Pinky's Baby - Ch. 2

As the lab was closing down the following day, Brain was on pins and needles awaiting Pinky's return. He'd expected him before this, and his mind couldn't help but entertain the worst. Had something gone wrong between his visit and the morning? Had his friend succumbed to a force stronger than life? Staring at a mahjong tile, Brain forced the thoughts away and instead chose to ponder why his cagemate would deign a single tile worth keeping. And what he could've possibly done with the rest of the game.

He scrambled to the cage door when he heard it squeak open, though, the tile dropped rather unceremoniously in the face of this important return. Pink eyes narrowed in irritation soon enough when the scientist held him back, the only thing keeping him from biting being his superior intellect... and the mild fear that he wouldn't leave Pinky behind if he thought Brain was going to act violently. The feeble-minded human just didn't understand and, Brain suspected, didn't care about the worry he'd been put through these past days.

When Pinky was settled on the little sponge-bed they shared, Brain waited impatiently until the human turned his back before going up to his companion. He checked for a fever first, resting a hand on his brow, fingers seeking out his pulse. The steady rise and fall of his chest quelled some of the fear, but it was still worrying that he was still asleep. And the stitches...

Brain examined them closely, resisting the urge to touch. They weren't wire as he'd previously assumed, seeing the dark strips from a distance. They looked as though they would dissolve soon and allow his fur to grow back and hide any scarring. It was still rather unpleasant to think that Pinky would have scarring from something Brain didn't even have a full grasp of yet. "Hm. Annoying," he grumbled and looked up when Pinky's tail twitched. He stilled entirely when he realized blue eyes were on him. Bleary, but awake. So many other fears were dashed, ones Brain hadn't even been aware of, that his knees went a little weak. "Pinky..."

The taller mouse blinked sluggishly, then yawned out a squeaky 'narf' before smiling sleepily at his cagemate. "Hi, Brain. Did you find the magical mushroom staircase to tubaville too?"

"No." The smaller mouse made his way back to the head of the bed, resting his hand on Pinky's brow again. "And you're not in tubaville. You're back in the cage with me." Safe and sound. Or as safe as possible with the humans running amok, separating them whenever they liked. He had a world to conquer and he needed this mouse's help to do it.

Pinky nuzzled against his palm, then slowly took in his surroundings, his eyes getting clearer and more alert. "The cage? Narf. Oh, the cage! Brain!" His gaze darted back to the megalomaniac, his smile bright. "Oh, Brain, I've missed you! It's been ages!" He sat up to hug him tightly, wincing as the stitches pulled. Glancing down, he trailed his finger along the black strips. "Egad... I'm all zipped up like a zipper!"

Brain immediately nudged him back down. "Not a very steady zipper, either." He was immediately brusque. Pinky was alright, but he had the potential to hurt himself should he move too much... Which gave him an easy excuse to leave his hand on his cagemate's chest. "There are enough things in the cage to keep you busy while you recuperate."

"Wuh... what do I need to cooperate for anyway, Brain? I'm not a chicken." Pinky blinked up at him, then glanced down at the hand on his chest. "And what's inside? I want to see! Zort! Maybe I'm filled with candy like a piňa colada!"

"I doubt you have the mental capabilities to be a chicken," Brain grumbled, rolling his eyes. "There will be no discovering what's inside until the stitches heal. Which is going to require you lying in bed for an extended amount of time. Do you understand? You can color and play with certain toys, but you need to stay in bed."

Looking around the bed as if it would help him better understand it, Pinky scratched the top of his head despite laying down. "But what about taking over the world, Brain? It's tomorrow night, isn't it?" He couldn't quite keep track of the time, he'd been sleeping for quite some time and whenever he remembered being awake, he was in a strange fish tank. Only without any fish or water and an annoying, scary beeping sound.

"There will be no taking over the world until you're better." Frowning, Brain lowered his gaze to the strangely pink belly and gave it a very gentle pat. "When your fur grows back, we'll be able to get back to it." And, based on their usual healing time, it wouldn't be very long at all before the stitches were healed. A couple of days and then he would be able to see what, if anything, had been placed within his companion's body. And then the world would be theirs! Until then, The Brain was willing to take care of Pinky.

"Poit. Better?" Pinky frowned slightly, watching Brain's hand before looking him in the eye. Nothing felt wrong or broken or anything... though he did feel a pinchy feeling in his tummy. It was sore, not quite like a usual tummy ache. He gulped and reached out to grab onto Brain's arm. "I'm not sick, right Brain?"

"No, old friend, you're not sick. But you will be if you break open these stitches. If that occurs, it'll take you even longer to heal." And the megalomaniac wasn't entirely certain if he had the capability to take care of Pinky if an infection set in. Not with scientists in their the majority of the day during the week.

Oh, well, getting sick was a very not good thing, so he made sure not to touch the zipper as he settled in bed. It was so funny looking though. And his fur was all gone! His short attention span had him poking the pink flesh. "My tummy's all like my name," he giggled. "Well, except the zipper. Troz."

"Yes, it is. Be careful where you poke," he instructed, knowing that it was useless to tell him to stop entirely. He knew he'd have to pay attention to make sure he listened, however, not trusting Pinky's ability to recognize pain well enough to do otherwise. "I rigged up a tray so you can keep busy without having to move overmuch."

"Oh, a tray!" Pinky clapped his hands together, of course moving quickly and wincing when he felt the tugging across his stomach. He gave it a pat, then went as still as he could and looked up at his cagemate. "What are you gonna do while I rest, Brain?"

"I have plenty of things to keep me busy." The megalomaniac went across the cage to grab a crayon and a few pages. The paper was settled on a tray that he wheeled over and propped up in front of his cagemate. "In a little while, we'll see if you can sit up." Brain gave him the crayon, frowning. "If you aren't careful and tear the stitches, I shall have to hurt you."

Pinky examined the crayon, eyes lighting up when he saw it was one of his favorites. He nodded, already starting to scribble on the paper. "'Kay! I won't tear anything, Brain," he assured, admiring his lumpy pink circle. "Can I have royal cerulean and happy yellow too?"

Quickly seeing a potential issue with this, Brain pushed over the entire box. "Here, Pinky. You can have all the colors." He went off to get one of his books, dragging it over to sit near his cagemate and read.

"Thanks, Brain," he hugged his blue crayon and looked over at him. "You're going to sit with me? Poit."

He sighed, looking up. "Yes, Pinky. Just in case you need something. I don't want you getting up." The megalomaniac turned back to his book, waving a hand dismissively. "Now be quiet and color."

"Right, Brain." The taller mouse just smiled at his cagemate for a moment or two, warmed from the inside out by his kindness and care. Oh, Brain was the bestest best best friend anyone could ask for! "Naaaaaaarf," he purred quietly, going back to his drawing, adding an ovular shape next to the lumpy round one.

That wasn't exactly being quiet, but Brain let it go. It was just a relief to have him back in the cage, safe and mostly sound. The stitches bothered him, particularly because he didn't know yet why they were there. Had they removed something? That was a frightening thought. Naturally, it was banished and Brain turned his attentions to his studies... and managed a page and a half before Pinky was fidgeting. "Pinky, what are you doing?"

"My tummy hurts," he complained, he just couldn't find a comfortable position. Not on his back anyway, and Brain told him not to move too much. Plus he couldn't roll over with the tray there. "And I'm bored." He was only halfway through his drawing, but the weird, pinchy feeling was distracting and he just couldn't concentrate. He'd already messed up their hands and their ears. Glancing down his front, he blamed the zipper. It felt like things had been moved around inside, like a jigsaw puzzle with one too many pieces.

Sighing, The Brain got to his feet and perched beside his cagemate, resting both hands on the strangely pink belly. "I know it hurts, Pinky. It probably will for a little while, and you'll just have to get used to it." He began to caress very carefully and methodically. It was strange, though, and not only because he was missing some fur. There was something just... different. "But there's no need to worry. You're going to be fine."

Pinky shivered, the touch feeling very... intimate without his fur as a barrier. But it was very pleasant all the same. He loved tummy rubs and only got them occasionally. Like that time he ate a whole roll of yarn. "I'm not worried," he assured him. "You're here. Zort."

More touched than he wanted to admit by the honest faith, Brain lowered his gaze to watch his hands rather than those trusting blue eyes. "Of course I'm here, Pinky. Now then, if you're bored with coloring, what else would you like to do?"

