I just wanted coffee - Veronica

Jayden hadn't seen Veronica since their time spent in New Zealand. That alone was reason for him to be surprised, when she contacted him to meet up. He didn't mind seeing her again, he just didn't understand why. Why now? Even less, he understood how she knew he was in town. He wasn't exactly known to stay one place for long. But then again, he had a habit of making his presence known, if not on social media, then in the press. He came from old money and he had a habit of hanging around royalty, including Veronica. And then there was the fact that he almost breathed chaos. He would cause it much more than he liked to. He was sitting at a table for two, when the waitress placed a cup of coffee in front of him. "Thank you," he said and flashed her that charming grin. She smiled back, before she ran off. He took a sip of the coffee, awaiting Veronica's arrival. The unknown was a terrain Jayden enjoyed walking into. He was impulsive, plans were more a hindrance than help to him. Yet right now, he felt a sense of nervousness arise in him. He had no idea what to expect.

It wasn't planned. Actually she had hoped she could just go with one person, and that future would be fine for all of them. It was something the future version of her kids had said, that made her question things. And Veronica knew it was a possibility, but she wouldn't just let the guys go take a test to find out who the father was. She felt enough dirty as it was. She had for once had to talk to Jess about it, and Jess had come up with the idea that Jayden at least deserved to know. Veronica had one of these twin prams with her, and lucky her they were both good sleepers. How she wished Jess was along with her, but her girl had other stuff to do in the mean time - but she knew she wasn't far away in case she needed an extra hand. Or she would just call uncle Nathan - or Kyle. Kyle seemed to enjoy when she brought the twins to tea with him and Abigal. She was actually quite sure Kyle just invited them to see the twins. She smiled when a man held the door open for her, so she could get the pram in. It seemed like ages since she last had seen Jayden, however she couldn't other than see Mariellas eyes when she first looked at him again.
"Sorry I'm late," she said before walking over to the table he was sitting at. "I hope it's okay I brought two extras with me," she added with a nervous little half smirk.
"Do you mind keeping a quick eye out, I'll just go order a coffee real quick," she said before she walked up to buy a coffee. The babies were sleeping however, and were still when she got back.
"Thanks .. so how are you?"

Jayden widened his eyes slightly when Veronica arrived with stroller. She was a mother now? He shook his head when she apologised for being late. ”I-it’s fine.” He did like his ability to handle most surprises, but this was unlike anything he had imagined. And of course the thought hit him. How old were they? His gaze rushed to her when she walked away. She was just over there, but he was still completely freaked out about the babies. He moved his head towards them and kept his eye on them and only them. He would not want to be blamed if anything happened to them. He felt more at ease when she returned. He sat back in his chair and looked at the air for a while. ”To be honest, I’m a little freaked out. You’re a mother now,” he said turned his body towards her. ”How old are they?” He didn’t know what he wanted the answer to be. Did he want children? Sure, at some point. But he wanted it to be with someone he loved, and even though he had begun to care for Veronica, it had never been love, for either one of them, he suspected. He looked back at the children. He was at a crossroad. One road leading him to become a parental figure, a father. The other allowing him to continue the way he was already living.

Veronica took a sip of her coffee, and leaned back into her seat. It was a weird situation to throw at someone, and she hated doing it. If it wasn't because Jess had convinced her, she would just have let it slide - after all her and Jess had done a good job. A part from the thing with the time travelling  - but they had traveled to help their friends and each other, if that wasn't something to be proud of, she didn't know what was. Veronica slightly lifted an eyebrow as he admitted he was a little freaked out by the seen.
"Oh trust me, I'm even more freaked out by that titel than you are," she chuckled a little and kept her gaze at him. "8 months," she turned her eyes back at the sleeping babies. Or that was till one of them softly yawned and robbed her eyes. Mariella opened her big doe hazel colored eyes, and blinked a few times.
"Morning baby," Veronica smiled at the little Mariella. "This is Mariella," she told Jayden and leaned in to free the baby siren from the pram. She lifted the little girl up on her lab. "That is Lionell, he will most likely wake up a few minutes after Marie. I guess its a twin thing, but sometimes I'm lucky he will just keep on sleeping," she breathed out and took another sip of her coffee. Baby Mariella simply just laughed watching her mother drink from a cup.
"Girl, your hair is a bloody mess, you mom would kill me if she saw I left you with hair like that," she said with a funny-ish voice before fixing Mariellas brown hair into two small rat tails.

