Chapter 9: Problems

Date: October 29, 3657

Location: Hip Hog Saloon

Daxter had his hands on either side of his face and was currently nursing his drink. Jak was out playing delivery girl for Torn and the two Samos' leaving him with his thoughts for the first time in two weeks. Ever since Adriana's frisky business in the forest he'd had a hell of a time falling asleep in the bed the two now shared. He'd wake up with his face cradled in Jak's arms and with her head on top of his and his face smack dab in her thankfully covered and clothed chest, but even if that wasn't bad the boner he'd wake up with was enough to make this miserable and embarrassing. He was just thankful that Jak hadn't said anything about the friskiness of his alter ego or the morning wood, because if she ever did; he'd be done for.

"What's the matter whiskerpuss?" came the sweet voice of Tess.

Ah Tess, she was an angel sent from the shiny Precursors above. She was a hot babe, but for some reason he just didn't find himself attracted to her. She had a bosom that the gods above had to have gifted her with, plus she was sweet and gentle and always gave him an extra boost from one of those nice liquor drinks that she had behind the counter.

Sighing he ran his index finger around the rim of his glass, to his right Sig had been incredibly quiet tonight and now the bulk of a man was looking at him. "Ah Tessy poo, I'm in trouble!" he threw his hands in the air for a dramatic effect and laid his head down in his arms as he crossed them on the counter.

"With whom?" she asked worried that she was going to have to kill somebody if they hurt her friend.

"Jak." He mumbled into his arms.

"Huh?" she asked a bit confused. She'd seen Jak drop Daxter off and she seemed to be in good spirits.

"What did you do Cherry?" Sig asked now just as curious as the barmaid and leaned against the counter.

"Not me." he grumbled. "It's Jak; she's…changed and is…" he waved his right hand around in a circle trying to come up with the right words. "fallin' fer me." he groaned even as he said that small sentence. The Wastelander and barmaid both raised an eyebrow and looked at each other before looking back at Daxter. "We've been best buds since we were tiny and when Jak was a dude and not a chick." He sighed. "Since I busted her outta the slammer she's been all cuddly and touchy and feely and…" he looked up in time to see Tess cover her mouth. "What?" he asked the blonde.

"How long have these things been happening?" Sig asked seeming to know what was going on.

"I just…" he began

"Think back Daxie." Tess said as she leaned forward, her cleavage gaining his attention for about two seconds. Tess giggled as Daxter averted his eyes from her chest. "I don't think Jak's the only one acting different."

"Huh?" he asked clueless.

"Well," she began, "I've noticed how every time a guy flirts with Jak, when she starts to get uncomfortable you come to her defense and start calling her babe or sweets or any sweet name you can come up with, but it's mostly babe that I hear coming out of your lips." Daxter blinked. "Then I also noticed that you no longer are staring at my chest like you first did when you were an ottsel."

"Yeah, but that's cuz I respect ya Tessy poo." He said as his ears fell back a bit. "'sides I'm not mushy with Jak." His head turned a bit like he'd said something he shouldn't have.

Tess raised an eyebrow. "Okay." she said "What about Jak, how has she changed?" Now Daxter was playing with his tunic shirt that the Precursors had given him and muttered something unintelligible.

"What was that Chilipepper?" Sig pushed. "I don't think the Precursors themselves could've heard that one."

He suddenly looked up and a fire suddenly appeared in his eyes, along with his anger. "I SAID SHE KISSED ME!" he yelled as he pushed himself up and away. "Why'd she have ta go an' do that? Huh?" he crossed his arms over his chest and refused to look at either of his friends.

"Kiss like on the cheek?" Tess asked with a giggle.

"Hell no!" Daxter yelled, causing Tess' eyes to widen. "Full on lip on lip action and not just that it was her dark self doin' it and she was covered in blood; which use'ta creep me out, but now it's just Jak doin' what she does!" he threw his arms up. "I donno what ta do!"

Both of his friends seemed to be speechless for a moment before Sig began chuckling. "Sure it ain't just her dark self that likes ya."

