Runo sat on her bed and tried to calm down her breathing. Alice had talked her into taking a personal day, hoping she would feel fine after the weekend was over. However, her stress free Friday had taken a

plunge when she started throwing up and dry vomiting moments after eating her lunch. Thinking it was the flu, she tookout the thermometer and took her temperature, surprised to see that it was normal.

Maybe it had been food poisoning, she had reasoned before remembering that Shun and Marucho had eaten the exact same thing before she had eaten her share. She had decided to phone Julie and Alice,

hoping one of them would have an answer to why she was feeling so awful. Alice had promised to come over as soon as her break came up, leaving Runo in Julie's care. The worried silver haired woman had

rushed over with her arms full of health magazines, Tylenol bottles, and several different pregnancy tests. To cover all the bases, she told Runo. Three hours and one dose of Tylenol later Alice arrived to see

Julie scanning Health: It's Common and Contagious while Runo vomited in the bathroom. After calming down Runo enough to drink some water, Alice handed her the first pregnancy test and said: "Start with the

least painful at least."

Runo laughed slightly, remembering how Alice-like Alice had been about the whole matter. Julie had just dived in, and not given a second thought to it, so like her. Taking a deep breath, Runo slowly pushed

herself up of the bed and made her way to the kitchen, determined to make dinner for herself and her husband. As she slowly inched her way towards the kitchen, she sighed when a light pounding began in

her temple. Using one hand to rub away the pain, Runo decided to steam the fresh salmon that Dan had bought the night before. The pain in her temples was now subsided, allowing Runo to use both her

hands to open the door to the freezer and grab the bag of neatly packaged salmon. Pulling out two neatly wrapped packages out of the bag, Runo nearly keeled over from the stench of raw fish permeating

from her hands. Dropping the salmon back into the bag and tossing the bag into the freezer, gasping for air as the fish smell slowly dispersed throughout the kitchen. Clutching the sides of the counter, Runo

slid her eyes shut and focused on her breathing as she tried for the third that day to calm herself down. With a sigh Runo glanced to the digital clock above her stove that flashed 6:37. Dan would be home in

less than five minutes, and dinner wasn't even made! Reaching for the cabinet that held the bread, Runo hoped Dan wouldn't mind an old fashioned PB & J sandwich dinner with a tall glass of milk. As she

finished cutting the last sandwich in two diagonal slices, Runo heard the door open and Dan walk in.

"Honey, I'm home," he imitated his father.

"Dan, I'll be right there," Runo managed to say as she picked up the plate with a stack of sandwiches on it. As she walked in, she felt Dan's eyes on the plate in her hands.

"I thought you were going to make the salmon I got yesterday. It's best made fresh," he pointed out to her as she made her way to the table, grabbing a half gallon of milk on her way.

"I was going to, but I couldn't," Runo replied as she set down the plate and milk. She pulled out her chair and sat down, watching as Dan hesitantly followed.

"Runo once again, the fish was made to be eaten. It's survival of the fittest," Dan chastised his wife as he reached for her hand with one hand and a sandwich with the other.

"It's not about the fish really… And I really mean I couldn't. When I got the salmon out, I nearly suffocated."

"What?" Dan asked, his eyes widening and his hand holding the sandwich froze in mid air.

"I wasn't feeling too well today, so I took the day off. Marucho and Shun came by for lunch and I got sick afterwards. First I thought it was food poisoning, but Marucho and Shun were fine. I called Julie and

Alice, so they both also came by…" Runo faded out as she dropped her gaze from Dan's eyes to her lap.

"Runo are you okay?" Dan was concerned now, having dropped his dinner and now attempting to get Runo to look him in the eyes.

"Dan…"

"Runo, please you're scaring me."

"Dan, I'm pregnant."

The sound of half a chewed up wad of bread being plastered to the inside of her husband's throat cause Runo to cringe back. His eyes widened and he starred at her.

"It's mine?" he asked, his voice unbelieving. Runo felt her eyes tear up.

"Of course the baby is yours Dan! Who do you take me for? A prostitute, selling my body to whomever wants a piece* and placing the blame of a pregnancy mishap on my HUSBAND?"

"Runo! I don't mean it like that—" Runo cut him off as she jumped up and ran away from the table. She ran upstairs into the guest bedroom— what would become the nursery. Closing the door behind her she

walked over to the cot and sat down, her right hand coming to rest on her still flat stomach. Asking her if the baby was his was the stupidest thing he could have ever said to her. Who did he think she was?

They had known each other since they were kids, and they had been married for nearly two and a half years now. Runo didn't notice the tears in her eyes until they dropped from her bent head to her hand.

Still crying she maneuvered herself to lie down on the cot with her arms crossed protectively over her stomach. Why did this go wrong?

* it's her hormones talking. Please don't take offense to this.

Once again, totally random. No I'm not pregnant, nor is anyone I currently know… But I do love kids, even after having 4 siblings share a room with me for a year, now we all have our own :), and like

a bijillion cousins…

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