My fandom bestie has been having some difficulties with work lately, so I figured I would surprise her with the unveiling of my new series that I've been working on just for her. Love you, Shannon! I hope you enjoy lots of Daddy!Kazuma moments.

A/N: This story will be a collection of short scenes and long chapters about Fumino and Kazuma having their first child. That said, some scenes will be fluffy, some smutty and some maybe a bit angsty. I don't know how many there will be yet, but we'll see how it plays out. Hope everyone can enjoy some Kazuma/Fumino goodness with me :)

Hands opened and closed, fidgety, sweaty, as Fumino waited for the video chat to connect. Some nights it took a long time for their connections to sync up, and other times it happened right away. Tonight, a night where she actually hadnews for her husband, the connection seemed to be taking forever. Finally, the video feed flickered, and there was her beloved Sensei on her screen, smiling just as tenderly as he always did for her.

"Hello, my lovely wife. Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?"

A flush crept up her cheeks at his sappy greeting, but she was pleased. Even though it had been difficult being apart these last four years, it kept them in a constant state of newlywed bliss. It was difficult to fight when they rarely got to speak at all.

"I've missed you," she said by way of greeting. Her voice was quiet and full of tears due to her heightened emotional state. It had only been a day since they had last talked, but so much had happened in those few short hours. She had so much to tell him.

His eyes crinkled with a smile at her response. "Some days feel longer than others, don't they? I missed you too, Fumino."

Usually this was the part where she asked him about his day and listened raptly to the news about his students and how he lived his life when he was away from her. She loved listening to him discuss his daily life, it helped her remain close to him and feel like she was actually part of things. Today though… today she needed to talk about what was going on in her life.

"Sensei… I- I have a lot to tell you tonight. D-do you have time to talk about our future?" Her voice was shaking with nerves and she found she couldn't look at his face in the screen. Hands began twisting in her shirt again, wrinkling the soft fabric.

"I'll make time." His voice was gentle, even through the tinny speakers. "It sounds like you had a busy day, right? Do you want to start from the beginning?"

She nodded and took a deep breath, forcing herself to look at the video feed. It was hard to do so when she had news like this weighing on her, but it was even worse losing this precious time she had with him. Even if their talk went badly, she needed to see the expressions on his face. It was why she had decided to tell him now, instead of writing it all down in an email for him to read when he had free time. Now she just needed to open her mouth and tell him.

"This morning I went for a job interview at Kumaneko High. I'm not sure if I told you that they have a few openings for this coming semester, but when I went in for the interview, they not only offered me a job… but they offered one to you too."

Silence filled the long miles between them as she waited for him to respond. Honestly, she had been in shock when the headmaster offered to hire both of them for the coming year. It had been like a dream come true, just the thought that she could not only have her husband back home where he belonged, but also teaching at the same school! She couldn't stop herself from imagining spending their lunch breaks together, arguing over their classes during sports festivals and cultural festivals. It was all more than she could have ever hoped for when deciding to become a teacher.

When the silence continued to grow, Fumino checked to see if the feed had terminated. Convinced that it hadn't, she looked at her husband's face again, trying to judge his emotional state. She couldn't quite tell if he was shocked by her announcement or emotionless. "Do you not want to go back to teaching at Kumaneko High?"

"Fumino, sweetheart, that's not it!" He finally said, the words coming out in a strangled voice. "I talked to my father a few months ago and he's still not willing to lift the ban on a transfer. You know that I want to be back home with you and Teppei, but I don't have much choice in the matter yet. I'm not sure what I can do to convince him that I won't be an embarrassment!"

Her stomach lurched and she brought her hand to her mouth to hold back the bile that was rising in her throat. Somehow, she had known that just a job offer wouldn't be enough to get him to come home. She had to keep herself calm or she would never get through the next thing she needed to say. If this didn't change his father's mind, she didn't know what would.

"Kazuma… there's more."

"Are they offering me a raise?" He was half joking, but she could tell he knew that wasn't the case. Of course, he would never guess what the truth was.

She ignored the joke and took another deep breath. "I'm pregnant."

His eyes grew wide behind his glasses and then he leaned toward the webcam so quickly that his glasses fell down his nose. "You're… are you really?"

"After the interview I was feeling sick, so I dropped by the doctor before going to pick up Teppei from school. I thought they would tell me it was the flu and give me some medicine but…" She trailed off, feeling the heat in her cheeks again. Even though they had been married for almost four years now, they had never gotten to spend more than a week together at a time. It made it difficult for her to get used to their physical relationship, and she still felt shy when it came to intimacy. To actually be pregnant… it seemed impossible. Didn't other couples try for years sometimes without that happening? How could they, who had barely been together at all, have conceived a child?

"How far along are you?" He asked, his voice growing excited. She stared at him for a long moment, and then he laughed and wiped his hand across his face. "Right, sorry. I'm not thinking clearly, am I? It had to be Christmas Eve."

The blush got worse, burning from her chest all the way to her cheeks at the reminder of the last night they had been intimate. "The doctor said I'm due at the end of October." She hesitated then, trying to find the strength to say the words that had been weighing so heavily on her all afternoon. "If you can't transfer back this year, will you be able to at least come home when the baby's born? I don't want to do this without you…"

A shadow passed over his face at her words, a darkness obscuring his smile for just a moment. She opened her mouth to ask him about it, but he cut her off. "Sweetheart, I just remembered that there's something I need to do tonight. Why don't you take a bath and get some rest? I'll call you before I go to sleep, all right?"

Desperation clawed at her insides as she realized the conversation was coming to an end already. They hadn't even been talking for ten minutes! "Kazuma! Wait!"

His eyes softened behind his glasses and he gave her the tender smile that had always been reserved just for her. "Trust me, okay?" The words were soft and gentle, filled with the love he had always given her in abundance. She couldn't say she wasn't scared at his sudden insistence that he had something else to do, but she did trust him. She always had.

"You're happy about the baby… right?" Just one little reassurance was all she needed.

"I haven't been this happy since our wedding day," he promised. "I love you, Fumino. I'll call you in an hour or so."

"I love you too," she whispered, brushing her fingers over his face on the screen. "Think about coming home for the birth, will you?"

Pain slashed across his handsome face, but he managed to nod. "I'll do everything in my power to make that happen."

They said their goodbyes and then the video feed went dead.

"Buncha?"

Fumino turned to see Teppei standing in the doorway, a look of concern in his eyes. "Hey, buddy," she said with a smile, opening her arms out to him. He rushed into the room and let her cuddle him, even though he was ten and often reminded her he was getting too big for this kind of thing.

"Is Ma-kun going to take the job at the high school? Is he coming home?"

Such an innocent question, but it broke her heart. Tears spilled down her cheeks and she tried to hide them by burying her face in his soft hair. "I don't think so, Teppei. Father-in-law still hasn't forgiven us for what we did. I'm not sure if he ever will."

She had promised to wait for her beloved Sensei for as long as it took, but every time he came home, it got harder and harder to say goodbye again. Now that she was pregnant it was even harder. Could she really do this alone? Wasn't it killing him too? How much longer could they continue like this? Why did it have to be this hard?

"He'll come home soon, Buncha. I believe in him," Teppei said fiercely, hugging her tight. "We're gonna be a family again real soon."

Kazuma's words came back to her then: "Trust me, okay?"

Honestly, what else could she do?

"Yeah. I'm sure you're right, Teppei. You have to believe in your family, and Sensei has never let us down before." And somehow she believed it.