Caution: Befitting the rating of this fic, there's one serving of 80-proof vodka with a twist of serious lime ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Once the bartender announced that it was time to close down the O-Club, and at the same time the music died down, everyone began to get off their seats, pick up their belongings and hunker towards the door. Already, Fuyutsuki went ahead thirty minutes ago, followed by Tsutomo and Natsumi, and Ritsuko, Maya and Shigeru had left an hour earlier, saying that they needed to get up early for work.

As they walked out of the tavern, Misato, being supported by Makoto by having her arm draped over his back and shoulders, hiccupped and said, "Where we're going?"

"You need some rest," Makoto replied, the woman's laptop bag hanging on his shoulder and neck.

Shinji, walking alongside her, asked, "Can we… Uh, go elsewhere?"

Misato blinked. "What? Where you going with?"

"I'm with him," Asuka said. "We just need a bit more time between each other."

The woman nodded. "Ah… Sure, no problem."

Both Children smiled. "Thanks," Shinji said.

"But be careful, okay? Permission granted, you two," Misato added before Shinji faced Kaworu.

"What about the both of you?" Shinji asked.

"Oh," Kaworu said, his hand holding Rei's. "I have to pick something up, bring her home, then come back here."

Wordlessly Rei nodded in response.

"One word before you lovebirds leave," Misato harrumphed.

The Children blinked, halting in mid-step. "What?" they all asked.

"Take care of yourselves, and then I think tomorrow, Shinji-"

"Yeah?" the young man said as they came inside the Headquarters building, a small lobby built into the side, and just ahead was a bank of elevators.

"I'll have a compatibility test arranged for you to get back to Unit One," Misato said. "I'm hoping that by now she's all right and should be able to recognize you."

Shinji nodded. "Okay."

"As for you, Asuka," Misato added. "You'll have to do some combat simulator tests in Unit Two to be refreshed, get up to date and bring you back in line."

"Will do," Asuka agreed. Instinctively she twitched her pointer finger, as if itching to pull the trigger once more.

The woman, still inebriated, shook her head and took in a deep breath in an attempt to relieve herself some of the nausea. "I'm hoping that, by the time I wake up," Misato said. "Section Two might have a breakthrough."

Makoto nodded. "But still, he's out there somewhere."

"Yeah," Misato agreed, and she turned her attention to Shinji and Kaworu. "You Children, I grant your leave. Go and be careful, and then come back in one piece for work, okay?"

"Yes," Rei said, holding onto Kaworu's hand even firmer.

"No problem," Asuka added, before she yanked Shinji's hand and they ran off ahead of them. "See you later!"

Once the Children split up in pairs, with Rei and Kaworu taking an elevator up to the BOQ, while Shinji and Asuka took another elevator down to the recreation area, Misato said to Makoto, "More or less, I think I did my best as their guardian."

"Yeah, but watch your step," Makoto reminded her.

"Say," Misato whispered to Makoto, the woman holding her head as she leaned on a nearby wall. "Why don't we have some coffee at Lawson's in the lobby before we hit the sack?"

Taken aback, Makoto blinked this time, glasses almost coming off his face but managed to push them back with his fingers. "Are you serious?" he asked, thinking she wanted him on bed.

Misato shook her head. "No… No, we need to talk, that's all. I need an outlet… and a couple of headache tablets."

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION
LIGHT AND WATER – SEASON 3
CHAPTER 35:TRYSTS
An alternate path fanfiction by soulassassin547
Written on 6/28/2011 10:15 a6/p6 / 6/28/2011 10:15 a6/p6

Several hundred meters away, Natsumi's home was located on the Geofront's hillside, built as one of the executive cottages that several years ago, previously housed the chief engineer who oversaw the construction of the NERV complex.

Inside, Natsumi had the interior decorated in beige and brown tones, and she set in place pieces of Ikea furniture around the living room. Reproductions of two ancient calligraphy scrolls were hung on each side of the fireplace, whose fire from the burning natural gas coming out of the simulated ceramic piles of logs crackled and hissed.

At this moment, instead of drinking coffee as planned, Natsumi and Tsutomo were kissing torridly, their hands gliding over their bodies, trying to strip whatever clothing they had on, before they went onto the bed. Tsutomo kept onto his ministrations, kissing the woman all over, enjoying the scent of her body.

He then mounted himself right on top of the woman, and in sweat began to join in closer in the wetness; Natsumi's pleasured moans filled the bedroom until the moment of climax.

Only then Tsutomo rolled away from her unclothed form and they sighed in unison.

