A/N: When Kanda refers to "the other exorcists" in this chapter, he is not talking about the Generals, as they're out on missions; Bookman, for rather obvious reasons; or Marie and Miranda, as it will be revealed later that they've been out accompanying General Teidoll. It's also worth noting that because this is in a semi-AU, and time has passed, the group of exorcists in this story is not the same group of people as in the manga/anime.

Also, just to make it perfectly clear, six months have passed since the end of Chapter 2.

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

~Present Day~

The day began like usual: I woke up in bed beside my Moyashi, propped myself up on my elbow, and watched him sleep. He looked so angelic like that, with his white hair splayed out around his head like a halo, and his beautifully pale skin just added to the illusion. His face was so innocent in sleep, with no traces of the worry lines and dark circles that he had during the day. It had been months since he smiled at anyone other than me, but that smile came back when he was sleeping.

I wished he would stay asleep. I wanted him to stay in the land of his dreams where he was happy and not return to the living hell of the waking world. I didn't want to see his once bright and sparkling silver eyes in the dull lifeless grey they were now. I didn't want to watch his spirit continue to die piece by piece every day. I wanted to undo the last six months and go back to the way things used to be. Back to when his friends were annoying and in our way, back to when everyone at the Order loved him and the worst thing anyone called him was "Bean Sprout".

But Allen didn't want that. According to him, he was just as happy now as he was back then. I didn't believe him for a second, but I played along. I was his only friend left, and if he wanted to pretend that that was good enough, then I was going to let him. Besides, it was easier to be together when I didn't have to share him. But even if things never did go back to how they were, I was going to have to share him again. In just eleven weeks, he was going to give birth to our daughter, and I would no longer have his undivided attention.

His belly was already so big and full of life. It was his only source of happiness, and the unborn baby was the light of his life. He loved her dearly. And though he often said that he'd rather have her and me than his old friends, I knew it was a lie.

It wasn't long after we discovered his pregnancy that everything went wrong. Instead of rallying around the boy that they all loved, everyone pushed him away. His unwillingness to tell people that I was the one who had knocked him up was taken as him not knowing who did it because he was sleeping around. He played along with the joke at first, but by the end of that month, it had been blown so out of proportion that everyone believed Allen was a whore, a prostitute who sold his body for money. They rejected him so completely that he no longer left his room for anything other than food, medical exams, and physical therapy for his ankle. Going out would only result in cruel teasing propositions from the finders. Jerry, Komui, and the infirmary staff seemed to be the only people smart enough to not care about the rumors, though the supervisor was probably too obsessed over the miracle male pregnancy to have even noticed them. Things had gotten so out of control that even Lenalee and the rabbit no longer hung out with Allen.

But every time I tried to protest the treatment he was receiving, every time I tried to convince him that it was time to tell everyone that I was the father of his baby, he'd shut down. I wanted-

I was snapped from the depressing thoughts when the Moyashi stirred. He smiled at me, still half asleep, and for that one moment, he was back to his usual self. "Good morning, Moyashi."

He kissed me gently. "Good morning, Yuu."

Then, as it always did, reality came crashing back to him. His eyes dimmed as he rolled away and pushed himself into a seated position. He stayed that way for a moment, staring out at nothing in particular, but then his hand came to rest on his protruding belly. And as he began rubbing and caressing the mound, some of his spirit returned. "Good morning to you too, sweetheart."

Taking the cue from him, I moved so that I was hovering over his pregnant belly. I pushed up his shirt and pressed several kisses onto his stretch marked skin. Back at the beginning of the pregnancy, I would talk to the baby and tell her all about the wonderful life she would have, but I couldn't lie to my unborn child, and I no longer believed she would have that. Outside of this little room, she was going to be a pariah, mistreated and hated because all those idiots believed that her mother was a whore.

Sitting up, I sighed at the Moyashi. "Should I even bother asking if you're going to do anything today?"

He scowled at me. "I have a doctor's appointment."

"That doesn't count."

"Then no, don't ask."

I frowned at him, but he just brushed it off. "I'm ok, Yuu, honest. I'm perfectly happy with staying in and spending my time with our daughter. There's no need for you to try to fix things, ok?"

He gave me that look I was powerless against, and I conceded. "I disagree, but as long as it's what you want, I'll keep my mouth shut."

I kissed him then climbed off the bed to get dressed. I guess that was something good about the Moyashi being an outcast, there was no one to give us grief for living together. When he didn't follow my lead, I turned back to the bed. "Aren't you coming for breakfast?"

