Haru Chiba said nothing to his son when Mamoru caught up to him at the park, though Mamoru tried to explain himself the whole way to his car. The elder Chiba simply held up his hand and told Mamoru that this was a discussion to be had in the privacy of their home. Mamoru gave up and followed his father's car home.

In the house, Haru told his son that he needed time to calm down before they got into conversation. It was something Haru hadn't done since Mamoru was a boy, and under the circumstances, Mamoru decided it would be best to do what his father said. For now, at least. So they sat in silence in the family room at opposite ends of the small coffee table, Mamoru impatiently drumming his fingers on the table until the elderly cook brought in a pot of coffee and two cups. She placed teaspoons in front of them both and sensing the tension in the air, retreated to the kitchen without a word. Then Haru Chiba finally broke his silence.

"So this is the modern generation," he said, his voice dangerously low. He agitatedly swirled some sugar into his coffee. "I thought I raised you to be considerate. To take responsibility for your actions! Mamoru, what is wrong with you?" Haru slammed his spoon so hard against the table that is flew out of his hand and landed somewhere in the corner.

"Now wait just a second, Dad," Mamoru jumped in. "Do you honestly think Harue is mine?" Haru opened his mouth to respond when the door to the kitchen swung open again and the cook came in carrying two sandwiches. The Chiba's sat unnaturally quietly as the cook set the plates on the table. She was about to leave when she noticed Haru no longer had a spoon. She frowned in confusion, then went over to grab another spoon from the kitchen and laid it next to his coffee. When she was gone, Harue began scooping more sugar into his coffee and continued his tirade.

"Do I honestly believe it's yours," Harue mimicked disgustedly. "You would really sit there and deny it to my face? Let me tell you something, sir, even if you hadn't been there. If I hadn't seen you with that woman and child, if I had found that child alone on a deserted island I would have known it was my grandson in a second! That's a Chiba face if there ever were one!"

"Dad, that is not my son!" Mamoru insisted, feeling his own anger bubble over. Haru's face flushed deep red in anger.

"That is low!" he said. "To deny your child and leave him without a father. And that woman, Usagi, what does she do? Are you even helping her support the baby?" In his anger, Haru thwacked his spoon against the table again sending it flying.

"Dad, would you please just listen to…" The kitchen door swung open again and the cook came in, this time with a tray of assorted biscotti. She set the tray down on the table, and saw once again that Haru had no spoon. Bewildered, she went for another spoon and this time felt it firmly in her hand, making sure it was real, before she carefully and deliberately set it on the table. Then she slowly left the room, keeping an eye on the spoon. As soon as the door was shut, Haru jumped back in, shoveling more sugar into his coffee.

"Now you listen to me! I want my grandson in this house," he told Mamoru. "I don't care what you have to do, you'll bring him here! I should make you marry that woman, but frankly I can't imagine any woman would want to marry you, you….you….cad!" Mamoru leapt out of his seat and stood over his father.

"Listen, you old blow-hard! I'm telling you that Harue is not my son!" Mamoru said. "I've had about all I'm going to take from you. I can't believe you, my own father, would accuse me of being heartless enough to father a child and then abandon him. Usagi is a friend of mine who works at the store. Yes, I have been helping her with Harue, but we didn't have him together!" Haru looked up at his son, his expression blank.

"So you left that poor woman alone to raise a child on the salary we pay?" he asked Mamoru. His son's face fell in disbelief. He pulled out his cell phone and began looking through his phone book. "I'll call my lawyer and have him draw up the custody papers immediately."

"Custody?" Mamoru yelled. "Dad, are you out of your mind? You can't take Usagi's baby from her!"

"Well we'll just have to make her see reason," Haru said. He dialed his lawyers number and waited for him to answer. "The baby'll be better off here. A good home and education, and she can come see him whenever she wants. Hello, Mizake? It's Chiba. I need your expertise immediately…What?...Where?...I'm not paying you to ski!..."Mamoru could see that it was no use arguing with his father about this. He grabbed his keys and went after the only person who could clear this mess up.

-:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:-

Usagi didn't answer her house phone or her cell phone. Mamoru tossed his phone on the backseat of his car agitatedly as he tore down the streets. At one point he cut off another car and nearly side swiped another, but he managed to make it to Usagi's house with no accidents, a fact he would be grateful for later. He rushed up the stairs to the front door and frantically rang her buzzer, but there was no answer.

"Come on!" Mamoru muttered. He rang her buzzer a few more times, then gave up. He tried the landlords' buzzer, hoping that Luna or Artemis would let him wait in Usagi's apartment again. After the fifteenth buzz, Luna finally came to the door, and smiled brightly at Mamoru.

