A/N: Again, sorry about the long wait. This unexpected bout of flu gave me some down-time to write with, so I thought I'd write while I still could! I hate leaving things unfinished.
Chapter 9
She was floating in a boat down a peaceful river. Akito was waiting for her at the end of it, so she took her time and enjoyed the view as she rowed. Squishie was bark-singing at the birds flying overhead and the whole world was splashed with the vivid colors of autumn. Melody couldn't remember feeling this happy in ages. Eventually she found Akito and was just trying to steer the boat close enough to him so that he could climb in. But just as he took her hand, a blonde woman seized him and dragged him into the woods. Melody was horror-struck and ran after him, but the woods caught fire as the ruthless woman dragged her poor husband right into the heart of the crackling flames.
"Melody!"
Melody's eyes snapped open. Akito's face was a mere inch or so from hers, showing equal measures of annoyance and concern in his dark sapphire eyes. He'd had to shake her pretty hard to snap her out of it.
"Huh?" she asked, coming awake all at once.
"What the Hell were you dreaming about? You almost suffocated me, holding onto me so tightly!"
"I'm sorry," she said, her cheeks reddening, "did I hurt you?"
"No. Well, almost. You nearly punched me in the face at one point. What happened?"
She sighed.
"I had another one of those really strange dreams…one of those really vivid ones."
His expression softened a little.
"I hate those," he empathized, "but you're all right now, aren't you?"
"Yeah," she said guiltily. Her stomach rumbled noisily.
"I had a freaking huge dinner," she sighed, "how on earth can I be hungry again?"
"I don't know," he answered truthfully, having seen the quantity she'd eaten, "but you'd better get something. I've noticed that your dreams get crazier when you go to bed hungry."
She reached over him for the bedside table and pulled out a small package of peanut butter crackers that she'd started keeping there. Though he thought that was a little strange, he hadn't asked. Now, he understood their purpose.
"What time is it?" she asked after swallowing her first bite.
"Too early to be awake and too late to go back to sleep," he griped, "I wish there was a way of timing your dreams better."
She looked at the plastic wrapper in her hands guiltily before pitching it at the wastebasket. It sank in neatly.
"I can't seem to get it right," she admitted, "either I feel really sick or I'm really hungry. Have you ever been this really weird hungry-hungry? Like even if you see or hear or dream something really gross, but it doesn't phase you at all because you think your stomach's trying to eat itself? I wish I could stop it. It's almost as bad as the sickness."
"Today," Akito insisted firmly, "You take care of this today. Or I will drag you down there myself—I can do that, you know."
"All right," she relented. She didn't want to bother Hatori over something as silly as a temperamental stomach when he had bigger things to deal with, but Akito would never get another good nights' sleep if she didn't. She rolled back over, the horrible acid-aching in her stomach gone and enjoyed the feeling of Akito's slender, lanky body wrapping around hers. She always felt safe with him doing that. It was a shame that he only had a little bit more time left before he had to get up. When she woke again, he was already gone.
Sighing, she got out of bed and got dressed. It was time to keep her promise. But first, she made sure to let Squishie out. Once the little dog was back inside, she made the very familiar trek down to the hospital area. Hatori was already there, though the clinic wasn't officially open. Kana and Tianshi were absent, probably having breakfast or maybe still asleep.
"Good morning, Melody," Hatori said, helping himself to his ever-present mug of coffee, "Akito said you might be coming by today."
"Yeah," she said reluctantly, "it's probably nothing or something just silly, but I kind of scared him earlier."
"What seems to be the trouble?" His tone was all fatherliness and concern.
"I've been having some funny dreams lately. And I keep swinging between nauseated and super-hungry like I'll die if I don't put something in my mouth right then. It's dumb…but…"
"It's better to be safe than sorry," he said, agreeing with Akito, "have you noticed anything else?"
"Well, I get kind of sleepy during the daytime a lot. But I thought that was just part of being a human. But if I get left alone at all, I doze right off."
"I see."
He typed her name into the computer and her records came up.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to get a bit more personal," he said, "I noticed that you were taking some birth control before you…uh…left. Did you keep taking it once you returned?"
Melody's stomach squirmed.
"No," she admitted, "in fact, I completely forgot about it before now. It's probably still in the dresser drawer where I left it."
"Hmmm…and the last time you bled?"
"I haven't," she said, "not since I've come back."
