A/N: We're jumping forward two years to when Lenalee gets sent to retrieve Allen and Kanda. This is narrated by the present day Lenalee, sort of like she's retelling her memories of the events to someone else.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

I stared down at the address in my hand for what seemed like the millionth time. It was indeed the address for the house I stood in front of. The small pale blue house with white trim looked like every other house on the street. It was a pretty but plain neighborhood, nothing noteworthy about it. The town itself wasn't much different, being located in a remote area of northern Catalonia. My exorcist uniform had drawn a lot of attention in the train station; I could see now why my mission orders had included "change into street clothes as soon as you arrive".

It was a courier mission. I was to deliver a package to the occupants of the blue house. It had only taken me a few hours to get there. It was incredibly simple. Yet I had been told the mission would take two weeks. That left two options: either something strange was going to happen the second I rang the bell, or my brother was giving me permission to take a little vacation in this nondescript town.

I both hoped for and hated that second option. It was no secret that I was depressed. And it was no secret why. Allen and Kanda were my best friends, and I missed them dearly. It had been two years, three months, and eleven days since Allen had been diagnosed with his mysterious illness and whisked away to quarantine. Aside from an initial phone call from Kanda, saying they had arrived at their destination, we hadn't heard a word from them since.

So it was that first option that was running through my head. If I had talked to the villagers, I wouldn't have been hesitating. I would have known exactly who lived in the house, and would have been pounding down the door. Instead I checked that crumpled paper for the one million and first time, and looked around nervously. I mentally prepared myself for anything, and rang the bell.

There was a scuffle, and what sounded like two men bickering. Then the door was yanked open. I was completely unprepared for what I saw. Standing in front of me was none other than Kanda Yuu. And he looked just as shocked to see me.

We stood there staring at each other. A voice from inside the house called out, but I was too stunned to register it. Then the door was opened further, and Allen appeared. He smiled that bright smile I hadn't seen in forever, then he pulled me into a hug. We laughed and cried, and Kanda just stood there glaring at us until we pulled apart. "What the fuck are you doing here, Lenalee?"

"It's nice to see you too, Kanda." I rolled my eyes, he hadn't changed at all. In fact, with the exception of Allen's now shoulder length hair, neither of them had changed at all. "My brother sent me to-"

I didn't get another word out. The door was slammed in my face.

.x.x.

"Bakanda! What was that for?!"

He scowled at me. "Moyashi. There's only one reason why she'd be here. It means it's time to go back. I don't want to go back."

I sighed. He had a point. I didn't want to go back either. "That's still no reason to slam the door in her face. It's not Lenalee's fault her brother is psychotic."

There was a pounding on the door. "Look, I don't know what you think is going on, but I'm just delivering a package. I didn't even know it was for you. All I had was an address."

I gave Kanda a look that said "I told you so" and opened the door.

.x.x.

When the door reopened, Allen smiled gently at me. "Sorry about that, but you know how Kanda is."

He let me in and led me to the living room. It was as unimpressive as the outside of the house. But it was a hundred times warmer than the December day was. I sat on a chair, and dug into my bag for the package. I looked up at Allen. "Have you two been living here for the past two years?"

He nodded, but didn't say anything. Kanda had come up behind him and continued to glare at me.

"And you're both still alive?"

Allen laughed a little. The look on Kanda's face could almost pass for a smile. I found the package and held it out to Allen. He reached for it, but froze when there was a thud from upstairs.

He bolted away, taking the steps two at a time. My confusion only worsened when I heard what sounded like a baby crying. I looked to Kanda for an explanation, but he ignored me.

When Allen returned he was holding a small child in his arms. She had her arms around his neck and was sobbing softly into his shoulder. He was rubbing her back and telling her repeatedly that everything was ok.

I could do nothing but stare at the scene in front of me. I was completely taken aback by what I was seeing. It was hard enough to picture Allen and Kanda living in a house together. Adding a child to the mix was beyond weird. It was much, much too weird to be true.

"Moyashi." I couldn't tell what Kanda's expression was saying, but I knew it was because of me.

"I know." Allen sighed. "But she had a nightmare. I couldn't just leave her alone."

He turned to the child who had grown silent. He brushed a few strands of navy hair out of her face and adjusted her so that she was facing me. "Hey, Eri. This is my friend Lenalee. Can you say hi to her?"

The girl brightened and waved at me. "Hi! Hi!"

It was easily the most adorable thing I'd ever seen. Her teary silver eyes sparkled, and her smile revealed a mouth full of tiny little teeth. There was just the slightest hint of Asian in her features, and her pale Caucasian skin still had red pillow lines pressed into it.

