Sorry it's been a while but this chapter is giving me a hard time. I do think I have some loose plot that I will follow now, however… just to string the explicit one shots together at least lol. I am also splitting this chapter into two parts. This one is largely plot related while the next will be heavy on fluff. Enjoy! Please review if you so desire. I don't own Riku or Sora.

Chapter 4: The Survival, Part One

Infant Onesies. His eyes glazed over. Sora stared at the package of small, cheap onesies lost in how small they really seemed. Riku was a few racks away taking in the adorable, but impossibly miniscule baby shoes. In an effort to get Sora some much-needed air and difference in scenery, Riku brought him to the mall one afternoon. Sora was about eight weeks along now and the symptoms of early pregnancy had only gotten worse for the brunet. Riku was convinced that forcing a "normal" day onto his husband was the best thing for him. While Sora had initially been quite excited for their day out of the house, he was all but chatty on this day.

Riku worried, as he always did. He looked over to his husband, who was staring at some onesies, and was met with a weary sight. They already were an hour later than originally intended due to Sora's continued morning sickness. Riku's mind often wandered into darkness...into sickening visions. Fear that the baby had turned into some sort of parasite pervaded Riku's thoughts.

Yet, when he looked down at the tiny shoes, Riku couldn't help but smile at the thought of his child running around in them. Desiring closeness, Riku drifted back over to Sora, taking him in a hug from behind.

"They're...so adorable," Sora remarked genuinely through his exhaustion. Riku smiled and squeezed Sora slightly, kissing the crook of his neck.

"I know, I can't get over the shoes," Riku whispered in Sora's ear. Sora reached back to lay his hand on the side of Riku's head, closing the space between them. He turned around in Riku's lazy arms and kissed his husband, feeling happy for the first time in a while.

"Can we look at cribs?" Sora asked, pulling away from Riku.

"Of course." Riku led them over a few aisles to where a floor full of different cribs were laid out. Some were clearly out of their price range, so they stuck to the ones in the furthest row. There were three that were within their budget.

"This is one is kinda nice," Sora said of the cheapest one, knowing full well that the budgeting for this baby was stressing his husband out the most.

Riku shook his head, "Nah, I don't want white. I also don't want to have to file a lawsuit," he mumbled, walking past the white crib that clearly had pieces broken off of it. "I like this one," Riku pointed at the dark chestnut-finished crib that had a simple but sleek design. The mattress inside was a lovely grey pin-stripe.

Sora embraced Riku from the side; Riku wrapping his arm around Sora's shoulders. "Yeah," Sora agreed with a lazy smile spreading across his face. "That's perfect." He laid his hands on the railing and looked down into the crib. Riku just watched his husband, enjoying watching Sora more than looking at the stuff. He wanted to see everything from Sora's eyes...what was it like to be pregnant? What was it like to be looking at baby stuff for him?

Riku cupped the small of Sora's back and stood next to him. They both imagined a baby lying peacefully...sleeping on the grey pin-striped mattress. "Hmm," Sora hummed. With that, Sora looked up, saw the toys and headed over to the section of mobiles. Riku just stared into the crib, lost in thought:

The crib is $200. We can do that...especially if we do some of the shopping early on. I'll just have to pick up some shifts at the doctor's office…

"Riku!"

With that Riku was instantly pulled out of his stupor back into reality, fear racing through his veins. Sora sounded...distressed. "Sora? Where are you?"

"In the toys," came his meek voice. Riku searched around and practically ran to the next aisle over. He found Sora halfway down the aisle with his hands on his knees. "I just felt…" he breathed heavily, "like I was going to pass out."

Riku took a few long strides to close the distance between him and Sora, wrapping his arms around his husband to support him if he should fall. He rubbed at Sora's back hoping to calm him. "Okay, let's get some water," he suggested. He supported Sora on one side by wrapping his arm around Sora's middle.

"I don't want...to make..a scene," Sora said between breaths. He felt dizzy but knew he needed to drink some water. The floor below him was coming in and out of focus.

"It's fine, Sora," Riku replied, looking around for the water fountain. When he spotted the restrooms just down the hall, he pulled Sora towards them. He knew that the scene, if there would be one, needed to be minimal. This was the domino effect that they had to endlessly think about, especially when Sora was out and about. First, if Sora fainted, someone might come over. If someone came over, then they might call the ambulance. If the ambulance was called, then Sora would be taken to different doctors who would inevitably find out about the pregnancy. If that were to happen...who knows where Sora would go. Would he be tested on then and there? What kind of press would happen about it? Where would he be taken?

