Happy Sunday! I'm updating a day early because I CAN. Haha!

R/R, and enjoy. :P

As they headed back to the original room - the kind, maternal nurse from before pushing Serenity's wheelchair - the hospital seemed almost peaceful. Seto realized that he had started to breathe normally and his heart rate had slowed back down, which also caused him to realize just how panicked he had been earlier. In that way, the measure of his relief was also a measure of how anxious he was before, and he found himself shocked and uncomfortable that he had reacted to the afternoon's events so strongly. He wasn't sure what that said about him or the situation, and he also wasn't sure whether he had the energy to tackle that question.

To make matters even more complicated, as they entered the room, he was shaken from his thoughts by the sight of both Mokuba and Yugi waiting inside.

The former leapt up, his eyes wide with concern.

"Hey! Yugi told me that something bad happened!" he exclaimed. "What's the matter?"

"It's a lot to go into, but it's going to be okay," Serenity replied from the wheelchair, giving him a tired but reassuring smile. "We'll explain in a minute."

Mokuba opened his mouth to respond, but the nurse raised a hand for silence.

"I'm sorry," she said. "But I need to get Miss Wheeler settled for the night. Can the two of you step out into the hallway for a moment?"

Seto looked at Yugi and Mokuba and realized that they were the two she was addressing, and as far as the nurse was concerned, he was welcome to remain in the room with Serenity if he chose. However, he was desperate for a moment with his brother.

"Go on," Serenity urged him, noticing that he was conflicted. "I'll be fine."

Seto nodded, thinking that maybe he should say something else, but he found himself ushered out into the hallway before he could think of what that would be.

He did, however, know exactly what he wanted to ask Mokuba.

"How did you know where to find us?" Seto demanded once the door was shut behind him. "I have your phone with me."

"Exactly," his brother replied. "I've lost it so many times that a few weeks ago, I finally enabled the tracker. Today, as soon as I realized I didn't have the phone with me, I logged into my account remotely and traced it. I saw that it was at the hospital and put two and two together."

For a fraction of a second, Seto relaxed enough to give him a look of pride.

"Good job, little brother."

"Thanks."

"And as for you... what are you still doing here?" Seto demanded, his expression hardening again as he looked over at Yugi. "You've found out she's okay, so go home."

Mokuba chose that moment to jump in.

"Seto, Yugi was really helpful to me this afternoon. I was having trouble finding the room the nurses gave me, and I ran into him and he helped me find my way here. He also told me what you told him, so I had an idea of what was going on. And besides... he's Serenity's friend, too."

Seto sighed, looking back and forth between the two of them.

"Yugi, I suppose I appreciate you keeping my brother company, but that still doesn't make this any of your business. That said, I don't have the power to throw you out, so if you want to say a few words to Serenity, that's your prerogative."

Yugi nodded solemnly, but he still wasn't given a chance to talk, because at that moment the door opened again.

"She's settled in," the nurse announced, beckoning the three of them back into the room. "An orderly will come by in a few minutes to check on her. In the meantime, we ask that you limit the number of guests. The official number for daytime visitors is three, so what you have now is fine, but please don't bring along anyone else. Starting at 8 PM, however, the limit becomes one overnight guest."

The three agreed and the nurse departed.

"Hey Yugi," Serenity called from the bed. "What brings you here? Is everything alright?"

"My grandpa's dealing with some recurring infections, but he's going to be fine. They've started him on a new round of antibiotics and they're just keeping him overnight to run some tests," Yugi replied. "What I want to know how is you're doing."

Serenity paused once he said that. It looked to Seto as though she had been hoping the conversation wouldn't come back around to her so quickly.

"There's a lot to go into, but like I told Mokuba, I'm going to be okay," she said finally. "And it looks like the baby is, too. But that said… I guess I have some explaining to do, huh?"

"It can wait," Yugi replied. "You should take a second to relax."

The tension was thick, but over the course of the next few minutes, Mokuba found a place to sit at the edge of the bed, Seto took a seat in the chair, and in the absence of any more comfortable options, Yugi settled for the vacated wheelchair. When it began to seem as though nobody knew exactly where to go from there, Serenity finally took a deep breath and broke the silence, addressing Yugi.

"The bottom line is that I'm two months pregnant, and the baby is Seto's. I came in today because I was having some bleeding. It scared me a lot when I didn't know what was going on, but I've gotten an ultrasound now, and the doctor said he doesn't think it's anything major. In fact, he was ready to send me home, but Seto told him I should stay overnight."

At those words, Mokuba glanced over at Seto, who nodded almost imperceptibly.

Of course Seto would choose to err on the side of caution, and of course it was because of their mother. As they both knew, he had already watched this same drama play out nearly twenty years before, and he was going to do everything in his power to change the ending the second time around.

Yugi appeared as though he may have noticed the look that passed between them, but he didn't comment.

"Mokuba, there's no way I could have done this without your brother," Serenity continued. "To be totally honest, I actually called your phone first because I was afraid I was overreacting and I didn't want to bother Seto. I was really startled when he was the one who picked up, but it ended up working out. He dropped everything and met me at the door and made sure every nurse and every doctor gave me their complete attention. I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't been here."

