Baby mine, don't you cry.
Baby mine, dry your eyes.
Rest your head close to my heart,
never to part, baby of mine.
Little one, when you play,
pay no heed what they say.
Let your eyes sparkle and shine,
never a tear, baby of mine.
If they knew all about you,
they'd end up loving you, too.
All those same people who scold you,
what they'd give just for the right to hold you.
From your hair down to your toes,
you're not much, goodness knows.
But, you're so precious to me,
sweet as can be, baby of mine.
Bette Midler - Baby Mine
Life with Seto Kaiba was easy. Reiko didn't have to talk much in the morning, or at dinner. The silences weren't awkward. They were just silent. She had free reign for the most part and, when the company that she had been working for after graduating from college had downsized and she'd been out of a job, Seto offered her a position at KC.
She attended press conferences and galas, and went to bed before he got home. Sometimes, he would wake her up. He would be in the mood and she had no, reason to say no and they'd fuck each other senseless. When they had first met and become physical with one another, Reiko was worried that it was all happening too fast and that they would spin out of control. She worried that she was just a fling.
As it turned out, she was a little bit more than that.
Kaiba had thought that she was the perfect candidate for a wife. She was mild mannered. She was intelligent but wasn't overly outspoken. She knew how to keep a conversation going and she knew how to use all of the appliances in his kitchen. She made wonderful late night snacks and she herself was a wonderful late night treat.
For the longest time, Reiko split her time between her dorm room and Seto's mansion. When she graduated, she didn't ask him to let her move in. Instead, she kept working and lived with her parents in her childhood room. That had been a strange time, but she didn't have much spare cash and she was still paying for her old apartment (without anyone knowing). Her job at a PR firm was enough to pay for her school loans and rent with a bit left over to buy herself necessities that she didn't want to make her parents provide for her. Sometimes, she thought about how she had always believed that this was a struggle that she would have shared with him.
Seto had proposed abruptly. Reiko had completed her first month of work at Kaiba Corp. and Seto was very impressed at how she was handling the work that she had been given. He acted on a moment of pride and calculated assurance that Reiko Fujiyama was the best possible choice for himself, for his corporation, and ultimately, for whatever would come in the future. The ring was beautiful. It meant commitment. It meant that he wasn't going to run away. She said yes.
A mere four months later, when Reiko found out about her pregnancy, she had gone into a blind panic. What if he didn't want the baby? What if she had to go through it all again? What if this was punishment for what she had done before? At that thought, her hand had flown down to her flat stomach and she had cradled herself. Not this time.
When she told Seto about the baby it was very casual, over a typically quiet dinner at a trendy, but exclusive, restaurant a few blocks from KC. He looked at her with the same analytical gaze that she had known for the past eight years. It had been eight years. He smiled then, something that rarely happened (the last time that she could remember him directing such a genuine smile at her was after she had signed their prenuptial agreement at their civil service "wedding").
He'd leaned across the table and brushed the bangs out of her eyes and, like it had been written in a script, told her that it was wonderful news.
For some reason, that hadn't satisfied Reiko the way that she thought it would. He continued eating his sushi and she continued eating her udon noodles, and a few minutes later, he took a phone call and rushed off to the office, promising that he'd send the car back to pick her up.
It was nights like this one, when Seto was busy working on some new product in order to get it out in time for the winter holidays, when she would get into a broody mood and pace the nursery that she had put so much time and planning into. The twenty-seven-year-old gingerly rested a hand over her swollen belly. She couldn't wait to meet the little creature that had been growing inside of her for so long; his due date was in two weeks. It was all happening so slowly and so quickly at the same time.
Kazuhiro Seto Kaiba. The name was emblazoned on his navy blue blankets and on the ultrasound pictures that Reiko had insisted on framing and putting up in his nursery. She hugged herself tighter; she always felt warm when she thought about the baby. Kazuhiro was already the apple of his mother's eye and he hadn't even taken his first breath yet. Reiko longed to have someone of her own, someone to bestow her love upon and have the love returned in earnest.
Her mother had been so happy when she found out that Reiko was pregnant. She had broken the news to her parents and to Mokuba (the only family that she and Seto had) over a catered dinner at the mansion. Her mother was just happy that Reiko had married someone other than that white-haired kid who had stolen their daughter away from them and filled her head with happy thoughts, just to disappear one day and leave her broken.
