbled, biting her lip at the thought. She had always insisted that she would never have children and have them end up like her, with a broken home but that is exactly what had happened. Jumping slightly at the sound of his voice, she blushed. "Horrible, I mean, I'm glad I have it to help set everything up for Aria's future but sometimes I'm just so out of my comfort zone it's unreal."
JT chuckled, nodding in agreement. "Apparently, pregnancy happens when asshole boys don't wear condoms," he joked, rolling his eyes. "I'm sort of scared that Arabella will...y'know. Get pregnant in high school, too," he whispered, frowning as he glanced over at his daughter. "It's just so tough, y'know? Balancing school work and being a dad and then at the end of the day you've got to find a job, too," he explained, frowning. "Well, at least you've got a job, though. I've gotten fired from two," he sighed, running his hands through his hair as he leaned back against the couch.
Jen laughed softly at his words, shifting slightly so she was in a more comfortable position. "Yeah, I guess that explains everything." She joked along, her eyes also falling on Aria and a frown quickly appeared on her face. "That's not happening, I'll put her on birth control at fourteen if I have to." She insisted before looking back over at him. "You got fired? Is it because you have to look after Aria?" She questioned before getting an idea. "Why don't you work for me?"
JT laughed, shaking his head. "Might as well do it, anyway. Just for safe keeping," he smirked, crossing his arms. He frowned a bit, nodding. "Yeah, she had a period a few months ago where she was really sick. I had to take off for a few days every other week it seemed because she was just so sick--I couldn't, like, not be with her. So they let me go, and then my second job did the same. I was like, I am a single dad, and this shit is hard when your mom works as well and she's your normal babysitter." He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"
Jen grinned up at him, nodding. "Oh I definitely will, she isn't getting pregnant young, that would be a disaster." Thinking about her daughter pregnant made her pull a face and shiver slightly. "Oh my god we would be grandparents at thirty." She panicked, her eyes wide as she tried to get the mental image out of her head. Shaking her head, she tuned back into his voice. "I get it, I mean if you worked for me then that wouldn't be an issue because I understand what's going on, you know?"
JT "I don't want to think about that," he groaned, scrunching up his nose. He sighed, running his fingers through his hair again, nervousness taking over his body. "I don't know..." he said softly. "I don't know how great that would be," he mumbled.
Jen looked confused at his words, shrugging slightly as she stood up and made her way to the kitchen. "Alright then, it was just an idea." She explained, grabbing a glass and filling it with some juice. "Want anything to drink?" She offered.
JT sighed, rubbing his eyes in slight frustration. "No, I better be going anyway," he murmured, standing up and stretching a bit. "D'you want to keep her for a few hours?" he asked.
Jen turned to him, surprised that he was leaving before nodding. "Oh okay." She murmured, nodding her head at his question. "Yeah, sure. When do you want me to bring her back to yours?"
JT nodded, rubbing the back of his neck, once again. "Yeah, I'll be home all day, probably. I've got, uh, a lot of explaining to do to my mom as well," he laughed, crossing his arms. "So, uh, yeah. D'you still have my number? You can just text me."
Jen "Alright, have fun with that one." She mumbled, her attention turning back to pouring her drink. "Yeah, alright sounds like a plan."
JT smiled softly. He bent down to Arabella, kissing her cheeks softly. "I'll see you later, babe," he whispered, rubbing his thumb over her cheek. "I'll see you later, yeah?" he said softly, looking at Jen.
Jen nodded, still not looking in his direction. She had actually enjoyed being around him for once, it was like they were somewhat friends again and his quick departure had slightly hurt her. "Sure, bye." She told him.
JT stood there awkwardly, rubbing his hands together. He walked over to Jen slowly, hugging her from behind. "You're a good mom, yeah?" he said softly, smiling. "So don't be too hard on yourself if she cries a lot." He let go and turned around, walking towards the door. "Just call or text when you're ready to come over," he explained.
Jen tensed at the feeling of him hugging her, before relaxing slightly and nodding. "Alright, if you say so." She mumbled, turning and watching him leave. "Okay, I will do. Thanks."
“Oh my god, dude. Please stop with the dad jokes, please. Look, I just…hypothetically, if you had got into college, but the person you were dating was going to college on the other side of the country, what would you do?”
“Well if they really meant something to you, the distance would just make the heart grow fonder. Hypothetically, you would meet somewhere in the middle every few months or so.”
“Yes, follow My Heart. I’ve heard they’re very good. I’m sorry. I had to fit a dad joke in there somewhere. I’m not going to tell you some ‘unhelpful sentimental bullshit’, Piper. Just tell me whats wrong?”
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