DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN BROTHERS CONFLICT IN ANYWAY SHAPE OR FORM
"Whaa! Whaa! Eh-Ah!"
Ema and Natsume both opened their eyes to the sound of crying filling their room.
"Is that Hayase?" Ema asked groggily, as she still managed to hastily sit up. Natsume however stop her.
"I'll get him," he assured her.
"But you got him the last time," Ema tried to argue in her sleepy voice.
"I know, and I'm fine, I promise," Natsume insisted as he dragged himself out of the bed. "You need the rest more than I do."
"But you need your rest too," Ema pointed out, even as she laid her head back down on her pillow.
"I know, and don't worry, you'll get your chance to take care of him," Natsume kept saying, as he put on his bathrobe, "you can get him next time. Besides, like I said. You need your rest more than I do. I wasn't the one that pushed out four babies."
"Yeah, but that was a week ago," Ema said before she succumb to her tiredness and closed her eyes.
Natsume smiled peaceful and quickly headed out to check on his son.
"There you go, that's better," Natsume said calmly as he rocked and fed Hayase. He had to admit, it did feel good bonding with his son in such a way.
'Hope we can always have a good relationship,' he wished in secret.
Hayase merely gulped his food down with gumption, without a care in the world.
"Wow, this is an interesting sight," Natsume suddenly heard a soft voice coming from the doorway.
He looked over and saw a shadow figure watching him.
"What the hell!" he sputtered out loud.
"Oh forgive, did not mean to startle you," the figure said, now sounding more familiar.
"Sunako?" Natsume said confused.
"Yes," the figured said as it walked in and Sunako's imagine came into better view.
"I like to roam the house at night sometimes, getting inspiration for my books," she explained.
"Right," Natsume said, vaguely remembering Azusa warning him about that.
"I don't suppose we're giving you some inspirational ideas?" he asked.
"Possibly," Sunako said stroking her chin intriguing.
"Joy, when I see the next demon baby in one of your books, I'll know where you got the idea from," Natsume muttered looking back at Hayase who by now had finished his bottle.
"How's Ema doing? She getting rest?" Sunako asked as Natsume managed to pull the bottle away from Haya, despite the baby's protests.
"I know, I know," Natsume said as put him on his shoulder to burp him.
"Ema's doing fine, all things considered. I know she's feeling guilty that Hayase is home but the other three are back at the hospital."
"You feeling the same?" Sunako asked.
"Maybe a little," Natsume admitted cocking his head back and forth, "but not enough to make it affect my home life, like taking care of him."
Sunako nodded, "well I hope they get to come home soon. Even if it means not so much of a quiet house."
"True," Natsume agreed. He could only imagine how little sleep he and Ema may have to lose once all four were home. It seemed like they were already struggling as it was.
"Take care Natsume, I'll try not to scare you when I'm doing my nightly round," Sunako said as she headed out, "oh and if I happen to be doing one of my night rounds and you need a little help, just let me know. I have no problem with that."
"Thank you," Natsume said as he kept helping Hayase burped.
Once he was done, Natsume carefully laid him down and snuck down out of the room.
When he came back to his room, Ema was still asleep.
At first Natsume thought she had managed to sleep the whole time he was feeding Hayase, until he noticed their tablet was on, monitoring the other three babies.
Natsume sighed as he got into bed, making sure to get a glance of the three other himself before falling asleep before he and Ema would be woken again.
Soon enough the sound of Hayase crying was coming from the baby monitor.
"I'm on it!" Ema declared as she leaped out of bed.
"Huh, what?" Natsume barley had time to ask he tried to focus. At least in time to see Ema throwing on her bathrobe and dashing out.
'If that's what she wants,' Natsume thought as he laid back down to sleep.
"Here I come, here I am sweetheart!" Ema said as she quickly set to work feeding Hayase again.
Hayase happily calm down as he chugged down his food.
"Oh my precious boy!" Ema cooed as she fed him, happily enjoying the moment.
However, once she had finished, she started to smell an unpleasant smell.
"Oh," Ema said, "well it goes in one way, has to come out the other."
She managed to finish Hayase's bottle and then moved him over to the changing table.
