Hello, wonderful readers! I'm sorry about the wait!

I've been a mixture of sick, stupidly busy and any free time I've had to try and write has ended up staring at a screen blankly. I hate writer's block so bad. But I'm doing my best! I'm hoping the next update won't take as long, but if it does, I'd be grateful for your patience.

Thank you to all those who has read this, and especially those of you who left reviews! I've loved seeing your reactions to this.

One guest reviewer in particular though, I send you all my love. You know who you are. xxxxx

A big thank you to Luxah for help nearer the end of the chapter with dialogue between Kai and Ray!

Anyway, I won't ramble! Without further ado...

Chapter 18 – Bumping Heads.

Yui sat with her hand firmly squeezing her son's hand.

The hall way was eerily quiet. The awful silence only broken by the sound of the rain hammering against the roof or every now and then by other visitors or nurses walking by them.

It had been this way for hours.

His mother had stopped her words of comfort for the time being. They'd lost any kind of power after the first few hours.

Ray didn't know if he was glad for the quiet or not. All he could do as replay the moment where his partner's head hit the rock again and again.

He stared at he opposite wall, tears streaming and feeling sick to the stomach. Coming in stronger and more intense in random intervals, depending on the severity of the awful thoughts floating around his head.

What if Kai was really badly hurt?

What if the baby...?

The lump in his throat got so large, he couldn't swallow.

This was all their fault, his fault.

The two of them going at each other the way they had the past months. The yelling, the senseless arguments. The stubborn, stupid unwillingness to back down or see the other's side.

And for what? At what cost?

He felt himself start to break again.

Everything had gone to hell... everything.

He moved his bloodshot eyes off the wall, turning his head to her as he squeezed the hand holding his.

"Mom..." his voice cracked.

Yui instantly pulled her baby in to her.

"They're going to be all right..." she soothed as she felt his shoulders shake.

The moment she said it, they shook harder.

"Then what's taking so long?!" his voice strained.

She held him tighter.

"You know Tao and Aoba are doing everything they can. They're going to be as thorough as possible to make sure they catch anything they need to..."

Part of her bit her tongue as she soothed him.

She'd warned him. She'd warned Kai. Tao had warned them both countless times. Aoba had talked to them both as well, it seemed.

And yet still, here they were. All of them terrified and worried senseless.

All because those boys...

The thought stopped there. As did her anger.

That was probably the bottom line to this entire mess.

Her son and Kai were exactly that. Two boys playing grown-up.

Engaged and getting closer by the day to becoming parents.

It wasn't an excuse, but it was a reason.

After a while of consoling, the doors finally opened and the short, old man they were pinning all their hopes on to walked down the hall.

The three of them sat up, Ray getting out his seat and bolting towards him.

"Master Tao! How are they!?" he begged to know.

The wrinkled man's stern face looked him up and down, cracking his neck.

"Well, his head needed stitching up. Going to be sore, but nothing serious..."

Ray's heart raced. That was one relief...

"And...?"

Tao let his crumpled face unclench as he sighed.

"This time I'm not sure. I have some suspicions, but no way of telling. I contacted a hospital on the outside to bring an ultrasound."

Ray stood, feeling his heart stop and his world crack.

"...What do you mean?" he asked, voice shaking in time with his body.

The old man's eyes became more sympathetic.

"I mean there are some things I just can't check without getting an inside look. Your child is alive and in no immediate danger from what I can gather. But judging by the gash on Kai's head, that was quite a fall. I don't want to rule out some possible complications just yet."

On one hand, he was relieved. It sounded like they were all right...sort of?

But what kind of complications?

"Well...when are they bringing it!?" he asked desperately.

Tao raised his hand to quiet him. He was getting to that.

"I contacted them not long after you brought him in. They said they'd send one immediately. If they did that, I estimate it they will arrive within the hour." He said before patting his arm, "perhaps while we're waiting for them to get here, you could fetch Kai some clothes. He won't be going home any time soon..."

Ray's heart dropped yet again. That sounded ominous.

"Even if everything comes back fine?"

