(THE NEXT MORNING)

Thunder looked down at the baby in the basket, tubes and cords hooked up to almost every inch of her skin to help keep her stable as the doctors ran a number of tests on her to make sure that she was fine and well-developed enough to live on her own, but he, despite the good news that she had lived, and was well enough to make it to the NICU in time for the nurses to get her on proper support, could only see the bad side to it. He had never expected the first sight of his daughter to be this, or that he would have be there at Mir's side when the doctors rushed her away the second she was born, leaving the two of them behind in the delivery room without a clue as to what was going to happen.

He was hurt; there were tears on his cheeks, his stomach was doing all kinds of nauseating twists, his heart was pounding in his chest, and yet he felt more love and affection in those long moments of nervousness and fear than he ever had in his life. That was his baby there, curled up in front of his eyes, with her hands tucked up under her chin, and her feet squirming around in the socks the nurses had put on her, and her stuffed panda from Seungho at her side. She was his, a beautiful baby girl that shared his DNA, and his eyes, and his chubby cheeks, and he couldn't help but to reach out and her head, and then wiggle his finger in between her own for her to squeeze onto as if it were a lifeline, before he leaned in and lovingly kissed her on the nose.

"Hi," he whispered, feeling her flex around his finger when he did, almost as if she had heard and understood. "This is your appa here to see you. I just want to tell you that I love you, baby. And I promise that I will do my best to keep you safe and happy from now on, nae? I want to make sure that I never, ever hurt you or make you hate me, because you're just too precious to lose..."

He wiped at his eyes and ceased his speech, because he knew it would only come out as choked sobs if he continued, but he remained there at her side even so, his thumb rubbing gently over her fragile-like hand, and his head bowed down to rest against the side of hers as she slept. He closed his eyes, and envisioned himself in the future with her, what she would look like, how she would act, but all in all he knew that she would be perfect no matter what, just because he loved her so much he couldn't even think of any proper way to describe it.

He sat there for hours and hours, ignoring the people coming in and out to check on her, and even the protests of one nurse that he had to give her some space or she might get scared, but she was quiet and well-behaved whenever he was at her side, even when she was awake and her big, brown eyes stared up into his as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world to do, and he couldn't help but to laugh when she did.

Some time later on in the day, the hyungs came in to see her, and he gladly stood back for once to let them all gush and coo over her, before an older nurse, one who had been there at the hospital for most of her life, and wasn't afraid to bend a rule or two for such happy people, locked the door and let each of them hold her for a while, warning them to just be careful of the tubes or the baby might suffer later on for it.

Joon got to hold her first, and he gently bounced her in his arms as he kissed her all over, before he handed her to G.O., who sang to her and rocked her almost as if he was afraid to break her in his grasp. And the last of the hyungs was Seungho, who did nothing more than hold her to his chest and let her head snuggle into the crook of his neck, where she seemed more than content to stay... much to the others' jealousy, especially Thunder's.

But then when it came to be his turn, he felt his heart stop, his breath fall short, and his knees wobble, but it was all in pure elation, not fear or anxiety—which he had felt far too much of over the past two and a half months—and right then, he was absolutely sure that the moment she was brought home and put into the care of just Mir and himself, that he was never going to put her down again, or let her out of his sight. And he knew that sounded horrible, like he was an overprotective father who wanted nothing more for his daughter than to live at his side for the rest of his life, but he just couldn't help it; she was his world, she was the one thing that he had to prove himself wrong, and he was now the one thing that he'd never had, and he as sure as anything wasn't going to make her suffer like he, Dara, and Durami had.

"You two look so good together," Joon said, as he ran his fingertip over her thin line of black hair, and Thunder leaned in to kiss it a moment later. "And I bet once Cheolyongie is here too, you're going to look even better."

"Nae, I agree," G.O. nodded, before he noticed the label stuck onto the machine above the plastic basket the baby was supposed to be laying in. "Park, Daughter," he read, and the other two hyungs curiously turned to follow along as he finished off the rest. "Father: Park Sanghyun. Mother: Bang Cheolyong. Date of Birth: June twenty-second, at eight thirty-four AM. Name: Park... Lexi?"

