05/10/2001…
It was a quiet year. After a Summer off and a summer school class for Jaune as he didn't quite make the cut in his algebra class, the fall of 2000 came with little fanfare and left with even less so.
The happy routine of getting up, getting ready for the day, and then spending mornings with the usual gang of Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Ren, Nora, and Sun because a pleasant and peaceful routine Jaune had come to enjoy.
In December, almost two months after her first birthday, Jaune and Ruby were at his place watching her sister with some great determination and practice at standing on her own. Not to mention with an equal level of courage on the young child's part, that Ruby and Jaune watched in awe as little Bethany, who was tightly gripping on her father's favorite chair for balance let go and took several wobbly steps from the chair all the way into the Lap of Ruby as she gawked in awe at the young arc's achievement. Jaune would recall the tears in Ruby's eyes as she looked at little Beth with pride at the brave little girls giggling the first steps.
They both decided it would be best to pretend they didn't see her do that and acted surprised that Bethany did a similar feat towards her mama after she got home from work. It was their little secret.
That was the moment that Jaune decided that no matter what happened, he would follow her, no matter where her road led them.
Another enjoyable part of Jaune's daily routine was of course his speech therapy to learn to master the voice that he had gained that otherwise horrid night in Blake's house. Week by week Jaune felt his voice become stronger and he found himself able to keep conversations going for longer, he still broke out the sign language when Ruby didn't have her hearing aids in or when he simply didn't want others to know what they were discussing, often using discreet sign language to talk dirty to one another. Jaune has also taken to exercising and physical therapy with the Late Winter Schnee's former boyfriend Tukson as well as later taking Yang and Neptune up on early morning Jogs on Saturdays.
By February of 2001, Jaune was only keeping his collapsible cane in his backpack in case of emergencies and was more relying on the hip brace that Ruby had helped make for him to move around easier. Something that made Ruby ecstatic to see work.
By the tenth of May, it had been just a bit over a year since Jaune's near death, since Weiss lost her sister. Those horrid days were a fading memory, one that had left scars that occasionally itch, but not ones that throbbed painfully the way they once had.
Jaune was looking at the pair of scars on his shoulder, one the shoulder operation he had when he pushed Ruby out of the way of the same car that almost hit Ruby years ago now, and one that Adam left when Jaune pushed the blade into his own shoulder the night Adam attacked the Belladonna home. He took a glance at the pair of scars one his right leg, and the other on his hip, both from the same night.
Lastly, Jaune put a finger to the last of his scars, a tiny barely noticeable scar on his chest, right just over his heart, one that he inflicted on himself in his botched suicide attempt almost three years ago.
Jaune sighed as he reached for a beard trimmer and said "Man I sure did a number on myself" to himself loudly and clearly as he went through a ritual he did once a week to trim the beard he grew out over the last year. After a few minutes of careful trimming of the carefully tended facial hair on his face, he turned and looked to see a small little body peaking around the corner at him.
"Hey sis, did you need something from me?" Jaune asked as the tiny small blonde stepped fully into view. In the last couple weeks, Little Beth graduated from awkward but stable steps to full-on albeit clumsy sprints from time to time.
Jaune smiled as the little girl reached out a small screw-capped sippy cup holding it in front of her.
Jaune quickly washed and dried his face before putting on a short sleeve shirt to his little sister's annoyance as he swiftly scooped her up And carried her towards the kitchen to top off her cup for her.
Jaune was greeted by his mother who scoffed and said "she has you wrapped around her finger you know that right?"
"It'll be good practice for when I have kids someday, I mean I know how to do everything from change diapers, burp her, rock her to sleep…" Jaune started to say
"Don't be in a rush to become a dad yet. College then kids remember?" Mina said as she jabbed her son in the side with a spatula she was holding as eggs cooked in a nearby frying pan.
Mina smiled and looked at her boy, hell he was a man now by most standards, he had just turned 18 the week before and in little more than a month, he was going to be a high school graduate.
Mina looked over the tall young man standing in front of him pouring a cup of milk for his little sister in front of her, a smile crept across her face as she was briefly reminded of Jaune's father for a moment.
