Before they knew it, an entire week had passed. Things had become marginally better Pam, due to the fact that her mom had flown into town the day before. Jim was having a horrific time at work, he wasn‘t eating, and couldn‘t sleep at night. The combination of all those things was taking its toll on him, and he found himself spending more and more time on the phone with Pam, because those were the only times he felt happiness.

It was Tuesday and Jim was wide awake laying in bed at 3am, after trying to force himself to sleep for the two hours since he’d gotten off the phone with Pam. He flipped on the TV to see if he could find some stupid show to watch to bore him to sleep, settling on a rerun of Seinfeld. He settled back into bed to let the mindless humor fill his troubled mind.

After 20 minutes his eyelids started to get heavy and his breathing steadied, and he was just drifting off to sleep when his cell phone starting blaring on his nightstand. He jerked awake, jumped out of bed and grabbed the phone as a rush of panic settled in as he looked at the caller ID-”Home”. He flipped it open to hear hysterics coming from the other end.

“Pam! What’s wrong?!” He could hear Jackson screaming in the background.

“Jackson’s hysterical and I can’t get him to stop! Jim, I can’t calm him down, he keeps asking for you, and I can’t make him understand where you are. Oh God, I don’t know what to do, he won’t stop crying!” Pam was almost as hysterical as Jackson, managing to scramble her words out between sobs . “Can you talk to him, I don’t know what else to do! Mom and I have been rocking him for the last half hour, but he just keeps getting more upset!”

Jim was out of bed, furiously pacing the floor as Pam spoke. He settled down on the edge of the bed with his head down above his knees, trying to wipe away the tears that were now freely flowing down his cheeks.

“Oh Pam. I’m sorry. Yeah, put him on the phone, I’ll see what I can do.”

The hysterical sobs got louder as Pam handed the phone over to her mom, as she held it to Jackson’s ear.

“Daa” Hiccup “addy!” Hiccup. “Daddy!”

“Hey buddy. Jackson, what’s the matter?”

“Daddy…” Hiccup. “I had” Hiccup “a bad” Hiccup “dream!” His howling had ceased, but he was still crying loudly.

“You had a bad dream about daddy?”

“Yeah!” Hiccup. Sob.

“It’s going to be OK, Jackson. Daddy’s going to be home soon. I’m coming back, do you understand that, buddy?”

“I miss” Hiccup “you, daddy!” Sob.

“I know, I miss you too, but I’d never leave you, Jackson. Daddy’s coming home soon, and daddy needs you to understand that.”

His howling was picking up again. Clearly this wasn’t working and Jim decided to try something else.

“Hey Jackson, do you remember what daddy told you we‘d do when I got back home?”

That caught Jackson’s attention. “Yeah. Put the basketball hoop up.” He sniffed.

“Yeah! Do you know why we’re going to put the basketball hoop up?”

“No.” Sniff.

“’Cause daddy’s going to teach you how to play basketball! Do you want daddy to teach you?”

“Yeah. Can we play with baby?” Jackson lovingly referred to his unborn little brother as ‘baby’.

“When baby gets older we can, but for now, it’s just you and me!”

“Can mommy play?” He heard Pam let out a chuckle in the background. Good, she wasn’t crying anymore either.

“Yeah, mommy can play, but she’s not very good.” Jackson laughed at Jim and turned to Pam.

“Daddy said you can’t play basketball with us, ‘cause you’re not very good.”

Jim and Pam laughed. Jim heard her say something, but was caught off guard when Jackson spoke again.

“Daddy, auntie Debbie says you have to be nice to everyone.”

Boy, they sure had a smart kid. “You’re right, Jackson. Daddy’s sorry, and I’ll make it up to mommy later. You know what, buddy?”

“What?”

“I love you because you’re always teaching me things. I love you, too, because you make mommy and daddy happy.”

“I love mommy and daddy because I get a little brother.” Oh, the simplicity of a child’s mind.

“Remember that I love you, and I’ll be home soon. You be good for mommy, little boy, and I’ll bring you back the best present you’ve every gotten before.”

“Really? I’ll be good, I promise!”

“Okay. I love you, Jackson.”

“I love you too, daddy.”

A happy and very sleepy Jackson passed the phone to Pam.

“You are amazing, Jim.” She said quietly.

“No, you’re the amazing one. You have to deal with this everyday while I’m on the other side of the country.”

“Thank you for talking to him, and I’m sorry to wake you.”

“Nah, I wasn’t asleep. Jackson’s not the only one who’s having a hard time sleeping.”

“Yeah, I know how you feel. Baby’s been awake all night too.”

“I guess our family wasn’t meant to be split up like this. None of us like it much.”

“Yeah. Only 3 more weeks left.”

“Only? I’m pretty sure this has been the longest week of my life. I miss you, Pam, and I don’t know what to do to make it better.”

“Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

They talked for a few more minutes before Jim’s body finally shut down, and he drifted off to sleep.

Pam rocked Jackson to sleep and finally fell asleep herself, all while wondering how she was going to make it 3 more long weeks.