Disclaimer: I own nothing remotely connected to D. Gray Man.

What's Love Got To Do With It

Chapter 13

Suman sat with his assigned group of exorcists, going through a thick folder of papers regarding their next assignment, when Cross approached them in a less than calm state. Man looked exhausted, but not too exhausted he could raise some hell. His eye brow twitched madly, signaling that the man was under a great amount of stress.

"General Cross," The exorcists greeted him respectfully. The man in question nodded in their direction before giving his attention to Suman.

"Suman, where in the hell is Nozomi?" Asked Cross. He had gotten out of his meeting expecting to see his little pinkette, to be greeted by whatever uniform Komui had gotten for her… and then promptly remove it from her piece by piece. But when he returned to their room, he was greeted by emptiness… and the after math of what they had done the previous night.

"She said she was going into town for a book." Said his father-in-law. He didn't seem as worried as he should, the red head noted with a narrowing of his eye.

"Yes, going on four hours ago. It doesn't take that long to get a damn book." Said the general, reduced to pacing the floor. Timcanpy hovered about him too in a nervous state. It was taking every ounce of his willpower to keep from going out to look for the girl. Cross knew his wife had the attention span of a hamster at times, so there was a large possibility that something else had gotten her attention. One of the things Klaud had spoken about in their recent session was giving his wife some space to be independent (which is where her father and friends came in at when it boiled down to "watching her"), and the last thing he wanted was Nozomi feeling like she was being smothered by him. But it wasn't like her to not call and check in, especially with him. Cross felt as if he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and the longer Nozomi was gone the worse it got.

"General Cross?" The man nearly jumped out his skin at the sound of his name his nerves were so bad. "Komui is demanding to see you at once. He says it's urgent… Mr. Suman Dark, you are requested as well." A medical staff assistant said, walking up to the overly large man. She was shorter than his petite little wife by a long shot, with unruly auburn curls. She had the face and features of a young prepubescent teen, but the sternness and coordination of a woman twice her age. "Now if you please gentlemen." She said, signaling for them to follow.

Cross couldn't help but feel everything inside his chest sink as he was led to the infirmary, Suman just as nerve-wrecked at his side. His heart felt as if it was going to fall clean out of him and run away when he spotted Komui out by the door waiting for them. Seeing the grave look on his face, both approaching men knew that behind that closed door lied Nozomi. Komui noticed the general vastly approaching, holding up his hands to stop them both before they barged right into the room.

"What happened? Where's' Nozomi?" Cross demanded, having a hard time keeping his voice low. He just didn't care anymore; all that mattered was Nozomi and her health. God forbid if she wasn't alright… he wouldn't even know what to do with himself.

"She… she was dropped off… the gatekeeper had us notified as soon as he spotted her. She was put under a temporary state of paralysis, and aside from cuts and bruises she seemed fine. The head nurse is checking her out and running a few tests on her now as we speak." Komui spoke as calmly as he could. That was his strategy at trying to keep the general as sated as possible. The last thing Nozomi or the order needed was Cross (and Suman) going on a rampage.

"What the hell do you mean a temporary state of fucking paralysis? How will that affect her in the long run? How does this even happen?" Cross bellowed, his head spinning. What in the world happened to his poor little wife? What happened in those four hours of being away from the order? Did she call out for him to help her while he was off stuck in a meeting too busy to help her? Had she suffered much under the hands of her attacker? What condition would she be in once she woke up and had control over her body again? Cross had failed tremendously at protecting the person he cared the most for. How would he be able to even look her in the face after this? One thing he knew for a fact is that he was going to put whoever did this to his beloved in their graves.

And Suman, stared blankly ahead, unable to form any coherent thoughts at first. This whole ordeal hitting close to home. With his late wife getting hurt, him powerless to protect her, which resulted in her untimely death. "Komui… my daughter… can I see my daughter?" The man asked finally, his voice a faint whisper. He didn't care for anything else in the world except his little girl, the thought of losing the only family he had close to him left him feeling sick to her stomach. That one sentence being murmured over and over again as if his life depended on the mantra.

