The next two weeks passed without much fanfare. Between Kanda's general's duties and Allen's missions, they really only saw each other when they went to bed at night and when they woke up in the morning with their bodies much closer together than Allen would have liked. They discussed sex a few more times, but those conversations went much the same as all their previous discussions on the subject had, and Allen was no closer to understanding that Kanda truly loved him and wanted more than just sex from him.

And after two more weeks of morning sickness, Allen was even more bitter towards his pregnancy than he was when he first found out about it. It certainly didn't help that Komui theorized that his severe vomiting was because he was an awakened Noah carrying an Innocence compatible child. And then came the news from Hevlaska that his inner Noah wanted his child to live, which would have been much less depressing news had it come before he had tried and failed at using his Noah powers to destroy the baby's Innocence. Overall, Allen was in a pretty foul mood.

Lenalee noticed her friend's bad mood quite easily, but she knew better than to ask what was causing it. Experience had taught her that Allen would only open up to her when he was ready and not a moment before, no matter how much she pestered him. Besides, both of his last long missions had been with Kanda, and Allen always got irritable after spending so much time alone with the samurai. Sure, this was much worse than his usual irritability, but that was easily explained. Whatever was bothering him had clearly started around the same time as his mission with Kanda, and it was the combination of the two that put him in that foul mood. So even though he was so stressed out that he was literally making himself sick, she wasn't going to question him.

But on the other hand, Allen was wearing his gloves again.

It was just a little thing, but it really ticked Lenalee off. She had worked so hard to help him build up his self-confidence to the point where he didn't feel the need to hide his left hand anymore, and, with the exception of a few occasions where it truly was necessary, Allen hadn't worn gloves in almost three years. It really upset her to see him wearing them so religiously again. Especially since he knew full well that she didn't like it when he wore gloves, yet he continued to wear them even when they were alone. And they were out on a mission together, so they were alone quite frequently lately.

After three days, Lenalee had finally had enough and decided that it was time to talk to him about it directly. This was something that she could not ignore for a single second longer. "Take off your gloves, Allen. I don't know what happened to make you so self-conscious again, but I don't care about your left hand, and you are not going to hide it from me."

He blushed and stubbornly insisted that he wasn't trying to hide anything from her, yet his mannerisms gave him away, as he immediately hid his hands in his pockets. "You're wrong, Lenalee. I'm just cold. Nothing more."

Lenalee rolled her eyes at his excuse. "You're a pathetic liar, Allen. You've been wearing your gloves for weeks now. And I can see you sweating. Take off the gloves."

She caught his left wrist and pulled his hand from his pocket, mildly surprised that he wasn't actually resisting - he certainly had the strength to make her stop. Lenalee pulled off the glove, half expecting to see that he was trying to hide an injury, but instead, what she found was a healthy hand. With a gold band circling his fourth finger. Lenalee knew exactly what the ring meant and she was incredibly angry that she hadn't been informed of her best friend's marriage. It took her a minute to collect herself and not rip Allen's head off when she spoke next. "Since when do you wear a wedding ring?"

"Since I started wearing gloves again." She glared at him for the smart aleck answer, and under the force of her withering gaze, Allen found the truth slipping out. "We've been married for two weeks. I've been wearing my gloves to hide the ring, so that I don't have to tell anyone about it. I don't want to have to explain how I got pregnant and was forced into marrying the baby's father."

Lenalee may not have known the truth about male parasite-types, but she had seen enough weird things around the Order to not even bat an eye over learning that Allen was pregnant. In fact, male pregnancy didn't even make the list of the weirdest things she'd seen. And pregnancy definitely explained why Allen had been throwing up so much lately. Lenalee had also known for a long time now that Allen was gay - his lack of response to the way she'd thrown herself at him when he'd first joined the Order had made that painfully clear - so the fact that he was married to a man wasn't worth commenting on either. Instead, she jumped straight to concern for her best friend's wellbeing. "'Forced'? If you were married against your will, you should talk to my brother about it. I'm sure he could do something to help you."

Lenalee's unwavering faith in her brother made Allen more than a little depressed. Though in her defense, the man really had tried to find a loophole for him; it was Allen's own stubbornness that had landed him in his current position. "Komui's the one who married us, Lenalee. There's nothing he can do to help me. Apparently, being pregnant makes me a woman, even though I'm still male, and being a woman means that I have no say in any of this. I couldn't even choose for myself whether or not I kept the baby."

Before she could come up with a response to that, he went on. "I don't know how you do it, Lenalee. I've only legally been a girl for about three weeks, and it's awful. Women are basically second class citizens."

