Chapter 2: Never Gonna Give You Up
Nani returned in the ungodly hours in the morning to find that Lilo was still fast asleep. Stitch, on the other hand, was making quite the racket in the bathroom. Nani approached the upstairs bathroom as a heaving sound echoed down the hallway. She slowly swung the door open to find Stitch holding back Pleakley's long flaccid antenna, while Pleakley retched into the toilet bowl.
After the horrible sounds subsided, Pleakley looked up at Nani. There was a swollen bag under his one bloodshot eye.
"O-Oh hey Nani. I ca-an tell you're w-worried about me, but do-n't stress yours-self out about it. I-I'm fi-BLAHHHHHHHH!" he managed before putting his head back into the toilet.
Nani looked from Pleakley to Stich and Stitch to Pleakley. Stitch gave Nani a look of slight concern and shrugged. Nani turned back to Pleakley to see him come back up and lay down on the bathroom matt, dried vomit on his chin.
"I can't believe you," Nani said before shaking her head and slamming the door.
"I need…Jumba." Said Pleakley weakly.
"There, there. Stitch fetch Jumba." Said Stitch as he gave Pleakley a pat on the back. It wasn't long before Stitch returned, Jumba squeezing through the tight bathroom door behind him.
"What is matter with you Pleakley?" Jumba said in his oddly Russian-like accent. "Surely this isn't all from a couple drinks…"
"It wasn't just a couple drinks." Pleakly hiccupped.
Jumba narrowed his eyes and turned to Stitch.
"Stitch, would you mind giving us some privacy?"
Stitch nodded his head and returned to Lilo's bedroom.
"Pleakley, you must tell me what is going on," Jumba said, concern growing in his voice.
Pleakley blushed and hung his head, shaking it in denial, he was worried about what Jumba might say if he told the truth.
"Jumba…I'm…I'm pregnant, I can feel it," Pleakley sobs. "You know how fast Plorgonarien fetuses grow, it's only been six hours, but I can feel the egg enlarging inside me. I know it will hatch in a matter of weeks and I will give birth. I can't afford it, and who knows what it will come out looking like."
Pleakley dove for the toilet bowl again, dry heaving into it, as he had nothing left in his stomach.
"Who is the father?" Jumba asks calmly.
"It doesn't matter," Pleakley murmured, as he got back up, "They will not be able to raise a child." Pleakley avoided eye contact with Jumba as he said this.
Jumba became suddenly stern. "Pleakley, who is the father?"
Pleakley knew Jumba would have to find out eventually. "You can guess," he whispered as a single tear dropped down from his one puffy eye.
"It wasn't Gantu, was it?" Jumba asked almost immediately, and a little jealously.
"No." Pleakley responded, shaking his head.
"Come on, I'm not in mood for games. Just tell me who it is!" Jumba shouted.
"It was David!" Pleakley blurted, and Jumba gasped and had to grip the edge of the sink. He sat down on the floor, arms locked around his knees.
Pleakley risked a glance at Jumba. "Jumba, you have have to help me.
Jumba didn't have to ask how, he already knew. Pleakley could not keep the child, something had to be done.
There was long silence until Jumba took a deep breath, "Very well," he said, getting up. "I have to go get my lab ready. Clean yourself up and meet me in there in one hour."
He started to step out of the doorway when Pleakley shouted, "Wait! Jumba!" Jumba turned back and Pleakley quietly whispered, "Please don't tell anyone about this," he pleaded.
"Of course," Jumba nodded and gave the faintest hint of a smile, locking eyes with his dearest friend and walked out.
Nani was angrily scrubbing week old dishes in the kitchen. She sighed, thinking about what mess she might have to clean up after Pleakley. There was a sharp knock at the door and Nani turned off the water, drying her hands on her legs and hurrying to answer it. It was David.
"Where were you last night!?" she said angrily. "We were short staffed at the bar after you took off."
"I just… wasn't feeling well. I completely forgot to let the boss know I needed to leave."
Nani scoffed. "And you forgot to give me a ride home too, I take it?" she said accusingly.
"I'm sorry Nani, it won't happen again." He said meekly.
Nani crossed her arms and continued scowling. "So why are you here now?"
"To make sure you got home safe." He lied. "Can I come in?"
"Fine." Nani replied, closing the front door behind him. "I need to finish cleaning up the kitchen before we go to lunch." She said.
"Lunch?" David asked.
"Yes, you said you wanted to have a picnic on the beach today, just the two of us. Remember?"
"Right! Sorry, I'm still pretty tired. Mind if I use the bathroom?"
"Go ahead." Said Nani from the kitchen.
David headed upstairs and pushed open the bathroom door to a room full of steam and muffled singing coming from behind the closed shower curtain. He was about to leave when something caught his eye, sitting next to the sink. A pregnancy test. He hurried over and pocketed it before rushing downstairs, forgetting his need to pee. He slipped the test from his pocket and took a closer look. Two lines stood out against the white screen. He tried to remain calm and slid it back into his pocket, returning to the kitchen to help Nani pack their picnic.
Pleakley climbed the stairs to Jumba's lab as though walking towards his doom. Would their friendship ever be the same? When he knocked on the door, Jumba was waiting, a crisp white lab coat on. The lab was cleaner than Pleakley had ever seen it, and a stretcher had been set up for him. Jumba has fashioned three stirrups for him to use.
"I had to make do with what I have but trust me. I would never let any harm come to you." Said Jumba, motioning for Pleakley to take a seat.
