The wallet had a driver’s license inside. Though it was obvious not a purse that belonged to the woman who had threatened them, it did belong to a rather… gorgeous blonde. And she really wasn’t just gorgeous, she was GORGEOUS! If this was not the woman that the club owner was talking about, the Akshay really didn’t know who could have filled in those shoes. This woman was just an absolute knockout and if she was the one that he left the bar with, damn right was he going to be counting his lucky stars.

Even Jean had to admit that he was completely speechless when he saw the I.D. photo. For anyone to look like that while they were at the DMV and still make it look like it was a glamour shot, they had to be on fire.

The two attempted to keep their calm as Akshay stared down at the I.D. card in his hands. The purse sat precariously upon his bulbous stomach, but the wordsmith didn’t bother keeping it from falling. He was still too in shock over the photo he was staring at. She had to know what was going on. She just had to.

“It’s our best shot, Jean,” Akshay said with a nod.

Jean sighed. “Y-Yeah, I know. I just…I hope we’re not just putting all our faith on one person just because…you know…she is…ugh…”

“Hot enough to melt the soles of our shoes?”

“Yeah.”

Akshay shook his head. “Yeah, she’s hot. But…she is the closest lead we have. Besides, not like, you know, I’m just going to ditch you to reunite with her.”

Jean tilted his head as he drove. “Ditch me? Dude, what makes you think you’ll have a chance with her?”

“Hehe, well, she DID[/b] leave the bar with me.”[/color]

“In case you don’t remember, those were VASTLY[/b] different circumstances.”

“Whatver,” Akshay grumbled as he rubbed his stomach and glanced down at the I.D. again. Would she have a problem with his pregnancy? Heh, well, of course she would! Unless, you know, she was the reason? Nah, what were the odds of that? Akshay didn’t give the possibility another thought as Jean drove through the streets of New York, and not even as they pulled up to her duplex.

Standing on the front steps of the duplex, Akshay leaned over to see the listing of the names that there and immediately spied the same one that was listed on the I.D. card that he had found inside of the wallet—Leila Gunnerson. Leila was apparently living alone since the only name that he saw on the listing was hers. Then again, all that could mean was that she was living with an unlisted roommate. Maybe she too would know what happened.

Oh well, there was only one way to find out, wasn’t there? With a sigh on his lips, the man glanced over to Jean to see the man looking just a little apprehensive of the whole situation. It was not just the fact that they were going to meet someone they didn’t know, but it was the fact that they didn’t know where this clue was going to lead. Would it be salvation or just another dead end?

Akshay would only hope and pray. Giving Akshay a thumbs up, crossing his fingers and uttering just the tiniest of prayers before he leaned over and pushed the intercom for the room and waited.

The introductions were a little…odd. Leila, thankfully turned out to be home, was a little stunned ( he could tell from her voice) at hearing from him. All he could hope was that she knew something about what had happened. After all, she was the last person to see him last night. But even as they sat in her rather…spacious apartment (it had its own mini dance floor in the den!), Akshay could not help but wonder how to proceed. She eyed his stomach but the strangest part of that is that it didn’t seem as if she was all that surprised. Or she had a magnificent poker face. Or she was just used to New York!

Either way, Akshay simply unsure on how to proceed from here. He sat on the comfy, pink sofa, next to Jean, and watched the woman in the leather armchair across from him. Also, the I.D. card photo did not do her appearance justice. She was just drop dead gorgeous! Shiny blonde hair, tight white tank top, and so short denim shorts that revealed her toned legs. If Akshay really had left the bar with her, he really would have thanked his lucky stars.

But now, how could he tell this goddess that he didn’t remember a damn thing from last night? Would she take it as an insult? He would have asked Jean to take the lead on this but Jean was too slack-jawed to actually say anything. Great help he was.

Akshay turned his attention back to the blonde sitting across from them.

“Um…”

“Does it hurt?” she suddenly asked.

Akshay was in the middle of rubbing his stomach. He shook his head in response. “This? Oh, no. Just…you know, irritating.”

Leila grumbled and shook her head. Akshay eyed her closely. Why did she look…disappointed?

“Um, I’m sorry, but did you…?”

“Do this to you?” she asked. “Of course. You were supposed to be writhing in pain all day.” She huffed and crossed her legs.

Jean was snapped out of his daze as he eyed the woman. “What? Who…?”

