A/N: Hey guys! And gals! Well, I know I haven't wrote Y/T too much because of all the other things happening with the other couples, but I plan to! Really! Just not in this chappie. Heh. I think my reaction would be like Mai's, she's like, Aw you're gonna have a wittle baby! So kewt! And I like the contrast of their reactions: Tea's like Ew! A baby with him?! And Joey's is like, all mopey. Whaaaat? I told ya reactions'll be surprising!
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
& Chapter Fifteen: A Girl Talk &
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
'
'
A few days later, since the you-know-what hit the fan, Mai and Tea were driving back to the Wheeler's house, where Tea was staying; to take care of Serenity. Mai still felt a little guilty about spilling the 'secret', and allowed the young girl to have some time to herself for a while to recuperate. But now, time was up! Time to check on her.
"I still can't believe it," Tea murmured, for what seemed to be the hundredth time, wearing a light pink ski jacket and muffler, her voice a little muffled. "I thought Serenity would be okay." Too much has happened since I left……..I feel like I let down my friend.
"She is ok, Tea," Mai, wearing her own designs as usual, was wearing black boots with skin tight jeans and a tumbling soft beige, patterned sweater, said. "Why wouldn't she be?"
Mai, with her outrageous ways, no wonder she sanctions this sort of thing, Tea figured.. Often, although she was the youngest out of the three girls, Serenity had to play referee between them: Tea thought that Mai was too "loose" and Mai said often that Tea was too prudish and old-fashioned. So they often fought. But now there was silence.
Brief silence. "You know……" Mai said slowly as they made their way up the driveway a few minutes later, "Serenity really needs her friends now. So, I hope that your not thinking of bailing out of her." This provoked an outraged response from the brunette.
"What are you talking about. You think just because she's--she's in this fix, I'll be like, See ya, Serenity? It's been nice knowing you for five years----" Tea made a grumbling, sarcastic sound as they entered the Wheeler front door with Mai's key, which she then pointed to at Tea like a weapon.
"Who was the one practically berating her and yelling at her?" Mai ignored another round from Tea. " 'So irresponsible!' "
"Well, she was! To get herself to be in a fix like that." Tea declared defenesively.
"Well, she feels bad enough about it. Okey-doke? So mean what you say, say what you mean, but you don't be mean when you say it! Got it?" Tea was left speechless at that as they went upstairs and clicked Serenity's door open and Mai's voice immediately changed tone. "Hi, how're you feeling?"
Serenity's room was easily the best room in the Wheeler house, though she didn't often stay there. Duh, she stays mostly at Kaiba's, Tea thought as the two went by her beside. It's how this whole thing happened. Mai shot her a look, before fixing her best girl friend with a concerned smile. Mai had a sixth sense about this relationship.
"Better now, thanks," Serenity's voice came out a croak, and she cleared it with an ahem. "It's weird, but I used to get nighttime sickness, and now I'm back to regular morning sickness……" She paused at the look on Tea's face and dropped her eyes to her university textbooks that were littered around her lap.
"Poor thing," Mai busied herself with smoothing down her aubrun her, sympathized and Tea turned off the radio which had been playing soft classical music with a click. The Mai blurted, guiltily, "I'm sorry for blurting out your secret like that! I just was so excited---I knew, you know---I just knew---"
" 's okay." Serenity folded her hands studiously on her lap, playing with her nightgown. "I guess Joey had to know, sometime……." Tea snorted at this with a cross of her arms. "How is he……..doing anyway?"
"Um……." Mai said, hesitating and looking at the girl's avoiding gaze. Though sometimes people thought Serenity came off a little disillusioned, Mai knew she was in fact, very perceptive. It was hard to lie to her. She might let it pass, but she'll know the truth. She smiled with a pat on her arm. "……He'll be okay."
There was a short pause, then Serenity said, still not looking at either of her friends, "I kinda got the feeling he wasn't being sincere……when he said he'd be okay with it."
"Of course he was!" They both said at this same time; Mai convincingly, and Tea disgustedly. Tea's still disappointed that Joey hadn't annihilated his sister for getting herself pregnant, Mai thought, with a twist of her mouth. Knowing him well, she herself hadn't been that surprised by his mopey reaction. He hadn't yelled at anyone for two years, so, it really wasn't all that surprising. Been pretty peaceful guy, in fact the whole time they'd been going steady, for the most part. Until.....he found out, that is.
"He doesn't look me in the eye anymore….." Serenity looked up at the little plastic stars decorated on her ceiling she'd had since she was ten. "I know he's mad. I just know." I have lost his trust and respect……… probably for good. Strangely, though selfish as it may seem, it didn't affect her as it once did. She was sad and all, but her only thoughts now were around the little life growing inside her, and that was it. Nothing else. Nothing.
