I am so incredibly sorry for making you guys wait so long. Between my promotion at work, getting in & then back out of a relationship & moving it was hard getting inspiration to write, much less having the time to write. But I will do my best! You guys have been so patient, thank you so much

Inuyasha sighed again happily as he watched his mate sleeping. There was no better feeling. He finally had his Sesshomaru back & nothing was going to be able to sour his mood.

Sesshomaru was much more observative than he usually was when he had stepped into the house on the day of his return but Inuyasha figured he was surprised by how spotless the house was. Their house had always been tidy but really only because Sesshomaru himself kept it clean [well, Inuyasha washed dishes so he did SOMEthing!]. While Inuyasha had cooked them dinner, Sesshomaru watched from the island, leaning forward on the barstool like he was concentrating. At first Inuyasha moved deliberately; he had no idea if Sesshomaru was dealing with PTSD or what but the inuyoukai remained still & calm though his eyes darted around occasionally.

Sesshomaru shifted in his sleep, fine brows furrowing a moment before smoothing out & his bow shaped lips parted slightly as he fell back into a deep slumber. Inuyasha could watch him like this all day, his mate in an infinite state of peace, trapped in a bubble of peace where nothing else mattered but for the lovely dreams flitting about behind his closed eyelids-

The hanyou jumped when his sleeping mate let out a loud snore, a snore so loud Inuyasha was slightly concerned about the health of his throat. Sesshomaru has never snored! [not counting the time he had a cold & his nose was stuffed]. He sat up, alarmed as Sesshomaru continued snoring like a rabid, hungry bear. Inuyasha felt like he should do something because quite frankly...he was a little afraid.

He reached out & gently shook the inuyoukai's shoulder until the demon awoke, eyes unfocused.

"Wha-...what is it?"

"You were, uh..."

Sesshomaru stretched & yawned, running a hand over his face. "I was what?"

"You were sn-...you were snoring"

The dog demon frowned. "I was what now?"

"S-snoring..." Inuyasha repeated hesitantly.

"Yasha, I do not snore"

"Well you didn't before but um..."

"You were probably sleeping & woke up when you thought you heard something & you thought it was me snoring"

"But I was awake..."

"I do not snore!" Sesshomaru snapped, fully awake now.

Inuyasha held his hands up in surrender. "Baby, I know what I heard-"

"Then you should've heard your farts last night too!"

"Hey, whoa! I did not fart!"

"Yes you did, in your sleep! It smelled like eggs!"

"At least it didn't wake you up like your snoring did to me!"

"Actually it did wake me up because it was so loud & I could feel the heat of it on my leg!"

Inuyasha was about to retort to that but instead a laugh bubbled up out of his throat. That did kinda sound like one of his farts [not that he'd ever admit that out loud]. If they were going to argue about something, he would prefer it'd be something as silly as this, something no one stayed mad about.

"Nothing I said was funny, Inuyasha" Sesshomaru said, now sitting up in bed & glaring at his mate.

The hanyou shifted the heavy comforter off of him, still chuckling. "At least you know nothing has changed since you left"

A sad expression crossed Sesshomaru's face before he turned away, shoulders stiff. Inuyasha had made it his mission to never bring up what happened or where he's been because even now it was hard to talk about. The hanyou had even told Miroku & Koga to act like Sesshomaru hadn't been away for six months so that the demon could feel a sense of normal, like he never left but the way they acted was forced, awkward. It was obvious Koga was more concerned about Sesshomaru's health than flirting with him like he usually did. It was also obvious it made Sesshomaru very uncomfortabl-

"I want my old therapist back"

Inuyasha blinked quickly several times. "You...what?"

"I want to go back to Dr. Jaken, starting Monday"

"But...but you don't need..."

Sesshomaru gave him a look that was somewhere between pleading & sad. Judging from his body language he was not excited about admitting he still needed therapy.

"You can talk to me, baby. You don't need that runt"

"Yasha, you don't understand..."

"Then help me understand!"

"Don't yell at me!" the demon roared, surprising his mate.

"Ok, ok. Calm down. Help me understand. Why do you still need to go to therapy?"