"Chiba-san, how nice to see you," she said, moving back. "We're just about to have dinner. Please, join us. My son and his girlfriend are visiting, and Zoicite should be back from the store any minute." Mamoru moved into the warm building. He had forgotten his coat in his haste, and the temperature had dropped drastically since the sun went down.

"Nekono-san, I can't stay fro dinner," he said. "Have you seen Usagi?"

"I'm right here." Mamoru spun around and saw Usagi with another woman with blue hair. Usagi had Harue in her arms and the blue haired woman was drying a bowl. Mamoru ignored the other woman and grabbed Usagi's shoulder.

"I have to talk to you right now," he said. Usagi was startled by his nearly hysterical appearance.

"What is it?" she asked worriedly. Mamoru looked around the foyer a the curious gazes. Artemis had joined the group in the hall and Mamoru felt like he was suddenly an actor in some strange drama.

"Not here," he said. "Let's go to your apartment." Usagi was getting more worried by the second. She led the way to her apartment and once the door was closed she turned to Mamoru and looked at him expectantly. Mamoru sighed and ran a hand through his hair and paced the living room floor.

"My father is insane," he said. Usagi blinked in surprise. "He thinks Harue is my son." Usagi let out a sigh of relief and annoyance.

"Is that all?" she asked. "Well, we'll just sit down and talk it out. It's not a big deal, Mamoru." She sat down on the couch and shifted Harue in her arms. The baby squirmed a little and babbled at the two grown ups. Usagi smiled at him. "He's just being silly, right, Harue?"

"He's serious," Mamoru told her. "He wants to take Harue from you!" Usagi stopped playing with Harue and looked up at Mamoru. She stood up and shook her head.

"That's crazy," she said. "He-he can't do that." Mamoru stopped pacing and ran his hands through his hair again.

"He's already called his lawyer about the custody papers." Usagi shook her head. She refused to believe that Haru Chiba had that kind of power. Mamoru grabbed her shoulders and made her face him.

"Usagi, you have to get Harue's father," he told her. "That's the only way to get my dad to stop." Usagi nearly burst into tears at that.

"I-I can't…" she said shaking her head. Mamoru growled in frustration.

"I know he was a jerk, but I'll protect you, I promise. Just tell him we need him to settle this and he can get out of your life forever."

"No, it's not that," Usagi shrugged helplessly. "I'm not… I –don't know…I don't know where he is. I wouldn't even know where to begin looking." Usagi took a deep breath, trying not to hyperventilate.

"Ok, ok, let's not panic," Mamoru said, taking a breath. "What's his name? I can send someone o find him for you." The color drained from Usagi's face as she wracked her mind for a believable excuse.

"Um…I don't think he's in Japan anymore," she told Mamoru. She looked away from him and gazed off as if she were trying to remember something. "He was talking about going to live with family in Prague or Paris or someplace foreign like that."

"You mean you don't remember?"

"Ok, I'm not proud of the decisions I've made in the past," Usagi snapped at him. "We didn't really have that deep of a relationship." Usagi fought back an angry sob. "How long can you hold your father off?"

"He was already talking to his lawyer when I left," Mamoru told her. "We've got a couple of days at most." Usagi did some calculations in her head. With the money she had been saving, she had just enough.

"That's plenty of time," she said mostly to herself. Mamoru looked at her worriedly.

"Plenty of time for what?" he asked her.

"I've got just enough cash for a ticket to Canada," Usagi told him. "I've got my passport. I'll stay with my aunt for a while." Now Mamoru went pale.

"You can't do that!" he said. Usagi looked up at him surprised, and Mamoru sat down next to her, knocking a fist on his leg agitatedly. "You'd need a visa to leave."

"I was about to do a study abroad program before I dropped out of school. I still have a few months left on my visa from that. I can apply for an extension once I get there."

"No! Usagi, don't leave, ok?" Mamoru took her free hand. "I'll take care of this ok? Just….don't leave the country, or do anything irrational. I'll think of something ok?" Usagi nodded dumbly. "Alright, I'm going to go try to talk to my dad again. We'll figure this out, I promise." Mamoru kissed Usagi's forehead quickly, and ruffled Harue's hair, then left. Usagi stayed in her seat, trying to process the situation. If Harue kept digging, he would definitely find out that not only was Mamoru not Harue's father, she wasn't his mother. She didn't know what would happen if that came out. The worst thing is that they might take Harue from her. She didn't adopt him legally. She wasn't sure if they would let her adopt him legally. In her arms, Harue started fussing and Usagi rocked him a bit.

"Hey, it's ok," she whispered. "We'll be ok. I won't let them take you." There was a knock on the door, and then Luna came in. She gasped when she saw Usagi.