"Let's see if I can do this properly," she kept saying to herself, "let's see if I can do this."
She felt a little off as she managed to maneuver around and change her son.
"There, that looks good," she said to herself as she gently picked him back up, laying him back down in his crib. She stood over him, watching him with loving eyes.
"You're so special to mommy, yes you are," Ema cooed. "I'm so happy you came home! Can't wait for your brother and sisters to join us!"
She gave her son one last kiss before going back to her bedroom.
As she walked in and tried carefully shutting the door, she noticed Natsume still cocked his head back over to her.
"Everything go okay?" he asked groggy.
"Yes, he just needed a diaper change as well," Ema explained as she climbed back into bed.
"Hmm," Natsume nodded, "did you run into Sunako running around?"
"Sunako?" asked Ema.
"Never mind," Natsume said, "I'll explain later."
Ema shrugged and both closed their eyes to sleep for however long they'd get before Hayase needed them again.
"Mmm, you want to or should I?" Natsume asked a few hours later when they once again heard Hayase's cries.
"I'm on it," Ema quickly dashed out of bed.
Natsume watched as she threw back on her robe and hurried out. She even left the door open as she dashed out.
Natsume shrugged it off and tried adjusting himself to get some rest, through he was feeling tempted to check in on the three other babies back at the hospital.
'Looks like they're doing okay,' he thought as he observed the screen showing the three babies.
He even saw one, Amaya, being taken out of her incubator by a doctor.
'Hope they don't find anything unusual or bad,' he thought.
"Natsume! Ema! You guys awake!"
Natsume jumped, nearly dropping the tablet.
He looked at his door and saw Sunako and Azusa standing there.
"Yes, I'm awake, what's wrong?" he demanded, slightly mad.
"Sorry," Azusa said, "but Sunako got a disturbing text from her friend. The one who still under contract with Dragon Draw."
"What about?" Natsume asked as he climbed out of bed and headed over to the pair.
"Apparently The Good Mother magazine published an article about you and Ema, totally trash trashing the two of you. Making you seem like terrible parents and people to your fellow patients at the hospital," Sunako said as she showed Natsume her phone.
Natsume looked at the screen to see a picture of the magazine cover with some random pictures of him and Ema, along with some stock photos of babies in infant incubators. Ones that clearly were not his own. The title font read THE EVIL PARENTS OF FOUR.
In the corner of the cover it had details of what the article would say.
READ ABOUT THE NEGLECTFUL PARENTS WHO ABANDONED THEIR CHILDREN AT THE HOSPITAL AFTER BIRTH, BASED ON THEIR LIKELIHOOD TO NOT SURVIVE.
SEE ACTUAL PHOTOS OF THE POOR BABIES LEFT TO SUFFER AND POSSIBLY DIE ALONE WITHOUT A PARENTS LOVE OR CARE
HEAR HOW CRUEL THEY WERE OTHER PATIENTS AT THE HOSPITAL. HOW THEY MAD OTHER EXPECTING MOTHERS WAIT IN PAIN WHILE THEY DEMANDED SPECIAL TREATMENT
AND MUCH MUCH MORE OF THESE TERRIBLE AWFUL PARENTS WHO HAVE BROUGHT FOUR BABIES INTO THIS WORLD JUST TO MAKE THEM AND OTHERS AROUND THEM SUFFER
Natsume was sure he was going to crush Sunako's phone in his hand.
"What the hell is this!" he shouted mad, nearly throwing the phone down. He managed to control himself enough to give Sunako back her phone.
"It's apparently hitting shelves this morning as we speak," Sunako said, "she said she'd try and get us a copy right away. But it's all total slander against you two! And it says exactly what it claims to on the cover. There's some blurry pictures of you two leaving the hospital, and a random picture of the NIC-ICU doors. Plus some dumb interview from some random woman that claims you deliberately forced her to wait two days longer than she should have and thus had a difficult birth. Plus you're mooching off your family by staying at your mansion rent free."
"This can't be right!" Natsume said. "I want to know who's the author of this article!"
"Oh she got that, it's a Kai Jiga," Sunako said scrolling through her older texts.
"I'm sorry, who?" Natsume asked.
