Disclaimer: This is getting old.

A/N: Gosh, wow, I'm on a roll. Third update in less than a month. Let's hope I can keep this up, guys. I remember that I liked writing. Why'd I stop? Anyway, expect an update to The Devil Can Wait (sorry for taking so long on that) and maybe a couple of new oneshots soon and even a new multi-chapter to replace HTLAS and BLP. Maybe I'll even update Growing Up Baby. Get my ducks all lined up in a row and all that. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Thanks for all of the support from you guys. It means a lot.

Chapter Three: The Part Where I Meet Him

Roxas and Axel had done well for themselves over the years. Axel had graduated with a degree in computer science, and he made a good bit of money with his job as a software architect. Roxas didn't need to work, since they could live quite comfortably on Axel's salary alone, but Roxas loved writing, so he dabbled with that. So far, he'd had one book of poetry published, and nothing more.

"I learned soon after that poetry just wasn't all that popular," he said, turning in his seat to smile at Naminé, who had been listening to his explanation from the backseat of their car. "I'm trying new things now, since I never really thought I was all that good at poetry anyway. I haven't really gotten anywhere, though."

Naminé just smiled as Roxas turned back around to smile at Axel. They were close to her age, and yet they had been so much more successful than her. They had each other, and their interests, and their careers, and life was good for them.

Why hadn't her life gone that way? Was college really so important? Should she have gone like her mother had told her to before she died? Naminé didn't know. All she could do was pick up the pieces and stop regretting what she should have done but didn't do.

"Ah, we're here, Naminé," Roxas said, unintentionally interrupting Naminé's inner turmoil; not that Naminé wasn't incredibly grateful to him for having done so.

Naminé looked out the window as the car pulled into the driveway. The house sat on a little hill, the back appearing to drop down as the hill dropped down. There were trees dotting the yard and, Naminé was pleased to see, flowers had been planted along the base of the tree. It was, all in all, a very picturesque scene and one that sent a soothing arrow of calm throughout Naminé's body.

Naminé exited from the car, legs trembling in excitement. Roxas came up beside her. "The flowers are my brother's doing. He loves the little details like that. I should warn you, though," Roxas said as he turned to her, "he spends most of his time here rather than at home, so don't be surprised if you see another guy around here. He's uninvited but not unwanted."

Axel closed his door as he stepped out, locking the car. He came around the car and placed his arm around Roxas' neck. "Yeah, we can't seem to get rid of the guy so we stopped trying. Plus, he's a really good cook: much better than me and Roxy here. I think we'd go hungry or live off of take-out if he didn't come over every day."

"And Axel doesn't need any more reason to be any skinnier than he already is."

"Exactly," Axel interrupted with a wise nod.

Naminé giggled. "What's your brother's name?" she inquired as the three made their way to the front door. Painted a lazy river green, the door featured a stained glass inset at the top of the door and paned glass running along the sides of the door. Were it not for the curtains that covered the little windows, Naminé would have been able to see into the inside of the house.

"What cute curtains," she murmured as they stepped up to the door. Roxas heard her and smiled, and then grimaced.

"Thanks," he answered, "but I wouldn't talk about them in front of Sora, okay? His ex-girlfriend made them for us and, well, she's still a sore subject where he's concerned."

"Oh," Naminé said, nodding her head. "I understand: my lips are sealed."

"Good," Roxas replied.

"You have a gorgeous home," she said as she stepped through the front door into the spacious foyer. As she looked around she saw an L-shaped stairs that went up to the second floor and off to the side there was an entrance to what was obviously a dining room.

"Thanks! My mom refused to let us live in a man cave."

Naminé would have replied if not for Axel's glower and mutter about meddling mothers. Roxas hit him before making his way into the dining room and on through to the kitchen through another arched doorway. "Hey, Naminé, come in here with me. We'll get you a sandwich. I can't make much more, unfortunately."

Naminé hesitated before following him. Should she tell him that she could cook? Would it be considered rude to ask to be allowed to make her own dinner? Naminé had no real idea, since she had never dealt with this type of situation before.

"Um…," she began, getting more nervous as Roxas turned to face her, closing the door to his refrigerator in the process, "Um… well… would you like me to cook?" she offered, hands going behind her back. She almost felt like shuffling in place. Why was she so nervous? She was usually never this nervous.

"You can cook?" Roxas asked, obviously surprised.

"My dad taught me a bunch of recipes before he died," she replied, nodding as she fiddled with her fingers: yet another nervous habit of hers.

Roxas sat down on a stool next to their island bar. "What can you make?"

