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Zane and Keith were in the back row of the van, Marcus in one of the middle seats, and Stan and Charlie in the front as they made their way north to the beach about an hour out of Hassenburg.

"Thanks again for having us along," Keith said after Charlie, the Heliolisk driver, finished describing their lodging for the week.

"Not a problem!" Marcus replied. "Getting a sweet beach house rental was way easier with nine than it would've been with five. And it makes it easy to either do whole-group things or split into our four and five. Should be a good balance of stuff this week!"

"I'm still surprised Kira liked the idea of going to the beach," Zane mused, not really looking up from his GamePortX and he based away in a boss fight. "I think Sam had a big hand in that, I guess."

"I think Melanie getting as excited as she did probably helped two; hard to offer something to your best friend and then pull it back," Keith added, earning a nod from Zane. "I wonder what they're all doing over in the girls' car right now..."

"Who knows?" Stan shrugged.

"Who cares?" Charlie corrected.

The Luxio's retort was swift: "Careful there, Chuck - three of the guys in here have girlfriends over there, and another has a sister."

"Yeah, yeah..." the Heliolisk brushed off, reaching over and turning up the volume on the music a little bit.

As was normal with guys, the slight level of tension faded away pretty quickly as they all were fine just letting the miles roll by. The only real disruption was when Sam called Marcus about whether the guys wanted lunch before or after they made it to the beach house - to which the answer was the former. This began two conversations linked over the phone as to where they would stop for lunch, which understandably was not a very productive double-conversation; the guys' car decided on a burger joint while the girls' car found fresh seafood tacos.

The well-fed kids eventually met up at their residence for the week: a spacious, bright white, two-story wooden beach house with a tall, red-paneled conical roof and boardwalk-like patio visible from the extra-bedroom wing of the house all the way around the beach-facing back side of the house. Sand and a few tufts of beach grasses surrounded the building, with a curved stone driveway leading up to the front and a short two-rail wood fence leading from the road past the far side of the house down the dune to the beach. Zane and Keith simply stopped to take it all in when they got out of the car - the smell of fresh sea salt on the breeze, the occasional holler from somewhere up or down the beach, the sound of the surf in the background...

And the sudden sound of all four girls going all a-twitter when they got out of their car at the sight of the beach house.

"Calm your titties," Charlie said flatly as he hefted luggage and supplies from the van up to the front steps. "It's just a house."

"It's gorgeous!" piped up an Azumarill, the fourth girl on the trip with them as she walked with Sam up to the house.

"Glad you like it, Gloria!" Stan said as he joined her, "I'm definitely glad I found such a deal on this rental! Seems like a great place to hang out, really open in here," the three college students being the first to head through the front door once the Luxio unlocked it.

The four middle schoolers followed right after, finding the inside of the main house to be essentially one big open space, with no walls at all between the den area, the dining room, the kitchen, and what appeared to be a mini bar and game room; a small handful of support pillars were the only real obstructions in the main area of the house here. Keith wasted no time, running over and vaulting over the back of one couch to sprawl on it. "This is so sweet!"

"That couch looks sooooo comfy after being in the car for nearly two hours... I would so be doing the same thing that he just did if I could," Kira said quietly between Zane and Melanie, one paw on her belly.

"It'll be fine," the Electrike cooed, nuzzling her shoulder a little bit.

"So what's the room setup going to be?" Melanie asked to the older kids, changing the subject as everyone now had entered the main house.

"Since I made the reservations, I'm calling dibs on the master suite upstairs with Gloria," Stan declared, spinning the house key in his hand for effect. "If you want, of course; I just assume because you spend the night in my dorm room normally anyway. There's another fairly nice bedroom upstairs as well, then four smaller bedrooms in the side wing. I'm going to say the other girls can decide how the other five bedrooms are used."

"Really?" Charlie groaned.

Sam smirked a bit, the Arcanine saying "We had talked about various room possibilities in the car, depending on how many we had; I deferred to Kira."

"Right, right," the golden Vulpix mused, looking a little self-conscious as she sat down on one of the big comfy chairs in the den area. "Well, I hadn't really thought about the different combinations based on how many bedrooms there would be, but Melanie's going to be rooming with me."

"Makes sense to me," Marcus said as his little brother went to stand behind Kira's chair.

"So do you and Melanie want the second main bedroom, then, or one of the smaller ones in the bunk wing?" Sam asked.