Daxter snorted. "More happened?" Tess inquired causing Daxter to nod. "More than kissing?" Daxter nodded. "And you're not only confused; you're feeling guilty for enjoying it." Daxter's head shot up towards her, his eyes wide with shock. "Oh, Daxie!" she cooed and squealed at the same time. "It's okay. I bet you've been in love with Jak for years and you never realized it." She cooed at that thought.

"Nuh-uh!" Daxter shook his head vehemently. "I ain't gay snookums." His eyes wide, which caused Sig to laugh. "I ain't no flyin' queen or whatever." Tess giggled. "I like boobs and titties, and girly parts, not..." he made a face causing Tess' giggles to become snorts.

"Not like that Daxie." She giggled as she tried to regain her composure.

"I think the Cherry Pit is tryin' ta say is you respected Jak when he was a dude, cared about him in a friendly way," Tess nodded at Sig, "and then when she became a girl and you saw that she was a girl you began to once again to care about her, but it slowly began to evolve into something more before either of you two even realized it."

Tess nodded. "Yep." Daxter's ears fell again, this time almost making him look like he was guilty of something. "What?" Tess asked him.

"We always sleep in the same bed, but nothing happens; but…"He looked up to see Tess' eyes widen at this tid bit of information.

"Wait a second," Sig began, "how long have you two…"

"Err…since the first night she got out." He explained.

"There you go." Sig concluded.

"You were the one to break her loose, you gave her a home and a bed where she wouldn't have to worry about what happened and she basically sees you as a safe haven Daxie." Tess finished Sig's though. "You give her comfort and she knows with you she'll never be hurt."

Daxter sighed. "True, but…"

"No buts!" Tess said slamming her fist down. "I want you to go find her and tell her your true feelings and no more drama!" Daxter moved away from the fuming blonde. "And if you hurt her I'll hunt you down and hurt you real bad." she growled and then giggled. "Okay?"

"Wow Tessy, I didn't know you had so much rawr in ya." He said with a smile, causing her to giggle. Grabbing his drink he took the last swallow and made a face. "I'm a leavin'." He said as he took off. Once outside he opened his comm. unit. "Hey Jak," he began as he talked into the device, his friends face appeared on the camera of her unit.

"Yeah Dax?" she answered

Daxter snickered as he spotted a grease spot on her right cheek. "Ya go suckered into helpin' Keira?" he chuckled.

Jak frowned before she turned towards whoever was yelling in the background; a second later her face came back grease free. "Better?" she asked.

"Hnnn…" he shrugged. "You're at the stadium, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Jak asked looking like she wanted a reason to go.

"Stay there; I'll come ta ya Babe." He said as one of Jak's eyebrows rose up and Daxter cut the conversation as he grabbed one of the few zoomer bikes that were left with its keys still in the engine on the side of the walkway and started it off towards the Stadium that was on the other side of town.

Date: October 29, 3657

Location: Stadium

Jak shook her head as she put the comm. unit back in her back pocket. Keira giggled. "Daxter sounded excited about something." She turned towards Jak and smiled. "Okay, so the rift rider is completed, however in every historical book I've read , I have yet to find the rift gate; plus I'm missing both a time map and the Heart of Mar." she sighed as she looked over the depictions of each of the devices and then looked over at Jak who didn't seem to be paying attention. "Is something wrong Jak?" she inquired as she continued to look at her usually upbeat friend.

Keira knew that more people saw her as just a stupid girl who didn't pay much attention to anything outside of her damn garage; but those people would be very mistaken. Since arriving to Haven City or rather Hell City as it should've been named; she'd been working for the underground as an undercover agent at the Stadium. She'd gained the trust of many of the racers, including Erol; who creeped her out. She'd been helpful in getting information out of Erol by playing the dimwitted mechanic girl and listening to every little word he had to say. It was how the underground got it's intel on what was going on with the Commander. So putting her skills to work in getting information out of Jak by asking that simple question, she knew she'd get something sooner or later.

