(THE NEXT MORNING)

Their phones had been ringing nonstop all morning, from family members, friends, fellow idols... and even a few shady fans who'd been able to get ahold of their personal numbers. G.O. and Mir had graciously taken their calls too, and answered every and all questions like they were the simplest ones in the world to be asked, and not at all about how the real maknae was knocked-up by the visual maknae. Thunder and Seungho though, were having some trouble answering to their callers, and continuously gave their groans of dissatisfaction whenever they hung up their phones to end their current conversation.

Sandara and Durami had the been the ones to initially start in on the chaos, and soon Thunder's mother had joined in as well. All three of them had yelled at him, and yet congratulated him at the same time... and he thanked them and apologized to each of them equally, before he invited them to come over and see the baby whenever they had the free time; that finally got them to lighten up on him, and wish him and his new family the best until they saw them again... He was far from being done explaining after that though, because as soon as his conversation with his mother ended, he got another call from the rest of the members of 2NE1, and had to elaborate once more on what had happened, receiving just as much complaining and support as he had from his family... But everything, he quickly realized, only went downhill from there, and soon he had the uncharacteristically angry urge to just smash his phone and end the constant replay of "Cry" every time he shut off his phone screen.

Seungho too, had had a similar plan to his visual... only his had been meant to go a step further, and so he soon had one of their windows thrown open in order to test his arm to see just how far he could launch the infernal contraption in his hand; his estimate was at least to the other side of the street, and if he was lucky, maybe even the bottom floor of the building across the way. G.O. was the one to ruin his fun (or frustration) though, and could only shake his head as he pulled the phone from the leader's hand, and answered his next call for him.

Lunchtime came and went as quickly as the morning had, and soon, thankfully, the calls dwindled down to nothing, leaving them a free night to do as they pleased. Mir lounged back on the couch and the TV as usual, flipping through the news channels to see if everyone was as aware of him and the baby as they seemed to be; and they were, he found, when almost all of them had a piece on him, MBLAQ, and the scandal that was his and Thunder's relationship and child.

His heartbeat sped up the longer he watched, and even though Seungho had come to sit beside him and wrap an arm around his shoulder, he felt alone, , dizzy, nauseous, scared... a whole mix of things really, and not one of them positive. People knew now—they really, truly knew, which meant that, no matter how much he prayed otherwise, the pain and the hate and the berating was going to come all too soon. And not only to him, but to his baby and his bandmates too... and he didn't want that. His daughter deserved to grow up like a normal kid did—she hadn't done anything wrong after all, even though her parents surely had—and be loved and accepted by the people she met, and go to school and make friends without having to worry about parents, teachers, or other students hating her for existing.

And the other four MBLAQ members, well, they deserved to be treated fairly too, since they'd really done nothing wrong. Sure, he and Thunder had unintentionally created a child together, but really, wasn't that normal of human life: to fall in love and procreate? And why should their mistake affect the others, even though the three of them were just as much a part of their family as the baby was? They'd had nothing to do with what had gone in those beds... and if anything, they should be praised by everyone for having stood up for their maknaes as much as they had (well, Joon had yet to do something, but a few weeks' time would tell). Was their fame really the only reason for receiving such a backlash...? Mir frowned and hugged his middle; because if it was, then he'd much prefer to step down from the limelight and just live a normal life again... maybe even back on his parents' farm, where the baby could have lots of room to run and play, and he could hide from anyone who wanted to oppose him.

What would happen to Thunder though...?

He looked up from his stomach when the other side of the couch sunk down, and watched as Thunder laid a hand on his knee, before pressing a kiss to his temple. "Stop worrying," he coaxed, offering him a small smile. "The hyungs and I are going to stop anyone who wants to say anything about you two, okay? And our fans probably will too... a lot of them are just as supportive as our friends and families are..."

Mir just nodded and leaned into Thunder's shoulder, holding him close as he willed his own hormones not to make him cry again. He really wanted to believe that things would go as he'd been promised, but there was always that nagging suspicion, that utterly dubious feeling, hidden in the back of his mind that seemed to override his thinking, and make him fear only the worst from the world. "I just want her to live normally..." he finally admitted, and both Thunder and Seungho exchanged a saddened look. They knew Mir had his ill feelings about the baby, and the fact that he was having her at such an inopportune time, but they also knew he cared more for her than any other child he'd ever seen. He would do anything for her, including risking his own career, so for him to have to stand there and listen to any sort of outsider—familiar or stranger—berate her, would be an utterly heart-breaking thing for him to have to go through. And his hyungs knew that too... that was why they were so keen on keeping her and him from having to suffer in such a way.

