Welcome back to CroMa Part Two! Wow, chapter two! Lol just kidding, we're not even near the end XD but, because of my long absence before I even uploaded the story, heres a super duper long chapter with about 15,000 words. You're welcome. ;P
I never fell asleep last night. I knew I wouldn't but it still sucks being stuck in one place and not doing anything for hours. I pretended to be asleep when Crona started to wake up. To be sure I was okay with him leaving the room he "woke me up" too. I had my fake tired voice and nodded. I said that i'd get up with him. So I did. I really had to pee like ever since four this morning. So after I was done with that, I went to the kitchen and began the daily cycle of breakfast and coffee. Decaf for me...
"You always drink coffee, doesn't decaf mean non-caffiene?" Crona asked me. I sat down by him on the couch with my cup of coffee in hand. Breakfast was still cooking so I was waiting for it to simmer.
"Yes. Caffiene isn't good for the baby. That's why i'm not allowed to eat a ton of chocolate." I sighed. Damn I miss my chocolate...
"Kid explained to me one time that caffiene is meant to energize. So, if your coffee doesn't have caffeine, why do you drink it?" I looked down at my cup. Yeah, I guess he is right... Crona doesn't like coffee usually so I guess he doesn't see my point of view.
"I'm not sure. Maybe i'm just used to drinking coffee every morning." I heard a ding of the timer I set so I slowly got off of the couch to finish off the food. I set my coffee on the counter and began to stir at the food and put it onto plates. "Breakfast is ready Crona." I announced to him. He turned off the television and sat at the kitchen table with me. We ate breakfast with each other.
"So what do you want to do today?" He asked me. I sat thinking for a moment. It's still early, eight o' clock, so what do we do until we go to Stein's? Hmm... We could go to the park... Oh, no, nevermind, we're definitely not doing that. Well i'm out of groceries, so we should go to the store. And I guess we'll figure the rest out afterward.
"Well, I do have to go to the store if you'd like to help me. And I guess we can find something to do after. I'll let you pick." I giggled. He smiled at me.
"Of course i'll help you. Spring is coming, but it's still cold. And we're both pretty crippled," he half laughed, "So I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea. And I know what I want to do after we go to the store." I smiled. We finished our breakfast and I cleaned up the kitchen, including the coffee I left on the counter. It was still a bit early so we decided to sit on the couch and watch a show on the television for an hour or two. Crona couldn't sit any longer so he got up and made a glass of water. He handed it to me and I smiled to say thank you. Then he turned around back to the sink which I assumed that meant he was getting himself one. I turned off the television and began to stand up.
"You ready to go soo- Ow!" I had a sudden and painful cramp in my abdomen area. I accidentally dropped my glass of water. It shattered on the floor and water went everywhere. The cramp continued and I stared at the floor where the glass broke.
"Maka? Are you alright? What's wrong?" Crona practically came running from the kitchen to the living room (which is like 15 feet at the most). He looked at the broken glass and back up at me. "What happened?"
"I-i'm fine. Just a small cramp. I'm sorry I broke that." I said. He looked down at the glass and then to me again. He walked around the broken glass and led me to our kitchen table. He sat me down and grabbed a bunch of paper towels.
"Was it just a small cramp?" He asked me. I nodded. "Why do you think you cramped all of the sudden?" I'm actually still cramping but not as severely as before. I shrugged my shoulders.
"Maybe I stood up too fast, or i'm dehydrated. I'm not sure why." I looked around our kitchen. I'm kind of dizzy... Maybe I am dehydrated. Crona grabbed the broom after he cleaned up most of the water. He sweeped up all of the glass, or most of it if not all. When he came back into the kitchen he handed me the glass of water that he had made for himself. "Thank you. Sorry I broke the cup."
"It's alright. It was an accident. You sure you're okay?" He asked me. I nodded.
"Yeah, I am. Well, i'll drink my water and I guess we can go to the store. Sound okay?" He stood behind my chair and set his hands on the top of it. I was still cramping... I wasn't sure why I was, but I think maybe a little bit of exercise will help.
"Sure. I'll go find our coats." He let go of the chair and walked towards the closet that's next to our bedroom. It wasn't long before he came back with our coats in his hand, but he looked confused. "When did we have so many board games?"
"I bought them for the baby shower. I didn't know what people usually do for them and so I decided to buy a few games for us to play. Patty was especially happy." I finished off my glass of water and slowly stood up from the kitchen chair.
"I bet she picked CandyLand."
"She did. She was the first person to pick any game and the rest of the games practically went flying when she yanked that one out of the pile." I paused, "You know, I feel bad for your cousin. She didn't look too happy when she was here."
"How come?" Crona asked. I pushed my chair in and grabbed my coat from Crona's hand. He helped me put it on.
"Well, she's pregnant. She hasn't been here with us for even a whole year and she's put in this situation. I don't know. It took you quite a while for you to get used to everything here." I paused a moment as I tried to zip my coat up over my baby bump. "I feel like she hasn't had the time to adjust to everything when she suddenly has to adapt to another completely new thing."
"Yeah, I know. Her and Kid made the decision, like we did. Her and Kid have to deal with it like we do." Crona responded. I nodded.
"I get it. I realize the situation she's in is identical to ours... Kind of. Maybe I should spend a little time with her. So we can talk about Mommy stuff. And so I can figure out why she seems upset. But anyway, we better get going. Shall we?" I reached my hand outwards toward Crona. He smiled and intertwined our fingers together. We left the apartment and said hi to the apartment clerk, Ashley, as we headed out the door. It was a chilly day, about fifty-five degrees, but it wasn't entirely uncomfortable. Crona can't feel temperature changes like cold or hot. Medusa trained his body to withstand any weather condition when he was little, so now he hardly notices a difference.
"The snow is beginning to melt." Crona pointed out. I looked around. The path isn't so icy now, he's right. Good, I can't wait until it's warm again. It always takes about ten to fifteen minutes to walk to the store and by the time we got there I was frozen. My toes threatened to fall off I think.
"Okay, we need milk, eggs, bread, some vegetables, and if you want you can grab some fruit. I'll grab the other stuff." Crona nodded and we split apart, each grabbing our own carts. This is what we usually do when we go to the store together. We end up taking a quicker trip. I went and grabbed some sugar, a few canned items, butter, ketchup, and shrimp. I passed an aisle with a ton of seasonal discount stuff. I went through it to see if there was anything interesting. I couldn't see anything significantly eye catching. But then I saw a bunch of christmas birthday cards left over from December. Which i'm surprised that they're still out. A thought suddenly pounded through my mind.
"Oh, Maka, I found you! Um, i'm gonna put the stuff I grabbed in your basket and give mine to this lady that has her hands pretty full." Crona said as he came up behind me. He startled me slightly and I had to blink a few times to calm myself.
"Okay, that's fine. Crona, is today the 12th?" I asked him. He nodded. "Oh, well now I understand why Stein asked us to come over for dinner. It's his birthday." Crona stopped in his tracks and went wide-eyed.
"I forgot about his birthday." He said. "I can try to find a present he might like, if you want?" I nodded. Crona turned and left to do whatever he was going to. I looked around the cards. None of these look interesting, i'll have to look in the aisle meant for this season birthday cards. I went searching for it and when I came across it I looked through a ton of cards. All of them were cheesy and it was hard to believe that they existed. Hmm... What would Stein like? Maybe we can make a homemade one. Yeah, i'll do that. But now I have to go find Crona. I looked around for a few minutes until I finally found him.
"Crona, what are you looking at?" I asked him. I looked at the shelf he was gazing at and it was full of cake mixes.
"You're gonna get him a cake?" I asked. He laughed.
"No, this is for us. I have an idea of what to get Stein." He looked around for a minute more before reaching out and grabbing a box. He handed it to me to look over. "You said you can't have chocolate. But I know that you love strawberry." The cake mix was Strawberry Cinnamon Swirl. This is different compared to what I usually get. I guess it doesn't hurt anything. I smiled widely.
"Thank you. This means a lot. I guess we better check out and go find out what your idea is." We bought our groceries and got the huge recycable brown bags to carry a few plastic bags in at one time. We had about three of those to carry. We left the store and I followed Crona to where his idea would take place. I was extremely surprised to enter the jewelery shop.
