...

...

Resuming the normal activities in the New Year was something Arturia put her heart into. She intended to do her best in her every task because, compared to the previous year, an incredible amount of things had changed.

Iri was slowly recovering her strength after going through a tough pregnancy and an even tougher illness, but she was finally healing. Physically, it was going to take time; the disease she had been diagnosed with was no longer present, being now fully cured, but it had severely weakened her body, and it was going to take many months of therapy and exercise to get her back on her feet. Emotionally, after Kiritsugu's death, she could not deny that both her sister and Kariya's support had played an important role in helping her start to move on.

Shirou had had to see his father die and his mother go through a depressed state and three long months of coma, but now he had her always there with him whenever he needed her, and he had a little sister as well.

As for herself, Arturia considered, she had a job that she liked and, that was right, she had gotten married half-a-year before to save her family. Thankfully, after all those months of anxiety and worry, her family was safe now.

The relief that filled her every time she thought about it was impossible to express in words, but she knew that she needed a little more time to fully realize it in her subconscious.

She knew, because she still had nightmares about the horrific 'what ifs'.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*

She bolted up from the bed, her heart slamming wildly against her rib cage as the image of a crying Shirou and a dead Iri slowly faded from her blurred field of vision.

She realized she had only been dreaming, and focused on calming her breathing. She was covered in sweat and a few uncontrolled tears had flown down her cheeks.

A cool, strangely familiar hand was on her forehead, and she unconsciously leaned into the touch, which became firmer and slowly went down to her cheek to caress her along her jawline briefly, to her relief not catching the wetness of the tears. When the contact ceased, she felt disappointed, but she had regained enough coherence to keep her instinctual sounds of protest from escaping.

The touch was back after a while, a damp towel going over her face quite carefully because of the darkness. She continued to breathe slowly, calming herself.

Once her inhaling and exhaling had become more regular, she heard Gilgamesh's voice, sounding very low, almost like a whisper.

"Nightmare?"

Her reply was short, and she was glad to hear her voice sounding quite normal.

"Yes… but it's nothing major."

She was making it clear to him that he did not have the right to probe, and she hoped he understood the implicit message.

He did not comment, and simply pressed the towel into her hand. His own hand was briefly back on her cheek, and she was so surprised that she didn't push him away.

"Good. Drink some water and go back to sleep. It's still early."

She took the towel and dried her face without making a sound, leaning then back into the pillows after following his advice and swallowing a few gulps of water. Her heart was still beating incredibly fast, and after those horrible visions about Iri's death, she felt as if her entire being was made of glass: a wrong move, and she would shatter…

The hand once again back on her forehead took her by surprise, and her eyes shot open, even though she was unable to see anything in the complete darkness.

His voice seemed to come from very close to her ear – where, exactly, was he…?

"Whatever you dreamed, it was a dream. It was not real. Try to sleep some more."

Without another word, he was gone, presumably back to his bed to sleep as well.

She remained long lying there, awake, no longer tormented by the memories of the nightmare, but decidedly confused by her husband's sudden closeness in the darkness.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*

"Ria?"

Arturia shook herself out from her brief escapade into the memories of her last nightmare, and made an effort to focus on her sister, trying to smile.

They were sitting in the hospital room, and on this day the white-haired woman had managed to put herself in a sitting position on her own, without help.

Iri was not fooled by that attempted expression, and raised an eyebrow at her. Together with her strength, her wit and sharpness were coming back, too. Already a month had passed after Christmas, after all, and when she wanted to, she could be as tenacious as her sister.

The next instant, however, worry appeared on her face.

"Ria, what's wrong? You have bags underneath your eyes, and it looks as if you are getting sick."

The blonde woman shook her head.

"That's not the case. I am just having trouble sleeping well lately."

Iri's eyes immediately turned a dark, stormy kind of red, and there was an almost ferocious glint in them, one that did not appear even the rare times in which she was forced to scold Shirou.

"Ria – if that man is doing anything he shouldn't or overstepping his boundaries–…"

A bit amused by such an unexpected reaction, Arturia shook her head.

"No, Iri, Gilgamesh has nothing to do with this. I am just… having nightmares."

It was hard to admit this, but she had always told her sister the truth, when possible, and that wasn't about to change.

Her green eyes were filled with disquiet as she admitted, "I am worried, because in the past, every time it looked like things were going fine, a worse calamity was there to fall upon us. It's a foolish thought, I know, but I can't seem to get rid of the remnants of this unreasonable sense of foreboding."