"Kai Jiga," Sunako said timidly, actually taking Azusa's hand as she said the name.
"That's not the same...," Azusa started to ask.
"Oh yes!" Natsume said sternly, "the little bitch that wanted to outdo Ema until Ema fired her!"
"And the same one who tried to force her way into the NIC-ICU for an interview, putting the babies in danger!" Azusa also added angrily.
"Yeah, the same!" Natsume muttered.
"Wow, she is something else entirely," Azusa moaned.
"I know," Natsume said. He sighed in frustration, only imagining what would come from this article. Or the effect it would have on Ema.
"Oh god Ema!" he muttered some more, "you don't think there's a way we can keep this from her, do you?"
"Keep what from me?" Ema asked suddenly coming up behind Azusa.
Natsume sighed sadly as she looked at him confused.
"You might as well tell her, I'm sure she'll find out eventually," Azusa said.
"You're right," Natsume agreed reluctantly, "Kai, your old assistant, published an article in a magazine shamming us as bad parents and people."
"What?" Ema said as Sunako showed her a picture of the magazine.
"Oh my god!" Ema sputtered as stumbled backwards, almost falling down. Fortunately she was able to grip the doorframe in one hand while Azusa grabbed the other to steady her.
"There there," he said gently patting her hand to calm her. Natsume quickly hurried over to her and wrap his arms around her.
"It'll be okay, we'll fix this," he assured her.
"I'm a neglectful mother?" Ema asked out loud, "that's how I'm seen?!"
"No!" Natsume insisted, "I'm sure it's just made up slander by Kai! You are by no means a bad or neglectful mother!"
Ema didn't seem to hear him as she started to hyperventilate.
"Where's Hayase! I need to see Hayase!" she said as she dashed back down to the baby's room.
"Ema, wait!" Natsume called out as he, Azusa and Sunako all followed.
There they found her standing over Hayase's crib with a sad look on her face.
"Why?" she asked out loud, "why did I ever insist on taking those pills! All it's done is cause my children problems! My whole family in fact!"
"No it didn't!" Natsume said as he quickly headed over and hugged her tight. "This has nothing to do with your choice of taking those pills. This is a pure jealousy fueled attack by Kai! Nothing more! And we're not going to let her get away with it!"
"Damn straight!" Azusa encouraged.
"Hell yeah!" Sunako also cheered. "And I think the first course of action is to contact one of Ema's bosses, be it the head of the photography department or the editor and chief himself!"
"Good idea!" Natsume agreed. "Ema probably has them on her phone. Azusa, can you stay with Ema for a bit, while I try and get going?"
"Yeah," Azusa assured him as he took Natsume's place, comforting Ema.
Sunako meanwhile followed Natsume back to his room.
"Let's see, where is it?" Natsume asked out loud, as he looked around for Ema's phone. "Perfect!" He quickly started to scroll through until he found Mr. Shohan's number and entered it into his own phone.
It rang for a minute or two when it was answered by a gruff voice.
"Hello? This better be important."
"Mr. Shohan? Hate to bother you but this is Natsume Asahina, Ema Asahina's husband," Natsume quickly said.
"Who?" the voiced asked sleepy, "oh wait, Ema's husband, right, Natsume." There was a short pause as Natsume hear him groan a little. "What can I do for you?"
"I'm sorry to bother you so early in the morning sir, but it appears as though one of Dragon Drawn's magazines has published a smear article about me and Ema in regards to our babies," Natsume explained.
"Oh? What magazine?" Mr. Shohan asked, sounding more awake.
"The Good Mother magazine," Natsume said, "my brother's girlfriend has a friend stuck in a contract with them and the friend sent her a text warning her."
"That garbage magazine?" Mr. Shohan muttered annoyed. "Well don't worry about it Natsume, I'll take care of this. There's no way I'd ever let somebody attack one of my best photographers and employees in general. Especially when it's Dragon Drawn!"
"Thank you sir," Natsume said gratefully, "with that said should I maybe call Mr. Bumon?"
"Nah, let me bother him," Mr. Shohan said with a slight laugh. "Seriously let me deal with this Mr. Asahina. You and Ema have a few more important people to worry about."
"Yes, thank you," Natsume said as he hung up.