"Hey Jessica." Crona greeted the woman at the counter. She looked up from the magazine she was looking through and smiled brightly.
"Oh hey! You're uh, Stein and Marie's son. Crona, right?" She asked him. He nodded. "Oh good! What's going on? I haven't seen you in a long time."
"Yeah, just been home a lot, taking jobs every once in a while. Normal stuff, you know?" He laughed, but I could tell it was fake. Jessica seemed happy to see Crona though.
"Yeah, yeah. Well that's cool. Oh, is this your girlfriend? Or is it fiance now?" Jessica asked as she looked at me.
"I'm his fiance." I responded. "I'm Maka." She smiled brightly and grabbed my hand.
"Oh my, it fits your finger perfectly. It matches your eyes. I remember when he came in and picked it out for you. Oh and those earrings that you're wearing now. Your fiance has great tastes. I guess you already know that though." Wow this woman talked a lot. She let go of my hand and looked at my stomach for a moment. "Awe! Oh my Death! How far along are you? Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"
"I'm six months and no. We're finding that out today." I answered. She clapped her hands together and jumped up and down lightly.
"Oh i'm so excited for you! You're so beautiful, I can't imagine how gorgeous your baby will be! And Crona is pretty handsome too. You two are going to have a troublemaker in your hands." She looked at the both of us. I could feel myself blush.
"T-thanks." Crona said. "Um, J-jessica? Today is Stein's birthday and I wondered if maybe you could make something I had in mind for him?" I noticed that Crona was blushing as well. Jessica stopped gazing at the both of us like we were Adam and Eve. She became business serious and leaned onto her elbows on her counter as she talked to Crona.
"What do you have in mind?" Crona described to her what he wanted. She bit her lip in thought. I looked at Crona amazed as he finished up his description. He even drew what he thought the design should look like. Crona is a genius...
"Hmm, that sounds pretty cool. The charm will be a bit difficult to make. When do you want it by?" She asked.
"Can you have it done by three tonight?" Jessica looked up at the clock which displayed 10:45 a.m. and nodded.
"Yeah, the charm is a bit intricate but i'll have it done by then. I don't know about the chain though... I'll have to dig up one made before, if you don't mind?"
"That's fine. I'm more focused on the charm than the chain." Jessica smiled widely and warmly once again.
"Coolio! Okay, well business has been pretty slow so i'll go start on that now. Tell Stein and Marie I said hi and happy birthday!" We started to walk out when Jessica popped her head out one more time, "Oh and Crona, don't worry about the price. I got ya covered." She winked. We walked out and headed home.
"She never said anything about prices." I said to Crona as we were walking.
"I know. I was prepared to pay anything but she never said anything about it. I have to give her atleast two hundred dollars. I can't imagine how much that charm really costs." Crona said. "Even if I couldn't pay it now I would've paid it off over time."
"Two hundred is everything you just got out of your recent job."
"I have to give her something." Crona insisted. I smiled at his generosity and sweet nature but I was a little annoyed with it as well. Crona worked extremely hard for that and he was just going to give it away even when we don't have to give anything. I guess it's better to be nice and get the same back than to be stingy and get worse. I smiled again. "What are you thinking about?" he asked me.
"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just how much I love that you're mine." I responded. He gave me a warm smile. I returned it. After a few more minutes of walking we were home. I was extremely cold again. I wanted to immediately wrap myself into a warm blanket but I knew that groceries had to be put away. We set the huge brown bags on the counter and I could start to feel circulation come back to my arms. I can't tell how long I was holding that bag. Crona had to hold two of them.
"Wow those get heavy after holding them for a while." He said.
"Definitely." I began to pull everything out of the bags and Crona did the same. When we finished putting everything away Crona pulled off my coat for me and put it away along with his. "Now what?" I asked Crona as he walked towards me.
"Huh?" I giggled.
"I said you got to pick what to do when we were finished with the store." He stood in thought for a moment.
"Can we sit and relax for a bit? I know what I want to do but we've walked for a while and we carried weight." He sat heavily on the couch. He made a small grunt noise as he hit the couch. Now I understand, his spine is hurting.
"Yeah, that's fine." I sat by him and grabbed the blanket off the arm of the couch.
"Oh my Death Maka, you're freezing." He took the blanket from me and wrapped it around the both of us. Then he pulled me close to him. Alright I was wrong, he can feel if it's hot and cold, he just doesn't suffer from it. His body temperature is always at a normal 99.4 degrees fahrenheit unless he's healing. So right now, because his body is desperately working on his spine, it's at about 101. If it ever got higher than that, Stein advised us to take Crona to him immediately. Crona has been fine though. His body temp. doesn't ever get below 99 or higher than 101, so I guess we're safe on that part. If i'm ever cold he always covers a blanket over me and him, which warms me up in less than ten seconds. Then it's just nice to cuddle up to him.
"I don't understand how you can be warm all the time." I told him. He shrugged.
"I don't either. But I am, so i'm willing to share it with you." He pulled me closer to him.
"I'll never get over cuddling with you." His face turned a bit pink which made me giggle. I absolutely love it when he blushes. We sat on the couch for about twenty minutes when I decided that I wanted to find out what Crona had in mind to do. So we got up and I could feel his warmth leave me a little but I was at a content temperature so I shrugged it off. He went to the counter and opened the top cupboard (which I struggle to get into) and pulled out the cake box.
"I thought we could make cupcakes." He said as he set the box on the counter. I set my hands on my hips.
"Okay. But where is your frosting?" He simply smiled, turned around, and pulled a small tub of frosting out of the cupboard. He set it next to the box of cake mix. "Oh, where did you get that? I don't think I bought that."
"You didn't. It's an extra tub from a month ago. It's not opened, so it's still good." I picked up the tub. Hm, coconut frosting. That's different... I guess i'll just have to go with it and hope for the best.
"Well lets get on with it." I smiled and set my hand on his shoulder. "Okay Chef Crona what do we need to make this?" He laughed and picked up the box.
"We need two eggs, 1/4 cup of oil, and 1/2 cup of water. And the mix is here. I'll grab the bowl and the beaters." He turned to search for his materials. After I preset the oven to the correct temperature, I went to the fridge and grabbed two eggs. Then I grabbed the measuring cups. I went to reach for the oil, which of course is in the top cupboards and I struggled. Crona came by and pulled it out to hand it to me with a smile.
"Thanks. You know it's not fun being short and fat." I set the ingredients and the cups on the counter.
"You're not fat. And you being short is perfect." He said. He grabbed the box and opened up its contents into the bowl. I cracked the eggs in and I let Crona measure out the oil and water.
"You say that but you're not in either of my circumstances." I replied to him as I put the beaters into the mixer. Crona pulled out a cupcake pan and found little papers to dump the dough in when we're finished. I put the mixer into the bowl and Crona set his hand on top of mine where I held the handle of the mixer. This reminds me of old times, when I taught Crona how to make a cake, well out of a box atleast. This is actually the second cake i've made out of a box, I usually make them from scratch.
"No, i'm not. But i'm not blind either. How different would it be if you were as tall as me?" Crona asked me. "And you're not fat, you're pregnant." He kissed my forehead and turned the mixer on while smiling. I smiled back and we continued to mix up the cake. When it was done Crona stuck his finger in the batter and put it in his mouth.
"Ah, Crona don't do that!" I scolded him. He shrugged. "You know if you were like me, doing that would make you sick." He laughed.
"Well I can't get sick, so I think i'll be fine. And that batter tastes good." I shook my head with a smile and started to fill the paper cups in the pan up with batter. When I was finished, Crona put them in the oven and set the timer. "So what do we do while we wait for them to cook?"
"If you can find the other cupcake pan we'll fill up that one with the rest of the batter, clean that up, and then we have to make a home made birthday card for Stein." I listed. Crona answered by attempting to find our other cupcake pan. I started to fill the sink with warm water and soap. Luckily, Crona found the other pan so we filled it with the remaining batter. I began to clean up our cupcake mess.
"What things do we need to make Stein's card?" Crona asked me. I thought for a moment.
