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THE BIG MISTAKE

CHAPTER 24 - 'RUN'

“So, are you ready, Lex?”  Ace asked as he stood up, he offered a hand to Lexi as she sat on his bed before him.  A blank gaze spread itself across her face after what he had just said.

They had recently been reminiscing everything that had happened to them before this moment.

The moment.

The moment where they had to tell their friends of what was going on between them, and what had happened because of just one night…

One mistake.

One impulsive action.

One thing.

Lexi sighed.  “Yeah, let’s go.”  She held Ace’s hand as she stood up, and clutched it tightly as they walked out of his room.

Neither spoke as they opened Ace’s door.  Both were amazed at how difficult the action actually was, as they took their first few steps out of his room, they heard the chatter of their friends from the kitchen.

With a sigh, the two began to walk.

I'll sing it one last time for you
Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done

It was like walking from a dark tunnel, and into the light of day.  It felt all so relieving to the bunny couple, but they were afraid.  Afraid of what lay in wait ahead of them.

A tunnel is a blind, deadly thing.

If there is no caution when walking through one, one could easily be overcome in the darkened mass of stale aromas and unknown dangers.

To pass through the end of the tunnel, one must be ever more cautious.

Anything could be waiting at the end.

Anything could easily ambush and overcome you.

Anything could kill you.

Or lay blame on you….

And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we'll make it anywhere
Away from here

They each took a deep breath as they walked into the kitchen.  Their chests feeling like they were compressed with lead, it felt difficult for them to breathe.

But it was harder to look at their accusing team mate’s stares; as they all turned their attention, their glares, to Ace and Lexi as they entered the kitchen.

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder, louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

“Guys,” Ace spoke with a tone of authority in his voice.  Lexi looked up at him anxiously, clutching his hand ever more tightly through her anticipation. “We need to talk.”

The rest of the team eyed each other suspiciously, they were all confused and annoyed at the bunny duo after their actions yesterday, and were hoping that they would receive an apology, and an explanation about their behaviour.

Tech and Duck exchanged glances as they pulled up a chair for themselves and sat down.  Their eyes never straying from the two bunnies as they sat down slowly and shakily, the weight of the stares that came from their team mates made them ever more nervous.

To think I might not see those eyes
Makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbye
I nearly do

“So…”  Duck started smugly, fiddling with his thumbs as he glanced at the table in front of him, “I see that the two of you are back together then?”  He quickly turned his stare to them.

Ace and Lexi both stared at the floor in shame, “Duck…”  Lexi turned back to the group and shut her eyes tightly as she spoke, “We hadn’t fallen out…”

“It…was a…diversion…”  Ace said quietly, he stared at the table.  He wanted to be able to look at his friends’ eyes when he spoke to them, but suddenly his neck felt heavy, and he couldn’t raise his head up to speak to them properly.  Instead he fixed his gaze on the faint reflection of himself on the table.

“Diversion?”  Tech clarified, not entirely sure what he was talking about.  “Explain…”

“Umm…we…we had something…on our minds….something important…”  Lexi started, doing her best to look at Tech in the eyes as she spoke to him.  It half worked, but she kept switching her gaze from him, to her hands that rested in front of her on the table.

“Like what?”

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Lexi couldn’t answer that.  She couldn’t think of what to say in response to him.  Instead she shook her head slowly, resisting the urge to run out of the room.

Louder, louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

Ace continued.  “It was important…and personal…really personal…umm…and actin’ as though we were annoyed was da only way dat we would’ve been able to talk together without you guys getting’ any more suspicious….but I guess dat didn’t work.”

Slower, Slower
We don't have time for that
All I want is to find an easier way
To get out of our little heads

“Ya got that right, bunny.”  Duck scoffed, he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.  “So you lied to us.”

Have heart my dear
We're bound to be afraid
Even if it's just for a few days
Making up for all this mess

“Yeah Duck.  Yeah, we did.”  Ace said quietly.  “In fact we’ve been lying to you guys about a lot of t’ings lately.

No-one spoke, the rest of the team simply looked at Ace and Lexi more intently than they had previously done.

“Umm…”  Lexi took a deep breath, not entirely sure how to say it, and she definitely didn’t want to have to look at them when she did say it.”

She sat with her eyes shut for some time, Ace put an arm around her, trying to comfort her, and he was actually surprised that she was going to be the one to tell them, he had imagined that it would’ve had to be him that would tell the others…

Duck, however, was getting impatient.  “What, then?  What’s the big one, what’s this big, lie that you haven’t told us yet?”

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Taking a deep breath, Lexi glanced at her team mates, before staring down at her reflection on the table.

“I’m pregnant.”

--

Pregnant

The word hung in the air like a stale aroma.

An Aroma that was both grotesque and intriguing.

None wanted to move, but no one would speak.

It seemed as though the very word had stopped time.

It seemed like an eternity had passed before Tech finally found his composure and spoke…shakily, but he spoke, “You…you’re….you’re…pregnant...you’re pregnant?”

Lexi sighed and hugged one of her arms, staring down at herself in shame, she nodded.

Duck now spoke too; he had more confidence in the situation than the coyote next to him.  “You’re pregnant…”

Lexi was beginning to get annoyed, and angrily raised her voice and stared at the mallard as she spoke loudly, “Yeah, Guys.  I’m pregnant, but can we please just stop saying the word, its bad enough that it’s happened, I don’t need you guys repeating it…”

“And why shouldn’t we?”  Duck interrupted her.  Ace now looked up at the situation, his eyebrows quickly furrowed and he glared at the mallard for using such a tone on his girlfriend, “I mean, it’s not like it’s my fault this has happened.”  He continued, waving his arms in the air as he spoke.

He walked around the table and leant on the table in front of Lexi, he moved with such speed that it caught the female bunny off guard and she jumped back in surprise, almost knocking her and her chair to the ground as she hastily leant back in it.

“So whose is it then, Lex?”  He moved closer to her, his face close to hers as he tried to be intimidating, “Is it Tech’s, Slam’s, Rev’s…mine…”

Lexi interrupted him, rolling her eyes as she spoke, “Yeah, don’t flatter yourself, Duck.”