Mai continued to pat her on the arm, but didn't say much. Since he'd found out Joey had been doing nothing but crying. Not some fake crocodile tears either; real ones, complete with sobbing. He was deeply depressed, but she didn't reply this to Serenity, for she would worry herself into a frenzy and cause damage to the baby. When he had cried so much he had thrown up, she had gotten really worried then.
"Come on, it's time to go," she'd said, grabbing his arm and pulling him to the arcade or something. "I mean it."
"No……lemme alone……." He didn't want to leave his dorm and said with a loud hiccup.
"Joey, I am really really worried about you. You've haven't left for two days. So come on!" It was really pathetic the way he was carrying on, but she hadn't mentioned this. C'est l'amor.
"I just keep thinkin'…." He kept blubbering, but allowed himself to be pulled. "'bout her……and him……togetha…..ugh." Here, he would shiver so violently as if racked by a fever, and Mai would hide her eyes because they were rolling. Oh, God…..
"Just don't think about it," she had advised, she pulled him, half-had to drag him the nearest bowling alley, the nearest thing around his university dorm. She had brought up a So What attitude about the whole thing. What's the big deal. They are together. It happens when you're in love! She thought, then wondered if it had something to do with them. After all, they hadn't gone that way yet. Maybe it was a boy thing, a competition between men. She knew for a long time, they did love to compete, sometimes even lived for it. She herself was tomboyish in that way.
Nah……It must be 'cause she's his sister. They do share a bond that's unusually strong!
"He'll be okay," Mai repeated, coming out of her reverie. "Eventually. Now, first to the important things…….have you seen a doctor yet?"
"How far along are you?" Tea interrupted. "Do you even know?"
"No……" Serenity said in answer to Mai's question. To Tea, she said, "…..yes."
They both blinked. Then Mai said, "You haven't?!" and Tea said, "Then how many months?!"
When she hesitated, Mai went on more gently, "You have to see the doctor…..that's one of the first things that you should do!"
"I did……once. That's when he told me I was pregnant….." She cut off Mai when she opened her mouth again. "…..about eight months."
Both of the other girls fell off the queen bed with an equal clatter. "EIGHT MONTHS?!"
"And you just found out?!" Tea exclaimed, first to recover. Serenity nodded. "Didn't you notice, when you're--period was missing?!"
Mai was staring at her, her hand over her mouth. She seemed unable to speak, to even comprehend the enormity of it. Eight months was pretty darn close!
"I know! I was naïve. I thought…….it was just because of stress……actually, I barely had time to pay attention to it……I know. It was stupid." Serenity bowed her head. Her finger played with one edge of a piece of paper.
"Oh my God," Mai's sharp eyes skimmed over Serenity's waist, it didn't have a very big lump…….."But you're not even showing! Barely! Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'm sure. The doctor said, I'm just one of those rare cases that doesn't show much."
"The doctor…….that means…..Kaiba knows, too, right?" Tea said, puzzled.
Mai got the shock of her life, even worse than the eight month thing, when Serenity shook her head slowly left to right, in a no. "He doesn't KNOW?" Mai practically screamed, scandalized.
"That's not fair, Serenity!" Tea exclaimed, over Mai laughs of amusement. "It's not fair you should suffer through this alone! And stop laughing Mai, this is a serious matter."
"I'm……sorry……" Mai apologized through giggles. "It's just that……he's knows practically everything, except that his girlfriend's having his baby. Ironic, really….."
Serenity managed a weak smile. Her mouth suddenly felt dry and she wished for some water, but didn't have the heart to ask.
Still livid and cursing, Tea tore off her jacket and start pacing. "You'd better tell him soon, or when you start walking around with a baby, he's going to start to wonder whose it is!"
Serenity covered her face with her hands. Mai shot Tea a warning look, then said, "Even so sarcastically put, Tea is right," she said grudgingly. "You'll have to tell him….and before the baby is born, hun. Definitely."
She touched her arm to get her attention; Serenity was getting that distant look again. With her pale skin pulled tight across her cheekbones, she didn't look like a child anymore, but rather, a young woman, on the verge of becoming a mother. "Now, ah……" Mai said delicately, tapping a long fingernail to the cover of a particularly fat book, "Is there…..some reason you don't want to tell him, dear?"
With an pinched expression, Serenity put one hand to her stomach anxiously.
