A.n: Whaaat...no one thinks about these things...? I don't own YGO.
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Chapter Thirty-Four: Wow!
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Wheeler Residence
"Oh, please, please wake up; Rebecca!" Serenity said between groans. She felt as if the baby would come up and outof her mouth, she was that nauseous. To distract herself, she tried putting on her coat instead. "Ohhh...Ohhh..." I'm gonna give birth any second now! Let someone come and help me, please! She writhed around on the floor.
Meanwhile, Downtown Domino Plaza
"We'd better hurry." said Yugi.
"Because they'll stay like that forever if we don't?" Ryou said, referring to Kaiba's and Joey's and Rebecca's state of mind.
"No, because...well, also that, and..." Yugi cast a nervous look over at Rebecca, who was jumping up and down with a desperate expression. Her arms was between her knees and she was whimpering and whining softly: "Rebecca, just let me take you to the bathroom..."
"No! Y...yoo...p-p-p-p-PERV!" she managed out. She was still obviously very angry about asking Téa to stay with him, he knew. Even though he didn't like her 'in that way', he still wanted to be her friend, since Arthur Hawkins was a friend. Yugi felt it would be disrespectful of his memory if he were to break off all ties with the Hawkinses'. "I'll figure it out...myself!" She stalked stiffily away. A pole came crashing, making her fall.
"Rebecca...! Stay. You don't have your glasses, and it's not safe." Yugi called out. "Plus, we all have to stick together so we can put you back normal."
"I hope so," she relented. "Being a boy sucks."
Luckily, Mai didn't hear or was paying attention; she was walking ahead of the others with Téa, scanning restlessly. "Where is that boy...? I keep looking for a blonde head," she muttered, crossing her arms over her thick chest.
"Me too," said Téa agreeably, "I keep forgetting that I should be looking for a dark-haired tall guy...Oh, there he-! Is..."
She stopped, faltering. For Joey was surrounded by a gab of giggling girls, with also along Duke and Tristan. He was handing something to one particular girl that was so shaped like an hourglass, it looked like a card. "Uh! I-I mean," Téa quick as wink, steered Mai the other direction, "he's this way! This way."
Too late, Mai had already seen. She leapt over the sidewalk and through three lanes of traffic cars, yelling.
A six-car pileup piled up. Horns and angry shouting filled the air, confusion and chaos everywhere. "Oh, man," Téa said, her shoulders slumping as she surveyed the damage. Drivers were yelling at each other, but no one's voice was louder than Mai's was. It carried over to the moon. "She could've died..."
"Mai! I-I-I w-wasn't...!"
"Oh, so you WEREN'T paying some stripper just now?"
"What! I wasn't payin' her, I was...I was just givin' her some money. Duke was the one - askin' fer a stripper." He turned. "Right?"
"See, you Joey!" Tristan backed off and Duke skidaddled. Neither wanted to get in the middle of this.
"Hey!" Joey watched his two best friends in disbelief, and they were the ones who called him a coward.
"Get yer own meat, honey," said the bleached girl, waving a credit card that had just been handed.
"You little hoochie-mama," Mai said viciously, taking off an earring, "You'd better getcher hands off of HIM if you value that ninety-nine cent WEAVE!"
Her shriek carried over: "I found him!" One reporter said gleefully. "He's mine!"
"I tell ya, I'm not Kaiba!" Joey said to them - they had tried to ambush him all day. "Look, Mai - just calm down-"
"I can retire with this footage!" One cameraman cried, tears of joy running down the sides of his face, as he pressed his eye to the eyepiece of his camera. " 'Kaiba and his Other Girlfriend: How Many Are There?' "
"It's not like how it looks!" Joey said, wringing his arm out of the other girl's stubborn grip. She went away, and muttered something about other girlfriends not being worth it. Still, Mai faced him angrily, suddenly whipping her face up, tears spurting from each eye.
"SO! You think just because you have some MONEY, in your pocket, you can pay other girls to do...DIRTY favors for you, is that it? IS that it?"
" 'D-d-d-dirty favors'?" Joey was taken aback, by her tears and her words. He couldn't believe it. She thought that that was what he was doing?
"Just apologize, Joey!" Téa shouted from the sidelines. "We gotta get going, you guys!"
"Keep out of this, Téa!" Mai shouted back rudely.
Joey was angry, for her distrust at first, and then a sudden calm went over him. "Yeah, what fer? I'm not gonna apologiz fer nothin'; I didn't do anything!"
Téa sighed and slapped her forehead. The others shared in her exasperation. A simple apology accounted for everything. Would've accounted for everything.
As Mai still continued to angrily glare, disbelieving him, something dawned on him. "Ohhh, I get what's goin' on here!" he said in comprehension.
Now, Mai was taken aback. "WHAT Do you mean?" she demanded; he was already on dangerous ground. Don't make it worse, buddy!
"You're jealous, "he said dismissively; her mouth dropped open.
"Jealous!" Mai went pink in the face. Téa looked at her carefully, trying to see if she was turning red with anger, or was it embarassment...?
Probably anger, thought Téa. The other boys were looking up curiously.
"Why - you - arrogant - little - " she sputtered, seeming to not be able to say or form a simple sentence.
"Oh, yeah," Joey said lazily, "you know, it's kinda flatterin', but there's really no need fer it." But then they all stiffened again, expecting Mai to clobber him with a purse.
