She held the World -Kayden-

[theo22]

Work was exhausting. And it seemed it was never over. Even now, as one a.m. started to roll around, he sat at his desk with only the desk lamp for light, the smell of coffee searing his nose. His tongue barely tasted the acrid liquid at this point, the tips of his taste buds burned away. Though Jared was not getting the usual pleasure he got from his Colombian brew, sleepiness did not touch him. Exhaustion? Sure. He was certainly sick of staring at all these numbers and figures. But sleep did not beckon his body.

Setting down the pencil, Jared rubbed the bridge of his nose, a heavy sigh exhaling out of him. Stupid taxes. Didn't he have people to do this sort of stuff for him? But as that thought escaped, so did a dry chuckle. Of course he had people. He also had an appendix, didn't mean he used it. No. No one could be trusted with this sort of stuff, but him. It was the foundation of his business, his career, his life. It couldn't be handed over willy-nilly-like to whoever thought they could juggle some numbers. No. If a mistake was going to be made, it would be made by Jared. And Jared never made business mistakes, and thus doing this himself gave him no reason to be concerned. No added stress.

Resting his chin in his hand, Jared pondered stress. His stress, personally. The purging of dead weight at work, the hiring of newer talent, various upgrades he was budgeting in. And home. Home. A wedding to plan, a baby to worry about, a fiance to support. Had someone asked Jared a year or so ago if this is where he saw himself, he'd have laughed in their face right there.

But... but the stress was worth it, right? The squeeze was worth the juice. Right? Shit, he shouldn't contemplate shit so late. Early. Early-late. Okay, seriously? What did it matter if he thought one am was early or late. Honestly, it wasn't either! Jared was a night owl, this was his idea of evening. Just, ever the little hedonist, he'd much rather be doing something fun than work. But, alas, one must solider on. Picking up the pencil, he took another drink of his steadily-growing-colder-coffee, and looked back at the books. Jared was determined to get this done, and when he decided something, it happened, dammit.

[KAYDEN MACKENZIE]

Kayden had gone to bed early that night- she'd been exhausted after everything that day. She'd had a doctor's appointment that morning, then she'd spent the rest of the day trying to help Jared out by cleaning up the apartment and then organizing everything backstage at Sahara. Costumes were sorted and put away, makeup was organized into shades and types, and the place was just all-over cleaned up.

With that done, she'd gone to work taking calls and making appointments for girls' auditions, even though she hated doing that. Every girl that auditioned was another girl that Jared was watching, though most of the time they didn't bother her. Except for one of them in particular. Ziva was her name- or something like that. She reminded Kayden far too much of herself. A brunette version of herself.

Still, that wasn't important right then. Jared was her fiance, she was pregnant with his baby, and they were getting married in less than a year. She loved him, and he loved her.

At about 1 in the morning, Kayden rolled over, surprised when she felt the other side of the bed and found nothing but cold sheets. Jared still hadn't come to bed. She looked over to the doorway, yawning and rubbing her eyes as they adjusted to the dark of the room.

Pulling the blankets off of her, she slipped out of bed quietly, making her way toward Jared's desk in the other room. She slipped up behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders from behind kissing him on the cheek, "Are you alright, Love? It's late.... I thought you would have come to bed hours ago..." She rest her chin on his shoulder, looking over at him as she waited for his answer.

[theo22]

Scratching his thick, black, hair with his pencil, Jared tried to focus. What were the things that were considered deductible business expenses... Promotion, Utilities, Security, Insurance, Tacos sound amazing right now, Employee benefit programs, with hot sauce, Maintenance and repairs, or really anything spicy, Professional development and training, he hadn't had something spicy in awhile, Equipment rentals, someone was kissing his cheek-

Snapping out of his daze, Jared looked curiously at the woman next to him. Kayden... what was she doing up this late? Early. Fuckit. At any rate, he knew what her prerogative was almost immediately, as she inquired as to why he was still up. "Oh, just getting some work done." He said, setting down the pencil. Perhaps he should go to sleep. But he was half done, and he honestly didn't want to deal with this tomorrow. But a small break, most certainly, could be afford. Grinning at her, Jared set down his pencil. "What are you doing up? It's late, you know." He laughed, rotating his chair to look at her.

He knew why she was up. Because he was up. It was strange, attempting to shift his schedule to better suit another person. Sighing, his face lost the appearance of jest, though he smiled still. "Babe, you had a long day. Go on back to bed. I'll be along soon..." Ish. Soon-ish. It totally counted. He just needed to get this work done. And maybe run out for a taco... or maybe he had stuff to make tacos. Though, he could just wait til morning for tacos. Trying to get his mind out of his stomach, he looked up, earnestly at Kayden. "Really, I'm half done anyways. You should be resting..."

[KAYDEN MACKENZIE]

Kayden smiled a bit at Jared's response, turning it around on her. She was pregnant- wasn't she allowed to wake up at erratic times? Though now that she thought about it, she realized that she was up because she needed something to eat. Something sweet. Or salty. Or both. Something.

She unwrapped her arms from around his shoulders as he spun, moving instead to put her hands on the arms of the chair so she leaning over and at eye level with him. "You, Mr. Carson, work way too much." She leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips, "Besides. It's about time you took a break anyways. You've been working on that for hours."