Duck gave her an annoyed glance before continuing, “I mean, you’ve been here a lot, so it has to be one of us...so whose is it?”

Lexi could feel the weight of her team mates’ stares as they waited for an answer, her eyes darted to each of them.  Tech and Rev were now standing close by to Duck, Tech’s arms were crossed over his chest and he looked at Lexi expectantly, Rev was closer to Duck, but seemed more preoccupied with making sure that the mallard wasn’t going to potentially harm the two bunnies, and was ready to pull him back if he tried anything.  Slam sat opposite to Lexi at the other end of the table, he looked confused and stared at her; but even his puzzled expression made her nervous.

She gulped quietly and shut her eyes; “Take a wild guess…” was all she managed to say.  She spoke quietly, obviously embarrassed and scared about her current predicament, but her response was perfectly audible to all, and it didn’t take that vague reply for the rest of the team to know who she was talking about; as their eyes immediately darted to Ace.

Lexi reluctantly opened her eyes when she heard Ace speak.  He sounded more angry than ashamed or embarrassed like she was….maybe this was the anger that she had assumed would come from him when he first found out about it.

The grey bunny stood up quickly as he spoke, knowing that he’d gain more authority the higher he was, and considering Slam, who was taller than him, was sitting down effectively making the male rabbit the tallest; it wasn’t difficult to accomplish.

“Yeah guys, it’s mine.  But you know what; at least I’m tryin’ to do somethin’ constructive about dis…”

“Like what?”  Tech interrupted the rabbit coldly.  Lexi’s eyes darted up to her partner after the coyote said this, anxious about Ace’s response.

“Well for one, I’m not implicatin’ anyone…”

“Well yeah, ‘cause you’re to blame.”  Duck now stood up too, allowing Lexi to properly see the situation, she let out a sigh of relief when he moved away from her – she didn’t like his proximity at all, so it was to her comfort that he withdrew himself from her.

Ace glared at Duck, but then, realising that he had a point, sighed in defeat.  “Yeah okay, it is my fault but…why blame me when we have bigger problems to worry about.”

“Like what?”   Duck spoke with a tone of superiority in his voice, it seemed as though he was more focused on making his leader be the one who was ‘in trouble’ rather than himself for a change.

Ace sighed in annoyance, “You know…the whole, havin’ a baby t’ing?!”

Tech looked alarmed when Ace said this, “Wait, you’re not seriously gonna keep it, are you?”

Ace drooped his shoulders, his stance becoming more saddened, he glanced down at Lexi, the sparkles that he normally saw in her eyes were gone, she was sad, scared.  Her lip trembled and her expression clearly showed that she was silently pleading for him to answer for her; obviously she didn’t want to speak and draw more attention to herself.

“I...we…I’m…not sure…”  He leant against the table, using one arm to support him, while his other rubbed the back of his neck, he let out a sigh and shut his eyes tightly.

The room was silent

Even the breathing of the six anthros wasn’t audible; no one wanted to make a sound, lest they draw unnecessary attention to themselves.

Everyone either sat or stood, musing over the current situation, wondering what was to be done…or fearing what the consequences could be…

“How-long-have-you-known?”  Rev spoke quietly, not making eye contact with anyone.  Instead he stared at his feet, waiting for an answer.

Lexi didn’t reply, instead she sat, perfectly still, her eyes focused merely on the table in front of her, her hands resting on her lap underneath the table.  But the rest of the team could easily see that she was shaking, and was almost in tears.

Ace eyed Lexi as he spoke in response to Rev, never taking his eyes off of his partner, “I only found out yesterday…afternoon…a couple of hours after we got back from da mission…”

“And you, Lex?”  Tech addressed the female bunny, who still didn’t move or speak.  Growing concerned for her well being, Tech moved closer, and bent down on his haunches and tried his best to see her face, she stared down at her hands, which made it difficult for any of them to read her facial expression from a standing position.

Ace did the same as Tech, and rested one of his hands on her leg, trying to get her to respond to the coyote’s query.  “Lex…Lexi, come on Lex…”

Ace glanced at Tech, the coyote shared the male rabbit’s concerned facial expression, and Ace now noticed that so did the rest of the team, who stood by the table, still close to the female rabbit, but not in the same way as himself and Tech.

“Come on Lexi,” Tech spoke soothingly as he tried to get the pink bunny to respond, “I know you’re scared, but…we need to know…”

Lexi shut her eyes briefly before quietly replying, “Yesterday morning…when you guys were on the…the mission…I was trying to work out what was wrong with me….and then….I kinda…remembered…”

“Remember what?”  Duck asked sourly.

Lexi glared at him and rolled her eyes, “You’re so naïve…” She muttered.

The small comment annoyed the waterfowl, who marched up to the female rabbit…well, as far as he could get to her before Rev and Tech stood in the way, knowing that a confrontation was the last thing that they really needed right now.

“Yeah, well just remember who’s in this situation, missy.  It aint my fault that the two of you couldn’t stop yourselves….from what I remember that kind of behaviour wasn’t permitted here…that’s what I recall hearing from the boss lady anyway.”  The waterfowl smugly crossed his arms, shutting his eyes and rising is chin up in arrogant triumph.

Lexi looked as though she was going to retaliate, but found that the Duck did have a point.  Zadavia had made it perfectly clear, that that type of physical interaction was strictly prohibited…for obvious reasons, instead, Lexi hung her head in shame.

Ace, however, didn’t give in to the reasoning like his partner had, and stood up angrily, “Duck!  If you keep usin’ dat tone, and dat attitude on her, then so help me I’ll…”

“What, kick me off the team?”  Duck interrupted the rabbit, there was no hint of fear in the mallard’s tone of voice, his response was somewhat cocky and courageous.

Ace tensed up, and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.  Instead it was Duck who spoke again.

“’Cause technically, I haven’t done anything wrong.  I’m merely stating the obvious facts; if Zadavia finds out about this, then there will be severe consequences.”

The rest of the team stared at Duck in disbelief and intrigue.  Disbelief that the Duck could know so much about this, but intrigue to know what fate would befall the two rabbits of the team.

“…What consequences?”  Ace asked hesitantly.

