"All right, I want the crib over here, next to the window, where my bed used to be," I directed Soul and Black*Star. I had a really bad feeling about letting Black*Star help Soul move the crib into my old room, but I didn't really have a choice. If I'd asked Liz or Patty, Kid would've come over, and we wouldn't have gotten anything done. He probably would've sat in the corner and obsessed over the symmetry of Ben's room as opposed to the task at hand. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy, but he just wasn't what I needed right now.

"Perfect," I sighed in relief, glad that Black*Star didn't break anything.

"Well of course it's perfect, Maka. The great Black*Star was the one who put it there!" Black*Star cheered, jabbing his thumb at himself. I rolled my eyes and moved on to the next order of business.

"Okay, next we have to move the dresser. I don't want it there," I said, indicating the white dresser Soul had bought at the baby store the day before. He had insisted on moving my dresser into his room, and we'd already sold my bed. I was thinking about selling the desk, but before I could Soul moved it into his room, too. Needless to say, Soul's room was getting crowded.

"Can we take a break, Maka? I'm parched," Soul complained, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, of course. I made lemonade, let me pour you a glass." I turned to leave, but turning was not an easy feat at this point. I was seven months along, and the huge belly made it difficult to move.

"It's okay, I'll do it," Black*Star offered. It seemed whenever I needed any help concerning the baby, Black*Star was always the first to volunteer. Honestly, it was the only time I'd really seen him act his age. Oh well, at least it calmed my fears about how he would act around the baby.

"Thank you, Black*Star," I said gratefully. My feet ached from standing for so long. I'd been on my feet since after breakfast, helping the boys in the only way I could.

"Maka, why don't you sit down?" Soul asked, concerned. I looked up at him.

"I want you guys to put Ben's stuff in the right place. It's called Feng Shui." Soul laughed.

"I think that the Decorator can take a small break to rest her swollen feet," he retorted playfully. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Oh course, you had to remind me." I smiled and walked into the living room, carefully sitting on the couch. The baby made a lot of things difficult, standing up and sitting down being two of them.

"Want me to rub your feet?" Soul offered. I waved him away.

"No, I want you and Black*Star to put that dresser beside the crib. While you guys are doing that," I heaved myself off the couch, "I'm going to fold Ben's clothes so we can put them in there when you're done." I saw the look he gave me. "Don't worry, I'll sit right here on the couch while I do it."

I walked back into Ben's room, grabbed the bags of clothes, then let Black*Star usher me out. I waddled back to the couch where I began folding them. Soon, my mind began to wander once again, but this time, I wasn't thinking about Soul. I was thinking about my son. Who would he be? Would he have my eyes or Soul's? His or my hair? I was just so excited to meet him. I wanted to hold him, sing him to sleep, and dance with him. I put my hands on my belly, rocking back and forth slightly, humming. I nearly jumped out of my skin when Black*Star came back into the room.

"You have a really pretty voice. Why don't you ever sing for us?"

"Because I'm not that good. I was just singing to the baby."

"Whatever, we're done in Little B's room. And I do have to say, the great Black*Star has outdone himself!" Black*Star puffed out his chest, pride practically radiating from him. I laughed and got off the couch, carrying the basket of clothes. Black*Star reached for it, but I swatted his hand away.

"I can carry a basket of clothes, Black*Star, it isn't going to kill me!" I said, frustration getting to me. It really was starting to annoy me how much people were babying me.

"Okay, okay, don't bite my head off, Mama Bear!" Ugh, that stupid nickname. Patty had started it three weeks earlier and, much to my chagrin, it stuck. I rolled my eyes, waddling past him. "Or maybe we should call you Mama Duck!" Black*Star shouted. I smacked him upside the head as I walked by. He was really starting to get on my nerves now.

"Thanks for the help, Black*Star. You can go now," Soul cut in, also attempting to take the basket. I smacked his hand, too.

"Okay, man. Bye Soul. Bye Mama Duck!"

"Get out!" I screeched, and Black*Star was gone. He knew better than to mess with Mama. Soul just chuckled, but left me alone for the rest of the day.

"Come on! We were supposed to be at Kid's twenty-minutes ago!" I called to Soul, who was taking his sweet time walking to the mansion.

"Hey, I wasn't the one who had to pee before we left," he retorted, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"Only because the fruit of your loins was stepping on my bladder again!" I snapped, only to have the wind knocked out of me.

"Maka, are you okay?" Soul was by my side in seconds, forgetting about the fact that we were just fighting.