Tao let out a huff.

"That boy isn't leaving my sight for the foreseeable future regardless..." he bit before turning, "Now, do as I ask. Fetch him some clothes."

Ray knew better than to argue back. But he wasn't prepared to leave him either.

He did have the bag Kai had with him when he'd left...they were soaking wet, but surely the hospital had somewhere to wash and dry stuff?

A gentle hand fell on his shoulder.

"Leave that to me, sweetie. I'll take that bag and get it all dried. You stay here, all right?"

Ray let out a grateful smile. His mom always was something of a mind reader.

He thanked her, watching her go and the door falling closed behind before it near enough burst back open the second it did.

"Ray!?"

With a stampede of wet shoes sliding a little against the floor, a blonde, brunette and blue-haired charged their way towards him.

Ray remained speechless as appeared in his face.

"Ray!" Tyson cried back, "We just heard! What happened?! Are they all right?!"

Ray groaned. He was hardly in the mood to be the one reassuring them.

"They're not a hundred percent sure yet..." he told them heavily, "Waiting for an ultrasound machine to be brought in from an outside hospital."

Max grabbed his fired up friend by the collar and pulled him back a little. Give Ray some space to breathe.

"So...what happened? Lee said he'd hit his head outside. What were you both doing out in a downpour like that?" he asked firmly.

He'd had a feeling something bad was going on for a while.

Kai had been banned from practice. Every time he asked if he could come see him, Ray got weird about it.

So he wasn't exactly surprised to see Ray shifting uncomfortably in front of him at the question.

His amber eyes stared at the floor, not wanting to look at any of them.

Should he tell them?

He'd been dying to...he just didn't want to drag any more people in to their stupid drama.

"Ray...?"

He dared to raise his shame filled eyes to them.

"...He was leaving me. I went after him to stop him..."

The three sets of eyes widened.

"Leave you?! Why!?" Tyson yelled.

Max thwacked him on the arm. Why did he always have to get so loud when he was nervous?

Ray stayed quiet for a moment before he let out a sigh from deep in his gut, slumping back down on to one of the chairs.

"Take a seat...it's a long story..."

The three exchanged glances before obediently taking a seat.

It took a while before Ray started to talk. Mainly because the whole shit show was just one big, angry blur.

But eventually he got rolling.

How they'd argued non stop about Ben.

How jealousy over losing authority turned in to a new kind of jealousy...

How he'd told Kai a million times to take it easy, calm down and insist it was nothing like that.

He wouldn't listen.

How Kai started spending more and more time with Aoba.

Ran to Aoba about every little thing.

How Ray became jealous of them.

He'd gone and drunk himself stupid and told Ben all about it.

Kai stayed at Aoba's.

Ray dragged him back.

Dragged him to Tao after he went ape shit on him, getting him suspended from the team completely.

How he'd found out just what a snake in the grass Ben really was, toying with Kai's head and making him feel the way he did.

How he'd gone to confront him, only to have Ben kiss him and touch him.

How he'd smashed his damn head in to the ground.

...How he'd come how to find out in the mean time, Kai had run to Aoba's and done the same thing to him.

Which...brought them all up to speed.

...Saying it out loud, he wondered how he, or either of them, had let it get to where it had.

What the hell had happened to them?

How the hell had things gotten so toxic?

"...Geesh...the hell happened to you guys?!" Tyson spewed out, earning him another thawck.

"Damnit, Tyson..." Max growled in a tone unusual for him.

"What?! Is it not fair to say that things got out of hand here?! Were you not thinking how this was affecting the little guy!?"

Ray bolted up on to his feet as his eyes slit.

"Of course I did! I tried, Tyson!" he yelled as his voice broke, "I tried! Nothing I did helped at all because I was trying in the wrong places until it was too late!"

Tyson wound his neck in and blinked as he watched Ray crumble down in to tears in a way he'd never seen before.

He grabbed his shoulders with his gloved hands.

