I spent the whole night worrying. Throwing up, and worrying.

The next morning, I was tired, cranky, and hungry. Mom and Dad escorted me to the house I would be living in for five months, but we were surprised to see that nobody else was there.

"Typical," I muttered. "He probably couldn't get out of bed."

"It's nine," Dad said. "They should be here soon."

As if on cue, Leif ran up to us.

"You're late," I told him.

"I'm well aware," he replied.

"Hm," I said. "It's nice to see you're fully clothed. Good job!"

"We'll help you with your bags, Leona," Mom said quickly. She was obviously trying to pull me away from the conflict.

We went inside the house, and I couldn't help but notice how quaint it looked.

"We spent all night stocking this place with everything you'll need," Mom said.

"All right!" Leif exclaimed. He ran over to the refrigerator, and opened it. I heard some of the contents rattling around as he looked through it.

"What do you need, Leif?" Mom asked. She sounded annoyed, which was very rare for her.

"I'm looking for the beer," Leif replied. I saw Dad's face turn slightly red.

"There is no beer, you moron," he said through his teeth.

"Well," Mom announced. "I guess it's time for us to go. Have fun!" She hugged me. "Bye!"

"Bye, Mom," I replied. Dad hugged me as well, but he didn't say anything, probably because whatever he said would probably an insult to Leif.

They left, and slammed the door behind them.

"Aw, man!" Leif whined, pathetically walking back into the main part of the house. "How am I going to get hammered now?" I narrowed my eyes, marched over to him, and pinned him against the wall.

"What the hell?" he cried. "Let go of me, you psychopath!"

"Do not talk to me like that!" I shouted. "And let's get this straight: I am really unhappy about the fact that I have to live with you for five months, and I'm pretty sure the feeling's mutual. So if you act like an idiot this whole time, I'm going to be annoyed! And if I'm annoyed, then you're almost certainly going to be in pain! Got it?"

"Ah…um, yeah," Leif replied, seeming terrified. I took my hands off his shoulders, and he sighed, and shuddered.

"Thank you kindly for not going for my manhood that time," he said sarcastically.

"You're very welcome, dear," I replied.

I went over to a small bookshelf against the wall, and looked through the books. Every last one of them was related to pregnancy, childcare, or cooking. I frowned, but I took one anyway, sat down in a chair by the fireplace, and started to read. I had barely gotten through a few words when Leif flopped down on the couch and groaned.

"What's wrong?" I asked in an annoyed tone of voice.

"There's nothing to do here," he replied.

"We have a whole shelf of books," I told him.

"I don't read," he replied.

"Well," I said. "We aren't confined to the house, you know. We could take a walk or something."

"It's freezing outside," Leif said. Then, his eyes widened. "Maybe that was part of the plan. Maybe they chose late Fall so they could keep us inside the house!" I returned to my book, attempting to tune him out.

I started reading again, only to hear someone knock on the door a few seconds later. I felt like swearing out loud, but I got up to answer it.

"Leelee!" a high voice cried. I froze as it hit me that the person standing right in front of me was Doriane, my best friend since we were little. Without any warning, she hugged me, but quickly let go, and gasped.

"I can explain, Dori," I quickly said.

"Please do," Doriane replied. She grabbed the handle of a stroller, which I hadn't noticed at first, and we started to walk inside.

"What's going on?" Leif quickly asked, sitting up straight on the couch. Doriane gasped again.

"This way," I said, steering her and the stroller down the short hallway. I figured there would be a bedroom where we could talk without Leif barging in and disturbing us.

I was correct in my assumption. I quickly slammed the door, and sat down on the edge of the bed, trying not to cry.

"You are so lucky that Hugh didn't wake up," Doriane scolded. "Honestly Leona, did you have some kind of mental breakdown?" Despite my best efforts not to, I started to cry.

"I…I'm sorry," I whimpered.

"Oh, no!" Doriane cried, sitting down next to me and giving me a hug. "I should have been more sensitive! Is everything okay?"

"I don't know," I replied, calming down a little. "After I went to the capital, I found out I was pregnant…and I know for a fact that it's Leif's. I quit my job and came back here. I told him first, and then Mom and Dad. And now, I'm being tested to see if I can deal with Leif, and if I can't do it, I can't keep the baby!" At that point, I broke down again.