"Cardstock, a pencil, my sharpie kit, and i'll grab the last thing." Crona answered with a "okay" and went off to find the things I asked for. Theresa teased me for having cardstock instead of normal white paper, but I said that i'm crafty and I like my projects to be firm, not flimsy. After I finished with the dishes, I sat down with Crona at the kitchen table.
"Okay, so what do you want me to do?" he asked me.
"Well you need to fold that paper in half. You have better handwriting than me, so write Happy Birthday on the front of it. Then we'll have to think of something to write on the inside of it." I looked at the clock. It's about twelve thirty now. "And I guess i'll make some sandwiches for lunch."
"How long until those cupcakes are done?" Crona asked. I couldn't see the timer completely so I took a guess.
"I think only seven or eight minutes." I started to go into the kitchen and stopped at the counter to hold on to it. My cramp that had been so light for a while suddenly shot pain through my abdomen. I took a sharp intake of breath. My back was to Crona so he couldn't see me wince, but he did notice that I stopped moving abruptly.
"Is there something wrong?" Crona asked me. I shook my head.
"No, i'm fine." And although the cramp was continuing to shoot pain in me, I slowly walked to the fridge. I opened it and grabbed some turkey lunch meat along with a tomato and a head of lettuce. The cramp suddenly released and I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding. It was still there but it was very light and hardly uncomfortable. I looked up at the top of the fridge and saw the bread sitting there like always. I tried to grab it and was startled when Crona suddenly grabbed it.
"Dear Death you scared me." I said dropping the bag of lunch meat. I was about to bend to grab it but Crona did that for me.
"I'm sorry. I needed a drink of water and saw you grabbing for the bread so I helped. Or tried to anyway. Sorry I scared you." He looked a little guilty now.
"No, it's okay. I'm just overly jumpy. I've been sensitive these past four months. Thank you for helping, I couldn't of grabbed it myself if I tried." I gave him a reassuring smile and set the stuff on the counter. He put the lunch meat there too and went to grab himself a glass of water. He went back to the kitchen table and I started to make our sandwiches. The timer for the cupcakes went off. I grabbed a toothpick and checked if they were done. They were, so I grabbed the oven mitts and set the pan on the stove, then I put the next batch in. After I set the timer again, I went back to making sandwiches.
"Crona, your sandwich is here." I said as I handed him his and I set mine down. We started to eat and Crona was tapping the pencil on the table.
"What's wrong?" I asked him. He looked up to me and set the pencil down.
"N-nothing." I gave him a 'really' face and crossed my arms. He looked nervously around and he scooted his chair in more. I just sat waiting for him to talk. He bit into his sandwich and I still waited for him to say something. I stared at him the entire time. Eventually it made him smile and he broke. "I'm just n-nervous."
"What are you nervous about?"
"E-everything. We're going to see S-stein and i'm worried about b-both of our results." He admitted. He was staring at his sandwich instead of looking at me.
"We'll be fine. I'm sure we'll get some good news about your back and your blood. And besides, mine isn't really anything but a check up and revealing the gender of the baby." I explained.
"Y-yeah." He said reluctantly. I could tell there was still something he wasn't telling me. I was going to bug him some more about it but decided that it would be best if I just changed the subject.
"Okay, so what should we write in the card?" He glanced up at me and pushed the card towards me along with the pencil. He bit into his sandwich.
"What do you think?" He said as he chewed. I looked at the card. I'm really not all that creative. What could I say that could make Stein laugh? Or smile? Hm... Oh, maybe i've got it. I opened the card and started to write what I thought of. I pushed it back over to Crona.
"What about that?" I asked. He started to read it and he smiled.
"I think that's good. Here I have something to write too." I handed him the pencil and he started to write. He showed it to me and I thought it was good. Two minds are better than one.
"Great. Now we just need to write it in sharpie, and i'll grab the stuff I wanted to make the decoration." While I went to grab my sewing kit, I heard the cupcake timer ding.
"I'll get it!" Crona yelled. I opened my closet and looked around on the shelf. Nope, not on this one. I looked on the floor, nope not there either. There's the top shelf, but I can't reach nonetheless see up there. I looked around the room. There's my chair at my vanity I could use. Would that be safe though? Maybe I should yell for Crona... No, he's busy with the cupcakes, I can do this. I grabbed the chair and set it in front of my closet. I think they made this apartment for Crona, cause' everything is always up high. I climbed up onto the chair and wobbled for a moment. I caught my balance and looked along the shelf. There it is! I grabbed the bag and threw it onto my bed. Now time to get down... Crap... I can't bend, or squat. Should I call for Crona? No, if i'm careful I can get down. I let out a deep breath and tried to turn around so I could grab the top of the chair and get down like that. I moved my foot and stepped on the edge where I slipped.
"Maka, did you- Maka!" Crona ran towards me and caught me as I fell from the chair. He slowly set me down on the floor. The chair was wound in my legs and came down with me, which scratched my left leg.
"Wow i'm dangerous today." I commented. Crona moved the chair from my legs and put it back where the vanity is. He came back around and offered his hands out to me. I took them and he helped me up. Instead of walking away or saying anything, he hugged me. He held me tightly to him.
"Are you okay?" He asked me. I wrapped my arms around him and nodded.
"I'm fine, but only because you were there." I answered. I was surprised by the sudden hug. But now I understand. He was scared that I hurt myself or the baby. If that happened, he'd feel responsible. He'd never forgive himself.
"You need to be more careful." He says. He pulled back and placed his hands on my cheeks. We looked at eachother in the eyes.
"I'm sorry. I should've been more cautious. I probably should have let you help me, but you were in the other room. I'm okay now." I said. He let out a small breath. He let go of my face and started to walk back into the kitchen.
"Cupcakes are done." Is all he said to me. I wonder what's wrong with him. He seems so... distant. Maybe it's all the pressure that's been put on him since the incident. He hasn't been the same since that happened. I grabbed the sewing kit and followed him into the kitchen. But he didn't head for the kitchen, he sat on the couch. I was questionable, but I turned to see how the cupcakes turned out. I touched the tops of the cupcakes we made earlier, which were still warm but cool enough to frost. I glanced at Crona across the half wall that separates the living room to the kitchen, he was lying on the couch with his arm over his eyes. I should leave him alone...
The apartment was awfully quiet now, which unsettles me. I can't stand when it's absolutely quiet unless i'm reading or focusing on something, at the moment I was doing neither. I was about to grab the can of frosting and frost the first cupcakes myself, but I hesitated to listen to a noise I thought I heard. It stopped when I listened and when I was about to go back to doing something, I heard it again. I looked over the half wall again and I could see Crona wincing underneath his arm. Oh now I get what i'm hearing, Crona is making small whimpering and grunting sounds. My fall must of hurt him...
"I'm sorry." I said across the apartment.
"For what?" Crona asked. He stayed exactly how he was before and I could hear small gasping sounds from him. I know how he feels... There was a time I had caught a heavy thing falling from a building, which had hurt my back. It took my breath away everytime it began to shoot pain through my spine, I can't imagine how Crona feels when he still has a shattered vertebrae that's desperately trying to heal.
"For hurting you. I don't mean to, but I guess I have a habit of trying to be independent. Which sometimes does me no good." I explained. Crona sighed and removed his arm. I could see tears smeared across his eyes and down the sides of his face. Wow, I must've really damaged him.
"It's not your fault that my back is broken. Or that it hurts me. Sometimes certain movements can make it more painful. But none of it is because of you." He said. "What we can do though, is just wait for it to heal. Let's see what Stein says about what you said last night. Maybe I can find a way to get better faster." He sat up, or tried to for a moment before just settling how he was before. "I'm fine."
"No you're not. You're not fine. It may not be my entire fault, but i'm not helping either. I'll try to be more conscious of what i'm doing now. I guess i'm so used to being independent that i've forgotten that being six months pregnant takes away most things that I can do by myself." I looked away from Crona, ashamed of myself for hurting him again. I can't count how many times now that my actions have caused him pain. "Ah!" I shouted. The once small cramp had began to shoot extreme pain through my abdomen again. Maybe I should go see Stein, this doesn't seem normal. I had to grab onto the counter to keep my legs from buckleing.
