The Story of JJ Part 1

Sydney snuggled closer to the bundle of warmth next to her. An unfamiliar, but pleasant smell filled her nose. Had her bed always been this comfy and warm? Sydney didn't want to open her eyes and wake up. She buried herself in her silk bed sheets and let out a sigh of content.

"Good morning, beautiful," a warm voice spoke up suddenly. A toned pair of dark-skinned arms wound themselves around Sydney's torso.

Her eyes snapped open and slowly took in the scene as well as last night's memories. Sydney felt her heart rate speed up, but not in fear. She smiled blissfully and nuzzled into Joe. His grip around her tightened.

"How are you feeling?" Joe murmured as he trailed light kisses down Sydney's back.

Sydney's head turned and she gazed at him through half-lidded eyes. "Perfect. I don't think I've slept that well in years."

Joe reached down and caressed her cheek, pushing her honey blonde hair out of her face and revealing her newly formed scar. Sydney closed her eyes and leaned into his loving touch. "That's good to hear."

"What about you?" Sydney rolled over so she could face him. They were close enough for her to pick out all the individual freckles on his face. "You're the one who just lost their virginity."

"I think," Joe paused to pull her in close to him, touching his forehead to hers, "there's no one else I'd rather have been with." He closed the distance between them and pressed his mouth against her soft lips. Sydney felt a burst of desire dance around inside her chest. A soft moan escaped her mouth, and she decided that she could have died right then and there and she would've been okay with it. Time had stopped for her in that moment and for the first time in a long time, she felt happy.

But the moment had to end. The high Sydney had been riding ceased, and she fell back into reality.

Her phone buzzed on the shelf above her bed. She inwardly groaned and debated whether or not to answer it, but when it buzzed again, she knew she couldn't ignore it. Sydney blindly reached up and felt around for the annoying interrupter. She started when she noticed the time.

She held the red bed sheet to her bare chest and hurriedly sat up and immediately almost fell back down. Her hand rubbed the side of her head as a sudden moment of dizziness hit her. "How is it already eleven? I never sleep in like this."

"Something wrong?" Joe sat up and watched her with concern.

"I'm late for Sky's training session." Sydney looked around the bed for her clothes.

"Training session?" Joe placed a hand on her shoulder. "You almost died yesterday and you're going right back in to a training session?"

Sydney shrugged. "I promised Sky I'd help him become a time agent. I've been doing it almost every day for five years. I can't just stop now."

Joe chuckled. "I think he'll understand. He didn't come out of yesterday unscathed either. Besides," Joe lightly traced circles on the small of her back, "don't you want to spend a little more time with me?"

Sydney grinned at him. "Of course I do. But I do have other obligations, you know."

"Oh." Joe frowned. "I just thought… You really did enjoy it, right? I mean, I know it was my first time so I obviously wasn't going to be perfect or anything. But I did my best and I-"

Sydney captured his lips in a kiss and cut him off. "Last night was amazing. I wouldn't change a thing. You may not have been my first, but you were the first one that I loved."

Joe tilted his head and pushed her hair away from her face. "What does that mean?"

"That I love you and you shouldn't doubt yourself." Sydney gave him a quick peck on the lips before sliding out of bed and getting dressed. "I'll come see you later, okay? You should go check on your sister. She's probably worried that you didn't come back last night."

Joe was still looking at Sydney in concern, but he shook off his worries and nodded. "Right. I love you."

An unexpected warmth built up in Sydney's chest. "I love you too."

Sydney sighed and leaned into Skyler's side as another wave of dizziness washed over her. "I'm so sorry, Sky. I tried to make it through today's training. I don't know what's wrong with me."

Skyler shrugged. "It's okay. I was surprised you wanted to work on stuff today anyway. You did sort of almost die yesterday."

"I'm a god. We heal quickly." Sydney smirked at him.

"Not to mention your birthday is coming up." Skyler studied her. "Know what you're going to do yet?" He threw his arm around her shoulder as they walked out of the training room together.

"Are you kidding? I'm leaving this place as soon as I can." Sydney grinned. "I can't wait to finally be free from this prison."

"Have you told that Joe guy yet?"

Sydney blushed as flashbacks from the night before filled her mind. "Um… no. We didn't get a chance to talk a lot last night."

"Oh?" Skyler stopped and gave Sydney a fake pained look. "And why is this the first I'm hearing about this? I thought we didn't keep secrets from each other?"

"I didn't think that included my love life."

Skyler laughed and continued to walk down the hall. "I'm not saying I need all the details or anything, but it wouldn't hurt to know what's going on with your life. I thought we were best friends."

"There's not much to say." Sydney had a small grin on her face. "He helped me back to my room yesterday. We talked, and then… you know."

