Lina stared at the darkened ceiling as she lay in bed and counted the kicks her baby was delivering. Beside her Gourry snored. She put her hands on her stomach and wondered if she would have an easier time falling asleep if he wasn't active just when she was trying to sleep, but the energy boost this pregnancy provided made it difficult. Granted, at first the energy boost was nice. She organized and catalogued both libraries, wrote three years worth of lesson plans and kept herself busy with research. But now that the baby was getting bigger and she was becoming less and less comfortable, she yearned for the bliss of being unconscious for long periods of time so she could forget how miserable she was. Her work was less and less up to the task of distracting her.
She'd done her best to get comfortable, arranging the pillows on her large bed so that she could wrap one leg around them as she slept on her side and was as cozy as it was possible to be when someone was actively kicking the air out of your lungs. But then she realized she needed to switch sides. With a sigh she rolled in her back and braced herself for the awkward feeling of being like a turtle who had been flipped on her back as she flipped to the other side. It was getting harder and harder to do the more inflexible her stomach became, and she couldn't help but feel like a turtle who had been flipped on its back! And then her stomach growled, and she started to think longingly of the stocked ice box, but now that she was snug she wasn't going to move.
Until a growing pressure alerted her to the fact that changing sides had placed the baby more directly on her bladder. "Shit." Lina muttered as she got up.
"You okay?" Gourry asked, his voice heavy with sleep.
"Wonderful." She snapped. It wasn't fair that she was the only one suffering!
"Huh?"
"Go back to sleep! Nothing to see!" she groused as she waddled off to the bathroom.
Once she had relieved herself she decided to give up on sleep as a lost cause as she grabbed her robe and wrapped it around herself, and then she looked at Gourry, who was sleeping so peacefully and who looked so comfortable. Like a cat who was sleeping off a good meal in the sun. Suddenly just like that, she wanted to yell at him and before she knew it, she was! "This baby is annoying! He must take after you!"
"You think he's annoying now. Wait till he comes out and I can teach him everything I know about annoying you!" He murmured.
"Don't you even…"
"Where are you going?" he asked as he looked up at her.
"To get some food."
"Bring me back a sandwich!" he said as he turned on his stomach and pulled a pillow over his head.
"Get it yourself!" she yelled, but he was already snoring again. That he could fall back asleep so easily just served to irritate her further, and before she'd given it a conscious thought she had grabbed the sheets and yanked them off of him.
"What was that for?" he asked as he curled up. Now that summer was gone, the nights were getting cold, and Lina had to grin in satisfaction knowing that he would have to pick the sheets up or freeze.
"If we're going to be miserable, we're going to be miserable together." Lina said as she walked out the door and into the hallway.
Lina could sense someone walking from the opposite direction, and as she reached the stairwell she was not too surprised to discover who it was. "Lina." Amelia said.
"Amelia." Lina replied.
In unison, both women put a hand on their swollen bellies and said, "Late night snack!"
Soon they were seated before a spread of left overs, as well as a plate of sandwiches that Nelly always left out at night, and devouring them. "Oh, I don't know what's come over me!" Amelia said as she shoveled sandwich after sandwich into her mouth.
"Growing a baby takes a lot of energy!" Lina said as she guzzled some milk, and then sighed, "And since I can't sleep to take my mind off my misery, eating is the next best thing!"
"Oh, but I pay for it with the heartburn later." Amelia said as she grabbed the cake.
"Hey, I was eyeing that cake!"
"You snooze you lose!" Amelia replied as she stabbed it with her fork.
"Oh, I am already pissed at Gourry, I don't need to be pissed at you as well!" Lina yelled.
"Why, what'd he do?" Amelia asked as she sighed and cut the cake in two and gave some to Lina.
"Right now it's just that he exists." Lina said as she grabbed her fork. "And that he is responsible for all this and isn't miserable."
Amelia laughed, "Whenever I tell that to Zel he just gets real serious and says I more than played a part."
"How is he not dead?" Lina asked. "I mean you especially have paid, and paid! Compared to you I have nothing to complain about."
"Justice is merciful, where pregnancy is not." Amelia said sacrificially as she finished her cake and then leaned back in her chair and cradled her stomach. "I try to explain to him that this is different from being sick for a day or a week. This is feeling as worse as you possibly can every day for month after month! After awhile it just wears you down, little things that would never bother you before become unbearable. Still, I just know when I meet my daughter and see how beautiful she is it will all be worth it!"
I pray she doesn't take after her grandfather! Lina thought, but managed to say, "Well, I hope she arrives soon then."
"Unfortunately we've still got a bit over a month." Amelia said, "But the end is in sight. I can't exactly give up now!"
Lina laughed as she pushed her plate away and rubbed her own stomach, "Yeah, we've come too far to turn around and give up! We'd best see this through!"
A roar of voices suddenly sounded from down the hall, and Lina and Amelia exchanged a confused glance. "What are the kids doing up right now?" Lina asked. Strange, there was a lot of commotion but Lina didn't sense any bloodlust or malevolence.
"Let's go see." Amelia said.
Then they locked eyes on each other as they realized that they were very pregnant women sitting on deep chairs. "Okay, count of three."
"Right." Amelia said.
"One, two, three!"
Lina managed to push herself off the chair, grunting a bit, "Oh, that is getting harder and harder!"
"Almost one month left! I have almost only one month left!" Amelia chanted as she managed to wriggle out of the chair, and then she groaned, "And hemorrhoids."
"Don't!" Lina exclaimed, "I don't want to know!"
"Oh, don't tell me Miss Easy Pregnancy is avoiding hemorrhoids!" Amelia exclaimed.
"Well, so far I have." Lina said.
Amelia growled, "It's not fair! If I have hemorrhoids you should have the decency to have them!"
"I'm not going to apologize for not having them!" Lina yelled.
"Oh, it sucks to have the pregnancy from hell while my friend breezes through it! I hereby curse you with eighteen hours of labor to make up for it!"
"Oh don't you dare!" Lina said as they waddled out of the kitchen.
"There's Lady Lina!" Adora cried, and soon they were mobbed by students, all talking at once.
"Hold on, hold on, calm down!" Lina said, "One at a time! Honor, what happened?"
"We were all asleep, but then we heard singing." Honor explained.
"Singing?" Lina repeated.
"Yes, we all heard her!" Honor said, "It sounds like it's coming from the walls."
"Are you sure it's not Miss Sylphiel or Mrs. Inverse?" Amelia asked.
"No, it didn't sound like either of them. And what would they be doing up right now?"
"Everyone, be quiet! Let's see if she's still singing." Lina said, and everyone quieted down. But whatever it was had stopped.
"You don't think this place is still haunted?" Jean-Luc asked.
"But we exorcised this place!" Susan countered, "We exorcised it good!"
Lina smiled, "Well, perhaps you should get with Princess Amelia and check, just to make sure."
"That will be a project for tomorrow." Amelia said, "Especially since I don't sense anything otherworldly. There are plenty of girls and women in this house. It must have been one of them. I wouldn't worry about it."
"Well pardon me for pointing out, whoever was singing sounded drunk." Betty said.
"Huh?"
Several students nodded as Betty continued, "There was a distinct cadence to her voice. She was drunk as a skunk! Miss Sylphiel and Mrs. Inverse don't seem the type, and none of the girls in the dorms have been drinking!"
Lina smiled, "That settles it then. Everyone, back to your rooms. Whoever this ghost is, you don't want to meet her!"
A crowd of protests erupted, and Lina raised her voice, "Believe me, if you leave her alone, she'll leave you alone. Now back to bed, all of you!"
Amelia looked at Lina searchingly as the kids went back to bed, and once they were safely back in their dorms commented, "I have a feeling there's something you're not telling me."
Lina smiled tiredly, "If that's the case, then trust that I have a good reason."
"Oh," Amelia said. "I guess I can do that."
"Come on, we should try to get some sleep tonight." Lina said as she turned and headed back towards the stairs.
Lina's first class, the one with her established students, went as well as she could have wanted. It even provided a pleasant distraction from how uncomfortable she was. Her smaller one with her four new ones was more difficult, mostly because while Arnold and Hyacinth listened attentively, she had to stop every few minutes to yell at Betty and Dave for talking or passing notes. When it was finally over she couldn't wait to rest in her room for a bit for a few hours before dinner. She opened the door and Gourry stood up and walked over to hug her.
She was still irritated, but she returned the hug as she said, "That new group is going to burn through my patience!"
He wrapped an arm around her and guided her to the ottoman, and then once she was seated he knelt down and started to remove her boots. "I know what you mean. Class was interesting this morning." He said as he started to massage her swollen ankles, and Lina sighed in relief.
"What happened?" Lina asked as her annoyance started to melt. "Oh, a little bit higher, please!"
"Dave and Betty were fine. They're rather ruthless, but they're engaged with it at least." Gourry said as he moved higher on her ankles, "Hyacinth is interesting. I don't even know how to describe it. It's like she knows how to fight, but she is trying to fake what she thinks is some high brow style and it's holding her back."
"Perhaps you should have Maeve talk with her." Lina suggested as Gourry stood up and moved behind her to start rubbing her back.
"That's not a bad idea really." He mused.
"How did Arnold do?" she asked as he finally got to her lower back.
Gourry was silent for a moment as he worked on a knot in her back, "Well, I paired him with Owen and had them get the wooden practice swords. You know how it goes. And they assumed their stances, but as soon as Owen attacked, Arnold started shrieking and curled up into a ball!"
