When the time is near

 "I didn't want to bother you about this," Jay started. Although, Ivy was still on the subject of what he was feeding baby Hope, food from the table no less.

She was in a stomp and wouldn't even listen to what he had to say. He was at Ivy and Dan's in the livingroom

"OK, I get it." Jay looked at her wide-eyed and then looked over at Hope in the walker, something he would never do. He thought Hope should figure out to walk on her own. It was too early to just stick her in a baby walker, but he wasn't going to bring it up. Instead, he went to pick her up and she was happy he did.

"This..this is about Lenny."

Finally, Ivy was silent. He could tell she didn't want to talk about him. She would never really tell Jay what happened when she was with him, but he knew if it hadn't been for Ivy, Lenny would have never been arrested and Jay might never be set free.

"Lenny got away."

She stared at him closed mouth and sat down on the couch as if she might be ill.

"A friend told a friend that..that he was out of jail," Jay hugged the baby even more. He certainly didn't want Lenny to do anything to baby Hope nor Ivy. "So..I googled it. He escaped."

Of course, it hadn't been on the news, but then again, he didn't watch the news, and he could see Ivy didn't either.

"I figured he'd do something like that," she barely said under her breath. 

"I know..I know you can't put your life on hold. I don't expect you to. It's just maybe.... maybe I shouldn't have Hope for a while. You know, until this blows over."

"She might be twenty-one, by then." Ivy snapped. She looked at him as if nothing was going to change their world. Not even a renegade like Lenny.

Jay was closed-lipped.

"I didn't let him hurt Hope last time. I won't let him this time either." Even when she said it, he knew her words were nervous.

"I won't stop hating him, Jay." Ivy shook her head no, as she swelled a frown. "I thought he killed you."

A chill ran through Jay. Tears emerged. He didn't know. She'd never talked about Lenny until now and it made Jay cringe. He gave the baby back to Ivy.