Oh dear... I'm stuck knee-deep in work, so something's telling me I won't be able to get back to writing for quite a while now. I'll have to do my best to get myself out of the mess I've ended up in.

In the meantime, have some, uh, mixture of angst and fluff, I guess. So yeah, hope it's at least decently written. Just one chapter and a possible epilogue left. I just hope I won't mess it all up.

Waking up to her wife's pained moaning was definitely not what Sucy needed. Especially in the middle of a chilly January night.

"Sucy…" – Akko groaned out painfully.

The violette groggily lifted herself up at least a tiny bit, just so that she could at least reach for the desk lamp lightswitch. Akko was probably having another one of those sudden pains, she should be-

"Suce… I think I'm…"

As Sucy's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she noticed that that Akko was already sitting upright, clutching her stomach. Something was wrong…

"Sucy, I'm going into labor!" – Akko shouted when she saw that Sucy woke up.

What?!

That… That wasn't possible. Akko was just her eighth month in, it couldn't… Oh Nine, it wasn't one of those cases of premature labor, was it?

Sucy immediately jumped off her bed in outright panic, and rushed over to the wall phone – considering both Sucy's and Akko's cellphones were charging elsewhere, the violette basically rushed over to the nearest available one, in this case being the aforementioned wall-mounted phone.

"Don't worry, Akko, I just need to call the ambulance. Hold on for a moment and you should be fine." – Sucy reassured, although she was more than a little worried that the aforementioned ambulance might not even make it to their place in time – considering how far away they were from the nearest hospital, it was going to take so long that Akko would probably end up giving birth right there and then…

But still, she had to try, right? Sucy reached for the phone, and was just about ready to type out 911 until…

"W-wait… I… It's just some false contractions. I'm… I'm fine." – Akko remarked, her breathing slowly calming down as she spoke, subsequently having Sucy calm down by a bit as well.

The violette stood there for a few moments, the idle sounds of the phone she held being outright ear-grating, until she snapped out of it and put it back, then went back to her and Akko's bed, lying down next to the brunette.

"Third time already this month." – Sucy deadpanned as she lightly rubbed her spouse's baby bump.

"Sorry. You know I always panic when this happens. Plus I was still sleeping, so…" – Akko remarked guiltily.

"Anyone else would probably remember what false contractions are like by now." – Sucy remarked, her tone not suggesting any resentment or negativity – in fact, the only emotion one could read in the witch's voice was simple tiredness. The alchemist was already used to Akko's shenanigans by now anyway, so she just couldn't be mad at the brunette.

"I've probably made you worry more than necessary, didn't I?" – The asian witch's tone sounded outright dejected as she asked that.

Sucy let out a long, tired sigh, and briefly ceased rubbing her wife's belly. Well, she wasn't falling asleep anytime soon anyway, so she replied: "Akko, you ended up making me worry about you more than necessary ever since the very day we ended up in a relationship. "

"Oh…" – Akko looked a bit off to the side, not having much of a response on the matter. Seeing that she slightly upset her spouse, Sucy moved a bit closer over to her and replied: "No need to get so upset about it, dear. It's just that I love you a little too much that I end up worrying about you every time something happens to you."

"Heh. When you put it that way, it almost sounds reassuring." – The brunette remarked, her voice sounding a little drowsy.

"And, well, now I have two people to worry about for the price of one." – Sucy replied, going back to rubbing Akko's belly to emphasize her point. – "So I guess it's no surprise that I also ended up panicking a bit. "

"Not as much as I did, I guess. Even if those were simply false contractions, I was still scared out of my wits." – The brunette guiltily responded, drooping her head down. – "I'm sorry I've had you worried so much."

"Hey, you know it all too well – I can't be mad at you. I guess you were right when you said some things just never change. " – As Sucy said that, she reached over to hug her spouse. As the brunette was released from Sucy's embrace, she couldn't help but yawn – it was still the middle of the night, and they both were still quite sleepy.

"I'm so sleepy…" – Akko stated the obvious as she fell back down onto her pillow. Sucy nodded and gave her a soft goodnight kiss on the cheek, remarking: "Luckily, I have a day off tomorrow, so I won't end up accidentally waking you. Goodnight, I guess."

"Goodnight…" – The brunette responded as she yawned one more time and drifted back off to sleep. Sucy just lied there in her usual pose for a few more moments, before also giving up and letting the overbearing sleepiness claim her as well, falling soundly asleep.

