Chapter Text
"I can't remember everything, but everything I remember about you is amazing!" Jay exclaimed smiling brightly at Nya.
"But all you remember about me is my bad ideas?" Kai rolled his eyes. Nya smirked and ignored him, her heart fluttering as Jay held her hands. So many years apart had an effect on her. It hardly seemed real that they were together again at last, and Jay's memories were coming back. And that wasn't even to mention... that kiss. It really had been so long.
"What else is there? Fried circuits or not, I bet you can take all these parts and make it into one working... something?"
Nya jumped onto the nearest vehicle, "Let's give it a shot!" She surveyed her surroundings then crouched down, holding out her hand to Jay. "Come on!"
Jay furrowed his brow. "Me?"
Nya giggled, "Yes, you. Unless Kai learned a thing or two about mechanics while we were stuck in that queliche's stomach." The two glanced over at Kai, who was beginning to play with a frayed aglet on his shoes. Nya raised an eyebrow at her brother. "And that seems rather unlikely."
Jay stifled his laughter and climbed on top of the vehicle beside Nya, purposefully knocking his shoulder against hers before intertwining his fingers with hers. He looked out at the array of vehicles around them and began to hope that Nya had a better idea than he did for how to mash everything together. He looked back at Nya, who had shifted her gaze to smiling down at their interlocked hands, and for a moment, Jay lost all sense of urgency. That soft smile, the way her hair was blowing around in the wind, Jay could get caught up for a lifetime in it. Nya looked back up at him, and Jay caught the glisten of tears in her eyes - her ocean eyes, how had he not seen just how beautiful they were a mere week before? - and Jay quickly cupped her face in his hand, pulling her closer into a hug.
Jay began to whisper in Nya's ear, "I'm sorry for all the time we lost, my darling."My darling?Had he called her that before? Jay could not recall, he knew not all of his memories had returned yet, but somehow it felt right. A flash of a memory hit him, him calling Nya that over an intercom while he was in space and she was in... Borg tower, was it? He can vaguely recall her groaning. Maybe that wasn't an endearing moniker then?
But Nya didn't say anything about it now. She squeezed his hand tighter and leaned up to kiss his cheek, "It's not your fault. And we'll make up for it. As soon as we deal with Emperor Beatrix, it's just you and me, and all the time we need." But they both knew there was never enough time. There never was. They never seemed to get a break. Still, Nya's words held all the hope in the universe in them, and Jay latched onto that.
"Sounds like a plan," Jay agreed, "Let's get to work then."
Nya began to pull tools out of folds in her ninja gi. Jay laughed. Of course! No particular memory surfaced, but Jay felt that it was as if he had always known that Nya carried all sorts of small tools on her for when the occasion arose. It felt second nature to who she was, and Jay was pretty sure it had saved their butts a few times. Nya pressed a screwdriver into Jay's hand. "Just like old times?" Nya smirked.
Old times? Jay did not remember these old times. He knew he was good with mechanics; he had invented a great deal of things for himself when he was a mercenary. Where he got that knowledge... he did not know. Jay frowned, "Those memories haven't come back yet," he sighed.
"That's alright. We'll make a new one right here then," Nya slid off the side of the vehicle and opened up the engine. She grinned, "This is perfect."
Jay slid down beside her, "So are you," he whispered, completely in awe of Nya. It was hard not to be, especially in the light of all the memories that had so recently returned. He knew they were old memories, but at the same time they felt brand new to him. And that created so many butterflies in his stomach. Nya smiled back at him, and Jay felt himself struck by his paradox: it was as if he was laying eyes on her for the first time and laying eyes on her for the first time in a long time, never mind how much time they had spent together in the last several weeks, he just hadn't remembered how important Nya was. And Nya looked as radiant as ever. Not a thing had changed...
Except for one thing.
As Jay studied her eyes again (oh, how beautiful her ocean eyes were), he saw something knew in them: exhaustion and sorrow beyond Jay's comprehension.
"What is it?" Nya asked, noticing the ever so slight shift in Jay's smile.
"Nothing, my darling."
"Hand me that socket wrench, would you please?" a hand popped out from beneath the transforming car they had nearly finished building.
Jay obliged and placed the socket wrench into Nya's ready hand. Her hand disappeared with the rest of her body underneath the vehicle, and Jay heard the clang of her cranking away at something, "Dare I ask, what last minute additions are you installing now?"
"I call it razor mode!" Nya echoed enthusiastically from under the car.
