Feeling as though her legs were going to give in any second, the Master of Water sat down on her bed and stared at her spear she had put on her desk across from her bed.

She had just returned from yet another mission she was sent to, and that one was exhausting, to say the least. There had been a lot of new missions she had to attend to lately which only drained her energy. Both mentally and physically.

Nya sighed before she got off of her bed and walked over to her closet. She pulled out her bathrobe and hair brush and exited her room, heading towards the bathroom inside the monastery.

She was told earlier that her parents were coming over to pick both her and Kai up to spend the day together as a family, so Nya didn't want to smell badly near them. She needed a shower anyway.

After having showered in steamy hot water for about twenty minutes, The Water Ninja stepped out of the shower and put on her white bathrobe before walking out of the bathroom. She quickly walked back to her room and threw her dirty clothes into her own personal basket she had inside of her closet to throw her used laundry inside. Since her gi's were all rather light, given that both her gray and blue clothes were in lighter shades, she had to keep her laundry separated from the others' to wash them together with Zane's.

Nya lazily glanced inside her closet to see a lot of blue. Mostly stolen blue. Giving up on being ready for another silly attack on Ninjago for the day, she decided to put on one of her recently stolen hoodies that belonged to her boyfriend and a matching pair of gray sweatpants. She redid her ponytail before looking into the mirror. She was ready...

... to get some attention from her boyfriend.

So Nya stepped out of her room and walked over to Jay's. She just assumed he was in his own bedroom instead of in the gaming room, considering the fact that it was oddly quiet.

When she was in front of his door, she knocked.

"Who's there?" She heard Jay ask from the other side.

"It's me." Nya answered loud enough for him to hear.

"Come in!"

Nya opened the door to find her lover sitting crisscross on his bed, his blanket up to his torso. She assumed he had been on his phone before she came because he was holding his phone while looking at her.

Without exchanging another word, she closed the door and walked up to his bed. Once she was standing right next to him, she just stared at him.

Jay immediately knew what she wanted and lifted the blanket off of himself and opened his arms for her.

Nya happily got into his bed and sat herself on his lap before leaning a bit back with him basically holding her like a human sized baby.

Yes, she wasn't proud of ever being in that position but she liked being in his arms just as much as he did so it was a win-win.

"How was the mission?" Jay asked as he covered their legs with his blanket.

Nya had her eyes closed and her head leaning against his chest. "Exhausting."

One of his arms was holding his girlfriend around her waist as his other arm was stroking her cheek in a slow rhythm.

"Did you get hurt?" He asked.

"Just a little scratch." Nya answered as she could feel Jay's heartbeat against her ear which helped her calm down.

"Where?"

His Yang opened her eyes and moved her hand towards her shoulder and pulled her cleavage a little to the side to show him a band-aid wrapped around her shoulder which was probably the size of his palm.

Jay sighed, holding her even tighter. "How did that happen?" He kissed her cheek as she went back to closing her eyes and resting her head against his chest.

"A guy was about to stab me but I dodged the attack. I thought I got away with it but when I got back home I realized he hit my shoulder because my gi was stained with blood."

"Didn't you feel the pain?" Jay looked sadly at her. He absolutely despised it when she was hurt.

Nya hummed. "I guess in the heat of fighting not."

Jay leaned down and gave his Yang a few kisses across her face, making her giggle and try to bury her face into his chest. "You're so strong." He whispered as he went through her bangs with his fingers.

Nya tried her best to suppress a grin as she opened one eye to look at him. "I know."

He laughed wholeheartedly. "You're so cute."

She frowned into his chest before looking back at him. "I'm not-"

She was cut off by his soft lips pressing against her own. Her face softened and she embraced his closeness as she melted against him. After slowly pulling away, Nya clicked her teeth. "I always fall for that."

Jay booped her nose. "You do." He grinned.

Nya squinted her eyes at him before aiming her teeth at his finger which he quickly retracted. Then she smiled and closed her eyes again.

This time, they stayed in comfortable silence. Jay smiled as he looked down at her. He carefully grabbed her ponytail and removed her hair tie. He then slung it around his wrist before running his fingers through her open hair. It felt nice, the humidity of her hair after having washed it not long ago was what made it feel so good. Seeing her smile grow wider, Jay realized she was enjoying it, so he continued.

