Chapter Text
Bursting through the door to the third floor, Jay searched for anything that could direct him to Lonnie’s room. He didn’t need to look too hard, the streak of purple heading towards him was a dead giveaway.
“They’re fine, but you need to stop and breathe for a minute.” Mal tried to soothe him as Ben grabbed his shoulders, half pulling him in for a hug, half restraining him.
“Since when did you two stop answering your fucking phones?” Jay growled, his feelings towards the couple clear, “Where is she? I need to see her.”
“They’re fine.” Ben repeated, gripping onto Jay as he tried to escape and barrel in the direction they had come from. “But you need to calm down before you go in there.”
“What happened?” Jay knew he sounded desperate when he pulled back from Ben, turning away and gripping his hair in his hands.
He wanted to believe them. But they wouldn’t let him see her. That meant it was something bad. They were preparing him for the worst.
He was such an idiot.
He didn’t notice the way Ben and Mal shared a glance. He just heard the way Mal sounded ill when she responded, “She got hurt at practice. Landed on her back. It wasn’t a problem until…”
Mal could stomach anything. Anything. She used to take more beatings than any of them.
“We had to order a media blackout.” Ben cut in, his arms out to stop Jay when he tried to sneak past again. Jay wondered if Ben would be so calm if it was Mal in a hospital bed, or if he’d admit that he would be storming around barking orders at anyone within shouting distance. “We couldn’t hide the ambulance coming into the Palace so we did what we had to do to keep it quiet until you got here.”
Ambulance. There was an ambulance.
Jay felt what blood was left in his face drain away, the reel of ways she could die beginning again.
As if he knew where Jay’s mind was going, Ben grasped him by the shoulders. The sudden movement - he wouldn’t call it a shake, because King Ben did not grab people and shake sense into them - jolted Jay back to reality. He finally met Ben’s eye as his friend promised, “Lonnie’s okay, Jay. They both are.”
There was something in Ben’s voice that made Jay believe him. Ben couldn’t lie to save himself.
Before he could dwell on that point, Mal raised her hand and piped in, “I’m not okay. But this isn’t about me. The main thing is they’re fine.”
With the panic subsiding a fraction, Jay’s brain began processing the words. And he suddenly realised he’d been missing one critical point, “Why do you keep saying they?”
He was positive Ben and Mal had said it at least six times. They. Not her.
What was going on?
“Because they are.” Ben clapped Jay on the shoulder and led him back down the hall. He still wasn’t convinced, but he focused on staying calm. Ben and Mal clearly wouldn’t let him in otherwise.
Ben opened the door to room 308 - with two guards outside and the blinds drawn - and pushed Jay inside without a word.
He found her immediately, and felt a weight lift off his chest when he saw Lonnie sitting cross legged on the bed. She looked exhausted, and her hair was pulled into a plait over one shoulder.
She was alive. And awake.
And definitely not dead.
And then he noticed the bundle in the blanket she was cuddling to her chest.
The air left his lungs in a whoosh.
He was staring, he knew he was.
The tears that had been threatening since Carlos had dragged him off the pitch began prickling behind his eyes.
He was too late.
He was such an idiot.
Looking off to the side, focusing on the window, because the window didn’t make his heart hurt, he reached up to hold the back of his neck. He didn’t know why, he just needed to do something with his hands.
“So,” why did he sound like he’d swallowed razor blades? He swallowed, and tried again, “I guess congratulations are in order?”
Lonnie laughed at him.
Jay’s heart stopped at the sound. On the one hand, he’d worried he’d never hear that sound again. On the other, he’d never pegged her for cruel. All he could do was look back at her, and try to work out why she was smiling, holding her hand out towards him.
“Don’t be an idiot, Jay. Of course she’s yours.”
The look she gave him told Jay she knew exactly what he was thinking. And she was calling bullshit on it.
She knew his mind was telling him that the baby couldn’t be his. That she’d have told him if she was pregnant. That it didn’t matter how much he tried to fit into Auradon, he still had his past. And things like this - families and babies - it didn’t happen to guys like him.
“Come here,” she whispered encouragingly, her hand still outstretched.
He went easily, drawn to her like he always was. He still wasn’t convinced, but when he sat next to her on the bed and looked down...he knew.
The baby - his daughter - was asleep. The first thing he noticed was the mop of black hair on her head. He didn’t think babies could have that much hair. The next thing was the shape of her eyes - his eyes.