They waited for several minutes, taking their time to rest; breathing heavily as if they've ran through the finish line on a marathon.

"That was hard," Natsumi said, breaking the silence.

Tsutomo blinked. "What?"

Without a word, the woman pointed out that the sheet now had a small bloodstain, meaning to say that she finally lost her virginity.

"You're the first ever," Natsumi admitted. "I've studied a bit of gynecology on the side, knew the precautions and the contraceptives since high school; watched some little… er… soft porn on the side, tried masturbating… But, damn… this… this hurts!"

"It really does hurt," Tsutomo said as she stroked his chest.

"Then that makes you a pro. When's the first time you lost your cherry?"

The agent blinked, and he blushed; Tsutomo had, at last count, flings with at least twelve women in his lifetime, and this woman was the thirteenth. "Me?"

Natsumi laughed. "Yeah, but why hide it?"

"Because it's a bit embarrassing to talk about it—"

"With a woman, right?"

"Yeah."

"Of course in a bathhouse you'll talk with the rest of the boys about it."

Tsutomo nodded. "You're right."

Natsumi sighed and said, "Okay, I'm all ears. Tell me, spill the beans... We're on our own."

"Okay… Back when I was eighteen… If I could remember right," Tsutomo recalled. "We did a quickie right inside the toilet stall on the fourth floor."

Natsumi snorted. "Some memory you got."

"Yeah," he agreed. "But we lasted for only four months before calling it quits."

"What's her name?"

"Yumiko. Tallest in my class. A hottie with all the works… Long hair, cute face, big chest…"

"And dumb?"

"I'm afraid so. She flunked third year twice in a row."

"Why did you leave her?"

Tsutomo made a face. "She was seeing someone else," he said, leaving out the fact that Yumiko was moonlighting as a streetwalker, while wearing a school uniform.

"That's no surprise."

"Yeah, and from there I changed my mind, by not trying to hitch with a girl straight out of Sabra," he said, referring to a popular girlie magazine. "Unless-"

Natsumi crawled over Tsutomo's chest, stared right up into his face and smiled. "Forget it. You've got me now, and I have everything you want."

Tsutomo nodded. "Thank you," he whispered.

"My pleasure," she replied, before they kissed slowly.

Far away, deep in the bowels of NERV HQ, where the swimming pool was located, Shinji and Asuka stood right before the pool filled with warm water. Tonight they had the whole place all for both of them, and at this early hour with no one guarding the premises.

"Why don't we change—" Shinji said as he was about to suggest about changing to swimwear, but was cut off when Asuka quickly strip off her clothes and tossed them aside on the floor, leaving only her underwear on.

"This is skinny-dipping," Asuka replied, and she jumped into the water with a loud splash.

Shinji was speechless, wondering if his nose could leak with blood or not.

"Come on," Asuka cajoled as she bobbed on the water. "I have to teach you, but take off those clothes first!"

"Um… Okay," the young man agreed as he took off everything but his boxers. Once that was done, he made a step forward, and dipped his right foot into the water. It was just right; warm, not freezing.

"How deep is it?" Shinji asked.

Asuka laughed. "Just get in, dummy. It's just a meter deep for starters, so don't worry."

The young man slowly crouched down, right foot first, and then propped himself to slid carefully into the water until he was chest-deep; it was warm, all right, but he wasn't sure about what Asuka might teach him.

"Say, when's the last time you tried to swim?" Asuka questioned, her red hair now wet after dunking herself in the drink.

Shinji sighed as the water splashed around him. "Second grade, I guess… But I never got to follow it up."

"Why?"

The young man sighed and said, "I nearly drowned… One of my classmates, a bully really, took me by the hairs and shoved me down underwater. I don't how long, but I blacked out before the teachers cut it out and then they sent me home."

Asuka blinked. "Oh."

"That's why from there I had a hard time trying to swim… That's why I'm a bit afraid of going to the deep end."

The redhead nodded. "I see. C'mon, I'll teach you to how to hold your breath underwater."

"Okay," Shinji agreed. "How?"

"Simple. You take a deep breath, then dunk yourself down and count to ten with your fingers. If you can do that, then we go by twenty seconds, then thirty, until you might be able to hold it in a minute. Through all that, however, you'll have to blow bubbles and try to open your eyes."

Shinji smiled. "Sounds good."

Asuka nodded. "Let's get started, then. Take a deep breath."

The young man followed suit by inhaling as hard as he can, his mouth shut tight.

"Good," Asuka approved, "and then… Now."

