"Hello!" Kado said jiggling his keys out from the deadbolt. "We're back!" He opened the door further and he and Mai walked in through the threshold.
"Welcome back," Hina said kissing her husband on the cheek and a hug to Mai. "Did everything go okay?" She helped Kado take his coat off and placed it on a hanger before hanging it up in the coat closet.
Kado sighed. "Well, not as well as either of us would have wanted." He looked at Mai and Hina followed his gaze. Mai looked away from them both with an uncomfortable smile.
"Where're the boys?" She asked taking her shoes off and setting her purse on the entryway table. She had noticed a lack of excited screaming that she typically hears from her son, especially when Hina was concerned.
"In the living room, honey!" Hina said smiling at Mai.
Not waiting for a response, Mai left in the direction of the room and noticed the sound of the TV the further she got down the hall.
"Ren, honey!" Mai said looking around she saw a familiar form. "Naru? Where is-"
She stopped when she caught sight of the TV. It was a video that Hina had likely taken a few days after Ren's birth. She had brought him to the office to meet her team. They had all been taken with her son the moment they met him, and Mai couldn't blame them.
A slightly younger version of herself and an infant Ren in his carrier had just entered the room and a series of cheers rang out around the office room, welcoming the both of them. Her past self looked shocked and then reluctantly happy at their thoughtfulness, but the noise had quickly woken up the baby.
"There's the baby mama!" Kana said raising her glass of champagne. "Welcome, you two!"
Mai had laughed at the comment and set the baby carrier atop the table in an empty area where finger foods and various drinks were not in the vicinity. She received hugs from each team member and, after taking Ren out of his carrier, she willingly thrust her baby into the arms of Arata, figuring his quiet demeanor might help. It took about two minutes for Ren to quiet down and Mai let out a loud sigh of relief.
"Arata, can I take you home with me as a permanent babysitter?" Mai chuckled a little at her reactions in the video. "I swear he cries sometimes just to spite me. But I'm still learning what each cry means."
Her team cooed over her son for a few moments before Hina focused the camera back on Mai.
"How are you feeling, sweetie?" Her voice came from behind the camera. "How has he been?"
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tired, but I honestly love being with him." Mai accepted the glass of juice that Ken passed to her and took a seat in the chair. "I've never been happier." She smiled at the sleeping child in Arata's arms.
Coming back to the present, she was surprised that she forgot this event so easily, considering the specialty of the occasion. She briefly wondered if the months of sleep deprivation had done enough to blur her memories into one long day that never ceased to end.
It took her a moment to realize Naru was in front of her, a pale hand on her shoulder. She had been distracted by the video and lost in deep thought that she missed the view of Ren asleep next to his father.
She shook her head slightly. "Sorry, Naru," Catching his eyes she looked at him. "What were you saying?"
He dropped his arm and gestured to the sleeping toddler. "Can you tell me what he was like, growing up?" He walked back to the couch and sat by Ren's head. Placing a hand on his head, he began petting the top while the boy slept on. "Hina's home movies are well documented, but can only tell me so much. I want to know what I missed." He said after a pause.
Mai bit her lip and took a seat on the other side of Ren by his feet and used the throw blanket off the back of the couch to cover him. She watched him snuggle into it and smile in his sleep.
"Of course, I can. I honestly have no idea how much of our life Hina did get on video without me knowing." Tipping her head back on the couch she let the world fall away as she thought. "Anything you want to know specifically?" After he shook his head, Mai took it as his cue to let her speak freely.
"Well, his delivery went well with no complications, although he was a tad early which did worry me. It took longer than I would have liked to admit to realize that lovely fact, but thankfully Kado knew how to act and what to do. It was hard to think over the contractions." She shook her head and smiled. "After he was born, he was, is, perfect. A beautiful healthy boy who smiled as soon as he was able. He cried when he wanted the routine demands that a baby would want, but through all of it, he was happy."
"When he learned how to crawl, he was a menace." She said chuckling and patting her son's back. "I remember I caught him climbing up the bookshelf like it was the gymnasium and I stopped the bloody thing from falling on him just in time. He felt so bad about his actions he wouldn't stop crying and hugging me for a full hour."