Tech spoke after Ace, “And how do you know?”

“Well it’s obvious that Lexi isn’t gonna be much use to the team if she’s pregnant, she won’t be able to fight; let alone defend herself.  It’s better for all of us if she just leaves.  It could be like a maternity leave, and then if Zadavia isn’t too mad, maybe she’d be back in the team again?”  He shrugged his shoulders before continuing, “Ace.  She’d probably give you a stern talking to, but I doubt she’d make you leave the team, as much as I’d hate to admit it, you’re a valuable member…and you’re the leader.”

Ace looked back at Lexi and bit his lip, he didn’t like the idea of Zadavia talking to him about what had happened, nor did he like the idea of Lexi having to leave the team and support the child by herself either.

Duck turned to Tech, “And how do I know, you ask?  ‘Cause Zadavia told me.”

“What?”  Was all that came from the coyote’s mouth as he stared at the mallard with confusion.

Duck let out a heavy sigh, “She said that out of all of us…”  His eyes landed on Lexi, “Of all of us guys….she thought that I was the most likely person who would…y’know…get into this type of situation…”

There was silence as the rest of the team tried to comprehend this piece of information.

At last someone spoke.

Of all of the people that they would have expected to hear the answer from, Lexi was the one who responded.

“That’s disgusting.”

--

Lexi sighed as she lay down on Ace’s bed while the grey bunny of the team sat next to her, giving her a pitiful smile.

“Well…that was harder than I thought it was gonna be.”  Lexi shut her eyes, trying to relax, she was still tense after what they had just been through.

“To be honest, I thought it went pretty well….you know, considerin’ they didn’t kill me…”

Lexi chuckled and sat up, “Yeah, I guess it did go better than how it could’ve done.”

“Yeah,” Ace smiled back at her, but then stared down at the bed underneath him, seemingly thinking.”

Lexi sighed and slumped in posture, she was still afraid that he was going to be angry with her at some point about the entire situation; she knew he would be sad and angry and it would be her fault.

Ace put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him, “Lex, we’ll get around dis, we just need to…think logically.”  He smiled down at her as an idea came to his mind.  He released his hold on her, and scooted across the bed so that he was facing her.

“What?”  Lexi asked, surprised at his sudden and unannounced movement.

“I’m gonna teach you how to meditate.  I t’ink we could both do with somethin’ to take our minds off of dis, and to help deal with da stress.”

Lexi smiled and rolled her eyes, “Okay.  What do I have to do?”

Ace crossed his legs and rested his hands in his lap, gesturing fro Lexi to do the same.  Next he took a deep breath, before breathing out slowly and steadily.  “You just need to close your eyes, don’t t’ink about anythin’ else, and focus on your breathin’; relax.”

He repeated his previous action, and Lexi looked at him quizzically for some time before doing the same.

…

She shut her eyes, the light that allowed her to see everything vanished, and soon a swirling blackness engulfed her vision.

She saw spiralling shapes of many colours before her eyes, stars, circles and squares.  It felt as if the shapes were passing her, and she as travelling deeper and deeper into the darkness.  Suddenly, she stopped.  A mass of darkness being the only thing she saw.

She didn’t see anything else.

Soon, just as her vision had become strange, so did her hearing.

Her ears throbbed with the desire to hear something and just as the throbbing grew more intense and Lexi felt as she wouldn’t be able to take it anymore, it stopped.

Now all she heard was the slow rhythmic breathing from her.  The deep but gentle breaths calmed her, and cleared her mind of all distractions, not a thought entered her mind and she felt safe.

Secure

Quiet

Alone…

Suddenly her eyes shot open with the new found knowledge.  Had she been as trained with meditation as Ace was, she would never have broken out of the trance so easily, but one thought was enough to pluck her relaxed mind out of the haven she had made, the haven which allowed her to escape from reality.  But that couldn’t happen.

Ace wasn’t breathing.

She couldn’t hear him, nor could she feel his movement ahead of her.

Staring straight ahead of her she found no-one.  There were some small creases on the bed sheets, a sign that he had been there, but there was nothing else.

She looked about her but still she couldn’t locate his whereabouts.

He was gone.

She rubbed her eyes and sat up on her knees, before sliding one leg off of the bed, and then standing up.

Lexi walked groggily out of the room, still not hearing or seeing any of her fellow team mates.  She began to worry, she wondered how long she had been meditating, it didn’t feel like very long to her.

But she recalled how Tech would sit and meditate for hours after Ace had first taught him how, and after waking up he had only thought that a mere few minutes had passed.  The coyote had often described how strange it felt, there was an overpowering feeling up numbness which engulfed him and made him feel relaxed and unaware of his senses; and he had often gotten annoyed upon realising that he had wasted most of his day when he might have been able to work in his lab; but Lexi wasn’t sure whether that was Ace’s intent or not.

She walked down the corridor which led to the main room and still she found no-one.  Becoming puzzled and somewhat annoyed, she sat down at the kitchen table and tried to comprehend her thoughts.

It was possible that she too could have been mediating for much longer than she thought she had, and the rest of the team were asleep.  But of course that would make no sense, as it was still light outside, and Ace would’ve been in his room when she woke up.

She sat, annoyed that her team mates had obviously left her without informing her of their departure, and had not only left her alone, but worried and frustrated as well.

“No, Slam.  It was my egg which saved the day, all you did was push it out of the way, I stuck it to the ground and stopped it from moving!”

Lexi sat up, her super hearing alerting her to the presence of Duck…and possibly Slam coming up the elevator to their head quarters.

“Yeah, Guys.  Whatever, can we just drop it already?  We did a good job and now we’re home, surely dat’s more important than who saved da day,”

Lexi recognised the voice, and her heart leapt with a sudden anxiety to see him again.  She stood up and began to slowly walk to the door to their head quarters.

“…Besides, I need to see if Lexi’s…” Ace stepped through the door, only to be met with the sight of Lexi herself, standing in front of him with her arms crossed, with a displeased look on her face.

“…Awake.”  Ace slumped in posture, he knew what was coming.

“Ace, guys.  Where were you, you had me worried, I couldn’t find any of you, and you didn’t even leave a note or a message or something to tell me where the heck you were!”