"She will, maknae," Seungho assured him after another minute, and Thunder nodded his agreement as he wiped away the rivers of tears running down Mir's paled cheeks, "as long as you let her. Now, stop crying and think of more important things than other people's stupid opinions."

"Okay..." Mir nodded, even as another heavy slew of tears streamed down from his reddened eyes. "Um... and I have an appointment in an hour to see my OB/GYN... Can you please take me, hyung?"

Seungho groaned, moving his head to the side in annoyance until his gaze landed on the real maknae once more. "And you're just telling me this now?" he asked, glancing up at Thunder for a moment to see if he could get a proper answer, but he only received a confused shrug in return. "Aish... next time make sure we know in advance, okay? We need to make sure we're not rushing you around everywhere and worrying too much over these appointments..."

"S-sorry..." Mir bowed his head in shame, but Thunder hugging him from behind and laying his head on his shoulder made his posture straighten up again. "But we've just... had a lot on our minds lately, since we had to worry about me staying here, and then going on Weekly Idol to make the announcement... So I just kind of... forgot that I even had to go today, until one of the nurses called to remind me..."

"Fine, fine," Seungho sighed, waving his hand towards his bedroom. "Go get my keys from my dresser and make sure you're ready to go."

"Yes, hyung," Mir got up from his seat and rushed over to Seungho's room, not even noticing the odd looks Thunder and Seungho gave him as he departed. He really was sorry though, that he had kept from telling them about his appointment that day... but he'd been serious when he'd said that he'd forgotten. His mind was running a thousand miles a minute—their schedules for the next few weeks had arrived for him them to go over, and he had lines he needed to memorize for their new songs... Plus, he'd been freaking out all week about going on TV to tell everyone of his newest endeavor as a soon-to-be-umma, so really, the last thing on his list of things to do was waste a couple of hours at the hospital having an ultrasound and being asked a slew of questions about how he was feeling and what symptoms he was experiencing. He was pregnant for goodness sake, and as far as he knew, nothing had changed at all since his last check-up the month before (besides the fact that he was almost twice the size). He was still sore, and swollen, in the back and feet, his hunger levels were through the roof, the baby kept kicking him in all the wrong places, his bladder was nonexistent, his s were tender, his -drive was unstoppable...

And yet he had to inform his doctor every single time he saw him, of just how miserable he was carrying his daughter... and he made sure everyone in the office knew that too, since he usually threw a tantrum and screamed about how dumb their country was for not making things easy on people who had no room for kids in their lives.

Ever since he'd shown back up at the dorm though, his feelings towards having the baby had changed completely. Now that he knew he had support from his hyungs—the people he wanted most to please, impress, and follow—and he knew that Thunder was more than ready to be there for her, his opinion of her had done a full turn-around. And yes, he had stated from the very beginning that he wanted to be a good umma, and that he wanted to try his best to raise her even if Thunder refused to help... but inside he had been burning up in anger and regret, wanting nothing more than to find a way to end his suffering, and go back to how he'd been, before he and Thunder had decided to be so irresponsible. He realized that that had probably just been his hormones speaking though, because he loved his other three children dearly, and his nephew was more than important to him as well...

And maybe he had just been frustrated, because of the circumstances, his poor choice in actions, and his dumb weakness for doing everything and anything that Thunder asked of him (and not just because he was the hyung)... even if that meant being intimate together when they clearly did not have any of the proper materials around them to get away unscathed of certain consequences... Example A being the giant, rounded bump of a stomach he was carrying around as he grabbed his bag and followed Seungho and Thunder out the door, and down to the parking area to where Seungho's car sat waiting for them.

Thunder pulled open the door for him and let him climb in to the back seat, just to be safe, before he leaned over to buckle him and give him a sweet kiss on the cheek. "You look tired," he whispered, and Mir nodded his agreement as he adjusted his body to rest on their pile of bags laying in the middle of the seat. "You should rest then, and hyung and I can wake you when we get there..."

