Chapter 21

Yohji sighed as he washed Aya's plate. They'd had to have him handcuffed to the chair while Yohji fed him. Aya had humoured them with a roll of his eyes.

The entire time they were eating Aya was baiting Schuldig, trying to get a rise out of him. It was like dealing with two year olds, only Schuldig was the only one throwing a tantrum. Aya was just enjoying the spectacle he was making.

What was the worst part was that Schuldig was living with them right now, because they couldn't take the chance of Aya escaping. Which also meant that they had to put up with Crawford.

There was no way in hell Yohji was going to be making ice cream runs at two in the morning for Schuldig!

"You're awfully loud." Aya pointed out to Schuldig, who was in the middle of another 'I should scare you!' rant.

"You know, if you would just go for a walk every day you might not be putting on weight. Just a thought." Oh no! Here they went again!

Schuldig was particularly sensitive about his pregnancy, so every time Aya wanted to get a rise out of him he would either call him crazy or call him fat, even thought Schuldig's stomach was just a bump. Our girls don't even throw tantrums like that! Yohji thought with a snort as Schuldig started yelling.

"If your friend is not careful he's going to end up dead," Crawford pointed out as he set down a bag of the truffles that Schuldig had begged for like his life depended on it.

They had a ceasefire right now. Crawford was playing along with it out of amusement. Schuldig was determined to have Aya afraid of him. And Weiss needed Schuldig to help them get Aya back. Add on Knight and they had a full house.

He was just glad that Knight had told Pawn and the others to leave them be for now. The last thing he needed was any more guests!

It was bad enough that they were having to cook for everyone! But then that was a small price to pay for unlocking Aya's memories. They'd had to start gradually, as they didn't want to put too much of a shock to Aya's system. Who knew what would happen if they overdid it.

"And you're not getting any of my truffles, you bastard! Everyone else can have some! But not you!" Schuldig was still going on while pointing his finger in Aya's face.

Yohji wondered how much longer he'd have to put up with this for. He wished Schuldig weren't pregnant when they had to go through this, then the man could be his cold calculating self. But then again, who knew what he would do if he was thinking without all the hormones. As it was the pregnancy seemed to be hindering Schuldig's abilities somewhat, exhausting him every time he went through Aya's memories.

The last memory Aya had received was, again, of Schuldig. Yet another fight with Schuldig. Schuldig had promised him that the next one would be something about him instead. And he even promised it would be a good 'something' and not just screwing with them. The telepath knew that it was the only way they'd agree to him going into Aya's head constantly. Help or no help they weren't going to let Schuldig just have his way with Aya's mind. They'd already left him with one psycho, they weren't about to do it again.

"Tell your boyfriend to quit being an ass!" Schuldig screamed at him suddenly.

"Excuse me?" Yohji snorted. "Did you ask him nicely to stop?" Yohji grinned. Schuldig huffed and wandered back to Crawford and leaned into his arms.

"Brad! He's not stopping! I even tried getting into his head, but I'm exhausted and he's being mean!" Schuldig whimpered.

Yohji couldn't help but laugh outright at the ridiculous picture Schuldig made whimpering and clinging to Crawford. How in the hell had a pregnancy reduced Schuldig into…okay, he'd seen some of the same behaviour in Aya, but not nearly this silly. Aya had pouted, and had thrown fits…okay, he could definitely see the similarities. Having his genetics messed up like that had done a number on Aya. He had been more hormonal than any teenage girl Yohji had ever met. And pregnant women had nothing on Aya. So he supposed he shouldn't be that surprised by Schuldig's behaviour. But it sure as hell was funny regardless.

"Abyssinian, you had better leave Schuldig alone or I will kill you," Crawford warned. It was hard to scare someone that had no fear, just like it was hard to piss off someone who had no fear. A lot of emotions branched off of fear, like rage, depression, anxiety, and even happiness. Sometimes you were happy with what you had because you were afraid of things getting bad. Aya didn't have a care in the world because nothing mattered to him.

The only thing that seemed to matter was pissing off Schuldig, which was amusing for the most part.

"Meow," Aya said to Schuldig, a reminder of his being 'the crazy cat person'.

"Fuck you!" Schuldig screamed, looking ready to launch at Aya.

"Fuck me? Sure, as long as you can keep your stomach out of the way," Aya taunted.

"I'M NOT FAT!" Schuldig roared.

Ken snickered from his spot at the table, trying to keep it in. Omi just looked exasperated.

Crawford was holding Schuldig around the waist.

"Funny, those are your truffles on the table, right? Those will go right to your hips." Aya said, putting on a mock 'worried friend' tone.

"You're going to remember me! You're going to remember the hell out of me! And then I'm going to scare you so badly you'll be hiding under the bed!"

"Calm down, Schuldig, you're not doing our baby any favours," Crawford reminded him.

Schuldig huffed, but clammed up.

"He does keep you well, doesn't he. Better do what your boyfriend wants, wouldn't want him to walk out on you, would you?" Aya asked with a tilt of his head.

"Brad, you wouldn't…"

"He's messing with you still, Schuldig. You should know this game very well, you practically invented it," Crawford said with a chuckle.

"You see, even he isn't taking you seriously anymore. Where are you going to go when you're so fat that he'll walk away. As soon as you can't put out he'll be gone,"

"You won't leave me, will you, Brad?" Schuldig pouted.

"Wow, how the mighty have fallen," Yohji snorted.

"Schuldig, why don't you go upstairs and rest," Crawford said with kiss.

"Looks like you've been dismissed," Aya snorted.

"Shut the fuck up!" Crawford snapped at him, surprising them. He'd been very calm so far, and it was very rare to hear him swear.

"You really should rent him out to kids' parties," Aya baited.

"Here we go," Ken snorted. For right now they were enjoying the show, but it was Yohji's job to make sure things didn't go too far. They needed Aya back, and without Schuldig's help that might not ever happen.

Author's notes: Thanks JollyBigSis, ShonenAiSorcerer, and Ranma for your reviews! :)