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There was no easy way to tell someone something like this;
It wasn't like the news was particularly bad, not by a long shot. If anything, it would bring most to a flurry of joyful tears. Jolyne knew she should be the same, but no matter how much the breath in her throat catches, her eyes and nose don't tingle the painful familiarity of crying.
She knew she should be crying, or at very least smiling. Any signal that she's happy at this news. She knew that being this stoic, void of any emotions, wasn't the way she was supposed to react.
She felt her stomach churn a little bit. It spiraled, and she tossed her head back in the porcelain toliet. Thank god, she thought, of all days to wear a ponytail. She rested her hand on top of each other, and wiped away the vomit from the sides of her mouth. It smelt as bad as it looked.
Just a few days ago, she thought she came down with some terrible flu; every morning she woke up, she found herself dazed, and struggled to stay upright without toppling back over. Not to mention the non-stop vomiting.
Her husband, Anasui, had doted on her the past few days, until she reassured him she was alright enough for him to start heading back into work with the promise she'd call him if she started feeling worse for wear. Even if she did, she wouldn't; she was afraid to let herself become dependent ever since she'd got out of the prison. Trust wasn't something she gave easily, and decency felt like a disaster waiting to happen since Romeo.
She chastised herself for comparing Anasui to the likes of him. He was a spoilt brat who hadn't worked a day in his life. He survived off the likes of sex and money. Anasui had been a sweetheart to her, and saw her for a lot more than Romeo had ever. He'd been there with her every step of taking down the priest; reminding her who she was doing this for. He protected her with his life, and she'd return the favour in a heartbeat.
Thinking about him made her cheeks blush; God, she was like a teen girl fantasising about a boy band member. She had found herself quite infaturated with him. It was the type of love that wasn't dependency, but a yearning. Jolyne yearned to be around him, a feeling she knew was mutual.
She was yanked from her thoughts by the churning. Thankfully, she reached the bowl again, and coughed out some spittle. Those days of non-stop sickness had finally came to a head today; the day was still young, but she was alone in the house. She figured it would be best if she ruled out a certain possibility.
A long, elongated white stick that smelt like factory plastics. She held it between her forefinger and thumb and lifted it up to the light, like she had a couple of minutes before. She shook it a few times and watched the window bounce along with it. Two line positive, one false. As if they were animated, the two red lines bounced furiously along with her hand. She checked between the cardboard box they'd came in, and then at the two others she'd tried in desperation. They all came back in six jarring red lines.
She ran her hand under the underside of her stomach, below her navel. Why hadn't she noticed earlier? Her stomach had grown a bit pudgy near her abdomen. She'd kicked back her belt a new notches the other day. The signs where obvious, she just hadn't picked them up.
She felt a tinge in her nose, as she pressed her hand a little harder. Inside her, a testament to her and Anasui's love. She leaned back, and stared at her stomach. She could see a slight curve now that she knew what she was looking for. Thoughts overwhelmed her head. She was still pretty young. She'd only turned twenty one the last month; she'd barely even settled down in her new house.
It's not like she didn't want it, but she wasn't expecting one so early. Was this what a 'miracle' was? It wasn't an impossible feat. The both of them were young healthy adults, it wouldn't be hard to slip up between the two. The tinge persisted, up to her eyes. With a sting, tears began to prick at the sides. The tears she thought wouldn't fall began. She felt her face tint, and the insides of her mouth went torrid.
What would she tell them? Or, more specifically, how would she tell? More trivial questions ran through her head. Her stand- Stone Free. Jolyne's face twisted into a grimace as a dreadful thought flashed through her head. She'd used stone free on her kyte, and the baby was left behind to plunge to the ground. It would be a humouring image- straight out of some cheap comedy sketch- if it didn't make her feel grisly.
That raised another question. Would the baby also have a stand? Anasui had been born with his, but hers was dormant until she'd sliced her finger on the scarab. A part of her subtly wished the child would be standless. She didn't want something she brings into the world to have to spend everyday fighting with an affliction they didn't ask for. It was wishful thinking; that child had Joestar blood coursing through their, albeit miniature, veins. They had been cursed the moment they were conceived, just like her and her father. They'd be born with the star-marked nape. They'd be hunted for their whole life. Even with Pucci dead, the remaining agents of DIO still posed a threat to what could have been a peaceful life. They were without a purpose after her father had ended their leader almost a quinquagenarian ago. What resolve was left for them but to kill the people who had stolen their hope?
Jolyne tucked her chin against her neck, and hugged herself. She really wished she had convinced Anasui to stay home today.
The young woman sat in silence for a couple more minutes, before she picked herself up with help from the bowl of the toliet, making sure to flush it first. She grasped her stomach, and shambled away from the en-suite.