Jayden didn’t believe her. She couldn’t be more freaked out than him. He might hide it well enough, but his insides were acting crazy. His heart beating so fast, his stomach full of knots. He didn’t think he was father material. If he really was the father, he had to finally grow up. Maybe that wasn’t the worse thing that could happen, but in this moment, he had trouble dealing with the possibilities. When she told him their age, he quickly did the math. The timeline fit. ”Are they…” He didn’t get a chance to finish, before the girl opened her eyes. Yeah. That was his eyes. Fuck. ”They’re mine,” he said under breath. Everything after almost became a blur. He had trouble focusing on anything else than his hurried heartbeat. He could hear the blood rush in his ears. He stood up and took in some deep breaths to try and regain control. When the worst was over with, he returned to the chair and looked at the small girl in Veronica’s arms. Mariella and Lionell. He couldn’t comprehend that these were his children. He looked at the pram when Lionell woke as well, just as Veronica had predicted. He looked at Veronica as she was fixing her hair. ”Do you need to get him before he begins to…” Before he could finish, Lionell began crying. ”… cry,” he finished and looked at both the babies. He didn’t know what to do. He was supposed to know what to do, wasn’t he? He was a father now. He should know.

She narrowed her eyes for a second as he himself confirmed they were his. Ronnie hadn't expected him to be so quick to actually admit that. But she could see he was freaked out, it exploded out of him, however she let him calm himself down - seeing she knew what it was like to be freaked out. Veronica breathed out as he sat down, and looked at Lion when he woke. She made a face, as Jayden asked if she should pick him up before. She closed her eyes in slowly defeat when Lion started to cry.
"Can you hold her? Please.. otherwise she will just start," she explained. She handed Jayden Mariella no matter what he really said. Then she picked Lion up and held him close as she pat him on the back. Finally he settled.
"First of all. Don't feel like you have to be forced into anything.. I just wanted you to know. I don't expect anything from you, you didn't really ask for it so -" she exhaled. "Third thing.. I don't' have any idea of how to do this either.. " she gave him a little comforting smile. Lucky Jayden that Veronica had calmed Lion down when she did, otherwise he would have a less happy baby on his lab. Baby Mariella reached out for his face to move the small soft fingers across his chin. The big hazel eyes was just looking up at him, while there was a smile on her face.

Jayden frowned when Veronica sked her to hold Mariella. ”Uh…” Before he had a chance to make a decision, he was handed the baby girl. At first he just held her in stretched out arms, before he eventually took her closer and looked at her. He could see some of Veronica in her, but the eyes she had from him. It was like looking into his own. Something in him switched. An instinct of sort. He just knew what to do. Everything he had seen people do with children in public, everything he had seen in tv, read in books about how to take care of children suddenly made sense. He bounced her up and down slightly, hoping he could make her laugh. He looked at Veronica when she explained. He felt a little disappointed. He hadn’t thought he would want this, but now when he was sitting with Mariella, he didn’t want to give her back. He smiled at her. This was a way out. He had a chance to go back to how everything was. He had to take it, didn’t he? He liked his life. ”That’s good, cause I don’t think I’m ready for this.” He felt Mariella’s fingers against his face. He looked back at her. The light in her eyes, the big smile. No, he definitely couldn’t give this up. ”No, scratch that,” he said, and looked back at Veronica. ”I want to be in their lives.” He didn’t expect much, he just wanted to see them once in a while. He wanted to see them grow up. He was lucky to had only missed eight months. Some people lost much, much more. He didn’t want to be one of those people.

