Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply. I own nothing, not even the plot, really.

About Damn Time!

Chapter Two:

It was early evening when Rock finally returned from wherever he'd been spending his New Years. The teenage fighter expected to see Terry stretched out on the living room couch like he usually tended to be whenever he was home and so was mildly surprised to see Terry's younger brother Andy there instead. The blond ninja was laying face down on the couch, his long hair falling forward to obscure his features.

"Yo." Rock said, entering the room. "What are you doing here?"

"Dying." Andy groaned in answer without lifting his head.

Rock was puzzled, he didn't look injured. Maybe he was poisoned, or his chest wound was acting up again. Rock was about to inquire further when Terry entered with a bottle of Jack in one hand and two empty glasses in another. Ah, so it was one of those kinds of problems then.

"Leave 'im alone, kiddo." Terry ordered.

Rock nodded and obediently left the room.

Terry set the glasses down on the coffee table and poured himself and Andy each a share of the Jack Daniels.

"Now," he said, offering a glass to Andy, "start over again and this time speak slower and try not to jump between English and Japanese so much."

Andy sat up and accepted the offered alcohol. He sipped it experimentally and then downed the rest in one big gulp. "Mai was completely chill with the break-up." He said as he reached to refill his glass and had to marvel at the fact that he was able to keep from shaking.

"Wow." Terry said, disbelieving. "Lucky break for you."

"No." Andy corrected taking another sip of Jack. "In return for letting me go, Mai wants a child, she wants me to get her pregnant before I walk away."

"And you're okay with this?"

"Hell no!" He was already halfway through his second glass. "Well, I donno. It'll make her happy."

"You really think so?" Terry asked. "'Cause, from what I know of Mai, she may be alright with having a kid by herself but I don't think she could ever be happy if she weren't having it with the man she loves." He looked pointedly at Andy.

"You probably think I'm horrible, don't you." Andy drained his second glass and reach for the bottle to refill it again, then changed his mind and set the empty glass down keeping the bottle in stead.

"Go easy on that, will ya."

"I can hold my liqueur, ya know." Andy grumbled, taking a swig from the bottle as he said this. "She's wanted a kid for a while. Remember how she used to torture me with those baby-illusions during tournaments?"

"Yeah, I remember." Terry nodded, taking a sip from his glass for the first time. "I also remember you being horrified-shitless. Not because you thought she had had a kid, but because you thought she had had a kid and you weren't there for her or it. Do you really think you can live with yourself not being there for your child, for real this time?"

"I don't know." Andy took another swig of Jack.

Terry did have a point. The thing that had frightened him most when Mai had presented him with perfectly life-like illusions of children back in 1999 and 2001 hadn't been the idea that she had had a child but that he hadn't been there to help her through it. But then again, wasn't that just more proof that he really wasn't husband and father material. Mai was probably making the smarter decision by letting him go. He just didn't feel right about leaving. 'Grr! So much drama over something that hasn't even happened yet!'

"God! I'm so indecisive, I'd make a terrible father!" Andy moaned.

"You'd be better than some fathers I can name." Rock's voice drifted from around the corner.

"Oi! You!" Terry called. "Stop ease-dropping."

"Fine." Rock came around the corner and sat next to Terry. He reached for Terry's still half full glass of Jack Daniels.

"Not until you're older." Terry said, placing the drink just out of reach.

"Ya know, in Japan the drinking age is sixteen." Andy said as if this were his 'random fact of the day'.

Rock looked hopeful.

Terry glared daggers at his brother. "Well, we're not in Japan now are we." Then he turned to Rock. "Did you need something?"

"Right." He turned addressing Andy. "I hate my dad." He said. "I never met that man until I was seven and it wasn't so much to meet him as to beg him to help my mom. Mom was sick and wanted to see him, he was loaded and could have gotten her the medical attention she needed, but he didn't. He didn't even want to have anything to do with me, and mom died that same night."

The boy locked eyes with the American ninja. "I don't know you as well as I know Terry, but if you're anything alike I think you should go back and tell Mai that you've changed your mind and you're going to do the right thing."

"And what is 'the right thing'?" Andy asked, meeting Rock's eyes glare for glare. "What if I go back to Mai and marry her like I think you're saying I should and I turn out to be just as bad as Geese was?"

"You won't be anything like that man." The boy said. "You wanna know why? Because you care and worry enough to ask yourself that question."

Terry couldn't help but beam with pride at Rock's display of depth and maturity. He was only seventeen but was already displaying the wisdom of one twice his age.

"You sound so sure of yourself." Andy said. "What would you know about it, really? You're barely old enough to shave."

"Alright then, I'll pose a different question: Jeffry Bogard wasn't your real dad, you and Terry were adopted, right?"