Reaching her sun-lit bedroom, she gripped the bedsheets and crawled on top of her white, fluffy duvet. She buried her face into the memory-foam pillow she'd hastily tossed. Her makeup smeared, but without a care, she submerged herself in the softness. She wanted to scream, cry, laugh- she just wanted to feel like her emotions were getting out.
She knew she needed to talk to someone, but, who? She felt as if to keep the news was to lie. She could be many things. She was a criminal after all. But lying was too personal. It hurt too many people.
Who else was there?
Jolyne pulled her head away from the pillow, her eyes glazing past the green streaks of lipstick, and over to the flip-phone she'd kept on the bed stand. The number she'd called a night before remained on the tiny digital screen. She hit call, and held it up to her ear.
"Dad? Hm? Hello- Can you hear me?"
________________________________________________
Jotaro Kujo stood on the southwest beach of Morioh-Cho. It was an early day of spring, but the temperature was tempid and tropical; blessed to be in more of the warm parts of the world, Jotaro shifted himself on his feet as he waited for his daughter. He stared at the ocean, which dazzled brilliant hues of pink, coral and aqua. The sky was the same, pink from a kiss of a late afternoon. He liked the ocean, and although he'd prefer to be out there than by the beach, the small stretch of white sand made a close second of places he'd want to be.
He listened to them crash against the sand, before quickly pulling away like a frightened creature. He was losing himself in his thoughts.
"Dad?"
"H-hm?" He stuttered back, a little caught off-guard by the arrival of his daughter. She dawned a tropical mesh one piece, with a pattern of tropical flowers such as hibiscuses. She wore a swimsuit underneath- it was white, with suited her nicely. Her hair was put in it's usual style, and she carried a small leather bag, shaped like a bedazzled butterfly. If he didn't know much better, he'd think she had called him there to swim. He felt a smile creep to the sides of his lips; Jolyne always made him feel jocund.
She rushed to him first, and embraced his torso with a hug tighter then a knot, pressing her face against his muscle. He chuckled briefly beneath his breath, and pat her back reassuringly. She was more open with her excitement to see him, but that wasn't to say Jotaro wasn't either, if not more so than her. He just didn't show it.
She pulled away, and peered up at her dad. Her chin remained rested below his own.
He knew there was something wrong. She was so happy, yet her demeanor was ever so slightly off. He could sense she was upset- but at what exactly? He felt his face knit itself into worry, his eyebrows pressing against one another, with a slab of skin lodged between them. "Jojo." He begun. He'd grown accustomed to calling her a name she once reserved for her mother. A nickname he'd carried from when he was a teen himself.
"Jolyne? You're.. " He didn't know how to word how he felt. He could feel his sentences glued to the roof of his mouth. He could never pick up her emotions, or anyone else's. Lest they were visible, at least. "You're scared, aren't you?" It was an assumption, but not baseless. She was more quiet than she usually acted.
"I guess I am, in a way." She begun, taking a seat on the sand beside him. Her hand beckoned for him to join her. He obliged. He liked the softness of the dunes, and how they crackled when he dug his boots into them.
He watched Jolyne's face knit into worry, just like his own. She reminded him of himself, but some aspects of her were so far-gone from himself, he wondered how she'd even begun acting like that. Was it a product of her environment? Or had she always been that way?
"Dad.. I'm.. " She chokes. She was going to cry.
He offered her his hand, with She took, and squeezed. As if on command, her eyes pricked with thick blobs of water.
"Dad.. I, I'm pregnant. I'm going to be a mother."
Jotaro wrapped his arm around her, and she buried her face into his chest. It left a stain of tears behind
"How long have you known?" Jotaro couldn't disquinish her tears from exhilaration or being dolorous. He hoped the former, but was scared of the latter.
"I just found out this morning. I took three tests.. I.." She held onto her dad, as if the gentle sweeping waves of the ocean would whisk him away if she let go. "I don't know what to do, Dad. I'm scared."
"Does Narciso know?" Jotaro's tongue clicked against his teeth, a cluck as he said her husband's name. He'd only recently even grown to look that man in the eyes. Not that he'd necessarily ever done anything bad to him, rather just he was protective over his daughter.
"No.. you're the first person I told."
A part of him felt content she trusted him first, but that wasn't the focus.
"Jolyne.. tell me, what are you scared about?"
"I'm scared.. I'm scared the baby will be hurt. I'm still quite young.. I didn't think I'd get pregnant." She murmurs. "I'm scared, that when I give birth to this baby, that he's going to get hurt, by someone or something I can't stop. I'm scared to have a Joestar, Dad. I'm scared that my child will die, because of something greater, stronger than me. That if I have this child, I'm bringing him, or her, into a cruel world, and a crueler fate of being a part of this accursed bloodline."
Jotaro's eyes widened a bit, but he showed no shock across his face.
He'd felt this way before; it was his shared house, a block away from his college campus where he'd been studying to get his degree. His wife sat him at the table over takeaway told him she was pregnant. His first instinct was fear, and then the crushing regret of bringing a baby into the twisted fate of the Joestars.
"You don't have to have them if you don't want to." Jotaro begun, but Jolyne shook her head no. She wanted this child. He sighed in relief, and stroked her hair. It was black, the shade like his own.
"Jolyne, back when your mother told me she was going to have you, I felt the same. I felt that all I was doing was bringing into a world that was so filled with danger that a father had to hide from his own daughter for her own safety." He wiped her tears away with his thumb. "A world that had shot down all of these Joestars before me. Jolyne, I believed that the cruelest thing I could do to you was letting you be born."
Jotaro stared at the waves again, tranced by their rhythmic moves. "Jolyne. I know you're scared. Frankly, I am too. I don't want to have to think my first grandchild is going to be born into a world where they'll be lost forever in constant conflict, death, and loss. But if this is what you want, Jolyne, to be a mother. Then you need to accept that despite the circumstances of our bloodline, that the world will be cruel no matter what. No matter what I, or you do, to protect our children, the world will circle in ways inconceivable to us. Fate is fickle, and fate favours the ones who can handle it."
The universe liked to play favourites. The Joestars always rolled snake eyes or box cars.
"We can't control what happens, the future. But what you can control is your influence in your baby's life. I know I wasn't always there for you, Jolyne." Jotaro sighed. "But I know you believe me when I say I did it because I loved you. It was to keep you safe. Jolyne, I don't want you to do the same as me. I don't want you to leave behind your child because of the cruel twists of fate. The circumstance is different. The both of you, You and Narciso can protect this child together. You're under a different name. You've got the facilities to hide. Jolyne, times are different from when you were born. You can have this kid. He won't always be safe, but, I think, Jolyne, he can have a relatively normal life. I think he can be happy."
Jolyne opened her mouth, but he held her closer.
"Jolyne, you're going to be an amazing mother."
She couldn't hold back her sobs this time. She covered her mouth, but, she couldn't help but let out short-lived hiccups. Jotaro chuckled to himself, and pat her back. This time, he knew she was crying from happiness. He held her, listening to her soft cries below him. As fragile as a baby, he thought.
He reminisces his memories; he was back on a warm day the following July, a year from the night where he and his wife sat and ate takeaway. Jolyne had been born, a small, bouncing baby girl born amongst March showers. A sunshine in her own regard. He was sitting on the couch of his mother's house, whilst his wife was out for the day. Jolyne was crying into his chest, and he was feeding her a bottle to subdue her wails.
That was the first time, he could remember loving her. She was a small, fragile child, bundled up to save herself from the frost, despite the weather and temperatures. Jotaro remembers feeling her pudgy hands. He remembers the feeling as his heart twinged; he realized that he needed to protect her, but his hands were like claws. If he tried to, he'd only hurt her. Her and her fragile, little hands.
They weren't as fragile as he had seen them over twenty years ago, now. She cried for different reasons, and her hands had grown like she had. Manicured, well-kempt, and slender.
Jolyne, for all she'd gone through, became the woman Jotaro had hoped her to be, those twenty years ago. Someone capable of not just protecting herself, but others. Someone who was as strong as she was kind. As brave as she was maternal. As resilient as she was loyal. She wasn't flawless, but she was what he had always wanted. He let her know that more often, now.
He continues to stroke her back, and rests his chin against her shoulder. He'd sprouted a rather bushy beard with his age, with was peppered with streaks of grey, just like his hair.
"Jolyne- do you mind?" Jotaro pulled away gently, settling himself upright with a slight slouch. He's got his hands hovering against her belly button. He presses on her sloped belly.
"What ever, or whom ever you are, you are going to be a part of something strong. You're a part of a bloodline that's cursed by time itself, but, you're going to be tough. That's the benediction of the Joestars. No matter what happened, within you, you will have the power to get back up. Your parents are strong, and so are you." He closes his eyes, and leans in. "You're going to be strong. With a family like you've got, how could you not be? Your parents, my own. We're all strong. You are no different."
He kissed her navel, and strokes her hair between his hands. Jolyne feels loved.
She feels as if, maybe when she goes home, that she can tell Anasui of the baby. Emporio of it, too.
"Thank you, Dad.. thank you so much."
A man once little more to Jolyne then an annoyance, a man who was little more than a harbinger of bad news to her family, had became the pillar that he was supposed to be- that she wanted him to be.
She couldn't be happier, having her dad here with her.
And she knows, he feels the same.
"I love you, Dad."
"I love you too, Jolyne."
Knowing that what once was his small baby, had now grown up to have one of her own made his heart melt like butter. He could only hope that one day, Jolyne could experience that with her own child, aswell.
Maybe the strongest blessing of the Joestars wasn't strength, or the star that was on their shoulders, but rather the impenetrable love they had for one another.
Love was the veins of the Joestar bloodline.