Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

Chapter 5

The tiny being was small and squirmy. Just an hour after the birth, Ryleigh was resting in an uneasy slumber while Chazz tended to the child; it was light enough now that walking to find help would not be impractical but he was unwilling to leave without telling Ryleigh were he was going.

The child, who had slept soundly for the best part of an hour, was now awake and making strange, foreign noises that were nothing more than squeaks and splutters. He wondered if that was normal - his experience with babies was, quite frankly, non-existant. He had held a baby before, sure, when one of his friends - from the pro league or from Duel Academy - had presented him with their new child, but this was different. This was his own child and a newborn.

The tiny head lolled to one side and he used his free hand to cup it gently, determined to master this. Cradling a child, he was quickly discovering, was rather different to holding a toddler to your hip, as he had done with his nephew or Jim Cook's daughter. The child relied entirely on him for support, something he was not used to - he was self-reliant himself and Ryleigh was far from helpless. There was something terrifying about being in charge of such a tiny, helpless little being.

Chazz sighed as he shifted his arms to hold the baby in a more comfortable position, one arm supporting the delicate bundle which was now properly swaddled in his jacket and the other using his fingers to stroke the soft skin of her cheek.

A girl. What the hell was he supposed to do with a girl!?

He could see himself easily throwing a ball to a young boy in the back garden; guiding a young boy to manhood; taking a just-a-little-bit-too-young man into a bar for his first pint of beer. But this was not a boy, this child was a little girl. Could he really force himself to play dolls and dress-up?

A smirk crossed his face; at least he could still teach her how to duel. Already he could picture taking his little girl, perhaps four or five years old, into a shop to purchase her first cards. He would show her how to organise a deck; he would teach her how to win.

The baby girl in his arms spluttered a bit and it looked as if she may cry, but a gentle rocking motion seemed to soothe her - it was remarkable how naturally it came to him, he acted without thinking. Studying her features clearly, he noticed how much of both himself and Ryleigh he could see in her tiny face, her little body. Her skin was darker than his but paler than her mother's; a mix of the two of them. She had dark hair, but both her parents did so it was impossible to tell whose hair she would have yet. Her eyes, too, appeared the natural blue that all newborns have - but hers was a paler blue and he just knew that, in time, she would have the same beautiful violet eyes as her mother.

It didn't matter that he wasn't sure how to raise a girl. He loved her already; he didn't want to change anything about her.

Bring on the dolls and the dresses, he thought to himself.

"You're gonna be daddy's little girl" he whispered, lifting his daughter - it didn't sound real yet: his daughter, he really had a daughter - to his shoulder so that her warm little head rested in the crook of his neck. "Aren't you?"

"Aren't I what?" came a mumbled groan.

Chazz glanced over at his now-awake girlfriend, still holding the baby securely to his shoulder. "How are you doing?"

"Sore" Ryleigh grumbled, attempting to push herself up into a sitting position and failing; she decided that she was comfortable enough lying down. "Is she alright?"

"I think so. She's awake."

"Let me see her" Ryleigh smiled, eager to once again hold her baby in her arms. Chazz placed the jacket-wrapped bundle into her arms and she cradled her newborn daughter tenderly. "Hello, little angel."

Chazz sat back and pulled his mobile phone from his pocket; it still had no signal whatsoever. With a sigh, he realised that an idea he had had during the past hour was the best bet he had. Taking his cards out of their holder, he summoned the spirits of the three Ojama brothers and told them their instructions.

Ryleigh barely noticed the trio, and looked up only as they squealed in delight at being giving an important mission as they departed. "Where are they off to, Chazz?"

"I sent them off to find some help. I'm not about to walk off and leave you here, and this hunk of junk's going nowhere" he muttered, gesturing at the broken down car. "The slacker and his girly boyfriend live about thirty miles away from here."

Ryleigh rolled her eyes; so much for Chazz growing up. Still, she didn't really care - no matter how much she loved him, her attention was otherwise occupied. All her focus was on her adorable baby girl. Ryleigh was fascinated by how natural the gentle weight of her daughter felt in her arms; the squirming, slightly damp weight should have felt uncomfortable to hold so close but the baby felt impossibly right when in her arms. Now Ryleigh truly, completely understood the bond that existed between mother and child.

She was still in pain but somehow it no longer mattered; the pain was a dull version of what she had previously felt, anyway. And now she had her daughter in her arms everything made sense - the backaches, the swollen ankles, the heavy baby bump, the kicking in the ribs, the far-too-frequent urination, the agonising labour. With the baby in her arms, she knew that it had been well worth it.

Admiring the baby, Ryleigh said quietly, "we still have to name her."

"Any ideas?"

"Hmm ... some. You?"

Chazz smirked. "Some."

And the two knew that they had found a topic to discuss while they were waiting for news from the Ojama brothers.

Please R&R