Trials and Tribulations of a Teenage Father
This fic has been requested by Lydia and Cburns1995 and their combined prompt was Jason isn't the innocent virgin people assume he is, in fact when he arrives at Hollyoaks village he's a father of one, with his baby's mother long since gone from the scene. He may still be at school, but he loves his child dearly, though it's not always easy looking after her
The summer holidays were probably Jason's favourite time of the year. He had six long weeks of freedom. endless days that never were cooler than 15 degrees, surrounded by his friends as they enjoyed their freedom whilst they still had it.
Days were spent outside, going to the local park and taking full advantage of the heatwave that was baring over England, and nights were even better. Parties were held numerous times a week, leaving the newest class of year eleven's to fully love their lives before their final exams started taking place.
Jason had never been happier, because not only did he have the best group of friends to experience this all with, he also had the best girlfriend too. He and Stacey Leevers had been dating since the beginning of the school year, and their relationship had only been going from strength to strength, and as they passed the four month mark, they reached the pivotal moment of sleeping together for the first time, proving to the other just how much they loved one another.
The first few days of summer only made them grow closer,but then something strange happened, when Stacey stopped answering Jason's phone calls. He didn't think anything of it at first, he knew that her older sister had just come back from her gap year travels and that Stacey was probably just wanting to catch up on lost time.
But as more time passed, still Stacey kept her distance from Jason. He messaged her, asked her if she wanted to do something, but the answer was always no. She was ill. She had work. She was with her family.
Pictures on Facebook began popping up, pictures of Stacey with her friends, out and about and definitely not doing any of the things that she had told Jason she was doing. She had been lying to him, and Jason felt sick as he thought of why, because there was only one reason. She was bored of him, had moved on and was looking for someone new, someone better than him.
Jason knew the signs well enough, had seen his friends get their hearts broken when girls played them cruelly and he wasn't going to let that happen to him. So one Tuesday night, just a week after his final exam, the teen found himself at Stacey's door, ringing the doorbell and waiting for her to appear.
"Jase?" Stacey gasped, face going pale as she saw her boyfriend at her front door, looking like she wanted nothing more than to run and hide. If that hadn't answered Jason's question about whether she still wanted to be in the relationship with him, he didn't know what would. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm trying to figure out what game you're playing. You haven't been answering my calls, keep pushing back our dates and then I see a ton of photos of you out and about with your mates all over Facebook!" Jason snapped, entering the small council flat when Stacey moved back to let him do so, not eager to irritate the neighbours. "You've been screwing with me for weeks now Stace and I want to know why. What have I do that's so bad you can't even speak to me?"
"It's nothing you've done J-"
"So you're ignoring me for no reason at all, well that's just great," Jason scoffed, too wound up to try and reign in his emotions. "If you don't want to be with me anymore, just end it, but don't play with me."
"I don't want to end our relationship, I love you J," Stacey protested, looking on the verge of tears, causing Jason to feel even more guilty. "But I needed space, I needed time to think." "
"About what?"
"I'm pregnant!" Stacey cried, causing Jason to fall into a shocked silence. "And I've been too scared to tell you since I found out the other week, because I have no idea what to do."
"What? No, no this can't be happening," Jason said, unable to form a proper sentence, the only sound he could hear being the blood thundering through his ears. "We were always so careful, we always used protection."
"Yeah, well protection isn't always enough," Stacey said bitterly, unable to meet Jason's eyes. "And I think we found that out the hard way."
"I can't believe this, we're going to be parents in.." Jason trailed off as he realised he didn't even know how far long along Stacey was.
"In six months," she said, grimacing as she spoke and for good reason. Six months was really no time at all, especially when you'd still only be sixteen. "Though I don't think we're exactly counted as parents."
"Wait, what?" Jason asked, not liking the direction where Stacey seemed to be taking this.
"Well I'm obviously not keeping it. I'm going to sort out adoption papers as soon as physically possible."
"You're not keeping it?" Jason didn't know why he felt so upset by this fact. It was ridiculous, he was only just turned sixteen, was still at school for Christ's sake, there was no way he was going to be a decent father, but for a second, just a second he had imagined what it would be like to have someone who was completely yours.
