It had been Professor Professor's idea to hold the baby shower in combination with her 35th birthday party, though Doctor Doctor was contemplating just forgoing the whole thing. She had a mediocre reputation around the world as is. Plus, events like this just served to remind her that Kent and the few former Expendables she'd kept in touch with were the closest things she had to friends.
There were some familiar faces, though, as well as some she hadn't seen in quite a while. Adonis and Diamonica certainly came to mind. They'd just arrived at the party, all dressed up in matching sweatsuits and tennis shoes that were shades of pink (with Adonis even having swapped our his usual piercings for ones made of rose gold). Honestly, they seemed perfect for each other, as eccentric as Adonis was and as ethereal as Diamonica was.
"Hello," Professor Professor greeted the unusual couple. "It's so nice that you could come."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world, man," Adonis replied. "I've always had a soft spot for babies, 'specially ones still in the oven."
"Your party be illing," Diamonica chimed in. "I can see it from my eyes. I'm sure you'll make a great daddy. I'm not telling lies."
"Why, thank you, Diamonica," Professor Professor replied with gratitude. "I take back everything I said about you."
Leoffled peered from just outside a corner. "What about me, Professor? Do you take back everything you said about me?"
"No, you're still kind of annoying. You're supposed to be marrying my brother, though, so I'll let it pass for now. Besides, you remind me of my mother in a lot of ways."
"Like what?"
Before Professor Professor could answer that question, he was interrupted by the sound of an egg timer going off. Leoffled took this as a cue to rush back to the kitchen and help Mildred and Maggie, leaving any comparisons for later.
Doctor Doctor had positioned herself on the sofa, mostly because at this many months along, she was banned from most things. Heavy lifting was especially high on the list of pregnancy no-no's, along with alcohol and pretty much anything else that could be considered enjoyable. Professor Professor sat beside her and squeezed her hand.
"I can't believe you were able to get so many people to come to the party," Doctor Doctor said. "Like Diamonica was the last person I expected to see here."
"Well, I certainly had my ways," Professor Professor said.
"Of course you did." Her stomach rumbled so loud that several of the guests turned her way. "Ugh, I'm famished—" Before she could say anything else, Professor Professor had a slice of cake held out. "Were you sneaking bites?"
"You better not have, the cake is for everyone!" Maggie could be heard yelling from the kitchen.
Professor Professor smirked. "Maybe..."
Doctor Doctor took a small bite and groaned at the sheer explosion of flavor in her mouth. Creamy and rich, she couldn't help but take another bite and another. "Mm, bird's milk cake. My favorite. In fact, it reminds me of my wedding cake... part of it anyway." She balanced the plate of cake on her stomach. Sometimes, these things did come in handy.
"Well, I'm glad to hear you like it," Crystelle said. "Mom had to watch a YouTube video just so she could learn to make it for you."
"Interesting." She rubbed at the cake crumbs on her mouth. "Well, everyone, dig in! I was going to wait, but I needed some food, stat."
"Everyone can multitask, right?" Professor Professor asked. "I certainly hope so."
That's when Jalapeno Coleslaw got a chance to speak. "Of course, Professor Professor. Oh, I almost forgot, I should tell you my new name of the day. As you all already know, for reasons of security, my name is Changed Daily. Today, you may call me..." His cellphone beeped. "Oh... Fruit Chan."
Everyone else just started laughing.
"I'll kick this party off early since I'm supposed to be leaving soon," Fruit Chan said.
"Why?" Doctor Doctor asked. "Where are you going?"
"I'm supposed to meet up with The Kid and his mother over in Zürich tomorrow to discuss who will be replacing Pamela Peyron as chief of the French branch of U.Z.Z."
"You mean it probably won't be Delphine Rambeau?"
"I'm sure we'll decide on Delphine, but for now, we can't be certain about who will get the job."
There was a sound at the door. Doctor Doctor nearly dropped her cake to the floor in surprise at the exact moment.
"Oh, did I summon her by saying her name?" Fruit Chan jokingly asked.
He went to open the door, and he saw Kent standing there with presents. He also saw Min-jun standing beside him while he was hooked arm-in-arm with a girl he'd never seen before. She had bleach-blonde hair with dark roots done up into a pixie bob with waxy upswept bangs, and she had the same almond-shaped brown eyes as her companion. For the occasion, she was wearing metallic light blue eyeshadow, a graphic eyeliner, clear lip gloss, white drape pants, a colorblock straw hat, and a blue bandana cami top.
"We've got presents," Kent said.
"I can see that," Fruit Chan replied. "Who's the girl with Min-jun?"