"Usagi, what's the matter?" she cried, rushing over to the couch. "Why are you crying, sweetie?" Usagi hadn't realized she had been crying, but reaching a hand up, she felt the telltale wetness on her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, I'm alright," Usagi said. "I just got a bit of a shock, that's all. Mamoru's father thinks that Harue is his, and he wants to take Harue from me." Luna blinked a bit and looked away from a moment. She looked back at Usagi questioningly.

"You mean, Mamoru isn't the father?" Usagi laughed mirthlessly.

"No! He's just a friend. I only met him a few weeks ago." Luna sat back on the couch and tapped her finger on her chin.

"Well, this is a quick fix, then," she said. "Just get the baby's father to straighten everything out." Usagi nearly burst into tears again, but she managed to pull herself together.

"I don't know where he is," she told Luna. "I don't even know where to look. I think he left the country."

"Well, that does change things," Luna said. She frowned thoughtfully. "When does he want the baby?"

"Mamoru said that he was trying to get the paperwork done in a day or, two." Usagi answered. "But I'll leave before I let him take Harue. I'll leave the country if I have to."

"No need for that just yet, my dear," Luna said, standing up. "I just had an idea. Zoicite just came back from the store. Come with me!" Luna led the way down to her family's apartment and Usagi came after her. Luna poked her head in the door and called for her son. "Zoi, come here for a moment please." Her son came out into the hallway and looked between Usagi and his mother uncertainly. He wasn't sure what to make of this new woman and her son who had so charmed his parents. Even his girlfriend liked her, but Zoicite had a few reservations. He had always been a little paranoid, though, so he didn't think, to much of it.

"Zoicite," his mother said, pulling him out to the hallway. "Usagi needs help and I need you to do her a huge favor for me." He looked from his mother to frightened looking Usagi and frowned.

"What is it, Mom?" he asked. Luna pulled her son down and quietly explained what she wanted him to do. Zoicite went red, then pale.

"Mom! I-I can't do that!" he said. "What about Ami?"

"He's right, Luna, that's too much!" Usagi agreed. Luna waved her off.

"This is a desperate situation," Luna told them both. "We need a desperate solution." Usagi shook her head vigorously.

"No, really, Luna," she insisted. "Mamoru said he would take care of it. I'm sure he…"

"Usagi, sweetheart, this will be faster," Luna said. She turned back to her son. "Zoicite, it'll take an hour. This is important. Usagi could loose her baby if you don't!"

"Do it, Zoicite, please?" Zoicite turned at the sound of Ami's soft, pleading voice. She had opened the door quietly at some point in the conversation and heard what Luna wanted him to do and why. She smiled kindly and sadly at Usagi. "I promise, I'm ok with it. Just don't let Usagi lose Harue." Zoicite started to protest, but the three sets of watery eyes killed his protest in his throat. He lifted his eyes heavenward and sighed.

"I can't believe I'm about to do this," he muttered.

-:- -:- -:- -:- -:-

Umino paced the floor of the employee lounge and bit his fingers. He had seen the look on Haru Chiba's face as he got in his car to follow his son, and it occurred to him in that moment that maybe he had done the wrong thing. If he was honest, Usagi's feelings in this were secondary and this was mostly about revenge over his job, but now he realized he had probably just put his good friend in an even worse position than before. And on top of all that, he still hadn't gotten his promotion back. The cuckoo clock in the lounge struck the hour and Umino grabbed his apron and went to finish his shift. Fixing this particular mess would have to wait until closing time. Besides, Umino thought, what could Chiba possibly do in such a short time.

He took out a cart of teddy bears and began setting up a display. He looked longingly at the counter, but the brilliant red-head he was hoping to see wasn't there. Naru was still visiting family. Umino sighed and continued his work. Then he looked up again and saw an agitated Mamoru Chiba headed his way. Umino felt his heart quicken and the sweat begin to bead his forehead. Surely Mamoru couldn't have found out that he sent Haru the note. Not that quickly anyhow. Mamoru spotted Umino and walked faster. Umino considered making a hasty escape, but Mamoru was on him faster than his legs would react.

"You're Usagi's friend, right?" Mamoru demanded with no pleasantry. Umino nodded his head, not quite trusting his voice not to squeak. "Right. Do you know who the father of her baby is?"

"No, sir!" Umino denied quickly, shaking his head furiously. "I don't know anything about that. Not a thing!" Umino's nervousness was lost on Mamoru. He bit his lip and thought for a moment. Then he looked back at Umino with a strange gleam in his eye.

"How'd you like to get you promotion back?" he asked Umino.

"Absolutely!" Umino nearly shouted. Mamoru nodded and grabbed his elbow and dragged him towards the exit.

"Great, come with me." And then Umino realized that maybe he should have asked the terms of his getting his job back.

Ok, there it is. The second to last chapter. What did you think? Hit that awesome review link and let me know!