Someone who relied on you for absolutely everything and loved you unconditionally. It hadn't been a bad feeling, and in that moment, Jason knew no matter how stupid it sounded, he wanted that baby, to look after and call his own.
"Of course I am. My parents are going mental ever since they found out, but I can't just abort the thing, that's a whole life I'll be killing. But me keeping it is just as cruel, so it's better for everyone if I just find it a family."
"So I don't even get a say in this whole matter?"
"Like you want to be a dad," Stacey scoffed, not even entertaining the idea.
"Well I'd rather look after our child instead of shipping it off to a random family who could be completely insane for all we know."
"This is just the shock Jason, but mark my words, this time tomorrow, you won't want anything to do with this baby."
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As the next day passed, Jason's feelings and thoughts on the matter hadn't changed, despite Stacey's beliefs. He had been up all night, his mind full of a multitude of things.
What was he going to tell his family?
What would this mean for school, for his exams, when he had a baby to look after?
What would he do if he had to look after the baby all on his own?
What if Stacey didn't care what he wanted, and gave it up for adoption anyway?
Guilt, shame and fear came hand in hand with all of these thoughts as it finally sunk in for Jason. His girlfriend was pregnant, in just six months time he was going to become a father. And although it sounded stupid, irrational and completely dumb, Jason knew he wanted to be there for the baby. That was going to be his flesh and blood, and the thought of dumping it into someone else's lap made him sick to the very pit of his stomach.
He wanted to try and be the best father for the baby, no matter who said there was no point, that he was just a kid himself and couldn't do any good, because that may be so, but he could have a damn good go at it, because no-one else knew what Jason's true thoughts and feelings were on the situation, no-one bar him, meaning he was the only one to know just how much he wanted this. And Jason was damned if he wasn't going to be a good father.
There was going to be a lot of obstacles in his way, Jason wasn't stupid, nor majorly optimistic, but he knew he wanted this, and well, he was a Roscoe, he was going to get what he wanted, and what he wanted was to be a part of his baby's life.
But before he could make any proper plans, Jason had do one thing first, probably the hardest task to do before the six months was up.
And that was to tell Sandy.
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Jason didn't know how he'd managed, but somehow he'd managed to get Sandy alone whilst the rest of the family were out and about. It had only been a few days since he'd learnt about his impending fatherhood, and Stacey had rung him that morning to tell him the first scan was coming up in a few days.
It was going to be now or never, and Jason only hoped telling Sandy she was going to become a grandmother wasn't going to be as destructive as he pictured it would be.
"Urr mum? Can we talk?" Jason started, hesitating for a second before grabbing the older blonde's attention from where she had been sat on the sofa, flicking through a magazine. Instantly catching onto the fact that what Jason had to tell her was something big, Sandy placed the magazine on the coffee table, moving over so he could sit next to her.
"What is it love? Are you okay?"
"I don't know how to say this," Jason muttered, biting his nails as he thought over his next words. It shouldn't be difficult, was two words at least, but they were the most difficult words that Jason would ever have to utter, and once he'd said them, nothing would be the same ever again.
He could already picture Sandy screaming and yelling at him for being so irresponsible, telling him there was no way he was going to raise this baby, and Jason wasn't exactly looking forward to that prospect.
"You can speak to me J, you know that," Sandy said softly, wrapping an arm around her youngest's shoulder. It took a lot to spook Jason like he was seemingly now, and the nurse had to wonder what had happened to cause such a reaction.
"Yeah I know, that.. that's why I came to you first. It's just, well you're not going to like it."
"Try me," Sandy said, squeezing him in tighter, as if to convey her love and trust in that one movement. "You may just be surprised."
"It's Stacey. She's pregnant, and in six months she's going to have my baby, even though we were always really careful. And I'm scared because I'm only sixteen and that's not exactly a fantastic age to become a parent, but then she started talking about giving the baby up when it's born and I realised I don't want that to happen either.
"Like I know it's stupid, but I want to have a proper chance with my baby, I want to part of it's life and look after it. And I know that means I'll probably have to quit school, but I can always work at the garage, Joe was saying just last week that they were looking for more staff, and I know I can do this mum, I just need to be given the chance."
By this point Jason knew he was rambling, knew he needed to shut up to let Sandy voice her opinion, but was it like it was impossible. All the thoughts and feelings he'd experienced in the past week were finally getting to him, and it was like there was no force, no matter how great that could shut him up.
And as more time passed, and as more words poured out of his mouth, he knew his chances of proving to his mum that he could do this were going down the drain.
Eventually he managed to regain control of his mouth, and although it felt like it had been hours, it probably hadn't been more than two minutes.
"You quite done?" Sandy asked, shooting a mildly amused to her flushing son. "Well I can't say I'm thrilled that my youngest son is making me a grandmother first, and I did think this would be happening with Robbie, but I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to.
"And if you think you want to keep this baby, I'll support you in every way I can. You have to step up to this though J, go to all the scans as well as parenting classes. They'll prepare you for what's to come, give you a real indication about whether you want this or not."
"You're not mad?" Jason asked, genuinely shocked he wasn't being disowned on the spot.
"Well I can't say I'm over the moon about this news, but there's no point in being angry. Like you said, you two were always careful and these sort of things do happen. It's not going to be easy love, but we'll all be here for you to help you out. And don't worry about quitting school, your wages from the garage should be enough at the moment, I'll help you out financially when you need it."
"Oh my God, are you serious?" Jason asked, unable to stop his smile, as the afternoon went a million times better than he thought possible.
"Of course I am love. We're all going to be here for you, the whole family are okay?"
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As always Sandy had been right. Because a week later, all of Jason's brothers had been told, and not a single one had met him with harsh words. They had all supported him, promising to be there when they could for him and the teen could see just how sincere they all were.
Even Robbie had seemed genuinely excited about becoming an uncle, despite the compulsory crude comment he had to make once he'd found out. But they all had his back, and were ready to welcome the newest arrival into the family with open arms.
In fact, it had taken all of his persuading and arguing skills to convince them that turning up to his first ultra-scan appointment with Stacey wasn't the best idea in the world. Since finding out she was carrying his child, they hadn't really spoken, their relationship was practically in tatters as the two teens realised they wanted completely different things, and not in a 'I want a big mac and you want chicken nuggets' sort of way.
So they sat in an awkward silence in the waiting room, wondering how their lives had turned out the way it had, trying to think of anything to say to the other before the doctor called them in.
Jason held Stacey's hand throughout the whole appointment, picturing himself in the same position six months down the line, wondering just how much would have changed since now and then, a time which seemed so far off, but was in reality creeping faster and faster by the day.
"Okay, so it seems that you're around 13 weeks along," the doctor said, looking at the screen that was currently displaying the image of the baby, and although it was nothing more than a grey blur, Jason couldn't help the breath catching in his throat, as he realised he was lookingat his baby. "The heartbeat seems to be pretty strong too, and I can't see if there's anything wrong. It looks like your baby should continue to develop completely normally."
Jason breathed a deep sigh of relief, as he realised his unvoiced concerns were answered, more adamant than ever that he was going to be a proper dad to this baby.
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After that the weeks began to fly by. Stacey finally agreed to not give the baby up for adoption, to let Jason be the father he so desired. He began taking parenting classes to prepare him for what was to come.
He came home one day to find the spare bedroom completely decked out as a nursery, courtesy of his brothers who were all determined to do something in preparation of the newest arrival. When Jason found out the baby was going to be a girl, it prompted an influx of pink teddies and dolls to be ordered over Amazon one evening.
And then it happened. On the fourth of January 2012, four months after starting sixth form, Stacey went into labour and gave birth to a perfectly healthy and completely gorgeous girl. Jason named her Jenna, and as he held her in his arms, as she drifted off to sleep for the first time, little button nose scrunched up, he had never been happier.
It wasn't always easy, the late nights were torturous, especially when he had to deal with going to school the next morning.
Jenna constantly needed to be watched, less she get herself involved in some horrible accident.
Her screams were practically ear-shattering, and no-one could have a temper tantrum like Jenna could (Jason was certain that she'd gotten that from Robbie, not that he was going to tell his twin that).
But all the bad things, the things that made Jason question whether he'd been a fool to even attempt becoming a parent were all worth it when those amazing, little things happened. Her first tooth. Her first word. Her first step.