"You do realize that was over a month ago, right?"
Her stomach lurched.
"Over a month? Really? I didn't think it was that long," she admitted, "I guess I've been so busy that I've lost track of time."
Her heart was pounding in her throat as Hatori retrieved one of the specimen jars. She emerged from the bathroom just as Kana had come in.
"You'll never guess what just happened," Kana was telling him, "she was looking for you! She's talking now!"
"That's wonderful," Hatori said, beaming, "what did she say?"
"She said 'Where's Daddy?' Or at least that's sort of what it sounded like. She hasn't said it again yet, though. She must have stage fright or something."
Hatori kissed Tianshi's chubby little cheek and retrieved the dipstick for the jar. Melody was smiling and cooing at Tianshi, so she wasn't paying attention when the stick changed colors. Hatori took it out and examined it.
"Well, Melody, how would you feel about having one of these?" he asked, gesturing at Tianshi.
Melody giggled.
"Another Tianshi? I'm pretty sure that Father only made one."
Hatori and Kana glanced sideways at each other. For a split second, Melody kept on laughing. Then, she abruptly stopped.
"What?" she asked quietly as it sank in.
"You're pregnant," Hatori said more bluntly.
His smile was the last thing she saw before she wiped out.
"Ugh…." She groaned a few minutes later, "how embarrassing. How long was I out?"
"Not long," Hatori said, "maybe twenty minutes. Long enough for Kyoko to leave this here."
He gestured to a massive quantity of food on one of the bedside tables. There was easily enough there to supply ten people, Melody guessed.
"Wow…I'm sorry," she apologized, "it's just that I thought you said I was going to have a baby."
"You heard me right."
"Congratulations, Melody!" Kana hugged her tightly and even Tianshi kissed her on the cheek, though she didn't really understand what was going on.
"Oh, my Lord…" Melody whispered, "it's real, isn't it? It's really in there?"
"It's too small to get a sonogram of right now," Hatori explained, "but it won't be long before we can see it."
Melody probed her abdomen slightly. Nothing really felt different yet, but there was a tiny area that felt the slightest bit firmer than usual. She was filled with a vast array of emotions all at once, many of which made no sense.
"Thank you, Father," she said with closed eyes, "this is such a blessing…"
The room actually seemed to grow warmer for a moment.
"Have you both eaten yet?" she asked.
"Yes, thank you. It's your turn. Judging by how pale you are, you need it more than us."
In one of her ravenously hungry phases, she dug in. The hot and sour soup seemed to revive her and the rice filled her up and made her stop feeling so weak.
"Do you want us to call Akito for you?" Hatori asked.
"No," Melody said, "I'll tell him when he gets in. He drives kind of crazy when he gets really strong emotions."
"Can't say I blame you," Kana answered.
They made her stay there until they were sure her color was good enough and she wouldn't pass out again. She was given a bottle of prenatal vitamins and a book to read about exactly what changes would take place during her pregnancy.
"If you have any questions at all, I'd be glad to help since I've already gone through this," Kana told her.
"Okay," Melody said appreciatively. She headed back to her room to look at the book. It was very detailed, talking about what happened at conception all the way up to delivery and how the woman's body would change back afterward. She remembered all the times that Akito had made love to her and was stunned that such a thing could lead to such a miracle. No wonder Father had been so strict about it—it was, if in the right circumstances, an amazing process. She thought about the tiny thing sleeping in her womb, something that was smaller than even a grain of rice but would eventually grow into a baby sized thing and then into an adult-sized thing. Then, she began to wonder if it would be a son or a daughter.
"I'm going to be a mommy," she told Squishie, who seemed to sense that something was different, "isn't that wonderful?"
She held Squishie in her arms and rubbed her face into Squishie's fur, a habit she had when she wanted some comfort when Akito wasn't there to give it.
"It's kind of scary," she admitted, "There's lots of things that could go wrong. But I'm sure Father will take care of us. All of us."
The day went by very quickly as she read the book and tried to figure things out. They would need a crib and some clothes and diapers and maybe bottles…this mommy stuff was complicated. She hoped she'd be good at it. Before long, she heard Akito's car and let out an excited squeal. Hatori and Kana were the only ones who knew so far that there was another Sohma in the works—she didn't want to tell anyone else before Akito found out. He was the most important one.