"So?" Sunako asked.
"Sounds like he's going to handle it," Natsume said, "hopefully this whole thing will be buried before it even has a chance to scratch the surface."
"What's that?" Masaomi asked suddenly appearing in the doorway to the room.
"This dump article attacking Ema and me over our babies," Natsume explained as Sunako showed Masaomi her phone.
"Oh, well that might explain the media circus assembly outside our front door," Masaomi said sheepishly.
"The what?" Natsume asked as Masaomi gestured for him and Sunako to follow him. He led them to the front bay windows that overlooked the front area of the residents and outside along the sidewalk were several news vans setting parked and setting up.
"What the actual hell!" Natsume shouted mad. "This is ridiculous! I thought the magazine had barley been released!"
"I wouldn't be surprised if several of these news vans are in association with Dragon Drawn," Sunako said as she gazed out as well.
"Oh you're probably right," Natsume realized.
And if it was true that Kai was in a relationship with the editor and chief and this was her story, she'd probably find a way to get him to use the news crews as well.
"If you even want to call them reliable sources," Sunako also mentioned.
"You mean they're more tabloid type shows?" Masaomi asked.
"Yeah, ones that tend to want to entertain more than speak the truth," said Sunako.
"We'll see what Ukyo has to say about it, he's already gone out to talk to them about it," said Masaomi said.
"Can I help you?" Ukyo asked as firmly as he could, as he stepped outside of the front doors. He was nearly blinded by spotlights shining at him.
"This is the current residence of the Asahina Quad parents?" he heard one person ask.
"Yes, but they're not interested in any kind of interviews or anything like that at the moment," Ukyo said.
"Is it true then that they've abandoned one or more of their babies due to the likelihood they won't survive?"
"I beg your pardon?" Ukyo asked.
"Have any of the babies died yet?"
"What no!" Ukyo snapped back mad, "their babies are doing fine. The ones that back at the hospital just need a little more time and care before it's safe to bring them home! That's what usually happens with multiple birth babies. And I can assure you, my brother and sister-in-law have not and will not abandon any of their babies! Now I must ask that you vacate the area. You are currently in and around private property and if you don't leave soon, we shall notify the police to have you escorted away! Good day!"
With that Ukyo stormed back into the house.
"Abandoned? What the hell are they talking about? Who comes up with that stuff!"
He hurried upstairs to tell Masaomi what had happened, in only to stop on his way there when he saw Ema and Azusa in Hayase's room looking upset.
"Is everything alright?" Ukyo asked as he stopped.
"We found out about this magazine that's running a smear artic about her and Natsume over their babies," Azusa said.
"Oh dear, that's where this is coming from," Ukyo said softly.
"What?" Ema asked alarmed.
"Uh, don't worry about Ema, it'll blow over," Ukyo said quickly as he headed away.
What do you suppose he was talking about?" Ema asked.
"Um, I'm not sure, but maybe we shouldn't worry about it," Azusa said, patting her back in support.
"What if, what if someone from the government reads that magazine and thinks we need to be investigated?" Ema asked timidly.
"Then they'll be waisting their time and resources," Azusa said, "you know we all have your back on this. Hell I bet when Ukyo and Rika wake up and find out about this, they'll be heading straight down to the magazine office and making anyone involved in this article cry like babies!"
Ema actually laughed a little at that remark.
"Thanks Azusa," Ema said. She breathed a sigh of belief.
She actually took Azusa's hand and managed to walk out of Hayase's room. Azusa made sure to close the door enough, with only a crack remaining. He then helped lead Ema back to her room and sat her down on the bed.
"You'll be fine, I promise," he assured Ema, "this whole dumb thing will blow over soon. I bet by the time the last baby comes home, you'll have forgotten all about it."
"I hope so," Ema said as she laid down. She was feeling so miserable at this moment. It reminded her almost of when she discovered she was adopted right after Azusa had been hospitalized.
Azusa notice Ema's upset. It made him nervous.
"I'll go find Natsume for you, okay?" he offered.
"Okay," Ema said she's softly. Though right now she wasn't even sure if Natsume could do anything for her at the moment.