Iri studied her face, remaining silent for a while. She was glad about the fact that Ria confided in her, but she was having difficulties in finding the right words of comfort.

It was Ria who had had to face all the hardships of the past months; it was Ria who had seen one bad thing after the other happen; it was Ria who had faced each and every one of them and struggled yet managed to find a solution. It was Ria who had sacrificed her future by getting married without love, and who had to deal every single day with the stranger who lived with her, shared her room and was now her husband.

Iri had not been there to carry those burdens together with her younger sister. Iri could not understand how much everything had affected Ria, and how much it was still affecting her, making her feel wary even when things appeared to be fine.

She could perhaps try to offer words of comfort, but they would have been empty, because she couldn't truly understand what Ria had gone and was going through.

What she could do, however, was show and prove to her that things were well. That was likely to be what Ria truly needed to begin to accept that things were fine.

Therefore, Iri smiled gently. Perhaps it was time to address something she had neglected to do a couple of months before.

"Do you know, Ria, the reason for which I decided to give Illya my surname?"

Arturia shook her head to indicate her hesitantly negative answer, and observed her expression. She knew her sister well, and understood what she was most likely trying to do.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't wish to, Iri."

Irisviel smiled a little more.

"But I do wish to tell you, even if it will perhaps seem a ridiculous reason to you. I adopted Shirou together with Kiritsugu, and he was our son. Illya is our daughter, too… but her birth will not bring my husband back."

Tears appeared in Iri's eyes, even though she attempted to hold them back. "My daughter will not bring him back. I will always love Kiritsugu, and I can't stop missing him, and I wish he was here more than anything in the world… but he isn't." The tears were now running down her cheeks, unrestrained. "As much as I wish it, Kiritsugu is not here with me anymore. I have to finally grow up – and accept it."

"Oh, Iri." Arturia's voice was soft as she cradled the crying white-haired woman to her, and Iri let herself be held as silent, shaky sobs ran through her body, making her clutch at her sister's clothes helplessly.

After a brief while, she pulled away a little though, smiling through the tears.

"That's why… I gave her my surname. It's the beginning of my acceptance." Her smile turned a little wry. "Don't worry, Ria… I will not use my daughter to accept my husband's death. This is just a step I needed to take. But when Illya grows up, I will give her the possibility to choose the surname she prefers – as I will do with Shirou."

Then she sat a little straighter, and Arturia discreetly handed her a box of tissues. While drying her tears, Iri gave her sister a determined look.

"I will get better, Ria. I will get well enough to stand up from this bed and look after my children on my own. I will take up my role as a mother and raise them to the best of my abilities." She stared at her even more firmly. "And I will find a job. Not as a maid anymore – I have a degree in something I love, and it's high time I put it to use."

There was fire in her eyes as she pronounced her final words. "I can't ever repay you for what you have done for me, Ria. But I can make sure that the sacrifices you made will not go to waste. I swear it."

Since in that precise moment Kariya entered the room, followed by Sakura, Rin and Shirou, they were unable to conclude the conversation.

Perhaps there was however no need for it: Arturia's eyes were expressive, and Iri knew after all how to read them.

Somehow, what she had been told was enough, and indeed, during both that night and all the nights that followed, Arturia was no longer plagued by apocalyptic dreams about the future of her family.

By the glances she caught Gilgamesh giving her a few times in the morning, she knew that she wasn't the only one who had noticed that she was no longer screaming in her sleep, even though he did not bring it up nor did he talk about it.

It truly seemed that there were more and more things that she and her husband did not want – or, rather, did not need – to talk about.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*

February came and went by very quickly, the only significant change being Doctor Diarmuid's absence. A new head doctor had not been appointed yet, and that caused a certain disorganization inside the structure.

After Gilgamesh and Arturia Uruk had coldly informed the hospital of their displeasure at such a display of incompetence, however – especially since Arturia suspected the slowness may be Madam Sophia-Ri's doing, who still hoped for Diarmuid to come back – things started to move quickly and eventually a new medic was assigned at the beginning of March.

However, to her dismay, that put Arturia in yet another tight spot, because the new medic seemed to have a very odd obsession with her.

In his profession, he appeared to be adequately competent; but the way he stared at her and seemed fixated on her actions and continuously – morbidly almost – looked at her the entire time, made Arturia certain that Doctor Gilles de Rais was not a person to be trusted.