In unison they went under, crouching down and close to the bottom, but Shinji, at first, shut his eyes upon sinking, and then because he'd been in LCL many times he opened his eyes to see for himself; it looked blurry as he stared at Asuka, who gestured at him to count down from ten with their fingers. As he watched her count, he willed himself to hold his breath as long in those ten seconds, blowing bubbles occasionally, until Asuka gestured to him again to rise and catch some air.

Upon breaking through the surface, both Children gasped for air, and Asuka said, "How do you feel?"

"I'm getting started," Shinji answered.

Asuka grinned. "Good, we're going for twenty," she said, before taking another deep breath, and went under once more until after twenty seconds; and repeated the same routine, adding more ten seconds until Shinji was able to muster himself to hold down for a minute and thirty seconds.

This time Shinji was breathing in deeply, gasping loudly after they came to the surface. "How long?"

"A minute and forty," Asuka said cheerfully between breaths. "You're doing great."

Shinji looked glad; he felt proud of himself getting that far. "Thanks!" he exclaimed.

"Okay, we'll move on to floating," she said, but then pointed out to a spot two meters away from them, where there was a marker denoting one-and-a-half meters of water.

Just when they were about to climb up the stairs, right up to Rei's home, Kaworu gestured to the girl to pause, and he said, "I just want to teach you something."

"What is it?" Rei asked as the young man let the backpack drop to his left hand. He'd been carrying it ever since they came from the O-Club and passed by his quarters to pick it up. She wondered at first what was inside, but decided that it must be unimportant, probably containing his toiletries or spare clothes, just as she did once when she had to do physical education with the rest of the class.

Kaworu pointed at a small warehouse just besides the apartment building, with its sliding door ajar. "Come with me," he intoned.

They walked in until they were standing in the middle of the empty space, surrounded by corrugated boxes of what appeared to be supplies for the demolition crew; the only light present was a pair of white LED bulbs right above their heads.

Facing Rei, Kaworu said, "Have you discovered your AT Field? Or even tried to use it?"

The First Children shook her head. "No."

"But you have potential."

For a moment Rei thought of this, before she said, "How?"

Kaworu sighed. "Limitation is only in the mind," he said. "As you're made from Lilith and you're also her vessel, you can do almost everything with the AT Field, which is why I must show you the way to use the Field to your advantage."

Rei nodded… and smiled softly. "Show me, then."

"Okay," Kaworu said. "See those cans there?" The young man pointed at a pair of empty and upright coffee cans near the wall, several meters away from where they were standing. "Now, the first thing you do is to close your eyes and try to concentrate."

He then closed his eyes and breathed deeply, giving himself a few moments to bring up his AT Field to strength, but not too powerful enough that he could produce a blip detectable by NERV's sensitive array of hidden energy sensors planted around Hakone.

Kaworu now opened his eyes and focused at one of the cans. "Try to focus on the object you want to move, and then picture it coming to you."

The can began to shake slightly, and then in an act that would be construed as a form of magic, the can slowly rose off the floor, before flying towards Kaworu in mid-air until he could reach out and grasp it in his right hand. He then turned to Rei, smiled and said, "That's what I learned before I came here."

For a moment Rei looked at her palms, and wondered if she could do it.

"Now, you try," Kaworu added as he set the can on the floor besides his feet. "Just concentrate carefully. Be subtle."

Rei closed her eyes slowly, before, in imitation of Kaworu, took a deep breath, letting all of herself concentrate into the very core of her heart, and then in her mind's eye saw a ring of light issue away from her, like a ripple in a calm pond. This light lit the darkness before her, revealing the objects right in front, much in the same way a sonar wave hit an underwater obstacle, before the can she sought to manipulate glinted brightly.

Her eyelids fluttered, energies now concentrated on the can, and as if she picked it up, the can levitated, powered by her will, before she formed her hands into a bowl and, by a blink of an eye, the can dropped in.

Now, blinking repeatedly, Rei couldn't believe it; she was astonished by what she was able to do. She turned to Kaworu, holding the can in her hand, and said, "I… I did it."

What words of triumph they were, and this time Kaworu grinned. "I told you can."

Rei smiled in return, finally discovering her newfound potential. "What else I could do?"

"Generate a defensive AT Field," he answered.

At this hour in the HQ lobby, the only ones up around besides Misato and Makoto , as they held their tall cups of black coffee while sitting on the stools, were the two storekeepers running the Lawson's joint; and just a few meters away, the security troopers were hanging around the information desk, talking to the lone night staffer stationed there.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Makoto asked. "You okay this time?"