"Nae," Thunder nodded his head, and carefully leaned over to place the baby back down in amongst her blankets and the cords. "I used to have a friend back in the Philippines with that name. She was there for me when my father left my family behind, and she made sure that I was happy and well taken care of as I grew up, so I thought it would be nice to name the baby after her, and Mireu agreed."

"So Lexi-ah, is it?" Seungho murmured, before he stepped in much closer to the baby, and reached in to run his thumb over her cheek, and to kiss her on her forehead. "This is your Seungho-oppa. Let's get along well when you come home, nae? I love you."

"I love you too, Lexi-ah," Joon chimed in. "So let's be friends when you get older, and Lee Joon-oppa will buy you anything you want when you ask for it."

Yah, don't start telling her lies already," G.O. teased, as he too joined in at Lexi's side, and reached out to hold onto her little feet, much like he used to do to his nephews when they were still newborns. "Lee Joon-oppa is cheap, he won't buy you a thing, Lexi-ah. Let G.O.-oppa do it for you instead, nae?"

Thunder chuckled and listened on as the other three argued over who was going to be the best oppa, and who was going to spoil Lexi the most when she got older, and he felt an elated flutter in his heart when Seungho said that he was practically her second father, because he just loved her that much, and Joon and G.O. quickly replied that they felt the same way. This went on and on for quite some time, at least until a new nurse came in and said that the NICU visiting hours were over, and that they all, even Thunder, had to leave the department and go somewhere else.

"Bye, Lexi-ah," Thunder murmured as the others all shuffled out, and he rubbed his finger over her cheek one more time before he was pushed out by the nurse, and found himself stranded there on the other side of the door looking in on his daughter's sleeping figure.

"Come on, Cheondoong, you can see her tomorrow," Seungho called, as he and the other two stood in wait of the elevator to open. "Let's go see how Cheolyong is doing instead."

"Nae, hyung," he replied.

The four rode the elevator in silence, and when the bell went off for their floor, they all stepped out, Thunder in the front, and made their way down the hall and around the corner to Mir, who was propped up in his bed, a food tray in front of his face as he munched on his dinner and watched cartoons on TV. He looked up when he heard the door open though, and a smile crossed his face when Thunder came over to kiss his hair and sit at his side on the bed. "She was beautiful," Thunder said, and Mir immediately lit up as if he had just been told the greatest thing in the world (and it was, in a way). "You're going to love her so much, Mireu."

Mir swallowed down his mouthful of food and leaned in to give Thunder a proper kiss, one that had the others pretending to gag and puke, but neither paid it much mind when they pulled away and smiled at each other. "I can't wait to see what we made," Mir smiled, his hand pushing itself into Thunder's, before their fingers slowly entwined together. "Make sure you take a picture when you go down to see her again tomorrow, okay?"

Thunder nodded. "I will."

"Well, this is pleasant, isn't it?" G.O. whispered, and Seungho, curled up into his side, made a small sound of agreement. "Maybe this could be us some time in the future."

"Are you going to be the pregnant one then?" Seungho chuckled lowly, not wanting the younger three to hear their conversation. "Because from what I saw of Cheolyong's, I wouldn't want to be the one to do it."

"Maybe," G.O. breathed against his ear. "But I think you would look so much hotter than me with a baby belly. You almost already have one, nae?"

Seungho frowned and jabbed the singer in the stomach, but he laughed all the same, and tried to soothe his attack a moment later by kissing G.O. on the cheek, just out of sight of where the others could see. "You're going to need some proper punishment later on at home for what you just said to me, jagiya," he threatened, but G.O. did nothing more to respond than raise his eyebrows in challenge, and run his tongue out over his lips in that one particular way that he knew drove Seungho insane...

Their kiss started off heated, and neither seemed quite able to remember that there were three other people in the vicinity as G.O. bit down on Seungho's bottom lip, drawing a loud and desperate moan from deep within his throat, to which he got a tongue teasing his, a hand in his shirt, and a body squirming in closer to his own in return. At least... until they heard Joon burst out in surprise, and they had to pull away with their eyes half-lidded, and their mouths swollen and red.

