A/N: Well, six chapters ago, I wrote that there were six chapters left of this story. That was wrong – this is definitely not the last chapter. In fact, there are probably going to be another six chapters after this one, but hopefully not (I'm aiming for four and an epilogue). I keep coming up with new things to write, and that's annoying when all I want is to finish the story so that I can focus on the others. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews/favorites/follows. I hope you're all still enjoying this. It's time for everyone's least favorite person to make his appearance...

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The final weeks of the Moyashi's pregnancy passed rather uneventfully, and before we knew it, the doctors were announcing that he would have the babies any day now. Allen was thrilled with that news, as he was both excited for the arrival of our daughters and beyond ready to be done being pregnant. His large belly completely filled his lap and it severely inhibited his mobility; he actually needed the wheelchair now, and that pissed him off more than he already was. But the changes to his diet had paid off, and he was now healthy enough to give birth to the twins without complications.

I was much less enthusiastic about the pending birth. It had hit me that I was going to be a father soon, that the babies Allen birthed were going to be my responsibility, and I was terrified. This really was happening, and in a matter of days, there were going to be two helpless little infants in my life. I still loved my daughters and wanted to meet them, but I was scared of having to raise them - not just as babies, but as teenagers too; I knew absolutely nothing about girls. I thanked every deity I could think of that they weren't going to be identical. This was going to be hard enough without the added hassle of not being able to tell Naomi and Kaya apart.

I refused to leave headquarters, and no one argued with me on that, so I was unofficially relieved from my duties - there was no way in hell that I was going to miss my daughters' birth. Although, considering that Teidoll was not yet medically cleared for duty after having his nose broken and his shoulder dislocated, I somewhat regretted that decision. The old man was in full-on grandfather mode, and that meant that he followed Allen around headquarters like a puppy. It was incredibly annoying, but he at least had the decency to respect our privacy and stay out of our suite. Then there was Neah, who we hadn't heard a peep from in months, yet he had barely left headquarters since the wedding; he kept to himself much better than Teidoll did, but he still took up too much of the Moyashi's time. Even Cross had decided that he needed to stick around so that he could be here for the birth of his granddaughters, which meant that I had very little alone time with my husband.

Cross and Allen were still awkward around each other, but they had talked a lot over the last few weeks and were doing much better than when they first found out that they were father and son. Some of their conversations were so private that Cross would kick me out of the room first, but most of the time, they actually let me stick around and listen. I found the stories from my Moyashi's childhood fascinating - even as a toddler, he had the same strong personality he did now - but the stories that were best for Allen were the ones where Cross explained his side of the incidents from Allen's apprenticeship that had traumatized him; the Moyashi needed to hear directly from Cross that he had only been harsh because he cared and was pushing him to be better. Allen talked a lot too, asking questions and venting his frustrations, and though he always steered the conversation away from the topic of his mother, Cross let him; neither of them were ready to talk about her yet. But Allen did, occasionally, call Cross 'Dad', so I wasn't too worried about his inability to hear things about his mother.

When I did get to be alone with my husband, Allen and I took advantage of every minute of it. Sometimes we talked about our daughters or how we were going to handle our jobs, babies, and relationship at the same time, and other times, we just curled up in bed together, enjoying simply being with each other. The Moyashi was a whole lot more confident about being a parent than I was, and he often teased me about that since this whole thing was "my idea". But he also seemed to know exactly what to say to ease my fears and insecurities, so I was more than willing to put up with a little teasing.

However, not everything in those last few weeks went quite so well. Just two days after Allen's exam, Central showed up and called an emergency meeting of the generals.

The meeting in and of itself wasn't anything noteworthy. Central labeled all of their impromptu meetings as "emergencies", whether or not they were actually urgent. And they were usually the opposite of urgent. The horrendously tedious meetings were by far the worst part of my job as a general, which was quite a feat, as I hated nearly every aspect of my promotion.

Rather predictably, Allen, stuck in his wheelchair and with his crappy sense of direction, was the last of us to arrive at the meeting. I was kicking myself for not seeking him out and coming to the meeting together, though that was mostly out of boredom and impatience towards having to wait. It didn't help that I was the first one there and had to wait longer than the others did.

