Alright. Even though by now it's obvious who's mine and who's not... Kaen, Kyra, Jance, Valen and Cayden belong to us. Knives are mine. Erol belongs to Naughty Dog.

On with the show.


Two months ticked by, slowly but surely. These months were rare months for all, one of the fairly implausible times where people were genuinely happy. Kaen was happy enough to be sure, since her morning sickness has all but disappeared. Some mornings she'd just lay in bed, feeling quite pleased with herself for not being nauseous.

That morning was one of those mornings.

Erol sat up and looked at her, "So, how're you feeling?"

"Excellent." Kaen tried to sit up, but failed. It was cold in the room.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her.

"The room is an icebox."

"No it's not."

"Okay, the room to any normal person is an icebox."

"Fine, fair enough."

"Can you turn up the heat?"

He sighed, "Fine," he got up and adjusted the thermostat.

"Thank you. You're an angel."

"You're welcome," he said, coming back and sitting on the bed.

"Have I ever mentioned how much I love the summer?"

"No, I don't believe so."

"Well, I adore summer. It's warm and nice."

He leaned over and kissed her, "It is."

She grinned. "That made it even better."

"I'm glad," he kissed her again, "I don't know about you, but I'm probably going to get up in a few minutes."

"I'm getting up now." Kaen stretched, then got off the bed. "Again, thanks for turning up the thermostat."

"Anytime."

She rolled her eyes, then went to the closet to pick out her clothes for the day. All normal – until she saw herself in the mirror. Her usually slightly concave stomach was now, to use similar terms, slightly convex. There was a visible bump protruding from her stomach.

Erol had noticed the change in her physique a few days earlier, there was next to no doubt in his mind anymore as to what was causing this.

Kaen stared at her belly. Where had it come from? She shook her head, it wasn't possible. "Do you think I've gained weight?" she asked Erol.

He looked at her, weighing his options, "Maybe a little." It was an understatement, she had.

"Dammit," she snarled, then proceeded to lock herself in the closet.

--

Kyra stood by the front doors of the manor. Even after two months of dating, she'd never been to her own boyfriend's house. Tentatively she knocked on the door, hoping Jance wouldn't mind her intrusion.

The door was opened by the butler. "May I help you?"

"Erm…I want to see Jance…'kay?" Kyra could feel herself blush.

The man gave her a weird look. "One moment. I'll be right back." He let her in, then walked away.

She surveyed the room. It was beautiful, sort of like it was from a fairytale. Quite epic really.

Erol came down into the entranceway and saw her; he blinked, raised an eyebrow and walked over, "Um…Hello…" Who the hell was she?

"Oh, hello." She smiled.

"Uh…who are you?" he tried to keep his tone polite.

"My name's Kyra. Who're you?"

"Oh you're Kyra! I'm Erol. Jance doesn't shut up about you."

Her face went a dark shade of red. "That normal – I don't shut up about him. Do you know where he is?"

"Yeah, he's in his room, come on, I'll take you up."

Her smile widened. "Thanks. I hope I'm not intruding."

"Don't worry about it. Jance didn't mention anything about you coming here, does he know about this?"

"Nope. I was just bored and I missed him."

Erol nodded as he led her down the hall to Jance's room. He stopped abruptly.

"What?" she asked. The house was complicated; she'd need Jance to lead her back.

"Shh…" he raised a hand, "Do you hear that?"

Kyra listened, straining to hear a sound. There, coming out of what she assumed to be Jance's room, someone was playing guitar and singing, "Is that Jance?"
Erol smirked, "It is."

"It's beautiful. I didn't know he could sing!"

"He'd prefer if no one knew. He's good though." Erol motioned for her to follow him, "He'll stop if he hears us."

She followed him, enjoying the sound of the music. Beautiful.

Erol stopped outside the door. "He's in there," he whispered.

"Thank you." But Kyra didn't go in, she wouldn't until he finished.

"He'll show you the way out. And just a heads up, my wife is probably going to want to meet you." Erol said quietly before heading off to go find said wife.

Kyra smiled and nodded, then went back to enjoying the music. After a moment or two, the song was done and she felt like she could knock. So she did.

"Come in." Jance said, looking up at the door from where he sat on the floor, hoping whoever it was hadn't heard him.

She opened it wide enough to poke her head in. "You didn't tell me you could sing."

He went bright red, "Just never came up I guess," he laughed nervously. Well that was awkward.