"Getting into trouble and danger at a young age," Naru said sarcastically. "Seems so familiar. I wonder where he gets that aspect from." He cast her a look of mock bewilderment.
Mai smiled with gritted teeth. "And what, pray tell, are you implying, jerk?"
Deciding it best not to reply with words, Naru opted for a cheeky smirk. "Continue," He said.
Mai had disclosed copious amounts of narrations from when Ren was a child and how he developed and grew. Naru was surprised at the level of detail she had included, but knowing that she also took it upon herself to keep track of his growing abilities, he figured she would likely be just as detailed with all his life events.
After they had talked for a great deal, Ren had woken up and was now tucked into his mother's chest, her arms wrapped tightly around him, and he was telling her about how much fun he had with Hina and Naru. Watching from close proximity, Naru couldn't help but feel that this role was fitting for Mai – being a mother. He knew she would be a good one and no doubt give her all for her child. But he certainly didn't think that it would be with him.
Stowing away his current thoughts, he noticed Ren's eyes slowly shutting again, despite his weak protests to Mai that he wasn't going to fall asleep. Like mother, like son, he reckoned, referring to the constant sleeping Mai did when she worked for SPR. After another minute, Naru saw his son slowly nod off and his breathing became even, and when he looked back to Mai, he was perplexed by the number of emotions she could convey without words. Her surveying gaze glossed over Ren's resting face and she showed a particular emotion, a feeling, that Naru had only seen in one other person: his own mother.
A light knock on the doorway alerted the two parents to Kado sending them a serious look. Naru, not fully aware of the situation, looked at him in confusion and Mai let out a sigh.
"Let me put him in bed before we start talking more." She lifted herself and Ren from the couch and made her way to the door. Before she walked by Kado's form she looked at Naru and then back to Kado. "Can you bring him up to speed?"
"How sped up?" Kado asked crossing his arms. "Roundabout, or direct?"
Mai bit her lip. "Direct. I'll be back in a moment."
She made her way down the hall over to the staircase and tried to ignore the sound of the door shutting from where Naru and Kado were. No doubt discussing the event three years ago that threatened to take everything precious to Mai away. Shaking her head from the thought, she spotted Hina sitting on one of the lounge chairs perfectly content with reading a book and sipping on some tea. When she glanced up, noticing Mai, she sent her an understanding look and nodded her head in the direction up the stairs.
"His room is all made up," Hina said quietly. "The baby monitor is next to the bed, you can't miss it."
Smiling to her, Mai began her way up the stairs and into the room that Hina and Kado insisted Ren have in the house. While they were not in any shortage of rooms, the house was rather big, Mai felt like somewhat of an inconvenience when the two went out of their way to support her. She had never been used to the notion when her parents passed, and it took her a while to learn to accept that they both cared for her and her son and that this was their way of showing that. So, she swallowed her pride and made sure to let them know how grateful she was to them in her life.
Laying her boy down in his bed, Mai tucked him in tight and switched the baby monitor on, grabbed the mobile one, and quietly shut the door. After taking a glance at her watch, she noticed that it was just about the typical time that he usually took his nap, so he wouldn't be so difficult later.
When she finally returned to the room that Naru and Kado were in, she noticed Naru had a chin cupped with a hand and he looked deep in thought, but the obvious signs of anger were present as well. The crease in between his eyebrows, clenched hands, locked jaw, and narrowed eyes. She had seen that look one too many times when she did something selfless, or 'stupid' as Naru referred to it, on a case. Taking her seat next to him, Mai looked at Kado who had a serious look on his face and turned to face Naru.
"I guess he told you about what happened with Stone and where we were this morning," Mai said focusing on her clasped hands. Internally, she was quite nervous that Naru was going to be furious at her, for her job, for the situation she was in when Ren was a baby, for some other third reason she couldn't control. Fear bit into her, drawing mental blood, at the thought of Naru possibly threatening to take Ren away because of the risk he was, and still is, in. At that horrific notion, Mai's stomach turned and she sent Naru glances of nervousness.
