Chapter 5

Santa Fé

Crawford woke up rather groggy and irritated…but…when did he not? He stood up from the bed and slowly got dressed, avoiding bumping the large lump on his arm. He knew what it meant, and he knew what it would end up looking like. He just wasn't ready for—

"Has it hatched yet, has it hatched yet!" Farfarellow exclaimed, running in, practically jumping for joy.

"No, it hasn't hatched yet, now get out of my room and let it incubate," the leader of Schwartz growled.

"Okay…Do you know where Schuldig is?" he asked before he walked out.

"And why should I know that?"

"Margot and I stayed up waiting for him and he never showed up."

Crawford shook his head and rolled his eyes.

Margot walked up and took Farf's arm. "I bet Uncle Youtan knows. We should go tot eh flower shop just to make sure, ne? Let's leave Uncle Braddy alone," she said with a big smile, walking him out.

'For now…' Margot added mentally, and rather smugly at that.

Crawford flatly watched as the two went out. He just hoped the growth didn't start wiggling soon. He straightened himself up and combed his hair a bit. He walked out of his personal bathroom and noticed that his door was still ajar and that his growth on his arm was no longer there.

"Oh, no…there's two of him out there…" he grumbled.

Margot was walking down the street that led to the Koneko. She knew the whole name of it, but she didn't feel like using it all the time. Farfarellow seemed to have some sort of mixed emotions, from what his readings were telling her from his mixed…thoughts.

She looked over on the other side of the street, almost blocking out Farf's ramblings, when she noticed something out of her peripheral vision.

"Hey…Uncle Farf….there's something on your head," she said, noticing what exactly it was.

Farfarellow stopped in mid-step as if noticing the pressure on his cranium. He looked up and stopped talking completely.

A chibified version of himself stared back at him. Neither of them knew exactly what gender it was until it said something. "Daddy?"

"It's a girl!" Farf squealed, taking the child off his head and cuddling it. The miniature version of himself even had a small eye patch which was lifted to show that there was no real purpose for it.

"I'm gonna call you Faye!"

"Isn't that a name of a—"

"Ssshh!" he said, putting a finger to her lips. "Don't tell her!"

Faye blinked in confusion and looked at Margot after a while and said, "Mommy?"

"No," Margot said with a giggle. "I'm your Aunt Margot."

"We're gonna go see your Uncle Schu!" Farf exclaimed happily.

"'Shoe'?" Faye asked, lifting her foot and pointing to her footwear.

"No…Uncle Schuldig. He's MY daddy."

"Oh…" Faye said, looking around. "Shoe uncle?" she asked, still pointing to the foot in question

"Well, if you want it to be!" Farfarellow said with a smile before Margot could explain.

"Uncle Shoe," she said, pointing to one foot. "Aunt Boot," she said, pointing to the other.

Margot laughed again. "Oh, here it is!" she said, walking into the flower shop, being bombarded by fangirls.

They had decided to bug them and chastise them about having a baby, because there was such an age difference. "No, no, no!" Margot spoke up. "I'm his niece! We're here to see my dad!"

"Yup, this is my niece, Margot!" Farfarellow said, beaming.

"Wait…" one fangirl said. "I remember a guy with a little girl named Margot, and she didn't look any older than her!" she said, pointing to Faye.

"It's a family name," Margot said, placing her hands on her hips. "Now get out my way, I wanna see my dad!"

The fangirls eventually moved out of the way so that they walked past Ken and a smaller version of himself at the counter, and finally got to the back where the housing part of the shop was. "Hi, Uncle Ayan!" Margot said excitedly, running up and giving Aya a kiss on the cheek after throwing her arms around his neck. She let go and started for the stairs.

"Ooooo….Uncle Ayan's gettin' busy!" Kyomi said from the side. She was sitting next to Omi and had a very smug expression on her face.

Omi lifted a hand and Kyomi gave him a high five.

"Shut up, Bombay…."

"But, I didn't say anything," Omi said, mock innocently.

"Papa!" Margot called, walking down the hall. "Papa, where are you!"

"Ssshh!" a voice said as a door opened.

"Papa?"

"Ssshh!" Schuldig repeated, walking up. His hair was more tussled than usual and he looked like he had gotten dressed in quite a hurry.

"Where do you think you're running off to?" Youji's voice asked as the owner of said voice walked up and leaned against the door frame.

"Aunt Boot," Margot said to Faye, pointing to Youji.

Faye giggled and Youji's face grew confused. "What?"

"Nothing, Uncle Youtan. You two got busy last night!" Margot said rather smugly, giving her father a lop-sided smirk.

Schuldig groaned. He'd never hear the end of it. "Yup. And this time, he only had to be half-way drunk," Youji said, putting an arm around his better half's shoulder.

"Yay, yay!" Margot said with a laugh. "You didn't hurt him, did you, Uncle Youtan?"

"Don't think so…maybe you should check when you get home. I gotta get dressed and get to work."