Misato paused for a moment to punch out the aspirin from the blister pack and popped it into her mouth, before she took a sip of the brew to wash it down and swallowed.

"Yeah," she answered. "I'm feeling bothered about something… I mean, it seems that everything's coming together, but what I don't know is… Is it really going to happen, like what those old men are up to?"

"We've already seen some of the evidence, but like you, I can't guess when they'll strike," Makoto replied. "But they're ready, if not making preparations to make it easier to make their wishes come true."

Misato groaned as she paused to ponder, letting the information in her mind swirl around, trying to recall everything she knew, and then attempt to join the pieces together in an imaginary jigsaw puzzle.

A lot of coincidences, she thought, her eyes narrowing. All of it goes back to SEELE and the Commander... But, hell, even if we manage to stop Commander Ikari, SEELE would still put their plan in motion, and with so much they could throw at us, except the Evas are the only ones standing in their way.

Yeah, whoever they are, and if we could find this other mole and catch him… That mole might have any knowledge of the day they'll attack; there's no way he'll do all of this on his own without any coordination with SEELE. It has to be perfectly timed, and why not?

Misato shook her head. What about Kaworu? He's also an agent, but in the end he's as much as a tool for this Lorenz, in the same way Rei was made as a servant for Commander Ikari, and he's trying to break away from their control.

All because of love. Yeah…

Suddenly her eyes flew open, and at the same time her hangover was dissipated.

Wait a second… If that mole could be talking with SEELE, then has Kaworu made any contact with these fogies? Is it still possible? If he needed to show some loyalty to these bastards, he has to talk, but where? There's no way in this place for him to simply bring out his phone and dial their number, he'll be compromised in no time. It has to be somewhere…

Misato recalled that several times since he arrived, Kaworu went outside, ostensibly to catch some fresh air, or to visit Rei, or to meditate.

That does it, Misato finally told herself, and so without warning she grabbed Makoto by the wrist and then yanked as she abruptly moved.

"What that hell…?" Makoto stammered, blinking. "Where are we going?"

"I got it!" Misato exclaimed. "Let's ask the info desk, he might have something about Nagisa's movements."

The next thing she was standing before the desk staffer, who looked surprised at seeing Misato with a determined face, staring back at him as she flashed her ID card.

"Wha… What can I do for you, Colonel?" he asked, reading off her ID card.

"Corporal, do you have any records of Kaworu Nagisa's times of entry and exit in your logs?" Misato demanded as she put away the card.

Going to his workstation and on the computer, the staffer quickly typed in Kaworu's full name and hit the Enter key to search all records concerning him. Instantly the query program spat out a list onscreen, which showed Kaworu indeed went outside, and the most telling was his unusual excursion in the dead of early morning, which was a few days ago, the day when Unit-01 went haywire on Rei.

Misato and Makoto stared at each other, and then she said, "I think now is his opportunity to make contact again."

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked as his boss pulled him away from the counter, and from earshot.

"Listen to me," Misato whispered into his ear. "To make himself more credible to his masters, Kaworu has to come out, try to link up and report back with whatever he'd seen here."

Makoto blinked. "Is he about to turn against us?"

Misato shook her head. "We'll never know, even though he swears that he's no longer in their control, but the thing is, he must show some loyalty, to assure them that their plans, whatever the hell they are, are being acted on."

"And where we find him?"

The woman upraised her finger. "There's one more thing," she said, going back to the desk staffer, and commanded, "I need a line to Director Hamamoto."

The clerk gave her the phone and Misato dialed the old man's number. After several rings Hamamoto picked it up and said, "Hello?"

"Katsuragi here, sir," Misato replied.

"Yeah, what's up, Colonel?" Hamamoto sounded surprised. "We're still trying to figure out where this fucking mole is cooped up in."

"A mole could do anything," Misato said. "If you have an insider, what he'll do apart from spying and cracking safes?"

"He can do some sabotage work," Hamamoto answered.

Misato nodded. "That's right, sir, and what he'll hit should he has the tools to do so?"

Hamamoto let off a groan, as if a sordid idea finally hit him hard. "The worst he'll try to do to bring us down are our vital installations: communication lines, power, water, air… anything mission-critical that can be destroyed with well-placed explosives, even with some fertilizer, diesel fuel, and an improvised detonator and timer."

"Are you going to act on it?" Misato asked.

"Damn right we have to!" Hamamoto exclaimed, and Misato could hear what seemed to be some rustling in the background, the old man presumably getting his coat and holster on. "Looks like we could do something constructive this time, Colonel."

