January 1st,

It was a new year and Jessica was ready for a good start. Her year ended pretty well with the new house, getting married, and the crazy holiday madness. It was all starting to slow down now which gave Jessica lots of time to prepare for Jack's second birthday.

Jessica couldn't believe that her little baby was already two. Jessica missed out on his first birthday so she wanted to make this year extra special for him even though he wouldn't really know the difference.

Jessica had been exhausted from the holidays. She was trying to make up for lost time since there was no Christmas or New Years for Jessica last year.

Sam saw Jessica putting a lot of pressure on herself to make everything perfect these last few months. He didn't want her to put too much stress on herself.

"Thank goodness I was able to get out to the store before everything closes! You know, New Year's Day is just like any other day, honestly." Jessica says spreading out all of the party decorations on the counter

Sam sat at the island table in the kitchen and took his glasses off to look at all of the things she bought.

"Wow honey. This is a lot. I'm pretty sure our wedding had less decorations than this." He kids

"Haha, very funny. Jack's birthday is going to be very special." Jessica smiles big

"Jessica, you know, you don't have to stress out over this party. Anything will put a smile on his face." Sam says to her

"Oh I know, but I was at my death bed last year for his birthday. His brother and sister always get fun parties, why can't he?" Jessica pouts

"That's not what I'm saying, baby. I'm saying, don't stress."

"I'm not, Sam. I'm perfectly fine."

Sam sighs and goes back to work.

"What do you think about matching shirts for everyone?" Jessica says checking things off her list

"Definitely not. I don't even think Danny would be down for that."

"Oh damn it! I forgot to pick up my kids!" Jessica says running out of the house

Sam watches Jessica scurry out of the house and let's out a deep breath.

//-//

"Sorry I'm late!" Jessica says walking into Danny's. It was her day to have the kids.

"It's okay, they are packed!" Danny says loading up the car.

"Make sure you're at my house by twelve on Jack's birthday, okay?" Jessica says

"About that..." Danny says

Jessica pauses and turns to Danny. "What? You're going to miss your son's birthday?" Jessica huffs

"No... but, I was wondering if I could just bring him to your house at two when the party starts. I wanted to take him for the morning."

Jessica wanted to be the good co-parent and say yes, but not this time.

"Absolutely not! You know how long I've been planning this! God you've been helping me. What are you going to do in the morning with him? Nothing will be open." Jessica says sternly

Danny had something he really wanted to tell Jessica, but was afraid. He had been waiting for so long.

Jessica turns to Danny and looks into his nervous eyes.

"What?" She says crossing her arms

"I'm seeing this girl. And I thought for Jack's birthday I could take her and the kids out. She's met them a few times and wanted to give Jack a gift." Danny says quickly

"Why are you telling me like a scared puppy? Just bring her!" Jessica says

"Really?"

"Yes, the more the better. Besides, if the kids like her and know her, why not?"

Danny was relieved that Jessica was so willing to invite his new girlfriend to a family function.

//-//

Jack's birthday:

Jessica let Jack sleep in a bit this morning so he was ready and energized for his big day. The twins were already up, bathed, and fed. Jessica sat upstairs in her bed with Jack and watched his little body sleep. She couldn't stop staring at him and how beautiful he was.

It  was getting close to nine so Jessica started to caress his cheeks and wake him up. His little blue eyes started to blink and Jessica greeted him with the biggest smile.

"Hi birthday boy..." Jessica says softly

Jack gives Jessica a smile and reaches for her. "Mama." He says

Jessica picks him up and hugs him tightly. "It's your birthday today, lovey! You're two! Show me how many fingers that is!" Jessica smiles

Jack puts up two fingers and looks around. He always wanted his big siblings when he woke up. Sure enough they were outside of the room waiting.

"Is he up?" Sam says

"Yes" Jessica whispers

Sam, Scarlett, and Wyatt come into the room with balloons for the little guy and sing happy birthday. Jack didn't really know what was going on, but it was fun for everyone else.

"Jack is going to be big like us soon." Wyatt says proudly

"He is... can you believe your little brother is two?" Jessica says

"He's bigger than me!" Scarlett giggles

Sam takes Jack from Jessica's hands and gives him
A big kiss. "Hey little guy, happy birthday!" Sam smiles

//-//

Danny got to Jessica's at twelve, as instructed to help get ready and to spend some one on one time with him before everyone showed up.

Jessica got ready and was getting nervous meeting Danny's new girlfriend. She wasn't jealous in any way, just anxious to see who she was. Danny just brought her up, so Jessica was curious.

"Daddy!" Scarlett runs to the door to greet her dad who had some gifts in his hand and his girlfriends hand in his other.

Jessica stood at the door and looked up the woman up and down. She was a short Burnett girl dressed in lots of colors. She looked a bit older than Jessica and pretty corky. The exact opposite of what Jessica had envisioned.

Sam comes up next to Jessica and was just as much taken back as her when he saw the woman.

