Disclaimer: If you guys haven't figured out I'm poor by now...
AN: If you don't remember who Mr. Renoir is, (re)read Mother's Day. Also, this might be the last one. I don't know. Kim being pregnant sort of forced me to continue and I always had today in mind but I don't know where to go from here.
Winnie the Pooh Day
by JDPhoenix
The nurses at Reefside Memorial were shocked to say the least. They had seen all sorts of gatherings in the lobby of the maternity ward over the years, but this was by far the oddest. It had begun with the traditional couple, grandparents, and best friends, but had quickly grown from there. Within the hour there were more than a dozen people happily taking bets on the baby's sex and--one of the younger nurses said--color, though no one could figure out just what that meant. All of these people were occasionally pulled away to talk on cell phones and discuss how long it would take friends to arrive from places all around the world, including one place that not even Sarah, whose husband was a geographer, could identify. And now more people were coming in. The nurses were beginning to worry that they would have to throw some of them out to stay within the fire code.
"Whoooo!" Rocky cried, rushing into the ward and giving Justin a bear hug. An elderly man who was waiting for news on his new grandchild glared and was ignored.
"Any news?" Adam asked.
Dana did not look up from her magazine and said haughtily, "She's still not diala--"
"Ah ah ah!" Conner cried, covering his ears and glaring from his seat across the room.
"What?" Bridge asked, having just walked in. He was carrying a giant, green stuffed stegosaurus and seemed to be having trouble navigating with it in his arms.
"Conner," Ethan said with a snicker, "is afraid of any word that describes distinctly female anatomy."
"It's a legitimate fear," Conner said defensively.
Trent considered his friend, "How are you ever going to get married?"
"I'm not afraid of the actual parts."
"How do you know?" Ethan asked suggestively.
"Dude!" Conner cried, smacking Ethan with a rolled up newspaper.
Adam decided to change the subject. "What's up with Dana?" he asked Carter.
Carter gave Dana's shoulders a squeeze but her dark disposition did not falter. "They won't let her in."
"What?" Rocky asked. "But-- Dana's like the official medic of--everyone."
"That is why she's pissed," Ryan said. He and Chad were sitting with Conner, far away from Dana.
Rocky and Adam had years of experience with female Rangers and so quickly leapt over the middle section of chairs to claim the only remaining seats in Conner's corner of the room.
"Whimps," Dustin said smugly. He and Chip were lounging on the floor by the vending machines, a two foot high stack of comic books between them.
Before anyone could bite off either of their heads Trini and Jason returned from making phone calls.
"How's it going?" David asked eagerly. He was sitting between Kim and Tommy's parents and couldn't keep from worrying that they were becoming suspicious.
"Billy's not going to make it," Jason said, dropping into a seat beside the grandfather who had glared at Rocky.
"How late will he be?" Aisha asked.
"Two weeks," Trini moped.
"Great," Eric said, "now there's two of them."
"Watch it," Wes advised, eyeing the two angry women, "or they'll attack."
Mr. Renoir leaned close to his wife's ear and said so quietly that only she could hear, "Who are all these people?"
"Friends of Tommy and Kim's. They were all in the wedding pictures."
Mr. Renoir scoffed. "The Vegas wedding pictures. Don't you find it odd that she had a shotgun wedding to a man she broke up with ten years ago?"
Kimberly's mom sighed and rolled her eyes to Heaven, wondering just when this old argument would die. "I'm going to get some coffee," she said, standing briskly and walking down the hall before anyone could stop her.
"Is anyone else coming today?" Eric asked, trying to fill the silence that had filled the room after Mrs. Hart-Renoir's exit.
Jason shook his head. "Max is backpacking across the country, something about finding himself before he loses his best friend, and Danny is exhausted from a day of scouting for wedding spots. Cole and Alyssa are in South America and can't catch a flight for at least twenty-four hours."
Chip, not looking up from his comics, asked, "Why can't they just--?" Xander cut him off with a well-aimed magazine thrown at his head. The magazine just missed Mrs. Hart-Renoir, but she didn't pause and handed a coffee cup to her husband as she sat. Mr. Renoir obediently took a sip, watching the rangers converse with rapt attention.
"Because," Trini said, "Shayla is--busy."
Xander asked, "Busy how?"
"Busy like we might have two weddings this year."
