Donna cocked her gun, narrowing her eyes, "Daken."

Daken looked... sad. "Donna..."

BANG!

Blood exploded over the wall and me, Daken falling to the ground and holding his jaw to stop the bleeding. I turned around, seeing Donna, who was grinning like a maniac. "That's for leaving."

Daken cough up blood as his jaw started to snap back together. "Donna, I'm so-"

BANG!

"And that's for coming back!"

BANG!

"That's for saying my cooking sucked!"

BANG!

"That's for never getting me the right beef jerky!"

Donna tried to fire into Daken again, but the gun just clicked, probably jammed. Donna shrugged, and in all her pregnant glory, hit Daken over his wounded head with it, again and again.

"That's for lying to me!"

Connor reached out, grabbing Donna and pulled her away from Daken's corpse. "Donna, stop it! You'll stress out the baby!"

Donna took a few deep breaths, and Logan stepped forward, nudging Daken's head with his foot, "Boy, how much time do you need to sit there and catch yer breath? A lot of people wanna kick yer ass right now."

"... ugh." Daken mumbled around vocal chords with bullets in them.

"I call dibs on the punching bag next!" I said enthusiastically.

"Don't... wanna fight." Daken sputtered. "Talk... Mio."

I raised an eyebrow, "You want to... talk to me?"

He nodded wiping the blood away from his mouth as best as he could. "Yes. I need to talk to you."

I raised an eyebrow, looking from Daken to Logan. Logan shrugged, "Your decision."

"Forget it."

Promise me Mio, that you will be like the Red Dragon, and not like Mio.

Mio held grudges, the Red Dragon didn't.

I took a deep breath, glaring at Daken as he managed to stand, eyes on Donna's belly. "Daken. Get out on the porch. I'll give you three minutes. Three. Minutes. To say whatever you need to."

Daken nodded, walking out onto the porch. I turned my attention back to Donna, who had preoccupied herself rubbing her own belly. She looked up at me, "Mio, why can't he just leave?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. But I promise, if he starts talking some bull shit, I'll cut off his balls, and give them to you for Christmas."

She laughed, settling herself down on her LazyBoy chair. "Thanks Mio."

I nodded, and walked out onto the porch.

Daken seemed different, I'll admit to that. I still didn't like talking to him alone. Regardless that Logan and Connor were most likely listening to every word of this conversation, ready to intervene at any given moment, I felt like I was still totally alone with him. Odd thing was, I wasn't scared. He wasn't controlling me anymore, ever since I stood up to him at that bar, I was in control of my own life. It was amazing.

He leaned against the railing, looking out into the night sky. I'm not sure what he was looking at, there were no stars at night around LA.

For a long time he was silent, just starring into the sky and not even looking at me. Maybe he was thinking of ways to get me back under his control, maybe he was just trying my patience, get me to talk first, put the ball in my court.

"So, Red Dragon, huh?"

I'm not going to humor that with a response. He can play games all he wants, but I'm not getting drawn into them again.

"You're really angry at me." He finally said. Guess my scent gave that away. I kind of missed those days when we would just slug it out. He would make snarky little remarks about me, my fighting, my cowardice, drive me insane. This was so much different, this was a one on one conversation. I was expected to talk to him. And be civil, mature. Guess I better get used to it; the minute I chase him off I've got to go back to being responsible for a little kid. "Everyone in there is. Logan, Connor, and... even Donna."

Did he think we'd be happy to see him?

"You walk out on your pregnant girlfriend, show up months later, and you expect us to all give you a thumbs up? Do you think we'd idiots? We all know you're only here to manipulate her. Mess with her head. And even if you do stay the only reason is so you can try and turn that kid into your personal soldier, because you failed to do that with me!"

He suddenly whirled around, grabbing me by my shoulders, and got right in my face, "That's not why!"

We held each other's gaze, until he finally let go of me, backed up against the railing, and slid to the floor. His head fell into his hands, "God I just- It hurts."

