Italicize - someone's thoughts or a story from the past
Bold - sign language
Jake blankly stared at Ja'lia as her words rang through his ears.
"You and I are going to talk."
What could they possibly need to talk about? And why did they need to talk about it right at this second? He was already stressed out enough because Tonowari informed him that the Sky people were looking for him and his family. He didn't need whatever argument Ja'lia was trying to start.
But that's when it hit him.
Ja'lia was going to talk to him about Lo'ak. Of course, she would talk to him about Lo'ak because Jake ignored his son when Lo'ak was the first one to reach out after their heated argument. Jake internally grimaced when he realized that he was going to get yelled at for the second time that day.
The first person to yell at him was Neytiri, and boy did she go after him for hurting her baby boy's feelings. Neytiri was always extremely protective of her children. Anytime someone were to yell at them, and she didn't feel it was justified, all hell broke loose. In fact, Jake was surprised that he went as long as he did without getting reprimanded by Neytiri.
However, this would be the first time that Ja'lia would ever confront him about anything. Jake was hoping that he might be able to deter the conversation for a different day, but when he saw the determination in her eyes, his shoulders slightly slumped. Ja'lia was about to have her way with him, and he had no other choice but to allow her to.
"Okay, let's talk," Jake agreed, and Neytiri glanced between the two, wondering if she should leave to give them some privacy or stay to mediate and make sure it wasn't taken too far.
Neytiri decided it would probably be best to go with the second option.
The mother watched as Ja'lia walked further into the pod, and she could essentially feel the pulsating anger flowing off Ja'lia in waves. Neytiri wasn't sure if she'd ever seen Ja'lia this angry before, and she also knew that Ja'lia had an impressive hold on her emotions.
That's why Lo'ak and Ja'lia made sense.
She was calm and level-headed, while he was a loose canon waiting for someone to set him off. They balanced each other out.
When Ja'lia finally walked into the pod, she sat a few feet away from Jake to look him in the eye. Jake remained seated with an emotionless facial expression, while Ja'lia knew they could feel her anger.
Although, Ja'lia didn't want to go straight to yelling at Jake. She felt it was only fair to get both sides of the story, even though Jake's side didn't matter to her. Ja'lia didn't care what other obligations Jake had, Lo'ak was his child, and in her mind, children automatically trumped any other task that needed to be completed or dealt with.
A parent was supposed to do anything for their kid. They were supposed to love, cherish, and protect them, and Jake had slacked for far too long on almost all of those. Ja'lia would give him credit for protecting Lo'ak when he was in physical danger, but Jake was practically the reason his child had anxiety.
Hell, Ja'lia wouldn't be surprised if Neteyam or Kiri had anxiety, they were just better at hiding it while Lo'ak wasn't. But that's how he's always been. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and Lo'ak felt every emotion to the fullest.
Sometimes it was good, and sometimes it was bad.
As Ja'lia stared at Jake, she decided to take some deep breaths before speaking due to the fear that she would completely lose her cool.
After a couple of minutes, she finally spoke, "Why did you push Lo'ak aside when he came to talk to you? What was so important that you asked him to talk later, fully knowing that he wouldn't have to courage to come back and try again?" Ja'lia said, trying her best to keep an even tone.
Jake sighed at her questions, "I didn't mean to push him aside. I was busy. You know that we still have training," He explained, and Ja'lia blinked before bringing her finger up to clear her ears.
Did she hear that shit right? Did Jake seriously ask Lo'ak to talk later because he had to train? Jake couldn't have come up with a better excuse? Neytiri nudged her husband and shot him a glare.
If looks could kill, Jake would be dead and with Ewya right now.
"You ignored Lo'ak because we have training?" She asked, and Jake slowly nodded, causing Ja'lia to scoff, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Yes," Jake said.
"Do you want to have a relationship with Lo'ak after he's old enough to move out?" Ja'lia questioned.
"Of course, I want to have a relationship with Lo'ak," Jake exclaimed as if that was the most ridiculous thing he's heard all day.
