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He didn’t show. That shouldn’t have shocked her as much as it did, he said as such, many months ago when she had come to him, told him she was pregnant. He had broken up with her right then and there, just like that.
He was an actor, he needed to seem desirable, available to appease to his audience. He couldn’t be tied down with a baby, with a wife. Especially with a baby born out of wedlock. What would the press say? His career would be ruined. All things he told her, all excuses he gave as to why he would not be involved in this baby's life, in her life if she chose to have this baby.
She thought he’d change his mind, foolishly so. She had sent him every update, copies of every ultrasound picture. Transcribed many messages about the baby’s condition, its size, gender. She was so excited to find out she was having a boy, thinking he’d feel the same. But none of her messages were acknowledged. Occasionally she’d see his name in a headline, promoting a new project, or with some hot young thing, without a care in the world. Like he didn’t have a baby on the way, like he wasn’t leaving the girl he claimed to love because of it.
She had reached out one more time, wanting to give him one last chance. She had called him, leaving him a lengthy message about how she was in labor, that the baby was coming earlier than expected, that she’d be at Ninjago City Hospital, that she’d be willing to forgive all his behavior if he just showed up, held her through the many hours of labor, and stood with her through it all, until the baby was born. She was convinced that if he could just see the baby with his own eyes he’d change his mind, be the father this baby needed, the lover she so desperately wanted.
He didn’t show. She went through the multiple hours of labor, the pushing, the screaming, the pain, alone and he didn’t show. The nurses were all the comfort she received, and they were wonderful through it all. But she wanted him to be there, she wanted Cliff.
“Here’s your healthy baby boy, Miss. Light.” A nurse told her happily as they handed her a little baby, wrapped in a blue blanket. She took him happily, trying her best to put on a brave face despite the pain she was feeling.
The baby's cries stopped as soon as he was placed in her arms, and she cried tears of joy as she looked down at her little baby, rocking him, and whispering gentle words to him.
“Hi baby, hi, hello.” She whispered to him, stroking his little head with her thumb. “You made quite an entrance, couldn’t wait to see the lightning storm huh?” She asked, eyes traveling to the window outside. It had been storming out ever since she’d got here. She’d be convinced it was because of her if the lightning hadn’t started to build long before she had even started having contractions, but it was a welcomed sight. The storm that roared outside could never hurt them, she was the master of lightning after all.
“Strange, most babies cry at the sound of thunder. I’d almost say he’s comforted by it.” A nurse commented, causing her to smile. She knew he was, the lightning would be his safety, his guiding light if he took after her that is. He would never fear the storms, they were a part of him.
She called Cliff one last time. To tell him the baby had arrived safely, his weight, his height. That this would be the last time she called him, that now that the baby was here, it was up to him to make the effort and then she never called him again, and he certainly never reached out and she took her baby home, determined to make it on her own.
She only lasted a week.
***
The baby cried like he knew what she was about to do. She rocked him, trying her best to soothe him, despite her anxieties about this as well.
She couldn’t keep him. She couldn’t. She was too young, too poor, too alone, too scared. She couldn’t take care of him. So this was the best decision for him.
“It’ll be ok, you won’t even know I’m gone.” She said gently as she walked. He continued to cry. “I know this is scary but this is for the best, I promise.” She grabbed his little hand, rubbing it with her thumb as his tiny fingers wrapped around one of hers.
It started to storm as the two walked down the road. Seemed to build with his cries but she didn’t let up. Stopping outside a junkyard she stood for a moment. She didn’t want to leave them with a crying baby.
“Shh.” She whispered calmly, his little eyes, still wet with tears, stared up at her, his beautiful blue eyes, the only thing the two shared. The only part of him that resembled her. “Shhh my baby. Momma loves you so much and I will always be with you, my baby. My little lightning bolt. But this is for the best.” She said gently, and for the moment, the baby seemed to be soothed. She walked through the junkyard, using shadows as her cover as she walked to the front step of a trailer and gently putting her baby down, and placing a note on top of him, before knocking and running off. She could hear her baby start to cry as she hid herself away.
An older woman with frizzy dark brown hair opened the door, glancing around before looking down at the infant, immediately stepping into action the woman scooped up her son, shushing him as the eyes scanned the note attached to him.
“Ed! Ed come quick!” She heard the woman yell as she turned back inside the trailer with the baby. The door slammed shut behind her and he was gone. Libber stood for a moment, watching the door. She didn’t know what to do now. Walking away felt horrible but staying wasn’t an option, so after another moment of staring, of watching, of not seeing anything other than comfort and concern towards her baby she forced one foot in front of the other and walked away, doing everything she could not to break down on the way home.
***
“What are you doing here Wu?” She asked tiredly, as they stood in the doorway.