"Oh, a bunch of things!" Naminé answered. "What do you want? I could probably make it or learn how to."

"Can you make pork chops?" Axel interrupted, appearing through the other door into the kitchen. If Naminé craned her neck, she could sort of see a sofa and maybe a TV armoire. But she didn't want to appear too curious.

"Depends: do you want them grilled or baked?"

Axel appeared to think it over. "How about baked? People never seem to grill them right."

"Well, I can bake them, but you'd have to not only have pork chops but also have them thawed."

Roxas piped up this time. "Oh, that's fine. Axel took out pork chops this morning as a hint to Sora for dinner, but since Sora isn't here with food on the table, the pork chops will go bad if they're not made."

Axel ambled over to the refrigerator and, opening up the door, pulled out a packet of four pork chops.

"Okay, well, that's one down. What kind of seasoning do you have?" Naminé asked.

Roxas pointed over to the side cabinet. Opening it up, Naminé came upon a sight of everything she could ever want for seasoning. "Okay, you have it all. That'll make this easy," she continued as she started to pull down garlic powder, salt, MSG, and pepper. "What about breadcrumbs?"

"Here you go," Axel said as he went to the pantry and pulled out a tin of breadcrumbs. They really did have everything. This would make things much more enjoyable for her.

"It's surprising that you have all of this, since you say you guys don't cook," she cautiously began, starting to poor the ingredients into a Ziploc baggy.

"Well, Sora does cook, and he absolutely insisted that he have anything he could ever want to cook with." Roxas smiled. "We decided to humor him, since it meant great food for us."

"Ah, a guy and his stomach," she said, smiling as she dunked the pork chops into the bread mixture before placing them on a baking sheet that Axel had extracted from underneath the stove for her.

Roxas shrugged sheepishly. "Guilty as charged."

Naminé smiled slowly. She felt so comfortable here, working on making dinner for herself and the two men who had welcomed her into their home. She was nowhere near as nervous as she had been before: but that could also be due to the fact that she was doing something she was familiar with. Cooking had been a huge pastime in her family, and her father had loved showing her the ropes.

Naminé's throat tightened up as she thought of her father. He had been in a car accident when she was fourteen. Her mother had never been the same after they had lost him. Naminé sniffed as she shook the bag of ingredients. It was almost like her mother had given up on living after he was gone. Sure, she loved and still took care of Naminé, but it was as though she was doing everything out of duty.

She hadn't been very surprised when her mother died when she was nineteen. It was like her mother's heart had just given up, hearty and hale though she had always been. Just like that, she had been left alone in a big world that wasn't going to give her any breaks.

Finally she was finished with the last pork chop and she placed them in the oven, where they'd bake for an hour before being ready. She shook away her thoughts. There was no sense in dwelling on the past, she tried to tell herself. It was gone and she was in the now and it had to stay that way.

She turned around and watched as Axel and Roxas conversed together. It was so obvious the two were in love. They weren't overly affectionate, and neither were particularly effeminate (something that Naminé had always guiltily assumed gay men would be like), but Roxas' eyes shined in a way that they hadn't when he was talking to her and Axel actually had a smile on his face, something that he hadn't shown since Naminé had met him at the café.

Naminé smiled lightly. "Well," she said, interrupting the two. They turned to her.

"Hey, are they done?"

"Well," Naminé began, "they're done going through the prep work. They're gonna be in there for an hour. Now, do you guys have macaroni? And what about cheese?" she asked.

Roxas looked quizzical. "What do you need that for?" he asked.

"Well, in my family, you never had pork chops without macaroni and cheese. Would you like me to make it?"

Axel shrugged. "Go right ahead," he said. "I, however, am going to go take a shower."

Roxas waved as Axel left before turning his attention back to Naminé, who had not moved during that time. "Are you going to make it?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, appearing to come out of a daze, "but that doesn't get started until about half an hour in, so, until then, I've got nothing to do."

Roxas smiled. "Okay, why don't you come over here and sit down?" He waved a hand towards her. "Why don't you tell me a little bit about your life?"

Naminé grimaced and moved closer, sitting down next to him. "Well, uh… there's not much to tell."

"There's plenty to tell: there's always plenty to tell," he murmured, glancing at her.

"I'm 24 years old and I've never done anything with my life," Naminé began. "I, uh… I lost my parents one after the other, and when they were both gone, I just felt so… lost." She glanced down at the pretty granite counter. "I didn't go to college: I didn't feel like it. My grades had slipped so much during high school after my father died that I didn't want to do the work necessary to go to college. And then my mom died and I was left all alone.