Schuldig's eyes bulged and he jumped as Youji turned around.

Margot giggled. She had heard that smack. "Let's go home the back way, Papa. The front's pretty scary."

"Sure…Farf…what's that?" he asked as they started down the hall way again.

"Uncle Shoe?" Faye asked.

"Yes, this is Uncle Shoe." Farfarellow said with a bright smile. "This is Faye. Wanna hold her?" he asked, holding her out.

"No thanks, Farf," Schu said after giving Faye a good looking over. "You keep her for yourself."

"Papa, what's that?" Margot asked, pointing to Schuldig's arm, which had a small slash down it.

"N-nothing," he said, covering it with his sleeve. "Let's get some breakfast, I'm starved!"

Margot rubbed her chin in thought…was it her, or did the slash on Schuldig's arm look like it was…infected? Come to think of it, Youji had a similar scratch on his shoulder… She shook her head. Couldn't be. Could it?

"And, then, on the way home, she ripped a hole in a nun's habit! And when the nun turned around, she knocked over a priest who was talking to a school girl! She's so talented!"

Crawford held his head as he listened to Farfarellow's ramblings about his adventures with his new clone. "That's all good and well, but where are Schuldig and Margot?"

"They're probably wasting valuable time somewhere…" Nagi suggested as he walked in, looking at his small mp3 player.

"I need a location of sorts, Prodigy…"

Nagi shrugged and plugged himself in, mouthing along to a Miyavi song, going about his own business.

"Ah…I forget exactly where they said they were going after breakfast…" Farfarellow said, scratching his head.

"Beer!" Faye pointed out, who was seated on Farf's shoulders.

"Oh, yeah, that's right! Schu said he was taking Margot for her first beer!"

"Ew," Erin said with a small shiver. "Japanese beer is awful, I hope he took her to a good bar!" She looked up at Crawford who was giving her a very flat look. "You said I could!"

"I was half asleep! …But I suppose you're old enough now."

"Knowing Schuldig, he probably took her to Germany just for the experience," Aaron added. "Or at least the only German bar in town."

"Probably," Crawford said, but stopped when Nagi danced himself back into the room, still mouthing to the same song.

The teenager stopped when he noticed everyone was staring at him.

"'Joushou Gaidou'," he and Tagi answered simultaneously. (AN: "Joushou Gaidou" is one of Miyavi's songs. Nagi's a Miyavi fanboy for this fic.)

"Oh!" Farfarellow exclaimed. "I thought I was looking at you cross-eyed, Nagi, I didn't even notice Tagi was with you!"

Nagi stopped while Tagi gave him an evil smirk. The truth was, no one even knew if Tagi was going to grow as old as Crawford, or if he would stop with Nagi…he didn't like the odds either way.

Everyone stopped what they were doing altogether, when the door smashed open, revealing…something…they didn't really know what….not until Erin, Aaron, and Crawford spoke up, that is.

"Schuldig, what is he doing here!"

Said German rolled off the opposing assassin and rubbed his head in pain. "Wwwwhat?"

"Sssshhhh!" Margot said, stumbling in. She didn't seem to be as drunk as Schuldig or Youji, but she had definitely shot a few back. "I think he has a headache," she said, regaining some of her composure. "I don't see how he's so intolerant, though, I took it just fine…and it was my first drink!" She shrugged, and almost gracefully found her way to the kitchen. "Oh," she said, taking hold of the door frame before continuing. "He just now came out of his denial stage, so go easy on him, okay? And…don't I have a new codename coming up today? What is it!"

"It should…" Crawford started. "Be Madam Lulu. But, it's Babylon."

"Faye, don't!" Schuldig's slurred voice emitted from the door way.

Everyone directed their attention to the newly-awakened telepath who quickly yanked away a golf club from Faye's tiny grasp. "What?" he asked, looking around at everyone. "She was gonna hit him with it!" He stopped and looked at what exactly he was holding. "Agh!" And the golf club fell out of his hands and onto the floor.

"Aw…" Margot said with a laugh. "You conquered your fears and saved Uncle Youtan, Papa!"

"Yeah, yeah…" he said, standing up rather slowly. "I can't believe I got this trashed and after only four beers…I need the bathroom…"

He stopped on his way when Aaron grabbed his arm. "What! Why is everyone so interested in my…oh, my….my…"

Schuldig looked down at his arm that had a small, round growth over the slash he had mysteriously achieved.

"Hey…Uncle Youtan has one of those, too…" Erin said as she leaned over her uncle's unconscious body. "I rolled him over on his side and he has one on his shoulder."

"So…you're both pregnant?" Farfarellow asked.

Schuldig looked around the room, apparently getting very disoriented and dizzy. Finally, he had enough of the dizzying affects of shock and alcohol, and ran into the bathroom.

"I have a feeling Estet is going to have a field day…" Crawford said, burying his face in his hands.