Jak sighed at Keira's simple question. Where to begin? She wondered as her friend looked at her with what looked like real concern in her eyes. "It's….complicated." she said after several minutes. Keira nodded and waited for Jak to continue. "So, a couple weeks ago Daxter and I went out into the forest to kill come combat cloaked metal heads and…" she paused as she remembered what happened and felt herself grow hot under the collar and blushed, that of course got Keira's attention. "Things…happened." She finished not really wanting to tell the one she'd once thought of as a possible girlfriend that she'd literally attacked Daxter with a full on make out session.

"What kind of things?" Keira asked as she leaned against the rift rider a look of interest appearing on her face.

Jak groaned and walked over to the work bench and sat down on the stool next to it and then leaned forward to hide her face in her hands. "I…well, my dark self…we…kissed Daxter." she peeked through her fingers to see Keira looking a bit shocked and once the shock wore off she gave Jak a goofy smile that reminded her of the time Keira had first seen her without her shirt when she'd been a guy.

"Did you like it?" was her unexpected question.

Jak sputtered and tried to think of an answer to that. "T-That's not…I'm mean…I.." she couldn't find words for how she felt and suddenly was once again without words and only a flush that slowly spread to her ears as she gave a nod. "But I think we freaked him out."

Keira snorted. "Doubt that." She replied as she pushed herself off of the rift rider. "This is Daxter we're talking about. I bet he secretly loved every minute and has been trying to ignore what happened out of the sake of your guys' friendship." Keira then paused and looked at Jak. "Why did you kiss Daxter anyway?"

"Huh?" was Jak's only intelligent reply as he ears went askew in confusion.

"Why did you," she pointed at Jak. "Kiss Daxter." And just like that Keira put it together. "Oh my god, you're in love with him!" Keira gasped in surprise and suddenly Jak looked up at her in surprise, her own eyes wide at the revelation.

Daxter was in an incredible mood since talking to Tessykins and Sig. The two had cleared everything up…mostly. Part of him still wanted to deny it, after all this was Jak he was talking…well thinking about. That led to the question; if Jak had still been a guy would he be having these feelings? Nope. He immediately thought. I'd probably still think of him as the most awesome friend a guy could have and be droolin' over Tessykins beautiful and sexily curved body. He smiled. But Jak is a girl now and I'm a havin' these feelin's 'cause I like her…a lot.

After parking the zoomer, he practically ran over to Keira's garage and was about to call out Jak's name when he heard Keira give a gasp.

"Oh my god, you're in love with him!" Keira gasped, which was followed by a long silence. "You've gotta tell Daxter." she whispered which forced Daxter to lean closer to the curtain. "You two will make an awesome couple. After all you two are what the others at the underground are calling the Demolition Duo."

Daxter's ears perked at this nickname and smiled. "I don't want to ruin anything Keir." came Jak's soft voice that was hushed to a mere whisper.

"I don't think this will ruin anything." She said and began to walk away.

Jak sighed and there was movement and creak as Jak got off of whatever she'd been sitting on. Daxter smoothed his nice silky shirt and pulled the curtain back and smirked when he saw Jak and Keira hugging. "Awe man, talk about a good picture." He said as he cocked his head at the image.

"Daxter!" Keira yelled with a jump and then his words sunk in at she grabbed one of her tools.

"Eek!" Daxter cried out as said tool went flying past his head. "Yeesh, a guy gives a compliment to his gals and he gets attacked.

Jak raised a green eyebrow at him. "His gals?" she asked testing the waters on this one and looked at Keira who winked at her.

"Well yeah!" Daxter said in excitement. "One that's a mechanical genius and the other a bombshell….literally." Jak looked at Daxter with shock while Keira began laughing. "What?" he asked looking between the two girls."

Jak smirked as she stood up and looked over at Keira. "I'll be back tomorrow for the Class 3 race." She turned and picked up the blue and black racer jumpsuit and then followed Daxter out of the garage.

"You're racin'?" he asked sounding a bit worried.

"Hmm…" she replied and after putting the stuff in her zoomer she looked at Daxter. "So what's with the flirting?"

"Uh…flirting? What flirting?" he asked a bit afraid Jak didn't like being called a bombshell. Nice one idiot. He thought as he looked at Jak who was giving him the I-know-what-you're-thinking kind of look. His shoulders slumped and just like that Jak smirked. "Can…we…uh...talk about this after we get home?"