"Thank you, Doongie-hyung," Mir replied, before he allowed his drooping eyes to slide closed; he really was tired, and a quiet car ride was only going to make him more drowsy if he stayed awake. Besides, when Thunder said such caring things to him—because he was worried about him and the baby—there was no way he could ever refuse to listen to him... And so, he let unconsciousness take over, and was already off in Dream Land by the time Seungho had backed the car out of its space, and drove off towards the main road.

Silence reigned for a few seconds, and Thunder fidgeted anxiously in his seat whenever he glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Mir was, in fact, sleeping behind him. Seungho eventually stopped that though, by grabbing onto his forearm and giving him a stern look of disapproval. "Just say what you want to say, Cheondoong," he ordered, but his tone was caring and calm, "instead of being so nervous all the time. I can handle anything you throw at me... so go ahead."

Thunder just folded his hands in his lap and sighed, not too sure of whether or not he actually wanted to say something, out of fear that he would make Mir look bad in the process. But when another squeeze suddenly came to his arm, and Seungho cleared his throat to coax him forward, he knew he had no choice but to do so. "He's neglecting her..." he murmured, and the sigh that followed in reply only made his chest hurt that much more.

"So you noticed too..." Seungho said, not wanting to loosen his grip as the cold arm under his hand started to tremble dangerously; he knew Thunder was on the verge of tears at that point, even though his gaze was trained on the street, and he also knew that what he was going to say next was only going to make matters worse. "He wants to give up, Doongie—he wants to go back to being normal again..."

"I know..." Thunder whimpered, rubbing a hand under his nose to stop what ever nasty thing was ready to leak out alongside his tears. "I know, but he seems so happy for her too... I just want to know what he really intends to do... I just want him to tell me how he really feels..."

"Maybe he wants both," Seungho suggested, stealing a quick glance over to the sobbing visual; the sight he saw made him squeeze the arm in his grip that much harder, and pull their limbs over into his lap so he could properly carry on his comforting hold as he carefully turned and braked behind another car. Thunder just gasped and quickly intertwined their fingers in response, not wanting Seungho to let him go until his tears had dried once more. "You know..." he continued a moment later, and Thunder nodded to tell him he was still listening. "He really cares about your daughter, and would do anything to make sure she stays safe... But at the same time, he just wants to go back to how things were before... He wants to be Bang Mir: the obnoxious but cute idol fans love, and not have to worry about scandals, or children, or the fact that his body is going through some pretty awful things right now... That kind of thinking is going to lead him into acting like this though—he's going to contradict his own words and actions, because he's unsure of what he really wants to do... So we just have to make sure we continue to give him all of our support, keep as much negativity away from him as possible, and hope that he comes to the conclusion that he would rather be a good umma to her than one who abandons her..."

"How can he just do that to us though...?" Thunder asked, shaking his head and looking more confused than he'd ever been before. "How can he go around acting all happy and cute, when he really has these dark thoughts inside of him that he lets overrule him...? How can he pretend everything is so wonderful for him and her, when he goes and does things that could potentially harm her...? How could he just forget about having a check-up at the OB/GYN's, when he's carrying around the most obvious reminder he could ever have to go get one...?"

Seungho exhaled long and loud, and tapped his fingers against the steering wheel in deep thought as they came to another stop. "His hormones are probably taking all of his feelings, and fueling them to come out tenfold what they usually would. Plus, we have our new schedules to worry about, and we were on the show just yesterday, and he's having aches and pains all over the place... He might have genuinely forgot this time around, because he's been too stressed to think properly..."

Thunder nodded and wiped his tears, not even noticing that they were just now turning into the hospital parking lot, and that Seungho had already aimed to swing into a spot near the front side. "I really hope you're right, hyung..." he mumbled, not even bothering to stop and wake Mir as he unbuckled, opened the car door, and stalked off towards the hospital entrance... Seungho just groaned and got out to fetch their maknae from his back seat; he could tell things were about to get awkward and tense between the three of them, and could only hope that everything could be kept quiet until they were back in the dorm once more, and he had G.O. there to help him...