"Okay," Keith said. "So I didn't actually catch what he said to you when we got in last night, but what were you laughing about, Samantha? You were laughing pretty hard."

"Don't say it," Nathan's grip on his steering wheel tightened.

"He told me what really happened," Samantha chuckled. "Sleep deprivation caused him to not think it through entirely."

"I can't believe you two are okay with Nathan just cold-blooded killing people," Katie said. "I mean, I know your dad wasn't the nicest of people and had shot at you two, but still."

"It's how Nathan is," Keith said. "I've known about it for years, and so has Samantha."

"It's our soul-forging," Nathan said. "The three of us are less-inclined for stupid shit like feeling bad over the death of some insignificant person. Doesn't bother me one bit. The less I have to deal with that stuff, the better."

"Pretty sure part of that comes from you being a demigod," Keith said.

"Where are we going?" Katie asked as Nathan made another turn. "If you and Keith left to pick up his equipment earlier, should we just-"

"Nathan wanted to go do laser tag," Samantha answered. "I'll be watching from-"

"HOSPITAL, NOW!" Keith nearly yelled, and Nathan pressed on the gas.

"What's wrong?" Katie asked as Nathan sped past cars, ignoring the lanes.

"Samantha's about to go into rapid labor," Keith said. "Cyrus is coming, and he's not going to be patient about it."

As Nathan sped, a cop car began following, lights and siren on. Nathan ignored it, he'd deal with them later. Only a couple of minutes passed before Samantha felt the contractions coming on.

"Oh, you're right," she gasped. "Nathan, hurry up!"

"Going as fast as possible," he muttered.

Another minute passed, and Nathan pulled into the hospital, parking by the emergency room.

"Keith, park it," Nathan said as he hopped out of the car, then ran around to Samantha's door and opened it as she unbuckled. "Take care of the cops, too."

Nathan pulled Samantha out and carried her inside.

"I can walk!" Samantha protested.

"You're about to give birth!" Nathan exclaimed, then looked at a nearby man in scrubs. "She's giving birth in a minute!"

"We'll-"

"SHE'S LITERALLY ABOUT TO POP A BABY OUT OF HER!" Nathan yelled. "SHE'S IN LABOR AND MY SON IS ABOUT TO COME OUT!"

The nurse had Nathan moved Samantha onto a wheelchair and they quickly moved her to a room. Nathan helped Samantha into a gown, and as he did, he looked at the nurse.

"I can see Cyrus's head."

"What?" The nurse looked. "I'll be right back, the doctor's right around the corner."

When the nurse arrived with the doctor, Nathan was shirtless and holding Cyrus.

"Babies aren't normally born that fast, are they?" He asked.

"Nathan, give them the baby," Samantha said.

"I'm cleaning him," Nathan said.

Samantha convinced Nathan to let them cut the cord, then the doctor to allow Nathan clean his son off, the demigod refusing to let anyone handle his son. As Nathan was clearing the gunk from his son's nose, mouth, and throat, Keith and Katie showed up.

"Whoa," the doctor held up his hands. "You can't-"

"That's my other harem member and my best friend," Nathan interrupted as he cleaned himself and his baby off. "And the latter's Cyrus's godfather."

Keith and Katie entered the room and looked at Cyrus.

"He's so quiet," Katie said after the doctor ran Nathan through the checks, then Nathan climbed onto the bed and held Cyrus against his mother's breast. "What are you doing?"

"Cyrus has to breastfeed a little," Nathan said. "I read about it in one of the manuals. Newborns are usually given to the mother to breastfeed for a minute. Cyrus, come on. Eat."

Samantha snorted as their son looked around a little, then began sucking for milk. He drank only a little before stopping, and Nathan pulled him back against his chest.

"I'm not even sure what happened here," the doctor said. "That was the fastest birth I've known. We don't normally let the dad do all the work, though."

"You touch my son, I break your neck," Nathan said.

"Sorry," Keith said. "He's a bit… protective. He wouldn't even sleep with her out of fear of hurting Cyrus."

"No sex for at least four to six weeks," the doctor said. "Or-"

"We know," Samantha said. "Nathan's already resigned to not sleeping with me that much longer."

"Yeah," Nathan muttered. "Cyrus, who's your dad? That's me."

"Most women I deal with aren't like you after giving birth," the doctor said. "Most are tired. A few are cranky. You seem alert and okay. Without the post-birth happiness caused by-"

"I'm special," Samantha smiled. "Nathan, he's following your finger because it's a moving object."