Reaching out carefully, as if he was scared he’d break her, Jay ran a finger over her cheek.
It was more than the similarities. It was like his heart recognised that she was his. That she fit, and he didn’t even notice she’d been missing.
“You smell like a gym bag.” Lonnie groaned, but she still leant in to rest her head on his shoulder.
He wound his arm around her, anchoring her to his side. It felt surreal, Lonnie on one arm, and his hand cupped around their baby. For a moment, he wondered if he’d gone down in the kill zone.
Maybe he’d been knocked unconscious. That would make sense too.
“I didn’t exactly stop to change when Carlos dragged me off the field.” He shrugged, but he wasn’t thinking about the words.
He was counting backwards. Doing the math.
Trying to work out how they’d missed the signs.
“She had great timing.” Lonnie mused, settling in closer to Jay. She laced her fingers through his free hand, squeezing as she continued, “I’d make a joke about doing all the work for her to come out looking like her dad, but I genuinely didn’t know. Nothing stopped.”
Jay just nodded, not knowing quite what to say. They didn’t see each other often enough that he knew her cycle by heart, but he could think of at least three occasions where they’d snugged on his sofa with a hot water bottle between them.
“Apparently it’s called a cryptic pregnancy. And apparently some women bleed throughout pregnancy anyway. And because I’m an athlete and tall enough, my ‘tight abdominal muscles’ hid the bump and I just carried her differently.” Lonnie shrugged, not quite sounding like she believed that, but accepting she had no other explanation.
Jay couldn’t imagine what was going through her head. To wake up this morning and go to practice like normal and then...this. “What happened this morning?”
“Well, training was a bitch. I landed funny on my back. Thought I’d tweaked something. Nope, I set off labour.” Her laugh was dry, humourless. He didn’t think they’d be joking about this for a long time.
Lonnie paused again, reaching out to run her fingers through the baby’s hair. “I think she’s about three weeks early. Forty weeks ago I was in Tokyo, and you were in preseason. Evie’s wedding was the first time we’d seen each other in a month. And I’d just finished those antibiotics for that bug bite.”
The penny dropped. He remembered her getting bitten by some tropical insect and the bite on her arm becoming very infected very quickly. He’d still been at home, getting half the story from her because she didn’t want to worry him, and detailed texts from Carlos who was trying to keep Jane from getting on a plane to Tokyo.
At Evie’s wedding, they’d been so busy getting reacquainted, they hadn’t even thought about...
“Are you sure I didn’t get tackled just a little too hard?”
Jay expected her to slap his chest in annoyance. Instead she laughed at him again. He wasn’t sure what was so funny.
A dodgy tackle seemed just as likely as a surprise baby.
“Positive. I would not have suffered that much pain if this was your dream.”
His stomach knotted. It was so easy to forget the mechanics when it was after the event. He’d never witnessed actual childbirth, but from what he’d seen on TV it was not something for the faint hearted.
“I should have been here.” Pulling her closer to his side, he pressed a kiss to the side of her head. An apology. An affirmation. Everything he was trying to find the words to say.
“You’re here now.” Lonnie shifted, leaning up to capture his lips in a gentle kiss. After a moment, she pulled away and rested her forehead against his, her eyes closed. “We need to pick a name.” She paused. Then laughed. “I have no clue where to start.”
“Hey,” Jay murmured, instinctively shifting the baby into his arms - he realised a moment too late that he’d never held a baby before - and pulled Lonnie onto his lap.
Both his girls in his arms. That was all he needed.
He didn’t even know he needed it until today.
But now he wasn’t letting it go.
Ever.
“We got this,” he promised, already running through the steps he’d take as soon as he made himself leave the room.
A transfer to UoA.
A new apartment.
No doubt Evie already had the baby supplies en route.
“My brain is just catching up with reality,” she groaned, hiding her face in his chest. Jay knew she was still processing. That the tears would come later, when she was home and could breathe and she woke up with the baby still there.
All he could do was be there for her. He held her tighter.
“I heard the doctors talking to Mal. They said sometimes moms don’t bond with the babies when things go wrong in childbirth, or that I might think it’s a spell or something. But I don’t feel like that. She’s mine and I’ll fight anyone who tries to hold her too long.”
Another sigh.
Another wiggle closer.
Moving his arms so they were both holding the baby.
“You’d tell me if you thought I was struggling.”
