It was a cloudy April afternoon. Louise was at the grocery store, comparing two brands of milk to see which had more calcium, when a woman approached her. "Are you Louise Sanders?"

"Yes," said Louise, "why?"

The woman extended a hand. "Remember me? I'm Marlowe Watson, I was Heather's roommate. I found this post that she was tagged in on FriendFindr this morning, and…I think you better take a look at it."

Marlowe showed the picture to Louise. When she saw it, her heart sank. "Oh. Oh my god."

"I know," said Marlowe. "I couldn't quite believe it either."

Louise took out her own phone. "I better call Joey."

"Please do," said Marlowe, this could wreck his whole life."

At the Beaufort residence, Joe picked up his phone to answer the call. "Bonjour?"

"Hi, Joey," said Louise, "this is Louise. Do you mind if Marlowe and I swing by for dinner tonight? I'll bring over rocky road squares."

"Ah, ça sonne merveilleux," said Joe. "Arrive ici à cinq heures." (Oh, that sounds wonderful. Be here at five o'clock.)

After a few more pleasantries, Louise hung up and looked up at Marlowe. "This is gonna crush him."


Later that day, at five o'clock as agreed, Louise and Marlowe arrived with rocky road squares and a veggie tray. After a brief session of pleasantries and petting Sofie-Miette, Joe ushered them inside to the kitchen, and the five of them all sat down to eat.

"C'était tellement longtemps que je te vois dernier," said Joe to Marlowe. (It's been such a long time since I last saw you.)

"Yeah," said Marlowe. "We really should hang out more, I had such a good time at your wedding."

"Joey, there's something very serious I wanted to talk to you about," said Louise, "something that I can't just say over the phone." She shrunk into herself. Suddenly she wasn't so sure if he was ready to hear it. Her mind was a hurricane of pros and cons. Yes. No. Yes. No.

"Qu'est-ce que c'est?" (What is it?)

"Joey, Laura's pregnant."

Joe's heart went cold and his eyes went wide. Katrina's jaw dropped. Von Kaiser was confused, if anything else. "Was bedeutet das für uns?" (What does that mean for us?)

Marlowe showed them the post; it was an ultrasound picture. In the caption, Laura had written "can't wait to meet you joey jr 💖". The comments had all been blowing up with questions, and as a response, Laura was claiming that Joe had proclaimed his love for her over Heather and was the father of her child.

"Joey Jr.?!" Von Kaiser was enraged. "Sie hat kein Recht, das zu sagen!" (She has no right to say that!) He turned to Joe, who looked like he was about to go into a panic attack, and moved closer to him and put an arm around him. "Es ist in Ordnung, Joseph. Wir werden das klären." (It's okay, Joseph. We'll sort this out.)

"You had better do something fast," said Louise. "Considering the stunt she pulled a few years ago, I just know she's going to use that baby to weasel her way back into your lives."

"What can we do?" Katrina was very worried.

"Joey, Viktor, tomorrow, you go straight to whoever's running the show at your arena and tell them about this. They'll make a public statement about it, and that'll hopefully get Laura to stop. Katrina, honey, you talk to your teachers about this, and if you don't see the baby as your cousin, you're completely allowed to feel that way." Louise was serious; she knew her daughter well.

"Well, it's not the baby's fault," said Katrina.

Louise relaxed her shoulders. "I know it is, but we just can't meet them. It's not safe."


The next day, just as planned, Joe and Von Kaiser went to talk to Pierce when they got to the arena. "Pierce, nous avons un problème." (Pierce, we have a problem.)

"What's up?" Pierce asked.

"Laura Sanders behauptet, Joseph sei der Vater ihres ungeborenen Kindes." (Laura Sanders is claiming that Joseph is the father of her unborn child.)

Pierce sharply inhaled. "Ooh boy, that is a pickle."

"Nous voulons faire un message public pour se réfuter," said Joe, still a little shaky. (We want to make a public announcement to disprove it.)

Pierce nodded. He brought them to the main computer and began typing up an official announcement.

"We, the World Video Boxing Association, have recently been informed that a woman by the name of Laura Sanders is claiming that our representative Joseph "Glass Joe" Beaufort is having an affair with her and is the father of her unborn child.

We would like to disprove this rumour. Beaufort has had a restraining order out against Sanders since August 2016. Sanders is not allowed any contact with him, and has not seen him in over two years. Furthermore, Beaufort is married to fellow WVBA representative Viktor Von Kaiser, and Sanders is not the mother of the daughter Beaufort and Kaiser have together.

We firmly believe that this is an attempt from Sanders to undermine the restraining order and get back into contact with Beaufort and his family, which is extremely dangerous. Sanders was arrested in 2019 for attempting to kidnap Beaufort's daughter from her home.

We apologize for any misunderstanding and thank you for your support.

- World Video Boxing Association manager Pierce Adamson"


After the message was made public, messages began to flow into Joe's social media accounts all throughout the day.

lawlesslucy843 sent: omg are you okay? (12:25 pm)

burningvalentine sent: Is Katrina okay? Please respond (12:48 pm)

jackieboy2002 sent: Godspeed Joey, stay safe (1:24 pm)

thefierceone208 sent: Keep your family safe brother (1:58 pm)

Joe looked up at Von Kaiser. "Je suis tellement reconnaissant que tous ces peuples me soutiennent." (I'm so grateful that all these people support me.)

"We support you too, Joey," said Mr. Sandman. "We aren't gonna let that woman hurt you or take your daughter."

"If she comes around here, we'll deal with her," said Super Macho Man, cracking his knuckles.

"もちろん、非暴力的な方法で," Piston Hondo hastily added. (Of course, in a non-violent manner.) He smacked Super Macho Man's bicep. "ブラッド、私はあなたが怒っていることを知っています, しかし、あなたはまだ妊婦を殴ることはできません." (Brad, I know you're angry, but you still can't hit a pregnant woman.)

"Look, Joey, raising a kid is already hard work," said Flying Feather. "I know Emma gives Lucy and I quite a hard time sometimes. I'm sorry she's making things harder for you."

Joe put a hand over his heart and smiled. "Avec des amis comme vous, je pense que je vais être ça va." (With friends like you, I think I'll be okay.)

"जबकि हम बच्चों के विषय पर हैं," said Great Tiger, to divert their minds away from the stressing subject at hand, "क्या आपकी भतीजी अब किसी भी दिन पैदा होने वाली नहीं है, रिकी?" (While we're on the topic of babies, isn't your niece due to be born any day now, Riki?)

"はい、彼女はそうです." Piston Hondo tucked a stray bit of hair behind his ear. "私は今ここにいることすら想定されていません. おばあちゃんは、夏美が出産するときに私が近くにいることを望んでいます." (Yes, she is. I'm not even supposed to be here right now; Grandma wants me to be nearby when Natsumi goes into labour.)

Great Tiger chuckled, and playfully hit Piston Hondo's shoulder. "तुम बहुत बुरे हो।" (You're so bad.)

Now that was a birth they were looking forward too. The boxers were now at ease, instead looking forward to the day they would meet little Sakura.