"Just making sure his eyes are functioning," Nathan said, then frowned a little. "He has mine."

"He has your hair, too," she chuckled, rubbing Cyrus's white-blond fuzz. She paused. "Nathan, what are you doing?"

"Trying to see if he can read my thoughts."

"I doubt he can," Keith said.

"But you're his godfather?" Nathan gave Keith a confused look.

"That's… not what that means," Keith looked at the confused doctor. "Do you need anything else for the birth certificate? I noticed Nathan didn't quite answer everything."

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"What's Cyrus's full name?"

"Cyrus Keith Hunter," Nathan answered immediately as he moved off the hospital bed and onto a chair, keeping hold of his son.

"And he gets my middle name," Keith sighed, and the doctor looked at Samantha.

"Nathan picks the name," she told him, then noticed what Nathan was doing. "Nathan, are you trying to see if he's ticklish?"

"Yes."

"He's not even thirty minutes old," she said. "You'll have to wait a little bit."

"Why is he so quiet?" Katie asked. "Don't babies normally cry?"

"Does this look like the face of a crier?" Nathan held up Cyrus so that she could see him.

"And the parents' names?" The doctor asked.

Samantha looked at Nathan, who had returned to see if his son was ticklish, their son just staring at his father. She looked at the doctor.

"The father is Nathan Alexander Hunter," she told him. "And I'm Samantha Ophelia Baxter. That's O-P-H-E-L-I-A, like the one from Shakespeare's Hamlet. B-A-X-T-E-R."

"Wait," Katie gave her an amused look. "Nathan's initial spell out 'NAH' and yours spells out 'SOB'?"

"I wouldn't recommend making a joke about that," Nathan said. "If you want to stay a part of my harem."

Katie gave him a confused look as Samantha mouthed for her to not question it.

"Wait," the doctor looked at Samantha. "Are your parents Amy and Sean Baxter?"

"Ah, crap," Samantha looked at Nathan. "Hey, Nathan? We forgot to let my parents know."

"Hm?" Nathan looked at her. "Ah, right. This is their hospital, isn't it?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Samantha's parents are surgeons," Keith informed the confused Katie. "Very expensive surgeons. And as far as they know, Samantha wasn't pregnant. Or back in town."

"Let's pretend to be asleep," Nathan whispered to Cyrus. "Okay?"

Nathan closed his eyes and pretended to sleep as he cradled Cyrus, his son resting his head against his father's chest and closing his eyes.

"This is definitely the strangest birth I've ever dealt with," the doctor said. "I still want to check him over myself."

"Nathan probably will hurt you," Samantha told him. "But you at least got the information you needed, right?"

The doctor nodded.

"I'm going to get cleaned up and changed back into my clothes," she said. "I suppose you should probably let my parents know I'm here… and with a baby."

The doctor left with his paperwork, and Samantha looked at Nathan, then at their son, who possessed a green magical aura already. Just as she had been informed, he was born with his magic awakened. Based on its intensity, there was a large amount of mana within him, too.

Green?

"Keith?" She asked.

"Yeah, he has a lot of mana," the psychic said. "Just be grateful he probably won't be the smartass his father is."

She snorted, then got cleaned up and changed. With that response, he likely had as little clue as she did about her son's aura, which meant the discussion needed to be tabled for later.

A nurse changed the bedding, and Samantha lay back down, settling back onto the bed just as her parents entered the room, confused looks on their faces. Her mother looked like an older version of herself, while her father had salt-and-pepper hair and dark brown eyes. Both wore hospital scrubs and doctor's IDs.

"Samantha," her mother said. "Rich said you gave birth?"

"Keith," Samantha said. "Katie, would you mind ensuring no one comes in here until we finish?"

Keith took Katie out of the room as the Baxters looked at Nathan, who still appeared to be sleeping.

"Nathan?" Amy asked, then looked at her daughter. "How long have you two been seeing each other in secret?"

"We haven't been," Samantha thought for a few moments. "It's actually rather complicated, but has to do with the attack at the school."

"And that made you go through nine months of pregnancy in a month?" Her father asked.

"No," Samantha answered. "Well, sort of, but… Nathan, help me out here. It's not like with your parents. Mine are likely to freak at the truth."

An opaque white barrier formed around Nathan.

"Well, that's one way to do it," Samantha muttered as her parents stared at the manifestation. "Nathan, I know you can hear me. Don't avoid the problem by-wait. Your barrier skill is a lot better, that was pretty fast."

