ROGUE

46 : Bars, Beers And Babies

Jason's POV

"I've been waiting for half an hour." I grumbled as I watched intently as Alara pulled out the bar stool and sat down, shrugging off her leather jacket.

Her long dark hair was pulled back into a tight pony tail, revealing the dozens of glistening diamonds that were pierced in her ears, and her eyeliner was dramatically winged.
No wonder she took so long.
"Traffic." She shrugged, eyeing the empty glass in front of me. "You been drinking?"

"There's no traffic, it's one o'clock in the morning, Alara." I rolled my eyes, irritated.
"And I've had one beer, that's it."

"Well in that case, I'm having one too. And you're paying because you woke me up to meet you." She gestured to the bartenders who were busy working the night shift. "Cough up, McCann."

"Fine," I sighed, digging around in my pockets for some cash and pulling it out, slamming it onto the bar table to point out that I was ready to order another drink.

A young girl who looked about eighteen years old scurried up to serve me.
"Hi," she gave me a toothy smile. "What can I get you?"

"A pint of beer." I said lowly, not bothering to be polite and make eye contact with the girl who seemed to be swooning on her feet.

"Is that all?" She asked, grabbing a glass and pouring the golden liquid from the beer pump.
She must've been new, or nervous, because she made a right mess of it, and the foam rolled down the side of the glass quickly. "Oops." She mumbled to herself, her cheeks flushing.

"Yeah," I raised my eyebrows as she struggled to clean up the mess, before pushing the money in front of her. "You can keep the change."
I was no longer bothered about money, but I grabbed it from her tiny hands before she could ruin the drink even more, and then I handed it to Alara, who seemed overly amused at the girls performance.

"Thanks, I guess." She laughed as soon as the girl moved away, most likely in embarrassment.

"And thanks for coming." I returned her appreciation.

Alara sipped her beer. "Still don't really know why I did, to be honest." She shrugged casually, and my heart pounded.
A bad reaction from Alara could result in me getting a slap.
And Alara slapped hard.

"I needed to talk to someone." I propped my elbow up on the bar table rested my chin in my hand, avoiding the suspicions that I knew would be rising in her eyes.

"About?" I could already hear the quizzical tone in her voice.

I took a deep breath, feeling the need to buy another drink.
But instead, I dismissed my sudden crave and began to speak.
"Y/n called." I mumbled, my fists clenching to contain my mixed emotions.

"Really?" Alara's eyes widened and her expression turned from curious to relieved. "That's such good news! What did she say?"
The sudden excitement in her voice was sickening.

"She asked to meet, and she said it was urgent.
She came to my house at around five o'clock - "
I said shakily, but Alara cut me off before I could talk about the 'problem'.

"You've seen her?" The surprise only seemed to grow stronger. "How is she? Is she okay?"

I bit my lip and shook my head. "She didn't look the same," I began, my stomach twisting in knots. "She's really pale, and she's lost an unthinkable amount of weight. I'm worried about her, and that's not even the main part." I held my breath, heart pounding.

"Okay, then what is the main part?" She was now hesitating, and I sensed the sudden anxiety that lingered around us, almost choking me.
She took a big gulp of her beer, but kept her eyes focussed on me.

"She's..." I took a shaky breath and prepared myself for one of Alara's lethal explosions. "She's pregnant."

Alara choked on her drink.
I grimaced as she coughed and spluttered, turning heads as she spat out whatever was in her mouth onto the floor.
When she looked back up, her expression was hard to read and I held my breath.
"Y/n is... she's going to have a baby?"

"I don't know." I said, almost too quickly. "We don't know what we're going to do. My head is everywhere, Alara." I rubbed my hand over my face, wincing at the thought of changing diapers, especially at this age.

Alara slapped her palms against the bar table repeatedly. "Can we get ten shots of tequila please!" She called to no one in particular.

"Yo, I came here for advice. Not to get drunk." I reminded her, slapping my hands over hers to stop her from drawing any attention from the bartenders.

"Right now, getting drunk is the only real advice I can give you, my friend."

I crossed my arms over my chest in disapproval.
"Real helpful, Alara."

"Well what did you expect me to say?" Her eyes were wild with a thousand different emotions.

"Well..." I searched my mind desperately. "What would you do?" 

"Get rid of it," she said instantly without having to think. "Think about how dangerous your life is right now. It would be a huge risk to Y/n."
She gulped down the rest of her beer. "And I take it you two have made up?"

"Yeah, I think so." I nodded. "I'm just not going to let her get involved with any of my future missions. She'll end up getting hurt like the last couple of times, and I don't want that for her..." I trailed off, my heart hammering violently. "Or for the baby."

Alara's eyes widened and she tried to process what I had just said. "You're not actually thinking about keeping it, are you?"

I bit my lip and shrugged. "I'm supporting Y/n in whatever she wants to do, but I think there could be a possibility that this baby will bring us closer together."

Alara grabbed my shoulders instantly.
"Y/n is eighteen years old. Wake up, Jason."
She shook her head. "Why can't you two get closer by doing things that normal teenagers do, like vacations and parties and movie nights and shit."

I sighed, my head spinning like a whirlwind.
When I finally spoke, I could hardly hear myself.

"Because our lives aren't normal."

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