-Nine Months in Hell & Nine Months in Heaven-

Her First Steps, Her First Words

Blonde hair and pink eyes. A picture of her parents mixed together in this tiny child.

She cooed at her father who watched her struggling to get her feet placed onto the wooden floor below. Nine couldn't help but grin at her action.

"Come on, baby. Come to daddy! Come on!" His hands gestured slowly in a waving motion towards him. His daughter tilted her head to the side and cooed again as if she didn't understand what it meant.

The spiky-haired blonde sighed and slumped his shoulders in defeat.

"Looks like you got my smarts instead of your mother's. Crap..."

Nine brushed the back of his head lightly, trying to figure out what could persuade his daughter to walk small steps to him. Then a spark of instant realization came to him.

"Why didn't I think of it before? Sweetie, daddy's gonna be right back. So, stay! Stay!" His fingers pointed to the wooden floor underneath her and grinned as she nodded slowly, blinking at her father innocently.

"All right! That's my girl!" He gave her the thumbs up and rushed into the nursery to get her favorite stuffed animal from her crib.

After he came back, he held a pale blue stuffed elephant in front of him, making his daughter squeal with delight. Nine laughed and propped the toy in front of him a few feet away. Her first instinct was to crawl to him to get her elephant, but when she did that her father raised it up high in the air.

Her lips trembled and tears began to form around her eyes. Nine flinched at his lovable daughter's actions. He stumbled with his words until he placed her back in her original position and showed her what she needed to do.

Leaning back against the white wall, she used her hands to balance herself but fell. Her face showed an expression full of determination, while her eyes hardened at her countless efforts to stand straight up.

Nine couldn't help but groan sympathetically.

Holding up the elephant, Nine propped it up again causing her pink irises to widen with happiness. She pushed her body away from the wall and began to walk.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Her father fought the urge to shout and cheer for his offspring as she slowly took her time, using her arms to stabilize herself from falling to the floor.

"That's great, hon. Come on! You can do it!" Nine whispered, his hands on the stuffed elephant tightened.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Her high pitched voice shrieked with glee, finally making her journey a one-stop to her beloved stuffed elephant and into her father's arms. Nine's green eyes brightened and picked her up off the ground and cheered.

"ALL RIGHT! THAT'S MY BABY GIRL! WHOO!" Nine exclaimed, shouting to the world of his daughter's tiny mile-stone accomplishment to toddlerville. Being the ecstatic parent he was, he held his daughter close to his face and tickled her with his hair.

She laughed, and getting caught up in the excitement, his baby girl grabbed a fist full of his blonde hair and pulled it.

"FUCK!"

He quickly pulled away from her.

"Damn, Gwen. I guess you got the hair pulling from your mother too." He smirked.

He lightly touched the abused bald spot and winced.

"How did that cure spell go?" He looked at his daughter who was busy playing with her elephant with her teeth to give her father a response to his endless questions.

"Heh, I should go and ask your mother, but she'll be giving me hell about it for weeks." He paused and frowned.

"Dang, now how did it go again? Cure, Curaja, ... Holy? No, Holy's another spell."

"Fuck. Damn!"

Nine froze as his eyes rested on his innocent Gwen who stopped nibbling at her elephant to look up at her father's face with a bright smile.

"W-What was that Gwen?"

"Fuck! Damn! Hahaha!" Gwen cooed and went back to biting her elephant its the trunk.

Nine's heart sank deep in his stomach.

"If you curse in front of the baby, I'll wring your neck darling. Do you understand?"

He bit his lip and groaned loudly between his teeth.

"Queen..."

In the background, they both heard keys jiggling and the front door close.

"Nine? Gwen? I'm home!" a female voice echoed in the kitchen.

Nine's green eyes widened, covering up his daughter's mouth with his hand. She shot him a look of defiance that Queen often told him Gwen always looked like her father when she couldn't get her way.

He whispered quickly,"Sorry sweetie. But I'm gonna promise you that you'll get your first car when you turn thirteen if you don't say those bad words! Okay?"

His eyes met hers and he began to put his finger against his lips, signalling her to be quiet.

Footsteps came closer and closer and then stopped at the doorway.

A slow smile formed on Queen's face as she saw her most precious people in the world smiling at her.

"Well, hello everyone. Come to mommy, Gwen!" Queen gently said, her pink eyes softened.

Queen's arms reached for Gwen, but Nine was hesitant to release her.

"Um, uh...G-Gwen's dirty Queen! I-I was gonna give her a bath." Nine patted his daughter's blonde hair lightly, with his other hand clamped closed over her mouth.

