Chapter 4 it's a hard knock life.

Nabiki, Ranma, their baby and Nodoka were sitting in a waiting room at the local hospital. The fake Ranma, who Nabiki had taken to calling Ryu, had been taken into the ER some minutes ago and they had heard little word since. Nodoka was obviously in some distress but this was being contained by Nabiki. Ranma meanwhile was running the fight through in his head, wondering how Ryu had got so close in the first place.

"Fighting has been his life," Nodoka said "He will be devasted to have been beaten."

"In fairness to him Ranma may be one of the world's best fighters" Nabiki supplied "and not many people could have made him push back that hard."

"Small consolation if he can ever fight again," Nodoka retorted. "What were you two thinking trying to kill each other like that?" she demanded from Ranma, anger flashing n her eyes.

"It wasn't my idea" Ranma replied, "I was only gonna kick his ass. And nobody can say he didn't deserve that!"

"But did he deserve to be crippled for life?" the mother retorted with venom.

"Truthfully?" Ranma asked "Yes he probably did" he finished, despite Nabiki's shushing motions. Nodoka in her turn was struck dumb. "From his very first punch he was trying to do me serious injury. And the last combo he threw would have killed most people I know! So yes he deserved to get hurt, maimed was maybe a little too much but if so not by far." Ranma had stood up and was facing Nodoka.

"I don't know about you but when people try to kill me I tend to make sure they ain't gonna try again." He asserted. "An I ain't gonna apologise for kicking his dumb ass!" Nodoka in turn was now sat open mouthed starting at Ranma, tears not far away.

"Sulu-san" Nabiki interrupted, "Ranma may be many things but he is not a bully nor does he lack honour in any way I have ever seen. He may not be the most tactful of people but I think that somewhere you already know that he has a point." Nabiki stood up to stand next to her husband. Then she bowed, "I will however apologise to you, we never intended to bring hurt to you or your family. Gomen!" Then she took her husband by the hand and moved to lead him away.

"Wait!" cried Nodoka "Don't leave." The small family stopped and turned back to her. "You are right I do know that my son has quite a temper and I can well believe that-"

"You don't need to say it Sulu-san" Nabiki interrupted, recognising the woman's desperate need not to be alone. She led Ranma back to their seats and cautiously wrapped an arm around the traditional woman. It may have been practically indecent by Japanese standards but Nabiki knew enough about people to know it was exactly what the older woman needed.

No sooner had she done it than Nodoka collapsed into her arms, letting the tears flow. The other Japanese in the waiting room were quickly discouraged from staring by the faithful watchdog by their side. One old woman ventured as far as to tut, once and only once, the low growl coming from Ranma helped her decide that it really was none of her business after all.

At length a doctor reappeared. He was wearing the green scrubs of an ER doctor and had his mask pulled down. He also looked rather pleased with himself. "We have saved the arm" he announced "using some of the latest techniques from Fraser Medicorp we have managed to restore feeling in the whole limb and are confident for a majority recovery."

"What of his jaw and spinal injuries?" Nabiki asked, hiding a grin at the mention of the X-Com spin-off company.

"The jaw should be fine, he will lose some teeth and will need wiring to hold it in place while the bone knits" the doctor explained, and because everyone was looking at him they missed Ranma's small smile. "As to the spinal injuries the radiographers have highlighted some concerning shadows on the films but thus far everything seems to be fine. If it hadn't been for the skill of the paramedics I really don't think we would be looking at so even an outcome," he added. Ranma restrained the urge to scoff, the technicians in question had been grass green and nearly puked when they saw the mangled man on the grass. It had been him who orchestrate the man's stabilisation and him who had ensured that no further damage had been done to the neck. The technicians had even forgotten to bring a neck brace from the ambulance.

"Can I see him?" Nodoka asked. The doctor nodded in reply but added the caution that the man was under a lot of sedation and might not realise that she was there.

Nevertheless Nodoka went to him, leaving Ranma and Nabiki behind in the waiting room. She shuffled over next to him and laid her head on his shoulder, at the same time wrapping an arm around the baby. "She sure cares a lot for him doesn't she?" Ranma observed.

"When he turned up claiming to be you she was so very happy." Nabiki began to explain. "The two of them went to see Genma together at the Tendo-ke. He did his normal snivelling bit and hid as a Panda, but my dad managed to tell her that Genma was back, without you and that the person she thought was her son wasn't. As you can magine she was very hurt indeed. To cut a long story short she confronted Ryu and his fiancée, he got dumped and thrown out. It was only later after Ryu had kicked Genma's fat panda ass for the other part of his school that he came back to see her. She naturally enough didn't want to have anything to do with him but he gave her the one thing she really wanted, news of her son.

