“Not to be smug, but I can,” Fay stated as he parked his car. APID's underground parking made it safe for Rheni to step out of the car without being seen. “The kids love you. In fact, just the other night when you had your phone date with Cami, Katia got upset that I was the one reading the bedtime story instead of you. I’ve practically been replaced.”
“You haven’t, I swear… When you’re at work, all they cared about was making things to show you when you get home, whether a drawing or a dance or new signs they learned… Oh, I suck at ASL. I don’t think they get that not everyone knows it.”
“They don’t get out much to meet people,” Fay explained. “That’ll change soon though, if I have anything to do with it. My children are not going to become recluses like Dari… Dari's not going to become a recluse like Dari.”
Rheni frowned and watched Fay as he got out. “…Fay, don't you think you're putting a lot of expectations on Dari that he just might not be able to meet?”
Fay's visage tensed and he turned to the slime man. “Why?”
“Well, I mean, before the twins, I’ve basically been home alone all day with Dari and, you know, we talk and he just feels like all the changes you want him to go through aren’t realistic or even necessary,” Rheni explained. “And he feels like he’s made a lot of good progress already and why can’t that be enough?”
“He has made good progress,” Fay said. “He’s a much more open and much more functional person than when I met him. And as he is might’ve been fine before. If we didn’t have kids, maybe he could’ve just stayed home all the time, be mostly self-sufficient, garden, and all that… But now we do have the kids. And a lot of them. And there are laws. And kids need to be in school. And on top of that, our children are merspawn, and merspawn have their own needs that need to be met, and I’ve been ignoring a lot of rules from my community to cater to Dari’s needs, but there will come a time where their needs are more important and he needs to bend as well.”
“Oh, well, I mean… Yeah, I guess it’s more complicated,” Rheni said. “But why can’t he homeschool them?”
“Homeschool… I can’t…” Fay’s frustration knotted his forehead. “If I even thought homeschool was a good idea, they would still need a good teacher. I managed to get Dari to finish his high school equivalency, but beyond that, I really don’t think he’s capable of running homeschooling for our children. He would need to prove that he can do it. And even if he could do it, I still don’t want them to be homeschooled. I don’t think it would be healthy to keep them away from other children. They need to learn to socialize with other people, not just their own family and family friends. I want them to be able to pursue anything they want to have or be in our society and they won’t be able to do that if the only people they ever talk to are us and the only lessons they ever learn is that they should only ever want to be home.”
“Hmm, yeah… I mean, I get your point, but maybe you need to talk to Dari about it again, because he's not feeling great about it,” Rheni said.
“I know…” Fay pointed to the exit. “Can we go inside though? This parking lot is not warm and I am a fish.”
“Yeah! I was waiting for your lead, to be honest,” Rheni said.
They headed inside and checked in through security. In the elevator, Fay sighed and leaned against the wall.
“I've cut him off.”
“Hm?”
“No more children.”
“Oh. Yeah, I know.”
“On top of not wanting to have more children, and not feeling capable of having more in our life, I also believe that when’s he’s not busy being pregnant, Dari has more time to improve himself. And he can say he’s good enough as he is, but I also know he wants to improve because there’s things he wants to do that are just out of reach right now…”
The elevator doors opened into the lobby for the medical ward. Camilo was already there talking to Köbi, but he looked over as they came out. He looked tired with a big crew neck pulled down tight around his overburdened middle, but he smiled when he saw his boyfriend run up to him.
“Cam, hey! How are you?” Rheni asked, grabbing his boyfriend by the waist and kissing his cheek.
“I had a rough night honestly, but I'm okay,” Camilo said. “How are you?”
“Super excited. I want to see our kid,” Rheni said grinning. “It's all I've been thinking about since Syd confirmed we could.”
Camilo nodded. “Yeah, you better thank them for making the time.”
“I will!”
At that, Sydryn came out and waved them in. “Good, you're both here. Let's go. Fay, are you joining us?”
“Oh, no, just dropping off the slime. I want to check in on my replacement.”
