Kagome rolled over in her bed, sighing in contentment. 'Last night was amazing,' she thought. Everything had been fantastic. He'd handled her with such care, was dominating – and that was only the foreplay! She was pretty sure her body was still the consistency of mashed potatoes after last night. The sex had been toe-curling…and she may have screamed.

A lot.

Enough to make the neighbors jealous.

She threw her arm out, looking for the familiar warmth to curl up into…only to find emptiness. Kagome blinked, seeing no trace of her lover. His spot in the bed wasn't even warm. Had he gotten up to shower already? The thought made her pout; she'd wanted to shower together if he had been up for it. Strange that she didn't hear any running water…

'Maybe he started some coffee?'

Getting up had been a challenge; her legs really did feel like jelly as she hobbled to her dresser for something fresh to throw on. By the time she made it to her stairs she felt more stable, but not finding any sign of him so far was concerning.

He wasn't in the kitchen. Or the living room. Kagome checked each room before going back upstairs. She left the guest room he'd set his bags in for last, feeling a growing sense of dread with each second that passed. By the time she set her hand on the doorknob, she couldn't shake her fears.

He was gone.

As the door slowly opened, the tears she didn't want to cry began to fall.

"Dammit…"

Kagome pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, wishing she could filter what dreams she remembered when she woke up. It would be nice if science had come along that far, because that dream was one she wanted to purge from her memory permanently. It wasn't fair. Why was this happening again?

She sat up slowly, glaring at the covers like they had played a part in that prophetic nightmare. It was one thing to go to bed alone, knowing that you'd wake up alone. To dream about being abandoned in your sleep…it was fucked up.

There was nothing to do but get up and try to be productive. There was still a quarter of her plot that needed to be fleshed out, and she needed to make time for other things that didn't involve writing. Unfortunately that didn't count seducing the repairman. She would have rather it been that than what she needed to do.

She didn't bother to finger comb her hair as she left her room. He wouldn't care, and she wasn't in the mood to deal with any tangles yet. In the hallway she could smell the coffee that Inuyasha was brewing. He must not have been up for very long.

"Morning love," he called out as she stopped in the doorway. Inuyasha had his back turned and missed the way she froze up at the use of that word. He didn't know. That's what she had to keep telling herself, but it didn't help her regain her tired poker face before he turned around and saw her. "Kagome?"

"Morning –"

"What's wrong?" he cut her off. "Did you not sleep okay? Do you feel ill?" Before she could say a word he was in front of her, pressing his hand to her forehead and cheeks. "You don't have a fever…"

That one little gesture broke her.

"I-I'm-m f-fi-ine…" she stuttered as the tears fell hard and fast. Inuyasha crushing her to his chest was only making her cry harder, but gods above did she need that hug. He was still in his sleep clothes and hadn't gotten dressed for the day, but she felt guilty all the same for soaking his shirt with her tears. Why did this dream hurt her so much?

Inuyasha waited until she'd been able to soothe herself down to sniffles before he spoke again. "You're not fine, Kagome. I could smell it from the other side of the kitchen. You woke up upset. Is it work? You've been doing so well with all of these changes that you've had to deal with."

She shook her head. "Not work for once." The inhale to breathe was just as she expected, gunky and next to impossible. The headache was going to be worse than the nightmare. "It was…a really…bad dream."

"You want to tell me about it?" The hand that was rubbing circles on her back slid down to steer her towards the coffee mugs he'd taken down.

It wasn't that she didn't want to talk about it. Shit, maybe raging about it might even be cathartic, because the crying was only going to give her a headache. If she wanted that, at least bitching would feel like she'd been more productive. But Inuyasha was silently telling her that she didn't have to before she even had a sip of coffee, and if she hadn't just been sobbing like a lunatic she might have kissed him. Kagome added the cream and sugar to her mug before he took it and filled it, noticing that her hands had a slight shake to them.

Dammit, this really had messed with her, hadn't it?

