Daphne sat and ruminated outside the bathroom door while Rin was in the shower. She was loath to be too distant from him. In case something went wrong. In case that demon came back. In case that demon came back and tried to kill her, or him, or both of them. In case it manifested in the body of a bigger, stronger demon and attacked. In case—

Daphne jolted. Those Afghan sands had started to swirl around her.

She drew in and let out a deep breath, resting her head against the wall. Then she thought better of it and sat forward instead, so she'd have easier access to her sword seals. Then she thought better of that and got to her feet. If she was sitting and that demon appeared…

Drifting again.

She shook her head and flicked her fingers to get some blood flow going. She started to pace. Back and forth in front of the bathroom door. Rin had been in there for a long time, it seemed. Longer than he was usually in the shower, which could have been because he was exhausted and the heat was relaxing, or could have been because the demon had already manifested inside and taken him out.

Daphne had opened the door and peeked her head inside before she realized what she was doing. Rin was there, in one piece, letting the water hit him right in the face. He opened his eyes.

"Jesus!" he said, jumping and nearly slipping in the basin of the tub. "You scared the shit out of me."

"Sorry," she said softly. "I got worried."

His posture relaxed. He understood.

Daphne came in and sat once more, leaning against the sink and closing her eyes to breathe in the steam. All night she'd been trying to wrap her mind around the fact that that demon had attempted to possess her husband. What if it had succeeded? What would that mean? Her hands drifted to cover her lower abdomen. What about the baby? A reeling wave of anxious sickness overtook her. If something happened to Rin, she couldn't raise a baby on her own. Her fingers tensed, digging into her skin.

Rin shut off the water.

"Pass me a towel, Daph?"

She sat up with a jolt, grabbed a towel from under the sink, and handed it to Rin in a hurry. She stared at the tile while he dried off. She should tell him. She should, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out.

Rin dressed and released a weary sigh. After hanging up the towel, he offered Daphne a hand and she jumped when it appeared in front of her face. She took it, trembling, and let him help her to her feet.

"Maybe Mephisto will have ideas," Rin said.

"Maybe," Daphne whispered.

Somehow, she didn't think so. Somehow, it seemed like even a demon king might have been out of his depth. After all, Azazel had kept the spirit imprisoned out of fear.

Rin hadn't let go of her hand, so he pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. Daphne was too rigid to relax, but Rin held on, running his hands up and down her back until she did. It had been a long time since she had felt as frightened as she did then, but the sensation was hardly unfamiliar. Rin slipped his hands beneath her shirt and let his fingers drift along her spine. His touch was warm.

"Please don't go AWOL on me," he whispered.

Daphne stiffened. Her nose crinkled and hot, shameful tears filled her eyes. Pressing her face into Rin's shoulder, she held him tight.

"I need you," he said.

She nodded. "I know."

She was self-indulgent sometimes. Sometimes she let herself drift into that familiar anxiety simply because it was familiar. She knew how to stay out of it—she'd learned painfully, and there was no point to that pain if she didn't apply it. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself. Rin was just as scared—and just as strong—as she was.

Leaning back, she looked into his eyes for a moment. Beautiful. Blue. She brushed a hand across his cheek and through his hair. He was going to be a father. She should have told him, but she found herself pressing her lips to his instead.

She should have told him, but he kissed her back and held her close and slid those fiery fingers of his further down her back.

Daphne kept quiet and so did their spirit. After the incident with the coltars, their manifestation flag went dead like it had before, this time, with greater unease. When Daphne and Rin had gone in to report to Mephisto, the demon king simply hadn't been there. They'd asked the school staff, even the higher-ups in the Knights of the True Cross and every one of them had said he'd taken leave. None of them had an explanation as to where or why.

It seemed to Daphne that the spirit could have been lurking around every corner, and she knew Rin was equally edgy. The only consolation they had was the familiarity and strength of its presence. If it was going to show up, they'd know immediately. That didn't exactly make them feel better, however.

