Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.

Editorial Status: Rough, completely unchecked.

A/N: The hits for this story are officially… over 9,000. Gragh. *smashes computer*

Aslo, happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers. To the Canadians, your Thanksgiving is not the REAL Thanksgiving, if and only if because ours is followed by the largest commercial day of the year. For the Europeans, Asians, Africans and all around not Americans, I'm sorry that you miss out on a day that clogs the arteries more effectively than epoxy, enjoy living longer than us.

Nine to Life

Chapter 11: Ain't No Rest for the Jet-Lagged

Soul opened a single bloodshot eye as he felt the wheels of the DWMA private jet touch down on the runway for the third time in the last eighteen hours. Bad weather and congested airports along the route had added an additional six hours onto their insanely long flight. They'd left Tokyo at 10:00 at night local time, and were now landing in Death City at 3:00 in the morning the next day. The total travel time had been eighteen hours, but when factoring in the International Date Line and time zones, only four hours had elapsed. Time travel indeed.

The flight had been anything but fun for Soul, who had his mind full of everything that had happened on their relatively short stay in a foreign country as well as what awaited him back in the States. Soul had expected that he would get little sleep, what with dealing with Maka's injury and the near loss of their unborn daughter. Of course, he'd largely made peace with that while he was in Japan, after all, both mother and daughter were safe. The more daunting task was trying to decide how to deal with his parents when he got home. He'd promised both Maka and Wes that he would tell his parents about his engagement to Maka as well as his impending entrance to the sacred Brotherhood of Fathers. Soul had spent much of his time between fitful sleep trying to figure out the easiest way to tell his parents. After all, he had a promise to keep and cool guys don't break their promises.

What he hadn't counted on were two separate instances of his friends utilizing the restrooms to have their own fun at forty thousand feet above sea level. First to engage in mid-air coitus were Black Star and Tsubaki. Soul had heard some muted whispering and then the sounds of movement. He cracked an eye to see Black Star leading his partner into the restroom, Tsubaki blushing so hard that her face resembled the lights of a navigational buoy. The Death Scythe had cranked the volume on his MP3 player as high as it would go, lest he actually hear two of his friends fucking. He doubted he'd have been able to ever look them in the face again if he heard that.

On the second stint of the flight, Kid had been dragged to the opposite lavatory by a somewhat… flustered looking Liz. Once more, the volume was maxed as much as possible with a healthy dose of extra cranking just to see if he could squeeze an extra few decibels of sound into his headphones. Just before he closed his eyes and tried to sit out this nightmare as well, Soul caught Patty looking at him. She wore a smile of absolute glee. She knew another dirty little secret that she couldn't wait for the best time to let out of the bag. Soul had groaned, but then smiled as he realized that he wasn't the only one that Patty would mortify the hell out of some day when she squealed her secret to the world.

Thankfully for the young weapon, his two former mentees didn't catch the lust virus that flew around the cabin on the insanely long flight. At least not the he knew of. Knowing that Syed and Elena were dating or merely just knocking boots might be too much for Soul's already taxed mind to handle. He'd likely have been tempted to lecture the two second year students on their relationship, what with being fifteen and engaging in that kind of behavior. But, he was hardly in any position to give someone a lecture on what they should and shouldn't do with their partner behind closed doors now was he?

Soul smiled at that particular thought as he looked down at Maka sleeping on his shoulder.

"Wake up, Bookworm." Soul whispered as he kissed Maka's forehead. He cleared his throat after hearing how hoarse his voice was.

The meister's eyes opened sleepily. "We home yet?" She asked without moving.

"Yep. Three in the morning to boot." Soul smiled and kissed her on the lips, ignoring the morning breath.

Maka's answer was a tired groan as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. She looked out the window as the largely inactive Death City International Airport.

Slowly the occupants of the student section of the plane woke up, stretched, cracked various joints and stretched in a vain attempt to ward off the physical rigors of air travel.

"What day is it?" Black Star asked the cabin in general.

"Monday." Kid answered simply as he stretched his arms above his head. "Three-fifteen in the morning."

