Why am I bothering with a disclaimer? Who actually reads them,
anyway? ^_^
Okay, first a little background. This fic takes place about two or
three years after the series ends. Ranma and Akane got married, as Takahashi
said they would. Cologne, Shampoo, and Mousse have gone back to China. Ryoga
is God-knows-where. Ukyo is still running the Ucchan. Gosunkugi... hey,
waitaminnit, he's got nothing to do with this fic! ^_^
=============================================
Ranma 1/2: The Surrogate
=============================================
Ranma, like just about every other person on the planet, hated
hospitals. The cold, sterile walls, the waiting, the uncertainty of having a
loved one in surgery, it was almost enough to drive him insane.
//A fibroid tumor,\\ Ranma thought, remembering the diagnosis from
Akane's last visit to her gynecologist. //It's probably nothing, she said.
It's benign, not cancer. She'll be fine.\\ Ranma's confidence, which had
been so strong just a week before, was beginning to crumble. The doctor said
the surgery would take an hour at the most, and here it was three. What was
going on!
Two weeks ago, Akane had visited Dr. Keiko Satoshi, her
gynecologist, for her annual checkup. It was then that they found the tumor
growing on her uterus. The doctor had said it was a fibroid tumor, and had
lost Ranma in the process of explaining what it was. Akane had been kind
enough to translate, telling him that most fibroid tumors, about
nintey-eight percent, were benign and as such there was little to worry about.
But sitting in the hospital, able to do nothing more than wait, was
starting to get to him. He looked across at Kasumi, who sat near his mother,
both with worried looks on their faces. Soun and Genma sat opposite of them,
both looking somber and controlled. Nabiki, who was away at college, was absent.
//Damnit, what's taking so long!\\ The sound of footsteps
approaching snapped his head up to seek out the source. Was this the
surgeon? Were they finished?
The doctor walked up to them, a thin man with angular features and a
pair of horn-rimmed glasses on his face. His white lab coat was immaculately
neat, as were the rest of his clothes.
"Mr. Saotome?"
"How's Akane?" Oh, he did not like the tone in this guy's voice...
"There has been a... complication... in the surgery." Ranma barely
heard the gasps from the others as his world threatened to crumble around
him. A complication? Something went wrong? The doctor's words came to him
in fits and starts, disjointed sounds that made little sense individually.
"...we had to perform a partial hysterectomy," he finished, his
voice filled with the apology he did not say. A histowhatome?
"Akane's gonna be okay, right?" Ranma asked desperately, a hard edge
in his voice that dared the skinny little geek to give the wrong answer.
"Your wife will make a full recovery, yes," the doctor replied.
Ranma felt relief wash over him in a wave, a great weight lifting off his
shoulders. He almost shouted for joy when he noticed that no one else was
sharing in his elation.
"Hey, c'mon!" Ranma exclaimed, "Akane's gonna be okay! What's the
problem?"
"If you will excuse us, doctor," Nodoka said quietly.
"Of course. Akane is out of surgery now. You can see her in another
few hours." The man bowed once before turning to leave. Ranma watched as the
tears welled up in Nodoka's eyes, wondering just what the hell this was all
about. The doc just said Akane would be all right!
"What's goin' on, mom?"
"Ranma..." Nodoka trailed off for a moment, as though she were
choosing her words as carefully as she could. "A hysterectomy is when a
woman's uterus is removed."
Ranma paused for a moment, lessons from his biology class replaying
themseles in his mind. The uterus, that was where the babies grew before
being born, right? He almost asked what it all meant when the realization
finally hit him. If Akane's uterus had been taken out, then... oh, no....
Ranma slumped back into the hard green chair, his body and mind
numb. Akane was... was... barren.....
============================================
The recovery ward in which Akane Saotome rested was a long off-white
room in which non-critical patients were placed after surgery. Fifteen beds
lined up parallel along one wall, each separated by a thin blue curtain that
surrounded each bed and gave the illusion of privacy.
Akane lay in one of the beds, the privacy curtain in place. A clear
IV tube ran from her hand to a clear plastic bag that hung on a metal pole
beside her bed. Her chest rose and fell with each breath, her sleeping face
almost angelic as she slumbered under the anesthesia.