"It's pretty. Can I come in?"

"Sure."

She smiled at him, then opened the door a little bit wider and slid in. "Anyway. Hi. I hope I'm not intruding."

He grinned, setting his guitar aside, "You're not, it's nice to see you."

"Okay. I was afraid I'd be a bother." She walked over to him. "You have a nice house."

"It's my sister-in-law's but I'll be sure to pass on the compliment."

"Apparently she might attack me before I leave. Whatever. But pass it on if you want."

Jance shrugged, "She just wants to meet you. Both her and Erol have made it clear. He'll want to see you too."

"He took me up here. He seems pretty nice, a trait that seems to run in the family."

He laughed, "You're sweet."

"So are you."

"Thanks."

"You're very welcome."

"You can sit down if you'd like," he gestured around the room, "Wherever suits you."

She sat on the floor.

He grinned at her, "Nice choice."

"It works. Rather sit here than anywhere else."

"Me too." He picked up his guitar again, but it was only to put it away.

"You love that guitar, don't you?"

"Yep."

"You really are an odd one." She smiled at him.

He cocked his head at her. "How so?"

"I don't know. You're not like most people I know. And that's a good thing."

He grinned and shifted closer to her.

She closed the tiny space between them, curling up slightly against him.

He slipped an arm around her shoulders and rubbed his nose against her cheek.

"You're being sweet again."

"I'm being me."

"And you're really sweet."

"So are you."

"Thank you." She leaned her head on his shoulder.

He sighed, resting his cheek against her head.

"Something wrong?"

"Not at all."

"So that was more a sigh of contentment?"

"Yep."

"Those are nice types of sighs."

"They are," he agreed, kissing the top of her head.

She laughed quietly, "We're weird."

"But weird's good."

"Indeed. Birds of a feather and all that."

He nuzzled her hair. He couldn't imagine life without her.

Kyra really hoped she never dated anyone else – none of them would ever compare to Jance.

"I love you."

She blinked then grinned, "I love you too."

He shifted, tightening his arm around her. How had he ever gotten along without her?

There was a knock on the door.

Jance glanced up. "Come in."

Valen poked his head into the room. "I came to see and to extend and invitation."

He raised an eyebrow at the psychologist, encouraging him to continue.

"Well can you blame me for wanting to see Kyra?" he sighed, "And it's time for lunch."

Jance looked at his girlfriend, "Want lunch?"

"I'd love lunch. Though I probably don't need it." She finally addressed the oogling Valen, "Hello Professor. Please stop staring – I'm not a zoo exhibit."

Jance grinned, "C'mon Val, there's nothing weird to stare at," he stood offering Kyra a hand up.

She took it, glad for help. Not that she actually needed it.

"Well sor-ee!" Valen said with a grin, "Now, I'll see you both downstairs." He left.

Jance gave her hand a squeeze, "Come on, I'll take you down."

"Thanks. It's confusing."

"I know, Erol still has trouble navigating sometimes."

"That makes me feel better."

He grinned, "I don't know if Kaen's caught on to it yet."

"She seems like an interesting person."

"She is. You'll probably meet her in a few minutes."

"That's good. See who gave you those scars."

He grinned again and led her down to the dining room.

Kaen glanced over the menu with interest, "What to eat…" she muttered, "Pheasant, lamb, steak, chicken, seafood…" She just couldn't decide.

"Hey Kaen."

The crime lady didn't look up. "Hello Jance," she said, "And Kyra, I assume."

Jance passed Kyra a menu, "Here."

"Thanks. This is weirdly fancy…"

Kaen finally looked at her. Jance had been right – Kyra was very pretty. "You get used to it."

"I hope so."

Jance pulled back a chair and motioned for Kyra to sit down.

She did, smiling at him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said, taking the chair next to her.

Kaen rolled her eyes and went back to searching.

Kyra stared at the list of food. "My god… This is insane!"

Jance shrugged, he already knew what he'd have.

A waiter walked in. "Your orders?"

His employer sighed, "Shrimp penne."

Kyra bit her lip, "Lamb sandwich?"

Jance smirked, "Steak. Raw."

The waiter made a face. "Very well sir. Would you like that defrosted?"

"Yes please." Jance resisted the urge to roll his eyes; he thought they would've been used to him by now.

The man nodded again, then turned and left the room to fetch their food.

"Hey," Jance looked around, "Where's Val? And Erol?"