But, there was a strange silence. Téa, and the other boys were starting to look hopeful. Mai still looked as if she wanted to clobber him, but, she didn't make a move. She was still sputtering in outrage, but not making a sound. "They fight like an old married couple," Rebecca said, breaking the quiet.
"Yes, maybe..." Ryou theorized, "...when they ARE married, they'll stop. Let's hope." His words seemed to echo in the skyscrapers nearby around. By his words, the tension broke and everyone laughed at him, like a breaking babble. Cars started running again, passersby started walking, the ambulances came for those injured drivers in the six-car pileup. "Heh heh heh." He looked sheepish.
Mai looked like she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She chose to laugh. And then she went quiet thoughtfulness. "What did you do to your - his - HAIR?"
"Oh! Like it?" Joey said, smiling. "I went to da hair salon in da mall earlier and the hairdresser for some reason she kept gigglin'..." He shook his head, and a few strand fell in his eyes. "I think it's an improvement to Helmet Head."
Téa thought so too, but she said: "Kaiba is gonna freak," and then her phone rang. It looks all weird, parted in the middle! Wait...I think that Joey had his hair that way, when we first met him...it looked kind of dorky...
Meanwhile
"Phew, that was close," Duke said talking over the rushing wind. "That Mai Valentine; she's a piece of work. I can't believe that she said no to a stripper. Why doesn't she just lock him up and throw away the key."
Tristan gunned his motorcycle, his special shaped helmet twitching as he shook his head side to side. "One day, Duke, you'll learn the meaning of true commitment."
Duke shuddered at the word, then made a right turn on his Corvette, then both parked. "Yech. I'd rather die. Who gets married anymore? It's like having only one flavor for the rest of your life."
"Nice analogy," Tristan smirked. "No wonder you were voted 'Most Likely to Wind Up In Jail' senior year."
"And you were 'Most Likely to Gore Someone With that Hair'." Duke shrugged, and pulled something from his 100 percent leather coat. "Potato, patato. Anyway, take a look at this!" He tossed something square and gray.
"What the hell IS it?"
"I made it in University Shop, from a cigar box. It's a steel video-cassette cover." At Tristan's bewilderment, Duke explained: "Think! I'm going to take Mai's word at renting a dirty video instead and put it in there! Plus," he added dreamily, "I could make a fortune, selling those!"
Tristan would've laughed, except Duke did, with a capital D, have a knack for making sleazy, fast money. "What-ever, man!" He tossed it back. "I got something IMPORTANT, yep something IMPORTANT!" He headed up the Wheeler house front door, swaggering. "to do."
"What are you here for?" Duke said, even though he was 'there' too. "Mrs. W?" he smirked.
"SHUT. UP!" Tristan looked incensed, embarrassedly so. He never was let live down the time when he got drunk and sang a song about Mrs. W and Joey heard it and chased him around with a baseball bat. It had taken forever for his hair to grow out the right way. "You know I have a girlfriend. Say that one more time and you're dead." Plus, Duke had told Serenity, and she had looked at him funny for a long time after that. "And stop your hyena-like laughing, you - "
He stopped, suddenly. The front door had been left open.
Duke continued to snicker and chortle behind him as Tristan surveyed the mess, his eye wandering about. Papers that were in drawers were left strewn about, pillows cushions from the couch were everywhere haphazardly, the rug was smudged and smeared across the floor, looking like a truffled chocolate. Even tables were missing legs, one was upturned, laying on its side. Tristan had to step over it as he entered the sight of Serenity desperately shaking Kaiba - on the floor. "What's wrong?" asked Duke, who couldn't see from behind him.
"Oh, shit. She's in labor!" he whispered, frozen with panic for a second.
Duke poked his head in, seeing the unconciousness: "And she's killed him because of it..."
"Okay. Okay." Tristan tried to calm down, breathing hard through his nose. "Don't panic, Tristan."
"Hey! This was my phone!" Duke stopped by the smashed piece of plastic, "I lent it to Joey. He is so dead."
Tristan ignored his complaints. "Serenity. Are you in labor."
She could barely nod. "Yes...!...IT'S! too...early..."
"How many months early?"
"TWO!...days...ow, ow, ow..." She grimaced, obviously in a LOT of pain.
"OMG OMG. We're taking you to the hospital. Did you call the hospital yet?" He helped her up.
"Nnngh...no..." She writhed around. "No...HOSPITAL..." She arched. "It DOESN'T HURT...that...BAAAAD!"
"Duke, make yourself useful and call 911!" Tristan shouted over his shoulder as he picked her up to stand up. Duke stopped and skittered away. "You HAVE to go, Serenity. Do you remember your Lamaze breathing techniques?"
She strained, screwing up her face. "...Yes. Ow!"
"Okay, start doing those, okay? We're-we're gonna get you to the delivery room ASAP..." He didn't say how much she seemed to be leaking, everywhere; like a sprinkler spout gone haywire. Or how white as a sheet she was.
"Hee hee...hoo, hoo..." she hissed. "It's...too ...early," she whispered through laboring breaths, before her legs gave out.
"No; don't pass out!" He yelled. "Well, Duke?"
"They say that there's a six-car pileup and the hospitals are fully loaded," Duke reported, returning, "but to keep her breathing and awake and to have a nice day, 'you're very important to us'. Yeah, right."
