BlackOfDay-I have NO idea hom much longer this'll take. But right now it's deffinanatly my longest. The way I've planned it, as of this instant, there's a bit of story line after the baby is born, and by a bit, I mean a lot.

Anonymous-Thanks

journey maker-Nice to hear your opinion of all the possible pairings so far. Keep reviewing.

dragonlady222-forget it. That eye's blind and gonna stay that way!

Felicia-...O.o... Forget the police... I'M CALLIN' THE ASLYUM!

Chapter 22

I sat patiently by the entrance to Ryou's apartment waiting. The place wasn't wheelchair friendly, as both of us were learning the heard way. His apartment was too high up to use stairs, and the elevator was almost broken, and went morbidly slow.

Finally, Ryou arrived. Ishizu greeted him right away, I waved from my own wheelchair. His father rolled his eyes at me. I don't know why.

The two of us were brought in, Ryou was put in bed right away. He slapped his father for telling him he was heavy. I tried not to laugh. We were left alone after that.

"So what's bed rest like?"

"Boring" he complained "You should know, you had to go through the exact same thing without a ten-ton baby in your guts"

"Babies can't weigh that much!"

"Well that's what it feels like" Ryou muttered

"…Hey... Did Marik visit you I the hospital?"

"Yeah. He wanted to see Bakura" Ryou bit his lip. Something else must have happened that he wasn't mentioning "He was kind of upset though. Bakura hasn't been out much since my dad got here, but he was almost never in the ring before I was hospitalized, so he was really low on energy when Marik visited and wouldn't hang out with him"

"He did seem kind of depressed when he got back" I said more to myself "He didn't cause you any trouble did he?"

"No" Ryou was still biting his lip

"Look, if he was a problem, I want to know! It's my responsibility to keep him in check!"

"He didn't cause any trouble, okay!" Ryou seemed to be getting a little frustrated. Given his condition, I decided to just back off.

"How much longer before you can get up?"

"Seven weeks at the earliest. No later than nine. They told me it's my choice"

"Why do you get to choose?"

"Well, the due date is in nine weeks, but if I want they said I could have her two weeks early, because she should still be healthy then"

I was going to be a father in seven to nine weeks. How exciting. I wonder what she'll look like.

"How's Bakura doing?"

"Fine. Actually, I think he owes Marik a movie" Ryou took the ring off and handed it to me "Here. Take him with you. You can bring him back later. There's no way Bakura can sneak out with my dad around"

"And you're doing this… why?"

"Because I can't stand seeing Marik upset like that"

"I thought you hated Marik"

"I do!" Ryou scowls "I just hate knowing that people are upset and I didn't do anything to help even more!"

I leaned over and kissed him "You're a sweet kid. Too sweet. You give people more of a chance than they deserve" I set the ring on his nightstand "If Bakura wants to go with Marik he will. You probably need him more than Marik does, though. You two are like brothers, right?" Ryou nodded "Well, you tried to help, but I'm the one who turned you down, so you can't feel guilty. And stop giving people more than you ought to. Most everyone you're nice to doesn't deserve it. Doesn't deserve you"

Ryou's eyes watered "Y-yeah. I… I guess so" he put the ring back on.

"Are you crying?"

"Must be a mood swing" he whispered "C-could I… be alone… for a little bit?"

"Sure" I had recovered enough that I could move my wheelchair on my own so it wasn't a problem for him to ask "Call me if you feel up to having company again"

Ryou nodded. I left.

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SnowCreek: Bleh. What was I thinking putting Ryou on bed rest? I forgot how boring bed rest was! Well just one more chapter of this and then I get to make him go through labor (again). Don't get your hopes up, though. You won't get to see/read it. It's just gonna be one of those 'He's wheeled into the emergency room, everyone outside frets a bit, theres a scene change and the baby's been born' things.