A/N: So. The pairing I introduce in this chapter is really cute in my head. I hope that you guys will like it too.

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

The school day ended, and the students left, but the counselor was still talking to Erika. Allen helped Emilia clean up the classroom while he waited. She sighed as she straightened the chairs. "I can't believe Timothy would do that. It's so hard to see him as an unruly child again; especially when I know he grows into a somewhat respectable young man. I bet he'd be mortified by his behavior if he ever remembers the past, he never would have been so mean to Erika back then."

Allen smiled a secret smile, recalling a conversation that he had once had with that young man. "I don't know about that..."

"I suppose you're right. It's best that he doesn't remember." Emilia laughed lightly. "He'd be mortified that he's ten years younger than he's supposed to be."

That smile graced Allen's face again. "Actually that's the part he'd be the happiest about. His age was the thing he hated most back then."

Confused by the statement, Emilia looked up to see a really strange expression on Allen's face. It seemed weird to her that the overly self-confident Timothy would hate something about himself. "What are you talking about, Allen? Why would Timothy have hated his age?"

Allen merely shrugged and continued with his work. "He was fifteen years older than the girl he loved. That would be hard on anyone."

What Allen hadn't said out loud clicked for Emilia just as the girl he was alluding to returned to the classroom. Erika ran straight to her mother and climbed into his lap. The counselor entered the room right behind Eri. "You've got a brilliant daughter, Mr. Walker."

"Thank you." The words were said more out of habit than because he was actually listening to the woman. He was too busy with the squirming girl on his lap.

The counselor smiled at the interaction between the two before turning her attention to Emilia. "I gave Erika that test you requested, Miss Galmar. I-"

That statement had Allen's full attention. "Test? What test?"

Emilia laughed. "An aptitude test. For that thing we've been talking about." She was intentionally vague; she knew from experience that Allen didn't want to talk about that subject in front of Erika.

Allen nodded knowingly. He looked down at the girl on his lap. "Hey Eri, why don't you go read a book? The adults need to talk."

"Ok." She smiled and ran off to the bookshelf in the corner.

The counselor's test supported everything that Emilia had been telling Allen over the past few months: Erika was highly intelligent and mature for her age. She wanted to have the girl take a few more tests, to get all the data she could before submitting her recommendation that Erika be bumped up a grade level.

Allen gave his permission for the tests, if a little reluctantly. He was still on the fence about the whole thing, but a few tests didn't mean that it was actually going to happen.

Erika came bouncing over when it was time to leave. She impatiently dragged Allen from the room, barely giving him time to say goodbye to Emilia. He laughed as he buckled her into her car seat. Her squirming stopped just long enough for him to fasten the straps easily and then she was bouncing away again. Thursday afternoons were 'Erika and Mommy time' and she had already lost half an hour; she wanted to get home as soon as possible.

But Allen didn't go home, he went to a salon. Erika started sobbing the second she realized what the place was. Allen held her close as he explained to the lady at the counter what had happened. The stylist was understanding and made the haircut as painless as possible for the terrified girl. In the end, Eri lost another two inches of her long navy hair. But it was now straight instead of jagged.

For being a good sport, Allen took Erika out to ice cream afterward. He offered her anything she wanted, but she truly was Kanda's child and wanted nothing more than a plain vanilla cone. Allen was thankful for that though, as just looking at some of the other flavors was triggering his morning sickness.

Allen couldn't help smiling at his daughter as she licked away at her treat while they sat on a bench outside. Now that she was calm, it seemed like a good time to talk about what happened earlier; it was finally time for him to get Erika's thoughts on skipping a grade. "The counselor said you took a test today. How was it?"

Eri scrunched up her face while she thought. "Hard."

"Did you like it?"

She shrugged, and the gesture made Allen smile. "Did she tell you why you had to take the test?"

"No. But she said that I have to do it again tomorrow." Eri pouted just a little.

"Yes, she told me that too. And there are others for you to take next week."

Erika's eyes went wide. "Why?"

Allen sighed. "When school ends next month, you'll be done with kindergarten. Then when September comes, your friends will all start first grade."

Eri nodded, her silver eyes lighting up with excitement. "Miss Emilia told us all about first grade. She said-"

He cut off her babbling before she could get too carried away. "Eri. You're not going to first grade."

Her silver eyes got huge and immediately filled with tears. Allen quickly grabbed a napkin and started dabbing away the few that spilled down her cheeks. "No, no, no, Sweetheart. It's not bad news. You don't need to cry."

She sniffled a few times, but managed to hold back the waterworks. Allen leaned close and kissed her forehead. "Eri, Miss Emilia and the counselor want to put you in second grade next year."

The look of confusion on Erika's face was priceless. "But what about first grade? Doesn't first come before second?"

Allen smiled gently at her confusion, trying to resist the urge to squeeze her over how adorable she was being. "Normally. But Miss Emilia thinks you're too smart for first grade. She thinks it would be too easy for you, so she wants to put you in second grade instead. It's called skipping a grade. It's something special for students who are especially smart." He tickled her side and made her giggle just a little. "That's why you have to take those tests, so that the school can know how smart you are."

Erika nodded and licked at her ice cream. She seemed to understand what was happening. Allen sighed, next came the hard part, at least she didn't seem excited. "But you don't have to if you don't want to. If you want to go to first grade with your friends, you can."

The little girl's face scrunched up in thought. "But why would I do that if going to second grade makes me special?"

"Eri, do you like going to school with Timothy?" It was a question Allen already knew the answer to, so he wasn't surprised when Erika started nodding enthusiastically. "What about Mason? Do you like seeing your cousin every day?"

Erika made a face. "Mason's a crybaby."

Allen laughed lightly; that brown haired boy was definitely Miranda's child. "That's not what I asked, Eri."

The little girl shrugged and went back to licking her ice cream cone. She froze mid-lick at her mother's next words. "If you go to second grade then you won't have class with them anymore."

She gazed wide-eyed at him as they stared each other down, Allen trying to figure out what she was thinking, and Eri trying to figure out if her mother was serious. Eventually she gave up and returned her attention to her ice cream. "But we'd still have recess together, right?"

"I suppose that's true." Allen laughed and let the subject drop. If she had no issues with skipping a grade, then he had no reason to fight it; even if it meant that she was growing up too fast.

When the ice cream was gone, they finally went home. The second she was freed from her car seat, Erika ran straight to Allen's studio. Piano lessons weren't as fun as karate lessons, but so long as she was alone with her mother, they would remain her favorite.

Five thirty came much too quickly for the little girl, and she grumbled the entire time Allen put her back in the car. It was common behavior for her, and Allen knew that she really did love her siblings, but it still worried him; he was scared that she wouldn't take the news of a new baby well. This time around he was also going to have to have the 'where do babies come from' talk with her, and that was an even scarier thought.

Picking up the twins was yet another fiasco for Allen's already crazy day. Matthew was hopped up on something sugary and would not hold still. He ended up chasing Erika around the playground; Allen found it obnoxious but hoped the physical activity would burn off the boy's excess energy. Yumi, on the other hand, was exhausted and just wanted to go home; she wrapped Allen's leg in a tight hug and didn't let go.

They couldn't leave just yet though. One of the teachers spotted them and flagged Allen down before he could wrangle the rest of his kids. "I want to talk to you about Yumi. Do you have a minute?"

"Of course. What is it you want to talk about?"

After the incident with Eri and Timothy that afternoon and knowing that Yumi had inherited her father's temper, Allen was expecting to hear that she had hit someone. He was definitely not expecting the teacher to say, "I've been observing Yumi for a while now, and I'm worried that she's not where she should be, developmentally."

Allen's heart stopped as he gazed down at the navy haired girl gripping his leg. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's hard to say specifically, but she's not talking like she should be. Aside from 'yes', 'no', and 'potty', she doesn't say anything."

"She's just shy. There are a lot of unfamiliar people here." Allen was reluctant to believe something was wrong with his youngest child.

The teacher shook her head. "This is more than that. A child her age should at least be repeating the things she hears, but Yumi doesn't even try. When she's with that red headed boy over there," the woman paused to point across the playground at Matthew, "she gets a little more talkative, but the things they say to each other are gibberish. I-"

Allen frowned in thought as he interrupted her. "That's Matthew, her twin brother. It makes sense that she'd be more open around him. But is it gibberish they're speaking, or is it Japanese? We're bilingual at home."

The teacher echoed his thoughtful frown. "It's possible. I don't know any Japanese, so I wouldn't be able to tell. But that poses a different problem. She may not be speaking to anyone because Japanese may be the only language of the two that she actually understands."

Allen shook his head. "No, that's not it. She understands English just fine at home, and you yourself said that she can answer questions."

After a brief awkward silence, the woman caved. "I guess I'm worrying about nothing then. I don't mean to be an alarmist; I'm just concerned about her. I'm sorry if I've overstepped my bounds."

"Don't be." Allen smiled at her. "I'd much rather be worried over something that turns out to be nothing than miss something important because you didn't speak up."

While the teacher apologized again and thanked him for being understanding, Allen bent down and pried Yumi off his leg. She clung to him as he positioned her on his hip. "Well, Yumi, what do you want for dinner?"

The tired little girl immediately brightened and began listing off every food she could think of. Despite how strongly she took after Kanda, it was Yumi who had inherited Allen's love of food.

Allen laughed and called for Matthew and Erika, who came running the second they heard their names. It took some effort, but eventually all three kids were buckled into their car seats and they were headed home.