Azusa hurried off to find Natsume. He found him, Sunako, Ukyo and Masaomi standing by the big bay windows talking.
"Natsume," Azusa called out, "you should go check in with Ema. She's really upset with all of this going on."
"No doubt," Natsume agreed as he hurried off.
Azusa went and took his place by the window and looked out to see the new vans all outside.
"Crazy," he muttered.
"I've warned them that if they don't clear out soon, we'll be calling the police," Ukyo mentioned.
"Huh-what?" Yusuke asked as he came out of his room getting dressed in his policeman's uniform.
"Oh come take a look," Masaomi invited him over.
"Holy shit! What's going on!" Yusuke asked when he saw the media vans.
"Ema's ex-employee published a smear artic about her and Natsume and them having the quads," Azusa explained, "and they're already getting hounded for it."
"Well fuck this bullshit!" Yusuke shouted as he stormed off.
"Yusuke wait!" Ukyo tried to call out after him.
"Maybe we should let him go," Sunako suggested, "he does have some authority after all."
Yusuke was still feeling the anger as he came marching out of the front doors of the residence.
"HEY!" he shouted as loud and sternly as he could.
All the reporters still standing on the pavement actually gasped as his sight.
"Holy Shit! That first guy wasn't joking!"
"They're actually here already?!"
"Get Out Of Here Now! That's An Order!" Yusuke bellowed.
The news crews were quick to obliged as they raced around gathering up their things as though their lives depended on it.
Yusuke watched with a stern face until everyone was more or less done and starting to drive away.
"And if any of you show up here again, you will be arrested first and asked questions later!" he warned one last time as the vans all drove away as fast as they could.
Yusuke nodded in approval before walking back in.
"Wow," Masaomi said, as the small group all watched.
"I knew Yusuke took his job as police officer seriously and all, but even I didn't think he could enforce that much authority."
"I'm actually slightly disappointed Tsubaki hadn't seen it. Or Futo," Azusa said, "they might actually stop picking on him."
"Well, you don't want to upset the family status quo," Masaomi said. "anyway, in the meantime, we got to worry about Ema and Natsume and the babies."
"Should we call the hospital and see if they're being hounded as well? Ukyo asked.
"Yes, I can and should," Masaomi said. He headed to his bedroom.
"In the meantime, who's hungry? I can get started on breakfast," Ukyo offered.
"Why not?" Azusa agreed, "maybe some food would help us relax after all of this?"
"Hope she's doing okay," Sunako said, "she's such a good woman, doesn't deserve something like this."
Ukyo and Azusa both nodded sadly.
"Now honey! Honey!" Masaomi was suddenly heard pleading as he backed out of his room with Rika following him looking mad.
"You seriously didn't wake me up to help with this!" she scolded.
"Well you were sleeping and Ukyo and Yusuke seemed to have it under control," Masaomi tried to explain.
"Masa!" Rika started to raise her voice.
"Ah-hah, baby in the house! Keep the volume down!" Masaomi warned.
Rika took a deep breath. "Next time, I want in! I don't care if I'm getting my first bit of sleep in 10 days!"
"Yes, of course dear," Masaomi said, "we can probably use you if the hospital is getting harassed. Plus the magazine's still out there. So who knows what's going to happen because of it."
"Was Natsume able to contact Ema's boss?" Azusa asked Sunako.
"Yeah, sounded like he said he would take care of everything. So maybe we should just wait and see," Sunako said.
"I'm still going to call the hospital," Masaomi said, as he carefully sidestepped around his wife who was still giving him the angry eye and back into his room.
"Wow, Rika sure does love her power trip huh?" Sunako said.
"It's also early and I need my coffee," Rika said, "sorry everyone for overreacting."
"All good, and I'll get your coffee started right away," Ukyo said kindly.
"Thank you Ukyo," Rika said as she joined him heading downstairs.
"So do you think we should act in regards to the all of this?"
"For now they're backing off due to Yusuke scaring them away," Ukyo said, "and we should wait to see what Ema's boss does. So until then I think we should simply take it easy."
Rika nodded, "alright. How's Ema and Natsume doing anyway?"
"Well Ema didn't take the news well, sadly," Azusa said, "this might have hurt as much as when she found she was adopted."