Lenalee definitely understood what he was saying, but she wasn't about to let him change the subject like that. "That's true, but you're getting off topic. I find it hard to believe that Komui would enforce the rules and make you marry someone when you're so obviously against it. Which must have something to do with whoever the father of your baby is. Whoever he is, either Komui's scared of him or-"

She cut off when Allen snorted in derision. "Komui's definitely scared of Kanda, but I doubt that has anything to do with-"

Lenalee practically squealed at the name Allen let slip. This was the juiciest piece of information that she had ever gotten her hands on, and her inner gossip was screaming to be let out. "Kanda?! Kanda's the father of your baby?!"

Allen blushed and tried to squirm away, but Lenalee still had a firm grip on his hand, and she was not going to let go until her curiosity was satisfied. Collecting herself, she managed to loosen her death grip on his Innocence, though she still held on so that he couldn't run away. And once she was calm, she was able to prioritize her questions; while she desperately wanted to know how Allen and Kanda had ended up in bed together, she also knew that that was something that Allen wasn't going to share without a whole lot of prodding, so it was much better to keep the conversation focused on his marriage. "Ok, I won't ask how that happened, since you're clearly not going to tell me, but can you fill in the blanks? I mean, if you and Kanda got married over this, I'm clearly missing something important."

Allen looked away, not wanting to see the look on Lenalee's face when he answered her question. "Kanda wants the baby. Our marriage was his idea."

That revelation was even more unexpected than anything else that Lenalee had heard that afternoon. Kanda fathering Allen's baby was one thing, but the samurai actually wanting to raise his child was another matter entirely. She was under the impression that Kanda hated children even more than he hated adults. "Wait. What?"

But Allen wasn't listening to her questions anymore. He had opened the gate and all of his frustrations with his situation were flowing out - something that Kanda had been trying to get him to do for weeks; the samurai would be disappointed that the catharsis had happened without him, but he would mostly be relieved that Allen had finally opened up to someone about his feelings. "God, I hate him so much! He's the most selfish and aggravating person I have ever met! But Kanda says he loves me, and he's the baby's father, so I have no choice. No matter how much I don't want to, I have to carry his child, wear his ring, and sleep in his bed every night. This stupid pregnancy was an accident! I just wanted to get rid of it and forget this ever happened! But no! I-"

Having had enough of his ranting and having heard several things that concerned her greatly, Lenalee grabbed Allen's shoulders and shook them as she turned his body so that he was facing her again. "Allen. Look at me. Kanda's not actually forcing you to sleep in his bed, is he?"

Sensing her genuine concern, Allen answered the question honestly. As upset as he was with everything, that was still no reason to make Lenalee worry unnecessarily about him. Besides, lying would only make her confront Kanda, which would just come back to bite him in the end. "No. I'm free to sleep in my own bed if I want. But it doesn't matter either way. Whichever bed I sleep in, I still wake up with his arms wrapped around me. Sleeping in his bed just makes mornings less of a hassle since I don't have to listen to him chew me out for trying to avoid him."

Lenalee took a deep meditative breath to calm herself down. She was right - Allen was overreacting and Kanda wasn't actually trying to rape her best friend, but Allen had definitely had her worried there. And with that out of the way, there were other matters to attend to. "And Kanda has actually said out loud that he loves you and wants to be married you?"

Allen sighed bitterly. "Yes. But I know he doesn't really mean it. He's just overreacting because I'm pregnant with his baby. He only thinks that he's supposed to be with me because I'm carrying his child. He'll change his mind once the novelty has worn off."

Lenalee flicked his ear for that comment, successfully suppressing the urge to slap him for being stupid - physical violence wasn't good for her pregnant friend's health. She knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that if that demon samurai masquerading as a human had confessed love, he had meant it, and that was something that Allen should have known without her having to spell it out for him. "Allen. You're overlooking something."

He glared at her in return. "And what would that be?"

"Kanda's not a liar." When Allen just blinked stupidly at her, she elaborated. "If he says he loves you, he means it. You know that Kanda is blunt and brutally honest. He may say things just to mess with you, but this would never be one of them."

While he knew that she had a point, Allen was too stubborn and hormonal to admit to it. "But-!"

Lenalee placed a hand over his mouth to stop him from arguing with her. She almost let go once he fell silent, but she knew that he would try to interrupt what she was going to say next, and she wanted to prevent that from happening, so she left her hand in place even after his protests stopped. "Look, Allen, you're my best friend, but Kanda is basically my brother. I've known him for a long time; I owe my sanity to him, and I care for him deeply. I have to take his side on this. And what's best for him is that you commit yourself to your marriage. He's opened up to you. Don't throw that trust away. And honestly, I think what you both need in order to finally find happiness is already growing inside you."