Jackie sat with her legs tucked into her chest as she watched Jam sleep comfortably on her hardwood floor, his chest moving up and down in time with his breathing. The encompassing darkness of the room was only broken by the streak of moonlight that broke through her bedside window, allowing her the sight of the alleged son's scars and bruises. Like the darkness, the silence that surrounded her was only broken by her own breathing, synced to Jam's own. Her body lay still in the darkness, eyes now fixated on a patch of darkness beyond Jam, while her mind raced too fast for her body to rest.

Why did it have to get so complicated and strange? Her mind had asked herself after an hour of pensive silence. Jackie had never imagined that she'd find herself stuck in love triangle with Marco Diaz and an American version of Sailor Moon, their future kids they might each have coming to interfere, her having to save Marco from a green bird… thing, and almost dying trying to escape. She was supposed to be dealing with stupid high school drama, what clothes to wear and who to wear them with, who to date, what classes to take… Things that she would make fun of herself later for caring about. Not adventures. Not real danger.

It's Star's fault, she heard in her head. Except that it wasn't Star's fault. Or at least, she couldn't be blamed for it. Sure, technically Star's arrival in Echo Creek had led to the events of the past two weeks, but she couldn't have known what was going to happen, or that Jackie was going to end up joining in the adventures and almost dying. And it was because of Star that Jackie had gotten to know Marco.

Marco. All of Jackie's introspection kept leading her back to Marco. Her eyes travelled down from the blank patch of darkness back to Jam's torn face. Her conversation with Jam floated back into the front of her mind as she went over the night's events:

"Jam?" Jackie had asked, her voice unsure, unconfident. "Are… you alright?"

"Ugh," He'd replied bitterly, hands still over his watery eyes. "It's mostly my pride that's hurt."

Jackie bite her lip and didn't respond. She walked on through the dimly-lit sidewalk, guiding Jam with her hand on his shoulder. The air smelled of morning dew as it lightly caressed their bodies, causing them to shiver involuntarily. The night hadn't been terribly cold; summer was soon to approach. Yet Jackie and Jam could not ignore the occasional breeze that pierced through their shallow layers of clothes. Another wave of wind hit Jackie, winding up from her waist and up her spine until it reached the nape of her neck and she let out a small gasp. Jam let his hands fall slightly and looked worriedly up to Jackie, his eyes now only a little red at the edges.

"Mom?" His voice was that of a worried puppy, looking up in fear for its master. "You okay?"

Jackie shrugged and kept walking. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Jam stared blankly at her for a moment, then, in one sweeping motion, took off his jacket and handed it to her. She looked abashed at the offer, but before she could refuse, he stated, "I'm fine. I've been in much colder weather than this with less on."

Jackie returned his blank stare and a long pause before furrowing her eyebrows. "Jam?"

"Yes?"

"Why did I marry Marco?"

The question that had lain heavy in her mind now dominated the environment. The noises of the Echo Creek nightlife (while admittedly very subtle to begin with) seemed to evaporate at the question's introduction, despite the sounds continuing on in the background. The question seemed to confuse Jam. He opened his mouth, closed it, blinked a few times, then opened it again, now accompanied with an odd look.

"What do you mean?"

Jackie kept her blank stare on Jam, yet he could detect that it had gotten ever so slightly harder than before. "Why did I marry Marco? In the future? Why? I mean-" Her lock on him broke as she looked down at the street, eyebrows furrowed harder, hands open and rising to her sides, as though ready to catch the answer. "I like him. It's been a very fun couple of weeks, he's nice, smart, and cute to boot, but-"her hands fell down to her sides and she looked up warily at Jam. "It's… kinda hard to see myself marrying him. I don't know, it's just… weird."

Jackie looked into Jam's eyes, hoping to find reassurance in them. To her unfortunate surprise, Jam looked mortified.

"Well, I- you said it yourself, you've only been with him for a couple of weeks, I mean- he IS very kind and smart and stuff… just- just-"He sighed, letting out a heavy sigh that seemed to have been weighing him down. "I don't know."

Fear started to grow within Jackie. The only reason why she wouldn't have told Jam something that important would be… "Why? Didn't I tell you when you were young?"

Jam shook his head, despondent. "No. I never talked to you much. Same with dad, although I talked with him a little more. You were both so busy with keeping the starcopalpse down that I only saw you when you were training me to survive. Until-" He trailed off. Jackie got the picture. Jam stared off down into the seemingly never-ending rows of houses, each one filled with families. Some would be incomplete, Jam knew, but never as incomplete as his.

"When?" Jackie asked, her eyes now glued to ground.

"Recently. It's why I'm here now." He held his head up high and refused to let any tears stain the ground he walked on. "I will stop the starcopalpse. I will save you and dad. We will have the life we deserved. And you," he stated as fact, voice now shaking, "will know why you fell for Marco Diaz."

He walked off down towards the row of houses, determined to get the sleep he needed to fulfill his goal, until Jackie's voice called from behind him: "That's not the way to my house."

Jam stopped. Blushed. Turned around and kept his mouth shut.

Jackie hadn't said another word to Jam that night until she was in bed and he was in a sleeping bag on her floor.

"Night."

"Night."

Yet Jackie did not sleep.

She was going to die. Or some future version of herself had died, prematurely. Something about Marco had made her willing, happy to marry him and live through a war with him. She didn't know what it was, but Jam presence made it clear that she would. Or might. Elizabeth existed, after all. Maybe Jackie would never get serious with Marco, and she'd move on. Star could have Marco, and live happily or unhappily with him. Should she let Star get Marco, knowing that Star's future with him was probably much better than her own? Was Marco worth dying young in a fruitless war? She wondered if future her would have made the same choices, knowing the outcomes. Of course, Jam could be right: maybe he could fix the future, and allow her to live happily with Marco. Assuming she would be happy with him in the first place.

Her head fell down unto her knees and she sighed. It was hard to be the chill skater-girl with so much chaos around her. It was also, apparently, hard to stay awake after so much chaos. Even the thoughts that haunted her couldn't keep her body from eventually winning out. And so darkness finally fell as the first beams of light from the sun rose up over the horizon.

Real talk: This was the worst chapter to write. This must have been the 3-4 draft of it, and each other draft got scraped after it was half-way done. It's currently 12:06 am as I'm writing this, because if I didn't write it now, it'd never get done. I apparently lied about the 'multiple chapters in April' promise, and I'm sorry. Unfortunately, I can do much more than say "I'm sorry" besides post another chapter. Honestly, if it hadn't been for korra-naga-mako lover 2112 and their 8-9 chapter review spam, it might never have happened. I don't want to make any more fake promises, so please be patient. Thank you.