Both of them went through the motions—teaching, exorcising, training—both of them carrying the weight of their knowledge. Everyone else just seemed so blissfully unaware, happier for not knowing that a demon-possessing demon not only existed, but had already possessed several thousand demons and made a move on Rin. Daphne herself carried the additional secret that was her pregnancy.

She fought to stay ahead of her anxiety, her memories, everything, but she could feel herself slipping. Days turned into weeks. Still that demon stayed silent. It bore an uncanny and unwelcome resemblance to Morpheus and the semicapers and half of Daphne wished the thing would show its face already.

The other half hoped it would stay silent forever.

Rin was brushing his teeth on a Saturday morning when he turned around and found Daphne staring at his tail with this weird look on her face.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, though it sounded funny with all the toothpaste foam in his mouth.

Daphne started, coming out of deep thought. "No, I just realized—" She cut herself off. It looked like she had to physically force down the words she'd been about to say, and after she did, she offered a canned smile, came into the bathroom, and grabbed her own toothbrush. She'd been having pretty frequent nightmares lately. Rin could tell she was trying desperately to keep it together, but her worry had made her sick most mornings.

He wasn't on the up and up himself. Mephisto still hadn't returned from wherever he'd gone, so he and Daphne had had no one to talk to but each other about the situation. The reality that there was a demon out there who could take over his body loomed over him constantly. He was certain she was out looking for other creatures to possess, absorbing power and biding her time. That was the thing with demons. Eternal beings never have to rush.

Rin finished brushing his teeth and spit in the sink. "You still up for that garden party at Shiemi's tonight?"

"I wouldn't call it a garden party."

"That doesn't answer my question."

The two of them had standing plans with Yukio and Shiemi for the third Saturday of every month. "Double Date Night" as Shiemi called it. This month's had been Shiemi's to plan, and she was going all out, according to Yukio's report. Lanterns and luminaries, tables in the garden.

Daphne sighed. "Up for? No. Willing and planning to attend? Yes."

Smiling, Rin kissed her temple. "You're the best, Daph."

When he pulled away, it looked for a second like what he'd said had wounded her, but she wiped the emotion off her face.

"Seven o'clock?"

Rin nodded.

Daphne set her toothbrush down. "I'll make sure I'm back before then."

Every Saturday, True Cross Academy set aside one of its practice gyms for Daphne. She didn't always use it, but the reservation carried over all the same. Her pace to the school was leisurely. She didn't want to overexert herself.

Upon arrival, she secured her bag in one of the lockers and made her way to the gym. She stretched, taking her time. Maybe she would tell Rin tonight—tell everyone tonight. Shiemi's garden would make an ideal setting, and if the night was going to be as big as Yukio had made it sound, it would be a perfect occasion. Daphne couldn't sit on the knowledge anymore. She'd nearly let it slip this morning when she'd been looking at Rin's tail and suddenly realized that their child would be a quarter demon and likely have a tail itself.

She let out a long, trembling breath. The thought of bringing a child into the world was scary enough on its own, but thinking of the lifestyle she and Rin led, the sheer danger of it all. Putting a baby into a situation like that…it terrified her.

Daphne drew Castor and Pollux. Securing the blades to her palms, she opened her hands and let them stick. Without the immediate threat of Morpheus, she'd been able to take it easy with her blade bonding students over the last two years. Now that this new demon was on the scene, that might change. Rin had long ago bonded Kurikara, though he'd never really figured out any of the blade bonding techniques.

She touched Castor's blade to the floor of the gym and secured it. Then she tipped forward to go into her usual handstand, but she couldn't hold it long because being upside down made her dizzy. Releasing the bond on her blades, she flung both of them toward the wall and recalled them. Then she did it again. And again. And again.

Daphne practiced with her blades, trying to bury her panic under activity, ignoring the ghostly visions of her old squad, of her mother, of coltars and semicapers and Morpheus as they gathered in the corners of the room.