"I think it'd be better for us to be down near Zane and Keith, so you, Marc, and Chuck can decide about who gets the second bedroom."

"Sam's gonna want the second bedroom for her and her boyfriend, I'm sure," the Heliolisk replied flatly.

"I'm perfectly happy being down in the extra wing with the other girls," the Arcanine corrected, also going over to stand next to Kira's chair. "So you can room upstairs if you want."

Marcus added "Since the extra bedrooms are smaller, do you want it to yourself and me up with Chuck, or would you rather me sleep with you?"

He instantly realized his poor wording when several other people started snickering and Charlie jested "Dang, keep it PG in here, bro!"

"I would love to share a room," Sam said sweetly, "though if you want to sleep with Chuck instead, I won't judge but I might have to break up with you!"

"Yeah, yeah..." the Manectric sighed, shaking his head and hiding his face for a moment before changing the subject. "Anyway, so that's me and Sam, Zane and Keith, and Kira and Melanie in three of the extra bedrooms?"

"Keith snores," Zane said quickly. "Keith, you're my best friend, but I still don't want to share a room with you."

"Un-der-standable," the red Vulpix replied, emphasizing the word and rolling his eyes a bit in acknowledgement of his silly problem. "That would take up all four of the extra room then, right?"

"Yeah, that would," Stan said, "so you guys and girls better hurry and pick which ones you want before you're left with the last one!"

"I don't care at all," Zane said, leaning forward over the back of Kira's chair to bring his head down next to hers. "I'm fine with the three girls picking which two they want."

"Thanks, Chris," the golden Vulpix cooed, turning just a bit to quickly kiss his cheek.

"So mushy!" Keith teased, although it wasn't nearly as effective as the nine of them began dispersing at that point, the other two couples also wrapping arms around each other as they carried the stuff as need, Melanie helping Kira with her stuff.

---

It was a very nice day, so after getting all settled in to their respective rooms, they decided it was perfectly good time for them to hit the beach for the first time that week.

Most of them were out on the back porch in their swimsuits fairly quickly, ready to hit the sand, but Kira, Melanie, and Sam were lingering.

"Any idea what's taking them so long?" Stan asked.

"Kira can't fit in her normal swimsuit anymore," Keith explained, "and they don't make maternity wear for young teens, so Melanie and Sam had convinced her she'd be fine with a modest two-piece. I would not be surprised if she's still a bit uncertain about it."

"Yeah... she's not one to show off in the first place," Zane added, "much less showing off a baby bump."

"Maybe if they're still not out in a few minutes, you can try to knock and see if she'll come with you?" Marcus asked his little brother.

"Worth a shot I guess..."

"In the meantime," the Manectric continued, turning to his classmates, "how about you three head on down and set up the towels and umbrellas and such? We'll come join you soon enough."

Gloria shrugged. "Works for me! Come on Chuck, Stan, let's hit the beach!" With that, she jogged over to and down the stairs from the house's back deck to the sand below, the two guys following much more slowly as they were carrying the all supplies and snacks.

Zane, Keith, and Marcus watched as the first three made their way toward the shore, then about a quarter mile east, definitely past the section of beach associated with the house and into a semi-public area, until Gloria apparently decided on the spot she liked. The Azumarill very quickly ran down into the warm ocean water even before the towels and umbrellas were completely set up, her Luxio following after eventually while the Heliolish spread his frill out to its fullest, content to sunbathe higher up the beach.

The three guys on the deck waited another minute or two before Keith finally said "I know she's got Melanie and Sam in there with here already, but might be getting time for you to go check in on her and see if you can help, Zane."

"Yeah, I was starting to think the s-" Zane didn't get to finish his sentence, though, as just the deck door opened.

Melanie came out first, leading the other two girls as Sam had Kira under her arm as a big sister would, the Vulpix looking like she was still trying to hide a little even though the older fire-type kept her out front enough.

"Sorry it took us a while, guys, we were just - wait, where are Gloria, Stan, and Chuck?"

"Over that way," Keith answered, pointing. "Gloria couldn't wait to hit the water."

"Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense."

There was some more chit-chat between the other, but Zane had been keeping his eye on Kira throughout, the golden Vulpix mostly staring at the ground but occasionally glancing up - the Electrike making sure his eye contact was available each time. It took a few glances, but Kira finally let her shoulders drop and head up slightly, giving an uncertain, embarrassed, weak smile - but a smile nonetheless, which Zane returned warmly.

