No one dared mentioned Lloyd's name since Cole punch him in the face and threw him out of Jay's apartment. Zane heard that he had to go to the hospital for a possible broken nose, but none of the Ninja could find it in themselves to feel sorry for him. He was lucky that Nya and Skylor hadn't heard those things he said to Kai. When they had asked what had happened the boys shrugged it off, saying it wasn't something they needed to know.
After Master Wu was told about what had happened, he wasn't happy.
He knew that Lloyd did sort of deserve what Cole did, but he couldn't condone the team fighting each other. He simply gave Cole, Jay, and Zane a formal warning, and when asked he told them that Cole had made sure Lloyd was punished enough. He did suggest that they took some vacation days. They could all use a little break, Kai included. Even though Kai wouldn't say it, yesterday really shook him up. Deep down in his soul, he was worried that what Lloyd said was true.
That the others would get sick of him and dump him and the baby, leaving them all alone just like when they first met.
Nya only stayed with him because they were family and he was sure that if they weren't she wouldn't even give him the time of day. Skylor was only friends with him because she didn't know any better and she loved Nya, not him. Cole, Jay, and Zane were only dating him because they felt pity for him. He was sure that when the novelty wore off or the sleepless nights after the baby's born gets to them they would leave. They had tried to reassure him that everything would be alright.
Jay had even proposed that all four of them went away for a few weeks so that could get away from all this drama and Kai could properly focus on himself and the baby.
Kai wasn't sure about it, but he said he would consider it. When Nya returned to the apartment on her lunch break she was surprised to see Kai leaving the convenience store with two arm fulls of bags.
"I thought the guys got the groceries yesterday?"
"Yes, but I REALLY needed mint chip ice cream with gingerbread men." He grinned, gently rubbing his grumbling stomach. When the baby wasn't starving him and giving him weird cravings, she was using his bladder as a soccer ball. He could already tell she was going to be his little trouble-maker when she was older.
"You okay?" She asked when she saw the sad, thoughtful look on his face.
"Apart from Cole beating Lloyd to a bloody pulp in front of me yesterday and all the things that son of a bitch said to me, I think I'm doing alright." He replied with a nervous chuckle, only to freeze when he saw Wendy's car speeding into the car park. "Oh no." He muttered in shock as she got out of the car with a face like thunder and stormed past the siblings, into the building, and up the stairs. Kai and Nya shared a look before chasing after her, though Kai was a little slow thanks to his extra weight.
When they did finally reached the apartment, they found the door wide open and Wendy having a stand-off with Cole, Jay, and Zane, who all looked shocked and angry that she had just barged her way inside.
"NOT CONTENT WITH YOU LOT KILLING MY SON, YOU NOW SET ON MY FRIEND'S?!" She screamed and it didn't take someone as smart as Zane and Jay to figure out that Misako told her about how Lloyd got those injuries.
"Get out of my home or I'll have you arrested." Jay threatened.
"YOU'LL SAVE ME A JOB BECAUSE YOU'RE THE ONES THAT NEED LOCKING UP!"
"Us? After what your son did?!" Nya snarled at her.
"Can you all stop it?!" Kai begged, but everyone ignored him.
"You can't just leave us alone can ya?!" Cole exclaimed and Zane knew he had to do something before things got out of control.
"Look, Lloyd was the one to come here yesterday, as did his mother, but Lloyd made some rather rude and hurtful comments and it all just got out of hand." He tried to reason, but instead, Wendy turned around to glare at Kai and Zane instantly knew he'd only made things worse.
"So you've got inside their heads now have you?" She glared and this only angered Cole even more.
"If you don't get out of here right now-"
"Then what?!" She demanded. "My son is dead because of all of you, and Misako's terrified that her's is gonna be next, and now you're threatening me! But I'm not scared of you! You're all nothing but a bunch of mindless thugs!" She screeched, burning tears of anger welling up in her eyes.
"We're the thugs?! WE'RE THE THUGS?! YOUR SON RAPED MY BROTHER!" Nya bellowed, causing both Kai and Wendy to flinch.
"NYA!" Jay scolded, but it was too late to stop the younger Smith sibling now.
"Then he kidnaps, threatens, and torments him! The whole world's happier now that he's dead!"
