The rapidly thrumming heartbeat sounded like an alien drum solo. The black and white image of the twenty-two week old fetus jumped on the screen.
"Oh, she has the hiccups," remarked the nurse with a smile on her face.
"She?" Melina asked.
The nurse appeared horrified because she had accidentally let the metaphorical cat out of the bag.
"I am so sorry. Did you not want to know?" she inquired, raising her hand to her mouth but it was too late to hold back the secret.
"It's fine," Melina sighed. "I've never been a big fan of surprises. I've had far too many in my life."
Shoto squeezed her hand.
"A girl huh?" he murmured, not taking his eyes off of the screen.
"A healthy and wonderful baby girl. I can't wait to tell everyone."
~\..'../~
In preparation for the family dinner and sharing the surprise, Melina included the color pink in inventive ways. A floral centerpiece of pink baby roses. Pickled radishes incorporating a bit of beet juice to turn them pink. Strawberry ice cream made with real strawberries which turned it pink. To go with the ice cream, she also made petit fours covered in white icing and bearing a single pink frosting rosebud piped on top. Lastly, the piece de resistance, a small gift for the grandmother to be: a pink t-shirt emblazoned with 'ninety-nine percent of a grandchild's awesomeness comes from their grandmother.'
Melina smiled as she folded the shirt to put it inside the pink bag. Nervous, wanting everything to be perfect, she looked forward to their family get together. Sitting down on the side of her bed, she took a moment to revel in this feeling of happiness, positively giddy with joy.
"Mel?" Shoto called to her from the open door of her room.
"I'm all right," she told him before he even asked if she was okay. "Actually, I'm great."
"I'm glad to hear that," he said, coming to sit beside her. "Have you thought anymore about a name since we know the baby is a girl?"
"I like the name Aiko. I want to use the kanji characters for her name to mean love and child because this child represents that love that brought us all together," she replied with certainty, rubbing her belly as the baby turned somersaults of approval. She smiled. "She likes it."
Shoto placed his hand on her belly to feel the child moving about. "She does."
He leaned forward, placing his forehead against hers in an affectionate gesture. His hands remained pressed to her rounded abdomen to feel the baby's vigorous activity.
"She's really bouncing around in there," he said.
"She's happy. I just wish she wasn't using my bladder as a trampoline. I'll be right back," she said.
As she exited the bathroom, there was a knock on the front door that reverberated through the entire house as if the person meant to break it down.
"Your dad is here," Melina announced, rolling her eyes.
"Subtlety is not a trait he possesses," Shoto sighed, standing up from the bed.
"Of that, my dear, I am painfully aware."
Grabbing the gift then taking the hand he held out to her, they walked hand in hand to the door. Melina placed the bag on the table in the foyer hiding it behind the large arrangement of pink carnations and white jasmine to get it out of sight because she wanted to wait until after dinner to give it to Rei allowing everyone time to pick up on the clues she scattered about.
Shoto opened the door to see the entire family standing on the porch. They must have all gathered at the main house before making their way here.
Greetings were exchanged including hugs and kisses. Melina received pats on the belly as everyone greeted the child as well. They all talked excitedly and at once as they made their way to the dining room.
Melina excused herself to retrieve the implements she purchased for the special tea. Hana followed her with the platters of appetizers. The dinner was off to a grand start as she made a show of preparing the tea, placing the dried flower and green tea leaves inside of the plain, clear glass teapot. Slowly pouring the hot water over the flower, she waited for the first of her hints to reveal itself.
The shriveled petals of the pink chrysanthemum re-hydrated and uncurled, spreading and growing to fill the bottom of the pot as it returned very closely to its original form. So far no one seemed none the wiser as she poured the tea into white cups decorated with a single pink rosebud. After finding out the gender of her child they had gone shopping to buy all sorts of items to use as little clues strategically placed throughout the dinner.
"Are these new?" Fuyumi asked, turning the cup around and around in her hand as she studied the artisan made cup including the actual dried rose petals preserved under several layers of glaze.
"Sure are. I wanted to buy something new to celebrate this momentous occasion. Our first family dinner," Melina said, handing Shoto a cup and giving him a wink.