"So, what, we spent four hours in the air?" The ninja asked, not fully awake still.

"As far as time zones are concerned." Kid replied without any trace of humor.

"Wakey-wakey everyone." The intercom blared. "This is your incredibly tired captain speaking. We've landed in Death City, its 0316 hours. That 'oh' means 'oh dear God it's early'. [1] We'll be arriving at the terminal in a few minutes because no one else is dumb enough to be flying into the city at this hour. After that, everyone gets to sleep. Enjoy your jetlag. It's been a pleasure crossing the Pacific with you."

Syed didn't open his eyes. "Who hired him?" His tone was neutral.

"Father did." Kid replied, unbuckling himself from his seat and retrieving his suit jacket from an overhead compartment. "He liked the man's candid demeanor. It's a bit refreshing from the script a captain is required to follow on the major airlines."

"True enough." Syed conceded and proceeded to remain seated, unmoving.

Like a small band of frequent-flying zombies, the students collected their luggage from the various baggage compartments and made their way to the staircase at the front of the plane. An exhausted stewardess [2] smiled tiredly and asked them to watch their step as they went down the stairs.

Thankfully, some vehicles from the school were waiting for them to ferry the students and instructors back to the DWMA. They would meet at the school the next day to go over the mission with Lord Death and the Reaper would also decide who would receive the pre-Kishin soul that Maka had liberated from its mortal casing during the battle.

The ride to the DWMA was short and passes with relative silence as most present slipped back to sleep. Sleepy good-byes were mumbled as the students and instructors went on their disparate ways home.

Soul guided his motorcycle down the dark streets of Death City in silence. Maka sleepily clung to his back. Soul took care to go around corners slowly so she wouldn't fly off if she had fallen asleep and loosened her grip. The weapon kept awake by promising himself that his bed would be far more comfortable than a stay in the emergency room and a hospital bed. Soul did take some solace in the knowledge that he knew the city's streets like the back of his hand, having taken many late night trips out on his bike when he and Maka had gotten into fights in times past. Taking a night ride always helped him clear his head and come home calmer to deal with his problems with his meister.

Finally, Soul spotted their street and made the turn gently, Maka still holding on. He guided the mechanical monstrosity into his parking spot and dismounted it. Soul led the exhausted girl with him up the stairs and to their front door. Thankfully Blair had gotten their message and left the door unlocked.

Shoes, luggage and articles of clothing formed a trail to Soul's bedroom. Maka's tired eyes locked onto the bed and her nude form dove into it like a small animal seeking shelter from a circling hawk. Soul smiled and joined his fiancé in the bed, leaving her plenty of room in the event she wanted more of the bed than usual. He was somewhat surprised to feel her roll over and cling to his body, acting as the "big spoon". Well, this was new. Oh well. Not like it was unpleasant.

The Death Scythe made himself comfortable in the bed. It was nice to be in his bed for a change. It had been some time since he hadn't slept in Maka's bed, a plane, a couch in a hospital or the bed back at the school consulate in Tokyo. Being back in his home, in his own bed and the contented feelings coming over his soul resonance link with Maka were an overwhelming call to sleep and Soul was eager to answer that call. He was asleep within seconds of climbing into bed.

Late afternoon light filtered through the half-drawn curtains of Soul's bedroom. The sun was making its final real contributions to the northern hemisphere before the Earth finished its tilt along its axis, pulling the northern half of the planet from the sun's warm embrace. If Death City were in the right climate, leaves would be changing to gold, orange and brown as the trees prepared for the cold and snow of winter.

As it stood, the days merely got colder and shorter in Death City as fall stepped in and summer went home for the year.

The warmth of the sun fell squarely on Maka's face as the burning orb inched past the edge of the window. The meister tried to hide her eyes behind her weapon's neck and shoulders but couldn't hide from the light completely. Eventually she gave up trying to hide from the light and opened her eyes slowly. Maka surveyed the room and realized that she was in Soul's bed. The realization wasn't as startling as she'd thought it would be, at least not as recently as a few weeks ago, but she did realize that she had never slept in Soul's room before.