“Oh, thanks, Fay!” Rheni said waving. “I'll text you when it's over.”
“Alright. Have fun, you two,” Fay said before going to call the elevator again.
The couple followed Syd into the radiology room where the sonogram was set up. Since Camilo's classes had taken up a lot of his time, he hadn't visited Rheni in a while so the slime man couldn't keep his eyes off him. He found himself admiring even just the way Camilo carried himself over to the exam table.
“Cam, please take this as a compliment, but you have such a cute pregnant waddle,” Rheni stated.
Camilo immediately blushed. “Is it really that noticeable? I thought I was trying not to…”
“You're 39 weeks pregnant,” Sydryn stated. “To attempt to change how you walk would likely only cause more strain on your body.”
“39?!” Rheni exclaimed. “Are you seriously that far along?”
“Yep… We're in the end game. This kid is classified full term and I am ready for this to be over,” Camilo said.
“Okay, but like, I knew we were end game, but this is like…Portals are open, ‘I am Iron Man', end game. Like, it's that far in,” Rheni said, starting to feel sweaty, even though he couldn't sweat. “You could have the kid any day now, right?”
“Technically, yes,” Sydryn said. “Though you have a March due date.”
“Well, as long as it's not in the middle of an exam, I will welcome this kid any day,” Camilo said, climbing up on the table. He flipped up his shirt, exposing his belly. Marcita had worked her magic and he didn't have a single noticeable stretch mark because of her lotion concoction but his navel was a speckled button and his linea negra had darkened a bit.
“You've gotten so big since I last saw you,” Rheni said going over to stand beside him.
“Yep… Thankfully, I shouldn't get any bigger…” Camilo remarked.
Sydryn repositioned the ultrasound's screen towards the couple and then prepped the wand with gel before placing it on Camilo's abdomen.
“Ooh, this is it,” Rheni said excitedly, holding Camilo's arm.
“Calm down, you're a little too worked up,” Camilo said, feeling Rheni's grip tighten.
“Sorry, sorry… Oh! Is that the baby?”
Syd's hand paused with the wand pushed in deep into As Camilo’s side. The screen beside them showed the profile of the baby, tucked into little ball.
“Is she in the right position?” Camilo asked.
“Yes, I could already tell from the shape of you, but the image can confirm it,” Sydryn explained. “I assumed since this will be the last ultrasound before you're due, you'd like pictures?”
“Of course!” Rheni said, his eyes glued to the screen. “I can't believe that's really inside you, Cam.”
“Right? Believe it.”
Sydryn used the mouse connected to the monitor to highlight where they were going to take the picture. “Camilo, hold your breath for me.”
Camilo did as told and the doctor took some pictures quickly.
“That’s enough, thank you,” Sydryn said, letting the boy breathe. “Everything still looks good. The foetus is at the right stage of development for your pregnancy. I don't see signs for any congenital abnormalities or birth defects. Your fluids are the right level.”
“Oh, that’s all good,” Rheni said. “But is that it?”
“There's not much more to look at,” Sydryn stated, taking away the wand. “Camilo's healthy. The baby’s healthy. Prepare for the birth.”
“Well, thank you for making time for us,” Camilo said, grabbing a tissue from beside the table to wipe his belly. “I'm sure you're really busy.”
“I am. That's why we had to keep this short,” Sydryn stated.
“Aoife told me you weren't feeling well a week or two ago, so I'm glad you're back on your feet,” Camilo said. “You are feeling better, right?”
“Yes, for now. You have no need to worry for your own health,” Sydryn stated. “Now, as much as I'd love to keep talking, I do have other patients to see.”
Camilo put his arm out for Rheni to grab and pull him up onto his feet.
Rheni helped him willingly. “And the pictures?”
“Köbi will print as many as you'd like at the front desk,” Sydryn said. “Or, actually… I'll make sure he knows how. I'm a little too used to Aoife's competence, I suppose…”
“I think Köbi's doing a good job,” Camilo said. “You're too critical of him.”
