onlyaname : Thank you for that review. As I post this chapter, I am actually working on the next. I was going to just post it the same time but sometimes if a chapter is too long, people won't read it. So I would expect the following chapter to be up shortly I'm almost done with it.
wolf's lament: LOL, you know I had plan Tai's reaction to be similar to your own.
Digi-Girl101 : Thank you!
JyouraKoumi: I know you do. I really appreaticate you reading my story.
Stained In Negativity: You know I didn't even think of it that way, but you are right. I got rid of one and added one. I saw you have a new story. I'll be reading that today!
Inner Beauty: Sorry, I guess it didn't work out that way. This chapter won't have Sora in it, the chapter after this one won't have her either. But the group will meet the baby and as Sora holds the child, Matt will be watching.
FallenArchangelDD: Thank you for your reviews and continueing to read my story!
Broken Angel01: Matt and Hiroaki, I've always pictured them, to be more alike. Father and son. Of course they don't see eye to eye all the time but...well you'll read it.
Curtis Zidane Ziraa: Hiroaki will play more then a babysitter but yes, Matt will remain at home. Thank you for your information, I believe I will take your advice in another story, however the name Ryoko needs to remain in this story. I don't know why Broken Angel had choosen Ryoko but I choose the name in honour of her story, which I love greatly. I love the character in which she created in her story and I wanted that chacter (even though he isn't really going to do anything) in my story. You did a lot of research and you have all the facts backing you up and I greatly appreciated it for it will help me in future stories and it may help others who read the reviews.
gizmo-396: As always, thank you.
Hala: No! Never apologize for random reviews. I always enjoy a laugh.
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Tk hated the mornings. He hated morning rushes even more. He more so hated the fact that today, he was part of the morning rush. As long as he could remember, both of his parents were ruled the ticking of a clock. Every minute planned; every hour of the day was schedule weeks in advance. If an obstacle landed in their path, hindering them from their schedule, they became irate.
Today here he was, bearing down the sidewalk, jumping over kneeling citizens, pushing through private conversations, causing vehicles to blare the horns and motorist to shout and shake their fists in a short temper of rage.
Yet, what could he do? He was running late, dreadfully late. Matt should have departed from the apartment by now, headed for school while worrying about what happen to his dear, wonderful, good looking, brother.
Realistic, Matt probably wasn't thinking clearly and instead, Tk was sure he was cursing right about now.
Tk's blue eyes grew as a Chihuahua shot out from someone's doorway with a leash dangling behind it. The leashed slithered around Tk's leg and the boy felt the rope taunt and the earth's soil suddenly became eye level.
The Chihuahua suddenly bounced on the blonde, who quickly remembered a drill of curling up in a ball during a disaster. Of course tackled by a little brown dog with a darting tongue may not have exactly named a crisis but the ball form worked wonderfully. The owner of the dog, an elderly woman grabbed her pooch up in her arms, cooing to it. Of course, she took time to thank Tk for catching the mouthy little dog.
Tk blinked uncertainly at the elder woman, not sure, if she understood that it was her dog that captured him. Being a civilized person that he was, Tk nodded his head, accepting her thanks before he once again took off down the street.
He took a few deep breaths as he entered the elevator and closed his eyes to let go of the tension he was starting to feel. He never thought getting up two hours early would be so difficult.
He brief relapsed into his memory of a conversation he had with his brother leading up to the current event.
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"You know I was thinking." The conversation took place the first week after their father had been release from the hospital and finding a small amount of time that he had been able to spend with Matt as they both worried about their father.
"Ah, so there are miracles!" Matt teased his younger sibling.
"Yeah, real funny!" Tk remembered giving Matt a cold glare. "But seriously, what happen with dad made me realize something."
"What's that?" Matt asked.
"How easy it is to lose someone. Okay that came out corny and all but what I mean to say is that it only takes one day for our lives to change. One thing could interrupt how we normally live." Tk cleared his throat, "So I've been thinking that maybe we should do something together every week."