"Hey...come on. It isn't too late. Mystic Man said Kai was going to be all right and I'm sure once they check on the little guy, they'll fix up anything that needs fixin'. Maybe in a weird way, this was the universe's way of bumping your heads together...by bumping Kai's..." he rambled.

Ray choked out a small laugh.

He shouldn't have...but Tyson sure had a way with words.

Tyson's grin came back, glad to have gotten a smile out of him.

"It's not over...you two can work it out. Come on, man. You know you two were meant to be together. And the fact that you were given the chance to have a kid of your own just proves it. So things got a bit rough, big deal! Talk it out and move forward! If Ben was causing such a problem, well, I'm assuming he's gone now! Problem solved!"

Ray and Max shook their head. He was trying to be wise...and was so close.

"Thanks, T..."

Tao poked his head through the door.

"Ray? We're ready for you now."

Ray barely remembered to wave at them as he darted through the door after him as quickly as he could.

He forced himself to walk at a normal pace and stay patient as he caught up with Tao.

"Is...Is he awake?" he asked as the nerves kicked up.

Tao nodded.

"He came to a while ago. A little groggy, but he seems to understand what's going on."

Ray nodded.

"Does he know I'm coming?"

"Yes."

"...and is he all right with that?"

Tao shrugged.

"It's too bad if he isn't."

Ray sighed yet again.

That was hardly comforting...

His heart hammered against his chest as Tao stopped at the door, pushing it open and standing aside for him to go in.

His legs went to jelly as he caught a glimpse of slate hair.

Sensing his hesitance, Tao put his arm around to his back and pushed him in.

He froze and took in his head wrapped in bandages, covered by flops of silvery hair. His paler complexion, eyes pointedly avoiding him and making his heart sink.

He caught the other eyes that were looking at him. Aoba's as well as a complete stranger. A human, giving him a soft nod.

It was then Ray finally took in the room. The new machine with a small screen that the human was tinkering with.

Aoba cleared his throat to try and get his attention.

"Here, why don't you come sit down?" he offered, standing up from the stool beside Kai's bed.

Ray stared at him, a little overwhelmed and nodded, making his feet move and go around the bed, passing Aoba and taking a seat.

Kai's eyes were still covered by his long bangs.

The stranger cleared his throat.

"Are we ready to start?"

Both Kai and Ray nodded silently.

"All righty..." he said in a forced, chipper voice as he approached the...pregnant man...

"If I could just..."

He knew these people had the ability. But the one carrying wasn't one of them. And it threw him off.

He carefully lifted the bottom of Kai's tunic, pulling it up to show his bump.

"I'm uh...gonna put some gel on your stomach now. Might be a little cold."

As Ray watched him reach for the bottle and squeeze the goop on his partner's swollen belly, he saw him flinch.

He didn't care if he wanted it or not. He grabbed his hand.

Hell, he needed it himself.

"OK...let's have a look..."

Ray looked at the contraption he held in his hand and pushed over his belly with both nerves and curiosity.

Within seconds, the small screen came to life.

Black and white...something appeared on the screen.

He squinted, and just as his eyes figured it out, his ears were graced with a rapid, rhythmic whirring and pulsing.

His entire face fell, his mouth unable to stay closed.

Kai's head shot to the side too as the sound hit him.

The man saw them both and turned his head back to the screen.

"Got the head there look...there's the arms. Legs there..." he pointed out for them.

Neither of them really acknowledged him.

They were too busy gawking in complete awe at the grainy screen.

"Good, strong heartbeat its got..." he continued as his hand moved the wand over his belly more.

Ray felt Kai's fingers wrap round his tighter.

"Mister Tao, if you'd like to look here..." he said carefully as he pointed at the screen.

Kai's eyes snapped from the screen to Tao, watching him look and pull a face.

"What!?" he begged, the first time he'd made a sound since Ray had come in.

Tao raised his hand to silence him.

They weren't done.

Ray felt him grip on to his hand like a vice.

Several agonising minutes later, they were finished.

As the image from the screen vanished, it felt like their baby disappeared.

Kai wanted to protest, have him do it just a little longer, but Tao turned to them and folded his arms.

"It looks like you're leaking fluid. There's a tear somewhere." he informed them bluntly as he folded his arms.

Kai and Ray both physically recoiled.

"What does that mean!?" Kai spat out in panic as he shook.

Tao sighed.

"It means you're not going anywhere for the foreseeable future, and we're going to need to up your fluids to try and replace anything you've lost and hope the tear heals over."

Ray gripped his hand tighter.

"And...if it doesn't heal?!"

Tao hesitated.

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it...but there could be some pretty severe complications. We'll do all we can and I'm sure if you follow everything we say it won't come to that..."

More ice slipped down in to their guts.

Tao couldn't hold his tongue any more.

"I warned you both, did I not? I told you this had to stop! This child has yet to take a breath of air and it's life has been risked countless times! Sadly, for the most part, at the fault of its parents!"

They sunk in to themselves as crippling shame raised its head yet again.

"For the last time...pull yourselves together before it does something I can't help you with..." he spat before he stormed out the room, shortly followed by the very uncomfortable looking technician and Aoba.

The midwife jogged a little to catch up with the fiery old man.

"...I know you were right for saying it, but did you have to kick them when they were both down?" he asked with a slightly scolding tone.

Surely it was bad enough hearing that without another lecture on top.

"Yes." he replied bluntly, "They both need a good, hard dose of reality."

Aoba decided to leave it at that. He knew better than to question him.

"...You think it'll heal?" he asked.

Tao perked up a little.

"Yes. I think it will. As long as he stays here under our watch."

Aoba nodded. Feeling a little better at how certain he seemed.

Tao felt the tension and decided to break it by bringing up their little wager. Lighten to mood a little.

He cocked a sly brow.

"...You saw the images, didn't you?"

"I did..."

"What was it you guessed it was?"

Aoba smirked.

"A girl...you guessed boy, right?"

Tao smirked back as they both let out a chuckle.

"Looks like someone owes me coffee..."

The door closed, leaving the room in an awful silence.

Kai's eyes went back to the now blank screen that had just given them their first glimpse of their baby. Two arms, two legs, ten fingers, ten toes...

The rapid, whirring sound of the heartbeat still ringing in his ears.

And crushing shame and guilt ever growing.

Tao was right, he'd risked this kid's life too many times now, and now he didn't even know if it was out of the woods.

Ray sat there beside him, not sure what to make of everything.

There it had been, proof that this was happening.

He knew it was going to, obviously, but somehow this just cemented it more firmly.

Really knock him on his ass when he needed it, when they needed it.

He couldn't really distinguish any kind of emotion or feeling.

That was his baby, their baby, that he had just seen.

So tiny, fragile, worth more than the world to him.

"Kai..." He choked out a little, the remainder of his tears still in his eyes.

His voice brought him back in to the room with a bump, his own face straining as his chest heaved and breathed frantically.

"...What have I done?!" his voice shrieked out in disgust at himself.

"It's gonna be okay..." Ray said as comforting as he could, his heart clenching on him, gripping his hand and bringing his other to join it.

This was his fault, he wanted to make it right but still didn't know where to even start.

Kai's chest heaved more, curling up in to himself.

"No, it isn't! I ruined everything!" he cried, "What if it gets worse?! What if I killed it?!"

Ray's eyes widened.

"Please calm down Kai, he was fine. His heart was strong, you heard it." Ray sighed, "He's going to be okay."

Kai snapped his streaming eyes to him for the first time really since he'd been in the room.

"But you heard him! If that stuff keeps coming out it could get really bad!"

"I know, I know... I don't know what to do about it but stressing over it isn't going to help right now. I know that sucks, trust me I do, but there isn't anything we can do for it physically. You need to calm down though, or it can get worse. You heard Tao, they are going to do what they can. They won't let anything happen to him." Ray tried to reason, half for Kai and half for himself.

He had to be stronger though for him, be the shoulder that he needed since this began.

Kai's head fell back against the pillow, blowing out breaths in between hiccups and sniffing.

Ray rubbed the pad of his thumb along the top of Kai's hand.