"I should have known," Doriane said, patting my back. "I felt the spirits calling out that someone nearby was pregnant. I thought that they were just talking about Luna." She suddenly made a little squeaking sound that I recognized as her "I'm really excited about something" noise.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I just thought of something to cheer you up," she said.

"Ice cream?" I asked.

"Uh, no," she replied. "You should make Leif go get that for you. Anyway, I can tell you if the baby's a girl or a boy! If you want to know, that is."

"You can tell this early on?" I asked.

"It's not that early," she said. "I can tell. After all, he's kicking like crazy in there!"

"You're telling me," I replied miserably. "I can barely keep anything down between that and the morni…wait, did you just say he?"

"Darn it!" Doriane pouted. "It was an accident! I didn't mean to let it slip, and I hoped you wouldn't notice…" She sighed. "Yes, it's a boy."

I rested my hand on my stomach, absolutely stunned. My eyes filled with tears. The baby was a boy…

"Oh, Leelee!" Doriane cried. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have told you anything! But really, boys aren't so bad! They only-"

"No," I said, smiling and wiping my eyes. "I'm glad you did. Thank you, Dori!" I gave her a hug.

"I'll advise you of one thing," she said. "Do not, under any circumstances, tell Leif."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because," she replied. "It might ruin your chances of winning this trial. Who knows, maybe Leif doesn't want a boy."

Suddenly, I heard a noise come from the stroller, which quickly turned into crying.

"Sounds like someone's awake," Doriane said in a sing-song voice. She reached into the stroller, and pulled out her pudgy little baby, Hugh.

"Oh," I cooed. "He's gotten so big! He looks more and more like Anette every time I see him."

"He sure does!" Doriane replied. Hugh tugged at her shirt, and she blushed. "Feeding time."

"Go ahead," I said.

"We're going to have to wean him soon," she muttered, pulling a blanket out of the stroller. "Would you mind holding him for a sec?"

"Okay," I replied. She handed Hugh to me, and I panicked, wondering what I was supposed to do to keep him calm. Luckily, I didn't have to wait long, because Doriane took him, and started nursing him under the blanket.

"So how have you been feeling overall?" she asked me.

"Pretty bad," I admitted. "I'm either hungry, or I have morning sickness. And there are times when I want to punch the wall, but sometimes…" I paused, blushing. "No, never mind."

"You want to have sex with anything that moves?" Doriane quickly asked.

"That's a bit of an exaggeration," I replied. "But yeah, that's about it."

"That's what Leif's for!" she cried.

"Ugh," I muttered. "I'm not that desperate."
"I was kidding, anyway," Doriane said, smiling at me. She paused for a second. "Ah, he unlatched. And I'd better get home soon. Mom's losing her mind, between Dad sharpening swords, and Cinnamon being lazy. And Kevin's gone, helping Danny in the store."

"I understand," I said.

Doriane got up, fixed her clothes, and put Hugh back in his stroller. We started to walk back toward the door, both ignoring Leif, who had somehow managed to go to sleep on the couch.

"Good luck," she finally said. She opened the door, and left.

I looked over at Leif, and saw that his eyes had opened.

"I was hoping you'd stay asleep," I muttered.

"Why?" he asked, smiling. "Is it so you can go have sex with anything that moves?" He started laughing hysterically.

First, I blushed from embarrassment, but then, I remembered that Doriane had told me not to tell Leif about the baby being a boy.

"What else did you hear?" I demanded.

"Doriane suggesting that you do me," he replied. "I always knew she was smart."

"She was joking," I replied angrily. "And I don't plan on sleeping with you ever again, so get it out of your head!"

"Why?" he asked. "I was too amazing last time?"

You really weren't, I thought, although I didn't really know that for sure.

I sat down in a chair, and I went back to my book.

"I hope it's a boy," Leif finally said.

"What?" I asked. I was completely shocked, and I had almost dropped my book.

"I hope it's a boy," he said again. "That way, we can name it after your dad, and it'll lower the chances of him kicking my ass."

"That's a stupid and incredibly selfish reason," I told him. I started reading again, but the baby started to kick.

Maybe he'd like being Raguna Junior, I thought.

However, I quickly frowned and shook my head slightly, as if the idea would go away from doing that. Stupid Leif…

Haha!

Let's see...not much to say once again. I believe I'm going mute...HELP! XD