"Why? It was dad who…"
"Yeah I know but I do stuff with dad every week. He always makes some kind of arrangement where we do something, just the two of us. You and I, what do we do?"
"We have Friday nights."
"Yeah with twenty other people!"
"It's not twenty, Teeks." Matt rolled his eyes.
"No maybe not. The fact remains that we still do something with our friends but not something with just us."
Matt studied his brother for a moment, just long enough to make Tk squirm. "What do you suggest that we do?"
"I don't know something."
"Something is good, but what?"
"I don't know! What do you want to do?"
"This is your bloody idea!"
"Yeah but I was just throwing it in the air. I hoped you would take it seriously but I didn't expect you too do so!"
"You are a very annoying little brother." Matt bit the corner of his lip before speaking. "Why don't we start out with something easy?"
"Like what?" Tk asked.
"How about once a week we meet for breakfast? We both can get up early or something like that."
"I already get up early!"
"Hey this is your idea!"
"But I didn't think it involved getting up early! Maybe we can do something later in the day?"
"Doesn't work for me. You have a curfew and I am always doing something else."
"Stop doing something else then."
"That's not far, Tk. All you have to do is get up earlier. If I can do it, you can do it."
"I know I can do it, I just don't know if I want to do it!"
"What do you want then? Either we do this idea of yours or we don't."
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So now, once a week, Tk found himself doing exactly what he hated the most, living by time.
The elevator buzzed open and he when he headed out, he collided with a woman that looked to be in much the same rush as Tk.
"Sorry." Tk apologized.
The woman's emerald eyes meet his blue eyes and for a moment, she held a slight confused look in her eyes. Tk usually was not so bold but it was early, he wasn't thinking, manners at this moment did not register in his groggy state of mind, a woman that looked like that didn't pass Tk too often so, unconscious he took advantage of her delay to reach the elevator's doors. His eyes took in her emerald eyes surrounded by thick lashes. He was aware that her eyes held a tint of red from pass tears. Her lips were seem to have a fully pout look and her lush red hair flickered with tiny shimmers of copper and flaxen strains that bounced around her shoulder.
A few buttons were undone on her beige silk shirt showing an eyeful of her cleavage. Tk's eye roamed down to her waist that surprising was not as thin as the rest of her appeared. Yet, his eyes kept roaming down the length of her short skirt pass her knees, down to black heeled shoes.
"Excuse me." The voice she used was cold causing Tk's eyes to retrace his path more quickly to meet her glare.
"I..um." Tk felt his cheeks growing red. Never before had he so openly checked out someone else, specially someone that was clearly older then him.
She just shook her head and passed roughly by him.
Tk blinked a few times before slapping his forehead. "Ugh. I cannot believe I just did that! Gawd, I'm turning into a pervert or something!"
Tk rushed towards his father's apartment and turned the door. He closed his eyes, the door was unlock and being this early in the morning must mean Matt went on with out him.
Tk opened the door but no longer had the need to rush through the wooden archway. "Dad?" He called out, dropping his own school supplies beside the door, taking noticed to Matt's schoolwork lying near the door and to his brother's jacket draping over a straight back chair.
"Matt?" Tk smiled, his moods lighten in relief that his brother did not leave with out him after all.
"Tk." Matt called out softly as he came out from the hallway. His tie was loose around his collar and his clean white shirt hung untucked around his waist.
"Hey you ready?" Tk's smile quickly disappeared as his brother stood before him with a very confused look on his face. "Breakfast. Damn it, you forgot didn't you!"
"No no." Matt looked behind his shoulder quickly and walked closer to Tk. "I didn't forget."
"Then you're ready, right?" Tk asked.
"Actually, no." Matt's left hand combed through his hair, a sign that he wasn't sure what to say.
"What? Is it dad?" Tk headed towards his father's room. "You promised you would call if something happen to him again! You promised!"
"Nothing happened, TK." Matt followed his brother into his father's room.
"Dad?" Tk stopped as he found his father sitting on the bed, a baby laid on the soft covers beside him.
