A/N: This chapter is short - sorry! But... at least it's here!
"Aunty Marie?" Maka asked. Marie looked down at Maka and gave a small smile.
"What's up, Maka?" Marie asked, picking up Maka and putting the girl on her lap. Maka sat forward and rested her head on her hands, giving a great sigh.
"We need to have a serious talk." Maka said, far too seriously for a three year old. Marie raised an eyebrow and looked down at Maka.
"What about, honey?" Marie asked. Maka looked at Marie and tilted her head to the side.
"Well, Aunty Marie, now that you're in love with Uncle Stein…" Maka began. Marie took a deep breath in and shrugged, clasping her hands.
"I just… Aunty Marie, will I get to love someone one day?" Maka asked. Marie clicked her tongue and her eyes softened, taking Maka's small hand in her own.
"Honey, you do have people you love. You have Mama, you've got Papa, you've got me and Uncle Stein…" Marie was cut off by yet another sigh from the three year old.
"No, I don't mean like that! I mean like… you know how people have special hugs? Like… like the ones they can only do with somebody they love very much?" Maka asked. Marie gave a small giggle under her breath, but kept her composure and nodded.
"Yes, Maka." Marie nodded.
"Well, is I going to find a person like that?" Maka asked. Marie sighed and tilted her head to the side.
"Well, Maka, I'm not sure you need to worry about that just now, honey." Marie reassured the sandy blonde toddler.
"But… What about you, Aunty Marie? Does you and Uncle Stein do the special hug that only two people in love can do?" Maka asked.
"Oh, no, Maka. I'm not even sure what's happening with us." Marie sighed and sat forward, rubbing her temples gently.
"Is you got a headache?" Maka asked. Marie sat back and shook her head.
"No, honey. I'm just thinking about some things. That's all." Marie smiled. Maka nodded and looked over at the door as Stein walked in.
"Hi, Uncle Stein!" Maka beamed. Stein gave a small smile and walked over to the two of them.
"You alright?" Stein asked Marie. Marie nodded and stood up, looking at Stein.
"I've got to go and run an errand, okay? But I'll be back soon." she said. Stein nodded and Maka took his hand.
"I look after Uncle Stein for you, Aunty Marie." Maka reassured her. Marie picked up her handbag, giggled and leant down, kissing Maka on the nose.
"I'm sure you will. I'll see you soon." Marie said, waving to the two as she walked out of the apartment. Stein looked down at Maka and pushed his glasses up over the bridge of his nose.
"So, what do you want to do?" Stein asked. Maka looked up, pondering the question before responding.
"Sciencing!" Maka beamed.
"… Sciencing?" Stein asked. Maka nodded.
"Well, Aunty Marie said that you wasn't just gonna be a doctor, you was gonna be a scientist too! So, maybe you can teach me to science!" Maka exclaimed. Stein raised an eyebrow and sighed.
"Alright, Maka," Stein sighed, "I'll teach you to science."
"What is going on in here?"
Two faces turned to look at Marie, one of a man, the other a small girl, both with splotches of cornstarch and the occasional splatter of food colouring.
"Slime!" Maka giggled, holding her green, slime-covered hands out in front of her. Stein quickly leapt behind her, holding his hands under hers and directing them back to the sink.
"Rinse them there, okay?" he asked, and Maka nodded. Stein then turned to Marie, ready for a lecture.
You can imagine his surprise when she smiled and giggled slightly.
"I haven't made this stuff since grade school." Marie smiled and walked forward to the counter, standing next to Maka, who was intently watching all of the colours run down the sink off of her hands.
"So, whose idea was it to make slime?" Marie asked. Maka smiled and turned the tap off.
"Well…" she took a great, heaving breath in, and both Stein and Marie knew that it was the beginning of one of her rambling anecdotes.
"Go on." Marie smiled.
"Well, I said to Uncle Stein that I wanted to do some sciencing, right? And I wanted to make something for Mama and Papa for when they get home tomorrow!" Maka exclaimed. Marie giggled and nodded.
"Sciencing for Mama and Papa, of course." she looked back at Stein and smiled.
"Yeah. So, I asked him what we could do that was about sciencing. He said that we could make slime with kitchen things! Did you know that we could make slime with kitchen things?" Maka asked.
"No, I didn't. That's pretty cool, isn't it?" Marie asked. Maka's eyes widened and she gasped.
"I'll show you how to make the slime, okay?" Maka exclaimed. Marie smiled and followed the young girl over to the counter. She looked at Stein and raised an eyebrow.
"I know you instigated this. Don't you play innocent with me, young man." Marie warned.
"Young man? Marie, I'm older than you." Stein said.
"Well, whatever." Marie huffed. Stein smirked and returned to the counter.
"I thought you liked this sort of stuff." Stein replied,
"I do," Marie said, "who said I was going to get mad at you? I might reward you."
"And just how are you planning to do that?" Stein asked with a smirk. Marie's eyes widened and she grabbed some of Maka's slime – some that had not quite turned out properly and was rather gooey – and threw it straight at Stein.
