Hi all! Here's the second chapter. Thank you to all who reviewed:
Gabz: Glad you liked Bryan's line…I thought it was kinda cute too…
Firefairy42: I know, I know, but I pressed the button before I realised I'd made a typo. Sorry!
Ellen: Unusual? Yeah, it is, isn't it? Thanks for the review!
Mistress-of-eternal-Darkness: Hehe, maternal Tala's going to get a bit more temperamental before the end of the story!
Kaei kon: Your English is great, much better than my Spanish! Estudie es en el colegio, pero no puede hablare mucho. If that made ANY sense! I should really stop trying to speak Spanish…it makes me sound idiotic 'cause I always get it wrong! ...it WAS Spanish wasn't it? ...I'm so going to fail Spanish...oh well.
SolitaireAikanaro: Heh, Tala is a bit bad tempered, isn't he? Well, it's only going to get worse! Tala's getting hormonal…scary…
Renanimeangel: Thanks for reviewing, the 'just keep smiling' helped me a lot because someone keeps giving me really nasty flames saying I'm a disgrace for writing yaoi…made me really angry…I made lots of toast out of it though!
Chinese Fairy: Well, I'll try, but he IS pregnant…I'm gonna give him mood swings like a rollercoaster, it'll keep Bryan on his toes!
"Tala?" Bryan shook Tala gently. "Tala, wake up..."
"Nnnuh..." Tala groaned and cuddled up closer to Bryan, who promptly stood up. Tala whined and opened his eyes. "Bry-an..."
"Come on, get up, mum." Tala's face fell.
"Don't make jokes about it Bryan. I know I'll get enough of that off everyone else."
"Tala..." Bryan sighed. "I'm sorry. You coming downstairs?" Tala shook his head. "Tala, you're going to have to at some point. Maybe it's better to tell them now."
"They'd believe me if I had a bump."
"Tala..." Bryan folded his arms, frowning. Tala turned away from him.
"Go and tell them if you want. But after what Kai said yesterday...I'm not going down there. No way."
"Tala, you'll have to tell them sooner or later. And sooner would be better." Tala sniffed.
"Fine. But if he says anything, and I mean -anything-, I'm going to kill him. Or, if you're closer, I'll kill you." He went to stand up and found himself suddenly dizzy. He swayed, and Bryan took hold of him, holding him upright. "It's alright..." Reassured Tala. "It's supposed to be normal..."
Everyone stopped talking as Tala walked into the kitchen. "I'm pregnant. Deal with it." Was the best he could do. He yanked open the fridge and got out a yoghurt, tugging the cutlery drawer open and grabbing a spoon as he kicked the fridge shut. He leaned against the drawer to shut it and glared at the others as they watched him silently. "What do you think this is, a freakshow? Stop staring at me!"
"Ivanov..." Kai shook his head. "It's physically impossible." Tala looked from him to Bryan, wondering which was closer.
"Hiwatari. Yes it is." Mocked back Tala. "But your grandfather, yes, -your- grandfather, was a twisted old bastard. So I'm pregnant. If you still don't believe me, fine. Fuck off out of this house, and don't think you're getting invited to the christening." Kai glared.
"Prove it."
"I already did. Or weren't you nosy enough to look at those test results?"
"They're fake. They have to be." There was a sharp click and the yoghurt pot cracked down the side. Tala was clenching it in his fist so tightly that it oozed pale orange yoghurt over his fingers. "Why would I lie about something like this? Do you think I -want- to be pregnant? Because if you do, you're even stupider than I thought!" He hissed, voice taut. Rei touched Kai's arm and frowned.
"Tala, I believe you." He smiled. "You smell pregnant."
"I what?"
"You smell pregnant. I couldn't place it until Kai said about it last night, but you do. Or to -my- nose you do, anyway." Tala smiled.
"Thank God, someone believes me!"
"No, we all believe you, except Kai." Chipped in Tyson. Kai glowered at him and ripped a shred off his slice of toast, putting it into his mouth and chewing it ferociously. "That's because it's impossible." Bryan watched from the doorway, waiting for the Tala-bomb to explode. He was not disappointed. Tala dropped the yoghurt pot and let the yoghurt drip from his fingers, then suddenly lost it.
"Hiwatari, you think you're so smart but you don't know anything! Are you going to argue with five doctors about this? Because they didn't believe it at first either. Because it's impossible. But it's still happening, and it's happening to -me-, and as if that isn't bad enough it's all your grandfather's fault!" He hissed. Kai shook his head. "Well then get out of this house NOW! And when, in a few months, I have a bump, I will come and show you it. When my unborn child starts kicking, I will make you feel it, but even if I do you won't believe me because you're just a closed-minded little asshole!" Tala took a deep breath. "Bryan-"
He swayed dizzily and his eyes unfocused for a second before he started to fall, eyes shutting tightly. Bryan ran over and grabbed him just before he hit the floor. "Tala! Tala!" He cradled Tala in his arms, panicking. "Oh my God, Tala!" The others watched, struck dumb, as Tala groaned and opened his eyes. He struggled up off Bryan's lap just in time to empty the contents of his stomach into the sink.
"Tala...Tala are you okay?" Tala didn't reply, only rinsed out his mouth and wiped the sink clean before turning.
