A/N: As always, thanks for reviewing, favoriting, and/or following. And sorry for the lack of update last month.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Just thinking about being examined by Hevlaska had always made Allen's skin crawl, but ever since his Noah awakened, that feeling was ten times worse. His inner Noah tolerated Crowned Clown, and he was usually fine around the other exorcists, but it was hard to suppress the urge to destroy that he got when he was around all of the Innocence that Hevlaska was storing. And actually being examined... well, there was a reason why they didn't do that anymore.

But the Innocence fragment that they had just found changed things. Allen had questions and theories that could only be answered by talking with Hevlaska and letting her examine him. So rather than wait for someone to order him down there, he decided to take the initiative and go right away. Plus, he'd much rather be alone with her for this conversation than have someone observing them.

Hevlaska greeted him with the same forced cheerfulness as he greeted her; both of them wanted to be nice, but they were still wary of the other. She knew that an exam was the only reason he would come to see her, but it was strange that he was alone. Allen had never come for an exam of his own free will before; someone usually had to twist his arm to make him cooperate. But as soon as she sensed the second piece of Innocence on him, she knew exactly what was going on.

Once the trivial pleasantries were exchanged, Allen decided to jump straight to the point; it was embarrassing, but he would have to tell Hevlaska he was pregnant to get the answers he needed. Then again, he may not have to tell her anything. "Have you talked to Komui lately?"

Hevlaska shook her head. "Not about you. But I gather that this is about your pregnancy..."

She chuckled briefly at the stunned look on his face before taking pity on him and explaining. "I can sense the presence of the child's Innocence from here." When he didn't react, she continued to speak. "You are not the first. In all the time I have been with the Order, I have seen three other men in your same condition, and I recognize the fear and confusion in your eyes."

Not wanting to acknowledge that he was scared, Allen chose to focus on something else Hevlaska had said. "So the fragment we found really did bond to the baby. I was hoping we were wrong about that."

The statement confused Hevlaska. Moreso than anyone else, Allen had always been excited to find new accommodators. He clearly wasn't happy to be pregnant, and she knew he wasn't in a relationship, so she was expecting him to be relieved that his child would be an exorcist, as it would give his accidental pregnancy a purpose. She didn't understand why he wouldn't be happy about this. "And why is that?"

Allen frowned in both disappointment and embarrassment. "It's not going to let me have an abortion."

"You are right, it will not." Hevlaska wanted to say more, but Allen probably had enough people telling him what he should do and how he should feel, so she would keep her opinions to herself. She took it upon herself to fill the awkward silence that followed. "Was that all you needed? Or did you want me to try to examine you?"

Allen shrugged, his frown deepening. "I don't want to, but Komui's probably going to try to make me do it at some point, so I may as well get it over with now, since I'm already here."

Hevlaska beckoned for him to step closer, and they braced themselves for what they were both certain would happen next. It had happened before, and it wasn't pleasant for either of them. The moment Hevlaska's tendrils would make contact with Allen, his Noah would feel threatened and lash out violently, trying to sever the connection. It was the exact same reaction that Crowned Clown had to being examined, so it had been no surprise to Hevlaska when it first happened, but unlike with the Innocence, the Noah actually hurt her.

And this examination was no different. With both Crowned Clown and Allen's Noah pushing her away, Hevlaska barely made contact with the baby's Innocence before the pain became too much and she had to let go.

While she collected herself, Allen's knees gave out and he collapsed to the ground. His whole body ached from the ordeal, and he had to struggle to not throw up; while Hevlaska's exams had always hurt, this one had been particularly bad.

After getting to his feet, Allen smiled hesitantly at Hevlaska, but she spoke before he could apologize for hurting her. "There is nothing new I can tell you, Allen. As we suspected, I was not able to get a good enough read on the baby in the short time I examined you. I could try again, but that would just be wasting both of our time."

After Allen thanked her and left, Hevlaska reflected on the results of his examination. While it was true that she hadn't been able to examine the baby, she had lied about not having anything new to tell him. However, she was not about to tell Allen what she'd seen until after she discussed it with Komui. After all, it could have just been her imagination that his Noah seemed to be just as accepting of the baby's Innocence as it was of Crowned Clown, and that was something that needed to be investigated further before they scared Allen with it. Until she was certain that it was true, she was not going to tell Allen that his Noah wanted his baby to live.

.x.x.

The next day was Friday, and with the exception of passing each other in the cafeteria, Allen and Kanda didn't see each other again until they were summoned to Komui's office to discuss their situation.

Unsure of where to start, Komui stared critically at both exorcists, trying to get a read on their moods. They were both temperamental when it came to their personal lives, and this conversation could go very badly if he approached it wrong. However, rather than waiting for Komui to collect his thoughts, Allen jumped right in. "Can we just do this and get it over with?"