"I'm so sorry." He choked, fighting back his own damn tears.

The moment Kai felt his touch, the effort needed to steady his breathing went up ten-fold.

"It's me that f-fucked it all!"

"No, it's not." Ray told him firmly, "You know that, this wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for me. You wouldn't have gone through half of what you did if I had actually been a decent partner for a change..."

Kai shook his head at him. "I drove you away! I should have listened...but I never did! I cared more about some...asshole than our child...what kind of monster does that make me?!"

Ray watched him for a second, this wasn't helping. Kai kept getting riled up when he needed him to calm down.

"Stop it." He wrapped his fingers around Kai's hand tighter, "It wouldn't have come to that if I had listened to you, it's not either of our faults separately here. We've both screwed up. I should have listened to your concerns better, actually been there for you. Not let someone else take care of you and my child, that's on me. I don't blame you for that, I meant it when I told you I wasn't mad."

Kai did as he was told for once and quieted. There was no point going around in circles yet again about who did what.

No, Ray wasn't completely innocent, but he didn't deserve getting cheated on, accused of cheating.

He may not be mad...but how were they ever going to fix all this?

"...I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, I just want you two to be okay." Ray told him gently, smiling a little at him as he went back to brushing his thumb along the back of his hand.

Kai nodded, not knowing what else to do or say. "...What are we going to do?" he asked quietly.

Ray paused for a minute. Hell if he knew...

"Take it a day at a time, do what Tao and Aoba say to make sure nothing gets worse." He offered.

He stared at him. That was as good as anything he could think of.

But his question had two meanings.

He nodded and braced himself.

"And...when I get out of here..." he started.

"You're coming home." Ray told him quickly, not giving him a second to finish his sentence.

His answer made him both relieved and scared at the same time.

"You sure you still want me?" his voice wobbled.

Ray got up, letting Kai's hand go for a second as he stuffed his hand in his pocket and pulled out Kai's ring. The very one he'd thrown back at him before he'd picked up his bags and left the house.

Ray shifted awkwardly.

"If you'll still have me..." he choked back.

A noise left Kai's throat, trying his best to hold everything together.

He wanted to say 'of course I will', but it wasn't that simple.

He turned his head away.

"I...what if nothing changes?! What if we can't fix it? What if it just goes back to how it has been? What if-"

A hand gripped his chin and forced him to look back in to amber eyes.

"We're going to have to make sure that doesn't happen...we're better than this." his stern voice told him.

Kai gave him a look.

"...But how?"

Ray let go of his face, using his hand to pick up Kai's while the other fiddled with the ring.

"I guess we'd better make some some pre-marriage vows to help us along..." he said softly as he placed the ring at the tip of his ring finger, lifting his more playful eyes back to Kai's.

Kai sniffed.

"What did you have in mind?"

Ray smirked.

"Repeat after me...'I promise to listen to Ray from time to time.'..."

Kai blinked through his wet eyes at him a few times before he let out the slightest laugh.

"You're such a dork..."

"Yeh, but you love that about me...now say it."

Kai eyed him.

He was right...if they were going to even start and fix this, he'd have to 'take the corn out his ears' sometimes...

"I promise to listen to Ray from time to time..."

Ray smirked.

"Ray promises to listen to you from time to time too...but Ray's still wearing his ring unlike someone..."

Kai's famous smirk came back.

"Just get on with it..."

Ray's fang slipped out.

"I promise to accept what's best for my family and swallow my own pride..."

Kai shot him a glare.

"Say it..." he coaxed.

"I promise to accept what's best for my family..."

Ray arched a brow after several moments of silence passed.

"And...?"

"...And swallow my own pride..."

Ray chuckled.

"There you go...was that so bad?"

"Hn. Torture."

Ray's fanged smile spread further. It had been so long since he felt like he'd talked to Kai...

As in 'real' Kai.

But his smile fell as he got to the one he really needed to hear.

The one that caused him more pain than he wanted to let on to Kai. Cut him the most.

"I promise I will never kiss any other man but Ray..." he said in a quieter voice as his grip on Kai's hand got stronger.