Ace sighed and put his hands on her shoulders, “Lexi, calm down.  We had a mission, and I didn’t want to disturb you ‘cause I could see dat it was helpin’ you.”

Lexi drew in a deep breath, and stepped back from her partner so that his hands were no longer on her shoulders, she sighed and looked up at him.  “Yeah well, can you please not do it again, I’d prefer to be with you guys when we go on a mission, otherwise I feel like I’m not doing my job, and that’s not fair on you guys.  And besides, what if you needed me on a mission, or something happened to you and I wouldn’t know where you were, or what happened or…”

Ace placed a finger on her lips, “Lexi, relax.  Nothing happened.  We’re all here, and we’re all okay.”  He removed his finger and smiled at her, it was the same reassuring smile that she seemed to always receive from him.

Lexi smiled back in response but discretely rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“And anyway Lex,” Tech spoke now, “You probably won’t be going on too many missions right now anyway.”

Lexi looked horrified, “What?  Why, did you guys speak to Zadavia or something, am I off the team…what?”

“Lexi!”  Tech raised his voice, making Lexi stop panicking, his loud voice and tone catching the bunny off guard.  “Lexi,” He spoke more quietly now, his voice more soothing and calm, “Lexi you’re not off the team.  And we haven’t told Zadavia, we won’t.  She doesn’t need to know, she’s off ruling Freleng, if she comes any time later and finds out than we can explain then, and we won’t let anything happen to you.”

Lexi let out a sigh of relief after Tech spoke, “Lexi,”  He continued, “You won’t be going on many missions now because…well, because…”  he looked her up and down, “You know…if could be harmful to you…or the baby, and we don’t want to see you get hurt, or mistreated by  bad guys because of this.”

“It’s for the best.”Ace out a hand on her shoulder, as she stared up at the two in disbelief.

Tech noticed her obvious objections and discomfort with the situation, and clearing his throat he spoke once more, “We’ll…talk about this some other time.”

--

“I don’t get it?”

“Duck!”  Lexi sighed as they walked through the hospital.  The team had decided to make an appointment with a doctor to find out roughly when the baby was due, before they could decide what they would do next.

“Duck, it’s simple.”  Tech began to explain again…for the fourth time, “A baby takes approximately nine months to develop, to the doctor works out nine months from…umm….you know, to the approximate date that the baby will be born.  But it’s never exactly accurate.”

“Why-isn’t-it-accurate-they’re-doctors?”  Rev voiced his thoughts.  Tech gave the roadrunner a blank stare before sighing.

“Doctors as they are, Rev; they’re not gonna always get everything right.  And sometimes babies are born early or late, it’s just an approximation.”

“Yeah, well I think it should be more accurate than it is.”  Duck crossed his arms in annoyance as they each sat down in a seat in the correct ward, waiting to be called in.

“Why?”  Lexi complained, she was becoming increasingly annoyed with the waterfowl.

“’Cause then I can make sure that I’m not with you when you go into labour, duh.  I mean, no-one wants to be the one to be screamed at by a woman whose about to give birth!”

“garf ghol jigga know?”  Slam asked, giving the mallard his classic confused stare.

“I don’t know, Slam…”  Duck said rather quietly, “I’m just guessing.”

--

“This is Sooooooo boring!”  Duck moaned as he slumped down in his seat.

“Well-that’s-the sixth time he’s complained in the last half hour…do you think I should find out what might be causing the hold up?”  Rev suggested, eyeing his watch.

“Nah, Leave it Rev.” Lexi sat up and changed position on the chair, “They got through everyone else…eventually.”  She looked around the now empty waiting room, “I’m sure they’ll call us soon.”

“Yeah.  I guess.” Rev flopped back down in his seat.  “I‘m just sick of sitting down, I need to stretch my legs!”

“Well, go for a walk.”  Ace suggested calmly, putting his arm around Lexi as she leaned into him.

“Good Idea.  I’ll be back soon!”

Lexi watched Rev as he left the waiting room and let out a sigh; she began to fiddle with the green ribbon that tied her ears together, which was now resting over her shoulder.

Ace noticed her movements, as well as her expression, and sat up, looking at Lexi in the eyes and speaking to her quietly.  “Lexi, what’s wrong?”

Lexi sighed and looked down, “I’m just…nervous.  I mean, everything’s happening really fast and…”  She lowered her voice to the point where Ace could hardly hear her, “What if someone I know finds out, and then people back home hear about this and then my dad will like…strangle you…and the other guys for good measure!”

Ace gave her a reassuring smile, “Lexi, no one’s gonna find out.  Your family and friends are back in Utah, dat’s miles away from here.  Besides, we’re gonna be really careful about da press, they won’t find out…and if they do, we’ll make sure dat they don’t publish anythin’.”

“Thanks, then.”  Lexi smiled, and leant up to kiss Ace on the cheek.  She sat back calmly and spoke again, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.  How is anyone that I know from back home gonna find out I’m pregnant if we’re all the way over here in Acmetropolis?”  She smiled to herself.

Finally a door opened to the left of where the Loonatics were sitting, a young couple left the room holding hands and talking to each other happily.

Once the couple had walked a fair way down the corridor, Rev made his way back to the group.   “So,-are-we-going-in-yet?”

“I guess…”  Lexi was still eyeing the door, they couldn’t see into the room, the open door obstructed their view, “…But the doctor hasn’t called us in yet…”

The Loonatics waited patiently in their seats, Rev and Tech standing up after becoming bored with sitting, for roughly two minutes before finally the doctor made his way out of his room.

The tall, human, blonde haired doctor walked out of his room, “Ah, the Loonatics.”  He was eyeing his clipboard as he spoke, the group not exactly getting the opportunity to see his face.

The doctor finished looking through the medical documents, by this time all of the Loonatics had now stood up, the doctor placed his clipboard by his side.  “I’m Doctor Mason….”

Lexi gave a small gasp and she stared at the Doctor, awe struck.

“I believe I’m here to see Lexi.”  He spoke with a warm smile.

Lexi couldn’t help the tone of her voice as she let the name spill from her mouth before she could stop herself.

   “Alex.”