"Valen is going to be here in a moment - something came up with the Monitor. As for Erol, I have no idea where he is." Kaen sighed, obviously slightly annoyed.

Jance nodded before turning to his girlfriend, "So what do you think?"

"It's so…unreal. Like something someone wrote in a book."

"It takes some getting used to, that's for sure."

"I'm having trouble believing I'm here. I keep thinking I'll wake up any second and be back in the coffee shop."

"Have you ever fallen asleep in that coffee shop?"

"Yes, I have actually."

"Really? Wow...I didn't ever think you had. Well, I can assure you, this is real."

"That's good. Things this happy don't usually happen to people like me."

He gave her an unbelieving expression.

"What's that look mean?"

He shrugged.

She shrugged right back.

He grinned and kissed her cheek.

She smiled, "You're silly sometimes."

"I know."

A door opened and the waiter strode out, carrying two steaming plates of food and a slab of meat on a platter. He came over to the table and set down the food in front of the appropriate person. "Enjoy your meals," he said before gliding back into the kitchen.

Jance grinned and immediately began to gnaw on his steak.

Kaen just sighed and shook her head, then decided to just let it go and began to eat.

Kyra poked her food, pinched herself, then began to eat.

About halfway through the meal Erol finally showed up, he was in an old t-shirt and there was a long black streak of grease on his face. "Hey," he said as he sat down next to his wife.

In a second there was a napkin in his wife's hand. "Hey." She started wiping away at the grease stain on his face.

"Hey! Quit it!"

She scrubbed only harder at the stubborn stain. "No. I'm not going to have you sit here looking like you've crawled out of a garage."

He rolled his eyes, and attempted to pull away, "But I just did."

"I know." She held him still. "Don't move - I'm almost done."

Erol sighed, feeling rather like a little kid, "Honestly..."

Finally the stain came off completely. "There," she said, letting him go, "You're free."

"Thank you."

Kyra, across the table, snickered into her hand.

"It's not funny."

"Yes it is." Jance said, grinning like an idiot. It was always funny to see Erol get his face forcefully cleaned.

"Stop being a baby Erol," Kaen said, rolling her eyes. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "There? All better."

Erol sighed again, but couldn't help a smile at his wife. He glanced at her plate, "Is that shrimp?"

"Yes, indeed it is."

Erol immediately looked at his brother, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm fine as long as she keeps it on that side of the table. I'm not that bad." Jance shook his head, sometimes...

"I didn't know you were allergic to seafood," Kyra said, looking concerned. "Are you deathly allergic?"

Jance looked at her, "Yeah, I'm pretty bad..."

"That sucks. Isn't there something to help with that?"

"No, not really."

"I feel bad for you."

Jance shrugged, "Don't. It's nothing big."

Erol stared at him, "Nothing big? I remember when we learned about your allergy!"

"What happened?" Kaen asked, extremely interested.

"Nothing much."

"You nearly died! You were in the hospital for a week!"

"Two." Jance corrected.

Kaen grinned evilly and chucked a shrimp to his side of the table.

Jance picked up his unused fork and flicked it away.

"I was hoping it'd touch your food…"

"Come on, you don't try to spike Valen's drinks with alcohol or anything..."

"Valen's different. You're a fun person to hurt - and you'll even have someone to sit dutifully at your bedside."

Jance gave her a highly unamused look.

"What?!"

He rolled his eyes and decided to finish his steak before Kaen decided to try again with the shrimp.

Kyra watched the other woman wonderingly - this was who ran Haven City? It didn't seem to match up. She'd expected someone uptight and proper, sort of like a goddess. Instead Kaen seemed to be a very normal person with the same quirks and faults as everyone else. It was quite unnerving.

Jance barely noticed his girlfriend's reaction to the crime lady; he sat there, licking the blood off his hands with a strangely content look.

"So, Kyra," Erol began, "What do you do when you're not hanging around my brother?"

"Me? Erm… Job search, write, hang out with my friends… Stuff like that. Artsy crap."

"What do you write?"

"Umm Stories, poems, essays and, of course, news articles."

Erol nodded, "Nice."

"Not that exciting. Hence why I spend most of my time with your brother."

"I see."

"Yeah…"

Erol nodded again, now unsure what to say to keep the conversation going.

The main door burst open at that point, revealing Valen and Cayden. Both men were arguing loudly with large hand gestures, but Valen looked much more smug than Cayden did.

Erol turned and looked at both of them, what in the world...?