"Oi!" Terry interrupted. Rock was skidding dangerously close to a sensitive arena. After all, it had been his father that had killed their father. Terry may have been able to see Rock as more than just the son of Geese Howard but he had his doubts about Andy, the man had a tendency to hold grudges just a bit longer than Terry did.

"Just a minuet, Terry." Rock shushed him. "How old were you when you were adopted?"

Andy regarded the boy before him for a moment, as if appraising a possible threat. "Six." He finally answered.

"And before that it was just you and Terry on the streets, no parents to speak of, and nothing but the shitty Foster Care system to care for you, right." Rock pressed. "Well, wouldn't it have been better if you'd had a dad back then to take care of you? What if something happens to Mai, Ninja is a very dangerous occupation after all. What if something horrible happened to her, who would take care of the kid then? Huh?"

"Grr! I am not gonna sit here and take this from Geese's spawn!" Andy snarled.

"Okay, kiddo." Terry stood and effectively placed himself between his brother and his ward. "I think we could go for some dinner. Here's fifty bucks." He handed a wad of cash from his wallet that may or may not have totaled fifty to Rock. "Why don't you go out and get us something while we grown-ups finish talking."

"Yeah, fine." The boy said, taking the cash and exiting the room.

Once the door had been thoroughly slammed to announce Rock's departure Terry heaved a huge sigh of exasperation. "He did make a few good points ya know." He told Andy. "I really think that this is a poorly thought out plan and you and Mai need to talk this out a bit more, allot more actually."

"Hn." Was all Andy could say in reply.

…

A flight announcement rent the air of the already noisy South Town Airport and sent poor Andy's already pounding head to splitting with pain. He placed a hand to his forehead in a vain attempt to block out the offending noise and teetered precariously on his unsteady legs. The blond ninja sourly wished that Jack Daniels were a real person so that he could kill him right now.

Mai placed a hand on his shoulder and steadied him as best she could. "That's what you get for staying up all night drinking." She scolded. "I don't know what you were thinking! You knew we had a flight to catch, you moron. Well, you'll get no sympathy from me."

"Good. Then shut-up." He snapped.

Andy regretted the words the moment he'd said them. Its jus that he felt like such crap, his head was killing him, he hadn't gotten all that much sleep last night and her shrill chiding was just making everything worse. Couple that with the fact that he was waging his own internal struggle about her proposition from yesterday and it should have been understandable for him to be a bit cranky. But every time he snapped at Mai he always ended up feeling like such a villain and he had no idea why.

Maybe he was a bit of a villain. After all, he had put off marrying her for so long that she was now forcing herself to chose between him (her one true love) and a possible child (something she'd wanted for almost as long as she'd wanted to marry him). Was it evil of him to deny her the two things she wanted most out of the world for so long? Perhaps not 'evil' but it was definitely 'cruel'.

She tried her best not to deny him the things he wanted or get in the way of his goals. She let him train the long hours he felt he needed to surpass his brother and only bothered him when his training became excessive or he pushed himself to hard for to long.

She would barge onto Jubei-sensei's property, no announcement and no explanation (not that she really needed the latter one) and pull him from his strict regiment (forcibly if necessary). She'd tend his wounds if he had any, put ice on his wrists or ankles, sew his split knuckles or massage out his tired and stiff muscles, then she would drag him out on a date. Out of the Yamada dojo among people, in the real world, a world that didn't revolve around fighting and becoming the strongest, out among real people.

Then after that, after she would pull him away from his practice, tend his injuries and provide him with some frivolous respite she would take him back to the Yamada dojo (or even the Shiranui dojo sometimes) and they would make love. No, 'make love' was to soft a term for it, it was more like 'fuck like bunnies' but really it all amounted to the same thing.

But if Mai was willing to do all that for him and put up with so much crap from him shouldn't he be willing to meet her half way? Willing to give up a part of himself just as she had given up so much time and effort of her own for him?

Another announcement crackled over the loud speakers and Andy pressed the other hand to his head, dropping his carry-on in the process. He felt Mai shove him into one of those 'not quite as comfortable as they should be' chairs by their gate.

"Hang tight here." She ordered. "I'm gonna get you some coffee. If you start puking when we take off I swear I will kill you."

Her empty threat would have make him chuckle had he been in better spirits. As it were he was just happy she wasn't shrieking. A styrofoam cup was placed in his hands and he sipped it slowly.

He had just snapped at her and yet she was still willing to do nice things for him. True, getting a cup of crappy airport coffee wasn't particularly note worthy, but it was the most recent example of Mai doing something for him and him doing nothing. Maybe she would be better off without him, he would be a terrible influence on her child, that was for sure.

'What if something horrible happened to Mai, who would take care of the kid then?' Rock's words echoed through his head unbidden.

Andy cast a sideways glance at the bewitching beauty that now sat beside him going over their flight's itinerary. What if he did go through with this… this plan of hers and then left? What if something terrible did happen to her after that?