Description
THE BIG MISTAKE

CHAPTER 24 - 'RUN'

“So, are you ready, Lex?”  Ace asked as he stood up, he offered a hand to Lexi as she sat on his bed before him.  A blank gaze spread itself across her face after what he had just said.

They had recently been reminiscing everything that had happened to them before this moment.

The moment.

The moment where they had to tell their friends of what was going on between them, and what had happened because of just one night…

One mistake.

One impulsive action.

One thing.

Lexi sighed.  “Yeah, let’s go.”  She held Ace’s hand as she stood up, and clutched it tightly as they walked out of his room.

Neither spoke as they opened Ace’s door.  Both were amazed at how difficult the action actually was, as they took their first few steps out of his room, they heard the chatter of their friends from the kitchen.

With a sigh, the two began to walk.

I'll sing it one last time for you
Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done

It was like walking from a dark tunnel, and into the light of day.  It felt all so relieving to the bunny couple, but they were afraid.  Afraid of what lay in wait ahead of them.

A tunnel is a blind, deadly thing.

If there is no caution when walking through one, one could easily be overcome in the darkened mass of stale aromas and unknown dangers.

To pass through the end of the tunnel, one must be ever more cautious.

Anything could be waiting at the end.

Anything could easily ambush and overcome you.

Anything could kill you.

Or lay blame on you….

And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we'll make it anywhere
Away from here

They each took a deep breath as they walked into the kitchen.  Their chests feeling like they were compressed with lead, it felt difficult for them to breathe.

But it was harder to look at their accusing team mate’s stares; as they all turned their attention, their glares, to Ace and Lexi as they entered the kitchen.

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder, louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

“Guys,” Ace spoke with a tone of authority in his voice.  Lexi looked up at him anxiously, clutching his hand ever more tightly through her anticipation. “We need to talk.”

The rest of the team eyed each other suspiciously, they were all confused and annoyed at the bunny duo after their actions yesterday, and were hoping that they would receive an apology, and an explanation about their behaviour.

Tech and Duck exchanged glances as they pulled up a chair for themselves and sat down.  Their eyes never straying from the two bunnies as they sat down slowly and shakily, the weight of the stares that came from their team mates made them ever more nervous.

To think I might not see those eyes
Makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbye
I nearly do

“So…”  Duck started smugly, fiddling with his thumbs as he glanced at the table in front of him, “I see that the two of you are back together then?”  He quickly turned his stare to them.

Ace and Lexi both stared at the floor in shame, “Duck…”  Lexi turned back to the group and shut her eyes tightly as she spoke, “We hadn’t fallen out…”

“It…was a…diversion…”  Ace said quietly, he stared at the table.  He wanted to be able to look at his friends’ eyes when he spoke to them, but suddenly his neck felt heavy, and he couldn’t raise his head up to speak to them properly.  Instead he fixed his gaze on the faint reflection of himself on the table.

“Diversion?”  Tech clarified, not entirely sure what he was talking about.  “Explain…”

“Umm…we…we had something…on our minds….something important…”  Lexi started, doing her best to look at Tech in the eyes as she spoke to him.  It half worked, but she kept switching her gaze from him, to her hands that rested in front of her on the table.

“Like what?”

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Lexi couldn’t answer that.  She couldn’t think of what to say in response to him.  Instead she shook her head slowly, resisting the urge to run out of the room.

Louder, louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

Ace continued.  “It was important…and personal…really personal…umm…and actin’ as though we were annoyed was da only way dat we would’ve been able to talk together without you guys getting’ any more suspicious….but I guess dat didn’t work.”

Slower, Slower
We don't have time for that
All I want is to find an easier way
To get out of our little heads

“Ya got that right, bunny.”  Duck scoffed, he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.  “So you lied to us.”

Have heart my dear
We're bound to be afraid
Even if it's just for a few days
Making up for all this mess

“Yeah Duck.  Yeah, we did.”  Ace said quietly.  “In fact we’ve been lying to you guys about a lot of t’ings lately.

No-one spoke, the rest of the team simply looked at Ace and Lexi more intently than they had previously done.

“Umm…”  Lexi took a deep breath, not entirely sure how to say it, and she definitely didn’t want to have to look at them when she did say it.”

She sat with her eyes shut for some time, Ace put an arm around her, trying to comfort her, and he was actually surprised that she was going to be the one to tell them, he had imagined that it would’ve had to be him that would tell the others…

Duck, however, was getting impatient.  “What, then?  What’s the big one, what’s this big, lie that you haven’t told us yet?”

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Taking a deep breath, Lexi glanced at her team mates, before staring down at her reflection on the table.

“I’m pregnant.”

--

Pregnant

The word hung in the air like a stale aroma.

An Aroma that was both grotesque and intriguing.

None wanted to move, but no one would speak.

It seemed as though the very word had stopped time.

It seemed like an eternity had passed before Tech finally found his composure and spoke…shakily, but he spoke, “You…you’re….you’re…pregnant...you’re pregnant?”

Lexi sighed and hugged one of her arms, staring down at herself in shame, she nodded.

Duck now spoke too; he had more confidence in the situation than the coyote next to him.  “You’re pregnant…”

Lexi was beginning to get annoyed, and angrily raised her voice and stared at the mallard as she spoke loudly, “Yeah, Guys.  I’m pregnant, but can we please just stop saying the word, its bad enough that it’s happened, I don’t need you guys repeating it…”

“And why shouldn’t we?”  Duck interrupted her.  Ace now looked up at the situation, his eyebrows quickly furrowed and he glared at the mallard for using such a tone on his girlfriend, “I mean, it’s not like it’s my fault this has happened.”  He continued, waving his arms in the air as he spoke.

He walked around the table and leant on the table in front of Lexi, he moved with such speed that it caught the female bunny off guard and she jumped back in surprise, almost knocking her and her chair to the ground as she hastily leant back in it.

“So whose is it then, Lex?”  He moved closer to her, his face close to hers as he tried to be intimidating, “Is it Tech’s, Slam’s, Rev’s…mine…”

Lexi interrupted him, rolling her eyes as she spoke, “Yeah, don’t flatter yourself, Duck.”

