The Baby Project

11. Meet the Parents

  Mai had no idea what was going on. One second she was thinking about how hot Naru looked feeding a baby and the next she was snatching said child from his hands and vaulting over the side of the couch, hiding behind Naru. Her boss was standing feet apart and hands outstretched as if he was getting ready to throw a ball in front of her and the couch.

"Noll I cannot believe you! Running off to Japan and getting your assistant pregnant! Not telling your mother! I expected this from-" The screaming woman cut her sentence off and stared at Naru. The woman came to Naru's nose and had long curly brown hair and bright blue eyes. Her soft features were frozen in a look of fury and her slender frame was draped in elegant silk.

"What your mother is saying," A man with salt and pepper hair laid a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Is that you should of told us Noll. We love you but I thought that you were more mature than this. You didn't even have the decency to ask the poor girl to marry you after you knocked her up!"

Mai slowly got up from her crouch, beginning to rock the whimpering babe slowly as she walked around the couch to Naru's side. She didn't know what the two people were saying but whatever it was it was causing her stoic boss to flush a light pink. She reached out and tugged his sleeve.

"Naru? Is everything okay? Should I make some tea?" She didn't know what was happening but it was obvious that he knew these people. Maybe they were old clients?

Naru didn't know what was going on with his brain. His parents had just burst through the door, accused him of having sex and impregnating Mai, and said assistant was now offering to make tea while holding a baby that suddenly looked as if it was his clone with Mai's eyes.

"Yes Mai tea would be excellent right now thank you." He smirked as her mouth dropped open and she stumbled to the kitchen with a dazed look in her eyes.

Now to handle his parents.

"Well to answer your questions in order." Both parents blinked in surprise.

"But we didn't ask any questions Noll." He ignored them. After all, Mai could make a pot of tea in five minutes and he needed all the time he had before she back in.

"Mai is my assistant. We have nothing other than that going on so I have no idea where you got these ideas that we had intercourse and a child together. Nor did I run off to Japan. Not only did you see me off at the airport but you also paid for the funding of a Japan SPR branch. I didn't tell you about the child because it is apart of a project that Mai is doing in school called The Baby Project. The reason I have not asked her to marry me is because there is no reason for me to do so as there is nothing going on between us." His parents collapsed into the other couch and stared silently as Mai came back with a baby on one hip and a tray balanced in her opposite hand.

"Here. I didn't know what type of tea they would like so I just made your favorite." She shot him an apologetic look before setting the tea down and grabbing the bottle off the floor.

"Should I go put Oliver down for a nap?" Mai asked quietly, wondering what was happening and asking a silent question. She searched his eyes and was surprised when he shook his head and motioned for her to sit down.

"Mai these are my adoptive parents. Luella and Martin. Martin, Luella, this is my assistant Mai Taniyama." Luella smiled as the girl sat down next to her son, quickly switching the child to opposite arm.

"Hello Taniyama-San it is nice to finally meet you! Madoka-chan has told me so much about you!" Mai blinked as the woman began to speak non stop in fluent Japanese.

Well then, that was unexpected.

~x-X-x~

"Madoka? Where's Big Boss at?" Yasuhara stared at the pink haired woman with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh nothing big, he just stayed behind with Mai!"Everyone stopped and turned to stare at Madoka and Lin as they set down the files they had been carrying. Bou-San blinked before opening his mouth.

"You Left Jou-Chan Alone With Naru?!"

~x-X-x~

Mai smiled as she looked down at a sleeping Oliver. Luella-San had just finished talking with her about her boss' childhood. It turns out that Naru had loved peppermint as a child as well as ghost stories.

"What about you Mai? What have you discovered about Oliver?" The men's conversation bated as they listened in.

"Oliver loves the color blue and anything to do with music. He's also taken a liking to paranormal books and his stuffed ghost-" Mai froze.

"Naru take Oliver." Naru had no idea what was going on but when Mai turned serious it was best to listen. He quickly, but gently, transferred Oliver to his arms and then looked at his assitant with a raised eyebrow.

"Mai what?" He cut himself off as the girl collapsed sideways onto the couch, her eyes glossed over and distant.

"Noll what is going on?" Naru stood and handed the baby to his mother.

"Mai is visting the astral plane right now. This normally happens on a case however she's never been able to sense one coming on before." He moved quickly to reposition Mai into a more comfortable placement. Sitting down at her feet he reached for his cup of tea, only to frown upon the realization that it was empty.

~x-X-x~

Elizabeth stared at the man, James, before grinning really brightly.

"Oh James of course I'll marry you!"

After that it was a jumble of quick flashes of their lives.

A beautiful wedding, a blush inducing wedding night, a sudden bout of sickness, the day Elizabeth told James she was pregnant, and finally the day that Oliver Eugene Smith was born.

"Mrs. Smith I hope you'll be bringing young Oliver here back net week for his shots! He's just too cute, I can't wait to see him again!" Both women laughed.

"Of course! I just hope that you'll be his doctor for the rest of his life! You've helped me so much since we moved her to Japan."

"Elizabeth I hate to interrupt but the Taxi just arriv-"

The dream was cut off and suddenly Mai was face to face with her boss, the familiar backdrop of black and floating white orbs telling her she still wasn't really awake.

"Naru, why did you do that?! I was finding out more about Oliver's parents!"

"Masako has gone missing. Also you should stop calling me Naru, I'm not him." ANd with that he reached out with a grim look on his face and pushed her back.