Alrighty then, let's get this story underway.
As you've read from the synopsis, all is not right in the CL world, but Yumi's pregnancy is just the first and minor problem.
Enter Suspense Here
Enjoy!
An Unexpected
Development
Part 1: Surprise
"Ok Yumi, that
should do it" Jeremy said over the intercom system as he sat in
front of the computer in the Control Room of the Factory with Odd,
Ulrich and Aelita standing behind him, all four of them slightly
nervous, worried and confused.
Down a level in the Scanner Room,
one of the Scanners opened up with a hiss and a cloud of mist,
quickly followed by Yumi as she stepped out of the machine and walked
towards the elevator.
"Well, it's going to take the computer
a while to go through the scanned info, so would you mind telling us
what's going on?" Jeremie asked as she walked up to her friends.
He had a right to sound grumpy. Just like Aelita, Ulrich and Odd,
he was worried about her and her disappearance from school that day.
And when they'd finally heard something from her, she'd given
them no answers but an order to meet at the Factory.
Yumi took a
deep breath to steady her nerves, looked her worried friends in the
eye and said:
"Well, in a nutshell... I'm pregnant"
Flashback - Early Morning
The day
began so perfectly with a deep blue sky speckled little with small
white clouds, the song of busy birds and cars and people filled the
air with activity, and Yumi was busy too, throwing up in the
bathroom.
"Uunh..." she groaned as she stood up from
where she'd been bent over the toilet and flashed it before turning
to the basin to wash her mouth of the awful taste still burning her
mouth and throat.
"What's wrong with me?" she thought
as she gurgled some mouth wash before spitting it out. "Am I
getting sick? Or maybe it's something from last night's dinner-"
But before she could finish the thought her stomach clenched
again, and she quickly rushed and reached the toilet just in time
before throwing up into it again.
"Yumi?" her mom's
muffled voice drifted in past the closed door.
"Are you OK?
What's taking you so long in there?"
"Uh, nothing Mom!"
Yumi said, groaning a little as she felt her stomach ache a bit
again. "I'm almost done!"
"Well, hurry up or
you'll be late for school!" Mrs. Ishiyama said before walking
away.
Yumi waited until she heard her mom's footsteps disappear
before she slowly got back to her feet.
After washing her mouth
again and grabbing her bag, she made her way down to the kitchen,
peeked around to make sure her mom wasn't there, quickly grabbed some
of those stomach settler pills she'd seen her dad take and then
headed out to the front door and off to school.
She knew she
should have told her mom, but she was so busy these days with Hiroki
and Dad that Yumi didn't want to add more worry to her live.
So
Yumi popped on of the little tablets into her mouth where it started
to fizz, swallowed and started of to Kadic.
But at school
luck just wasn't with her. During lunch, as she and Aelita sat
together in the cafeteria and waited for the guys, Yumi was wracked
with pain again and almost threw up again.
So with Aelita's help
she went to the nurse's office, and after a brief examination by
Dorothy, she found herself being driven by her mom to the hospital.
"So Yumi" Dr. Erika asked as she sat next to the slightly
frightened girl, "I just have a few questions to ask you.
Firstly, how long have you had these illnesses?"
"Uhm,
a few days" Yumi said as she idly rubbed at the spot on her arm
were they'd drawn blood.
"And it's mostly in the mornings?"
Yumi nodded.
"Ok, one last question: How long ago was
your last period?"
"Well, I should've had it days ago.
It's a bit late"
"I see. Well, then Yumi, I think it's
safe to say we know what's happened to you. You're pregnant"
"Pregnant?!"
Ulrich stared in shock at Yumi.
Yumi nodded and blushed slightly
under the stares of her friends.
"Wha- But- How?" he
stuttered.
"That's what my Dad wanted to know" Yumi
said as she thought back to how her parents had taken the news. Her
mom was shocked, but seemed to take it OK, but her dad...
He'd
yelled at her, his face red with anger, and demanded to know how it
happened, how she could shame her family like this, and finally and
most importantly, who the father was.
"Hey yeah, who is the
father?" Odd asked.
"It's not... you and Ulrich didn't,
y'know-"
"NO!" Yumi and Ulrich said, glaring at
Odd.
"Hey, just asking" Odd said, hiding behind Aelita.
"Yeah, well, that's what my dad wanted to know too"
Yumi said.
"It's not William, is it?" Ulrich asked
suddenly, his face darkening with anger. Yumi shook her head again.
"Well then who?" Odd asked.
Yumi stared at the
floor for a while and then said:
"There is no father"
"What do you mean there's no father?" Odd asked.
"It
means, Odd, that I haven't slept with anyone" Yumi said, glaring
at Odd.
"I'm still a virgin"
"Oh, uh, oh"
Odd said sheepishly, looking thoroughly embarrassed.
"But
Yumi, that just doesn't sound possible" Jeremy said from his
chair as his computer slowly but surely finished up it's work.
"Yeah" Odd said. "I mean, I might be failing
Biology, but even I know you need a mommy and daddy to make a baby"
"Oh no" Aelita said, a thought suddenly popping into
her head.
"You don't think it's... Xana?"
Yumi
nodded again. "Yeah. That's why I wanted the scan. Just in case
he's the one who did this to me"
Beep Beep Beep! the
computer beeped as it finished it's job, and as one the gang turned
to the computer to see the results.
"Ok, let's see know"
Jeremy said as he went through the data.
"Everything else
looks alright so far, except for the extra cellular and hormone
activity caused by your.. uh, by the pregnancy.
Hmm, I don't see
any of Xana's codes or ghosts anywhere"
"Could you
still help me find out whose the father?" Yumi asked, her voice
a little urgent, a little scared.
"Hang on" Jeremy said
as he typed away at the keyboard, and within seconds the computer
gave them the answer to their question,
opening up a window on
the screen with the child's DNA.
On the left side was Yumi's, and
on the right...
"No way" Ulrich said, shocked.
"It
can't be" Jeremie muttered, stunned.
"Oh man" Odd
said, surprised.
"But how?" Yumi said as she and the
gang turned and stared at Aelita.
"Me?" Aelita said in
shock as she stared at the screen where her face floated next to
Yumi's.