He avoided saying anything when she was with Iri, but he found excuses to talk about 'important matters' outside the room, alone with her, and his behaviour, comments and clear attempts at flirting were very unwelcome to her.

When he spoke to her, he made ample movements with his hands, and used those as an excuse to try to touch her arms, her hands, wherever he could reach. He also gave strange and unprompted monologues regarding religion – or at least, his personal religion – talking about a 'holy promised maiden', and the way he gave her pointed stares made her able to understand that he seemed to believe her to be that person.

In fact, she had proof of it after he said at some point that he considered this holy person to have a name, Jeanne, and after telling her that, she heard him refer to her as 'Jeanne' under his breath more than once.

Kariya, kind Kariya, had somewhat an inkling of his boss's strange inclination, and had tried to keep him occupied because, even though he did not know the extent of the fixation, he had noticed that something was not quite right. But there was unfortunately only so much he could do – and it was not his job in any case, the blonde woman decided.

Had it been any other person, Arturia would have given a direct piece of her mind and firmly put an end to everything. But this was the doctor who was in charge of her sister and her niece's health, and no one could foresee how he could react if she clearly told him to back off.

Moreover, she could not forget about the pact she had made with Gilgamesh; Doctor de Rais could take any kind of lies or slander to the press if she was too harsh towards him, putting their stability as a couple at risk. She would not allow anyone to try to jeopardize her marriage in such a way, not after everything that had already happened.

But the fact remained: the head medic of the hospital seemed creepily taken with her, and his behaviour was worrisome. And, as much as she loathed admitting it, she could not deal with him on her own.

She was no longer a free woman who could make her decisions and pay the consequences alone if she did wrong; after the contract she had made, others were going to be involved because of her choices as well, and this situation was no different.

She pondered over what was going on for a while, and she eventually figured out a possible solution. She did not like it very much, as her independent nature would have preferred managing this on her own, but she would have disliked it even more if she didn't do anything.

She had to do something, because otherwise the possible unpleasant consequences could go on to Iri, Shirou, Illya and even Kariya. She did not want any of them to be involved in something nasty like that if she could avoid it, therefore she didn't mention anything to her sister. As she had realized in the past, some – at first rare, but now an increasing amount of – things could not be shared with her, not only to spare her worry, but also to protect her.

There was one person, instead, who had to be told about the medic's forward actions, and that person was also the one who would hopefully help her settle things. Arturia was feeling reluctant about going ahead with her plan, but she knew, logically, that speaking with her husband was the best solution.

She was somewhat irritated about it though. She couldn't even handle a situation like this on her own anymore, and only because she was married and had a contract to respect. Had she not been married, she would have taken care of things in a different way, probably causing an uproar at the hospital in order to get rid of the man.

But so far, it was indeed true that Doctor de Rais had not crossed any lines, and she had to be careful in her actions, because anything she did would reflect on her private life. And the reporters, while no longer constantly around, had most certainly not disappeared and would be ready to jump on anything she did in order to make the headlines.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*

Arturia came back home very tired after a rather demanding day. She had had an unusually tedious time at work in the morning, paperwork having increased, and the meeting she had later attended had been quite long.

The time with the children in the afternoon had been taxing, because it had ended in a quarrel between Iri and Shirou when the boy's mother had lectured him about a thoughtlessly rude comment he had made that had offended Rin.

It had taken Arturia all her patience to reason with both her sister and her stubborn nephew, while Kariya had had no choice but to wisely and rightfully keep out of the discussion between mother and son, and Illya had been loudly yelling in the background.

To top it all, the disturbing doctor had made a particularly lascivious comment right when she had been leaving the building.

Arturia cursed inwardly as she lethargically ate the dinner that Sakura had cooked. Only because of the important meeting, she had been dressed with more elegance than usual; Gilles de Rais had of course noticed and, very arrogantly, he had thought that she had done it to impress him.

Not even Gilgamesh was that full of himself, for heaven's sake, and she had always considered her husband to be the king of arrogance!

Speaking of her husband, she had not noticed that his blood red eyes had been on her during the entire dinner, at least until he addressed her as she was about to let herself fall on the mattress after automatically pushing the beds apart.

"Once again, you look stressed."

She was too tired to think much of it, but still, the warmth that surged in her at realizing that he actually cared enough to notice surprised her. Perhaps just flippantly, but he had noticed and inquired after it nonetheless.

She shook her head briefly, crawling under the covers.