"There is, isn't there." Mai sighed, preparing for the worst. I've met other girls like her, teenagers who'd had to give up their baby because they couldn't afford it, or even abort it, sometimes. But that wouldn't happen in this case. She felt very protective of her, and of the couple, but especially young Serenity. She was only seventeen, after all. And Mai had been, after all, the one who had helped them get together; thinking that they'd make a good match: Tea had been the one who disliked the match, foretelling doom to befall on them, like she was Ishizu. Serenity was such a timid and shy girl, and Kaiba well, wasn't. They seemed like total opposites, except……that they were both closed off. And secretive. Sercets up the wazoo. Mai had thought, then, they would be able to open up to one another....Now, Serenity had grown and changed: from a shy, nervous girl to a confident, self-assured woman. And Kaiba, well, he pretty much stayed the same over the three years they'd been together. That was why, when Mai watched the girl, she thought, maybe she'd been hurt…. by his usual male insensitivity.
"Well, duh! I know why!" Tea interjected suddenly. "Kaiba's not exactly Mr. Warm-and-Fuzzy," she said before Mai could stop her. "Tell you what, Serenity," she went on, going around to the other side of the bed and looking her straight in the face. "Mai and I'll go and tell him for you. That way, it won't be you that does it."
Serenity looked horrified. "No! You can't!" She looked very upset. "Please, don't."
"Ohh, Tea….." Mai growled, her jaw tightening in annoyance, "Remember that little talk we had earlier?" She turned to Serenity; Tea had a sullen expression on her usual pretty face. "Hun……you can tell me why. We're friends……we wouldn't do anything you didn't want us to."
Serenity nodded, finally, her big brown eyes tearing up a little, touched.
"So……didn't you use protection?" Mai said in a hused voice, deciding to change the subject, patting her hand. "….or what?"
"Obviously, they didn't," Tea put in again. "Since she got preg---mmph!" Mai had slapped, rather than clapped a hand over her mouth to keep her from talking that way towards the shy girl. If she didn't shut up, Serenity wouldn't tell them anything.
"Actually," Serenity said, to keep the peace mostly, "that's……..one of the reasons….I'll can't tell him….." They stopped to look at her. She added unnecessarily, "....that I'm um, pregnant."
They waited for her to go on, and she swallowed hard. These are your best friends, she told herself, you can tell them anything. Mai's right. "It's……my fault," Serenity declared finally, twisting her bedspread and tearing a chunk off, "that……I'm pregnant."
For once, both girls reacted exactly the same to this news. Well, almost.
"What?! It's not!"
"Yeah, Serenity." This was from Mai. "Tea's right." For once! "It not your fault, ever."
"Yeah; it's Kaiba's fault!" Tea exclaimed self-righteously getting up and pacing again. "Stupid-----lousy----" she seethed. I will kill him if I have to!
Sheesh, she and Joey should start a Kaiba haters club, thought Mai, and Serenity seemed to think so, too, because she was sweatdropping. "No…..it's neither of your faults."
"But especially not yours," Tea added. Mai nodded.
"And you can't go on and think that way, no, no, listen to me!" Mai said as Serenity shook her head and grabbed her shoulders. "It's NOT your FAULT. Even if you've went and got yourself impregnated through a friggin' sperm bank, it still wouldn't be YOUR FAULT! Understand? Good."
Serenity's face went bright red at this, and Tea said, "Oh jeez. Nice words there, Mai!"
"Whaaaat? It's a perfectly natural word. We're all women here, Tea." Mai fought the urge to yell it a million times in Tea's old-fashioned, prudish face. "Anyway, you understand what I'm saying? Serenity, right? It's not your fault, no matter what happened. Now, what did happen?" she said when the young girl finally nodded her assent. "Why would you say that it's your fault, hon?" she stroked the distressed girl's arm comfortingly.
"Well…..when we were…..um, you know….." Serenity went through a series of blushing.
Tea wrinkled her nose, distatefully, as if not liking what she was about to hear, next. Still, she decided to stay for Serenity's sake. When Serenity paused, obviously at a loss for words, she ventured in a word helpfully, "how 'bout mating…..?" There was pause.
" 'Mating'?!" Now it was Mai's turn to wrinkle her nose at her. "That's what animals do, Tea!"
"Well, you know---what I mean!" Tea blushed a bright red as Serenity, her face looking odd and strained.
"Anyway, guys….." Serenity said, before there was another and because to hurry her story along, "To make a long story short---no jokes, please, Mai---" Mai closed her mouth. Sometimes I feel like the only mature one here, ergh......... "He gave me a pill to take, and I didn't take it," she said in a rush. "So, that's why it's my fault I'm having a baby.." She closed her eyes and waited for the explosions with a cringe.