He blushed and smiled. Natsuo noticed the interaction but said nothing, choosing to stuff his mouth with a pork dumpling instead. For everyone in this family to be together in one room was pretty special in itself. Not to mention they were all getting along and enjoying each other's company - that was nothing short of a miracle. No one mentioned the conspicuous absence of one particular family member. It was too painful to acknowledge for all of them.
"After seeing these cups, I became tempted to take up making pottery," Melina said to begin a conversation after a short but tense silence. "I need to find something to keep myself occupied."
"You're going to be pretty busy already, aren't you? I hear you're going back to the school, to be an assistant to All Might and tutor to the students," Enji said to keep the conversation going.
"Sure am. I guess all of us are about to return to school. Shoto and myself to UA. Natsuo to university. Fuyumi to her school as a teacher," she observed, glancing around the table.
"Hey, if you ever get bored enough, you're more than welcome to come help out at my school," Fuyumi offered.
"I might just do that. Is anyone ready for more tea?" Melina inquired, standing up in preparation to go around the table to refill cups.
As she reached out for Fuyumi's cup, the woman seized her hand to pull it close to her face. A blush warmed her cheeks as her sister-in-law-to-be studied the ring on her finger.
"Is this an engagement ring?" Fuyumi asked, glimpsing up at Melina.
"Engagement ring? Don't you think you should pump the breaks a little bit there, baby bro," Natsuo said. "Melina is great and all, but damn. You're going to be the only guy in high school who is engaged. Isn't that going to be weird?"
Enji cleared his throat and shifted in his chair.
"It's not as unusual as you might think," he mumbled, sipping his tea.
Rei gave her husband a pat on the shoulder. "Some apples don't fall far from the tree."
"Oh, come on, Dad! We're not living in ancient times for god's sake," Natsuo muttered.
"I wasn't much older than Shoto when I approached your mother with a marriage proposal," Enji Todoroki admitted in an effort to defend his youngest child.
Somehow he managed to keep his 'proposal' from sounding like the business deal, the acquisition, that it had been in reality. Maybe it was because they were overcoming that past to build a better, stronger marriage in the present.
"Just because you're not ready to pop the question to your girlfriend doesn't mean all of us have to be so unsure about the one we want to marry," Shoto countered. "But anyway, it's not an engagement ring. I'll buy a different ring later for the official engagement. That is more of a ring of intent, a promise ring of sorts. I promise to marry Melina, to love her and be with her for the rest of my life."
"Isn't that what an engagement ring represents?" Natsuo asked in a loud stage whisper.
"It's romantic," Fuyumi sighed.
"Don't encourage him," her brother groused back.
"Shut up, dork," she snapped in return, punching him in the arm.
"It's going to be a very long engagement," Melina said, her eyes meeting Shoto's. "I assure you we're not rushing into anything. Circumstances are just..." She patted her belly and sighed. "Different than most. Not ideal but it is what it is. And I love him."
"To love," Rei said, raising her teacup in a toast while giving her husband a smile.
"To love," Enji agreed, raising his cup as well.
Melina wanted to cry. Such a lovely scene she never imagined she would see. If only...if only Toya were here. But seeing his parents like that would probably cause him more pain than inciting the warm fuzzy feeling that presently penetrated her chest.
"I should go help Hana with the main dishes," she proclaimed, rushing to the kitchen in her desperate need of a distraction.
She needed to stop thinking about him. She forgot she held the teapot in her hand until she heard the lid rattling, glass striking glass due to her shaking fingers. Setting the teapot down on the prep table quickly to avoid breaking it, she started collecting the side dishes out of the refrigerator. If only she could drink alcohol...to go a little bit numb so she did not have to feel so much.
But then again, most of these feelings were good. Focus on the good and forget about the rest, her grandmother's words echoed inside her head. She had not thought about her grandmother or any of her little pearls of wisdom in an inordinately long time.
Grandmother, if only you could see me now, she thought to herself with a sad little smile.
"Miss? Are you ready to bring out the main course?" Hana questioned, breaking her free from the prison of her own mind.