Later that morning, after both Sucy and Akko were done with their usual morning routine – a quick shared shower, well-done breakfast courtesy of Sucy, all that – the couple was quietly lying at the couch within their living room, them both busy with nothing more than just being couch potatoes for the time being. Sucy could afford to do that – she already had quite a sizable batch of potions prepared in advance for the next work week, and thus could allow herself to just spend some quality time with her wife, who, at the moment, was lying with her head in the violette's lap, as the Filipino witch quietly caressed her hair with her right hand.

Even though Akko had a relatively good night's sleep – even if both she and Sucy had to sleep all the way up to 10 AM, no less – she still couldn't help but feel a little drowsy as she lied with her significant other like this. Then again, considering that Akko was in her third trimester, it was no surprise that she would still feel drowsy ever now and then. The winter season certainly didn't help matters. Before she ended up drifting off to sleep, however…

"Remind me, Akko…" – Sucy's voice snapped the brunette out of her daze, as she looked around hurriedly before looking back up at the Filipino witch.

"Huh?"

"Why are we bothering with pulling another living thing into this filthy world?" – Sucy continued, her usual cynicism quite evident in her voice.

"Hard to say, really. I guess it's just that – kids make the world a lot more bright and cheerful, don't they? " – Akko gave out a possible answer to her spouse's question, eliciting a chuckle from the other witch.

"Still doesn't change the fact that the world sure is one nasty place." – The violette added, staring over at the lit fireplace.

"Hey, it's not all that bad. There are more goods than bads about life, and we know it all too well." – As Akko said that, she sat back upright and nuzzled her nose against Sucy's cheek, continuing: "Especially if you've got someone to have all the good times with."

"Heh. Something's telling me our kiddo is going to be just as optimistic as her mother." – Sucy replied, giving out her ever-so-rare genuine smile as she said that.

"And maybe even just as smart as her… Other mother." – Akko added, taking back her usual lying position. There were a few more moments before the brunette spoke up again: "Now that I think of it, this whole "mother-other mother" thing feels a little weird. Is she just going to call us both "mom"? How do we distinguish which one of us she's calling for, or referring to in a conversation?"

"Well, I don't have much bright ideas on the matter… Have her use different-language words for "mom" so that we avoid any confusion, maybe? She'd call me "mom" and you… Whatever Japanese word there is for "mom", I guess." – Sucy remarked, shrugging.

"I don't think that would work out so well – after all, her calling me "haha" would be a bit too awkward to any side English speaker. " – As Akko said that, she scratched the back of her head as per her usual manner, giving out her typical awkward grin.

"Maybe have her refer to you as "mom", and me as "ina", then? That could work. I guess. Unless "ina" translates to something awkward in Japanese." – Sucy replied in her usual neutral tone.

"Nah, it's fine. Actually, ina is one of the more common surnames in Japan, so… We're going full bilingual, I guess." – A few moments after Akko finished that last sentence, both she and Sucy couldn't help but laugh out loud at where their conversation went.

"Wow. We went from philosophy to genetics, and ended on linguistics. Way to go." – Sucy remarked, still snickering a bit as she said that.

"I guess that's what you get with two bored parents-to-be." – Akko replied, giggling as she finished her phrase.

"Well, I sure can't ever get bored with you around. After all, you always add a touch of whimsy to my life with your presence alone." – Sucy reached over a bit to give Akko a kiss on the cheek, before pulling back and running her hand over to the brunette's belly, giving her a light rub and being met with another kick from the Japanese witch's yet-unborn child, which prompted another gentle smile from the mauve-haired alchemist.

"And I'm sure I won't have any time to be bored after Aiko is born."

Tried to do something a bit more of the "just Akko and Sucy" fluff with this chapter. Just a few more chapters to go.

Welp, university work's being a real pain v zadnitze. Hopefully I can get myself out of the metric ton of leftover assignments. Let's just say things were a little hectic, and, eh, leave it at that.

On another note, now that Twin Passions is finally done, I might just start a new one-shot collection, focusing on the DiaSuKko OT3. Because let's be real, we need some of that. As for my other, less savory one-shot collection... I'll keep working on it still, provided I'd have enough ideas and/or inspiration to go by.

So, with that out of the way...

Darky Out!