A/N: This is basically a test run to see how many people are interested. If the faves, watches, and reviews are higher than 10 somewhere, I will continue the story.

Summary: Takashi sacrificed his own happiness for the sake of his brother's by letting him date Haruhi, now they're married. Something happens to Satoshi on a trip in Germany, leaving his sibling to care for Haruhi in his place. So how can Takashi take care of Haruhi without betraying Satoshi's memory or taking his wife? What can be more difficult than that? Oh, Haruhi's pregnant! Well, a "Second Chance" is as good as any other. But can he do it?

Note: I LITERALLY have over 900 stories, 130 (actually, 129) stories are Ouran. Not all of them are posted because not many of them survive more than 1-3 chapters! That aside, I stay up until 3AM to work on stories majority of the time, and without a Beta in the same timezone [or same country for that matter], forgive the grammar.

Chapter 01

Second Chances

Now—

"Taka-nii, I really like Senpai! Is it okay with you if I go on a date with her?"

Takashi rubbed the bridge of his nose while he stood at the nose of the private yacht that was taking him to Bali, Indonesia to meet with his younger brother who decided to live at a villa with his family. It was troublesome to leave business at the mercy of their father in order to do Satoshi a favor that he bugged him for over three months about. If it were anyone else asking for his time like this, he would have declined without much thought—except for their cousin, Mitsukuni. Then again, families are supposed to be there for each other, despite a certain little brother being twenty-four years old…

A man approached the quiet man. "Master, we'll be reaching our destination shortly."

The province had been in sight for a while now, and it would not be long until they made birth on their private dock. Only the Morinozuka, the Haninozuka, and the Hitachiin families had a villa in Indonesia while the Ohtori and Suoh families had one in Hawaii, United States. As they steered closer, he could already see the villa in sight, along with a few specks on the beach that grew bigger the closer they got. Impatient as always, it turned out to be Satoshi and his two children playing in the sand. It had been ten months since he had seen them; the three year-old son, Mamoru, and one year-old daughter, Hisako.

Minutes later, the yacht gently gazed against the dock as his brother lured the children to the villa so they would not get on board. Servant from the main house at the Morinozuka estate began hauling his belongs toward the villa while following Takashi to the large beach house. When he entered, he was amazed that everything was clean and still intact. The villa was spotless and still had a homey feeling to the entire place. Moments later, his brother came storming down the stairs in a hurry.

"There you are! I started to think you wouldn't come! If we didn't have our own yacht and jet, I'd probably be late right now!" Satoshi leaped the last three stairs before grasping his big brother's shoulders. "Listen, I don't have time to explain, but please do me a huge favor and tell my wife—"
"I'm right here, Satoshi. You can tell me yourself." A woman called from the hall upstairs against the railing beside the stairway. Said husband gulped as he looked in her direction. She placed a hand on the rail as she walked down the stairs, "hello Senpai, I'm sorry your brother called you on short notice."
"Takashi," the brother-in-law corrected. "You're family now, Haruhi." Her head bowed in turn. That said, he retorted to her apology with confusion. "He asked me months ago to book two weeks here to watch over you and the children." Instantly, Satoshi cringed as she gave him the stink eye from Hell itself.

"I see." After a little over a minute, she made it down the stairs. "I should have known as much. He told me that he call you just yesterday to come visit, now I know better." She opened her arms to give him a hug, which Takashi accepted gratefully. "In any case, it's good to see you. How is everyone in Japan?"

He pulled away with a content smile. "Your father wanted to come along to see you, but he doesn't have a passport and seasick, so he wants you to come visit next time." Haruhi hummed agreeably at this.
"Haruhi, aren't you going to tell him the news?" Satoshi stood beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "I don't think I can hold it in much longer if you don't! Please, oh please oh please? If you—"
"Satoshi, please." Her head shook as she pushed her playful partner at arm's length. "Satoshi wanted to yell if from Mount Everest, but I asked him to wait until I was comfortable with it. But, we're pregnant."
Takashi was taken aback by this big surprise; she was only twenty-five years old and was already having a third child with Satoshi? At this rate, she might have five before she turned thirty. "Congratulations."

