I own nothing as always.
CHAPTER 24
Jak walked into the kitchen the next morning and frowned and the quietness of it. Taj sat alone at the table eating his breakfast and reading the paper. Jak scratched his head and wandered further in.
Taj looked up and smiled "Morning dad" he said cheerily
"Morning son, where is everyone?" he asked pouring himself a cup of coffee and leaning on the counter.
Taj swallowed his mouthful of cereal and said "Mama took them in to Haven...said something about Anya's dress and Damas and Lexa out growing everything within days"
"Why didn't she wake me?" Jak asked confused as to why his wife had taken three of his children in to Haven City without telling him
"She said you've had a hard few weeks and you need to rest...and she's right dad you've looked terrible since all that crap happened" Taj said shaking his head "You shouldn't blame yourself you know...it wasn't your fault"
Jak smiled and sat down at the table "Son, whether you like it or not I am going to blame myself"
"But it wasn't your fault that mama got taken...or that I got shot...even if you'd forbidden me to go I still would have gone" Taj protested
Jak nodded "I know that son...the only way I would have kept you away would be to injure you myself...but it is still my fault"
"How?" Taj asked
Jak took a swig of coffee and sighed "Because it's my blood that you have in you...my name that you carry...the power that comes with that blood and name is what they wanted"
"But that's not your fault...you didn't choose to have that blood, that name" Taj said
Jak shook his head "No but I chose to carry on the blood line...I'm not saying I regret having you and your sisters and brother because I love you more than anything, but theres always going to be a danger to you" he took a deep breath "May be I should have changed my name or something"
"Dad...we're proud to have your name...we're proud to have this blood and we wouldn't want any other name or any other father" Taj smiled
Jak smiled "And I'm proud to be your father"
Taj nodded and went back to his breakfast, he frowned and looked up "Dad...I think I want to see Marissa"
"Why son...I thought you didn't have anything to say to her?" Jak asked raising an eye brow
Taj shrugged "I don't know...maybe I just need some closure"
"Okay...I'll see what I can do" Jak nodded
Taj nodded "Thanks dad...and can you not tell Anya or Lucie...especially not Lucie"
Jak chuckled "Okay...I'll go and get showered and then we'll go have a word with Sig" he said getting up and heading upstairs while Taj finished his breakfast.
Keira, Anya, Damas and Lexa wandered around the bazaar in Haven City. Anya stopped at a stall that sold underwear and looked at the fancy bra's and knickers "Do I need new underwear?" she asked
"Probably...but you don't need them" Keira said taking a skimpy pair of lacy panties off her
Anya giggled "Why not...there pretty?"
"Yes but there designed not to stay on for long...unless thats your plan Anya Mar" Keira said raising an eyebrow
Anya shook her head "God mama...you think I'd come shopping with my mother for things like that"
"Well then we'll get you some from where we normally get them from" Keira said
Anya frowned "Wait mama"
Keira turned around and smiled "Come on let's go and get a drink at Brutters...and you can tell me all about it"
Five minutes later Keira and Anya sat at the stall drinking their drinks, Damas and Lexa played next to them. Keira took a sip of her tea and looked at Anya "So do you want to tell me what all this is about?" she asked quietly
Anya blushed slightly and took a deep breath "I think that at my party...you know the one with my friends...I'm going to tell Rio that I'm ready...to you know..." she looked down at her glass of juice and started playing with the straw.
"I see...and just where do you intend to do this?" Keira asked
Anya shrugged "I don't know...I hadn't really thought that far a head"
"So you've planned out where you're going to tell him...you've decided you need sexy underware...but you haven't thought about where you're going to do it...have you even thought about contraception?" Keira enquired
Anya shook her head "Isn't that down to him?"
"You can't rely on a man to do it Anya...come on" she said finishing her tea and getting up to round Damas and Lexa up.
Anya rushed to catch her up "Where are we going?" she asked confused
"To the doctors" Keira stated
Anya stopped "Why?" she asked shocked
Keira turned and smiled at her daughter, she gently stroked her face "You have to be carefull Anya...you need to be on the pill"
"I can't believe my mother is taking me for me pill" Anya said shaking her head
Keira laughed and hugged her "As much as I'd love for you all to stay babies I'm afraid I have to let you grow up...and as long as I know that I've done all I can to keep you safe then I'm happy"
Anya nodded "Thank you mama" she said hugging her back.
"You're welcome sweetheart...just don't tell daddy just yet...we'll drop these to off with grandpa and then go to see the doctor" she looked down at Damas and Lexa looking around bored "How about we take you two to go play in the forest with grandpa while Anya and I finish shopping?" she smiled
Damas and Lexa cheered "Yeay...quick lets go"
Keira laughed as she allowed her two youngest children to drag her out of the bazaar and towards Haven Forest.
"So can you sort it for us?" Jak asked stood in front of Sig in the throne room of Spargus Palace, Taj stood next to him.
Sig sat on the throne in front of him and shook his head "I just don't understand why you would want to see her?" Sig asked Taj
"I don't know Uncle Sig...I guess I just need an explanation" Taj shrugged
Sig sighed "Just like your father...okay let me make a few calls" he got up "I'll be back as soon as I can" he said leaving the throne room.
Taj sat down on the steps and looked up at his father "Do you think I'm doing the right thing?" he asked
"That's for you to decide son...if you feel as though you should see her then you should" Jak answered sitting next to him.