Misato grinned.

"As soon as you go on your way," Hamamoto said, "I'd better start asking the boys to go check every installation and generation plant we have here with each team with a sniffer dog and anything to find and defuse a bomb or something. That way, I think we could get the sonofabitch easy by smoking him out of his hidey-hole once he finds out we fuck up his plan to celebrate New Year with plastic explosives."

"Good idea, sir," Misato said, amused by the man's colorful language.

"Once this is over, Colonel," Hamamoto said, "I'll take you and any buddies you have to any dive you want at Odawara, even if I have to blow my month's salary on a dozen fish heads. All drinks are on me."

Misato chuckled. "Thank you sir."

"My pleasure. At least you finally made me break out of this damned rut, so I'll see you later… Hopefully with the sonofabitch dangling from the scaffold like freshly-caught blue marlin. Thank you, Colonel," Hamamoto said before he put down the phone, and then Misato turned to Makoto.

"Well?" the bespectacled junior officer asked.

"He's up and running, so I think it's time for us to watch what Kaworu could do," Misato said as they walked towards the direction of the parking lot. Meanwhile the guards who were lounging around suddenly heard their handheld radios crackling, with Hamamoto issuing prompt orders.

Surprisingly, no more than an hour of swimming basics did Shinji now dared himself to submerge for half a minute, as Asuka watched him underwater. She wondered what spurred him to break away his fears and to become this confident, and to learn so much. Her presence, perhaps?

Asuka remembered how from time to time she would badger Shinji, sometimes in an offensive manner, to demean him and to show that she was better, but as well as to get his game face on. But since the attempt on her life it seemed that Shinji was reasserting the way how he was trying to cope with the harsh reality of the world around him.

She could never forget the look on his face, when he finally broke through and picked up the gun to wade into the fight with both fists clenched.

That was amazing, and why not?

He loved her this time, and no longer did they have to furtively and reluctantly trying to settle their differences, no longer did they were in conflict, but somewhere they attuned themselves to the same wavelength.

It was their respective and sordid past lives that finally allowed them to transcend their initial prejudices… and Shinji's newfound courage now gave Asuka a renewed measure of making peace with the past, and to look to the future with hope in her heart.

Well, she was no longer alone; they were for each other, for even hedgehogs can mate.

And once they went back to the surface, Shinji asked, "How many seconds?"

"Over a minute," Asuka answered between her breaths, smiling despite herself as she kicked her feet underwater to stay afloat. "I'm still surprised."

Shinji grinned, his head bobbing above the surface, the water eddying around him. "I'm just following your lead."

"Okay, one last," Asuka dared, before she took a deep breath, dived back in, and Shinji followed suit by doing the same procedure.

Underwater once more, Shinji kept himself still, letting a few bubbles float away from the corner of his mouth as Asuka swam towards him. For a few seconds they stared at each other's eyes, before their lips touched and then locked down in a kiss, sharing some of their breath, the outside world ignored in their bliss.

As they kissed, his hands glided over her shoulders, holding Asuka gently as her palms held on to his waist. They kept on, counting seconds in their minds, but they wanted to let the moment last longer… yet somehow each second seemed to be an hour, but no, almost an eternity.

Shinji's feelings were mixed, an intoxicating cocktail of ecstasy, joy, gladness, redemption, and triumph, this blissful moment a culmination of a long life of loneliness, followed by interaction with people over time; they all shaped him into the man he was now, for better or for worse. He could now feel the beating of his heart in the ears, like a big taiko drum being pounded enthusiastically, his soul celebrating a personal achievement, a matsuri no ai… a festival of love held in the sun-dappled avenue of his mind. He could imagine the loud chanting in his mind's ears, a dim memory of the past, when as a young boy on the sidelines with his uncle he watched the parade pass by, the wooden shrine being held up and down on shoulders by hachimaki-wearing men in colorful yukatas: WA-SHO! WA-SHO! WA-SHO! WA-SHO!

He felt hard at the same time, feeling eager and inflamed, and suddenly he couldn't wait any longer, so Shinji looked into Asuka's eyes once more, gestured to her to surface back, and once they broke through the water, breathing in the air in gasps, Shinji was hungry.

As if like telepathy, Asuka knew what her lover wanted, and like there was no tomorrow, they swam towards the edge of the pool, climbed out of the water, and scurried towards a row of chaise lounges. Asuka laid herself down on one of them, her face glistening with dripping water drops, framed with a smile, cheeks blushing, as Shinji was now on all fours over her body.

