Xenogears, "Daddy Issues" (Jessie/Racquel)

[sincere]

Proposing was not on Jesiah's list of things to do, and as it turns out, accepting a proposal wasn't on Racquel's. At least, not the way that Jessie delivered it, which might not have been the best method imaginable. He'll have to do a little better if he doesn't want to get disowned.
Contains Jessie/Racquel, so of course it's pre-canon. Shocking discussion of extramarital funny business and the specter of single motherhood. Written for a fic_promptly challenge to the theme "Forced Marriage", so... of course Billy's parents leapt to mind.


.daddy issues.
Jessie still had a headache and a bad taste in his mouth from the previous night's binge drinking when he went to find Racquel, but his mood and his insides weren't so sour that he didn't pause to watch her at her practice, her features clear and even as she fired steadily on her target. Her shots were grouped well and her eyes were focused, but her grip wasn't quite perfect. It made him think of getting snug up behind her and reaching out to shift her fingers into a better position, maybe scent the back of her neck that was bared by her messy topknot.

If only he didn't have to talk about something so offensive to his sensibilities and could indulge in little pleasures like that. If only he didn't feel like one ill-advised head movement and he'd be crumpled on the floor in a ball.

He stepped into the range and her attention went to him immediately. The certainty of her pose drained out of her, and she lowered the gun, quickly disarming it before lifting a hand to her forehead to brush loose pale strands away from her face. "Jessie," she said, with a small, nervous smile.

"My father says that we've got to get married," Jessie told her, a little more flatly than he'd intended because of the throbbing in his skull.

"Excuse me, what did you just say?" Stein demanded.

Jessie squinted at him over Racquel's head. "Didn't see you there, Stein," he said. "Creeping on the underclassmen again?"

Stein's face reddened, but Racquel flung a hand back to silently shut him up, a gesture that made Jessie want to scoop her in his arms the moment he was capable of swift movements again. "Your father says that we've got to get married," she echoed, also flatly.

It didn't seem to be going over well so far. He sympathized. "You know, because of--" He gestured at her midsection, which was very slightly rounder than it had been a few weeks ago.

"You can't even say it?"

Catching up, Stein demanded in a high voice, "I don't like what you're implying, Jesiah! Don't insult Racquel by thinking that even if such a distasteful thing had happened, that she would need your pity to--"

"Isaac, please," she said, turning around to face him, and for a moment her borderline-offended expression gentled. "You're a good friend, and I appreciate you trying to stand up for me. But this is between me and Jessie. Can you let us discuss this in private?"

"Or I can always show you the door with my foot," Jessie said, a blatant lie in his current condition, but he didn't want Stein to enjoy that gentle look too much.

The man glared at him, but looked back at Racquel to murmur, "Of course. If that's what you want. I'll be waiting for you in the combat hall, all right?"

After Stein headed off, Jessie refrained from asking tartly about if she was sure of the baby's parentage after all her time wrestling with Stein; that sort of question was unworthy of him and an insult to Racquel. His hungover brain was the guilty party there. He gingerly ran fingers through his hair.

"Look, you're pregnant. It's my responsibility--"

"Isaac was right, Jesiah. I don't need your pity," she interrupted, fixing him with a level stare. "I definitely don't need your father's pity."

Jessie was startled for a beat. "You think I'd marry you out of pity?"

"Jessie, there is no combination of words that has come out of your mouth that makes me think that you're interested in marrying me for anything except pity," she said.

He didn't know how to respond to that. "Give me some damn credit!" he said, spreading his arms. "My father threatened to disown me! That's at least self-interest."

The withering look she gave him told him that this wasn't winning any points with her. His head felt like it was full of cotton. Painful cotton. He put a hand to his forehead and said, "So, what, you're going to finish Jugend as an unwed teenage mother? How are you going to make officer if you've got an infant to cart around everywhere?"

"I don't see how it's your concern," Racquel said, folding her arms.

"You can't do this alone!"

"Jesiah Blanche, my family may not be as high and mighty as yours, but we are First Class citizens too, and I think we can afford a babysitter when I can't be there for my child."

For some reason that comment incensed him, and he made a sharp gesture that his skull immediately protested. He ignored it. "That's my child too," he snapped.

Racquel shook her head. "I didn't tell you to trap you into being a husband and a father against your will," she said. "I thought you had a right to know. And that's where your rights end. Your daddy is just going to have to deal with the fact that I'm not going through with this to provide your family with an heir, and you can -- visit."

Jessie stared at her incredulously. "Visit?!" he demanded. "You or the baby?!"

She shrugged. "Both," she said.

He took a step forward, pointing a finger at her, lips curling back. "If you think that I'm going to be okay with being kicked out of your life now that there's a baby, you'd better think -- again," he said, slow and clear. "I am far from done with you."

Racquel was unimpressed by the threat. "Are you going to sneak in my window at night and read me poetry?"

"If that's what I've gotta do, damnit!" He didn't know what he was saying. Poetry was not his style. The only reason he wanted to creep in her window at night was to do scandalous things to her without her suitemates noticing. But he knew that Racquel had somehow come very close to talking herself out of being with him anymore, and the idea of losing her because they'd had a little too much fun together was awful. He'd been secretly pleased that she hadn't seemed interested in getting rid of the baby, but on some level he'd assumed that of course she was going to marry him and raise it with him. He just hadn't appreciated having the choice taken out of his hands by his father -- and he liked it being taken out of his hands by Racquel even less.

She fixed him with clear, sky-blue eyes, and held up a hand, fingers spread. "Five months, Jessie," she said. "You've got five months to convince me I'd be better with you than on my own."

As it turned out, he'd almost managed it three months later when he got a little last minute help: her father put his foot down.