Kai's eyes dulled in guilt.

"I promise I'll never kiss anyone but you...I'm so sorry Ray."

Just as Ray feared, he'd set him off again, watching the big, remorseful tears pour out of him.

"I know you are..." he told him as he squeezed his hand, "and I'm willing to put it behind us. I just want to put these ugly few months behind us and move on...together. The three of us..."

Kai's sniffling, tear stained nod was all Ray needed to slip the ring back up his finger where it belonged, taking a minute to admire it on his hand.

"You know the same goes for me...I promise to listen to you. Hear you concerns and think about your feelings more. Be there for you more..." he said as he brought his hand down to Kai's belly, "for both of you..."

The sweet moment was broken by a rumbling noise.

Instantly, Kai's face went from serious to mortified as he felt the vibrations start off in his chest.

Ray blinked before letting a laugh belt out.

It still hadn't really sunk in that Kai purred now.

And by the look on his fiance's face, Kai wasn't used to it either.

The threw caution to the wind and climbed in to the bed, laying beside him and pulling Kai in to him.

Lord knows he needed this as well.

He let his own chest start to rumble along with him.

He could only smirk when he heard Kai's explode in to loud, thundering rumbles.

"Heh...you sound like a monster truck." he mused.

Kai whacked him.

"How do I turn it off!?"

"Just calm down."

"I am calm!" he hissed.

"No, I mean calm your breathing. The harder and faster you breath, the more intense it is."

Kai tried. It worked...kind of?

It didn't help that Ray started rubbing his belly just the way he liked.

Just the way the baby liked it too, it seemed, as Ray felt movement beneath his hand.

"Hey buddy...you doing all right in there?" Ray said to it softly and mindlessly.

The purring stopped.

"...What if it isn't all right..."

Crap.

"Stop!" Ray warned, "You heard the heartbeat, you feel him wriggling...he's a tough little guy." he comforted quickly.

Kai nodded, but Ray could tell he wasn't overly convinced.

He had to take his mind elsewhere. Somewhere more pleasant.

"...Did you see him sucking his thumb?" he asked in a dreamy voice.

Kai melted. He thought that's what he'd seen.

"Yeh...those tiny little hands..."

"His hands may have been tiny, but did you get a load of the size of his head?" he asked with a playful smirk, "must have gotten that from you..."

He thought he'd done the trick until he saw Kai wince and press his thighs together hard.

"Yeh...enormous head..."

Ray winced back, the thought making him want to cross his own legs.

That was a dumbass thing to say, Ray...

"Um...sorry. You're uh...probably not going to like me very much, are you?"

Kai shook his head.

"...Unless you guys do pain drugs...You don't, do you?" he asked with a pang of hopefulness.

Ray shook his head wearily.

"Nope...you and mother nature..."

Kai nodded frantically.

Had to stay calm...no need to panic...

"Fine. It's fine...not that far to push out...can't be all that bad." he tried to comfort himself.

Ray nodded quickly in agreement, getting a glare in return.

"Just like me breaking your hand probably won't be so bad..." he growled back.

Ray shrugged.

"As long as it isn't my blading hand?"

"Hn...asshole."

Ray silently let out a breath of relief. He thought the mood was going south.

"Ray...?"

"Hn?"

"Are you uh...planning on being 'that end' when it comes out?"

Ray paused. He hadn't really even thought about that yet.

But he knew what the right answer was.

"Nope. Wouldn't dare."

Kai sighed in his own relief.

He wouldn't say no to him if he wanted to...not after all the crap they'd been through.

But God, would probably be like watching your favorite theme park getting bulldozed...

He shook his head at himself.

The whole time he'd been pregnant, the only thing he'd really kept in his mind was pushing it out.

It terrified him.

Only made worse by those god awful dreams.

But what terrified him even more was everything that came after the cripping pain and the blood.

The eighteen plus years of raising what he pushed out.

Keeping the human they were cookin' up safe, alive and fed.

As stupid as it was, he'd ignored the fact that they were going to be parents this entire time.

