So, I am going to continue this existing Jaya storyline until the wedding (and actually a bit beyond because I got a request for a Kai x Skylor chapter within this storyline).
Thank you so much for all the votes and the kind comments on the previous chapter. I found it very hard to put my favourite couple through a stupid fight, so it was really nice to get some positive feedback. (And this chapter should hopefully make up for the lack of fluffiness.)
But there was a deeper reason behind Nya's behaviour, and while I was worried that I had made it too obvious, there was only one reviewer on FF.net who has made the right guess 😉.
Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this one!
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The Morning before the Wedding
When Jay woke up, he immediately noticed three things: One, he was not in his room at the Temple of Airjitzu. Two, it was just getting light outside. And three, he was on his own.
None of this was in any way surprising. It was the morning of Jay and Nya's wedding. While he and the guys were staying at Cliff Gordon's villa, the bride had spent the night at her brother's girlfriend's apartment, together with Skylor, Cole's girlfriend Seliel, and the recently rebuilt PIXAL.
Thanks to the 'special occasion', there had been no Sunrise Exercise for the Ninja today, and the wedding wasn't until early afternoon, so Jay still had a lot of time before he would have to get up and get ready. So, the sleepy blue Ninja briefly wondered why was he already awake?
That was when he noticed a fourth thing, a buzzing sound coming from his nightstand. He checked his phone and his handsome face broke into a bright smile when he saw who was calling him.
"Good morning, beautiful." He answered the phone. "Did you sleep well?"
"Good morning, handsome." Nya's voice replied. "Not too bad but I've been awake for a while. How about you? Hope I didn't wake you up."
"Yeah, I've slept alright." Of course, he had been (and still was) very anxious about the upcoming wedding, but his brothers had made sure that he had just had enough – but not too much – to drink to sleep reasonably well. "Although I've missed you. So, I don't mind being woken up by your lovely voice."
Since he had moved into her room a few weeks ago, the pretty Water Ninja was now usually the last thing Jay would see before falling asleep and the first thing after waking up. The only exception had been that one night last week, where Nya had made him sleep on the couch in the game room after one of their pre-wedding arguments. And she hadn't been too well for the last couple of days, so Jay had sometimes woken up to an empty bed and the sound of her throwing up in the en-suite bathroom.
Yes, they desperately needed a break and some time for each other. Tomorrow, they would be going on their honeymoon, a sailing trip on Cliff Gordon's yacht.
"I've missed you, too." Nya told him. "Which is why I am outside your place. I was thinking we could maybe go for a short walk before all the madness starts?"
"Sounds great, I'll be down in a minute." The Master of Lightning quickly freshened up and changed into his clothes from last night that were still lying in a pile on the floor (Nya would have told him off for that), before he left his room and silently walked past the guest rooms, hoping not to disturb his still sleeping brothers.
When he came downstairs, he found Lloyd passed out on the couch, hugging an (rather unskilfully) mended Mr Cuddlywomp.
"Good morning, Jay. How are you feeling on this fine day?" The robotic voice of the Titanium Ninja called to him, as he tried to sneak past the kitchen, where his nindroid brother was busy cleaning up. He was programmed to wake up at the same time every morning, regardless of the day – or the night before. Jay would never understand why Zane still insisted on washing the dishes with his hands, even though they finally had dishwashers installed in all their residences, but at least he was wearing rubber gloves, so that no water would hopefully get into his robotic hands. They had not brought any spare fuses with them.
"Good morning, Zane. I am good, thanks." Jay said. "And don't worry, I am not going to bail out. I just couldn't sleep anymore, so I am going for a walk and get some fresh croissants for breakfast from the bakery."
As Jay was walking down the cobblestone path, he spotted Nya waiting for him at the gate to the grand estate. She looked a bit pale and unusually nervous, but she broke into a bright smile as soon as she saw him.
The blue Ninja greeted his future wife with a kiss. "I've always thought it means bad luck to see the bride before the wedding."
"Only if the groom sees her in her wedding gown." Nya explained. "And although I would love to, I am not going to get married in this attire."
She was wearing a pair of black leggings and a loose-fitting red tunic.
"You look lovely, so even if you changed your mind, I would still marry you. I know how much you hate dresses. And especially..."
Jay fell silent, but his fiancée understood what he was thinking about. None of them had the best memories of the raven-haired beauty in a pompous wedding dress.
"Yes, but this time I chose my dress and my future husband myself." She reassured him. "And nothing bad will happen, so let's not think about that, okay?"
"Okay." Jay was more than happy to agree. "Now, do you maybe want to go for a little walk? I've promised Zane to get a couple of items from the bakery."
Jay took her small hand into his, and they started walking along the small street.
"So... what did you guys do last night?" Nya started the conversation.
"Oh, nothing special. We stayed at the house, had a barbecue and a couple of beer. How about you?"
"The girls and I first had dinner at the restaurant before we went to Sky's place for a movie and some drinks." Nya began. "And because I was really hungry, I had two main courses and a dessert." She blushed. "All at the same time. And so the others started to make fun of me."
"Why that?" Jay wondered as they stopped.
"Well, as you know I've been a bit... uhm..." She was obviously trying to find the right word.
"Sensitive? Irritable?" Jay suggested.
