Castaway Island

Chapter 21: Jaune's Surprise

Day 140

Jaune woke up early as usual with him spooning Yang, this time his face was buried in her hair with his arm around her waist. He could feel that she was slowly starting to show by now. It was around twelve weeks by now and a bump was now noticeable. He couldn't believe it sometimes that a little son or daughter was growing inside of Yang but there they were. It was only a slight bump now but they both knew this was only the start.

Jaune convinced her to take it easier now, no more hauling trees around for the new boat, not that she needed to since by now, they were already had enough materials, she insisted on extra just in case. The basic framework was nearly done but she was now trying to make a system to paddle the boat, she wasn't going for something complex, and the rudder was finished.

But it was still a way off given she had to make sure it would all fit together when they assembled it by the old seaplane storage building. Neither of them felt like leaving it floating by the internal dock again, not after what happened last time but the work was slowing down with Yang's condition changing.

He had been trying to get something done without Yang noticing lately. He had been thinking about this long and hard and he wanted to make this a surprise. He had been making an engagement ring for Yang. He had spent weeks thinking about this and part of it was he wanted to make an 'honest' woman out of her, his family was a little old school like that. Another was, he really did want to try and make this relationship work and he wanted her in his life full time after getting off this island. He wanted to try and make a family with her.

He had started with using a string to wrap around her finger while she was deep asleep to get her ring size.

It took him awhile to get everything set up. The ring most of all had been a pain but, in the end, he was sure it was worth it. It was actually his fourth attempt at making it, the first one hadn't gone so well. He hadn't packed the sand in the crucible well enough and it came out all messed up. Next one he tried to resize it but broke it. The one after that he had been trying to smooth it, but it ended up too thin in some areas. By the fourth try he got as close as he could get. He hoped it was the right size he had spent a week smoothing it out. He pulled out a diamond and reheated an area and pushed it in.

He wasn't a jeweler so he had no idea how to properly put it in, but he figured this might work. It ended up a little off center and lopsided and he had to smooth over the melted gold. All this while trying to make sure Yang didn't know what he was up to. He had to sneak out tools that he needed and try and place them back without her noticing. He had to set all this up in an area far enough away and hide it all when he was done.

But in the end, he felt it was worth it.

He had a ring made just for her, he really hoped she liked it. Out of all the stuff people left behind an engagement ring wasn't one of them so he made his own. Granted with all the lien and items worth selling left behind he had enough materials. They normally wouldn't have bothered but after they found out Yang was pregnant she was sure they would need it when they got off the island. Sure, it felt a little on the grey side of things, these items didn't belong to them, but on the other they had been left behind for years.

Yang said that if they were worth it, someone would have taken it with them when they left or come back for it. There was also the logic that they would need the funds for their kid, there were a lot of things they would need to provide for him/her when they were born after all. Although he wasn't fully on board, he had to admit she had a point about their child.

He also concluded at that time that if they were doing this, he wanted to go all in with Yang.

Jaune was sure he loved her, and that she loved him, would that be enough? Well, he hoped so, in the time making the ring he had a lot of time to think, and he always thought about how their lives would be. They wouldn't be easy that's for sure, but he also couldn't think of a life without them in it. They were already technically 'living' together like a married couple, so he figured why not make it more official?

Okay sure, they couldn't 'officially' marry until they got off the island, but he wanted to let her know just how he felt, how much she meant to him and how much he wanted to make this relationship work.

Sure, they were young, but it's not like that stopped anything else that had happened to them up to this point. They fought monsters, had to deal with serious losses, found comfort in each other and helped to pull the other out of their darker periods, found love and now were trying to stay alive on this island and expecting a kid. Out of all that that, well this step just seemed like the most logical thing for him.

He kissed Yang on the shoulder as she moaned. "Five more minutes." She muttered.

"Sure thing, I'll get breakfast started," he told her.

"Hmmm, love you." She managed to get out as he slipped out of the bed.

He took a look at her she was on her side one arm under her pillow her mane of golden hair was messy, but he didn't mind. He thought she looked lovely even if she did hate to be seen with bed hair. The small round bump forming could be seen as the blanket was only up to her legs. It still amazed him seeing their little child growing inside of her like that.

He wondered if this his how his dad felt every time his mom had gotten pregnant?

He was going to mark that down as one the things he hoped to ask him, he had a lot of things to ask his dad the next time he saw him. There were just so many things he needed advice on for being a parent and he wished he could at least talk to him once. If only to ease his mind about the subject.