They paused for a moment, eyes locked to one another as they breathed in shallow huffs, wondering who should make the first move; Asuka expecting Shinji to go first because he was the man of the moment, but Shinji thought Asuka should be first because he thought she had more experience, but then...

"What are you waiting for?" Asuka finally questioned, breaking the impasse.

Shinji chuckled. "Why not?" he said.

"To hell with the world," she answered, before Shinji kissed her deep, as the girl struggled to unfasten her bra with a free hand…

Back at the warehouse, Kaworu now stood just a few meters away from Rei, having instructed her to pick up a stone. He then said, "Just throw the rock at me."

Rei blinked in hesitation.

"Harder, as though you threw the Spear just like before."

"But…"

Kaworu grinned. "Don't worry about me, I can take it even if you hit me on the head."

Without a word, Rei nodded. She first concentrated at her target without hesitation, and she readied the stone, clenched in her hand, and flung it hard at Kaworu like a Hanshin Tigers fastball. Instantly the stone, just it was about to strike into Kaworu's midsection, was pulverized into dust when his defensive AT Field caught it, a bluish hexagonal ripple forming away from the moment of impact.

"This is how you defend yourself," Kaworu said, as he walked towards Rei. "Your mind must anticipate any possible danger, which then the AT Field you generate would create a perimeter where you could then sense an incoming, harmful object that could possibly hurt you."

"Which means I must imagine this perimeter with my own mind," Rei said.

Kaworu nodded. "Yes, you can create this 'magic circle'. Now, it's your turn."

Rei walked back a few yards, away from Kaworu, who then picked up another stone.

"First," Rei said, closing her eyes, "I imagine this circle."

"Yes," Kaworu replied. "Can you feel it now?"

Rei nodded in response; she could sense the energy emanating from the core of her very being, which then expanded and radiated outwards.

"Now open your eyes, but maintain your concentration," Kaworu said, and then he lobbed the stone, right into Rei's stomach where it was supposed to hit her. Her mind awaiting the stone, the AT Field she generated immediately reacted upon contact and blasted the stone out of existence, leaving a cloud of dust floating before her.

"See," Kaworu said, silently applauding Rei for doing it right the first time. "Was it hard?"

Rei shook her head, but she gave him a small smile in return. "I could get used to this."

Kaworu sighed, and kissed her on the forehead. "Come on," he said. "You still have some tea left over?"

"Yes," she replied as they mounted the stairs.

Suddenly, Shinji hesitated, prompting Asuka to frown.

"What?" she demanded. Both of them were now naked, their wet underwear tossed aside, and of course their cheeks were still flaming red.

"Uh… I… I've never done this before," he replied, sounding doubtful.

The redhead laughed out loud. "So do I, dummy! You think we're going too far? We're about to start!"

"No… Uh," Shinji stammered before he stared down to his quivering rocket ship hovering over her Black Forest in blazing autumn red. His mind was whirling with what-ifs, wondering if he could accidentally make Asuka pregnant.

Asuka sighed. "Look, if your concern is making me pregnant," she said, "I don't care if I become a mother, I don't care if I'll have to go through childbirth... I'll live with that, too, even if Misato gets mad at us for shagging should she catches us. I'll take the responsibility, and I promise you that I'll not be like Mama."

"I've made up my mind now," Shinji answered. "I think there's no point of return for me."

"You mean us."

"Yeah. I have to be a man. I have to take responsibility, too."

Now Asuka smiled. "Let's not make it quick," she said softly. "First of all, be slow… Kiss me slowly on the neck, then you work your way down. Don't enter unless I say so."

Shinji managed a hard swallow, steeling himself to go forth.

"Okay," he whispered, before his lips touched the skin of her neck.

The lab was always Ritsuko's second home, which was why she stashed in some of her clothes and personal necessities in closets, and by the time they got inside, Maya went ahead and pulled out a foldable cot from the closet and set it up, before tossing in a blanket and a pillow on top; her boss was used to work so late that she had to spend the rest of the night in the lab, and she did so in a Spartan manner.

As Ritsuko prepared her mug of coffee for the two of them, Maya said, "I'll leave later."

"Why?" the older woman asked.

"I just want to hang around a little longer," Maya answered as she sat down on an empty chair. "There's nothing waiting for me by the time I get there."

"Ah, I see."

For a while there was silence between the two once the women took their mugs of coffee and sipped, as they still felt the slight hangover from drinking a few bottles of beer and five-percenter alco-pop.

"Do you wish to talk about something?" Ritsuko offered.

"Uh… You first, but why?" Maya wondered aloud.