She turned her full attention to Akshay without looking at Jean. “Akshay, you sure did look surprised when I told you who I was last night. I guess all it takes it a some plastic surgery, a name change, and a few drinks to get your attention.”

Akshay could only blink as he stared at the woman dumbfounded. Who was she?

“Leila Gunnerson?” she smirked as she started to file her nails. “Sounds so much better than Unis Ledge.”

Akshay. Was. Floored. Leila Gunnderson was actually Unis Ledge? He knew that name far too well! She is the sister of Newman Ledge and someone who stalked him pretty much for a year. Akshay, running into Newman at one convention, meant Unis. She was around Akshay’s age and she was completely enamored with the young wordsmith from then on. For a year Ashay received phone calls, text messages, even strange gifts left at his apartment! All this was despite the fact that he made it perfectly clear to Unis that he wasn’t interested in her. And not because the Unis he knew was overweight, wore thick glasses, and braces! But because she was just obsessively weird!

Now though, apparently she was back. And boy was this was change compared to who she was used to be!

“Unis?” Akshay asked cautiously. “You look…”

“Fantastic? I know,” she grinned though her eyes narrowed dangerously. “See what you missed out on?”

Akshay shook his head. “Unis, I didn’t reject you, because, you know, of how you looked.”

“Whatever. Liar.”

“No! Unis! No. I rejected you because you started to leave dead birds in boxes in front of my doorstep!”

“Those were gifts of love!”

“Maybe from a cat!” Akshay grumbled and clenched his stomach. Why was the pain suddenly starting? “Ugh, dammit, Unis, what did you do to me?”

Leila/Unis grinned as she eyed Akshay closely. “My bear brother isn’t the only one who is a mutant. It is all complicated and such, but here is the gist, my dear Akshay. I want a child, but I cannot. My mutation has kinda…thrown my ability to reproduce for a loop. What I can do, is, replicate myself…but only in another living, human host. That is why… chose you. I want my child, Akshay. And you are going to be the daddy. Unless…”

Akshay arched his brows. There was hope that didn’t include that terrifying thought? “Unless what?!”

Leila/Unis stood, arching her back a little before the two boys, and made her way over to the small dance floor that was situated in her den. Clapping her hands, music filtered in from hidden speakers. Slowly she swayed her shapely hips in beat with the music and smiled devilishly at Akshay.

“You beat me in a dance off.”

Akshay couldn’t believe his ears. This woman, a former obsessed stalker and now nemesis, wanted to beat him in a dance contest? It was slowly clicking together. The last time that Unis had tried to convince him of her love, she had followed him to a dance club that was having a local contest. The winner won a tiny trophy and a $50 gift card to the Sizzler. Really? That what all this was about? On top of the unrequited love, she just wanted to beat him in dancing? Was she really so out of her mind?

Moving onto his two feet, Akshay waddled over to the den, a look of shock and irritation on his face.

“Really, Unis?” he asked in angry. “You made me pregnant with your baby clone all because you wanted beat me in a dance off?”

Unis shrugged. “And for you to have my baby. That way, she can grow up with both your dancing skills and mine. She was be the greatest.”

“Unis! You cannot dance!”

“Oh yeah?” Unis countered! Slowly she began her dance of awesomeness, moving around Akshay and trying to display her mad skillz. The wordsmith could only stare at her in shock as she tried her best to connect with the beat, but it was obvious that she was just not getting it.

Akshay could only sigh.

“Dammit, Unis. Just stop,” he said as he grabbed her arms. “You need to stop this. You can’t just treat people like this.”

Unis twirled “elegantly” away from his grip, shaking her head. “Uh-uh! Play by my rules, Akshay!”

The wordsmith hung his head. He really, really didn’t want to do this. Especially since the pain in his stomach was getting just a tad bit worse. But, seeing has he had no choice against this demented harpy, he waited for the appropriate beat…and started to dance.

Haha, yeah, that was just not going to happen. Akshay put in maybe two or three well placed dance moves, working around his new girth, but in the end he just succumbed to the growing pain that was radiating out from his stomach. He winced and cried out, barely managing something close to a good dance move before he coiled over in pain and fell onto the dance floor. Breathing hard and holding onto the bulbous mound, he struggled to sit up. Thankfully, Jean seeing him on the ground, immediately prompted his friend to come running onto the dance floor.

“I win! HAH! I FINALLY WIN!!”