Stuck in my boredom, I wasn't listening to any of the side conversations, so it was quite shocking when Leverrier suddenly cleared his throat and stepped up to the table. "Now that we're all here-"

I interjected at that, not sure if he was miscounting or if he was intentionally forgetting about Allen. "We're not all here. We're still missing the Moyashi."

The way Leverrier scowled at me made it clear that he was starting without Allen on purpose, and that pissed me off. Though not nearly as much as what he said next. "Allen Walker is no longer a general."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Klaud beat me to it. "Excuse me? We were not informed of this."

The others all chimed in, echoing her confusion, but when I caught the smug look on that bastard's face, I suddenly understood exactly what he was up to. "That's because he's making shit up and hoping that we'll be stupid enough to believe him."

Leverrier actually had the gall to try to deny it. "I assure you, I am not making anything up. We have revoked Walker's general status."

It probably wasn't the smartest move, but I moved from my seat and got in his face. I had a lot of experience at intimidating people into doing what I wanted, and while that was probably not the best thing to do in this situation, it was what I knew how to do, and I needed to stand up for my husband. So I got in Leverrier's face and stared him down. This was going to be difficult, and not just because Leverrier was taller than me and I wouldn't have height on my side, but I was going to do it anyway. "I don't know why it is that you've suddenly decided that you have a problem, but Central's official stance on the Moyashi's pregnancy is that because it was caused by the Innocence, he's untouchable. We did what you wanted months ago. There is absolutely no reason for you to be bringing this up now."

The room around us was quiet, which irked me greatly, as I had expected Cross and Teidoll to back me up. They both claimed to care about Allen just as much as I did, yet neither of them were helping me defend him, and that was frustrating. Standing up for someone else was new to me, and I had no clue what I was doing. I really could have used their help, but they weren't giving it to me.

Leverrier stared impassively at me for a moment before he spoke. The tone of his voice made it clear that he thought addressing me was beneath him, and that just pissed me off more than I already was. "Things have changed."

I didn't buy it for a second. "Bullshit. Whatever you're planning stops right now."

If I weren't so angry, I might have been impressed by the way he stood his ground, but all it really did was anger me further; with the exception of my arguments with Allen, I usually would have gotten my way by now. Yet Leverrier just continued to stare at me like I was a bug on his shoe. "I don't take orders from you. You take orders from me. Remember that before you say anything you'll regret."

The threat was not missed, but for once, I wasn't concerned with my own well-being. I was focused on someone else, and Allen needed me to look out for him. "I don't care. You are not allowed to treat my husband like this. And for the record, you can't punish him for something the Innocence did."

"Innocence or not, Walker is still a homosexual and that is something that we can no longer ignore." The smile he gave me sent chills down my spine and made my skin crawl. "Don't think that you're getting away with this either, Kanda Yuu. You have proven yourself to be just as homosexual as Walker is, and that comes with serious consequences. And once the little bitches are born-"

It was not the most mature reaction, but it was one that would earn me a lot of praise from the exorcists. When Leverrier said that, and used that horrible, degrading word to refer to my daughters, I gave in to my rage and punched him in the crotch.

That was when Cross and Teidoll finally stepped in. While Cross stepped between us, Teidoll pulled me backwards a few paces. I let him, well aware that unlike when I broke his nose, this would have serious consequences; Leverrier was technically in a position of authority over me. I didn't listen to the old man lecturing me on the inappropriateness of physical violence; I was too focused on Cross. I was immensely curious as to whether he would try to keep the peace or if he was actually going to stand up for his son.

Cross offered Leverrier a hand and helped him to his feet, but while it may have looked polite, his grip was definitely too tight and he was pulling the man's arm at a very painful angle. He kept up the polite façade, but there was steel in his voice as he suggested that they go see a nurse. It still could have gone either way, but when Leverrier started screaming the moment they were out of sight, I knew which way Cross had chosen. And that was good. I wasn't going to have to chew him out later for ignoring his fatherly duties.

About thirty seconds after the screaming faded, the Moyashi wheeled himself into the room. He smiled at everyone as he looked around the table. "Sorry I'm late. What did I miss?"