"Then start acting like it," Ja'lia spit, causing Neytiri to slightly flinch at the harshness of her tone, "Do you know that Lo'ak thinks that you hate him? Do you know how much it hurts him to get yelled at by you? Have you ever held him while he cried himself to sleep? Because all he wants to do is impress you and live up to your ridiculously high standards?" She quickly listed off questions in hopes of getting a response, but Jake remained silent.
It honestly hurt Jake to hear Ja'lia ask those questions because even if they seemed far-fetched to Jake, he knew that what Ja'lia was saying was most likely the truth. Lo'ak did probably feel that Jake hated him, and Jake couldn't blame him for feeling the way he did. He knew he was way too hard on his children, especially Lo'ak.
The man was too afraid of losing his son, or any of his children for that matter. He didn't want anything bad to happen to him, so he thought that if he was hard on him, then he would never have to bury Lo'ak or Neteyam, the way he did his own brother and countless friends.
Jake was pulled from his thoughts when Ja'lia continued to scold him, "Do you know how heartbroken he was that you asked him to talk later?" Ja'lia asked, and Jake shook his head, causing the girl to scoff.
"I don't care what anyone says about Lo'ak. He is one of the most sensitive and caring boys I've met. He tries to be who you want him to be, but it's hard on him. Lo'ak is not Neteyam, and I'm sick and tired of you trying to make him be Neteyam." She said, pausing to see if Jake had anything to say.
When she saw that he didn't, she continued, "I'm so tired of you getting to say whatever you want while he has to sit back and take it. Then after you've had your way with him, I have to pick up the broken pieces. Over and over again, you've treated him like nothing but a nuisance, but he's always come right back because he loves you," Her voice cracked as she grew overwhelmed with her emotions.
"He loves you so much, and I've never once seen you put in much effort with him. Lo'ak worships you, but you don't seem to care. It's always about training and what they've accomplished. Is that how Lo'ak receives your love? Does he have to be the best to receive a single ounce of love or praise from you?" Ja'lia asked.
"No," Jake said.
"No to what?"
"No, he doesn't have to be the best to earn my love," He claimed.
"Well, it sure as hell feels like it. So, if he doesn't have to be the best to receive your love, then what does he have to do?" She questioned before cutting him off to say everything she needed to, "Because the last time I checked, it was your responsibility as his father to give him the utmost care and love. Lo'ak didn't ask to be born. You heard what he said. Sometimes he wished that he wasn't," Ja'lia said, throwing Lo'ak's words in his face.
Neytiri's lips parted at Ja'lia's words as she looked over at her husband, and Jake put his head down in shame. The man hadn't told her that part of the argument.
"What is she talking about?" Neytiri whispered as she felt her heart clench in pain. Jake lifted his head to see the tears forming in Neytiri's eyes, and he knew that he needed to explain, although Jake didn't know how he was going to without Neytiri losing it.
"When Lo'ak and I got into that fight, I compared him to Neteyam, and he got upset. Lo'ak looked so hurt. He said that he wasn't Neteyam and that he was sorry that he couldn't be the perfect son." Jake said, swallowing the lump in his throat, "Lo'ak said he was sorry he was born and most times he wished that he wasn't," He whispered, and Neytiri looked at her mate in horror.
"You will fix this," Neytiri gritted, and Jake immediately agreed with her words. He knew that he needed to talk to his son, and while Jake had been pushing it off because he hated confronting his feelings, it was time to get it over with.
Ja'lia was right.
If he wanted any semblance of a relationship with Lo'ak when he was older, then he needed to work on their relationship and push away his worries about the Sky people. Of course, the Sky people possibly finding them was still troublesome, but even the thought of losing Lo'ak tore his heart into two.
Jake took in a deep breath before speaking, "Lia, do you know where Lo'ak's at?"
"I told him to go hang out with Neteyam or Kiri while I spoke to you," She shrugged, and Jake nodded before walking out of the pod without saying another word.
Both women watched Jake exit the pod, and a sigh of relief escaped past Ja'lia's lips because Jake was finally going to fix his wrongs. She knew that one conversation wasn't going to heal all the hurt and pain that Lo'ak had to endure, but it was a step in the right direction.
And while Lo'ak had been the one to take the first step, Ja'lia was happy that Jake was going to step up to the plate.
