Allen's glare deepened. He was already pissed at Kanda - mostly because he was someone to blame for what had just happened with the Innocence - but now he was furious. He had been trying very hard to keep his pregnancy a secret, which was something he thought Kanda understood, but now the samurai had opened his big mouth and ruined everything.

The village they were helping was populated by very devout Catholics; they hadn't said anything about their faith, but Allen knew that they were Catholic simply because they had sought help from the Order. And if there was one thing Allen knew about Catholics, it was that they hated homosexuals. The Order was a relatively safe place - he was an accommodator after all - but getting found out in a town like this was definitely going to be a problem. Sure, they hadn't pegged him as gay yet, but it was only a matter of time now that they knew he was pregnant.

Allen opened his mouth to swear at Kanda, but before a single syllable left his mouth, Jakub was speaking again. He had seen how pissed the young exorcist was, and he felt horrible for upsetting the village's savior. "I am very sorry. I did not realize that you were a woman. I did not know that females could be exorcists, so I assumed you were a man. You must think me so very disrespectful. I hope you can forgive my error in judgement."

That was not at all what Allen was expecting to hear. He wanted to be offended by the assumption that he was a girl, but it was far preferable to the truth of being a pregnant male, so he was quick to pounce on the lie that Jakub had unintentionally given him. "O-of course! I get that a lot. It's quite an understandable mistake."

Kanda interrupted before Jakub could start babbling, suspecting that the man was either going to continue to apologize or start waxing philosophic about feminism to try to get on the Moyashi's good side; neither of which were things he had any desire to hear. "We've got what we came for. Let's get back to town."

The trip back to town was faster without having to stop for Allen's morning sickness, but it certainly didn't feel that way to the two exorcists. Jakub would not shut up about how wonderful it was to meet a female exorcist, going on and on about how amazing it was, and his speechifying was incredibly annoying to both Allen and Kanda.

Recognizing the Moyashi's blindingly bright smile as fake was easy when he knew what Allen was lying about, and Kanda didn't blame him for being so eager to let Jakub think that he was a woman. The samurai usually hated it when Allen was so obviously lying about his true feelings, but in this case, the lie was much easier than explaining the truth, so he wasn't about to push the Moyashi into being honest. But on the other hand, Kanda had made a promise to himself that he was going to do whatever it took to convince Allen that he genuinely cared, which meant that he couldn't let the Moyashi suffer through this alone. He had to do something to make Allen feel better. He'd probably fail and piss the brat off instead, but he still had to try. So while Jakub talked on, he leaned closer to Allen and whispered casually in his ear. "I know you don't like it, but just let them think you're a woman. We'll leave as soon as you're done eating, so it's only for a couple hours."

Allen scowled darkly at that, letting some of the bitterness he felt seep out as he set Kanda straight. "No, it's for the rest of my life. According to the Order's rules, I'm a woman now, remember?"

Though he could tell Allen was angry, Kanda couldn't see what he had to be angry about. "And aside from Central, no one's going to actually care about that."

The Moyashi snorted in derision. "You do."

The venom in the accusation made Kanda take a step back. "What are you talking about? I don't-"

Fixing Kanda with a steely glare, Allen hissed at him, barely remembering to keep his voice low so that Jakub wouldn't hear them. "You are planning to make me marry you, aren't you?"

Seeing how angry the Moyashi was, Kanda remained silent for a moment, really thinking through his response before answering the question. "I have no intention of forcing you to do anything of the sort. I want you to want to marry me. If it were up to me, we'd date for a few months and then we'd marry once you returned my feelings. But that's not going to be up to me, and until we meet with Komui, we really don't know how long we have before we have to get married. So unless you want to be on the run from the Order again, we're just going to have to do whatever Central tells us to do."

Allen chose not to respond to that. He couldn't tell if Kanda was being sincere or not, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out. Plus, he was focused on something else. Now that the thought had occurred to him, the idea of running away again was very tempting. Until he thought it through a little more. It wouldn't solve his pregnancy problem, as he couldn't have a civilian doctor abort his pregnancy without revealing that he was male, but it would mean that he wouldn't have to marry Kanda. Assuming that Kanda didn't just follow him again. And if the samurai truly was being honest about his change of heart, Allen had no doubt that Kanda would track him down if he ran off. And if he weren't followed, he would lose the one thing that he was thankful for in this horrendous situation he had found himself in: his baby's father. If he ran off alone, he would be a single parent. And as much as he hated being forced into marrying Kanda, the alternative of being pregnant alone almost made him want to go through with their marriage. Almost. At the very least, it did make him want to stay with the Order. Running away was not an option.

The remainder of the walk back to the village was silent once Jakub figured out that the exorcists weren't listening to him anymore. But the quiet didn't last for nearly long enough, as it seemed like the entire village was just standing around waiting for them to return. Allen and Kanda may not have been able to understand the excited whispers of gossip that were traveling through the gathered crowd, but it was good for Allen's sanity that they couldn't.