No, it was better this way. They had to keep quiet, stay with Cadence, and make it through the next seven months without attracting too much attention.

They reached the fountain and Sora bent over slowly to sip from the stream. Riku held onto Sora's belt loops to make sure there was no falling. While the situation was "under control" for the time being, Riku thought it increasingly urgent to get Sora to Cadence's office. With Sora's physical appearance and now dizziness, Riku's worry meter was steadily rising.

"That's a little better," Sora said, wiping away drops of water from his chin.

"Can you do any more?" Riku asked, but Sora just shook his head and closed his eyes, apparently still dizzy. "Alright, let's get to the car, there's a bottle of water in there." Riku resumed their position and slowly led Sora out of the store, into the hot summer sun. Riku cursed the weather, knowing full well that the heat would not help matters.

They were almost to the car when Sora slumped over in Riku's arms. Riku anticipated Sora's weight and braced himself. After stabilizing himself, he looked into the peaceful face of his husband's and felt his heart drop out of fear that there was something wrong with the baby….and therefore, Sora. Riku briefly glanced down to make sure Sora's chest was rising and falling. It was. Riku was 95% sure that Sora had just passed out from dehydration. He thought back to the hundreds of times Cadence warned her patients of this very thing. Why hadn't he tried harder to get Sora to drink some goddamned water? He kicked himself internally. Riku quickly scooped up his husband's limp body into his arms and carried him to the car, setting him in the front seat and buckling his seatbelt over him. Riku practically leapt over the car to the driver's side, climbed in, and peeled out of the parking lot.

The silver-haired man sped through the streets, making mostly green lights. Halfway to Cadence's office, Sora began to stir in the passenger seat. "Ungh.." he breathed, bringing his palm to his forehead. "What happened?" he finally asked.

Riku looked sideways in both relief and extreme anxiety. "You...uh..passed out. We're going to Cadence's" he directed, trying to keep his tone gentle and calming but finding it difficult. "How are you feeling?"

"My head...is killing me," Sora replied. He was squinting out the window where everything seemed brighter than he remembered. A searing pain tightened around his entire head, making him feel nauseous. He hoped that he wouldn't barf in Riku's nice car but he wasn't sure he could make it.

"Sora, if you can, drink some water. I think you are dehydrated," Riku glanced at the drink holders that had an old water bottle in it. He would have helped but he focused his attention on the roads instead. He was definitely over the speed limit at this point.

Sora reached for the plastic bottle and took a small sip, afraid that even the taste of water was going to send his gag reflex over the edge. Riku's driving wasn't helping but he knew he needed to get to Dr. Kinsey's.

They were rounding the block when all the sudden blue and red lights began flashing in their windows and rearview mirror.

"Fuck!" Riku said, eyes highlighted in spotty lights. "Fuck, Sora, I'm sorry. Hold tight, sip the water."

Riku slowed to a stop on the side of the road as the police car pulled up behind him. Soon a tall, built woman exited the driver's side. Riku could hear the pounding of her shoes against the pavement through his open window. He reached in his pocket to get his wallet ready.

"Excuse me sir, do you know how fast you were goin' today? Please keep your hands on the steering wheel, sir." She had a gruff sounding voice, one that had been worn by several years in her business.

Riku tried to calm himself, both worried for the man to his right and incredibly angry at the woman to his left. He took a breath and replied, "Yes, officer. I am sorry. I was going too fast but my...friend here is having somewhat of a medical emergency. I really need to get him to his doctor." Riku leaned back for the officer to look at Sora who was pale as a sheet in the passenger seat, sweaty and exhausted.

"What's wrong with him?" She asked suspiciously. Riku looked up into her face, finding eyes hidden by sunglasses. Yet he could tell she was scowling at the pair of men and an angry fire began in his chest. He glanced over at the name badge on her left breast-pocket. Officer Brunswick.

"He's...severely dehydrated," Riku said through gritted teeth, sticking with the half-truth.

The officer bent lower to get a good look at Sora, who was clutching around his middle trying to hold in whatever else he had in his stomach, which wasn't much at this point. He didn't even have the strength to look at the officer, he was too concentrated on not throwing up or passing out again.