There was a pause, then Tea looked seriously enraged and breathing hard, angrily. Mai groaned and smacked her forehead. " Serenity....! Oh no……."
"Yeah ……I know, I know! But I hate taking anything…….I have a pill-phobia," she said miserably, as Mai continued to groan. "And it only happened once……so I thought…..yeah, I know. I'm stupid!" she wailed. "I should have known better."
Mai recovered quickly at this self-berating. "No, no, you're not stupid." Tea continued to hiss like a kettle, though. "It was an honest mistake…... Anyway, it turned out for the best….you're going to have a baby!" Her mouth widened as she grinned all of the sudden. "And since you're soon going to be my sister in law, so….."
It would figure Kaiba would do that. Make her take the protection. Tea let it go, though, saying helpfully, "Your sister-in-law's baby…?"
"No! It'll be my new niece or nephew. Eeee! I'm about to be an aunt!" Mai let out a blissful sigh and leaned against the wall with a dreamy smile. Well.....at least she's happy, thought Serenity with a real smile, who admired the blonde beauty a lot, for her strength and pride. If she'd been in her shoes, she would go up to the guy with a, Look, I'm pregnant. What are you going to do about it? attitude. But she wasn't the one having a baby, and the two weren't the same. Then Mai turned her blonde head. "Well, do you know? Whether it's going to be a boy or a girl, I mean?" She waited with bated breath, expectantly.
"No, but," Serenity smiled a sad smile down, patting her stomach. "But it has to be a girl!" She said, suddenly fierce. "It just HAS to!" Surprised, both girls asked why. "…..it'll be better if it is for Seto," she answered softly.
Tea looked disgusted and puzzled, but Mai had a look of dawning realization. She understood Serenity better "Ohhh. Because…of his company, am I not right, Serenity…..?"
"Yeah….." She nodded with that simple word in finalization, deciding to elaborate. Before she could, Tea cut in again.
"His what?! That shouldn't matter, Serenity! You're more important than his stupid old company!" she yelled, clenching her fists, even though it wasn't just a 'stupid old company.' It had grossed more than a trillion the last year alone……and the new baby would be the heir to all of that. Still, Tea didn't care about all that money, she was enraged on Serenity's behalf. "At least, you should be more important--!" She waved her fists around in deep disgust.
Said girl bit her lip, her hand was shaking as she took up a pen and unconsciously began to doodle, still biting her lip. "It means a lot to him, Tea."
"…..and having a boy….would inherit all of that. But, still....... you guys aren't married….." Mai said thoughtfully, chewing her finger. Yet......
"Yes. The press…the media….would go crazy. Having a baby out of wedlock would definetly make front-page news."
"Still, Tea is right," Mai said since Tea looked like she might explode. "That shouldn't matter. What matters is that you have to tell him, and only you. So, Tea? Keep your mouth shut, okay, dear? Don't go tipping off the tabloids for some extra money." She was only kidding, but Tea had a furious look on.
"What?! As if! Anyway, that Kaiba's so stubborn, he wouldn't believe me even if I did." Tea said haughtily, crossing her arms over her plaid sweater and white shirt.
Mai barely was listening, thinking hard. She tossed her long.curls and sat up, seriously.. "Well…….if you're so worried about what everybody'll say, then…..the only way is to marry him, Serenity. That would make the birth legal."
"No."
"No? W-why not?" Mai was thoroughly surprised and even Tea stopped her ranting. "You two love each other. Right?"
"Yes, of course!" Serenity started twisting the chunk of bedspread again, considering the many holes on it, it looked like she'd been doing that for a while. "But I don't want to marry him. I know it's sounds selfish, I know, but the pressure……would eventually destroy us. Both."
"….."
"……" Both were too busy gaping to talk. Even Mai, who studiously studied them, was taken aback.
"I don't want us to marry just because I'm pregnant. I care too much for him to force him…..even though it's selfish for my baby." Serenity's eyes turned tearful, and she gazed across the room to her dresser. "Besides…..my parents married only because my mom got pregnant with my brother. And you know how that turned out! So...."
There was a silence, then Tea said, "But I still don't get why you need it to be a girl. I'd think Kaiba would be happy with a son! You know, businessmen want their heir, and all that! Wouldn't he be happy? I mean---" she trailed off, unsure how to elaborate, but they knew what she was talking about. Mai and Tea turned back to Serenity. A crow cawed outside the window.
After a hesitation, she answered softly, "We had a serious discussion once. About our future, and all of that. And he said he doesn't want children, least of all a son. It's…..kind of hard to explain….but….I'll try." She took a deep breath, wincing at a cramp in her leg. "You both know he had a stepfather, right?"