As soon as they had left the village that morning, Ania had been quick to tell absolutely everyone that the exorcists had slept in the same bed the night before. And while she had no proof that they had also had sex, she still asserted that the messed up blankets meant that they had. None of the others wanted to believe that the two male exorcists had broken the holy laws of the order they served, but the possibility of the pair being homosexual was by far the most interesting thing that had happened in their town in decades, so they were all still gossiping about it hours later. Of course, once he heard the gossip, Jakub was quick to set them straight: the younger exorcist was actually a woman, and it was her husband and the father of her unborn child that she had slept with that night.

This was all happening in Polish, so Allen was at a complete loss for what caused the women of the village to suddenly swarm around him, chattering like they had just met royalty. He wasn't confused for long before Ania stepped in, apologizing on behalf of the entire village for mistaking his gender and translating the many things the village women wanted to say to him. Allen didn't like the assumptions they were making about what life as a female exorcist was like - he knew from listening to Lenalee's stories that they were very wrong - but he wasn't about to correct them. He just had to be polite while they fed him once more and then he wouldn't have to deal with them again.

It was easier said than done. Especially once the feminist babble morphed into questions about his pregnancy. But as he struggled for answers that would get them to back off, Allen suddenly had an idea of how to change the subject to something he was much more comfortable with. It had the added bonus of not being a lie, so he wasn't risking Kanda's ire by saying it. "The food here agrees with my morning sickness much better than the food at the Order. I really wish I knew what was in these dishes so that I could order them from the chef back home."

Ok, so maybe that last part was a lie. Jerry probably knew at least a few, if not all, of the recipes for the dishes they'd been served. But the villagers didn't need to know that. Not when Allen was intentionally trying to get the women to talk about the food instead of his pregnancy.

It worked. The women were all too happy to write down names and ingredients and recipes for him; it was the least they could do for their new heroine. But when one woman tried to give him her great-grandmother's handwritten cookbook, things got complicated again. Allen refused to take the book because of its sentimental value, but that offended the woman, and she only dropped the issue once someone suggested that she copy down her favorite recipes and give that to him instead.

By the time the meal was over, Allen had the recipe for every single dish he'd eaten while he was in the village, as well as several others, and he hadn't had to talk about his pregnancy with strangers. Ania offered to translate the recipes for him, but both Allen and Kanda were incredibly ready to leave, so he assured her that he would be able to find someone back at the Order to translate them.

.x.x.

The train ride back to the ark gate was quiet. With the exception of Kanda checking up on Allen after his bouts of morning sickness, neither exorcist said much of anything. Allen was much too stressed over everything that had happened lately to make his usual small talk; he just wanted to get home so he could be alone. The Moyashi had always been easy to read, and while Kanda wished Allen would open up about what he was thinking, he also recognized that he'd pushed the boy enough in the last few days and now was the time to let him have his space. So they focused on writing their mission reports and left each other alone with their thoughts.

Upon reaching headquarters, they made their way to Komui's office to turn in their reports. The supervisor was awake and waiting for them, having been alerted to their arrival by the guards posted at the ark gate. "Welcome back! Did you find any Innocence?"

The question upset Allen, who was still unable to accept that he was carrying an accommodator, and he didn't hesitate to share his frustrations. Without uttering a single word, he slammed his report down on Komui's desk and stormed off, nearly pulling the door off its hinges as he slammed it closed.

Kanda watched the Moyashi leave before calmly handing his own report to Komui. "The Innocence bonded to the baby. The Moyashi's understandably still a little pissed about it."

The samurai turned to follow after Allen but was stopped when Komui grabbed his wrist. He glared death at the man for the physical contact, but Komui didn't let go. "May I speak to you alone, Kanda?"

"About?" Kanda didn't know why he bothered asking. He was pretty sure that he knew exactly what Komui wanted to talk about, and he knew that it was something that he didn't want to discuss.

"Allen and the baby."

"No." Kanda had to resist the urge to swear. "I've already told you everything you need to know. The rest can wait until Friday."

Komui was not about to give up so easily. "Do you really understand that you're going to be a father in eight months?"

The ridiculousness of the question made Kanda scoff. "Of course I do. What is it you're really after?"

While the conversation had been predictable so far, Komui's next question was anything but. "Is having a baby really so important to you that you won't let Allen have an abortion?"

"I'm doing that for him just as much as I am for myself." Kanda thought that his reasoning was obvious, but the blank look on the supervisor's face said that it wasn't. Which meant that he was actually going to have to spell things out for Komui. "If Allen aborts his baby, it's only going to be a couple months at most before he realizes that he murdered an innocent child. He'd never be able to handle that guilt and end up killing himself. I don't think anyone here wants that. It's far better to let him be pissed at me for a few weeks."

Komui was silent for an uncomfortably long time. He saw the point Kanda was trying to make, and while he felt stupid for not seeing it himself, he was mostly just confused by Kanda's out of character compassion for Allen. Then again, this wasn't the first time Kanda had acted with uncharacteristic softness. "You really do love him, don't you?"

Not wanting to dignify that with a response, Kanda rolled his eyes and stalked out of the room.