Yang slowly woke up to the smell of food cooking, one thing she had noticed was that her appetite was increasing. Also, she could kill for a slab of stake with BBQ sauce and a side of fries and gravy. Sadly, they were limited in what she could get. She did appreciate all the trouble Jaune went to, to accommodate her given her condition.

"Morning," She yawed as she made her way to the island counter.

"Good morning," he said to her placing a plate down in front of her.

"God, you'd make for a good house husband," Yang rubbed her eyes missing the slight flinch as Jaune quickly covered it up. "Reminds me of home with my dad."

"I really hope he doesn't kill me when he finds out," Jaune was worried how Tai would respond to all of this.

"From what Uncle Qrow told me of how he knocked up Raven he doesn't have a leg to stand on," Yang took her first bite and while wishing she had something a bit meatier it was still good. Her food cravings would just have to learn to deal with things.

"Still, I want to be in his good books," Jaune worriedly stated.

"If he's mad, I'll protect you, plus even if it is he'll get over it. He's not one to hold a grudge. Besides I think he'll be too focused on spoiling our kid when he meets them." She gently rubbed her belly.

"Feel anything yet?"

Yang shook her head, "It's still a way off before they start kicking, I do wish we knew the gender at least."

"Yeah, but there's nothing in the medical building for this kind of stuff."

"I'm not sure I would want to risk using medical equipment we have no idea how to operate anyway," she shrugged.

"So, after I check the garden, I'm going to be out and about today you?"

Yang finished her next bite. "Nearly done with the paddle system."

It was what she had been working on for a week now. She got a cylinder set up with paddles on it, next was a trail and error of setting up a system to move it. She took the peddles of the stationary bike from the gym as well as a few gears from the Jeep and the crank shaft belt and managed to cobble together something that worked.

Well, it worked on land, she tested it out while sitting down and seemed to work just fine but this was going to have to power a small boat. Granted as a Huntsman and Huntress in training they had to strength for it but there was a reason they were also putting a sail on the boat. All the power either by muscle or wind they would use if they had to in order to get home.

"That's great, just one less thing on the list," Jaune nodded.

They finished breakfast as Yang gave him a small kiss before going into the bathroom to wash up and change for the day. She went straight to the building where she saw bits and pieces of the boat (well Version 2.0 at least) were in various pieces. She was not taking any chance this time around of it being swept out to sea again. While she did have to take more breaks now, she also made a promise to Jaune not to push herself.

With no doctor on the island the last thing they needed was for too much stress on her body to affect the baby. So, she was slowly making progress, especially when Jaune had time to help, either gathering materials for her or helping her with the larger pieces so she wasn't doing it all herself.

"Okay let's see if this works now," she said out loud as she sat down in a chair. In front of her was the paddle system set up. She had adjusted the gears to hopefully get a bit more power out of it as she set her feet on the peddles and started to peddle. There was some resistance but that was fine as she saw the barrel spin. She could feel a breeze hit her from the large flat paddles connected to the main drum.

After a few minutes she stopped not wanting to go too far with the testing. So far things looked good, with this it should give them some much needed power to get out of the island's tide with the sail also helping. That is if the wind was on their side if not then this was their only option until that changed.

They had a few oars that they fashioned together, it was a shame this island didn't have any kayaking, they could have used those as a nice base under the boat along with professionally made oars.

She sat back looking at all the pieces.

It was like a giant model kit someone was building, which she guessed wasn't far off from the truth. She wanted to make sure everything fit together properly before they hauled it all down to the water again. It would take time and a lot of trips but after what happened last time, they were not going to let something else random happen to ruin everything.

It was slow work, but they were making progress, she just wasn't sure if they would get off the island in time before she popped out a kid. The main problem was, at a certain point she just wouldn't be able to handle the large stuff, so she was focusing on a lot of that.

Looking down at her slightly rounded stomach she sighed as she patted her once toned abs. "You're starting to do a number on mommy's body kid, I'm going to have to work hard to get my stomach back to the way it was before you showed up."

Lately with her visibly starting to show she had found herself talking to her baby even though she was certain the kid couldn't hear anything at this stage. It was still nice to do and also, she thought of all the little things. They were already preparing to make diapers and clothing by scrapping clothing that didn't fit them. Jaune was making sure she ate well enough, and they had searched the entire medical building for anything they could use.

There were some medical texts that had a section on pregnancy but that's all they had to help. Yang rubbed her stomach trying to calm her nerves, it was strange how much went into something so small. So much worry and so much effort to protect something that wasn't even born yet.

But protect this child she would, she would fight to the death to protect this kid because this was their child. She hadn't felt this protective over someone since Ruby came into her life.