Satoshi watched the interaction between the two before kissing Haruhi on the cheek and running up the stairs to grab his luggage as quickly as he possibly could. He was lucky she was pregnant, otherwise she would ramble and rant at him for lying about Takashi being at the villa to visit. The two looked at one another confusedly; wondering what the big secret was all about. It was not long before he stormed down the stairs with two large suitcases and handing them over to the servants to take to the yacht.

"Okay, so," Satoshi gave Takashi a notebook. "Here's all the things you need to know. Since Haruhi's pregnant, she's extra moody, and I don't want her to exert herself doing chores around the place. The servants know not to let her, but she tries to pull rank on them because she's my wife." He quickly turned to Haruhi, gave her a hug and a peck on the cheek again. "I'll be back in two weeks—love you!"

Just as he turned, Haruhi crossed her arms. "Morinozuka Satoshi." The siblings prickled at the dead serious tone in her voice. "You're not leaving this villa until you tell me the truth about all of this."
"But I want it to be a surprise!" He faced her with the puppy eyes. "If I tell you, it'll ruin everything."
"You know I hate surprises, just tell me where you're going and why. Do you really want me to stress over everything while you are away?" Her words hit him hard—causing him to give in to her demands.
"I'm going to Germany to see about getting us our own estate without having to bother the family."

As the two had a near marital spat, Takashi watched them settle the problem in seconds before giving each other a loving embrace and another kiss before he left. Older, slightly wiser eyes peered down at the young woman to see her gaze lower to the floor before going into the family room where her two children were playing quietly near each other. He watched her carefully get down on her knees and use Japanese Sign Language to tell the children something. The son understood and nodded to his mother while the little daughter became a little upset. Mamoru told his little sister not to cry, and she seemed to have understood by settling down to a brief whimper. No matter how many months pass by, seeing her with his niece and nephew was always amazing. Neither of them had disabilities of any sort, Haruhi just wanted to teach them ways to help communicate better with her as they tried to learn to speak.

He leaned his body against the hallway frame to watch the three play together; wondering would they have been his kids if he had told Haruhi about his feelings before Satoshi could get to her first. It was years ago, granted. Satoshi just entered the high school level at the time, whereas he went to Ouran University to start college. Never in his wildest dreams did he think Haruhi would date his younger brother, let alone marry him and have kids together with him. His attention refocused once Haruhi looked up to see him keeping his distance from their little family session. Not a second later, the doors burst open to reveal a panicked Satoshi who came storming into the family room to embrace his kids.

"Daddy will be back as soon as he can! Daddy loves you, so, so, much!" They giggled and squealed as he blew raspberries on their cheeks one after another. Satoshi almost squeezed them to death, too.
"I just told them you left, Satoshi." Haruhi used a nearby chair to help herself up.
"Sorry, I was trying to sneak out before you could scold me. But how can I forget to say goodbye to my favorite children in the world!" He set them down to hurry over and caress Haruhi's stomach. "You too!"
Although she smiled weakly, she spoke quietly with a hint of worry, "Sato—"
"You be nice to Mommy and don't give her too much morning sickness!" He turned to his son staring at him. "Mamoru-chan, you're going to protect Mommy, right?" The boy nodded eagerly as his answer.

"Satoshi." Haruhi called a little more firmly, finally earning his attention. "Do you really have to go?"

"It's just two weeks." He came back to her and held her hands. "Taka-nii is going to be with you until I return. Nothing bad is going to happen, I promise! So, until I get back, let Taka-nii take care of you and the kids!" Haruhi removed her hands from him and left the room when it was obvious that he was not going to consider her feelings over leaving to find a home in Germany. "Jeez… hormonal already?"

Takashi was a little worried about how quickly she left the room. "Shouldn't you talk to her?"

"No, we'll just get into a fight about something. She gets like this when she's pregnant—she hates when I leave when she's with child. Always worried that something bad is going to happen or whatever. Just ignore it, that's what I do." Although his brother looked at him unhappily, Satoshi waved it off. "Taka-nii, I want you to promise me that you'll take good care of her and the kids." He nodded. "I can't hear you!"

"I promise, I will take care of Haruhi and the kids."

"Good! I gotta go, see ya!"