Jason had been there for every single one of his daughter's achievements, every single one of them filling him with pure unadulterated happiness as it hit him, for the millionth time, that this was his daughter. He had created her, and she was a real person, living life and learning something new everyday. It seemed almost inconceivable that he'd had a part in making sure she was on this earth today, after all he was nothing special, but Jenna, well she was amazing, and Jason wasn't sure if he'd ever get over that.
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"I'll look forward to you joining the school next September," Patrick Blake said, smiling warmly across his desk towards Jason, calming the sandy haired boy's nerves. When Sandy had told him that he had to meet with the headteacher before starting at Hollyoaks High in the next term, fear had instantly hit him, for one main reason. Jenna.
As more time passed, Jason found himself only loving her more and more, but that didn't stop other people from judging him or her. His old school had been okay, after all, the teachers had known him since he was eleven, knew he was a good student and had more to judge him on than teenage fatherhood, not that that stopped all the judging looks he felt being directed at him as he walked through the corridor.
But Mr Blake, well he knew nothing about Jason apart from the file that he had been given and the fact that he was related to Robbie, which well, it wasn't really the best first impression Jason had wanted to give.
But so far, Patrick's questions had all been unbiased, calming the teen down so he could properly focus on the interview at hand.
From where he was sat on the other said of Sandy, Robbie rolled his eyes dramatically, making it that much harder for his twin to keep a straight face. "Now I understand you have a... daughter Jason? Will this be affecting your schooling in anyway? I try to be as supportive for my students as possible, and I hope you can experience that in your time here."
"Uh, no, Jenna's old enough to go to day care now Sir. It should mean that I can stay at school for the whole day."
"Okay, but if there's anything you need, or you need to see your daughter for whatever reason, come here first and I'll give you a pass. You don't see a lot of teenage fathers looking after their children, it really is an honourable thing and shows that you should be a bit more mature than some of your peers."
At this, Patrick quickly glanced at Robbie, and both Sandy and Jason struggled to hold in their smiles, easily imagining the damage the other teen had inflicted on Hollyoaks High in his short time spent there.
"I don't think there's anything else I need to know, it all seems to be on file. It's been a pleasure meeting with you Ms. Roscoe, and I can't wait to start working with Jason in September. Robbie, I'll see you on Monday, you still need to sign your coursework form for English."
"Yes Sir," the teen grumbled as he left the office as quickly as he could.
"Well that wasn't too bad was it boys?" Sandy said with a smile, as Robbie directed them to the car park, being the only one to know his way around the expansive school.
"Speak for yourself," said troublemaker muttered under his breath, breathing a sigh of relief as he got into the car, and away from the school
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"Oh wow, this place looks amazing!" Sandy exclaimed as she and the twins walked into the garage for the first time. And it really did, everything had been set up, and the equipment was in its place, shining brightly as the light hit the clean and sparkling metal. Jason gave it a week, before his brothers gave up on cleaning all the tools and stopped putting their things away.
As he marvelled the garage, he also made a bee-line to the office where Jenna's kid-pen was set up. "How's my baby girl?" he smiled, picking her up with a mock groan, causing her to laugh at his dramatics.
She had grown a lot in her eighteen months, her light brown hair completely wavy and almost down to her ears. In those past few months, she begun walking and talking more, had become more adventurous too, the reason for why there was a baby-pen set up in the garage. Nowhere was safe from Jenna and her nosy nature.
He turned just as Sandy began talking again, effectively shutting up the others who were all lightly bickering, though he instantly wished he hadn't turned when he heard the words 'beef bourguignon' leave her mouth.
"We could always get takeaway?" Joe suggested, looking more desperate than he should, though anyone who had tasted Sandy's cooking knew why.
"For our first proper meal? No it's got to be something special," Sandy said decisively, not willing to take no for an answer, not when she her mind made up.
"Yeah, but we don't have anything in," Jason tried, hoping that Sandy hadn't yet realised there was a shop just down the road, which seemed to sell pretty much everything. Of course, his luck was never that good, and Jason knew the answer Sandy was going to give him, before she'd even said anything.
"Which is why you're going to go down to the shops to get me my ingredients. It'll be a good chance to meet the locals, and Jenna will need the fresh air too."
"Great, let everyone know I'm a teenage dad soon rather than later. I like it."
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"Hey Jase do you need any nappies?" Ziggy called from the middle aisle of Price Slice as Jason successfully found himself tongue-tied in front of the cute blonde, who was looking more unimpressed with him by the second.