"Yes, thank you," she responded, picking the bowls of various pickled vegetables as Hana prepared to follow her.
"So how's the baby?" inquired the proud grandmother when Melina entered the dining room.
"Fine. Good, strong heartbeat. Kicking around a lot."
"Sounds like a boy," Natsuo interjected.
"It's going to be a girl," insisted his sister. She pressed her palms together as if praying. "Please let the baby be a girl. There's too many men around here already."
"Hey!" Natsuo snapped.
"I felt the baby move," Shoto announced proudly before Melina divulged the gender secret with her Cheshire cat grin. She had no poker face at all.
"How far along are you now?" Rei inquired.
"Twenty two weeks. We're over half way there."
"Are you nervous, excited, happy?" Fuyumi asked.
"All of the above. It's so much. But it's good. Very good," she said, sitting beside Shoto and taking his hand in hers.
The family began discussing the due date of the baby and Christmas which had the distinct possibility of coinciding.
"What a wonderful present that would be for Christmas!" Rei exclaimed happily.
Melina bit her lower lip to keep from saying "speaking of presents" to segue into bringing out the gift for Rei. However, it was not yet time for that because that really would give their little secret away and end the guessing game too soon. So far no one seemed to have noticed the signs or if they did, nothing was said.
"Shall we go the sitting room for tea and dessert?" Melina suggested once dinner was over.
"That's a very Western thing to do," Enji remarked, standing up despite his protesting.
"Well, I'm going to do my best to incorporate both of our cultures into raising this child. I believe it's important the baby know and understand the origins, the culture, in which both of us were raised," she said, taking the hand extended to her by Shoto. "To bridge the gap of our differences and help our child embrace both sides of their identity."
"How will you confront the obvious issue of explaining the child's parentage? The true identity of their father?" Enji asked. Leave it to him to bring up the difficult questions, the ones no one wanted to ask because it just plain rude. "Will Toya be allowed to be a part of the child's life?"
"Enji, don't...don't do this," Rei murmured as a plea, placing her hand on his chest over his heart.
"Well, I don't know exactly when that time will be. When the child is old enough to understand or when they begin to ask questions I suppose will be an indicator of when they are ready, I guess. But we will figure out when the time is right. Shoto and I will explain everything. If Toya wants to see the child, have a relationship with them, we won't stop him. But all of that is for us to determine. Not you," she stated bluntly but not rudely, without malice or anger. "Does that answer your questions?"
Standing up for her rights as a mother and those of her child to know their heritage in their own time made her bold without the false courage of hate. Motherhood, though new to her and not quite come to full fruition, had already instilled an overwhelming sense of protectiveness in her.
"Hmm," Enji hummed, a smile of approval on his face. He still liked testing her apparently. She passed.
"Now, if you will, grandfather, please, let's go to the sitting room," she suggested, a smile on her face.
Determined to offset the heavy atmosphere and try to salvage the rest of the evening, Melina assisted Hana with handing out the plates containing a bowl of ice cream and an individual cake along with cups of tea. Sitting on the cushions around the kotatsu, the conversation eventually began to flow again at a nice steady pace with Shoto telling them about their day at the amusement park and the engagement.
"Shoto, can you go get the uh...uhm, the ah...the thing? The thing in the foyer? Ah...you know, the thing," she said, jerking her chin toward the foyer.
"Oh! The thing!" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet to get the present.
He returned, extending the bag to his mother who immediately understood the meaning. Tears slid from her eyes down her cheeks.
"What's wrong? What's happening?" Natsuo asked, his tone a bit panicked.
"It's a girl. You're having a girl!" Rei exclaimed, standing up from her chair to hug her son and ignoring the pink bag for the time being.
"It's a girl! Woo hoo!" Fuyumi shouted happily. She crawled around the table to hug Melina who was still sitting.
"I was wondering why there was so much pink everywhere," Enji muttered, putting the entire petit four in his mouth.
"Oh, please, as if you really noticed," Rei shot back, slapping him playfully on the arm.
"Hey, I did!" he returned, standing up to hug his son as well.