"Umm... poit." He blinked and looked around. Oh, what he really wanted to do was run on his wheel. But that didn't really qualify as resting. Brain wanted him to stay on the bed, so on the bed he'd stay! Until he forgot, of course. "Oh, I know! Can you read to me? I missed hearing your blah blahddy blah words. And the mean ol' beeping sound wasn't very friendly or sociable." It didn't even say 'hi'.

"Beeping sound?" Brain repeated, flicking his gaze back up. "Pinky, that was your heart monitor. Those beeps you heard were just audible reflections of your heartbeat."

"My heartbeat? I don't think so, Brain. My heart goes ba-dum, ba-dum in my wrist when I sleep on it. Not beep beep beep on the wall. And I would like to think that my heart isn't so rude."

Eyes rolling, Brain got off the bed to go to his book and dragged it onto his side of the bed, being careful not to jostle his friend overmuch. "It's the machine that was rude, not your heart. They're designed to make that sound in order to tell when or if your heart begins to act oddly." Like stopping. "It's not supposed to have the same exact noise."

Pinky shifted slightly so he was closer to Brain, happy that he would be reading on the bed with him. "Why would they want to know what my heart's doing when my tummy's the problem? And my heart does funny jumpy things all the time, is that odd?" Because quite honestly he thought it was rather odd when it went all fast and silly whenever Brain did nice things. Or any sort of things really. Like ponderings.

"There are times when your heart will do things it simply isn't supposed to do." Particularly after a surgery of some kind. He reached out and gave Pinky a small pat. "And your heart affects all of you, so something bad happening to it would be detrimental to the rest of you."

"Naaaaarf. Well, then I'd better take very good care of it." Pinky nodded seriously, hugging his red crayon.

"Yes, you'd better." Brain gave the pink of his belly another gentle rub before turning his attention to his book. "This book is on experimental physics, Pinky." Though he knew Pinky had no idea what physics was, no matter how often Brain read the odd chapter from one aloud or how often the subject was incorporated into one of his plans or cage escapes.

"Is that like the people who look into those shiny balls and see the future?" he asked, resting his head against Brain's side as his own hand resumed the careful rubbing of his belly.

The smaller mouse automatically shifted a little closer so he could rest his head more comfortably. "Those are psychics. Physics is the study of matter and its motion through spacetime." He shook his head, giving Pinky's cheek a pat. "Why don't I just tell you one of the stories from one of your little books?" he offered. He knew the silly things by heart, just one of the many things he wished he could remove from his memory normally. But for now he could make an exception.

Pinky shook his head. "That's okay, Brain. I like spacetime. It's just like space mountain, only with more time and less mountain. Poit." Besides, Brain read his big wordy word books differently than he read his little not wordy picture books. Not that he didn't like it when Brain read his favorite books to him, oh he did love that, but right now the sound of his voice mattered most. And space was a very cool thing.

"Alright." Brain looked to his book and began to read, getting about two pages in before his cagemate started to fidget beside him. He only kept reading, stroking his side until he settled again.

It was just so hard to keep still. He was used to running and dancing and twirling and doing yogalates on the TV. But he tried. Being pet helped. That didn't happen much and it was such a lovely feeling. So he focused on that and Brain's voice, all smarty sounding. He'd missed it, even when he'd been sleeping he knew his best friend hadn't been there with him. It had been very lonely, and scary, because they were never kept in separate cages ever.

His eyes closed and he sighed, reaching out to hold onto the smaller mouse. Somehow his energy became sleepy without him even noticing. Pinky snuggled against him with a soft 'narf' and decided naptime couldn't hurt any. Plus it would keep him still for a while.

Brain stayed close even as he fell asleep, though his reading fell silent. He rested a hand on his chest just to feel the steady rise and fall while his friend breathed, trying very hard not to imagine it stilling. They had done something to him inside. He could feel a difference, but he couldn't explain it. With his intellect, the idea of not knowing something was extremely worrying.

But there was nothing he could do about it at the moment, so just let his cagemate sleep and stayed close. One thing he was rather certain of, was that if he died or anything else happened before the megalomaniac could figure this out, those scientists were going to suffer. He gave his friend a small nuzzle since Pinky was asleep and no one was around, and went back to quietly reading.