Allen laughed as he placed her in my lap. She wrapped her little arms around me. I couldn't help smiling back at her. "Hi baby."

I looked up at Allen. "Who-?"

He laughed again. "This is Erika. She's twenty months old."

I looked down at the little girl then back up at Allen and Kanda. "This may seem like a dumb question, but why do the two of you have a child with you?"

Allen's smile fell. He came a little closer and started stroking Erika's hair. "Eri, sweetheart? Can you help me take off your shirt?"

"Yes Mommy." She nodded and helped Allen unbutton her dress. It was every bit as adorable as her smile.

They slipped the lilac fabric off her left shoulder, and I gasped at what I saw. Her entire chest and shoulder area, about where Kanda had his tattoo, was covered in rough red skin. It looked just like Allen's left arm used to. I reached out tentatively and brushed my fingers across the green cross embedded in her chest above her heart. It made me want to cry that that beautiful little child was the host of a parasitic Innocence.

Kanda broke the silence that had fallen, while Allen fixed Erika's dress. "Eri's an orphan from the village. The Moyashi brought her home with him one day. He'd seen her shoulder and couldn't leave her alone."

In retrospect, it was a terrible lie. Erika looked far too much like the two of them, and nothing like the ethnicity of the townspeople. And the location of her Innocence was a dead giveaway. But I bought the lie. There was no reason back then for me to suspect that she was theirs biologically.

Erika started squirming, so I set her down; it was clearly what she wanted. She immediately ran over to Kanda. She threw her arms in the air and shouted, "Up!"

He laughed as he picked her up and started tickling her. Her beautiful giggles filled the air. I could feel Allen start to laugh, and I knew it was at me, at whatever dumbstruck expression was on my face. "It was love at first sight. Not even Kanda can say no to her."

Erika's giggles turned to shrieks. "Mommy!"

Allen immediately took her from Kanda. He smoothed out her dress and her hair. She buried her face in his neck, and was instantly asleep. I blinked at my white haired friend as he doted on that little girl. "Did she just call you 'mommy'?"

There was a challenge in his eyes when he looked up at me. "What about it?"

"Nothing. I'm just surprised, that's all."

Allen calmed down and sat on the couch. He adjusted his grip on Erika, laying her beside him with her head in his lap. I smiled at the adorable sight. "Maybe you could fill in some gaps for me. The last I heard, you had a mysterious illness and were being sent to live in quarantine until it passed. And today, I not only find you healthy, but with an adopted child? What happened in the last two years?"

"Lena..." Allen paused briefly, then he sighed. "I got better within a few months of moving out here. But that's when we found Eri. She's been with us since she was an infant. We knew we couldn't take her to the Order at that young age, so we decided to pretend that I was still sick."

I nodded. I understood that motivation perfectly, the Order was no place for a child.

I picked the package up off the coffee table and handed it to Allen. He opened the attached letter and read it, frowning the entire time. When he was done he held it out to Kanda. The samurai took it, and when he was done reading, he crumpled it up and threw it at Allen's head. "Told you so." Then he stormed from the room.

"What does it say?"

Allen shook his head and picked up the letter. "It's private."

He sighed and then explained. "We gave you such a rough welcome because we know that you being here means it's time for us to go back. And that's what it says. We have two weeks to pack our stuff up and get back to headquarters."

I didn't know what to say to that. I watched Allen start to tear open the package as I thought. "Umm... Does Komui know you've ... picked up a child?"

Allen laughed lightly as he unfolded the black fabric bundle. He held it up so I could see it. It was a child sized exorcist jacket. It would be big on Erika, because she was so small, but it was close. "Does that answer your question?"

I smiled. "I guess so."

He sighed and looked down at the child on his lap. "Is it wrong of me to have hoped that she would never ever have to wear one of these?"

I smiled at him. "You really think of yourself as her mother, don't you?"

He gave me that challenging look again. "Relax, Allen. She needs that. She needs someone who would give up everything to make her happy. Being an exorcist as a child is hard. Impossibly so. I wouldn't have survived if Komui hadn't come for me."

"Thank you, Lenalee." Allen smiled but it was forced. Erika shivered slightly so he covered her with the jacket.

I smiled. "Now for the really hard question: what's going on with you and Kanda?"

"What are you talking about?"

Apparently he was going to play dumb. "It's been you and him and a baby, living together in a house for the past two years, three months, and eleven days. You can no longer deny that you're friends. So... what is he in this little fantasy you have where you're Erika's mother?"

Allen suddenly frowned. "Are you going to be staying here for the next two weeks?"

"Don't change the subject."