Mrs. Fujiyama had been very pleased to see her daughter recover so quickly and move up the social ladder by seeing Seto Kaiba. He was a stable person with a job and a future and who seemed to care deeply for their daughter.
Lots of things seemed and appeared to be.
Mokuba had choked on his bite of food but had ultimately maintained a look of absolute glee on his face. He had hugged Reiko tightly and joked that she had better grab another plate because she was eating for two – maybe even three. Seto had blanched a bit at the comment, but Reiko soaked it up. She would finally be able to experience motherhood.
She heard footsteps – the person was dragging their feet – and then she heard laughter. It was high pitched and obviously from someone who was highly intoxicated. She sat down in a rocking chair and put her feet up. She rocked back and forth and pretended that it was Mokuba and his girlfriend who had just walked down the hall.
At some point, she dozed off and didn't notice when the sun set and rose again. She didn't notice that Seto left without coming in to check on her once or have her go to bed instead of sitting up in a rocking chair all night. When she woke up, she didn't really have time to dwell on it either because she was startled out of her slumber by a severe cramp-like pain. A contraction, but it was nothing new. She'd been having them on and off for the past few days, something that her doctor had told her was completely normal.
This one had caught her off guard and that was why she was so winded. She got up and stretched, heading into her room to take a shower. And then she felt it – the mucus-like moisture in her panties. Reiko had been reading books and consulting websites and asking her doctors all the questions that she could think up. She had researched and learned and taken quizzes online and in magazines, but in that moment she was completely stunned motionless.
Another strong contraction took her breath away and she held her stomach as she braced herself in the doorway of her bedroom. She managed to catch her breath as she made her way over to the desk where the telephone was; she needed to call someone. Her mind was reeling. She dialed without thinking, grateful when the person on the other line was her mother and not someone else.
"Hello?"
"Mom, I'm having contractions and I think," she paused to take a deep breath as another contraction pierced her. "I think it's time."
Mrs. Fujiyama gasped in excitement. "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! Get to the hospital, I'll call them for you and I – I'll be there right away, just let me get out of my pajamas. Oh my goodness …!"
Reiko smiled for a moment, her mother's reaction was to be expected; her only daughter was having her first child. Her only daughter was pregnant for the first time. The baby stirred and snapped Reiko out of her bitter thoughts. She pressed back gently. "Okay, okay, no bitter thoughts today, I promise."
She called her driver and told him to have a car ready for her in five minutes. She called the head maid and had her take her hospital bag down to the car. She pulled on a pair of clean underwear and some stretchy pants and a baggy sweatshirt. No glamour for her on this day.
She managed to start her breathing patterns and call Seto and Mokuba while she was being driven. Well, she was able to speak to Seto's secretary because her husband was in the middle of intense negotiations and he had asked not to be disturbed. Reiko soured at the thought that her husband hadn't even allowed an exception for his pregnant wife. Mokuba – who was in a meeting of his own – answered her call and promised to get to Seto.
Once she arrived at the hospital, everything began to blur together. There was paperwork she needed to sign, there were waivers about hospital liability. There were needles being pushed into her arm and her clothes had been taken away. By the time her mother arrived (her parents had moved out of the city about forty minutes away), she was sitting in a hospital bed with all sorts of machines attached to her and a nurse asking her if she would like an epidural.
Mrs. Fujiyama arrived right on time, convincing Reiko that she really wanted the epidural and whipping the nurses into shape, demanding that they bring her daughter some frozen sponges to suck on (she wasn't allowed to drink water) and that they bring her some more blankets because it was freezing.
There was a little bit of an ache in her heart. This was supposed to be her overly concerned husband yelling at nurses and reading over the paperwork. He was supposed to be there holding her hand and telling her she was so brave and that everything was going to go so well. Instead, she had a text message from Mokuba saying that Seto wouldn't be able to make it for at least another hour. She wanted to complain, but instead, she looked over at her mother and said, "I can't believe he's going to be here today."
The contractions seemed to be getting closer and closer together and time seemed to creep by ever so slowly. Reiko began to feel fatigued, but she was determined. Her mother was in and out of the room because she was calling her cousins who lived in different cities all across Japan. Her father had come in for a little while, but once the nurses started coming in to check how dilated she was, he had excused himself to the waiting room.