“I came to see you, I heard you had your baby. I wanted to see how you were doing, how your new baby was.” He told her, glancing behind her only to see the apartment was empty, void of any children. “It’s my job to keep track of all the elemental powers in existence, especially one as important as a power of creation.” He added.
“You’re too late.” She said simply, not making eye contact. He just looked at her for a moment, she looked awful, and not from lack of sleep from a newborn infant awful.
“How about I make you some tea and we can talk about it?” Wu suggested, she nodded, stepping away to let him inside. Despite him being the guest, he prepared the tea, as she sat at the table of her little apartment in silence.
“He’s safe.” She told him as he placed a cup down in front of her.
“I don’t doubt that.” He replied sitting across from her.
“Cliff left me.” She added, still not making eye contact. “I didn’t tell anyone, I was hoping he’d come back, but he didn’t. My parents wanted nothing to do with me or my bastard child, their words not mine, so I had my baby alone, and I tried so hard to do it on my own but I couldn’t, I can barely afford to put food on the table, let alone care for a baby on my own, I couldn’t even give him a name so I gave him up.
“There’s this older couple that comes into town, nice, very friendly southern couple. I see them all the time, and they always seem so happy, so I followed them home a few nights ago, and left the baby on their doorstep. They have him now, and seem to be happy raising him as their own. They even named him. Jay.” She chuckled. “Jay. It’s such a simple name, and yet for the week I had him, I couldn’t even give him a name but they did it so easily.” She started to break down, crying. Really letting herself fall apart for the first time during this whole situation. Wu stood, coming around the table to rub her back, to give her some comfort. It didn’t help, she didn’t want him, she wanted Cliff, even after all this time, after all he did, she just wanted her Cliff back. She wanted the life she imagined having with him, not this depressing nightmare she was trapped in.
“You did what you thought was best for him, giving him his best chance.” Wu told her. “And he is going to grow up to do remarkable things, Libber. He is going to be a hero, destined to protect Ninjago with the gift you gave him.” He explained.
He wasn’t supposed to, he wasn’t supposed to talk about the prophecy of the ninja. That the sons of the powers of creation were meant to stand above the rest of the elemental masters and become the protectors of Ninjago. He had been sworn to secrecy, but in that moment, it seemed like a mercy, to tell her she did good despite doing the hardest thing she could have done, that her baby was going to be ok despite this. It could bring her comfort in this trying time.
It didn’t. It wouldn’t. Not for a while, not until word of a blue lightning ninja started circulating around the island after mysterious skeleton sightings started occurring.
***
He reached out. 15 years later he reached out. She had moved to Ninjago City, lived in some swanky apartment on the edge of the city. She had made a lot of money getting involved in the gaming industry. Apparently being a lightning elemental transitioned well to a tech based industry and gaming was something that never seemed to be going out of style. She still kept tabs on her son, had started cutting out newspaper clippings of the Ninja saving the day and putting them on the fridge, like a parent did with their kids' artwork. It probably wasn’t a good idea but she did it anyway. She was happy and from what she could tell so was her son, and that’s all she could ask for.
Then on a random day he reached out, shortly after the The Overlord attack on the city he reached out. Asking to see her, to talk. She knew she should probably just ignore him, the way he had done with her all those years ago, but she didn’t. She indulged him, showing up to his fancy mansion in the wealthy part of Ninjago, wanting to hear him out.
“Cancer.” He explained as the two sipped on drinks. “And every time they think they have a handle on it, it comes back and I’ve had to accept that maybe that it's not going to go away. I’ve been trying to keep working, to keep busy but it’s becoming a bit harder to ignore lately.”
“I’m sorry.” She replied. She meant that. Despite all he did, he didn’t deserve that.
“It makes you look at your life, the things you did a whole lot differently.” He told her. “I would have done so much differently, I would have never pushed you away, would have given that boy everything.”
“I know Cliff.”
“I should have given that boy the world.” He wiped his eyes, wiping away the few stray tears that had fallen down his face all of a sudden.
“I gave him up.” She said suddenly.
“I know love.” She gave him a confused look. “I hired a private investigator a few years back. I thought about making amends then, but when I found out that he-…that Jay had been adopted by another family, I thought better of it. His…parents didn’t need me inserting myself into that boy’s life, confusing him, not after they had done everything they could to raise him and give him a good life despite their clear financial struggles. He was happy.” He confessed. “So I’ve put everything in a trust, everything, all my earnings, plus my royalties, and everything I own into a trust for him. He’s the only person in my will and when I die, he’ll get everything. He’ll be set for the rest of his life. I wasn’t there for him for the beginning of his life, but I’m making sure he’s taken care of for the rest of it.”