Chapter 22 – That Explains It

I feel like a balloon, I'm only five months pregnant and I feel like a freakin' balloon. Am I supposed to be this big at five months? How big am I gonna be in four months when the baby is due? "Naruuuuu, I feel like a massive balloon; maybe something is wrong," I whine to my narcissistic fiancé when I wake up.

"Mai, you aren't that big, get over it," he replies as he gets up to have a shower.

"Are you sure, maybe we should go to the doctor," I whine further.

"Fine, we'll go to the doctor, but I assure you; nothing is wrong," he yells through the door.

"Okay," I yell back while getting ready for the day ahead.

Three hours later, we were sitting in the waiting room of the maternity ward at the hospital. I'm so nervous, what if something really is wrong? "Ms Taniyama," says a nurse as she comes over to us. "The doctor will see you now."

So we follow the nurse into the room for an ultrasound, hoping that nothing is wrong with my baby. "Good morning, lay down on the bed, please," says the doctor as he gets the machine ready.

I lay down on the bed and Naru sits beside me, holding my hand. The doctor puts the gel on my belly; damn that stuff is cold. "Alright, let's see here," the doctor says softly.

The doctor moves the thingy, whatever it's called, over my belly to have a look at the baby. Not five minutes later, the doctor stopped moving it around and placed the thingy on the table. "There is definitely nothing wrong with your baby, but there is a reason you are bigger than the average five month pregnant woman," the doctor says.

"Then what's wrong?" I ask him nervously.

"You're having twins," he states as if it's the most obvious thing in world.

This makes me freeze and squeeze Naru's hand harder. "Twins?" I ask him as if to see if he is telling the truth.

"Yes, you are having twins and I can tell you the genders now as well," he states.

"No, we want to wait until they're born," Naru answers, knowing I was in too much shock to reply.

"Very well, so, which one of you has the twin?" the doctor asks curiously.

"That would be me, but my twin is no longer alive," Naru answers sadly.

"I'm sorry to hear that, I have twin daughters and I know they would be heartbroken if one of them were to pass," explains the doctor. "I won't keep you any longer, you may leave now."

"Thank-you," says Naru as he pulls me outside. "Mai, are you okay?" he asks when we get to the car.

"Yeah, I'm just shocked; I never would have thought we'd be having twins," I answer him softly.

"It just means we're going to have two babies and we don't need to worry about either being lonely when we go on cases that we can't take them to," he says, making the situation seem so much brighter. "They'll also have each other when they start school; I know I would have been lonely if I didn't have Gene."

"Yeah, all that's left is to tell the others," I say as we make our way to SPR.

"Hopefully not the same way we told them you were pregnant, I think everyone is coming over anyway to discuss the next case; we can tell them then," he suggests.

"That's a good idea," I agree.

"Then we shall do that when they arrive," he states with finality.

Not long after, we arrived at SPR and, surprisingly, everyone else was already there. After parking the car, we get out and make our way up the stairs to the door. When we got inside, everyone was waiting on the couches in the sitting room, as if waiting for us to come. "You're all here early," I point out when they turn to face us.

"We got a call from Madoka, she said you went to the hospital because you were worried something was wrong," says Ayako, making it sound obvious.

This statement makes Naru glare hard at Madoka, "Why did you tell them, there could have been nothing to worry about," he says.

"So, there is something wrong?" Bou-san asks worriedly.

"No, there is nothing wrong; there was no need for everyone to know we were worried," Naru answers coldly.

"Oh, thank goodness; why did you go to the hospital anyway?" asks Ayako.

"Mai was worried that there was something wrong because she believed she was bigger than she should be for a five month pregnant woman," Naru answers as if they should know that.

This makes everyone look at me to see if I really was as big as I thought, "You're right Mai, you do look bigger than a five month pregnant woman," states Masako. "Are you eating too much, perhaps?"

"Ah, no, that's not why I'm this big. There may be nothing wrong, but there is a reason for my bigness," I answer.

"Then why are you that big?" asks Ayako.

"Ummmmm," is all I can get out.

I turn to Naru for help, he sighs, "Mai is pregnant with twins," he states, how does he do it so easily?

There is now an incredibly awkward silence, everyone is staring at me as their grins get wider and wider. Then, "CONGRATULATIONS," they yell, well the ones who usually yell anyway.

"Twins, huh, so Naru's twins gene came through," muses Bou-san.

"Yeah, even though the doctor could tell us the genders, we decided to wait until they are born," I throw out.

"Yeah, Houshou and I are going to wait until the baby is born before we find out the gender. At least we only have to think of a boy's name and a girl's name; you have to come up with two of each just in case you have two boys or two girls," says Ayako.

"Now that I think about it, we better start thinking of names; only four months to go," I realise, suddenly feeling nervous of how close I am to giving birth.

"Don't worry Mai, we'll come up with names and I'll be there with you when they come, case or no case," Naru promises as he wraps his arms around me.

"I know," I say as we sit down with everyone else.

Then the door opens, followed by a faint "Hello."

OMG, I feel so guilty now; I said I would take initiative and update as much as possible, but I couldn't do it. School is so much more worse in year 12 than I expected, FML. My Modern History teacher, who is also my Ancient History teacher, is rather boring, so I typed up this chapter on my laptop during both of those classes today. Thank goodness for bludge classes.

I know I said I was gonna do it so that there was a case monthly and that I skipped two months in this chapter, but I don't think I'll be able to do it as often as I would hope. Therefore, I skipped a month and probably will skip more, in order to finish this story this year. I don't want to drag it out too long.

I think that is everything,

Seza, over and out.