Jak gave a nod. "Sure." with that Jak got into the driver's seat, while Daxter got into the passenger side and left his stolen zoomer behind.

Once they got to their home, Jak had only just put down her stuff when Daxter suddenly grabbed her by the waist, spun her around and kissed her. Jak's eyes went wide, but only for a single moment before closing and returning the kiss back. There was no finesse, just lips on lips followed by small nips of bottom lips and then Jak's tongue surged forward boldly and entered Daxter's mouth, tasting and testing the waters, trying to coax Daxter's tongue to come out and play. In the end both had to pull their faces away and come up for air, so when they did Jak found herself up against a wall, her legs somehow had been wrapped around Daxter's waist and Daxter had one hand on her waist and one hand on the right side of her head keeping himself steady.

"Wow." Daxter finally said as he got air back into his lungs.

Jak leaned her head back against the wall and breathed in another lungful of air just as Daxter's lips returned a bit more hungrily. This time he tipped Jak's head a bit and his tongue surged forwards and tastes her, which was followed by a nip to her bottom lip, along her jaw line and a small peck against her ear, which went downward on her neck and collarbone before going back to her lips.

When Daxter pulled back this time Jak had a nice red flush spreading across her face and up to the tips of her ears and Daxter decided he liked that look on her. She was also breathless, which made Daxter feel good about himself. He left Jak breathless! That had to count for something for a guy who'd never done any of this stuff until that day in the forest.

"Hehe…" He chuckled. "You good babe?"

Jak's eyes seemed to darken. "Very." She responded as she threw her weight away from the wall and towards Daxter, who stumbled; but was able to keep them from falling to the ground as Jak's lips met his own once again. Her arms wrapped completely around his neck and pulled him close, so that not a single part of their body wasn't touching.

Daxter suddenly felt himself falling though, once the backs of his legs touched the front of the couch and he was laid out with an ooff sound. This however didn't stop Jak from pulling his shirt off and allowing her hands to explore freckled shoulders, rounded chest muscles and perfect abs, though not a twelve or nine pack, Daxter had a nice six pack; which had surprised even him after his transformation back to an Elf. Daxter gasped, which broke their kiss, as Jak's hands traveled down his abs and to the love trail and groaned as her hips gave a swivel in a circular motion against his rising arousal. "Na…" he vocalized as his eyes closed as he thrusted his hips upwards against hers, which caused her to gasp in surprised and pleasure. When he did it again Daxter was rewarded with a moan, which caused him to open his eyes and look at Jak, whose eyes had closed.

He settled his hips and smirked. "Ya got too many clothes on babe." He muttered as he grabbed the hem of her blue tunic shirt and began to undo the buckles and eco ring and finally took off her shirt, only to find a black lacy bra underneath it. That caused Daxter to groan and Jak to smirk as she renewed her attack on his lips. His mouth left hers only to promptly find her neck. Jak seemed loved that, and she had her suspicions that he knew it. The more he kneaded her breast and sucked, the tighter her hands gripped his shoulders, at this point using him as a lifeline to keep from drowning. She could describe it no other way, regardless of how hard she tried; he made her feel like she was drowning.

Despite her efforts to keep her head about her, Jak felt like she was being swept away by the heat igniting inside her. It was a silly thing, but where Dax was concerned, it was all too easy. And, she admitted, she wanted him more than she thought.

"Dax," she moaned, thinking that now would be a good time to take this elsewhere - pointedly, their bed. When she got a grunt as a response, she remembered her hands on his shoulders and decided to try something and pushed her fingers downward between them, which caused a moan to come out of Daxter throat, but it wasn't until Daxter felt his pants suddenly come lose that he knew where this was going. "Eep!" he cried out as her hands went inside of his pants.

Grabbing said hands he looked down at the woman in his arms. "Err." He began, "Let's take this up to our bed." He said causing Jak to only nod as Daxter led her up the ladder and quickly followed up after her up to the loft, where Daxter resumed the kisses from earlier.