“Without Aoife and even Reid around, this medical ward is an absolute nightmare,” Sydryn stated, leading them out. “I don't have enough time or energy for it…”
“What about the doctor who covered when you were sick?”
“She's from another branch of APID abroad. She was only visiting. We're looking to hire more physicians but, well, it requires very high qualifications that few can meet.”
“That's a flex,” Rheni chuckled. “We get it, you're irreplaceable.”
“I am, but I wouldn't be replaced. We just need someone qualified enough that I can train. I was hoping I might groom Köbi for it, but he's turned out to be quite the upward battle…”
When they got to reception again, Köbi was following a video on his computer on how to do corn rows. He smiled to them as they approached. “How was the ultrasound?”
“It was really cool!” Rheni said.
“Köbi, this is a sterile ward,” Sydryn reminded. “Put your hair up and wash your hands.”
“Ah, es tuet mr leid… You’ll have to let me braid your hair later though.” Köbi paused his video and went to wash his hands at the sink in the back of the cage. “Anything I can help with?”
“We'd like to get some pictures printed from the ultrasound,” Camilo said.
“Oh, cool!” Köbi came back to the front. “Sounds good.”
“Do you remember how to do that?” Sydryn asked.
“Sure, um…”
Sydryn sighed and let themselves into the cage to help.
In the meantime, Camilo and Rheni took a seat in the waiting area.
“Hey, we never followed up on your family stuff,” Camilo said. “Safe to say, you're waiting until after this kid is out?”
“Yeah, but actually, you just reminded me! Um…” Rheni pulled out his phone. “I did some snooping. And now I'm on the same Overwatch team as Timothy Zhao.”
“Timothy?”
“My brother.”
“Oh! What? How did you find him?” Camilo asked.
“I said, I did some snooping,” Rheni said. “It didn't take too much though. These kids put pretty much everything on social media. Found Michael's Facebook, found his brother’s name, found Tim's Instagram, found his public invite to his Discord channel, joined his Overwatch team.”
“So you're stalking a fifteen year old.”
“He just turned sixteen, and no, I'm befriending him. He's my brother.”
“Did you tell him?”
“Not yet. I mean, it's not like he'd believe me.”
“Yeah, so you're stalking him.”
“Come on, I'm just trying to tell you about my brother.”
“Okay, okay. Tell me.”
“He's a good kid… I was worried I was gonna get one of those screechy yelly kids who are like a nightmare to play with, but he's really calm and smart.”
Camilo sighed. “So… If Michael went missing six years ago, then Timothy would've been ten when he went missing. That would be so difficult to deal with at that age…”
“Yeah… I think I need him to see me first…” Rheni said. “I feel like a smart kid like that's more likely to believe it's me than adults who are set in their ways, you know?”
“I get it… But they all need to know you're alive. They all need that…” Camilo held his stomach. “Losing a child can't possibly be easy to come to terms with.”
Sydryn came up to them with two long envelopes. “We printed several copies. Enjoy.”
“Thanks, Syd,” Rheni said getting up and taking the envelopes. “It means a lot, really.”
“Don't mention it,” Sydryn said.
“So, I imagine you're going back home with Fay from here?” Camilo asked his boyfriend.
Rheni nodded. “I figure we might be here a bit… Fay's not the best when it comes to the staying at home part of paternity leave.”
“Well, um, I'm taking the afternoon to study a bit but I think I might be free to visit afterwards,” Camilo said.
“Are you sure you want to travel that much in your condition?” Rheni asked.
“I don't think it's much of a distance, but honestly, I welcome anything that'll start my labour,” Camilo said. “I'm very much done with this whole pregnancy thing…”
“It's overrated, huh?” Rheni joked, rubbing Camilo's belly gently.
“Completely. Yesterday's news. Passé.”
Rheni chuckled and kissed Camilo's cheek. “I can't wait for our baby to be here.”
“It's unbelievable to think that even as soon as tomorrow, we could be parents,” Camilo said. “But right now, I'm still a student and I gotta go study.”
Rheni nodded. “Okay. I'll let you go for now.” He gave Camilo another kiss. “Call me later please.”
“I will.”