Ritsuko chuckled. "It's been so long that we're so busy that we haven't got a chance to talk about ourselves," she said.

"Ah," Maya said, smiling. "I guess I'll start with myself."

The lady doctor nodded. "Okay."

"When I was in high school," Maya recalled, before she took a sip, "I didn't think much of romance, and back then I minded my own business. I was then okay with having no date, as I didn't want to be distracted from my studies."

"I see."

"My parents put a lot of pressure on me to finish studying, as I was the only child, and you should know that."

"You're just like me," Ritsuko said in agreement as she sat down on the cot. "My mother had a lot of expectations."

Maya sighed. "But inside… well, I was kind of being left out in my class. I was always first, but the other girls had a better time… like they're living normal lives, and they worried a little compared to me."

"So, what do you really want?" the older woman asked.

"I just wished they let a little more slack for me," Maya said, "I wished I had a date, learn a few more things other than math and chemical equations, understand the world around me, and you know, make the best of my youth."

"That explains why you, now out of college, have this Hello Kitty fixation," Ritsuko said before she laughed, knowing that Maya had that girly habit of affixing stickers to some of her workstation furniture, and a big themed cushion atop her chair.

"Yeah," Maya agreed, tittering. "I'm trying to make up for what I lost."

"Now, do you still wonder about my relationship with Kaji?"

Maya blinked. "Him?"

"Yeah, you think there's something going on between him and me… Well, he did it to provoke Misato to bring her closer to him by making her jealous."

"Ah, that's why he's playful, like hugging you, right?"

"That's correct," Ritsuko confirmed. "But, to be honest, I'm really a friend to them as far as I'm concerned; I'm just at the sidelines back then, when they were beyond first base."

"So, you're lonely."

Ritsuko sighed. "Yeah, and so this leaves me wondering about the future. I doubt about having love at this age… that funny, fickle, hurtful, unpredictable word." She then took a deep sip, wanting to get the caffeine hit her system hard, and said, "Maya…"

Maya blinked. "Yes?"

"I need you."

The younger junior officer blushed. "Why?"

"You're the only one left who I can trust… after all the pain and suffering and jealousy and…" Ritsuko groaned and shook her head. "…and betrayal."

Maya said nothing, except she drank her boss' words, the young woman's heart throbbing as Ritsuko turned to look into her eyes, took her hand and grasped it gently.

"Maya, if ever the world collapses around us," she said, "if ever there's nowhere to go once the typhoon, an earthquake and a tsunami hit us at the same time, at least you manage to stick along with me, through thick and thin, and for that… I thank you."

From that point, the two women had nothing else to say, except Ritsuko leaned forward and kissed Maya on the cheek, before hugging her.

While Rei prepared some tea in the kitchen, Kaworu parted the curtains and slid open the balcony doors, allowing the early morning breeze and some moonlight to filter in. Pleased, he then sat down on the edge of the girl's bed and gazed at the scene outside; beyond the ruins lay the artificial lagoon whose waters were sparkled by the rays of the moon. He could also espy the silhouette of the mountain range towering above the lake, and far off, there was the faint haze of urban lighting.

Kaworu's mind then ranged back to the tavern, and immediately he felt that intoxicating high of love, of being with Rei as they danced. It was that same feeling that compelled men and women to write stories and poems in epic volumes, to paint, to sing and dance, all that to celebrate romanticism to banish, even if only for a while, the ugliness of human strife, violence, and debasement.

Now something struck Kaworu's mind: no longer did he read or watched fiction about people in love, but rather he and Rei experienced it first-hand, the first time on the same wavelength.

He then turned around to see Rei waiting for him, a teacup in each hand. Wordlessly he accepted one, before taking a careful sip as the blue-haired girl sat besides him.

"I thought it so strange that we were fated to meet in this way," Kaworu said.

"Yes," Rei replied.

"Well," he said, "there's something else I noticed about Shinji's mother, especially her past as I looked into your mind and saw all that."

"Now that I have understood, the Commander has a reason to do everything to get her back."

"Because he thought she was the only woman who changed him completely. He really fell for her, for to him she was his salvation, a way for him to break from the past."

Rei nodded, and then made a sip from her own cup.

"Yet, in consequence, by willing herself to Eva to escape Chairman Lorenz's wrath, I think Commander Ikari was completely consumed by that loss, which explains why he conceived of this undertaking to retrieve her at any cost."

"Therefore I was made in her image," Rei said. "I was to give the Commander a reminder of his life's goal."

"That explains why at first he gave you preferential treatment as if you were his daughter," Kaworu said.

