Iku heard the gunfire and hoped that the people had made it out safely. She also hoped that she hadn't sent her doctor to his death. As the clock counted down, she felt the babies kicking. She felt tears rise to her eyes as she felt her tummy. "I'm sorry, babies. I didn't mean for this to happen." She hoped that Atsushi would be able to forgive her for what she had done. She was thankful that he was safe at the legal proceedings. She hoped that they would continue, despite everything and that the censorship nightmare would finally be over. She tried to slip out of the handcuffs, but they had been clasped on too tightly. Her wrist hurt and bled from her efforts to get out of them. She realized that she was probably not going to get out of there in the less than ten minutes left before the device was mean to detonate.

The shots seemed to slow and she heard loud footsteps coming her way. The door burst open and Atsushi had his gun out, he glanced at her before checking to make sure there wasn't anyone else in there. Upon seeing his face, Iku let out a sob. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I had to do something!" Atsushi dropped his weapon and fell to his knees, pulling her into an embrace. His shoulders were heaving and it took all of her effort to push him away. "You need to get out of here. There's not enough time." She replied, wiping her cheeks. She pointed at the timer. "Get everyone out!"

Atsushi wiped his own face and looked at the bomb in a panic. He tried to pull her to her feet but quickly realized why she hadn't left. He was about to shoot the chain but Iku stopped him. In such a small room, there was no telling where that bullet would end up. Atsushi fumbled in his pockets to find a key but his hands were shaking. "Atsushi Dojo, get your ass out of here!" She yelled. She thought he was going to hit her by the look in his eye, but he didn't. He kissed her instead.

"Not without you. Never without you." He replied. He stumbled over to the door yelling orders into his devices. Komaki ran over with a bomb-expert. Neither of them had handcuff keys. Komaki tried to pick the lock without success.

"The movies always make it look so easy!" He tried to look like his cheerful self, but his eyes failed him.

"This is not easy to disarm. You must be very still." The man responded, looking at Iku. She nodded.

Tezuka ran in the room when there were only a few minutes left on the timer. Komaki and Atsushi refused to leave. He pulled out a handcuff key and was about to free Iku when the man stopped him. "This is too sensitive. She can't be moved!" He replied and with perfectly still hands continued his work.

"It's okay," Iku smiled at them, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "I wouldn't have been able to waddle fast enough away anyways. You guys go on ahead. We'll catch up with you later."

"Let's just get you out of this and go! This man can explode for all I care. He brought this on himself! We can rebuild the library!" Tezuka said. He was practically bawling and Iku was surprised to see so much emotion from the man who had once despised her. In that moment, she felt so thankful for those around her.

"Komaki, Tezuka, go. Asako and Marie will both be so worried. It's okay, really." Iku insisted. They reluctantly left after much persuasion and the building was perfectly still. "Atsushi?"

"Yes?" His voice quavered ever so slightly.

"Can we move in with my parents if we survive this? It was the cutest neighbourhood. The kids will love it."

"Sure." He replied. His hand was on her head comfortingly, gently stroking her hair.

"Atsushi?"

"Yes?"

"I love you. More than anything but our babies. They're tied with you." Iku said, looking up into his eyes.

"I love you and the babies too." He replied. "I can't wait to meet them."

"You will." She said reassuringly.

The device strapped to Shun Yo made a long beep and Iku looked desperately at the bomb-expert. He took a big sigh of relief and smiled at them. The numbers had frozen with less than a minute to spare.

… . .. … . … .. . . . .. . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . .. .. . .. .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . ..

Atsushi gently unlocked the handcuffs and embraced his wife. "I thought I told you not to scare me like this again?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. But I'm like, crazy pregnant and I saved a lot of people today, so I think that makes up for it." Iku kissed him and smiled.

"Why are you wet?" Atsushi asked quizzically.

"Oh, um, I might have peed my pants." Iku replied innocently.

"What?!" Atsushi replied jumping away.

"I had to pee but then I had to knock this guy out and he was too heavy to drag to the toilet with me so I had to do what I had to do." Iku replied.

… . .. . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. … . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .

Iku was barely able to shower and change before she was carried away to the hospital by her husband and friends. There were a lot of tears when she arrived. Film crews attempted to interview her, but all the task force members kept them back so that Iku could be looked over by a doctor. Her wrist was bandaged up but the hospital determined that her babies were just fine. As a precaution, they wanted to keep her overnight.

"By morning, you are going to be the talk of the town. The 'pregnant hero' is already all over social media." Shibasaki said, hugging her friend. "Thank you for surviving."

"There are plenty of girls who could have been your maid of honour if I hadn't." Iku teased.

"Perhaps, but they could not have taken your spot as my best friend." She replied.

"Um, Iku, there's a special gentleman here who would like to see you." Komaki said, peeking into the door. Shibasaki left to go handle some of the attack's aftermath and promised to come by and visit the following day. A man whom Iku had never seen before entered the room.

"I'm sorry to intrude, but I had to see that you are all right." He said, coming over. He handed her some flowers with hands that were trembling. He looked at her for a moment and bowed deeply. "I can never thank you enough for saving my wife. You have made it so that our daughters will both have a mother. Naoko wished to see you, but she is still in labour. She wished me to tell you that our new baby girl will be named in your honour. We both hope that our daughter will be as brave, kind, and as loyal of a friend as you have been. Thank you!" He took her hand, tears revealing his sincerity.

"Tell Naoko that it's all okay now. I'm fine. I'll come visit her when your baby has been born!" She replied with a smile, "Now, go be with her. It was a hard day." He nodded and left just as Atsushi entered.

"The media seems content for now. Genda's wife has claimed an exclusive from you, by the way." He said and lay down beside her.

"I'm not sure I have much to say about everything. Maybe I can make people sympathetic for Dr. Yo's brother. He was pretty broken up over how their parents treated him. I hope I didn't give him a concussion. I'm surprised Dr. Yo hasn't been here to see me yet." Iku replied.

"You're kinder than I am. I want that man to rot in prison for what he did." Atsushi replied and then was eerily silent.

Iku sat up and looked at him. "Dr. Yo and his brother are very close to fixing their brotherly bond. They just need a bit of time."

"They may not have that," Atsushi replied soberly.

"What do you mean?" Iku tried to read his features, fearing the worst.

Atsushi looked at her and pulled her close. "The other gunmen thought Yo's brother had betrayed them and then they caught the paper towel bluff. They shot him in the abdomen before we got in there. He's in critical condition."

Iku gasped, "I have to go see him!" She exclaimed and was about to jump out of bed when Atsushi held her back.

"He's still in surgery, we can't visit until later."

"You don't understand! I made him go out there dressed like his brother! I'm responsible for what happened to him. He didn't even want to go!" Iku once again found herself crying. She was exhausted.

"You might have given him the idea and the courage to go out there, but without him there would have been the opportunity for so many more causalities. He told the authorities about the bomb and where you were. He saved a lot of people. You both saved a lot of people." Atsushi replied.

The door opened again and Iku's parents entered. Her mother hurried over to the bed and threw her arms around her daughter's neck. "Are you all right? Are the babies all right?"

"Yes, we're all fine." Iku replied. She hugged her mother back and Atsushi got up to speak with her father. "Mom, this isn't just because of this but I've been thinking a lot about your offer. We've talked about it and made a decision together. Atsushi and I would be happy to share a house with you."

Her mother looked at her with wet eyes and nodded. "I'll call the agent first thing in the morning." She kissed her daughter's cheek. "I can't wait for us to be so close to one another." Iku hugged her, and then her father. Her parents left a short time later.

"Are you going back to the legal hearing soon?" Iku asked Atsushi once the room was again their own.

"They are going to have a bit of a break. We'll resume once we have a bit of time to recover from this. Don't worry about it. If anything, this has just made people more upset about what is happening in libraries. When they saw the numbers of books being hauled off, the people were incensed against the MBC. I think most of the books are going to remain with the libraries because of it."

"Good." Iku replied, her eyes heavy. The babies kicked gently, but it seemed like they were tired as well. She fell asleep on the hospital bed in her husband's arms and he quickly joined her.