"What hurts?"

Daken pulled one hand away from his face, and placed it over his chest instead, "Here. There's no blood, no bruise, I even got it checked out by Reed, and he says there's nothing wrong with me. But I've just been thinking... that it must be Donna."

Scent is steady, he isn't lying, or using pheromones. "I keep thinking why, and... Mio I... I think I must really be crazy. Not just psychotic, but actually out-of-it crazy."

"Why would you think-"

It came out as a barely audible whisper. "Because the only answer I can come up with is... I must really love Donna. Every minute I'm away from her, it just gets worse."

"You expect me to believe that you actually-"

"I don't care if you believe me. I just want to be with Donna again, and I don't care what I have to do! If you tell me that I have to be monitored by Logan, then I'll do it. If I have to wear a shock collar that goes off whenever I use my claws, or my pheromones, I'll do it. Hell, if I have to be chained to the wall like a dog, I'll do it! Just... please," His voice cracked. "Let me stay with her."

He's still not lying... that bastard... came back because he loved her. "And your unborn child?"

"I... I'm not going to pretend that I love that kid. Because I know I don't. Donna loves it, so I'll protect it. And I won't involve it in my... affairs, because Donna won't want that."

He still isn't lying. I can't... I can't believe this, he really does love Donna. Hellhound would have gutted him anyway, chased him off. But I'm not Hellhound anymore, I'm Red Dragon. And apparently I'm also an idiot, because I'm about to give this life destroyer a fiftieth chance.

"Alright, you better-"

"Ah!" Donna screams.

Daken is at the door before I am, throwing it open, "Donna!?"

I slip in around him, Logan has a hand on Donna's shoulder, "What's wrong Darlin?"

Donna looks up at me, both hands holding her belly, "Mio... I'm in labor."

Donna is in labor...

Okay, I need to call the hospital, see when they can have a room open, get the car ready-

DONNA IS IN LABOR!

And so ends the calm and collected feeling.

"You're in labor!?" I screech, "Oh my God, Connor!"

He jumps to his feet, hands halfway up, as if not sure he should leave them at the side, or be using them. "What? What do I do!?"

Connor isn't calm and collected either.

"Get the car!"

He nods, thrusting his hand into his pocket, then his other pocket. He comes up short, and starts looking around, "I can't find the keys!"

"Keep looking!" I scream. Then I turn back to Donna while Logan just kind of sits there, his poker face on, and looking back on that, he was probably tearing his tongue to shreds trying not to laugh. "Donna, stay calm! The worst thing you can do right now is stress yourself out!"

She nodded, rubbing her stomach gently.

"Just breath! Deep breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth! Sniff the flowers, blow out the birthday candles!" I shout.

Connor calls from the kitchen, "I STILL CAN'T FIND THE KEYS!"

I whirl around, "Did you check under the coffee table!?"

"No, it's to low to the ground!"

"Then lift it up!"

Connor grabbed the table, yanked it up above his head, and nearly cried, "They aren't there!"

He flipped the table upside down, shaking papers off of it and onto the floor, "WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY!?"

Logan finally spoke up, completely calm and collected, "They're in your back pocket. Dumb ass."

Connor froze, the table slipping from his hands and crashing onto the floor. His hand flew to his back pocket, and he brought out a set of car keys.

Connor looked up at all of us, and every single one of us stared at him, even Daken. "Uh... my bad?"

Donna glared at him, "You broke my coffee table."

"I'll fix it." He offered.

"Donna, stop talking and breath!" I ordered. "If you stress too much, you could hurt the baby!"

Donna glared at me, "Mio, I'll be fine-"

"But you're hurting the baby!" I screamed.

Donna snapped, "Sit down and call my doctor Mio!"

I sat down on the floor, pulling out my phone.

Daken walked over to Donna, crouching down beside her chair, "Donna, I know this isn't the best time, but I... I'm not leaving anymore."

