Chapter Seventeen:
Yugi was pacing back and forth through his bedroom, which made for some short laps. He was unable to stay still, full of nervous energy. It was Thursday, and Seto would be home in three days. He had another appointment with Kuribayashi and Anna in about an hour, where he would get another check up. It was week 20 and Anna had called him earlier to tell him he could find out the baby's gender at that check up, if he wanted.
So, now he was fretting back and forth, having another thing to decide. He could find out what he was having, or he could wait. He obviously would have to tell Seto this weekend, but what did he tell him? Would it be better or worse if he could tell Seto what their baby was?
Would Seto even care?
Yugi was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't realize Yami was knocking on their link until his darkness did the mental equivalent of pounding his fist. Yugi stopped pacing and opened up his end.
/Hi, Yami./
/Aibou, what is wrong? Did something happen?/
/No. No, not yet./ Yugi told him about what Anna had told him, as well as his current mental debate. /I don't know what to do. I feel like I can't make any decisions anymore!/
Yami tried to soothe him. /I understand, Aibou. This has been a very unusual and difficult situation. I suggest that you make decisions for you, and not for Kaiba./
Yugi sat down on his bed with a thump. /You don't think Seto is going to take this very well, do you?/
There was a very long pause that said a lot more than Yami actually did. /No, Yugi, I don't think I do./
Yugi didn't either, if he was honest with himself. He loved Seto to death, but the brunette wasn't exactly easy-going. Yugi found himself wondering that if Seto hadn't been away if he would have told him about the pregnancy by now or not. And that was not a good thought.
/Me either,/ he said weakly.
/You are going to your appointment with Anna in a little while, right? How about I come with you? Would that be okay?/
Yugi knew Yami was trying to offer him some strength and he loved him for that. He nodded his head and stood back up. /I'd like that. Joey's still at work, right?/
/Yes, but until seven-thirty tonight. Something about some coworker's goodbye party. I will come to pick you up./
/Okay./
Yami arrived about twenty minutes later. Yugi's grandpa was having one of his good days, so he was monitoring the shop entirely on his own. Most days, he opened the shop at seven and stayed on until two, then Yugi took over and saw the shop closed at eight, except when he had class, as well as doing all inventory and deliveries. If Grandpa was having a bad day, then Yami would come over and handle the shop a couple hours in both the morning and afternoon in a split shift so that Yugi would be able to take breaks.
His appointment was at eleven and would almost certainly be over with enough time for Yugi to return as normal. He realized that as he got nearer to his due date, as it were, he wouldn't be able to cover his part anymore. Not only because it would be harder to stand for long periods, but because there were no clothes made that would be able to hide his condition. Not unless he wore a full down parka at all times indoors.
Out in Yami's car, Yugi started in surprise at the small blood clot on Yami's bottom lip.
"What happened?"
Yami looked confused, then touched his bottom lip. "Oh. I slipped in the shower."
"Are you okay?"
"Yes." Yami smiled, then started his car.
From there, Yugi rode silently in the passenger seat. Everything was coming up to an end. He had to tell Seto, and then his mom and grandpa, and then maybe the rest of their friends. He just didn't know how he'd ever get such a conversation going.
Yami was also silent as he drove. Yugi got the feeling that it wasn't just to give Yugi brooding time. Something was weighing on Yami, too. Their link was closed again, but they could still sense each other's emotions, which had alerted Yami to call him in the first place, and coming from Yami was a steady low buzz of unhappiness.
"Yami? Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes, of course, Aibou."
"Don't just 'of course,' Yami," Yugi said, sitting up straighter in his seat. "You feel upset. What happened?"
Yugi didn't think it had to do with his kiss with Joey. There was no anger in Yami's aura or even awkwardness. He and Joey had discussed it again and decided that it was between them. Yugi had come to terms with the fact that he definitely hadn't been in his right mind when he'd kissed him and Joey didn't hold it against him. Yugi loved Joey dearly, but only as a friend, and the kiss had meant nothing. So, they decided to keep it to themselves and move on.
The increase in his libido remained, but he'd come to recognize it for what it was and had a handle on it. He did the same with his emotions, carefully regulating what he said to others until this was over with. Though Yugi wondered if the fact that he was male had anything to do with how strongly he felt out of whack or not. He wasn't exactly meant to go through this. And he didn't have anyone he could ask, either. Even when he told his mother, he could not even begin to imagine having a conversation like that with her.
"I worry about you, Aibou," Yami said. "Until this is over, I can't stop worrying about you."
Yugi smiled a little. "I know. But I'm doing fine."
"For now, yes."
