SOUNDTRACK: "In The Blood" - John Mayer

Jared cleared his throat as he sat on the sofa in the dressing room at the Ellen show. The day had finally come to make the announcement about Kate and his stomach had taken up residence right behind his tonsils. He had skipped breakfast and lunch to minimize the chances of spewing chunks before going on the show. He had probably performed thousands of shows and done hundreds of talk show appearances over the years but he was more nervous now than ever before.

"Ellen's here. She wants to go over a few things before the show," Shayla said.

Jared blinked and looked away from the wall in front of him. "Oh - sure," he said.

Shayla moved from the doorway, letting Ellen DeGeneres walk into the small room. She gave Jared a warm smile and embraced him when he stood to greet her.

"I just wanted to sit down and figure out how you wanted to go about the announcement," she said. "Is there anything you don't want me to talk about or bring up?"

"Uh...her mom," he supplied. "Let's leave her out of this."

She nodded. "Anything else? I can just bring the topic up and you can take it from me and run with it."

"I think that works," he replied. "If you can just work it in at some point. I don't want to do a massive huge announcement. More like a casual passing comment."

"Got it. I'll take care of you," Ellen remarked. "We'll talk about Suicide Squad and the Joker. I'll ask about rock climbing and find a way to work it in."

He smiled nervously. "Right."

"Ellen, twenty-five minutes," a producer called into the room.

Ellen clapped her hands together. "Alright. I've gotta go. But don't worry. It'll be fine."

He watched her go and Shayla took her place. "Keep a close eye on the socials. I'm fully expecting a dumpster fire."

She looked to the young woman standing awkwardly in the corner. "Joie, can you watch the Facebook account?" Shayla asked.

They had brought the new assistant in on a part time basis so she could learn the ropes. Jared couldn't think of a better way to get her used to his life than showing her how to handle a major crisis. It would be slow going and Shayla would still be with him through Suicide Squad press. But after Camp, she'd start working with Emma and Reni at Adventures and he needed Joie to be ready to take over.

Briefly, Jared thought about Kate. She was finishing school soon which would at least minimize the attention this would bring her. She seemed to accept that attention would find her whether she wanted it to or not. By the time the next school year rolled around, Suicide Squad would have come out and he would have left the country to start work on Blade Runner. He could keep the press off of her back easily.

The time passed faster than Jared would have liled and before he knew it, he was being led through the building toward the stage. He could hear music playing on the stage and the audience cheering loudly. A makeup artist retouched his face and he caught a glimpse of himself in a full-length mirror near her table. Dressed in all black with his hair slicked back, he looked every bit the part of the confident person he tried to appear as. Like a duck treading water, everything looked completely different under the surface. He adjusted his shirt as he heard the show's theme music play again, signaling the commercial break was over. There was no going back now.

"Please welcome Jared Leto!" Ellen's voice echoed through the speakers.

A set of hands guided him toward the walkway to go to the stage and he plastered a bright smile on his face. The cheers from the audience were deafening and he waved to them. He hugged Ellen as she approached him with a big grin.

"Good to see you!" he exclaimed, looking between her and the audience.

"You too! You look good!" she replied, leading him to the two armchairs at the center of the set. "Come and sit!"

"Hello, everybody!" Jared said, elliciting more squeals and cheers.

"How have you been? We haven't seen you for a while," Ellen remarked.

"I know! It's been about a year or so, hasn't it?" he replied. "You look good."

"So do you! I swear, it's like each time I see you, you're a year younger. I don't understand," she joked, making him laugh.

"For that I have to thank my mother," he smiled. "But it's good to be here. Thank you so much for inviting me back."

"Well, you have been pretty busy since we last spoke," Ellen said. "You did Suicide Squad."

The room erupted into cheers as a publicity still of Jared as the Joker lit up the screen behind them. He looked at it, the shirtless, tattooed, grimacing ghoul a complete foreigner to him.

"Yeah, yeah I did," he said.

"Tell us about that," she asked.

"It was so much fun. And one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, you know?" he said. "He's iconic. Everyone has an image of the Joker. How could I say no?"

"That's fantastic. Everything I've heard about the filming and all of that makes it sound like such a good film," Ellen remarked.

"It was a great script and I was happy to be a part of it. He was a great character to try and develop and I'm glad they let me have a shot at it," Jared replied.

"And you also got into climbing," she said, giving him a bit of a leading look.

A photo from one of Jared's climbing excursions came on the screen behind them. He was practically hanging off the side of the rock wall by nothing more than a rope and harness.

"Yeah. It's a fun hobby of mine," he replied.

"And as if that wasn't keeping you busy enough, you've now become a father, apparently," she said, breaking the news.

The audience was in a stunned silence.

"Uh - yeah. Well, when you say it like that, it sounds like she's a baby," he laughed, shifting in the chair.

"That's right," Ellen laughed. "But you have a daughter, right?"

He nodded. "I do indeed. She's sixteen. It's...it's kind of been a crazy thing for me. But she's great."

"Her name is Kate, right?"

