A/N: Hi everyone, sorry this is so late! Been very busy recently; in fact, and I know I should have said this several chapters ago, but my updating won't be as frequent as it usually is due to everything else getting in the damn way. Anyway, I ask for your patience and as always to read and review ^_^ ~ Mika
PS: YESSS, DAMAS (Junior)! He's my favourite OC just because he is completely unlike his father and sister in temper :D
Jakuelynn didn't sleep that night. Even though she was perfectly still, Rhogan failed to hear the way her breathing steadied and her body curled up as she always did when she slept. She was uneasy and Rhogan couldn't blame her. In fact, at this moment in time, she was standing by the large windows on the other side of the room, moonlight bathing her body and casting a large silhouette.
"Nel?" Rhogan asked gently, sliding out of bed and joining her. "Honey, come to bed."
The warrioress shook her head, shoulders slumped in dejection. "I have to know if my son's okay," she said hoarsely.
Rhogan sighed inwardly. "Nelly, we're not going to know until at least six or seven hours at the earliest,"
"Unless something's found that can lead me to him sooner!" she insisted.
"Unless something's found," Rhogan agreed, slipping an arm around her waist and looking up at her. Her green eyes were bright in the moonlight; bright and hurt-filled. She was extremely anxious for Rufas. One did not have to even look at her to understand that; it was coming off her in waves.
She sighed and looked down, both arms wrapped around her waist, the long, deep scar on her cheek catching in the light. She had acquired it a year or two back thanks to a particularly troublesome Metal Head claw, and it had narrowly missed her eye that day. It made her look older; experienced, she liked to think – after all, she had been the City Protector since she was nineteen – but Rhogan always thought it made her look older in a sad way.
"Rho..." Her voice pierced the silence like a silver knife.
"Nel?" His soft voice responded, his blue eyes watching her. She took a deep breath as if she was about to say something, opening and closing her mouth like a fish. After five minutes of repeating those actions, she closed her mouth and shook her head.
Come on, Nelly. Tell him, she reprimanded herself. Tell him you're carrying his child. But something in her said "no"; told her not to say anything.
"It's...nothing," she said softly. "Nothing at all."
~x~
"How...can a three year old boy...unlock a high window and escape from an equally high ledge?"
"Daxter, he was kidnapped, he didn't escape."
"You sure about that? Cause I'm not so sure, buddy. He's so much like his ma, maybe he wanted to have an adventure of his own, heh?"
"Dax, he's three. He can barely dress himself, let alone have his own adventure – "
"Well, maybe he wanted to go with Mummy!"
"It wouldn't surprise me if he did," Jak thought aloud, craning his neck round a street corner and knowing in his gut that it was hopeless. As Nel had said, whoever had abducted him was long out the city now. He wondered if this was how Damas – his father – had felt when Jak was abducted when he was roundabout the same age; wondering if he'd felt the same combination of anxiety and anger against a wall of futility that Jak was feeling, that Nelly was sure as hell feeling now.
He remembered feeling that way when his daughter was taken from him.
"Father!"
He snapped out of his reverie and straightened up as his son screeched to a halt beside him.
"Damas! Anything?"
The Eco Sage twisted his mouth, shaking his head. "No. Nothing. I think whomever took Rufas has long departed the city,"
Jak sighed. Damas stopped the car and gazed at his father for several long moments.
"That's what I feared," the veteran warrior said quietly, his back twinging. He uttered a sharp gasp and clutched the sore spot. "I think my body's telling me I'm done for the night."
"Want a lift home?"
"How far are we from the house?"
"Mine or yours?" his son shot back.
Jak sighed. "Either,"
"We're closer to mine than yours, but it's up to you..."
"I'll just get back to mine,"
Damas nodded. "Okay. I must return to the children." He gave a small smile which reminded Jak of Keira, as Jakuelynn often did. He climbed back into the car and sped off, breaking countless speed laws.
"Ah, just like his father, breaking the speed barrier," Daxter commented, making Jak grin. "Though why does he have to talk like a frickin' Eco Sage?"
"Dax," his best friend said patiently, "Damas is an Eco Sage,"
"Really? But he's not an Eco Sage like ol' Samos was!"
"No, because he's pan-Eco, like Keira was,"
"Wuh?" Daxter scratched his head.
"He controls all types of Eco. Even Dark."
"But Dark – "
"Can't be controlled, I know." Jak turned, heading back to the house, noticing how stiff his knees were beginning to become. Damn you, old age. "What can I say? He's my son."
~x~
Jakuelynn sat in the bathroom at Sandover City HQ, her mind turning over and over between telling Rhogan about the pregnancy and worrying for Rufas. She knew the latter was not very good for the former, but this only served to increase her anxiety.
A hammering on the door jolted her out of her reverie and she stood up straight, instinctively reaching for the gun that wasn't strapped to her front.
"Nel, are you sure you're okay?"
A flash of irritation seared through her. Why can't Rhogan leave things alone? She unlocked the door and did find her boyfriend standing there tentatively.
"Rhogan – "
"Jakuelynn, I don't want you to be precise if you don't want to be, but I want you to tell me what's going on right now, or so help me I'll – "
"It's nothing, Rhogan. Seriously," she said flatly, cutting his old-woman rant. The words stopped. "If it was serious, if it was something that would affect our relationship, I'd tell you. Straight out. You know me."
The City Leader nodded, reaching for Jakuelynn's hand. A weight of guilt fell on her shoulders as she realised that she had to tell him about the pregnancy sooner or later. He smiled at her, his eyes crinkling, looking every bit his thirty-five years but in a handsome way. She loved him deeply and she hoped he knew that. He'd been so important to her in the last four years.
So why couldn't she tell him she was carrying his children between her hips?
You're a coward, Jakuelynn Mar Hagai.
She shook her head and slipped back into bed with Rhogan, a double weight of guilt on her mind and shoulders.
PS: Happy Hallowe'en, everyone ^_^