"Maka? What's wrong?" Crona actually got up from the couch this time, though he strongly winced and limped a little when he stood. "Are you cramping again?" I nodded and had to bite my lip. "What's causing it?" He asked me. He keeps asking me these questions but it's too painful to answer. Crona grabbed my face and pulled it up to face him. "Maka?" The cramp released into a soft discomfort again and I let go of the breath I was holding.
"I'm okay." I said panting. "Just a cramp." Crona frowned and shook his head.
"That's not just a cramp. What time is it?" He looked upwards, which I assumed was to look at the clock. "It's about one thirty. We should go see Stein, this isn't normal." I shook my head.
"No, i'm fine now. It'll only be two more hours before we go anyway, i'll just sit down or something. I'll be okay, I promise." I tried to convince him. He looked at me worriedly. He opened his mouth to protest, but closed it before he could say anything.
"Fine. But sit down, please. I don't think these are just ordinary cramps if they're hurting you this much." He raised a finger up to my face and swiped something wet from my cheek. A single tear had escaped my eye, I guess this is more painful than I first had believed. Crona took me to the kitchen table because I refused to sit on the couch.
"Today has been eventful." I say as I sit down. "Not in the good way either." Crona pushed my chair in for me and set the sewing kit that I had left on the counter next to me.
"You didn't think the cupcakes were a good event?" He asked.
"Of course they were. They were the best part of the day. Because I got to spend that time with you and we were both happy doing it." We both smiled at eachother. He sat down in the chair across from me.
"Okay, so what's the sewing kit for?" He asked me.
"Oh yeah... I wanted to sew stitches into the card, I thought it would fit Stein's personality. Besides, he had given me a gift through Marie that had plenty of his trademark signature." Crona raised an eyebrow.
"He did?" I nodded. I pointed to the pile of presents that everyone had got me. I couldn't think of where to put them so I stuffed them in the corner by the t.v.. Crona got up and looked around, he almost instantly found the doll. He picked it up and gazed at it for a while. I could see that he was very transfixed in the doll and he apprectiated it a lot. "This is so sweet of him. I didn't think he could sew..." Crona thought for a moment than said, "Nevermind, I did know. Otherwise I probably wouldn't be in once piece by now." He laughed.
"Could you hand that to me? I want to see how he stitches so I might be able to do the same on the card." Crona handed me the doll and sat back down in front of me. I smiled at the stitches and grabbed the needle and thread to get on with my work. It took me about ten minutes to do succesfully. There were a few times that I nearly messed up. The knot at the end confused me though, I didn't know how to tie stitches up to finish. Crona showed me how, which I was surprised that he even knew.
"That card looks amazing. I bet Stein will love it." Crona said. I smiled and admired my piece. It was the best I could do and I thought it looked pretty good despite my inexperience in stitching. "Okay, do you think the cupcakes have had their cooling time now?" He got up without an answer from me and set the two trays on the table. He grabbed the frosting along with two butter knives and sat back down.
"Do you think coconut frosting goes with strawberry?" I asked him as I grabbed one of the knives. He shrugged.
"I don't know. But we'll find out soon enough." And with that he opened the tub of frosting and dipped his knife in. I did the same and we both began to frost each and everyone of the cakes. Halfway through I noticed that some of the coconut had fallen from the knife and onto my finger. I mischeviously looked up at Crona.
"Hey Crona, will you lean over towards me? I think I see something on your face..." He leaned over without asking or even a hint at what I was planning to do. With one hand I pretended to pull at his cheek and "examine" what was on his face. With the other hand, I stuck two fingers into the frosting tub since he couldn't see what I was doing and smeared it across his cheek. He sat back into his chair stunned a moment. Then he smiled brightly and made a yuck face.
"That is so sticky!" Then he used his finger to wipe off the frosting and smear it onto my face. I laughed and licked the frosting off on my finger, not even bothering to clean what was on my face. He smiled and used his thumb to get it off for me, then he stuck into his mouth. He cringed a moment. "I didn't expect that to be so sweet." He said. I winked at him and he giggled. We were both smiling as we finished frosting cupcakes. When we were finished, I stretched out and admired our almost two dozen frosted cupcakes. They smelled really good.
"Okay Chef Crona, our masterpiece is done. What do we do.." I glanced at the clock, "for the next hour and a half?" He picked one of the cupcakes up and handed it to me, then got one for himself.
"Well, we have to try our finished work. Then I guess we can watch something on the t.v. or we can read. We could play one of those board games you have too." He said. I smiled and nodded as a okay. I bit into my cupcake, still wary about how strawberry, cinammon, and cococunt would mix on my tastebuds. Once I could taste it I realized that I underestimated it. This cupcake was amazing.
"Wow Crona. I guess you picked correctly. How'd you know?" I asked him. He shrugged.
"I didn't. I just wanted an excuse to use the coconut frosting and spend time with you. But then I found out you can't have chocolate so I didn't know what to pick except that strawberry mix." He explained. I laughed. I finished off my cupcake and so did Crona.
"You know, I can have chocolate, just not a bunch of it." I said. "But I think we can count chocolate cake as a lot." I looked at the rest of the cupcakes. Well, guess we have to put those away now. But before I could say anything or make a move, Crona got up and grabbed our handy cupcake organizing storage container. "Sometimes I think you read my mind." Crona smiled.
"Maybe I do." He replied. I suddenly felt movement in my abdomen and it wasn't the cramp.
"Oh, Crona! The baby is moving!" I said excitedly. He put down the cupcake he was about to put away and moved over to me. I moved to where Crona could feel my stomach. He was hesitated at first, but I grabbed his hand and put it where the baby was kicking. "You're not going to hurt the baby. You can listen too, if you want." Crona looked up to me than my belly. I nodded for him to go on. He turned his head and set his ear on my belly. His eyes went wide.
"That's... so amazing! I can hear the baby, I think. Or the cupcake, i'm not sure." I laughed and flicked his ear as punishment for his cruel joke. He smiled and continued to listen while holding on to the baby bump. "So beautiful, just like you." He says as he lifts his head and looks up at me. I make an "awe" sound and grabbed his face so I could give him a small kiss on the lips.
"If he's a boy he's going to look exactly like you." I said. Crona shook his head.
"No way, I bet all of our kids will be like you." Now I shook my head.
"I don't want any of them to be like me. Because then they'll all be stubborn and picky." Crona laughed. He helped me out of the kitchen and went to the couch together. I sat down and asked him to grab my book. He did along with one of his one and sat next to me. "Whats your book about?" I asked him. He looked at the title and then to the back of the book where the description is.
"It's called Unwind, which sounded pretty cool. It's basically about a society where troublesome kids can be broken apart into pieces, donated to other people, and still technically be alive. This all happens when the parents decide that the child is too much to handle and send the kid to be unwound. Only conditions are that the child has to be younger than eighteen and older than twelve." He explained. I nodded, that sounds interesting. Though i'm extremely happy that's not a real thing. "What about yours?" He asked me.
"Mine is Remake by Ilima Todd. It about a futuristic world where overpopulation is controlled by people called Makers. These are people who design a 'batch' of new people to be born into the world. They're all made the same and have girl and boy genders, but aren't treated differently. When they reach the age of eighteen, they get to pick their gender, their job, and what they look like." Crona softly grabbed my book from me and read the description.
"That sounds like it'd be something i'd like to read. Can I read it when you're done?" I smiled and nodded. Then we quit talking and began to read. I don't think we had even gone ten minutes when I yawned. I forgot that I didn't sleep last night. I'm kind of tired now. I looked over at Crona who was still stuck in his book. I moved one of the couch cushions so that I could lay down. I continued to read, but in case I fall asleep, I won't fall over because I decided to lay down. I started to read again and it wasn't long before my eyes started to droop and I kept nearly dropping the book. My body quit fighting and I fell asleep.
"Maka? It's time to go." I woke up and I could see Crona leaning over me. "It's three now. We better get going soon if we're going to pick up Stein's present and walk to his house." I stretched and yawned.
"Okay, i'm up." I said to him. I heard Crona walk away. I sat up and grabbed my book up off the floor. I set my feet on the ground and slowly got up. I put my book back in the shelf where it belongs. I yawned again and set my hand atop my baby bump. Crona came back with our coats and my purse. I kissed him on his cheek and smiled as I thanked him. It didn't take us long to head out. I yawned again as we walked.
