Are We Alive?

Twenty-One: Celandine

Celandine–Joys to come

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Three days in the house and Marshal was having a bad time with more morning sickness. Rin figured it would be good to know for sure and he remembered seeing a familiar box in the Master Bathroom cabinet. He gave it to Marshal and she took it wordlessly, looking very nervous, but determined.

She did three pregnancy tests just in case and all of them said she was pregnant. Marshal spent a day and a half wandering around and helping clean up the house in a daze, processing the information even though she'd already figured she might be pregnant. She kind of just went on autopilot for about a day before accepting the news with a sigh by sunset on the second day.

She and Rin sat together on the porch swing, swinging lightly and peering up at the treehouse where the girls played pretend superheroes. The breeze felt nice as the heat and humidity slowly dropped to a bearable level. The sky got darker and darker. The burnt oranges and fading yellows reminded Rin of Ryuji and he never got tired of seeing those colors. At dawn, when the sky was a pale purple and the clouds were pink, it reminded him of Izumo, so he never minded waking up before the sun was fully up either. He knew Marshal liked the night sky better, because it reminded her of memories as a silly little kid looking forward to the future.

"What am I s'posed to say? How do I react to this? That guy came in me so many times that it would be a miracle if I wasn't pregnant...." Marshal sighed, voice subdued and quiet with grudging acceptance. Rin winced at the crude phrasing but nodded. He'd been there. He'd been expecting this since they'd been rescued.

"You figured you'd end up pregnant. You could've probably found Morning After Pills in town somewhere and taken care of the issue of a baby." Rin said. "But you didn't. Because the baby's not an issue. Am I right in assuming it's something you've always wanted, at least?" Rin guessed.

"I always wanted a couple brats of my own to be proud of. I'd've been one of those moms who thought everyone else's kids were from Hell and mine were perfect little ankle-biters. With the exception of my sister's kids, of course. And yours, now." Marshal sighed softly.

She looked down at her stomach. There was a tiny bump already forming and she patted her belly fondly. "You're gonna be a couple of badass little babies in the Apocalypse, okay kiddos?" She murmured. Rin smiled and let her lean against him on the porch swing, humming a tune to a song he didn't know.

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"Don't y'all start treating me like I'm glass, now. It's only been maybe a month and a half at most!" Marshal told Kinzou when he tried to stop her from helping him move the couch. "Are we sure it hasn't been longer?" The man wondered. Marshal frowned at him, placing her hands on her hips. "Why?" She demanded.

He stepped forward and placed a hand over the small baby bump protruding from the woman's stomach. "That does not look like a one month old baby bump, Marshal." He told her. She sighed. "Yeah, I know."

"And it doesn't look like twins either." Yukio added as he walked into the room to help Kinzou move the couch. "God damnit you really gotta burst my bubble that fast, huh?" The woman grumbled. "You know not to lie to yourself. This is important, Marshal. We don't have the equipment to help you birth three kids." Yukio said bluntly. Kinzou gave him an incredulous look.

"But," The teen continued. "If women could do it without medicine before and heal enough to raise their kids, you can do it too. Actually, if anyone could birth three babies naturally with no medical help, I think it would be you. You're irritatingly persistent and optimistic about the smallest things and you're good at pushing through. The same goes for raising the kids too. I think if anyone had to handle three kids at once, it would also be you. You're a certified hot mess until you need to get your shit together." He finished. Marshal smiled. "Thank you. My dad never believed I could get my act together. We left home as soon as we graduated 'cause of that." Marshal threw an arm around the boy, squeezing him in a friendly side-hug, eyes softening in a rare moment of affection for the boy.