Ranma stood next to her, the others surrounding the bed with him, as
her eyelids began to flutter. A low moan escaped her lips as consciousness
returned to her.
How was he gonna tell her? How in the world could he possibly break
such news? Ranma cursed the fate that placed them in this position, for him
to be the one to shatter Akane's heart like this. Her eyes slowly opened,
dulled from the residual drugs in her system. They fell on Ranma's face, and
he almost couldn't bear their gaze.
"Hey," Akane said weakly.
"Hey, Akane. How're ya feelin'?"
"A little groggy, but I'm okay," she replied with a small grin. The
grin faded, replaced with a frown of concern. "Ranma, what's wrong?"
"Akane..." Ranma couldn't bring himself to say any more, unwilling
to break down in front of her and everyone. He reached out and grasped her
hand in both of his, hoping to draw the strength he needed.
"What's going on? Everything's fine, right?" He could hear the
nervousness in Akane's voice, and it broke his heart.
"Akane, the doctors found.... other tumors." Nodoka said, her voice
nearly choked. Akane gasped audibly, returning Ranma's grip with a fierce
grasp of her own. "They had to perform a hysterectomy."
The small space went silent for a few moments, as if the world
itself suddenly stopped dead. The sound of footsteps echoed beyond the blue
privacy curtain, a doctor or nurse making rounds as a voice quietly asked
something of another patient.
It started as a low moan, growing rapidly to a keening wail as the
realization hit home. Ranma's heart finally tore itself to shreds as he
draped an arm around Akane's shoulders. Her own arms shot around him,
grasping him as if her very life depended on it.
A nurse poked her head in to ask if everything was okay. Ranma
didn't answer as Akane's muffled sobs hit him like one of Ryoga's punches.
He could feel her tears soaking his shirt, and finally allowed his own to
break free.
"We tried so hard to get them married," Genma muttered, "and now we
face a tragedy like this. What have we done to deserve it?" There was no
answer, nor would there ever be.
===========================================
Akane had been released soon after, returning to the dojo looking
none the worse for wear. Akane spent most of the time sitting in the bedroom
she now shared with Ranma, gazing at the spot where they were planning to
put the crib after their first child was born, the look of longing on her
face almost more than he could stand.
Akane had drawn into herself, the fierce and determined tomboy he
fell in love with nowhere to be found. He had tried everything, even asking
her to cook, but she remained in her own isolation, hardly responsive. The
strain of it was beginning to wear him thin, he wanted his Akane back,
damnit! Children or no, she couldn't stay this way!
"Hey, Akane," Ranma said as he shut the bedroom door behind him.
God forgive him, but he had no other choice! The lamp on the nightstand cast
the room in a soft glow, the window showing only the darkness of night
beyond its glass. The light shone dully on Akane's hair, which hadn't been
washed in over a week. Man, this was really getting to her.
"Hi, Ranma."
"You wanna go out tonight? There's a new movie out."
"No, thanks. I'm not in the mood."
"Akane, you can't stay up here moping around forever!" Ranma hoped
the hard edge in his tone would produce some kind of reaction, a glare, or a
free trip to the moon via one of Akane's haymakers, but she continued to sit
there, stroking the teddy bear she had when she herself was a child.
Instead, she stayed silent, staring at that one damn spot. "Ya gotta get out
and do somethin'!"
Akane sat on their bed, her mind in violent turmoil despite her
placid facade. She wanted children, she wanted them so desperately she could
taste it, but it just wasn't going to happen. They had planned on building a
family, creating heirs to the Tendo and Saotome Schools of Anything Goes
Martial Arts. They would have created a future for both themselves and their
progeny, then sat back in their twilight years and watch the whole cycle
continue. But that future had been ripped away before they even had the
chance to begin. That knowledge, the empty feeling inside where her children
would have grown into infants, was more painful than any injury she had ever
sustained before. Physical wounds healed, but something like this never
would. Couldn't Ranma see that?
"C'mon, Akane, say somethin'! Call me an insensitive jerk, anything,
just talk to me!"
"Why?" It was her one question, the one asked by countless others
facing such traumas. Why her? Why did it have to be her?
"I don't know why, Akane," Ranma said gently, "but it ain't the end
of the world. We can still have kids. Hey, we can always adopt, right?"