An image rose to the surface of him mind, a memory of himself and Terry living back in South Town before they had met Jeff, before they had been adopted. The Foster Care system in America was crap back in the late 70s, is still crap now but it was worse back then.

They kept moving them, he and Terry, from one home to another, one family to another. They didn't have suitcases and so all their stuff, their clothing and few possessions were moved in big black trash bags as if to say that that was what they were no better than, trash. You were garbage if you didn't have any parents of your own. Sometimes they got to stay together, but allot of the time they were split up, sent to separate homes that were, sometimes, on opposite ends of the city.

One night Terry had finally gotten fed up with it all and run away. He had come to the house where Andy was staying and the two had run away together. South Town was not an easy place to live for most adults; it was near impossible for two prepubescent children to fend for themselves. The brothers took up temporary residence in an abandoned warehouse in South Town's industrial district where a number of runaway children seemed to have gathered forming a sort of 'tribe'.

They lived that way, off the streets for a little over a year before Terry had run into Jeff. That had been the single defining moment of their lives, when Jeffry Bogard had decided to adopt them both as his own. Before that they had been living what Andy secretly referred to as the 'child's version of Hell', if something happened to Mai he didn't think he could stand his own child living like that.

Another PA announcement rent his thoughts asunder. Damn these airports had allot of announcements to make! Perhaps he should stop. These thoughts were just a bit to heavy for one still hung-over. He had the flight to LAX all the way on the West Coast and then from there to Tokyo International, a total of twelve hours to spend in deep contemplation about Mai's proposition. He'd best pace himself.

…

"So I guess you're going to the Yamada dojo from here?" Mai asked.

They now stood at the baggage claim of Tokyo International Airport, waiting for her luggage that Andy knew she was going to make him carry.

"Uh… yeah." He admitted. That had been his original plan. After coming back from New Years in South Town with his brother and friends he had hoped to return to the Yamada dojo to continue refining his skills in the hopes of one day defeating Terry. Though, he had a feeling that wasn't what he was going to be doing now.

"Okay. I'll call on you there after you get settled." Mai said this as if announcing a causal social call. "Now that I think about it, its good that we're already not living together. It makes the break-up part so much neater, not messy. Don't you agree?"

'This whole damn thing is messy!' He wanted to shout. Instead he just said, "Yeah."

He was still having his doubts about the whole thing but Mai had made her position clear, as well as the fact that he really didn't have a choice in that matter. So unless he was suddenly rendered infertile or impotent she would hound him until he gave her what she wanted and he had better get used to the idea.

"Great!" She was all bubbles and cheer. "Oh, and this time, I don't care if you leave your socks on or not."

Andy just stifled a groan.

…

Yamada Jubei was shoveling the courtyard of his humble mountain home when Andy came trudging up the steep steps.

"Tadaima." He said upon seeing his old master, it was more of a sigh than an announcement but he felt to tired and drained at the moment to manage anything more.

"Okaeri." Jubei answered, not bothering to look up form his neat pile of crushed snow. He lifted an eyebrow when Andy strode silently past him without another word. The old judo master kicked up a clump of snow and sent it flying into the back of his former pupil's head just before he could enter the dojo.

"What was that for?" The blond ninja indignantly demanded.

"Don't you have something to tell me?" Jubei demanded, impaling his shovel in the snow and crossing his arms over his chest.

"New Years was great, thanks. It was nice getting to spend some time with my brother."

"Not that, you idiot." The old master flared. "Mai! I'm talking about you and Mai-chan! When were you gonna tell me you're having a kid? I had to find out about it through text!" He pulled a Blackberry from the sleeve of his haori and pulled up the message in question.

Andy took a step forward and noted that the message had been sent from Joe's phone. The next time he saw the Muay Thai boxer he was going to give him a good punch up the bracket for this!

"What are you even doing here anyway?" Jubei continued. "Unless you're just here to pick up your stuff you have no excuse for not being at the Shiranui dojo with her right now. When's the wedding, by the way? Or am I gonna have to go and find a shotgun before you finally man-up?"

"Um, Sensei, Mai's not pregnant." Andy tried his most soothing tone. While he may molest her and disrespect her personal space, Jubei had been the best friend of Mai's grandfather and, as such, fancied himself a sort of 'foster-father' to her. Andy felt suddenly weary of the possible thread that Master Jubei might pose to his health.

"She's not?" The old man paused momentarily in his ranting.

"No." He tried his best to maintain that tone of soothing calm, this time more for himself and his own nerves then Jubei's. "Joe just jumped the gun. Mai wants to have a baby, that's all."

"Oh." And he was the same old eccentric mentor again, gone was the hostile and over protective father figure. "Same as usual then. Now I feel bad about scaring Hokutomaru-kun with all those horror stories of female mood swings. Poor boy. Would you mind going and finding him for me? I think he's hiding out with the monkeys up in the mountains."

Andy found himself stifling another groan.

…