"I do not owe you one grand!" Cayden snapped, sitting down heavily beside Kaen. "Not in your life!"

"I told you that Jance'd have a girl by the end of the month. You owe me one grand!"

"NO I DO NOT!"

"Yes you do!"

"Shut up!" Kaen snapped. "Cayden, just pay up!"

"MAKE ME!"

The crime lady blinked. Since when did Cayden talk back to her?

Erol fixed Cayden with a very pointed look. That was not normal behavior for the bodyguard.

Jance sighed and whispered to Kyra, "Somehow those two feel the need to 'spice things up' by betting on random things. In this case, I guess my social life."

"That's weird. And is that guy on steroids or something?" she pointed at Cayden. "He's scaring me."

"No, that's just Cayden, his line's been bred for that," Jance said, slipping his hand over hers reassuringly.

"Oh, okay. It's just… He's like a mountain!"

"I know."

"Is he violent?"

"Sometimes."

"To people like me?"

"Doubtful."

"That's comforting." But she still shifted towards Jance, not trusting something that huge.

He slipped his arm around her, "I'll make sure he doesn't hurt you." He meant it too; he'd die before he let anyone hurt Kyra.

"Thanks." She believed him wholeheartedly. Jance would never let anyone hurt her.

He nuzzled her hair gently, he would've kissed her, but wasn't sure how well she'd take his meat breath.

"Wow," said Valen, "You two are as bad as Erol and Kaen."

"Oh, you're done arguing?" Jance asked, turning to look at his psychologist.

"Yeah, we're done. Right?"

"Right," Cayden muttered.

"So, apart from the two of you taking a financial interest in my personal life, what's new?"

"Nothing much. Monitor's going well, so everything's fine." He gave Kyra a weird look, "You know, that job offer is still open…"

"No. No. No, no, no. I'm not working for a tabloid."

"Fine, fine, just asking."

"You know you would get a lot of useful experience working for him." Jance said.

"Is this actually about my future job life or the fact I'll be here everyday?"

"A little of both."

"Oh. Sorry Jance, I won't lower myself to writing 'How To' articles."

"Your choice." He shrugged nonchalantly.

She rolled her eyes.

He grinned at her.

"I swear, if you keep being this sweet to me, I'll get a cavity."

"I'll pay the dentist bill."

"Alright then. You can continue then."

He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"You smell like raw meat."

"Sorry..."

"It's epic."

He blew playfully at her.

She grinned, "Only you Jance, only you."

"Yes, only me."

"Which is good, if there were two of you I'd be very confused."

"So would I. Besides, I wouldn't like being copied."

"I have to say, I agree. How would one do that I wonder…"

"It would be hard to do. No one would want to." He nuzzled her hair again.

Kyra tilted her head up slightly and kissed him. "Point."

He kissed her back, a fleeting gesture; he still wasn't used to it. His animal side flared up every time their lips met.

"Ick." Cayden made a face. "Beauty and the Beast."

Jance shot him a very pointed look, "Hey kid, I don't call you demeaning names."

"I'm not a kid! Plus, you and I both know it's true."

"This is true. Kid..." He couldn't resist, he hadn't forgotten Cayden calling him a kid the day he'd been released.

"I'M NOT A KID!"

Kaen got up. "Know what? I'm out. And I apologize Kyra, for the behavior of my advisors."

"It's okay…" the other woman said weakly.

The crime lady nodded, then swept out of the room, highly offended.

Erol got up, "Well, it was nice chatting to you; I should probably go put my racer back together before I lose track of everything," He gave a quick nod to everyone, "See you later."

Cayden stood up and headed for the kitchen. "I'm still hungry," he muttered.

Valen sighed and followed him. He did still owe him one grand.

"So," Jance said, "What should we do now?"

"I dunno. What'd you want to do?"

He shrugged.

"C'mon, I'm sure you can figure something out."

"I'm a highly indecisive person, you know this."

"I know, but that's okay I suppose. Well, here's some ideas… We could go for a walk… You could show me around We could part ways, though I'm not sure I like that option…"

"I know I don't. I think I can show you around...a bit."

"Okay." Kyra stood up, grinning in excitement. "That sounds good to me."

"C'mon," Jance took her hand as he stood, "Let's see how far along a tour we can get."

"Okay. This is absolutely amazing… I'd love to live somewhere like here…"

"It's pretty neat." Maybe one day...He grinned at her and led her out of the dining room.