"Nah, Jenna's got enough to stock a small army, mum made sure of that," Jason shot back, grabbing the tot from her pram as she began to show the signs of a temper tantrum starting, unable to reach the items from the surrounding shelves. "Shh madam, none of those tears okay?" Jason soothed Jenna, rocking her in his arms until she calmed down, taking comfort in his arms.
"You're good with her," the blonde smiled, instantly melting at the sight of the baby, like so many people did. "Bit of an age gap between you and your sister though, your mum get a boytoy?"
"Holly," the woman on the counter, a short brunette hissed, cheeks flushing. "Don't be so rude."
"It's less of an age gap than you might think," Ziggy teased, putting a couple of peppers on the counter as he spoke.
"What, you're a really tall twelve year old then?"
"He doesn't mean it like that," Jason sighed, shooting his brother a glare, not that Ziggy paid it any mind. "Jenna's not my sister though, she's my daughter."
Jason looked away, unable to meet either woman's eye, well used to the reaction by this point. "Well we've all been there," the brunette said, surprisingly no judgement in her tone. "This one here's mine, they can be quite the handful. But if you need any help, just call me."
By this point, Jason was pretty sure Holly's mother was directly talking to Ziggy, well if the bedroom eyes were anything to go by. So excusing himself, he strapped Jenna into her pram and hastily backed out of the shop, that was going to be all types of weird and not something he wanted to be present for.
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"I'm sorry about this Hol," Jason sighed to his girlfriend of three months as he pulled his shirt down moving over to a still crying Jenna, picking her up with ease as Holly herself got re-dressed.
"Don't worry about it J," Holly said with a small smile. Sure she was disappointed by the fact that her and Jason's already tiny amount of private time had been cut short, especially when it was just about to get good, but Jenna was Jason's top priority with a good reason, and when she needed him, he was always there in seconds.
He truly loved his daughter, and it warmed Holly's heart to see the two interact, she could only hope that their relationship could stay this loving as time went on, and not sour like it had between her and Cindy at certain points of her life.
"I should probably be going anyway, I'm meant to be helping mum out at the shop."
"You want me to walk you down?" Jason asked, looking up from where he was holding Jenna, the toddler having quickly calmed down when she was with her father.
"Nah I'm fine, Jenna's just settled there's no point in potentially setting her off again," Holly said lightly, grabbing her coat from the side and giving Jason a chaste kiss before moving to the front door. "See you later yeah?"
"Yeah, see you later," Jason sighed. He knew he was probably just being silly, paranoid even, but sometimes it felt that recently Holly was withdrawing from him more and more, especially when he had to deal with Jenna.
She had never said anything about having a problem with him having a daughter, but Jason knew she didn't have to, after all, how many sixteen year olds wanted their boyfriend to have a two year old daughter? The numbers weren't exactly high.
"Come on Jen, lets go for a walk yeah? See if we can stop Holly being so sad." Excited about the prospect about going outside in the sunshine and about seeing one of her new favourite people, Jenna went as fast as she could to get her shoes, sitting on the floor with an oomph and pulling her shoes towards her, sticking the velcro tabs down with complete determination.
"Those tight enough baby girl?" Jason asked, checking the shoes even when Jenna nodded. With each passing day, she was growing to be more independent, even able to make it down the stairs with minimal help, and it amazed Jason as to how much she had changed since that day in the hospital when she had been born.
She had been completely helpless back then, had relied on Jason for absolutely everything, but now she was able to do more and more things on her own, and whilst it filled him with a sense of pride seeing her develop and grow like that, it was also sort of bittersweet, because Jason knew that one day, no matter how many years off it was, Jenna wouldn't need him for anything.
Shaking off the more than negative thoughts, Jason grabbed Jenna's coat and helped her find the arm holes, unable to not smile as he saw just how adorable she looked in her get up.
The walk to the shop wasn't normally a particularly long one, but with Jenna insisting on walking absolutely everywhere, stopping off at regular intervals to do a bit of exploring, Jason knew it was going to take an age to get there. Not that he particularly minded, if he arrived a considerable amount of time after Holly, his girlfriend would be less likely to see him as some sort of creeper.
