Disclaimer: I own nothing!

WARNING: Unedited because I'm a lazy fuck.

Chapter 29: Early

"Hey, where is everybody?" Allen wondered as the group he'd been on the mission with entered the Asia Branch. Per usual, scientist rushed to and fro, sprinting back towards their labs or to hand off paper work to someone. None of their friends were waiting for them. Not Timcanpy, Lenalee, Lovino, or Kanda. "I wonder what happened."

"Maybe they forgot when we were coming back," Miranda suggested quietly, pressing close to Marie who put a comforting arm around her.

"Hm, maybe," Allen murmured, but an uneasy feeling had settled in the pit of his stomach. Something had happened, and he wasn't sure what, but he was sure it was nothing good. Leaving the others by the door, he took off at a light jog towards his room, hoping against all odds that Kanda was just there sleeping or reading a book.

He turned the corner into the resident wing, and ran smack dab into a stack of white towels. The stack let out a curse of surprise, falling back as Allen fell away from it. "I am so sorry!" Allen immediately cried, moving towards the woman leaning back on her right hand, rubbing her head.

"Watch where you're walking next time, fuckhead," she began before slowly trailing off, her eyes going wide. "Oh shit! Allen, there you are!" she cried, jumping to her feet. She snatched up his wrist, jerking him to his feet, "We have to get to General Cross' lab, right now! Grab some fucking towels and get moving!" She scooped as many of the now messy towels from the floor, waiting impatiently for him to grab the last few.

"What?" Allen asked, utterly confused. He stared at her with wide eyes, frozen to the spot.

"Lovi!" Antonio shouted, throwing his arms around her as he hurtled down the hallway. She tilted sideways, but stayed standing. "How are you and our baby, my darling? I'm sorry I've been away so long." He pressed as loving kiss to her cheek, grinning widely.

"Antonio, get off! I can't deal with you!" Lovino shouted, jerking out of his arms and glaring at Allen, "Get the rest of the towels and let's get moving, Allen!"

"But why?" Antonio pouted, whining just enough to grate on Lovino's fraying nerves.

"Why?" Allen echoed, fear slicking his words.

Lovino stared between them, her mouth falling open. "You seriously don't know. I thought Fo would have told you by now. She and Bak were supposed to meet you at the entrance. We sent them maybe five minutes ago."

"Well, they didn't," Allen growled, his patience wearing thin, "What's the matter, Lovino? What happened?"

"Kanda went into labor."

Allen's stomach dropped out of his body through his feet, and he could have sworn his heart stopped. In the blink of an eye, he was tearing down the hallway towards Cross' lab. Lovino's and Antonio's voices faded behind him. The only thing he could see was the hall in front of him, and the only thing he could think of was his lover giving birth by herself.

…..

"Kanda!" Allen shouted, bursting into Cross' lab, frantic and scattered. He rushed towards her where she lay on the usual cot, clutching Lenalee's hand so tightly that the other girl's hand was beginning to purple. He took her unoccupied hand, feeling her strength as she squeezed his hand. "Kanda, I'm here, are you alright?"

"Do I look alright to you?" she snarled back at him, releasing Lenalee's hand. The other girl rubbed at it, trying to rub away some of the soreness. "God dammit, this hurts like fucking hell. God, I fucking hate you so much."

"What? What did I do this time?" Allen asked indignantly, unconsciously rubbing the back of her hand soothingly with his thumb. "I just got back. Seriously, what could I have down in that time?"

"You got me pregnant, you ass," she snarled, and then sighed. Her grip relaxed, her tight expression going lax.

"You are such a wimp," Cross shot at her as he pulled back from where he'd had his head stuck under a blanket at Kanda's raised feet, "You're not even done with the first stage yet. Suck it up, pussy. You're only dilated about three centimeters; you've still got another centimeter to go."

"You can't be fucking serious," she snarled, raising her head enough to glare her trademark flaming daggers at him.

"As serious as Tiedoll and family." Cross rolled away, not looking back as Kanda let out an explosive laugh, covering her face with her hands as the images of the night she'd caught them filtered through her mind's eye.

"That's a fucking riot, you sick bastard. How is General Tiedoll doing anyway?" Her voice held a note of knowing and accusation that had Cross glancing over his shoulder at her. She still had her eyes covered, but she could see his stare. A savage grin split across her face.

"General Tiedoll's doing fine," Allen piped up, glancing between the pair in confusion, "He was with us on the mission. For some reason, he kept disappearing at random times. He wouldn't come back for days, and then he'd suddenly turn back up when it came time for us to fight."

Kanda removed her hands from her eyes, staring pointedly back at Cross who simply narrowed his one eye at her. "Maybe he was off seeing someone he wasn't supposed to. Maybe he had this weird, scary relationship with a man twenty years his junior. I don't know. Just a theory."

Lenalee stared at her with wide eyes, quickly making the connection by the way the other girl was staring at the redheaded man. First, a spasm ran through her insides in disgust, her stomach contracting at the thought. Second, she shrugged the feeling off. Third, she told the other girl, "Everybody needs love."

"And some need less than they usually get," Kanda replied, not peeling her eyes from Cross.
"I agree with Lenalee," Allen said, confusion crinkling his forehead, "But who do you think General Tiedoll could be seeing? I mean, there's not many women running around the Order that are around his edge. There are hardly any women period."

Cross, Kanda, and Lenalee all stared at him incredulously. He stared down at his hands, trying to come up with a person, ignorant of their gazes. "You really are an idiot," Cross muttered, turning away from the group.