Reiko sat alone, watching reruns of old TV shows. It was almost four hours later when the doctor came in and told her that they were moving her into the birthing room. An intense fear crept into her and she pressed the button to give herself another dose of pain medication. Her mother rushed beside her, putting on her scrubs and face mask.
It only took thirty minutes of pushing. Thirty tiny minutes and then her baby was born. He screamed and cried as the doctor handed him over to the nurse and he only settled down when the nurse handed him over to Reiko. As soon as they placed him on her chest, he rested his tiny little head on her breast, right above her heart. She didn't realize she was crying until her mother wiped the tears away with the scratchy sleeve of the scrubs they provided the family members who were present in the birthing room.
After she had been cleaned up, they moved her back into her room. She asked incessantly for them to bring her the baby; she wanted him to be in the same room as her. Mokuba arrived about an hour after little Kazuhiro had been born. Reiko had filled out his birth certificate; the only thing missing on the form was the little boy's father's signature.
Mokuba was able to pull some strings and have Kazuhiro brought into Reiko's hospital room; his little plastic cradle was wheeled in and placed beside Reiko's bed.
"He's really cute, Rei," Mokuba said as he brushed the little boy's cheek.
She beamed up at her brother-in-law and extended her arms in a silent gesture to ask for her son.
Mrs. Fujiyama noticed the sheer panic on Mokuba's face at the thought of holding the little bundle in his own hands and she stepped up to pick up her grandson while teasing Mokuba good-naturedly.
When Seto arrived, the grandparents had already gone home for the night and Mokuba had left to find the cafeteria because he had skipped lunch to come see Reiko.
Reiko was holding the baby in her arms as she leaned back on the pillows. Her eyes were closed and she was humming some song that was vaguely familiar. He set down his briefcase and peered down at the child swaddled in the navy blue blanket that Reiko had picked out for him almost six months ago. The newborn woke up at that moment, his little eyes opening up to stare blindly at his father's face with pretty brown eyes. There was a pang of disappointment that his son hadn't inherited his eye color, but from what the pudgy little face looked like at the moment Seto assumed that the little boy would take after him in everything else.
"Do you want to hold him?"
Seto started at the unexpected question. He hadn't noticed when she had stopped humming and opened her eyes. "Uh, sure."
She smiled at him warmly and instructed him on how to cradle the baby's head. The child was asleep again, resting easily in his father's arms. Seto felt warmth in his heart and he leaned down and kissed Reiko's lips. The little family of three shared one of very few happy moments.
"And then gramma made coo-keys, they had chaw-kow-wet."
Reiko raised a brow at the little boy seated next to her. She had decided to have a driver bring her out to pick up Kazuhiro from her parent's house because the roads were particularly icy and she didn't want to risk it. She wiped some chocolate from his cheek and he squirmed. "Maw-me!"
"Kazuhiro, what have I told you about whining?"
"Uh, um … it's bad?"
She cracked a smile and his expression transformed from sheepish to silly. "How many cookies did you eat anyway?"
The question put him into deep thought. "I had," he paused to try and count the amount on his fingers like Uncle Mokuba had been teaching him. "I had this many."
Reiko kissed the two chubby little fingers that he held up and he giggled. "You little liar, grandpa said that you had this many," she held up a full hand of fingers and Kazuhiro blushed.
"May-bee," he admitted, suddenly looking serious and a terrible lot like his father.
"It's okay, because I had this many," she held up six fingers and her son squealed with childish delight.
Once they arrived at the mansion, Kazuhiro toddled his way to his father's study and hurried to his father's side. "Daddy, daddy!"
Reiko peered in from the hall and watched as Seto put down his highlighter and picked up the little boy, indulging him with his attention. She felt a pang of jealousy that her son had run to his father, but she was satisfied with knowing that she would be the one to tuck him in that night and every night for the rest of his childhood.
Okay, here we go, people. You can thank CraftyLion for getting this published today ;) She asked why I was torturing her ... and I am going to use this a leverage to get an update outta her :p
I hope that you like this. Things are happening. Wheels are being set in motion and all that. Reviews are LOVE.