"I'll explain tomorrow. I'm too tired now."

Not long after that, she was sound asleep, not aware of the fact that his searching eyes were narrowed at her, displeased about the fact that she had not told him what was bothering her, because something was obviously bothering her. His wife wasn't particularly good at hiding her distress, at least not from him.

The next morning, Arturia was feeling much better after a good night of rest, and she went to have breakfast serenely. After Sakura bid both her and her husband – with some nervousness – a good day and left, the blonde woman threw a look in Gilgamesh's direction.

He was reading the newspaper in a leisured, bored manner, which meant that there was nothing alarming in there.

Keeping her voice as measured and casual as possible, she asked him, "Gilgamesh, would you happen to have a few hours to spare this afternoon to come with me to visit my sister?"

Taking a sip from his coffee, he nodded briefly.

"It can be arranged."

Glad that he had agreed without question, a small sigh of relief escaped her… and that was her mistake.

He immediately noticed that uncharacteristic reaction and his eyes narrowed at her.

"Arturia, you wouldn't usually be relieved about the idea of me coming with you. What are you not telling me?"

Trying to stall, she replied, "Well, I did ask you to accompany me without knowing if you would agree, so I'm obviously pleased that you do have the time…"

He only stared at her, waiting. He was not going to let her get away with her weak – and rather unconvincing – attempts at an explanation.

Even though she had been preparing to tell him the truth, she still detested having to pronounce the following words.

"There is a new head doctor at the hospital, the one who has replaced my cousin Diarmuid. His behaviour is forward and, well, not what I consider acceptable. I think that showing up with my husband could be enough to put an end to it."

Gilgamesh had stopped sipping on his coffee, and now he narrowed his eyes at her once again.

"What exactly are you implying, Arturia?"

She had started, now she had to finish and explain things clearly. She held his gaze firmly.

"I do not like the doctor's unpleasant attempts at flirting with me, but he is responsible for my family's health, and I don't know what else to do to make his shameless advances stop without accidentally involving the press."

Gilgamesh's sudden change in expression, however, took her aback – he looked positively enraged.

"Why did you not inform me of this immediately!?"

She lifted an eyebrow, surprised. Did he actually… aside from being angered, did he seem genuinely concerned?

Her tone wasn't defensive, but there was some wariness in it nonetheless.

"The doctor started working here only last week."

His expression became stern.

"I'm coming with you today whether you like it or not."

She narrowed her eyes at him, beginning to get irritated.

"I did just ask for your presence, Gilgamesh – surely you haven't already forgotten?"

Green clashed against crimson, and then they both gave in.

"Very well. Come to the office after lunch."

She could not stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"I will already be at the office the entire morning, Gilgamesh."

"Then I will come to have lunch with you and we'll go to the hospital afterwards," he shot back.

She had been about to take a sip from her tea, but there was something in his tone that made her pause and give him a startled glance.

He was not behaving like his usual self. There was something more… more… possessive – yes, that was the word – in the way he had said that.

Her eyes accidentally landed on the clock behind him, and every thought about his strange behaviour flew out of her mind. She was going to be late for the meeting with the directors if she didn't hurry.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*

After going to have lunch in a small place near the offices, Arturia and Gilgamesh went on to the hospital with the limousine. When they entered the building, she noticed how he was keeping closer to her than usual.

In fact, as soon as they passed by the reception desk, he did not keep their arms linked as usual, but freed his arm to put it around her waist, not too invasively, but making sure that the message was clear for anyone who might be watching: she was with him.

Again she was surprised by the fact that the gesture did not bother her any longer. She had truly gotten used to physical closeness with her husband, it wasn't hard at all to feel his body next to hers, in her personal space.

It was because it had become a habit, of course. Just habit. Logically, it could not be anything else.

Focused once again, Arturia greeted the head nurse who was passing by, but Sola-Ui did not do more than incline her head, very briefly, in the barest civility she could bring herself to express.

As they walked towards Iri's room, in reply to Gilgamesh's almost indiscernible movement of the eyebrow that indicated his inquiry, she explained, in a low voice, "Madam Sophia-Ri is very bitter at me – she believes I am the reason why Diarmuid left."

The blond man did not attempt to hold back his scoff. He was perfectly aware of the fact that the head nurse herself was the real cause for the doctor's departure, and he couldn't find her resentment to be anything but absurd.

"While that is ludicrous, it's even more ludicrous to try to understand what she even saw in that man to look at him in the first place," he commented disdainfully.

