Here's the next chapter. Sorry that it's so late.
I know I said that it would be about the friends getting together, but I changed it. This chapter focuses on Seto and Joey a bit.
Enjoy!
Chapter 11- Helping a Friend
Yugi was at work. He had just gotten through seeing the patients assigned to him, and he returned to his office and sat down.
'Well, I don't have any major cases today. Simple ones.' Yugi thought. He wrote down some things he needed to remember for his daily reports.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come on." Yugi called.
The door opened, and Dr. Reynolds walked in.
"HI, Dr. Reynolds." Yugi said.
"Dr. Mutou, I hate to do this, but I have a favor to ask you." Dr. Reynolds said.
Yugi looked up from his work. "What's that?" Yugi asked.
"Well, my wife had some tests done, and I promised her I would be there when they gave her the results. I just wanted to know if you could cover for me for a few hours." Dr. Reynolds said.
"Sure thing." Yugi said.
"Thank you, Dr. Mutou. You are a lifesaver." Dr. Reynolds said.
"No problem." Yugi said.
Dr. Reynolds handed some files over to Yugi. "These are the cases that I was in charge of. I don't think that there is anything major going on." Dr. Reynolds said.
"I understand. Go on." Yugi said.
"Thank you." Dr. Reynolds said before he left.
Yugi looked over the case files before he got up to go around and see all the patients that he had been handed by Dr. Reynolds. Yugi explained that Dr. Reynolds had to leaver, but that he would be back before too long. He was just covering for a few hours. Once that was done, Yugi left each room.
"Hi. Dr. Mutou." a nurse said.
Yugi looked up to see an older woman with graying brown hair and green eyes looking at him.
"Hi, Nurse Hennessey." Yugi said.
Nurse Hennessy was the head nurse of the entire hospital.
"Dr. Reynolds left me in charge while he was gone fro a while.' Yugi said.
"Did he?" Nurse Hennessy asked.
Yugi chuckled. "I guess she hasn't figured out who really runs the floor, has he?" Yugi asked.
"Obviously not, but at least you do know who runs this hospital." Hennessy said with a smile.
It was a running joke that Nurse Hennessy was the one who actually ran the hospital floor because she knew everything and everyone really answered to her. Dr. Reynolds was a front for the most part, even if Dr. Reynolds didn't see that.
"Well, I know who runs it, which is why I leave everything to you. The only thing I will be doing is keeping an eye on his patients." Yugi said.
"Before he gets back, I'll give you a rundown of what happened while Dr. Reynolds was out so that he can relay that information to him." Hennessy said.
"Thanks. I appreciate it." Yugi said before he walked off. He walked into his office and shut the door. Yugi shook his head. 'The board thinks that Dr. Reynolds is the one in charge, but Nurse Hennessy is the one who really runs the hospital. I don't know what we would do without her.' Yugi thought.
Yugi's cell phone rang.
Yugi took it out and said, "Hello?"
"Hi, Yugi. It's Tea." Tea said.
"Hi, Tea. I don't mean to sound rude, but I'm at work, so this needs to be a quick conversation." Yugi said.
"Oh! Sorry. I didn't realize that. I was just letting you know that Tristan and I will be up from May 15 to the 24th." Tea sad.
"All right. Listen. I'll give you the number to call Ryou and let him know. Just so you know, Bakura might answer. Not sure. You can tell Ryou, and he can let Malik know." Yugi said.
"All right, Yugi. I suppose you'll tell Joey." Tea said.
"Next time I see him." Yugi assured her. He then gave her the number for Ryou.
"Thanks, Yugi. I'll let you go. Bye." Tea said.
"Bye." Yugi said and hung up. He then sat down. 'I'll worry with the plans for the get-together later. I need to worry about work.' Yugi thought as he returned his focus to the job.
Amara, Aknankanon, and Yami were sitting in the living room.
"Why did you get off early, Yami?" Aknankanon asked.
"Well, I had gotten the majority of my work done and I can do what's left here." Yami said.
"You hate the office, don't you?" Aknankanon asked.
"I don't mind the job, but I hate the office. I'm much more relaxed here." Yami said.
"That's because you don't have a secretary interrupting you every minute for one reason or another, and you don't have employees coming to complain for one reason or another." Aknankanon said, knowing from experience hoe Yami felt.
"As I recall, you did the exact same thing." Yami said.
"There were days that I did need to get away and just finish work at home. A man can only take so much before his patience runs out." Aknankanon said.
"You ran out of patience a lot then." Yami said.