For one simple reason.

He ran his hand over the swell of his belly to join Ray's.

"I'm not ready for any of this..." he blurted out quietly.

Ray let out a sigh. The mood had come down.

"Me either..." he admitted.

He passed off like everything was all fine and dandy. But deep down, he was shitting a brick.

"I don't think anyone ever really is." he added, "but they all seem to manage..."

Kai went quiet on him, and he knew he needed a diversion.

"Hey! We need to start thinking about names!" he let out excitedly, "And on that note, whose last name are they taking?" Ray asked, it finally hitting him that they had never once mentioned this at all.

Kai blinked...why hadn't they discussed it before?

That was an excellent point...

"...Who's name are we taking?"

Ray shrugged at him, "Kai Kon sounds kind of funny..."

He nodded, relieved he felt the same. "Sounds stupid..."

"It really does." Ray snorted, "I like your last name better anyways, so I don't mind taking yours at all."

Kai tilted his head. "You are an only child...your parents seem the kind that would want the name to continue."

Ray shrugged again, "It doesn't matter what they want. It's up to us. And I really don't think they'd care that much anyway."

Kai's eyes went up to the ceiling, making Ray frown a little.

"Where are we going to get a crib around here?"

Ray choked on his breath, where the hell had that come from!?

"I- well we'll have one made like everyone else here, I guess."

Kai nodded, his head going a mile a minute.

"We don't have any baby clothes yet either...or bottles...or diapers."

Ray wanted to roll his eyes.

"We've still got a few months..."

"And the house is a death trap, we need to baby proof it!"

"I'll take care of it..."

"We haven't picked out colors for the nursery yet either..."

"I said I'll-"

"What language are we going to use? Oh! You'd better start teaching me some Chinese. Don't want them back talking me without me knowing..."

Ray sighed...he'd lost him. Off on an adventure.

He heard Kai gasp a little bit and saw his eyes water.

"Ohhhh Ray...What are we going to do when they leave home?"

Oh, for the love of...

"That's years away, Kai."

"All those years raising them up and then bam! They're gone!" he choked as the tears threatened to pour.

Ray held his hormonal partner tighter.

"It's all right...they'll come back, I promise..."

Kai snuggled in harder.

To Ray's relief, his mouth quietened and his chest revved up once again.

This was really nice...

As they lay together, letting the duet of purrs fill the room, Ray couldn't help but let his own mind take a stroll.

"Hey, Kai?"

"Hn?"

"Were we staying here after you gave birth?" Ray asked, they hadn't really discussed that either.

He had half expected Kai wanting to get the hell out of here and not look back.

But instead, Kai frowned at him.

"Where else did you think we'd go?"

"Back to Japan, where the others are. Where we actually had a better life." Ray answered, "This was just supposed to be us coming here for vacation and it turned into this."

Kai's face fell completely. "Oh...if that's what you want..."

"I don't know right now, we'll figure it out." Ray said, not wanting to put more stress on their shoulders at the moment.

Kai stayed quiet.

He hadn't expected it, but he'd grown to like it here, despite everything, and was under the impression Ray would want to stay here.

Ray watched him go quiet beside him, "If you want to stay here we'll stay, we don't have to leave if you don't want to."

His hormonal eyes welled up. "Everyone here is so nice! I want our baby to grow up with the same family vibe you did! Plus your parents are here, we can't take their grandbaby away! It'd kill your mom!" he sobbed, "And you can't take me away from your mom either, she loves me!"

"Oh yes, because I haven't noticed that at all." Ray said with a slight huff, "We'll stay then, we don't have to go anywhere. And, I guess it'll make it easier when we have the next one."

"Exactly!" He sniffed as he cuddled in to him.

Ray's eyes went as large as saucers at that response. He'd only meant it in jest really, wanting another reaction he'd had from him every other time he'd joked about having six kids.

He decided to leave that where it was.

Luckily for him, Kai's mind was still out swinging from tree to tree.

"Can you get those stair gate things here?"

Ray shook his head.

