Lina threw the bedroom doors opened and took in a deep breath of morning air and sighed contentedly as the gentle breeze chilled her overheated body. Gourry cried out as the breeze hit him and he quickly put his shirt on as he yelled, "What are you doing!? It's freezing!"
"I'm hot!" Lina yelled as Gourry wrapped his arms around himself as he started shivering.
"Then stand outside on the balcony!" he said.
Lina grinned as she turned and watched him, "I don't know, I'm rather enjoying this."
"You don't know how to let up, do you?"
"Well it's not like this kid ever lets up!" Lina shot back.
"When is he coming out again?" Gourry asked as he sighed and grabbed another sweater and started to layer up.
"I still have about two weeks till Sylphiel takes the stitch out, so not before then." Lina said as she leaned against the windowsill and rubbed her belly.
He walked up to her and put a hand on her stomach as he kissed her forehead, "I guess we can hold on till then."
She smiled a little, and then stood on her toes to give him a peck on the lips as her stomach growled loudly. "So, breakfast?' he asked as she planted both feet on the ground again.
"Yes! We're hungry!" she said as they linked arms and went down to breakfast together.
When they reached the dining room, Jeeves was waiting for them with a letter in hand, "Sir Gourry." He said.
"Thanks," Gourry said as he took it as they walked in. "It's from Trudy."
Lina groaned, "Not another meeting! I don't think I can fit underneath the desk anymore!"
"Oh, come on, where's your sense of adventure?" Leia asked as Lina and Gourry sat down at the table.
"Today is the day!" Amelia proclaimed loudly as she charged in with a nervous looking Zelgadis, causing both Lina and Gourry to jump.
"What, has it started?" Leia asked as she stood up.
"Well, not yet." Amelia admitted as she sat beside Lina. "But as of today I am term! So it can begin any minute!"
"You're really not showing any signs of impending labor." Sylphiel said gently. "I still think it will be awhile."
"These things change so quickly!" Amelia countered cheerfully as she speared her pancakes and then looked over adoringly at Phil, "And I just know my daughter wants to spend every moment she can with her granddaddy! Mark my words, by tonight justice will prevail and I will officially be a mother!"
Gourry looked at Zel and smiled, "So are you ready?"
"So ready that I've been researching ways to start labor. Hopefully something will work." Zelgadis said, and by the strain on his voice, it looked as though he was trying his best to be upbeat. Lina grinned as she figured that meant he was terrified of what Amelia would do to him if things didn't get started soon.
A look of skepticism washed through Sylphiel's face, but she quickly composed it into a smile as she said, "Well, let me know the moment things get moving!"
"Good news, brother." Gertrude said as she stroked her fur coat, and Gourry wondered whether it was his imagination or not that the coat was larger than the last time he had seen it. "Gregory was disposed. I am now Empress!"
Gourry felt his stomach twist, even if he was not terribly surprised. Either Gregory was going to win or Gertrude was. And while having Gertrude in power meant that there was the potential for better relations with the Elmekian Empire, he still found the idea of his family killing each other distasteful.
"By disposed, you mean…" he asked as he broke into a cold sweat.
"Terrible as it sounds, this is for the greater good. Our countries can now enter an alliance. And you can come home as a hero."
"What?" Gourry asked.
"I can reinstate your lands and titles." Gertrude offered, "If you develop a program like you have been in Zeferia here."
Gourry exhaled, "Zeferia is my home now. I will do what I can to help, but the timing is bad. Lina's due to have our baby in a few weeks."
Gertrude smirked, "Of course I don't expect you to pack up now. Think about it though. I can give you more power than you have there. Power in your own right, not gained through marriage."
"My answer isn't going to change." Gourry said. He'd learned long ago how to keep his voice steady and measured when dealing with his family, and fortunately the skill always readily came back to him. "Is that all, Trudy?"
"Think about it. I'll check in once my niece or nephew is born."
Gourry waited until she disappeared, and then looked down at Lina. "It's clear."
He reached a hand to help her up as she groaned, "I hope that's the last time she does this until this kid is out!"
"What did you think?" he asked as she put her hands on the desk and then stretched her back out.
"Well, at least your relations with your family are getting warmer, even if I have no desire to move." Lina said, and then she looked at him, "What do you think?"
"I think I'm happy here." He said quietly, "Come on, let's go to our room."
"Right." Lina said, and then her brow furrowed in the way it did when she was determining whether or not to pry. But once they stepped into the hallway they were distracted by the sight of Amelia walking arm and arm with Zelgadis as they paced up and down the hallway.
"Whoa, has it started?" Lina asked.
"No," Amelia said with the air of forced patience, "But I figured a little walk up and down the hallway before bed will set things in motion! These things tend to happen at night after all!"
Gourry locked eyes with Zelgadis, whose hair was sticking up on end, and then he gave him a sympathetic smile as Lina said, "Oh, well, I hope it does the trick!"
"Oh, it will!" Amelia said, "I feel it in my bones! This little girl is ready to meet the world!"
"Right," Lina said, "Night!"
"Night!"
Once they had gotten a good distance away, Gourry looked at Lina and asked, "You're not going to do that when you're due, are you?"
Lina sighed, "Look, only this baby knows when he's going to come out. And so long as he does it at term and not pre-term like he threatened, I'm not going to complain!"
Gourry wrapped an arm around her, "I won't argue with that."
Lina was on her way to start afternoon classes when she heard a commotion in the foyer. Her heart raced as she wondered if the Mazoku had planned to catch them off guard by attacking early. Hadn't there been stories of women who couldn't have babies who were so desperate for a child of their own that they would cut them from the womb of a pregnant woman and run off with the babies? If a human could do that, a Mazoku certainly could!
Relief ran through her as she saw Moe standing in the doorway, surrounded by kids who were looking at him in awe. "I've never seen a giant before!" she heard Ripley whisper to Bruce.
"Are you really the going to be the nanny?" Peter asked Moe as Lina made her way through the crowd.
"Yes, he is." Lina said as she reached a hand out for Moe to shake, "Met Moe, the newest member of our staff."
Moe smiled and revealed his sparkling teeth. A few students waved back, but most stared at him, their mouths agape. "I didn't know a man could be a nanny!" Peter said.
"I didn't either." Leia said as she came in, "But there are days I am happy to learn new things."
"Moe, this is my mother, Leia." Lina said, "Mom, could you show him up? I have to get class started."
"Gladly." Leia said, and Lina felt her alarm rise as she recognized the look in her mother's eyes. "Right this way."
Lina sighed as she shook her head, "Show's over, time for class. If you're not in you're seat in five minutes I'm taking names!"
The kids started rushing to class, talking excitedly about Moe as they did. Lina followed them, not particularly paying too much attention until she noticed a rhythmic thudding coming from the exercise room. Her suspicions raised, Lina made what she hoped would be a quick detour and found Amelia within, jumping rope with a manic expression on her face.
"What are you doing?" Lina asked. The thought of jumping with about thirty extra pounds on her stomach was unthinkable!
"Trying to bring on the contractions!" Amelia said determinedly as she kept jumping. "It's been a week! And not one ounce of pain! Can you believe that I'm actually desperate to be in pain?! Bring it on! I want this thing out, and I don't care how much it hurts! But Sylphiel says I'm not even dilated! She has to come out!"
"I don't think it works that way!" Lina said as she folded her arms over her stomach as she wondered if her friend was losing it.
Amelia sighed as she stopped jumping and threw the rope on the ground, "Yeah I've been at this for an hour, and nothing. Hey, can you help me do a hand stand?"
Lina's mouth dropped, "How the hell is that supposed to help!? Unless you want to baby to go into your lungs?"
"Oh, but there has to be something I can do!" Amelia moaned as Sylphiel walked in.
"What's wrong?" Sylphiel asked.
"This kid is clinging to my ribs, that's what's wrong!" Amelia yelled, "She's already missed a week with her grandpa! It's not just! Sylphiel, there has to be something we can do to get her to come out!"
"Well, people peddle a lot of stuff, I don't know that any of it works very well. And I don't want to break your water unless there's an emergency or you're already having strong contractions." Sylphiel mused. "Though I know a lot of women say eating eggplant helps."
"I've done that! Every night! And I hate eggplant!" Amelia said.
Sylphiel looked behind her, and then whispered, "Well, some women say that if you rub the nipples long enough it can induce labor."
Lina blushed as she muttered, "I think that's my cue to get back to class."
Completely unfazed, Amelia replied, "We do that every night! For hours! Zel says he never thought he'd get tired of it but that if he has to do it for one more night…"
Lina had just left the room when she heard Sylphiel ask in a loud whisper, "Well, some people say that having, you know, marital relations, can get things going."
"There are kids on this floor!" Lina yelled as she slammed the door behind her.
"So, does this mean I'll go into labor soon?" Lina asked as she lay on the bed and grimaced as Sylphiel removed the stitches.
"Not necessarily." Sylphiel explained, "It could happen tonight, or surprisingly it could be a few weeks. Let me guess, you're in a rush to get this one out as well?"
"No, nothing like Amelia!" Lina said, who had watched in horror as Amelia's desperation to induce labor became more desperate as the weeks passed, "It's just I like to be prepared, you know? It's hard not knowing when this big, transformative event is going to take place."
"Well, I don't think you'll have to wait too much longer." Sylphiel mused, and Lina sat up a bit, but before she could ask, Sylphiel sat back and continued, "There, all done. You made it to term!"
Lina smiled, "Thanks to you. I still don't know how we can ever repay you for…"
Lina's voice trailed off as they heard the sounds of shouting from the hall. Lina and Sylphiel looked at each other, and then Lina sprang off the bed and quickly put her pants back on as they raced to the hallway. Even before they reached the top of the staircase Lina could obviously discern the sounds of Amelia, Zelgadis and Phil shouting at each other. As they came into view Lina tried to figure out what was happening as Sylphiel wondered aloud, "What's a sled doing there?"