"Dammit! Well, we'll have to take her there, then!" Tristan got up, helping her along. "We have to use your car."
"What! But-but I just got the interiors redone!" Duke spluttered. "What if she has the baby inside my car? I'll never be able to get out the mess! Why can't we take YOUR motorcycle?" he complained.
Tristan turned with Serenity still leaning heavily and gave him a Look. "...Think. Just think about it."
"Oh...because...the baby might fall out."
"Yes. 'Because the baby might fall out'." Tristan whacked him upside the head: "Idiot! Dolt!" He snatched the keys.
"Ow. Okay, okay, but keep it in, Serenity.." Duke readjusted his headband, scowling slightly at something. Kaiba muttered something in his sleep. "What do we do about Romeo over there?"
Tristan glanced back. "... Call the others to come and pick him up. Okay...we're goin'." Shutting the car door behind her, he jumped in the front seat. "I'll drive." When Duke started to protest, he added,"I never thought I'd say this, man, but you get to be in the backseat with Serenity, and hold her hand." He reached. "And Serenity," she looked up through dripping beads of sweat gathering, "If he tries to grope you, you feel free to take out all your rage out about men on him." He handed her the steel-type book video-case.
Duke looked highly affronted. "I do NOT grope women. I don't have to." Serenity let out a sudden yell, and Tristan gunned the engine, and the tires screeched. "Agh! My SEATS!" he moaned, as water hit leather.
"DUKE! Keep quiet!" Tristan made sharp left turn, nearly flinging the passengers about.
"But...goo is coming out of her...Keep your knees shut!" he pleaded. "Please...please don't have the baby in my new car...wait 'till the hospital..."
"Men!" Serenity muttered, as she ripped off the head off the seat in front of her. It was pure leather, she had become stronger and stronger, with each contraction that ripped through her. "MEN! ARGH!"
Meanwhile
"So...we're okay...?" Joey asked, as the others and other passersby watched, the ones who were still there.
"Yeah, okay," she said, a little grudgingly. She was still thinking about Ryou's comment. It had somehow, hit home hard. And he could see it, and that she was still a little angry, the way she was refusing to meet his eye.
"Hello?" Téa was saying a few feet back: "Duke! How many TIMES have I TOLD you NOT - huh?" She paused, listening, and the others turned to look at her as she went white. "She's WHAT? She's in...? Okay, we'll be right there!" She hung up the phone with a snap, and announced, "Serenity's in labor!" knowing that there was no time for subtleties and going, marching forward actually.
Everyone's reaction was the same: "WHAT?" Mai and Joey both looked over, looking identically shocked.
"Duke just called," Téa explained rapidly, "And he and Tris have taken her to the hospital." She urged the ones who were still to shocked to move, forward. "We don't have much time, they said. She was making such a racket in the background...yelling and screaming...she's seems in lot of pain-!"
"Omigod, poor Sis!" Joey breathed. "She hates the hospital, too!" He moaned."She must be scared ta death!"
"Why does she hate the hospital...?" Mai wondered aloud, as she hurried with the rest to a taxi. It wasn't easy, there was still a lot of reporters and the like loitering around.
"Long story...taxi!" he called.
Rebecca said, "Cool!"
"Wait, we all can't go!" Téa said as everyone was starting to clamber inside. "They said that Kaiba was still at the house, someone has to go and pick him up!"
"What! What's HE doin'...sippin' lemonade?" Joey shouted, both the taxi driver and the reporters looked all confused, shaking their head puzzledly..
"Tris and Duke said that he fainted...got knocked out...something," Téa said, gesturing. "Anyway, one of us has to go and get him..."
Everyone sweatdropped at this, thinking, Gimme a break! Kaiba's fainted...but Ryou looked very seriously worried. "Oh my..." he said. "Sorry you guys...but I have go and report this!" he ran off.
Everyone left looked puzzled, but then again it wasn't unusual for Ryou to run off; it was usual. "Okay...so who's going?" said Téa. "And, guys, we'd better hurry; she might be having the baby right now! So we'll have to call another taxi...?"
"Ok, ok; I got it!" Joey burst out, then looked down. "One o' these buttons calls...a limo...ah, dis one." Immediately, a long sleek black one pulled up with Roland at the wheel.
"Yes sir, Mr. Kaiba?" he said, pulling off his shiny sunglasses. "Where to."
Despite the urgent situation, Téa couldn't help snickering at Joey being called that. Yugi thought it was funny, too; he smiled.
"Ok, you two 'plagued ones' better get to the hospital," Mai said, coming to out of shock and back in charge. She pointed at Joey and Rebecca. "Just in case the curse wears off!...you'll have your proper bodies to being with. Me, Téa, and Yugi'll go get that lazybones. Chop, chop!" She clapped her hands; Téa and Yugi scrambled inside the limo and even Rebecca didn't complain; she hopped into the taxi, excited. "And Joey, honey..." She hesistated, thinking of the right words: "Just keep your eyes open and watch out, ok... dear?"
Okay." Sheesh, she really thinks I just walk around, bumbling with my eyes shut...But it wasn't a time to argue; he caught her eye and held it.
"I'll see you at the hospital in a bit." She smiled at the floor then. Gracefully, she slid into the limo like a queen. "Driver, to the Wheeler's house and step on it!" Roland, bemused, looked up at Joey, who nodded. He tipped his cap and they were off.