"That is true," Rei agreed as she took his hand. "But at the price of my brother's happiness."

"Yet look at the brighter side, especially now," Kaworu said. "Shinji found his happiness by discovering that he had much in common with Asuka, and shared everything they knew about themselves. So, why he has to waste time worrying about his father, who still regards him as a cog in a machine even up to this point, when he now has Asuka as the focus of his newfound happiness?"

Rei gave him a soft smile. "It is best that we let them alone, let him experience his joy with Asuka," she said. "Right here and now, I am glad I am with you."

"For having someone to talk with?" Kaworu asked.

"More than that."

"I know."

This time the couple afforded themselves to laugh softly, before Rei paused to place her hand to touch Kaworu's cheek and said, "I want to take you."

"Where?" he asked, blinking in wonderment.

"Touch me now."

"You mean…" he trailed off as he watched her crawl to the middle of the bed and laid down, but immediately Kaworu finally understood what Rei was asking him to do. So he went over to her and without anything else to say he kissed her slowly.

They then sat upright, and Rei, acting on ancient instinct, carefully took off her shirt before she unbuttoned Kaworu's shirt and tossed both garments away. They paused for a moment, each wondering what to do next.

Kaworu decided that it was his turn, and began to kiss Rei again as his hands reached out and unfastened her bra. She then unbuckled and unzipped her jeans, pulled them down and cast them away onto the floor.

Now only one piece of undergarment remained on her body, and the Fifth Children managed a hard swallow, but instantly he banished his doubts by taking off his pants. He then said, "Don't worry, Rei. I think we can do this by instinct, but... I want to do this slowly."

"I agree," she said, before her fingers tugged at the hem of her panties and pulled them down to her knees.

This time Kaworu groaned in pleasure at the sight of this unexplored country, and thus instantly engorged. "I… This must what a honeymoon really looks like," he said.

Rei blinked. "Honeymoon?"

"Something I learned while watching TV, about a couple happily married and how they spent the night after."

"Ah," Rei said as her mind registered the word and its definition, before Kaworu took off his boxers. Now that both Children were free of their garments, he went down upon Rei's body and began the age-old instinct of copulation.

Once he pushed inward for the very first time, Rei gasped in pain but took it in stride, for she didn't care about being hurt this way, nor worry about the world or Commander Ikari, for she really wanted Kaworu for this one and only amorous time of their lives, personal self-discovery at the most intimate level.

Sated yet completely spent, Shinji and Asuka were lying on the chaise, side by side, perspiring and gasping for deep breaths after they were able to reach the portals of heaven and he unloaded himself.

Slowly Asuka looked into Shinji's eyes and she said in a soft tone, "I'm okay with this."

"What do you mean?" he asked, his arms draped around her.

The redhead sighed. "Before, I once used to dread the inevitability of motherhood, especially when I have this 'time of the month' thingy… I mean, going through a case of premenstrual syndrome."

"And…?"

"To make it clear," Asuka said, "I then didn't want to have kids, as I bitched about PMS and why I have to deal with it… it's because at that time I didn't want to remember Mama, and I don't want to relive that nightmare."

"What about now?"

Asuka chuckled. "I'll learn more from now on," she promised. "I mean, should I get pregnant, we'll have to learn the ropes and understand what it takes to be a parent."

"Perhaps… No, I mean," Shinji corrected himself, "If we ever to have children, let's not allow ourselves to repeat the mistakes of the past."

The redhead nodded. "Yeah," she agreed. "You sound profound and mature this time, you dummy."

Shinji smiled. "Thank you… By the way, what time is it?"

Asuka upraised her wrist to glance at the face of her Swatch wristwatch. "It's five minutes past two. Do you still have the card to the door?"

"Yeah, it's in my pants," Shinji answered before getting up from the chaise and began to gather up their tossed clothes on the floor. "Let's get dressed before Misato comes back loaded from some sake bar out there."

Author's Notes: I apologize to everyone that it took me waaaay too long to bring this out. Why? Too busy, busy, busy; so busy that IRL crap nearly ate up the energy I need to think and write, along with too many distractions along the way. It's only for the last two weeks that I was able to have enough time to brainstorm and then commit the story to the pages... But in reality I had the ideas for this chapter in those long months since February, fighting not to forget the scenes that I have envisioned, now in these pages.

In other words, I'm not going to let this fic go the way of Gospel of Malachiel.

Well… I'm looking forward to the next remaining chapters before moving on to the biggie, but before I go, any C&Cs are welcome.

J'ai ose.