A/N: Yes, the hits are back! I hope you got your fill last chapter, but don't worry, they are not going away. In fact, expect more this chapter. I love writing little Akio. I figured he would be like Mori, but a bit more in your face due to the group of people he is surrounded by as he grows up and thus he would be very protective of Haruhi. Of course watching you mom and dad taking physical measures against certain people… well, it has contributed. Enjoy the new chapter!

TIP (hit counts): Tamaki – 17 (wow I'm off to a good start), Hikaru – 5, Kaoru – 5, Kyoya – 2 (please don't kill me Shadow King)

Chapter 9 – Do or Die

Instead of going into the office Monday morning, Haruhi met with a client and didn't finish until close to lunch time. Since she wasn't actually scheduled to go into the office that day, she decided it was the perfect opportunity to make a quick stop in order to visit two of her closest, most cherished friends (okay, you have to admit dear reader that is true, although there are times she does want to kill them); and she knew that no matter what, they would be willing to follow through with her request… or else. Pulling into the twins' driveway and getting out of her car, Haruhi took a deep breath and prepared to do battle.

Haruhi walked up to the door and before she could even knock, it was being opened by one of the many servants the twins employed, "Oh hello. Are Hikaru and Kaoru in?"

"Yes, Haruhi-sama. They are in their workroom," the butler answered with a small smile. He had always liked the brunette and had finally broken the habit of not calling her by her last name as custom dictated.

Stopping herself from rolling her eyes at the formal honorific, she stepped into the foyer, "I know where it is. I'd like to surprise them if you don't mind."

"Of course," the butler bowed and could only imagine the trouble his masters were in; there was a glint in Haruhi's eyes that told him the twins had done something, and there was no telling what it was.

The brunette moved down the hall towards one of the larger back rooms and twisted the handle. Thankfully it was unlocked. Opening the door, she quietly stepped inside and found the twins hard at work on their new line which would be debuted in a matter of weeks. Part of her felt bad for the favor she was about to press on them, but not completely because she had seen them knock out a dress overnight… in fact the dress that she actually wore to her wedding had been made in less than 48 hours. They had done one dress and days before the wedding decided they didn't like it and designed something completely different; and she had loved the new dress more than the old. So she knew they could do it, it was just a matter of properly motivating them, "Well, it seems that you two are busy little bees these days."

Two heads shot up and looked towards the door. Upon seeing who the intruder was, they both jumped up and ran for the door, but they never got to lay a hand on their "toy" because they were stopped by a long stick. "Haruhi?" The redheads asked in question. Why had she brought a weapon? (In this case dear reader, she didn't pull it out of thin air, she hid it behind her back. I'm sure the butler saw it adding to his understanding the twins did something).

"No glomping, pulling, squeezing, etc. I'm not in the mood," Haruhi declared.

The twins glanced at each other and then back at their friend before announcing simultaneously, "Pregnant Haruhi is scary Haruhi."

Glaring, Haruhi snapped, "No, I just don't like to be touched when I'm pregnant."

"Then what does Mori do?" Hikaru questioned and watched the blush form on the girl's face.

"You know what I mean!" She declared.

Kaoru shook his head, "No, why don't you explain it to us."

Haruhi sweat dropped and realized she had been led into a trap of her own making. Rubbing her forehead, she rolled her eyes, "Will you stop it. I came here to talk."

"About what?" The twins asked together, still keeping their distance because of the shinai.

"I need a favor… or actually someone else we know does," Haruhi replied. When it seemed that the twins would behave, she lowered the bamboo, but still kept it in her hand ready to use if needed. Normally the twins were good, but there were times when they got a little too close and liked to cuddle her much like they did in high school, and honestly when she was pregnant, she didn't like it (she was very moody when pregnant and the other hosts wondered on more than one occasion how Mori actually dealt with her. A couple of them thought, though they would never say this dear reader, that after Akio, Mori would have said no more, but that wasn't the case since they now had Hitomi and another on the way).