She didn't go to sit with her drink; didn't want to. Instead she took a grateful sip and sighed. "I think I need to preface this dream by telling you it's not the first time I've had it." Kagome winced, looking down at her mug. "It's happened since that breakup in college. In the dream there's this man that I can't see and it's nothing but this amazing sex all night long. The next day I wake up, and he's not there in bed. I get up and look all over the house, but there's no trace of him. He left me, Inuyasha. He took everything he had and left while I was asleep…"

"Damn…" He shifted his mug to his other hand so he could wrap his arm around her, pulling her into his side. "Whoever that guy is has to be a self-centered moron," he offered.

Kagome snorted. "That's an understatement."

"Can I ask why it's a recurring dream?"

"I wish I knew for certain. It's not constant, but any time I've ever been incredibly stressed, or if I'm happy with something in my life, there it is waiting on the shelf to be taken down and opened again. Part of me thinks that this is my subconscious self-sabotaging, but…there's this other part…" She looked up at Inuyasha, who was waiting so patiently. "It's not cheerful morning talk –"

"I'm not going anywhere."

Those words had her blinking, feeling the burn of tears she didn't want to show. It was both the right and wrong thing to say right then, and he didn't have a clue. "The other part of me thinks that it's a prophetic dream that's warning me. That it's telling me that all the things happy people tell their friends are lies meant to comfort instead of reassure.

'Don't worry Kagome! There's more fish in the sea!' 'Just because he wasn't the one doesn't mean the right one isn't out there!' 'I wholeheartedly believe that all of us were destined for someone. If you haven't met him yet, you will!'

They can say those things because they're happy. Because they've found someone. They don't think that it weighs on you the older you get, because they have the house with the picket fence and family that vacations every summer. They don't think about what it was like before, when they had to watch everyone else around them start their own legacies. How much it hurts to see the big family pictures, knowing that with each year you get closer and closer to not being able to do that.

And that's why I think this dream is telling me that I need to stop trying to search for something that was never meant to be for me. Think about it, Inuyasha. The man has no identity. The sex is amazing. He doesn't stick around. This tells me that I'm the problem –"

"You are not, and I don't want to hear you say anything like that again, Kagome." Inuyasha put his mug down before taking hers. His hands cupped her face, and from the added warmth of the mugs it was oddly soothing. "Those people that said those things? They're not wrong, but neither are you. They don't know what it's like to see your friends pair off anymore. But you can't close yourself off, okay?"

A few tears might have escaped despite her best efforts, but Inuyasha simply brushed them away with his thumbs. "How can you be so optimistic?" It came out so weak sounding.

"Because I can't believe that I'm doomed to be alone," he smiled. "Yeah I'm single, but I'm not alone. There's a difference."

"How so?"

"I've got my family. I've got my friends and their kids. I've got you." He kissed her forehead before he pulled her into a hug. "Now tell me what you have, Kagome."

What did she have, exactly? "My family? I've got you too."

"You've got Sango and Miroku and their bunch," Inuyasha pointed out. "I know you guys haven't been able to do much lately but I know you've talked. She's always gushing about how well you've been doing for yourself."

Kagome pressed her face into his chest, so when she spoke it was a defeated mumble. "She has no idea that I've been writing under the alias. I've been keeping that secret except for a select few – Kikyo's suggestion until Rowan gets married."

"All the same, she's still proud of you. Just like I am, so quit thinking that you're destined to be alone. You've got all of us."

"It's…it's not the same," she stepped out of his arms, reaching for her mug again. "I thought that I'd have a family of my own. I'm scared, Inu…what if it never happens?"

He sighed. "I think about that a lot, too. My parents had both Sesshomaru and me by my age. Makes me wonder what I'm doing wrong."

"You can do no wrong from what I can see. Those women just couldn't handle it."

"I got caught shaking my ass in front of your editor. I think there's some things I can do wrong," he laughed.

