Chapter VI: Nursery

Hello again, fans of A Baby Story! Sorry for the three-year hiatus, but I had to sort out some things regarding this story. After some research and a great deal of thought, I was finally able to find a continuing point. Thank you for your patience!

Disclaimer: Peach does not own the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise or its characters. She only owns this story, her interpretations and any OCs she happens to come up with. Thank you!

The honeymoon had been wonderful. Both Mokuba and Rebecca had enjoyed their beautiful week at the hotel, but all too soon, the week was up and they moved into the guesthouse on the Kaiba family compound. It had been cleaned before they arrived but…

"Uh, when was this last decorated?" Rebecca asked as they saw a sitting room painted in gray with white molding, trim and baseboards. It also had a faux leopard rug and white couches, along with a glass table.

Mokuba groaned. "By the looks of things, 1985. Gozaburo didn't have guests a lot and didn't sink money into this house. The plumbing and electricity was kept up, but I think we have to figure out the decorating ourselves."

After striding into another room that had a couch patterned as if someone had vomited on it, Rebecca got her laptop computer and began looking. "Mokuba, what's our decorating budget?"

"It's not unlimited, but what are you thinking?" he asked, sitting next to her on what they would call the barf bouquet couch (until a charity hauled it off).

She scanned the images and pointed to one rather luxurious classic room. "What about this for the first sitting room? The paint job isn't bad and all we have to do is get rid of the furniture and area rug, right?"

Mokuba nodded thoughtfully. "At least that room's figured out. We can do that. Hopefully, the rest of the house doesn't need to be changed a lot. And we've got to pick a room for the baby."

"Yeah…" Rebecca's lips thinned as she concentrated on thousands of images of fabrics, couches, tables and other things that make up rooms. It wasn't until she saw his hand waving in front of her face that she realized he was talking to her.

"…Becks? Becks, you okay?" Mokuba was saying, his face etched with concern. "You kind of spaced out for a few minutes."

She shook her head. "Yeah, I'm all right, Mokuba." Her eyebrows furrowed. "Just thinking about all this. It's nothing."

Perhaps there was a bit more bite in her voice than she had intended. But Mokuba's expression of concern turned to tension. "It's not nothing, Becks. You're all tense. And I don't like it when you don't tell me."

"It's not anything, all right?! I'm just trying to think about these fabric prints! Just…!" she sputtered.

"Just what? Rebecca, what is going on?!" he demanded.

Rebecca got up and walked out of the sitting room. "I'm going for a walk, all right?!"

"Fine!" Mokuba shouted back, fuming. His blue-gray eyes snapped like a storm cloud long after the sound of the slamming door had stopped echoing in his ears. What just happened? We were just talking about decorating! He got up, shut the laptop and headed out the door. It had been raining and the sun glinted off of the raindrops that clung to the grass. He saw his wife's footprints in the wet grass, indicating that she was heading to the track behind the main mansion. And so he headed for his brother's front door.

"Do I want to know what happened?" Kisara asked, not even looking up from her embroidery.

"How'd you know it was me?" Mokuba sat down next to his sister-in-law

Her fingers pushed the needle into the fabric of a small tote bag. "Mokuba, I've been part of this family for about seven years. And that means I've gotten to know you pretty well. I know when you're upset and how you slam the door and stomp a little when you are. So…" She put the needle into the fabric and set her project down. "What happened?"

He told her. "So, I don't know what set her off, but she got all upset and I think she's over at the track. Something told me going after her this time would make it worse."

"I think you're right." The blue-white blonde woman considered things for a moment. "Mokuba, she went all quiet, you said, when you mentioned picking a room for the baby, right?"

"Yeah," he said, eyes widening. "It has to do with the baby, doesn't it?"

"It might, or something having to do with changes because of it. You two need to talk to each other and talk this out. I could go and see if she's all right," she offered. "The kids are all napping right now."

Mokuba thought about it for a moment. "All right," he said finally.

Kisara nodded and went to pull on her sneakers.

