Disclaimer: I don't own YuGiOh. And I don't have anything against the French. Really, I don't. Me love France!
After an exciting day,there was no sleep. Joey kept thinking about the new baby that he was about to have, long after it was stopped talk about it. His wife went right to sleep but he stayed up, tired to the bone.
Maybe it was thus from lack of sleep that he was moody and silent the next morning.
"'Morning," Serenity said after greeting them in the breakfast morning room. She sipped her tea with one hand, dressed neatly and held Chris with the other like a doll. The baby began snuffling around. "Oh, he's hungry."
"Take a look around," Mai shrugged in answer to her sister-in-law's question. She was dying to ask her something but she'd have to wait until later. "Does that hurt? Why don't you use a pump thing?" she gestured towards her chest.
"Oh, I got one, but I don't use it," she said.
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah." And the two young women continued chatting about motherhood. Suddenly Joey couldn't take it any longer.
"Do you two mind? I'm trying to eat here," he said, gesturing to his food. They stopped immediately, exchanging suppressed smiles. "And Serenity, put those away." He groused.
"Oh, stop being so shy. We used to take baths together, remember?" she answered shrugging.
"When we were two!" he said after a quick look at the left. Serenity buttoned her blouse up neatly again and moved her son in position to be burped. "And . . . we're going to the doctor's," he added as an afterthought.
"Oh, come on—" Mai began, but then was interrupted.
"Good morning," the maid curtsied, "Sorry to interrupt, but you have a phone call, Mrs. Serenity. Long distance."
"For me?" Serenity was startled. Getting up, she put Chris in his high chair in one swift motion. "Excuse me, all," she said, rushing over. "Probably it's Mom. Again."
" 'Again'?" Mai said, eyebrow raised at her husband.
"Ma calls her everyday, so why should a couple of hundred of miles be any difference?"
I'm glad he's paid some attention in her life, Kaiba thought. He'd been sitting there, scanning the French newspaper. Most of it was tabloids. A piece about him being seen coming over here to Normandy. Then he saw "MULTIPLE SHADY CHARACTERS HAVE BEEN SEEN AROUND THE AREA. BE ON ALERT."
A spoof article? He speculated. Often foreign newspaper ran things like this, to make tourists hope something would happen to them, so that they'd have a story to tell when they went back home. Kaiba didn't want a 'story' to 'tell' when they got back home. He generally avoided trouble if he could help it. The trouble was, trouble went looking for him.
And now that he had a wife a child, he was more on alert. It's probably a spoof . . . but we'd better leave France tomorrow just to make sure, he set down his paper and grasped his coffee cup and slowly lifted it to his lips. Now how do I tell my in-laws that we're only in France for a day? Judging by the way that they were rhapsodizing about everything they wanted to do here, it'd be hard. Well, maybe they can stay here, if they want, he thought shrugging. Serenity would be disappointed to leave so soon, France was her favorite place, she had her heart set on visiting Paris, but at the first sign of danger, especially towards their son, she'd understand. Constantly on the run: they had that in common.
Yes, he'd asked them, but he wouldn't beg them. Let them stay with the "shady characters."
"What're you smirking about?" Joey asked suddenly, suspicious. Kaiba came out of his rationalizations and stared at him back. Mai was feeding Chris some applesauce that the maids brought.
Or maybe I just won't ask them at all. "Mind your own business, Wheeler."
Joey ignored this. "I know that smirk. It means you're up to no good!"
"Honey," Mai said in a pacifying voice.
Kaiba ignored him. "And let's lay some rules out shall we?" He didn't wait for a response. "After all, even though we're in separate wings," he glanced at Mai, who had stopped in mid-spoon (Chris had his mouth obediently open and ready, confused) and then his gaze settled back on Joey. "This kind of thing has never been done before, a double honeymoon, that is. So, rule number one: You're not allowed to go out without some clothes." He looked at their robes in disapproval.
"We ARE in clothes."
"Oh, come on," Mai said, also protesting. "It's vacation, besides."