"All right. That's it. Enough questions for tonight. You need to get some rest."

Kai gripped Ray's shirt harder.

"You're leaving already?"

"I'll be back later, I promise. But you really ought to get some sleep. We'll figure everything out, but not in one night, OK?"

Kai gave him a nod back.

"OK..."

Ray lifted his hand to the dark, Prussian blue hair he adored so much and affectionately scratched his head gently.

"I love you and I always will, Kai."

Kai felt a warm shiver go through him.

He felt it this time.

And now he really didn't want to see him go.

"I love you too..."

Ray held him closer, it had been so long since he'd heard him say that.

He really did need to let him get some rest though.

He pried himself away, getting out of the bed and finding a blanket for him.

"Like my mom keeps saying, need to keep that belly warm..."

Kai pulled the blanket over the mountain and made himself comfortable.

"When will you come back?"

Ray smirked at him.

"First thing in the morning. Now..." he said as he kissed his head, "you two get some sleep."

He made himself leave before one of them said something else to drag it out.

He closed the door quietly behind him and walked down the hall, feeling like a huge weight had been pulled off his shoulders, despite not being completely out the woods yet.

He and Kai would work it out.

Their baby would come through this. He just knew it.

Things would be how they were meant to be, and in a matter of weeks, they were going to be a family.

As he pushed through one of the doors, he met with a familiar, wrinkled face.

"Ah! Ray! I was just on my way with this for Kai!" he chirped as he held up a large bottle of water, "How was he? And how are you?"

Ray shrugged.

"Scared...worried...but we'll be all right."

Tao nodded back. He seemed in decent spirits, for which he was glad.

"I have no doubt. And did he complain about his head? I have some slightly stronger pain medicine if he did...that wound was something."

Ray felt bad. He hadn't even asked about Kai's head.

"He...well, he didn't mention it..."

Tao nodded.

"I'll ask him myself!" he said before he snapped his fingers on his free hand, "Ah! That's what I wanted to ask!" he said suddenly as his tone once again turned stern, "Would you mind telling me what on earth happened during training?!"

Ray frowned. Had Tao's mind gone on an adventure too?!

"What are you talking about?"

"Ben! He came in with nasty bash on the head as well! A few hours before Kai was brought in. He said it was an accident during training, but won't tell me anything else."

Ray narrowed his eyes.

"Is that right? I'm afraid I wasn't at training, so I wouldn't know. I'll go ask the guys now..."

"Thank you, Ray. Anything that would explain how it happened!" he waved as he went back on his way down the halls.

Ray's eyes slit.

He stormed back down the halls to find Max and Tyson asleep on each other's shoulders in the waiting area with Kenny hugging Dizzi.

"Guys..." Kenny nudged them awake, making them sit up and blink groggily until they caught sight of Ray.

"Ray!" Tyson exclaimed as he leapt out his seat, "How's Sourpuss and Sourkitten!?"

Ray folded his arms.

"There's some complications, but if he stays here and keeps off his feet, Tao says he should be all right." he explained very vaguely, he could explain later when he wasn't so riled, "but listen, our captain just so happens to be here as well...poor thing bumped his head."

The three of them stiffened.

"I think it's only proper that the four of us go and wish him a speedy recovery...and hand him his official notice of dismissal."

Tyson's blank expression turned in to a Kai-esque smirk.

No one messed with their asshole and got away with it.

"Absolutely. Lead the way, buddy..."

With his pony-tail swinging behind him, he lead. Not that he knew which room he was in, but he'd find him.

That asshole was in close proximity of his mate.

He needed to make sure he knew to stay well away.

End of Chapter 17!

I hope you enjoyed it!

I do have to note, I am not a doctor, nor have I ever been pregnant. Despite looking some things up, I'm not an expert, so if someone reading this knows a thing or two and sees any inaccuracies...sorry XD.

As you can probably tell, yes, the worst is over for our couple. Fear not, things will start looking up! I've dragged them through quite enough crap over the last 17 chapters!

Would love to know what you thought of this!

Thank you so much for reading and until next time, take care! :)