Meanwhile
"M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-my car!" Duke moaned. Serenity punched a hole in the seat in front, then pulled handful after handful of stuffing from his seats. He would stop her, but she was doing in with her bare hands; she seemed to have gained a lot of strength.
"Duke! You're supposed to be comforting her!" Tristan yelled from the front seat.
"S-s-s-s-orry...D...uke..." Serenity said, weak. She pushed the her hair out of her face and breathed from her Lamaze classes. "I'll - ARGH! OW! OW! P-p-p-pay for it..."
"How're you doing?" Tristan said kindly as the poles whizzed by outside the windows.
"I...don't wanna be PREGNANT - ANY MORE!" She arched, face wet from tears and sweat, and held the back of her hand to her mouth to muffle her screaming. "Ugh." She threw up, so violently that the baby nearly came out that end, or it felt like it. "Ooh...Argh...I feel like it's eating my womb..."
"Lovely," murmured Duke.
"We're almost there, just a little bit more...There." Tristan parked and jammed the parking brake up. The he rushed her out while Duke stayed, crying about his car, leaving him behind. "HELLO! We've got a baby coming here!" He put her inside a wheelchair and a nurse came over, apron flying, and took her away. She had recognized the girl as the mother of the famous Kaiba baby.
Meanwhile
"Thanks!" Téa shouted over her shoulder, as the others hurried up the front stairs, surveying the mess. Kaiba was nowhere in sight, and then they saw a shoe.
"There!" Mai said, hurrying forward on high heels in tiny, stuttering little steps. "C'mon...'Daddy'...let's go and see your baby being born...Wake Uuup!"
Yugi and Téa both grimaced at her high-pitched, shrieking demand. Surely, the Kaiba Corp. Satellites must've heard...! "Uh..., hm?" He blinked from the ground, twice, seeing the three of them. And remembering what he heard Mai just say: "? Mm!" He dove underneath the magohany-wood table that wasn't upturned, one of the shorter-legged ones. It was just the right size for him.
"Oh, no, you don't! Yugi, grab his legs, Téa grab his arm." Together, they pulled him out, but he seemed to be holding on to somethings. It was a tug-of-war, with Kaiba as the rope. And when they'd finally pulled him out from under the table, he just didn't want to stand. His legs were limp like those of a doll's. A puppet whose strings had been chopped.
Long blonde hair hung in his eyes, obscuring his face from sight. They all could tell what the expression was on it anyway.
"STAND UP!" Mai screamed at him, appalled with his childishness. "That's IT! Téa, go and grab your bat; we'll knock him out and kidnap him there... IF WE HAVE TO!"
"I can't," Téa said apologetically, "I can't bash him when he's not being a jerk...just lying there pathetically." She looked rueful.
"Oh, for heavens sake...now is not time to sprout a heart!" Mai ran her hands through her hair, thinking of another plan.
Téa said pleadingly, like Yugi knew she would: "Look, Kaiba, Serenity's really in a lot of pain and she needs you to be there! It doesn't matter whether - you're a girl -"
He finally spoke. "I can't, dammit...I can't! Go in there... in this accursed girl's body. I...Refuse...!"
"He's just got the jitters," Yugi said to the frantic girls. "Could you guys go ahead? I promise I'll get him to stand up and go to the hospital."
Téa looked worriedly at him. "But Yugi..." Yugi gave her thumbs-up in reassurance.
"Come on," Mai said, pulling her.
Yugi sighed, then approached him; he heard his shoes scuffling nearby. "Look, why don't we first go to the hospital and then we'll go on from there?" he said kindly, kneeling down, as Kaiba sat up, and fixed him with a grumpy stare.
"Motou, do you always do what girls tell you to, or do you boss them around yourself?" Kaiba said. "I remember it's not the latter, even from the orphanage times."
Shocked, Yugi met his scowling eye. Kaiba never talked about those times.
"Go on..." he said wearily. "Don't be so 'loud'...keep it all in..."
Kaiba ignored his obvious sarcasm. "Remember when that bully was making fun of Mokuba and what happened to him?"
"Yeah; his body was never seen again."
Kaiba smiled self-satisfiededly. "And remember when we - you and I - first met after all those years? What I said to you?"
"Yeah. You told me our friendship wasn't there anymore and that I should go drown myself," Yugi said rolling his eyes a bit.
"I told you to walk off a cliff, not 'drown'."Kaiba waved his hand dismissively. "And then you made friends with that Wheeler instead." He paused, in a strange mood. "I never thought that I'd have to go in your shoes, ever." He said quietly, mostly to himself.
Yugi wasn't sure what Kaiba meant, but then again, he was never sure. He was in a strange mood. Then something clicked, maybe it was triggered from Kaiba's now-small size and therefore, reminscent of when he - they - were both two little kids and got adopted into different houses.
"You mean...you did all of that...chose that way...so you wouldn't wind up like me...?"
"You were weak, even then I noticed. Me, at twelve, knew that I wasn't going in the same house as you. We were too different. We would've hated one another." He smiled up, a kind of real smile yet cynical still. "I guess we winded up doing so, anyway."
He stood.
