Illustration Credit: Whoever developed the virtual ring customizer on Jewlr.com

Chapter Songs: "The Times They Are a-Changin'" by Bob Dylan and "Baby Bumblebee" by Unknown

Chapter 38: Changes

Two packages showed up at Joan's door on Thursday morning. Michael answered the door and signed for them while Joan's hands were soapy with dishwater. Despite Seto's admonition, she still felt obligated to do her own cleaning.

Joan spotted the packages in Michael's hands as he walked back through the living room. "Mail! Mail! Mail!"

"Yes, I am Male." Michael plopped the packages on the dining table: one tiny and one the size of three textbooks.

Joan finished rinsing the dishes and dried her hands. "What a smart Male you are."

"Smart Male, special Male, pretty Male."

"Fertile Male."

Michael grabbed Joan's hips and began dry-thrusting. "Yes yes, Male like you lots. Oh please make baby, oh please, oh please?"

Joan reached back and started undoing his belt.

"Whoa, I don't think we have time for this before I go to work."

"Come on! I'm not going to see you again until after I come back from Japan."

"OK, OK. I'll give you a quickie." Michael pressed Joan against a wall and dropped his pants. He lifted her dress to find that she wasn't wearing any panties and dove in. "So, you gonna bleed on Seto's dick this month?"

"That's the plan," Joan said as Michael's thrusts commenced.

"Hope he doesn't fire you over it."

"I have a feeling he'll be happy knowing you didn't succeed yet."

"But what if my sperm has super powers and you're already pregnant?"

"Mmmm, sounds good."

Joan and Michael lost themselves in the sex until Michael came. He pulled out and lunged for a roll of paper towels as semen dribbled down Joan's legs. They wiped up quickly, and Michael gave Joan a kiss before running off to work.

Joan took a knife from the kitchen and cut the tape on the smaller box. As expected, she found a ring inside. The packing slip declared it to be tungsten carbide, visually indistinguishable from platinum and far more scratch resistant. Four synthetic heart-shaped stones arranged like a four-leaf clover were accompanied by laser-engraved names on the metal: opal for Seto, ruby for Mokuba, sapphire for Michael, and peridot for Marc. "Kaiba" lined the inside. Joan grinned as she examined the scintillating stones and highly reflective metal. She tried it on and found that it fit perfectly, though it felt rather weighty on a hand unaccustomed to adornments.

Joan sliced open the second box and stared down at more scintillating crystals, these ones sewn onto dark green fabric. She lifted the garment and saw that they only lined the neckline and waist, leaving the rest of the gown simple yet elegant. A note came with it: Couldn't stop thinking about you. Hope this isn't too much. Don't worry, it's only glass – Mokuba

It was too much, but Joan had to admit she didn't have much else to suit the occasion, and Mokuba had a better sense of appropriate attire than anyone she knew. She tried on the dress and slipped into it easily, finding it neither too tight nor too loose. The off-the-shoulder design accentuated her provocative clavicles. Joan strutted in front of the bathroom mirror, liking the dress more with every step. Mokuba must have been paying close attention to her size and preferences while they were shopping.

Joan went to her home office and dug through her jewelry. She found a tarnished silver bicycle necklace and polished it until it shone almost as brightly as her new ring. She then headed to the bathroom and picked through her eyeshadow until she decided on going with a bold green and silver look to match her dress.

By the time Tamara showed up, Joan was in the middle of doing her makeup. Tamara came dressed in a simple black suit, ready to blend in with the formal crowd. Joan let Tamara in and went back to her bathroom mirror while Tamara hovered. "Hey, did you read the news?"

"No." Joan had been too busy tackling her manuscript submission queue the past two days to read much of anything else.

"Oh. My. God. You should have seen the picketers who showed up at Nathaniel's school after this big San Francisco Chronicle article came out. They really put the pressure on. The school principal is getting canned so hard. They've already got a job opening posted online."

"Sweet!" Joan applied some lipstick, dark and dramatic.

"Roland got Nathaniel his own bodyguard, but hopefully that won't be necessary in the long run. The superintendent is holding an expulsion hearing for the bullies tomorrow, and Nathaniel's friends are backing him up."

Joan froze. "For real?"

"Kaiba's duel really inspired them."

"I mean, that's awesome that Nathaniel's friends are backing him up, but what about the bullies? Given that they're just kids too, isn't expulsion a little much?"

"It's just a hearing for now. Hopefully they'll get awarded Saturday school, which is really just another name for community service, or something like that instead of getting expelled."

"I guess the times they are a-changin'," Joan said.

Tamara laughed. "Are you going to start singing on me again?"

"Maybe later."

"I hope so. It's been years since I got to sing like that."

Joan grinned. "Well, I won't stop you."

Tamara took a deep breath. "Iiiii'm bringing home a baby bumblebee!"

Joan put the finishing touches on her makeup and joined in, "Won't my mommy be so proud of me!"

They kept singing as Joan grabbed her laptop bag plus the suitcase she had packed for the weekend and subsequent trip to Japan. They loaded her luggage into the limo and continued singing on the ride, switching to different songs when they grew tired of each one and teaching each other ones they didn't know yet.