blackamber- wooo another chapter!!

Sadie- wow, you have a lot of time on your hands for a university student...

blackamber- what? I only had one class today and I need to get this out now 'cause I have to study like mad for the next little while. (grumbles) stupid mid-terms.

Courtney- awww, Muffin

blackamber- (still grumbling) you sound like my sisters

Brook- usual disclaimer

Amy- enjoy

Melissa- or else the pregnant woman will hurt you

WHAM!

Melissa- WAHH! See!?

Kaylie- oh, and blackamber does not own the song Danny Boy... she doesn't know who does, all she knows is that it is a traditional Celtic song of some sort.

Amy flopped onto her bed after a rigorous training session with Courtney and Sadie; it wasn't rigorous for her physically, but mentally those two drove her insanity to its limits. Mentally, she was exhausted. So she lay on her bed, thinking about what Norah told her about talking.

"She says that you can hear everything I'm saying, and that's how you know me apart from anyone else. If Tala were here… would you know him as your father when he speaks?" She looked at the swell, not that it was easy to not look at it. It kinda took up her entire field of vision when she was lying down.

She started humming lightly, a song she hadn't heard for years.

Oh Danny boy

The pipes the pipes are calling

From glen to glen and down the mountain side

The summer's gone and all the roses falling

Tis you, tis you must come and I must bide

But come ye back when summer's in the meadow

Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow

Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow

Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy I love you so

"What makes you so sure it's a boy?" Brook teased from the entrance to Amy's room.

The seventeen year old grinned at her friend, "I'm not; it could be either. I just like the song."

"Reminds you of the trip we took with the Carters, huh? Ireland and Scotland, Wales." Brook sat down on the edge of the bed, smiling at her friend. "It's been a while since you've sung on your own… don't stop for my sake."

Amy grinned and picked up where she left off.

And if you come, when all the flowers are dying

And I am dead, as dead as I well may be

You'll come and find the place where I am lying

And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me

And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me

And all my dreams will warm and sweeter be

If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me

I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me

But come ye back, when summer's in the meadow

Or when the valleys hushed and white with snow

Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow

Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy I love you so

Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy I love you so.

"You think of names yet?"

"A few."

"Oh?"

Amy sighed, "Girl names… boy names…"

"Is one Danny?" Brook teased.

Amy laughed, "No, never even considered it."

"Well, let's hear a few." Brook rearranged herself so that she was sitting cross-legged and facing Amy.

"Well, girl names I thought of Thea, Cali, Tear, and Rose."

"You never stuck me as a Rose person," Brook stated.

"Yeah, well Rose is the only girl name that I know the Russian name for as well."

"Ah." Brook grinned like a chesire cat.

"Don't look at me like that."

"Alright, and boy names?"

"Dylan, Gale, Dimitri, or Jacob."

"Another Russian name?"

"The baby's father is Russian," Amy reminded, feeling guilty if she were to call her child an 'it'.

"Point taken." Brook laughed with her friend, before sighing and asking, "You miss him?"

"Every waking moment."

"Then why don't you call him?" inquired Brook.

"I did! I just haven't, you know, told him."

"You should get on that."

"I know! Every keeps harping about it and telling me that, but I know! I know I should tell him, I know that I'll have to eventually… but-

"It's hard, huh?"

Amy nodded, sitting up. "When you have something like this happen in your relationship you'll understand just how hard it is."

"Yeah, I don't plan on getting knocked-up anytime soon."

"Sure that's what they all say," Amy giggled.

The two teens began to laugh like they would have before any of this happened.

"Hmmm."

"You say something Court?" Melissa asked.

"No… I just thought… what's Amy going to say when Tala shows up here," she responded.

Kaylie and Melissa froze in the midst of what they were doing. They never even considered that. "If she doesn't know it was us-"

"She's going to ask him what he's doing here… and I imagine neither of you said anything to him about not mentioning it to her, did you?"

Both shook their heads.

"You know Kaylie, for a genius you're pretty stupid."

"Hey!"

"Another thought…"

"What?"

"Why didn't we include someone who can drive in our plan?"

"Why would we need someone to drive?" Kaylie asked.

"How is Tala going to get here from the airport then?"

Once again, neither Kaylie or Melissa gave it much thought.

"Oh well, once she finds out at least I'm safe," Courtney shrugged.

"How do you figure that?" demanded Melissa.

"You two were the ones who talked to him and told him about her… situation, as far as he knows, I had nothing to do with it."

"What are you doing?" Bryan asked, watching Tala rush back and forth across his room, packing.

"I'm going to Canada," he stated firmly.

"Why? Did something happen?" asked Bryan with concern.

Tala paused, "You swear not to tell Kai, no matter what?"

"We're bros aren't we?"

"Amy's 4 or 5 months pregnant."

"I thought that was impossible," jeered Bryan, also recalling the suggestion that Spencer had made not all that long ago.

"I know… I was stupid to so quickly deny that it was possible."

"So… any ideas when it happened?"

Tala shrugged, "four or five months ago."

"Obviously. I meant any ideas towards the date? I mean, the fact that she's pregnant suggests that you guys did 'it' a few times, but you can't have done it without protection more than one or two times right?"

"Why are we talking about my girlfriend's and mine sex life?"

"I was just curious. Besides, if you pin-point a date, you can determine whether it is 4 months or five months."