The image seemed to lift Kagome's spirits a little. "Kikyo didn't seem to think it was wrong," she smiled. "Said that if you do that all the time when you're working I'm getting one hell of a show."

Inuyasha refilled her mug and shot her a look. "I mean if it'll cheer you up I'll do it," he offered. "I was thinking about pancakes this morning. Might be some odd shapes if I get too into it though."

Kagome took her mug and allowed him to shoo her out of the way. As she clutched the mug between her hands and watched him, she knew she wouldn't care what shape those pancakes were in. They'd still taste good.

"I hate this."

"You said that about the last one you took."

"Well I hate it all," Kagome groaned. "Why do I have to do this again?"

"Because the writing world has evolved and if you want to keep getting on bestseller lists you have to keep up with appearances."

She groaned again, and Inuyasha had to bite the inside of his cheek to not laugh. He was back to patching drywall after finding out too late that the soft spot had spread further than he anticipated. After he had quit swearing he'd gone back to the store to secure a new sheet of drywall and some drywall screws. He needed the ability to laugh at something after his hand had gone through the wall when he put his weight on it that led to the larger repair.

Kagome had been more understanding than he'd have been if he were her. Then again, if he were her he'd be too occupied with his chest to care…

"I know this is a stupid thing to gripe about," she admitted, watching him set the backing strips in place. "Considering you run the risk of hitting wires every time you punch a wall –"

"Oi!"

"You know I'm only joking, don't give me that. I am really glad though that you didn't hurt yourself," she told him seriously. She didn't know how the wiring was laid out through a house normally, and since hers seemed to be a menagerie of issues, one never knew.

Inuyasha began to set up the second backing strip, shrugging. "Wouldn't be the first time I've shocked myself. Once you know what it feels like, walking backwards for the next few hours isn't too bad. But your work is just as important to bitch about, Kagome. Don't think for a second it isn't."

"I'm bitching about making social media posts and you just told me you've been electrocuted on the job."

"Okay clearly we're on two different wavelengths today –"

"You walked backwards, Inuyasha –"

"It was funny once I quit twitching!"

"That's horrifying!"

"Half demon!"

"Inuyasha –"

"Kagome!"

When she shrieked in frustration, he finally did let himself laugh. It was fun messing with her. At least, until he heard the click of her phone camera.

"Just for that, I've got a picture of your butt," she gloated.

Inuyasha raised a brow, turning around to look at her. She looked so proud that he didn't want to crush her spirits by telling her that he had no objections – shit, he'd drop his jeans in a heartbeat if she wanted a better one. "Whatcha gonna do with that?" She shrugged. "You could use it, you know."

"W-what?"

"Your socials? For Rowan?" he offered. "You said Rowan had to share more about her life beyond her books, right? There's nothing identifying. You could say it's Rowan's fiancé."

Apparently that was not her first thought. "O-oh. Y-yeah, right. Are…are you sure, Inuyasha? You do realize what you'd be agreeing to? I mean…I really appreciate it because there's nothing concrete about him, but also I'd feel really weird about this if you're not a hundred percent on board."

"Like I said, there's nothing to identify me. It'll work as a holder for whatever Rowan decides to do down the road."

"You mean staging a wedding?" The very thought had dampened the happy aura Kagome had, and Inuyasha's ears drooped sadly. "It's either that or saying the engagement got called off."

The half demon set down the cut piece of drywall he'd picked up, coming over to pull her in a hug. This was getting to be a lot more frequent lately, and he wished he could hug her just because, not only as a means of comforting her broken heart. "You're probably gonna tell me no, but I have a suggestion." When she hummed, he continued.

"Call it off. Say that Rowan and her fiancé were beginning to see that they weren't as close as they started out, and it was ended on good terms. Give it some time, then start dropping hints that it's an alias. When people start asking why, cause they will, tell them your ex didn't want to go public. And in a year…if you're still single…I'll marry you for real."