What If? (P1) || Jake / Reader || Draft

Drafting

As you slowly open your eyes, you are greeted by the soft light filtering in through the curtains.

You turn your head and see Jake is sleeping soundly next to you, his chest rising and falling gently with each breath. He has his face smooshed so tightly into his pillow, it's a wonder he can breathe at all.

The bed is so comfortable since Jake put new sheets on yesterday, and it's so soft against your skin.

Despite everything going on — It is a beautiful morning, and you feel grateful for this moment of peace and happiness. No matter how short it may last.

For right now, it's just the two of you.

You scoot over in the bed, and kiss along his shoulder while wrapping an arm around his waist.

He startles a bit, but exhales slowly as he realizes where he is and what's happening.

"Bad dream?" You ask him.

He groans his answer, and hardly moves further as you squeeze your arms against him.

"I'm sorry. I know you and Tsu'tey are working over time to get enough done before we finally set off."

That's what finally gains his attention, and he turns over to face you - before placing his hand on the side of your face and kissing your forehead.
 
He's worried and stressed beyond anything, and you hardly blame him. Everyone thought there would be more time, even Norm was really hoping on two or three years out.. and he's the skeptical one.

"You said before that you fought while pregnant, didn't you?"

And although he's merely curious or getting the facts straight, you know where this sort of conversation leads.
   "We didn't know I was. My avatar had to be kept out by Hometree, and when she was closer we stuck to training. I still had my IUD in as well on this body."

"How far along?"

"I don't remember. Pretty early on with this one, and I wasn't yet showing on the avatar."

"Was it really that hard handling both at once?"

"It could have been better, I'm sure. It's not like either of us were seasoned in the whole parenting thing, let alone had long term role models to go off of."

"How so?"

"Last time we did this, I didn't transfer like you did. You went through it when Da'mik was still a baby. You were ready to go through with it as soon as the war was over, and I'll always support you in it. I was never against that."

"How did it make it more complicated?"

"I had to be with Da'mik to breastfeed and care for him for the first few months. We couldn't give him a mask until he was maybe four months?
   And I couldn't stay over night in our hut with our Navi children, anytime the avatar fell asleep I'd unlink and have to come right back here. I was exhausted having to stay awake all the time.
   You were able to wake up and still be there, or have your conscious there if the kids needed to wake you for something. We tried our best to trade off or schedule nights together, and we did make it work — just not without a lot of hiccups along the way."

"Why not transfer with me when I did?"

"Because I had two children to breastfeed. Spider lacked a lot of nutrients, so he benefited from when I gave his foster parents bags of it... and he's only .. well .. was maybe.. ten months older than Da'mik? I can't remember."

"Why not transfer after they were done breastfeeding?"

"I couldn't bring myself to. I felt like I was abandoning Da'mik if I did. He had spider.. but.. I don't know. I wanted to show him he could be human and be just fine. It's like I had something to prove to myself and him."