"That's not the same!" she snapped. For the first time, the numbness
that clouded her brain had begun to lift, the flames of anger and
frustration finally re-kindling. "I want a child of our own! Not one whose
parents were too lazy to raise it!"
"Akane!"
"Our own baby, Ranma, is that too much to ask?!"
"We can do that, too! The docs said that you still got one good ovary!"
"But I can't give birth!" The flames of Akane's anger were beginning
to die down as despair set itself in once again.
"So? All we need is a surrogate mother for that! Ukyo would gladly
do it, so would Kasumi! Hell, even *mom* said she'd do it!"
"That's not the same, either." Akane recalled what Doctor Satoshi
had said about In Vitro Fertilization. An egg would be removed from her one
remaining ovary, and fertilized outside her body with a sample of Ranma's
sperm. Once the fetus grew into an embryo, it would be implanted in a
surrogate mother until birth.
"Aw, jeez, Akane," Ranma growled in frustration."
"I'm sorry, but... I can't stand the thought of *our* child growing
in another woman's body. It's just.... I don't know... I want our child to
be born from *us*, not from someone else, even if it is Ukyo, or even Kasumi."
Ranma paused for a moment, realizing that, indeed, he had no
alternative. It was something he had considered, he knew he could do it, but
the question was if Akane would accept it. Or if anyone else would. Taking a
deep breath to calm his crackling nerves, he opened his mouth and leapt into
the great beyond.
"Then I'll do it." Akane just sat there for a moment, as if she
hadn't heard him. Finally, her eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped open as
his statement hit home.
"Wha... wha.... *what*!?" The utter disbelief in Akane's shout hit
him like a brick, but it was the first real emotion she'd shown in weeks.
"If that's what you're worried about, then I'll carry our baby,"
Ranma explained, cranking his determination up to full. "My girl body's got
the equipment."
"But.... but... Ranma, are you nuts?"
"Maybe, but if this is the way it's gotta be..."
"You can't be serious! Can you imagine explaining to our child that
his father is also the woman who bore him?" Ranma had to admit, he couldn't
even begin to comprehend something like that. He couldn't bother with it,
though.
"Listen, Akane!" Ranma exclaimed, his patience nearly depleted, "I
want children just as much as you do! I want to have a child from our own
flesh and blood, too! And if you don't want our baby to grow inside another
woman, then I'll carry it myself! It'll still be our baby, and it'll still
come from one of us!"
"I..."
"No, listen, Akane. I'm not just doing this for an heir! I'll do it
because damnit I love you, and I want you to be happy!" Akane's eyes locked
with his, the confused jumble of feelings behind them plain even to him.
They looked into each other's souls for what felt like and eternity, each
desperately trying to read the thoughts of the other. Eventually, Akane
broke their contact, looking down at the teddy bear she still clutched in
her hands.
"I don't know, Ranma," Akane said softly, "I mean, there's so much
that could go wrong, and what would our families think?"
"I don't care about that."
"Just let me think about it, okay?"
"Okay," Ranma said, placing a gentle kiss on her cheek. He rose from
the bed, hope blossoming in his heart. It would be tough, but at least now
they had a chance...
=========================================
Breakfast the next morning saw the Tendos and Saotomes gathered
around the table, enjoying one of Kasumi's excellent spreads. The morning
sun beamed its heavenly glow onto the ground below, sliers of light glinting
off the gently rippling surface of the koi pond in the yard.
Akane sat next to Ranma, a curious expression on her face that drew
the attention of everyone gathered. Conversation remianed mostly on trivial
subjects, no one willing to broach Akane's condition. Akane herself just ate
slowly, almost mechanically, yet her eyes shone with a strange light as if
maybe she had come to some sort of tough decision and still didn't know if
it was right.
"Ranma," she said, setting down her chopsticks. Her fingers
interlocked with each other, thumbs fidgeting with one another as she
prepared to speak. "I thought about what you said last night."
"Yeah?" The hope in his voice was palpable, drawing curious stares
from the assembled families.
"Uh-huh. And I decided to do it."
"You... have? Really!"
"Yeah. I want to do it." Akane's voice grew happier by the second, a
smile finally crossing her lips.