Takashi could only watch as he ran out the door, jumped on the yacht, and watched it leave. It was astonishing that Satoshi could leave without clearing the air with Haruhi before running off like that. Then again… it was hard for that guy to stay in run place too long. With the children safe playing together with their nanny nearby, he went in search for Haruhi to make sure that she was okay. A servant passed by, allowing him the chance to ask which way the Lady of the villa was right now. With a quick informative direction, Takashi walked to the hall, down the west wing, walked by twelve rooms before meeting closed double doors with a man standing in front of it. Of course, seeing the Master of the Morinozuka Family, caused the man to bow in respect before leaving to give them privacy to talk.

Well, no time like the present. He knocked on the door, "Haruhi?" There was no answer, causing him to grow worried enough to open the doors without permission. Across the room, she stood at the windows to watch the sun setting over the Indian Ocean. "…Haruhi?" She took in a sharp inhale before turning to him as a sign that he had her attention—that she knew he was there in the library with her.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that in the family room. It's bad enough to show that kind of behavior in front of the children as is." Her hand came up to rub her head as she came over to sit at the desk centered in the room. "I guess your brother left then?" She looked up to see him nod. "And the kids?"
"They're being cared for." Growing more worried by the minute, he sat on the chair in front of her. "You know, you can be worried about his departure." Her expression almost turned into panic. "I mean, there's nothing wrong about being worried, but he's a man of his word. I'm sure everything will be fine."
"Even you can't defend him, Sen—" Takashi looked at her, slightly peeved. "Takashi." The annoyance lifted from his face. "He reminds me so much of Hikaru and Kaoru's antics. They would lie to get what they want, and hide things when thinking it's for all the best reasons. All of this changed four years ago."

Steel blue gray hues stared at the teak wood desk with paperwork, booklets, a laptop, and plenty of picture frames on it. Ever since Satoshi learned that he was going to be a father, he changed into a goofy kid again that knew of responsibility, but went at it in different ways. No doubt he was a great father—the children loved him and everything… only it was hard for him to act like an adult again. Even though he was always a playful spirit, he knew when it was time to be serious or when Haruhi needed him most.

"As rude as it is to say this about your brother, but I sometimes wish that he was more down-to-Earth as you are." Haruhi sighed and opened up the laptop to occupy her mind. "Not that it will ever happen."

Hearing this, he shut the laptop before she could start it up. "What do you mean?"

Haruhi looked at him to show that she was too tired to talk about it. "I have to do some work, Takashi." He got the message and stood up. "Sorry, it's just… I really have a bad feeling this time. But you're brother passes it off as being hormonal or over protective. Then he makes promises he doesn't keep."

"Satoshi will come back."
"But can you foolishly promise it?"
He hesitated on his answer. "No, I can't."
"Thank you. For once, I get an honest answer."
Takashi showed the notebook Satoshi handed to him. "I'll study."

"Oh—I'm so sorry, I completely forgot." She stood up quickly as she began grabbing her laptop and a bag. "We remolded the villa since you've been here. Your room is across from ours—here, I'll take you there, just a second." Haruhi scrambled to gather everything she needed to head up stairs with him.

There was no need for that. "I'll ask a servant to guide me, you shouldn't stress yourself or the baby."
She finished putting everything in her laptop bag and looked at him. "Please, let me be a good hostess."
Just like ten years ago, there was no arguing with her. "Ah." His head bowed lightly, and she led the way.

Haruhi headed toward the stairs and encountered a male servant, "Takuya-kun, when you have a chance, can you ask Kiyo-san to give Mamoru and Hisako their bath. When she finishes that, see if she can bring them to my room to be fed—Mamoru gets the soymilk and a light dinner because of his upset stomach, and I should have some left over milk for Hisako in the refrigerator. If not, that's fine, I'll take care of it myself. Also, please have Kiyo-san give her some mandarin and a bit of yogurt? " The man bowed and left to do the task before he forgot anything. "Thank you Takuya-kun."

"Hn…"

Her attention looked up toward the giant. "What?"
"Nothing." He headed for the stairs to avoid confrontation.
"You certainly were amused, and I want to know what that is, Takashi."
"Nothing," he repeated as he faced her. "You're very good with children."