"I don't blame her. Just the cover itself seemed super mean," said Sunako.
"It's okay really, you know it's all false," Natsume tried to reassure Ema as they say on the bed, his arms around her.
"I know, I know," Ema told him and herself. She still breathed a heavy sigh.
"Do you think it'll be safe to go see the other three?"
"We'll make it work," Natsume said, "why don't you go take a shower? It'll help you relax a little."
"Yeah sure, that's a good idea," Ema said. She hugged her husband tight before heading to the bathroom.
Natsume made sure to wait until she closed the door before walking out of the room himself.
He headed to Hayase's room again and looked in on his son. The baby slept peacefully.
"At least you don't have to worry about all of this," he said softly, as he carefully stroked Hayase's cheek.
"I'll keep you safe, I promise."
Yusuke was still standing mad by the table by the time his other family members were arrived downstairs.
"Hey there he is, the big hero!" Azusa praised.
"Thanks, I guess," Yusuke said, "stupid vultures."
"Tell me about it," Ukyo said heading to the kitchen.
"You really got all the news crews to leave by yourself?" Rika asked.
"Yeah, I was just that mad. Plus it didn't sound like they took Ukyo's threat seriously," Yusuke said.
"They would have if I had," Rika mentioned.
"Yes Rika," Ukyo muttered.
"When do you think they'll be able to retract those magazines, if at all?" Azusa asked Sunako as they sat down at the table, Sunako going through her phone.
"I don't know, but I imagine Ema's boss will try and get them retract either today or maybe even tomorrow," Sunako said.
"Let me see," Rika asked, looking over Sunako's shoulder. Sunako handed it to her.
"Mmm," Rika muttered as she flipped through some of the pictures. "Talk about pure smear! God, if Ema's boss isn't a able to do much, I'm all for filing a lawsuit against this Kai girl and keep her out of journalism forever!"
"Can you do something like that?" Azusa asked.
"If we can hit something hard enough at her," Rika said with confidence.
"If anyone can it's you," Yusuke said, "No offense Ukyo."
"None taken," Ukyo said as he came back to the table with a tray of coffee. "if anyone can do it, it'd be her. I'll just stick to protecting Ema and Natsume from personal attack. That's my strength."
Rika smiled at him with confidence as she accepted her mug.
Just then everyone noticed Natsume approaching.
"How's Ema?" Azusa asked.
"Still a little upset, she's taking a shower right now," Natsume said softly. He slumped down in one of the chairs looking miserable.
"This is so stupid! We should be focusing on taking care of Hayase and giving our other three support to come home! We don't have time to deal with this!"
"Don't worry, you won't," Rika assured him.
"True," Natsume said. If this morning had proven anything if was that his brothers would support him no matter what.
"By the way, are the news vans still outside?"
"Heck no," Yusuke bragged, "I went out there in full police uniform, and in my police authority voice and made them leave! Scared them pretty good! Of course they might not have realized I was your brother and I lived here."
"Element of surprise, I love it!" Sunako said.
"But I will let my supervisors at work know about this and see if there's anything they can do. And that also includes at the hospital, if anything is happening there," Yusuke promised.
"The hospital?" Natsume said, "oh no!"
What if there were news vans and reporters were at the hospital, trying to get in to see his other babies like Kai had tried, and thus put them in danger!
"Calm down, Masaomi is checking in on it right now," Ukyo quickly assured him.
"I should get going to work, maybe see if there is anything going on," Yusuke said, "after I say goodbye to Emiko."
"Thank you Yusuke, seriously," Natsume said.
"No prob, Bro," Yusuke said as he headed off, "I'm sure Emiko and Keitorin will be able to update on anything Ema's boss is able to pull off."
"True," Natsume said, "I'll imagine Futo will be saying something once he finds out."
"Maybe also Mie and her mother," Azusa added.
"Oh yes," Natsume agreed. He did seem to realize just how many big connections he had within his family now.
"No to mention your mom herself," Rika mentioned smug.
The four brothers suddenly looked up in alarm.
"Oh right," they all said in unison.
"Yeah, she and Rintaro won't be too happy when they find out about this," Sunako said amused.
