"James, please go and get dressed!"

"Ava, honey, have you got your lunch?"

"Jessie, you're not doing your homework now! Is that due for today?"

"James, for heaven's sake, go and get dressed!"

"Ava, you've got to take a sandwich."

"Jess, they're never going to be ready on time," Liv said, exasperated.

"Honey, they still have half an hour until we need to leave. They'll be ready," Jess reassured her.

And he was right. Sure, Jessica hadn't done any of her homework, James had noticeably odd socks on and Ava hadn't taken a sandwich after all, but they were ready and at school on time. Just about.

As soon as they were gone, Liv slumped in the car, "whoever thought having three kids is a good idea needs to get in touch with me and soon."

"What do you think about 4 kids?" Jess asked.

Liv began to laugh loudly, but stopped when she realised that Jess wasn't laughing too, "you're not serious?"

"I am. I want another kid," Jess said, and Liv sighed when she realised he was serious.

"Jess, we can barely handle 3, we both have jobs, we'd need a bigger house, and I can hardly look after myself anymore: I haven't washed my hair in 5 days, for goodness sake, we can't have another child," she said, slightly hysterically.

She felt a twinge of guilt in her stomach as she saw Jess' face fall in disappointment slightly, but remained stubborn, "let's just go home, babe. I'm meeting Tris and Hayley at 11."

———————————————

Liv hurried into the diner and saw her friends sat in the corner waiting for her, "hey, you two!"

"Liv," Hayley smiled, standing up.

"How are you both?" She smiled at them.

"We're great, actually," Tris told her.

Hayley had not long ago recovered from cancer. It hadn't looked good for her, but they found a new kind of treatment and wanted her to trial it for them — luckily it worked. Last year, after her recovery, they both moved to New York, but came back to visit all the time.

"How are you? How are those little kids of yours? I bet they're getting big now," Hayley smiled.

"Oh, tell me about it, I bet they'll all be taller than me before they're 10," Liv said, sipping a coffee that they'd bought for her before she arrived.

"Well that's not really hard, is it?" Tris teased her.

"Haha," Liv stuck her tongue out at him, "actually, Jess told me he wants another kid this morning."

"You do make gorgeous kids," Hayley shrugged.

"But...I don't want another!" Liv exclaimed, slightly too loud, making people look at her.

Luke looked up too, from the counter, "I hope that's coffee you're on about there."

"Of course it's not, Luke," Liv grinned at him, before turning back to her friends and talking quieter, "but seriously, guys, I don't want another kid...you should've seen Jess' face when I said no."

"Well, at the end of the day it should be a joint decision," Hayley told her, "and you do seem to have your hands full."

"Exactly! I can't even have a wee in peace anymore, and I'd have to stop working again and I don't want that."

"Well, you and Jess need to talk through it properly, if he's completely serious," Hayley told her.

"I know, I know," Liv sighed.

——————————————————

Jess was at home getting some work done, until he was interrupted by the house phone ringing.

"Hello?" He said, tiredly.

"Hello, Jess."

"Emily," he said, shocked, "erm, Liv's not here at the minute."

"That's fine, I can talk to you instead," she said. Jess swore he could hear her smiling, but dismissed the thought quickly, "Richard and I...actually, no. First of all I'd like to apologise to you. I know I was unnecessarily unkind towards you and I shouldn't have been. I've been thinking and I know how happy you make Olivia and your children. And I think that's more than enough reason to accept you, don't you?"

Jess was taken aback, "thank you, Emily. Believe me, I know I'm not good enough for Olivia, too. But her and the kids...they're my world."

"I understand that, Jess. Richard and I would like you, Olivia and the children to come over this week, a do over of last week, if you will," Emily asked, "on Friday evening, of course."

"I'm not sure, Emily," Jess said, naturally hesitant.

"Jess," she hesitated this time, "don't say anything to Olivia, please, but...Richard," her voice cracked, "Richard's ill and it's serious. We need to tell everyone at the same time. Please, Jess. Please come."

Jess put his head in his free hand, "okay, Emily, we'll be there."

"Thank you," she said.

"I'm sorry about Richard," Jess told her.

"There's nothing anyone can do," Emily said, audibly trying to regain her composure, "I'm glad we've sorted things out, Jess. I'll see you on Friday."

With that, Emily hung up, and Jess sat back at the table. Liv was not going to be happy.

When she arrived a few hours later, she sat at the table with Jess.

"So, we still have 2 more hours until the kids finish school. Wanna go upstairs and make the most of it?" Liv grinned at him.

"But I didn't think you want another kid?" He asked, his eyes lighting up for a second.

Liv looked down, "I don't, but that doesn't mean we have to stop having sex, does it?"

"No, no of course it doesn't," Jess said, "I need to talk to you first, though."

Liv walked around the table and sat on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck loosely, "can't it wait?"

She gently kissed his jaw, making him close his eyes.

"I'll tell you later," he said, picking her up and carrying her upstairs.

Annnnnd an update! Just want to say thank you so so much for 100k reads on this story, I hope you're all still enjoying it! As I said on We're Crazy, I'm also writing a new story about Queen, about Roger Taylor, after I had a dream about him (the first chapter is based on that dream, it was very weird!) I'm really excited about that story, so go and check it out, even if you aren't a fan of Queen (crazy people)! I know I say this on every chapter, but I'm going to try to update more. Life's a bit busier at the moment, as I'm one of the unlucky year 13s in England, but I promise I'll try! Love you all xoxo