Certain Lady Part 35

Mutsu's expression was all but glowing as she walked the halls of Sasebo Naval Base's command center.

It had been some days since that absolutely wonderful evening and she hadn't been able to stop smiling. Whether she was reading reports of new enemy activity, running through gunnery drills, or simply enjoying breakfast, her joy simply refused to be contained. Not that she wanted to in the first place. But decorum was a little harder to maintain when you practically had hearts floating over your head.

But she had obtained it.

Obtained it and held onto it with all the force she could muster.

The joy and happiness as someone who had their love returned.

It irritated Yamashiro to no end, and Ashigara if the rumor mill was to be believed, but she didn't care one whit. John loved her. John really loved her. And he'd gone to great lengths to make sure she understood that. On every level possible.

A naughty expression covered her features as she recalled the events which had led to the ultimate demise of the coffee table. They'd both gotten quite a good laugh when it had given way. Fortunately John's bed had fared far better. The fate of the sheets had been of little concern.

She hummed a happy tune as she rounded the corner, nearly bursting into a fit of giggles in the process. It was becoming far too difficult to contain herself.

"It's been a few days, but you look happy as ever."

Mutsu spun about to see the smiling form of Jintsuu approaching from behind. There was a distinct lack of brightly colored traffic cone-like clothing on the light cruiser, instead replaced by a professional looking NWU. She would have once wondered how Jintsuu could make something so basic and generic look like it had been tailored for the brass, but she learned quite quickly that Sendai-class cruisers were infinitely more than they seemed.

"Is it that obvious~?" She couldn't help but allow her well-known teasing lilt take over her voice.

"I'd have to be blind to not notice it." Jintsuu sidled up next to Mutsu and leaned against the taller warship before they began walking again, a look of amusement on her features. "And the Admiral isn't doing much better than you are at hiding it. But I suppose the betting pools and leering isn't helping."

Ting.

"My, but didn't you and Hiei make out like bandits?" questioned Mutsu while giving her friend a sidelong glance. She was quite well aware of the multitude of bets surrounding her love life. And John's. Especially John's. If there was one thing you could count on where a flag officer's personal life was concerned, it was bets about who he or she was breaking beds with.

"Maybe?" Jintsuu pointedly looked away from Mutsu, making it plainly obvious to the battleship that the won sum was not insubstantial.

"You little fiend." She poked Jintsuu's cheek playfully. "You two had plenty of insider information. Think of the poor sailors' pockets you emptied."

"I did." Jintsuu protested weakly and without any hint of remorse. "...I thought of how I could make better use of those funds than they could."

"Oh, Jintsuu... You stray further along the path to the dark side with every passing moment."

There was an ominous pause.

"You don't know the power of the Dark Side."

The two managed to maintain their composure for a rather impressive minute before finally giving up and laughing like fools.

"But you do look quite happy. I'm really happy for you. Both of you." Jintsuu wiped a tear from the corner of her eye when she regained control of herself.

"Thank you." Mutsu felt her cheeks color as she smiled.

Clang.

"Alright. I know I heard something that time."

"Heard what?" Mutsu gave Jintsuu a quizzical look. What was she talking about? The only sounds she could hear were the ambient noise of the base and rather loud conversations from behind closed doors. Well, that and their own footsteps. "I don't hear anything out of the ordinary."

Clank!

"Ji-wha-?"

"Hush!"

Mutsu could only stare in bewilderment as Jintsuu held her fast and pressed an ear to her uniform covered tummy. Had she lost her mind?

"Off with that blouse!"

"Wh! What are you talking about!? We-" She had her protests cut off by a sharp look from the cruiser. The outburst was startling enough, but the expression was nearly heart-stopping.

"Here or in the washroom. I don't care which, but that shirt is in the wa-"

Clonk. Bzzzzzt!

"-And If you didn't hear that, then I will have you signed up for a full checkup."

Mutsu would admit she'd heard something that time. What exactly? She wasn't quite sure. But it was definitely there. Very, very faint however. Almost enough to write it off as background noise.

"Alright. Alright. We'll go to the ladies' room and check it out."

She didn't have much of a chance to say anything else as Jintsuu grasped her hand and began dragging her off. This wasn't really necessary. She could get to the washroom herself. But Jintsuu seemed really worked up about whatever this was. Sure, she was curious herself now. But not to the point of panicking.

And bes-

"How did we get here so fast?"

Unless she'd somehow had a serious malfunction of every piece of detection equipment she had, she had been in the hallway just a moment ago. And the nearest washroom was most definitely not a moment away. But her green eye were not deceiving her. This was definitely their destination...

"That is of little importance right now." Jintsuu was suddenly making quick work of Mutsu's uniform, undoing buttons with a precision and speed that was almost mind-boggling.

There was little doubt in Mutsu's mind that the cruiser was shaken on some level and wanted that shirt gone. But not so much as to simply tear it away. For that, she was thankful. But Jintsuu's actions did worry her more and more with each passing second. And now those sounds were getting louder. Louder and more frequent.