"How was your nap?" Crona asked me. I blinked the tears from the yawn out of my eyes.
"It was okay. It didn't seem like I slept for very long." I answered him. I looked around. I still can't believe the amount of snow that's still around. It should be melted by now. Death City doesn't usually get snow, but by February it's usually melted. But I could still see the pieces of ice that stuck to the middle of the path and the snow mounded on the sides of buildings.
"Well I didn't dare wake you up. You seemed so comfortable." He giggled for a moment, "You even snored a little." I frantically looked up at him and scowled.
"I don't snore!" I smacked him lightly on his shoulder. "I hardly even drool. I can't imagine a snore coming out of my throat. Besides, theres no way I could've been asleep long enough to get THAT comfortable." He smiled and wrapped an arm around my waist. Which not only was intimate, but it kept me warm.
"You slept for a good hour, you had to have at least a little deep sleep.
"Really?" I thought for a moment, "It doesn't feel like I slept at all." Which is true. I was still really tired. Crona rubbed his hand up and down my arm in an attempt to comfort me a little.
"That's alright. Sometimes naps just don't work. Well we can go to bed early tonight after we leave Stein's." I smiled and nodded. We arrived at the jewelry shop once again. As we walked inside, the bell above the door rang and Jessica popped through the back door so fast as if she was racing someone. She was basically jumping.
"Oh my death! You are going to love it!" She said. She made a small squeal sound in excitement and pulled out a little grey cardboard box. "Open it! I want to see your face before you give it to Stein." She was smiling so wide I was surprised it didn't break her lips. Crona gave her a polite smile and opened it. I raised my feet so I could get a look at it in Crona's hands. As soon as I saw it my mouth dropped. It was a beautiful silver color. There were three orbs, one to represent Stein, Marie, and Tyler. Then there was a scalpel that looked like its handle had been stitched that framed the bottom of the orbs. The chain was a simple silver with a clasp to adjust size. I don't know how much Stein likes jewelry, but I know that if he didn't wear this, he'd frame it in his house somewhere.
"Thank you Jessica, it's so beautiful." I said when Crona tried to say something and it just came out as "I- I- I- I." Jessica laughed and smiled brightly.
"You're welcome. And don't worry about paying for it. It's my gift to you for Stein. That man and his wife have done so much for me, this won't repay it, but they deserve something absolutely wonderful." Jessica said.
"Thank you, Jessica. Well, you won't let us pay for it, but can I leave you a tip for your hard work and beautiful present?" I said. Jessica shook her head.
"No, it's alright. I'm serious, you don't need to pay for anything. But anyway, i'll let you guys go. I have another order I need to go finish in the back." She gave us a slight wave, "Have fun. Be sure to come back and tell me all about Stein's reaction." Then she turned and left to go to the back room.
"Well that's our queue to get going. Crona, are you alright?" I asked him. He was pulling some money out of his pocket and hadn't said a word so far. I saw about fifty dollars and watched as he leaned over the counter and placed the money on top of the cash register. I gave him a gracious smile and took his hand as we left. "That was very sweet Crona." I told him. He nodded.
"I told you I couldn't just leave her with nothing. Especially after I saw what the necklace looked like. I couldn't even thank her, this is so special. I went speechless." He blushed a little.
"That's alright. Stein means a lot to you, and me too of course, but seeing something so special like that could leave anyone speechless. Stein will love it, I know he will." I squoze his hand in comfort and he squoze back. We walked the rest of our way to Stein's house and hadn't even reached the porch when the front door swung open. Marie's head popped out.
"C'mon C'mon! You two must be so cold! Get your little butts in here!" She pushed us in as we crossed the threshold and shut the door a little too hard in her excitement. She gave Crona a gentle but hard squeeze in her hug. Then came to me and hugged me as well, as best as we could with our protruding bellies. "Oh I missed you kids so much! How's our little baby?" She asked me. I giggled.
"My baby is as happy as ever. How is your baby?" I asked her.
"Oh that's great! And mine is stirring all the time. I think he's getting restless. He wants to come meet mommy and daddy finally." She giggled as she patted her baby bump. "Have you heard anything about Cumo's bun?" I shook my head.
"She has asked me for advice every once in a while, but she hasn't really talked to me. I was planning on having a girl day with me and her and you if you'd like to come. We could go shopping and eat at her favorite restaurant." Marie smiled.
"We'll have to see what day, but I would love to join you. It sounds very sweet and fun." She turned around and walked towards the stairs. "Stein! Our children have arrived!" She yelled. After a moment I could hear footsteps upstairs and watched as Stein walked down the stairs.
"Welcome kids. I was just organizing some stuff upstairs. How are you guys?" He asked.
"We're fine. Thank you." Crona said. "A-are you ready?" Stein nodded.
"Follow me into the examination room. Maka you can sit in here with Marie. Dinner still has an hour left, so you guys can get comfortable." Then he turned and let Crona follow him into a room.
"So, would you like to sit?" Marie offered and gestured her hands to the couch.
"Oh, yes. The walk here was a little tiring." I said as we sat down across from eachother on her couches. She gave me a worried look as she examined my face.
"Are you sure that's all that's tiring you? You have dark bags underneath your eyes. Did you have trouble sleeping?" She asked. I nodded and moved a piece of hair that had fallen in my face.
"You can say that. This baby has a lot of demands. In fact I think the baby has been giving me some terrible cramps. I was wondering if maybe Stein can look at the baby. Just a check up..." I left it at that note and Marie moved her head to the side a little as she studied me.
"What else have you got on your mind? You look so exhausted, honey." I was about to say something but she burst into excitement. "Oh I know! You want to know your baby's gender! Oh that's so wonderful! Oh, wait..." She paused for a moment. "You don't want to know, do you? But Crona asked you..." She leaned back.
"Do you just read souls, or minds too?" I asked her. She erupted into a fit of laughter and I did too.
"Oh no. You're basically my daughter, honey. I can read you like no one else. Well other than Stein and sometimes Crona. But honey, just know that just because he asked you don't have to know. I can see now, your baby, and I can tell Crona and you won't have to know. But I can see that you'd like Stein to check and tell the both of you. Right?" I nodded. I gave her a polite smile.
"I love Crona and I believe we have a future together. So we make decisions together and I hope it stays that way." Marie smiled and leaned forward again.
"What are you going to name them?" She asked. My heart jumped when she said "them" but I realized she didn't mean more than one. She was asking what i'd name the baby if it were a boy or girl.
"Well Crona doesn't like it much, but if it's a boy, we'll name him Michael. I believe that that's Crona's middle name and I thought it was beautiful. And Crona then insisted that my middle name be the girl. So her name would be Tiffany." I answered. Marie closed her eyes and clapped her hands together in excitement.
"Those are so pretty!" She giggled. Then she opened her eyes, "Do you know how we came up with Tyler?" I shook my head. "Well Stein continued to refuse that I use his name, or even relate anything to it. And I couldn't name Tyler anything with my name. So I took the name from Stein's father."
"Aww that's so sweet. I didn't know that you knew Stein's father." I said. Marie shook her head.
"I didn't. But Stein always refused to talk about his family. So I took some time to look up a little bit of his family history. There was no mother mentioned, but I found his father. And when I brought it up to Stein I practically forced him to cough up some explanation." She giggled for a moment. "He said so many mean things at first. But as I continued to ask for more I learned that his father used to be an amazing scientist. He learned that humans have souls and he created some theories about it. He died when Stein was young when he tried out a medicine to strengthen his soul so he could be immortal." Marie sighed.
"But isn't Stein-?" I tried to ask but Marie quickly answered.
"No, Stein isn't immortal. No human could ever be immortal. But he has an enhanced lifespan. He'll live longer than me if I die at the age of eighty, but only for another thirty years." I remember when my Papa had always told me stories about Stein when they were kids. He said that Stein was always taking this weird medication and he thought Stein was trying to make himself into a monster. But as I attended the DWMA and asked Papa about him again, he told me that Stein was taking medication to make him live forever. So now this information makes sense. I guess Stein had taken his father's serum and changed it to make it user friendly and enable its uses.
"Well that makes more sense. Whatever happened to that medication?" I asked her as I erased the memory of my Papa out of my mind.