"We really should talk about names," Yang muttered since the closer the due date was getting the sooner they would have to think on it. Looking at the sun she figured she had a little bit more time before she had to head on home.

"Alright, a few things to finish off and we'll call it a day." She stood up.

By the time she got home she was looking forward to a nice cool shower, it was hot in that building and she worked up some sweat. She was so glad the hotel had a few stores that carried soap, and that soap didn't have an expiration date.

She got home to see that Jaune was already finishing up dinner, it put a smile on her face. Times like this she could almost imagine them as a newly wed couple starting their family. She briefly wondered if this was their life now? She could see them raising a kid together in a nice little home like the one she grew up in.

Jaune looked up and smiled at her and she felt her heart warm at the look he gave her.

"Hey there, I'm nearly ready."

"Thanks, I'm going to shower and change." She smiled walking past him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh do you mind wearing that white sun dress? I have something special I wanted to show you at the beach after we eat." He asked her.

Intrigued she saw that he had laid out the dress on the bed as she took it. A shower and change later they had their meal as the sun was getting low. When she had gotten out, she noticed Jaune had changed too into a set of dress pants and shirt. She had no idea what he had planned but knowing him he had some kind of old school romantic thing planned.

She knew he was that type and honestly, before they got together, she might have thought it lame, but she came to appreciate the effort he put into such gestures. It made her feel special and she soon started to look forward to whatever he had planned. After dinner they started walking to the beach down the same path they always took.

"Hold on, I nearly forgot something," Jaune paused. "Can you wait right here?"

"Okay but don't keep me waiting long," she smirked as she nodded and ran off. He was back about fifteen minutes later a little out of breath.

"Sorry I forgot to light something," He huffed.

She shook her head in amusement as she linked her arm with his. "Well now I'm really interested in what you have planned."

As the sun was setting, she could see faint lights on the beach, when they got closer, she saw that he set up a large white sheet on the ground with some of the hotel's tiki torches all lit up around them. She saw the sun setting into the ocean and she had to admit the only thing missing was some music.

"So, what's all this?" She smirked.

He led her to the sheet as he looked nervous, more so than he sometimes did. He took a breath as he took her flesh and blood hand in his and looked at her eyes.

"Yang I just wanted to let you know that despite all the hardships we've gone through, I'm glad that we came here," he said to her. "I'm glad because not only did it let me get to know you better, I feel in love with you and through it all I want this relationship to work."

Yang wasn't sure where he was going with this, but she did feel the same way. If someone told her a year ago, she would end up with Jaune and have his kid she would have laughed. Now, she couldn't think of anything else.

"I love you too Jaune, but why come out here to tell me this?"

Jaune took another breath to steady himself as he reached into his pocket and got on one knee. Yang gasped as her eyes widened, her mechanical hand going to her mouth as she saw him pull out a ring. Her heart was hammering in her chest as the implications hit her.

"Jaune…are you…" she couldn't finish the words.

"I know we haven't talked about it but Yang, I want to do this right," he told her looking up at her with hope filled eyes. "You know I was raised a bit old school as it were, but I also want this. I love waking up to you every morning, being with you, starting a family with you and I can't see my life without you. I want to make this relationship permanent I want us together in all things."

"I want you to be my lover, my friend, the mother of my child and above all…my wife." He tried to get the nerves out of his voice, but he couldn't help it. He had been rehearsing what he would say for over a week now. He wanted all his feelings out in this moment, he wanted to make this moment special.

Yang starts to feel tears stinging her eyes at it all, she couldn't believe he was proposing to her, but in that moment, it was like everything just clicked together.

"Will you marry me Yang?" He asked.

She couldn't get the words out, she felt so many emotions it was nearly overwhelming but above it all, she felt love. Love for this goofball and romantic dork that all she could do was nod her head smiling at him.

Jaune almost felt his heart explode as he placed the ring on her finger.

"How did you get it my size?" She finally managed to look at it seeing that it was obviously hand made with little imperfections and the diamond being off center, but she didn't care. She could tell he made this for her, just for her.

"I uh…measured your finger one night while you were sleeping." He blushed as he stood up.

Yang blinked before laughing as she threw her arms around him and kissed him deeply. She couldn't believe it at first, it felt so strange to know she was engaged and pregnant at her age but another part of her didn't care. She was happy, happier than she had been in a long time. She only wished their friends, and family could be here for this event, that was the last thing that was missing.

Jaune was so happy in that moment he thought that this might just be a dream he was going to wake up from.

The sun set as the area was lit with only the torches as they slowly pulled apart, Yang resting her head on his shoulder looked at her ring. "How long did this take you to make?"