He gestured with his head for me to turn around. Kanda had come back. From the look on his face he'd heard my last couple questions. I blushed. "Oh."

The samurai leaned against the doorway. He ignored me and focused on Allen. They held a silent conversation that Kanda ended out loud. "If you don't tell her then things have to go back to how they were right away."

Allen groaned and ran his fingers through Eri's hair. "Ugh. Fine, you win. I'll tell her."

Kanda smirked and then turned to me. "It's in your best interest not to ask too many questions."

Then he was gone again. I turned back to Allen. "So?"

He sighed. "Grab your bag and come with me."

Allen picked Erika up, and carried her towards the stairs. I followed warily. He went in the room on the right, and laid Erika down on the small bed. He covered her with the blankets and hung the jacket over the back of a rocking chair. Back in the hallway, he closed the door. "Obviously that was Erika's room. Mine's across the hall."

He led me to the next room down the hall. "You can sleep here. The bathroom is across the hall, but we all share it, so you might be more comfortable using the one downstairs."

I nodded as I looked around the room. It was as plain as the rest of the house, but unlike the other rooms, this one had a small coating of dust. I set my suitcase down on the bed.

After a pause Allen continued talking. "If anyone back at the Order asks, Kanda gave up his room and slept on the couch."

"Where does Kanda usually sleep?" It clearly wasn't the dusty room I was standing in.

He shrugged. "The room across from Eri's."

I blinked at him. "But didn't you say that was your room?"

Allen stood there and patiently waited for me to understand. But it never clicked. "I don't get it. How can you two be sharing a room?"

He rolled his eyes. "We're not sharing a room, we're sharing a bed."

When I did nothing but stare at him, he continued. "We're sleeping together. Please don't make me say more than that..."

"Wait, you mean that you and ... and Kanda have ... sex?" It felt like my eyes were going to fly out of my head.

He shrugged. "You wanted to know, and now you do. Just, don't tell anyone. We'll be in major trouble."

I nodded dumbly. I'd been at the Order for a long time, I knew exactly what would happen to them if anyone found out.

Allen wrapped an arm around my shoulder and guided me out of the room. "So, barring any more nightmares, we've got about an hour before Erika is done with her nap. Why don't we go back downstairs and you can catch me up on all the things I've missed back home?"

.x.x.

I enjoyed talking with Lenalee, but then Eri was awake and the peace and quiet was gone. The two girls got along well, and Erika babbled nonstop around Lenalee. It was amusing, especially since Eri was usually reserved around strangers.

The doorbell rang and Lenalee immediately hopped up to answer it. I didn't think anything of it until I heard the visitor's voice. "Oh, um, hello Miss. Is Ellen in?"

"Ellen?" I bolted to the door at Lenalee's confused question.

"Hello, Mrs. Cardona! Come in, come in!" I beckoned the elderly woman inside and out of the cold.

"Thank you, Ellen, dear. It's awfully brisk out today."

The door firmly closed, I moved back toward the couch and picked up Eri before she could toddle off. "Sorry I'm such a mess, but you know how it is. This little one keeps me on my toes."

Mrs. Cardona laughed. "Don't apologize dear. I understand perfectly. I remember when mine were that age. They liked to run me ragged."

Erika firmly on my hip, I smiled at my visitor. The woman had awful timing, but I couldn't be rude to her. She'd been a great support when Eri was a newborn. "And what brings you over today?"

"I was going through some of Sofia's old things and found some dresses that seem like they'd be just a little big on Erika. I thought you might like to have them, kids that age outgrow everything right away."

I laughed as I led her over to the table. We went through the clothes she brought. Eri attached herself to a pink knit cap and whined until I put it on her. When we were done, I thanked Mrs. Cardona, and she left.

Lenalee pounced on me the second the door was closed. "Ellen?"

I sighed heavily and set Erika down. "Yeah... The villagers think I'm a woman."

.x.x.

I burst out laughing. Sure Allen had always been on the feminine side, but it wasn't so much that he could be mistaken for one. It was hilarious that an entire town had.

Allen shook his head at my laughing fit, and sat down on the couch. Erika immediately crawled onto his lap. He played with her hair while he waited for me to finish. When I finally collected myself, I sat down beside them. "How'd it happen?"

He sighed before he spoke. "When we first moved here, someone misheard Kanda and thought my name was Ellen. It just snowballed out of control from there."

"Why didn't you correct them?"

He laughed lightly. "You remember what we talked about upstairs, right?"

"Oh, right. That." I blushed. How could I have not noticed that my best friend was gay? But I got what he wasn't saying. If the villagers thought Allen was a woman then he could be with Kanda in public.

