Invisible String - Jake Sully

17

Jake turned to her and smiled gratefully.

"So I've heard that you have... an entanglement with Tawn'kiri?" Tonowari cleared his throat in apparent discomfort.

Tawn rolled her eyes at her brother-in-law.

Jake chuckled awkwardly since he noticed the calculating eyes of Ronal, "I'm courting her, yes."

"How long has this been going on?" Tonowari asked.

"Two weeks," Tawn joined, trying to lessen Jake's discomfort.

Ronal shifted in her seat, her eyes bearing into Jake, trying to gauge any uncertainty behind his eyes, "Jake, since I know your wife passed away a year ago, I need to make sure if you have any plan on making her your mate," she pressed.

Tawn looked down at their conjoined hands, waiting for his answer. She didn't know what she would do if he said no, that all their shared kisses and gentle touches were nothing more than a simple pastime for him.

"Yes, I am," he said firmly. "Ronal, Tonowari, I know you are very protective of Tawn. She does indeed deserve the best. But I promise you that I won't let harm get to her. I will protect her with my life, and if I ever make her eyes shine with tears of sadness because of me, I will come to both of you myself and take every punishment you'll give me."

Tawn looked at him with surprise and adoration.

"My children love her and consider her a part of the family. I won't lie to you, Neytiri, my old mate, will always have a special place in my heart. She was the mother of my children. We raised them together for years, but Tawn holds half of my soul in her hands. She can throw it away or even stomp on it. I would've accepted it because that's how much I feel for her," Jake ended his monologue, looking directly into Ronal's eyes, trying to convince her.

Tawn couldn't hold herself. She hugged him with all her might. She didn't know how she'd get so lucky with Jake.

"Don't cry, sweetheart," Jake whispered, rubbing his hand up and down her back.

Tonowari laughed loudly, "it was entertaining seeing the toruk makto sweat like that," he joked.

Ronal smiled softly at the new couple, "welcome to the family Jake," Ronal sang, waddling over to him and hugging the two tight.

Tawn grinned, she was glad she didn't have to hide her relationship with Jake from her family anymore. Ronal let them go and grinned at the couple, "I expect nieces and nephews soon." She teased, waddling back to Tonowari.

Tawn buried her head on Jake's toned chest, not wanting her sister to see how flustered she looked when talking about having kids with Jake. Jake just laughed and kissed the top of her head, "don't worry about that. We got all the time in the world," he smirked.

---

The next day, Tawn was spending her time with Jake and Tuk in his hut. Jake sat behind her, carving something, while Tawn played with Tuk's action figure.

"Ahh, no, don't eat me Toruk!" Tawn cried while moving the action figure in her hand.

"Hahaha, I will eat you for lunch, Tawnie," Tuk laughed menacingly, moving her Toruk's figure to 'attack' Tawn's figure.

Tawn let the figure drop from her hand, imitating its death, "oh no." she pouted.

Tuk giggled and flew around with her Toruk action figure, running towards her dad and back at Tawn, plopping on her lap, "When I grow up, I wanted to be Toruk Makto like dad," she said, playing with her action figure.

Tawn circled her arms around the little girl, "oh yeah?"

"Yes, I'm going to be a warrior," she grinned.