Komui sighed and started in on the speech he had prepared. He was uncomfortable, but Allen was right; it was best to just get started. "Well, like I told you last week, because you're pregnant-"

Allen was quick and forceful in cutting Komui off. The supervisor had misunderstood his request, and he was going to rectify that as quickly as he could. "No. Just marry us so we can be done talking about it and move on with our lives."

The statement stunned both of the other men in the room. Neither could believe that they had just heard Allen actually ask to get married. Komui frowned as he questioned the younger exorcist. "I thought you didn't want to get married."

Allen shrugged. "I don't. But he clearly hasn't changed his mind about marrying me, and between the rules and the Innocence, I'm stuck carrying his baby. I know I have to be married to him before I give birth, so I'd rather just get it over and done with. There's no point in wasting time trying to fight the inevitable."

"Are you sure, Moyashi?" Kanda slid closer to Allen on the couch and wrapped his arms around the Moyashi. As much as he had liked hearing Allen agree to marry him, he knew that the boy's motives had nothing to do with actually liking him, and that made him sad. "You know that I'm fine with waiting. We don't have to-"

The hug made Allen uncomfortable, as he knew that the feelings of care that it conveyed were genuine, so he jerked away, almost falling off the couch in his attempt to escape. He would never admit it - not even to himself - but he had liked having Kanda treat him like his boyfriend. The samurai had made him feel like he mattered, and outside of his utility as an exorcist, it had been a long time since he felt wanted. Which only made him more uncomfortable with this whole situation. "I know. And I'm sure. There's no way out of getting married, so I'd rather do it before Central shows up and tries to meddle in our lives."

Before the young men could start arguing, Komui took control of the situation. Like Kanda, he wished that Allen's motivations for agreeing to their marriage were based on feelings of love rather than hopelessness, but this was clearly as close as they were going to get, and having Allen actually consent to getting married was a huge weight off his shoulders. At the very least, it meant that Allen wasn't going to put up a fight. "Well then, if you really are certain that this is what you want to do, I'll start getting everything ready. Come back at this time tomorrow, and we'll get you two married."

The overwhelming disappointment Allen felt made him want to cry. The whole point of agreeing to this was to get it out of the way, so that he didn't have to think about it anymore. Waiting even one day was an unacceptable delay. "But isn't it just a paper to sign? Why do we have to wait?"

That made Komui laugh a little. "Because I don't have the documents ready; I still have to write them. You two will also need wedding rings for once the ceremony is over, and I'll have to locate someone to witness everything, since I assume that you aren't going to be ready to tell your friends about this any time soon. Ideally, I'd also have a new room ready for you, but that's not nearly as urgent as the other things, and for now, sharing one of your existing rooms will be good enough."

It had slipped Allen's mind that being married to Kanda would mean living with him, but now was not the time to focus on that. "Ok, then tomorrow it is."

Without waiting for a response, Allen stalked out of the room. Kanda followed after him, calling out for him to stop, but he was completely oblivious to that until the samurai caught up to him and he found himself lifted off his feet. He struggled in Kanda's hold, but the samurai didn't put him down until they were in an empty room, and even then, he kept him in a tight embrace. "And now that we're alone?"

Allen knew what the question meant, and even though his promise to be honest with Kanda had technically already expired, he still decided to answer it truthfully. "I meant everything I said in there. I don't want to marry you, but there's no way out of it. I just want to get it done with so that we can finally stop talking about it."

"Allen-"

Before he could complain, the Moyashi kept talking. He knew exactly what Kanda wanted to say to him and he didn't want to hear it. "I hate the drastic turn my life has taken, but I don't blame you for any of it. The last thing I want in this situation is to be a single parent, so as long as you truly want to be your baby's father, I can put up with all the other things you're putting me through."

"Thank you. But that wasn't what I was going to say." He waited until Allen looked up to continue, so that he could look him in the eyes. He wanted the Moyashi to know that he was serious. "You're up to something. What is it you're planning?"

The question made Allen frown. He didn't like that he was that easy to read, but more than that, he didn't want to tell Kanda what he was thinking. It would make him mad, and that was something that Allen didn't want to deal with. But he also knew that Kanda actually wanted them to be married, so he did deserve to know what the plan was. "Because I'm pregnant, I'm a woman, so I have to marry you and carry your baby. But once the baby's born, I'll be a man again, and then we'll be able to get a divorce and pretend that this whole thing never happened."

"Moyashi..." Kanda sighed in disappointment, but before he could express just how sad the thought of divorce made him, a different thought occurred to him. Central was never going to let them get divorced. According to the rules of the Catholic Church, divorce was just as bad as abortion. Which meant that the loophole that Allen was so happy to have found didn't really exist. The question now was, should he tell Allen that or let him continue on in ignorance?