"Under duress Genma had admitted that he thought you were dead. Ryu went to see your mum, despite the hurt her scorn was going to do hi, because he believed she had a right to know. As he was leaving after telling what he knew she stopped him. They talked some more. He was there for her when she cut off her husband and there for her in the years since. While you have been off galivanting around saving the world the two of them become friends and then family." Nabiki knew that she could have put it more gently than that but she really wanted Ranma to ease up on Ryu and give his mother a chance.

"But why's he still calling himself Ranma?" he asked her, hiding the sudden feeling of guilt behind peevishness.

"Because she asked him to," Nabiki replied. "His own name was fairly tarnished from what he did to 'rebuild' his father's school, and the two of them had much better memories of him as Ranma."

"Still sorta seems underhanded ya know," Ranma replied. "Sorta like she got a replacement"

"She sort of did Ranma" she asserted, "They both sort of thought you were dead, and she needed her son back as much as he needed a parent"

"I still ain't gonna feel sorry fer him" Ranma retorted, "even if he was nice to my mum then he's still an ass, just slightly less of one than I thought."

"Than we thought Ranma," she argued, "Than we thought. And yes I agree he is still an ass, but hey maybe getting his smug face smashed will help" she added with an evil smile. He smiled back and kissed her.

"So we still haveta go see your pops?" he asked after the kiss broke.

"Seems sort of unfair to stop him seeing his grand-daughter don't you think?" she replied. Ranma didn't comment, so she punched him in the gut lightly.

"Fine, fine" he replied smiling "but don't blame me if the idiot duo try some stupid scheme again."

"Ranma, we are married and have a child. What could they possibly try now?" she asked in an exasperated voice.

"I don't know" he replied "but I wouldn't bet against them trying something."

"They bloody well better not" she retorted snuggling back into his arms.

-

The young family waited for Nodoka to come back and then walked the tearing woman home. Nabiki did her best to comfort the older woman, but the woman was once again putting on the traditional mask, or at least trying to. Once they got back to the Sulu mansion they all sat down in the tea room again and once more the maid served tea.

It was only then that Nodka revealed the doctor's prognosis. The news was not good, what the doctors called full recovery was hardly full. After a lengthy time in a neck brace Ryu would regain use of his limbs, would be able to talk again and even eat solid foods. But his arm would never regain the strength that it had had, his teeth would have to be replaced with false ones and his neck would be prone to further damage for years to come. Simply put he would never be the man he was, and would forever bear permanent reminders of the confrontation.

Nodoka had invited them to stay but they had had to beg off because Kasumi was expecting them at the Tendo-ke.

-

-

"So you never even considered calling in a marker from Jack" Nabiki asked. They were once again walking down the pavement headed for her family home. The baby was happily once again slung in front of Ranma and looking around at the vast open spaces that she had never seen before two days ago and enjoying the sound of her father's heartbeat. "Even if he had been a paraplegic?" she asked.

"No" Ranma replied, "Much better men than him have suffered much worse injuries than that and we haven't helped them. The fact that he made me do it doesn't earn him any special consideration, quite the opposite I felt like telling them not to use the damn regeneration goo cuz the puke hadn't done a damn thing to earn it."

"oooh owch!" Nabiki replied, "You really don't like him very much."

"Don't really see any reason I should," he replied, "He's Nodoka's friend not mine"

"So this isn't some Oediple jealousy thing going on then?" he asked till smiling.

"I have no idea what you mean" Ranma replied, "But if you mean am I jealous of his relationship with Nodoka then you are wrong." Now Nabiki ws surprise, he seemed very sincere.

"Ranma" she said pulling him to a stop, "I think you need to explain that a bit more."

"Nabs" her started in a quiet, sincere voice, "I love you. You and little Kimiko are my universe. Nothing in all existence could make me send either of you away under the care of an asshole like Genma." Nabiki nodded urging him to go on, "She may not have done all that shit to me herself but she sure as hell didn't stop it happening either."

"So that's it, no second chances, the two of you are slit for good?" Nabiki asked looking for some leeway.