"I've been, uh, following you for quite awhile. You were making a pretty mad dash away from that department store," with that Officer Brunswick glanced in the back seat to find a pile of random baby items they had picked up throughout the day. Her eyes squinted in confusion and suspicion. She hadn't heard a dispatch to the area for any robbery but the circumstances in which she found the two men were becoming increasingly suspect. "What's with this stuff?" She nodded towards the back of the car.

Riku heard Sora groan and his grip on the wheel tightened. "It's for our good friend, Kairi, she's having a baby," the silver-haired man lied to the tall, muscular woman standing in front of his window.

"Hmm, mmhm," the officer thought. What he was saying seemed to check out, but something didn't add up. "Well, sirs, I don't want to see you again, do ya hear?"

"Yes, ma'am. I've really got to get Sora to a doctor, though. So if we could get going?" Riku asked as politely as he could muster.

Officer Brunswick looked back into the passenger car and decided that the brunet was not necessarily faking it. "Alright, but this is your only warning." With that she tapped the hood of the car indicating for Riku to drive.

He immediately stepped on the gas and let out a deep sigh out of frustration and relief.

"Riiiku," Sora whined. "My head…" he put his hand to his forehead, willing the pounding to stop.

"I know baby, we are almost there. I can't speed though." Riku reached over to grasp at Sora's free hand; it was clammy. Riku subtly used his index finger to feel Sora's pulse. Unsurprisingly, it was fast. Riku's eyebrows furrowed as he turned the corner where his office was in sight.

He realized that he hadn't warned Cadence of anything on his way over due to his unexpected stop by the policewoman. He decided to go in ahead of Sora to get her opinion on how best to handle the situation. "Babe, I'm going to go in first to see what's happening with her, okay? Please take small sips of this," Riku pushed the water bottle closer to Sora who brought the plastic to his lips. Sora just nodded. "It's going to be okay, Sora," Riku reassured as he exited the car, looking in at his husband clutching his head and loosely holding the water bottle.

Once inside, Riku ran past the woman sitting at the reception desk. Her name was Rose and she did Riku's job when he wasn't there. "Riku…?" Was all he could hear her utter as he ran past her.

"Where's Cadence?" He practically yelled but reminded himself not to draw too much attention to himself. Of course, Rose wasn't aware of the situation.

"She's in with a patient, Riku! Jesus, what's the de-?" But Riku was already down the hallway opening doors. He saw one at the end of the hall with a chart in the bin nailed to the door and guessed that's where she must be.

He got to the door and opened it with a hurry, somewhat surprised when he was met with the sight of Cadence doing a pap-smear on some woman. Riku cleared his throat loudly to let them know of his presence, "Uhum, Doctor, there is an emergency on the - uh - phone if you could step out…" Riku stammered.

"Riku?" She asked coolly with a puzzled look that quickly melted to understanding. "Um, well, yes, one second." She then turned to her patient and excused herself.

In the hall Riku led them away from the door, he looked around frantically hoping no one could hear, "Sora, is...uh, well he's in the car and I think he's dehydrated. He fainted in the store. Wh-what should we do?"

Cadence looked up in her employee's worried face and quickly thought of the solution. "Right. Okay. Well she's my last one of the day," Cadence said pointing to the door they just exited. "Bring Sora around the back and take my keys to get in the back door. I'll send Rose home. Make it look like you're leaving for good, just to be safe. I'll finish up with the patient while you do that. Just make sure he gets some water."

Riku nodded and turned on his heels without saying a word. Cadence always knew what to do in emergencies. Riku strode past Rose, making sure not to seem alarmed or rushed. "Have a good one, Rose! I just needed to confirm something about payment with her," he half explained.

"Uh okay. Bye then," Rose replied suspiciously.

"Bye."

Sora was feeling slightly better having drank some water. Riku must have been right. Dang, he's getting good at this medical stuff, Sora thought to himself. He felt like his will to physically move was completely gone, having never felt so weak in his life. He still sat with his head in his hands when Riku came back to the car. "How're you feeling?" he heard Riku say through the fog that had settled in his brain.

He could only muster a small mumble that roughly sounded like the word "better." Riku drove them around the back of the building. Sora had closed his eyes, his head feeling better when he did. After a few minutes of just sitting, he felt his husband open his door, reach in, and lift him out of his seat. He was thankful that Riku could still carry him, something that might not be true after too long. He hid his face in the sweet-smelling crook of his husband's neck as he floated into the cool office.