Her realization brought a smile and a soft giggle to her lips. Maka simply drank in the novelty of her situation. She was engaged to her weapon and carrying his child, waking up for the first time in his room. With how fast the last two weeks had been passing for her, Maka had hardly had the chance to notice the small things that had changed in her life and how quickly she had come to take them for granted. She slept in the same bed as her weapon, naked, when she was able. She didn't necessarily hate all men on sight. She was finally given room to breathe by her father who was again together with her mother. Of course, the biggest change in her life was that she was going to be a mother. She almost had to remind herself of that fact some times.

A feeling of contentment slowly filled her being. Her life was good right now and that was all that seemed to matter. As long as she was with Soul, the one person that she trusted with every fiber of her being, and the one person who loved her as completely as a human being can, she was happy. Without really thinking about it, Maka pressed her lips to the back of her sleeping weapon's neck.

Soul's body shuddered slightly in response to her delicate touch. Maka's smile took on a slightly more devious shape to it as an idea came to her. She glanced at the clock on Soul's cluttered nightstand to make sure that they weren't late for their meeting with Lord Death.

Maka's devious smile grew as she untangled herself from Soul's sleeping form, allowing him to roll onto his back. The meister slide down under the covers until she found what she was looking for. Unfortunately for her plan, Soul didn't have morning wood. However, that wasn't much of a setback.

Maka licked her lips as she held Soul's limp member in her hand. She licked the tip tentatively, as if she'd forgotten what to do. But, as with riding a bicycle, it came back to her rather quickly. In a few moments of licking and caressing, she had Soul standing to full attention. Phase one of her plan was now complete.

The mesiter crawled up Soul's sleeping body until she felt his hardness rub against her. She suppressed a shudder of anticipation and used a hand to guide her weapon's cock inside of her as she backed up. Maka sighed contentedly as she felt all of Soul's length enter her. She sat up, fully straddling the Death Scythe and began to grind her hips forward and backwards atop of his.

A small moan escaped her lips as Maka moved herself back and forth, the motion was one they hadn't tried before and she was surprised at how different it felt from "normal". Rather than moving in and out of her, Maka was forcing Soul's dick to sway inside of her, bringing it into contact with more and more of her inner depths than she was used to.

No matter how soundly a man is sleeping, it won't take long for him to start to realize that something fun is going on and that he's missing out when his fiancé is riding him like a cowgirl.

Maka pitched forward with a gasp, embracing her weapon, as his thumb grazed along her clit. The girl moaned aloud when Soul kissed her neck and began to thrust in opposition to her.

"You know," Soul whispered in her ear. "You're going to run out of cool ways to wake me up if you keep doing things like this."

Maka whimpered again wordlessly when Soul began to place kissed up and down her neck.

It had been several days since the two lovers had last made love and neither lasted long. The two reached their orgasms simultaneously and Maka collapsed onto Soul's chest, both of them breathing heavily.

Soul kissed his lover gently after regaining his breath. "If you keep waking me up like this, you might just drain me dry." He smiled at her.

Maka returned the grin. "I just thought you'd like it."

"I did. Don't get me wrong. It's a hella cool way to wake a guy up."

Maka feigned a pout. "How come you never wake me up like this, then?"

"Hm. Let's see, we were on a plane last time you slept and I wasn't going to use those bathrooms." He stopped when his meister looked at him curiously. "I'll tell you later. Anyways, you were in the hospital before that. Before that Excalibur woke us up. And before that we were on the plane and you woke me up for that one. Before that we were here. Really, unless I find out how to get up before you without waking you up, I don't know how I'll give you a 'happy morning'."

The pout melted to a superior grin. "Then you'll just have to stop sleeping so much."

Soul pecked Maka's lips. "Or you just need to learn to sleep in. Bookworm."

The meister rolled her eyes. "Like that will ever happen. You know what they say, the early bird and all that..."

Soul was about to make a joke about the early bird's reward was a worm, but then the penny dropped and he caught Maka's secondary entendre. [3] "Oh, that's good. I will remember that one."