It was as if his lust from before had tripled, which he proved when one arm went around her waist and the other cupped the back of her neck. With his head tilted, he already had the perfect angle to keep kissing her, running his tongue over hers, then her molars, drawing back enough to lick her lips.

Jak felt as if her skin was hotter than before, almost scalding. She tried not to think about it, to fight the passion she could already feel building up, yet some part of her knew it was in vain. That little voice was proven correct as his hand on her back slid further down, almost roughly groping at her rear.

She could only manage separating their mouths long enough to say, "Dax!" before he was devouring her lips again, his hands kneading certain parts of her body and Jak was gasping and moaning. Then his mouth latched onto her neck. Along with zings of pleasure, a wave of shock hit her. When did Daxter learn all of this? She silently wondered if maybe he'd been reading stuff, but then another thought of maybe Tess or Taryn told him how to please a woman and that didn't settle well with her.

His hand on her neck left her feeling bereft, but began sliding down her back, her butt, then to her thigh as his previously groping hand went around her waist, keeping them pressed together. She couldn't help how hard her heart was pounding in her chest, but given the situation and all the passion he kept laving on her, she could hardly be blamed for that; especially when that hand on her thigh slipped between her legs, cupping at her singularly most intimate place.

Jak threw her head back and moaned loudly, which caused Daxter to smirk. "Ya, like that babe?" he asked as his hand began moving in a slow back and forth motion over her covered private area. A moan was all Jak seemed to be able to do. Daxter was thoroughly pleased with himself with this reaction.

It was time for the bra to leave, Daxter decided as he pulled his body away from hers only long enough to take the offending piece of article off of her and suddenly was staring at her. Jak raised an eyebrow at him, silently wondering why Daxter wasn't continuing and saw him starring at her; which suddenly made her feel embarrassed. She knew there were marks on her chest and body from before the time her healing ability had become active and slowly retch for the fur blanket they slept in, only to have Daxter grab that hand and stop her from grabbing the pelt blanket and kissed her softly and suddenly he was kissing every scar on her body which caused Jak to gasp at the suddenly gentleness.

Daxter silently cursed whoever was responsible for these scars and at that moment wanted nothing more than to make that person pay for marking up his Jak's body. Pulling her body close once again he continued his ministrations until her hips bucked at his causing him to gasp. "Now…" he warned her. "Patience Jak baby." He chuckled as another thrust push against his straining arousal. He gripped her hips and stopped her from wiggling, which caused Jak to groan in frustration. "Now, now…I'm gonna enjoy this." he smiled as he began once again to kiss her stomach and go downward.

Jak gasped and whimpered as Daxter gave a teasing rub with his free hand against her intimate area. Jak threw her head back against the pillow and tried to move her hips against him, anything to give her that pent up release that she knew was coming.

Daxter looked at her and deciding to have pity on her, he undid her boots, which went flying somewhere behind him; and soon her pants and her panties came off in one swooping motion and followed the boots to wherever they'd fallen and Daxter smirked at the patch of green hair he spotted between her legs and looked up. "Not into a groomin' babe?" he asked which caused her to give him the middle finger. "Ah, ah…not yet." He replied cockily.

"Dax…" Jak warned her patience growing thin, but she didn't need to do so as his mouth returned to her body. While his mouth was on her stomach and navel and traveled to her one hip and across to the second, Daxter snuck one of his hands downward to her core; his fingers touching her and spreading her lower lips, a single finger slipping inside between her folds. This caused Jak to gasp in surprise, while a cocky smirk appeared on Daxter's face. Daxter lifted his face from her body as he pressed his fingers inside of her gently. Daxter was surprised at how wet Jak was and looked up to watch her gasping and panting his name; he smiled as he watched her coming undone and suddenly stopped and moved on.

Jak was surprised at just how quick Daxter moved on as his mouth practically attached onto her core, tongue rubbing at her the way he'd done to her breast. At once she had the feeling of drowning again, stronger than she ever remembered it being. It was incredibly different from anything she'd felt before and it was driving her mad in more ways than she cared to count. He did all sorts of things to her then, making her cry out despite herself. Licking, sucking, blowing, rubbing, stroking; she could already feel that she was balancing dangerously close to the edge of something; something that she knew would feel good and end this delicious torture.