"Yeah, well…" Haruhi walked up the stairs to join him. "I wasn't always like that with them. It was hectic with Mamoru, but by the time Hisako came into the world, I felt like I could do anything without having to worry so much about them." When they reached the top of the stairs, she motioned him to go right. "Satoshi always told me to let the nanny take care of them, but I want to be a part of their lives."

"You're a terrific mother."

"You're wrong. You're sweet for saying that, but you're wrong. Satoshi loves to harass me on raining nights when they wake up hungry or something and I can't move a muscle when there's thunder or lightning." Her head shook at the memories of it. "Anyway, here we are." She opened the door to his room for him, and he walked in to investigate everything. "It's not as spacious as before, but if you—"

"It's perfect," Takashi turned to her to assure her that everything was fine. "Thank you."

"I know this used to be your summer home until Satoshi and I moved here a few years ago, but if there's anything you need, our room is over here across from you by the end. The room next to ours is the nursery—if they wake you in the middle of the night, we'll move to the west wing bedrooms for you." Haruhi slightly cringed and placed a hand to her sternum. "Anyway, I'll leave you alone now—"

"Are you okay?"

"Heartburn, common morning sickness." That, or it was from stress, but Takashi did not need to know it. "I'll take my vitamins and take a nap before the kids are ready to eat. Have a good night, Senpai."

"Takashi," he corrected again. Haruhi cracked a smile and closed the door behind herself as she left him.

With her out of the room to distract him, he looked at the walls to see that they were soft gray—almost a tint blue if one stared at it long enough. The curtains over the windows were white and particularly thin enough for the sun to rise into the room to imply of a good morning, but the fabric was high end, too. Against the south wall was a king-sized bed with bed set with what seemed to be merino wool, but it looked very inviting. Just imagining the thought of a good sleep for the first time in years was Heaven. Before he could become engulfed in any more of the room, one of the kids were crying their lungs out.

"Coming, coming." He heard Haruhi as she walked by the room. Curious enough to investigate, he came out to poke his head down the hall to see that it was Hisako having herself a fight. "I know, Papa left you, it's okay, shh…" The nanny, Kiyo, handed the child to her as Mamoru stared at the two girls in his life: his mother and sister. Hisako began to settle down a little and used sign language to ask about her father. "No," she replied while also using sign language. "Daddy went on a trip and said he'll be back." Hearing 'no,' Hisako grew upset and used her hands to mention her mother. "Mama is staying here."

"Mama," Mamoru spoke quietly—almost inaudible even. "Is Papa mad at me?"
"What—no, of course not." She carefully knelt down to hug him. "He loves you very much."
"But I Papa say I can play with other kids, but he not here." He became teary eyed at this.
"Ma-chan, we'll go to the park to meet lots of kids tomorrow, okay? How does that sound?"
The boy registered her words after a minute, but shook his head. "Papa say 'boys day out' to me."

"Oh, he did, did he?" Her eyes rolled at Satoshi's stupidity. "Okay, when Papa gets back, I'm sure—"
"Mamoru," Takashi spoke as he came over and knelt beside Haruhi to be less scary. "Remember me?"
Said boy slightly hid behind the nanny and motioned with his hands. Haruhi smiled. "Yes, Taka-oji."
"I'm Papa's big brother, can I take you to the park tomorrow?" He mentally called himself crazy.

Mamoru looked to his mother for help to understanding what his uncle was saying. "Taka-oji is a boy, he can go with to the park tomorrow, and then you can go to the park again when Papa returns. Is it okay?" He thought about it, then debated about it, and finally nodded. "Can you say thank you to Taka-oji?"

"Tank you Taka-oji."

Takashi almost chuckled at the sound of the three year-old thanking him. "You're welcome."
Haruhi stood up and gave Hisako to Kiyo since she calmed down. "She might be ready for a nap, too."
"Yes ma'am. I'll bathe them separately to let her have a nap." Kiyo bowed her head and took the kids.
With that down, she turned to Takashi. "Thank you so much for offering to take him to the park."
"He's family," as if that was the answer to everything. "Does Satoshi do this all the time to you?"
"More than I care to admit. He loves the kids, but not so much of the responsibilities they come with."
He gnawed on the inside of his cheek for a moment in thought before replying. "I'll talk to him about it."
"No, it's fine. I'm not complaining, I just wish he would grow up sometimes, you know?"