"Two:" Kaiba said, pretending not to hear, and speaking in a low voice, and glancing over his shoulder at the doorway where Serenity had left through. "No hanky-panky around my son, got it? The walls are thin. Save it for you two's bedroom please. And that goes for around my wife too. I don't want to see eyes being burned at the sight of you two climbing all over each oth—"
"Good news!" Serenity said, interrupting, and it was a good thing too. Joey's face had gone a brilliant scarlet, but Mai was more amused at Kaiba's audacity to be angry. "It's Téa . . . here, I'll put her on speakerphone. She wants to say hi."
There was immediate silence, except the sound of Téa saying, "Serenity, are you crazy?" in a shocked tone of voice. It was obvious that she was saying something else before, and they had cut her off. Then, awkwardly, "Er . . . hi, all."
"Hi," they all chorused in a grumble.
Chris let out a happy squeal, and there was a loud crackle from the static.
"Oh, is that . . . ? Oh, he's there with you . . . " Téa's voice was suddenly full of understanding. "Well, 'bye. I guess there's nothing more to say."
Kaiba scoffed, and then looked more startled when everyone looked at him.
"Hi, to you too, Kaiba."
"Hey, Téa, wait!" Joey said suddenly speaking into the phone. "Say . . . would it be okay if we can visit you on the way back from our honeymoon . . . s . . . " he added as he caught his sister's eye, and she nodded excitedly. "You and Yuge can show us around and stuff."
"Oh . . . sure!" She sounded as enthused as Serenity, and there was a rustle sound. "That'd be great. So, see you then. Say hi, Yugi . . . "
They heard him say hi, and then they hung up. There was a peaceful silence.
"You know, I really don't think they would mind," Mai said as if she'd really thought they would. "But why was she so shocked-sounding, Serenity? In the beginning?"
"Oh . . . " Serenity gestured a maid to come and take away the phone. "She just heard that we were—you know—vacationing together," she waved a hand toward all four of them, "and she couldn't believe it. And Seto—" she gave him a pointed look, one Mai found intriguing. She gave him that look when she couldn't believe that Kaiba had done something.
"Well, it'll be great." Joey said, still thinking about the day in New York. He seemed a lot more cheerful at the prospect of seeing them again and went back to his eggs.
"So, you guys are going to the doctor's for a checkup? We're going sightseeing," Serenity said, touching her husband on the arm, who had lifted his newspaper and disappeared behind it again. "Probably towards the art museums, in Paris."
"Ooh, Paris!" Mai said, clutching her husband's arm. "That's sounds so romantic, doesn't it, Joey."
"No, we're gonna go to the doctor's," he said stubbornly. Serenity's smiled faded a bit.
The truth was she wasn't sure when she had told Mai that plus meant positive. On the pregnancy test, that is. Maybe it was a different kind of one that she had taken herself. Maybe plus meant negative. Serenity didn't want for their hopes to crash down just because she was wrong. "Um . . . "
"Make sure everything's working well," he added when Mai started to protest.
"Oh, I'm sure it is," she said dismissively, getting frustrated, while Serenity gulped.
"Even though," he said.
"Well, okay." She relented. "Then we can go sightseeing—"
"No." He suddenly became interested in his fork. "You have to get some rest. We discussed it before, Mai—"
"Rest? On a vacation?"
"All right, how about this," Kaiba abruptly, while they two stared at him in disbelief, but he didn't really care about glares. "You guys go see to the doctor, and we can go sightseeing . . . Apparently his sense of humor was lost on his in-laws. "Plus, we can celebrate by going out to eat. My treat."
Free stuff always worked and money talked. They agreed.
Later
Always playing the mock-hero, Joey thought, once he was back to his room to get dressed with his wife. At least Serenity had suggested that they all go to the doctor's, she and Kaiba too, much to Kaiba's horror. He got some satisfying triumph from that.