"Seems awfully quick," Skyler teased. His smirk softened. "So you really like this guy?"

Sydney laughed. "Yes, I really like him. I feel… happy with him." A wide grin spread over her face. "You know I didn't have any nightmares last night? I actually slept and it was great."

Skyler smiled down at her. "That's good to hear. You need someone to make you happy. Besides me, of course."

Sydney sniggered and bumped him with her hip. "You know I love you too, Sky."

"You going to see him later? As your honorary brother, I think I need to interrogate this guy a little. Make sure he's good enough for you."

"Stop it," Sydney continued to laugh. "If you questioned him, you'd just be asking about his sister the whole time anyway."

Skyler blushed. "What can I say? That Anna's a cute girl. It was love at first sight."

"And how much have you actually talked to her?"

Skyler's blush deepened, but he got a faraway look in his eyes. "Not enough."

Sydney opened her mouth to respond, but ended up stumbling into Skyler. She clutched his arm to stay upright. The room spun around her.

"You okay?" Skyler had concern written all over his face. "Maybe you haven't healed as much as you thought. We should get you to the infirmary."

All Sydney could do was nod. She tried to take a step, but her knees buckled underneath her. Skyler swiftly caught her and picked her up. "Come on. You're definitely not okay."

Sydney groaned and was having trouble keeping her eyes open. "What is going on with me? This can't be from yesterday. I would have healed by now. Even if it was some sort of concussion."

"Just relax." Skyler sat in a chair next to her hospital bed. "It's probably nothing."

"It doesn't feel like nothing," Sydney grumbled. She doubled over in pain and clutched at her stomach. She let out a string of curses. "I've died before and it wasn't this bad!"

"The nurse will be back soon. Just hold on." Skyler reassuringly rubbed her back.

Sure enough, a young-looking nurse walked into the room. "Hello, Goddess." The nurse lowered her head in a bow.

"Sydney is fine, thanks." She rolled her eyes at the nurse's behavior.

"Sorry, Sydney." The nurse bowed again.

Sydney frowned. "Right. Stop bowing before you strain your back. Just tell me what's wrong."

The nurse bit her lip. "We're not really sure. These symptoms are odd, especially for a goddess."

Sydney blinked. "You're not sure? What do you mean you're not sure? You have to have some idea of what's wrong with me."

"Well, these symptoms only match up with one thing we've seen before, but we would have to run additional tests to confirm it." The nurse wrung her hands. "Someone will be in soon to run the ultrasound."

"Ultrasound? Does she have a tumor or something?" Skyler looked at the nurse with a worried expression on his features.

"Not exactly. We think she might be pregnant."

"What?!" Sydney and Skyler exclaimed.

The nurse jumped. "I'm sorry, but like I said we don't know for sure yet. Goddess pregnancies are unlike mortal pregnancies. The symptoms and gestation period are completely different."

"Pregnant…" Sydney stared down at the floor. Skyler was just as shocked.

The nurse bowed again before leaving and returning with a more mature looking doctor. "Miss Tempus. We may be able to get this over with right now if you can answer one simple question for me. Have you had any sexual encounters recently?"

"Um…" Sydney's cheeks reddened.

"I will take that as a yes." The doctor sighed like a disappointed parent and motioned for the nurse to roll in a high-tech looking machine. "I'm going to have to ask you to remove your shirt." The doctor turned to Skyler. "You may leave the room now."

"Why?" Sydney stripped off her shirt, leaving her in a blue bra. "It doesn't bother us."

The doctor studied Skyler. "Oh! Are you the one she…"

"No!" Sydney and Skyler exchanged disgusted looks. "Never!"

"My apologies." The doctor nodded and moved towards the ultrasound machine. She flicked a switch and the machine turned on with a buzz. The screen flickered to life. The doctor grabbed a bottle filled with a clear lubricant. "This is going to be cold." The doctor spread it out on Sydney's stomach and Sydney shivered underneath its touch.

The doctor slid the probe over Sydney's stomach while staring at the monitor, searching for any signs of pregnancy. She paused when she found a small oblong circle shaped object. The doctor sighed again. "Well, that's all the confirmation we need. Congratulations, Miss Tempus. You're going to be a mother."

Sydney's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. "But…" She examined the screen. "If I'm pregnant it would have happened very recently. That looks a little too big to me."

"As I'm sure my assistant already told you, goddess pregnancies are very different from normal pregnancies. You will experience different symptoms and in three months, you will have a baby."

"Three months?!"

The doctor shook her head. "I will have to explain more later. We are still treating people from yesterday's attack. Perhaps you should find your mother. I'm sure she can explain things to you."

"No thanks." Sydney's expression showed that she still hadn't recovered from the shock.

Skyler wasn't much better, but he reached over and grabbed Sydney's hand. "It'll be okay. Let's just go back to your room for now."