She was wearing a two-piece whose top was sports-bra-like and bottom was a short trunk - not as revealing as Sam's sky blue bikini but definitely more so than Melanie's pink and purple polka-dot one-piece. Zane felt his ears flush ever so slightly when he realized that Kira's new swimsuit was Manectric colors with jagged, thunderbolt-like designs, since he knew it was likely just because she liked them (thinking of him as a future Manectric) as opposed to trying to make a point. Between the two halves of the swimsuits was the swell of Kira's belly, ever bigger than what Zane remembered from that last time he had seen it uncovered a month or so previous. He guessed that she, aside from showing off her large baby bump, was also self-conscious about the swath of red showing from beneath the bottom each of the swimsuit's two pieces.

"You look great, Kira," he said.

A corner of her mouth twitched upward slightly. "Thanks..." she mumbled. "S-sorry I was slow."

"Not a worry at all," he said, cutting off some fraternal snark (presumably good-natured snark, but snark nonetheless) from Keith. "So how about we head out and enjoy the sand and sun, huh?"

"Okay..." she said, trading Sam's arm for Zane's as Marcus quickly took Kira's place next to Sam. She still sounded uncertain, though, and once they were out on the open sand the Electrike could feel her huddling up against him, especially as they got over by Charlie and the other beach-goers.

"You look great, Kira," he repeated comfortingly in her ear.

"I'm a balloon," she countered quietly, "I feel like my belly is a beacon or something."

"Well, if it's any comfort, you don't look out-of-shape at all, there's no mistaking the baby bump for fat, and your fur has an absolutely gorgeous sheen right now."

That gave the Vulpix a weak smile, the golden fire-type silent for a moment as she appreciated the comment, one arm resting on her belly. She finally gave a little sigh and said "I guess I'm just worried about stares and people getting the wrong impression about me, and by extension you, daddy... all of us."

"Let them stare. If someone can't see that we're having fun on the beach, and that you and I are a good couple, that's their problem. Besides, it's not like anyone we're going to randomly see here is likely to interact with us in the future."

"That's true," she admitted as they made it to where Charlie was out absorbing solar energy. Kira slowly settled down on another towel as the other middle schoolers stood around, Marcus and Sam instead heading straight for the water to join Stan and Gloria. The golden Vulpix made herself comfortable on a beach chair, then looked up at the other three. "Oh, geez, don't wait for me guys, go and enjoy the waves."

"You sure sis? We're fine keeping you company."

"Thanks Keith, but it's fine... I'm not sure I want to wet just yet, and I don't want to hold you guys back."

"Well, if you say so," Melanie said, stepping away and patting the red Vulpix's shoulder "C'mon Keith! Race ya to the water!"

"You're on!" he yelled, the two of them taking off down toward the four older kids, who were currently having a chicken-fight with the girls humorously being the ones with the boys on their shoulders.

Zane and Kira just chuckled a bit at the enthusiasm of the other two before Zane made to sit down next to her.

"Aren't you going to join them?" the Vulpix asked.

"Not yet," was the simple answer, "Keith's fun, but I already hang out with him a lot, and I don't know Melanie all that well, so enjoying your company is my number-one priority for this week!"

Kira rolled her eyes a little but still draped an arm over Zane's shoulder as his went around her back. "So if I wanted to hole up in my bedroom all week, you'd skip the swimming and volleyball and day trips and everything?"

"Weeeelllll, maybe I wouldn't go THAT far..." he teased, earning a Gibbs-slap as both of them laughed. "We're gonna get you having fun soon enough, too, you know!"

"We'll see," Kira said with a smile, before she let a little "oh", putting her free paw on her belly again.

Zane looked over, watching as his girlfriend simply started down at her belly, focused on it for some reason as she felt over it. "Is the kit moving around in there?"

"Yeah," she said quietly as he leaned in a bit over her. "Always kinda catches me by surprise..."

"I -" he began whispering, unsure a little, "I know this is often a somewhat inconsiderate question, but... can I feel?"

She smiled at him. "Zane, I definitely know that and agree with how most mothers-to-be don't like people rubbing their baby bump, but you should know you're the one person who'd get a pass without asking."

"Just making sure," he replied, still smiling a bit uncertainly even as he reached forward. "I know I've touched a lot, but I've been careful to keep that as safe space..."

"I appreciate it," she said, leaning back just a bit as his paw lightly came down on her stretched belly. Her eyes were completely on his to watch his reaction as his focus was zeroed in on where his paw was. A moment later, his eyes went wide as he gasped a little, the Vulpix also feeling the kick he must've felt just then. He was clearly transfixed for a moment, taking in the sensation as he rubbed gently over her middle; he only looked back up to her when she rested her paw over his.

"That's..."

"Incredible, right?" Kira completed. "It didn't make your paternal instinct kick in, did it?"

"I don't think I have a "paternal instinct" right now," he replied, his paw still on her belly, "but this certainly does make it all seem more real..."

"It sure does... I have to admit, before I felt it moving, I thought it would be easy enough to just "simply" give birth and give it away... But once you know it's alive and kicking in there, you care so much more..."

"Yeah..."

"I think it would be a lot harder for me to just let it go if we hadn't found someone amazing like the Clarkes. I know they'll be good parents, which takes the pressure off me even though I'm definitely more invested now than I was before. If the kit was just put into the system, I think I'd want to be much more involved after the birth - which would be very tough for someone not even in high school yet."

"Yeah, I hear ya there... I still think it's best for us to be out of the child-raising process completely, but dang if this doesn't make me curious..."

"So you won't want to try reconnecting or finding info with the Clarkes before we graduate or something?"

"No, I don't think so," he replied, withdrawing his hand from between Kira's and her belly. "I'm sure high school and finding a job will be enough on my mind. Besides, best to leave them be - they'll be busy enough with raising two kids after all, too."

"That's true."

"In the meantime, I guess it's best we just enjoy the ride."

"With the kid?"

"And with right now, spring break!" he said, casually lying down and splaying out on the warm ground next to Kira with a satisfied sigh. She looked down at him a moment in consideration, then just smiled and un-did the beach chair she was resting her back on so she could lie down and cuddle up next to Zane, seemingly relaxing and enjoying the beach for the first time since putting on her swimsuit.

The had several minutes of quiet time to themselves before a dripping Sam showed back up at their spot.

"Hey you two! Enjoying yourselves so far?"

"I think so, yup," the Electrike replied with a smile, his arm currently a headrest for his girlfriend.

"You gonna come down to the water soon?"

"Dunno... Kira?"

The Vulpix hrrmmed a little at that. "I dunno... Still not entirely sure I want to get wet, though I do like swimming... Looks like you guys are having fun down there."

"We are, you should join us!" The Arcanine then grinned. "You just weren't sure about getting wet?"

Kira's eyes went wide as realization hit. "You wouldn't - !"

And then Sam shook hard, sending the sea water from her coat flying all over their little camp zone, speckling the two middle schools as well as the sleeping Heliolisk a little bit behind them.

"HOLY SHIT WHAT THE - Oh, dammit Sam!" Charlie sputtered, bolting upright from his towel. "What the hell?"

Sam ignored him as she watched Kira and Zane finish their squirming and begin giggling. "There! Now you're wet, so you should come join us in the water!"

Kira still laughed for a bit before acquiescing "Well, I guess I have no good counter arguments to that... How about you, Zane?"

"Nope, can't think of any either," the Electrike replied, getting to his feet before helping the golden Vulpix stand as well.

"So mushy..." Charlie grumbled as the four of them made their way down to join the others, who were currently having splash wars.

The rest of the afternoon went well for them, mostly spending time in the water but joining up in an evening game of beach volleyball with some other beachgoers; Kira and Zane sat out the volleyball with the parents of the other group, which was a mixed bag as the mother viewed the young couple skeptically while the father struck up an engaging conversation about battle techniques with Zane that lasted most of the volleyball match.

They headed back to the beach house after that, Kira jumping in to the extra wing's shower while Stan and Gloria disappeared upstairs. The other middle schoolers just parked in front of the TV while Sam, Marcus, and chef-for-the-week Charlie took the van out to the nearest store for food. The kitchen was rather well-equipped too, thankfully, and the Heliolisk went all-out for dinner that first night with a three-course tropical feast that put everyone out like a light the instant they went to bed.