He went straight into the bathroom to take a shower, and was amazed that the shower walls were all made of mirror. Apparently the French liked to look at themselves a lot. He'd heard that French people were snooty and self-absorbed, and seeing the shiny reflective surface of silver and chrome didn't help.
"Him and his stupid rules . . . " he grumbled while tossing off his robe. "Just because he paid for this . . . this chateau . . . " Running the water warm, he stepped into it, still grousing. "How many times did I see him 'climb' all over . . . ? Mm grrh . . . If I had a dime, for every time, I would've been able to pay for this—"
The water was roaring against the metal tub, so Mai couldn't hear any of it. Not that she would've. She was also ticked off, but at him. Did he really expect her to stay in bed all day? Plenty of other women were pregnant, and they went outside. Oh, like the outside was so scary. They didn't get hit by cars. Nothing bad would happen. It wasn't like anyone was out to get them. She didn't have any enemy in the world, and knew that he didn't. Drumming her fingernails, she finally got up. "Honey? Are you done yet?" she yelled. "I want to take a shower, too. Anytime before I die," she muttered.
No answer. She thought she heard him mutter something underneath his breath. "What?"
"Hey! Do you mind?" he said, pulling the curtain back. Unfortunately, he pulled it much too hard and it slipped from its upper hinges to the ground. "What? Did you want something?" He tried to act like he meant do it.
"Just wanted to know if you were finished. What were you mumbling about?" She started to unfasten the belt of her robe.
"Um, nothing." He knew that she wouldn't be interested, and she was distracting. "Just . . . you know . . . stuff."
" 'Stuff', eh?" she said smiling before stepping into the fast-moving water. Quickly, he turned it down so she wouldn't hurt herself, reaching the same time she did. "You know, I can take care of myself . . . pretty darn well. " Their eyes met.
There was a pause.
"Yeah, well, I just wouldn't want anything to happen to you, now that's your with my baby. I mean, I always cared about you before that, as you know," he said quickly, "but especially . . . now."
"Yes, I do know," she said quietly. "And I appreciate it, I really do." She gave him a little kiss. Another short pause, shorter than the last one and they smiled at each other. She squeezed his hand and lowered her eyes. "Get over here . . . and finish what you've started."
Grinning like a rascal, he obeyed.
Later
It got even more interesting.
When they got to the doctor's, there was a long line. Fortunately, it went through fast and in no time, they were there. Mai went inside the exam rooms to get tests done on her, while the rest waited in silence. Joey sat along one wall in clean, pressed clothes and his sister and brother-in-law sat along the other, across from each other. Facing one another. Chris was on her lap playing with his set of key rings. He was teething.
He felt nervous, and without knowing it, his sister was almost as much. Except he wasn't exactly sure why. It was more of a instinct then hard fact, but he had learned long ago to trust his instinct. And now it was telling him that something was wrong, or going to be wrong.
He looked up and almost laughed. There were posters of the female reproductive system all over the wall behind his sister, so they were around her 'saint' husband too. Plus there was a real-life model of a womb with a baby next to him, and Kaiba was staring, in a disapproving suspicion, at it, like it might attack him or something. Probably out of revenge.
Perhaps alerted by Joey's snort, Kaiba whipped his head around to narrow his eyes at him. Then he made a gesture to his left, nodding with his chin. Joey looked right. There was a skeleton. He jumped back in fright. Death, or anything symbolizing it, always creeped him out.
Kaiba scoffed, and turned his scoff into a cough when Serenity turned her head. Dressed in a flared dress in tiny flower-print, she looked every bit the lady to him. It was what he imagined his wife would look. He looked pointedly at his watch. "Just a bit longer," she whispered.
"Monsieur Wheeler?" the nurse had a strange whispery voice. "Come this way."
He got to his feet, straightened his shirt and strode forward. The nurse showed him where the examination room was, then skidded out of there.
The doctor was a man with a short moustache, and he looked at Joey as though to say, You could never grow one like these. "Er . . . you are ze husband of her . . . ?"