"Hey, Teeks." Hiroaki spoke softly, a smile breaking through as he watched his youngest son's face. "Come here and meet your nephew."
"My nephew?" Tk glanced over at Matt before slowly moving towards his father and kneeling down on the floor.
"Yeah, your nephew." Hiroaki touched Tk's head.
Tk stared at the small infant before reaching out to touch the soft fuzz of blonde hair adoring the infant's head. "Matt didn't tell me."
"Matt didn't know until a few minutes ago." Hiroaki kept his eyes on his youngest son's face. "We just found out this morning also Tk. He didn't have time to tell you."
Tk's eyebrows moved as he tried to reason everything in his mind but quickly gave up and smiled as the baby gave a small yawn. "He's small and crinkly."
"He was born a few days early then the due date but he's healthy." Hiroaki explained. "He's actually the size you were when I brought you home."
"He is?" Tk looked up at his father.
"He is." Hiroaki reassured him.
"Ryoko." Tk cooed and quickly turned his head to his brother. "That still is his name, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Matt walked over to his brother and father's side.
"You're going to tell mum, right?" Tk glanced back down at the baby and waited for an answer.
"Matt, right?" He asked again, when his brother said nothing.
Matt exchanged a glanced with his father.
"He will tell Nancy." Hiroaki gave Matt a stern glare.
Matt opened his mouth to protests but Hiroaki held up his hand to silence him.
"Because he would like me to quit smoking and he understands how hard it will be for me. He also knows that I want him to reconcile his relationship with his mother and I know how hard it will be for him."
Tk smiled, "I think that's a fair exchange."
"Of course you do." Matt hissed, "What are you giving up?"
"Breakfast with you. Well this week anyway." Tk's smile suddenly disappeared, "Mimi! She is going to have a fit! Your baby shower was supposed to be this weekend, before the baby was born!"
"She gave up on that."
"No she didn't, she wanted to surprise you!"
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Tk rushed his way to school knowing that he would barely make it before the last bell rang but it was worth it. He felt like his world lifted after the ordeal with his father. While Matt stayed at home, Tk went on to school with permission to give out the news to their friends. Of course, that was Matt. He hated to be the barer of any news whether it was good or bad.
"Hey, JT!" Davis yelled from the porch of the school entrance. "Hurry up!"
Davis took his place beside Kari as they started to walk into the building. Tk could hear the drilling sound of the bell and pushed his legs forwards.
He slipped into his homeroom chair with out too much attention from the other students. Fortunately, he had a great homeroom teacher who allowed them a few minutes of chattering before beckoning them to quiet down so he could do role call.
"I thought you were going to get up early." Davis leaned over his seat to whisper to Tk.
"I did."
"Maybe you should get up even earlier the next time." Davis looked at his friend closely, "Did you run all the way here from your apartment?"
"Nah, Matt's."
"Why…"
"Matt's baby was born. I just found out…well everyone just found out." Tk whispered and while he looked around the classroom. He scooted on his knees beside Davis' and Kari's chair so the girl that sat in front of him couldn't ease drop more then she had.
"What I got out from Matt was that he opened the door and next thing he knows he was holding is son."
"Maybe it isn't his!" Davis shook his head. "Maybe it belongs to someone else and your brother will get framed for kidnapping."
"Shut up Davis." Kari slapped her friend's shoulder.
"Dad took out some baby pictures of me and Matt and compared the pictures. Defiantly Matt's kid."
"That's all the world needs." Kari winked at Tk. "SO, what does Matt think of all this?"
"I don't know. I think he is still shocked. While dad went through the pictures, he just sat at the corner of the room."
"Where was the baby?"
"On the bed, sleeping."
"Not a morning person, either."
"Um…I don't know. Don't they always sleep?" Tk asked.
"I don't know, I'm the youngest in my family." Davis shrugged.
"So am I."
"Hey, me too." Kari smiled.
"Wow, more things in common!" Davis put his hand over Kari's small hand. "We were meant to be together."
"Or you and Tk were meant to be together!" Kari giggled and turned back into her seat.