Arturia did not hide her amusement at his words.

"Why, Gilgamesh, would you have preferred her looking at you?"

She had just been jesting, making a sarcastic comment to irk her husband, but she had not expected him to give her a searching glance, a teasing glint appearing in his eyes.

"Would you have preferred that, Arturia?"

Together with the obvious intent of starting a banter, his underlying seriousness stole her breath away. What… what was he…?

Unable to look at him, her eyes flickered away – and she saw Doctor de Rais slowly walking down the long corridor, coming towards them.

Gilgamesh saw that her expression had unconsciously hardened before her eyes came back on him, and could make an accurate guess for its reason when she gave him a slight nod.

From the corner of his eye, he measured the still approaching medic. It was time to put the bloated mongrel in his place. No one had the right to come near his wife.

Except himself, of course.

Not wasting any time in pondering over the implications of his thought, Gilgamesh turned towards Arturia, surrounding her more securely with his arms and pulling her close to him. He knew that the perfect moment had arrived.

Leaning forward, he quietly murmured in her ear, "Let me kiss you."

She immediately understood what he intended to do and knew that it was indeed a plausible and actually good solution; besides, in the contract, they had agreed on public kisses 'when necessary', and the present occasion satisfied that requirement.

Nevertheless, she was still startled – not by his actions or his words, but by the low and strangely soft tone in which he pronounced them. She was also reminded of the last time she had been this physically close to him, at this same hospital, when he had not asked before kissing her when she had been about to break down, but she forced herself ignore that thought.

In an almost imperceptible manner, she nodded, indicating her consent, and his arms tightened their hold around her waist before his mouth moved from ghosting over her ear to her cheek, to her chin and then finally reached its destination.

The kiss started as chastely as all the others they had shared in the past, their lips touching in what could be no more than a simple caress, and Arturia was certain that it would remain that way–

–until she suddenly felt him pull her even closer, and then there was something probing at her lips.

Confused, she parted them in instinct, only to gasp when she felt his tongue immediately enter her mouth, eagerly and possessively but – quite oddly, indeed – gently exploring and tasting every place he could reach.

Her sounds of mild protest were silenced by his own mouth, at least until she stopped remaining still in his embrace. Without being completely sure about what she was doing, her eyes fluttered close and her arms, no longer limp at her sides, slowly went up to touch his face and carefully pull him closer to her as well.

He felt her movements, therefore deepened his assault on her mouth, and her mind started to get lost in the… strangely pleasant sensations that the contact was evoking in her. One of her hands went through his golden hair, cradling his head closer as she began to tentatively move her tongue against his.

In something that she considered a very uncharacteristic move on his part, he didn't act forcefully, he instead let her take her time in feeling her way around him; he waited for her tongue to trace his, and then cautiously make its way into his mouth, travelling around in curiosity.

As soon as she began to feel more confident in what she was doing, however, he took control again. One of his arms remained around her waist, tightening slightly as it kept her body firmly pressed to his, while the other found her cheek, caressing it softly before sinking into her bound hair, pressing their forms even closer together.

By then, she was far too gone to care; in truth, she was holding him to her with even more strength than he was–

The sudden sound of someone loudly coughing and then clearing his throat finally made them separate. Arturia blinked several times, dazed, her breath laboured and her arms still around Gilgamesh. She sluggishly let them fall back to her sides, breaking the very heated look she was exchanging with her husband.

What exactly… had just happened…?

She had already forgotten the reason for which they had kissed in the first place, but it was slowly coming back to her.

His blood red eyes, with his black pupils much, much more dilated than usual, were observing her keenly, and he did not release her from his embrace. With reluctance, he finally tore his gaze away from his wife to deliberately glare at the mongrel that had dared interrupt them.

He didn't even make an attempt to suppress a scowl. In front of them was indeed the offensive doctor, the one who had been behaving flirtatiously towards Arturia.

The large-eyed man seemed torn between awkwardness and embarrassment, and blinked owlishly.

"Yes?" Gilgamesh sneered, not bothering hiding his extreme discontent.

Doctor Gilles de Rais seemed to find his countenance again, and cleared his throat pompously.

"Your behaviour in this place… is… er… offensive," the doctor said, not managing to hide his discomfort under that piercing crimson gaze.

Gilgamesh's aura suddenly turned menacing, and he smirked darkly.