Donna met his gaze, and then turned to me as I dialed the number, "Mio, is he telling-"

"He loves you, he's gonna be a devoted dad to that kid, and he won't leave." I rattle off, "He's telling the truth Donna, my nose knows."

Donna turns back to Daken, before looking away bashfully, "Fine, I guess you can stay..."

I never thought I would feel that much relief and love coming off of Daken. As Daken and Donna shared a kiss, Logan groaned, "Well, guess I better get Nick to erase a bunch of files on ya. Keep SHIELD from showing up here."

I hung up the phone, "Dr. Krimble says that she can't admit you until the contractions are four minutes apart, how many minutes apart are they!?"

Donna broke away from Daken's lips, "I've only had one."

I pulled up the clock on my phone, "How long ago was it? Eight minutes?"

Daken rolled his eyes, "Try eighteen seconds, maybe."

"It feels longer somehow..." I mumbled.

Connor suddenly screamed, "WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THESE KEYS!?"

"God damn it boy!" Logan yelled, "Just put 'em in yer pocket, and shut the hell up!"

Connor obeyed.

Logan rolled his eyes, "Jesus Christ, you get this worked up over a birth that isn't even your kid, and you're trying to talk my granddaughter into having one?"

Daken's head shot around to glare at Connor, "You've been trying to get my daughter to do what?"

I rolled my eyes, "Don't pull the overbearing Dad gimmick-"

"Overbearing!?" Daken snapped, "He wants you to have his baby! You are not having that pathetic excuse of a man's child! You're only sixteen! I swear to God, if you try it, I'll cut his balls off!"

Connor sank to the ground, not having the mental energy to stand. "I didn't mean anytime soon! I was talking about in a few years!"

"Forget it!" Daken snapped.

"That's my call!" I growled. "I'll do what I want!"

Silence.

Connor broke it. "You mean, you do want to? Eventually?"

I swallowed, "What I meant was... I just... Meant as in... I DON'T KNOW!"

"Obviously you do, or you wouldn't be so angry about someone telling you not to." Connor pointed out.

"... I can't think about this right now Connor Kent, my little sister is being born, and Donna is killing her by being to stressed!"

Daken turned back to Donna, eyes wide, "S-sister?"

Donna nodded, smiling, "We're having a little girl."

Daken stared down at Donna's baby bump, and slowly, gently, placed one of his hands on it. "A girl... I'm having another girl."

I could practically hear him praying that the kid got a gender swap surgery.

Daken was suddenly kissing Donna again.

I felt a bit like a third wheel, so I sat down on the floor, and was quickly joined by Connor. "How long does it normally take for the contractions to start again?"

I frowned, "I don't know... the birthing classes weren't that clear..."

Logan looked up at me, "Birthing class? What good is a birthing class that doesn't tell you about contractions?"

"They said it varied case to case." Connor mumbled.

I put my hands over my eyes, groaning. "So many bad things can happen... the placenta can be in-between the baby and the opening. The minute Donna pushes, she'll bleed out, and so will the baby!"

Donna looked over at me, calmly placing a hand over her stomach, "Mio?"

"Huh?"

"SHUT THE HELL UP BEFORE I KILL YOU! AND WHEN I KILL YOU I SWEAR TO GOD, I'LL HAVE THEM ENGRAVE 'OBEDIANT LITTLE DADDY'S GIRL' ONTO YOUR GRAVESTONE!" She screeched, jumping up and glaring at me.

I yelped, rolling back, "No!"

"Then shut up." She commanded.

"Yes ma'am." I mumbled numbly, inching closer to Connor.

"Would she really do that?" He whispered.

"Yes." I whispered back.

Connor wrapped his arms around me, "Mio, she scares me."

"Me too."

Daken went right back to making out with Donna, "God, I love you so much... So sexy... Hot damn..."

Connor paused, "Do... do couples normally do this in during labor?"

"I sure as hell wouldn't." I mumbled.