Maybe it would pop out.

Shantae took stock of her new room. White all over. Real simple bed with drab colors. A cabinet of medicine on her right. A wardrobe of patient gowns on her left. A window in front showing off the beach in front of the hospital. She wished she could join the other patients on the beach. Not that she had a choice, little Nina decided to take control of all of Shantae's mobility. Well, she could move around…but not in any timely or healthy manner. Her legs felt disconnected from her body. It didn't feel like they were asleep or she would be in a lot more pain. In a sense, there were there and they weren't.

She was bored.

With the last few days before Nina would FINALLY come out, Shantae had been moved to the hospital as she really couldn't move around her house anymore and Sky really wanted to place her friend in a safe place. Outside her door laid two guards in waiting. There didn't need to be a need for security! Risky wasn't going to attack this close to her child's day of birth!

Shantae turned to the left the best she could, given her current position and lack of mobility. God, being pregnant sucks. She's never doing it again, even if the Pirate Master brought in a entire armada and made the same offer that Risky did. She wanted to be comfortable, but this bed isn't built to be a luxury. It's built to work.

Now having a moment of lucidity, Shantae considered…what's next? After spending nearly a year with a tenant that ate and drank everything and didn't pay rent, it's going to be awkward to move around now she had a regular body again. Definitely no adventuring until she regained full control of muscles. And even then, she would need to take care of Nina…and it's safe to say that making Rottytops a babysitter is a accident waiting to happen.

Shantae gazed forward the best she could. Man, her baby bump could blot out the sun! And technically it was doing just that by preventing her from seeing out the window. Man…to be outside, to roam free, to RUN.

"Hey Nina." Shantae cooed, giving her belly a soft pat. "I don't want to rush you, but could you…hurry up? Mama is getting tired."

No response. What would Nina's first words be anyway? Something generic like 'mama', something unique like 'Shantae', or something weird like 'boobs?'

Shantae didn't feel hungry or really thirsty, so no use calling a nurse to deliver something. She felt fairly awake that her eyes would leap open if she tried to close them. And she had read everything she could get her hands on, including the book Sky got her for the shower and even a few of the hospital's pamphlets to offset her boredom.

Sky would be too busy overseeing the construction of more defenses (Just in case Sky repeated over and over) and Rottytops had made a trip to visit her family and bring them in town for the birthing. Bolo…at this stage in the pregnancy, it was safer to have him far away.

Bored, alone, and little options to fix those problems.

"Nina?" Shantae once more asked her big belly. "What do you want to do? A dancer? A pirate? A adventurer? A guard? There's so many things for you to do…"

She let out a tiny sigh while keeping a smile on her face.. "I'm worried. I'm worried that you'll grow up to be something…bad. Something that everyone would end up regretting, even Risky. And I want you to grow up to be happy and successful in whatever you do." Shantae started to tear up a bit but continued. "That's all I want from you. I guess that's all what a parent wants from their child."

Shantae took a second to let the air settle. "That, and to do chores for them." She let out a small laugh. Mom jokes! She's getting a early start.

"Nina." Shantae snorted a bit and took deep breaths to kill the giggles. "Whatever happens…I will love you no matter what. Even if I can't smile at you…I never stop cherishing you."

Shantae went completely quiet. She's talking to Nina, who hasn't been born yet, who doesn't understand any language, who can't even hear her. The loneliness of being essentiality trapped in a hospital room must be getting to her. Shantae laid back in bed, looking up at the ceiling. Perhaps counting ceiling tiles would be a boring enough activity to knock her out.

But Nina started to kick, ending any chance for some well-deserved rest.