Lina turned to face him, "You're kidding me!"
"No, he was screaming for mercy." He said as he put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
Lina shook her head, "This hero of Hollyred is sounding more and more bogus."
"But why would they lie?" Gourry asked, "I mean, he was completely terrified of being hit! I've never seen anything like it."
"What did you do?" Lina asked.
"Han took him aside and tried to work with him one on one. It's not often I see your dad that frustrated with a student. Well, ever really." Gourry said.
"That bad." Lina said as she leaned against him. "Well, we may have the first expulsion on our hands."
"I hate to write anyone off, but he'd just be a danger to himself and everyone else if he can't pull his weight." Gourry added.
Lina rubbed her belly, "And we need everyone to pull their weight now."
"Are you feeling more comfortable?" he asked.
"As much as I can now." Lina said as she leaned forward and kissed him, the annoyance she had been feeling with him gone. Sure, he may not have been suffering with her, but that he put in the effort to lessen her misery made it so she couldn't exactly hold a grudge. She pulled his hand to her stomach and asked, "Do you want to watch for him?"
"Yes," he said as he stood up, and then he helped her to her feet and they made the short trip to their bed, where she arranged herself on the pillows until she was comfortable and he sat down beside her. He lifted her shirt up and placed a hand on her stomach and waited for the movement to start. "You don't think, if we're attacked, that Arnold will be a weakness?"
"Sis plans to be back soon, in time for this baby shower she's throwing. I'm sure we'll have plenty of reasons to throw him to the curb by then. I wouldn't worry." Lina said, "Whoa, there he goes!"
"Wow!" Gourry said as small domes formed and vanished rapidly on her stomach, "I still can't believe that doesn't hurt."
Lina shrugged, "I've been hit by things that are much bigger and stronger."
"He looks like he's going to punch his way out!" Gourry commented.
"Well, he's got to stay put for a little while longer now." She said as she put her hand over his and thought that there would be some things about being pregnant that she would miss. Firstly the safety of knowing that so long as she carried him, they were safe from Mazoku attacks, "It won't be long now. We're way past the half way point!"
"It just seems as though we've already been waiting for so long."
"It's not like you to be the impatient one." She said as she reached forward to stroke his hair.
"So," he said as he moved so that he could cuddle up to her, "Should we work on figuring out what to name him?"
"Ugh." Lina said as she flopped back on the pillows, "You had to bring that up."
"We could get the dart board and put a bunch of names on it and throw a dart to chose one." He suggested.
"That's not a bad idea really." Lina mused. Truly, she was tired of going through her list of names and being unable to eliminate any.
"I'll get the dart board."
When Arnold arrived for dinner, he was wearing the garb of a Zeferian soldier with a shiny gold medal prominently displayed on his chest. He smiled at them as he pointed it out, "I got this for saving Hollyred." He explained as he sat down.
"How nice." Leia said, which was considerably nicer than what Lina would have said.
"How are you liking Maninstit?" Amelia asked as Nelly started setting bowls of soup in front of them.
"It's a wonderful place!" Arnold said, "Top notch! Just where I need to be."
As Nelly placed the soup in front of him, Zelgadis asked, "We've still yet to see what makes you exceptional enough to be here."
Arnold tapped his medal, "This says it all!"
"Hm." Zelgadis said.
Arnold, seemingly indifferent to Zel's frosty stare, then dipped his spoon into his soup and made a face, "Miss, what sort of sludge do you think you're serving us? This soup is stone cold! Take it away and serve us something warm!"
"Excuse me!" Nelly said as she reddened with indignation.
"It's gazpacho soup." Amelia said, mystified, "It's supposed to be served cold."
"What?" Arnold said as he turned white.
"And that's no way to treat Nelly." Gourry said. "She works hard to bring us new dishes to try."
"Yeah, if you don't like the soup, perhaps you'd like to make it yourself." Lina said.
Arnold put his fist in his mouth and started sucking on it. "I'd apologize to Nelly." Han said sternly.
"Right, right, I'm sorry, completely horrified."
"You ought to be!" Nelly said as she stormed off to the kitchen and an awkward silence fell as Arnold stared at his soup with a horrified expression on his face.
"Well, what are things like in Hollyred?" Amelia asked diplomatically, and Lina decided she wasn't even going to waste a preposterous scenario on Arnold to see if he could keep a secret. There was no way she was teaching someone like him the Giga Slave!
"You know," Arnold said as he stood up, "I think I forgot about the, um, I forgot about the…Bye!"
And then he fled and slammed the door shut behind him. Everyone stared at each other in shock for a moment, and then Lina said, "Definitely can't wait till Sis finds out what is really going on here."