Sesshomaru sighed, leaning back against the headboard & pushing his bangs off of his forehead in frustration. He seemed to not be able to find the words to explain exactly what it was he needed from therapy; his mouth just opened & closed & every once in a while he'd squeeze his eyes closed as if he was trying to will the explanation to translate correctly from his head & out of his mouth. That, in & of itself, made Inuyasha uncomfortable. Sesshomaru had never had a problem with verbally expressing himself [unless it came to emotions]. He'd always been very good with words: riddles, rhymes, crossword puzzles, you name it. But for him to be speechless because he couldn't accurately express the words needed to explain to Inuyasha? That just wasn't normal.

"Alright. Alright. I'll call Dr. Jaken in the morning to set up an appointment" Inuyasha said defeatedly.

"Call him now" Sesshomaru deadpanned.

"Baby, he's probably on lunchbrea-"

"I don't care, leave him a voicemail"

Inuyasha sighed. So much for progress.

.
..

Inuyasha grinned as he opened the door. "Sup, fellas?"

Koga dapped him & slapped him on the shoulder good naturedly. "What's good, shawty? Where's my baby at?"

"You ain't got no baby here"

"See I could arrange that but Sessh is so afraid you'll off yourself if he leaves you"

Before Inuyasha could respond, Miroku, who was about to dap him in greeting, paused as he took out his phone, which was ringing. "Hello? Hey baby, what's up. I'm just now getting to Yasha's place"

"Hey Sango!" Inuyasha called.

The man smirked. "She says hey Yasha. Yeah. What? Are you serious? I mean yeah, we need the money but you haven't had a day off in two weeks! I know, I know. I'm still going to talk to your boss because this is ridiculous. Yeah, I'll come back, gimme ten minutes. Alright. Ok"

When he hung up, Inuyasha had his head tilted to the side in confusion. "What's wrong, man?"

Miroku sighed. "Sorry guys. Sango is on call this weekend & they need her to work again tonight so I have to go get the babies"

"Well go pick them up & bring them back here"

"You sure?"

"Of course. I haven't hung out with you guys in a minute, I want you to stick around"

"Not to mention he still needs to go out & get a gift for both of the kids since he forgot" Koga muttered, earning a glare.

"Alright lemme go get the girls. I'll be right back"

"Yeah, ok, see you in like an hour" Inuyasha responded.

The human chuckled. "I'm only ten minutes down the street"

"But no parent can get a toddler & a three year old ready quickly"

They shared a laugh then Miroku headed off with the promise he'll have them ready in twenty minutes.

"How's Shippo?" Inuyasha asked, pouring he & Koga a short glass of brandy.

"He's good. He's graduating next month"

"Oh yeah? Do you know the exact date? I'd like to go"

"I know it's either the twenty sixth or twenty seventh. I'll have to check his Instagram again"

They sat in silence for a few moments. Inuyasha could feel the questions Koga was dying to ask but was afraid to but he remained quiet as he waited. The wolf demon fidgeted & squirmed & wriggled in his seat restlessly, twiddling his fingers, drumming his glass & bouncing his knee until it was starting to make the hanyou feel irritated.

"Just ask what's on your mind, man" he said.

Koga licked his lips nervously. "H-how is he, man? Like...for real?"

Inuyasha sighed & rubbed the palm of his hands up & down the thighs of his jeans slowly as he thought about how to respond. "He is...good. Not quite like before...but he's...good"

"But he's getting better?"

The half breed started to nod his head then he stopped & very slightly shook his head. "I...uh...he's working on it. He wants...he wants to go back to therapy"

"But why? Didn't he get all the therapy he needed at the...place?"

"He only really talks with Dr. Jaken. Dr. Jaken has been there from the beginning so Sessh doesn't have to keep explaining himself to so many different people. I dunno, man. I ain't with it but if it'll help my baby-"

"My baby"

"Shut the fuck up. If it'll help my baby then I'll give him the world on a twenty four karat chain"

Koga nodded slowly then he gave his frenemy a strange look. "Do you think maybe...Sessh & Dr. Jaken...?"

Inuyasha frowned. "What? Hell naw! Ain't no way Sessh would ever be that damn desperate to stoop for someone as low as Dr. Jaken. The guy is ugly as shit!"

"So are you but somehow he's still with yo-"

The inuhanyou flung a pillow at the okami, successfully shutting him up. "Fuck you! I still look better than you!"

