A/N: Hello, This is my first time posting anything to the Ouran fandom (though I've lurked for four years now). This is more a teaser chapter than anything. I'm really looking for a beta reader for this. I need someone who I can soundboard with, and who can criticize constructively. You also need to have a decent grammar scrub brush and a sentence smacker-aparter because I know how my writing can tend to get… If you're interested, I'd love to hear from you! —Scarlet
Disclaimer: Not I, said the cat.
"T-Tamaki!"
The blonde man swiveled his chair around to look at the woman who had burst into the board meeting.
"What is it, Renge?" Tamaki stood up, concerned for the blonde woman who was hunched over, panting from exertion. He pushed away from the table and crouched next to her. "Are you all right?"
She nodded, clip board clutched to her chest. "You…You need to go home right now!"
Tamaki drew in a sharp breath; there was a disconcerting urgency in her voice.
Tamaki stood, taking Renge by the arm and righting her. He looked over his shoulder at the table full of board members. "I'm sorry, gentlemen, but it seems there is something that requires my urgent attention. You have my most sincere apologies. Excuse me.
"That meeting was about the threats the school has received recently, Renge…" Tamaki said as they left the building at a brisk pace.
"I know." Renge took another deep breath, trying to calm her burning lungs still. "But…" She sighed as they reached the parking garage. "But there's someone that needs to see you right now."
"Who?"
"Well…I." She doodled a swirl in the corner of the paper on top of the clipboard. "I think you need to talk to her yourself…"
"Her?"
"I'm not saying anything else! You'll just have to wait!" Renge snapped as Tamaki pulled a pair of puppy eyes out of his repertoire.
"Don't you even. Those don't work on any of us anymore, Daddy." Renge tugged on his ear sharply.
Tamaki pulled his knees up to his chest and pouted the remaining ten minutes to the estate.
"In here…" Renge stopped at the door of a sitting room.
Tamaki looked confused as he stepped inside. There were two women facing each other from the love seats against the room's opposing walls. One was his beloved daughter, Fujioka Haruhi, dressed in her business attire, briefcase at her feet, mug full of coffee, the good kind that Hikaru and Kaoru had gotten her hooked on her second year of the host club rather than the instant kind she was used to, clasped in her hands.
He didn't recognize the woman dressed in a classy pink dress and practical heels. A suit jacket that was obviously hers was draped over the arm of the couch. She had short hair styled in a harsh bob that ended in a straight asymmetrical line below her chin. A red neck scarf peeked from under the golden brown locks.
"Tamaki?" Haruhi looked up.
"Mister Suoh?" The woman stood, holding out her hand to shake. "My name is Canele Tonnerre. I'm here on behalf of my late sister, Éclair. I was her lawyer." Her blue eyes were cold, partially hidden behind red-rimmed glasses.
"Miss Tonnerre, I'm sorry for your loss. Your sister was a beautiful woman, but I'm afraid I don't understand the reason for your visit." Tamaki smiled charmingly, sincerely.
Canele smiled sadly. "She was right. Your smile is beautiful."
"Please sit down, Miss Tonnerre." Haruhi set her mug down. Tamaki noticed now that she was more frazzled-looking than usual. "We have a lot to discuss."
"Yes, you're right, Miss Fujioka." Canele cleared her throat and smoothed her skirt as she sat. Tamaki seated himself next to Haruhi.
"The reason I am visiting, Mister Suoh, is because you had a child with my elder sister."
"Th-that's not possible!" Tamaki's face blanched.
"Mister Suoh." Canele picked at the hem of her dress.
"It…It was just once… The chances of…That can't be right…" Tamaki's mind raced, trying to think of why the girl he'd had sex with that day in the third music room would think him the father of her child. Éclair had been older and more experienced than him. Certainly, it wasn't… That had been nine years ago. If they had had a child, Tamaki had missed nine years of its life.
"Sweetie, don't go in there! The grown-ups are talking-" Renge's voice came from outside the room.
A small blonde boy jogged into the room, Renge at his heels. His big blue eyes flickered from the woman chasing after him to the young woman he'd met earlier and a strange man with blonde hair like his to his upset temporary guardian.
"Auntie Canele…?"
