After Ciel and Sebastian left the Phantomhive Manor, never to return, the servants followed suit and abandoned the mansion as well. It was painful and involved many tears, but all three of them knew that there was no way they could continue living there. First of all, they were nearly broke, even with all their pitiful savings put together. And secondly, it was the Phantomhive Manor. Living there would bring back too many memories of their old life, with Ciel and Sebastian and Pluto, before everything had fallen to hell. They needed to move on, and living in the same place would be a hinderance.

So they bid farewell to the place they had called home for years and headed off, all together. Bard, however, parted ways from the other two. "I need some time to be by myself, alright?" he told them.

Finny was distraught when Bard left. "I thought Bard was my friend." he said plaintively to Mey-Rin one day.

"He was. He still is." replied the maid. Bard's departure had rocked her too, but she knew she had to be strong- if not for herself, for Finny's sake. "It's been a hard few months for all of us, yes it has."

Finny looked back at her with wide, turquoise eyes. "Are you going to leave, as well?" he asked. "Promise me you won't leave. Please, promise." She couldn't leave; she just couldn't. She was everything to him, and they'd been through so much together. Finny didn't know how he'd cope without her.

The thought had never even crossed her mind. "I promise." she told him, flashing a half-hearted- but still caring- smile. Her smile was warm, and it filled Finny up with sunshine. He felt a familiar stirring inside of him, a feeling that he felt whenever he looked at her.

And so the maid and the gardener stuck together. They found a cheap little apartment in London where they decided to start their new life. Finny got a low-paying job in a nearby factory, and Mey-Rin became a waitress in a café not too far away. Neither of them talked of Bard, or the young earl, or the strange, inhuman butler that seemed to take all of their duties and do them ten times better.

Years passed before Finny and Mey-Rin realized that what they felt for each other was not just friendship. Even more years passed. They got married.

And then, not long after that, it happened.

Finny came home from the factory late one night, brushing dust from his strawberry-blonde hair. "Mey-Rin?" he called out, taking off his coat and hanging it up by the door. "I'm home!"

He heard a loud gasp from the kitchen. "Finny!" she exclaimed, running out to greet him. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her midsection, and there was a huge grin on her face.

Finny took one look at her happy expression and broke out into a smile himself. "Why are you so happy?" he asked curiously.

"I have some big news for you, yes I do!" Mey-Rin said proudly.

"Really? What is it?"

Mey-Rin reached out and took his hands. "Finny, I… I'm pregnant."

His turquoise eyes widened. "Really? Are you serious? Oh, Mey-Rin, you're going to be a mum!"

"And you're going to be a dad!"

"I am? I am!" Finny's hands flew to his head and he ran his fingers through his fair hair, an incredulous look on his face. "Wow! We're going to have a little baby! How long have you known about this?"

"I suspected it about a month ago." Mey-Rin told him. "And I went to the doctor this morning while you were at work, yes I did! I'm four months pregnant!"

"So… in five months we're going to be parents!" gasped Finny.

The magenta-haired woman nodded, beaming. "That's right."

xXx

That night, Mey-Rin woke up to the sound of muffled crying. Finny, she thought immediately, sitting up in bed and groping around for her glasses on her bedside table. The sound brought her back; when they had first left the Manor, he had cried nearly every night. But it had been so long since she'd heard him cry…

"Finny?" she called out, finally finding her glasses and getting out of bed.

She found him curled up on the couch, his knees up to his chin. There was a large suitcase beside him. It was half-full, with clothes spilling out of it. "Oh… did I wake you up?" Finny asked tentatively. "Sorry…"

"Don't apologize!" Mey-Rin said, sitting down next to him and putting an arm around him. "What's wrong?"

"It's just…" Finny wiped his eyes, carefully avoiding her gaze. "I'm so happy that you're pregnant, Mey-Rin, and I really, really want to be a dad… but I don't think I can. So I'm leaving." He patted the suitcase.

"Finny, stop." Mey-Rin leaned over and took his hand away from the suitcase, squeezing it in her own. "You're going to be a great dad, yes you are! I don't see how you would think you won't. You're kind, and gentle, and-"

"Gentle mentally, maybe!" Finny cried, pulling his hands away from her. "But… Mey-Rin, I… I'm too strong. You know I am. If I try to hold a baby, I'll… I'll crush it!" He doubled over as a fresh wave of tears overcame him. "I d-don't want to k-k-kill my own ch-child!"

Mey-Rin gasped. In her euphoric haze over finding out that she was going to have a baby, and over realizing that she had the sweetest man to be the child's father, she hadn't thought about Finny's superhuman strength. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. "Oh my God." she whispered, feeling as if all of the happiness she had felt before had just been sucked out of her.

"So I… I have to leave." Finny finished. He stuffed the escaping clothes back into the suitcase and began to close it.

"No… Finny, you aren't going to leave." Mey-Rin told him. "It's okay." She reached out and gave his strawberry-blonde hair a comforting stroke. "Don't cry, please. I love you. And our baby will, too."

He stared back at her, his lower lip trembling slightly. "You don't know that, Mey-Rin. I won't be able to hold him or her… and they'll hate me."

"No. Finny, we can work this all out." Mey-Rin said again. "Just put away the suitcase and come back to bed."

"We can't work it out… Mey-Rin, there's just no way to-"

"Finny." she began gently, taking his hands again. "Do you want to be a father, and to hold your son or daughter?"

Finny stared back at her with huge eyes. "Yes, of course I do! I want that more than anything! But I-"

"Then it's possible." she went on. "Where there's a will, there's a way. I told you, we're going to work this out."

A shaky smile made its way across his face. "Oh, Mey-Rin…"

Mey-Rin leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "Come on, let's go back to sleep now. I'm tired, yes I am!"

"Okay." Finny picked up the suitcase and followed Mey-Rin back into their bedroom. They climbed back into bed.

"Goodnight." whispered Mey-Rin, closing her eyes.

"Goodnight." replied Finny softly.

Though Mey-Rin fell back to sleep not long after that, Finny couldn't seem to do the same. He studied the stars outside the window, and watched the shadows creep around the room in the moonlight. Under the covers, Finny reached over and touched Mey-Rin's stomach. It was already getting large. He sighed contentedly at the thought of having a child to call his own.

Mey-Rin's right, he thought. I can do this.

He had already managed to control his strength enough so that he could hold Mey-Rin's hand. Yes, babies were much more fragile, but Finny knew that he could do it.

Love made everything possible, anyway. And, as his wife had said… where there's a will, there's a way.