"In whose eyes?"

Their little argument was cut short by a door opening & light footsteps. Inuyasha grinned as Sesshomaru emerged from their bedroom, his eyes low from either just waking up or being in the dark [he always kept the curtains closed].

"Hey, baby. You want something to eat?" Inuyasha asked, standing.

Sesshomaru shook his head.

"Sup, baby? Long time, no see. I've missed you" Koga said, getting up to walk over & give his "baby" a hug but Inuyasha pushed him back down on the couch roughly.

"Aye man! I just wanted to give him a hug!"

The hanyou glared at him, warning him to keep his mouth shut.

"Come"

Both mens' jaws dropped to the floor when Sesshomaru held his arms out to Koga. His face was completely impassive though his body language was a little stiff.

"I...ok" Koga said hesitantly but stood & walked over to the inuyoukai quickly. He enveloped the silver haired beauty in a tight hug, bringing their entire bodies flush with each other [which made Inuyasha insanely jealous & uncomfortable].

"Mmmm, you smell so good..." Koga purred.

Sesshomaru allowed himself to be held a few more seconds then he put his hands on the okami's shoulders to push him away.

"Damn, baby. Never thought I'd be able to touch you, much less hug you" the wolf said, grinning, well, wolfishly.

The demon simply walked away without another word. The half breed & the wolf demon stood in silence for somewhere around ten minutes before Koga looked at Inuyasha.

"I think he likes me" he said, earning a growl & claws around his throat.

.
..

By the time Miroku had the kids ready, Koga had to head home for some rest since he had to get up early in the morning for work & it was just an hour before the kids had to go to bed anyway so Inuyasha just called for a rain check. He wasn't sure exactly how Sesshomaru was going to respond to children yet; it'd be better to just wait until he felt a little better.

Currently he was watching Sesshomaru slowly unpack his clothes & refold them, even if they were already neatly folded. Inuyasha didn't say anything though; whose to say if this was therapy to him or not or if he just enjoyed doing it? It certainly wasn't harming anyone.

"Koga told me they're hiring for managers at his job. I think the pay starts off just a little below what you were making before" the hanyou said quietly.

Sesshomaru nodded slowly.

"I...uh, put in a recommendation for you at my job. God knows we could use more line leaders. That way, we can ride together & save gas & money, y'know?"

Another slow nod.

Inuyasha cleared his throat, uncomfortable with the silence. "I-I believe Miroku's job starts hiring for the summ-"

"Whatever you have to say, Yasha, just say it" Sesshomaru interrupted, not unkindly.

"Well, I mean...I just don't think it's healthy to stay at home all the time. If you're not doing anything you might go back to..."

"Cutting myself"

Inuyasha swallowed thickly.

"So, in other words, you just don't want to leave me home by myself because you're afraid I might start cutting myself again"

The hanyou looked down at his fiddling hands. It made him feel bad that he felt that way because he should have faith that Sessh was better now but he was still treating the inuyoukai like he hadn't already gone to rehab, like he was still the same demon he was before. "Baby, I'm sorry-"

"No need to apologize, Yasha" Sesshomaru said quietly, getting up to put away his folded clothes.

"It's not that I feel you haven't gotten better I'm just...I'm just still a little afraid, y'know? I don't want to lose you again"

Sesshomaru stared at him for so long, Inuyasha began to feel uncomfortable. His face was absolutely expressionless though his jaw worked to the side a few times. After about ten minutes he dropped the clothes that'd been in his hands right onto the floor & walked towards his mate, slowly but not in a predatory kind of way. His eyes traveled up & down the half breed's body slowly, almost like he was expecting him to run. To be honest, Inuyasha wanted to run. Nothing good came out of Sesshomaru dropping stuff out of his hands & walking towards you the way that he was. When Sesshomaru was within arm-reach he sub-consciously braced himself...then a soft hand was placed against his cheek. He relaxed very, very slowly, still unsure what Sesshomaru would do. The damn dog wouldn't say anything! It should be illegal to build suspence like thi-

"I'm fine" he whispered, "I'm better. I promise"

Inuyasha swallowed thickly & pulled his mate to him, burying his face in the inuyoukai's shoulder to hide his watering eyes. "Good"