"There is no regulation prohibiting my wife and I from kissing here, and even if there was, I don't see how that would be any of your concern," he slowly pronounced, indifferent to the doctor's uneasy expression, still not releasing Arturia from his possessive hold.

The doctor didn't know how to react anymore, especially after the blonde woman turned towards him as well, and both people were staring at him – glaring at him – with their faces clearly conveying that they were quite annoyed at having been interrupted.

Doctor de Rais had a completely lost expression, not knowing where to look and at the same time obviously searching for an excuse to leave. But the married couple did not help him with that; they merely stared at him, coldly and wordlessly.

Unable to bear the aura that was clearly screaming 'your presence is superfluous', the doctor mumbled something incoherent, probably a few words to take his leave, and walked away hurriedly.

His pride was more wounded than he cared to admit, at having discovered in one shot that the woman he had been lewdly interested in was not only married, but also very happily, if the passionate kiss he had been witness to was anything to go by. She was far too pretty to be with that rude man, he angrily thought; but she very obviously did not care for him, Gilles, as he had previously fantasized. After seeing the contempt with which she had stared at him, he could no longer delude himself.

His ego thoroughly flattened, he could only huff dismissively. He had many other patients that day, and none of the nurses and doctors were naïve enough to comment on his irritable mood for the rest of his shift.

While the doctor was leaving, Arturia leaned against Gilgamesh's chest in case he turned around to look at them – and she inadvertently found herself listening to her husband's oddly fast-beating heart. She told herself that feeling his heartbeat was unavoidable, as she was leaning on him just for appearances' sake.

As soon as the footsteps disappeared, she pulled away from him, looking him in the eye.

Those blood red, usually haughty and amused orbs were back to being peculiarly unreadable and… no, it was impossible. Was that a smile tugging at the corner of his lips? A real smile?

"Gilgamesh…? Are you… smiling at me?"

His smile became full this time, and he leaned forward until their noses were almost touching, and he refused to break their gaze for even a second.

"And why should I not smile at my wife?"

Her expression held mild confusion.

"Because… you never smile?"

It came out more like a question instead of a statement, and he could not suppress a low chuckle.

"I do smile, Arturia–"

She interrupted him, with uncharacteristic gentleness.

"No, you don't smile. I've seen you smirk, grin, or snicker. But you never smile."

He looked at her, in mild astonishment. Her eyes held both seriousness and curiosity, and she was studying his face quite intensely.

Suddenly she said, "It becomes you, Gilgamesh. When you smile, your face loses its unforgiving edge, and your eyes look like warm fires instead of dark blood pools."

The centre of her observations – his eyes – appeared to widen slightly at those words, and he looked at her in amazement. Would she ever stop saying unexpected things and always surprise him?

"What was that?" he carefully asked, beginning to become unsure if he had actually heard her right and not made it up in his mind.

She seemed to realize what she had said and her cheeks reddened. That was enough confirmation for him, and the hint of a smirk curved his lips upwards again.

He would not forget so soon that she had just spontaneously complimented him. His smirk widened.

She noticed his expression and made an effort not to glare at him. Why had she not kept her mouth shut! There had been no need to stroke his ego like that, and now he was certainly going to use her words against her and make teasing comments on them.

Instead, to her slight bewilderment, he didn't say anything, just kept smirking at her. And staring. Heavens, the staring. Would he ever stop staring at her in such a manner? If she had something on her face, he should just tell her and leave her alone.

She knew very well that she didn't have anything on her face though, and she was being childish in coming up with such excuses. As he kept smirking – and staring – it obviously fell upon her to resume the conversation, especially since he had asked her a question she was most certainly not going to answer.

"Never mind," she muttered with some repressed anger, looking away.

Still not meeting his eyes, she added, "In any case, thank you… for your cooperation. I think this display was enough to make the doctor finally keep his distance."

He did not reply until she looked at him again, and by then, his expression had turned unreadable.

"It was part of the agreement after all… surely you haven't already forgotten, dear wife?"

Arturia lost her patience. His teasing and using her words against her constantly got on her nerves, and she deserved to say something back. If they were not able to have a conversation without getting confrontational, then she would stand her ground.

Her eyes narrowed.

"I don't recall kissing me breathlessly like there was no tomorrow as being part of the contract, dear husband."

Her expression challenging, she only looked at him long enough to see his surprise, just before he managed to hide it behind his usual haughty expression, and then she turned around.

"I'll go see Iri now."