Y

The second light smacking of sneaker soles against the rubberized running track told Rebecca she wasn't alone. The glint of sunlight against the blue-white blonde hair tied back in a ponytail also told her it wasn't her husband on the track. "Becca, are you okay?" Kisara called, jogging up to match her sister-in-law's speed.

A set of bangs blew into the younger woman's face, and she blew them out of the way impatiently. "I'm fine, okay? I just needed to take a walk!" The older woman wisely remained silent while her sister-in-law calmed down. They walked a couple of laps around the track together and then sat down at a bench. "I guess I snapped at you back there. Sorry," Rebecca apologized.

"It's okay. Just tell me what's going on, all right?" Kisara said gently.

Rebecca sat for a long moment, thinking about what had really been bugging her. She finally was able to say something. "We were talking about the house and the nursery. I don't know how to explain this… Kisara, I want this baby and I'm happy Mokuba and I got married. It's just that it all happened so fast. And… what if something happens and I can't get my RN certification?"

Kisara thought for a long moment as well. "Rebecca," she said finally, "if that's what you want to do, nothing can stop you. All you have to do is ask the people you love for help. We'll all help you. We can't take tests for you, but we can help you study. We can't have the baby for you, but we will help with the baby. And that includes your husband. Have you really talked to Mokuba about all this?"

"I don't know how," she admitted. "Kisara, will Mokuba understand? I don't want to hurt him, even by accident."

"If you're calm and explain how you're feeling, I'm sure he'll understand. I'm sure he was just as puzzled as you were at first." Kisara smiled and then started chuckling. "Seto and I had a similar fight when we first got married, believe it or not!"

"But you weren't… were you?"

"Oh, no, but I was worried about my being a multi-billionaire's wife and how it would affect my medical career. But Seto and I talked it out. It took a few chats, but we agreed my career was just as important and that if I had to work, he could take care of our children when I needed it. And the reverse is true too. And Mokuba's lent a hand as have you and our friends. We're all here for you."

"But Rebecca," Kisara cautioned, "talk to your husband. He'll understand."

"Thanks, sis," the younger woman said, hugging the mother of four.

Y

Meanwhile, Mokuba sighed, staring out the window toward the track. How do I talk things out with Rebecca when I'm not sure about all of this myself? We've only been married a week… isn't it supposed to be all sunshine and rainbows? A friendly hand laid itself on his shoulder.

"Hey, little brother. First fight?" Seto Kaiba asked.

"How'd you know?"

"Kiddo, I saw you coming here from the home office," Seto explained, sitting down next to his brother and also looking out the window. "I could see the expression on your face. I'm guessing Kisara talked to you?"

"Yeah… Seto… big brother, I'm still not totally sure what made her so mad. Kisara thought it might be that Becks is worried about the baby and how it's going to change things. But her blowing up at me doesn't make sense…"

Seto thought a moment and sighed, laughing a little. "Mokuba, if I've learned anything from being married, it's that arguments seldom make sense at first. Sometimes it's you and sometimes it's the other person. You cool down or let them cool down and then you talk things over. Try that with Rebecca. Maybe what she needs right now is reassurance, but don't try to force it on her."

Mokuba nodded and then abruptly realized something. "Wasn't that why you guys had that bad fight?"

Seto's cheeks turned a very light shade of pink, which was the equivalent of a fiery blush on anyone else. "Yeah. I went about trying to calm her down and apparently that was the wrong way to do it. But once she cooled down, Kisara and I talked about what we both wanted in our jobs and family and we figured it out together. I know a lot of yelling was involved before we got there," he admitted.

"On both sides," the younger man said with a slight chuckle.

Seto's eyes widened. "How much did you hear?"

"You really don't want to know, big brother."

Y

It was about 20 minutes later when Rebecca came through the door of the mansion to her husband. "Mokuba, we need to talk about this," she said after they'd hugged. Seto and Kisara had wisely withdrawn to another room.

"Yeah, we do," he answered, guiding her to the couch where they could sit together. A servant had brought in mugs of hot chocolate for them and the couple sipped at it for a moment. "Remember when we got hot chocolate at Dreamery Creamery a few days before Christmas?"

