Late...Arrival? -Midori-

[Darryl Bond]

There was something he was missing. Some large and important piece of the puzzle was just...gone. Midori hadn't been happy to see him...at all. And not just in the 'ok, we hooked up that one time so it's awkward' kinda way. But the 'you did something so bad' sort of thing. Darryl was well versed in disgruntled females and he generally could pick out what the root of the problem was instantly.

But everything Midori had been saying inside the dance hadn't been making sense at all. He wasn't getting it and getting frustrated, and Midori wasn't happy about it either. She'd finally given up and dragged him from the dance all the way down the hall to the teacher's lounge for privacy. This action reminded him a lot of his childhood past, where his mother would drag him all the way to the back porch to explain he did something wrong and give him a bit of a spanking. He wished as hard as he ever had before that she wasn't dragging him to a secluded area of the school to beat him up, for whatever reason.

Midori had said she could turn only into little furry creatures, but Darryl couldn't be too sure about it at this point. He looked around the staff lounge, thinking back to the day they met, almost a two and a half months ago. Or something like that. He hadn't actually thought about it. At the time, he had enjoyed it, but he could tell Midori didn't want to continue and Darryl didn't pursue it. That was that.

So what was this about? "What is wrong?" Darryl asked, his face serious, though confused. His hands found their way deep into his pockets as he looked at her.

[Midori Hawkins]

No. No, Midori was not all that thrilled to see Darryl. He had been one person she’d been intent on avoiding lately. She had to talk to him. She knew that. But once she’d seen him… all the anxiety and stress of the past few weeks had balled up inside. And what was worse, she tried to tell him. She’d tried to be subtle, but subtle just wasn’t working. It was frustrating her, and she could tell it was frustrating him, too. (Not that she cared, really.)

So, rather than make a scene in the middle of the auditorium, among the gossip mill that was Hammel, she’d instead dragged him off to the staff lounge. No doubt the kids would assume the worst, if they were paying attention at all. But she didn’t care. The “worst” had already happened. And there was not going to be a repeat performance. She wasn’t going to take him behind the bike racks and make out with him. Nor was she going to beat him up. The most threatening form she could take was a fully grown hunting dog. Good for a quick bite and a growl, but that was about it.

Being here, back in the place they met, didn’t really give her the same warm fuzzy feelings. This was where it had started. She leaned back against the counter, her arms crossed. His question made her close her eyes for a moment, gathering her thoughts. What was wrong? “Darryl.” Did she really have to spell it out for him? “I’m… I’m pregnant. And before you even ask, yes. It’s yours.” Could she please just go crawl in a hole and die, now?

[Darryl Bond]

Some things caught you off guard in life. A friend giving you a wet willy, taking that last invisible step at the top of the stairs, car horns, the lottery, police sirens, a parent's wrath...babies. Darryl had some experience with most of life's little surprises (and big surprises). But there was just one thing he'd never thought in a million years would happen to him. He was a responsible man when it came to being promiscuous. If he even got a tiny hint that a woman he was chatting up might have an STD, he'd withdraw. And whenever he did join with a woman in the bedroom (or in a taxi, or on a kitchen table, or in the shower or...you get the idea), he always did the responsible thing! Even back in highschool!

And because of that he never expected, dreamed, feared, or even thought about that. It just wasn't possible. So when those two words (well five if you count the repeat and the contraction) left her mouth--that he didn't...understand. Well he did, but the only thought that was actually in words was no way. Because that just couldn't have happened.

"Muh..."

That wasn't a sentence, or anything other than an exhale. He drew in a breath and tried again. "Are y-y-you sure? I mean. It's possible...that...no...it...no." He was pacing now, and pulling at some of his hair. He was feeling trapped and desperate. This was not what he wanted! How could this have happened?! "It's not fair!"

Did he just say that out loud? Loudly? Oh. He drew in a deep breath and looked at her, a very large pout on his face. "It can't be--you can't be." He was pleading now, as if that would change anything.

[Midori Hawkins]

Off guard? Just a little bit. It wasn’t like Mii had been expecting this to happen either. She’d always seen herself following that clichéd life path. Find the man of her dreams, get married, then have children. It wasn’t supposed to happen backwards. And with Darryl? The one night, drunken stand thing had been… not a mistake, but certainly not planned. She wanted a life like her brother had gotten for himself. Pretty wife, beautiful daughter. Perfect family. This… was so far from that it wasn’t even funny. Definitely not funny. She wasn’t laughing. She remembered him being “responsible”, but… well… sometimes, they failed.

