Ritsuko looked at the girl with a somewhat serious and shocked tone "Are you sure that you want this Rei?" she asked her "You would have to go through some changes in order to make it more believable, and it would mean a whole new set of responsibilities for you."
Rei looked at her with a calm expression on her face, seeming to be unfazed by her words "I believe it would help Ikari with his social anxiety, and that it would help me have another objective besides piloting the evangelion."
Misato laughed "Well; Rits, she clearly isn't going to back down unless we get the commander, so we might as well-" the scientist interrupted her "Misato! She's is too young to be agreeing to something like this, don't you understand!" Misato glared back at her "And didn't you say that you could age her in the lab?" Ritsuko was about to say something, but only sighed and lit a cigarette "Alright Rei, if you really think that you can handle this, then we'll allow it." And with that Ritsuko left.
Misato walked over to Rei and placed a hand on her shoulder "So Rei, I've never been a mother before, but I know a thing or two from being Shinji and Asuka's guardian, and you need to understand that sometimes, Shinji is going to be very quiet and drawn off from you. You can try and ask him what's wrong, but he won't give the truth, you need to just let him be alone for a bit."
"But Major Katsuragi," Rei said "what if he doesn't get over it? What shall I do then?" "Well Rei," Misato replied "I don't really know, he usually gets over it by then. But hey, since you are his mother now, it wouldn't be wrong for you to try and; well you know, hug him. Hell, you could just fo that from the start, I'm sure that might get him in a better mood. Yeah. Just hug him and say something like 'shhh, it's okay, Mama's here' you know?" Rei looked a bit embarrassed by what Misato had said, and Misato could swear she could see a little blush on her face. "Major," started Rei "how would I hug him?" Misato was almost expecting her to say something like this "Well Rei, you could do something like this." And at that, Misato wrapped the girl in her arms, holding Rei's head to her chest with one arm, and wrapping her other around Rei's waist.
"See Rei, just like that." Upon feeling Rei relax, Misato laughed "I guess no one has ever done this to you, huh." Rei spoke "No mam, I quite enjoy this though." Misato chuckled and released Rei from the hug.
"So I should do the same thing to Shinji?" Rei asked "Yeah Rei, just don't be surprised if he becomes flustered over it."
Ritsuko walked in and looked at Rei "So you'll both be glad to know that the commander is okay with it. He just wants us to do one thing." "And what's that Rits?" Replied Misato. "Well, Commander Ikari doesn't want anyone to get suspicious of the way Rei will be treating him, so in order to make her look more like his mother, he agrees with me that we should artificially age you Rei.
Ritsuko watched patiently as Rei motionlessly floated in a tube, slowly growing larger over a period of 6 hours before she was just around the same height of Yui. The idea of Yui's height was given to them by Fuyutsuki, and she was shocked to find that Yui (and therefore Rei) was taller than both her and Misato, standing about 3 and half inches below Gendo.
Finally Ritsuko spoke up "Alright Rei, you can come out."
Rei replied in a somewhat deeper tone "Yes doctor."
Shinji walked inside as Misato followed him inside their apartment, he started walking towards his room when Misaton grabbed his arm "Wait; Shinji, I don't expect you to immediately want to see Rei, so you can go to your room; but, I have something for you."
She took Shinji's hand and placed an SDAT tape in it, "You're always listening to the same music, I thought I'd buy a new tape of some stuff I used to like." Shinji blushed and replied "Th-thank you Misato." Before heading to his room.
In his room, Shinji looked at the tape, the case had a photo of a neon sign in the shape of a star with the words "BIG" in the center. Shinji sat on his bed, and started the tape. It started with a muted guitar that slowly built up until the singer started singing in a hard voice.
Wonderin' what are you doin'
You're drivin me to ruin
The love that you've been stealing
Has given me a feeling
I feel like I'm dyin'
I'm never gonna live again
You just ain't been tryin'
It's getting very near the end
Shinji continued to listen to the album as it continued, until one song struck him, titled Thirteen. It started with an acoustic guitar before the singer began, and it didn't really relate to him, until he heard the final verse.
Won't you tell me what you're thinking of
Would you be an outlaw for my love
If it's so, well let me know
If it's no, well I can go
I won't make you.
Shinji couldn't help but to relate to this, and upon thinking about how the other songs related to him, began to quietly cry, he sat there shuddering until he was turned around and hugged by none other than Rei. "Shh, it's okay Shinji… M-mama's here." As she held Shinji's head to her chest, she began to rub circles on his back "M-m-mama." was all he could mutter before he wrapped his arms around her back and held tightly on to her.
He had forgotten about his SDAT, and it skipped to the 2nd track on the album, and it began to play the chorus.
And there ain't no one goin' to turn me round
Ain't no one goin' to turn me round
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on
