Hope, Light and Key Lime Pie – Chapter Seven

"…and tomorrow will be an even better day, right Hamtaro?"

"He-ke?"

"I loved that movie." Karashi sighed, wiping a stray tear from his eye as the credits rolled on screen. "That baby goat was so adorable when it was first born."

"Real babies are cuter when they're first born." Koumiko replied, ejecting the DVD from the player. "I know when mommy had Keiko and Tagamaki they were so cute!"

"Oh yeah, you were in the room with your mommy when she was having the babies, huh?"

"So was Tatsuha. He managed to sneak in, but Dr. McKnight caught him. He helped out with me!"

"Wasn't it really gross, I mean, with all the blood and stuff?"

"Yeah, it was kinda gross at first, but I got used to it. It's not like on the movie. You know, mommy and daddy didn't know I was going to get a brother and a sister! You know what the new baby is going to be?" Koumiko asked, snapping the disk back in it's cover.

"Yeah! The doctor told Tama and me what the new baby was! Mommy and daddy didn't want to know!"

"What is it going to be? A boy or a girl?"

"Promise not to tell anyone?"

"Of course I won't tell anyone."

"Well, he told us that mommy and daddy are going to have a—"

"I told you I would beat the pants off you!" Tatsuha crowed, as he Davis Jr. and a very dejected Tamago slowly padded out the room.

"Awww, you cheated, I know you did!" Tamago griped, slumping down on the couch, quickly grabbing the remote control.

Koumiko and Karashi shared a giggle as Tatsuha plopped down on the floor next to Koumiko.

"What's so funny?" he asked, scratching his head.

"Nothing. We were just talking about the movie." Karashi said, winking at Koumiko.

"And just what are you all grinning at?" Kari asked the next morning.

Koumiko, Tatsuha, Tamago, Davis Jr. and Tatsuha were looking up at Kari with wide toothy grins. They were all sitting up in front of the TV watching cartoons and turned around when Kari opened the door.

"Nothing mommy!" Karashi said.

"Yeah, Aunt Kari! We're just watching cartoons!" Koumiko said, suppressing a giggle.

"You know, don't you?" Kari asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

The whole group struggled to keep back fits of laughter.

"I give up!" Kari groaned as she padded towards the kitchen. "I just give up!"

"We're on in five, four, three, two, one…"

"If you were to tell me that I would be a mother of twins a few years ago, I would never believe you.. If you were to tell me that I would then have another child, I would th—I'm sorry, can we try again?"

"CUT!"

"I am so sorry, I got tongue tied for a minute there." Kari said, grinning nervously.

"It's okay, it's okay!" the director said, taking a swig out of his water bottle. "Lots of people get nervous when they're in front of a camera. Just pretend that we're having a one on one conversation."

"Oh, that's a great way of putting it." Kari said, sighing with relief as a makeup girl patted her cheeks with powder.

"Yeah," TK agreed, taking a sip of water. "Just a one on one interview. It's not like we haven't been in front of cameras before."

"Oh, so you've had TV time before?" The director asked, replacing the cap on his bottle.

"Kinda sorta." Kari said, holding out her hand and rocking it back and forward. "When we were younger. Long story."

"Well, not much has changed since then. Just forget the ten million people that will see this around the world."

"T-t-t…ten mill…" TK and Kari stammered.

"We're on in three…two…one…"

(A/N – Kari has the first line here)

"I met my husband TK when we were both about seven years old. We went to summer camp together and shared a lot of trials and tribulations. We were the "it" couple in our little group; there was no doubt in anyone's mind that we would wind up together. Sure enough, right after we graduated high school and got into college, we announced our engagement; three weeks later, we got married."

"We never really talked much about having a family, I mean, we knew we both wanted kids, it's was just a matter of when. I got pregnant fairly quickly, and I had an uneventful pregnancy, but everyone was saying that I looked like I was carrying twins. I didn't believe them, and the doctor only saw one on the ultrasound, so I didn't think much of it. Next thing we both knew I was being wheeled into the hospital to have our little baby. What came as a big surprise was when, after I delivered our daughter, Karashi next thing I knew, I was being told "Push again! Push again!" and then, out pops our son, Tamago."

"When I was told that there was another baby coming out of there, my jaw hit the floor. I mean, how do you prepare for something like that? You don't! You can't properly prepare for two any more than you can prepare for one. And I didn't even want to ponder what Kari was going through. I mean, here she is, squeezing another kid out of there with no medication whatsoever. She's my hero."

"I remember being in the grocery store one day with the kids, and I passed by the pharmacy, and something in me said "Hey, why don't you pick up a pregnancy test?" So I brought it and took it home, and TK came home and asked "What are you doing with that?" I looked up in his eyes and said, "I honestly don't know." So, I figured what the heck, I took the test, and TK and me watched as the little stick changed from white to dark blue. I remember we sat there in stunned silence before one of us said something. TK looked in my eyes and said, "Here we go again." And we both just fell on the bed laughing."

"We went in for the ultrasound, and it was just surreal seeing this little guy floating in there with all this room to move around. It was just…It nearly brought me to tears. I immediately asked the technician to look around in there and make sure there were no other extra buns in the oven. We can now say, with confidence, that there is one and one alone in there, but you never really know."

"When we told the kids that I was pregnant, we sat them down and told them that they were going to get another baby brother or sister, they went to the moon and back! They wanted to know everything about everything. "When is the baby coming out", "what is it doing in there", "can I feel the baby". They are more than ready for the new addition."

"We decided not to find out the sex of the baby. None of our friends found out the sex of their kids, so we decided to keep with tradition and remain in the dark. It's just something we want to find out together as a family. The only people who know it is the doctor, Tamago and Karashi and their little friends."

"I think that this baby is going to really be a breath of fresh air for the whole family. I mean, I see how Tamago and Karashi just stole the hearts of everyone they met, so I know this child is going to really be a very welcome addition to the family."

"My hopes for this baby is that it be happy, healthy, and It feels the love that we all have for him, because he's coming into a family that is full of it. It's also my hope that he is alone in there."

"I second that."

"You're kidding! The camera crew is here today! NOW!"

Dr. McKnight stood from his desk, a hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yep. They're in exam room three for their weekly appointment." The nurse said, nodding.

"Man, they said they were going to give me a heads up warning when the crew was coming." The doctor groaned, pulling on his lab coat. "Oh well…may as well get it over with."

To Be Continued…