And once again, she cursed not continuing with the pill after breaking up with her last boyfriend.

His response was nothing short of what she’d expected out of him. She didn’t think the news would be well received. She sighed and looked at the floor. “Yes, I’m sure. Unless you really want me to drag out the test results.” Not only had she had it confirmed by one of those idiotic drug store tests, but a doctor as well. But her eyes widened a bit at his declaration. It wasn’t fair? She scoffed. “Not fair? Oh my God, Darryl. You can’t be serious.”

And there it was again. “I can, and I am. You can’t change it. Stop being so fucking dramatic.” It took a lot for her to swear. But when she did… she meant it.

[Darryl Bond]

Morgan was the one that wanted a family! He wanted to get married and have a life. How did the person upstairs confuse that?! Darryl was still in a self-serving, having-fun age of his life. He still liked to party--ok he hadn't in a while, because of teaching and living in Vermont--and he didn't...want...a...baby! This ruined everything! Absolutely everything!

He pinched the bridge of his nose when he did realize, yes, he had gotten a bit dramatic, but never in his life did Darryl receive getting yelled at well, nuch less getting cursed. "Dramatic?!" His arms flew out around him, "I'm not being dramatic! There are a few situations in life where you are allowed to be 'fucking dramatic.'" He mocked her with finger quotes. Real smart move there, big guy. "And this sure the hell is one of them!" He pointed his finger towards the ground to punctuate it. He let out a gush of air, his heart pound in his chest a bit from the shock, and he paced a wide circle in the floor, his hands balling into fists meticulously.

Yell at the pregnant lady. Genius. The one section of his brain that had any sense quipped at him, which did stop him in his tracks. He might be behaving just a bit childishly. That realization made him sigh and he rubbed his eyes with his finger and thumb. "Sorry. That was...uncalled for." Ok. Calm. He can be calm. He can try. He rubbed his face again. Calm. He shook out his hands and folded them together under his chin as his pacing started out again. "So you're..." He couldn't bring himself to say the word, because that particular word was a life ruiner. And it was as if he actually admitted it, it'd make the situation all the worse. It was silly, but it was also Darryl. "Ok. So. What um...what...are we going to do 'bout this?" He paused in his pacing and looked at her for guidance.

[Midori Hawkins]

Really, Mii didn’t understand this. It wasn’t Darryl’s life that had just been turned upside down. Not really. He could opt out, if he wanted to. He could back away now and just… forget. At this point, Mii might have almost preferred that route. The way he was acting certainly wasn’t all that becoming. And it didn’t really instill any kind of faith in him. There was just something about him. She didn’t… trust him. And this attitude wasn’t helping.

She hadn’t been yelling. Cursing, maybe, but not yelling. Raising her voice was even more rare than cursing. To tell the truth, the brunette wasn’t all that threatening. What she’d just said was about as threatening as she got, and she actually shrank back a little as Darryl started in again. One thing she’d already come to terms with was mood swings. One moment she was frustrated, and annoyed with Darryl. Annoyed enough to curse. But now he was retaliating, it made tears prick in her eyes. It wasn’t her fault this had happened. “Stop it,” she managed to get out, just above a whisper. “Just stop it.”

And then he was apologizing. Mii still couldn’t bring herself to look at him, not directly. At least the apology wasn’t dramatic. She sighed, trying to push away the tears threatening to fall, and the little jolt of irritation when he avoided saying “it”. “Pregnant,” she finished for him. If he couldn’t even say it, how did she expect him to do… well… anything? As for his question, she scowled slightly. We. There hadn’t been a “we” since their one little… non-date. And even then, it wasn’t really a “we” between them. “We? No. There is no we, here. We aren’t going to do anything.” She turned her head away, rubbing her bare arms. “Look, this probably isn’t what you want and I’m sorry to dump it on you. You don’t have to do anything. You don’t even have to care. I just thought you should know.” She shrugged. It was true. She didn’t expect anything. She just thought it was better to tell him outright, than to keep it secret. Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.

[Darryl Bond]

There was responsibility in him yet, because he hadn't considered at all not being a part of this. He was a contributing factor the the situation. He didn't like that, but it didn't make it any less true. So he'd do what he could now that he was over it. Midori probably hated his guts now, and he wouldn't blame her, but he knew that it was his fault. It takes two to tango and all that. He just didn't like that. After a moment, and after his apology, he sighed, now relaxed. He was over his little bout and ready to face this like an adult. They needed to..plan?