"Hey, this is Mandy. Mandy, meet Jessica and Sam." Danny says

Jessica puts on a smile and gives Mandy a hug. "Hi Mandy, it's nice to meet you. Thanks for coming today." Jessica says

"Thank you for having me. I'm glad I get to celebrate your little guys birthday with you all. I've heard so much about you." She says sweetly

"Scarlett, Wyatt, are you going to say hi to Mandy?" Danny says to the twins

Scarlett and Wyatt hide behind Sam's leg, a little bit shy.

"You guys, you're never this shy." Sam says

"Well, come on in, Mandy. You're luckily here before the storm. We have lots of people coming today. Danny's family, mine, and Sam's. It's going to be lots of fun." Jessica says. She leads them into the living area. Mandy looks the house up and down then back at Jessica with the biggest smile

"You're house is so beautiful!" Mandy smiles

"Give him all the credit." Jessica says to Sam

"Haha, well, we both worked on the inside." Sam chuckles

"Jessica, you're an interior designer, right?"

"Yeah! I am!" Jessica smiles

"I need someone to redo my living room. It's terrible. Ask Danny here." Mandy giggles

Danny gives an awkward smile and turns the other way.

"Oh, and there's the birthday boy!" Danny says running over to pick up Jack

Danny brings back over to Mandy and she gives him a hug and kiss on the cheek.

Jessica's eyes twitched a bit, seeing another woman do that to her kids. Give them all kinds of kisses and hugs.

"You guys made the most beautiful children." Mandy says as the four adults sit down in the living room.

"Oh, well thank you." Jessica giggles

"They're the best, aren't they?" Sam says to Mandy

"Yeah. Jack looks just like you." Mandy says to Jessica

Jessica didn't think it would be as awkward and uncomfortable as it is for Danny's new girlfriend to be at the house. She had a compliment after compliment which Jessica appreciated but didn't really know how to respond to after a while.

Then, the oven timer went off.

"Oh! I'll go get that! Sam, did you want to go get Jack into his clothes? He can't be in a diaper forever." Jessica smiles

"Of course babe."

"Oh, I can do that." Danny says

Jessica turns back to Danny and gives him a soft smile. He knew that he was doing that so Jessica had more time to get to know Mandy. While he was gone, Mandy talked Jessica and Sam's ears off.

//-//

By three everyone was at the house celebrating. Jessica had all of her attention on Jack throughout the day. So far everything was perfect. Some times Jessica would take quick glances at Mandy. She was very strange to Jessica. She just fit in perfectly, but something about her didn't seem like she was for Danny.

While Jessica was entertaining, her sisters pulled her aside, away from everyone.

"Who is Danny with?" Ann asks

Jessica giggles and looks at Mandy. "Mandy, Danny's lady friend." Jessica whispers

"You let him invite a girl over?" Jane exclaims

"No, I invited her. She's very..."

"Corky." Sarah finishes Jessica sentence

"Yeah, corky. But, she's nice. She's filled with compliments." Jessica giggles

"Oh, she's that kind of woman." Jane rolls her eyes

"Go easy, guys. Danny deserves someone. I can tell that the twins are a little shy in front of her though." Jessica says staring at Mandy

Then, Mandy turns around and sees Jessica, Sarah, Ann, and Jane staring at her. They all try to look away to play it cool but Mandy heads on over.

"Jessica, this party is great!" Mandy gleams

"I'm glad you're having fun." Jessica says

"So is the birthday boy I think. Danny seems to be having fun with him." She smiles

"I'm Ann." Ann says introducing herself

"Oh Mandy I'm sorry. These are my sisters Jane and Ann. Then our best friend Sarah."

They all greet Mandy. It got very awkward and quite.

"Well, I need to go find my husband so we can sing happy birthday, excuse me." Jessica says

She quickly walks away and finds Sam who was hanging out with his friends.

"Sam, this Mandy lady is just..." Jessica says stressing out

"What's wrong?" He says

"She's just weird!" Jessica sighs

Sam chuckles and gives Jessica a side hug. "She's a little fire cracker!" Sam says tickling Jessica

"Hey!" She smiles

"Don't worry about Mandy. You've been stressed about this party and you deserve to have a nice time and let her be. As overly kind as she may be." Sam smiles giving her a kiss

//-//

Around night time people were starting to leave. Jessica ended up putting Jack down. He was so tired and had a long fun day.

Since everyone was leaving, it was time for Mandy and Danny to go too. Jessica was relieved for her to go. She was very nice, but overly nice.

"Jessica, I wrote down my number. Danny gave me yours if that's okay. Maybe I'll call you sometime this week and we can get to know each other!" Mandy smiles

It seemed odd to Jessica that Mandy was so eager to get to know Jessica. But she played along and put a smile on her face.

"Okay." Jessica says

"Thanks for coming guys." Sam says

"It was a great party Jessica. I can't believe the little guy is two!" Danny says

"I know. Time flies." Jessica sighs

//-//