"I'm...going back to bed...I don't...feel very well..."
"Maybe it's morning sickness." Suggested Rei. Tala froze in his tracks, and only Bryan could see the look of horror on his face. "And sometimes pregnant women faint..." Kai snorted.
"Since when did you become a pregnancy expert?"
"I come from a village, Kai. It's not like there are hospitals there. I've helped to deliver babies before, unlike you. Anyway, some neko-jin males can get pregnant anyway. I thought it'd be a better idea to know what goes on in case...well, in case I end up the same way."
"What! Do you seriously expect me to believe that?"
"Why do you think I always make you wear a condom?"
"This is ridiculous! If-" Their bickering was interrupted by Tala slumping against the wall and sliding down it, head in his hands.
"I can't..." He took a deep breath. "I'm going back to bed. I don't feel so good..." He drifted out, followed by a nervous Bryan, and Rei rounded on Kai.
"Kai how could you speak to him like that?"
"Like what?"
"Like you don't believe him!"
"Maybe it's because I don't!" Rei folded his arms.
"Okay then, next time we have sex, no condoms. Maybe I'll get pregnant, and then maybe you'll believe it's possible!"
"Rei, stop being so utterly ridiculous!"
"I'm not being ridiculous, Kai, you are! You're acting like you need proof before you'll entertain the notion! Do you really think he'd make something like this up? I mean it's not like I saw the tests, but if they say he's pregnant, Kai, isn't that proof enough? Don't you think that all this might be hard for him? Especially when someone who he's known for years can't accept it?" Kai glared, but Rei kept on talking regardless.
"Sooner or later he'll have to tell everyone, not just us, but Spencer, and Ian, and Mr. Dickenson, and even maybe the other teams! If he doesn't have the support of someone like you, who's supposed to be his -friend-, can you imagine how bad he'll feel about it? Why don't you stop trying to satisfy your stupid science-brain for a second and -think- about it!"
"Look, Rei, men don't get pregnant, okay? It just isn't possible!"
"YES IT IS!" Rei yelled. "Look, Kai, I'm not going to argue with you any more about this. Men don't usually get pregnant, I agree. But under some circumstances, they can. One of my cousins has had a baby, twins in fact, and he's pretty damn real, so it's not just some imagined fantasy. Okay, with Tala it'll be different, because he's not a neko-jin, but if you tried talking to him instead of just flat out refusing to believe him, then maybe you'd work a few things out!"
Rei flounced out, leaving Kai sitting at the table, his now cold toast still in his hand. He flung it down onto the plate, considering Rei's words, then stood up.
"Tala, are you sure you're okay?" Asked Bryan, following Tala into the bedroom.
"I'm fine. Leave me alone." Tala sighed and burrowed himself into the blankets. "I told you he would be horrible again. He doesn't even want to -try- and believe it's possible..."
"Well he's just an idiot then, isn't he?" Bryan sat down next to the heap of blankets that was Tala and sighed. "Tala, it doesn't matter what Kai thinks-"
"Bryan, he's known me since I was seven! If he doesn't believe me, who will?"
"Maybe...you could explain it to me. I...think maybe I'm being too quick to judge..." Bryan turned. Kai was standing in the doorway, an apologetic look on his face. Tala sat up, pushing his head out of the blankets, and gawped. Bryan hugged him, smiling, and left the room. Tala kicked his way out of the blankets and sat up, patting the bed beside him as in invitation for Kai to sit down.
"Kai...I know it's not easy to believe...but I'm not lying! I swear..." He touched Kai's arm as he sat down. "I swear I'm telling the truth..."
"I just can't see...how it could happen."
"I don't even know myself, Kai. I just know that I can feel something happening inside me, and I keep getting a bit dizzy, and...well, you saw, I've started being sick... They tested me because they thought I had diabetes, but when the results came they said I was pregnant, so they did some more tests, and gave me a body scan and I have a womb, Kai. Honest to God, I'm not lying." He took a deep breath. "They did some further study, and they realised it'd been transplanted into me."
"Biovolt?"
"There isn't anywhere else that could have done it. I know it's a lot to believe, and I can hardly believe it myself, but it's true!" Kai looked up into Tala's pleading eyes. "Please, Kai...I wouldn't lie about something like this...I wouldn't lie about something that scared me like this..."
"How long...have you been pregnant for?"
"About six weeks...a month and a half." Tala smiled suddenly. "Does that mean you believe me?"
"I...don't think I quite believe it yet, but I know you wouldn't lie to me on this big a scale. Can I-?" Tala nodded, and Kai placed a hand over his stomach. Tala put his own hand over it and smiled.
"I guess...you can come to the christening. If you want to."
"If you have a baby Tala...of course I'd want to. Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?"
"No...it's too early for anything like that." Kai rubbed his hand up and down Tala's stomach gently.
"I'm sorry for being so...stupid."
"No, it's okay. I didn't believe them when they told me...I thought they were joking. But it's true, Kai! I'm going to be a father...well...a mother...but still a father!" Tala's infectious happiness made Kai smile, wondering if Rei had been serious when he'd said he could get pregnant...
Next chapter: Rei has news, Tala has morning sickness, and Bryan has to find some aspirin!
I commence to beg shamelessly for reviews: please review! The button's just down there, I'd like to know what you guys think!