Tea nodded, but Mai shook her head. "I didn't even know he had a guardian."
"He doesn't anymore; he's dead now, so---"
"Oh, right. That explains why he's in charge of his company. My, girl, you've thought this all out, haven't you?"
"Yeah. I did nothing else since I found out…..that, and constantly worry. Anyway, it seems his stepfather had an ulterior motive for adopting Seto and Mokuba. Mostly Seto. He had a son that died before; a real son. Noah--"
"And lemme guess. He planned to resurrect him." Mai joked.
"How'd you guess?" Now it was Serenity's turn to be taken aback.
"I was joking…..?" Mai looked from Tea to Serenity, her dark violet eyes baffled. "Ew, how'd he do that? Grave-dug?"
Serenity started to explain that the stepfather, later sercretly planned to upload his real son's mind into the adopted older son through biotechnology. "…Only thing was, the original Mr. Kaiba died before he could. You remember, Tea?"---Tea nodded----"Or, so everybody thought, but that's another story….." she paused, remembering what Kaiba had said. "So…..I think he's been traumatized by the whole heir idea, and that's why he doesn't want a son. It's has to be girl. So when he finds out…..it won't come such as a shock....." Even though he's going to be shocked, anyway......
"Oh...kaaay," Mai said, totally weirded out by the whole story. Upload? Dead kids? I think Kaiba just took the prize for having the weirdest family in Domino. "Still, I'm sure he'll change his mind, hun. He will. I'm sure of it!"
"I guess I could see how that would be traumatic to have kids," Tea muttered reluctantly, fighting the urge to add, to anyone else. "But really. You must tell him the truth anyway. Promise!"
"Okay, okay…..I promise!" Serenity yawned then, so wide her cheeks hurt. "Now, I really need to get some sleep, so if you guys could....."
&&& Meanwhile &&&&
Kaiba saw Joey even before he approached the CEO., and he was walking back with two off his colleagues. Oh, no, not now, he thought, gritting his teeth and hoping against hope that the mutt was headed in the other direction. Two of his very important investors were with him, and if Joey was to embarrass him as usual…..
He radioed his men for help. "Apprehend and restrain the drunk behind me." The guard called back, Roger, Mr. Kaiba and he walked faster, watching out of the corner of his eye. He really did look drunk; a few days in the mental institution would do it. And carrying a pole? My, my…..
"Kaiba! HeY, Kai!"
The two suited, older men half turned around, murmuring at the rapidly approaching boy. "Ignore him…..just a drunk." But they didn't and Kaiba was forced to stop.
And paste a welcoming smile on his face. "Mutt. How're you doing."
It was an error to say he knew him, but everyone in Domino knew, anyway, about their feuding ways, so it wouldn't do much good to deny it. Kaiba eyed the obviously angry teenager. He looked worse than usual. His eyes were blood-red, as he flexed his fingers on the edge of the pole, a strange, mirthless smile fixed on his shadowed face.
"New haircut? It's an improvement."
"Heh heh….." Joey, chuckling a little, ignored the slight, stopping a little ways off of the three suited men, all who were staring along with the rest of the people on the street. They were murmuring about his appearance, his wrinkled clothes, and the fact he was just about to attack. "Y'know, you've done lots of bad stuff ta me, Kaibe……poisonin' me, attempts to kill me an' my family, electrocutin' them……but this one, this one takes da cake! Now, writecher million dolla will or whateva, 'cause you're aBout tO die!" He said, sounding as though possessed by a demon. The demon of hate. It churned in his guts like a black liquid snake, writhing and begging to attack.......
The two older men started murmuring louder, and Kaiba could see the guards coming from the stairs. He narrowed his eyes into slits. "There. Are you happy, mutt? You've done your humiliation." He nodded to whispering men and hardened his voice. "So go and check it off your list for the day and leave before I throw you out and lock you up, Serenity's biological brother or not."
With that he turned his back to him, the men following now reluctantly, it would be hard to convince them to promote his company again, he was thinking, not really that concerned. It was....
...... Joey's next words that stopped him cold, though.
"You idiot! You got m' sista pregnant!" He yelled, in an awful-sounding voice. "So jest DIE, will ya." He charged......
TBC!
A/N: Ah, you maybe he will try to kill him.....lolz. Argh, can't……write…..anyone……fingers…..cramping….sorry….for the…..the…..cliffie…..(blink blink) ….thanks for…..the reviews…..but you've got…..to…..review….now…..zzzzz......