Chapter 10: Birth

After knocking on the door of Peter and Earl's apartment, it was a couple minutes before Peter answered. He looked a little confused to see us there.

"Good morning," he said, then yawned. "What are you doing here?"

"It's, um, it's kind of complicated," I replied quietly.

"Is something wrong?" Peter asked. He looked at Kizuna's tear-streaked face and asked, "Christ, are you guys okay?"

"Well..."

Peter held up a hand, yawned, and said, "No, I got it. She's pregnant, your mom and dad found out, and they threw you out."

I nodded. Kizuna sniffled.

Peter continued, "And the police are on your trail."

"Not that I'm aware of. If it got out that Dad's twelve-year-old daughter was pregnant by his eighteen-year-old son, he'd never be able to live down the shame. Besides, he might very well lose his job."

"Good. I think." Peter looked around, still yawning. I was trying not to do the same. "Why am I leaving you here on the doorstep? Come in and sit down."

I noticed the couch Kizuna and I slept on was gone. When I inquired, Peter said, "Good memories, huh?"

I chuckled along with him, though Kizuna turned red. "No, it's just that ... we kinda need somewhere to sleep."

"Did you forget that Earl's in Deutschland?" Peter asked.

Earl was visiting family, now that he was fluent in German. He was going to be gone for three weeks.

"No, but I didn't want to steal his room."

Peter smiled, then yawned again. "God, you worry too much. You know he won't mind, especially when he finds out what's happened. Besides, we borrowed the couch from my parents just for the night. I can ask them if we can have it but I'm not doing it right now."

We stood for a moment before Peter said, "Sorry, guys, but I only got home from work about two hours ago, had a bite to eat, and went to sleep. I'm going back to bed, if you don't mind."

"We're sorry for interrupting you, Peter," Kizuna said. I could see tears in her eyes. "Really sorry. We'll be really quiet, I promise."

Peter smiled. He hugged Kizuna and said, "Kizuna, don't worry. We're friends, right? I'm going to help take care of you."

"Thanks," Kizuna whispered.

I was surprised, two days later, when I received some paperwork from Dad. He and Mom and Shinka were moving to Minneapolis, but Kizuna was officially going to live with me. He'd transferred all responsibilities to me. At first, I wondered how Dad knew where to send the papers, but then I guessed he figured that, even if I wasn't with Peter and Earl, they'd know where I was. With that in hand, I was able to take Kizuna to the doctor to get a checkup. There were a few awkward questions, but Kizuna and I had carefully rehearsed our stories.

Earl returned from Germany a week later to find his bedroom taken. His initial reaction was, "I come half-way around the world and I don't even have somewhere to hang my hat."

"Earl, we need to talk," I said in response.

He looked at Kizuna, Peter, and me, and said, "Kizuna's pregnant, your dad kicked you both out, and Peter offered you my room. Am I right?"

"Entirely. We'll move if you want," I offered.

"Nonsense. You're welcome to my room. I'll take our wonderfully soft love chair. I imagine you two have been making good use of it."

Peter chuckled. I felt bad for Kizuna, who turned scarlet again. I thought the color was appropriate; I only needed a scarlet suit and we'd be all set.

"Be nice, Earl," Peter said. "You're embarrassing poor Kizuna."

Three days after Earl's return, the phone rang. Earl picked it up, then covered the mouth piece and called to me. "It's your mom."

I yanked the phone from my friend's hand and said, "Mom?"

"Y-Yuusou, how's ... how's your ... your sister doing?" Mom's voice asked.

"Kizuna's fine, for a pregnant person," I replied. "Want to talk to her?"

"No," Mom exclaimed. " I ... I just wanted to check up on you."

"You really should talk to her," I said. "She needs someone more than I do. You're her mother, she really needs you right now."

There was silence for a moment on the other end. "Yuusou, she made her mistakes and she has to live with them. I have to go. Your father and brother will be back soon."

"God damn it, Mom, it was more my fault than hers. Stop punishing Kizuna and punish me instead."

Mom gave a hollow laugh. "I know what happened. Your sister turned on her charm and you couldn't resist her. She seduced you. She didn't protect herself, and she'll pay for her own mistakes."

I shook my head, even though I knew Mom couldn't see it. "Jesus Christ! Mom, she needs your help. She's young, and she's afraid. Won't you just say hello?"

"No." Mom hung up before I could say anymore.

Kizuna entered the kitchen then. She looked miserable. "That was Mom, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. She says hi, and is sorry about not getting to talk to you."

"Oniichan, she won't talk to me."

"You heard?"

"No, but I can tell."

Kizuna left. I wondered what I was going to do next. She needed her mother, but Mom wasn't going to talk to her. Neither of my friends had mentioned it to their families yet, and with good reason.

A few days after that, I was sitting in the living room and watching television with Earl and Peter. Kizuna was already sleeping in what had been Earl's room. Though we'd tried many times to let Earl move back into his room, he insisted we stay there, since Kizuna was pregnant, after all.

We were watching South Park, a show I fell in love with when my friends introduced me to it. Kizuna claimed to like it (of course) but I don't think she was old enough to understand most of the jokes.

I was about to get up and go to bed when Earl said, "You know, Yuusou, you and Kizuna have become a cautionary tale for the rest of us."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Does Laura want to get pregnant?"

Earl nodded. "Now that Kizuna is, Luara really wants to have a baby, too. She said something about not wanting to let her best friend go through it alone."

"Oh, fucking hell. Please tell me you aren't going to let this happen to your family, too."

When Earl didn't say anything for a moment, I knew it was too late. "God damn it, Earl! How are you going to explain something like that to your parents? Don't you think they'll get a little suspicious?"

Peter started laughing. "Jessica wanted to keep the secret but I guess I might as well tell you: she's pregnant."

"Jesus tapdancing Christ!" I shouted, grabbing at my head. I couldn't help but smile anyway. "You two are determined to become Bubba's bitches, aren't you?"

Before anyone could say anything, we heard Earl's bedroom door open. I felt bad when I realized my outburst woke Kizuna. A moment later, she entered the living room.

"Are you okay?" she asked, leaning against the door frame.

I sighed, knowing what would happen when Kizuna found out. Looking at my friends, I said, "Tell her. Now."

Kizuna looked horrified when Earl and Peter told her the news. For a moment, it looked like she was actually going to cry. She said, after a pause, "No! I don't want them to have to go through this. This isn't fun; it's hard, really hard. Why would they want to do it?"

"Because they want to," I said. "Your friends are capable of thinking for themselves. I'm sure they weighed the risks and everything."

"But I don't think they really want to go through this. There's the morning sickness and the weight and, and everything else."

I stood, going to my sister and giving her a hug. "Kizuna, it's okay. They made their choices. Now they'll probably need you to tell them what's going on. Guys, how far along are they?"

"Laura's about three months," Earl said.