"A long time," Jaune sighed. "Took me several tries, I know it's not perfect but-"

She placed her hand on his lips, "Don't worry about it, it's perfect to me. I can't believe you actually made me an engagement ring."

"I wanted something personal and just for us, not exactly a lot of shops around where I can buy one." He joked.

"Well, I love it," She told him, she didn't care about any imperfections, this was hers made for by the man she loved. She couldn't ask for anything more. "Everyone is going to be shocked when we come back."

"Yeah, a lot has happened," Jaune chuckled.

"Hmmm, I wonder if I should go by Mrs. Yang Xiao Long-Arc or just Mrs. Yang Arc?" She wondered out loud.

"I'm mean I'm fine with either, you really wanted to take my name?" He asked since he knew it wasn't necessary as not everyone did that. The fact that Ruby had her mother's last name instead of her father's was one such example.

"Well, I do like the sound of Mrs. Arc." She grinned at him as the sound of that was starting to appeal to her. "Well at any rate we got time to think on that."

After that they decided to go home as Jaune snuffed out the torches but one that he used to carry with him to help light the way. Yang folded up the sheet as she carried it with her mechanical arm, her other was wrapped around Jaune's free arm her head resting on his shoulder as they walked back home.

"I've been thinking," Yang said. "We haven't thought of any names for the baby yet."

"Oh right, I've been planning this for so long I hadn't thought of it," Jaune realized.

"If you don't mind, I thought if a girl we could name her Summer," Yang put out there, she wanted to name her daughter after the mother that raised her. In a way she wanted her memory to live on through her grandchild she never got to know.

Jaune knowing all about her family by this point through their talks felt it was a good idea. "I have an idea too, what do you think of her full name being Summer Pyrrha Arc? I feel like her being named after someone important to the both of us would be nice."

"I love it," She hugged him closer, if they had a daughter then she would be a living testimonial to the two people that had meant something to them both. Pyrrha had been a friend and Yang felt this was a nice way to also give a tribute to her.

"Thanks…I hope they're both happy for us, wherever they are." He said softly.

"I hope so," she told him. "So…what about if it's a boy?"

"Good question," Jaune thought about it. "I don't know many guys, just my dad and Ren mainly. I don't think naming him after Sun or Neptune would be appropriate."

Yang snorted. "Sun would be all for it."

"Yeah, but I was also hoping that Ren and Nora could be their god parents already so I'm not sure about also naming him after Ren, seems a little overkill even though he is my best guy friend." He admitted.

"I can already see Ruby and Nora spoiling them rotten," Yang shook her head in amusement.

"Same, but at least we'll know our kid will be loved," he shrugged.

"Well, we can brainstorm the boy's name," Yang told him. "We still got plenty of time for it."

"This is all going to make for one hell of a story when they're older," Jaune could see their home coming up by this point.

"Oh no kidding," Yang snickered. "You see mommy and daddy had you when we were trapped on an island for months, we also decided to get married there too…when we get off this island I wonder if we'll ever come back? You know just to see it one more time but like years from now. It's been an adventure but when we off this place I don't want to come back here for a long time."

"Also, with our own boat and a lot of supplies," Jaune dreaded the idea of getting stuck on here again.

"Maybe by then Weiss will have access to her family fortune again and we can just get a big yacht with all the emergency supplies needed." Yang joked.

"The place would be a lot more run down by then, some of it might not even be here anymore." He looked at the small homes and figured they might have a few more years before some of them started to fall in on themselves.

They got to the door as Jaune put out the torch, he opened the door and hit the light as the generator could still be heard working.

"So…you going to do it?" Yang asked him.

"Do it?" he blinked at her.

"Carry your bride over the threshold," she cocked her hip. "I know it's for after marriage but who knows when that's going to happen."

He thought about it, and he figured why not? He placed the torch against the house as he scooped Yang up in his arms. She threw her arm around him, as he carried her in, she threw the sheet by the door so she could use both arms to wrap around him. She pulled him into a kiss, a long lingering one as with her good hand she scratched the back of his neck.

"So," she said pulling back and giving him a look. "What do we do to celebrate our engagement?"

"What do you want to do?"

Her grin only got wider. "Take your finance to bed."

While they were still active sexually, they were careful about it now that she was starting to show. The look she was given him, well he had seen that look a few times and knew that they might need to sleep in tomorrow morning. Carefully but eagerly, he carried her over to the bed as the two of them spent the night celebrating together.

TBC…

I thought about adding in another mature scene, but I didn't want to put too many in. Thinking about another maybe next chapter or so.

Also if you enjoy the story please leave a review, I like to hear what people are enjoying and what works so I know what is and isn't working.