(A/N – Greetings and salutations my friends! Welcome to chapter ten of "Nine Months In the Socks of the Motomiya's"! I am very, very proud with how this story has matured and grown after it's premature launch, and I'm glad everyone stuck with me and submitted your reviews! I am so happy! Well enough from me, enjoy chapter ten!)
Nine Months In the Socks of the Motomiya's: Chapter Ten"You know, I think we outdid ourselves." Yolei said, as she closed the front door. "We got everything we need for our kids, and then some!"
"Yeah, but I'm beat!" Kari said, gently lowering herself in an armchair. "Walking around that mall all day wore me out."
"I'll tell you one thing," Sora said, gently rubbing her stomach as she sat on the couch. "This is Tai's kid all right. It feels like I'm carrying a lead brick in my stomach!"
The girls laughed. June picked up the phone and started dialing. "How about we order takeout so we can get this party started right?"
"Best idea I heard all day." Mimi said, shuffling through a bag of DVD movies. "Actually the best idea all day was that gorgeous dress you brought today Kari."
"Oh yeah, I just have to see it again on you, Kari!" Sora agreed. "And you have to let me borrow it some time!"
"Oh, all right," Kari sighed, playfully, gently pushing herself out of the chair. "It's in the bag I brought from—"
Thump, thump, thump…
"Don't tell me that's the delivery guy, already." Yolei said, looking up at June, as she walked past her to the door.
"Couldn't be," June said, covering the mouthpiece with her hand. "He's confirming the order with me!"
Yolei stepped down into the doorway and opened it.
There, bag laden and sweaty was Cody. His hair was matted down to his forehead with sweat as he panted heavily.
"Cody! Where have you been?" Yolei scolded hands on hips.
"I tried calling out to you guys, but the elevator doors closed before you heard me." Cody explained, breathing hard. "I took the stairs."
Without a word, Yolei grabbed Kari's bag out of his hands and walked back to her. "Here it is, Kari. Go try it on!"
"Oh, okay." Kari said, taking her bag and walking towards the bathroom.
"Cody, we don't have anywhere to put all those bags, so go take them back down to the car." Yolei ordered. "The last thing we need is all those bags cluttering up the apartment."
The young teenager gave a low growl. The shopping bags in his hand trembled as he stood with his head bowed. His hands were now slowly bunching together into two tight fists.
"Didn't you hear me, Cody? Take those bags back downstairs." Yolei repeated.
Without warning, Cody slowly raised his arms and sharply brought them down to his sides, sending the bags that were hooked on his shoulders and arms cascading to the floor. His arms were covered with red and white splotches were the bag handles were cutting off his circulation.
"I have been following you guys around all day," Cody growled, his head still bowed, his fists still clenched. "I've been humiliated, abused, and treated like your freakin' personal bag boy all afternoon!"
The girls froze, eyes wide, jaws slightly ajar.
"As if that wasn't enough, I had bruises from kendo practice today!" Cody growled. "Which wasn't helped much by carrying around your bags!"
"Cody—" Yolei began, holding up a hand.
"Oh, shut up!" Cody exclaimed, now looking up at Yolei with fire behind his green eyes. "It's my turn now! I've listened to you whine, complain and order me around looking like you swallowed the freaking Enterprise!"
The purple haired girl quickly lowered her hand, and took about two steps back.
"Now, I understand you, Kari and Sora are going to have kids, and you know I'll do anything I can to help out, but I'm not going to let you guys abuse me like that!" Cody said, his fists slowly relaxing back into normal hands, his tone a little more gentle. "I'm not that shy little kid that tagged along behind you guys in the digital world."
The girls stood silent, their heads hung low.
"Girls, huddle up." Yolei ordered, walking back to the living room as the others stood and formed a small circle.
Cody stood in the doorway, looking at the huddle of whispering, giggling girls. "Gee, I hope I didn't hurt their feelings, but I just had to say something." He thought, rubbing his marked arms. "Man, my arms are sore." He blinked as Mimi poked her head out of the huddle and looked at him with a smile. She then quickly returned her head to the chattering, whispering huddle.
After about thirty more seconds, the group of girls broke up and walked over to the doorway, hands clasped in front on them.
"Cody, we are so sorry about what happened," Yolei began, bowing as low as her big stomach would allow. "You were right: we abused you and used our friendship to trick you to doing what we wanted to."
"Believe us, Cody," Sora continued, "We didn't mean to hurt you at all. We really love and appreciate our friendship with you, and to think that we abused it makes all of us feel just awful."
"You are a true friend and we don't deserve to have someone as good as you looking out for us," Kari said, a tear trickling down her cheek. "Can you ever forgive us?"
Cody gave a small smile. "Of course I can. You guys are my best friends. Besides, how would it look if I stayed mad at a trio of pregnant girls?"
The group laughed. "Well, we have one more thing that we would like to do for you, Cody because you helped and pampered us all day…well…GET HIM GIRLS!" Yolei cried.
Before he had a chance to react, five pairs of hands shot out, grabbed Cody's bruised arms and yanked him out of the doorway, into the house.
"Hey! What are you guys doing! Let me go!" Cody sputtered, feebly trying to struggle against his captors.
"Mimi, you get his shoes and socks off," Yolei ordered. "June, order more food from the takeout place, Kari break out the massage oil and run some bath water, and I'll get him on the couch!"
Cody blinked as he felt himself get shoved down to the couch, his body now suddenly relaxed. "I don't know what's going on," he thought as the giggling girls started padding around him, "But I have the feeling I'm REALLY going to like it!"
"Draw four, T, the color is blue."