"Jay?"

"Yeah?"

"How are you so good at this?"

"So good at what?"

"I don't know... like being in my heart or something."

Jay stopped caressing Nya's hair for a second and just looked at her, shocked. The shock quickly faded as he smiled widely before smashing his lips on hers.

She squeaked at the sudden move and laughed into the kiss before she reached up to his neck and pulled him down further.

He knew her way of showing him her love was mostly through body language and rarely through words which made him appreciate the moment even more.

As they pulled apart, Jay sighed happily. "You're my everything."

Nya laughed as she lightly punched his chest. "Stop it."

He grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly. "And you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

A faint blush appeared on her cheeks. "No." She squealed, laughing.

"And you're so-"

"Hello, dearest sister and the boyfriend."

Nya and Jay both groaned at the same time as they were forced to look away from each other.

"Kai, what did I tell you about-" When Nya saw her brother accompanied by both of her parents standing inside the doorway, her eyes widened and she immediately scrambled herself off of Jay and stood up straight on the floor as she looked at her family one by one.

Ray was looking at Jay strictly, his arms crossed in front of his chest, Maya was smiling at the cuteness of the couple, and Kai was grinning like an idiot because of the fact that their parents saw her in one of her closest moments with her boyfriend which only fueled Nya's anger more.

She sighed. "Why didn't you knock?"

"Oh, we did," Kai's grin got wider. "but you didn't answer so I opened the door, and, well, you know the rest."

"Oh, hi honey!" Maya beamed as she held her arms open for her daughter while she moved over to her.

Nya forced out a smile and embraced her mother tightly.

"I've missed you so much, Nya. You should call more often!" The former Master of Water told her daughter.

"I'll make sure to think about it, mom." Nya choked out since the hug she was getting from her mother was way too tight.

As usual.

After pulling away, Maya looked over at Jay who had gotten out of his bed by the time the women were hugging. Maya smiled as she pulled Jay into a hug as well. "Hello Jay, dear, how are you?"

The Blue Ninja smiled as he hugged her back. "I'm doing well, what about you, Maya?" He liked the fact that Nya's parents were pretty chill about being called by their first names, just like his own parents were with Nya.

"Me too." Maya pulled away. She then elbowed him as she gave him a wink with a side smirk. "And I can see why you're doing well." She laughed when she saw a dark shade of red across his cheeks.

"Mom!" Nya hissed, breaking the moment.

Nya then looked over at her brother to see him quietly snickering in the background. She walked up to him and pulled him by his ear, making him yelp and ready to listen. "What's wrong with you?!" She let go of his ear and waited for a response, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

He rubbed his ear as he looked at his sister. "What was that for?!" He squeaked.

Nya raised an eyebrow. "Why aren't you acting all over protectively now?"

Kai chuckled as he pointed at their father who was now speaking with Jay. "That's his job now that he's here."

Her eyes widened before Nya quickly rushed over to her father and boyfriend. She looked at Jay's facial expressions to see him quite relaxed while having a conversation with her usually protective father. She listened in on the conversation.

"So you're not doing anything she doesn't want?" Her father asked.

"I would never. I love her with all my heart." Jay answered.

Nya's heart melted at that. She then saw her mother joining in on the conversation so she herself joined as well.

"Jay, dear, would you like to come and hang out with us for today? You're part of the family, too!" Maya beamed.

Jay's eyes widened shortly before he looked at Ray who hummed.

"I don't see why not."

Nya then wrapped her hands around his arm and looked at him, her face gleaming. "What do you say?"

Jay smiled back at her before looking at her parents. "I mean, if it's okay will you all, I'm in."

As if on cue, all of their heads turned towards the doorway to look at Kai who was crossing his arms and looking at them as if they had gone insane.

After realizing they were all in for Jay to come with them, he rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine, he can come. But I'll still sit in the front seat." He negotiated.

"Kai, you know your father is going to sit in the passenger seat while I'm driving. You kids will be sitting in the back together." Maya said.

"Come on, mom, why?!" The Master of Fire groaned.

"Just get over it, Kai." Nya rolled her eyes.

Ray then turned to his daughter. "Your mother and I will be waiting in the car, make sure to hurry." Then he, upon seeing his wife on her way over to the door, leaned closer to Nya's ear. "You know how your mother is when it comes to punctuality."