"Good. Now we're going to take a shower." Maka changed her tone to that of a mother to a child.

"'We'?" Soul asked.

"Yes. You stink."

"You're no spring picnic either."

"Of course. We spent eighteen hours on a roasting hot plane."

"Come on, Maka! I'm still tired."

"Oh no. Get up Soul-"

Maka was cut off by Blair opening the door. "What are you two fighting… about… now?" The woman trailed off as she saw her two housemates naked, one still inside of the other, fighting on the bed.

Likewise, Soul and Maka stopped in the middle of their half-hearted fight and stared at Blair. Blair was in turn staring at them. Not a word was said for a moment. A small blush began to creep onto Blair's cheeks as she stared at the weapon and mesiter.

"Get out! Maka cried after some unspoken time limit was passed. The girl began to thrash and throw whatever was in reach at the cat-in-the-shape-of-a-human. Blair closed the door with a surprised "Nyah!".

"So… shower?" Soul asked once Maka had calmed down.

"Shower."

Soul and Maka walked up the front steps to the DWMA an hour later. Well, Soul walked easily, his hands behind his head. Maka stalked, still angered by Blair.

"Damned perverted cat…" The meister grumbled under her breath.

"Isn't that my line after I get Maka Chopped for her being perverted around me and I get hit?" Soul asked, giving Maka a sideways glance.

Maka glared back. "Don't tempt me."

"Yeah, yeah."

"You guys are early." Liz commented from her seat on the steps of the main entrance of the school as the duo entered the school.

"We had to leave of Maka would have tried to kill Blair again." Soul answered easily.

"Oh? What'd she do?"

Soul's face turned red. Maka continued to glower at the ground.

"Oh. Coitus interruptus.[4] Ouch." Liz was uncharacteristically neutral. Normally such a comment would have been accompanied by a laugh or a joke. There was sympathy there.

"Not exactly." Soul managed. "But, uh, Blair came into my room… yeah…" Soul looked over at Maka while he spoke, wondering if she was going to Maka Chop him or Maka Kick him if he continued.

"Either way, not fun." Liz said with a sympathetic smile.

"Patty?" Soul inquired.

"Patty." Liz answered matter of factly.

"She still alive?" Maka asked, still fuming.

"Yeah…" Liz trailed off and a blush came to her face.

"So what happened?" Soul asked

"Well… uh… we were… and Patty came in… and… uh…" Liz began. "Oh look! A distraction!" She pointed to Black Star and Tsubaki as they came through the front doors. Liz hopped down from the steps and ran to Tsubaki, hugging her. "You have no idea how good it is to see you!"

"Why? What's up?" Black Star asked, confused. "What'd I miss?"

All eyes fell to Liz, who jumped as if prodded. "Oh nothing. It's nothing." She smiled nervously and waved her hands as if to ward off the question.

"Well, I'm surprised. Everyone is here early." Kid observed as he walked down a staircase towards the group, Patty walking distractedly behind him. "Looks like we can start our meeting early then."

"Oh thank God." Liz breathed, thankful for Kid's arrival.

"Oh my! It's good to see everybody again! And you're all here early!" Lord Death greeted everyone as they entered the Death Room. "Well, it looks like we can get right down to business!"

Ox, Havar, Syed, Elena, Katya, Spirit, Kami, Sid and Nygus were already present, apparently having been talking amongst themselves and waiting for the others to arrive. It seemed that everyone had wanted to get this meeting done and over with early.

Katya stood talking to Syed and Elena off to one side. She had come back to Death City with the remains of her partner and teammate, unwilling to leave her meister's side even after his death. She had been under the care of Nurse Medusa ever since. The fact that the girl wasn't a nervous wreck was a testament to the fact that Medusa had turned over a new leaf of sorts and actually helped Katya rather than nursing the seeds of madness that had no doubt been planted when her teammates had been killed in front of her.

Soul walked over to his former mentee and gave her a brief hug and gave his condolences. Maka tearfully embraced the girl, her anger at Blair forgotten in the face of taking care of the wounds left by losing friends and partners.