Yugi stood too. "Kaiba...one thing I wanted to say to you ever since you got on that pricey limo on the license plate...You're weird. You're the weirdest guy I know - and the most hardest to comprehend. And I've known a lot of them."
He said that with an totally serious expression, and a heartfelt one, too. Kaiba could tell that it was true, he had waited a long time. He scoffed, half-smiled, looking up at the once-puny pathetic kid. Yugi looked the same, like a kid, except he was taller and his eyes weren't so annoyingly-innocent; not round, no. At last, at long last, he looked like - like someone worthy of being his rival..
"And you're a dork, Motou." They went to the hospital; "but you have been my motivation...Thanks for talking to me...you're like Serenity...but if you tell anyone, you'll die."
Yugi bowed, nearly spiking him with his hair. "Oh thank you...I know that's a high compliment, coming from you." Kaiba smiled this, and his rival dropped the sarcasm. "Maybe Serenity has to be your motivation." Yugi said pointing it out cheerfully and lightly. "And vice-versa, it's already, as well."
"...yes..." he said as he put on finger to his chin thoughfully. The hospital...she dislikes them too...
Meanwhile
"How is she?" Joey asked Tristan, "Duke - outside - wouldn't tell - me - anything - " He panted, trying to catch his breath.
Tristan looked mournful. "Not good. Joe, man - " he held his arm as Joey strode forward, "Be careful, okay?" He was frowning. Not you too, Tris.
"Yer scarin' me, Tris..." Joey flung his arm out of his grip and approached a green nurse in scrubs. "S-s-scuse...m..me..."
"Ah, Mr. Kaiba." She said pleasantly. "It's about time you've got here. Here, put these on." She gave him a serious-looking surgical mask and white, thin, plastic gloves. Numbly Joey put them on, his hands were shaking.
Sis... "Is she in surgery?" he burst out. A stretcher flew past him, ruffling his clothes. His lips hung slack, worried.
"Not until it's neccessary... she's over here." He was led over to her, around was a team of doctors. She was moaning and covered with sweat so much her shirt and hospital gown were soaked. A long IV needle and a hospital bracelet were on her glistening arm. She was was pale and shaky, and not to with it. But she kept refusing drugs.
"No...tell them...I don't want drugs!"
"Ma'am, we have to give you anesthetics for your pain. Let us!" She relented, after a while, moaning and tossing her head as if she were having a nightmare.
Like when she was getting her surgery for her eyes. He was taken back in time for a moment...
"Seto...Seto..." she was moaning aloud, through sobs. Then she opened her eyes and looked right at him. "Seto...! You're here...!" She took his hand, crying freely. Her hand felt like bones and skin. "I'm so glad; I thought..." Her eyelids drooping, only showing the whites of her eyes, and her voice trailed off. "It hurts so bad; it feels like our baby is going to burst out through my navel...OW!." A nurse, another one, dropped drugs through a needle in the IV.
"We'll see you in the delivery room now, sir..." They all stepped forward, but no: "Only close family and the father is allowed."
"We're close family!" Téa cried, and Mai looked highly disappointed.
"I'll keep ya updated," Joey promised, then rushed in. Just then, Kaiba and Yugi arrived, both looking jumpy and nervous and pale. "Is she okay?" Yugi said anxiously.
"Yeah, she's in labor. They'll take care of her." Téa said, as Kaiba paced around, nearly bumping into the dashing-around nurses and scrub-boys. Like a nervous father, she thought, and then he went to sit on an empty seat. Though she had never gotten along with the guy, Téa couldn't help feel sorry for him not being able to be there to witness his firstborn's time of birth. He looked utterly miserable, with his face buried wretched-like. "Kaiba..."
"Just leave him alone," Yugi advised. "He'll be all right." She nodded, and kept nodding.
Mai went up to him and took the seat next to him. She told him that Joey would keep them updated, and all that was left for them was to wait.
Meanwhile
"Let's see, where are the bathrooms?" Rebecca wandered around the aisles aimlessly, muttering to herself. Several hospital staff gave her Looks. "Keep yer looks to yerself!" she yelled. Boy, it's fun to imitate him!
"Joseph! THERE you ARE!" A lady came running up with wire eyeglasses on. "I heard on the radio about your sister! Which room is it! And why aren't you with HER! Didn't I say that you should be by your sister always!"
"Hey, lady, get away from me!" Rebecca said, since the woman looked mad. She was panting and frothing at the mouth. At least, it seemed like she was. "The mental ward is that way!" She thumbed backward. "I don't know no 'Joseph'."
"What! How dare you! I'm NOT crazy! Now, you better tell me WHERE or I'll - " She made as if to swing her heavy black handbag around.
"Don't even think about it. I'll knock you flat if you hit me!" Annoyed, Rebecca grabbed the purse and threw it out the window. "It's ON!" Violence, she soon had figured out, kept away the 'going-to-the-bathroom' feeling.
"Why, you little THUG! Don't you ever threaten the woman who gave you life!" Mrs. W adjusted her glasses as Rebecca's fist went inches from her face, glaring angrily.
"Life? You mean you're...Joey's mother?" Uh Oh. Rebecca let her guard down for an instant, and...
SMACK! "You're the one insane!" Mrs. W slapped her with a loud SMACK connecting her cheek. "Fine, Joseph! I'll just ask someone else!" She stomped away, muttering things like, "no good..." and "a bad seed..."