"Nabs, I know you feel bad about losing your mum but this really isn't the same. Everythng I know about Kimiko tells me she was little short of wonderful, Nodoka ain't even close. I like the way the two of you have become friends, I like the way she seems to care about our child but if she so much as ventures an opinion on how we should bring her up…."

"You really are serious about this" Nabiki asked. He nodded. "Fine, I won't argue with you, but I do hope you give her a chance sometime."

"Maybe" Ranma conceded "but only cuz you asked."

Then they were standing in front of the Tendo-ke and it was time for their war aces again. They had already called the Onos and they would be inside gathering intel but this still seemed like a bum mission to Ranma. The couple looked at each other, took a deep breath and pushed the gate open. No sooner had they stepped into the yard than they heard the sound of fighting coming from around the back. Ranma handed Nabiki the baby and motioned for her to wait there before sneaking off to take a look.

In the back yard he was surprised to see a full scale slugging match going on. His father, pandafied as he was, was bouncing around the garden trying to fight off a younger man wielding a large red brolly. Fortunately for everyone concerned Ranma quickly picked up that neither of them was taking the fight to the same sort of levels that Ryu and he had played at.

"Curse you Saotome Genma, Because of you I have seen Hell!" the umbrella wielding, bandanna man shouted. Then he pulled off a stunt Ranma hadn't seen in years. He thrust his fingers into the ground and cried something in Chinese about exploding earth and made the ground around him erupt. Ranma was intrigued, he hadn't seen anyone perform that move since before Xian died, and as far as he understood it no male was allowed to know it. Genma obviously wasn't as aware of its capabilities as Ranma and was blinded by the blast. This allowed the other man to connect solidly with his brolly and knock the panda into the compound wall, hard.

Ryoga allowed himself a satisfying smirk of victory as he once again eat the fool who whelped that devil Saotome and was just thrusting his hands into the air I celebration when he realised that for once the applause wasn't all in his head. He turned and spotted a casually dressed young man, definitely a fighter from his build, standing at the corner of the house, clapping.

"Good distance and a nice follow through" the pig-tailed stranger said. Ryoga nodded accepting the well deserved praise. "but may I ask where you learnt the rock technique?" Ryoga gave it some thought and decided there was no harm in telling this fan a few things.

"I learnt it from a woman I met while on a trip to China" he boasted. "It is one of the most fearsome techniques of the Joketsu"

"What was the name of this woman" the 'fan' asked. Again Ryoga saw little reason to deny the poor man the information. He could hardly help not having been able to go on such long training trips as he himself had.

"She was Cologne, Matriach of the Chinese Amazons" Ryoga replied. "And I am Hibiki Ryoga, champion of the Hibiki school." He announced.

"Hibiki Ryoga?" the other said quizzically, "where have I heard that name before?" Ryoga was suddenly becoming wary, he had assumed the man had sought him out after hearing tales of his prowess. "Did you go to Tomobiki for boys" the new arrival asked. That clinched it for Ryoga, the mention of the school, the pigtail, the cocky smile. "Saotome Ranma prepare to die!" Ryoga screamed and hurled himself at the bane of his existence.

Nabiki hear the conversation start and had just about reached her man when she heard the Hibiki guy shout. She resist the urge to out her head in her hands and groan, but only just. She did however catch her husband's apologetic expression before he dodged away leading the attacker deeper into the garden.

Ryoga for his part followed his victim's gaze to the side and saw the beautiful woman standing there in the tight white shirt, this of course caused him to fumble his attack and fall sprawling onto the grass. Her laugh was like nails driven into his heart, another rejection that was all Ranma's fault.

He spun chasing the smirking idiot who dared to show his face after all these years, no doubt in an attempt to once again ruin his life. The anger welled up and he followed in a beserk fury, swinging and destroying as he went. All the while the pig-tailed demon in human form laughed and taunted him, bounding around just out of his reach.

"Stand still you demented pin ball!" Ryoga commanded, and then was completely thrown off his stride when the bastard actually complied.

Ranma was having a great time. All his happy childhood memories of the bread feud and the ridiculous way he used to lead this guy to school were flooding back. Sure the guy was fairly brilliant in terms of martial arts but he just did not have the killer edge that Ryu had had. His anger also seemed to be clouding his ability. In short Ranma was fairly conident the guy wouldn't be able to land a hit as long as he kept him angry.

"Hey Nabs, you got a sandwich in the bag I'm kinda hungry" he called. Nabiki for her part just shook her head and smiled.

"When you're through playing I'll be inside talking to my dad" she called, heading into the building.