Melina stood to her feet with Fuyumi's help in order to share a round of hugs with everyone. Once the hugs were exchanged and tears of happiness shed, they settled back down to eat their desserts before the ice cream melted completely into milkshakes in a bowl.
Rei pulled the shirt out of the bag, laying it against her chest. Everyone laughed except for Enji. He folded his arms and shamelessly pouted.
"Oh, I love it!" she exclaimed happily, rereading the shirt. "This was a fantastic surprise."
"Indeed," Melina agreed, finishing her cup of tea. It was more than the tea making her feel warm and content from the inside out. She could not stop herself from smiling.
When the plates were empty, Melina went about gathering them to take them to the kitchen. In the kitchen waited another surprise she had not anticipated.
Toya stood there eating a bowl of the cold noodles while standing over the sink. Hana was no where to be found which would account for why the woman did not warn them.
The dishes clanked and rattled in her hands when she began to tremble uncontrollably. Before she dropped them, she rushed forward, elbowing him aside to set them in the sink.
"You're late," she snapped, turning on the faucet and avoiding looking at him.
"Sorry," he apologized half-heartedly, slurping up the noodles. "It was difficult to get away. I had to make sure I wasn't being followed."
"Thank you for considering your family's safety," she muttered irritably, sounding insincere although she actually meant it.
The last thing she wanted was another interaction with any member of the League of Villains. She had grown accustomed to the safety and peace she found here. Possibly complacent. Was she hoping for too much thinking she had managed to hide away from the danger that seemed drawn to her like a magnet no matter how hard she tried to stay away from it?
"Were you going to hide in here all night stuffing your face or do you intend to go see your family?" she asked him, pouring dish soap into the stream of running water.
"I was going to see them after I finish this," he said, sliding the empty bowl into the soapy water.
"There's dessert. Check the freezer. There should be a bowl of ice cream in there for you. The petit fours are on the counter."
"Petit fours?"
She nodded toward the clear glass domed cake holder where the small squares were stacked almost in a pyramid.
"Little cakes. Just give one a try."
"I don't care too much for sweets."
Melina groaned in frustration.
"You missed the big announcement. You're having a daughter, Toya," she informed him, purposely using his given name despite his past protests. To stave off another vehement outburst in response, she added,"In this house, your name is Toya. Please, do not argue or offer any disagreements."
"Yes, ma'am. You've settled into this mistress of the house thing quite nicely," he returned with a smile, popping one of the cakes into his mouth then taking another while chewing. "A daughter huh? I hope she's just like her mother."
"She will be," Shoto said as he entered the kitchen. He brought the teacups to the sink and kissed Melina on the cheek. "I was wondering what happened to you when you didn't come back."
"It's fine. Everything is fine," she assured him, forcefully scrubbing the plate in her hand.
"Why don't you go see your family?" Shoto suggested to Toya, touching Melina's tense shoulder. "They will be happy to see you. They're in the sitting room. Mom will be really glad to see you."
"You aren't happy to see me, baby brother?" Toya pressed, grinning broadly at him.
"I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about you," he replied as diplomatically as possible. "Give it time. Give us all time, Toya. There's been a lot of changes."
"Yes, there has," he agreed and nodded before walking away with his hands in his pockets.
Shoto dug his fingers into the rock hard muscles of Melina's shoulders after his brother left them alone.
"Are you really okay? he asked her, massaging the tense muscles in her neck.
"I really am okay. I can't freak out every time he shows up. He's going to be a permanent part of our lives...the baby's life. Just as he should be. I see that as a good thing. I just have to come to terms with it. And so do you. We can't allow our interactions with him to be awkward forever," she said, rinsing off the plates to put them on the bamboo dish rack to dry.
"You're right. Like I said, we just need time...to adjust. You are such an amazing woman," Shoto sighed, kissing the back of her neck.
"You're an amazing man," she complimented in return, turning her head to give him a big smile while her hands continued washing the dishes. "I'm willing to do whatever it takes to raise this child in a loving, happy, stable home surrounded by the people who love her. Her whole family. That includes her father."
"I love you," Shoto whispered in her ear, placing his hands on her belly as if to embrace the child inside. "I love both of you."