It hadn’t been a question. It was a statement. He wasn’t expected to answer.
Another sigh.
“But now I’m thinking about finding a new apartment because living on the eighth floor does not fit with a stroller, and delaying my final semester, and getting everything we need on short notice… and my parents are insisting on a DNA test. You’re the only option, but it’s to protect us all.”
Jay fought to keep his expression neutral.
It was a perfectly natural reaction from her parents. His father would suggest the same thing.
They weren’t officially together. She had her future to consider. And he...he was worth a lot. Collage tourney didn’t pay, but endorsements, advertising and PR deals did. Plus his occasional diplomatic work for Ben and Mal. Jafar may be a mostly reformed evil lunatic, but he was a shrewd businessman.
After passing his rehabilitation courses, Jafar had noticed a contract offer Jay hadn’t got around to reading or passing off to Mal’s lawyers and realised it was a terrible deal. He renegotiated the contract, getting Jay far more flexibility and benefits than he’d even dream to ask for.
After that, Jay had taken him on as his manager, and Jafar he’d taken on more ex-VK athletes. Jay kept his father in line, but Jafar had been on his best behaviour. He’d found a way to be successful and powerful without the evil - and he took a certain pleasure from getting one over on the powers that be in Auradon’s sporting scene. They were used to exerting their power over teenagers who didn't know any better. And now Jafar got to get in their way.
If anything, he would probably be upset that someone else had suggested the DNA test first.
God, Jafar was a grandfather. That was a scary thought.
“We need to get a new apartment.” Jay clarified, once he was sure his voice wouldn’t betray him, “This ‘pretending we aren’t serious’ thing hasn't been fooling anyone. I’ll put the transfer paperwork in tomorrow. There’s only a few weeks of the semester left, then I can start at AoU in the new year.”
Whatever Jay had expected, it wasn’t Lonnie pulling back to punch his arm angrily, “No. Jay. You can’t. Sherwood is your best chance of going pro. You have scouts from all the big clubs looking at you.”
With willpower he didn’t know he possessed, Jay managed to keep his tone even. Lonnie had had a long day. She was still trying to protect him and do what was best for him. He could appreciate that.
She was completely and utterly wrong. But he knew not to say that out loud.
Instead, he reached out to cup her face with his free hand. Running a thumb over her cheekbone, he promised, “If you’re going to be here, so am I. Family first. We’re doing this together. Properly.”
Jafar wasn’t winning any parent of the year awards, but he’d been there at least.
Jay wanted to do better than that.
He was all in. One thousand percent in.
Lonnie was silent for a moment, before she quietly admitted, “Ben already told me my scholarship with the Guard is safe.”
She paused, “We could always come to you.”
And there was the Lonnie he knew.
Independent to a fault, always thinking of what was best for other people...but she’d let him in. He just had to out-stubborn her first.
“That could work,” he smiled, settling back against the pillows, content with the progress he’d made and willing to wait before he brought up anything more serious. It would be unfair to push an agenda now.
Not that he was opposed to leveraging the situation...but he knew she’d kick his ass when she realised.
He’d be happy with getting her to agree to move in.
For now.
“You realise your scholarship was always safe,” he added with a laugh, attempting to distract her.
The Guard had wanted Lonnie straight out of high school, but Ben had pushed back, making them wait until she’d finished college. He wasn’t about to backtrack on that now.
Lonnie laughed, throwing a glance towards the closed door. Leaning in, she whispered conspiringly, “You should have heard Mal. ‘She’s Queen and she caught the baby so the scholarship committee will do whatever the fuck she tells them to.’ Who can argue with that logic?”
Jay grinned, knowing that was probably the polite version. He would need to hear Mal’s version of events at some point.
Preferably with a lot of alcohol.
“I’ll probably have just over a year off. Start back next January. We’d know where you’ll be based by then.”
“I’ve actually been meeting with the Arrows.” Jay admitted, absentmindedly stroking the baby’s hair. The Arrows were a top three team in Auradon, and most importantly, they were based in the capital. His father was the only one who knew about the meetings for now. It wasn’t a sure thing, but he’d already been taking steps in the direction he wanted.
Surprise flashed through Lonnie’s eyes, followed by understanding.
He’d let her off for now. Come tomorrow she’d have no questions on exactly how he felt about her.
For now, he just pulled her closer, “I hate being six hours away.”