"Haruhi, I didn't give him my blessing to date and marry you, just for you to be a single parent."

Perked at his full sentence, she tilted her head to the side a bit. "You gave him your blessings?" Even though he said it in the heat of the moment while submerging his anger, he said something he should not have said at all. "Regardless, you know that I would be upfront with him if I really disliked it."

Takashi turned to head back to his bedroom. "But you won't say anything until your breaking point."

"I love your brother, that won't change." He stopped to hear her out as she spoke. "He may be childish and lack the qualities that it takes to be a parent, but he tries his best in his own way. For that, I can't complain. The children love him dearly." As she thought on it, she bowed. "I won't keep you, goodnight."

Although it sounded as if she was referring to him as a pet, he understood that she meant that she would stop talking so that he could go to his room to do whatever he wanted. It was not what he wanted to do, he just did not want to be in an awkward situation with his brother's wife! Takashi still loved Haruhi after all these years; no one had ever even come close to her personality without tainting that behavior she harbored. It was what he liked about her… how she would be straightforward without ill intentions while understanding that she is another person on the planet like everyone else. He heard a servant walk up the stairs, speaking to Haruhi about a phone call in regards to a dojo in Italy.

"I'm so tired of business for one day," she sighed softly as she picked up the phone from the tray. "Thank you Takuya-kun, I'll tend to the call in my room. That will be all." He bowed in respect before leaving with the tray tucked under his left arm. Her attention turned to Takashi. "Your brother wants a dojo under the family name in Italy and went through it without caring what others thought. Your opinion?"

From everything he had seen and heard, it seemed like Satoshi was in high school again. "It's okay?"

She stuck her tongue at him for agreeing so easily at the backstabbing that her husband did to him without consent. "You're too forgiving on him." That said, she answered the phone, "Morinozuka." A man on the other side requested for Satoshi. "My apologies, my husband is not available. Should you like to talk to him about these matter, I would be happy to give him a message. Otherwise, I would be happy to give you any clarifications or instructions about opening a dojo branch outside of Rome?" The man became a little hesitant in his answer, and started to shy away to say he would call back another time. "I understand. Unfortunately, if the deal isn't closed by the end of the week, we will pursue a branch elsewhere in Europe… I believe it was Slovenia and Austria last I prepared the documents."

Those branches were the ones Takashi knew about, but they were merely brainstorms. He watched her talk on the phone a little longer to manipulate the man into working with her instead of handing the phone to him to deal with the man. It was beyond amusing to see her mentally rough up the man on the line to do business with her, but she won the moment he heard the words 'no, that's not necessary' in a panicked tone. Although they did not need to expand all over Europe as they did Asia and America, she was very good at getting what she wanted. Despite graduating at the university and doing online courses to become a lawyer, she always found time to deal with family business.

"Thank you, I look forward to your fax. Take care." With that, she ended the phone call before sighing heavily. "So he accepted the proposal for the branch and should start construction in two months after everything has been confirmed and the contracts have been signed by you. Congratulations Senpai."

"Takashi." He corrected once more in the past hour.
Haruhi smirked and walked away, "old habits die hard."
If only that was the case. "It's been ten years, Haruhi."

"No, we've known each other for ten years, you've been my brother-in-law for five years. College-wise, you're still an upper classmate. Besides," she stopped to look at him over her shoulder. "It's the only way I can playfully tease Taka-oji without losing face." With a smile renewed on her lips, she left.

He also smiled, shaking his head as he went in the same direction, only turning right instead of left.

Even though he did not get to have a romantic relationship with her as he wanted, at least he was lucky enough to call her his sister-in-law. He closed the door behind him so he can get down to business on reading the notebook that Satoshi wanted him to read. There were probably trivial things that did not really matter, but he figured that it would not hurt to look them over just in case they were important.

Yet, the first thing Satoshi puts in the notebook:

Rule #1: Don't allow Haruhi to do business trades or anything regarding business! Stress is bad for baby!

"…ah."

A/N: So, if you like the story, please indicate it somewhere be it faves, alerts, or reviews? Preferably reviews so I can keep track of it better.

Yes, SA II will be finished soon. Health problems and lack of interest prevented me from continuing it.
BSW is also coming at a slow rate, but surely making progress.