Rebecca stared after her, holding her cheek. Surprisingly, it had barely been felt at all, like she hadn't been hit." Whoopsy!" she said. Remembering, she turned and ran, desperately eyeing between the 'MEN' and 'WOMEN' signs, unable to choose, trying to decide.
Meanwhile
"Nnngh!"
"Okay, we have to push, now, dear," the midwife said.
"Ngggh!"
"Oh, my poor baby!" screamed Mrs. W, mopping up her daughter's brow. "Yes, honey, I know...I know it hurts...my poor darling..."
"Mommy..." Serenity said, tears running over cheeks wrinkled with strain; she knew that she sounded like a baby, but she was scared witless, "I don't want to...be - ugh! - give birth...I changed my mind..."
A light laughter broke around the doctors as they ran checking the machines. "It's too late for that," said one kindly, looking under the sheet Serenity had around her lap, and knees. "Dilation . . . two inches . . . oh dear, we have a Breech Birth..." he called to the other doctors with a worried look. Immediately there was a whole lot of noise.
"What! What's that!" Joey said. The doctor told him, explaining about the baby's head not coming out first, hurriedly as he could.
"I could've gotten here sooner," Mrs. W was saying, "but your brother, he wouldn't tell me which room you were! Can you believe it, dear?"
"Joey...he's here...?" Serenity perked up slightly, looking around with deep lines etched on her face. There was so much sweat pouring into her eyes she was blinded. "Where...?" She convulsed. "AAAAHHHH!"
Her scream carried out to the waiting room.
"Oh...my..." Mai said, as Téa flinched; it sounded hellish. Like a banshee. Yugi looked white, but not as white as Kaiba. He looked like he might faint again as he pressed his bloodless lips together and prayed, they all did. "Come on...dear...come out and tell us what's happening...!"
"Drugs! Give 'er some DRUGS!" Joey shouted through his mask, shaking the doctors until his eyeglasses slipped to the end of his sweaty nose and to the floor. "Cantcha see dat she's in PAIN!"
"We can't, sir! We've already gave her the maximum allowed, that's safe."
"Five inches...this baby does NOT want to come out," said a nurse panickedly. "Forceps!"
"Please, Mr. Kaiba, let us do our job! Go and tell the others the update, quickly."
Joey rushed out, not able to stand seeing his sister in pain. "I'll be back, sis...I'm here fer you...somehow." The others stood. "They said there's some complications...it's a Breech..."
"A Breech! Oh no!" Téa said, as Mai and Kaiba looked up, stricken. Téa of course knew all about it, it was a very complicated birth.
"Dey have a foot out...I'll go in an' see!" Joey rushed in, leaving the others with their jaws open. "Focus, focus on me," Mrs. W was saying firmly, tears running down unchecked her own cheeks as Serenity gripped her hand, bones cracked, but she did not flinch.
"A knee...the other foot!...two knees...oh dear, it's backwards..."
"What! Da foot?" Joey screamed, trying to see. "The foot's backwards? Gah!"
"No, no, just the body...this kid's coming out belly-down," the doctor grinned his grey moustache widening, trying too relieve the tense atmosphere. He looked down again: "Boy, aren't you an excited father-to-be? Butt...back...shoulders...come on, nurse, get the arms out - no, first..." he said to the midwife. The overhead light swayed as Joey tried to see, swung like a pendulum, hitting him in ther forehead. Ow.
He heard the doctor say, "It's stopped..." quietly. Blinded, Joey winced.
"What! What d'ya mean?"
"I mean... it's half in, half out. Danger." Joey's eyes readjusted, and saw the guy's worried, anxious expression. "This is bad..." He looked towards Serenity, who was strangely quiet.
Joey ran out.
"It's bad!" he shouted. "It's not comin' out anymore!"
"Mr. Kaiba is so excited about his baby!" One receptionist smiled at the other, knitting underneath her counter.
"Is it his first? I heard it was his third," said the other. "He's got two other women pregnant."
"WHAT?" Kaiba jumped up, hearing them: "It's my first - I mean, his first!" Téa and Yugi exchanged Looks.
"What a sweetly-grumpy little girl!" The woman crooned, pinching his cheek. "...Where's your mommy...?"
Yugi and Téa exchanged looks again, except grinning glances this time, watching as the woman, a big hefty mama, pulled his cheeks like gum.
CRUNCH.
"Ow!" said the receptionist. Yugi and Téa looked taken aback; Kaiba had just bit her. "Bad, bad little girl! You get a...TIME OUT! Not supposed to bite." She pulled off her belt. Yugi, Mai and Téa sat up straighter. "Stand in the corner."
"What're you doin' out here, anyway?" Joey said to him just then, saving him from a spanking. "Get in here!" They both rushed in. Kaiba wished immediately that he'd hadn't. The sight of a lump under some blankets, and a big dark - hidden in shadow - thing hanging out...He swayed...You would faint too.
PLOP!
"What a girl..." Joey sighed, trying to wake him up. Again..
"What is that GIRL doing in here? Nurse!" The doctor yelled, and a nurse put him in a stretcher and wheeled him away out of sight. Well, guess it's up ta me! Joey thought. Weaklin'.