"Trust me, Yami. You will have a lot of days like this." Aknankanon said.
"Yes. I remember you warning me about them when I took over. You said there was nothing wrong with doing work at home, and I know why now." Yami said.
Aknankanon chuckled. "I knew what was coming. That's why I forewarned you." Aknankanon answered.
"I'm glad for the heads up." Yami said.
"Well, since you're home early, what are you going to do?" Amara asked.
"I don't know. Yugi's at work, and the kids are still at school, so I'm kind of stuck right now." Yami replied.
"Well, you can take this time to relax. Believe me. That's what I did when I got off early and you were in school." Aknankanon said.
"Well, I'd better. I don't know when I might have a chance like this again." Yami said.
Before Yami could do anywhere, Henry walked into the living room. "Mr. Joseph Wheeler is here." Henry told them.
"He is?" Amara asked.
Henry nodded.
"Send him in." Aknankanon said.
A moment later, Joey walked into the room with Seth.
"Hi, Joey. What are you doing here?" Yami asked.
"I could ask you the same thing, Yami. I thought that you'd be at work." Joey said.
Seth walked over to Amara.
"Well, hello, Seth. It's good to see you again." Amara said, picking the two-year-old up.
"Well, I decided to leave work early. I could do what little was left here." Yami said.
"Wish Seto would do that. He lives at that office some days." Joey said.
"I'm sure that he has time for you." Aknankanon said.
"Some days he doesn't." Joey said as he sat down by Yami.
"I take it that you came over because Seto and Yugi are both at work, and you were bored." Yami said.
"Exactly." Joey replied.
"Well, you are family, Joey, so you are welcome here anytime." Aknankanon said.
"Well, Seth is, actually. I'm not." Joey said in what seemed to be a wistful way.
It wasn't lost on the three adults.
"Come on, Joey." Yami said, grabbing the man and pulling him out of the room fast.
Amara was already fuming. "Seto is being a real ass right now. He should ask Joey to marry him already! They have a two-year-old together, and they have another one on the way. He should have the decency to marry Joey." Amara said.
"Well, you know how Seto is." Aknankanon said.
"I know, but it's obvious that Joey wants to get married. I wish Seto would ask him." Amara said.
'Seto's in for it the next time Amara sees him.' Aknankanon thought.
"Uh, Yami. What's on your mind?" Joey asked.
"Nothing. I wanted to get out of there before my mother started another one of her tirades." Yami replied.
"A tirade? On what?" Joey asked.
"Well, you and Seto, actually." Yami said.
Joey's looked told Yami that the blonde had no idea what he was talking about.
"Joey, when you said that about not being a part of the family, let's just say it would have started another one of my mother's tirades on how Seto ought to ask you to marry him." Yami said.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to cause trouble." Joey said.
"No, Joey. Those tirades come at any time." Yami said.
"Well, I wish he would." Joey said wistfully.
Yami glanced over at his friends. "You want to get married to Seto?" Yami asked.
Joey nodded. "I know it seems strange, but I'd love for the chance to marry him." Joey said.
Yami and Joey were walking outside now.
"Have you talked to Seto about this?" Yami asked.
"Well, we discussed it once before we had Seth. I told Seto it didn't matter to me, and I guess Seto took it to heart." Joey said.
"Did you mean it?" Yami asked.
"Well, at the time, I thought that it would never matter to me if we got married or not, but it does bother me now." Joey said.
"Have you talked to Seto about it now?" Yami asked.
"No. I just didn't see a reason to. I don't want to cause trouble." Joey replied.
"Joey, you're upset about this, so you need to talk to Seto." Yami said.
Joey looked at Yami. "You know he's not going to listen to me about this. Seto doesn't take well to being told things like that." Joey said.
"Yeah. I guess your right." Yami said. 'But I know someone who will tell Seto this in an instant.' Yami thought.
Dr. Reynolds walked into Yugi's office. "Hi, Dr. Mutou. How did it go?" Dr. Reynolds asked.
"It was fine. There were no problems at all." Yugi replied.
"That's good to hear." Dr. Reynolds said as he took back the cases files that were his patients.
"How is your wife?" Yugi asked.
"She's doing fine." Dr. Reynolds replied before he left the office.
'Well, at least I don't have to worry about his stuff now.' Yugi thought.
It wasn't long before Yugi's shift ended, and he left the hospital.
Once at the car, Yugi saw that he had a message from Yami.
Yugi listened to the voicemail.
"Yugi, come over to my house when you get off work."
'Hmm. I wonder what's up.' Yugi thought as he got into his car and left the hospital parking lot.