"Who in the hell told you it was okay to grow up anyways?" Mina asked her son with a grin
"Well I guess I just kinda decided too," Jaune said as he handed the now full cup to his little sister and let her off the counter so she could wander back to the tv just in time for some Mr. Rogers.
Mina walked over and ruffled Jaune's hair "Well you got school to get to, get on with it now."
Jaune smiled and reached over to pick up his backpack and head for the door.
Mina chuckled out "And shave that beard off already, you look like a cradle robber!"
"That's more on Ruby than me mom!" Jaune shouted back as he stepped out the door.
The drive to school was only about five minutes or so. After he parked and started to make his way to the front of the school he noticed the all too welcoming sight of Ruby as she waited there, in the last year she grew out her hair again and it was tied back into a loose ponytail that was down to just between her shoulder blades, she had also grown about an inch or two putting her firmly at chest height to Jaune. As she saw him she reached up to switch on her hearing aids and walked over to him.
"Running late?" Ruby asked as she suddenly leaped up and latched her arms around her leg and wrapped her arms around her
Jaune grunted as he adjusted to the sudden weight imbalance and used his arms to hold her up "Just a little, but why are you waiting for me outside?"
Ruby tilted her head… "Well…. It's about Ren and Nora…"
Jaune raised an eyebrow "Oh Christ what happened?"
"I don't want to get pissed at them, okay?" Ruby pleaded "Can you promise me that?"
"Well tell me what happened Ruby?" Jaune almost demanded.
Ruby looked off to the side and meekly said "Well…."
Back at the Arc residence, Mina picked up the phone that was ringing off the hook recognizing Sam's number on the phone asking "Hey Sam what's up?"
"Mina… Do you happen to know off the top of your head how often pregnancy tests give false positives?" Sam asked.
"Whoa now, Sam I didn't even know you were seeing anyone!" Mina chuckled out at the question
"I'm not Mina, I found it in Ren and Nora's bathroom," Sam said
Mina paused as her daughter was sitting in the living room messily eating a cookie and milk in front of the TV watching the horrifying shrill red entity called Elmo on the TV.
"Oh for fucks sakes..." Mina muttered out
"Let me get this straight..." Yang said to Ren and Nora as the entire group sat around the table "Not only were the two of you stupid enough to not use birth control. Not only were you both stupid enough to not use birth control Repeatedly!"
"You said that twice Yang," Blake said quietly
"For emphasis, I said it twice for emphasis" Yang replied
"You said that twice too!" Sun said
"Will Yall shut up for ten minutes?" Yang demanded.
Ren took the advantage "I mean… I know this was kinda careless of us both, we should have known better."
Nora added, "But neither of us are going anywhere, and if this means we have to change some of our plans, then so be it right?"
Jaune added "I mean you were thinking about joining the Airforce right?" looking at Ren
Ren sighed "I was hoping to go to flight school first so I could enlist as a pilot but I guess I can earn my wings another way."
Nora added, "I mean even if you have to start as a mechanic or something that's not too bad right?"
Yang sighed "Jesus that sounds like desperation, Sam is going to help you both right?"
Ren and Nora looked at each other for a moment with a look of concern
"Oh hells bells, you didn't tell all of us before you told your foster mother right?" Jaune finally chimed in.
Ren looked down, putting his hands up to evade Jaune's harsh gaze as Nora meekly said "Well…"
Jaune sighed "Well you had better hope she didn't find the pregnancy test or something or yall are screwed."
"I'm going to kill them both, It'll technically be a triple Homicide but I'm going to kill them." Sam shouted into the phone "I told them, more than once I didn't want to find out about them fooling around under my roof"
"I'm sure that all the kids are fooling around with their significant others Sam, that's just part of growing up," Mina said "Jaune is not good as at hiding the hickeys as he thinks he is"
"Yeah, but if Nora is knocked up… How can those two be so careless!" Sam shouted into the phone on her end.
"I was only maybe a year or so older when I became pregnant with Jaune, so I get it. Jaune and I turned out fine, I'm sure they will too." Mina said into the phone.
Back at the school, the group kept talking about Ren and Nora's situation Weiss chimed in and added her two cents "Is adoption a possible option?"
Ren and Nora looked at each other "I mean all options are still on the table, Nora as best we can tell is only maybe a couple of months along."
