"Tachibana, we need to stop for more coffee," Kyoya grunted from the back of the car. It was 6:36 on Sunday morning; a time when no civilized human being should even contemplate being out of bed.

"Master Kyoya, if we stop we likely won't be on time for your meeting with Miss Johnson," his head of security said. "If you'd like, I can bring you coffee after dropping you off at the monument."

"No, I'll just grab something afterwards," Kyoya muttered. He hunched down into his seat. He was not looking forward to another verbal sparring match with Laney Johnson. He was certain she'd arranged an early morning meeting just to put him off balance.

"Here we are, sir. You'll let me know when you want to be picked up?"

"Yes. Don't go too far—I'm hoping to get this over with quickly." Kyoya got out of the car and crossed quickly to the Jefferson Memorial. Laney was sitting on the steps next to the Tidal Basin, a bag and two steaming cups next to her. As she caught sight of Kyoya, she raised a hand in greeting.

"I brought coffee and croissants. My sources told me you weren't a morning person," she said when he reached her. She handed him a cup. "Cream and sugar are in the bag, if you take it."

"Your sources didn't tell you that I like my coffee black?" Kyoya took a cautious sip. The coffee was rich and full-bodied. He let out an appreciative noise. "This is delightful, thank you."

"I got the good stuff. I figured you probably wouldn't like commoner coffee." Laney said artlessly.

Kyoya almost choked. "I'm sorry? Commoner coffee?"

"Yes, I had a rather interesting phone call last night. Your friend Tamaki is absolutely charming." Laney dimpled at him.

"26 years old and that man still can't mind his own damn business," Kyoya muttered.

"I think he's sweet." Laney said. At Kyoya's obvious consternation, she laughed. "Don't worry. We talked for about 10 minutes before his fiancée made him hang up. She said that this wasn't one of his projects and he shouldn't interfere."

Kyoya made a mental note to send Haruhi a huge bouquet of flowers for stopping that phone conversation. Then he'd send her the bill as punishment for letting Tamaki make the damn call in the first place. But first he needed to get back on top of this conversation. "Fascinating, no doubt. I don't suppose he mentioned how he got your phone number?"

"Evidently his father and my grandfather are friends. For all that they're such powerful businessmen, they gossip worse than my grandma's stitch and bitch group. And believe me, that's not easy to do."

Kyoya had no answer for that one. They walked along in silence for a few minutes, sipping their coffee. The sun was just starting to rise, lightening the sky behind the blooming cherry trees. A bird sung out, and Laney stopped, scanning the trees.

"It's a mockingbird," she said in answer to Kyoya's questioning look. "I'm trying to find it."

"How can you tell it's a mockingbird if you can't see it? Don't they just mimic other birds?"

"They repeat each call three times before moving to the next one. It's unmistakable if you know what to listen for." She cocked her head, closing her eyes. "There." She opened her eyes and pointed to a tree roughly 5 feet away. "At the top of the tree."

"I don't see him," Kyoya said, craning his head. He moved closer, his cheek brushing Laney's hair. "Wait, now I see." The bird let loose a liquid burble of song. Kyoya could feel Laney take a quick breath of admiration.

"There used to be a mockingbird that lived in the tree outside my window when I spent summers in Williamsburg. He would sing all night long. Sometimes if Grandma and I had been singing on the porch earlier in the evening, I'd hear him repeating phrases of our songs. One night I sang to him, and got him to repeat almost a whole song after me. It was the most amazing thing." Laney turned to stare out over the water.

A faint breeze rippled the surface of the water and sent a cloud of cherry blossoms swirling around them. Kyoya was struck by a sudden wave of homesickness. "My sister would love this place," he said before thinking.

Laney turned back to him. "You sound like you must miss her. Tell me about your family."

Kyoya fixed his bland smile back in place and pushed his glasses up. "Oh, there's nothing much to tell, really. I have one sister and two brothers, all older. You knew that, of course. They're all married. Fuyumi has three children; they keep her busy, so I don't see much of her even when I'm back in Japan. We were close when we were younger."

"But you weren't close with your brothers," Laney guessed.

"They rightly prioritized their duty to the family over playing with a younger brother," Kyoya said firmly.

They lapsed into silence again as they continued their circuit around the tidal basin. The sun was almost fully up by now, and the area was starting to fill up with couples and young families out for an early morning walk.

"Your father arranged all their marriages?" Laney asked suddenly.

"In a sense." Kyoya replied, tamping down his impatience. He could hardly tell her this conversation was irrelevant. "He arranged meetings, but no one was forced to the altar at knifepoint. But my brothers and sister all saw the advantages of the matches my father proposed. It's worked out quite well for the family."

"And is that what you want? That's your highest ambition? To marry for your father's greatest advantage?" Laney pressed.

"For my family's greatest advantage. And I never said it was my highest ambition," Kyoya corrected quietly. "Besides, it seems to have worked out quite nicely for the time being, hasn't it?" he went on brightly. "I'm sure left to my own devices I never would have had the delightful experience of seeing cherry blossoms at sunrise, and certainly I would not have had such a beautiful lady by my side without the intervention of our fathers!" Kyoya could have kicked himself as he heard the words leave his mouth. Who would have ever thought all the inanities I memorized during my Host Club days would come back to haunt me now?

Laney ignored the last comment, for which Kyoya was silently grateful. A skein of geese flew overhead, honking loudly. Laney looked up them, singing softly "My heart knows what the wild goose knows, and I must go where the wild goose goes. Wild goose, brother goose, which is best? A wanderin' foot or a heart at rest?" She hummed a few more measures, then fell silent.

"Was that some kind of message for me?" Kyoya ventured after a minute.

"Not everything is about you, actually," Laney said. "My mother and I used to sing that whenever we saw geese when I was a child. It's become something of a habit. I'm sorry if it annoyed you."

"No, I enjoyed it. I'd like to hear more, as a matter of fact." Kyoya had always loved music, and something about Laney's plaintive minor melody made him eager to hear the rest of the song.

"Well, in the words of the great sage Jagger, you can't always get what you want," Laney said lightly. "I'm meeting a couple friends out at Manassas this morning. You're more than welcome to join us, if you'd like, but I probably should head out soon if I want to get there by 9."

"I'm sorry, I can't. I have a paper due tomorrow and I want a chance to look it over before I turn it in. And I need to iron out some rough spots in my dissertation proposal," Kyoya said. And I despise hiking—what a completely useless activity.

"I'll call you later?" Laney asked.

"I look forward to it," Kyoya said, somewhat surprised to find it was the truth. Conversations with Laney Johnson were proving to be a bit of a minefield. He wasn't sure he was ever going to be able to anticipate what was going to come out of this woman's mouth. It was … exciting.