Allen's head jerked up. He stared at them, getting more confused by the moment. "What? What did I do this time? I was just wondering. I seriously want to know who he's seeing. Do you have an idea?"

"Well, I don't know, baka moyashi, maybe he's seeing your-" Her words suddenly cut off, her voice pitching high, as another contraction hit her, this time much more painful than the last. She clutched at the bed railing and his hand, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!" she chanted, angrily, her muscles straining. When the contraction passed, she looked to Lenalee. "How do you women deal with it? This is like torture. No, actually, I'd take torture over this. I'd take having to talk to a gushing Road talking my ear off while fighting a pissed off Tyki over this."

Lenalee shrugged. "Maybe we just have a higher pain threshold when it comes to long term and internal pain while men have a higher threshold for pain that comes from physical injury." She shrugged. "I couldn't tell you, that is just what I think it may be."

"You have a point," Allen agreed, reaching forward and brushing hair out of Kanda's face. She batted at his hand half-heartedly, grumbling her discomfort. "Hey, Kanda, I think we should talk while we still have the time."

"You want to talk now?" Kanda growled, rolling her head towards him with uninterested, half glazed eyes.

Lenalee and Cross, sensing a conversation they weren't invited to, stood from the seat and headed into the hallway to wait for Lovino and the rest to appear.

"Yeah, before, you know, the really bad contractions hit."

"Fine, what did you want to talk about?"

A light blush dusted Allen's cheeks as he murmured, "Baby names. We didn't get the chance to before I had to go on that mission, and haven't gotten to since. So, I figured, now would be as good as any." He was beginning to ramble, so he sealed his lips shut, watching her hopefully.

Sighing, Kanda pushed herself up into her hands, watching him from under her bangs. "Alright, what were you thinking? We need boys and girls names."

"I was thinking that if we had two boys to name them Ronan and Tamotsu, and if they are two girls I was thinking Satsuki and Rosette. I think the names are pretty." Allen shrugged, smiling sheepishly up at her.

Rubbing circles into the back of Allen's hand, Kanda muttered, "I like Ronan and Satsuki, but I also like Setsuko which means 'melody child' or Nori meaning 'belief'. The other name means 'May', like in the month."

"I really like Setsuko," Allen said, his grin widening until his cheeks began to hurt with the strain.

"We're decided then?"

Allen nodded enthusiastically. "You know, I thought this was going to be a lot harder than it was."

"What? Why?" Kanda asked indignantly, glaring at his other hand as it messed idly around with something stuffed deep into the pocket of his Exorcist coat.

Allen shrugged. "I don't know, I just did. I thought it was going to be a fight to the finish, like most things are with us." He chuckled under his breath.

Kanda's eyes narrowed on his pocket as she became increasingly agitated. She could feel another contraction coming on, and she knew it would be the worst so far. "Seriously, what are you messing with in your pocket? Just take it out already." She pulled at his hand, trying to make him pull it out.

The blush that had previously dusted his cheeks returned, staining them a deep apple red. "Okay, um, you can't get mad at me, alright? I have a question for you beforehand though." He left his hand stuffed down in his pocket, holding her eyes imploringly.

"Okay, what's the question? Why am I going to be mad at you?"

Allen pulled his hand nervously from hers, rubbing it agitatedly against the leather of his pants. He averted his eyes, his blush darkening another shade. Clearing his throat, he muttered to himself, "Just get it over with." Inhaling deeply, Allen swiftly retracted his hand from his pocket.

Resting in the palm of his hand was a small velvet box covered in blue fabric. On the top was a small, black bow. Pulling open the lid to show a small, silver ring with a lotus flower and sapphire jewel in my middle, he mumbled almost incoherently, "Will you marry me?" His eyes were squeezed tightly shut, blind to the shock raging across Kanda's features.

"You seriously want to marry me?" Kanda whispered in amazement, her eyes darting between Allen and the ring, "Even though it's forbidden by the Black Order and I'm an asshole?" She was actually really worried about her personality. Though he'd been putting up with her BS since they'd first met, she was worried he'd get sick of her after another couple of years. She'd never admit to her worries though. They could all go on thinking she had as much self-esteem as a steam train had steam.

Allen's eyes jerked open. He stared at her in wonderment. "Of course I do! Fuck the Order! And your personality it one of the things that I love about you! I don't think you realize just how much I love you." He took her hand once more, pressing a soft kiss to her palm.

Heat crawled up Kanda's face, and it was all she could do not to pull her hand back and hide her face with it. Just as she was finally ready, pain ripped through her body, five times worse than the last time. A cry ripped up her throat, her fingers convulsively clutching at Allen's, crushing them. She collapsed back on the bed, grabbing for anything she could hold onto.

Cross was back in the room in a flash, moving around her to prep an epidural. He disappeared under the blanket again, resurfacing within a few moments. "You've dilated to about 5 centimeters. Now your contractions are going to get worse and come every two to five minutes."

"Are you serious?" Kanda screeched as the pain ebbed enough for her to talk.

Lenalee rushed to Kanda's other side. The others cowered by the door, watching the melee ensue with every more frightened expressions.

Kanda collapsed back on the bed, breathing in gasping spurts. She looked up at Allen, her eyes slightly glazed over with pain, and murmured, "My answer is yes, baka moyashi."

Beaming, Allen leaned over, pressing a gently, chaste kiss to her lips. Discreetly, he slipped the ring onto her finger, dropping the box back into his pocket.

By the door, Marie smiled.

Yep. I really don't have anything else to say about this chapter. We'll see born babies neck chapter, and genders. I hope you liked this chapter 'cause there are only two more chapters left now. See you next time :D