The look of innocent confusion on his face didn't fool me for a second. He had heard everything. "That depends entirely on how long you were eavesdropping from the hallway."

Allen's smile turned sheepish. He stuttered for a moment before he suddenly grabbed me roughly by the collar. I was expecting trouble from the dark look that crossed his face, but he merely pulled me in for a kiss. And didn't let go. The Moyashi still had quite a bit of stamina for how heavily pregnant he was, so it ended up being a pretty intense kiss. It wasn't until someone cleared their throat behind us, and the Moyashi realized that we were in public, that he finally let go of me.

In the awkward silence that followed, the other delegates from Central finally made their presence known. They stood up and excused themselves, presumably to follow after their boss. "We'll be back."

The ominous words followed them out into the hallway, as did the other generals, and Allen and I were left alone in the room.

The Moyashi sighed heavily and patted the empty chair beside him, clearly telling me to sit with him. When I obeyed, he sighed once more, entwining our fingers together and laying his head on my shoulder. "I should probably lecture you on just how stupid it was to have hit Leverrier, but I'm too grateful to be mad. Thanks for standing up for me when I wasn't here to do it for myself. If I'd known that you were capable of doing it with words like that, I might have let you do it back when the others were accusing me of being a whore."

The comment earned him a look, but he didn't see it and kept talking. "Thank you for at least temporarily stopping them from demoting me. I know you and I aren't technically full generals, and that you don't want to be a general at all, but I do. So thank you for-"

I cut him off by flicking his ear. "Stop thanking me. We're married. It's my duty as your husband to look out for you. I was only doing my job."

"If you say so, Bakanda." The amusement in his voice said that he didn't buy my attempt to deny my feelings, but he didn't push the issue. "I'm still grateful that you did it."

I couldn't resist making a snide remark under my breath at that. "Cross certainly wasn't going to do it."

The confused look on the Moyashi's face was adorable. "Huh? What about Cross?"

"He's your father. He should have been helping me defend you." It was hard to keep my frustration out of my voice.

Allen snorted as he cut me off. "That's exactly why he didn't."

The comment made zero sense. "What does that mean?"

"Cross didn't defend me because you were already doing it."

"You're going to have to explain that one to me."

The look he shot me was strange, but I understood it once he started talking. "You do realize just how out of character it was for you to stand up for me, right? Well, basically, we were all so stunned that you were defending me that we couldn't do anything other than watch. You usually jump straight to threats or violence, but you were actually trying to be calm and rational." He suddenly shot me a teasing smirk. "You were doing really good right up until the end there."

"Yeah, well... I didn't stab him."

Allen laughed, and I'm sure that it was at whatever look was on my face. It was embarrassing, but it felt good to hear him laugh; with all the drama of the last several months, the Moyashi's laughter had become even rarer than his real smile. "True. And unlike with Teidoll, you actually managed to talk before you lost your temper."

"Do you have a point?"

He apparently didn't, because the next thing he did was pull me in for another deep kiss. Though maybe 'I love you' was his point. Either way, I certainly wasn't objecting to the treatment.

We were interrupted yet again by someone clearing their throat. Standing in the doorway was one of the delegates from Central, looking as white as a sheet. He spoke the moment he saw that he had our attention. "You are free to go. After discussing the matter further with General Cross, we have decided to drop the issue. It will be revisited in a few months once we have concluded the internal investigation into Secretary Leverrier."

He turned on his heel and stalked down the hall, leaving us to stare dumbfounded at the spot where he once stood. After a few moments, Allen nudged me with his elbow. "See? Cross is perfectly capable of acting like my father. Though how he got them to decide to investigate Leverrier instead of us is a mystery."

The look he shot me was clearly asking if I had any ideas of what had happened. I shrugged, completely clueless as to what Cross could have possibly done. Allen frowned in thought for a moment, but then he suddenly smiled brightly. "Oh well, let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. Wanna escort me to the cafeteria?"

"Glutton."

He shot an insult back at me, and we bickered all the way up to the dining hall. It felt good to argue with him over pointless things, and from the genuine smile on his face, he felt the same way. However much our lives may have changed recently, he and I were still the same.