This is only a short (well, it's still over 2K) filler, but the next part will be very long so I've decided to split the chapter...

Jeleego , this chapter should answer your question (and details will follow in the next one) 😉.

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Chapter 6 (Jay)

Six and a half years ago, two weeks after the final battle, Ed & Edna's Scrap N Junk

"Aww, look at how adorable you were..." Nya cooes, her eyes fixed on a picture of my younger self, his – well, my – freckled face smudged with grime, hair a complete mess and very obviously missing two milk teeth as I was grinning widely and proudly presenting the brand new toolbox – a present for my fifth birthday – at the camera.

I don't know whether to take her statement as a compliment or an insult.

"Does this mean I'm not attractive anymore?" I pout playfully, causing Nya to burst out laughing – ah, how I love to hear her laugh (and just as much I love to know that it was me who has made her this happy).

"You're still cute." She giggles as she kisses my blushing cheek.

Following the Final Battle (let's hope it stays true to its name and Ninjago as well as us Ninja will be able to enjoy a time of peace), we have been given a well-deserved break, and Nya and I are spending a couple of days at the junkyard. Not that spending time with my mum and dad would be the perfect holiday for a young couple, but it's still better than the alternative: that old, smelly apartment in the city that we've lived in before – with only my girlfriend's brother around.

While Cole and Zane are staying with their respective fathers, Lloyd is travelling Ninjago to receive one award after the other, and Sensei Wu has just been appointed new headmaster of what used to be Darkley's Boarding School for Bad Boys (nope, not convinced by the 'Great Children'). Rumour has it he is going to employ us as teaching staff.

I'm not entirely sure about this though. Especially as I don't think I'd make a good teacher. But I have learned to trust Sensei Wu, after all he has a long white beard and knows everything.

But right now I don't want to worry about whatever career path he has in mind for us. My greatest concern is how to get Nya away from this wall before she spots...

"Awwwww." She squeals and I mentally facepalm – too late.

The 'Walker Wall of Fame': Showing the most important events in our family history, like my parents' wedding and my biggest achievements, including my first invention, my first steps, and – yes, you might have guessed it – my first potty time.

Why haven't I asked my parents to take this one down just for this week?

"Please don't tell the others..." I beg. I'll never hear the end of it if she doesn't.

"Maybe." She winks at me. "Depends on what I'll get for keeping it a secret..."

"I'll share all my pudding with you." I offer desperately. "Even if it's the last one."

"Mmh." She taps her chin contemplatively, just to tease me.

"Nyaaa..." I whine desperately.

"Alright." She grins. "It's a deal."

I release the breath I haven't even realised I've been holding. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She smiles, resting her head on my shoulder. "We should add a picture of us." She says. "Uhm, I mean... us, as in the team."

"Yeah, sure." I agree. "I'll bring one next time I visit."

I would have a photo of us – Nya and I – with me right now. But I would never give this one away. I always carry it with me and it has helped me not to lose my hope on the Dark Island after the love of my life was taken and turned against us.

"Who are these people?" She points at some old black and white photographs.

"I don't know everyone myself, but these are my dad's parents, Alastair and Aileen Walker." I reply. "And this is my maternal grandmother, I don't know much about her, but her name was Abigail."

"She is very beautiful." Nya looks at the young woman with long brown hair and intelligent dark eyes. "And I love her name."

"Me too." I agree. "Should I ever have a daughter, I would like to call her that."

"So... that means you want to have children?" Nya questions.

I blush. This is definitely not the kind of conversation I was planning to have here and now. We're teenagers and we've only been dating for a few months – usually interrupted by evil or her big brother – so this isn't really something on the agenda at the moment.

But on the other hand, I know that this is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with, so might as well get this out of the way.

"Sure." I nod. "Not right now, of course, but definitely later. And I would like to have two or maybe three children – I'm an only child, you know, and I've always wished I'd have a brother or sister to play with."

"Yea, I'm really glad I have my brother." Nya agrees.

"What about you?" I ask shyly.

"Huh?"

"Do you want kids?"

I shouldn't be as nervous asking her as I am, but I'm afraid it would break my heart if she was completely against the idea. I don't want to have to choose between the love of my life and my dream of a big family... and luckily, I don't have to.

"Oh, definitely." She smiles. "But as you've said, not for a couple more years."

"S-sure." I nod.

A light blush dusts her cheeks as she whispers in my ear.

"But I've been thinking that maybe we could already start practicing for that."

Present Day, Ed & Edna's Scrap N Junk

How could I have ever forgotten about this conversation? I wonder as I look at the photos on the wall of my parents' living room.

It has marked a very important turning point in our relationship – one with some rather serious consequences much sooner than we had planned.

And it seems that Nya has never forgotten what we talked about that day. Without a doubt Abigail Jayne Smith is my daughter.

And I hope that I will be able to get to know her better – as her father not her teacher – and that I will be able to add a photo of her to this family wall.

There already have been a few new pictures added in the last few years.

As suggested by Nya, we put up a group picture of our team, the one that was taken right after the not-so-Final Battle. My parents have kept it up there, even after I quit being a Ninja.