"I can't...I can't push anymore Mommy...," Serenity was whispering hoarsely, as Mrs. W roused her from blissful sleep. Mrs. W pulled back her long hair, dark brown with sweat now, into a ponytail. She saw the little angel girl hovering around, the one in her dreams...Then everything faded, except the little girl out of sight. Staring right at Joey, she said, "I can't see anything..."
Joey's voice: "C'mon sis! You have to just give it one more go...just one more..." His voice faded out of audibility.
"Joey...? You're here..." Heartbreakingly, Joey saw her stare right through him, looking fainter and fainter. "I'm so glad...I'm...I'm sorry...I'm not gonna make it...too weak..." Her lips closed.
"Noooo, sis! Come ON. Just one more PUSH. Just one." he shouted. "Give me just ONE."
She was still. The heart monitor started to beep like crazy. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
"I can't...I'm...I'm too Tired..."
He removed his mask to speak better; the staff were looking sad. "Come ON! You're STRONG. Sis, you're the strongest person I know...I know you can do it. Just once more."
Mrs. W started to sob hysterically, so hysterically...that she had to be led away.
"Ugh..." Serenity said. She took in a deep breath.
Then she did so. One last push. "MMGGGHHH!"
And let it out.
The nurse caught the baby, it was like in slow-mo. Wiping it off, she tried to animate it. "It's not crying...Doctor, it's not crying!..."
The staff looked at Joey, worriedly. He was only considering his sister: "She's dyin'...! Oh, God, she's dyin'!"
"It - it doesn't look good," Mai whispered to Téa, who covered her face and ran away.
Meanwhile
Ishizu lit a tall powder-blue candle. It looked like ice melting. She began to pray, murmuring softly..
Marik saw her bowed head. "Sister, how is she...?" He saw the candle flicker slightly.
"Not good, brother." Ishizu sighed, glancing up. "The only thing that will keep her alive, now, is this candle. As long as it keeps burning bright, she will live. And it can only be put out by someone who doesn't approve, of the match." Ryou brought her a basion full of holy water. " And her - thank you, Ryou - faith, and religion." She set it aside, hoping she wouldn't need it for Serenity, but for the child.
"Poor girl..." he said, with a shake of her head. "But I tell you, Sis...not to fool with this stuff again!"
"Real Millennium Ring," said Odion, passing one black candle who's flame had burned out already. He stared at it, a morose feeling fell heavy in the air.The ring glinted softly in the darkness, shimmering for only an instant with a bright electric-blue aura.
The door burst open. "Ishizu!" Téa said, gasping. "You've got to come!" White-faced, Ishizu glanced towards the powder-blue candle: it had gone out. Everyone sighed and dispiritedly slapped their foreheads. "...What?" Téa said, wondering why they were all standing in the dark, getting a feeling that she did something wrong..
Meanwhile
"The baby...it's not crying, but there's a pulse!" One said excitedly, wiping the birth blood off with a towel. "Mr. Kaiba...would you like to cut the cord?"
"After she's okay!" Joey yelled, wondering why no one was paying attention and why everyone was looking so discouraged. "Hey! Don't take that OFF!" He said, slapping away a nurse when she tried to take off the IV that was in his sister's arm. "Dat's my sista, fer godsakes!"
"Oh dear..." one murmured, wide-eyed, "that's one for the press."
"She's all right," said the doctor quickly, but not looking him in eye.
"Please cut the umbilical cord, sir." Another nurse handed over sterilized knife.
Joey stared at the baby. It had its eyes completely shut, just like his sister's...were. 'Is!' She can't be dead... Woodenly, he cut the cord, the knife shook so much, it took a while. The doctor didn't have the heart to tell him that she had stopped breathing. But it was written all over their faces, full of pity and sympathy. "Nooooo!" Joey yelled anguishedly. A couple of doctors rushed forward to comfort him, but all he wanted to do was touch her hand one last time. He did; it was ice. Just then, the baby started to cry - the doctor had slapped it in the rear. The tiny, high-pitched wail seemed to give some strength to prevent him from collasping right then. It also made Serenity stir her head.
"M...my baby..."
"Hold on, we got a pulse!" There was a rushing and Serenity stirred at the sound of her baby's cry. Like it was a flute of reawakening.
"...m...my baby...mm...mgh..." She went still and quiet, the nurse quickly putting something into her IV.
"She's ALIVE! ALIVE!" Joey cried joyfully.
"Yeah; I told you," Mai said, smiling, ignoring the 'what is she doing in here?' looks. I'm the aunt! Well, soon enough.
"Congratulations," the doctor said, putting a squirming bundle in Joey's arms, "A brand new baby boy! At 9 pounds, 4 ounces. Time of birth: Midnight."
"Oh look, honey, a full head of hair!" Mai said, breathless.
"Is she okay?" Joey said firstly, not looking.
"Yes...Miss Wheeler is fine. She gave us a scare, but it seems the little one had woken her; it happens. She'll come once the sedative wears off." The doctor smiled, then left. "I'll leave you alone with..." He cast a curious glance at Mai, who shot him a hostile one. "Uh, back in a bit!" he rushed out.
Once the room was free off hospital staff and it was quiet, Tristan and Duke poked their heads in, along with Yugi and Téa and Ishizu and Ryou - the hospital had been close to their home. "Can we come in?"
"Yeah, yeah, come in." Joey gestured in, in welcome. "Hey where's dat sissy? Kaiba? He's fainted - AGAIN - b'fore."