"Medication?" Marie asked confused for a moment. But I saw realization pop onto her face, "Oh, that. Well Stein had stopped taking it when he was a teenager. He burned the recipe and the plans associated with it. It disappeared." She explained. I nodded in understanding. The door from the examination room opened. "Oh, look, I guess it's your turn." Marie said smiling to me. And mouthed good luck as I got up and walked towards the room. Stein was standing in the doorway.
"So, what's my job today?" He asked as he closed the door behind me. Crona was standing at the end of the bed. He didn't look worried, sad, angry, but he didn't look happy either. And I couldn't read anything from his soul wavelength.
"Well we're going to check up on the baby. Also, Crona and I have been talking... We would like to know the gender afterwards." Stein raised an eyebrow as he looked down at me. Crona helped me up to the table/bed thing and I sat on the edge of it as my legs dangled a little.
"Alright. Okay i'm going to take a heartbeat." He took a stethoscope and put it to my chest, then my back, and then he dropped it and held my wrist to take my pulse. "Breathing." He put it to my chest again, I breathed, to my back, I breathed, then he dropped it. He wrote down my results on his clipboard.
"I've been having extreme cramps today. And at the end of yesterday." I said. Stein stopped writing for a second and squinted his eyes at me.
"Have you been sleeping?" He asked me. His gaze seemed so cold to me, but I know that Stein was just examining me. His eyes made me so nervous.
"Y-yeah. But some nights I can't get to sleep right away." I said, skitting around the truth. Which I did all the time, but this time it didn't work because of Crona.
"She's been having nightmares." He blurted out. I whipped my head towards him and glared. He cowered under my gaze and looked to the floor. The fact that he had just told Stein my business when I asked him not to say anything made me beyond irritated. I was angry with him and embarassed of myself.
"You have?" Stein asked. I sighed and turned towards him. I nodded. "For how long?" I shrugged like it was no big deal. "Maka you have to answer me." I let out an annoyed grunt.
"Since Crona died." I answered quietly. I could hear Crona make a soft whimper sound. I didn't look at him though. Stein cleared his through.
"Say it again, only louder." He demanded.
"Since I lost Crona." I said. I looked away from Stein and towards my feet. I moved my feet slowly back and forth as if to softly calm myself.
"I see. And you haven't mentioned this before?" He asked.
"I never saw it as that big of a deal. I still sleep most nights and when I don't I nap during the day." I said.
"Well the fact that you tried to hide it from me says it is entirely a big deal. And your eyes have accumulated all of that lack of sleep and made it a warning sign on your face. Now lay back. I'm going to check your baby's vital signs and look for signs of stress." Stein said with a scolding tone. I slowly leaned back until my head touched the pillow on the table/bed and pulled my legs up. Stein went into another room to grab the ultrasound equipment. I heard Crona softly and quietly shuffle himself to the end of the table.
"M-maka?" I didn't answer him. "Are you angry with me?" He asked me. I sighed. I closed my eyes.
"I'm thinking." Is all I said to him. His soul wavelength suddenly became very clear to me as I felt his sadness and worry strengthen. I felt bad, Crona is probably just worried that the nightmares are affecting the baby. And the fact that I have nightmares probably makes him think it's his fault. I heard Crona walk back into the corner. "I'm sorry Crona." I said, then also commented, "but can't hug you." I leaned on my elbows and turned my head to where he was standing. I made a finger gesture to say "come here." He slowly shuffled towards me again and stood at the side of the bed.
"Yes?" He asked. I set my hand around his neck and pulled him close. I kissed his cheek and then used my arm to pull him closer and hugged him.
"Don't take anything I say to heart, okay? I might say some really mean things with my hormones being so wacky. And yes, i'm angry, but you know what, I know you're worried. So i'm sorry for being angry. Even though my actions and words may not say 'i'm sorry' or 'it's okay', nothing is ever your fault. I just have some hormone and emotional problems." I kissed his cheek again, "I love you." He pulled back and smiled at me sadly.
"I love you too." Then he walked to his corner. Stein came in with the ultra sound equipment.
"Crona, will you help me get those cords into the room?" Stein asked him. Crona nodded and was off to pull all the wires and cords from the other room into this one. Stein pulled a monitor next to me and a small white machine next to it. Then he took the plugs from Crona, thanked him, and plugged it in. As soon as the electricity reached it, it made a really loud beeping sound. "It'll need five minutes to warm up. So tell me what your nightmares are while I get this ready." He said. I sighed again.
"They're not important enough to be making a big deal." I tried to tell Stein. But then Stein turned his head towards me and stopped pressing buttons on the machine. He squinted his eyes at me in a "tell me now" look. I gulped. "They're different everytime. But it's always me, Crona, and a little girl." Stein then turned back to the machine and continued to mess with it.
"Continue. Does the same thing happen? Who is the litte girl, do you know? What's the correlation?" He asked question after question.
"No, no, and Crona dies." I said. Then I continued, "The little girl always starts out the dream. She looks like me, but I can't tell if she really is or not. It's a weird feeling. And she's so sweet at first, asking questions that confuse me. Then the mood drops dramatically and suddenly she's as tall as me and I know she's not me, or she turns into someone else, i'm not sure again. Then she becomes so evil. And Crona lies dead somewhere and all I can ever do is scream. That's around the time I wake up crying or Crona is yelling at me to wake up." I explained. Somewhere along in my explanation Stein stopped messing with the machine entirely and wrote down some stuff on his clipboard. Then he set it down and pushed his fingers underneath his glasses to rub his eyes and sighed.
"Well. I don't know how to comment on that." I glanced at Crona, who seemed to be mortified. I wiped at my face, realizing that I had started to cry. I had always woke up crying and telling Crona "don't leave me" but I never told him what my nightmares were really about. I always thought he might of had an idea, and he might of, but it must be too shocking to actually hear it from me. Stein asked, "So this all started when Medusa and Crona died?" I nodded. He squeezed a gel onto the remote looking piece to the machine and pulled up my shirt to expose my belly. Then he rubbed some of the gel on there too. He placed the remote thing on my belly and started to move it around.
"Crona, come here." I said extending my arm off the bed and towards him. He still seemed mortified and slowly moved from his spot. He took my hand in his and watched the monitor with me. Stein moved the remote more until a picture showed up. I nearly started to cry as I saw the shape and form of my baby there. The baby looked so big on the screen, but I knew it would be only a few inches larger than a twelve inch ruler. Stein reached around the monitor to turn up the volume and I could hear a heartbeat. It was so rhythimical and beautiful, it left me in a trance. Stein's brow furrowed though. I began to worry a little. He let Crona hold onto the remote thing as he wrote something on his clipboard. Then he came back and took the remote but held it in the same position on my belly. He pressed a button on the machine. Then moved the remote, pressed the button, remote, button and then turned off the monitor. He gave me a paper towel to wipe off the gel.
"H-how does the b-baby l-look?" Crona asked nervously. I wiped off the gel, pulled down my shirt, and slowly got back up. But that was apparently a bad move. I could feel the cramp come back and this was a terrible time for it to do so. I pulled on Crona's sleeve to get his attention. "Maka?" The cramp had increased in pain so quickly that I lost my breath and I could hear my throat squeak. I squeezed my eyes tightly from the pain. "Maka, cramp? Is it the cramp? Maka what's wrong?"
"Ow, ow, ow, owey." I said in breaths of air. It wasn't long when Stein was hitting me with questions.
"Where does it hurt? Did it begin when you sat up? How much does it hurt? Scale one to ten. Maka answer me."
"Can't." I said quietly. It almost didn't come out audible at all. I rubbed my hand against my lower abdomen to signal where the pain was. I leaned over though, putting pressure on the area, which I thought would help but it made no difference. Stein gently pushed me up straight and started to use his hand to push down on my stomach a little. He did it in multiple spots and finally turned back around to write something on his clipboard. As he was doing so, the cramp released and I breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Is it gone now, Maka?" Crona asked me. He set his hand on top of my shoulder and put his hand under my chin. I opened my eyes and looked up at him. The hand that he put under my chin was now wiping at my eyes. The pain must've pushed tears through my eyes because I don't remember crying. I nodded to Crona. He looked towards Stein, "W-what d-does it mean?"