Taj nodded "I just don't want to regret it...I mean I don't want it to eat away at me, I need to know why"
"You want answers...I get that" Jak smiled as Sig walked back in. They stood up as he arrived in front of them.
Sig folded his arms across his chest "Right firstly you will have a wastelander escort"
"Come off it Sig what do I need an escort for?" Jak chuckled
Sig smirked "Because cherry I say so, and you never know who is out in that desert...Rayn still hasn't been found and some of her associates are still missing...if she's looking for her husband and daughter..."
"Okay, okay Sig I get it" Jak interrupted "What else?"
Sig nodded "You will be escorted to the village and the guards are under instruction to let you in...you only have an hour Taj...then you leave and are escorted back" he watched as the two Mars' nodded their heads "If at any point you feel uneasy, you feel something isn't right you get back here pronto...got it?" he asked
"Got it" Jak said nodding
Sig nodded "Right Kliever is in the garage waiting for you and the escort will be at the gates as soon as it opens...and Taj I hope you get the closure you need"
Taj smiled and waved as he and his father made their way out "Thanks Uncle Sig"
"No problem cherry...just don't get shot again" Sig chuckled.
Keira and Anya sat on the edge of the water in Haven Forest. Anya looked down at the small packet of pills in her hand "It's so hard to believe something so small could stop something so huge happening" she mused
Keira smiled "Yes it is...but remember nothing is one hundred percent"
"How did you end up pregnant so young?" she asked looking at her mother and frowning
Keira laughed "Passion...when your father and I first met it was so difficult for us to be together so when we did get them precious moments things like contraception kind of just flew out the window"
"Why was it so hard for you to be together though?" Anya asked
Keira smiled "Because we both worked at the palace...me in the garage and daddy in the KG...and Ashelin had forbidden work place romances"
"But how come you wasn't on the pill?" She asked
Keira shrugged "I went on the pill after I'd been seeing your father for a few weeks but we'd already made love by then and as I said nothing is one hundred percent"
"So you got caught before you went on the pill?" Anya enquired
Keira nodded "I'd only been seeing your father about eight weeks and I was five weeks gone when we found I was pregnant...so I must have got caught before I went on the pill"
"Do you regret it...I mean having me and Taj so young?" she asked
Keira put her arm around her daughter and smiled "Not for a second honey, we fell in love so quickly and knew we would always be together so it really didn't matter when I got pregnant...if we'd met sooner I probably would have been pregnant even younger" she giggled
Anya smiled widely "I love you mama...you and daddy are the best parents in the world"
"Why thank you angel" Keira smiled "I love you too" she said before hugging her.
Taj wandered up to a small hut in a village at the other side of the desert and knocked on the door. He turned briefly to look at his father who watched from the end of the path and smiled. Jak smiled back and nodded as the door opened and Razer stood there.
"Well, well...what can I do for you?" he sneered
Taj looked up at him and frowned "I need to see Marissa" he snapped
"And just why should I let you see my daughter?" he asked leaning on the door frame "She's heart-broken over you"
Taj shrugged "Well then maybe she shouldn't have betrayed me...and I haven't forgotten who kidnapped my mother in the first place" he snarled
Razer looked over at Jak and frowned "Fine...go in" he said stepping aside and letting him in.
Taj found Marissa sat on her bed in her small bedroom reading, he knocked gently on the door before stepping in the room.
Marissa looked up and jumped "Taj...what are you doing here?" she asked jumping off the bed
"I haven't come to make up with you or anything" Taj said walking further into the room "I've just come for answers"
Marissa looked down "You mean you want to know why I would do that to you?"
"I know you say your mother forced you to do it but there's still something I don't get" Taj said shaking his head
She looked up "What...I'll tell you anything Taj?"
"If you started to develop feelings for me then why didn't you just tell me what was going on...we could have helped you...got you somewhere safe...even got your father out?" Taj asked
She shrugged "I don't know I guess I just felt trapped...like I had to do it"
"Didn't you think I'd understand?" Taj said
She shook her head "I guess I just wanted my mothers approval"
"And destroying my family would get you that" He snapped
Marissa looked up at him sadly "I'm so sorry Taj...at first it was all about my mother and getting some kind of love from her but after a while I really started to fall for you"
"So why not tell me...I would have helped you" Taj said
Marissa nodded "I know...I just didn't think"
Taj sighed "In a way I should be thanking you...if I hadn't been shot then I might never have realised how much I love Lucie...but I can never forgive you for what you put my family through"
"So you're okay now...I mean after being shot?" she asked forcing back tears
Taj nodded "I'm fine...you know my five-year old sister asked me not to die again...have you any idea how that feels?"
"I really am sorry" Marissa sniffed
Taj nodded "Well you should be" he turned to leave "Goodbye Marissa"
"Goodbye Taj" She said before crawling on to the bed and beginning to sob.
Jak and Taj walked quickly and quietly to gates. Jak looked at Taj as he waited for the gates to open "Did you find what you were looking for son?" he asked
Taj nodded "I guess I'll never understand...but yes dad, I got what I wanted" he smiled weakly as Jak squeezed his shoulder and father and son stepped out in to the desert and were met by the escort.
Okay as ever thanks for reading and let me know what you think. Also I was thinking of a story for Damas and Lexa, what about if Damas goes to join the racing circuit with Lexa as his mechanic and they bump in to Rayn and maybe Razer, oh and I have just become aware that in previous chapters I've been spelling Razer with an o instead of an e, I thought that's how it was spelt in Jak X but it isn't. Any way let me know what you think of my story idea. X X X X