a/n: I made Kaito and Maki in the Sims 4 and got the idea for this short story due to an in-game event that happened. It's probably been done, but here's my version. Special thanks to signelchan for pushing me to write this and for the fun times while Sims Skyping!

Maki would never forget the moment that her life was changed forever; the whole world saw the exact moment that the mechanic failure happened on live tv, but out of the millions of people who saw it, it was her who was the most devastated.

The kids would be too, but thankfully they were too young to remember the accident; the twins were barely three, and their youngest was still in diapers. The unborn child Maki was still carrying would never even have a fair chance to get to know him.

She kept the news on, live, all day, every channel broadcasting the final moments of all who had been on board, sometimes switching from the live pictures to the faces of the men and women who'd been on the spacecraft. Each time she saw Kaito's face, Maki would break into fresh, silent tears, the kids growing concerned but not getting any answers to what was happening or why their mother was crying. Her phone kept lighting up with texts and calls from friends who'd been watching the events unfold along with her, but all which went unanswered for obvious reasons.

The week was the longest of her life, and by the time that the day of the memorial for the crew came, she was a complete mess. Not as big of a mess as she would have been if she hadn't had any help (when she could eventually think straight, she needed to think of a way to thank Kaede and Kirumi for every day they'd been at the house helping with the kids and everything else that needed upkeep while she mourned and wandered aimlessly around), but still a mess that could barely keep herself together through the service.

When Kaito's name was called, her tears started all over again, and Kaede held her in a tight embrace, unable to hold her own tears back. The older kids, now a bit more aware of what was happening, but still not knowing the whole story, sat restlessly in their nicest clothes, Kirumi and Himiko nearby to wrangle them incase they got too restless. The baby slept peacefully in the baby seat next to the embracing girls, blissfully unaware of what was happening.

Sometime later when the service ended, and everyone was allowed to leave, Maki found herself unable to move. She simply stared ahead at the picture stands with the crew's faces, her eyes stuck on Kaito's. The man she'd fallen in love with, who she'd never again get to hear laugh or tell her how much he loved her.

"Maki?"

A voice at her side, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from his picture, noting how its surface was a bit distorted now, but not having time to wonder why that was.

"Maki?" Again, that voice, sounding more slightly concerned. She still couldn't move, but it felt like her body was being shaken. Her vision blurred, she felt dizzy, and then...

"Maki Roll?"

She blinked as she found herself staring into Kaito's eyes, his face showing his obvious concern.

"Hey, what happened? Are you okay? You were crying in your sleep," he said. She blinked, confused, and said nothing as she brought her arms up and around him in a silent hug, pulling him half on top of her in a tight embrace.

"Whoa, hey, what's gotten into you?" he asked, out of breath from the way she was squeezing him. She finally let go, staring back up at him, looking a little less concerned, but still scared.

"I...dreamed you died, in a spaceship accident," she replied, her voice cracking a bit as she spoke. "And I was left with a bunch of kids. We were at the church for the funeral service, and—"

She broke up as she recalled the dream, its clarity so real that she was certain it had actually happened.

"Hey, it's okay," he said, now hugging her tight. "I'm here, it wasn't real."

"It felt so real," she said, bringing her hand up to wipe her tears, conflicted about crying over a dream that now she knew wasn't real, but unable to stop herself. Kaito leaned in, kissing her face a few more times to try to reassure her. Finally, she seemed to come down a bit, as Kaito wiped the last of her tears away.

"Kaito, I don't know what I'd do if you—"

"I'm not going anywhere, don't you worry, Maki Roll," he said, snuggling her in his arms. "I'll come back to you and the baby safe and sound after my mission tomorrow, promise."

She wasn't completely convinced, and as much as she hated to admit how comforting being in his arms was (tonight she would ignore the hand that wandered a bit before coming to rest on the side of her belly), she calmed down once more, despite the first test mission as the newest and youngest crew member being the very next day.

Thankfully her dream was only that -a dream-, and while she was still filled with a huge amount of apprehension about watching his craft launch into space, hearing the word from the launch team that the test mission was a success was absolute music to her ears.

a/n: Everything turned out okay! I couldn't have really done them like that.

I'm posting this little ditty for Kaito/Maki Day before setting off to the Denver Pop Culture Con with my friends! Thanks for reading! c: