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Jotaro stared down at the infamous photo in his hand. It was the one all of them took the first time they met Iggy back in the late 80s. He laughed at the irony of it all. He worshiped this picture of him, his grandfather, his closest friends, and the woman who would go on to become his wife– it was the most valuable thing he had, yet he did nothing to honor the sacrifices these people gave for him.
He couldn’t even honor his vows he made to her when they were in their 20s.
“Yeah… Turns out my period wasn’t late. I’m pregnant after all.”
His face was hard as stone as he took in the information. Jotaro, one to never reveal what he was thinking, scared you with his silence. He slouched in his chair as he took off his signature hat and played with it, thinking quietly.
“Let’s get married.”
“What?”
“Tsk, don’t play dumb, y/n. You heard what I said. Let’s get married.”
He knew it was a dumb thing to do at twenty-one. His father had yelled it was almost as dumb as knocking up “some girl” at twenty-one, but Jotaro was always one to walk to the beat of his own drum. Regardless of what his father said, his mother and grandfather had a soft spot for you, so you and the baby were going to fit right in with the family. Besides, you weren’t some girl, you were his girlfriend, who before he was even dating had risked your life to defend him during that journey to Egypt.
“How can you act like this is nothing at all?”
Jotaro tucked the framed photo into a box of other random junk and picked it up, turning to walk away from you. You two had silently been packing up his office for the past two hours, but it appears the silence had finally gotten to you. Jotaro closed his eyes as he brisked by you, unable to handle being on the receiving end of your glare. He had always admired the feistiness aspect of your personality, it’s what made you a strong stand user. It was reflected in the personality of your stand, Pantera, as well. He used your quick temper as an excuse to divorce you, not wanting to admit the truth.
“We were supposed to be a team. You promised me. You always told me, ‘I’m on your side, y/n.’ What happened to the guy who saved my life back in Egypt?”
You followed him as he exited the house and placed the box in the trunk of his car.
“Have your lawyer send mine a list of everything you want. Don’t worry about fighting for the house, you can have it. I don’t plan on staying in Florida for much longer.”
You should have been taken aback at his callousness. He had deliberately bypassed your question just to make his own demand. That was how Jotaro usually rolled, though. He lived by his own rules, free from any societal expectations or imposed obligations.
You scoffed at him. “Who am I kidding? Of course, this is nothing for you. All you know how to do is run away from your problems.”
Jotaro screamed inwardly as he took the full brunt of your harsh words. You think this is nothing at all for me? He wanted to shout at you, his own quick temper bubbling to the surface. The walls around his heart that you knocked down all those years ago had returned, now fortified even more. The craving for nicotine came back suddenly, even though he quit smoking years ago. He was walking away from the love of his life and thirteen-year-old daughter, no it wasn’t fucking easy. Jotaro would rather have millions of knives thrown at him by Dio again then ever do this. But life wasn’t fair and neither was this.
The landline phone rang abruptly in the dark of the hotel room Jotaro was currently sleeping in. The massive man rolled over to look at the clock. 4:33 AM.
“What?” he snapped as he answered the phone.
“Er- hello. Is this Mr. Jotaro Kujo?”
“Who wants to know?”
“My name is Ariana, I work at Tampa Bay Hospital. We have your wife, y/n Kujo in here as well as your daughter Jolyne. Your wife was in a devastating car accident and our team is preparing her for surgery.”
Jotaro sat up in his cheap bed, his heart sinking into his stomach. You were hurt? He felt like his lungs could no longer expand.
“What the hell happened?” he screamed into the phone.
“It appears your wife was driving and a reckless driver t-boned the driver’s side of the car. Her left leg is shattered, sir, and she’s got a concussion. There was also glass lodged into her body, which they’ll be surgically removing… Miraculously, your daughter has no injuries at all, save for a rash from the seatbelt dragging over the skin of her neck.”
This had stand attack written all over it. A crash that bad and yet Jolyne walked away unscathed? You must have protected her with your stand. He glanced over at the clock again, mentally berating himself. If it’s 4 in the morning here in Australia, where he currently was searching for stand arrows, then it was the middle of the day back in Florida. You must have been out getting groceries with Jolyne.
“Mr. Kujo?”
“Huh?” he was snapped out of his calculations.
“I asked if you would be making your way to see Mrs. Kujo soon. Our team had to sedate her, she was in extreme distress as she demanded we call for you.”
Fuck. “I’m in Australia right now for work.”
“Oh. Would you like us to notify another family member?”
Jotaro groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. The next closest family you guys had was the old man and grandma Suzi Q in New York, and in their old age they couldn’t do much. Both of your parents still resided in Japan. “No. I’ll make arrangements to get home as soon as I can. Do whatever you guys need to do to save her.” Jotaro hung up on the woman and began throwing his stuff back into his suitcase.
He made it back to Tampa late the next day, absolutely exhausted from the jet lag. He stormed his way into the hospital, not even caring to count as he threw a large wad of cash at the airport taxi driver who had rushed him here.
“Where is she?!”
The poor nursing staff all jumped as he roared. The receptionist at the desk timidly waved him down.
“Y/n Kujo. Where. Is. She.”
“R-room 3172, sir.”
Jotaro marched down the hallway and took the elevator up to the floor your room was on. When he finally located the room, his heart broke as he stared in through the glass window. You laid on the bed in what looked like a comatose state with a leg propped up and in a cast. Your face looked like you walked to hell and back. It was beaten black and blue, and you had an array of stitches on your forehead. This confirmed his suspicions, you had to have been fighting an enemy stand user.
“Mr. Kujo?”
Jotaro turned to the woman approaching him.
“Hi.” She stuck out her hand. “I’m the lead physician overseeing Mrs. Kujo’s care. Let me tell you what we’ve done so far…”
After a brief talk, Jotaro finally slipped into your room. Immediately, your stand manifested and jumped out to snarl at whoever dare try to hurt its user while you slept.
“Easy, Pantera, it’s just me.”
The large blue panther stopped snarling and stalked over to Jotaro. Star platinum appeared without Jotaro’s request and began petting its fellow apparition. Jotaro bypassed the two stands and walked to the side of your bed. The sound of your heart monitor filled the silence of the room as he stared down. Jotaro’s hand pulled itself from his pocket and drifted towards you. It hesitated before coming down to move a piece of hair out of your face. The gentle action woke you up.
“Jojo…” you whispered, a battered smile coming onto your face, “you came.”
“Of course I came. We’re married.” And I love you.
“Where’s our Jojo?”
“I talked to the doctor. She’s in the kid’s ward right now, they think she might have a concussion after all.”
You hummed, clearly still in a daze from all the medications you had been given. “I bet she hates that. You know she’s got a big fear of the doctor.”
“I know, but she’s gotta get over that. She’s almost nine now.”
“She needs her dad,” you reminded him, finally looking directly into his eyes. His breath was stolen away as he stared at piercing e/c eyes. They brimmed with tears.
“I’m scared too, Jojo.”
He stroked the side of your face. “Don’t worry. Nobody will hurt you ever again. Not while I’m here. I’m on your side, always.”
You nuzzled into his palm, eyes fluttering closed as your body threatened to fall asleep.
“Now lay down, woman. You need to rest.”
“Okay, Jojo. I love you.”
You were knocked out before he could even respond.
“What have I dragged you into, y/n?”
You signed the final paper in the large stack.
“There,” your lawyer smiled, “you’re now divorced from Mr. Kujo. You can change your name back to your maiden one, if you’d like.”
You gave a sarcastic laugh. Yeah, let me erase the final part of him that belongs to me, the only indictor that he was ever mine to begin with. You gathered up your belongings and made for the door.
“Oh, y/n.”
You turned back to your lawyer. He held up a business card in his hand.
“I know you said Jolyne has had some issues in the last few weeks, so take this. I have a good friend from law school who would be willing to take her on as a client if the need arises. You never know what could happen.”
The sharp smile on your lawyer’s face unnerved you, but you reached for the card nonetheless. Who knows, you mused to yourself.
“I’m checking in to see Jolyne Cujoh, please.”
“Alright Mrs. Cujoh, we’ll need to confiscate all personal belongings for the remainder of the-”
“Its Mrs. L/n. Kujo is her father’s last name.”
“Right… Well, we’ll need to take your personal belongings for the remainder of the visit as well as have you go through those metal detectors.”
After a thorough inspection, you were guided to the visitation room.
“The prisoner will be out soon, ma’am. Please wait inside as we prepare her.”
Your nose crinkled in disgust as the guard referred to Jolyne as prisoner, like she wasn’t a human being who had a name. You said nothing though, not wanting to get the visitation taken away from her. It had been hard enough to get this, since Jolyne had apparently been causing quite the ruckus in prison. As the guard pushed open the door, you stepped in.
“Finally, I’ve been wanting to talk to-”
“Jotaro?”
“Y/n?”
You startled as your ex-husband of now six years came into your line of sight. Never in a million years did you expect to see him here. He had consistently run away at any given chance, especially when it came to Jolyne. She had a life threatening fever? Gone for the Speedwagon Foundation. She stole a car? He fucked off to Japan. She was sent to juvie? He didn’t even care to send bail money.
As your heart thumped in anxiousness at the thought of the three of you all being in the same room, you recalled a question you had long ago asked yourself: what would it take for Jotaro to finally step up and become a real father? It appears Jolyne being sent to prison for manslaughter was the answer to that question. Always with the extremes for the Joestar family.
“What are you doing here?”
You put on a brave face, gripping the straps of your purse. “I’m visiting my daughter. What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to bust our daughter out.”
“Haha, very funny, but now’s not the time for jokes.”
“I’m serious.”
“Prisoner FE40536, get your ass in there!”
The door opened to reveal Jolyne. Her eyes immediately lit up at the sight of you, but quickly turned furious as she saw the larger-than-life man behind you.
“Mama!” she cried.
“Jojo, I’ve missed you so much.”
Jotaro gave you two a moment before interrupting the heartfelt greeting.
“Listen… We need to talk. All of us.”
One long talk later and both the Joestars had revealed important information to you: 1) Jolyne had a stand, and a powerful one at that, and 2) she had been framed for the entire murder.
“Would have been useful if you had told me all this during the trial,” you grumbled.
“I didn’t find out until afterwards. Plus, I couldn’t get ahold of you.”
“Yeah, well I changed my number and got a new job, so.”
“You’re not a dentist anymore? Why didn’t you tell me?”
You closed your eyes so they wouldn’t look at him. Damn his sparkling eyes and the way they sought to make eye contact with yours.
“It’s not like you would have cared.”
“I’ll always car-”
“Can you please wait to flirt with mom when we’re not trying to bust out of prison?”
There was an awkward, pregnant pause.
“... Let’s go, Jolyne.”
“How are we going to defeat Johngalli A.?”
Star platinum appeared at your ex-husband’s side. Your eyes widened, having not seen the stand in a long, long time. “We’re getting to that submarine and getting the fuck out of here. It’ll be fine, I’m on your side.”
You rolled your eyes, Pantera now manifesting at your side.
Liar.