"When I was feeling her abdomen during her cramping I could feel the muscles spasming. Which means her uterus is going through stress. Which could be it trying to expell the baby, Maka has some vitamin deficiency, or Maka is going through early labor. But the baby wasn't turned, so she isn't in labor is the good news." Stein stopped talking for a moment. I could tell he was thinking hard. "I'm going to take a blood sample to test for a possible vitamin deficiency. Until I get the results, i'm putting you on bed rest." He told me.
"Bed rest?" Crona asked. But I knew exactly what bed rest meant and I was sooo not happy for that.
"Maka won't be able to leave her bed except to use the bathroom. I'll allow her to go to her living room but I don't want her walking around a lot." Then he began to address me, "I don't want you sitting up straight either. You don't have to lay down constantly, but nothing ninety degrees or higher, got it?" I nodded. "This isn't punishment, but if you go into labor this early in your pregnancy, the baby won't be able to survive most likely. If your body is expelling the baby you can't do anything more to stress out. You must be on bed rest and completely stress free, got it?" I nodded again.
"How d-do you suggest she c-can be w-worry free?" Crona asked.
"I'll give her some sleeping medication that is safe for her and the baby. It should make the nightmares go away, it's the same recipe I gave Crona. Except this time it should work because i'm pretty sure Maka isn't being controlled by a witch. She just has PTSD." Crona looked extremely confused. "Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. It's when she constantly has flashbacks or nightmares over a traumatic experience. She hasn't lashed out or hallucinated yet I assume, which means it's not too bad."
"W-what do you mean hallucinate and lash out? What happens if she does that?" Crona asked worriedly. I held Crona's hand to try to comfort him.
"It's alright Crona. Those are just some common symptoms of PTSD. I can't do much while she's pregnant. There is no stress reliever meant for PTSD for her that would be safe for the baby too, i'll work on that though. Until then, we just have to hope that the sleeping pills work." Stein was working around his desk and was writing notes. I looked up at Crona and squeezed his hand.
"It's okay. I'm fine." I told him. But he only gave me a worried look. "The baby is too." Which I wasn't even sure of myself. If my body was rejecting the baby, that means the baby would die. And then I would really have PTSD. Although Stein's diagnosis scared and worried me, I stayed as calm as I could be. Stein pulled the machine to the side and went into the other room. "Quick, before Stein gets back. What do you think the baby is?" Crona had to double take.
"W-what?" He asked. I giggled and repeated the question. He still looked really worried and I felt really bad. I felt guilty honestly. It took Crona moment to answer. "I don't know."
"Neither do I. But take a guess anyway." I told him.
"Girl." Crona said.
"Really? I think it's going to be a boy." I said. "What do you bet on it?" Crona nervously smiled. "I bet you an entire jewlery store of diamonds..." Crona lifted an eyebrow and I finished my sentence, "that you're right."
"W-why do you say that?" He asked me. I was about to answer him but then Stein came back and handed me a bottle of what I assume is the sleeping pills.
"Take one of those every night at nine exactly. Don't stay up later than that. And I want you to take one to two naps every day around one o'clock. Yes, i'm giving you a schedule, don't break it." Stein was writing what he was saying on a sticky note. He pulled it off and handed it to me. "Give me your arm." I raised my arm for him. He rubbed an alcohol pad over the bend in my arm and he stuck a needle in. I winced a little at the slight sting of it, then I could see my blood go through a small tube and into a vial. After a moment he pulled the needle out and sealed the vial as he tore the tube from it. Then he handed me a juice box and a few crackers.
"Want one?" I asked Crona as I handed him a cracker. I opened the juice and started to sip from it. I heard Crona crunch on the cracker I gave him after I nibbled on mine.
"I'll have the results of this by the time you leave tonight hopefully. And i'll tell you if you need different vitamins or not." He said. He was plugging the vial into a machine and programming it to read for vitamin and mineral reports. "Crona, help me put the ultrasound stuff back into the other room and when I come back i'll tell you the gender of your baby." I sat up a little at the sound of that, beginning to get excited but very nervous at the same time. Crona quickly got to helping him out. It took five minutes to get all of it back into the other room. Stein locked the other room's door as he came back with Crona. Stein started up his computer and went to a certain file to pull up some pictures.
"Is that the ultrasound pictures?" I asked him. He nodded, but I could only see the back of his head bob up and down. "Would you mind printing out one?" Stein nodded again.
"Come here." He said. Crona helped me off the table/bed and we huddled around Stein's computer. Stein started to point at the baby. "Your baby is about 24 weeks, half-way through the sixth month. At this stage your baby is just beginning to practice breathing movements. Ultrasounds are always fuzzy, but we have a perfect view of your baby's gender." He points to the genital area. "It's a-"
"STEIN!" We could hear Marie scream along with a sound of glass shattering. Stein didn't wait a heartbeat before he ran out of the room. Me and Crona exchanged a glance and ran after Stein. Well Crona did. I fast walked. "T-t-tyler." Marie was stuttering and breathing really fast. Stein was holding her hand tightly and holding her up. Well, i'm not sure Stein was holding Marie's hand, I think Marie was crushing Stein's.
"Marie you have to tell me. Are you having contractions?" But Marie never gave him a straight answer. We would just have to guess what was going on.
"Bed! Get me to a bed! Now, Stein!" Marie limped for a moment but Stein helped her up the stairs. "Can you be any slower! Get up the stairs!" She screamed at him.
"Okay, okay, I am. Ow! Watch my hand!" He was trying his hardest to get up the stairs. Crona glanced at me.
"I'm sorry for future reference." I said. He smiled and laughed nervously. "You should help Stein. I'm sure he's gonna need some encouragement. I'll clean up the glass." I said. Crona nodded and ran up the stairs towards the others. I looked at the glass on the floor. I still had the sticky note in my hand so I stuck it to the coffee table and went to go find the broom. Marie did the exact same thing I did. She dropped a glass of water. As I was using a paper towel to clean up the water, I saw Crona run down the stairs and disappear into the examination room. Then he ran back up the stairs empty handed.
"Stein you idiot!" I heard Marie scream at him from upstairs. Then Crona came back down the stairs with keys in his hands. I threw away the water and glass soaked paper towels and grabbed the broom. Crona came out of the examination room with a vial of clear liquid and a really long needle. I stared confused at him as he ran back up the stairs again. I swept up the glass and threw it away. I walked towards the stairs and was a little afraid that Crona would come running back down. So I waited to hear foot steps. And sure enough, Crona came bolting back down again.
"Excuse me!" He yelled as he ran by me. He went into the examination room again. I glanced inside and saw that the door to the back room was open and I could hear Crona rummaging around. I stepped back when I hear the sound stop. Then Crona ran around the corner and up the stairs again. I saw he had gloves, a big white sheet, a small blanket, a bucket, and a tube looking thing. I couldn't hear any more footsteps upstairs so I slowly but surely waddled up the stairs. I was really out of breath as I reached the top. I could hear Marie groaning a little and talking softly. Crona ran past me in the hallway with the bucket. "Water!" He yelled as he ran by. I raised an eyebrow in question. I slowly walked around the doorway to the bedroom Marie was in.
"Oh good, Maka, you're here. Come here, honey." She said as she extended her arm towards me. I was about to grab her hand when Stein piped up.
"If you still want your hand, I suggest not taking hers." He said as he glanced at his that was still being crushed by Marie's, but was still being grasped softer than it was downstairs. Marie put her hand down, but still invited me to her side.
"Don't let me scare you, alright? I'm more aggressive than you. And I am dramatic with pain apparently to a certain someone." She glared at Stein for a moment. I could see the sweat beads on her forehead. "This hurts a lot, but soon we'll be seeing little Tyler." She cringed a moment. "Will you go get me a rag from the bathroom cabinent and soak it in a little cold water for me?" I nodded. I left to grab what she asked and nearly bumped into Crona when he came in with the bucket. I did as Marie asked and came in the room as she contracted. She seemed to scream almost. And Stein grunted loudly and closed his eyes in pain as well. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a broken finger or two by now. Please tell me that I won't be like this... I fear for Crona's limbs. Marie calmed down after a few minutes.
"Marie, please, let go. I have to check." Stein tried to pry his hand from hers.
"Don't you dare leave me Stein." She said through gritted teeth.
