The poor man who is rich in love has more wealth than any corporation or
member of royalty.

-Salaeren

Chapter 21-Astonish

Lelouch

Lelouch knitted his fingers with the frail, bony ones of the little old woman tucked under the sheets. Her golden eyes were cloudy with age and her skin hung in tiny folds of crepe paper, shriveled lips only opening to say one word. "Mommy." she weakly kneaded the blanket with liver-spotted heels.

C.C rushed through the bedroom door and kneeled by the woman's side. "What is it, Lucca? I'm glad you're feeling well enough to talk, but you shouldn't strain yourself." Taking a damp cloth Lelouch sat beside her and coated his daughter's face with a thin layer of moisture.

"Open your present now." he said, taking a beribboned package from behind his back. "You only turn ninety-four once."

He kept his eyelids closed, wanting C.C to think he was still asleep. He could hear teeth chattering and felt her silently shiver in the cold of their room as he tried to make sense of the dream; a slight variation of many similar ones he'd had. At least I don't have the Emperor ones anymore.

In the fuzzy state of being not quite awake he eventually found the origin of these dreams; ones of his daughter's extreme age, drowning, choking, and for some reason being eaten by enormous Cheese-kuns. He figured that, after hours of painstaking analysis that the basic laws of biology still applied to him and C.C, and despite them both having the uncanny ability to heal and not age those special rules of immortality would not apply to any child of theirs. A time is going to come when one of us has to choose who gives away their Code..it's going to be me of course. Or would I want to curse my son or daughter with having their father's sacrifice hanging over their head? I suppose I'm undeserving of this existence anyways...it would be easier for someone pure to enjoy it.

These almost unbearable thoughts were making him feel sick. He sneaked a glance at C.C from a sliver of vision under his eyelids, glad she was facing away and slightly guilty about how he was allowed to sleep beside someone so perfect. It wasn't until she suddenly broke into uneven sobs did he disturb that moment of introspective gratitude.

"C2...what's wrong?" he sat up and she met his eyes; the resplendent depths completely dry.

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted you to stop pretending to be asleep...because I know you're awake when you stop making funny noises." Lelouch let himself collapse back into the warm patch he'd gotten form lying there so long. He closed his eyes against what he knew would be an infuriatingly smug expression. "What kid of interesting things do you dream of, your majesty?"

Dozing off again he brushed off this question and startled as he felt C.C's weight on him, and he opened his eyes to see golden ones inches away from his. Acutely aware of her belly smushing his breath Lelouch pushed her off. "Don't climb on top of people when you're so..so..."

"So what?"

"So pregnant."

Her tight shirt slid up as if to accentuate his point. Looking slightly hurt C.C pulled it back down. "I thought I could ask you for anything, but you won't even give me your body heat." She smiled playfully. "My soul...my very soul is cold." She pulled the blankets out of his grasp and buried her head under the pillow.

Still shivering in his two layers of clothes Lelouch fought her for the blankets. "Witches don't have a soul." His knees grazed the floor through their thin bedroll, and for a very short moment he wished he still had that wonderful bed back at Pendragon. He considered sharing his theory with C.C but smothered the urge.

"Hey..I remembered." C.C pushed the pillow off of her face. "Tobasco needs to be fed. Go feed him."

"But then your soul will freeze!"

"Well according to you I don't have one. Now go." She swatted his arm. "If you're scared of getting kicked again I'll come and hold your hand."

Lelouch unconsciously flexed the arm in question as he remembered Tobasco's crushing hooves. "I won't let you get near that borderline demonic beast in the state you're in. At least when my arm was broken it could heal, but I don't know if the baby..." He trailed off as the dream came back full force.

She seemed to not fully understand his implications, or was ignoring them. "..I'll make my own breakfast, so then I can have the cheeseburger I've always wanted."

After he journeyed through the sparsely furnished house and opened the drafty front door, stepping outside Lelouch felt his feet plunge into cold powder and was blinded by the sun reflecting off of everything. The winter's first snow had silently crept upon them in the night's darkest hours, and billows of the stuff were stacked in every corner and crevice. He stifled an unexpected pang of sadness and hailed for C.C, determined not to think of those memories now.

"Hey lazybones! It snowed last night."

When C.C came to the door she was wearing a blanket like a shawl and looked absolutely miserable. "Great, now you can make snowmen to your heart's content...while I stay inside."

As she turned to silence a screaming kettle Lelouch caught her arm. "No fun."

"What?"

He put on the heaviest coat that he could find. "You're no fun."

"Tabasco needs to be looked after, so stop procrastinating and go feed the damn horse!"