Mokuba smiled in a way that suggested he wasn't as surprised as Serenity imagined he might be.

"I don't doubt it," he said. "If there's one thing Seto's good at, it's getting things done. But hey… I want to do my part, too. Anybody hungry, by any chance?"

Taking off his backpack and unzipping it, Mokuba pulled out a few white cardboard containers of what was unmistakably Chinese take-out, and Seto watched Serenity's eyes light up.

"You're the best!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "What did you get?"

"Spring rolls, fried rice, and pork dumplings. Let's get a buffet started."

He began to open the containers and set them on the table that hung over Serenity's hospital bed along with chopsticks, napkins, and a few bottles of water. Once the spread was complete, the two of them each took a pair of chopsticks and passed the containers back and forth, Serenity marveling over the food and admitting that she hadn't even realized how hungry she was.

While they were preoccupied, Seto turned to Yugi.

"If you have some kind of master plan to get Wheeler here and solve all our problems with a family reunion, you can just leave," he hissed. "The situation is under control. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this isn't your business."

Yugi sighed.

"Kaiba, I don't want to tell anybody what to do - "

"Good, then don't. Turn around and walk right back out that door. Go back to your grandfather, and keep what you've learned tonight to yourself."

Yugi paused, shaking his head.

"Part of me wishes I could. But I just care too much about everyone involved."

Seto moved to reply, but he stopped short as he realized that the room had fallen silent. Looking up quickly, he found that Serenity and Mokuba were both looking up from their meal, and they had both apparently heard at least the end part of the conversation.

Serenity put down the carton of fried rice that she had been holding and gave Yugi a meaningful look.

"It's been good to see you, Yugi," she said. "You've been really understanding, and I appreciate how concerned you are about me. But from what I'm hearing… it sounds like there's something you want to talk about."

Though she didn't come right out and say it, Seto was certain that everyone - including her - knew exactly what Yugi was going to bring up.

"I guess, more than anything… I just want you to tell me why you haven't told Joey."

And there it was.

Serenity looked over at Seto, then back to Yugi.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked. "You know my brother better than anyone. He would lose his mind.

This all happened completely by accident, but you know he wouldn't take my word for it. He would jump to his own conclusions and go after Seto."

"You're probably not wrong," Yugi agreed, "but even if that's the case, he's still your brother, and the two of you live together. He's going to find out eventually, don't you think?"

"He is, but I want it to be on my terms. Under the right circumstances,"

"And... those circumstances haven't happened yet?" Yugi asked gently. "Didn't you say you were already two months along?"

Kaiba had heard enough. He leaned forward, scowling.

"Why is it, exactly, that she has to make decisions about her life based on your timeline and your expectations?"

"She doesn't," Yugi admitted. He hadn't even flinced at Kaiba's tone and expression, though many a lesser man would have. "I just feel bad for Joey. He's my best friend, and he loves Serenity more than anything. If anything were to happen to her and I had known something but not said anything to him, I would feel awful."

"Well, there are more important matters at hand here than your self-righteousness and guilty conscience, aren't there?" Kaiba demanded. "So how about you keep your opinions to yourself?"

"Seto - "

Mokuba started to cut in, but Serenity interrupted him.

"Yugi's got a point," she said firmly. "I've been lying to Joey for two months now. And I've hated every minute of it, but I thought I was doing what was best for everyone. I'll be the first to admit that it's getting out of hand. Now that it's been this long, though, I really don't know where to start."

They all paused and looked around at one another. Between the four of them, there was a spectrum of emotions: Yugi looked resolute, Kaiba looked angry, Serenity looked guilty, and Mokuba mostly looked bewildered.

Incidentally, that didn't keep him from speaking up first.

"Yugi, Serenity was right when she said that you know Joey better than anyone," he said. "Do you have any ideas about how to break the news?"

"I think the sooner, the better," Yugi suggested. "And it actually occurred to me that maybe it shouldn't be Serenity that does it."

They all looked around at one another.

"Who, then?" Seto challenged.

"If you two wouldn't mind… I'll volunteer."

"You would do that for me?" Serenity asked, incredulous.

"For you, but also for Joey," Yugi replied. "I want to be there for him when he finds out, and I think the best way to make sure that happens is to do it myself. I can even go tonight, if you want."

Mokuba looked at Seto.

"I'm going with him," he said decisively.

"Mokuba, I don't - " Yugi began.

"I want to!" the former insisted. "I want to do it for Joey, but also for my brother. I want to make sure that somebody's there to tell Joey that Seto's taking responsibility and that he cares a lot about Serenity, because that's not what Joey's going to think."

"Mokuba, you know I would tell him all of that," Yugi said.

"But it will mean more coming from me."

"I think the two of you should go together," Serenity agreed. "For moral support. I feel guilty for not doing it myself, and I probably always will. But I think Yugi's right: he should know as soon as possible, and if he can hear it from two of his friends, it will be easier to take."

"You just focus on feeling better," Yugi assured her. "We'll get it all taken care of."

...

Stay tuned - next chapter we tell Joey! Ahhh! ( O^O )!