Ruby asked "What are you basing this on?"
Nora meekly said "I missed my cycle for a couple months ago"
Jaune shook his head to shake off the mental image before asking "How many months?"
Nora then meekly said again "I guess three months or so?"
Yang said, "So with graduation being next month, you all have… at best, five months to get ready to be parents?" Yang's forehead scrunched up in thought "Jeez I mean… how does that even work?"
Ren said, "I mean I go into basic the week after we graduate, Nora can get a job around town as well until I'm out of basic… then we play it by ear."
Jaune sighed "I mean, Nora would be giving birth around… December or so…"
Ren thought "I might be able to get us some kind of one base housing? I hear they do that for families right?"
Sun who had been quiet the entire time chimed in "Dude how in the hell am I supposed to know?"
Jaune then followed that up with "I mean I wouldn't know either, to be honest"
Ren and Nora looked at each other with a worried look on their faces before ren said "I'll figure out something."
Just like that the bell rang out signaling it was time to go to the first period. As everyone started to get up Jaune felt Ren put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Once the others have left Ren added as Nora looked off to the side "Look… I wasn't kidding when I said that Nora and I are keeping all our options open… if we can't figure out how to bring this baby into the world…"
[So you're saying we might have a drive over to Moses Lake in the not too distant future?] Jaune asked opting to sign it out following it up with [I mean that's the only place around that I can't think of that has a clinic for… that…]
Ren sighed as Jaune noticed how upset the turn of the discussion made Nora before Ren said "We still need to figure out everything first, I'll get back to you about it."
Jaune added saying "Hey this is your choice to make alone, the both of you, I'll back you up anyway I can… I love you both as siblings after all."
Nora faintly smiled as she went off to class, Ren nodded and gave Jaune a quick hug as they all parted ways.
As Jaune made his way towards class he got a text from his mother 'Have you talked to Ren and Nora this morning?'
Jaune replied back with a quick 'Just did mom.'
'Did you guys talk about… anything going on with them?' his mother asked in reply
'I'm up to date on their situation yes' Jaune replied just as vaguely as his mom had been
His mother shot a final reply 'We'll talk more at home then, have a great day'
Jaune folded his phone close and stepped into the classroom just before the second bell rang. It was shaping up to be an entirely too interesting day.
So truth be told this story line was pretty close to being cut, I didn't really want to mar the endgame of the story with a teen parent drama, but rather than cut it, and potentially lose out on the story this could tell, I decided to push it to after the time skip so I can frankly more easily tell the kind of story that these two are going to be going to more closer to the end of the tale than the middle of the end if that makes sense?
Any who this chapter has been delayed a bit as I'm also working on my second novel at the same time and I have the entire novel outlined, and the first two chapters written for it. I also have another incomplete novel project I'll get back to when I have more time to work on it, but I can't get this one out of my head at all. I wasn't originally going to start real work on it till I finished this story, but, well I couldn't shake that story out of my head at all.
Dragonlord, yeah it's nice for the cast to have plans for their futures, I can say for sure that I had lofty goals as I left highschool and life didn't exactly go the way I planed it, but I'm pretty happy with the results of it so far.
ZHSteven, yeah I mean write what you know, I didn't spend my whole life in this state either. I actually have this story largely taking place in Adam's county, which for those of us not familiar with the area is an incredibly sparsely populated part of the state. The entire county has less than 20,000 people in it, and I'm not using a specific town. The town the story takes place in is a work of fiction. It has taken elements from towns like "Lind" and "Ritzville". The unnamed school in question Ruby is considering is actually Washington State University.
Chinaluv, yeah were working our way there, I'm still aiming for about 100 chapters but it's looking like I might not hit that final number.
0nethatwanders: It sure is, I mean the character's lives are finally stabilizing enough to allow them to thing further ahead than to the next crisis or short term goals. it's actually refreshing to write something this "Calm" by comparison to the last few major storylines.
Beowolf, I hear you, I already have the end of the story planed out, but it's been fun writing how everyone is going to reach that endgame point.
Well that's another chapter down though, so as always I want to thank you all for taking the time to read this as always, and I hope all of you have a great rest of your day. Also in case you live in the United states, don't forget to vote.