"Razor mode? What would we use that for?" Jay asked, bending down to observe the work they had done. Sure enough, in the two seconds since Jay had turned his head, Nya had procured giant razors and begun to install them under the car.
Nya rolled her eyes, "Uh, for taking out enemies, duh!"
"That hardly seems practical, and won't the extra weight slow us down? Time is of the essence here!" Jay poked at the edge of one of the razors with his finger, wincing and pulling his hand back when the blade was (expectedly) sharp. "Ow!" he groaned.
"Well, why'd you do that?" Nya tried her best not to laugh. Even with her face being blocked from his view, Jay could sense the mocking look in her expression. He had seen that look many, many times before, he was sure of that.
"Why'd you install razors on our car?" Jay retorted.
"Because they're an efficient way to take out those monsters!" Nya replied and scooted out from under the car. She looked over at Kai, who was busy ten feet away drawing with a stick in the dirt. "Kai, do me a favor and settle this for us. Razors or no razors?"
"Leave me out of this, you lovebirds!" Kai groaned and rolled over in the dirt, facing away from them (likely in fear that they would start making out again. The poor guy was sick of third wheeling), "Just hurry up, okay? We don't have all day!"
"Very helpful, Kai. There's no need to take on an attitude!" Jay stood up and took in the sight of just exactly what Kai was doing with his stick in the dirt, "Wait, are you playing tic-tac-toe against yourself?" He heard Nya giggle behind him.
Kai sent him a glare, "I'm bored, okay? Just keep the razors and be done with it!"
"Ha! Thanks, Kai!" Nya beamed. She stood beside Jay, triumphantly turning to him, "The razors stay... Here," Nya dropped the socket wrench back into Jay's hand, pausing for a moment to squeeze his hand, a confident smile creased across her lips. And that's when Jay saw it, or rather he saw it again.
Like the tiredness in her eyes, he had seen it so many times in the last weeks, and he was sure he had subconsciously taken notice of it, but now it felt like this small detail was pulled instantly to the top of his brain. The rings on her finger.
"That's my flannel!" Jay gasped, faking offense at the sight of his yang dressed in his clothing.
"Is it?" Nya smiled coyly, "Cuz last I checked, I wear it more than you do!" she patted the seat on the couch beside her, prompting Jay to sit down, and he did, wrapping an arm around Nya as he made himself comfortable. It was true, Nya had a knack for "borrowing" his clothing, and then all of a sudden, he never saw some of his favorite clothing items, unless Nya was wearing them.
"But I bought it. Doesn't that mean something?" Jay pointed out. He planted a kiss on Nya's forehead. "It does look cute on you though," he admitted.
"It means you're a really great gift-giver," Nya shrugged.
Jay laughed, "Or that you're a really sneaky thief."
"Well, I am sneaky, all our ninja training did pay off. But... I'd rather think it was the first thing," Nya pulled her yang medallion, which she wore on a cord around her neck, out from under the flannel's collar. "After all, you knocked it out with our yin-yang promise medallions."
Jay instinctively reached for his own medallion, which he too kept around his neck. "I can't believe it's been four years now. We were such babies. And now we're in our twenties. Where did all this time go?"
"I'm pretty sure it went on all those adventures we had," Nya replied, laying her head against Jay's shoulder. "You know," Nya hinted as she spun her medallion around in her hand, "Pretty soon our parents are going to start asking about a different piece of jewelry..."
Jay began to blush madly, "Nya Smith, is this your way of hinting that you want me to propose to you?"
"No. It's my way of saying we should get married." Jay's face turned confused. "Come on, we belong together, and I don't need a fancy proposal to tell me that. Let's just pick out the rings together then tell everyone we're engaged."
"After that, can I still propose though? You know everyone's going to want to hear our proposal story," Jay pointed out, "Our moms will be ticked if they find out we just went to a jewelry store together and called it a day."
"As long as you know that my answer's going to be yes."
"Jay! What is it, Jay?" Nya asked, her arms gripping Jay's shoulders, part in worry, part in curiosity. This had already happened a couple of times, once in the administration and once again in the cave. She supposed it was another memory coming back, but she waited for Jay to confirm.
Jay shook his head, snapping back into reality. A bright grin crept across his face, and he took Nya's hand in his, "I was remembering how we got engaged." He traced his fingers along the rings on Nya's finger. "And how we picked out our rings." First was the engagement ring, a silver ring with a sapphire surrounded by two small diamonds, like the blue of her ocean eyes, in the middle. Around it, small diamonds swirled in a wave pattern, twisting around the silver ring. It was like water. When they were at the jewelry store, Nya hadn't been particularly picky about her engagement ring, all she had requested was that it had a low profile, so that it wouldn't snag on anything during ninja business. But Jay had seen the pieces, and the image just fit together right in his mind. It was custom made, sentimental and romantic, just the way he wanted it to be.