Tuesday was not as nice of a day weather-wise, so the group decided to head in to town, exploring the local "mall" for the morning and the movie theater and arcade in the afternoon. The mall wasn't much to speak of, more a collection of local stores under a makeshift group awning, but that didn't matter all that much to the girls, who (much to the guys' chagrin) still went into "shopping mode", browsing through nearly every store there. Sam and Kira even found matching hats that they liked ("I think you two fell for the same girl," Stan commented to the brothers) which the Arcanine paid for, surprisingly the girls' only haul of the entire morning.

While the morning was essentially for the girls, the afternoon was for the guys as the only three movies there were an R-rated horror film, an early summer sci-fi action blockbuster, and a G-rated animated film. Marcus, probably because he had his little brother with him and would never hear the end of it from their mother, took the role as adult of the group and refused to let anyone buy the middle-schoolers tickets to the R-rated movie - and, once they were past the ticket counter, made it clear that if the younger kids snuck in with the older ones he would make a scene of physically removing them from that showing room.

He didn't need to worry too much, though. Melanie hated the concept of gore, and like most people was fine with watching a mindless summer action film. Kira was also easy to convince considering that said action film was Chase Wozniak's next movie appearance after last fall's Howling Rolling Thunder, which meant Zane was along for the ride, as was Keith so as not to be the odd-one-out.

The weather was still a bit poor Wednesday - not raining anymore, but still overcast and a bit breezy. After a hearty breakfast casserole, though, Kira decided that it would be good enough for a morning walk out along the dunes, particularly for getting some cool pictures. Eventually she had Zane, Marcus, and Sam tagging along with her. Aside from the breeze, is was actually fairly nice weather, the overcast skies making a nice even light as they had the length of beach west of the house completely to themselves.

Kira had been right about the pictures - she got some great perspective shots along the dunes and some nice pictures of the white-capped ocean too. They took a break to just sit down in the sheltered area between three touching dunes, the two girls falling into a somewhat philosophical conversation about the separation between civilization and nature as the winds passed over them. At one point, one of the nearby dunes decided to sing in the wind a little bit, making them all fall silent so as to listen. The singing stopped, leaving only the sound of the wind blowing over their shelter - until Marcus' stomach growled, causing Sam to lovingly groan a bit as the two young teens started giggling, which quickly grew into full-grown laughter that caught on with the older couple as well.

Just as their laughter was dying down, Kira gasped a little bit, paw going to her belly again.

"Baby moving around in there?" Sam asked with a smile.

Kira wasn't smiling, though. "Well, yes, but that's not..." She trailed off, her face furrowing into a bit of a pained and slightly scared grimace. "It's all tightening up..."

"It is?" Sam asked, her smile fading into concern. "Like, contractions? But it's far too early for those."

"I don't know what contractions are supposed to feel like..." the Vulpix said, her voice quavering a bit as Zane moved up right next to her to hold her.

"Let's see..." the Arcanine muttered, quickly glancing at and scrolling through her phone. "Early contraction, early contr- Oh, okay! No worries, I think. You can have contraction-like feelings just about any time in your pregnancy, just thanks to your body adjusting to stretching ligaments or from dehydration or other things; it's also normal to have these Braxton-Hicks contractions, or "false labor", starting in the second trimester. It's just basically minor cramps. They'll go away by themselves, but moving about, drinking fluids, and steady breathing can all help alleviate them."

"I guess we have been just sitting in the dry, breezy air for a while now, haven't we?" Zane said, feeling a little better about the situation since it sounded normal and inconsequential, but also worried about his girlfriend's comfort as he could tell she was still all tense. "Whaddaya think, Kira, should we head back and get you some water or something?"

"That - sounds like a plan to me," the Vulpix grunted, wincing a little as she tried rolling up to her feet.

"Here, hun, let us help," Sam said, jumping up to Kira's side as Zane stayed supporting her other arm.

"I'm fine, it's not that bad, I can definitely walk," Kira said, taking a huff before brushing off her two helpers and starting to walk back up and out from between their spot between the dunes. Zane and Sam stayed flanking her, though, with Marcus following uncertainly behind. Thankfully, the mood lightened back up when the Manectric's stomach let out another growl, earning a chuckle from the younger fire-type. "Yeah, I think we definitely need to get Marcus back to the house. The baby's hungry, sound s like!"

"Baby?" the Manectric repeated, a bit confused as to how the nickname had suddenly found him, though a friendly look from Sam told him to not worry about it.

"Seriously, though," the golden Vulpix continued, "that growling? I haven't belly-laughed like that in a long time," she said, smile returning to her face.