He saw the tears and he felt horrible. He'd never actually yelled at someone like that before, much less a woman that was pregnant with his child. He wanted to sooth her with some sort of hug or soft words, but he knew it wouldn't actually work like that. He'd probably really hurt her, and yelling had only taken it that much farther. He'd messed up, again, in a bad way. He lifted his fedora from his head and smoothed his hair once, twice, three times before he placed the had back on his head before he turned to look back at Midori.

He was actually quite surprised at what she said. That he could...just not be a part of it. Yes, that would be...well great. For Darryl. But Darryl actually wasn't thinking of himself at the moment, he was thinking collectively of Midori, the baby, and himself. That to him was just... well that was just it. There wasn't an option of him leaving Midori alone with something they made. "I do care, Midori. I really do. No, this wasn't something either of us wanted, but...well there isn't anything we can do about it now. You may not like me for it, hell, I don't like me for it, but I can't just not do anything. I'm not that type of person and do hope you don't make me be that type of person. I want to do anything and everything I can to help you." He was completely sincere, and while he'd like to move a little closer and reassure her with a soft hug, he was pretty sure that wouldn't be received well.

[Midori Hawkins]

Funny. Not so long ago, Mii had figured Darryl and her brother Zachary in the same class. Only if Zach had found himself in Darryl’s position, the first thing on his mind would have been how to get out of it. He would have done anything to get out of responsibility. Maybe they weren’t so similar after all. She’d honestly pegged him as a man that would have wanted to just walk away, whether he’d been given permission or not.

She didn’t want him to see her cry. It was why she was fighting so hard to keep the tears at bay. She didn’t want to cry. Not here, not right now. And she didn’t want to go back to the dance with bloodshot eyes and flushed cheeks. If she did, she’d have to avoid the hell out of Eli, and any of her other coworkers. If she wasn’t required to act as a chaperone, she might have just thought about going home. For the record, if Darryl even thought about coming close to her right now, it wouldn’t end well. She didn’t want to be all that close to him right now.

She didn’t know why she’d said what she had. It just made sense to her. Things would be so much less complicated if he just… agreed. But it didn’t look like that was going to happen. The look on Darryl’s face told her as much. She kept rubbing her arms, as if the action gave her the comfort she didn’t want from him. “That’s the thing. It is something I wanted. Just… not now. Not…” Well, not with Darryl. She wanted to be with someone she loved, if she was going to have a baby. But she couldn’t bring herself to say it. “I don’t know what I want right now, okay? Just… I need time to think about this. I don’t know what you can do. Just… give me some space right now. All I wanted was for you to know. I’ve done that now.” And now she just wanted to disappear.

[Darryl Bond]

He felt like shit, worse than shit, actually. He could see her fighting tears and it was against his very constitution to just stand their gawping, but he didn't really have a choice. Darryl was good at knowing when he would be received well and this was not one of those times. Even if he'd taken it a bit to far with his previous act...well he was surprised, can you blame him? He was going to be someones dad. But that didn't have such a bad connotation to it anymore. He wouldn't say he liked the idea, but he wasn't abhorred to it either. It certainly would make him feel a bit more important and not some sort of flashly little...actor.

He sighed and stroked his hair again. He wished he could take his previous words back, and erase them from the conversation entirely. They were only words a whiny little baby would say, but he'd said them and he felt like a total ass. After looking back at Midori, he was a little surprised with her words in reply to his. So she didn't want him around? Well, it wasn't like she knew him as a good person. She probably hated him, which probably made this situation all the more...bad. After she trailed off, he muttered the words she didn't say. "Just not with me." Ok, it was understandable. It hurt, but it was understandable. Darryl was by no means settle-down-and-have-a-family material, and he didn't think himself the sort either. But this...well, just hearing it from someone else sort of hurt.

"It's OK, I understand, I wouldn't want to have a baby with me either." Darryl probably wouldn't like to even hang around in a room with himself--especially not now. He sighed again and nodded to her question. "Ok, Midori...just tell me what I can do to help. I really do want to help." He added while he looked back down. What in the world could he do after this? Go back to the dance? He hardly was in the mood for such a thing. Maybe he'd call Morgan. He really needed to talk at the moment--talk to someone. Someone that understood this.

[Midori Hawkins]

No, if he swooped in to play the knight in shining armour, Mii really couldn’t promise she wouldn’t move away. Or worse, shapeshift and growl. Not that she thought that shifting was a very good idea at the moment. God, there was so much she didn’t know right now. Not only about a normal pregnancy, but what about metas? Was she allowed to shift? What were the chances of her baby being meta? ... She was going to get a headache if she kept thinking about what she didn’t know, and switched gears to focus on what she did know. Which was... very little. Just that she was going to be a mother, and Darryl was going to be a father. And somehow, precautions had failed. That summed it up.