Katya had always been resilient for as long as Soul and Maka had known her. She took everything in stride. What had appeared as a sad devotion to a partner that couldn't separate herself from him was actually her honoring a pact that she had made with Aleksander some time before. If either of them were to die in battle, the other would accompany their body home as one last duty to their partner. Katya had made her peace with Aleksander's death, and those of her teammates, on the long ride home in the belly of a cargo plane.

The real problem for the now meister-less weapon would be to find a new mesiter. While deaths of students were rare, they were never far from the minds of the students at the DWMA. Partnerships broke up occasionally and it was always difficult for those students to find a new partner. But for a weapon, whose duty was to protect the meister, to come back from a mission alive without their meister, it would be exceptionally difficult for them to find a new meister.

"Well everyone, I would like to say that I'm glad you all returned home safely. Some of you had a harder time than others, but you came back. You also completed your mission in spite of monumental odds. For your sacrifices and services, you have my thanks and the gratitude of the DWMA." Lord Death spoke almost like a normal person, lowering his usually care-free personal to show his deepest thanks to all of the students and instructors who fought the Kichisake-onna.

A long silence filled the room. Sid finally coughed once to get things in motion again.

"Sorry. I'm not big on speeches! But, you are back and that's what matters! Now, this leaves just one more thing to deal with." Lord Death pulled the spirit of the Kichisake-onna from thin air. "Who gets the right to consume the spirit of the pre-Kishin."

Lord Death let the question hang for a moment, making sure that he had everyone's attention.

" Soul is a Death Scythe and falls to the bottom of the list of people who need it. Tsubaki is well on her way to becoming a Death scythe. The spirit cannot be split into two, so that rules out Liz and Patty. Havar is only a few Souls away from being able to eat the soul of a witch. So it's down to Elena and Katya." Lord Death looked between the two weapons expectantly.

Elena exchanged a meaningful glance with her friend and spoke up. "Lord Death, I think that it should go to Katya. She lost more than any of us to this pre-Kishin."

"Hmm… Alright. Katya, do you have anything to say?"

Katya maintained a straight face, no trace of tears forming in the least. "No sir. If you think that the spirit of that woman should go to me, then I'll take it. Otherwise give it to Elena. She was actually able to help take her down."

"Katya," Lord Death's tone was quiet and soft. "You lost your partner and two very good frieds of yours. This is not out of pity or sympathy. This is about justice. It's rare that a mortal can have real justice." The reaper held the red, scaly spirit out for Katya to take.

"Thank you, Lord Death." Katya said, understanding in her eyes. The weapon reached out and took the soul of the Kichisake-onna and consumed it whole, just like Soul had so many times.

A tense silence filled the room, as if all present were expecting something to happen.

Katya swallowed and smacked her lips a few times. The girl looked off into space as if she was contemplating what she had just eaten.

"Not bad."

The weapons in the room laughed while all of the meisters looked confused. All weapons had their jokes about how a soul tasted or what its texture was and no meister would ever be on the "in" side of those jokes.

As Soul walked down the front steps of the DWMA with Maka, his hand casually bumped into his phone as he forced his hands into the pocket of his sweatshirt.

"Oh yeah. Never turned this back on." Soul mumbled as he took the device out and powered it on and shoved it back into his pocket. No one he normally talked to had needed to contact him, having been near him for the last few days.

After a moment, the phone beeped.

Then it beeped again.

And again.

Puzzled, Soul retrieved the device and unlocked it. The weapon stopped dead in his tracks.

Maka continued on for a few paces before realizing that she was now alone.

"Soul?" She called as she turned around.

Her weapon's face was white, drained completely of color.

"What's wrong?"

With a shaking hand, Soul held out his phone for Maka to see. The girl studied the phone for a minute before she realized what had Soul so terrified.

Soul had forty seven new voicemails and one hundred eight new text messages.

All from his mother.

[1] A nod to Robin Williams in "Good Morning Vietnam".