There had been too many times in the past when the arguments between Lo'ak and Jake were ignored or pushed to the side, and that's why the most recent one was so catastrophic.
It was because every ounce of pain that Lo'ak had felt had been pushed down from previous arguments. He bottled all of it up because he wanted to keep the peace, but when Jake essentially compared him to Neteyam, that had been the last straw.
Everything he held back from the past came rushing out in the form of the most hurtful words he could think of. Because that's what Lo'ak wanted to do. He wanted to hurt his Dad the way Jake had hurt him.
Lo'ak didn't think it was fair that he was always the only one who seemed to be suffering, aside from Ja'lia because he knew that when he was in pain, she was too because of how much she cared about him.
As Ja'lia pulled herself away from her thoughts, she saw the tears stream down Neytiri's face as she was drowning in her own guilt. Neytiri didn't know how Lo'ak truly felt. The most she could use to determine his pain was her own imagination, and even then, she hadn't been in the ballpark of how hurt he was.
It made Ja'lia's heartache for Neytiri because while Neytiri often let Jake scold Lo'ak how he saw fit, that was still her child. Ja'lia knew that Neytiri would never go against her husband in public. She would wait until they were alone before tearing him a new one, but sometimes Ja'lia wished Neytiri would do it in public.
Because maybe then Jake would understand Lo'ak's hurt.
Ja'lia slowly moved towards Neytiri and placed an arm around her shoulder to comfort her. The mother leaned into the girl's touch, "I'm so sorry, Lia. It never should have come to this. I should've said something sooner, done something sooner," Neytiri apologized.
"It's okay, Neytiri. I'm just glad that they are finally trying to work things out," Ja'lia sighed as she pressed her back up against the wall behind her.
"I hope everything goes okay," Neytiri said while closing her eyes to calm herself down.
"Me too,"
~~~~
It'd been a couple of hours since Jake left to talk with Lo'ak, and Ja'lia and Neytiri grew worried when neither of them returned. They knew the two Sully men needed to talk, but they never expected the talk to this long.
If they were even still talking at all.
Ja'lia got up on her feet and started to pace around the pod as the sun started to set, and dinner would be happening soon. Jake and Lo'ak should have been back by now, even if their talk didn't go as they had originally planned.
"I'm sure they're fine, Lia," Neteyam assured, but Ja'lia ignored his words as she continued to pace.
Maybe she had pushed both of them too hard. Maybe they should have waited a little longer before talking so that feelings could cool off. Or maybe, she was once again allowing her self-doubt to flood her mind, and Jake and Lo'ak were walking back to the pod after having an amazing conversation.
Ja'lia could only hope that their conversation was going well.
The girl looked over to see Tuk and Kiri making shell bracelets, and she walked over to plop down beside them to distract her mind.
However, it seemed that a distraction wasn't needed as Jake and Lo'ak both walked into the pod. When Ja'lia looked up at Lo'ak, he had a small smile on his face, and Ja'lia's heart swelled in anticipation.
She hopped onto her feet and made her way over to Lo'ak.
Once she was within arms reach of Lo'ak, he wrapped his around her body and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you," Lo'ak murmured, and Ja'lia pulled away to look at him with furrowed eyebrows.
"For what?" She whispered.
"I don't know what you said to him, but he apologized and said that he wanted to work on our relationship," He responded.
"That's good," Ja'lia smiled.
Lo'ak smiled back and pulled her in for another hug before he heard his father's voice. "We should probably head to dinner," Jake said, and when the sound of Ja'lia's stomach echoed throughout the pod, laughter was heard, all around as she flushed in embarrassment before racing off with Lo'ak to go get food.
While Ja'lia's stomach had just become her top priority, she was still extremely excited and relieved that the conversation between Jake and Lo'ak went well.
Maybe everything will be okay after all. The girl thought to herself.
Unedited. 07/16/23
Word Count: 2,530
Quick note-
I actually hate this chapter. So much.
They next chapter will be out later today, and that one will definitely be better! I promise! This one is pretty much a filler chapter.
Thank y'all so much for 2.6K reads!!