"Right here." Kaiba said, scowling at him shortly for telling EVERYBODY that. He scowled even harder at Ishizu, who didn't flinch - she was used to it. He stared at Serenity's limp form.
"How is she...?" Téa asked, looking over at her too.
"Okay...just restin'...the doc says dat she'll come to in a sec," Joey said, and Ishizu sighed, deeply relieved. When she had seen the candle relight, she had thought it just a fluke; Téa meanwhile, still looked pale.
Kaiba took her icy cold hand, and sat down, staring absorbedly at Serenity's unmoving form. He didn't know what to do, or feel. Numb, if that was counted as a feeling - he had almost lost her. Ishizu put a comforting hand on his shoulder, and he barely noticed it. Téa was watching, but the rest were looking up at Joey; he was gently unfolding the blue bundle.
Everyone oohed. "It's a boy," he said, grinning a little warily, expecting a devil baby, and Kaiba looked up. Someone turned on the bright florescent lights so they could see better. "Ah-" Just as Joey looked down, the baby looked up. His little face was rounded and rosy, and he looked startled for a moment, at all the attention, and laughed toothlessly, a pure, light sound of joy. His little, pale fists were tossed up, flailing around. He looked so happy to see Joey, that he was taken aback completely by surprise - it wasn't some depressed-looking baby."Hey...wouldja look at dat...?" Everyone seemed to be completely mesmerized too, a total hush had fallen. Even Téa, who had felt guilty about blowing out Serenity's candle accidentally, felt all her sadness washed away and stared, like everyone else at him.
Ishizu smiled, a truly, deeply pleased smile, as the baby cooed, and stood back, glad and finally satisfied. Duke muttered something about taking the kid as payment for his car, luckily, everyone was too dazed to hear. Ishizu shot him a dirty look, though; she heard.
"I call dibs to hold it next!" Mai said excitedly. "After Seren gets to, of course."
"Hey..." Joey said to the others, delightedly lifting up his new nephew, it kind of annoyed Kaiba because he knew that he had thought the baby was gonna to be ugly, "You guys! I'm an uncle! I'm an...uncle," he repeated in wonder.
"Ggsghgahghshghsgghh..." said the newborn, sounding just like a radio being tuned: "GGaahshsshhhh...Yunkel."
Everyone stared at one another. "Huh...did that newborn just try to say...'Uncle'." Téa said, looked nonplussed.
"Well, he IS Kaiba's kid," said Duke, matter-of-fact. "So he must be some kind of super-genuis baby, right?"
Everyone muttered, even Kaiba looked taken aback, then looked superior; just then, Serenity stirred.
"Muh...my baby...I heard it ...I heard it cry..." She tossed her head forward. "Where's it?"
"Here it is." Joey said and she sat up quickly, color returning to her pallid face. The baby squirmed, making sqeaky noises for a minute. Seeing her amazed, happy expression and dawning happy expression, he promised internally: I promise to do whatever I can do for that child. It's not depressed after all! And then, he realized: this kid was a part of him, too.
Just as he thought this and realized this, the room began to spin; he swayed, like he were in a trance - Ishizu felt the Real Millennium Ring burn in her pocket. Hey, this is...just like when...we switched bodies...that twisting and turnin' an' swirlin' feelin'...Suddenly, it stopped, and the next thing Joey knew, he was back into his own body, staring at some bathrooms' signs.
God, I need to pee! He rushed into the MEN'S room.
Meanwhile
She felt her energy instantly return, that only a mother could have after nearly dying away. "Oh...oh..." Serenity murmured, gazing down at the son lovingly. "He's so..." He had a mop of dark red hair that fell in his forehead just the way his father's did, and with her big ears, and long eyelashes, and was slightly tanner than she was - from Joey, she thought - she and Seto were both fair. "Would you look at how long his arms are?" She marveled, as the baby blinked open his eyes - they were pure teal light-blue and round with surprised innocence. It made her fall instantly in love with him. "Isn't he beautiful, Seto...?" she said, looking up at him and presenting their son.
"Do you have a name for it yet?" Rebecca interrupted, happy like he was, that she was in her own body again. She was next to her, among everyone else's happy, dazzled expressions.
Serenity thought about her dream that she'd had while passed out. The memory was still fresh in her mind: the little blonde angel girl, telling her that she'd be okay, a grown-up man that looked like Seto except with red hair, who called himself her future son...and told her to keep on. "Yes...Christian James." She whispered. He had called himself Christian.
She smiled up at Seto beside her, still fondly. She still looked a little tired, her brown eyes were half-closing her skin was a little bit pale.He sat down on the bed, returning it. There was a radiance, a charmingly new-motherglow about her, as he bent and kissed her cheek, and her smile grew wider. They stared down at their son, pausing every once in a while to smile at each other - the others filed out to give them some space.
To Be Continued Real Soon!
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A.N: As you well may have guessed, that was mine...:P that the child gets to be named after...I was gonna make it a girl ...sorry if I grossed you readers out in the middle part...esp. the boys...! Anyhow, next: A JxM moment before the wedding! Meanwhile: an SxS moment! And Téa's actin' strange...is she tryin' to SKIP COUNTRY? Lololol. How dramatic I am. (sharpens her scissors) This time, my scissors are NICE and SHARP! (wheel turns)