Jay doesn't mind being invited to Kai and Nya's family dinner. He's been invited a few times and it has been nice getting to know the parents of the love of his life since they got them back. Ray and Maya have welcomed them as a potential part of their family since they know how close he has become with their daughter.
Although, he does sometimes feel like he's intruding in their family time. It's supposed to be time for Kai and Nya to reconnect with their parents, but here he was. Just somebody who was now yin and yang with their daughter, but they hadn't even gotten married yet. It felt weird to always invade the Smith's family time.
There was one other concern he had and he was lucky that Ray and Maya hadn't brought it up yet. The subject of his birth parents. He's knows that they knew his birth parents. Ok, at least his birth mom. He still wasn't sure if the past elemental masters knew his birth dad. Nya told him that she and Kai had saw his birth mom when they were in the past fighting the Time Twins. Kai didn't think much of it, but Nya knew and said that she heard his birth mother talking about Cliff, his birth father. Jay didn't really know anything about them other than the fact that his father was probably one of the most famous actors in Ninjago.
Jay was conflicted if he wanted to find out more about them or not. He has a family. His yang. His team. Ed and Edna. He didn't need to know about the people who didn't care enough to want him. But at the same time, it was eating him up inside not knowing. They probably had a reason to give him up. It was probably a good reason, but what if it wasn't. If it wasn't a good reason, it would be better for him to not know anything about them.
You would think it would be easier to decide if he wants to know with how many times he's been over this in his head, but of course not. When the team was first formed, he thought that he was the one without family issues. Of course, he wasn't. He just didn't know about his family issues.
Of course, that topic was bound to come up at one of these dinners eventually. And today, Jay was just that unlucky.
"So Jay, how have your parents been anyway?" Ray asked. "We realized we never asked you about them."
Jay knew who they were talking about. It wasn't Ed and Edna. Jay had never mentioned his family around them for fear of the rest of the team finding out he was adopted. He also didn't want to ruin dinner by revealing to Ray and Maya that their former friend gave him up.
"Ed and Edna are the best," Kai had to say. Why couldn't Kai just keep his mouth shut? "They're always so nice to the whole team."
"Ed and Edna?" Maya asked. "But Cliff and Libby are his parents."
"Mom, please stop talking," Nya cut in. Jay knew that Nya knew it was was a sore subject for him and he was grateful that she was trying to help.
"Your mother will talk if she wants to," Ray said. Obviously, he wasn't very good at taking a hint. "Now, what about Cliff and Libby."
The whole table turned to Jay. He felt very uncomfortable. He really didn't want to talk about this. Not here. Not now. "Thank you both for dinner," Jay said as he stood. "But I need to get going." Jay walked out of the Smith house and started heading back to the monastery. He knew that Kai, Ray, and Maya were all probably confused, but he just couldn't deal with that discussion right now. He didn't know if he ever would be ready for it.
Once he got back to the monastery, he went straight to his room. The others tried to say "hi" or ask "Where are Kai and Nya?" He didn't respond to any of them. He just wanted to be alone for a little while. He laid down on his bed and just stared at the ceiling. Yes, he was the most active member of the team usually and has trouble staying still, but right now, he didn't have much motivation to move from his position. He didn't know how long he stayed there just staring at the ceiling.
He heard the door open and someone came inside and laid down next to him. "Are you ok?" Nya asked him.
"I knew it would come up eventually," Jay said. "I thought that I might've prepared myself to at least give a general explanation. Will I ever be able to just talk about it?"
"You don't need to right now," Nya said. "Maybe you should talk to your Ed and Edna about it though. You haven't brought that subject up to them since the timeline reset. It might help."
"I'm just worried that I might not get the answers I want."
"That's a possibility, but I think it would be better than not knowing anything about them. I'll come with you when you talk to them if you want."
Jay nodded. "Why don't we go over tomorrow? I think I just want to get it over with."
"We can go tomorrow." Nya sat up on the bed. "Also, Kai is mad that you walked out. Is it ok if I give him a brief explanation for now?"
"Yeah," Jay said with a sigh. "I don't want to deal with an angry Kai right now."
"I'll be right back." Nya left the room and came back a few minuted later with ice cream. Jay instantly sat up with he saw what Nya brought. "I thought you could use something to cheer you up."
"Did I ever tell you that you are the best yang that I could ask for?" Jay said.
"Believe me, I know." The two of them ate the ice cream in Jay's room. No one bothered them for the rest of the night.
The next morning, Jay and Nya went to see Ed and Edna. Jay got the same explanation he got when they were dealing with Nadakhan. Later, he found out that after Nya talked to Kai, Kai called his parents and told them about Jay actually being adopted and both of them felt terrible for bringing it up during dinner, even though they had no idea so it wasn't their fault. Kai also told the others and they all tried to give Jay some space while also letting him know that they were there if he wanted to talk. Eventually, he did start talking to them and they all started looking for information on Libber Gordon. They found out the name from Wu. But what they found is a story for another day.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed!