"Can you just leave it, please!" Zane begged, but it was hopeless.
"Thanks to Morro we've lost almost everything!"
"But you're all still breathing aren't you?! So don't you DARE talk to me about what you've lost, NOT WHEN I'M BURYING MY ONLY SON TOMORROW!" Wendy shouted as the tears finally fell and an eruption of sobs shook her whole body. At the sight of her like this, Kai, Jay, and Zane couldn't help but feel bad for her. Unfortunately, Cole and Nya weren't so sympathetic for the mother of Morro.
"Your son destroyed our lives." Nya hissed.
"What about his life that you all helped end! Not to mention mine!"
"STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! PLEASE STOP IT!" Kai suddenly screamed as he ran in between his family and Wendy. "I can't hear this anymore! I can't- I can't do it anymore." He whimpered, looking ready to start crying too, as he slumped onto the couch. The anger instantly left everyone and Nya and Zane were by his side in a second. It took a few minutes for Kai to calm down enough to continue.
"I don't want to keep going over what's happened but nobody's letting me get past it; and what about the baby? What do you think all this stress is doing to her?" He asked, placing a hand on his stomach and they all looked ashamed.
"'Her'? You're having a little girl?" Wendy suddenly gasped at this news and Kai buried his head in his hands.
"I think you should leave," Cole said just as Skylor walked into the apartment. She took one look at the distressed Kai and glared at Wendy.
"What're you doing here?" She asked, but Wendy didn't look at her.
"It's alright, I'm just going." She replied after a moment and walked out with no trouble. As soon as they were sure she was gone, Skylor took off her coat and frowned at the others.
"What was that about?"
"We had a little row and Kai got upset," Jay replied.
"You shouldn't have hit Lloyd." Kai suddenly said to Cole. Lloyd may have deserved it, but the brunette was starting to learn that maybe violence only led to more problems.
"I know, it's just... after everything that's happened with you and then I heard what Lloyd said to you, I just lost it," Cole explained, but quickly pulled Kai into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry." He said, kissing Kai's cheek.
"I'm sorry too." He replied, but when they all gave him a confused look, he continued. "I'm sorry for being such a burden."
"Oh baby, you can never be a burden," Jay reassured him as he and Zane joined in the hug. "We all love you and the baby, and we promise that we will always be here." He promised and after a moment of hesitation, Kai smiled weakly and relaxed into the embrace...
Almost an hour after that confrontation everyone had finally calmed down from the fight with Wendy. In that time, Kai finally agreed to go on a month's vacation with his boyfriends to Zane's cabin up in Birchwood Forest. He needed some time to gather his thoughts, relax, and stop stressing for a little bit. The midwife had warned him at his last scan to avoid stress for the rest of his pregnancy. Especially now that he was ten weeks away from his due date in mid-July.
He was warned that stress may lead to high blood pressure during pregnancy.
This puts Kai at risk of a serious high blood pressure condition called preeclampsia, premature birth, and having a low-birthweight infant. That was something he didn't want to happen. He had yet to tell Nya and Skylor that he, Cole, Jay, and Zane were going away for a month and he was dreading it. He knew Skylor would probably be alright with it, but he was almost certain that Nya would try and talk him out of it. While his boyfriends were packing the bags, Kai decided to go to the cafe across the road to get them some decent coffees.
He entered the cafe and was about to walk up to the counter when he saw Wendy sat alone on a table near the back corner.
She tightly clutching a mug of coffee and Kai noticed her shoulders and hands shaking slightly and normally he would chalk it up to her being cold. That is if it wasn't early May. It might have been hormones, but Kai felt bad for her and wanted to make sure she was alright so he approached her.
"Wendy?" He asked and she jumped slightly when she noticed him. Before either of them could say anything else, one of the baristas approached them.
"What can I get for you today?" She asked the brunette with a large, fake smile.
"Yeah, just a tea please." He replied before turning back to Wendy. "Do you want anything?"
"Um, no I'm fine, thank you." She said and the barista left them alone to get Kai his drink. They stayed there in uncomfortable silence for a few moments, neither knowing what to say.
"I thought you'd be long gone." Kai finally commented awkwardly.