"Glad to hear it," Zane said, grinning even wider and relaxing a bit, considering that Kira seemed to now be fine with the situation but particularly that she was finding moment of true enjoyment on this spring break.

When they got back to the house, they found a bored-looking Keith, Melanie, and Charlie playing a slow-paced poker at the dining room table. Sam gave them a questioning look upon seeing their blank faces, which Charlie immediately replied with a flat "They've been upstairs the whole time you've been gone, often somewhat loud."

"Oh, geez..."

They got Kira some water and Marcus a snack as he and Zane joined in on the poker. The seven of them were treated to one more "hearing" of Stan and Gloria before the older couple came downstairs a little while later. They seemed very pleased with themselves, though withered a bit under the glares of everyone else in the house for the rest of the afternoon. Charlie made everyone sandwiches for dinner.

---

Early Friday afternoon, after they had all gotten back to Hassenburg, Sam offered to take Kira and Melanie for lunch while the guys went for a workout and sparring at the local gym. The girls passed over the local strip malls and instead splurged by going to the Grande Hassenburg Plaza Centre downtown, eventually deciding on getting a table at the Marres Pizza Garden restaurant. None of them ordered actual pizza, though: Sam got a tropical salad while the middle schoolers each got a pasta bake.

It had taken a while to convince Kira to go somewhere as public as the large mall, but between suggestion from the other two girls and some extra confidence from their time on the beach, she had eventually been convinced. They just chatted through lunch for over an hour - and salvaged their Pizza Garden trip by splitting a desert pizza - before heading out to wander the mall. Kira still felt a tad self-conscious, so the quickly enough diverted into one of the anchor department stores.

It was private enough that Kira was back to normal, relaxed enough as they wandered through the different departments, of course lingering a bit longer in the jewelry, perfume, and women's clothing sections. Kira stopped, though, as they passed the kids' section.

"Kira, what's - ?"

"Sshh," the Vulpix sounded, hushing Melanie for the moment as the two other fire types edged closer to Kira, looking in the same direction she was.

"Who's that? Do you know them?" Sam whispered as they looked to a group of women who were examining various toddler clothing, toys, and accessories.

"Come on, let's not stare," Kira said suddenly, hustling back into the kitchen department. "That golden Mightyena with regular-black highlights was Mrs. Clarke, the woman who'll be adopting my kid. Not sure who the others were, but I'm guessing some of her friends; she had mentioned she still hangs out a lot with people from when she and Mr. Clarke were living in an apartment near here."

"Ah, gotcha," Melanie said. "Most of them were looking at toddler stuff, though... You don't think she's looking that far ahead already, do you?"

"Some of her friends are already moms," the golden Vulpix answered, "so I bet that's why there were in the toddler section. I think I saw her holding an already-kinda-full bag anyway."

"So do you not want to say "Hi" to her, then?" Sam asked, a bit perplexed.

"Weeelllll... I like her, but I haven't really talked with her or Mr. Clarke outside of our meetings with Ms. Hendershot - our adoption agent - yet, so I'm not sure if running in to her in real life would be fun. Also, I have no clue what her friends might think of me, or if she's even told about me yet to people she knows."

The Arcanine shrugged a bit. "Fair enough, I guess. Oooo, what's that?" she asked, suddenly (legitimately) distracted by an "As Seen On TV" kitchen accessory set on the next shelf over - of the three girls there, she was definitely the most shop-y.

They browsed through the kitchen department some more, eventually transferring over to the bedroom department. In there, Kira announced she needed to sit for a little bit, so the three girls plopped down on the nearest queen size bed display and fell silent to rest up momentarily.

Their silence didn't last very long, though, as a young Litleo kid awkward-ran up the aisle in their direction, slowed down just as he was about to pass them, then turned and jogged a few paces back before yelling "Mommy mommy! She's rike miss Crarke!"

"Oh geez, Sammy, you don't just go yelling - ! Oh wow, you're young," the Pyroar mother said as she rounded one of the displays to swoop up her son (who couldn't have been more than four year old).

"Sheila, what's - oh, hi Kira!" Laine said as she rounded the corner as well, followed by an Absol and Weavile, the latter carrying a tiny Sneasel against her shoulder.

"Do you know this girl?" Sheila the Pyroar asked.

"I -" She caught herself, taking a quick moment to measure her words. "Yes, I will be adopting her kit."