He was retrieving his school bag when Melody pounced on him, hugging him as if it had been years instead of hours since he'd seen her. Despite the fact that he was much more reserved on his displays of affection than she was, it still warmed his heart to get this sort of greeting.
"Feeling better?" he asked her.
"Yeah, actually."
"Did you go see Hatori?"
"Yep. First thing when I got up—after letting Squish out, so I guess it was sort of the second. But close enough."
"And?"
"Well…"
She suddenly felt shy for no good reason at all. He waited, eyes slightly narrowed in suspicion. The way Melody handled things, it could either be really good or really bad, but she'd still react the same.
"Is anything wrong?" he pressed.
"No. The opposite, actually," she said, leaning against the hood of the car, "I just found out that…"
She took a breath, then let it all out at once: "Yourgoingtobeadaddy."
"What?"
"You're. Going. To. Be. A. Daddy." She forced herself to go slower the second time.
"What?"
His tone was getting more incredulous. Nervous now, Melody gulped.
"I'm having a baby. Your baby," she said, still smiling, "I just found out."
Her smile evaporated as he suddenly turned and walked away.
"Akito? What's the matter? I thought you'd be happy! Don't you want a baby?"
His expression was as cold as a winter's nightfall.
"Sure," he snapped, "now that it's on the way, no one will need me anymore."
"Wait a minute! Akito, what are you talking about?"
She chased after him.
"The curse, remember? Every time the god has a child, they die," Akito snapped, "you forgot that, didn't you?"
Suddenly irritated, Melody stepped directly in his path.
"I killed that curse," she sighed, "did you forget that?"
He brushed past her and went inside. Tears began to fill Melody's eyes as she watched him go. Squishie pawed at her leg and whimpered.
"That didn't go the way I hoped it would," she choked out before she started to cry.
Shigure was in the middle of teasing his poor editor, yet again, when there was a knock on the door. He scooted her aside, wondering where Ritsu was to distract her, and slid the door open. His reading glasses, giving him an air of intelligence and professionalism, clashed heavily with his yukata, which gave him an air of relaxed laziness. However, his usually laid-back demeanor went out the window when he saw who was on the porch.
"Ayame? What are you doing here?"
The usually happy snake-spirited man was very grim-faced. He supported a huddled figure on one arm and it was wrapped up in his favorite red coat.
"I found a very lovely angel by the road," he said quietly, "and it looks as if she's taken a tumble."
The figure glanced up and Shigure saw that it was a very red splotchy-faced Melody. He'd never seen her this upset before.
"Why don't you two come in?"
Akito had gone outside into the gardens after leaving a path of destruction through the house. He felt suffocated inside. Out here, he could think better and there was less stuff that he was tempted to break. The maids probably weren't very thrilled with him right now, he mused guiltily. He paced irritably for several minutes, torn between being furious and concerned.
I can't believe this…
He looked at his own reflection in the water. His hair was mussed and his eyes were wild the way they'd been before Melody had come into his life. His heart was thundering and his blood pressure had surged dangerously, giving him a headache and a sick stomach. He remembered how frail and fragile Akira had looked before his death. He remembered watching Akira's soul invisibly leaving his body and then feeling the terrible stillness of his hand afterward. He remembered worst of all Ren's accusations that he was responsible for Akira's death just by being born. It hadn't been fair and he couldn't help it, but that had always stuck with him. Now, some other little brat was going to replace him. Even if he didn't die, Melody might not love him as much as this baby. That alone was enough to crush him. He had become used to being her everything and now it was all going to change. He shook with fury and exhaustion simultaneously.
"I hate her," he said, not really feeling any true conviction behind it, "I can't believe she did this to me."
He thought of the stupid little pink pills in the dresser. What good were they if she wouldn't take them? He had thrown them into the wastebasket with much more force than necessary. Useless things now…
Squishie had barked at him, which had really set him off. She was now currently hiding from him, which made him all the more furious. It was a lot like the old days when nobody could stand him. As his fury ebbed, he sagged down onto one of the stone benches. The fear that settled in wasn't nearly as easy to deal with as the anger. There were too many "what-if's" going through his mind. If Melody didn't hate him before, what if she did now? He certainly deserved it. He knew he'd hurt her. And now everyone else would hear about it and he'd be the bad guy once more. He rested his head in his hands, wishing this headache would stop.
"God give me strength," he prayed.