Nya laughed and agreed. Ray then left the room as well and sped to catch up to his wife.

The Water Master glared at her brother. "I hate you so much."

Kai grinned. "We all know that's a lie, sis." He said before he ran out of the room.

Nya sighed as she turned to look at her boyfriend. "I'm sorry for what just happened. I'm used to him getting into my room without knocking but I didn't think he'd do the same to you too." She gave him an apologetic look which made his insides churn.

He smiled softly as he cupped her cheek with his warm hand. "That's fine, they probably knew you were in here." Then he leaned down slightly to give her a slow and passionate kiss on the lips. "Now let's go before they suspect something."

She laughed before she grabbed him by his hand and led him out of his room.

The car ride was pretty normal. Sure, Nya's parents asked the couple (mostly Jay, though) a lot of questions, but other than that it was pretty relaxing. Well, except for Kai who kept telling everyone how miserable his life was whenever he had to sit in the back. They were all pretty much used to him complaining 24/7 so he got annoyed at them for not giving him any attention to which he then decided it wasn't worth whining for and put in earbuds into his ears to listen to music. Unbeknownst to him, it was like a blessing for his family.

They were driving around Ninjago City in Ray and Maya's car and we're headed for a nice restaurant which was called 'Ninjago's Fun Fest Pizzeria'.

Yes, they had agreed to go to a pizzeria after all three of the late teenagers practically begged for it.

Once they arrived, they chose a table and sat down, the parents on one side and the kids on the other.

It was times like these in which Jay felt as though he was an actual part of the family, given that he wasn't around Ray and Maya that often and Kai was, well, Kai. Though Jay knew that deep down Kai was fine with him dating his sister.

Once the waiter came up to their table with a clipboard in his hands, they all ordered. Ray and Kai ordered a pepperoni pizza each, Jay ordered tuna with spinach, Maya ordered a regular margherita and Nya preferred a Hawaiian pizza.

Nya was the only one at the table to actually like pineapples on her pizza which was still confusing. Whenever she was eating pizza with the team, they would always ask her how she could do that to herself and tell her it was disgusting. She never gave a damn, though. After around ten minutes, the food and drinks arrived and everyone dug into their meals.

"So, Jay, how are things going lately?" Maya asked before she took a sip of her water.

Jay quickly swallowed down his bite to answer. "Pretty well, actually. Nya and I are currently working on a new project and it's going to be amazing once it's done!" He beamed.

His enthusiasm seemed to lighten up the mood around the table as both Maya and Nya giggled.

Maya then looked at her son who seemed to mind his own business as he was munching on his pizza. "Kai, sweetie, when are you going to bring a girl into the family?"

Nya and Jay snorted and tried to contain their laughter as Kai choked on his bite. Even Ray snickered as he was looking down onto his plate instead of his son to not make it seem like he liked it when Maya was that blunt.

"Mother..." Kai groaned. "I... I haven't found the right one yet."

"How come?" Maya blinked. "But your sister said you had a crush on a girl! Oh, what was her name again?" She thought out loud. "Was it... Scarlett? No, Selina! Wait no, it didn't sound like that. Oh, was it-"

"Skylor." Kai said under his breath, yet unfortunately for him, his mother understood him loud and clearly.

"That's right, Skylor! Have you considered asking her out yet? You see, you should really look up to Jay here." She pointed at the now blushing Blue Ninja. "If it weren't for him asking your sister out without being scared of the consequences, he wouldn't have been sitting here. It's so lovely to have him here." She smiled at him.

Jay smiled back gratefully. "Thank you, Maya, I'm glad to be accepted."

"Can we change the subject now?" Kai interrupted, making his father let out a quiet laugh. The Fire Ninja glared at him. "What's so funny, dad?"

"Everything about this situation, son." Ray stated the obvious, making Kai roll his eyes.

"So you're on his side too?" Kai pointed at Jay next to him.

The former Fire Elemental looked straight into Kai's eyes. "Yes."

"Come on!"

Jay laughed as he elbowed him. "Just get used to it, already."

Kai side-eyed Jay before sighing. It was not that he hated him, in fact they were pretty close friends, considering the fact that he was dating his sister, but Kai was probably never going to give into the feeling of having to share with someone else.

