journey maker-Yes. Who did Duke call?

dragonlady222-o.O You're review is jumping from topic to topic. I don't know what to respond to.

Pharaoh Felicia-AAAAAAAH! Not the diet root beer! By the way, what does 'baz' mean?

Anonymous-It is susupicious, isn't it?

Chapter 13

"He's nicer than I thought he'd be"

"Who?"

"Your dad" Bakura told me "I was trapped in the shadow realm last time he visited so I've never seen him before. He's a nice guy for someone who won't stay here with you while you're pregnant"

"Dad has to go back to Egypt" I told him "He really doesn't have the skills necessary for most jobs that would keep him close to home. If he doesn't keep working out of the country we'll be poor"

"So money's more important than you?"

"Well, without it we'll have no home. No food. Oh, and I'll have to give birth in a dumpster on my own rather than in a hospital with doctors to help me. So it's kind of important"

Bakura nodded, getting my point "It's too bad your mom can't look after you though, then it wouldn't be my job"

He was only joking. I stuck my tongue out before taking a bite out of some cotton candy my dad had gotten me. Unlike Bakura, he let me have plenty of sugar (something about bad experiences with not letting mom have what she wanted while she was having me), but he still made sure I ate enough healthy foods to make up for my junk consumption.

The phone rang. Dad would answer it.

"What's the worst part of looking after me?"

"That" he pointed to my cotton candy "If I turn my back on you for three seconds you stuff your face with crap. Do you know how many sweets I've had to hide in my soul room?" So that's where he kept them "I'm not kidding, there's no room left to walk without stepping in a sponge cake"

I started to laugh. It must have looked odd to my father, who entered the room right then as Bakura vanished just in time. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, um, I just remembered a great joke that Yugi told me"

"Can I hear it?"

"I wouldn't do it justice"

"Right… Miss Ishtar wants to speak to you, I left the phone on the table"

"Ishizu?" I got up and went to the phone. What could Ishizu want to talk to me about. I picked the phone up "Hello?"

"Ryou?" she sounded like she was crying "Please… please come to the Domino hospital…" did I forget an appointment? No… Ishizu wouldn't know. As far as I knew, she didn't even know I was pregnant "It's Malik. He's been hit by a car"

I think the phone might have broken when I dropped it.

SC

Me and my dad rushed into the emergency ward of the hospital. With a bit of direction we managed to find Malik's room fairly quick.

Malik looked awful, he was covered in blood and bruises and hooked up to life support. Odion stood there looking emotionless, but Ishizu was sobbing next to his bed.

"Malik?" He didn't answer. He was unconscious "Malik… wake up… please"

"He might not" one of the doctors told us "For now, the most we can guaranty is that he'll last the night"

"Malik?" I wanted to nudge him. You could always wake him by poking him in the neck. I was scared though. What if he woke up and could only scream in pain? What if he didn't wake up at all, and the contact somehow killed him?

My dad rapped his arms around me and hugged me while I cried. I didn't care anymore if Malik wouldn't be the father of my kid, like he was supposed to. I didn't even care if we never got along again. I just wanted him to live.

A police officer came in at one point to say they arrested the man who hit him. All they got out of him was that he didn't remember hitting Malik, so they suspect he was drunk. Stupid alcohol, it was killing my best friend.

Malik didn't wake up before visiting hours ended.

When I got home dad let me sit next to him on the couch so I could cry into his shoulder some more. Eventually he forced me to eat dinner and sent me to bed.

It was no use, I couldn't sleep. Malik was sleeping right then, and he might never wake up "Bakura?" He appeared before me, looking shocked "Bakura, will Malik be alright?"

Bakura didn't look sure himself, but smiled at me anyways "Of course he'll be. He managed to live through all the shadow realm shit Marik put him through. He wont let a car be the end of him"

"You'd better be right" I whispered.

It wasn't enough comfort for me though. I broke the phone earlier, and dad was out there anyway, so I pulled out a cell phone and called Yugi.

"Kame Game shop"

"Mr. Motou?"

"Ryou, is that you?"

"Yes. Can I speak to Yugi?"

"This late at night?"

"Yes"

I heard Yugi's grandpa sigh on the other end of the phone. He probably assumed it was something with the baby. Yugi sounded equally annoyed when he answered "What?"

"Did Ishizu call you yet?"

"About what?"

"About Malik"

What about Malik?"

"He was hit by a car" I muttered "The doctor who was in the room when we saw him said they were sure he'd last the night, but they weren't so positive about anything past that"

"What?" Yugi sounded horrified "He was hit by a car? How?"

"They caught the driver, they think he was drunk by how he answered the questions, but from the way they described him he sounded sober"

"Ryou, that's stupid. Why would anyone want to kill Malik?"

"I don't know"

Yugi was silent for a little bit "Okay, look, there's no school tomorrow, so we can both visit him at the hospital together. I'm sure he'll be awake to tell us he'll be fine. Don't loose too much sleep over it. You have a baby to keep healthy"

"I know… thanks, Yugi" I hung up.

Before I could even set the phone down Bakura hugged me from behind, taking me by surprise. "I told you" he whispered before returning to the ring"

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SnowCreek: For the sake of giving all of you a chance to wonder what Duke was up too, I waited a day after writing this to post it. I wrote all of chapter 12 at the same time.

S'only about 5 pages, but man am I feeling productive.