He shook his head, and I knew that the trace of his usual self that I saw was in reaction to my half-naked state. "Komui wants to do an ultrasound this morning; I can't eat till it's over." Without waiting for prompting, he explained and returned to rubbing his belly. "I'm bigger than I should be, and he wants to find out why."

I frowned at the anxious movement of his hands as I finished pulling on my clothes. "Just say the word and I'll be there. I know you don't want that, but I still thought I'd offer. I'd drop everything in a heartbeat to help you and our child, you know that, right?"

He nodded with tears in his eyes, and that was my cue to leave. "I'll be in the training hall after breakfast. Come find me and tell me how it went, ok?"

"Ok." Anyone else might have heard a confident agreement, but I heard the fear behind it. He didn't like that I had asked him to meet me in a public place.

I ate my breakfast as quickly as possible. Being around the idiots in the cafeteria bothered me a lot more than it used to. Before the Moyashi got pregnant, everyone used to laugh and gossip about things that were pointless and trivial, and it annoyed the shit out of me. But now the only thing that they seemed capable of gossiping about was 'the resident pregnant whore'. All anyone wanted to talk about was how Allen was a 'sex-crazed slut' and how he deserved much worse than having to suffer through a pregnancy as a male.

I hated hearing Allen talked about like that. I wanted to defend my lover's honor. I wanted to slaughter every last one of them. I could let the finders get away with it; they were idiots who were going to die like flies anyway. It was the other exorcists that I couldn't stand. They were the ones who should know better. Hearing Lenalee call Allen a whore, when the boy used to be her best friend, hurt me deeply.

In a way, it was a little ironic. I was the only one who ever saw Allen's horny side, and I was the only one who still saw him as innocent and naïve.

But I couldn't appreciate the irony, so I ate as quickly as possible and ran away before I lost my temper.

Meditation was my escape from the reality I was stuck in. It always had been. Though lately it was little more than daydreaming about what I wished my life was like. But even in my fantasies, the Moyashi and I were still having a baby together. That was the one thing about all this that I would never change. I loved my daughter and couldn't wait to finally hold her in my arms.

The room grew noisy as the other exorcists came in to train, and I ditched the fantasies for actual meditation in order to block them out. I debated going somewhere less noisy, but I was stubborn and wanted the Moyashi to come to me.

The noise stopped in a heartbeat when Allen walked in the door. Everyone halted their activities to give him dirty looks. But he held his head high and ignored them. He began to walk my direction, and the farther he came into the room, the quicker the others moved to leave. By the time he reached me, we were alone.

I raised an eyebrow as I smiled at him. "How'd it go?"

My question was answered with a blank look. Whatever happened had him freaked out. I leaned forward and kissed his baby bump, knowing that would snap him out of it. When he finally spoke, he wasn't looking at me, but rather some unknown thing behind me. "Our daughter was hiding behind her sister in my last ultrasound."

It took a second for what he said to make sense. Getting to my feet, I tangled my fingers into his hair so that he would have no choice but to look me in the eyes. "Are you saying that we're having twins?"

He nodded. "They're both girls. Komui said a whole lot of technical stuff, and he's doing some sort of test, but basically there's about a twenty percent chance that they'll be identical."

Before I could react, he threw his mismatched arms around my shoulders and kissed me. The smile he gave me was almost bright, but I could still see the pain in it. "So you can stop worrying about me, Yuu. I'm going to have two daughters to love and care for. I don't need my friends."

"Yes, you do, Baka." I rolled my eyes at him, but didn't push him away. "You need them now more than ever."

The Moyashi pouted at me. How could anyone possibly think that this innocent child is a whore? "Does that mean you're upset with me?"

"Why would I be upset with you?"

He buried his face in my chest, and I heard him bite back a sniffle. "For having twins."

"I'm not upset." I kissed the top of his head and began rubbing the side of his belly. "I'm... scared. One was going to be hard to handle, two is going to be impossible. Especially when everyone here hates you. There's not going to be anyone to look after them when we have to go away on missions."

My attempt to talk sense into him was blown off. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. This whole thing may have blown over by then."

"Moyashi. Everyone here thinks that you've been selling your body for money. That's not going to go away unless you do something about it."

He pushed away from me, an angry pout in his eyes. I caught his wrist, and spoke before he could start shouting at me. "Look. I told you before: I'm not going to act without your permission."

"Thank you." He kissed me and then began to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

He snorted. "To take a nap. It's been an exhausting morning."

Alone in the training hall, I took out my frustrations on some hapless training dummies. After talking to Allen just now, I was angrier than ever at his so-called friends.