When Sora opened his eyes again, they were in a bright room and he rested on the paper-covered exam table. Riku was hovering nearby with a paper cup in his hand, "please, Sora, if you could just take a few more sips," Riku said calmly, but Sora could see the pleading in his eyes.

Sora weakly lifted his head to meet the rim of the cup and took a sip. He faintly felt Riku take hold of his wrist and begin taking a pulse. Sora heard Riku mumble hmm, 100. Sora closed his eyes again.

Riku looked down at Sora's face, which was furrowed from his headache, no doubt. Where is Cadence? His anxiety made him impatient but knew that Cadence had to be doing all the things they had discussed to ensure their safety. Finally, the door handle turned and Cadence strode into the room, taking no time to look over at Riku and rather, began flipping on multiple machines. She had carried in a bag of IV that was now hanging from the pole. She was already hooking up a needle to the tube of the IV when Riku spoke up, "Do you think it's dehydration?" panicked that he had convinced Cadence of something that was wrong.

"An IV won't hurt anything even if it's not," she replied coolly. "But, yes," she looked down at Sora who had small beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. "I do believe you are correct. Has he been throwing up still?"

"Yeah, he can't seem to shake the morning sickness."

"And it's warm out, yeah?"

"Yeah, in the 90s today."

"Then, yes. Your hunch is likely. Riku?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could start putting the sensors on him for the heart monitor?"

"Oh uh yeah, sure." Riku had seen Cadence do it several times but never done it himself. He strode over to the monitor and took the sticky sensors in his hand, there were five. They were color coded and he was pretty sure he knew which one went where. His hands took over as he let his mind be clear. Riku turned to face Sora and slowly lifted his husband's shirt and his fingers brushed the clammy skin. Sora's abdomen looked drastically different from even just a few weeks prior and it wasn't because he was pregnant. Riku noticed the lack of definition in Sora's abs and the complete lack of any color in Sora's skin. Clearly, he had not been taking good care of Sora and he vowed to change that.

He placed the white and black ones on the collar bone and then looked down at the green, brown, and red ones. He placed the red one below one of Sora's ribs and from there he was unsure. His hand hovered over the next spot with the green one, "That's correct," came Cadence's voice from the other side of the room. Riku's eyes snapped up to see that Cadence had been observing him while she was doing her business across the room. Riku placed the rest of them and turned around to get the machine started. His heart skipped beats as he waited to see Sora's vitals.

Cadence was busy placing more sensors on Sora's stomach, undoubtedly for the baby. When all was said and done, Sora had eight things hooked up to him.

Sora's vitals showed that his heart rate was around 120 beats per minute, fast for someone fit like the brunet. His blood pressure, on the other hand, was low. Two classic signs of dehydration. It wasn't unmanageable though, but then Riku remembered to look over at the other monitor….the one hooked to his baby.

That one read at 192 beats per minute. A normal heart rate is between 120-180 and approaching 200 is bad, Riku recited to himself, a stat that he had heard Cadence say time and time again.

"It'll keep going down as the IV works it's magic," came Cadence's voice once more. While she maintained a cool attitude at all times, she did know how to comfort someone in crisis. This always surprised Riku as he had gotten to know the rather mysterious woman.

Riku nodded in response. "And, uh, the baby?"

"Well if Sora's goes down, so will the fetus'. Don't worry, Riku. This is not a serious case. Well, it isn't good," she corrected herself. "But, it's not going to result in anything severe. Now that I'm thinking about it, it makes sense that maybe he'd be at more risk of this...women retain water much more efficiently," her brow furrowed in frustration. "I can't believe I didn't think of this before."

Riku didn't blame her, there was so much for her to be thinking about these days with her regular practice on top of all the extra work for them. "It's okay," Riku offered, but knew it felt on deaf ears. He looked at Sora who was conscious but hadn't said a single word the entire time they'd been inside. "Sora? Can you hear me?"

Sora nodded ever so slightly in response.

"How are you feeling, babe?"

"Hhmn, a little less woozy. Is there anything I can have for my headache?"

"I don't know," he responded looking up at his boss, "Cadence?"

The doctor snapped out of her frustrated trance and instinctively reached for the bottle of ibuprofen on the counter. "Here," she said, handing them to Riku, "he can have two for now."