"Which year?" she asked, managing a smile.

"The year Joey and Mai got married and when Seto and Kisara first got engaged."

"Oh yeah. I can't believe the wait staff at Dreamery still does the hot chocolate song."

"Yeah." Silence descended for a moment and Mokuba spoke again. "I'm sorry if I haven't thought about your feelings with all of this."

Her bright blue eyes met his blue-gray ones. "Mokuba, I'm not sure about everything. I mean, I'm glad we got married and that we've got a baby coming. But what about my nursing degree? I didn't plan on being pregnant while going for it. What can we do?"

Instead of automatically telling her their options, he asked questions. "What kind of classes does your program offer? Are they all in classroom or are there some online?"

Rebecca nodded thoughtfully. "I'm not scheduled to take a practicum until the fall semester next year. A lot of my courses are available online, so as long I finish them, I should be okay. At least if something happens… And I can take summer courses too!" Her face was brightening up.

"And I can help you. If you have to have bed rest, I'll make sure you have your laptop and anything else you need. I can telecommute, Becks. I can't carry the baby for you, but I'm going to help you. We're supposed to help each other, right?"

Rebecca smiled. "But what about your job?"

"Seto will have me on a flexible schedule. And Kaiba Corp instituted paid paternity leave when Seto took over the company, remember?"

"Oh yeah. That was good of him." When Seto had taken over Kaiba Corp, one of the first things he'd done was go beyond what the law required for care of his employees. While shareholders had complained at first, Seto had put paid leave for all employees into place. A part-timer, he had reasoned, needed sick leave and family leave as much as a full-timer. This had led to Kaiba Corp being a more productive and happy company.

Mokuba nodded. "Yeah. So I'm going to take full advantage of Seto's policies. And I haven't taken sick days except for a couple of times… and the kidnappings."

"Weren't those work-related?" she asked, and they both started to laugh.

In another room, Seto and Kisara breathed a sigh of relief, hearing the joyful laughter. "They're working it out," he said softly.

"Did you really doubt that they would?" the blue-white blonde woman asked, smiling.

"Not really. I still couldn't help but worry, though," he admitted, his expression softening. "I want them to be happy, but I don't want them splitting up a week after they got married."

Y

An hour later, the younger Kaiba couple sat in the garish "barf bouquet couch" room of their house, planning. "Okay, so I'll make sure you have time to study all summer and I'll cook at least three nights a week," Mokuba said. "And that depends on how you're feeling. We don't have staff, but Seto and Kisara said that they'd send over help if we needed it. Do we agree on allowing help?"

"We do. It's a little hard to get used to, though," she admitted.

Mokuba didn't understand at first, but then remembered something his brother had said when Gozaburo was gone for good. "Seto said it was hard for him to get used to, that he had people who'd do things for him. He liked being able to ask someone for Cocoa Puffs and not get Oat Bran."

"Oat Bran? Geez…" Rebecca might've said something further, but decided she didn't want to know. "I'll get used to it eventually, but it'll take a little time."

"Yeah. So about the redecorating…"

"You told me the budget we've got and I think we can do a lot with that. It'll be quite a bit to redo the kitchen, but I think we can do everything else on a budget. There's that Scandinavian superstore, depending on what we want. And there's a kitchen table that looks kind of old-fashioned. How do you feel about flea markets and second-hand stores?" she asked.

"I'm fine with that," he grinned. "When Seto and Kisara were first seeing each other, she dragged him to a second-hand shop and got a table that she wanted to refinish. She actually did a pretty good job of it. It's that black one that's in their bedroom."

"That one? Wow! Maybe they can both help us do some refinishing. Do they know how to do upholstery?"

"We could ask. The rest of the gang might be able to help us, and I'm sure they'd help us out with the baby clothes."

They talked on through the evening and got takeout for dinner. By the time Mokuba and Rebecca got into bed, they had at least figured out how to push their lives in a better direction. They both hoped they could actually execute their plans.

And that concludes the sixth chapter of this tale. Next time, we shall see if the younger Kaiba couple can indeed execute their plans. Until next time, please read and review! Thank you!