"I just lost my job and my paycheck to paycheck way of life wasn't cutting it, so I went through the newspaper and I saw an ad for surrogacy and I called you and there you have it," she continued.

Roxas shrugged. "Doesn't it scare you, to have someone else's kid?"

Naminé nodded frantically. "Hell yes! But I, uh… I think that this could be my chance to turn my life around. I mean, this all sounds really deep and, uh, all that, but this is money that could really help, if I use it correctly, you know? Maybe I'll… go to college, finally. I never wanted to but apparently you can't get anywhere in life without a degree clutched your hand."

He smiled. "Well, maybe this will be a good chance. Uh, I'm gonna go check on Axel, okay? Gosh, wow, that smell's fantastic!" he said, sniffing as he waved and walked out of the kitchen.

Naminé smiled softly, playing her fingers across the counter top. She would love to be able to live in this kind of area. She stayed seated, turning her head this way and that, looking at all the kitchen had to offer. It was a chef's dream come true, she knew. Her father would have loved this place.

That night, Roxas had handed her a pair of his pajamas before going off to bed. Naminé stood in the doorway to the guest bedroom they'd shown her to, just gazing around. It had been a long time since she'd seen a real bed, since she'd been in an actual bedroom, even.

She crossed hesitantly to the bed, carefully sitting down on the soft fabric of the bedspread. She let out a small moan at the feel before clamping a hand across her mouth in surprise.

"Oh, good lord, Naminé," she spoke to herself. "You're going to make yourself out to be a psycho before long."

She sighed, falling back onto the bed, looking up at the ceiling above. Even the ceiling was fancy! With its oval cut out and the hand-detailed work along the edge, it was obvious that Naminé was far out of her league.

How had the two ever been able to afford such a wealthy home? And they wanted to bring a baby into the equation as well?

How was she going to ever measure up? They'd probably kick her out in the morning, saying that they'd made a terrible mistake and that she was not at all what they were looking for and if she would kindly see fit to leave and never come back, they'd be most appreciative.

But they were so nice, she thought, Roxas, especially. He had such a calming smile: every muscle in Naminé's body relaxed when he was around. And while she could tell that Axel didn't really particularly like her, he didn't seem to hate her.

Naminé was just so scared. After tonight, where would she go? Sure, she'd had her first real meal in over a year, and her belly was satisfied and not thinking of food, but she'd be hungry again by morning, and if they kicked her out, she'd have to go back to her apartment, pack up her measly belongings and then sell it all off and live in a cardboard box for the rest of her life.

She sighed again before rolling off the bed and slipping into Roxas' pajamas. They were big on her and she smiled as the sleeves covered her hands completely. But they were comfy and warm and Naminé wanted to just curl up in them and never take them off ever again.

She crossed over to the dresser, looking at the mirror above it. Her gaunt face stared back. A smudge of dirt on her collarbone, sallow skin, and deadened eyes. She looked, and felt, like a corpse. Naminé rubbed at the dirty spot, feeling like such a failure.

Naminé would have stood there for longer if not for a noise coming from downstairs. She jerked back, pushing against the dresser in her panic. She stared out the bedroom door and she could see light streaming from downstairs through the banister right in front of her door. She swallowed before shuffling into the hallway and peering over the banister.

The light was coming from the kitchen and as she stood there, a string of muttered curses floated up to her. Naminé walked alongside the banister towards the stairs, hand lightly passing over the rail before making her way down the stairs and over to the arched doorway into the kitchen.

She poked her head in, watching as a man stooped over, sticking his head into the refrigerator. He had a shock of brown hair that stuck up all over in the back and he was rubbing a hand over one particular area of his scalp, apparently to assuage pain, if the curses he was still muttering were anything to go by.

But who was he? Neither Roxas nor Axel had brown hair, so who was he? Naminé gathered up her courage and walked in.

"Who're you?" she called out.

The man with the brown hair jumped, hitting his head against the door, causing Naminé to jump back in surprise. He turned around to stare at her.

"I think that's a damn good question; who are you?" he answered, still rubbing his head. "You scared me half to death. What are you doing in my brother's home wearing… my brother's pajamas? Now that's one I've never heard of before!"

Naminé visibly relaxed. "Oh… you must be Sora, right? Roxas said something about you coming by tonight. But I think he was expecting you earlier."

"Yeah, I'm Sora, but that still doesn't answer who you are. Roxas has never mentioned you before."

"Oh!" she gasped. "I'm so sorry. Uh, I'm Naminé. I, uh, I'm the woman who answered the ad for the surrogacy thing."

Sora nodded. "Oh, okay, why aren't you in your own home?"

