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"If we'd planned on it, Seiji, I promise you we would have asked you how you felt about it first." Zhane told the boy. "Its....well, its kind of a complicated situation. Your mother had an accident when she was younger and some doctors told her that something had happened to her body that would keep her from making a baby. But..."

He paused, stretching one of his wings "....she didn't let that stop her from having a family, and that was why she's so happy to have you in her life." At this, he offered Seiji a tentative smile, hoping to give him some reassurance.

"....getting back to the point, though, she and I both were under the impression that the two of us couldn't make a baby together. So....hearing that she was going to have one was kind of a surprise to us. And we'd held off on telling you, Ren, and Lexi about it because we wanted to make sure the baby would be safe first."

Zhane found himself fighting a private battle with himself to keep from wanting to throw up his hands in exasperation at how badly this was going or hug Seiji close, say to hell with this whole discussion, and suggest they go make lunch or something. But neither would fix anything. Instead, he sat up a little straighter.

"Seiji, no. Nobody's getting replaced." he explained carefully. "If anything, we need to be a family more now than we did before. Nani and I love you, Lexi, and Ren. A lot. It doesn't matter if we're blood or not, you guys are our kids and nothing is going to change that. We're not going to love the baby any more, or you guys any less."

"Well...." Zhane began, considering the options. He didn't want to do to Seiji what his parents had done to him. But he was also worried that he might not know the specifics enough to give him as well-rounded and educational of an explanation as he might need to keep from getting confused.

And so he settled for a compromise. "How about this?" he proposed. "I'll go get Lexi, all three of us can walk up to the library and check out the video, we'll pick up some lunch on the way back, and after she's settled in with her toys, we'll watch it together and I'll answer any questions you have about it?"

He wasn't sure, really, how long Nani and Ren would be gone. If Ren behaved for her haircut, which he doubted, and they came straight home he imagined they would be back in at least an hour.

Though if Ren gave the stylist trouble, and Nani opted to run some errands on the side, they could be gone for most of the afternoon....which would give them plenty of time to have this entire business done and over with.

Heaving himself off of the couch, pausing to arch his back, Zhane nodded. "Yep, it is." he admitted. "They started working on it once your mom was about a month along....as that as when we were starting to hope a little harder everything would be okay."

He hesitated and then reached out to lay a hand on Seiji's shoulder. "We figured if something had....well...happened, then we would just make good on the room being for Lexi after all."

"We could ask Ren about it when she gets home, if you want to." he smiled. "I don't think Lexi would mind, really....she loves all the time she spends with you guys.

"As for when the baby will be here, probably not too much longer at this point." Zhane said, taking the offered hand as they walked. It felt a bit strange to him. He and Seiji had never really bonded after he'd returned home....he'd certainly never would have guessed that the boy saw him as a father figure, given their interactions.

"Its going to be different, probably, from when you, Ren, and Seiji were born, though. The baby's going to be really fragile and new, and is probably going to cry and sleep a lot to begin with. That's why he or she is going to need a big brother and two big sisters to help them feel secure."

"Sure you'd be able to hold the baby. In fact, I think your mom's going to insist that you and Lexi get to hold the baby right after she and I do the day its born." he laughed.

....though it tapered off at Seiji's next question.

"Me scared?" he repeated, as if trying to laugh it off. ....though that wasn't the case and he knew it. "Maybe a little." he relented. "Not as bad as I was in the beginning, though. Remember that day when your mom was in the bathroom yelling and throwing things at Rose and Kayla...?"

He gave Seiji's hand a light squeeze as they arrived at the bathroom door where, inside, Lexi was splashing around with her latest toy duck, looking up from it to give them a pleasant, if bashful grin.

"She kinda was." Zhane agreed, letting the boy's hand go to grab up a towel off of the rack and use it to mop up the droplets of water that decorated the floor in what was now a practiced motion. One only had to slip a couple of times to know better than to leave stray water where it was...

"But she had good reason to be. I think she was more scared than I ever could've been when we found out."

"Oh she wanted the baby, don't get me wrong. She was just worried she wouldn't be able to HAVE the baby." he said, hoping that made sense as he finished with the floor and folded the customary towel used to just such things back over to place back on the rack.

Lexi reached up to grab the edge of the tub with tiny fingers and peer up at Seiji, grinning and opening and closing one small palm in a wave back at him even as Zhane knelt to pick her up.