Music Lover's Alert: If you want background music, I recommend "Beautiful Things" by Andain.

Chapter 19 Labor

Seto Kaiba was in the middle of a meeting with his staff when his cell phone jingled with a familiar, cheerful melody that he had assigned to only one person: Mokuba. It had been years since Mokuba had called him during business hours, and the last time it had happened, Mokuba had been in serious danger.

Seto stopped talking mid-sentence and whipped his phone out of a holder on one of his belts. "What's wrong?" he said immediately after he placed it to his ear.

"Nothing is wrong. In fact, things are great. It's Serenity. She is going into labor," Mokuba said.

"That's all?"

"Um, yeah. I thought you might want to be there when your daughter is born."

"You take her to the hospital. I'll head there after work."

"But Seto, you might miss it!"

"Labor usually lasts several hours, right?"

"Usually…"

"Good. I don't have time to stand around in a hospital right now." With that, Seto ended the call and turned back to his staff.

The Kaiba Corporation employees looked at each other uneasily. With a boss who wouldn't take time off work to watch his own child being born, they knew they could not afford to make any mistakes. Seto Kaiba glared at them with his cold blue eyes, and they instantly snapped to attention. The CEO continued speaking exactly where he left off before the call came in, and his staff members strained their brains to remember the first part of his sentence.

The rest of the meeting ran smoothly without any hitches. Everything proceeded so efficiently that the meeting was over in half the time it normally took.

As soon as the meeting was over, Seto summoned his limo driver to meet him at the front of the building. Even though he would never admit it in front of his employees, his whole body tingled with excitement when he thought about seeing his daughter for the first time. However, he also had several other thoughts on his mind. Ever since the corporate oligarchy came into power, his company had been struggling to stay on top of the game. Although he had a small amount of say in political decision, his influence paled in comparison to the big boys: Global Enterprises, Stellar Defense, Kalvin Clein, Pattel Corporation, and Industrial Illusions. Wherever he went, thoughts of his competitors plagued him.

Seto approached the main desk in the maternity ward of Kobe Hospital and stated, "Serenity Kaiba."

"Relation?" the girl behind the counter asked.

"Husband."

The girl fumbled with some papers until she found the one she needed. "She already checked in with-"

"-My brother. I know," Seto said impatiently.

The girl made a few pen strikes on the paper in front of her. "Oh. I thought…"

"You thought what?" Seto said with even more impatience in his voice.

"Never mind. It's just that we've never seen you here before. Serenity talks about you all the time. Good things. I'm sure she's expecting you. Go right on in," the girl said quickly. A little drop of sweat appeared on her forehead as she spoke, and her cheeks reddened.

Seto grumbled something about incompetence and walked away from the counter. Then, he realized that she had forgotten to give him Serenity's room number. Instead of going back to ask her, he poked his head into every room he passed until he found her. She was difficult to see at first because she had about ten other nurses buzzing around her, but Seto instantly recognized Mokuba sitting beside her holding her hand.

Seto barged into the room and grabbed one of the nurses by the collar of her uniform. "Why are there so many of you in here? Is there something wrong?"

"N-no sir! We're off-duty," the nurse stuttered.

"It's OK Seto. They're my friends," Serenity panted between contractions.

Seto let go of the nurse, but the damage had already been done. All of the nurses except the one who had been assigned to monitor Serenity filed out of the room as quickly as possible. Mokuba squeezed Serenity's hand and left also, giving Seto and Serenity a fair amount of privacy. Seto approached Serenity and tried to kiss her, but another contraction ravaged her body at that very moment and her mouth opened wide in a scream.

Serenity became overwrought with pain and started spouting a string of incoherent words at Seto. However, a few phrases came out clearly: "You almost abandoned me… You'll abandon our daughter… Joey was right about you… I should have married Mokuba!"

Seto was so shocked at this last phrase that he did not know how to respond. He looked up at the only other nurse left in the room with his mouth hanging wide open.

"Don't worry. The pain makes many birthing mothers delirious. She'll forget she ever said that when this is all over. She probably didn't mean it anyway," the nurse said in a soothing tone.

"Probably?" Seto asked.

The nurse's reply was drowned out by another round of screaming from Serenity. Then, the nurse took a look at her cervix and started yelling, "Push!"

Serenity strained with all her might until finally the child popped out of her. The nurse summoned a doctor to help her get the baby cleaned up and recorded her Apgar score.

…..

Meanwhile, out in the waiting room, Mokuba found himself surrounded by attractive nurses. "We didn't know Serenity had such a cute brother-in-law," one said.

"Why didn't she pick you instead of that stiff jerk?" another one cooed.

"Um… she… I don't know," Mokuba said with a gulp. While he was flattered to be receiving so much attention from so many beautiful females, they were getting uncomfortably close.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" two of them asked at once.

"No."

Immediately, all of the nurses started talking at once. They thrust pieces of paper with their phone numbers at him and grabbed hold of his muscular arms. Mokuba tried to make sense of what they were saying, but he only caught little snippets of their monologues. Mokuba nodded his head and smiled for a few minutes, but in the end he could not make heads or tails of anything that was said to him.

Mokuba tried to excuse himself, but the girls only grew more persistent. He attempted to wiggle out of his chair, but the nurses only restrained him further. At last, when he felt he had no other options, he started yelling, "Serenity!" at the top of his lungs.

Seto and Serenity came out of the hospital room with their baby daughter in their arms to see the commotion. When Serenity heard the way Mokuba was yelling her name, she was struck with an acute sense of déjà vu.

"Ladies! Give him some space!" Serenity said sharply.

The nurses backed away from Mokuba sheepishly. Mokuba looked up at his brother and sister-in-law with grateful violet eyes. His long black hair was completely disheveled and his clothes were torn in a few places.

"It looks like you had a good time," Seto said with a smirk.

Serenity thrust her daughter into Seto's hands. "How would you like to be surrounded by a bunch of crazed single women who thought you were single?"

Seto's eyes danced with blue electricity.

"You know what? Don't answer that now. I'll deal with you later. Mokuba, are you all right?" Serenity said as she knelt down beside Mokuba. She gently examined his skin for any cuts or abrasions, cupping his face in her hands and turning it from side to side.

"I'm fine," Mokuba told her, "Let's get out of here."

Something in Seto's gut stirred when he remembered the words Serenity yelled during labor, but he also remembered what the nurse in the room had said. Serenity helped Mokuba to his feet while Seto stared down at the little girl in his arms. She had the most adorable bright blue eyes he had ever seen. Definitely his. It felt strangely comforting to hold her in his arms. Her purity and innocence reminded him of the first time his wife had spoken to him.

"What's her name?" Mokuba asked.

Seto was so captivated by his daughter's tiny face that he didn't notice Mokuba sneaking up beside him to take a peek, too. "Janet," Seto said more to himself than to Mokuba.

"Let's take her home," Serenity said softly.

The family of four left the chaos of the hospital behind in favor of the peace of their home.

Closing Note: Serenity's déjà vu refers to a specific chapter in "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy." Let's see how many of you can remember which one. I'll grant prizes to the winners! This means a oneshot or any other special request you would like to make that is within my power to grant.