|Valentine's old place|

Valentine stared at the bottle of liquor intently, willing herself to not think about how complicated life had decided to get. She was also deciding whether or not actually drinking would be a smart idea right now. Just a single glass wouldn't do much harm, but she had learned in the past that Dark Eco and alcohol are not a safe mix. Of course now there was the Light Eco to take into consideration.

But the bottle was not interesting enough to take her mind off of the thing that was bothering her most right now. Discovering that the man she was dating now had been the boy she had taken care of just a few years ago was mind-blowing. She believed him. How could she not, after the extensive amount of things he had told her to convince her? Some things were a little off – indeed like how a child would remember them – but most of the things were true.

She played with the glass on the table, happy Jak had gone off to bed already. She would have liked him to hold her, but at the same time she had to struggle with the idea she had been the one holding him all that time ago. She closed her eyes, letting her head lean back on the chair. "Fuck."

That one word summed up everything she was trying to process all at once. Disbelief and belief, sadness and anger and the rest of emotions that found their release in just that one word.

"What'cha doing, sugar?" Daxter asked, climbing up one of the chairs and then up the table. He took one look at the bottle on the table, squinting. As soon as he saw the bottle was still closed up he relaxed, taking a seat next to it. "Don't tell me you're going to try to drown the truth. Do you have any idea what could happen?"

Valentine raised her head back up, a wry smile on her lips. "Enough to say that this place wasn't reinforced until after I had my first drink." Daxter's arrival was enough of an answer for now. She tipped over the small glass with one finger. "The answer to my problems isn't on the bottom of a bottle." If only it were. Life would have been so much easier. She had kept the bottle safely stashed away, just in case she needed something to completely let go.

"Good, that'll leave more for me." He grabbed the bottle, opening it up with a movement that belied practice. When he noticed Valentine's look he shrugged. "Don't go judging me, sugar. We both know I won't trash the place when I got a drink in me." He poured his glass to the top, eying her over the rim of the glass as he took his first sip. "Well, get talking."

"What about?" Valentine asked, trying to steer away from the subject.

It was Daxter's turn to smile, though his was less sour than hers. "With the information you just got, I expect your brain to be sizzlin' like an egg in the desert. And a bartender is more often than not just a really good shrink. I can't pour ya a drink, but I'll listen."

Great, Daxter wanted to listen to the small existential crisis she was having thanks to his best friend. What she really wanted right now was Ma'al offering to take her out to smash something. Anything, as long as it helped vent this frustration. She decided to take the playful route out. "How would you react when you find out you're actually a pedophile?"

"Nice try hon." Daxter countered, pouring his glass again. "But you're going to have to come with a better excuse than that if you want to break up with my guy."

"Break up?" she almost shouted, before she remembered Jak was asleep. "I don't want to break up with Jak, it's just that-"

"Why else would you be sitting in the dark, thinking about everything that is standing between the two of ya?" the Ottsel interrupted her, gesturing at the one measly lamp that was burning in the room. "You got stuff on your mind, so get it out of your system. You two aren't the sort that should be keeping things pent up."

"I'm twelve years his senior, Daxter."

"In this timeline. And once time travel gets involved you're better off shutting down that ginormous brain of yours. The more you think about it, the more it hurts the head." He tapped the side of his head to enforce his point. "Right now, you're both about the same age, physically and mentally. So what if ya got a guy who's had the hots for you since he was a kid? Next objection."

"You're oversimplifying things." She muttered darkly.

"You're making things too complicated." Daxter retorted. "Take it from me toots. Things can go downhill for you any time of the day. So why would you wanna turn away a good thing because of morals that only apply to normal people? You want Jak and he wants you. That pretty much solves the problem in my eyes."

Perhaps in Daxter's eyes everything was so simple. Then again, he didn't know that Mar was Damos' son. Which meant that Jak was actually the heir to Spargus. Which made her a sort of usurper. And as his Guardian she was supposed to eliminate threats like usurpers. When she realized she would have to inform Damos she banged her head against the table. How the hell was she supposed to make Damos believe her? He had never even seen his son, and now Valentine had to tell him he had a son. Only he wouldn't have to bother worrying about puberty since Jak – Mar – had passed that point in the meantime.

"I don't know what you're thinking, but you're making things too complicated." Daxter told her.

She ignored him. How would she tell Damos about this? 'Hey pops, listen. I found your son. Only he's now roughly my age and we're dating.' Could someone spell looney bin? But she wanted to be with Jak so bad it almost hurt. "Shut up, Dax." She mumbled, her lips still pressed against the table. "I'm not making things complicated, they just are complicated."

Daxter mumbled something that sounded like 'suit yourself', prompting Valentine to raise her head again. "Then what is your suggestion, oh great and powerful Ottsel?"