The woman's eyebrows furrowed, instantly suspicious at his sudden offer to help Gwen's daily needs.

"Okay ... I'll let you do that until you let Gwen breathe. She's turning blue, Nine."

Nine noticed how tightly he was holding his child and flinched at the strange glare Gwen was giving her father.

Chomp!

"OWW! GWEN!"

The pain from his hand forced him to drop her to the ground, along with her stuffed elephant. Queen chuckled at her family's actions and looked at Gwen who was unaffected at the sudden drop to the hard wood against her bottom.

"That's what you get for messing with her, Nine." Queen replied, still smiling at her husband's pained face. She picked up her daughter and began praising her actions against her father.

When Nine saw Gwen opening her mouth to babble with her mother, he knew he had to get out of there fast.

Kissing Queen on the cheek, he quickly said he had to leave for Men's Poker Night at Ace's house.

Queen frowned,"Wasn't Men's Poker Night tomorrow?"

Nine grinned and shrugged,"Oh! W-Well, didn't Ace tell you that his wife was due somewhere around next week? Ace was hoping that he could squeeze in a game before the baby arrived."

It was an outright lie. His wife wasn't due until the next four weeks. Not that he cared about it anyways.

Damn! Did Queen give them the baby bib I bought?

Putting her hand on her face and nodded slowly.

"I think Ace told me something like that ... but she's not due until—"

She looked up and saw her husband gone in a flash.

Queen looked at Gwen who cooed, pulling her stuffed elephant's trunk with such strength she tore the poor elephant's nose off its body. Queen chuckled with exasperation.

"Again? Gwen, we really need you to apply for Class Zero. I hear Kurasame's still their Instructor. That man needs to stop working so hard."

She paused and looked at Gwen,"Is it just me, or is your father a bit more ... paranoid than usual? When did he have a bald spot on his head?"

Queen noticed her child holding a clump of her husband's hair in her hands.

Gwen babbled gibberish in response.

At the door, Nine grabbed the handle and swung it open. What he didn't realize was that someone was on the other side.

"Nine! What the hell?"

He stopped his feverish escape and stopped himself in his tracks. His green eyes focused on a man with sliver-blonde hair glaring at him with bright blue eyes.

"Oh, it's only Ace." Nine said dully and glanced behind him.

"I came to tell you that Poker Night's tonight." Ace replied, extending his hand towards his friend.

Nine ignored his hand and looked at Ace incredibly.

"Seriously?"

The man named Ace frowned and got up, brushing away the dirt from his clothes. He saw how jumpy his friend was and asked what was wrong.

"A-nothing. It's nothing. If you'll excuse me, I gotta crash at your place for tonight."

Ace's eyes widened and he held his friend at arm's length.

"What did you do to Queen? Please tell me it's not about all the other girls you dated." He replied with a monotonous voice, crossing his arms with an attitude eerily similar to his wife.

Nine shook his head and removed himself away from the door. Ace held him fast by his arms.

"You know what Ace? Screw the explanations, I need to crash at your place tonight. Please? Before—"

Nine was interrupted by the unmistakable shout of his daughter's voice. "FUCK! DAMN!"

Both of their eyes widened and Ace couldn't help but cover up his snickers at the new words his friend's daughter came to learn.

"Nine, you didn't...?"

"NINE!"

Nine's face was drained instantly of blood as he scrambled his way away from his house and out into the yard. He ignored Ace's card predictions as the latter fished out his cards from the back of his jeans and began reading his lifeline.

"Nine.

Sex Life: Zero.

Chance of surviving this event: .000001%

What does the immediate future hold?Death."

He stopped his predictions as Queen stood right in front of him.

She grabbed his white collar, putting him at her eye level, and hissed slowly.

"Where. Is. He?"

Ace pointed straight ahead.

Queen released Ace from her grasp and summoned her Saber in her hands. Then she ran to his direction, casting Ice elemental spells as soon as she spotted Nine.

"SON-OF-A-BITCH! Q-QUEEN!"

"Don't you dare curse in front of the baby! DIDN'T I TELL YOU THAT NINE?"

"I swear! I forgot!"

"Don't worry. I won't make you forget ever."

"Q-QUEEN! S-STOP! NNNOOOO!"

Ace winced at the beatings Queen gave his friend and sighed. He followed the ice and pot holes formed from their battle as he began summoning several green cards to Nine's defense.

After all, he had to save the delinquent from the Class President.

Even if the result of his trouble was because of his own stupidity.

NOTE: These chapter aren't going to be order.

Gwen, in Welsh means Blessed Ring.

It suits their child, doesn't it? I might change her name and the gender depending on the chapter.

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