Allen smiled. "It helped a lot when Eri came into our lives, too. Because then we were a married couple with a child and we didn't have to deal with them judging us."

"They think you're married?" I laughed. The idea of Kanda marrying anyone was absurd. "So what happened with Erika? Kanda made it sound like you brought her home from the market, like she was a loaf of bread or something."

Allen laughed. "From his perspective it probably seemed like that. One day there was peace and quiet, and the next we were having to take care of this completely helpless little baby."

The conversation was interrupted when Kanda came into the room. "Hey, Moyashi? Are you going to take the Sprout with you to do the shopping, or is she staying here?"

Allen suddenly stood up, situating Erika on his hip. "I forgot all about that. Umm... I'll take her. Lenalee will come too, so it won't be too difficult to manage."

Kanda nodded. "Who was at the door earlier?"

"Mrs. Cardona. She came by with her monthly stack of 'hand-me-downs' for Eri."

With another nod Kanda was gone again, back to training in the back yard. Allen smiled at me. He led me over to the table where we gathered up the clothes and took them upstairs. "Mrs. Cardona lives across the street. Her kids have all moved away, and she's retired. She shows up occasionally, claiming she's passing on her daughters' old clothes, but they're all brand new. And in Eri's favorite colors no less."

I laughed a little. "That's kind of creepy."

Allen smiled softly. "It was at first, but she's harmless. She has a granddaughter Eri's age that she's never met. So she pretends Eri's her grandchild and makes things for her. It's really kind of sweet."

The clothes were put away, save for one outfit that Allen had laid out on the bed. "I have to go change, will you help Erika get dressed in that?"

I shrugged, unsure of what was happening. I hadn't done anything with a young child since I was one myself. "Sure."

The little girl was placed in my arms, and Allen disappeared across the hall. Eri reached out for him and called for her mommy. It was both heartbreaking and adorable. I took her over to the bed. "Let's get you dressed, and then you can go find Mommy, ok?"

She squirmed a little, but she didn't fight me as I took off the dress she was wearing and replaced it with the new one. There was a little more difficulty with her pants and stockings, but we got it done. She insisted on buttoning her coat herself, so I let her while I laced up her boots. I had to fix a couple buttons, but she had actually managed to do most of it.

There was laughter from the doorway as I struggled to help Erika with her gloves. Allen came in and had it done in seconds. He fixed her hat, and then she was ready to go. That's when I noticed what he was wearing.

Allen was wearing a dress. It was the same style as all the village women had been wearing, with a high lace collar, and a long, full skirt with petticoats underneath. He had a thick shawl pinned around his shoulders, and even his boots were a woman's style. And to top it all off, his hair was done up in a bun, complete with a floppy-brimmed flower hat pinned in place.

I just stood there staring at him. He looked like a woman. Not a guy dressed like a woman, but an actual woman. It was shocking to say the least. "That was not what I expected when you said you had to change."

He blushed when he laughed, and he looked even more feminine. "If I want them to think I'm a woman, I have to play the part, right?"

"I think you're taking it a little far. The jewelry and heeled boots seem like overkill to me." I laughed as I adjusted the broach he had pinned at his throat. "And are you ... wearing a corset?"

He turned bright red. I couldn't help laughing at what was clearly a 'yes' answer. "Sh-shut up! It's just fabric, not one of those metal or whale bone things. And it's not pulled tight. I like breathing, thank you very much."

The pouting just made me laugh harder. "The fact that you even know any of that just makes me think that you actually like cross-dressing."

"I've been pretending to be a woman for more than two years. It's self-preservation, that's all." He stuck his tongue out at me.

"That would be more convincing if you actually had a self-preservation instinct. You do remember what happened the day you left, right?"

He frowned at me. "Ok, fine. It's relatively new. But I have a daughter now. I'm allowed to change my mind."

The girl in question squirmed in his arms. She was dressed to go out, but we hadn't left yet. "Mommy! Let's go!"

He laughed and flipped her upside down briefly. "Oh, you want to go, do you?"

She laughed the entire way down the stairs. Allen handed me a basket after I pulled on my coat, and then we headed out the door. The walk into the village was cold and quiet. I couldn't help marveling at Allen. He never once stumbled in those heels, and he handled that energetic toddler like a professional.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

The second half of this will be posted next week. ;)

A/N #2: I realize Lenalee finding out about Allen and Kanda's relationship contradicts what happened in the original story, but the way I see it: it falls under Allen's line about them not remembering certain things until he got pregnant (it's a parenthetical remark towards the end of chapter 1). So in that story, Lenalee doesn't remember finding out and Allen doesn't remember telling her.