As they passed the Dog, Jenna misjudged one of the steps and slipped, grazing her knee from the fall, and resulting in her crying incredibly loudly. Jason cursed himself for not bringing any plasters or wipes with him, not wanting to touch the shallow cut in case it hurt the toddler even more, but at the same time, knowing he couldn't leave the wound dirty.
"We've got a first aid box upstairs," a voice from above Jason said, startling the teen, and as he looked up to come face to face with Darren, his shock grew even more. "Do you want come up and we can sort it out."
"If that's okay," Jason said, smiling gratefully towards his half brother as he picked up Jenna, though her screams didn't quieten down.
"Course it is, come on up," Darren said, leading the teen through the pub and upstairs, which was oddly lacking any of the other Osbournes, bar Oscar who was playing in the corner. "You want a drink?" he asked after passing Jason over the first aid kit.
"I'm okay cheers," the young father replied, focusing on wiping the gravel away from Jenna's cut, biting his lip as she continued crying.
"Here, let me," Darren said, taking the wipe from Jason and wiping the dirt away in a couple of swipes before placing a plaster on her leg. "Now, enough of the tears little madam," he said, picking Jenna up and spinning her around, pulling faces as he did so, causing the little girl to start laughing hysterically.
Satisfied that Jenna was no longer upset, Darren settled her on the floor, where she quickly toddled off to Oscar, the two toddlers soon happily playing with the toys that lay around.
"Cheers for that," Jason finally said, playing with the sleeve of his hoodie as he realised just how awkward the situation he was currently in actually was, having never had a proper conversation with his half brother before, though it seemed like there was no better time than the present, seeing as it didn't look like there would be any moving of Jenna anytime soon.
"No problem mate, you would have done the same," Darren said easily, putting away the first aid kit as he spoke before moving to the sofa, sitting next to Jason.
"Well thanks, you're really good with her. Would have taken me hours to get her to calm down."
"Don't be stupid, I've seen you with Jenna and she adores you," Darren scoffed, though the look on his face softened when he saw just how much Jason seemed to believe his words, and he had to wonder how many people were telling the teen that he was doing a good job, something he evidently needed. "When I first heard you had a kid at sixteen I was a bit dubious, I mean, how many teenage parents can really provide for their kids, but you seem to really get her. She loves you and it's obvious you feel the same way."
"I do love her, she's the most important thing in my life," Jason said, smiling as he watched Jenna grab a race car from the side.
"And you can tell. Your age really doesn't have anything to do with your parenting skills though, I mean, you're a natural, and you've got nothing to worry about." Jason said nothing for a moment as he mulled over Darren's words, slightly alarmed that this practical stranger could read him and his fears so well.
He would move heaven and earth for Jenna, he really would, but Jason got the impression that people around him didn't see that, not that he blamed them. He was still a kid himself, so how was he expected to be able to raise one.
Jenna was just over two years old, but in that time, some of Jason's biggest struggles had been getting people to take him seriously as a parent, not that he had been particularly successful so far – the woman who helped run Jenna's playgroup still refused to take him seriously, choosing instead to talk to Sandy about his daughter whenever she could. He didn't know if it would ever get easier, but all the fear and shame he was made to feel by other people, paled in comparison when he got people to believe in his parenting skills, showing Jason that all the struggles was worth it.
"You serious?"
"Yeah I am," Darren nodded, sounding oddly sincere. "I don't like leaving Oscar with many people, but I'd trust you to look after him properly, and well, he seems to like his cousin too."
"It's weird to think they're cousins," Jason couldn't help but comment as he watched the two toddlers playing with a couple of toys, clearing enjoying the new company.
"Well hopefully they'll be closer than we were," Darren couldn't help but smile, though still a little surprised he was genuinely meaning what he was saying. "It'll be nice for Oscar to have someone his own age hanging around. That is, if it's okay?"
"Course it is," Jason said, surprised by just how easily his own nerves had been calmed by having Darren, an almost stranger, reassuring him, though he wasn't going to say no to the new feeling. As they were currently in the mood for sharing, Jason decided to bite the bullet and try and question Darren on his latest love life problems, hoping it wouldn't all be in vain. "You don't think it's stupid or selfish of me for getting in a relationship with Hol when Jenna still needs me a lot?"
"Jenna's your kid, and she's always going to need you, even in the moody teenage years when she pretends otherwise," Darren said, smiling as his mind cast back to the many explosive arguments Ruby and Esther had caused over the years. "But you still have a life, and you're still a kid yourself. You can't stop living because of Jenna, it'll cause her more harm than anything."
"Yeah, I get that, I really do, it's just, well Jenna's met Holly a load of times and already loves her. But what if we break up, I mean it's bound to happen, teenage couple just aren't meant to last. That's going to mess with her, especially if she keeps meeting any future girlfriends I have. Babies are meant to have stability after all."
"It helps, but having a stable love life isn't a compulsory requirement of being a parent. If you're really worried, just make sure that any future girls don't meet Jenna for a couple of months," Darren suggested, though the way that Jason's brow was still furrowed showed him that the teen was still worried about something. "Is there anything going on with you and Holly? Because last time I checked you two were loved up, but it's not sounding that way now."
"I don't know," Jason admitted with a heavy sigh. "It's just, well Holly's been great with me having a kid, but I think she's realised that she can't actually deal with it. It feels like she's been withdrawing lately, and it always happens when I mention Jenna, or when she needs seeing to."
"Well the only way to fix that is by talking to her. Just ask her straight up if she is okay with this then it's great, and if she isn't then you know what to do. It's not going to be easy mate, but who's more important to you. Holly? Or Jenna?"
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"Holly!" Jason yelled as he saw the blonde getting ready to leave Price Slice as her shift ended. The younger girl looked up when she heard her name being called, eyes lighting up as she saw Jason and Jenna walking down the square.
"Hey babe," she smiled, pecking Jason on the cheek as the two teens met each other at the Price Slice doors. "I wasn't expecting to be seeing you again."
"Look can we have a word?" Jason asked, taking a steadying breath when Holly nodded and led him and Jenna up to her flat, the brunette toddler instantly getting attached to a handful of Hilton's toys that were still lying on the floor.
"Is everything okay?" Holly asked, a sense of worry hitting her in the pit of her stomach. "Is everything okay with Jenna?"
"Yeah she's fine, it's got nothing to do with her, well not really," Jason said, unable to look Holly in the eye as he tried to think of what to say. This could go very badly, and Jason sorely wanted to avoid fireworks if he could. "I just... I need to know if we're okay."
"Of course we are, I mean, why wouldn't we?" Holly asked, scared of where this was going to go, praying it wouldn't be anywhere bad.
"You've just been seeming a little distant recently, mainly everytime I mention Jenna. I'm not blaming you or anything," Jason quickly put in, not liking the dangerous look in Holly's eyes. "I mean, I get it's a big commitment and I'd completely get if it's too much, it's just, Jenna is the most important thing in my life, and well, if you can't deal with that, I'm really sorry Hol, but this relationship won't work."
Holly was silent for a moment and Jason braced himself, fully expecting a slap to come his way, though that was not what happened. No, in fact the complete opposite occurred, and it shocked him to the core. A smile graced Holly's lips, before a startled, but nevertheless amused laugh left her mouth.
"I know Jenna's the most important thing to you J, a blind man could see that! And I haven't been trying to draw away from you, it's been the last thing I wanted, but I know just how much you love Jenna. She's your world babe, and I don't want to take your attention away from her onto me.
When I see that she needs or wants you, I just leave you to it because I thought it was the best thing. Honestly, it's not me running scared, you'll have to have a lot more than a kid hidden up your sleeve to accomplish that, it's just me trying to be the most supportive girlfriend that I can be. I'm not going to make you choose between spending time with me or Jenna because that's cruel, just know that I have no problem with you having a child, especially not one as amazing as your daughter."
"Yeah?" Jason asked, unable to believe that what Holly was saying was the truth, but seeing just how much meaning she was putting into her words to see that it was.
"Yes you dummy. I love you J."
"I love you too," Jason laughed, pulling Holly into a searing kiss, unable to believe that he seemed to have it all. He may only be young, may not have experienced life to the full, but right there, right then, he knew he was experiencing true happiness, girlfriend and daughter by his side.
And the fluff continues onto the next chapter!
Next Chapter - Despite Jason being instantly infatuated with Holly when he first arrived in the village, it's safe to say she didn't feel the same. But what changed between then and now? – prompted by Brooke Tate