"Hope? Hope? Wake up. WAKE UP.", Light said, shaking Hope back and forth. "Urrrrggghh...", he moaned, staying limp as Light shook him like a doll. "GET UP!" she yelled, throwing the nearby remote at his head. He cried out at impact, "What the hell Light?", turning towards her and wiping his eyes lazily.
"I want pickles."
"Urmmm...", he groaned, sitting up, "What?"
"I want pickles... and candy."
"Urrrrr...", he slunk his head back, "Really?" "Yes. Really.", she stated outright. "Why?", he turned towards her again. "Because I'm hungry.", she crossed her arms.
"Urgh...", he turned towards the bedside table, then noticed the clock, "Light... it's 3 in the morning." "Exactly. I'm hungry.", she glared down his back. "Well what do you want me to do?", he murmured, trying to sneak back to sleep.
"Get me food.", she said, placing a strong hand on his shoulder.
"But it's too early for this!", he whined, pulling the sheets over his face, "I can do it in the morning!" "No. You'll do it now, or I'll get my target practice.", she tightened her grip on his shoulder. "FINE!", he cried out like a 5 year old, "I'll go get your fricking pickles and candy!"
"GOD! YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE SO IMMATURE!", she yelled, causing Snow to develop a sudden coughing fit across town. "YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE SO DEMANDING THIS EARLY!", he shrieked back from down the stairs.
He hissed under his breath as he lethargically pulled out Light's stash of candy and a jar of pickles and lugged back upstairs. He threw them onto the bed before collapsing himself, "There's your fricking food! Happy now?"
"I didn't mean to piss you off.", she said, glaring daggers at the Horn which had appeared outside their window. Then she picked up the jar, squinting as she examined it, "Wait... THIS IS MAYONNAISE? I FRICKIN HATE MAYONNAISE! GOD, HOPE! AT LEAST DO IT RIGHT!" Hope screeched as she threw the heavy jar right on his stomach. He proceeded to shout, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"
"FOR BRINGING ME MAYONNAISE! I HATE IT!" Somewhere across town, Snow started coughing again, prompting Serah to get up and call the doctor to make an appointment for Snow for the next day.
"WE DON'T HAVE ANY MAYONNAISE FOR ME TO EVEN GIVE YOU!", he yelled back as he picked the jar up off him, "THIS SAYS FOOD MART ON IT!"
"BUT IT'S WHITE AND GROSS SO IT HAS TO BE MAYONNAISE! I SWEAR, I LET SERAH HAVE IT IN THE HOUSE JUST BECAUSE SHE LIKED IT, BUT I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS!", she shouted, making flailing hand motions uncharacteristically. "JUST BECAUSE IT'S WHITE DOESN'T MEANS ITS MAYO!", he shouted and threw it back to her in a dangerous hot potato game, "READ THE FRICKIN LABEL! IT SAYS FOOD MART!"
"FOOD MART'S A BRAND OF MAYO!", she threw it back to him, this time it hit his head and opened from impact, "WHYDDYA DO THAT?"
"BECAUSE MY HORMONES ARE OUT OF WHACK BECAUSE OF YOUR BABY!" "IT'S OUR SON!" "YOU GOT ME PREGNANT!" "WHO SAID THAT YOU DIDN'T ACCIDENTALLY FORGET YOUR BIRTH CONTROL OR SOMETHING!" "I DIDN'T! I TOOK MINE THE DAY THAT WE... YOU KNOW! AND PLUS, EVEN IF I HADN'T, IT WOULD TAKE THREE TO SIX MONTHS FOR ME TO RETURN TO NORMAL REPRODUCTIVE FUNCTION! SO THERE! IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" "WELL YOU KNOW WHAT? I LIKE THAT YOU ARE PREGNANT SO THERE!" "WHAT?" "YOU HEARD ME! YOU GET ALL SWEET AND MOTHERLY AND YOU ARE SOOO HAPPY AND I LIKE IT WHEN YOU'RE LIKE THAT! SO I REALLY APPRECIATE THAT WE'RE HAVING A SON!" "SWEET AND MOTHERLY? WHAT KIND OF CRACK ARE YOU ON? AND I DO TOO! YOU'RE JUST ANNOYING ME!"
"WOULD IT MAKE IT BETTER IF I GET YOUR PICKLES?" "YES! IT WOULD MAKE A TREMENDOUS DIFFERENCE IN MY HORMONAL OVERDRIVE!" "AWESOME! I WILL GO GET IT THEN!", he got up and stormed out. "GET A FRICKIN JAR OF MATURITY WHILE YOU'RE AT IT! MAYBE THEN I WOULDN'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH ANY OF THIS!" "OKAY GOD!", he grabbed the pickles and went upstairs, throwing the jar at her again, "THERE! NOW CAN I GO BACK TO SLEEP?"
The jar hit an unsuspecting Light in the stomach and she grimaced, "Yeah. I think I'll do that." (A/N: Learn to AIM, Hope! #21!) "Do what?", he screamed, but it was lower as he slunk back into bed.
"I'LL GO TO BED AFTER I CHECK THAT YOU DIDN'T MURDER OUR CHILD WITH A JAR OF PICKLES!", she yelled. He blinked awake and his tone was grave, "What?" "Learn to fucking aim, Hope! YOU HIT ME IN THE STOMACH WITH A GLASS JAR! THE DOCTOR SAID THAT IF I TAKE ANY HITS TO THE STOMACH DURING THE FIRST THREE OR FOUR MONTHS, HE MIGHT DIE! BASTAAAAARD!" "OH SHIT!", he yelled, immediately scrambling to help her.
