It was December 17th, the day of the first appointment and just a week before Christmas. At St George's Hospital, Professor Professor had been pacing the length of the room for the past fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, his landlady Maggie had taken up a seat by the bed, her Ophidia GG Mini Bag purse resting just next to her elk-colored Sorel Explorer Carnival Waterproof boots with the faux fur collar.

"I'm so glad you could make it, Maggie," Professor Professor said. "It means the world to us."

"Of course, Professor Professor," Maggie replied. "Chandler would've come, too, but he got held up with something at work. I'll tell him all about this when I get home."

"I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

"Well, of course. I'm not the only one who has to take care of things when they go pear-shaped, you know. I just hope whatever your child turns out to be, they don't do as much damage as you."

At that moment, Dr. Pertwee showed up.

"Hello," Dr. Pertwee greeted with his characteristic jovialness. "You must be Professor Professor and Doctor Doctor. Victor and Anita told me a lot about you two. I'm Malcolm Pertwee, but you can just call me Dr. Pertwee or the Doctor. Anyway, I hope everything's in order."

"Mostly," Doctor Doctor responded.

"Ja, just about everything's in order," Professor Professor conceded.

Dr. Pertwee just smiled some more. "Good. Now let's get started."

Professor Professor watched as the liquid dripped over the slight bulge of Doctor Doctor's stomach. He was tempted to reach out to touch the gel, but Dr. Pertwee swatted his hand away before he could do so.

Doctor Doctor flinched slightly at the unfamiliar chill. "Oh God, that's cold..."

"Now, no touching until the test is done," Dr. Pertwee said. "Otherwise, you'll make me have to start over."

Professor Professor settled for holding her hand instead. Dr. Pertwee then rubbed the transducer over her abdomen. Professor Professor provided a few comic sound effects for the device; some things never changed.

In a few minutes, the sonogram was done and over with.

"Well, everything looks healthy so far," Dr. Pertwee informed the expecting parents. "And it looks like you're going to have a little girl."

"A girl, how exciting," Maggie interjected. "It won't be easy, though. She'll have to deal with plenty of sexism growing up, not to mention a lot of unwanted attention. I hope you're prepared to deal with all that because I certainly was."

Doctor Doctor felt a little uneasy hearing that. "We'll definitely keep that in mind."


It was Christmas Day, and Professor Professor and Doctor Doctor had decided to spend it mostly at home but not without having people pay a few visits to them. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence to walk in and find former Expendables in her flat. Kent and Min-jun especially were frequent visitors of hers. She couldn't really blame them, though. Even all these years later, they were still loyal to her despite no longer having to work for her (at least, Kent was; Min-jun wasn't all that loyal by comparison).

"Have you been drinking again?" Min-jun asked his former boss. "You've got kind of a, um... what's the word I'm looking for here? Oh right, you've got kind of a gut on you."

All Doctor Doctor could respond to that was, "Don't start."

"I mean, it's true, isn't it?"

Doctor Doctor huffed indignantly in response. "Don't be ridiculous. Besides, I can't have alcohol right now. I'm pregnant."

"Oh, that's right. You told me over the phone a month ago."

Doctor Doctor could only sigh to express disappointment. "You never cease to amaze me, Min-jun." She then sat down between him and Kent on the couch. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to grow another human being? Do you?"

"I mean, I can't say I have," Kent replied. "But I'm sure Kowalski does, and I'd say Anita definitely knows what that's like."

"I thought so. You have no idea how much it sucks to be pregnant. I can't do anything I want to. I can't even drink. Do you know how hard that is for me?" She leaned back a little bit. "It's very hard."

At that moment, Professor Professor walked in to see how everyone was doing.

"Everything alright in here?" Professor Professor asked.

"Everything's fine, Professor," Kent replied. "This has been the best Christmas ever, just hanging out with my friends."

"That's good to hear. Anyway, would you like some Christstollen? There's plenty of it in the kitchen."

"Sure!" Kent leapt up from the couch and joined Professor Professor in the kitchen. "I can never pass that up!"

"Doctor Doctor and I also made Zimtsterne, Spekulatius, and Bratapfel if you want those."

"Wow, thanks, Professor Professor."

After about a minute, Professor Professor and Kent came back out with Christstollen, Zimtsterne, Spekulatius, and Bratapfel for the guests to enjoy. Kent was already eating some of the Christstollen that his host had given him.

"This bread is really good, Professor Professor," Kent said while he was eating the Christstollen. "You have to get me that recipe sometime."

"Ja, sure," Professor Professor replied. "We'll have to get together sometime and exchange recipes."

"You know what would be really good right now?" Doctor Doctor interjected. "Tomato pudding."

Min-jun couldn't help but look at his former boss with confusion. "Tomato pudding? The hell is that?"

"It's a minty, chocolatey pudding garnished with fresh, cold tomato slices."

Min-jun blinked for a few seconds and held back the urge to vomit in his mouth. "That's the most disgusting food I've ever heard of, and I've had hongeo."

"Well, excuse me for having weird cravings every now and then." She firmly placed her hand on her expanding abdomen. "I'm eating for two now, and this one has one hell of an appetite. She must've gotten that from her father. I hope she got his metabolism."

"I hope she did, too," Min-jun muttered while he drank Old Tom gin from a flask he brought from home. "Wouldn't want to deal with any fat kids now, would we?"

Doctor Doctor raised an eyebrow at him. "Excuse me? Did you say something?"

"No."

Doctor Doctor still had an eyebrow raised at him. "I should hope not."

"Anybody else want some Christstollen?" Professor Professor asked out loud.

Neither Doctor Doctor nor Min-jun could really pass up the opportunity to load up on some Christmas bread, especially if Professor Professor had made it.


Later that night, Professor Professor and Doctor Doctor lied in bed, talking about how Christmas had turned out this year. Doctor Doctor, of course, had to deal with the vertigo-like nausea again, but at least she had a bucket nearby in case she needed to puke again.

"What a great Christmas that was, wouldn't you agree?" Professor Professor asked.

"It's better than the last several Christmases I've had, that's for certain," Doctor Doctor replied. "I've spent most Christmases in U.Z.Z. custody or displaced somewhere else with no apparent way to get home."

"Well, this Christmas can't make up for those other ones you had, but it can come pretty close. And we can certainly hope we have a better Christmas next year or the year after that or the year after that. How did you like your presents by the way?"

"I loved them. You?"

"Same here. I love you, Susan."

"Love you too, Professor. Merry Christmas."

This Christmas turned out to be better than expected. Maybe 2089 wouldn't be so bad after all.