Gilgamesh could not subdue yet another tiny smirk. Not giving her the time to go far, he appeared at her side, slipped his hand in hers and smoothly fell into step with her.

"I'm coming with you."

At her wary expression, he only squeezed her fingers and leaned closer to her.

"She's my sister now as well – at least in the eyes of the law."

He had never acknowledged such a thing, at least not to her. She tried to study his face as they neared the room, but she was unable to do so, as he had put on a mask of lazy boredom that made it impossible to guess his thoughts.

But there was definitely something strange about him, she had not imagined it this morning and on the previous occasions. He was more… possessive.

She did not however get the chance to study him more carefully, because not long afterwards – they had just greeted everyone as the entire family was there – Gilgamesh received a phone call that required him to go back to the offices to settle a few problems that had arisen. During the past weeks he had been busy with the expansion of Uruk Enterprises in Australia, and his workload had increased.

Taking her by surprise, he grasped and squeezed her hand briefly once again before leaving.

Arturia was left wondering if he had done it because Kariya was present, or if he had done it for reasons that she could not comprehend… or maybe, that she was refusing to comprehend.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*

Kariya had just left the room because it was time for Iri to nurse Illya, and he was too polite and respectful to stay for such an occurrence, and he probably wouldn't have stayed even if Iri had been accepting of it. Shirou was in his room having lessons with a private tutor, while Rin was at school and Sakura was at the Uruk mansion to start preparing dinner.

Arturia helped Iri sit straighter as she held Illya to her breast, and busied herself with changing the linens in the baby's cradle in the meantime.

Suddenly, Iri spoke, looking up from her child to stare at her sister.

"Your husband's behaviour wasn't his usual one today."

Arturia paused briefly in her movements, and then resumed her activities. She did not have the slightest intention of speaking about the kissing encounter, but she could not feign complete indifference. Not with Iri.

"How so?" she asked, mild interest in her voice.

Iri shrugged lightly, careful in keeping Illya close to her.

"He seemed very reluctant about leaving you out of his sight for even a second."

The blonde woman raised an eyebrow. What was Iri suggesting? Deciding to leave the matter be, she only replied with a noncommittal shrug.

But Iri was not going to stand for Arturia's usual dismissals when her husband came up in conversations; she did not want to pry, but she wasn't going to keep quiet. If her sister decided not to answer, she had every right not to – like she had refused to reply to other questions in the past – but that was the point. Iri could still ask; no one forbade her to do that.

So she put forth her blunt inquiry.

"Ria, what is he for you?"

Arturia froze. This – this was a difficult question.

Wait – why was it so difficult?

Having finished changing the linens, the woman went back to sit next to her sister's bed. Perhaps she did have the right words for her reply.

"He is for me what I am for him… a-a means to an… end."

But even as she pronounced those words, the ones she herself had spat at Gilgamesh many months before – almost a year before – she knew that they sounded empty and strained, and she couldn't avoid hesitating and stuttering on them.

They may have been honest at the beginning, but now… now they weren't true anymore.

Iri was looking at her inquisitively, and Arturia knew that her sister was waiting. If there was something about the white-haired woman that was certain, it was that her patience would never fail her.

Arturia swallowed, suddenly conscious of the lump in her throat. When had that lump actually appeared…?

She was as direct as possible.

"He's… just… my husband. The details are a little more complicated, but that's truly all… in a nutshell."

Perhaps her face betrayed her troubled thoughts more than she realized, or maybe her reluctance to insist on the subject was making her unable to explain herself properly. Be as it may, Iri chose not to press her further, and finished nursing Illya in silence, just moments before Shirou came in from the other room, his lessons finished for the day.

For the rest of the afternoon, both sisters were too busy with the children to talk more about the subject they had briefly addressed before.

But Arturia's treacherous mind kept going back to that place outside in the corridor, where she and Gilgamesh had shared a moment that, in anyone else's eyes, would have been considered of intimacy. When she was certain that no one was looking at her, she allowed her fingers to briefly brush against her lips.

They had not been kissing in this occasion; they had been making out.

Even though she clearly remembered writing in the contract that there was going to be nothing more than chastely touching each other's lips, she did not feel the need to complain about it or remind Gilgamesh of it – although their kissing had been anything but chaste.

She sighed inwardly. Even though it made her feel a tad embarrassed, she now knew one thing for certain – and wanted to firmly slap herself at the realization.

She could not deny that she would not mind kissing her husband like that again.

...

...