It didn't even occur to her how many times she'd called his name over the past few minutes. . .or was it few hours? She had zero grasp of time; for all she knew, they'd been at this for years and she could've cared less, as long as it came to a delicious close and that close came with Jak's back arching off of the bed as Daxter released her hips and allowed her to ground herself against his mouth. Jak's mouth opened to scream out her pleasure but nothing but a gasp came out of her throat as she fell herself find her release. It was as if she'd been running from the biggest baddest metal head and had finally fallen into some deep pit. Her vision whited out if only for a moment.

When her vision came back to her she found herself gasping for breath. Looking over she saw Daxter pulling the pelt over her body. She pulled him closed and began nibbling him, her hand going into his pants, the need to give him when he'd just given her was almost too great, but just as her hand wrapped around his throbbing member her wrist was grabbed by him as he suddenly grunted.

"Hey, hey…" he said a bit breathless. "We have time fer that later babe."

Jak flushed at the comment and suddenly felt Daxter grab her arm and yank her towards him and kiss her lips before pulling her to his chest. "We're good at this." he said with a smirk as he began to settle for bed. Yawning he rolled on to his back. "I'll get condoms tomorrow and we can try round two."

Jak had just started to settle against Daxter's shoulder when she'd heard him say that. Her eyes widened as she realized what could've happened if they'd gone a done the entire thing tonight. "Yeah." She muttered against his shoulder. "Good idea." She shuttered at the idea of child coming from this new relationship so early.

"Our kid would've been awesome!" Daxter said with a wink as he noticed the fearful look in Jak's eyes, which caused the female hero to smile.

"Yeah, but let's wait for that one." She mumbled as sleep began to claim her.

"Agreed." Daxter mumbled sleepily and finally hero and side-kick fell asleep after a long day of finding and figuring things out between each other. "Also we're gonna have ya talk about this tomorrow."

Jak just grunted an affirmative as she fell into a deep and restful sleep for the first time in months.

Date: October 30, 3657

Location: Outside Haven City

Hidden in the hills outside of Haven City thousands of men and women wastelander warriors gathered outside the city that had once been the home to their King. Damas looked out at the thousands of warriors that he'd gathered to take down his enemy and find his son once and for all. It was at midnight exactly when he spotted the recognizable armor of his friend, Sig. The man lumbered out of the deep clutches of Haven Forest to his king and friend. "King Damas," he greeted the royal.

Damas took note that his friend's arms were empty of his son still. "Still no sight?" he asked.

Sig sighed. "No," he said this as he looked at the warriors that were ready for battle. Some carried extra weapons besides their staff weapons, some had axes, others spears; a few had Precursorean tech in their hands or attached to their armor. "Going to be a big battle." He muttered.

"We'll surprise them with their pants down." Damas said with a smirk and brought up a helmet with spikes on the head and a T-shape in the middle for his eyes, nose, and mouth and put it on his head. Others followed their leader's example and began to put on their helmets. "We charge now, kill Praxis and his men, find my son and then we leave Haven; is that clear?" he yelled out to his people, a loud cry was heard from the group. "We take no prisoners or slaves." None grumbled or made an attempt to persuade the king of changing his mind. "Let's go!" he yelled as the men and woman began their charge through Haven Forests and to the city itself.

Meanwhile, at the same time that the King of the Wasteland was charging on the city of his ancestors; the creatures known as metal heads began their own attacks below the city and within mere minutes of entering the sewers they began to make their way to the streets of Haven City.

At the same time the old seer in the Bazaar saw what was going to happen and sent her trusted companion off towards the Underground to warn the Shadow that now was the time to act and that the Prince must be sent through the rings of the rift gate that was located in the metal head nest or else all that should occur would not and that these battles against the Baron would be for nothing.

M-Angel: Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. Lots of stuff going on and everything. Love everybody. Hugs and please leave some reviews. I'm going hungry without them!

xoxogangii: Talk about a steamy chapter. Whew! See you guys in the Reviews!