"Right. And she's insanely smart. She does these college level courses in high school and I look at some of the math problems she's doing and I'm like, what the hell is this stuff?" he smiled, rubbing his chin with his fingers.

"That's crazy. But do you guys get along or what? Like what's she like?" Ellen asked.

"She's probably more like me than she'd care to admit," he laughed. "We're both stubborn as hell. But she's been a good addition for the family. My mom can finally stop asking about grandkids, so at least there's that," he added.

"Addition to the family, you sound like you're talking about a dog," Ellen laughed.

"We got one of those, too!" Jared smiled. A picture of Vedder sprawled across one of the sofas in the recording studio came on screen, garnering a room full of awws. "Yeah, that's Kate's dog. His name is Vedder. He's as hilarious as he is lazy. And that dog doesn't do a damn thing all day long."

"But Kate looks so much like you," Ellen said. A picture of the two of them came on screen. Jared's face was pressed against hers and they were both smiling. "It's crazy."

"Yeah. She actually took that picture. That's from a trip I took her on with a few of my friends to Joshua Tree," Jared said. "She's really into photography."

Ellen continued the interview, talking about other things. Jared breathed a sigh of relief that he was able to get the announcement in without making it seem too obvious. He wanted it to be casual and relaxed and it worked. He knew it would be all over the press the next day, and he'd deal with it then. But for the moment, he allowed himself to relax a little and enjoy the fleeting moment of peace.

~~~

Jared Leto's a Dad?

The Academy Award winner and 30 Seconds to Mars front man announced yesterday on the Ellen DeGeneres Show that he's a dad! Jared surprised everyone by telling us that he is the father to sixteen-year-old Kate. Very little is known about her, but it's safe to say Kate is about to get a lot more attention. The aspiring photographer has gained thousands of followers almost overnight on her Instagram account. If that announcement wasn't enough to shock you, doing the math will tell you that Jared would have been with former fiancee Cameron Diaz when Kate would have been conceived. No word yet on whether or not that was the cause of the couple's split or even whether or not Leto knew about Kate from birth. Custody documents from San Diego, California show that Leto has full custody of his daughter and that her birth mother, popular artist Rachel Wexler, passed away shortly before custody was awarded. Needless to say, Jared's surprised us all in his ability to keep his private life private.

Jared scoffed at the article. It wasn't the worst one he had seen. Robin had done her job remarkably well. There wasn't a single negative story running. And if he ignored the Cameron aspect, everyone seemed to be taking it really well. He had no idea why anyone would think to bring her up, but he certainly wasn't going to volunteer any information regarding it. They had both moved on. It had been over a decade since they had been together. There was no reason to dredge up the past. The main priority now was ensuring that Kate was allowed to continue to be a normal teenage girl.

Her profile had gained thousands of followers overnight and most of the messages were positive ones welcoming her to the Mars family and wishing her well. A few people expressed condolences over Rachel's death, but for the most part people were leaving Kate alone. Nobody seemed to care that she had been kept a secret for so long. In fact, a lot of fans seemed to like the idea of him having a child, even if she was as old as some of them were.

But he knew that his fan base was full of hardcore detectives that could probably tell him what he had for breakfast four years ago to the day. So he knew it was only a matter of time before they started posting about her and dedicating pages to her on social media. He had already assigned someone to monitor that and keep things under control in that aspect. He had called Headmistress Choi and told her what was going on so she could be aware of students harassing Kate, but beyond that there was very little else he could do.

The sense of relief that washed over him was invigorating and he was glad to be able relax about the whole thing once more. For months, he had been carrying around tension, stressing out over what ifs and potential leaks. He was glad he could go out with Kate and not have to worry about covering her from head to toe or keeping her identity a secret. He was even happier that his fans didn't care about her existence one bit. In fact, he probably gained fans. Robin's DILF plan clearly worked.

GOSSIP BOARD

HURRICANE POSTED: I'm glad Kate hasn't gotten any negative attention from fans. So far it seems like everyone loves her. Hopefully it stays that way. But I did a little bit of research and I found that there is a Kate Wexler signed to a professional women's soccer team in Santa Clarita. I don't know if it's the same person, though. She seems a little young to be playing sports professionally. Not to mention, I don't know if Jared would allow that.

HARRIETTDASPYE POSTED: Women's soccer operates differently that men's. Some women's teams are allowed to sign kids under eighteen. And many do. Just because there aren't that many players available. It's possible that she could play for them. She plays for Winterlake and they don't mess around when it comes to sports. I could see her playing for Santa Clarita. I think Jared would let her. I don't see why he wouldn't.

HURRICANE POSTED: True. And I guess it just depends on the type of parent Jared is. It still feels weird calling him a parent. It's just as strange as calling terry a dad, honestly. I never thought I'd see the day that Jared would have a kid, much less a teenage daughter.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Do you have a Jared Leto or Mars fan fiction that you'd like to share with others? If so, check out the Jared Leto/Mars Fan Fiction Contest! You can find more information in the book on my account.

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S.