Naru shook his head slightly and looked at Mai aghast. "Why wouldn't you tell me this, or reach out to me for help?" He massaged his temples trying to rein in his anger towards the man that dared to threaten his son or Mai's life and wellbeing. He could only really imagine what the experience was like and how circumspect Mai had to become after the event. "Honestly Mai, what were you thinking?"
She became stiff. "I didn't tell you because that would mean revealing Ren and at the time, I thought it was best for me to not involve you any of it. I mean, what is stopping Stone from coming after you and hurting you in some way." Her heart began beating faster. "You're not mad, are you? There is nothing you could've done to prevent it, or stop it from happening. Neither of us was hurt, so there isn't much to dwell on now."
Naru shot out of his seat. "Mad?" He looked at her with mocked wonder. "I'm furious. I mean, really, Mai." He watched as Kado rose and silently took his leave, giving the two their privacy. Naru moved to stand across from Mai, who still hadn't looked up at him. It was then he noticed her quivering shoulders. "Mai?"
"You aren't going to t-take him away, are you?"
Genuine stupefaction overtook his brain. "What?" His shoulders sagged with dissolved anger.
"Ren," She said wiping a tear rolling down her cheek quickly. "I'm so sorry, Naru. Please believe me, I thought we were as safe as possible; I had the house as secure as possible; I didn't even think of anything other than Ren after he was born." Mai rubbed viciously at her eyes, irritated at the power that Stone's appearing had on her emotions. "I'm so sorry. Please, please, don't take him."
Naru knelt in front of her, her hands clasped in his, instantaneously. "Mai," He said fiercely causing her to look at him with hesitation. "I would never take him from you," Pressing a kiss into each hand, he hoped that his words were reaching her. "You are and have always been a prodigious mother. It would be borderline cruel for me to separate either of you."
After a few moments to compose herself, Mai looked at him and watched his unwavering determination. "So, why are you angry? It isn't like you to be this hung up on something, you usually let the past stay in the past."
He looked away. "I'm not so much angry as I am scared." He gripped her hands tighter. "I was just told how close I came to losing both you and our son, and I am still reeling I suppose."
Mai leaned back slightly at the fact that Naru had referred to Ren as 'their' son. It was the first time she had ever heard that phrase uttered into her ears and it took her a moment to realize that she technically did share Ren with Naru. It took two to tango, she presumed. Withal, another part of her felt greedy for maintaining her little world of just her and Ren against the world.
Another thought hit her and she conjectured that Naru had implied some kind of feeling towards her, if he was this upset, truly. Most likely because he would then have a toddler to look after by himself. She felt her heart deflate at the disappointing thought and her head tilted back down to their clutched hands, feeling shameful for wanting him to miss her.
"I would never want to unload Ren on you without someone to help." She said dejectedly.
Naru cupped her cheek and brought her head up, forcing her gaze to look at his. "Make no mistake," He started. "I wouldn't be able to function without you in my life."
Mai recoiled slightly. "But you've done fine without me for three years, what would be different?"
"While I was uninformed to the fact that you were pregnant, I knew you were alive and well, which was reassuring."
He watched her face twist cutely in confusion and he sighed at her typical idiotic nature. But secretly, a part of him missed it as well. However, she was clearly not getting to the point he was trying to stress. A solution floated to the top of his mind, and he scarcely considered the repercussions for the proposed action. Throwing some caution to the wind, Naru released his hands from around hers and placed one on her cheek and the other resting next to her leg. Leaning in quickly, he locked his lips with hers, sealing their future with one movement.
Welcome back! I've missed you all!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter and all the sparks that got to fly! I will see you in the next chapter where we will get to see a little more about the past!
Also, if I may, huge S/O to Nathasha Ocampo (I will also be repeating this on my other story that you also comment on)! You've been a consistent reviewer and please know that I am very grateful for your unwavering comments! I enjoy reading them (that's not to say I don't enjoy reading other comments! Any feedback is appreciated!)!
See you in the next chapter!
Cheers!