"Uh, Roxas said that I could stay over tonight because we'd want to talk in the morning about what to do next and I don't have a phone so he wouldn't have been able to contact me."

"Oh, well, um, if Roxas let you in, I suppose I can't very well kick you out or call the police on you now can I?" he said, grinning and sticking out a hand for her to shake.

"I'd really rather you didn't," Naminé answered before smiling herself and shaking his hand. "I'm sorry about scaring you but I didn't know who you were since it's obvious that you're neither Roxas or Axel and I just got frightened."

Sora shrugged. "Nah, that's okay," he said, smile growing bigger, "it's my fault for being so ridiculously late to begin with. I was supposed to come over and cook dinner, but I had to deal with some unexpected stuff, so I just now came and was checking to see if I could get anything to eat in their fridge." He grinned sheepishly. "I had a bit of an accident with the fridge door, I bet you can tell."

"Yeah, I can," Naminé said, inspecting the wound, "possibly because you're bleeding."

Sora jerked his hand up to the tender area, feeling around before bringing his hand back down. "Well, what do you know, I am bleeding."

"Oh, um, here, let me see if I can bandage that up. Do you know where they keep the first aid kit?" Naminé asked, rushing around the island counter to stand beside Sora, pushing his hand away and checking out the cut. "It's not too bad: I should be able to clean it up really easily."

Sora smiled before pointing to a cabinet next to the sink. "It's in there."

"I'm surprised, actually," Naminé said as she went over to the cabinet to grab the kit. "I don't think I've ever seen someone get cut on a fridge door before."

Sora laughed before sitting down at a chair. Naminé was significantly shorter than he was. "Well, neither have I, but I guess there's a first for everything. I don't think it was bleeding, though, until the second time I hit it."

Naminé grimaced. "I really am so sorry about that," she went on, dabbing the cut with a cotton swab doused in alcohol.

Sora hissed before shaking his head. "Nah, it's not your fault: you couldn't have known this would happen. I was being stupid and clumsy, like always."

She smiled. "Why do I not believe you?" she said, looking down to find him looking up.

"Hi," he whispered.

"Hi," she whispered back before smiling and returning to cleaning the wound. Inwardly, though, her stomach was a mess. Sora was cute and had the same calming smile that Roxas did.

Ooh, wow, it was a fine day in the gene pool when those two were made, she thought, willing the butterflies in her stomach to calm down. So what if he was cute and had a cute grin and smiling eyes and a small little birthmark on his neck right below his hairline that looked an awful lot like a little crown? Naminé refused to be pulled in. She didn't have time for guy trouble, right?

She cleared her throat. "Uh, all done," she said, feeling like she was a minute away from stuttering.

She shuffled back, going back over to the sink to rinse her hands and then throw away the cotton swabs and wrappers from the band-aid.

"Hey," Sora said, still sitting down, watching her flit to and fro, "thanks for helping out. I appreciated it."

Naminé looked back, nodding before ducking her head into the fridge. He didn't seem affected, so why should she show that she was? She rummaged around before pulling out the Tupperware containing the leftovers from the dinner she cooked.

"Uh, here you go," she said, thrusting the plastic box at him. "I made dinner for us, and this is what's left of it."

Sora took the container before smiling. "Thanks again. Wow, so you're a healer and you can cook? What can't you do?"

Naminé almost felt like giggling. It was like she was back in high school when the popular quarterback had smiled at her in the hallway. Where had her common sense gone? She cleared her throat, again.

"Well, uh, I guess I'll be going to bed now. Um, enjoy, I guess?" she said, before backing out of the kitchen. "It was nice meeting you," she continued. "I'll, uh, see you again! Goodnight."

"Night, Naminé," he called out after her, smile still firmly affixed to his face.

Naminé clambered up the stairs, not a thought in her head about noise, and made her way into her bedroom and closing the door, backing up against it. She rested her head against the cool wood before sliding down into a heap of nerves on the floor. What was she doing, acting like a teenager? She was 24 years old, for crying out loud. She could handle attraction.

Besides, she wasn't here to find a guy: she was here to get paid to have a baby, nothing else. She picked herself up and fell onto the bed, snuggling up against the pillow. She reached out and turned off the bedside lamp, plunging her world into darkness.

She was not looking for love, attention, or anything of the kind. She was going to take this opportunity to figure out what to do with her life, nothing more.

So why did it feel so awful to just dismiss Sora? And why did he have to be so cute? Naminé whined in her throat.

This was not good.

A/N: Thanks for reading, guys! I hope you enjoyed and please review if you can. Thanks for all of the support I've received so far. It means so much to me.