And then, there is a rather formal photo of a young couple with their newborn son, the father an aspiring actor with raven black hair and a very beautiful blonde woman with deep blue eyes. They both are professionally smiling at the camera, while the tiny child in her arms is fast asleep.

I found this photo of my birth parents in my father's house and mum and dad insisted on putting it up here, claiming that we are all a part of their family.

It was only then that I realised that I just don't look any of the people on the other pictures.

But it doesn't matter, Ed and Edna Walker are my parents and I'm going to tell them what I found out yesterday.

"Oh, here you are, honey." My mum remarks as she steps out of the small kitchen.

I was very anxious to see my parents – and I couldn't sleep last night anyway – so I've arrived here very early this morning while they were still having breakfast. I wasn't hungry at all, not even for my mum's freshly baked pastries, so I only had a cup of coffee, impatiently waiting for them to finish their meal and clearing up the table. I wasn't even allowed to help...

"So, what brings you here, honey?" Mum pinches my cheek. "You're looking a bit pale, are you eating enough vegetables?"

"Mum, I'm fine." I insist. But it is a lie, and my mother has always been able to detect my lies.

"Jason Walker, you called us late last night, asking if you could visit for the weekend at sort notice, then you've turned up during our breakfast, and you look as if you haven't slept at all last night." She places her hands on her hips. "You've come here for a reason, and you're going to tell me right now instead of moping around all weekend."

I sigh. "Mum, why don't you sit down?" I suggest.

"A-alright." Great, now I've worried her even more. Looks I'm also the worst son in all of Ninjago, in addition to worst father.

She places her wrinkled hand onto mine which is on the table.

"You know you can tell me anything."

"Even if I've made a horrible mistake?"

"Of course." She smiles reassuringly.

"Yesterday, I-I met Nya." I start.

"Oh, how lovely." My mum exclaims. "How is she? I bet she's even more beautiful than she used to..."

She undeniably is. Although I've only seen her very briefly, her image is burnt into my memory.

Her feminine body, her long, silky raven hair, her beautiful face, the full lips, her stunning yet sad looking chocolate brown orbs that were fixed at me for that brief moment. And the gentle smile when she looked at her daughter, despite the shock.

"Y-yes." I nod.

"Where did you meet her?" My mum wants to know. Here we go...

"At school." I say. "She was collecting her daughter."

"Oh..." My mother's face falls. But I need to continue and tell her the whole truth.

"Our daughter."

"Wha-what?" Mum gasps.

"Nya's little girl is five and a half years old, she has blue eyes, and she is an Elemental Master of Lightning." I list. "Her name is Abigail and she is your granddaughter."

"Oh, honey." My mum takes off her glasses to wipe her glassy eyes. "I-I..."

I sigh. "Mum, I've messed up badly." I shake my head. "And I have no idea how to fix it."

About an hour and two generous glasses of whiskey each (at 10 am!), I have managed to tell both my parents the complete story – well, at least as completely as I can.

"Wha-what's she like?" My mum wants to know. "Do you have a picture of..."

"Unfortunately not." I reply. "As her teacher, I am not allowed to take any photos of my students. And Nya left so fast with her, I actually didn't realise the truth until they'd been long gone."

I smile. "Abby's adorable. Very cute, chatty, smart, good with tools." Dad nods approvingly. "Even before I found out who she was, I thought she was a great girl, and Kath is very fond of her too. But... I could tell things haven't been easy for her and her mum. And realising that I'm the one responsible for that..." I swallow.

My mum pulls me in a hug. "Not saying that I approve of those... things you did back then, but you've been given a chance to make things right now."

We cannot change the past...

I nod. "I need to find them and talk to Nya. Not that apologising will change anything that's happened, but I really want to become a part of my daughter's life."

... but we can prepare for the future.

But how am I going to do this?

I rest my head on my hands. "The letters... why did I never read them?" I mumble. Completely absorbed in in my regrets, I don't even notice my mum has stood up and left the room. It is only when she returns with a box full of papers that I look up.

"As you've said, you cannot change what has happened – or not happened, in that matter - but these might help you with the next steps." She states, setting the box down on the table with a loud thump.

My eyes widen in surprise. "You've kept them?"

"You've asked me to throw them away. Which I did." She gestures around. "This here is a junkyard, and this-" She points at the box. "-is a selection of high quality scrap paper." She smiles. "Although I may have been hoping that you'd change your mind about them one day."

"You're the best, mum." I return the smile. "How many letters are there?"

"At some point, I stopped telling you because it always upset you. But Nya alone has sent at least one per year." Mum answers. "And there is a nice looking one from Kai which only came two or three weeks ago."

She pats my arm." "Honey, I'm going to the kitchen to prepare our dinner, and I think your father... has something to do outside, isn't that right, Ed?"

"Oh, oh yes." My father jumps up. "Some... very important work." He flees the room.

"Thanks, mum." I smile at my mother as I turn over the box and start looking through six years worth of letters from my former teammates.