"Carry on like before." He replied immediately, not even looking up from the fourth glass he was pouring. "I've been listening enough to Jak pining after you, not to mention I had to watch you getting all starry eyed every time they mentioned his name. Cut the sidekick some slack and keep making out in dark corners. I enjoy knowing my best friend is happy, and I'd appreciate it if you could admit you're happy with him too."

"I am happy. But this kind of stuff is confusing."

Daxter grabbed his tail, swinging it back and forth a little bit. "Life is complicated. Just look at me. The only advantage I have is that I came out fluffy." He slid the glass towards her, raising his eyebrows. "You drink that up – it ain't even that much – and march your ass to the bedroom. Both of you should get some sleep. And no doing the nasty, I'm sleeping in there too."

Valentine obeyed his orders out of a wish to shut off the internal racket in her head. Would it really be too much to ask for just one normal day in her life?

|The Next Morning|

Surprisingly enough she had managed to fall asleep. She discover this thanks to Torn's voice shouting from her communicator, waking her from a peaceful slumber. Daxter stirred, Jak tightened his arm around her for a moment, pulling her closer.

"Torn… what?" she asked, distracted by Jak burying his face in her hair. If he had the nerve to say 'five more minutes'…

"Why aren't the three of you at the HQ yet?" Torn demanded. For good order Valentine turned down the volume on her communicator a little bit, taking a moment to glance at the time. It wasn't even noon yet, and they had been exhausted. When she made that remark a strange sputtering sound came over the com system, as if Torn was strangling the air. "You three get your asses over there now. We have a war on our hands and no time for extracurricular activities."

Daxter moved his weight, slipping over the legs of his two friends as he did so. Valentine let out a soft groan. "I'll be sure to tell Ashelin that when I see her in a while. I thought Samos had that stick removed from your ass a long time ago."

A low growl coming from the other side made Valentine rethink her current life choices. "Fine, fine. We're getting up now. We won't be long in reaching HQ." Though that last part really depended on how fast she could get the guys out of bed. "I like you better when you're making us sandwiches though." She added.

She was rewarded with a barking laugh and the sound of the com system being shut off. "Guys, it's time to wake up." Jak's response was pulling her as close as he could, while Daxter made a point out of it to snore as loud as the average Metal Head. Valentine poked Jak in the ribs with her elbow, having very little effect since she nearly couldn't more her arms around.

"As much as I love a good cuddling session, we have to get going. Torn's right, there's a war going on." Daxter snorted, dropping off the bed in an attempt to find a more comfy position. The scream he uttered made it clear now she only had Jak to wake up. "Jak, get moving."

"No…" he mumbled, his voice thick with sleep. "Five… five more minutes…" he yawned in her ear. Valentine rolled her eyes at that reaction. His lips moved to her neck, making her pay attention at once. If they started going down that road there was a good chance HQ wouldn't get to see them at all that day. Not that that realization did anything to stop the tingling in her spine when Jak breathed in her ear.

The spell was broken when Jak kicked his leg, followed by Daxter sniggering. Valentine just barely managed to lift her head high enough so she could see what was going on. Apparently Daxter was using his tail to tickle Jak's feet, prompting the man to actually get out of bed and do something. She couldn't decide if she was happy with this development or not.

Remembering how complicated things had become had the effect of an ice cold shower on her. Perhaps she ought to sort out how she was going to solve things with Jak before things could develop further. She slipped out of bed when he released her, noting that there was barely enough energy to get something hot to drink, let alone be able to take a shower. At least they didn't smell of sewer today.

Grabbing a pair of her old pants – none of her old clothes were fit for battle, but what choice did she have? – she locked herself in the bathroom to change, letting the guys fight things out among themselves. A look in the cracked mirror had her wondering if her hair was picking up the same gravitational denying power that Jak's had. Pulling down one of her bangs that was increasingly stubborn she let herself worry a bit more.

There had to be some way to break it to Damos gently. Sadly enough the man had a warrior's mindset concerning everything, so even if she did manage to scrounge up scientific proof the only good it would do her was him putting her on inactive due to stress. She picked up a towel, pressed it against her mouth and screamed out of frustration.

"Val, you okay in there?" Jak shouted from the other end of the door.

"I'm fine." She yelled back, screaming in the towel again. 'Just angsting about pretty much everything that has to do with you because you're the heir to Spargus and I'm supposed to protect you. But you insist on jumping into Metal pits with or without me so that makes the job a little harder. Not to mention your dad is now my adoptive dad which makes everything insane.' Of course she didn't say that out loud, but her head was already hurting with everything that was going on. She resisted banging her head against the door, afraid Jak would start to think something was seriously wrong. She still had to tell him that Damos was his father as well.

She hadn't even had breakfast yet!

When she opened the door she was met by her boyfriend who was holding some tins. "Good thing you always kept emergency rations around. These will be good for another fifty years, but I don't think I'll be able to wait that long."