"I have an idea for the wedding band," Nya suggested when she saw what Jay had designed with the help of the jeweler, "If you don't mind letting me help choose it."
Jay chuckled, "Nya, you're the one who's going to be wearing it for the rest of our lives, I want you to love it." Jay squeezed her hand and smiled.
That was all the permission Nya needed. She led Jay over to one of the display cases. She pointed at a gold band, "I want that one."
The jeweler removed the band from the case and held it out for Jay to examine. Jay took it and studied its design. The band jutted out in the center, made to fit around the stone of an engagement ring. On the sides of it were two more jut outs, smaller in size. "It would fit perfectly around the engagement ring you've designed, Jay," the jeweler explained.
Jay turned to Nya, full of curiosity, "Why this one?"
"Well, the way it's shaped reminds me of lightning. Not to mention the color too, I think it would look really cool, the gold band with the silver engagement ring," Nya explained, her face lighting up as Jay saw the vision coming together. "Not to mention the symbolism of both of our elements, two becoming one and all that." Jay grinned. Nya's sentimental side didn't surface often, but he found it absolutely endearing when it did.
Jay's fingers found the wedding band next. Nya was right, the contrast of silver and gold indeed looked really cool. And the style of it all was very fitting of Nya - of both of them. But then his smile faded. He didn't have his wedding ring. It was long lost. When he woke up after the merge, he didn't have it on him. Nor was it in the briefcase where he, Kai, and Nya had found his gi. Jay frowned, a round of guilt shadowing over him, "Nya, I'm sorry. I don't have my wedding ring anymore."
"Are you sure about that?" Nya smiled. She pulled her right hand out of her pocket. Jay had been so busy studying her rings that he had missed what she was doing. Nya produced a ring and slid it on his finger. She noticed the confusion in Jay's eyes and began to explain, "The day the merge happened, you were doing work with the saws, and you had taken your ring off for safety, and you gave it to me. When everything happened, there was no time to give it back to you, so I've had it with me this whole time. I was waiting for you to get your memories back to give it to you."
Jay looked down at his own hand, realizing that until Nya put the ring on him, he had had no memory of what it looked like. The ring was a braid of three pieces. The first appeared to be some sort of steel and copper blend, the next some sort of shiny blue material, and finally a silver strand with small studs lining it. It had to all mean something, but what, Jay had no idea, "Nya, what does..."
Nya stopped him, "I'll tell you all about it later. I promise. But once again, we have no time," Nya glanced at the transforming car, "The car's finished. We've got to go now." She beckoned for Kai to stop his game of tic-tac-toe against himself, "Come on, Kai! Let's get this party rolling!"
Kai bounced to his feet with a grunt, "Thank goodness. I was losing anyway!" Nya and Jay both gave him a puzzled look. "Come on, hand me the keys," Kai said.
"Um, no," Nya laughed, "We'd be better off if someone who actually helped make this thing and knows what all the buttons do drove." Nya climbed into the passenger seat and tossed the keys to Jay, "Have at it, Sparky!" Jay grinned and bounced into the seat beside Nya, strapping down his seat belt.
"No fair! This is a severe case of favoritism," Kai grumbled as he climbed on the back, "And you're making me ride in the back too? I really am just the third wheel now, aren't I?"
"You always have been, hot-head!" Jay retorted as he put the keys in the ignition and the transforming car roared to life. "Wait!" he gasped and looked at Nya. Nya raised an eyebrow. Jay reached out, "You've got grease on your face, Nya," he wiped the spot away tenderly, and Nya shut her eyes. Jay leaned in to kiss her, hoping that Emperor Beatrix's schemes could wait for a little while longer. Man, it was hard to keep his priorities straight now.
"Oh, come on!" Kai exploded, "First it was for like half an hour in the administration, and now this! We don't have time for this, you weirdos!"
"I guess we'll have to table this until after Imperium," Nya sighed. She pulled away and laughed, "Man, we haven't annoyed him this much since right after we got back from our honeymoon." Jay began to laugh too, wishing those memories had returned, but they hadn't.
"We better save Imperium fast then," Jay replied, pushing the gear into drive, "Let's go."
As the transforming car zoomed to life and the wind shook in Jay's ears, he barely made out the sound of Kai fake gagging behind him.