As she pulled back, she drifted toward the kitchen, "I'll go to bed.... Right after you come in here and at least get something to drink. " She tossed a smile back over her shoulder before ducking into the kitchen and heading straight for the fridge. She wasn't sure what she was craving, but she knew she needed something. She dug a bit and found some leftover chinese food, but pushed that aside, deciding it wasn't what she wanted. She grabbed a couple other containers, sniffing them and putting them back as she decided they weren't going to work.

Finally, she closed the fridge again, "Do you think they can deliver tacos? And Pina Coladas? Virgin, of course. But still." With a smile, she put her hand on her belly, leaning back against the counter, "She's hungry." She rubbed her belly a moment, the 'baby bump' peeking out from the bottom hem of the t-shirt where it had pulled up from the top of her pajama shorts. "I think it's going to happen a lot more now that it's later in the pregnancy. She's bigger and is going to need more food now."

With a small smile, she moved over to hug onto Jared, wrapping her arms around him and then resting her head on his chest.

[theo22]

He was honestly use to being told he worked to much. By, basically, everyone. The first to arrive in the office, the last to leave. It's just how it's always been. To picture it another way was... alien. Still, he couldn't help his usual cocky smirk, as Kayden leaned forward, their lips touching. She was... God, she was beautiful. Instantly words synonymous with Kayden began to trickle through his mind. Pretty, graceful, sweet. He watched her slip away, deciding a small break for food wasn't such a terrible idea. Pulling himself away, he conceded, walking to the kitchen.

Leaning against the counter, he watched as she moved from food hidey hole, to food hidey hole. Much like he expected, she had found nothing that looked appealing. A small laugh escaped Jared, when Kayden asked for tacos. It's like she knew, in a strange way. "I don't know about a pina colada, to be honest..." He chuckled, watching her rub her protruding abdomen from the corner of his eye. "But... I'm sure we can make due..." Rubbing the back of his neck, Jared turned away, taking his cell phone from the counter and dialing the number to the local take out place.

To be honest, Jared still wasn't completely comfortable. Not that he wasn't... a little excited. After all, he had created something. Someone. But, Jared's knowledge of babies was limited, to say the least. After all, babies, for the longest time, was what he was avoiding. And he had taken precautions. And now that this was here, it was not regret that filled him, but fear. And, dammit, Jared just did not wear fear well. With the food securely on the way, he looked for a way to quench her cravings. He might be basically useless in the realms of pregnancy, but he could make a damn tasty pina colada. Coconut, ice, crushed pineapples. Deftly, he dropped the ingredients in his blender, his focus seeming to be enveloped.

But his mind ventured elsewhere. Marriage, family, child. Children? Oh dear, he hadn't quite thought of that. Did Kayden want more? What did Kayden want out of life? He looked over at her, a small smile on his face, as he poured the smoothed blender contents into a cup for her. "Whatever love wants, love gets." He said, kissing her on the forehead, leaning against the counter. He was just worrying too much. His brain was in analytical mode, and Jared was trying to sort things into a box. Whatever happened, happened.

[KAYDEN MACKENZIE]

Kayden made a little pouty face as Jared said that he wasn't sure they could deliver a pina colada. She started to rummage around in the cabinets then, looking for a can of crushed pineapple and a can of coconut cream. They had to have some somewhere, right? Those were things that normal people kept in their kitchens, right? It seemed perfectly logical to her, but then again, she was pregnant and who knew what that was doing to her thinking processes. She certainly didn't know- she hadn't been pregnant before. This was all a new experience for her, just like it was for Jared. Who knew what was going to happen.

She paused in her search, closing a cabinet to look over at Jared as he said they could make do. Of course they could. Jared knew where things were. She leaned against the counter for a moment as she watched Jared call out for tacos, and once he was finished, she moved to stand behind him, her arms wrapped around his chest as he started dumping things into the blender. He certainly seemed to know his way around the kitchen better than she did. Then again, she hadn't been living there as long as he had.

Pulling back, Kayden moved to sit on the counter, her bare feet swinging a bit in an idle fashion, waiting. She watched Jared, wondering what he could be thinking about. She knew he had his reservations about the baby and everything. Kayden herself was terrified. Not so much about actually being pregnant- just that she might do something wrong and mess things up for the child. She was just fine with children, she had always babysat kids when she was younger, but this.... This was different. She was excited, and frightened, and completely at a loss for once.

At least Jared was back, so she wouldn't have to go through all of this alone. And hey, he knew how to make a pina colada at 1 in the morning. It was a good arrangement. He seemed so flustered all the time when it came to the pregnancy, but she figured that he was probably just as confused as she was.

She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to imagine what their daughter would look like. Big blue eyes, dark brown hair... She finally opened her eyes to look over at Jared as he handed her the drink, sliding off the counter as he kissed her on the forehead, "Thanks, Love. You're the best." She took a sip of the drink and sighed happily, "This is perfect." She then smiled, "Promise me something though, okay?" She took another drink of the frozen beverage, "Let's wait before having any more kids? I don't think the city could possibly have enough supplies to make the pina coladas to get me through a second pregnancy." Okay, so she was kidding about the pina colada supplies, but she was serious about the waiting. She wasn't really even sure she was ready for the first one, but she knew she wasn't ready to have a big family.