Hikaru, seeing that it was safe to approach, walked up to her and put an arm around her shoulders and led her further into the workroom, "What's up?"

Clearing off a chair for her to sit, Kaoru pulled over a footstool with every intention of making the third demon as comfortable as possible because neither twin wanted to see that aura appear, and it happened so much more easily when Haruhi was with child. "Why don't you put up your feet and tell us all about it?" The younger twin suggested (dear reader, he had been tempted to tell her to take a load off, but he and Hikaru had done that during one of her other pregnancies and she had about bitten their heads off. As it was, she had hit them with the shinai and knocked them both to the ground unconscious. Apparently she was in her third trimester and already feeling fat). They had learned that when Haruhi was pregnant, the best course of action was to listen and placate.

Haruhi knew what these two were doing and mentally face palmed. She didn't think she was that bad, but for some reason, the twins tended to be a little fearful of her when she was pregnant. "Tamaki said that he talked to you about making a dress of Yumi."

Both Hikaru and Kaoru started to laugh, "Yah, he told us."

Shaking with mirth, the elder twin said, "Imagine, Tono actually wanting to rush into a wedding."

"Yah, the boss wouldn't do something like that. Plus he knows we have this show."

"So he wouldn't make a serious request like that," they laughed together.

Sighing, Haruhi pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered, "No, he was serious."

"EH?!" The twins shouted.

She grumbled, "You heard me."

Hikaru started to wave his hands, "No, you can't be serious. He knows we have the show!"

Kaoru seconded his brother, "Yah, we can't just drop everything in order to make a wedding dress."

"We're good, but we're not that good!" They declared together.

Deadpanning, Haruhi breathed in deeply and then out slowly before she responded, "So it wasn't you who made me a whole new dress two days before my wedding. It wasn't you who would get an assignment one week based on an idea that Tamaki had and then create masterpieces for the next for seven people and one stuffed rabbit. It wasn't you who…"

The twins interrupted, "But we have a show to do!"

"Oh, my apologies. I just figured you would want to help out a friend who is in need. One who helped you countless times; and let's not forget that you need to make up for my stupid costume for Tamaki's proposal dinner. You still had a show to work on then, and yet you created costumes for everyone for that night. My mistake, I thought you were the best in the business. I will tell Tamaki that you two aren't up to par and there are people better willing to help out someone in need," Haruhi sighed and stood up knowing that before she put her hand on the door, the Hitachiin twins would have taken the bait, and in actuality it didn't even take that long. She had not even taken one step before the twins were pushing her back into the chair and accepting her challenge.

"Fine! We'll do it for Tono," Hikaru acquiesced.

Kaoru accepted his fate as well, "But, for the bridesmaids, we are going to have to ask our mother to do them. Her new show won't be for another four months, so she will have more time to design and create. Is that acceptable?"

Smiling sweetly, she stood up and kissed each twin on the cheek, "Thank you. You two are the best!"

"Yah, yah," they grumbled.

The younger twin shook his head, "You know we would help if you came here."

"Emotional blackmail," Hikaru added.

"We were played," they cried together.

Laughing, Haruhi shook her head and smacked them both on the back of the head before she sat down again, "Oh please, like you haven't used that trick and more to get your way through the years."

"But that's us!" They grinned and their smile turned a little more mischievous before Hikaru inquired, "Kaoru, do you know what this means?"

Kaoru snickered and retorted, "Yes, Hikaru, I do."

"We taught our toy well!" They proclaimed together.

Once again face palming, Haruhi
groaned, "Only you two would spin it like that."

It took another hour before the twins allowed the brunette to leave and return to her own home, and they promised her that they would call Tamaki and Yumi to set everything up. If she found out otherwise, well Haruhi knew how to handle them and it involved pulling out the big guns in the form of a bunny loving blond (trust me dear reader, Hunny can get the job done).

Pulling hitting a couple of buttons on her steering wheel, the sounds of a ringing phone soon echoed through her car as she made her trek home. It was a good thing she didn't have to go to the office today, she was exhausted, and something told her this call would push her to her limits.