"Who what?" Masaomi asked as he came up to the table.
"Any word on the hospital?" Rika asked.
"Yes, it looks like there are a bunch of news vans out there trying to ask questions. However security's kept them at bay. And they've already made plans for making a statement in contrast to the magazine. They just wanted to wait to hear from you and Ema in regards to what you'd like said and or kept out," Masaomi informed everyone present.
"So they haven't gotten into the hospital or harassed the babies?" Natsume asked relieved.
"No they're fine," Masaomi assured him.
"That'll make Ema feel better as well," Natsume said. "Once she's out of the shower and maybe had a bite to eat, I think both of us should go to the hospital and speak with the staff, and check up on our other children. Who should I ask to formally watch Hayase?"
"We're all going to be here for you, Natsume, even if there wasn't this lousy magazine going around," Masaomi said kindly to his brother.
"Thank you Masa," Natsume said. Even if everything that has happened this morning hadn't proven Masaomi to be correct, Natsume already knew it within his heart.
Ema felt a little less stressed as she came out of her shower, drying her hair.
"Chi, is everything okay?" she suddenly heard Juli ask.
"Oh Juli!" Ema said as she walked over to him on the bed, "Juli! It's Kai again! She's running a smear campaign through a magazine article against Natsume and I! She claiming we're bad parents who have abandoned our other babies because they won't survive!"
"Why that miserable!" Juli started to say.
"Yeah, everything and anything you can think of," Ema said softly.
"Eh?" Juli said in shock, "Chi?"
"I don't know if there's any redemption for her after this! What is her deal?! Does she seriously hate me that much?" Ema finally vented.
"Oh Chi," Juli said softly as he patted her hand, "some people are just like that. You just have to learn to live among them."
"But I don't want to right now! I want to learn to live as a new mom with my babies!" Ema snapped.
Juli actually jumped back at her comment.
"Chi?" he said.
"My babies should be my only priority right now, nothing more. How do I make it clear I don't want to be harassed or pushed around!" Ema asked.
"I, don't know," Juli admitted, "but I'll stand by you, no matter what."
"Thank you Juli," Ema said as she somehow managed to smile. She stood and started getting dressed.
"I better go and check on Hayase again," she said, "maybe I'll be able to figure out how to get my message across."
"See if he can help inspire his mommy, huh?" Juli said.
"We can only hope," Ema said as she finished dressing. She let Juli jump on her shoulder and the two headed out, back to the nursery.
"He is such a cutie," Julie said as they gazed down at him
"Yeah," Ema agreed softly. She leaned against the rail of the crib, looking at him intently, hoping she'd get some inspiration on how to truly handle this new threat. But she didn't seem to get any kind of inspiration. All she could focus on was how adorable Hayase was, and how she wanted her other three babies to come home.
'Maybe it'll come to me later, when I get a chance to see his brother and sisters,' she thought as she softly left the room.
She paused when she Yusuke coming up the stairs.
"Hey, he said calmly.
"Hi," Ema said, trying to put on a brave face.
"Feeling okay?" Yusuke asked.
"You heard about the magazine too?" Ema replied.
"Uh yeah," Yusuke said, assuming Ema hadn't been informed about the news vans that had shown up, "but don't worry about it. I heard Natsume's pulling all his resources to fix it."
That give Ema a sliver of hope.
"That's my man," she said.
"Hmm," Juli and Yusuke both groaned.
"Hey, there's Ema," Masaomi said as Ema joined the group at the table.
"Doing okay?" Natsume asked as he got up and hurried to her
"Yes," Ema assured him. "Yusuke told me how hard you're working to handle all of this. I should known you'd act accordingly."
"I have hely," Natsume said, nodding to their family.
"Yes thank you," Ema said.
"We'll get through this Ema, no one messes with our family and gets away with it," Rika said, "as I'm sure Miwa will demonstrate once she gets word of this."
"Well speaking of mothers, my motherly instincts are dying to get to the hospital and see our renaming children. Children we are not going to abandon! Can we go?"
"Sure," Natsume said, though he cast a questionable look towards Masaomi as he spoke. Masa nodded
He put his arm around her and the two headed out, fully ready to face whatever they had to, for the children's sake.