She really, really didn’t know what she wanted. On the one hand, having Darryl committed to helping might be a good thing. But when she got down to it, she really didn’t know him all that well. She’d heard bits and pieces about him around the school. He was a flirt, he was dramatic, and... the father of her baby. This was a great way to start. When he called her out on what she didn’t say, she blushed. “I didn’t say that,” she mumbled, but it was a weak defense. Just because she hadn’t said it didn’t mean she hadn’t thought it. It was just that Darryl was so not what she’d ever wanted to find in a man. He was loud and boisterous, the complete opposite of her. Opposites attract? Not really. But at least she didn’t hate him.

“That’s not what I meant. It’s just... you’re... I...” She sighed and tried again. “I always had that idea in my head of my ideal life. It was finding someone I loved, getting married, and then having a family. This is all backwards and I’m sorry, but you’re just... not... who I ever pictured being with. And I don’t think I’m what you had in mind either. I don’t want this to force us into something neither of us want. I just... think we both need time to figure this out.” She didn’t really want to go back to the dance either, but she didn’t want to stay here. “I’m sorry.”

[Darryl Bond]

Darryl would rather her not turn into an animal and growl at him. He wouldn't even know what he'd do, but the most likely action he'd take would be to climb up on the counter and yell out for someone to intervene. And that would just be too embarrassing to even think about. And as much as Midori didn't know about the pregnancy, and babies, Darryl knew even less than that. Though the notion occurred to him that transforming might be bad for it (or manage to turn the fetus into something like a dog or...some crazy combination. Which was terrible to think about.)

Darryl was aware he wasn't the best candidate out there to be a father from a one night stand. As much as that wasn't what their little romp wasn't--it still was a one-nighter. If Darryl could nominate anyone to take his place, it would be Morgan. He knew his best friend would make a terrific father, and husband. Morgan was looking for the right woman, and he'd be forever faithful to her and their little love child. Darryl...didn't really know himself well enough in that environment to make the same promises. He knew he'd never cheated before in any of his relationships, but he'd also never been a part of anything remotely serious before. He was too in-the-moment to have a future like that all planned out. Sure, one day in the far future, but not now.

"I understand, Midori. I'd never planned on having a family this young either." Lord knew Darryl wasn't exactly 'young,' but he also didn't consider himself old enough to have a child depending on him either. "You don't have to apologize, I understand that it'll take time to sort all this out. And there is...some time, to figure things out. Just...please don't cut me out, Midori, not completely." Darryl wasn't sure if he could live with himself if there was a kid of his out there that didn't know who he was.

[Midori Hawkins]

Mii didn’t shift into a growling animal very often. She’d done it more as a teenager. There was something instinctive in animals. She was usually a very shy, reserved person. But if she shifted into, say, a dog, she had no issues with growling. ... Or biting. She’d done that more than once. Usually it served as a playful warning around her brothers. Well, Zach. She’d nipped him more than once while in an animalistic form. (Several times in front of a girlfriend he was trying to impress.) But shifting now, she couldn’t be sure it was safe. She needed to talk to someone about all this. Maybe Clarisse would know.

Though she knew of certain people that would disagree, Mii didn’t even think a husband, or being “with” the father was required in situations like this. (In fact, she was pretty sure it was to be avoided, in that latter case.) She didn’t want Darryl to trade places with anyone, or setting her up with anyone. If he so much as suggested it, she might change her mind on the hitting thing. Unlike Darryl, she’d always had ideas of being a mother. Of having a family. This just wasn’t the way she’d wanted it to go.

Somehow, Darryl didn’t strike her as the type to have ever wanted to settle down and have a family. She didn’t know what to say to that. Nor did she really know what to say to his request not to be cut out. Once she had some time, and talked it over with people that weren’t directly involved, maybe she could give him a better answer. “I’ll try, okay?” It was all she could promise. “... We should probably go back. I’m supposed to be chaperoning.” She turned away from him and headed out of the lounge, swiping at her eyes only after she was out of his sight.

She was surprised to see Eli not so far down the hallway. She hadn’t expected him to follow her. Then again, he was probably worried about her. She just walked down to where he stood and gently touched his arm. “I told him,” she said softly. And that was all she said. After that, she just tugged his arm and headed back to the auditorium. They still had a job to do.