Duck gave her an annoyed glance before continuing, “I mean, you’ve been here a lot, so it has to be one of us...so whose is it?”

Lexi could feel the weight of her team mates’ stares as they waited for an answer, her eyes darted to each of them.  Tech and Rev were now standing close by to Duck, Tech’s arms were crossed over his chest and he looked at Lexi expectantly, Rev was closer to Duck, but seemed more preoccupied with making sure that the mallard wasn’t going to potentially harm the two bunnies, and was ready to pull him back if he tried anything.  Slam sat opposite to Lexi at the other end of the table, he looked confused and stared at her; but even his puzzled expression made her nervous.

She gulped quietly and shut her eyes; “Take a wild guess…” was all she managed to say.  She spoke quietly, obviously embarrassed and scared about her current predicament, but her response was perfectly audible to all, and it didn’t take that vague reply for the rest of the team to know who she was talking about; as their eyes immediately darted to Ace.

Lexi reluctantly opened her eyes when she heard Ace speak.  He sounded more angry than ashamed or embarrassed like she was….maybe this was the anger that she had assumed would come from him when he first found out about it.

The grey bunny stood up quickly as he spoke, knowing that he’d gain more authority the higher he was, and considering Slam, who was taller than him, was sitting down effectively making the male rabbit the tallest; it wasn’t difficult to accomplish.

“Yeah guys, it’s mine.  But you know what; at least I’m tryin’ to do somethin’ constructive about dis…”

“Like what?”  Tech interrupted the rabbit coldly.  Lexi’s eyes darted up to her partner after the coyote said this, anxious about Ace’s response.

“Well for one, I’m not implicatin’ anyone…”

“Well yeah, ‘cause you’re to blame.”  Duck now stood up too, allowing Lexi to properly see the situation, she let out a sigh of relief when he moved away from her – she didn’t like his proximity at all, so it was to her comfort that he withdrew himself from her.

Ace glared at Duck, but then, realising that he had a point, sighed in defeat.  “Yeah okay, it is my fault but…why blame me when we have bigger problems to worry about.”

“Like what?”   Duck spoke with a tone of superiority in his voice, it seemed as though he was more focused on making his leader be the one who was ‘in trouble’ rather than himself for a change.

Ace sighed in annoyance, “You know…the whole, havin’ a baby t’ing?!”

Tech looked alarmed when Ace said this, “Wait, you’re not seriously gonna keep it, are you?”

Ace drooped his shoulders, his stance becoming more saddened, he glanced down at Lexi, the sparkles that he normally saw in her eyes were gone, she was sad, scared.  Her lip trembled and her expression clearly showed that she was silently pleading for him to answer for her; obviously she didn’t want to speak and draw more attention to herself.

“I...we…I’m…not sure…”  He leant against the table, using one arm to support him, while his other rubbed the back of his neck, he let out a sigh and shut his eyes tightly.

The room was silent

Even the breathing of the six anthros wasn’t audible; no one wanted to make a sound, lest they draw unnecessary attention to themselves.

Everyone either sat or stood, musing over the current situation, wondering what was to be done…or fearing what the consequences could be…

“How-long-have-you-known?”  Rev spoke quietly, not making eye contact with anyone.  Instead he stared at his feet, waiting for an answer.

Lexi didn’t reply, instead she sat, perfectly still, her eyes focused merely on the table in front of her, her hands resting on her lap underneath the table.  But the rest of the team could easily see that she was shaking, and was almost in tears.

Ace eyed Lexi as he spoke in response to Rev, never taking his eyes off of his partner, “I only found out yesterday…afternoon…a couple of hours after we got back from da mission…”

“And you, Lex?”  Tech addressed the female bunny, who still didn’t move or speak.  Growing concerned for her well being, Tech moved closer, and bent down on his haunches and tried his best to see her face, she stared down at her hands, which made it difficult for any of them to read her facial expression from a standing position.

Ace did the same as Tech, and rested one of his hands on her leg, trying to get her to respond to the coyote’s query.  “Lex…Lexi, come on Lex…”

Ace glanced at Tech, the coyote shared the male rabbit’s concerned facial expression, and Ace now noticed that so did the rest of the team, who stood by the table, still close to the female rabbit, but not in the same way as himself and Tech.

“Come on Lexi,” Tech spoke soothingly as he tried to get the pink bunny to respond, “I know you’re scared, but…we need to know…”

Lexi shut her eyes briefly before quietly replying, “Yesterday morning…when you guys were on the…the mission…I was trying to work out what was wrong with me….and then….I kinda…remembered…”

“Remember what?”  Duck asked sourly.

Lexi glared at him and rolled her eyes, “You’re so naïve…” She muttered.

The small comment annoyed the waterfowl, who marched up to the female rabbit…well, as far as he could get to her before Rev and Tech stood in the way, knowing that a confrontation was the last thing that they really needed right now.

“Yeah, well just remember who’s in this situation, missy.  It aint my fault that the two of you couldn’t stop yourselves….from what I remember that kind of behaviour wasn’t permitted here…that’s what I recall hearing from the boss lady anyway.”  The waterfowl smugly crossed his arms, shutting his eyes and rising is chin up in arrogant triumph.

Lexi looked as though she was going to retaliate, but found that the Duck did have a point.  Zadavia had made it perfectly clear, that that type of physical interaction was strictly prohibited…for obvious reasons, instead, Lexi hung her head in shame.

Ace, however, didn’t give in to the reasoning like his partner had, and stood up angrily, “Duck!  If you keep usin’ dat tone, and dat attitude on her, then so help me I’ll…”

“What, kick me off the team?”  Duck interrupted the rabbit, there was no hint of fear in the mallard’s tone of voice, his response was somewhat cocky and courageous.

Ace tensed up, and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.  Instead it was Duck who spoke again.

“’Cause technically, I haven’t done anything wrong.  I’m merely stating the obvious facts; if Zadavia finds out about this, then there will be severe consequences.”

The rest of the team stared at Duck in disbelief and intrigue.  Disbelief that the Duck could know so much about this, but intrigue to know what fate would befall the two rabbits of the team.

“…What consequences?”  Ace asked hesitantly.