"What should we do?", he screamed, looking around frantically for something to help. "NOT LIKE I KNOW!", she yelled back, cradling her stomach with one hand. "Should we go to the hospital?", he said, scrambling to the door. "I GUESS! NOT LIKE I KNOW? WHAT ARE WE GOING TO TELL THEM?", she hurried after him.
"I DON'T KNOW! THAT WE ACCIDENTALLY HURT THE KID?" "YOU MEAN THAT YOU ACCIDENTALLY HURT THE KID?" "FINE. THAT I ACCIDENTALLY HURT THE KID! CAN WE JUST GO NOW BEFORE HE GETS MORE HURT OR SOMETHING?" "YEAH! FINE!"
They rushed to the hospital, but didn't say anything for the ride, still fuming.
Light laid down on another recliner, taking deep slow breaths. Hope was sitting on a chair next to her, rubbing his hands on his knees nervously. "So... what happened?", a doctor walked in, holding a clipboard. Hope looked to Light, whom was staring away obstinately, and he answered, "Uhh... we were fighting and I was tired... and I accidentally threw a glass jar at her and hit her in the stomach..." "That's a new one. I've heard of guys knocking over shelves onto their wives, pregnant people falling off of their beds onto their stomachs, but never a glass jar.", the doctor tapped his pen on the clipboard. "Yeah...", Hope trailed off, staring away in a mirrored image of Light. "So, we'll have to do an ultrasound again and run some tests, possibly, to make sure your child is still alive and well.", the doctor explained before stepping out of the room. "Okay...", Hope hung his head.
Light stared blankly forward, biting her lip, "Hope? It'll be okay." "It's not okay. I should be making sure you don't go to the hospital not be the cause of it. It's all my fault that our kid could be dead. That's the last thing I want.", he tilted his head to one side so that Light wouldn't look him in the eye.
She put her hand on his shoulder, "He's alive..." "How do you know?", he turned even further away. "I need to throw up. That's how I know.", she said, looking for the nearest bathroom.
Hope looked up as Light fled the room, relief and shock written all over his face. He sat back in his chair, taking a deep breath. The doctor re-entered the room without looking up from his clipboard, "So, sir, we'll need you to elaborate on the nature of the injury so that we can figure out what types of injury to look for in the fetus." "Uhn... well, I was half-asleep so I don't exactly remember the exact nature but... I was mad and I had tossed the jar at her, pretty fast I guess otherwise she would have caught it, and it hit her in the stomach. She was on the bed so I guess it would have been at an upward angle but... I don't know ask her. She went to go puke.", he pointed to the door slightly.
"Puke?", the doctor's eyebrow raised, "That would mean the child is alive, but we'll still have to check for injury." "Yeah, I figured. You should talk to her when she comes back.", Hope shrugged slightly, his downcast expression still deepening.
As if on cue, Light walked in with the same somber face she wore after each of her... 'excursions'. "Hey Light. You okay?", Hope looked slightly up, his expression remaining pensive. "Yeah. Much better.", she got back on the recliner. "So... we've established that the child is alive. However, we'll have to check for injury. Where would you say you were hit?", the doctor clicked his pen. "About here.", Light said, motioning to her stomach area. The doctor exhaled in a reprimanding tone, "That could have crushed the child. Be thankful it's still alive."
Hope stared at the ground, rubbing his temple. Light noticed and leaned in to look him in the face, "You okay?" "Not really...", he murmured hoarsely. She rubbed his shoulder, "Don't worry... this is our miracle kid. He'll get out fine. He'll have to deal with more, living with us. And plus, we don't have to worry about him stealing the cookie jar like Cloud... he'll probably run in the opposite direction because it's a jar." He didn't laugh, "Okay..." She snorted slightly, "Good."
The whole ultrasound process repeated, and it was proved that the Huggler had, quite strangely, escaped unscathed. Hope was once again, the Human Pendulum, even after the doctor announced the good news.
Serah stormed inside, death glaring at everyone in the room. Hope froze and stared at the ground. "Hey guys!", Snow yelled, blissfully oblivious to the fact that they were in an ER room. Serah turned her glare at Snow, who quieted. Then she said, trembling a little, "What happened?"
"Absolutely nothing.", Light replied, staring coldly at her poor little sister, "How did you know we were here?" Serah stared back just as coldly, "Intuition." "Intuition, you little asshole...", Light muttered, causing Hope to laugh slightly.
"What did he do?", Serah pointed at Hope. Hope shot her a dumb-founded look that quickly fell into deep guilt. "He did nothing.", Light laid down firmly. Serah shot eye daggers at Hope, "So then what did happen?" Hope kept his eyes away and at the ground, but still looked extremely guilt ridden. "Nothing happened.", Light said in between grit teeth. "Hope.", Serah continued to stare him down. Hope fidgeted uncomfortably under her rock hard gaze.
"Sooo... Sis... What's up?", Snow asked, backing away in case Light attempted to hit him. "Nothing much, Snow. Anything happening at home?", Light asked pleasantly. "Whoa... Sis, why are you being nice? And why are you in the hospital? This seems REAL wrong...", Snow pointed out, of all people. Serah raised an eyebrow at Hope who cringed.
"Serah, stop picking on him. I... fell off the bed.", Light said, failing at lying. "No you didn't.", Hope finally spoke, "It's my fault Serah..." Serah sighed, looking to Light, "Is he okay..?" She nodded, "He's completely fine. Not sure about Hope though..."
Hope bit his lip and stayed frozen in pensive thought. Serah sighed again, "Well, can you go back home now?" "I guess...?", Light looked around, seeing the doctor had in fact left.
"Then go home. You'll need the rest.", Serah said and took Snow's hand, "Let's go Snow." "Hope. Let's go.", Light said, practically jumping off the table in her excitement to be getting out of the hospital once again. "Hnm...", he murmured, following after her sub consciously.