"Huh?" Lina said, and then she'd shook her head at the fact that Sylphiel had even noticed the sled perched on the top of the staircase with all of the drama going on. But it also became apparent that they were not the only ones drawn to the scene by the shouting. The students were congregating in the foyer and watching with wide eyes.
"What's going on?" Lina asked loudly, thinking that there had better be a good explanation for putting on such a poor display in front of the kids. She was so mad that all of the muscles in her stomach tensed warningly!
"She wants to sled down the stairs to get labor started!" Zelgadis said desperately to Sylphiel. "She's lost it!"
"The bumpy carriage ride wasn't enough!" Amelia said zealously and she clenched her hand into a fist as stars shown in her eyes. "This baby has to come out! I can't stand being pregnant another minute!"
"Help us!" Zelgadis pleaded, "I can't take much more of this!"
"Do you have something to calm her nerves perhaps?" Phil added as he looked imploringly at Sylphiel.
"My nerves are just fine!" Amelia snapped as Lina's parents joined the crowd at the top of the stairs, "The only thing that's wrong is that this baby won't come out!"
Sylphiel looked at a loss, and Lina heard her quietly say something along the lines of how she'd never seen something like this before. Amelia then grabbed the sled and sat down on it and grabbed the reigns. Zelgadis and Phil both yelled, "No!" as Zel grabbed her while Phil grabbed the sled and smashed it against the wall.
"Daddy!" Amelia cried as she struggled against Zelgadis, "Zel! Put me down!"
"Princess Amelia," Sylphiel said gently as she put a hand on her arm, "Look, you're more likely to hurt the baby that way than start labor."
"No, justice wouldn't be so unkind!"
Sylphiel started to direct her to her apartments, "Come on, let's go to your room. I'll give you a little something to relax you and something that sometimes brings on contractions."
Zelgadis exhaled in relief, and Amelia said, "Yes! Yes! As much of it as you can!"
Gourry came out as Sylphiel walked away with Amelia. Zelgadis, Phil and Leia trailed behind them as he asked, "What was all that about?"
Lina shook her head as she said, "I think Amelia may have finally lost all grounding with reality."
"Huh?" he asked.
"Just promise me. If I ever get so desperate to get this kid out that I'll ride on a sled down the stairs, tie me to the bed."
Gourry scratched his head in confusion as Lina looked at the whispering kids down on the ground floor and walked down, "All right, show's over, don't you have studying to do or something!?"
Lina's eyes shot open as she felt as though she was being squeezed. She took a deep breath and blew it out. It wasn't painful, but it was strangely aggravating. It had woken her for one thing, and given how difficult it was for her to sleep in the first place, she would likely just have to stay up the rest of the night. And if that wasn't enough, the fact that she was now aware that she needed to use the bathroom sealed the fact that she would not be sleeping that night.
She sighed as she heaved herself out of bed. Gourry mumbled something in his sleep, and Lina suppressed the urge to wake him up so he could join her in her misery. She had just crossed the threshold into the bathroom when she felt her panties get wet, and she reddened at the thought the she hadn't made it. Except she couldn't control it at all. It kept leaking out and down her legs and there was nothing she could do to stop it!
Wait, did my water break? She wondered, and for a moment she stood there, completely unsure about what to do as water continued to coarse down her legs. Then her mind sprang into action as she decided that she was still fairly sure that she had to pee, and once she had relieved herself she could worry about the next step. And at least if her water broke, it happened in the tiled bathroom and not on the carpet, or worse, the bed!
She had just finished using the bathroom when she felt the squeezing sensation again, deceptively pleasant at first before it quickly took a wrong turn somewhere, spreading waves of pain through her when she was accustomed to pleasure. If it was a contraction, it sure felt different from what she'd experienced earlier in her pregnancy! Regardless, she was fairly certain now that her water had broken. It kept coming out in a steady trickle, the sensation of having no control over it disconcerting. Lina grabbed a towel and stood up and shoved it between her legs as she yelled, "Gourry!"
"What?" he barked.
"It's time."
"It's time!" he exclaimed, and she could hear him jumping out of bed as he raced to the bathroom and soon appeared in the doorway, "What, before Amelia's?"
"Amelia's late." Lina said, as she started to walked awkwardly towards him, "Looks like ours is punctual."
"No, don't walk!" he cried in alarm as he ran and scooped her up, ignoring her wet nightgown.
"Put me down!" Lina yelled.
"But what if he falls out before Sylphiel gets here?" Gourry asked, his voice high in panic.
Lina couldn't help but laugh as she buried her face in his neck. "Honey, it doesn't work like that. Put me down. They say walking helps."
"Right." He said as he set her down, "Sorry."
"Come on, let's get to the safe room, and collect Sylphiel and Mom on the way."
AN: So, boy? Girl? Koala? Man, why doesn't FFN let us do polls? My money's on koala.