Barnaby met Bison at the bar again that Saturday, he was well-rested, well-groomed (though his hair was still mostly covered by his purple knit cap, the beard neatly trimmed) and he had a smile on his face that wasn't being faked. He had been resting most nights at Saitou's lab, but had opted to try sleeping some nights at his apartment, if only so that he could feel a little bit of privacy.

Bison had been more than glad to see him looking so much better, had clapped him (hard) on the back and laughed saying "you look like a happy hipster now!"

What Barnaby had not been expecting was for Karina to show up about an hour after they had been there. They had both had a few drinks, had chatted about how things were going since they last saw one another, and just enjoyed the ambiance of the bar. Karina had walked out onto the small stage by the piano, completely unnoticed by Barnaby until the first notes were played, then his head had swivelled to see who was playing the piano. The feelings that ran through him were a mixture between shock and excitement. He never thought he would ever think of a day where he would be excited to see Karina of all people, but somehow his heart had leapt at the sight of her.

Bison had laughed; he obviously made some kind of embarrassing face upon seeing Karina, who was looking up from her playing to smile at himself and Bison, though no look of recognition crossed her face.

"You should have seen your face kid! You looked like you saw a ghost for a second there! I told Karina that I was bringing a special guest to the bar tonight and hoped she would be able to make it to play. When she heard special guest I think she thought I had a lady friend to impress. I didn't want to let the cat out of the bag it was you, so I let her believe it. I don't think she realises it's you yet," the older man said before finishing his double whiskey.

They listened to Karina's whole set, she kept looking over to their table, a quizzical expression on her face as she tried to place who this mysterious special guest was. As she finished her set she came over to the booth and slid in beside Antonio.

"So old cow, who is your special guest then?" Karina snapped out at Antonio, her defensive persona in place as she was around someone new.

"You don't recognize me? I'm hurt" Barnaby laughed out, his hand placed on his chest in a very Fire Emblem-esque pose.

Karina stared at him for a moment longer before slapping her hands on her mouth and turning to look at Bison in surprise. She lowered her hands and pointed at Antonio angrily, "you knew where he was and you didn't tell any of us!" she sounded more angry and hurt than Barnaby was expecting. Surprised, happy — sure, but this rage was not what he or, he was sure Bison, had expected.

"Whoa whoa, hang on I only just got in contact with him a few days ago," Barnaby said trying to stop her tirade.

She rounded on him and reaching over the table she shoved a finger into his chest. "Fine, then it's just you that is in trouble. How dare you disappear off the face of the earth with no contact with any of us, no word to anyone where you are or if you are alright. How DARE you not come back to Sternbild when the dreams started? Do you know how worried — how scared everyone was that you died? Or worse! That Ouroboros had gotten their hands on you again?" she had tears in her eyes as she all but shouted this at him.

He sunk back in his seat, Karina sliding back into her own, taking deep breaths to try and calm herself before she started crying. He had never thought of it that way, had never thought they might think Ouroboros had come after him. He had also never expected Karina to be the one to worry so much about him.

"I… didn't realise you cared so much Karina" Barnaby admitted, feeling his face heat up. He had thought she had a crush on Kotetsu, not himself.

"Well, it wasn't just me you worried, idiot! Poor Pao-Lin looked up to you like a big brother and she was all torn up when she couldn't get ahold of you! And Tiger! He phoned all of us for months seeing if any of us had heard from you! He was a mess because of you! Kaede even called a few times!" she was getting worked up again and reached over taking Barnaby's glass of Rose and taking a sip from it. He didn't even try to stop her; she was of age and also more of an adult than most adults anyway.

"I-I'm sorry, I was selfish and didn't think of any of your feelings. I should have considered the effect it would have on people by going off-grid. I wasn't thinking clearly when I left," it was true, the loss of his only family, both Maverick and Samantha, as well as the loss of Kotetsu, was overwhelming and he had simply left to try and clear his head. Then the dreams had come and left him so disoriented he could hardly remember what year it was.

She sat silently looking at him before she took a deep huffing breath and stood from the booth, walked over to his side, and slid in beside him. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face into his shoulder. "Don't ever do that again, we worried you know," she repeated, he felt his shoulder get a little wet from her tears. Antonio sat silently; watching the scene play out, Barnaby couldn't blame him.

Barnaby wrapped his arm around her shoulders and bowed his head a bit "I'm sorry, I won't ever do it again, promise," he felt tears in his own eyes, if Karina was this upset with him, how angry were the other Heroes going to be? The pit in his stomach was back.

Antonio let out a laugh, shaking the two of them out of their stupor. "Look at you two, I invited you here to be surprised not to be upset! Come on, let's have some drinks, Barnaby is fine and healthy; you are almost Queen of Heroes! Let's have some fun!" Antonio said these quietly, but even with his voice down Barnaby and Karina both looked around to make sure no one noticed.

Karina laughed and wiped her face, moving away from Barnaby before looking at him again and bursting out laughing. She grabbed his face and rubbed his cheeks "look at this peach fuzz! So cute and soft! Now you really are like a little fuzzy rabbit!" she kept rubbing at his cheeks until he pulled her hands off.

They spent the evening drinking (Karina had one Rose wine, then switched to mineral water), Bison and Barnaby ended up getting a little more than tipsy and at one point — Barnaby couldn't remember when — he had outed himself, confessing his birthday had passed that week and that this was his impromptu birthday party. Karina sang him Happy Birthday at this, and they had ordered a whole cake for the three of them to share. Barnaby hated to admit it, but this was perhaps one of the happiest birthdays of his life.