"Hello? Hello Haruhi? Can you hear me? It's daddy," Tamaki called out without giving the girl time to answer.

To Haruhi this proved how stressed he was because even though he may act like an idiot and call himself her father still, he would usually allow her to answer before running off as he was doing. Clearing her throat in an effort to get his attention as he still talked (honestly dear reader he might have just liked the sound of his voice) and almost wishing he was present so she could slap him with her shinai to get him to shut up (yes, inner mind theatre was going crazy and she pictured hitting him, throwing him to the ground, and taping his mouth shut with Hello Kitty duct tape. Why Hello Kitty you may ask? Well, Hitomi liked Hello Kitty and it was the first thing that popped into Haruhi's head, but I digress). When clearing her throat didn't get her attention, she simmered for a moment more as tick marks appeared and finally yelled, "Will you shut up and give me a moment to answer? Do you want my help or not?"

"Yes!" The blond on the other end squeaked and then stopped speaking awaiting the words of wisdom his beloved daughter would impart.

The brunette shook her head and exhaled, "Ok, the twins have agreed to help Yumi and do the wedding dress. They won't have time for bridesmaid dresses, so if she expected that, then the twins said their mom can do them. The only thing they will do, and I stress this because I know how you like to hear what you want to Tamaki, is the wedding dress. Nothing else. They have a show to do in six weeks and need to focus on that, but because you are a friend, they will help you out. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"What did I say?"

"They will do the dresses for the wedding with the help of their mother."

"NO!"

"What?" Tamaki whined.

"They will only do the wedding dress. Repeat that."

"They will only do the wedding dress."

"Mrs. Hitachiin can do the bridesmaid dresses if Yumi hasn't picked any yet."

"Mrs. Hitachiin can do the bridesmaid dresses if Yumi hasn't picked any yet."

Haruhi felt like she was talking to her children when addressing Tamaki at times, "Now what will the twins do?"

"The wedding dress only."

"Has Yumi picked out bridesmaid dresses?"

"I… I don't know."

She had a feeling leaving this to Tamaki was going to be a mistake and to make sure nothing got messed up with this communication, she instructed the groom, "Tell your fiancée to call me tonight. I will talk to her about all of this."

"Thanks Haruhi. I don't know what I would have done without you!" Tamaki gushed, "I'll be sure to tell her to call you as soon as I talk to her!" He chattered away for a couple more minutes before hanging up on his friend.

Arriving at home, Haruhi was ready for a long soak and a nap, but that isn't what happened. The moment she stepped out of her car, her secretary called her about one of her other cases and the brunette had to rush into the house in order to take the call properly. After that call ended, Yumi called her and she talked to the other woman. Apparently the message had been passed on incorrectly and Yumi wanted the twins to do all the dresses. Haruhi calmly explained that was not going to happen and then told her the actual plan. Luckily, the other woman took the compromise (not that she had much choice in the matter). Then Akio fell out of a tree and she had to take care of him, and then Hitomi's doll got decapitated, and it seemed it was one thing after another.

It wasn't until after dinner that Mori pulled her towards their room and into their master bathroom. The room was lit up by candlelight and he had drawn her a hot bubble bath so that she could relax, "You get in and I will take care of the kids."

Part of Haruhi wanted to argue, but the lure of the bath was too enticing. Instead she threw her arms around her husband's neck (it was a bit of a stretch, but he leaned over) and told him, "Have I told you how much I love you?"

Leaning forward, Mori joined their lips in a soft kiss and then pulled back, "I love you too and I am grateful every day you accepted my dinner invitation."

"I'm grateful your cousin decided to invite me to the match," she snickered.

"Mitsukuni liked to interfere, but I'm glad he did. Now, you get in the bath and don't worry about anything else," he ordered and gave her one last kiss before leaving her alone.

There were times when things didn't go as planned or ran a smoothly as they wanted them to, but they were together and in love still and together they would face the bad and the good. That is what life was about and neither one could imagine anyone else at their side. They had each other and that is what was important.