"YA-HOO!"
"What is this all about?" Nodoka asked, puzzled.
"Akane 'n me are gonna have a baby!" The mood around the table
almost instantly lightened as smiles grew all around.
"Oh, that's great news, Akane!" Kasumi exclaimed, "are you going to
adopt?"
//Uh-oh,\\ Ranma thought. This was the tricky part."
"Well, we decided to do that In Vitro thing," Akane replied, her own
nervousness showing through. Genma asked who they had chose to be the
surrogate mother, obviously misinterpreting the reason for her unease.
"Uh.... me." The happy mood in the room instantly went straight
south. Every eye in the room immediately fixed on Ranma, shock and confusion
creating an almost physical presence in the air.
"Oh, my."
"You... you...." Genma said, his right eye twitching.
"Yeah. Me."
"It's not manly!" Genma practically screamed. "You're a man! Men
don't bear children!"
"Stuff it, pop!" Ranma shouted back. "This is the only way you're
gonna be a grandpa! So deal with it!"
"I must admit, son, I have my reservations," Nodoka added, her face
set in a stone mask of utter seriousness. "I speak from experience here,
bearing a child is not easy. While it is a joyful thing, it is also one of
the most painful experiences in life. There are things you do not know about
childbirth."
"Mom?"
"Son, I don't think you should do it."
"I can't believe I'm hearin' this!" Ranma screamed, shooting up from
his seat. "I ain't doin' this for any of you! I'm doin' it for me an' Akane!
An' if you don't like it, that's tough!"
"Ranma!"
"Shut up, Genma!" Akane shouted, "I want to go through with this, too!"
"Akane," Kasumi said, "I would gladly..."
"NO!" Kasumi jerked back from Akane's heated response as if she had
been physically struck. "I'm sorry, Kasumi, but I don't want our child to
come from someone else. I've thought about it, and this is the way it has to
be. End of discussion."
Silence reigned after Akane's difinitive ending remark, no one
seeming to even breathe as the seconds stretched into minutes and minutes
into infinity.
"Ranma...." Soun said, tears practically pouring from his eyes, "I
had no idea. To think that you would... go so far... to bring us
grandchildren!" Ranma soon found himself inside Soun's crushing embrace, his
ribs beginning to hurt from the force. "I'M SO PROUD OF YOU! MY SON, MY SON!!!"
Ranma managed to extricate himself after a brief struggle, gasping
for air afterward. He could feel the unease in the air, the uncertainty of
the moment like a pressing cloud of heavy gas.
"I still have my concerns," Nodoka said, "but if you truly feel this
strongly over the matter, than we shall help in any way we can. Won't we,
husband?"
"Yes, dear," Genma grumbled, clearly less than thrilled over the
prospect of his son giving birth.
"So will I," Kasumi added, a serious tone in her voice. And so it
began, Ramna's voyage into motherhood...
======================================
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Okay, I know that last line wasn't the best to end it on, but I had
to stop this somewhere. Now, I also know that there are going to be some
questions raised over this. To spare you some time, I'll go ahead and answer
some of the more likely ones.
Q WHY?
A Why not? ^_^
Q Surrogate mothers aren't just picked up off the street! How are you
going to pull off having Ranma do this?
A I already have that taken care of. This is where Nabiki and Doctor
Tofu figure in.
Q What if the doctors find out about Ranma's curse?
A They won't.
Q Why are you ripping off Thy Outward Part?
A I'm not trying to rip off Richard Lawson's works. I enjoy his fics,
and while I'm hoping to attain his dramatic skill, I am *not* trying to rip
any of his works. (Yes, the thought that someone would think this actually
crossed my mind.)
Q You ARE going to throw in some good ol' Ranma humor, right?
A Most definitely. ^_-
Well, if I missed any, just let me know. I would greatly appreciate
any C&C on this. It's an idea that just started pounding at my skull to get
out, and this is what resulted. This teaser is by NO means final, and I'm
certain that there are a few details that I missed.
If anyone would like to help me out on this, I'd be most grateful. I
need info on medical procedures, setting up a false identification, and
other little things. Also, if someone out there wants to pre-read this, let
me know.
Thanks! Hope you liked it!
Jed