Soul was tired. So tired. He fought a yawn as he trudged towards Amara's school, her hand in his. He was somewhat aware of her talking and tuned in just in time.
"Posso dire loro, papà? Per favore! (Can't I please tell them, Papa? Please!" Amar begged for the umpteenth time and Soul had to bite back his millionth sigh.
"Amara, ci siamo passati. (Amara, we have been through this." Soul told her with patiently. "Your mother and I will tell our friend's when we're ready."
Amara huffed.
"Are you and Mama ever going to be ready?" Amara chimed impatiently. "It's been ages. You said you were going to tell them after Grandpa knew but it's been – it's been..." Amara's brow furrowed adorably as she tried to count the days. Soul bit back a smile.
"It's been one month," he helped her. "And Maka is three months along now." He shook his head. Time really had flown.
"Then why haven't you told them?" Amara demanded. Soul stopped in front of her school to crouch in front of her.
"It's nothing for you to worry about," he said gruffly before kissing her forehead. "How 'bout this? You stop asking so many questions, and we will let you tell them. But only when the time is right."
That worked. Amara's eyes lit up in excitement before she threw her arms around Soul's neck.
"Veramente? Grazie, grazie, grazie! (Really? Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she squeaked. Soul hugged her as he laughed lightly before he stood up and ruffled her hair.
"Alright, now go ahead," he told her with a small nudge. "Don't wanna be late, do you?" Amara shook her head as she took a step away, her small face still bright with a smile.
"Nope!" she chirped. "I'll see you soon! Tell Mama I love her! And you!" Soul laughed before waving her off.
"Will do! Now, get - And remember to speak English!" Amara laughed musically before turning on her heels and running to the doors. Soul's smile faded as he recalled the real reason Maka wanted to wait to tell their friends.
"Now, was that so bad," Soul asked as he shut their apartment door and shrugged off his coat. Maka shook her head idly as she made her way into the apartment.
"Now, we just need to tell our friends," he said with a laugh. "Boy, that's gonna be – "
He cut off when he looked to Maka. She was resting her hands on her tiny little bump, her expression far away. Soul frowned.
"Maka," Soul tilted his head. "Hey, you okay?"
Maka didn't respond for a moment. She looked up with nervous eyes before gesturing to the couch.
"Come sit with me a sec," she patted the cushion beside her as she sat down. Soul made his way over to her mechanically.
"There's something you should know," she said quietly, her eyes still turned down towards her stomach. "The doctor who treated me rang while I was in the bathroom at the café."
Soul frowned. He thought she took a while. She was in the bathroom for about fifteen minutes, while sat with her father (who was gushing about baby shower plans), before she returned. But ever since she did, every smile on her face seemed strained. He shuffled in his seat.
"Okay," he said slowly. "What is it? Something need signing?" Maka's eyes welled up. She closed them.
"No, I wish," she muttered before shaking her head and meeting his eyes once more. "It's seems… It seems that the accident may have caused more damage than they thought."
Soul stiffened. His eyes fell to her hand on her stomach. His throat dried up.
"The baby…" Maka shook her head.
"The baby's fine," she reassured him, before grimacing. "For now. They said it's hard to tell at this stage what damage it took. It didn't look too bad on the day, but he said he was looking over my scan again and – "
Soul shot up to his feet.
"And he's just telling you this now?" he exclaimed in anger, his crimson eye's blazing. "Shouldn't they have known this right away? Seriously – "
"Soul," Maka spoke crossly, cutting him off. "The doctor did everything he could. We're lucky he even looked again. Anyways, he said he doesn't think there was anything wrong, he just felt we should be warned."
"Warned?"
"Yes," she responded impatiently. "In case anything does happen. He said be careful and maybe don't tell anyone until we're past the scary stage."
Soul sat back down beside her. He narrowed his eyes as her met his.
"The scary stage?" Maka nodded.
"He said if I pass the three-month mark, he's sure the baby will be fine." she said in one breath. "He said I may have some problems with labour, but that isn't a big worry. At worst I may need a C-Section, which will be fine for me and the baby."
Soul let out a long breath and grasped Maka's small hand in his own.
"…Okay." He breathed. "One more month, and we'll tell our friends."
Maka nodded sternly, but Soul could see the fear in her eyes.
"One more month."
It had been exactly one month and Maka had had no problems. They saw the doctor the day before and he said the baby was perfectly healthy, but she should just be prepared for a difficult delivery. Maka seemed unfazed by that, simply glowing at the fact their baby was okay. Soul was hung up on worrying about her going into labour.