"Yes." He declared stoutly. Mai was looking a little pale.
"Well, then, itz O.K. the confidential information. I haf some good news and I haf some bad news."
Shivers ran through his spine vertically. "What . . . what's the good news?" he said faintly.
"Well . . . your wife is pregnant."
"Really? Oh, wow!" Wait . . . I already knew that! "What's the bad news?"
"She izn't."
Dead silence.
"Huh? What's that mean."
"It means," the doctor said snottily, "there iz a problem."
"What. No way." Joey shifted his weight uneasily. Was this the cause for the gut instinct? "Explain everything to me."
Looking supreme, the doctor went on, "Well . . . to put in terms you can understand, the blood test showed that she vas pregnant, and the other test, the X-ray said there vas nothing."
"Well, duh!" Joey exclaimed. "The baby's only the size of a dot. Hey . . . and isn't a x-ray harmful to a child?"
"Did you ever hear about ultrasonic?" the doctor retorted.
"Okay, okay," Mai said tiredly. "Look, the bottom line is, there is a problem, and they don't know what to do about it. Isn't that true?"
The doctor admitted that it was so, stroking his beard.
Joey took a moment.
"Well . . . give me a theory, at least," he said finally. "Something, anything. Please."
"It could be many number of reasons," was the thoughtful answer. "My guess iz diseases . . . genetic . . . have esir of you haf had a disease that can be passed down? A family member perhaps . . . anything that vould help?"
They both shook their heads.
"Well, that narrows down my problem," the doctor muttered, walking away, arms crossed.
"We'd better just keep this to ourselves," Mai said as they headed outside. "At least for today. It would bring . . . you know . . . put a damper on everything."
"Fine . . . stupid doctor . . . " They went out in the lobby where it was rightfully dark.
"So, how's everything?" Serenity said, getting up. "Are you pregnant? Everything . . . All right . . .?"
They glanced at each other, smiled. "Yes, I am." They needed to believe it as well as be it.
"Great!" Besides her, Kaiba got up and stretched seemingly casual-like, but he knew instantly that something was wrong. He felt that Serenity knew too but he was content to play along just fine if she could. "Let's go."
Later
Paris was wonderful, as they strolled up and down the quaint narrow streets, hand in hand. Mai was still feeling sick, the doctor had given her a shot of something and she suspected that that was the cause rather than her baby. But she didn't dare to show it, if she did, Joey would make her take to her bed and stay there.
The faint breeze fluttered at their hair, with Kaiba and Serenity pushing their stroller along, and the puppy was walking merrily, yipping at some pigeons that had gathered around discarded bread. "We still didn't name him," she realized.
"Hm, I think it's a her," Joey said. "Feeling all right?" he said under his breath so they wouldn't hear.
"Fine," she said with an over-bright smile. In truth, the world was tilting. "I think the doctor was psycho."
"Me too. Let's get another one." With those joking words, they both felt better.
In the world famous Louvre, home of the Da Vincis, they wandered inside and were considered respectable. They tied up the puppy to a street lamp first. The walls couldn't have been the widest in the world, yet they seemed so because of the magnificence on top. Their steps seemed to echo although it was pretty crowded. It was a magical place.
It was surprising, but Joey did really like art. Not so much the abstract—he didn't "get" it—but the Mona Lisa he got okay. So great that he forgot all about what the doctor had said. The guy was wacko anyway. The curator looked curiously at him, and then at his wife like he wanted to jump her, which he didn't like. But except of that, all went well. Kaiba was pleased that they had behaved themselves.
He himself was well known, and well admired, and having already been here twice. He didn't much like looking at art—which was more Serenity's thing. She loved it, and would stare as if hypnotized at the pieces. Her face would be full of rapt admiration at the art, and then sometimes she would turn towards him and he'd get a face-full.
"Hey, look! There's something happening." There was an auction in the main room, and it was so stuffed with dark suits that they could barely squeeze through. Kaiba, of course, could see over the sea of heads. The auctioneer was shouting, pounding his gavel.