Yami was hoping that Yugi got his message, so he was happy when Yugi pulled into the mansion and parked his car. He walked down the steps to meet Yugi.
"Yugi, I'm glad that you're here." Yami said.
"Speaking of which, why did you need me to come here?" Yugi asked.
"Well, I was hoping that you would be willing to go out and spend the afternoon with Joey." Yami said.
"Is he depressed about Seto not wanting to marry him again?" Yugi asked.
Yami glanced at him. "You know about that?" Yami asked.
"Oh yeah. We talk about that at least once a week. He's wanted to get married since he had Seth, but he didn't want to press the issue with Seto and have Seto get upset with him. It's gotten even worse since he found out he was pregnant again. He knows that they're a family, but I think he'd feel it even more if they were married." Yugi said.
"Well, I can't blame him for feeling this way. Anyway, would you take Joey out for a while?" Yami asked.
"Sure. Is he driving you guys crazy?" Yugi asked.
"No. My mother asked Seto to come over here, and I know she's going to get on to him about it. I just don't want Joey here when that happens." Yami said.
"All right." Yugi said as the two headed up to the house. "What about the kids?" Yugi asked.
"They won't be here, either. All except Danny, and we'll have him upstairs with Seth." Yami said.
Yugi nodded.
The two found Joey in the living room alone.
"Hey, Joey." Yugi said.
Joey looked up and smiled. "Hey, Yugi. What's up?" Joey asked.
"Not much. I thought that you and I could go and hang out together for a while." Yugi said.
"Don't you and Yami want to do that?" Joey asked.
"Nah. I have some work I need to do. I'll be plenty busy." Yami said, waiving him off.
"Well, I'll need to get Seth." Joey said.
"Don't worry about it, Joey. You two go out and have fun. We'll keep an eye on Seth." Yami said
"You sure?" Joey asked.
"Yes. We're sure. Go on." Yami said.
"Well, okay." Joey said a little uncertainly.
"Come on, Joey. We haven't hung out in a while, so we need to." Yugi said.
"Sure thing, Yugi." Joey said.
The tow then left.
'Seto, you are in for a good yelling when you finally get here.' Yami thought, knowing his mother was going to let Seto have it.
"Yami told you I was kind of depressed, didn't he?" Joey asked.
Yugi smiled. "Joey, he's just worried about you. They all are." Yugi said.
"I know, Yug, but I don't want to cause any waves between me and Seto." Joey said.
"Joey, you don't think that Seto would break up with you because of this, do you?" Yugi asked.
"No. I know he wouldn't. I just don't want to bring it up. I mean, it's not that big of a deal." Joey said.
"Joey, if it really wasn't a big deal, you wouldn't get this upset over it." Yugi told him.
Joey sighed. "I know. I guess it just doesn't feel like we're a real family since we're not married. Seto hasn't even hinted at the fact that he wants to get married." Joey said.
Yugi smiled at his friend. "Joey, I'm sure that Seto wouldn't get angry if you told him that you really want to get married. You and I both know that Seto doesn't always catch onto things like that." Yugi said.
"I know, Yug." Joey said.
The two arrived at Yugi's house, and they went in.
Since Yugi wanted to talk to Joey about this, he figured it would be best if they went back to his house to talk.
The two went in.
"Do you want anything to drink?" Yugi asked.
"Uh, tea would be fine." Joey said.
Yugi walked into the kitchen to make the tea, and Joey went with him, sitting down at the table.
"Yugi, I admit that I really want to get married. I just don't know if Seto does, and if he doesn't want to, then I'll have to live with it." Joey said.
Yugi walked over with the tea and set a glass at Joey. "Joey, do you love Seto?" Yugi asked.
"What?" Joey asked, taken off guard by the question.
"Do you love Seto?" Yugi asked again.
"Yes." Joey said.
"Do you think Seto loves you?" Yugi asked.
"Yes. I know he loves me." Joey replied.
"Then why do you think he wouldn't want to marry you?" Yugi asked.
Joey was quiet for a moment. "I don't know." Joey admitted.
Yugi smiled. "Joey, if you two talked about this, you might find out the answer, and you might not get so depressed." Yugi said.
"You think?" Joey asked.
"Yeah. I think so." Yugi said.
Joey smiled. "Well, I'll think about it at least." Joey said.
"Good." Yugi said, smiling as well.
"When I get my hands on that man, I swear that I am going to strangle him." Amara growled as she paced the room.
Yami and Aknankanon were sitting side by side on the couch, watching Amara.