Tala considered this; Bryan had a point. "I dunno, the only date I can really think of that would be the most probable was the time we all went out and drank."

"Hmm?"

"You got pretty trashed that night so I wouldn't be surprised if you don't remember."

"Was that… when we were celebrating that victory… five months ago?"

Tala nodded, "That's the one."

"Well, there you go," Bryan said, clapping his hands together, "she's obviously five months pregnant."

"Thank you Dr. Kuznetsov. The great mystery of my girlfriend's pregnancy has finally been solved," Tala jested.

"Hey, what are you going to do if she's all moody and stuff?"

"Suck it up and hope that the kid's premature." Tala shut his bag, wondering whether or not he should bring Nicol. The dog, as if hearing his thoughts, looked up at Tala hopefully, whimpering slightly. He knelt down, scratching the husky's head, "You win," he whispered.

"And what are you going to tell Kai, should he ask?"

"That I'm going to visit Amy."

"And if he decides he's coming along?"

"Start planning my funeral."

"If you have Amy on your side, I may have to plan his."

Tala gave him a confused look.

"Hell hath no fury like a pissed off pregnant woman," Bryan snickered.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"At least if Kai tries to kill you she'll interfere."

"Hopefully."

"So… what's it like?"

"What's what like?" Amy questioned, looking at Brook oddly.

"You know what I mean," Brook responded, looking quite interested.

"You don't want to hear about that."

"Yes, I do… well not like detailed description, but what it's like."

"It's… I don't know… at first, it's like feeling whole for the very first time and then it just grows into this feeling of elation, where you just want to burst with-"

"Happiness?"

"I would say ecstasy, but that works too."

"It means the same thing."

"Yeah, but for what I'm talking about, ecstasy is the better word." Amy folded her arms behind her head, completely relaxed, "I don't regret it."

"Now… are you talking about the protected sex… or the one that landed you with a bulge in your stomach?" Brook inquired lying down next to her friend and staring at the ceiling.

"Both, there is no difference in how they feel… that and I don't really remember the unprotected one."

Brook sniggered, "Go figure, like the typical teen trauma story; you get drunk and then knocked up."

"Yeah, but those girls regret it afterwards and their guys turn into asses," reminded Amy.

"You were quite angry at Tala when you came here."

"He didn't know about this though."

"You expect him to act differently."

"I don't know what to expect as a reaction from him. I'm hoping shock and happiness."

Brook fell silent, not wanting to mention the possibility that he could be anything but happy. "Who do you think it will look like?"

"I don't know who I think the baby will look like. I've had dreams of the kid being a boy and looking like him, then others where he looks like me. And I've had dreams where he is actually a she and once again looks like one of us one night, then the other the next. So I can't say for sure." Amy made it known that she did not like people calling her baby an 'it'; it made her feel like she was carrying some demon spawn.

Brook nodded, looking at the swell. "Well, personally, I hope the baby's a girl and looks like you. You were a cute kid."

Amy barked with laughter, "Yeah, if you like a stammering, epileptic insomniac covered in gashes and bruises."

"Well, without all those ailments, you were a cute kid." Brook chuckled, shaking her head slowly. "What about lullabys?"

"What about them?"

"How are you going soothe your baby to sleep if you don't have lullabys?"

"I know plenty of songs, I'll just choose one of my old ones that has a slow and calming melody; like when I'm trying to soothe Indy."

Brook sat up with a look of excitement on her face, "You should use Danny Boy as your lullaby!"

"Why?"

"Well you just sang it to the kid not too long ago, it would be perfect. Singing him or her the song while they were still in the womb and then when their out. It's adorable!"

"You think everything about this is adorable," noted Amy, unenthusiastically.

"That's 'cause it is adorable! My best friend is having a baby, what could be more adorable?"

"Perhaps I will feel your sense of frightening excitement when you are the one carrying around 15 pounds of extra weight."

Brook's eyes suddenly shone with wonder, "Oh! Can you imagine it, me having a baby too! Our kids would have to be playmates, of course-"

"Isn't that kinda hard to do, with me living in Russia and all, and you in Hong Kong."

"Pshh, excuses."

Amy sighed and shook her head; Brook's personality could certainly do 180's on her, but that's what made her interesting. Maybe, she thought, I'll tell him tomorrow. She slowly drifted off into a much needed sleep as Brook continued rambling over the possibility of their children being playmates and best friends.

As Amy's thoughts lulled her into a deep sleep, a certain red haired Russian, multi-colored husky and- much to the displeasure of the Russian- a slightly younger, two-shades of blue colored haired Japanese teen boarded a plan bound for Toronto's Air Canada Airport.

blackamber- GASP! they're on their way to CANADA!!

Sadie- Oh no!

blackamber- (blinks)

Sadie- Hi!

blackamber- (waves awkwardly) hi...

Sadie- what's wrong...?

blackamber-well, usually by now you pull a Kai and mock me or get angry at me for some reason...

Sadie- well, I have nothing to be angry about so I decided to join in on the dramaticness.

blackamber- ah...

(awkward silence)

Bryan- You're hopeless...

blackamber- YOU DO NOT SPEAK UNLESS YOU HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT!!

Bryan- ('the hell' look) where'd she get the megaphone?

Sadie- (sitting on lawn chair with a tropical drink; shrugs) who knows. Why am I getting such great treatment is a better question?

Bryan- this has no point to the story

Kai- when does it ever

Tala- R&R