"Oh, right." Min-jun cleared his throat. "Fruit Chan, this is Kwon An-jel. She and I have been friends for years. We actually met when she was visiting at the homeless shelter I used to live in."
"Well, that's... something. I'm sure An-jel is a lovely girl to be around."
"She is. We're just friends, though. She's been attending Seoul National University as a freshman."
"Oh, good for her. She seems to have a bright future ahead of her."
"Uh-huh. Anyway, I'm gonna go find Doctor Doctor real quick. An-jel, stay there and try to talk some more with Fruit Chan. Kent, why don't you go ahead and put the presents somewhere where Professor Professor can get to them?"
Kent beamed up. "Okay!"
While Kent was putting away presents, Min-jun was walking over to where Doctor Doctor was sitting.
"Still as fat as a pig, I see," Min-jun commented.
Doctor Doctor could feel her face flushing from how offended she felt at that moment. "Excuse me?"
"I'm just being honest."
"Hey! That's offensive. In fact, it's an insult to pigs. They're smarter than you think."
"Don't flatter yourself, honey. I'd prefer a pig's company to yours."
"Excuse me?!" Doctor Doctor struggled to get up for a bit before succeeding. "Are you trying to insinuate that pigs are smarter than I am?"
Kent sensed that something was about to go down and tried to strike up a conversation with An-jel to distract himself.
Min-jun didn't say anything for a few seconds before eventually responding with, "Yeah, I am."
It was at that moment that Doctor Doctor lunged forward at him and started clawing at his face, instigating a physical altercation between them. Min-jun retaliated by slapping her across the face and then headbutting her in the temple. Most of the physical altercation was just them throwing punches and kicking each other and exchanging petty insults, with most of the guests just watching in stunned silence. Meanwhile, Professor Professor was hiding his face in embarrassment while Leoffled just started recording the fight to watch later. Eventually, Kent and Adrian had to intervene and pry the fighting parties off of each other.
"Ggeo-jyeo, mi-chin nyeon!" Min-jun yelled at Doctor Doctor. "You can suck my gochu!"
"This party is over!" Doctor Doctor practically shrieked at him. "Get off my property, and don't ever speak to me again!"
Min-jun just scoffed to himself as he got up and left, with all the other guests following behind him in stunned silence.
"Wow, that sure turned ugly," Victor could be heard muttering as he left with Anita.
Once every single one of the guests had left, Doctor Doctor just watched the door for what felt like a short eternity. Then she stared down at the floor and then her vision started blurring from tears― traitorous tears ―that dripped down to her chin.
"Whoa, what was that about?!" Professor Professor asked. "I've never seen you have that kind of a row with someone before, especially not with Min-jun."
"Well, he did have it coming," Doctor Doctor replied, still crying. "That's what he gets for insulting me on my birthday. I digress. I just— I don't want to be one of those women who lose themselves. Their lives end when their children come until they never read books or talk about anything but their kids. I―" She trailed off for just a couple seconds. "I don't want to be like that. I want to keep working and I just know I won't be able to do it all—"
"Susan, what the hell? What are you talking about? We already discussed this. You had to retire because of your injuries, remember? And while I doubt raising a child will be able to fill the void that being a baddie left behind, it won't be any different from when you had to crack the whip on the Expendables, so to speak."
"I haven't even babysat in years. How could I be trusted to take care of a child?"
"Whoa, that's a load of schieße. For better or worse, you've changed people's lives. Why, if it weren't for you, all life on Kalidah as we knew it would have been devastated to the point of mass extinction. I'd say being a parent wouldn't be any different than saving a world, but that would be an unfair comparison. Those were thousands, if not millions of lives. This is a child. If you can handle millions of alien lives, you can handle a child."
"You know I don't do well with failure. I just don't. I can't stand losing, I can't stand admitting to myself how much I've failed— and there's so many things that could go wrong. Like... I could have a miscarriage, she could die right after— if I still had one of those, I'd have to use a cloning machine with her DNA just so I could have a back up in case we accidentally killed her. What do you think that says about me as a parent, huh?"
"It says that you're prepared and plan ahead. Besides, you don't have to do this alone, because you're not. You've got me, you've got Kent, you've got Oluremi and Adrian, and you've got Maestro and my mother."
Doctor Doctor sniffled. "Thanks, I guess. I don't know what's got into me lately. It must be hormones or something because I've never broken down like this before."
Professor Professor didn't know how to respond except to reach out and touch her hand. Afterwards, Doctor Doctor didn't say much of anything for a while.