He trudged home, sunlight streaming lightly through the trees and warming his face. He released a content sigh before stopping in front of his apartment building. He frowned, noticing Tsubaki's SUV parked beside his bike. He didn't know she and Star were visiting today. Soul made his way up to his apartment cautiously. His friends never came unannounced.
He pulled out his key and twisted it in the lock. He pushed the door open to find everyone on their oversized couch. "Soul!" Blackstar crowed loudly. Soul flinched.
"Lower your voice, man." He complained as he threw his keys on the side table.
"What are you all doing here?" He watched Tsubaki and Blackstar catch each other's eye then look away.
"We wanted to talk," Tsubaki spoke softly before gesturing at the seat in front of them, beside Maka. "Sit."
Soul frowned but did as he was told. He shot Maka a look, which she mirrored.
"They say anything to you?" he muttered. Maka shook her head.
"They said you had to be here," she murmured. Tsubaki cleared her throat.
"Okay," Tsubaki chimed with a smile. "I don't mean to be intrusive, but me and Blackstar just want to clear something up."
Soul and Maka leant back, Tsubaki caught all their attention.
"I don't know if you guys know this," Tsubaki wringed her hands together self-consciously. "But, during holidays and breaks from missions, you know, hunting Kishin," her cheeks were blazing. "Well, I've been going to college."
Soul's eyebrows shot up in surprise. That mustn't have been easy. Breaks between missions were few and far in between, and holidays only lasted a few days. Tsubaki must have read the confusion on his face.
"I've also been taking night classes too, whenever I can," she admitted weakly. Blackstar rubbed her back and beamed proudly.
"Tsubaki," Maka began, "That's amazing. But I don't understand why you sound so embarrassed." Soul nodded in agreement. Tsubaki's face grew even more guilty.
"Well, you see," she started again slowly, her eyes falling to her lap again. "The subject I've been studying… Well," she trailed off. Her eyes flew to Blackstar. He nodded sweetly, and it still shocked Soul that his friend was capable of such a kind expression. The blue haired man looked back to Soul and Maka.
"Tsubaki's been studying to become a midwife," he told them, before going on. "So, she can kinda tell when a woman is – "
"When a woman is pregnant," Maka finished for him with a roll of her eyes. Soul looked to her to find a smile playing at her lips. "Since when did you want to become a midwife though, Tsu? That's incredible."
"Yeah," Soul added. "It – It suits you."
"Uh, well," Tsubaki stuttered, obviously threw off by their response. "I've always wanted to be one. Ever since I was a little girl. But when I found I had weapon blood, all my energy and time was put into that. I've always told Blackstar that it was my dream, so he found a way for me to achieve it." She looked to her partner with loving eyes. He grinned at her.
"It just didn't seem fair that she didn't get to pursue her dream job just because she's a weapon," he said as he patted her knee. "And I just knew she'd be amazing at it. Top of her class." he told them proudly, Tsubaki blushed as Maka slapped her hands together in excitement with a gasp.
"That's my best friend!" she squealed as she shot forward to hug her friend's shoulders softly. Tsubaki laughed lightly before pulling back to eye Maka's stomach.
"Three months?" she guessed. Soul barked a laugh.
"Three months exactly - You've definitely found your calling." Tsubaki near enough glowed at the praise before sinking back down.
"We were a little reluctant to tell you we knew," she told them, her eyes narrowing with worry again. "We assumed there was a reason you weren't saying anything. But we got a little worried so –"
"It's okay, Tsu," Maka interrupted before repeating everything the doctor had told her, including what he said the day before. Tsubaki's and Blackstar's eyes grew in horror before narrowing with relief.
"Well, I'm glad to hear everything is in order now," Tsubaki breathed in relief. Maka smiled.
"So are we," she laughed. "We were going to talk about how to tell you guys today."
Soul interrupted her with a laugh.
"Well actually," he chuckled again. "I promised Amara today that she could tell anything." He looked over to his friends in amusement. "So, just pretend you're shocked when she tells you later? Kid and the girls won't need to act, but you guys will."
Blackstar laughed loudly.
"Of course! Your God's calling is acting!" Maka rolled her eyes and ignored him and turned to Soul.
"Oh, the doctor called and said we can worry less about delivery," she told her as his eyes shot to her, instantly alarmed.
"What do you mean?" Maka smiled.
"He said he was thinking about his examination yesterday and he thinks everything better then okay," she shrugged as if this information wasn't news to her. She grinned but Soul could see the joy in her eyes.
"He said treat this pregnancy as we would have if there was no accident and enjoy it."
Soul couldn't contain himself. All this worrying, all those sleepless nights fretting were for nothing. He didn't even care that Tsu and Star were sitting right there. He lunged himself at Maka, burying his face in her hair as he whispered a silent thank you to Death and any other God that cared. They would be just fine.