[2] I don't like the political correctness of the airlines or any political correctness at all for that matter. Everyone knows who I meant and the term steward can be applied to males of the profession. Flight Attendant seems so damned cold and disconnected where a steward or stewardess implies that their job is hospitality, which it is. If you don't like my non-PC attitude, get the fuck out of my story. Thank you! Have a nice day.

[3] "the penny dropped" is the same as "carrying the one". It's someone taking a second to think about something and then realizing what's going on.

If your penny hasn't dropped yet: Soul called Maka "Bookworm", she replied by referencing the "early bird catches the worm" while they're talking about Soul waking up and sexing Maka as a wakeup.

If I need to spell it out more, I fear for you. Life will not be kind.

[4] Coitus Interruptus, normally refers to the "pull-out method", but can also just mean interrupting sex.

A/N: Well, there we go. Chapter 11 is finally written and done. I hope it was to your liking as you have waited for so Goddamned long to read it.

The idea of the ton of missed calls hit me several weeks ago, not long after I finished chapter 10. I thought it would be fitting that none of Soul's plans would be allowed to be put into action. As for how Soul's family found out, I leave that to you nice people to wonder about until I get chapter 12 written.

Not a whole lot in terms of substance for this chapter. Mostly filler and some smut with pointless humor thrown in for shits and giggles on my part. I apologize for nothing.

As for the stammering and subject avoidance about Patty interrupting Kid and Liz's sexy time… well, I leave that speculation up to you. I won't be bursting any bubbles.

On the subject of my long interlude, I am terribly sorry. This has literally been the longest I've gone without updating since I started this series and I'm dreadfully sorry. However, the semester is reaching its crescendo and I just don't have time to write like I used to. I'm planning on MAYBE one more chapter before I knuckle down and write my Christmas special, but don't hold me to that.

A/B: Surprisingly few aside from the fact that I wish that I had material to make this chapter longer. However, as with all filler chapters, this is mere connective tissue stringing together plot. If I launched into Soul's family and all that, the chapter would have been about seven times longer.

Comments from Chapter 10:

raelynn gross: Hans Zimmer is the best. I cannot tell you how many times that I've listened to "Roll Tide" from Crimson Tide. I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the chapter.

Maka67: You had some good ideas and I used them. I'm thankful for input. However, I've got my own plans in the works regarding how things go. And Grandma Evans, as she existed in the manga, does not exist in my story.

cheeriolord: First of all, thanks to you for your PM. I never got around to replying, but you hit the nail so perfectly on the head that I thought that you were in my head.

Secondly, I've always thought of Excalibur as the pop-up of the series. There to break the flow and then disappear once you click the x on his window.

Eieriann: Sorry for the slow updates. Working out the real dynamics of Soul's family is going to be difficult, but I don't get paid the nonexistent big bucks to do the easy problems, right? Also, the internet hasn't exploded. Yet. I'm working on that.

Emcronia: Sorry about those typos. Your review got me working to fix all of the ones that I could find. I'll pay much better attention to that the next time I use Wes' name a lot. As for the Maka Kick… well, the great Excalibur won't be too scared of the kick of a mere mortal for long. Then he gets to relearn the fear of a Maka Kick. *evil laugh*

chiconmayarox: I love you too. I'm glad you like my stories and I hope that they continue to live up to your expectations.

MusicSoundsMySoul 14: Thank you so much for the vote of confidence. It's nice to know that some people actually see me as a person and not a machine churning out story or some unapproachable demigod. Seriously, your review helped me get my ass in gear and write this chapter.

bluenian98: You have no idea. Well, maybe some after the last few lines of the story…

Techno Skittles: Yes. Yes he fucking is.

NIKO-LAI!: Sorry, I cannot play the ModernWarfare games without being reminded of you. It made playing MW3 an interesting experience…

I'm beyond thankful to you for all of your support. I hope that this chapter after the long drought of nothing is some kind of token of my thanks.

SxAlinaxE: Well, here's another chapter for you.

Juls-emo: I hurd that you were in the market for moar, so I gave you sum. Sorry, the old /b/tard in me wouldn't let me answer like a sane human being.