"Really?" Dana asked, finally showing some enthusiasm.
"It'll be so great," Tori said with a sigh, "a wedding up there with all the--um, animals around."
"Speaking of animals," Ethan said, "are any--um, coming?"
"No," Trini said, "Dulcea's keeping them updated from Phaedos."
"All right," Mr. Renoir said, standing despite his wife's shushing. "One of you is going to have to explain this to me."
All of the Rangers remained silent, the younger ones trying not to look too suspicious while the older generations looked on with thinly veiled amusement.
"Come on," Mr. Renoir continued, "Tommy and Kimberly cannot have this many close friends. You all know what I'm talking about," he added, turning to his wife and the other grandparents. "They have been hiding something all night. Who bets on a child's color anyway?"
Adam leant across Ethan to whisper to Zack, "Twenty on green."
Zack whispered back with a nod, "Most people are leaning that way."
"Ever since I met you kids," Mr. Renoir continued, shaking a finger at Jason and Trini, "I knew there was something up and things have only become more clear as the years have worn on. Look at these kids," he said, gesturing to the Dinos in the corner, "what are they doing at the birth of their teacher's chil--" Mr. Renoir slowly bent to the left and fell onto the blue carpeted floor.
Before any of the rangers could begin jump up in shock Mrs. Hart-Renoir held up a hand. "I knew this was coming," she said. She turned to Chip and Dustin. "Would one of you boys get a nurse?"
"You drugged him," Jason said. No one had moved.
"Of course I drugged him. Would you prefer he tell the whole world who you are?"
"Who are we?" Trent asked.
Kimberly's mother raised an eyebrow.
"Never mind."
Tommy rushed into the room, covered head to toe in pale green scrubs. "Guys!" he cried. "It's a boy!"
The room erupted into excited cries.
"How long?" Kim asked lazily when Tommy returned.
"The nurses won't let them all come in at once. Right now they're all in the parking lot having a battle to decide the order."
"Tell me you're joking."
Tommy chuckled and gently stroked his baby boy's cheek. "You wish."
"What about the grandparents?"
"They're dealing with your step-dad. Apparently he's gotten fed up with all the weirdness so your mother drugged him."
"Okay, now I know you're joking."
"Have we settled on a name yet?"
Kimberly moaned. "We are not naming him Zordon."
"Just a middle name."
"That's even worse!"
There was a small knock on the door and it creaked open. Danny ducked his head inside. "Hey!" he whispered.
"Hi, Danny," Kimberly said with a smile.
Danny slid inside, careful with the bag in his right hand. "How are you two doing?"
"Wonderful."
Tommy shook Danny's free hand. "How are the wedding plans?"
Danny sighed. "Good. We're having trouble finding a location, but it'll work out. But today is your day," he said. "Have you picked a name yet?"
"Well, we had gotten all settled on a name for a girl."
"Elizabeth," Kim supplied.
"But we could never pick one for a boy."
"You'd better decide soon. This is for you, by the way."
Tommy took the present and opened it for the eager Kimberly. He pulled out a stuffed Winnie the Pooh and a copy of the bear's book. Kimberly surprised both of them by reaching for the book instead of the bear. She turned it to show Tommy the cover of the bear and his boy and said, "Christopher."
Tommy couldn't argue with that. "Christopher it is. Trini will kill us."
"Well, she should have gotten pregnant sooner then."
"Well," Danny said with one last look at the newly dubbed Christopher, "I'd better help quiet everyone down."
"Thanks, Danny," Tommy said.
When he was gone Kim said, "Do you think we could sneak out of here before they come?"
"Are you seriously trying to avoid our oldest and dearest friends?"
"Conner?"
"Well, not Conner, but the others."
"I'm just tired."
"Then I'll keep them out of here until tomorrow. Anyway, we probably need some calm time since your mother committed a crime."
"I don't want to hear it." She closed her eyes and settled further into the pillows. "And Tommy? Be sure to put Christopher back in his bed for me."
Tommy smiled at his sleeping wife and child. He could hear muffled yelling and the all-too-familiar sound of bodies hitting solid objects from outside. He sighed, lifting little Christopher from Kim's arms. "On the up side," he said taking a seat and cradling him close to his chest, "you'll grow up with the chaos so it won't be a horrible shock in the midst of adolescent insanity. Oh, and your middle name is Zordon, no matter what your mother says."