Komui noticed both men were struggling with an internal conflict, placing a reassuring paw on each shoulder. "Nozomi will be fine…" He said.

After a short moment had passed, the head nurse's assistant, the girl with the auburn curls, peaked her head out and signaled for the men to enter. Cross's nerves were worked up all over again and then some as he took in the sight of his immobilized wife lying on the bed with her eyes closed. She resembled a lifeless porcelain doll lying in the small bed with a single IV hooked to her arm; bruises laced her thin appendages, cuts all along her cheeks and chin, her pink tresses fanned out about her face. She looked heavenly despite the circumstance, his little wife still managed to show her beauty among her battered body.

"Well the good news is she is going to be alright, and she should be awake in a matter of hours." The girl said.

"How could this have happened?" Suman asked, his voice taking volume as he sat down beside his daughter.

"We don't know, we haven't seen this form of ability before." The girl's young face frowned for a moment before perking back up. "On a side note, we ran some tests and found her HCG levels were extremely high."

"HCG? What the hell is that?" Cross asked, his temper starting to flare. He didn't know if he could take any more bad news concerning his wife, it was already a strain on him standing there seeing her like that.

The girl shot him a disapproving look for interrupting which he just scowled at before continuing. "Like I was saying… her HCG levels were pretty high, so head nurse suggested we do an ultrasound. Turns out Mrs. Marian is carrying a set of triplets." The room suddenly grew so still a bomb could explode and no one would dare move from the shock. Suman looked as if he was going fall clean the hell out on the floor.

"What did you say?" Cross asked, breaking the mile high silence. He wanted to make sure he heard her right before he went off and drunk himself to sleep.

"I said your wife is pregnant," The assistant smiled, speaking slowly to make sure he got what she said this time around (she obviously didn't get paid enough to deal with people like general Cross… who lived up to his rep exceedingly). "Almost eight weeks to be exact, congratulations… but I do have to say she's a tad underweight to be carrying triplets so she has to increase her calorie intake to maintain a healthy pregnancy."

All eyes fell on Cross, who still stared dumbfounded and wide eyed at his unconscious wife. Even now, under the thin gown she wore, he could make out a significant, well defined bump where her normally flat stomach used to be. Now how she, or even him for that matter considering how many times a day he saw her naked, hadn't noticed that was far beyond him. He had to take a quick seat before his legs decided to give out on him, his skin quickly losing all of its color. So while she was going through lord knows what, his unborn children could've gotten hurt too? This was all too much to take in at once. He rested his head in his palms, if he didn't worry for her before he was sure as hell going to worry now. Klaud said to give her space, screw all of that psychobabble now, Nozomi was going to be lucky if she even went to the bathroom alone. Cross reeled in the fact that he was going to be a father.

'Now how in the living fuck did that happen?' He wondered to himself as the room cleared out. The assistant had said something else but he was too engrossed in his thoughts to hear her. 'As if you don't know.' The voice in his head answered back. 'You've been in Nozomi damn near every day, all day, since you got back to the order… it was bound to happen sooner or later. And look, now Suman has a legit reason to kill you… you knocked up his only daughter.'

'Oh you shut the hell up.' His nerves were so shot he was arguing with himself. Now he had to reevaluate his entire life, give up his disappearing randomly, the drinking and gambling. But even Cross knew he'd give up anything in the world if he had to to be a good father to his children and to keep Nozomi. The giant man groaned, his mind racing in circles. No wonder she'd been so sick (not that she wasn't always sick). If he wasn't so prideful he'd cry out of frustration and happiness.

A/N: BABBBBBIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEES! :D Thank you to a Miss SilverWolf442 for your reviews, I enjoy our convos girlie. :) Anyways, please rate and review, I enjoy hearing from you! XOXOXO