MY POOTS ARE SO NASTY RIGHT NOW

Ria was out shopping for baby clothes. This was weird, because all of the other times she had gone baby shopping, Rowan had been right at her side. In the past few months Ria had thought about telling Rowan the truth a lot of times, but she could never bring herself to do it. She wasn't going to set herself up for hurt when he decided he didn't want it.

So she was out alone today, because silly Raina was too scared to leave her house, looking at baby clothes and toys in Dahlin.

As fate would have it, Lumi was also out shopping for baby things. It was weird for her as well, because all of the other times she had gone baby shopping, it had been for...you know, her baby. It was definitely weird to think about how she had a grandchild on the way. She felt way too young for that. She was still in her thirties. She always thought of grandparents as being in their, like, sixties. It was crazy.

She picked up a cute pair of gender-neutral baby shoes and examined them. She wished they had some way of knowing the baby's sex before it was born so she would know what colors to get, and what patterns not to get, and all that jazz. Oh well. She'd definitely have to bring Julie here with her next time. She briefly wondered why she hadn't brought her this time.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed someone all too familiar. It was Ria. Pregnant Ria. Holy crap. "Ria?" she called, getting the other woman's attention. "Wow, you're pregnant...again?"

She wasn't trying to sound rude, she was just surprised. And curious. In fact she was very, very curious.

Ria heard someone call her so she looked over her shoulder. Usually she would have been annoyed that she ran into Lumi, but today she was just happy it wasn't Alecis.

"Hello Lumi," she said dryly. "Yeah, I am, why, does it matter to you?" Then she realized that Lumi was in a baby store. "Wait, are you pregnant too? You know, I heard that if you have a baby once you're in your sixties you could have complications. I'd be careful if I was you."

Lumi rolled her eyes. "Ria, I'm only four years older than you," she pointed out dryly, not letting herself get offended. She never really let Ria's insults get to her, because she knew that they had no basis in fact. "And no, I'm not pregnant. I'm just surprised that you are, considering your...marital situation, is all."

She wondered if Rowan and Ria were still separated. If so, did Rowan know Ria was having his babies? Were they even his babies? Soooo manyyyy questionssss. Like I said, Lumi was curious. Very, very curious.

Ria got all offended, "I am not fifty-six, thank you very much!" she exclaimed, pulling a fluffy duck plushie off the shelf and shoving it in her cart. "And why the fuck do you care?" she added angrily.

Lumi had no right to go bringing anything like that up, she hadn't done anything to rile her up! But now that she had opened a can of worms, Ria felt she had the right to fling crap back at her. She remembered now why Lumi might be buying baby clothes.

"At least my fucking daughters aren't teenage mothers!" she said.

Lumi sighed. "Okay, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up. It was very rude of me," she said resignedly. She was being genuine too. Even though Ria was rude to her every chance she got didn't mean that Lumi should pry into her personal life. That being said... "So please leave my daughter out of this, okay?"

Ria huffed indignantly. She couldn't stand Lumi! "Whatever," she growled, shoving more things in her cart.

Lumi shrugged and went back to her own shopping. That confrontation with Ria had gone a lot better than ones in the past.

She happened to spot a cute teddy bear that would be absolutely perfect for a baby. Smiling a little, she reached for it, not realizing that Ria was reaching for it as well, at the exact same time.

Thankfully Lumi had stopping bothering her and walked her own way. A few minutes later Ria found the perfect little stuffed bear ever! It was brown and fuzzy, with peach fuzz covered eyes and a tiny stitched smile. She reached for it, excited that her baby would have something so adorable, and was horror struck when she saw that someone else had reached for it too.

Lumi.

Their hands grabbed it at the same time, but Ria's hand squeezed into a fist first, mostly because she was so freaking angry. "Get your hand off my bear," she growled.

Lumi turned to Ria incredulously. "Your bear?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sorry, Ria, but I don't see your name on it anywhere." Normally Lumi wouldn't have cared about the stupid bear. It was just a bear. But Ria's anger seemed to be somehow contagious, and Lumi found herself copiously annoyed at Ria's overreaction to the fact that they both grabbed the same stupid bear.

"Yes," she said, her eyes glaring into Lumi's, "My hand was on it first-it's mine." She tugged on the bear hard, hoping to pull it from Lumi's grip.

Lumi held onto the bear at first, not so much because she wanted it desperately, but because she wanted to know why it meant so much to Ria. And also because she didn't want to give Ria the satisfaction of winning. Not that it was a contest--Ria would just take it that way.

But then she thought, did she really want to stoop down to Ria's level? The answer was a definite no. So she let go of the bear. "You can have it. It's just a bear," she said, smiling condescendingly in a 'you are so not worth my time' sort of way.

Ria didn't take the smile in a 'you are so not worth my time' sort of way. She took it instead in an 'i admit my weaknesses and bow to your superiority' sort of way. "That's right," she said, grinning and taking the bear. She didn't set it in the cart, but instead held it to her as she started walking away.

Lumi rolled her eyes. "That poor baby..." she muttered under her breath, subconsciously making her voice loud enough for Ria to hear. She was, of course, referring to Ria's unborn baby. Poor thing didn't have a chance of ending up normal. At least the other five kids had been lucky enough to have Rowan around.

"You're right, if I had your daughter as a mother, I would probably kill myself. Poor baby indeed."

She continued walking away.

What!? Lumi couldn't have been angrier if Ria had insulted her personally instead of her daughter. "Excuse me!?" she demanded, grabbing Ria's shoulder and wheeling her around. "My daughter may be young, but she's twice as mature as you'll ever be!"

"I highly fucking doubt that, bitch," Ria growled, pulling herself out of Lumi's grasp. "And please, keep those nasty hands off me, I am pregnant you know."

Even if Lumi was the sleeze that she was, Ria knew she would never harm a baby.

"Take back what you said," Lumi ordered angrily, glaring daggers at Ria. Ria could say whatever she wanted about Lumi, but talking badly about Julie was out of line. And it was low, even for Ria. No one insulted Lumi's children. Especially not a child-woman like Ria.

"About what?" Ria said innocently.

"You know very well what," Lumi snapped. "Take back what you said about Julie!"

"Who's Julie?" Ria asked. She was such an immature brat. But she totally didn't care.

"Take it back now, Ria," Lumi said through gritted teeth, in an "or else" sort of way.

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Ria said, rolling her eyes. "Maybe you should get your memory checked, I think your brain is making things up."

With that she smiled at Lumi and added, "But really, I've got to be going now, enjoy your day!"

Lumi slapped Ria across the face.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Ria half screamed half growled. By now, the two women were gathering a bit of attention. A manager walked over just as Ria was about to grab Lumi and pull her to the ground.

"Excuse me, but is there a problem?" the manager asked in a stern voice.

"Yes there fucking well is," Ria growled, "this woman just slapped me for no reason!"