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In spite of himself and what they were facing, Zhane gave a chuckle at Ren's enthusiasm. "Yep. Baby." he agreed. "And soon, too."

Despite still being unmarried and unprepared, he had caught himself looking forward to Tinania's labor. No more wondering, no more worrying, just finally flat-out seeing what they would be up against and facing it together...

The smile waned, however, as he hitched a sigh and then looked to Nani. "When are they coming for her?" he inquired.

"Well I'd hope so..." Zhane began, treading on his words carefully. "Just because you're going home doesn't mean you can't visit, right? And we'd want you to visit a lot."

There was a bright side, if one looked hard enough for it...

"And if Seiji really misses you..." he ventured. "...then there's no reason he can't come visit -you- now and then either."

His eyes flicked to Nani for approval on this.

Zhane offered Seiji a hesitant smile, waiting for a moment to see if another explosion was eminent from the boy. When a moment ticked by in silence, broken only by Ren's giggles, he bent to lower her back to her feet so that she could say goodbye to her cousin properly.

It was funny, almost, how things could shift from a comfortable routine to being upended horribly with one change. And this wasn't even the change he'd been anticipating over the last span of months...

Zhane was of the mind there'd be a lot of talking to be done between him, Nani, and Seiji later that evening before the worst of this would be ironed out. Him resigning himself to the fact it was happening was far from accepting it...

Thankfully, there'd be plenty of time for--

His train of thought was cut off by the kitchen phone ringing shrilly in its cradle. Reaching down to absently tousle Ren's hair, Zhane reached for the receiver with his other hand.

"Hello?"

"How are things?" Yeande's voice inquired on the other end of the line.

Ah, what a perfect time to ask THAT question...

"At this immediate moment? Not so hot." he admitted, his eyes glancing back at Seiji's upset expression. "Think I could call you back in a bit?"

"A bit as in a few minutes from now? Or a bit as in a week from now?" she inquired. There was an edge in her voice he couldn't place. It didn't sound angry, but it didn't sound precisely happy either.

"A bit as in..." he sighed, frustrated. "Mom, I don't know. Why? What do you need?"

"I'm not sure its what *I* need we should talk about, so much as what YOU need. Both of you. Before the baby's born."

Oh goodie. THIS again.

Zhane's eyes darted to Nani, exasperation evident as he muffled the receiver with his hand to answer her. "Its Mom." he whispered. "Wedding stuff again."

At the sound of another voice on the line, however, he felt his stomach lurch.

The picture became much clearer now....this wasn't just his mother poking her head in to voice concern. This was a flat-out intervention.

Gritting his teeth against a sigh, he set his jaw, reaching out to swat at the speakerphone button as he set the receiver aside. May as well include everybody on the conversation while they were at it. No way he was going up against the combined forces of his mother AND Nani's mother alone.

"What, exactly, do you need to know?" he asked, his voice holding a patience he didn't feel. It wasn't that they had been avoiding being married, just that....the opportune times to finish the planning and get things rolling seemed to keep eluding them.

"Well, to be fair." Yeande chimed into the conversation once more "No one asked you to get married today."

"Thank god for small favors." he muttered in a tone quiet enough that he hoped only Nani would hear it.

"We left this up to you two because we assumed you were going to get it handled." she continued. "Even if it was just a quick drive to the courthouse for a license, we thought it would be over and done with by now. And we understand you've been busy, but we're coming down to the wire..."

"Its not that we don't want to be married, Mom." he explained. "We DO, its just...every time we sit down to talk about it, something happens."

"Understandably. I've been there before, Zhane, things get pretty insane when there's a child on the way." said Yeande quietly. "That's why we've decided to help get things off the ground."

Before he could stop it, Zhane felt indignation snarl in his mind.

"Wait. You guys just planned it out from under us...?" he asked, making sure he understood correctly.

"No, we didn't 'plan it out from under you'." Yeande corrected. "We took what you HAD decided on, and your father and Krista and I elaborated on it."

It was a helpless sort of feeling really....on the one hand, he felt it was horribly ungrateful of them to refuse this sort of help in their situation. Especially when their parents could have just as easily thrown their hands up about it and let the pieces fall where they may.

On the other hand, it was a bit out-there to know that what many considered the most important event of their lives was now, effectively, out of their hands entirely.

"I suppose we don't really need anything from you..." Yeande's words were careful, as if she were chewing on each before it left her lips. Zhane knew that tone well....it was the tone of 'I am going to stop being polite very, very soon'.

Deciding to diffuse the explosion before it could happen -- before the last days of Nani's pregnancy were spent at odds with the inlaws-to-be and their child was welcomed into the world with them not speaking to its grandmother and grandfather -- Zhane swept the phone off of the cradle again, returning it to its private connection.

"Listen...its not that we aren't grateful for the help." he said quietly, not wanting the kids to pick up on the tones of unease and upset them all over again with what they were already facing. "It isn't that at all, this is just a really bad time to discuss this."

"Honey, in your situation there's never going to be a GOOD time to discuss things." Yeande replied. "Its a lot of responsibility to own up to at once, I'll grant you, but since you didn't do more planning beforehand, you have twice as much to--"

"Nirendra's leaving." he interrupted, silencing her for at least the moment. "Her mother's back and coming to take her home."