The moment that Amara had heard how much it was upsetting Joey that Seto hadn't asked him to marry him, it had set Amara off. She had wanted Seto and Joey to get married when they had had Seth, so she was really after him to get married to Joey now.
Aknankanon leaned over to Yami and said, "When Seto gets here, leave the talking to your mother."
"Already planned on that. I'm just going to hold Mom back if she tries to kill Seto." Yami said.
"No. I'll hold her back. You get between them." Aknankanon said.
Yami looked at him. "Not happening. We'll both hold her back." Yami said.
"All right." Aknankanon agreed.
Amara was still pacing, so she hadn't heard what the two had said.
They heard the doorbell ring.
"Time for Seto to face her wrath." Yami muttered. He got up and went to the door.
Seto looked at him. "As I understand it, my presence was desired here." Seto said.
"Yeah. Come on." Yami said.
Seto walked into the house.
Yami placed a hand on Seto's shoulder and said, "If my mother lunges at you, run for cover."
Seto raised an eyebrow. "Why?" Seto asked.
"You're about to find out." Yami answered. He then walked into the living room.
Still not understanding what his cousin was talking about, Seto walked into the room. "What's going on?" Seto asked.
Amara turned and glared at him.
Seto gulped.
Amara was the only person in the world that Seto truly had any fear of. He held a great amount of respect for his aunt, even if he never admitted. Amara was the only one who would speak her mind and tell Seto what she thought.
'I think I'm about to die.' Seto thought.
"How can you be such a self-centered person, Seto? What is wrong with you?!" Amara demanded.
"What are you talking about?" Seto asked, keeping sarcasm out of his voice for once. No reason to add more fuel to the fire.
"You and Joey have a two-year-old son together, and you have another one on the way! When are you going to marry him already?" Amara demanded.
"I hadn't planned on it." Seto said.
"Not planned on it!" Amara thundered.
Seto jumped ten feet in the air. When his feet were back on the floor, he backed away.
"Wrong thing to say." Aknankanon muttered.
"He's dead." Yami said.
"Joey has been with you for six years! You have a child with him and another one on the way! How can you not want to marry him?" Amara demanded, her eyes ablaze.
Seto knew from the look on her face that hr had better start giving her answers or he was going to die. "I never said that I didn't want to marry him." Seto said.
"If you want to marry him, then why don't you ask already?!" Amara demanded.
"Joey told me that it didn't matter to him if we didn't get married, so I just assumed that he didn't want to get married." Seto said.
"How long ago did he tell you this?" Amara asked.
"Um, about three and a half years ago." Seto said.
"Didn't you think that maybe Joey's views would have changed? Didn't you think that he might want to get married to you after he had Seth? Didn't you think he might want you guys to be a family?" Amara asked.
"We are a family." Seto said defensively. "Joey and I are very happy with Seth. We do everything as a family." Seto said.
"Seto, did you ever think that maybe Joey would want a little more? Maybe you guys are family in that way, but Joey feels like it's not really complete since you guys aren't married." Amara said.
"Um, what are you talking about?" Seto asked.
Yami decided to brave his mother's wrath and step in to clarify a few things with Seto. "Seto, what Mom is trying to say is that Joey feels like he's not a real member of this family since you two aren't married." Yami said.
"What?! How did you come to that conclusion?" Seto demanded.
"Because Joey told us that earlier." Yami said.
Seto's eyes widened in shock.
"Seto, Joey says that Seth is a part of this family, but he doesn't feel like he is." Amara said.
Seto started to understand. "I didn't know Joey was feeling this way. He never said anything to me." Seto said.
"That's because he didn't want to cause an argument between you two." Yami said.
"Since when?" Seto asked.
"Okay. He didn't want to cause a major argument. Seto, Joey thinks that you don't want to get married, but he really wants to, and I think he's starting to get depressed about it." Yami said.
"What? Did he tell you that, too?" Seto asked.
"Yes, actually." Yami said.
Seto groaned as he sat down. "I wish he would have just told me. I would love to marry Joey, but I just didn't think that he would want to. That's why I didn't bother." Seto said.
"Seto, either you ask him to marry you, or I'm going to kill you! You have two kids now!" Amara growled.
Seto cowered. "I-I will." Seto said.
"Good. Maybe Joey will stop being so depressed when you do." Yami said.
"Well, that was simple enough." Aknankanon said.
"I hope to hear of an engagement soon." Amara said.
"Yes, ma'am." Seto said, knowing that she meant business.
"Come on, Seto." Yami said, leading Seto out of the room.