Pleakley shyly removed his silky black bath robe. Jumba's expression remained neutral as Pleakley clambered onto the wobbly stretcher and placed his three legs in the correct positions, completely exposed.
"I will not lie to you, Pleakley. This will not be pleasant." Said Jumba.
Pleakley nodded, holding back tears.
After an agonizing fifteen minutes, Jumba removed a pair of cold steel forceps from Pleakley's womb, a softball sized, semi-translucent purple egg pinched between them. Jumba carefully placed it in a bag and tossed it in the trash.
There was a long silence as Pleakley got painfully to his feet and pulled his bath robe around him. He collapsed back onto the stretcher and began to sob.
Jumba gently pulled Pleakley into his strong, loving arms and cradled him while he cried.
"Patience…Pleakley." He began a soft lullaby, rocking Pleakley gently. "With all your sight…there's no sight to see."
Pleakley surrendered to Jumba's tender embrace. "To the night, will you follow me? Pardon, Pleakley, hold on tight to your one big eye." Despite the pain in Pleakley's chest, he felt a flicker of love inside of him.
"To the night, will you compleak me?" Jumba cooed. And in his heart, Pleakley wished
he could.
Nani and David pulled up to the beach in David's Jeep. Nani could sense that David was hiding something. David couldn't stop thinking about the secret he held in his pocket. The pregnancy test felt heavy against his leg as he sat down next to Nani.
"David what's going on?" Nani finally said after a prolonged silence while they at their lunch.
"You trust me don't you Nani?" David asked.
"Of course I do… what is it?" she replied.
"Why don't you tell me?" David said, contempt creeping into his voice.
"What?" Nani was dumbfounded. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Then what's this?" David threw the positive pregnancy between them. It stood out against the bright picnic blanket like an omen of death. "When were you going to tell me?" David demanded.
"Calm down! Where did you find that?" Nani asked.
"It was sitting in the bathroom, just now when we were at the house." David did not meet her eyes. He loved Nani, and he was filled with shame and regret when he thought of his blissful night with Pleakley.
"It's not mine. I don't know what it was doing in my house, I swear..."
David felt his stomach drop. No, it couldn't be. Pleakley was a completely different species; how could he have impregnated him?
"David, what's going on? You look like you've seen a ghost." Said Nani.
"I- I just feel a bit light-headed is all. Maybe we should head back."
"Fine," said Nani.
As they loaded up the Jeep Nani couldn't help but feel suspicious. What was a pregnancy test doing in her house, and why was it positive? Surely it couldn't belong to one of the aliens, and it certainly wasn't Lilo's. They drove home in silence and after David dropped her off, Nani decided to do some investigating.
When Nani pulled up to the house, she stopped by the trashcans to toss the remains of her and David's lunch. As she pulled the lid off, she noticed there was some old crinkled up newspaper wrapped delicately around something…and that something was letting off a faint purple glow.
Nani pushed the newspaper wrappings to the side only to reveal a purple egg. A million and one thoughts swirled through Nani's mind. How could this be? Whose egg is this? Why is it in the trash?
"Jumba…" she murmured to herself before closing the lid on the trash and storming into the lab.
Nani pushed open the heavy-duty door and started yelling.
"If you're going to be hatching aliens at my house think agai-,"
As she scanned the lab she saw Jumba frantically rummaging the medicine cabinet for painkillers, and Pleakley sprawled out across the stretcher moaning in agony with three stirrups positioned over him. Off to the side sat a surgical tray, Nani looked upon it and saw a large pair of tongs, a scalpel, and a speculum.
"What is going on in here?" Nani questioned frantically.
Jumba jumped and looked at her with wide, crazed eyes, and Pleakley looked at her and tightly shut his one eye, trying to hide the pain he was feeling in his groin and abdomen.
"Oh, um nothing. Pleakley just has tummy ache, nothing more," Jumba finally spoke up after a long pause.
"Oh really," Nani glared.
"Uhhh, yes," Jumba said with a reassuring smile.
"Then what the hell is this?" Nani said as she held up the egg. Jumba gasped and Pleakley slightly opened his shut eye.
"I-I can expain," said Pleakley weakley as he tried to rise from the stretcher.
"No Pleakley, you need rest," Jumba said as he gently pushed Pleakley back down, making sure his head was on the pillow. "Nani, now is not good time. Pleakley is in very fragile state from operation."
"WHAT OPERATION?! You do not keep secrets from me in my house!" she shouted and threw the egg at Jumba.
"No!" Jumba shouted, but it was too late. The purple egg bounced off a nearby wall and splattered on the floor. What looked like a very large caterpillar with an oversized head lay in the nutritious waste from the inside of the egg.
"What the hell is that?!" Nani said in horror. She cautiously approached the thing laying lifeless on the floor. It looked…strangely familiar. It had a tiny antenna like Pleakley, as well as three legs, but it was different too; it had two human-like arms and a large nose. It even had dark hair.
"Pleakley, you were pregnant? How did this happen? Jumba? Who is the father!?" Nani spluttered.
There was silence.
"Nani, let me explain." Said Pleakley, not rising from the stretcher. "You see, I was drunk… he was flirting with me and I got carried away…"
"Who was flirting with you?" Nani demanded, but she already knew the answer. Why else would David have acted the way he did?
A tear escaped Pleakley's eye. "Plorgonarian pregnancies are extremely rapid. I knew when I got home last night-"
"LAST NIGHT!?" Nani roared, tears welling in her eyes. She stormed from the lab, nearly slipping on the fluids from Pleakley's aborted egg, and left the house. She ran and ran. There was only one person who could help her now.