"I did say might reward you." Marie said. Stein raised an eyebrow, the slime sticking to his shirt, and bared a small smile in challenge, grabbing some of his own failed slime in his hand and throwing it at Marie. The slime hit her in the chest as well, splattering across it in great globs.
"Stein!" she exclaimed, and her hand reached out for the closest thing to throw – the cornstarch. A handful flew at Stein, the white powder hitting his face and dusting the top of the giggling toddler's head beneath it. Maka sneezed with that, and Marie looked down, her uncovered eye wide.
"Maka, I-" with that, Maka giggled wildly and pressed her tiny hands to Marie's hips, leaving two green hand prints.
"Aunty Marie, you're green!" Maka giggled wildly, and Marie picked her up. Stein walked towards her and pressed his hand to her cheek, and she felt her cheeks heat up.
"You've got some slime there." Stein brushed away the green substance with his thumb. Marie smiled.
"Thanks." she said, quietly. Stein gave a small nod.
"Well, I'll clean this up." Stein said.
"And I'll clean this one up." Marie looked at the cornstarch-and-slime covered Maka, and she giggled. Stein nodded and watched as Marie walked out of the room to the bathroom. He found himself staring, and was not knocked out of his daze until the phone rang. He nearly fell over himself, but regained his balance and answered the phone.
"Hey." Stein said.
"Oh, come on, man. You stated off the week with 'This is the Albarn residence.' What happened to that?"
"Well, seeing as ninety percent of the calls we get are from you telling me now much sex you've had, I decided it wasn't worth it." Stein drawled.
"Fine, fine. It's just a short call. Making sure Maka's okay."
"Maka's fine, Spirit. Nothing's happened." Stein reassured the girl's father.
"Good… What about you and Marie?" Spirit asked, and Stein could practically hear the smir Spirit was surely exhibiting.
"What about Marie and I?" Stein asked.
"Have you done anything?"
"No."
"Well, man, it's the last night… last chance. Don't' screw up."
"Whatever, Spirit." Stein drawled once more. Spirit laughed on the other end of the phone.
"Alright, alright, I'll let you be. See you tomorrow, dude."
"Goodbye, Spirit." Stein hung up the phone and rested against the cupboard.
As much as he hated to admit it – and he really hated admitting it – maybe Spirit was right. Maybe… maybe he had to make a move.
"She asleep?" Marie asked, watching as Stein walked over to her and sat down on the bed.
"Yeah. Finally. It probably wasn't a great idea to remind her that Spirit and Kami were coming back tomorrow after I'd made her forget… just before she was about to go to sleep." Stein chuckled. Marie smiled and looked down.
"Sorry." she smiled. Stein shook his head.
"It's fine, Marie." Stein reassured her, resting back on the bed, his hands behind his head.
"I can't believe the week's over. And, after tomorrow, we're just… we're going to go back to normal." Marie sighed.
"Yeah." Stein breathed.
"I'm really glad that I got to house-sit with you. We nearly lost contact there, after Shibusen." Marie sighed. Stein smirked.
"Yeah, anyone'd think that Spirit and Kami were trying to get us together." Stein looked at Marie, who simply laughed.
"Oh, they'd never do that." she smirked back. Stein nodded and sighed.
"Of course not." Stein replied.
"Well, we'd best get to sleep. I'm sure Maka will be overly hyperactive tomorrow, with her parents coming back." Marie said. Stein nodded, albeit reluctantly, and switched off his bedside light. The two of them pulled the covers over their shoulders.
It was the last night they would spend together.
The. Last. Night.
Death. Spirit was right.
They had come so far in that short week, and now… it was over. They couldn't leave it hanging. They just couldn't. Stein scrunched up his fists and turned over.
"Marie, I-"
"Stein, I like you."
"...Sorry?" Stein asked. Marie's cheeks heated up and she gasped.
"Oh, Death, Stein, I'm sorry, I-"
"Don't be sorry."
"Wh-"
Marie was cut off when Stein ran his hand under her jaw and pulled her lips to his. It seemed he was thinking the same thing as she was.
All restraint was left behind, there was no consideration that this may not be the way to start a relationship, but there was no doubt that this was right. Stein pulled away, his fingers tangled in Marie's hair, his forehead pressed against hers. Marie's leg was locked on top of Stein, her thigh sitting at his hip.
"Are you sure?" he whispered. Marie nodded.
"Stein, I've been sure ever since Shibusen, for Death's sake." Marie replied, her hand on Stein's cheek. Her expression then changed to one of questioning.
"Stein, we don't have a-" Marie began.
"Second drawer, left-hand side table, don't ask, blame Spirit." Stein answered. Marie smiled and pressed her lips to Stein's once more, beginning a night that neither of them would ever forget.
A/N: THEY'RE FINALLY BONING.
Geez, do you have any idea how much restraint I had to use in order to write six chapters of sickly sexual tension? Gawsh.