"1,2,3. 2,2,3. 3,2-Stop!"

Marie sighed in slight frustration. Her dance troupe had a recital in three weeks and their female lead wasn't performing right.

"Chiya, please loosen up. Our recital is in three weeks and if your this tight in rehearsal, I'm afraid I'll have to replace you."

While Marie could not deny that Chiya was attractive with her midnight black hair and hazel brown eyes, her ballet technique was poor and Marie's reputation as a ballet instructor would be ruined if Chiya performed this badly during the actual recital.

"Watch me. Your body is the lyrics to the song. Your arms move with the melody, your legs to the beat. Koki, will you turn the music back on?"

Koki nodded and pressed play before turning to watch his dance teacher. He had heard stories about Marie Ootori and her talent, but he had never seen that talent for himself until now. His green eyes watched in amazement as she twirled about the room, her arms flowing with the melody as her legs propelled her in various directions, her toes pointed and feet arched perfectly. Koki watched as Marie moved around the studio, her body flowing with the music as she performed the routine with precision. As she took her final pose, the music fading into nothingness, several of her students had turned to watch. Now they waited for their teacher's next move.

"All right, everyone. Gather around. I have some important news. Now as some of you may have heard, there's a rumor going around that I'm expecting. Well…the rumors are….true."

The girls in the class erupted in cheers and the boys all gave her congratulations. Marie smiled.

"Now, the due date is in August, which means you'll have a substitute teacher for a few months. He'll be here tomorrow, so I suggest you all get a good night's rest, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Excellent. You're all dismissed and I will see you all at the same time tomorrow."

After her students had left, Marie turned on the music for her duet routine, which would be performed with her old voice instructor Jacques Badeau. She waited patiently as the male portion of "Timeless" by Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini finished before beginning her routine. About half-way through the chorus, her left knee, which had been dislocated while she was being held captive by Akito, locked up causing her to fall. With tear-filled eyes, Marie crawled over to the table were her cellphone laid and dialed Kyouya's number.

"This is Kyouya."

"Kyouya? Kyouya, it's me."

"Marie? Darling, what's wrong?"

"My…my knee locked up. I can't move."

"All right. Sweetheart, I need you to calm down and tell me where you are."

"The dance studio. Kyouya, hurry."

"I'm on my way."

As soon as Kyouya hung up on his wife, he immediately called Tachibana and made sure that there were ace bandages and a knee brace in the car before driving off. Ten minutes later he was slowly straightening Marie's leg out.

"Marie, take a deep breath and find something to focus on."

Marie nodded and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as instructed. She flinched every few moments until her knee was straightened out, wrapped, and braced. As the two made their way home, Marie turned to husband and apologized.

"For what?"

"For making you leave work early. For making you-"

"Marie. Do you remember what I told you at our wedding? About how no matter what, I would always take care of you? That I would make sure that if you were sick, you'd be nursed back to health? If you were injured, you would be cared for until you were healed? I plan to stick by that vow."

Kyouya gently grasped Marie's hand and gave her a smile before turning his eyes back to the road. She squeezed his hand and whispered,

"I know."

The rest of the ride home was silent until Marie broke it.

"Kyouya."

"Yes?"

"What time is it?"

"5:15 pm. Why?"

"Jacques's plane arrived 15 minutes ago. And it's going to take us about 30 minutes to get there."

Kyouya was stared blankly at the road in front of him, trying to figure out what to say to his distressed wife.

"Should I send Tachibana to retrieve him?"

"Yes" Marie sighed, "At least Tachibana can make it there in less than thirty minutes."

-Meanwhile at the airport-

A blond haired, green eyed Frenchman sighed as he looked around. His old student and her husband were supposed to pick him up.

"This sucks." he muttered before sitting down on a bench to wait.

KRRR: So, I just came up with an idea and I would really like your opinions. As some of you may be aware, EmberWillow14 wrote a story called "He Hurt Her When He Wasn't There". In said story, Marie was with Kaoru. I was thinking of writing a little mini-story about them but wasn't sure if that would be welcomed. So please let me know! Thanks!