"Oh!" the Absol said with a smile. "Yeah, I remember you mentioning adoption at some point a while ago - to give your pup a sibling, right?"

"Yes. How are you doing right now, Kira?"

The golden Vulpix felt caught, wanting to back out of the situation as quickly as possible, especially with the judging look she was getting from the Pyroar, but at the same time the only way out was to get up off the bed and, in doing so, approach the older women. "I guess I'm doing fine," she said timidly.

"We were just enjoying our last day of spring break at the mall," Sam covered for her.

Laine nodded. "Ah, that's nice."

"Did you enjoy your week, then?" the Absol asked.

"Yeah, we spent most of the week at one of the Verlynn beaches," Melanie answered now, the two other girls standing up, providing a bit of a barrier in front of the Vulpix, letting her shuffle up to her feet as well.

"Aahh I love Verlynn!" Laine said happily. "Beach time is so relaxing for me... They've got some fun little shops up there, too. You girls find fun stuff there or today? I got two new outfits today, one for before my delivery and one for after!"

"Well... Sam and I got matching hats up in Verlynn..." Kira said, still mumbling a little bit but not as badly as her first statement. "I haven't bought anything today, though... I can't find much at the moment that I like."

"Which we're trying to correct! Just hard to get her out of oversize T-shirts when they don't make maternity wear for young teens."

"Mel!" Sam barked in reprimand, the young Fennekin realizing a second too late how bad that sounded coming out of her mouth and looking at her friend apologetically.

"It's certainly a struggle," Laine responded calmly to help diffuse the situation.

"Well, for what it's worth, Kira, I think your coat is gorgeous right now. You've got that pretty glow going on," the Absol commented earnestly, earning a weak smile from the golden Vulpix.

"Well thanks..."

"Anyway, good to see you again Kira, especially outside of Melissa's office. A week earlier than planned, huh?"

Kira nodded, but both Melanie and the Weavile asked "What's next week?"

"Oh! Well, I'm started on two appointments with my doctor per month recently, while Kira's still going just monthly," Laine explained. "When my schedule changed, we arranged it so that we're going in on the same day."

"I invited Mrs. Clarke to come to some of my appointments," Kira added, "since it'll be her kit when all is said and done. She'll drive, too, so it's easier on my dad."

"Oh Kira, you can call me Laine," the Mightyena said warmly.

"Oh, okay... Laine," the Vulpix responded, nodding and relaxing a bit more.

"I guess that's nice..." the Weavile said a bit uncertainly though nodding as well.

"But yes, so next Friday?" Laine concluded.

"Yea-oh! Ah, Friday, right..."

The golden Mightyena tilted her head a bit. "Wait, is that going to be a problem?"

Kira thought for a moment. "It wasn't when we agreed to it, but now I'm remembering that the Tuesday before spring break, Zane told me that the History Bowl team would be trying regional qualification a second time after they just missed the cut the day before - Mr. Barretto had somehow scrambled to snag them a spot at the other competition. Miss out on this one and they don't make the next level. I was hoping to go and support him again, but I guess I already have the appointment on our schedule..."

"Well, if you have to or just want to reschedule, that's fine by me," Laine said. "Whatever works! I know we'll be seeing enough of each other anyway."

"I'm hungry," little Sammy announced from next to his mother's legs. "Can we go get a soft pretzel?"

"Sammy!" Sheila slightly hissed, "you can't just go interrupting grown-ups' conversations! Sorry everyone," she said with a bit of a sigh, directing the apology mostly to Laine and somewhat to Kira.

"Well, I think that's as good a break as any, honestly," the Weavile said. "Are we ready to check out?"

"I guess so," Laine said, looking down at her collected things. "Well, Kira, see you around, then?"

"Sure thing, Laine," the Vulpix responded, nodding and stepping forward just a bit to shake the Mightyena's hand, though she was surprised a bit as the dark-type quickly turned it into a hug.

"Nice meeting you!" the Absol called over her shoulder, waving.

"Take care, hun!" Laine said in parting, the Weavile quickly asking if Laine could take a turn holding her little Sneasel, which the Mightyena did happily.

The three young women watched as the other group left to find a sales counter.

"She seemed really nice!" Melanie said, referring to Laine. "Fifty-fifty on the others, though..."

"Right..." Kira sighed, Sam quickly taking her under her arm.