The Ligers team returned to Detroit following their overwhelming sweep of Houston in the ALCS. Many had pegged the Houston Arrows to eventually win the World Series this year, but they were taken down by a young team.
Miami on the other hand were currently 3-2 against Philadelphia after getting a close victory in the 5th game. They were now just a single win away from securing their spot in the World Series.
Ken had about a week until the World Series was set to begin. Since they had the better record, Detroit would host the first 2 games as well as the 6th and 7th if needed.
Once he returned home, he saw that Ai’s belly had seemingly grown even bigger. He leaned in and kissed his wife gently, placing a hand upon her stomach.
“Have you been good for Mommy?” He asked with a smile.
At first, speaking to his unborn children had felt a little awkward, but he read somewhere that doing so would help the kids recognize him after they were born. As a first time father, Ken wanted to do all he could to be in their lives.
Having a good upbringing himself with both parents present, Ken wanted the same thing for his own kids. It might be a bit difficult with his job, but he was willing to put in the effort.
“Apart from making me eat so much food, they’ve been good.” Ai said with a giggle.
The two talked for a little while before Ken remembered something, “I forgot to tell you, I got Michael and his girlfriend a hotel and tickets to the first two games.”
Ai tilted her head, “Michael as in your biggest fan?”
“Well… He’s more of a friend than a fan now.” Ken said, feeling a little embarrassed. While it might have started out like that, he felt like they were a lot closer now. Plus there were only 4 to 5 years age difference between the two.
“I see. Well you better invite them to dinner tonight, our Mom’s are planning on making a feast that could feed the whole damn neighborhood.” Ai replied with a stiff smile, cradling her belly.
“Alright, sounds good. I’ll send him a message later.”
Ken walked into the house and saw his mother and Naomi busy in the kitchen. They barely spared him a glance, too busy cooking together to do so.
Instead of getting annoyed, Ken laughed it off and dropped his things off at his room.
“We should probably leave the house for a while, I don’t want to get in the way of those two…” Ken suggested, taking his wife by the hand.
“Oh? Are you finally gonna take me out for a date?” Ai smiled sweetly.
Ken suddenly felt a little guilty. He had been so busy with baseball and travel since they were in the post season that he felt like he’d neglected his pregnant wife.
He had even missed out on a couple of scans since he’d been away.
“Ahem. Let’s go, I’ll take you anywhere you want.” Ken added, wanting to make it up to her.
“Oh, you guys are going out? We’ll tag along.” Steve walked into the lounge area and happened to overhear him.
However, Steve suddenly felt his skin prickle as Ai sent him a deathly glare from beside Ken. He paled before quickly taking back his words, “Ah… I forgot that we had some things to do… Right Tara?”
“Y—Yes, of course… I’ll send you an email later Ken, the local news want you to appear on their morning show.” Tara said before bidding farewell.
Once the two had left, Ai returned to smiling sweetly and grabbed Ken’s arm, “Let’s go, I’ve been stuck inside for far too long.”
Ken and Ai swiftly left the house and went downtown to spend the day. The two went to the movie theater and caught a movie, funnily enough this was the first time they had gone to the cinema together.
Ai helped herself to some popcorn and a frozen drink, while Ken didn’t partake. He knew that there was going to be a big meal waiting for them when they got home, so he decided to save some room.
They spent almost 5 hours downtown before finally deciding to return back home.
As Ai sat in the taxi next to Ken, she laid her head on his shoulder.
“I missed going on dates with you.” She said, letting out a sigh of contentment. “We might not have much time to do this again in the future.”
Ken nodded, “Though, I’m sure our Mom’s will jump at the chance to babysit every now and then.”
Ai scoffed, “You think? I have a feeling they would take them every day if they could.” She said with a giggle.
Ken laughed, “You’re probably right. At least we know that there’s support in case we need it.”
“Mmm… Everything still feels so surreal. In only 2 months, we’ll be parents.”
“Yeah, it’s gone so quickly. It feels like just the other day that we found out you were pregnant.” Ken admitted, feeling incredulous.
“We still haven’t got cots or anything… I’m worried we might not be ready.” Ai opened up, showing her concerns.
Ken knew that now was the time to support his wife, not just disregard her worries. After all, he was not carrying two children in his belly, but that didn’t make him any less responsible.
“I don’t think anyone is ever ready for kids, not truly anyway…” Ken replied, “As for a baby room, once this World Series is over, I’ll kick a few people out of the house and we can start decorating together.” He said with a reassuring smile.
Hearing this, Ai smiled sweetly, placing a hand upon his leg. “That would be nice… Who will you kick out though?”
Ken didn’t need to think for long, “Daichi and Miho will probably be gone soon, as will Rohan. I probably just need to kick out Tetsu and everything will be fine.”
Ai broke into a cute laugh, enjoying Ken’s joke thoroughly.