And by share I mean the attention. Since Kai was basically the one raising Nya, it was pretty hard for him to accept the fact that Jay was getting the same amount of attention and love that he was getting. He used to have her undivided attention, after all. Then, after his parents found out about Nya and Jay dating, they slowly started to bond with him as well. They weren't giving him that much attention, but the amount they were giving him was still too much for Kai to get used to.

"Relax, Kai, you're not gonna die alone... we hope." Nya taunted.

Kai rolled his eyes. "Is it really that important for me to be in a relationship now?"

"It's about time, dear." Maya said.

"I agree with mom. I mean, I'm engaged and you haven't even had your first kiss." Nya pointed out. Jay high-fived Nya from under the table.

Kai opened and closed his mouth a few times in disbelief before closing his mouth shut and glaring at his sister who only smirked back at him.

"Okay, kids, no need to start arguing now." Ray interrupted.

"What do you mean?" Kai asked, exasperated. "Nya just said that and you expect me to stay quiet?"

"I'm just stating the facts here." Nya said innocently, yet her innocent smile turned into a playful smirk when she heard her brother groan as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Once the heat of the situation died down and Ray and Maya were caught up in their own little conversation, Jay used the moment to lean a bit towards Nya. "I love it when you do that." He whispered into her ear.

As his hot breath tickled her ear, Nya turned to look at him. "When I do what?" She smiled, already knowing the answer.

Jay used the opportunity to take her hand underneath the table and squeezed it gently before he intertwined their fingers. "When you're being yourself." He smiled softly at her.

Nya's smile became more shyly as she looked away and squeezed his hand tightly in response to which Jay let out a cute chuckle.

"And this one's going into the family album!"

The couple was then brought out of their moment when they heard Maya speak up. They looked over at her to see her as she had just taken a picture of the two with her mobile phone.

Nya's smile was quickly replaced by a frown. "Mom!" She groaned. "Delete it."

"What? No, silly! This is a great picture that I will save for you so you can show it to your future children." Maya smiled.

Both Jay and Nya's cheeks burned up immediately as they tried to look away from each other in fear of their cheeks getting even redder at even the slightest of eye contact.

Kai smirked, intrigued by their topic. "I wonder when the kids will arrive. I mean, you two seem so in love with each other." He teased.

Nya swore under her breath. It was a shame that Jay was sitting between her and her brother because she for sure would've landed some punches and kicks from under the table.

Instead, she smiled at her brother. Everyone could see that the smile was obviously fake, though. "Brother, would you please stop getting into my business? It would be a shame for mom and dad to know about the time I caught you while you were-"

"Okay, okay, fine!" Kai quickly interrupted her before she could say more, and probably destroy the image his parents had of him.

Maya and Ray side-eyed each other.

"Okay... uh, wanna go to the good ol' Smithy now?" Ray asked them, trying to lighten the mood.

Ah yes, the Smithy. Nya hated it when her parents referred to their blacksmiths shop as the 'Smithy'. Especially when other people were around.

After everyone agreed to Ray's request, they paid for the food before entering the car once again. They drove for quite a while before they could see the landscape of the beautiful side of Ignacia. The grass seemed too green to be true but that could've been because the ninja weren't too used to having time to actually enjoy their environment. They were always caught up in fights and stuff, the usual.

Once the car stopped in front of the blacksmiths shop, they all got off one after the other.

"Jay, dear, we weren't expecting any guests so the house is a little messy." Maya apologized.

"That's fine, Maya, don't worry." Jay smiled. Knowing Nya's mother, the house was probably shining in every nook and cranny.

After everyone was inside, the three ninja sat down on the couch and the two former warriors went upstairs, not telling them why.

Jay had his arm around Nya's waist, now that they were basically alone, and sighed happily as he looked around. It wasn't his first time at the Smiths' but it was still feeling like a special moment. His mind wandered back to a memory he could replay over and over again.

Flashback.
(Set right after the ending of season 7, Hands of Time)

Jay smiled as he looked at Lloyd. The yellow time blade shone as he glanced down at it, the light highlighting his already platinum blonde hair. It was a weird feeling, knowing that Lloyd was going to be their new master until Wu was back, but Jay was ready to accept his friend in that way.

He sighed before averting his gaze over to his girlfriend. He spotted her with Kai as she was speaking to her parents a few feet away from the group.