"Yeah, Ben just decided to stretch, and stretched into my lungs." I took big gulps of air, making up for what my baby pushed out. Since my due date was nearing, and I'd started having contractions, Soul was at my side at all times. My contractions were freaking the kids at school out, so Lord Death had Stein put me on bed rest. But between you and me, I really didn't mind.

We arrived at the mansion a few minutes later, Kid throwing open the door as we walked up.

"How can you two be late to your own baby shower?" Kid asked, thoroughly annoyed. Soul rolled his eyes.

"Baby stepped on Maka's bladder. Then, he kicked her lungs, like, three times on the way here. Sorry," Soul explained, apologizing for his son's hold ups. Kid just smiled.

"Don't worry, you aren't too late. I expected you here eight minutes ago. At least you were a symmetrical amount of minutes late. Any less or more and I would've cancelled the party!" We all laughed, though Soul and I were sure he was serious. "Come in, come in!"

As we were ushered in, Patty greeted my tummy first.

"Hello, Benji! How are you today?"

"Please, please don't call him Benji. That name is so uncool," Soul pleaded. I gave a grimace in agreement. Patty began to pout, but one look from Liz got her to grudgingly agree.

"How are you?" Liz asked, giving me a hug.

"I'm fine. Just a little tired from the walk over here." Liz's eyes widened in disbelief.

"You made her walk here? She's seven months pregnant, Soul!" She cried, glaring at Soul.

"It was her idea!" he countered. I nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry about it. I wanted to stretch my legs. Plus, the mansion isn't that far from the apartment. And it's such a beautiful day. Taking the car would've ruined it." Everyone shrugged.

"All right, let's get this party started!" Black*Star called. After that, everything went perfectly. We played pin the tail on the donkey (Kid spent an hour trying to figure out how to symmetrically put the tail on with a blindfold over his eyes. We all agreed it would've taken twice as long if he'd had his eyes open), that game where you guess the measurement of my belly (to everyone's, but my, surprise, Soul won that game. I'd bet money on the fact that he won because he hugs me all the time), and opened presents. We got a couple pairs of giraffe print pajamas from Patty, a bouncer from Liz, burp cloths from Kid, an entire bag of clothes from Black*Star, and an entire bag of burp cloths from Tsubaki (you can never have too many of those).

As we were leaving, everyone hugged us and told us how much fun they'd had. My heart felt warm from having so much fun. I couldn't believe that I could have this much happiness come out of such a stupid decision. Sure, everyone at school called me a whore behind my back. Yeah, I had my moments where I didn't want to go anywhere or do anything because I felt fat. Yes, everyone stared at my stomach as opposed to my face. But that's not what mattered. What mattered was the happiness that my baby brought me and Soul. The happiness that he brought my father, and my friends. At that moment, I realized my baby was not some mistake. He was just as Black*Star had said: a miracle. This little boy growing in my tummy was sent by Lord Death himself to rescue me, to tell me that good things can come from bleak situations. And as I walked home hand in hand with Soul that night, I let my mind go into the future, and let myself dream of the day when the three of us could walk together, as a family.

Yeah, I know this chapter is a little short, but the next one is hella long. Like, seven pages on word long. Now, there's something I want to discuss with all of you. I know I've told you that Baby Mine would have three chapters (including this one) left, but I lied. I do that a lot. There's only one more chapter left, and I'm going to upload it right after this one. The mysterious last chapter that I didn't include was supposed to be an epilogue, but I think I'm going to make it the first chapter of the next story I'm going to begin writing, which is a sequel to this one. Thank you to QuilavaKing for hatching the idea in my head for this next series. There are also a few shout outs I'd like to make.

Thank you to:

NikolaiEvans115 (I read your fanfiction before you reviewed and LOVED it. Sorry I didn't review until later)

Zuzu-animelovr

raelynn gross (God, you reviewed A LOT)

shades of green

Cheese

Silverwolf819

Rocket2SE

Alik Takeda

Thieving Alchemist

QuilavaKing

Warrman

and

Supernerdo13 (I freaking love your name haha)

For reviewing over the course of the last 10 chapters. I hope you guys will continue to read my work, and I will look into yours! I'm really surprised that this many people actually took the time to review, out of the hundreds of people on here who have read Baby Mine. You guys are all stars and for that, I thank you (I love Tosh.0. Don't judge). As repayment for you guys taking the time for me, I'll go and put a review on one of your stories (except Cheese, because I don't think they're a member). Thanks for sticking with me through the good chapters and the bad, and I can't wait to hear from you again. Bysies!