The rest of the dragon shower was relatively tame.

Despite being the pregnant one, Seto only ate about a third the amount of cake that Mokuba did. Isono arrived to take all the gifts, including the binky, back to the mansion. And last, but not least, Anzu pulled out a book of old wives tales, determined to figure out whether the dragon was going to be a boy or a girl. After about twenty minutes, the inquisition was over, and the test revealed a 55% chance of a girl versus a 45% chance of a boy. The test, unfortunately, had over a 5% margin of error.

Even though Seto enjoyed himself, he still found the festivities exhausting. And he was more than a little relieved to head back to his private room to rest again.

The rest of the week was spent in constant consultation with Dr. Wu. He and Lee were both beginning to have doubts as to whether Seto or the dragon would have lasted much longer outside of the hospital. With the constant supply of intravenous nutrition, both were now relatively stable and the dragon's growth rate had picked up considerably.

Seto couldn't deny it either.

It surprised Dr. Wu, but Seto wasn't overly concerned with stretch marks, his expanding waistline, or even the discomfort the egg was causing him. Perhaps it was all those years of caring for Mokuba, but Seto Kaiba possessed an unusual amount of maternal instinct. He wanted only the best for his Blue Eyes, and was willing to put up with whatever he had to in order to make it happen.

"The circumference of the egg has grown another eight inches this week, Mr. Kaiba." Lee reported. "While you know we can't be completely sure of anything at this point, that would suggest that it's continuing to grow and develop."

"And the more it can develop, the better chances of survival." Dr. Wu added.

"Good." Seto answered.

He rubbed the egg gently. Feeling his skin stretching like that was uncomfortable.

"How much growth do you think is still left?" he looked back up at the doctor and his assistant.

"We found several scrolls indicating the relative sizes of dragon eggs." Lee answered. "I'll bring copies of them to you tomorrow."

"The measurements weren't exact, so we can't know for sure. It may very well double in size, but certainly nothing more than that."

Seto's hand froze, and his eyes grew about double their size. For the first time, he wondered if he really could go all the way through with it. He shook his head, and with it, sent that delusion of failure out of his mind. Seto Kaiba does not fail at anything – not card games, not business, and certainly not pregnancy.

"Mr. Kaiba?"

"Nothing I can't handle." He scoffed, but again his eyes betrayed him.

"On the contrary, it might be. But do keep in mind, not all human babies are carried to term. Premature labor occurs in 12% of all pregnancies. And even in babies delivered as early as 24 weeks still have a 50% survival rate."

"Those statistics don't apply to me, so don't waste your breath." Seto growled. "At what point will my Blue Eyes have developed enough to survive and hatch?"

"We don't know for sure, sir."

"You've been saying that a lot lately."

"We do believe, though, that we can predict the end of term when it gets closer." Lee offered sheepishly. "You see, when the growth rate slows down, the egg should start to harden up a little. That's the mother dragon's signal to lay it."

"Somewhere between now and that point, there is likely a critical stage where the dragon would survive prematurely." Dr. Wu added. "We're just not sure where it is."

Seto thought silently for a moment.

"Then my goal will be to get through as many days as I possibly can with the egg still inside of me."

"Yes." The doctors both agreed. "And we'll take the rest as it comes."

"Then it's settled." Seto clapped his hands together. "Dr. Wu?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Is the press still camping outside?"

"Of course. I couldn't even get to my car last night. I ended up sleeping downstairs on a table in the nurses' lounge."

"Find Mokuba. Have him hand-pick a few journalists for exclusive interviews. One at a time."

"Are you sure you're up to that, Mr. Kaiba?"

"More up to it now than I'm going to be in a couple weeks, wouldn't you agree?"