Tech spoke after Ace, “And how do you know?”

“Well it’s obvious that Lexi isn’t gonna be much use to the team if she’s pregnant, she won’t be able to fight; let alone defend herself.  It’s better for all of us if she just leaves.  It could be like a maternity leave, and then if Zadavia isn’t too mad, maybe she’d be back in the team again?”  He shrugged his shoulders before continuing, “Ace.  She’d probably give you a stern talking to, but I doubt she’d make you leave the team, as much as I’d hate to admit it, you’re a valuable member…and you’re the leader.”

Ace looked back at Lexi and bit his lip, he didn’t like the idea of Zadavia talking to him about what had happened, nor did he like the idea of Lexi having to leave the team and support the child by herself either.

Duck turned to Tech, “And how do I know, you ask?  ‘Cause Zadavia told me.”

“What?”  Was all that came from the coyote’s mouth as he stared at the mallard with confusion.

Duck let out a heavy sigh, “She said that out of all of us…”  His eyes landed on Lexi, “Of all of us guys….she thought that I was the most likely person who would…y’know…get into this type of situation…”

There was silence as the rest of the team tried to comprehend this piece of information.

At last someone spoke.

Of all of the people that they would have expected to hear the answer from, Lexi was the one who responded.

“That’s disgusting.”

--

Lexi sighed as she lay down on Ace’s bed while the grey bunny of the team sat next to her, giving her a pitiful smile.

“Well…that was harder than I thought it was gonna be.”  Lexi shut her eyes, trying to relax, she was still tense after what they had just been through.

“To be honest, I thought it went pretty well….you know, considerin’ they didn’t kill me…”

Lexi chuckled and sat up, “Yeah, I guess it did go better than how it could’ve done.”

“Yeah,” Ace smiled back at her, but then stared down at the bed underneath him, seemingly thinking.”

Lexi sighed and slumped in posture, she was still afraid that he was going to be angry with her at some point about the entire situation; she knew he would be sad and angry and it would be her fault.

Ace put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him, “Lex, we’ll get around dis, we just need to…think logically.”  He smiled down at her as an idea came to his mind.  He released his hold on her, and scooted across the bed so that he was facing her.

“What?”  Lexi asked, surprised at his sudden and unannounced movement.

“I’m gonna teach you how to meditate.  I t’ink we could both do with somethin’ to take our minds off of dis, and to help deal with da stress.”

Lexi smiled and rolled her eyes, “Okay.  What do I have to do?”

Ace crossed his legs and rested his hands in his lap, gesturing fro Lexi to do the same.  Next he took a deep breath, before breathing out slowly and steadily.  “You just need to close your eyes, don’t t’ink about anythin’ else, and focus on your breathin’; relax.”

He repeated his previous action, and Lexi looked at him quizzically for some time before doing the same.

…

She shut her eyes, the light that allowed her to see everything vanished, and soon a swirling blackness engulfed her vision.

She saw spiralling shapes of many colours before her eyes, stars, circles and squares.  It felt as if the shapes were passing her, and she as travelling deeper and deeper into the darkness.  Suddenly, she stopped.  A mass of darkness being the only thing she saw.

She didn’t see anything else.

Soon, just as her vision had become strange, so did her hearing.

Her ears throbbed with the desire to hear something and just as the throbbing grew more intense and Lexi felt as she wouldn’t be able to take it anymore, it stopped.

Now all she heard was the slow rhythmic breathing from her.  The deep but gentle breaths calmed her, and cleared her mind of all distractions, not a thought entered her mind and she felt safe.

Secure

Quiet

Alone…

Suddenly her eyes shot open with the new found knowledge.  Had she been as trained with meditation as Ace was, she would never have broken out of the trance so easily, but one thought was enough to pluck her relaxed mind out of the haven she had made, the haven which allowed her to escape from reality.  But that couldn’t happen.

Ace wasn’t breathing.

She couldn’t hear him, nor could she feel his movement ahead of her.

Staring straight ahead of her she found no-one.  There were some small creases on the bed sheets, a sign that he had been there, but there was nothing else.

She looked about her but still she couldn’t locate his whereabouts.

He was gone.

She rubbed her eyes and sat up on her knees, before sliding one leg off of the bed, and then standing up.

Lexi walked groggily out of the room, still not hearing or seeing any of her fellow team mates.  She began to worry, she wondered how long she had been meditating, it didn’t feel like very long to her.

But she recalled how Tech would sit and meditate for hours after Ace had first taught him how, and after waking up he had only thought that a mere few minutes had passed.  The coyote had often described how strange it felt, there was an overpowering feeling up numbness which engulfed him and made him feel relaxed and unaware of his senses; and he had often gotten annoyed upon realising that he had wasted most of his day when he might have been able to work in his lab; but Lexi wasn’t sure whether that was Ace’s intent or not.

She walked down the corridor which led to the main room and still she found no-one.  Becoming puzzled and somewhat annoyed, she sat down at the kitchen table and tried to comprehend her thoughts.

It was possible that she too could have been mediating for much longer than she thought she had, and the rest of the team were asleep.  But of course that would make no sense, as it was still light outside, and Ace would’ve been in his room when she woke up.

She sat, annoyed that her team mates had obviously left her without informing her of their departure, and had not only left her alone, but worried and frustrated as well.

“No, Slam.  It was my egg which saved the day, all you did was push it out of the way, I stuck it to the ground and stopped it from moving!”

Lexi sat up, her super hearing alerting her to the presence of Duck…and possibly Slam coming up the elevator to their head quarters.

“Yeah, Guys.  Whatever, can we just drop it already?  We did a good job and now we’re home, surely dat’s more important than who saved da day,”

Lexi recognised the voice, and her heart leapt with a sudden anxiety to see him again.  She stood up and began to slowly walk to the door to their head quarters.

“…Besides, I need to see if Lexi’s…” Ace stepped through the door, only to be met with the sight of Lexi herself, standing in front of him with her arms crossed, with a displeased look on her face.

“…Awake.”  Ace slumped in posture, he knew what was coming.

“Ace, guys.  Where were you, you had me worried, I couldn’t find any of you, and you didn’t even leave a note or a message or something to tell me where the heck you were!”