They ate quickly, aware that any moment they delayed was another moment Torn could use to yell at them again. "Say, Val… everything's okay between us, right?" Jak asked her.

Valentine nodded, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. "Everything's great between us. It's just… I'm going to take a while longer before I'm really used to the idea, you know?"

He nodded, keeping his eyes on the tins as he collected them. "I know. It wasn't easy for me either when I found out. I already felt horrible, and then… well… I'd understand if you were still angry. I had that slap coming."

She got up quickly, surprising him by taking his face between her hands. He was taller than her now, if only slighter, she noted as she kissed him. The suddenness caused him to drop the tins in his hands, making her grin. "Don't talk like that. I shouldn't have slapped you. And let's be honest, this is not the weirdest thing that's happened to either of us."

He glanced down at the ground, at the dropped tins, before he looked back at her. "I guess not." He grinned when he thought about it again. "Okay, weirder stuff has happened."

"And once weird stuff like this stops happening… can you imagine how bored we'll be?" she added, bringing a smirk to his face. "Just imagine if we won't have people running to us, needing to be saved. What do heroes do when they're retired anyway?"

"We'll think of something." He promised her. "There's a lot of stuff to do. But we will be bored, no doubt about that." He laughed out loud all of a sudden. "But I'll pass on the pink house with the picket fence."

She let go of him, bending at her knees to pick up the tins. "We'll get some place cool. I'm going to need a little computer space of my own. And a man cave for you." Their eyes met as he knelt down as well.

"A man cave?" he asked. "You mean like your buddy Ma'al has?"

She chortled. "Nah. A place for yourself. Or for you and Daxter to share, whatever you want." They shared a moment of silence. "Jak…" should she say Jak still? Or should she say Mar from now on? She honestly didn't know. "I might have a secret myself too. When I figure out how to tell you, will you listen? Will you believe me?"

"You believed my crazy tale, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah. Of course I believe you. The truth is rarely what we want to be true, but I'm glad that it turned out like this, in a way. Now I know that Mar, that you, grew up to be a really great guy. You're a hero, you've saved a countless number of people." She couldn't help but sound proud when she thought about that. "Though I'm a bit sorry I missed out on your teen years, but I'm sure Daxter will want to fill me in pretty quickly if I ask."

"He better not." Jak replied, the horror of pimples and sudden body hair dawning back on him. He decided he could live with Valentine having seen him as cute and cuddly as long as she didn't have too much info on that period. "Is that the only thing you're happy about?"

She punched his arm playfully. "And that now I have one of the best boyfriends a girl could dream about. A guy that's the total dream package, with a dreamy smile and – let me know when I have to stop, because I might burst your ego if I go on like this."

They walked towards the front door, Daxter joining them before they left the room. Outside the streets were still as decrepit as they had been the day before, but Valentine found she couldn't care about that. Maybe Daxter had been right, maybe she was making things too complicated. Right now they were as they were, and there wasn't anything she could do to change them. Not that for her personally things had to change. They were better than she could have dreamed since the longest she could remember.

If she could go back in time she would go back to that young girl that had been captured by Praxis, and promise her that things would get better. So much better that she sometimes needed to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Sitting behind Jak on a Zoomer that had seen better days, Valentine let her head rest against his warm back. Life wasn't perfect, but at least for now it was good for her and Jak. She still had a thousand things to worry about, but at least the both of them wasn't one of those things.

One of those things however was the fact that Torn was once again screaming through the communicator. Well, that was life for ya.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Now that I have your attention : an anon reported me for sexual content on another story I've written (I still disagree, but my opinion doesn't matter), so whenever staff gets around to it, they will either send me an email answering my questions pertaining the situation OR, and this is very important here :

My account might be suspended, sending all of my stories into the flaming pits of perdition.

Maybe not that dramatic, but hey. There is a chance that if staff agrees - American law is strange, you know that? - they won't even tell me and just delete my entire page. So if one day you can't find the story on here, I did not take it down myself.

I am however slowly transporting all of my stories to archive of our own for safe-keeping. If you want to support me you can give me a kudos or something? (It's like a thumbs-up)

If it does get that far, I want to take a moment to appreciate all of the people who have been reading this story and who have been supporting me all this time. You rock, and you helped make it possible. I'd hug you, but, y'know... binary code doesn't work that way.

LadyAmazon : I wonder why everyone wants Valentine to kick Jak's ass? Wasn't he supposed to be the hero or something? :o

Dear Guest : You're a softie. Don't worry, that's a good thing. Thanks for the review ;)

Oblique Strategies : You are a very interesting person. If anyone has some extra time on their hands, go check out their stories as well. I've only read the first chapter (I'm a slacker and I'm sorry!) but you might like it!

Remember darlings : support the authors you love, and have a wonderful day!