Author's Note: Once again, thanks to "André" for permission to use his lyrics!

Also thanks to "Michael" for his extra suggestions on this one!

Chapter 57: Goodbye Sacramento

On the ride to the airport, Joan called Michael. After her conversation with Mokuba about condoms, she knew Seto would put up even more resistance to them once he found out that she already carried his embryo. Well, a quarter of his embryo anyway. Or, since Seto and Mokuba were brothers, it was more like a 3/8 share of fatherhood. The point remained that, despite Joan's initial resolve to tell Michael face-to-face, she had to tell him before they could revise their condom policy.

After Joan explained the situation to Michael, he admitted that he had also suspected the ring could cause pregnancy. "Man wondered if this might happen. When Man triggered the ring, he was thinking of making Woman pregnant and thought maybe the other males did the same thing. I was hoping for quadruplets, though. Woman sure it's not quadruplets?"

"Woman sure," Joan replied. "It's all your DNA combined into one. I felt it. More importantly, I know it happened that way because I'm only ready for one baby. The ring responds to my feelings too."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Joan blew a raspberry into the phone. "Anyway, since I'm definitely pregnant, can we let the other guys ditch the condoms?"

"I don't give a fuck anymore. Those rich boys always get what they want anyway, so just go fuck them and bring home the bacon."

"And Marc?"

"I said I don't give a fuck."

"Male OK? He sound a bit angry."

Mokuba stroked Joan's hand in the back seat of Tamara's Prius, leaning away from her phone out of respect for her privacy but unable to avoid hearing the tension in her voice.

"Male having a hard time digesting this. Male been with Woman longer than the rich jerks, but he feel Woman give them too much too fast."

Joan thought about this for a moment. "It's been a long time since I busted out the Bible on anyone, but do you remember the parable of the prodigal son?"

"Oh God no. No, don't start with that shit," Michael said.

"Just listen. Mokuba and Seto found love a lot later in life than you and me, but that doesn't make them any less worthy of it."

Michael groaned. "Male don't care what some guy said two thousand years ago. You're making this worse."

"How am I making it worse?"

"Carefully."

"OK, give me a real answer."

"You're rubbing my face in it."

"Rubbing your face in it? I asked you an important question."

"Yeah, and I said fine, but then you had to go on and on about it."

"Woman went on and on because Male didn't sound fine with it."

"Male will be. Male know Woman do what she want, but Male need some time to warm up to it. I feel you've been drifting away and you're making me feel like a third wheel in the relationship. I get that you're letting things develop naturally with them, but it's hard for me without being involved in it. I miss spending time with you."

"We should be able to spend more time together after Marc builds the poly house. I won't have to waste hours traveling to see you all. And if we get Linda in there too, Linda won't have to waste hours traveling to see Male."

"Male have to make sure Linda OK with it, but Male like that idea. He getting tired of shitty apartment with shitty ventilation and no AC. He be much happier in fancy mansion."

"Good Male. Woman hope Male all warm and fuzzy by the time we move in with Marc and Mokuba. Speaking of which, you guys should do some male bonding while I'm in Japan. Play Monsters of the Duel or whatever."

"Male's open to it. Male been rubbed the wrong way by people too many times and he's slow to trust, but since these are people in your life, they're people in my life."

"Thanky, Male!"

"OK pretty lady, I love you bye-bye!"

"Love you too, Male!" Joan ended the call.

Having heard only Joan's half of the conversation and not being entirely sure what to make of it, Mokuba said, "So . . .?"

"So you still have Michael's number, right?"

"Right."

"Text him and see if you can set up a playdate."

"Uh . . . do you mean hanky-panky playtime or just video games?"

"Just video games. Michael might tease from time to time, but he's straight." Joan snuggled up to Mokuba. "Don't worry. As soon as Michael sees you're not an arrogant prick like Seto, you two will get along fine."

"You know, it's weird how you can call Seto an arrogant prick, which is true, but you make it sound so endearing at the same time."

Before Joan could respond, Mokuba's phone buzzed with a text from Marc: The upgrades are ready. Mokuba tapped a few icons on his phone and spoke a password at Joan's forearm.

Joan watched the dull plastic-like mask on her ring transform to gorgeous, glimmering gems. She could still tell the difference if she looked hard enough, but someone who had never seen the naked gems would never know. "Tell Marc it's amazing."

"Will do." Mokuba tapped out the message while Joan continued admiring her ring. "Marc says he's going to spend the rest of the weekend updating the blueprints for our house. If there's anything in particular you want, be sure to let him know."

"Michael will want good airflow and AC. He gets really cranky when he gets too hot."

"That's a given, but I'll make note of it just in case. What about for you, personally?"

"Mainly a private office so I can have some peace and quiet and maybe get back to my editing work when I'm not fucking you."

"We'll have lots of rooms. You can pick whichever one you want for that. I mean do you want a swimming pool or anything like that?"

Joan shrugged. "Only if you really want one. I'd rather have a lot of fruit trees, and then, when we have more fruit than we can eat, we take it down to a train station and give it away."

"That sounds fun, but I don't think Seto would approve of that last part."

"What if we hire someone else to take the fruit to the train station?"

"We could probably convince him to do that."

They passed the rest of the ride poking through a list of properties for sale on Mokuba's phone. One of Seto's secretaries had compiled the list based on Marc's initial blueprints as well as Joan's stipulation about it being within walking distance of a train station. By the time they pulled up to the airport, they had ranked their favorites, and Mokuba had asked the secretary to place a bid on the clear winner.

They took their luggage out of the trunk, Tamara handed Joe the keys, and he went off to park while Mokuba saw Joan and Tamara through the monotonous airport lines. Joan kissed him right before she got to the first TSA agent, causing a few onlookers to whip out their phones and start recording. With Tamara close behind her and Mokuba still watching from the sidelines, Joan didn't feel a shred of agoraphobia as she handed her ID to the stoic agent. The agent handed it back to her and waved her through.

Joan put her boots, carry-on suitcase, and laptop bag onto the conveyor belt before stepping into the scanner. It flagged her duel disk implant, and the agents waved her aside for a pat-down.

"Seriously?" Mokuba called over the barrier. "You realize who you're dealing with, right?"

"They know," Joan called back. "They just want a little feel."

A female agent donned gloves and went through her routine, more afraid of a lawsuit from the hovering CEO and bodyguard than anything else. The agent pressed so lightly that, had Joan been hiding anything, it would have gone undetected. Joan explained the purpose of the duel disk implant, adding that she was on her way to spend some quality time with Seto Kaiba, who had designed the implant in the first place. Still, they swabbed her left arm and hand for explosive residues before they cleared her for travel.

Joan jumped and waved to Mokuba to let him know everything was all right before heading to her gate.

Seto, or Roland depending on how one looked at it, spared little expense on Joan and Tamara's accommodations. While not quite as luxurious as Seto's private jet would have been, Joan's first-class suite included not only a bed but access to a shower, which she sorely needed after the day's adventures. She wound up singing one of André's songs as she showered and kept humming it as she climbed into bed.

Take me now

Don't let me fall while we talk about it

Shake me now and let me be with you

Wake me now

Don't let me sleep through this moment

For the sake of me now just make me be with you

So goodbye Sacramento, I loved you since the day we met

Goodbye Sacramento, I will someday be back again