Ace sighed and put his hands on her shoulders, “Lexi, calm down.  We had a mission, and I didn’t want to disturb you ‘cause I could see dat it was helpin’ you.”

Lexi drew in a deep breath, and stepped back from her partner so that his hands were no longer on her shoulders, she sighed and looked up at him.  “Yeah well, can you please not do it again, I’d prefer to be with you guys when we go on a mission, otherwise I feel like I’m not doing my job, and that’s not fair on you guys.  And besides, what if you needed me on a mission, or something happened to you and I wouldn’t know where you were, or what happened or…”

Ace placed a finger on her lips, “Lexi, relax.  Nothing happened.  We’re all here, and we’re all okay.”  He removed his finger and smiled at her, it was the same reassuring smile that she seemed to always receive from him.

Lexi smiled back in response but discretely rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“And anyway Lex,” Tech spoke now, “You probably won’t be going on too many missions right now anyway.”

Lexi looked horrified, “What?  Why, did you guys speak to Zadavia or something, am I off the team…what?”

“Lexi!”  Tech raised his voice, making Lexi stop panicking, his loud voice and tone catching the bunny off guard.  “Lexi,” He spoke more quietly now, his voice more soothing and calm, “Lexi you’re not off the team.  And we haven’t told Zadavia, we won’t.  She doesn’t need to know, she’s off ruling Freleng, if she comes any time later and finds out than we can explain then, and we won’t let anything happen to you.”

Lexi let out a sigh of relief after Tech spoke, “Lexi,”  He continued, “You won’t be going on many missions now because…well, because…”  he looked her up and down, “You know…if could be harmful to you…or the baby, and we don’t want to see you get hurt, or mistreated by  bad guys because of this.”

“It’s for the best.”Ace out a hand on her shoulder, as she stared up at the two in disbelief.

Tech noticed her obvious objections and discomfort with the situation, and clearing his throat he spoke once more, “We’ll…talk about this some other time.”

--

“I don’t get it?”

“Duck!”  Lexi sighed as they walked through the hospital.  The team had decided to make an appointment with a doctor to find out roughly when the baby was due, before they could decide what they would do next.

“Duck, it’s simple.”  Tech began to explain again…for the fourth time, “A baby takes approximately nine months to develop, to the doctor works out nine months from…umm….you know, to the approximate date that the baby will be born.  But it’s never exactly accurate.”

“Why-isn’t-it-accurate-they’re-doctors?”  Rev voiced his thoughts.  Tech gave the roadrunner a blank stare before sighing.

“Doctors as they are, Rev; they’re not gonna always get everything right.  And sometimes babies are born early or late, it’s just an approximation.”

“Yeah, well I think it should be more accurate than it is.”  Duck crossed his arms in annoyance as they each sat down in a seat in the correct ward, waiting to be called in.

“Why?”  Lexi complained, she was becoming increasingly annoyed with the waterfowl.

“’Cause then I can make sure that I’m not with you when you go into labour, duh.  I mean, no-one wants to be the one to be screamed at by a woman whose about to give birth!”

“garf ghol jigga know?”  Slam asked, giving the mallard his classic confused stare.

“I don’t know, Slam…”  Duck said rather quietly, “I’m just guessing.”

--

“This is Sooooooo boring!”  Duck moaned as he slumped down in his seat.

“Well-that’s-the sixth time he’s complained in the last half hour…do you think I should find out what might be causing the hold up?”  Rev suggested, eyeing his watch.

“Nah, Leave it Rev.” Lexi sat up and changed position on the chair, “They got through everyone else…eventually.”  She looked around the now empty waiting room, “I’m sure they’ll call us soon.”

“Yeah.  I guess.” Rev flopped back down in his seat.  “I‘m just sick of sitting down, I need to stretch my legs!”

“Well, go for a walk.”  Ace suggested calmly, putting his arm around Lexi as she leaned into him.

“Good Idea.  I’ll be back soon!”

Lexi watched Rev as he left the waiting room and let out a sigh; she began to fiddle with the green ribbon that tied her ears together, which was now resting over her shoulder.

Ace noticed her movements, as well as her expression, and sat up, looking at Lexi in the eyes and speaking to her quietly.  “Lexi, what’s wrong?”

Lexi sighed and looked down, “I’m just…nervous.  I mean, everything’s happening really fast and…”  She lowered her voice to the point where Ace could hardly hear her, “What if someone I know finds out, and then people back home hear about this and then my dad will like…strangle you…and the other guys for good measure!”

Ace gave her a reassuring smile, “Lexi, no one’s gonna find out.  Your family and friends are back in Utah, dat’s miles away from here.  Besides, we’re gonna be really careful about da press, they won’t find out…and if they do, we’ll make sure dat they don’t publish anythin’.”

“Thanks, then.”  Lexi smiled, and leant up to kiss Ace on the cheek.  She sat back calmly and spoke again, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.  How is anyone that I know from back home gonna find out I’m pregnant if we’re all the way over here in Acmetropolis?”  She smiled to herself.

Finally a door opened to the left of where the Loonatics were sitting, a young couple left the room holding hands and talking to each other happily.

Once the couple had walked a fair way down the corridor, Rev made his way back to the group.   “So,-are-we-going-in-yet?”

“I guess…”  Lexi was still eyeing the door, they couldn’t see into the room, the open door obstructed their view, “…But the doctor hasn’t called us in yet…”

The Loonatics waited patiently in their seats, Rev and Tech standing up after becoming bored with sitting, for roughly two minutes before finally the doctor made his way out of his room.

The tall, human, blonde haired doctor walked out of his room, “Ah, the Loonatics.”  He was eyeing his clipboard as he spoke, the group not exactly getting the opportunity to see his face.

The doctor finished looking through the medical documents, by this time all of the Loonatics had now stood up, the doctor placed his clipboard by his side.  “I’m Doctor Mason….”

Lexi gave a small gasp and she stared at the Doctor, awe struck.

“I believe I’m here to see Lexi.”  He spoke with a warm smile.

Lexi couldn’t help the tone of her voice as she let the name spill from her mouth before she could stop herself.

   “Alex.”