"And I will be, I was just a bit too shaken up to drive." She said, trying to still her trembling hands, but they wouldn't stop. "To be honest I don't think I want to go home; I should never have come here today." She added with a small whimper, looking ready to start crying again. Kai felt bad for the old woman and slowly at across from her.
"I get why you did, after what happened with Morro and then Lloyd you're bound to be angry." He told her, sounding very sympathetic.
"It's been so hard; with the funeral tomorrow...you never think one day you'll bury your own child." She muttered as her eyes began to water and a sob built in her throat.
"All that time looking after Morro, you must be exhausted."
"I wouldn't give a day back." She stated firmly and finally looked at Kai properly. "You look tired too."
"Yeah, I'm hoping to get away for a few weeks." He admitted, but he refused to tell her where. He was going on this trip to avoid stress and he didn't trust Wendy not to track him down and hassle him at the cabin.
"I wish I could, I'd never come back." She chuckled bitterly.
"How do we stop this?" Kai asked, but Wendy didn't know how to answer. As they were internally thinking of a solution, Kai noticed Nya enter the cafe looking for him and gestured for her to join them. Wendy looked worried, but one look from Kai told her that she was safe. "This needs to stop, once and for all before someone else gets hurt." He told his sister when she approached the table. "Morro... Morro's dead, and Chen, Clouse, and Iron Baron are all locked up, and I can't afford to keep doing this for my baby's sake, we need to move forward."
"Alright." Nya sighed, refusing to look at either him or Wendy.
"Really? This is it?" He frowned, making sure his sister was telling him the truth.
"I get that we've all lost something, and so I am sorry for your loss." The noirette told Wendy, who nodded in understanding. "But if you think-"
"No! That we don't- we don't need that bit, because we all know how we all feel about this mess." Kai quickly cut her off, not wanting another shouting match in the middle of the cafe.
"Fine, I just want to focus on my life now, and be there for you and the baby."
"Thank you." The brunette smiled at his little sister.
"I'm gonna get going." Wendy suddenly said before standing up and grabbing her bag.
"I hope that tomorrow... you know." He said, not sure what he was supposed to say to her. He couldn't say that he hoped it went well because she was burying her child, but he also couldn't say he was sorry that Morro was dead. Wendy simply nodded and walked away, leaving the siblings alone in the cafe...
That night, after grabbing the coffee for the others, Kai and Nya returned to the apartment. They thought it would best not to bring up Wendy being in the cafe as she didn't do anything to them and left without a fuss. The peace and quiet were quickly shattered however when Skylor and Nya learned that the boys were going away for a month. They tried to convince him that it was best to avoid long car journeys because he was pregnant, so therefore he couldn't go.
Kai dismissed this, however, saying that he would make sure they stopped regularly and get out of the car to stretch and move around.
He could also do some exercises in the car when they were not driving, such as flexing and rotating his feet and wiggling his toes. This would keep the blood flowing through his legs and reduce any stiffness and discomfort he might have. Wearing compression stockings while on long car journeys could also increase the blood flow in his legs and help prevent blood clots. Fatigue and dizziness were common during pregnancy so it was important on car journeys to drink regularly and eat natural, energy-giving foods, such as fruit and nuts.
Zane also promised to keep the air circulating in the car.
They quickly realized that they weren't going to change his mind, that didn't mean they weren't going to subtly try and dissuade. Jay had already gone to bed and Cole and Zane had left to pack their own bags.
"Are you sure about this?" Skylor asked as Kai started throwing a few items into his suitcase.
"Yes Sky, I need to get away for a bit."
"Where are you even going?" Nya asked.
"Zane's get this log cabin somewhere in Birchwood Forest, says it's gorgeous in winter."
"But it's almost summer?" The noirette commented.
"Yeah, I know, but I bet it's still nice." He shrugged, struggling to close the suitcase.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Everything's fine, I promise." He smiled as the two girls helped him zip up the suitcase.
"Are you leave now?" Nya asked as he carried it into the living room and placed it next to Jay's.
"No, we're leaving tomorrow." He replied before saying goodnight and heading to bed. Both women share a concerned look, but silently agreed that this was for the best and retreated to their own rooms for the night...