Jean growled as he knelt next to Akshay. He snapped his attention to Unis with hateful eyes. “Are you out of your damn mind! You’re going to kill him! And just because you want him to be your baby-daddy!?”

Unis shrugged.

“To be honest I’m over you, Akshay,” she pronounced cooly and crossed her arms over her chest. “I really just need someone to be my guinea pig. You see, I am already with someone and it breaks my heart because we want to have kids and neither of us can. SO…I figured…why not you, Akshay?”

At that moment another lightning strike of pain shot through his body. The wordsmith growled and snapped as his fingernails dug into the dance floor pressed into his back. He really didn’t think that this type of pain was imaginable but he really didn’t have the time to think about it at the moment. Instead he was too concentrated on trying to keep from breaking all his teeth from clenching his jaw so tightly.

Unis just smirked as she loomed over both Akshay and Jean. “Oh well. I get to be dance champion AND you get to have my baby! This is SO my day.”

Akshay gasped and cried out as he held onto his stomach. This was the end of him. It had to be. There was no witting charm, dance move, or running away from this mess. He was completely and utterly done for. All he could do was accept his fate and die…giving birth…

“Uni?” a voice asked through the gloom of the pain. “What the hell is going on?”

Weakly Akshay looked up and saw a woman standing in the doorway to the apartment, black Mohawk and piercings all over her face. The same angry looking woman that was demanding her car earlier…

“CANDI! BABE!” Unis shouted with a mixture of surprise and joy. “Did you find your car?”

Candi, apparently, rolled her eyes as she looked at both Jean and Akshay on the floor. “These two morons were supposed to bring it back. Uni, what’re you doing to them? What…happened?”

It seemed to Akshay as if Unis hadn’t actually been able to get out that she was a mutant. And…she was with another woman? Well, that certainly explained a lot since the two seemed to be a match made in a sociopathic heaven. Akshay tried to focus through the blinding pain in his stomach and leaned up to glare at the two of them. Unis had begun to explain she was a mutant and what her grand plan was. Candi stood there, arms crossed, and eyed her partner cautiously. When she was done, Candi just shook her head.

“THAT is why you wanted to take these two home, last night?” she growled. “Uni, you left me behind! And…I can’t believe you would rather someone else carry your child but me! We’ve been looking at our options this whole time and had this amazing power and you never told me? How could you?”

“I…I know love. I know,” she said with a hung head. “I just…I didn’t want to put you through that kind of pain.”

“But, Uni…what if that’s what I want…?”

“C-Candi? R-R-Really? Aww baby…”

“Hunny…”

“HELLO! BIRTHING HERE!” Akshay finally gasped. He was in such pain right now that he could barely keep his focus. “Please, Unis, stop this. Please. You win, okay? You’re a better dancer and I feel SO bad for not returning your affection way back when! Just please!”

Hugging Candi close to her, Unis arched her brow as she looked down at Akshay. The man really did look pathetic just withering around down on the dance floor. A glance to her lover and Unis took up her hand. Pulling her over to Akshay, she carefully moved onto her knees while holding onto Candi’s hand. Brushing her fingers across Akshay’s bulging stomach, she smiled sweetly to Candi, closed her eyes, and began to glow.

In the midst of his pain, Akshay suddenly stopped. In confusion he sat up and turned his attentions back onto Unis before looking down and finally his usual flat stomach there. He sighed in relief as he turned to see that Candi now had the same, hug belly that Akshay had once had; she just seemed much better at handling the pain. She sighed a bit in shock and waddled away while Akshay moved onto his feet and looked back to Unis.

“Unis…”

She only offered him a glance before she stood up and lovingly embraced her partner. But with her back turned to Akshay, she whispered, “You can go.”

Not wanting to make the situation worse for them, Akshay stood up and quietly grabbed Jean by the arm. He felt absolutely no more pain or discomfort or cravings! He was free! Free from the shackles of motherhood!

He gave one final glance to Unis and Candi. Hopefully they wouldn’t be upset over the car. He doubted that Candi would care much now that she was pregnant. Hoping this would be the last of it, Akshay gave the pair of glowing females a salute before tugging Jean along with him towards the door. It was obvious that Jean wanted to go off for all the torture they’ve been through today but right now was so not the time. Instead, they needed to breathe the free air of being men and run off into the night.

Though they would both probably stay away from spiked alcohol for the time being…