Sydney mutely nodded and followed Skyler out of the room.

"What do you mean, you still haven't told him?" Skyler angrily crossed his arms. "It's been two weeks. You're lucky you're no showing yet."

"My father told me to not talk to Joe or Anna until after the trial today." Sydney stubbornly turned her head away.

Skyler scoffed. "Because you're always one to listen to rules. And what about after the trial? Your birthday meeting is tonight."

"Don't remind me." Sydney buried her head in her hands. "Besides, Joe just made it very clear that he has no interest in talking." She gestured to the door where Joe had stormed out not too long ago.

Skyler sighed and sat down next to Sydney. He soothingly put an arm around her shoulders.

"I tried to tell him, but we just ended up fighting over the trial." Sydney looked to Skyler. "You understand my decision, right? Anna would have been fine."

Skyler nodded. "Of course. But I've been with you a lot longer than Joe has. It's understandable that he'd be worried for his sister. But if you had just told him about the pregnancy, none of this may have happened."

"I know," Sydney groaned. "I can't tell him now though. I don't think he's ever going to talk to me again."

Skyler stood. "I'll talk to him. No one hurts my best friend and gets away with it, especially on her birthday."

Sydney laughed. "Be easy on him. It's not his fault."

Skyler shrugged and winked at her as he left. "We'll see. I love you like a sister, Syd. If any boy hurts you, I will step in and hurt him back."

3 Months Later…

Sydney stared down at her protruding stomach. Three months. In three months she had gone through what took most women nine months to go through. Her hands rubbed up and down her stomach. She should be in New York right now, living a new life with Joe. Not stuck at Draylon about to give birth to a child. Joe's child, who he didn't even know about.

"Stupid council," Sydney grumbled. "Stupid replacement rule." She felt the baby kick and move around in her stomach. "Stupid baby."

"You don't mean that."

Sydney looked up to see Skyler standing in the middle of her room. She frowned. "Yes I do. If it weren't this baby, I'd be living my happily ever after in New York right now."

"If it weren't for that baby you wouldn't even be allowed to leave this place. Just because you're terrified of what's about to happen doesn't mean you have to get angry at your child." Skyler smiled at her.

Sydney sighed and made room for him to lay down next to her on her bed. "I never wanted this."

"But you're stuck with it," Skyler said as he stretched out next to her. "Admit it, you may be scared, but you're also excited. Enjoy it."

"Why are you even here?"

"I am here to help my best friend through the birth of her first child. Not exactly something I ever thought I'd say, but here I am."

"You don't have to do that." Sydney looked away.

"I didn't have to help you out for the past three months either. But I did, because I love you, and I'm not going to abandon you like that."

"You are an amazing guy, you know that? Anna is one lucky girl." Sydney leaned her head on Skyler. "You still sure you want to move to New York with me when all this is taken care of?"

"Positive. I still have a year to prep for it anyway."

Sydney looked up at him. "A year? I'm leaving as soon as-"

"You'll be here another year at least. You're just afraid to admit how much you already love that child and how terrified you are to raise it." Skyler looked at her with determined eyes. "You will be a great mother."

Sydney broke eye contact. "I'm the last person who should be a mother. I'm a killer, Sky, not a lover. I'm doing this kid a favor by getting out of its life."

"You keep telling yourself that and I'll be here to say 'I told you so' when you hold your baby and refuse to let it go." Skyler smirked at her. "It's okay to be scared. Every new mother is."

Sydney shook her head. "Why couldn't have we fallen in love? Life would be so much easier."

Skyler laughed. "Maybe in another life. We were just meant for different people." He paused and glanced down out her pregnant belly. "So when is the main event?"

Sydney shrugged. "Sometime today. Apparently I'll know when it's go time. I have no idea how though." Sydney paused and bit her lip. "You really think I'd make a good mother?"

"I know it. You are one of the strongest and most selfless people I've ever met. I know that you would do anything and everything to protect this child and give it the best life possible."

"But what if I'm the thing it needs protection from?"

Skyler sighed. "I think you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. After all, you haven't even given this whole motherhood thing a chance yet."

"I don't know, Sky. I still think that- agh!" Sydney doubled over in pain, clutching her stomach.

Skyler shot up. "Are you okay?"

Sydney shook her head. "No. Infirmary, now. It's go time."

A/N - So I decided to write this (part 1 of 2) to explain more about Sydney and JJ's story from her finding out she's pregnant to her being forced to leave him at Draylon and a little something extra after that. This also kind of turned into a story of Sydney and Skyler's friendship. So let me know what you think with a review! Don't forget to favourite this story and follow me for more! Thanks for reading!

PS: I'm gonna be posting some updates to my profile soon, so be on the lookout for those!