"That went well." Aknankanon said.
"He'd better ask him, or I'll kill him." Amara muttered.
"What?" Seto asked.
"You'd better ask him soon." Yami said.
"I know. I just wish Joey had told me how he felt." Seto said.
"I know, but you know how Joey. He considered himself lucky that you even returned his feelings. I think he's just afraid that he'll lose you if he rocks to the boat too much, for lack of a better way of putting it." Yami said.
"I get it. I'm glad you told me. Just out of curiosity, did Joey tell you he wanted to get married?" Seto asked.
"Yes. He told me he wanted to get married in actual words." Yami said.
"Well, I guess I'll need to go shopping for an engagement ring." Seto said.
"Probably." Yami agreed.
"Thanks for talking with me, Yugi, but I'd better go back and get Seth." Joey said.
"I know, Joey. Just listen to what I said. You never know. Seto may actually want to get married." Yugi said.
"Maybe." Joey said.
The two got into Yugi's car and headed back to the Sennen mansion.
Once there, Joey got Seth and left.
"So, how did it go?" Yugi asked Yami.
"It went fine. I think Seto gets the pint." Yami said.
"What's the point?" Yugi asked.
"That if he doesn't ask Joey to marry him, my mother will kill him." Yami said.
"I hope that Seto asks Joey soon because I have a feeling that your mother would carry out the threat." Yugi said.
"She would." Yami said as he slipped an arm around Yugi's waist.
"Hey, Dad." Mitchell said.
Yugi and Yami turned to see Mitchell, Brighton, and Sophia coming up the steps.
"And how was your day?" Yami asked.
"It was fine. Who got yelled at?" Brighton asked.
Yami blinked, surprised. "How did you know that?" Yami asked.
"The only time you let the chauffer take us anywhere is when you want us out of the house so that someone can get yelled at." Mitchell explained.
"Your grandmother was having a discussion with Seto." Yami said.
"About Seto marrying Joey." Brighton said.
"Do you kids know everything that goes on in this house?" Yami asked.
'Henry keeps us informed." Mitchell said as the three kids headed in.
Yami covered his face with his hand. "Why do I bother trying to keep anything from these kids? That butler tells them anything that they want to know." Yami said.
Yugi laughed. "Stop trying to keep everything from them then." Yugi said.
"All right. I get it." Yami said.
The two headed in the house as well.
Two days later, Yugi opened the door to a very ecstatic Joey.
"Yugi! Guess what?!" Joey exclaimed
"Joey, get in here so you don't le the entire neighborhood know what's going on in your life." Yugi said.
"I really don't care right now." Joey said.
"Well, I don't want to be known as the guys with the crazy friend." Yugi said. He grabbed Joey and forced him into the house.
"Look, Yugi!" Joey said, showing Yugi a ring with a sapphire jewel in it with two small diamonds to each side. "Seto asked me to marry him!" Joey said excitedly.
Yugi smiled. "That's great, Joey." Yugi said.
"Yeah. I owe Yami big time. Seto told me what Amara said, and you were right. I should have just told him. He would have understood. In fact, Seto said he would have asked me to marry him before Seth was born, but he wasn't sure if I wanted to." Joey said.
"See. All you had to do was talk to him about it." Yugi said.
"I know, Yugi. Thanks." Joey said.
"Any time." Yugi assured him.
Yugi and Yami were having lunch together.
"So, can I assume that your mother is happy now?" Yugi asked.
"I take it that you heard about the engagement." Yami said.
"Yeah. Joey was real excited. He was glowing. He showed me the ring, too. Seto did good." Yugi said.
"I know. He's glad to be out of the doghouse with my mother, and he's glad that he and Joey are going to be getting married. I would have thought that Seto would ask him anyway." Yami said.
"Well, you never know how people will react. I just know that Joey is happy now, and I'm glad that he's happy." Yugi said.
"So am I. At least my mother will stop ranting about how Seto should get married to Joey." Yami said.
"She'll just be going on about when the wedding will be." Yugi said.
"Two months." Yami said.
Yugi blinked. "What?" Yugi asked.
"Seto has already planned for the wedding to be in two months. He's having everything planned. He wants to get married fast. He'd get married this month if he could get everything together." Yami said.
Yugi smiled. "Well, that's good news, actually. At least Amara knows when the wedding will be." Yugi said.
"I know. I'm glad that Joey and Seto are going to be happy." Yami said.
"That's a plus, too." Yugi agreed.
Hope you liked it. I just wanted to do one like this.
Next: Should be when all the friends get together.
R&R.