"Awfully passionate about this, are we now?" For some reason, her resistance was amusing.

"Just go."

Not wanting to storm off in a huff and actually glad for some separation he bit back an irritable 'Fine!' and crunched his way across the unblemished expanse of white; the front door slamming behind him and a mini-avalanche occurring. Looking to the sky he saw the tell-tale leaden clumps of deep gray clouds that promised another dump of snow soon. Great. Just great. He jogged towards the relative warmth of Tabasco's stable and sorely regretted not bringing a scarf or something. The horse snorted angrily at his arrival and Lelouch kept a safe distance from any of the animal's legs by scooting around the edges of his stall. After replacing the hay and water Lelouch stopped to pet his oily flank as he ate, the idle task letting his mind wander.

I wonder how Nunnally is doing these days... He saved any scrap of newspaper he could get about her, and was determined not to forget about his little sister even if he was going to be a father soon. Me. A father. Whenever those words apply to me or C2 brings it up I'm not sure whether to apologize or start beaming. I wonder how we're going to do this, how our child can be happy and thrive even though he or she was completely unintended. And that brings up the matter of telling Jeremiah and Anya, when are we going to do that? Will they still let us mooch off of them when we've basically unraveled the plan they gave up everything for?

An agitated snort from Tobasco interrupted his internal soliloquizing and gave him enough time to avoid the dangerously close kick that would have broken at least a few ribs. Determined to stay in one piece Lelouch inched back around the stall's perimeter and escaped through the door, locking it behind him and giving a sigh of relief. Aware of the draftiness and poor conditions the horse was forced to live in he figured this was the cause for such aggressive behavior. Maybe I could ask Jeremiah-

Something icy and wet hit the side of his head. Searching for the assailant (but almost sure who it was) Lelouch spun around and saw the guilty party.

"You should watch where you're going." C.C called from the hilltop, squishing another lump of snow with her hands. "Never know when a soulless witch is going to attack."

She's not even wearing a coat...what an idiot. And since when has she been able to throw so far? "At my head? Really?" Irked by her carelessness and the snow melting all over his face Lelouch scooped up a fistful of snow, but upon throwing it failed to hit his target.

"Nice try."

He attempted to dodge her second throw but felt it burst on his back in a shower of crystals. Making a quick decision he took advantage of the slope between them and took off away from her. "See if you can hit a moving target, witch!" Rapidly punching footprints into the snow he headed to the nearest refuge; the orange trees. A brief glance over his shoulder showed C.C to be scramblng down the hill as fast as the snow would let her.

The frigid air and exertion quickly had him panting and shortly after reaching the closest tree C.C caught him. Grabbing the lowest brach she let her palms melt handprints into the frosty bark, and taking one of Lelouch's made him do the same.

His breath fully regained Lelouch inspected the prints. "If you think about it...by this time next year we'll have our own little girl."

"But it's still not verified..." Some of the snowflakes that were beginning to fall alighted on C.C's eyelashes; her hair drifting lazily in the wind as it picked up.

Overheated from his gargantuan feat of physical prowess Lelouch handed C.C his coat. "A mother knows. Especially a good one like you." Her skin was a worrying shade of white and he offhandedly wondered what on Earth she had been thinking. "As for me...I think I can manage telling Lucca bedtime stories and making her believe in stupid things like Santa Claus, but when you look at the love and kindness in my family..."

C.C hopped from one foot to another and rubbed her hands together. "Perfection isn't what makes a good parent. I think it's love and all of that fuzzy stuff... I.." She pointedly looked away. "Is Tobasco taken care of?"

Lelouch waited a few seconds for her to finish. "Weren't you going to say that you love me?"

"I would prefer you to say it to me, because I know how embarrassed you get." With a defensive shrug she started to make the trek back to their house but stopped at his reply.

"I'm not ashamed of saying-"

The breeze picked up to a howl and almost snatched away her next words."Then do it. I'll give extra points if you make a sexy face and pronounce 'love' like 'wuv'." Plodding slowly up the hill; hair whipping around her face Lelouch watched the witch almost vanish as the visibility decreased. He didn't mind the cold and figured boots would keep his toes safe for all the time he needed.

"Wuv..." He muttered, and seeing her disappear into the icy soup of fog and blustering wind Lelouch cupped his hands to his mouth, shouting over the shrieking din that nature had decided to scour the Earth with. "Cecinah! I love you!" Through a gap in what could be the rage of Zephyr the Lelouch saw her laugh while motioning an exaggerated thumbs down; quickly hidden again by a curtain of white.

Reviewer of the Week: Sciatha, Sciatha and Sciatha.