Jintsuu leaned over and placed her hear against the revealed tummy of the battleship with a determined look upon her features. Her eyes closed and her entire presence became one of calm focus. Her hands were slowly placed upon Mutsu's sides.

It took a lot of effort for Mutsu to not giggle or even keep a straight face whenever Jintsuu's soft brown hair would tickle her exposed skin. It was even worse when her hands would twitch just slightly. Oh, she'd definitely be exacting some sort of retaliation upon her friend for this when all was said and done. But for now, all she could do was be silent and bite the knuckles of her hand to keep from laughing.

She did not have to wait long for Jintsuu to remove herself.

"Well?"

Jintsuu swallowed visibly and there was a glint in her eyes that made the hair on Mutsu's neck stand up. It was as if every post was suddenly on high alert. An anxiety not dissimilar to the anticipation of combat, but decidedly lacking in the lethal overtones. She felt so charged that she was half tempted to see if she could zap someone with her hairband antennae

Mutsu's eyes widened when Jintsuu reached into her right breast pocket and withdrew a small box.

"Should you be carrying that around on duty?" Mutsu blurted out without really thinking. She shook her head. Wait. Hang on. "No, that's not it. Why do you even have that in the first place?"

"For situations like these. Hiei's been carrying one around just in case it was her that ran into you first and noticed something unusual." Jintsuu's expression softened and a small smile returned to her face. "Now that you and Admiral Richardson have finally been honest with yourselves, we figure it's only a matter of time."

"Well, that's true..." Mutsu frowned and folded her arms. "And so far aw we know, there's never been a pregnant shipgirl. So who knows how it'll work. We don't even know how some of our most basic functions work."

Jintsuu giggled.

"You're thinking too hard now. Battleship Washington tried one of these stateside and it showed a boat. She's not expecting, so it might still suffice for us?" She moved around and began nudging Mutsu towards one of the stalls. "Besides, don't you want to know? Know if you and John laid one down?"

Mutsu's face colored again and she placed her hands to her cheeks.

The gravity of it had finally hit her.

Whether due to a lack of experience, a lack of comprehension, or simply being too high on happiness to really thing about it, she now realized that critical piece of information.

There was a very strong likelihood that she was going to be a mother. A mother to a child she had conceived with the one she loved with all her heart. A child she would love, care for, and raise with ever fiber of her being. Through hardship and joy. A child who would be a brother or sister to Jane and perhaps even an older sibling to others who might come after.

This would be her's and John's child.

"Mutsu?"

"M-My, oh my... I..." The now known noise had reached a fever pitch and Mutsu had begun to draw lines. She gingerly touched her exposed tummy. "Is, do you really think?"

"I do." Jintsuu gave her friend another light shove. "Now get in there and see."

Mutsu nodded and entered the stall she'd been guided towards.

She looked at the box in hand and withdrew the contents.

Shouldn't these things be heavier? Something along the lines of carrying the weight of the future? This one little device could change her life in such an astounding way. But maybe she was too happy about the possibilities of the future. Perhaps it was that which was driving off any negative thoughts.

She had no idea how to be a mother. Well, no more than what she'd learned by taking care of Jane. But this was starting from square one. The very beginning. With so many unknowns between now and what she did know. And that did not even begin to scratch the surface of what the child of a shipgirl like herself would be like.

So far as she knew, this was a beginning unlike any other in history.

She took a deep breath.

"Battleship Mutsu. All ahead flank."

The instructions were simple enough. Generic and illustrated so there would be no possible means of screwing it up. Well, short of grievous failure to follow said instructions. Or failure of the device.

But the deed was done and all she had to do was wait.

As she exited the stall with the test, Jintsuu stood there like an ever observant sentinel. She seemed to relax a bit when she offered a smile. No words seemed to come forth and her companion did not seem all that inclined to converse either.

So while they waited, she washed up and made herself presentable again. It wouldn't do to keep walking around like this.

Even so, she took her time.

She could dwell more on the what-ifs and maybes after she had an answer.

But it was taking so long. Maybe it was broken? She was confident she'd followed the direction properly. Oooh, it ought to hurry up!

A change caught her eye as she paced.

Mutsu held the test up to eye level and took a good, long look at what it displayed.

"What does it say?" There was a not insignificant amount of impatience in Jintsuu's voice. Enough to make professionalism impossible. The woman was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"There's a crane."

"A... crane?"

"And the number two."

Indeed there was a crane and said numeral displayed quite plainly on the test in a rather old-fashioned typeface.

A series of taps, metal on metal, sounded out. They were barely discernible, but definitely there. Certainly enough to get the attention of both women. Especially given they were originating from Mutsu's belly.

- Construction begun two ships STOP
- Est delivery nine months STOP

Mutsu's jaw dropped as the sounds faded into the background of her mind.

"T-T-Twins?"

"Oh, oh my. Oh my. My, my!"

Mutsu threw her arms around a now cheering Jintsuu and spun her around joyously, a smile bright as the sun adorning her face as she laughed.

"Aha! Hahaha! I'm going to be a mother!"