"More like unbearable, I guess." The Master of Water smiled apologetically. "Anyway, because of all this, Sky and Sel started joking that they wouldn't let me have any wine with the movie, unless I could prove to them that I am not pregnant, so I took a test when we were back at the apartment, and..."
"Wait, why would Skylor have a pregnancy test at her place?" Jay interrupted her.
Nya shrugged. "She just did. You just never know when you might need one. But it was a good thing because..."
The auburn-haired ninja smirked. "Does your brother know?"
"IT WAS POSITIVE." Nya blurted out.
"Wha-what?" Jay gasped, feeling all the colour leaving his freckled face.
"The test was positive." She repeated. "And the other two as well... I-I am pregnant."
Still in disbelief, Jay could see the tears pooling in her eyes. So, instead of saying anything, he simply wrapped his arms around her petite frame and pulled his fiancée into a comforting hug. Although his hands were shaking quite badly, he just needed to hold her as tightly as he could.
"And it does make a lot of sense." She mumbled into his chest. "I mean the signs were pretty obvious – mood swings, morning sickness, weird cravings, and I've never been that late before. Maybe a few days, but not more than a week. And when I tried my dress yesterday, it felt a bit tight here." She pointed at her chest. "Even though I have lost some weight...but... we've been so busy, maybe I didn't want to notice..."
She pulled away and looked up, her chocolate eyes locking with his sapphire ones.
"And now I am scared." She admitted. "Although I-I wanted this – and I still do – I didn't expect it to happen this fast. What if we are not ready to have a child? And... have I made you agree to something that maybe you didn't entirely want yet? That's why I wanted to tell you before the wedding. Just to let you know that you can still get out of this."
Jay wiped a few stray tears from her cheeks.
"Nya, I love you, I want to marry you, and I want to have a family with you. It would take a lot more than a baby to get rid of me. This is our child, and we are going to raise it together." He told her in a surprisingly steady voice. As much as he wanted to freak out, that had to wait until he would be back in his room, and on his own.
"I love you, too." She replied with a weak smile. "But I'm afraid you'll have to deal with cranky me for a few months longer then..."
"I'll manage." Jay promised her. "We'll manage. And I know it will be worth it."
This was enough for the other one to shed a few more – albeit happy – tears.
"This isn't fair." Nya sniffled. "Why do I keep crying? I've made a bet with Kai which one of us would cry first during the wedding..."
"Between the two of you, or the two of us?"
The young woman awkwardly bit her lip. "Both, actually." She admitted. "And now I am totally going to lose it... stupid hormones."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Jay said. "For both again."
"Thanks..."
"Are you feeling better now?" The Master of Lightning enquired. "I really hope you're not going to be sick at the wedding..."
"No, it should be okay. But speaking about the wedding, I would prefer not to tell anyone yet. Today will already be crazy enough without breaking this kind of news..." Nya suggested.
"Yeah, I am worried that it would be too much for our parents to handle on one day." Her husband-to-be agreed.
"Skylor, Seliel, and PIXAL know, of course. But they have promised not to say anything. And they can help with swapping glasses..."
"Alright, let's use some positive thinking. We'll just have to make it through the day, and then tomorrow we'll be off on our honeymoon, just the two... uhm, three of us." Jay planted a quick kiss on Nya's lips.
"Sounds great." She agreed.
"But... a sailing trip might not the best idea at the moment..."
"Ah, I am sure it will be fine. Don't forget that I am the Master of Water. Unlike all of you guys, I've never been sick when we were living on the Bounty. In fact, I find it very relaxing to be out on the sea. And who knows..." she smiled, placing her hand on her flat stomach, "he might like it too."
"I bet she prefers thunderstorms." Jay smirked. "But now, we should probably get going, I'd rather be back with our breakfast before the others wake up."
"You are right. The girls are waiting for me as well. It's going to take while for me to get ready..."
They resumed their walk and, after purchasing their breakfast items at the small bakery, the couple reluctantly parted ways.
"I will see you later, I guess." Nya smiled.
"You will, and I can't wait for that." Jay confirmed. "How are you going to get back to Skylor's place? Do you want me to take you?"
"I'm okay. My dragon will take good care of us."
"Okay, text me when you are there."
"I will."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Jay walked back to his birth father's villa and dropped the paper bags in the kitchen, where Zane was preparing scrambled eggs and bacon.
"Thank you." The Titanium Ninja looked at him. "Are you alright?"
Jay hesitated. Zane had always been the person – well, nindroid – that he had trusted the most. For quite a long time, the Master of Ice had been the only one to know the truth about Jay's future reflection. Maybe it would be good to share another secret with him.
"To be honest, I didn't just go for a walk, I've spent some time with Nya."
"How is she feeling this morning?" Zane asked.
"Not too bad, she was sick earlier, but..." Realisation hit the blue Ninja. "You-you know?"
"I do. Congratulations, my friend."
"H-how?"
"PIXAL and I had gotten so used to having a shared working memory, that we have set up a joint cloud drive for important data. It was not PIXAL's intention to spill our sister's secret, but I accidently found out about .3 milliseconds after Nya had told the girls. But you do not need to worry, I will not tell anyone."
Jay sighed, feeling all his earlier strength and determination leaving his body. "Thanks, I appreciate that. We think it's better to save the news for another, less stressful, day."
"Yes, PIXAL and I have come to the same conclusion. But how are you feeling about it in general?"
"Ugh... I think I am going to pass out now." Jay replied.
And he did.