"Yah, since when has this been happening?" Joon repeated his previous question again, but the two found that they weren't really in the right state to answer at that moment, and so they just shrugged instead, throwing each other another needy glance before kissing one last time and collapsing back into the couch they were on as if nothing had happened.

"Wow, I guess the hyungs are like us now, Mireu," Thunder said, and Mir nodded at his side as they continued to curiously eye Seungho and G.O. from across the way. "I wonder when that started."

"I think it was back when we asked Seungho-hyung about his feelings," Mir giggled. "Remember how weird he acted around G.O.-hyung after that, and then during the baby shower they just couldn't keep their hands away from each other."

"Wait, so you two knew about this?" Joon accusingly pointed his finger at the maknaes, who merely nodded their heads and went back to whispering about the other two and their apparent lack of self control around each other now that they knew of the other's feelings. "Since when... What in the heck... Why am I the only one who didn't know?" Joon exclaimed, pulling at his hair a little too dramatically, almost as if he had just been asked the most important question in the world, and he still had no profound answer to give for it. "Why am I always the one left in the dark? Huh?"

"Because you're not observant enough, Joon," Seungho murmured quietly, his voice rough and hoarse in what the others could only guess was arousal. "And Cheolyong was right, we got together at the baby shower."

"What?" Joon shook his head frantically, before he plopped down onto the edge of Mir's bed and buried his face in the sheets. How had he been so blind to this fact before? How had he allowed himself to become the only single member in MBLAQ, when it was obvious that he was the most popular? And when had he become the "good one", who didn't break the dating ban while the others, even Seungho and G.O., did just that... and with each other? A confused cry passed through his lips, but it was easily swallowed up by the mattress he was shoved into, so no one but himself was able to hear his anguish as much as felt it in that short span of time.

"Oh come on, Joonie-hyung, you don't have to overreact like that," Mir teased. "You had to have known that this was going to happen one day soon. Seungho-hyung and Byunghee-hyung have always been really close to each other, and once Doongie-hyung and I asked about their feelings, they finally gave in like we did and decided to date."

"Yeah, but... Now I have to be all alone!" Joon wailed, waving his hands around in the air. "Now I have to be the only single one, while you all have each other to... to... you know..."

"You're going to find someone soon, hyung, don't worry," Thunder assured. "And I bet that he or she is going to be really sweet and nice to be around, don't you think, Mireu?"

"Nae," Mir nodded.

"And make sure you use protection when you do too," Seungho warned, his eyes narrowed at the three younger members. "We don't want a repeat of what happened in these past few months, especially not any time soon. I mean, having kids is fine and all, but wait until MBLAQ is out of the spotlight before you do it... or do it again, okay?"

"Okay, hyung, we promise to be more careful," Thunder replied.

"Nae, no more babies for a while," Mir added. "My backside couldn't take anymore right now anyways."

"And I don't plan on worrying about a career and kids at the same time," Joon finished. "At least not this career. There's already too much stress put on me as it is... But you know, the same thing should go for you and Byunghee-hyung as well, hyung," he retorted, and Seungho immediately scowled. "I bet there's going to be quite a few times when you get carried away and end up sitting in a room just like this waiting for an answer."

"Yeah, yeah, say whatever you want," Seungho shot back, his eyes boring into the dancer like he was the most corrupted thing ever. "When your boyfriend or girlfriend or whoever shows up pregnant before one of us, we're going to see who's been more careful than not."

Joon just smirked, and Mir, G.O., and Thunder all breathed out in exasperation, for there was a challenge about to be laid out, and there was absolutely no way in heck that any one of them would be able to stop it once it started... But they already had a pretty good idea of who the winner (or winners) was going to be despite all of that, since Joon lost almost everything he bet himself in.

"Hyungs..." Mir muttered, rolling his eyes, and Thunder nodded and curled up beside him in the bed as Joon and Seungho stood and faced each other, ready to clash.