Heir to the Flame

Chapter 19:

Riza was starting to panic.

It was slow going at first, lying in bed waiting expectantly, just a bit afraid, for the pains to start. Roy had gone to sleep, chin sunk down on his chest, his mother at the desk near by just nodding off to sleep. And here she was, wide awake, and she wasn't even the slightest bit sleepy. Something was up alright. Black Hayate was nervous as well, pacing back and forth and she let another quiver of expectance shake her.

Then it came, a slow contraction, slow and sharp, and she whimpered.

Roy's eyes were open almost immediately. "Mom." Ilia didn't stir.

"Mom!" he hissed a bit more urgently. She gave a snort in her sleep but showed no signs of moving.

Not wanting to move himself from his position next to Riza, he picked up a pamphlet about babies, motherhood, and contraception and threw it at her head. She bolted upright and shot a look at him. "Mom, hurry up!"

They were coming faster now and Ilia pulled the blankets away, handing them to Roy. "Go get some smaller ones, Roy, go on! And some towels while you're at it. Go on! Move!" Roy hurried away to locate towels and blankets.

"Sssh... it's alright, don't panic... it's okay..." Ilia murmured as she stroked Riza's hair away from her face. "Just try to relax... I know it may seem hard, but you can do it. Ssssh..."

Roy was right outside the door of another room, towels and blankets in hand, when a scream ripped his ears apart. He jumped into the air and dropped the items he was carrying on the floor. Then he heard a banging on the front door and he ran to answer that after picking up what he had dropped in the first place. "Maes!"

"Hey! You called and I came, a.s.a.p! Jean's right behind me as well!" Another scream made Jean and Maes jump as well and Roy turned on his heel. "Gotta get to Riza, gotta get to Riza!" Maes and Jean exchanged glances and followed Roy.

He was outside the door of their bedroom when Riza screamed again, and he gritted his teeth, debating on whether he had the nerve to go inside or not. His nerves won out and he ran inside, leaving Maes and Jean to exchange another worried look and wait outside. He went inside and ducked just as an expensive breakable object came hurtling towards his head, smashing on the door. He stayed back a bit, just a bit, and heard Riza cursing his very existance and that damning fact that he had gotten her pregnant in the first place. Roy knew she'd take it back later... wouldn't she? He put his items down and went next to her, jolting a bit as she grabbed onto his arm, pushing her nails into his skin painfully hard.

Tears were streaming down her face and he wiped them away, a bit detached. His brain was doing flips and cartwheels. What was he supposed to do anyway? What could he do? He just held her close, letting her scream her lungs out into his chest. What else could he do? He didn't want her to be in pain, but he couldn't do anything about that either. He had never felt worse in his life, never felt more useless. He felt even more useless than when he was in the rain: a wet match.

It seemed as if it took hours; hours of Riza crying and screaming, whimpering and pushing, hours of his mother trying to help Riza, and hours of him standing there next to her waiting for his child to be born.

And then it was over, she gave one last cry and slumped against Roy, and Roy became aware that it was quiet. Very. Quiet.

And he didn't like it.

Ilia was examining the baby in her arms carefully and he looked at her expectantly. "Well, other than the fact that he's very quiet... he seems fine. He's like you I suppose; I didn't get one peep out of you until your father patted you on the head."

Roy sulked. "I don't like being patted on the head. And I got a boy?"

"Yes, silly, didn't you go to get the reports when she was halfway anyway?"

"Well they're not 100 percent accurate..."

"We'll let him see his mommy first, before he gets the notion that I'm mommy," she laughed, giving the bundled up baby to Riza. She was quiet already, she seemed to have forgotten the pain of just a few minutes before. Almost.She looked the baby over, satisfied, and sighed loudly, happily. Eight and a half months of trial and trouble over with. "He already has hair... and he's early!"

Ilia shuddered. "I don't want to think of how big he'd be if he'd stayed the whole nine months."

Roy looked over her shoulder and grinned proudly. "My little Roy Junior. Hehe..."

He stroked his son's hair and the baby whined, his little eyes tightly shut and his tiny arms swinging. "Can I hold him, Riza?"

Riza looked at her newborn and handed him over to Roy reluctantly. "Don't drop him, or handle him too roughly, or... or..."

"I won't... I won't..." Roy held him for a minute, then suddenly felt very tired. He didn't want to do anything but go to sleep. Then Maes snapped pictures. He groaned and looked up tiredly. "Maes... stoppit..."

"No way! I'm not going to miss the one chance I get to see you exhume an air of affection to something other than a woman! I'm gonna get it on camera! Mwahahahahaaa! Do you think he'll be a good playmate for Elysia, Roy?"

Roy groaned again. "He was just born, and you're already asking if he can play...?"

"What? Our dad's did it to us, and we're pretty close, aren't we?"

Roy fingers twitched. "I dunno Maes... you're still a hairs breadth away from disentegrating on the spot where you stand..."

"That's means we're closer than close! Violence always says so!" Maes sang, and Roy had a horrible urge to bite, kick, scream at, and incinerate something all at once. Maes's face fell. "Awww... I ran out of film... I'm saving a picture so that I can get one when he opens his eyes!"

Roy Junior whined again and opened one eye slowly. Roy sighed. "Speak of the devil... you'll get your picture sooner than you thought, Maes..." Jean was conserving camera film, unlike Maes, and had been taking shots when Roy wasn't talking or looking at him. Roy Junior opened his eyes and Roy inspected them. "Oh, he's got my eyes... that's my boy all right... Color, shape, hair, everything looks like me... perfect. I wanted him to look just a tiny bit like Riza..."

Riza took the baby from him and shooed them all out of the room so she could feed him. When Roy went back in half an hour later, they were fast asleep. He smiled. One less thing to worry about. Now there was the problem of work.

For starters, the story is not ending! That is, unless you're dog-tired of this story in whichcase I could always stop. And I've gotten 300 reviews! 300! Alright! Thank you, thank you, I love my public.

Drop reviews if you want this to continue, drop reviews if you don't want it to continue, although I think I can guess what the popular vote will be.

-T A