No more than that. Yami wasn't talkative at the best of times, but Yugi understood him. And what could he really say? It wasn't over yet. Instead, he simply patted Yami's arm and then changed the subject. Yami didn't protest and they talked about nothing in particular until they arrived at Dr. Kuribayashi's office.
Once there, he decided to take Yami's advice and do what he wanted to do. He had more or less being doing that anyway, in keeping the baby, keeping it a secret, and then trying to decide on a name. He hadn't been able to pick one yet, so maybe knowing what he was having would help.
"Good morning, Yugi," Anna said as she came into the exam room. "Kentaro will be in in a few minutes. How have you been feeling?"
"Good."
"Good. Listen, I wanted to talk to you for a minute."
She had pushed the ultrasound machine into the room, but she settled herself on a stool without turning it on. Confused and concerned, Yugi lowered the hem of the exam gown he'd put on. "What is it?"
"I've been thinking. I wanted to ask you if you would give your permission for Kentaro and I to make scientific paper on this. Entirely private of course."
Yugi felt his heart skip a beat. "But-"
"Please, just listen for a minute. It would be entirely private and written only as theoretical. It's not a big movement, but there has been some consideration towards alternative pregnancy methods. We may never know exactly what happened in your case, or how it could ever be reproduced-and I don't think it ever should be-but that doesn't mean it isn't fascinating. The basis for a theoretical research paper only. We wouldn't use your name, or anything about you except your gender. We aren't planning on even presenting it as real. But I still wanted your permission."
Yugi hesitated while he thought. They were going to great lengths to help him and not getting anything in return. Yes, technically, he, or rather Seto, was paying them, but he had a feeling there was a bit of risk for them involved as well, professionally. Plus they had never had to say yes.
He pushed Joey's assertion aside. He believed in the goodness of people, he truly did.
"What would I have to do?"
"You mean you're saying yes? That's fantastic!"
"You could have done it anyway."
"Of course, but I want your cooperation, and for that I would need your permission. And it just wouldn't feel right without it."
Yugi smiled at her and repeated his question.
"Oh, not much more than you are doing. But maybe you could start keeping a more detailed log. What you feel during the day, physically and emotionally."
"I can do that."
"Great. Ah, here's Kentaro."
Dr. Kuribayashi entered the room. He smiled at Yugi and set aside his clipboard, drawing up the other stool in the room and fixing Yugi with a warm stare. "How are you doing, Yugi?"
"I'm good. I feel fine."
"Good. Today, in addition to your ultrasound, I want to weigh you again and take blood and urine samples."
"Okay."
Once that was accomplished, Kuribayashi had Yugi settle down on the exam table again and studied the numbers he had until the blood and urine samples could be formally tested. Yugi noted this time that he labeled them as Yuki Morimoto. He almost laughed. It gave him what was actually a unisex name, sounded similar to his own name which probably helped Kuribayashi remember it, and kept anyone from recognizing that his data was his and not a woman's.
"Yugi, you've gained a total of about ten pounds. You came to us when you were about three months along and had gained six and a half. That's less than four pounds in two months. Target increase is between one and two pounds a week, so your weight gain has slowed. But you're not too far under normal. At this stage, a woman should have gained around ten to twelve pounds total. But you were underweight to begin with and I would have preferred a woman of your size have gained more like fifteen by now."
Yugi was underweight? His mother often went on about how skinny he was, but he had always thought that was just stereotypical mothering. "Does that mean something's wrong?"
"No, probably not. And if that just concerned you, you're not that far under normal weight. You are only five feet tall, forgive me, but you are a man, and you were about ninety-two. You should have been more like one hundred or so. You're not unhealthy, but what I'm saying is, I want you to increase your caloric intake. Keep abstaining from all the foods on your no list, but I want you to eat more. I want you to have gained at least twelve pounds total since you got pregnant when I see you next."
"Okay."
"Your blood pressure is a little high. You need to try to relax a little."
Yugi nodded guiltily.
"That's all I have at the moment. Everything else seems good. Now Anna's going to do her ultrasound."
Anna had already gotten up during the conversation and readied the ultrasound. Yugi hiked up his gown and settled back against the backrest. Anna put the gel on his belly and then ran the wand around.
"So, if it's being cooperative, today would be the day we should be able to tell the gender," Anna said as she ran the wand around until the baby popped onto the screen. "Do you want to know?"
Yugi nodded. "Yes. I do."
"Then let's see. First, baby's moving. You should start being able to actually feel that soon. It's not as glamorous as some people think and you'll probably mostly just feel like you have gas, but as you get further along, the more you'll be able to tell. I'll get the baby's measurements here in a moment. And the position is just perfect."
She looked more closely at the monitor, then turned to Yugi and smiled.
"Yugi, you're having a girl."
tbc...