TK glowered up at Davis as he pulled four cards from the pile. "You suck, you know that, right?"
Davis gave a broad grin. "You beat me at this game again and again when we were kids, so don't be mad now that I'm winning! It's called karma baby!"
The guys were seated around the dining room table, now cluttered with small Chinese takeout boxes, used chopsticks and empty soda cans.
"Guys, you know what I feel like doing?" Tai said, slapping down a blue card on the pile. "Uno."
Izzy slapped down a blue "reverse" card. "Back to you Tai. What do you feel like doing?"
Tai shot the red head a look before picking up a card from the pile. "I say we go over to my place and see what the girls are up to."
"Crash their party, in other words," TK said, playing a black "wild" card on the discard stack. "The color is green."
"That's a great idea, Tai," Davis said, playing a green "skip". "I used to do it all the time when my sister had sleepovers."
"June told me," Matt said, sighing. "And you do know she was responsible for the warm water by your bed, huh?"
Davis grip tightened on the cards as his cheeks slowly flushed red. "And all the time I thought I just had a problem!"
Joe laughed as he played a green 5. "She got you back, dude. Decently."
"You know, that's not a bad idea, Tai, Uno." Izzy said, slapping down a green 4. "I have a fiber optic camera that we could use. We could slide it under the door and sneak it along the wall where they can't see it."
"Yeah! Yeah! Then we can see and hear what they say about us when we're not around!" Tai agreed, slapping down a blue 4. "This is going to be so tight!"
TK grinned as he slapped down a blue "draw two" card. "Start pulling, Daisuke."
Davis pulled two cards from the deck and suppressed a small giggle. "This is going to be so cool! When do we start?"
"Sooner the better, I say." Matt said, tossing out a red draw two before looking at the wall clock. "You know girls, they're probably getting into the really juicy gossip about us now."
"I got the camera in my bag and my laptop is all charged up." Izzy said, pulling two cards from the pile.
"I don't know, guys. Are you sure that it's wise to be spying on them?" Joe said, playing a red 6. "I mean, what if we get caught?"
"Joe, Joe, Joe. Ever the worry wart," Tai sighed, pulling another card and slapping it down on the pile. "Uno. Come on, where's your sense of adventure? This is going to be fun, and you know it."
"Okay, whatever you say, Tai." Joe relented, heaving a big sigh. "I never really could say no to you."
"Then it's settled." TK said, slapping down a draw four. "We go tonight. Draw four more, Daiskue, and the color is green. Uno!"
"Not this time, T," Davis said with a triumphant grin. "Shouldn't have decided that we play stack Uno!" He then slapped down a draw four. "Draw four Matt the color is red, and that's Uno!"
Before Matt had a chance to reach out for the stack, Davis pushed his hand back. "While you're at it," He began, gently lowering another card to the deck. "Make that draw eight…and that's UNO OUT, BABY!"
The guys smacked their remaining cards down on the table, groaning loudly as Davis laughed. "I am da man!"
"Yeah, well, even you need to win once in a while." TK said, grinning. "I guess it was your turn!'
"You better watch out, though!" Davis said, gathering up the cards. "May not be the last time either! Now, we got a party to crash!"
"Lets go for it guys!" Izzy said, pumping his fist in the air jubilantly.
"YEAH!" the guys cheered.
To Be Continued…
(A/N – Looks like the Saturday updates are going pretty well, though for some reason, I'm not getting as many reviews for it during the weekend as I do during the weekday! Go figure! Anyway, here's my reply to you guys reply:
SomeoneInThePastOfEarth - :Pours a glass of milk, picks up the cookie, and eats it: Thanks! Yummy!
Paige34 – When I hear that you're actually passing my story along to others and actually reading it out loud to people, that sends such a jolt of electricity down my spine! I'm just so happy right now I feel like I could fly! From the bottom of my sock-filled heart, I want to thank you so much! And don't worry, I'm not done with Cody just yet!
Anthony1 – I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to review your story, although by the time you read this, I probably have. I had this idea of mentally converting the guys and girls back to their season one forms in mind for the longest time, and I really wanted to write a scene where the guys crashed the girl's slumber party. You'll notice the small touches and familiar season one quotes (Which I'll point out in detail in the Directors edition!). I appreciate your reading my story and I hope you enjoy it!
Colormyworld - :Bows and hands her a pair of Izzy's green socks: At ease, friend!
JyouraKoumi – You know, I think this is the longest review that you ever left on any of my stories…and by far the most legible (JUST KIDDING!) Anyway, I appreciate your thoughts and prayers, and I thank God for a friend and reviewer like you who showed that much concern. Thankfully my family was out of the path of the really rough part of the storm so we just had to clean off the driveway and stuff. But thanks for your thoughts, and KOUMI FAN 4 LIFE!
Dark Qiviut - :Blinks and scratches his head: Umm…I appreciate your reviews, but umm…would you mind not harming my main female characters, especially when three of them are 7 months pregnant? Nice red socks by the way! And don't worry about switching into fanboy mode. It happens to me on a daily basis. You sound just like my ½ brother with the Red Sox. I'm not a sports fan though, but congrats on the win all the same!
And to Sakuno629 and Warprince2000, I appreciate your reviews and don't worry! I plan on continuing until the cows come home AGAIN! Now, I need a favor from you guys. The story is starting to wind down a bit (I write about two chapters ahead) and I really need more and more of your feedback so I know exactly how to write the ending! I know what to write and how I want to write it, but I need your opinions and criticisms to fine-tune it! I appreciate it so much, and I hope to see you all for chapter 11 of "Nine Months In The Socks of the Motamiya's!" See ya soon!)