Her parents. Their parents.

Jay was happy for the two that they found their long lost parents, even though the conditions they had been living in weren't the best. They weren't the best at all. Being kidnapped, having to sacrifice their own freedom for their kids. It had to have been tough for all participants, for sure.

He smiled once again, his eyes unable to look anywhere else other than her. She seemed both happy and confused, maybe even a little scared.

Cole nudged his shoulder, shaking him out of his trance. "You should go to her."

Jay turned to look at his best friend. "I can't, not right now. She's with her parents."

"Well, yeah, but aren't you part of the family too, being her boyfriend? I assume you mean it seriously with her-"

"I do!" Jay immediately said before he sighed and looked back at the Smiths. "But I feel like that's their moment. They haven't seen each other for more than a decade, Cole."

Cole hummed. "You're right but I feel like you are also important for them to know of."

The Blue Ninja slowly nodded, deep in thought. He wanted to go over to them but then again, what if her parents wouldn't like him? What if they forbade them to be in a relationship?

When he looked back at them, he realized that Nya was looking back at him from the corner of her eye. She made a head movement towards her parents before turning back to her parents.

That was Jay's cue to join them.

"You're gonna do great, Romeo." Cole said, pushing him a little forward. "Just don't start rambling too much." He smirked at him before giving him a hard push and walking back to the others.

Jay glared at Cole before focusing back on the Smiths. He nervously walked over to them and gave them an even more nervous wave once they all looked at him at the same time.

He cleared his throat. "Hello."

Nya's mother smiled at him. "Hello, who are you? Are you a friend of Kai and Nya?"

Jay looked at Nya to check whether it was okay or not to introduce himself as their daughter's boyfriend. She smiled at him, yet Jay was still not sure, so he chose the safer route for now.

"Uh, yeah, uh, I'm Jay. Jay Walker." He gulped before he smiled.

"It's nice to meet you, Jay, I'm Maya and this is Ray." She pointed at her husband who was standing next to her who only nodded towards him.

Jay nodded back as he extended his hand out for them to shake. "It's nice to meet you, too."

Everyone then looked at Nya after she cleared her throat. "Mom, dad, there's something we need to tell you."

Jay's eyes widened, knowing exactly what she was leading onto. Nya just gave him an encouraging smile, and after seeing her so confident about it, he smiled back and nodded, suddenly feeling ready.

Ray and Maya both looked in shock and realization as they watched Nya walk over to her teammate and side-hug him, with him slinging his arm around her shoulders.

Nya smiled as she leaned her head against Jay's shoulder, her hand on his chest. "He's my boyfriend."

End of flashback.

He laughed at how confused Ray and Maya used to be the day they had found out him and Nya were a couple, but they came along quickly. They had never told him why but he always assumed it was because they were never really a part of Nya's life so they weren't in any place to judge her decisions.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?"

Jay snapped out of his thoughts and looked to his side to see Nya looking back at him.

"Something's on your mind." She continued, smiling.

"It's nothing." He said, looking away, as he couldn't stop his lips from curling upwards.

Nya lightly punched his chest, making him look back at her. "No, tell me!" She laughed.

"Fine." Jay gave in before he grabbed her hand which had just been in contact with his chest and gave it a soft kiss. "Wanna take a guess?"

Nya hummed, trying to seem like she was thinking. "Are you thinking about... video games?"

"Nah." Jay said, kissing her temple.

"What about pudding?" Nya asked, still playing the game of guessing.

"Nope." He grinned as he gave her temple another kiss.

She put her hand on her chin and rubbed it, trying to give off the impression of thinking hard. "Oh, what about-"

"Ugh, we all know he was thinking about you!" Kai, who was sitting next to his sister and had to endure all the lovey-dovey stuff, groaned. "Get a room!"

Nya smirked at Jay. "I mean, if you insi-"

"Wait, no, I-"

"Who wants to have some ice cream?" Maya exclaimed as she entered the living room together with her husband. She was holding a tray with five wrapped ice cream cones which were probably bought from a store.

"Me!" Kai and Jay immediately screamed, and after Nya laughed at their childishness, she also joined in on their choice.

They spent the rest of the day together in the Smiths' house as they laughed together, talked about old times together, and had a lot of fun together.

Like a real family.