When summer rolled around, I had the air conditioner in my apartment turned up full blast; being pregnant seemed to make everything thirty degrees hotter than it actually was. It made me feel a lot better though, but I couldn't say the same for Nene when she stopped by one afternoon.

"It's FREEZING in here!!" she yelped, shivering as she hugged herself.

"Better than being outside though, right?" I asked, pressing a heating pad to my back. It had been sore today, as well the entire previous day. But hell, I suppose being eight months pregnant will do that to ya!

"I don't know. I'm happy for the respite from the cold, but it's like winter over here!"

"It's not THAT bad." I shoved some potato chips in my mouth as Nene sat down on the couch next to me. "So what's up?"

"Just wondering if you needed anything. You know, for the baby."

"I think you and the others took plenty care of that when you threw me that baby shower a couple weeks ago." Just before my twenty-fifth birthday, Sylia, Nene, Linna, Mackie, and Pops had thrown me a surprise baby shower at Sylia's place. A crib, a thing to dispose of diapers in, nursing pads, bumpers for the crib, at least a dozen receiving blankets, clothes upon clothes, a backpack-thing to carry the baby in... If there'd been anything they'd missed out on, I didn't notice. They'd even brought the stuff over to my apartment the next day and rearranged my bedroom to make room for the baby things. My stuff was on one side, and the baby's things were set up on the other side. The bedroom suddenly seemed a hell of a lot smaller, but I didn't mind.

"I feel like I'm missing out on something though," she moaned.

"Besides the baby?" I kidded.

"Yeah, besides that. We got bath stuff, right?"

"Yeah."

"And the thing to put the baby in when you're giving it a bath?"

"Yes."

"A breast pump?"

"Nene, you got everything, ok? If I need something, I can go buy it myself."

"Going out in your condition? But the paparazzi—"

"They're making sure to steer clear of me," I deadpanned. "Hiroshi and Max are taking care of that."

At the mention of my Replicants bandmates, Nene sighed and scratched the side of her head in thought. "Your band...what are you going to do about that?"

"We were already planning on taking a little break after our tour. We'll just be expanding our vacation for a little longer, that's all." I cradled my stomach.

"Not going to quit to be a full-time mom?"

"Hell no. Just 'cause I'm gonna be a mom doesn't mean I won't be able to still rock."

She smiled. "I figured as much."

I nodded, then shoved another handful of potato chips into my mouth. Looking into the bag, I realized I was out. "Ah damn. I guess there IS something you could do for me, Nene."

"Need more chips?"

"Yeah. And maybe some sour cream."

"Ok," she chuckled. "I think there's a store about two blocks away that has those. I can grab some other things for you while I'm at it, if you want."

"Nah, just the chips and cream."

"Ok."

After Nene left, I ended up dozing off on the couch, something I'd been doing a lot of lately despite hardly being very active at all. But hell, I was eight months pregnant; that in itself was bound to use up a lot of my energy. When I woke up, I looked at the clock and saw it had been an hour since she left. I sat up and took a look on the kitchen counter for any signs of groceries, but there were none. She hadn't been back yet, damn. She'd probably run into one of her old AD Police comrades or something...or decided to get a 'few' treats for herself as well.

I winced as a sharp pain shot through my lower back. I arched it and kneaded the area with both hands, hoping that would help with the pain, but it didn't. I sighed and was about to lean back on the couch again when that pain shot through my back again, followed immediately by a heavy pressure down below.

"Fifth time today," I mused as I headed towards the bathroom to do my business, rubbing my back on my way in. Probably gonna have to call Linna and get her to give me a massage. My back's killin' me!

I dropped my pants and sat down on the toilet, ready to just get this over with so I could head back to my usual spot on the couch. I smirked as I recalled joking to the girls that with all the time I spent in the bathroom, I may as well have just installed a TV in there so at least I could enjoy myself while I was in there. Add some food and blankets and I could have stayed in there my entire pregnancy!

I grimaced as I felt the pressure between my legs increase, and when that bolt of pain shot down my spine again, I gritted my teeth and felt an incredible urge to just push. Push I did, but what resulted wasn't something that anyone would call your usual bathroom business. When I pushed as hard as I could, I felt something a LOT bigger than the usual stuff get pushed out, and it wasn't from the, ahem, usual spot, either. Instinct screamed at me to reach down and grab whatever was coming out, so I reached down and caught it before it fell into the toilet. I felt myself ready to faint when I saw what I had kept from falling into the toilet.

A small, pink, squirming, slimy thing was nestled in my arms, choking out several small cries. I couldn't explain what drove me to do it, but instantly I stuck my finger in its mouth and cleared it of whatever mucus was in there. The baby let out another loud cry before I held it against my chest, maternal protectiveness taking over.

I didn't have a thought in my head as I grabbed the nearest towel off of the rack and wrapped the baby in it, wiping the cottage cheese-looking stuff off of its skin and out of the wisps of hair on its head. With my thumb I wiped the goop from its face, and for the first time I was able to look into my baby's eyes. They looked up at me sleepily, probably wondering where it was and how the hell it got out here so quickly.

A wave of dizziness overcame me as the sudden punishment my body had gone through took effect. Holding the baby close, I sank to the floor and leaned against the wall, grunting when I passed something else between my legs: the placenta. I picked it up in one hand and just looked at it; it just looked like a lumpy piece of flesh, nothing that looked like it had sustained my baby's life for the past eight months. At that thought, I realized that the baby's umbilical cord was still attached. I had to cut it, but first I had to tie it off. I slowly reached over and grabbed some dental floss, snapped off a piece, and tied it around the cord. Then I grabbed some scissors, wiped them off on one of the few spots of the towel that was still clean, then snipped the cord cleanly in two.

The baby let out a few whimpers at the action.

"Shhh," I whispered. "It's alright."

I continued to wipe off the baby's arms and legs with the towel, and then when I went to wipe between its legs, I beamed and looked into its face, enthralled with what I'd just found out.

"You're a girl," I said softly, caressing her cheek. "You're my daughter..."

How long I sat there cradling my newborn daughter, I don't know, but the next thing I knew, I heard a startled gasp, sounding like it came from a certain redhead I knew.

I turned my head towards the sound, and there was Nene, standing at the entrance to the bathroom, dropping her bag of groceries to the ground. "P...P-P-Priss..." she stammered. "You...y-you..." She looked at the bathroom floor, then at my clothes, none of which were in the least bit clean anymore. "Why...didn't you t-tell..."

"I didn't know," I said, then managed a smile. "I think you should probably call Sylia."

All Nene could do was nod quickly, then run to the kitchen to make the call.