"Keith and I worked on it," Nathan said from within his barrier. "Keith was the other guy who was in here."

"Were you talking to Cyrus?" Samantha asked.

"Yes."

"Anyway," Samantha looked at her parents as she indicated the barrier. "Magic. It's real. We use it. Nathan more than me. The attacks at the schools are magical in nature, by a force outside of this dimension. They freeze the universe in time to force people to play this horrid death game, the Tutorial, in an alternate dimension. After that, the survivors are effectively slaves to them until they die, being forced to play more of these 'games', which are designed to fix things in the home dimension of the people forcing us through it."

"They're demons."

"Literally, apparently," Samantha said. "Nathan met one of the actual ones who designed the full thing. I got pregnant during the Tutorial, then went through several more games in order to advance my pregnancy. The whole thing is complicated. How much time do you have?"

Her parents had little to do at the moment, so they sat and listened as Samantha explained things, Nathan occasionally giving input. It was clear to Samantha her parents weren't quite sure what to make of things, but they listened anyway. Nathan eventually pulled down the barrier, having pulled on a shirt and tie at some point. He was cradling Cyrus against his chest, playing with light magics to entertain his son.

"Samantha," Sean stood and walked over to her, leaning down. "That is Nathan Hunter, right?"

"Yeah," she gave her boyfriend an amused look. "When it comes to being a dad, he's pretty different than the attitude-filled man he normally is. He spent a lot of time learning light magics just to entertain Cyrus."

"I spent a lot of time learning how to make magical guns, too," Nathan commented. "Also, it's illegal to reveal the information we just revealed to you. So think on it, but don't discuss it."

"Don't threaten my parents," Samantha said.

"I texted my father to bring us some food," Nathan said. "He should be here in around ten minutes. I'm hungry, and you're probably hungry. Cyrus is hungry, too."

Nathan climbed back onto the hospital bed and held Cyrus up to Samantha, who lifted up her shirt so their son could feed.

"How did you know he was hungry?" She asked.

"He told me."

"He's not even an hour and a half old," Samantha said.

"He's psychic, like his godfather."

"That's not how-" she cut off, then stared down at Cyrus with wide eyes. "I just got a huge mental impression of hunger from him."

"Told you so."

"He was just born!"

"It was a very exhausting ordeal," Nathan nodded. "I think he wants to sleep once he finishes feeding."

"Can I hold him?" She asked.

"No."

"He's my son, too!"

"He'll start crying."

"You just don't want to part with him."

"Your parents are still processing things," Nathan said. "You should get back to explaining things to them."

"You're the one who actually knows magic," she said. "I just know one spell."

"You know two."

"That counts as one."

"Then I only know one, too."

"That's not how that works!" She exclaimed, then looked at Cyrus. "Really?"

Nathan grinned.

"He's smart."

"He's a newborn!"

Nathan's phone rang, and he carefully pulled it out of his pocket while still holding Cyrus.

"I should probably let my parents know he's born sooner," he told Samantha. "They were expecting us at Cyrus's grave. Father wants to know where to bring the food."

"Your parents were expecting you at your son's grave?" Amy asked, and Nathan looked at her. "Even though he wasn't born yet?"

"Cyrus was my identical twin," Nathan grunted, then answered his phone, setting it to speakerphone. "We're at the hospital.. Samantha had an emergency."

"What kind of emergency?" His father asked. "Is she okay?"

"Yes," Nathan answered, then gave Samantha a curious look before looking at his phone again. "Though she seems exasperated by something, she is otherwise okay. Her parents are in the room."

"And Keith and Katie?"

"In the hall," Nathan answered. "We were just explaining to Samantha's parents how she could have gotten pregnant and gone through all of her pregnancy in just a month. They're still processing things."

He pulled Cyrus away and cradled the baby against his chest, the infant drifting off to sleep.

"He really is quiet, isn't he?" Samantha asked.

"What kind of emergency?" Alan asked.

"The kind where Cyrus popped out before the doctor got in the room," Nathan answered. "He said it's the strangest birth he's ever dealt with."

"I think he was mostly referring to you," Samantha said. "Can I please hold Cyrus?"

"No."

"He's my son, too!"

"Sh!" Nathan quietly shushed her. "He's sleeping!"

"We're on our way," Alan said. "Samantha, good luck with that."

"Thanks," she sighed. "I get the feeling he's not letting go for awhile."