Veronica smiled to herself hearing Mariellas laughter. She held Lion close just touching his small hands with her finger, before kissing the top of his head.  His words somehow stung a little, but she hadn't expected anything else. Who wanted to just throw there life into the unknown, it wasn't like you could just talk away. Veronica looked back up at Jayden once he said to scratch that earlier comment. Veronica exhaled with a smile as he said he wanted to be a part of their lives.
"Well, I'm only sure it will do them good," she smiled and thought then shortly how it most feel for the future versions of these two babies. Veronica had just flipped a coin, as far as she knew. "But you need to be sure, because I all I want for them is for them to be happy," she took a deep breath in asking. She turned Lion around, holding her arm around him to keep him secure - but otherwise letting him face Mariella and Jayden. It might be to soon to tell him about the kids being here from the future. But now that she thought about, didn't he already know they where here? Maybe not his, but he knew about Vanya and Amaryllis.
"Have you been at Abigal and Kyles mansion yet?" She just asked - they were nearly done with the place - and since most of the kids from the future lived there like it was their own, she wasn't sure he had been. But maybe he had been just to see Abigal.

Jayden kept his attention on the small girl. He couldn’t stop smiling. He had never imagined himself as a father, but now that he held her, he couldn’t imagine being anything else. Jayden looked at Veronica when she stated he might be good for them. ”I don’t know. I’m sure you could take care of them fine without me. You and your partner,” he said and nodded toward the wedding ring. He knew Veronica was interested in both men and women, so he wasn’t going to assume the gender of her partner. He looked back at Mariella pretended to take her nose. He looked back at Veronica. ”Maybe we should take it slow. At first, I can meet up with you and the twins. If that works for all of us, maybe I can babysit at some point, and then we can take it from there. I want both you, your partner and the twins to be okay with it.” He shook his head when she mentioned Abigal and Kyle’s mansion. ”No, I hear it’s overrun with teenagers from the…” he trailed off, and looked at Lion. ”I met a boy named Lion. Time travel?” He wasn’t sure what to think about that. It would definitely take some getting used to, and he wasn’t completely sure how to handle it. It was quite the mouthful to swallow. He had chew some more before he could.

"It was actually my partners idea," she pointed out. Veronica wasn't the one to ask others to help her with things, neither was Jess - but Jess was better than her. Veronica bounced Lion gently on her lap, and enjoyed seeing Jayden with Mariella. Mariella had a thing with wrapping people around her fingers with just one look. "But my wife Jessalyn, she is all in," she assured. Veronica listened to what the suggested. It wasn't what she had planned, not that she had planned anything - but it was a good plan.
"Sounds like a plan," she smiled and turned her eyes back to Lion, "doesn't that sound nice, huh? Yeah I think so too," her force turned a lot lighter when she spoke to Lion.
Veronica chuckled lightly by the comment about it being overrunned by teenagers.
"Time travel," she pointed out and lightly rolled her eyes. "Would you believe it.. the next thing we know there will be time ships and time .. ninjas? Police?"  clearly she thought of herself as funny, giggling at her own comment.
"Honestly Abigal tells us not to get to much involved, unless its because the place is burning.. but Jess and I.. we sorta just roll things our way you know. I'm not really following rules.. I make them.. sometimes break them."

Jayden was appreciative of Veronica and her partner for deciding to take contact to him. It was easier to deal with the news now rather when a teenager decided to look up their father and took him completely by surprise. Now he could at least have a chance to process everything. ”That’s good,” he said when Veronica mentioned her wife was all in. ”Is she the reason you were heartbroken when we met?” Jayden knew. He didn’t want to take advantage of her broken heart, so he had never pushed her. They had just hung out together until it turned into something more. He honestly couldn’t remember who took the first step, he just knew he had regretted it afterwards. Not because he didn’t enjoy being with Veronica, but it just seemed wrong in some way, like he actually had taken advantage of her. But now he had no regret. It had brought him two children, and he doubt he could ever feel regret about that.
He let out a soft chuckle when she confirmed his theory of time travel. ”It wouldn’t surprise me,” he added. Jayden nodded when she spoke of not getting involved. ”Well I for one are happy you did. I don’t think I would handle it quite as well if a teenager showed up at my doorstep. Or maybe I’m handling it well because of the alcohol I sneaked into my coffee,” he joked. ”That was a joke,” he assured her. He didn’t want her to think he was actually drinking. He had done that, but after being turned into a werewolf, he had mostly stopped. He could enjoy a drink here and there, but he was done with binge-drinking. ”I’m not sure I’m ready to meet them as teenagers, if I’m being honest,” he added and looked down at Mariella. ”Okay. Now I want to meet my son. Can we switch?” He suggested and was ready to give her Mariella and take Lionell instead.

//Out <33