"I could use something to hang over my desk," he said blithely.
He bought a pretty one of a garden. It cost a pretty penny too. It was framed, and very heavy.
"Oh, thank you Seto, I love it." She hugged him, as Mai beamed.
"Big deal. So the thing cost over a million," Joey said. "Not very practical . . . " Not that I care if he runs outta money off anything like that, but if he continues to spend, spend, spend and go bankrupt, so will Sis. And she wouldn't want to leave him.
"Well, it's his money, he can buy a million dollar's worth of rocks if he wants . . . " Aw, he's jealous.
"Rocks he has something in common with."
The alarm bell ringing stopped him. "Sir! Sir!" Looking around he saw they were gone. There was almost a stampede to get out. Evidently someone pulled the fire alarm. Something burning was definitely in the air. "Come with us."
Leading him outside, he saw Mai hurrying up to catch up with him. But he didn't see his sister or her family. That uneasy feeling again. "Where's Serenity?"
"I don't know . . . last time I saw her was in the auction room." Where the smoke was filling up, I hope she's all right.
The curator was staring suspiciously. "You are foreigners," he said in accusatory French. "You are the cause!" he screeched, spitting.
"What!" This guy is mad! And prejudice. And just plain psycho. I'm outta here.
Meanwhile smoke was filling up rapidly in the main hall. "Seto . . . I can't find Chris," she said, covering her nose with her collar of her dress, barely visible under sheets of smoke. Oh my . . . God! Blinded, she went into a panic.
"He's right here . . . wait, where are you going?" She disappeared, and he reached out, fought panic. Grabbing an arm, he found out that it was not hers. Then another pull, and the black smoke thickened visibly. Oh no . . . oh no, oh no, oh no . . .
He could almost feel that Chris was pulling away from him. No doubt the baby wanted fresh air. But he couldn't leave her in there, confused and dazed.
Finally, luck smiled on him today. He found her and they managed to push with the crowd, which was gathering over the open street. Cars honked and lights flashed, brightly blinding.
It had been dark inside with all the smoke, but it was already dark outside too. They approached the others, who were getting yelled at by the red-faced curator.
"What's going on here?" Even slightly sooty, Kaiba's voice was authoritative enough for the rest of him.
"Priceless pieces of artworks were damaged," said the police chief in French. He had a dropping bloodhound's face, and looked like he might cry. The air had turned cold all of the sudden, in the spring.
"These are not to blame," Kaiba said before he could finish. "Just because we're not from around here doesn't mean you get to point your finger at us. Get my drift?"
"Y-yes sir." Without another look behind them, the two men scuttled off like whipped dogs.
"Humph. France," Kaiba said, looking down in disapproval at them as though they were secretly French. They backed away, recoiling slightly. Serenity was just glad that her baby was all right, she didn't pay any attention.
It had happened so suddenly, and they were grateful the he had settled the matter. For once, Joey was glad he was on their side. Even though he makes an enemy out of everyone . . . He never quite thought of it that way. It must be stressful to look over your shoulder like a paranoiac
. And then he yelled in the taxi for embarrassing him, and he wasn't so grateful. But it was usual for Kaiba to be moody during crises. Besides, they readily all agreed to plan to leave as soon as possible.
Meanwhile in the shadows . . .
The thief wiped a gloved hand on the side of the tree's bark. So close! The alarm had been only a distraction. The mission had failed. After tailing them without sleep . . . the baby had been pulled out of his arms, almost, almost, but Kaiba, damn him, had held on tight. Too tight, the mission could not be completed. Without arousing suspicion. Now the would-be kidnapper would be punished . . . maybe the focus should be on the wife. Cursing, the thief remembered that she wouldn't go anywhere without the child . . . yes . . . it would be good compensation as a suggestion for a mission failed.
Meanwhile the evil man was plotting and planning . . . The baby...must getit. . . I will get tHe baBy . . . "Mua ha ha . . . !"
TBC
Two evil villians? Review!