The Little One

Jordan woke up the next morning and jumped a little when she noticed Kennedy right beside her. She sighed relaxing a little once she remembered the events of the previous night. He had rolled over in his sleep and was just a few inches from Jordan now. She took a deep breath, drawing in his scent. She couldn’t help but notice he was really cute when he was asleep. His brown hair was messed up and his mouth hung open slightly. She smiled at him. The boys were leaving tonight to go to Vegas for a show then from Vegas to Dallas and from there to somewhere else that was too far away for Jordan’s liking. It had taken just this little amount of time to show her how much she had missed having the boys around. Now she couldn't wait for them to come back in the spring.
Jordan reluctantly got out of the bed and got a quick shower. She came back out, thankful that Kennedy was still asleep because she had forgotten to take clothes with her into the bathroom. She quickly changed into a pair of baggy grey sweat pants and a yellow tank top. As she headed for the door the floor creaked and she spun around to see Kennedy waking up. He sat up looking around a bit confused until he noticed Jordan.
"Sorry," She whispered, "Go back to sleep Kenny." He nodded his head sleepily and laid back down. Jordan smiled to herself and made her way downstairs to make breakfast. She got out some pancake mix and quickly whipped up several stacks of pancakes and placed them in the oven set on "warm" so they stayed nice and toasty for the boys. Then she went back upstairs to get Maddyn and ran into Pat in the hallway.

"Do I smell pancakes?" He asked grinning, his hair still messed up from sleep.

"Yes you do, they're in the oven." She told him. His eyes popped open wide and quickly ran downstairs, eager to beat the other guys to the warm breakfast. Jordan then made her way into Maddyn's room. She shook her shoulder gently waking her up. Maddyn smiled up at her mom sleepily and stretched. Then she reached up for her and wrapped her tiny arms around Jordan’s neck. She then took her daughter from the crib and walked into the hallway and into the bathroom, giving the small still sleepy girl a quick rinse off and washing her hair. Jordan dried her off and brushed her hair then put her into a small pair of green cotton pants and a little yellow tee shirt with a green frog embroidered on the front. She picked her up and carried her into the hallway where she saw a tired looking Jarred making his way down the hall. He smiled at her sleepily. "Will you take her downstairs for me?" Jordan asked him holding out Maddyn who immeadiately reached for the familiar face.

"Jarred!" She giggled. He reached out and took her from Jordan nodding. Who figured it was too early for his brain to form words and giggled lightly to herself.

"There are pancakes in the oven, give her one and cut it up. and please no syrup she just had a bath." Jordan instructed him, he nodded again and started down the stairs. She turned and went to wake Kennedy up. Jordan walked into her room, careful to step around the creaky part of the floor. He had moved again and now was back on the other side of the bed. She smiled to herself and went to lay down beside him. She scooted over so their faces were close together. "Kennedy" she said softly.

"mmmm" he mumbled.

"Kennedy wake up." Jordan sing songed.

"Why?" he asked not opening his eyes.

"I made pancakes." she smiled as his eyes opened.

"really?" he questioned her.

"yes, really!" She assured him.

"How long ago?" he asked her.

"about 30 minutes ago, why?" She asked looking at him curiously.

"that means they are already gone" He said pouting.

"Well I'm sorry, I guess the early pat gets the pancakes" She joked, which made him smile again. She loved his smile.

They sat there for a few minutes in a comfortable silence, just smiling at each other. "I'm really going to miss you Jordy." Kennedy said his smile fading a little.

"yeah, I'm going to miss you too Kenny." She said, her smile fading as well.

"I missed you so much. I just don't want to leave again" he complained.

"I know. I missed you too. It took you coming back for me to realize that." Jordan admitted mostly to herself.

"Promise me right now that you will email, call, text. or in some way talk to me every day." He instructed sternly.

"Kennedy I promise!" She said confidently knowing that was a promise she could keep without a problem.

"Good" he said the smile reappearing on his face, "now about Maddyn."

"what about Maddyn?" she interrupted, giving him a confused look.

"I want a picture of her at least once a week, and I want to talk to her on the phone too sometimes," he said looking serious again.

"Alright" She sighed. He stopped talking and was still giving Jordan a serious look. They laid there some more without talking. Kennedy studying Jordan’s face intently. Jordan’s face blank, not knowing exactly which emotion to show.
"Jordan, Do you miss him?" he asked bluntly. She knew who he was talking about. He was talking about Carter.

"Yeah I do," She admitted truthfully, " but I miss him more as Maddyn's dad then as my Boyfriend," Kennedy gave her a confused look, " I fell out of love with Carter a little while before the accident. Things had been shaky with our relationship and at the time I didn't know why, because I was so sure that we were going to get married and have the perfect little family, that I wouldn't admit it to myself. Now looking back I realized that what was happening was that I was falling out of love with Carter. I mean even if he hadn't of died that night. I don't think it would have ever worked out. Which has helped me come to peace with the fact that he's not here anymore. I miss him most for Maddyn because she's going to have to grow up without a dad. I just feel like she's already going to have a screwed up life with a teen mom and now she's not going to have a dad either. I hate it for her more than I hate the fact that my boyfriend died. I guess that sounds weird and there's no way I can fully explain it but I didn't love Carter so I guess it might have been hard at first but I've gotten used to life with him gone. I've gotten used to the fact that he's never coming back and I can deal with it now." She tried to honestly explain her feelings without completely diminishing Carter’s memory since he had been Kennedy’s best friend.

"You're strong you know that." He said, "A lot of people wouldn't admit that they're okay with losing some one like that because it seems wrong to be okay with something so horrible, people will try to make you feel like you have to live in misery forever, but you know it's not the way it has to be. It takes a very strong person to admit that they can be happy after something terrible happens, you amaze me" He said looking at her and smiling sweetly. Jordan blushed and tears threatened the corners of her eyes. "come here" he said placing his arm around her and pulling her closer to him. He moved his arm after a little while and said, " we need to get downstairs probably." He said getting up off the bed. He turned to look at Jordan, "or else ... 'people will say we're in love!" he sang the last part which made Jordan laugh. It was a line from Oklahoma, Jordan’s favorite musical, She had made them all watch it with her one night and they never ceased to mock it. But when she really thought about it. Would it be so bad if people thought there was something between her and Kennedy? Could there be something between her and Kennedy? Right then she knew she was going to have to find out, just simply because she wanted to know, was it true that your best friend is the one you’re destined to be with?