"I'm not leaving you! I'm just checking to see if you're dialated. Or would you rather Crona do it?" Marie let go. Stein sighed relief and rubbed circulation back into his fingers. I set the cold towel over Marie's forehead.
"Thank you. That makes me feel a little better. You know Maka, don't make my mistake. Choose the epidural before it's too late." I nodded slowly. I glanced over to Crona whom was a pale white, whiter than he usually was. I quickly walked over to him (well as quickly as I could) and set the both of my hands onto his chest.
"Hey, you okay? Crona, how about we stand in the hallway, okay?" I slowly helped him out of the room. As we got out, I shut the door and Crona slumped against the wall. He slowly skidded from the wall down until he was sitting on the floor. He looked mortified, again.
"Blood. Lots. Blood. Pain. Screaming. Stein's hand." He said as he looked up at me and pointed at the closed door. I nodded to him.
"Marie is finally having Tyler. Crona, you know this is what i'll be like in more or less three months?" I asked him. He looked at me at shook his head. He cupped his face with his hands and pulled his knees up to his body. "But you know, I won't break your hand. Or i'll try not to."
"I don't know how to deal with birth." He said. I could tell he was pushing himself back into the dark room days. This was his favorite line for the longest time. I don't know how to deal with... But that phrase had slowly faded away. I was surprised to hear it from him again. I slowly kneeled down and scooted myself towards Crona. I turned around so my back would be to the wall and sat next to him, I couldn't pull my knees to myself or I would've.
"Hey, it's alright. You still have three months to prepare. And trust me Crona you'll be preparing with me. Marie's reaction... has shaken me, I guess you can say. But you know what, this is what their life is about, and it's ours too. And eventually Kid and Cumo. Along with all the rest of our friends." I tried to explain. Crona didn't move. I moved away from the wall and sat in front of him. I softly grabbed his wrists but didn't move them. "I know you're scared. I am too. We can do this, I promise we can. I know i've been stressful to deal with, i've been stressing myself out, which says something. But hey, let's change the topic. What did Stein say about your back? Did you tell him about your idea?" Crona slowly moved his hands from his face to look at me.
Marie screamed... again. We could hear Stein telling her to push for a while now and Marie responds with "I'll push you out a window if you don't shut up." At first I laughed, but then I grimly remembered the pain Marie is going through. I talked to Crona and he slowly calmed himself, though he tensed everytime Marie screamed. Crona told me that Stein said that he had cracked his spine, again, in the same spot. He put Crona on bed rest too, which made me laugh. But then I again, grimly remembered that meant we were both on house arrest. Crona talked to Stein about his theory and idea. Stein responded with, "i'll look into it." Which gave us hope. I think Crona is a genius. He came up with the whole thing and it was entirely logical. But then again we weren't scientists. So we'll have to see what Stein says about it.
"Do you know what's funny?" I asked Crona. Crona looked up at me. "Tyler is born on Stein's birthday." Crona instantly smiled. He pulled the box out of his pant pocket and opened it.
"I guess the tiny soul fits tonight then." Crona said as he ran his thumb over the charm. I put my hand out in an asking gesture to see it. He handed it to me and I examined it. It was so shiny and beautiful. Each line in the soul's faces and the stitches on the scalpel were perfect. Everything about the charm screamed family in a unique way. I smiled and found that tears came to my eyes. I handed the box back to Crona. "Why are you crying?" He asked me as he sat up. I smiled at him.
"Marie, Stein, and Tyler." I wiped a tear away. "Crona, Maka, and... and..." I hicupped. I heard the door behind me open and I turned around.
"Tiffany." Stein supplied for me. "You have a baby girl. And we have a baby boy. Would you like to meet him?" Stein stepped aside from the doorway. I looked back at Crona and saw the excitement in his face to learn our baby's gender. I was too. We got up and hugged tightly for a moment before turning around and going into the bedroom. I could hear small whimpering sounds from the bundle of blanket Marie was holding. Marie was smiling as we walked in.
"Hey Tyler, meet your sibling. Big Brother is here to meet you. And your sister in law with your cousin." Marie talked to the baby in her arms while rubbing his small fingers. Crona walked up to Marie and we both gasped as we saw the small, big cheeked, pink faced baby. He whimpered a little and Marie shooshed him. "Do you want to hold him for a moment, Crona?"
"M-me?" Marie nodded. "I- I- Uh..." Marie didn't let him answer as she carefully postitioned Tyler into Crona's arms. I was near to tears as I saw the baby settle comfortable into Crona's embrace. Tyler squirmed a little at being moved, but clicked his tongue a little and settled back down. Stein came up behind us.
"Look at that. He already likes his big brother." Stein said. And hearing Stein say those words made my tears flow. I felt Marie slip her hand into mine.
"Don't worry I won't break it now." I gave out a small laugh and so did Marie. We all watched as Crona held and looked down at Tyler in his arms. He was entranced by the small life in his hands. I reached up with the hand Marie wasn't holding and rubbed Tyler's cheek softly. He twitched but didn't cry. I studied the soft fuzz of blonde hair on top of his head. His eyes were closed, but I could tell he had Marie's eye shape. But the rest of his face looked so much like Stein. I wondered if he had Stein's eye color. Suddenly a fire alarm went off downstairs. We all looked through the door way and in my peripheral vision I could see Stein's eyes go wide.
"Oh, sh-" His cuss wasn't finished as he ran down the stairs. I was confused at first and very worried. A jolt of fear ran through me. Especially when the baby started crying. Crona panicked. So I helped him hand the baby to Marie. Marie cuddled him and shooshed him.
"What could be on fire?" Crona asked me. I almost shrugged but then I realized.
"Dinner." Me and Marie said at the same time. We giggled at each other. After a moment I heard the fire alarm turn off. Stein walked with heavy feet into the room.
"I called for pizza." He announced. He leaned against the doorway. I grabbed the chair from the end of the bed that I assume Stein used for delivery and pulled it over to Marie's side. I patted it.
"Come sit down Stein." He looked at me for a moment before doing so. He sat down and leaned forward towards Marie and Tyler. Crona and I stood next to them. "Happy birthday Stein and Tyler." I said. Stein looked up at me and smiled.
"I forgot it was my birthday. Huh. Well what a wonderful birthday gift." He said as he reached over to touch Tyler's face and he shooshed the baby until Tyler started to just whimper again.
"W-we g-got you a g-g-gift." Crona stuttered. He struggled to pull the box out of his pants pocket because he was shaking. I held on to Crona's other hand in an attempt to comfort him. Which seemed to help because he stopped shaking enough to grab the box out of his pocket. He handed it to Stein.
"You got me something?" Stein asked as he took the box from Crona's still slightly shaking hand. He rubbed his thumb over the box. Then he lifted it up towards us, almost as if he wanted us to take it back. "How much did you pay for it?"
"Ah ah, gifts don't have prices. Jessica says thank you for everything you've done for her. And we say thank you for being a great teacher, friend, piece of family, and now father. Happy birthday Stein." I said. He still had it in the air and he looked between me and Crona. "We're not taking it back so you might as well open it." I said. Stein snickered with a smile. He set it in front of him and pulled the lid off. He smiled as soon as he saw the charm.
"What is it?" Marie asked. Stein held the charm and slowly pulled it out of the box. Marie gasped when she saw it. She snatched it from his fingers. "Oh my death this is so sweet. Look Stein, theres me, you and Tyler. And look at that scalpel, it has stitches." Marie started to tear up. "This is so pretty. Stein you have to wear it."
"I'm not a necklace kind of person." He said, which I thought he would say, "But i'll keep it. This is really unique and very thought out." Marie gave it back to him and he thumbed the charm's design. "Thank you." He said.
"Happy birthday." Me and Crona said to him in response.
"Oh, Maka, Crona, did you find out your baby's gender?" She asked. Me and Crona shared a glance with a wide smile.
"It's a girl."
Oh my death how cute! Now you all know the gender of the baby! Excited? I am :) So, besides me burning your guy's eyes out with over 15,000 words, how'd you like the story? Were there any mistakes? What could I have done better? Have any suggestions for future chapters? Well quit thinking about it and just tell/ask me! I'll see you guys in the next chapter!
Bye Bye!