The next morning, Sage yawned, waking up, and rolled over. When his eyes focused on Ayame, he abruptly sat up in bed and pulled the cover over his bare chest, "Ayame?! What are you doing in here?"
Ayame smiled, "Wake up, Sage!" she shook him gently, but had to pull away to cover up her cough.
"Are you okay?"
She nodded her head slightly, "Sage, get me some brefast." Ayame smiled brightly and jumped down from his bed and quickly ran out the door.
Sage exhaled deeply, smiling with something akin to relief. He mumbled something to himself and slowly got out of bed, realizing that Natsuki was already out of hers.
"So, what's for breakfast this morning?" Sage stumbled into the kitchen, glad to have finally gotten some sleep for once in two days. He found Rowen and Natsuki sitting at the kitchen table, drinking tea. Ayame was busying herself watching cartoons in the next room.
"Whatever you want, "Natsuki mumbled and took another sip of her tea.
Sage walked over to her and slipped his arm around her shoulder. Leaning in, he kissed her ear and planted another small kiss on her cheek.
"Sage, as much as I love you, don't kiss me today. I feel sick and I don't want you to get sick either."
Sage grinned slyly, "What, you don't want me to get sick with you?"
Natsuki smiled softly, "It wouldn't be worth it for both of us to be miserable, now would it?"
"Good point, "Sage took his arm off of Natsuki.
Rowen chuckled, "You two are quite the loving pair."
Sage opened his mouth to comment, but he wisely held it back as he sighed and shook his head.
"But I think your daughter has it, too." Natsuki turned around to look at Ayame as she let out a couple of coughs.
"Yeah, I know. Maybe it was the hotel or something."
"But you're just fine, Rowen. How come you don't have it?" Sage cocked his eyebrows in confusion.
Rowen shrugged, "Don't know. But then again, I slept on the couch, not the bed," he replied, not looking up from the paper that he was reading.
"Oh…" Sage recalled that they had to share a hotel room.
Natsuki coughed then, almost as if to say 'shut-up, Rowen'. He wisely got the hint and closed his mouth.
Sage quickly changed the subject, "What time is it?"
Rowen glanced at his wristwatch for only a second before he went back to reading the paper, "A little past 10 o' clock. Why?"
"Hello! Is it just me or don't you realize that Kia, your wife, could come back at any time now!" Sage almost yelled.
Rowen sighed and looked up from his paper, "I know, I know. I just don't want to get my hopes up too high and then have them crash and burn when she doesn't come back." Rowen stared hard into Sage's eyes as he waited for a reply.
But he didn't respond. Sage slowly shifted his gaze away from Rowen and stood up, walking into the kitchen.
"Dad-ie!" Ayame ran over to her father, "Dad-ie, come outside wiff me! I wanna play baskeet ball!"
Rowen looked to the television just as a basketball commercial turned off. He chuckled, "Okay, but let me get some shoes on."
Two minutes later, Rowen and Ayame headed outside and walked to the basketball hoop. Ayame was delightfully carrying the bright orange ball that was way bigger that her own head.
"Now, how cute it that?" Sage asked as he looked out the kitchen window at Rowen and his daughter. They both could barely move through the coats that they both wore. But being the month of late November, you couldn't go outside without wearing a coat.
"Just be thankful that you don't have one."
"What? Are you talking about a kid?" Sage replied, looking to Natsuki with something close to exasperation. But she just firmly nodded her head and went back to making more tea.
Sage sighed and smiled softly, pausing to take a drink of his orange juice. "So, you're saying that you don't want a baby?"
"Not right now," she answered softly, not looking up from her tea glass that she was stirring. "Babies smell and they always cry. Don't you remember when Ayame was one?" She looked to Sage for some sort of reply, but he just nodded and rolled his eyes. "See? You also have to do everything for them and guess what you can call yourself - a baby slave! Not a mother or father, a baby slave is what you are."
Sage faked a laugh, hiding his shock in her opinion, "Well, now that I see your look on having children, I don't think-"
"Just drop the subject, Sage."
"Ha! Okay, Suki, whatever you say." Sage turned his eyes back to the window and watched enviously at Rowen and his daughter, Ayame.
"Ready, Aya?" Rowen held the basketball. "This time you are gonna catch it."He brought the ball back a little, preparing to gently throw it to his daughter.
Instead of joyfully and anxiously waiting for the ball, Ayame coughed and plopped her behind on the ground.
Rowen pulled the ball in front of him as he straightened himself, "Are you all right?"
Ayame slowly shook her head and rubbed her eyes.
"Oh. Why don't you just stay here for a second and wait for daddy to come back out with something to help you, okay?" He light-heartily responded, rolling Ayame the orange basketball.
"Oh-kay."
Smiling softly, Rowen turned around and started to walk back up towards the house. Just as he was about to open the door, Ayame stopped him.
"Dadie, who is that lady?"
"Huh?" Rowen turned on his heel, "What lady?"
"Her!" Ayame pointed down the driveway and stood up.
Rowen looked to where she was pointing. There, he saw a woman - long flowing black hair and a matching black shirt with blue jeans to accompany it. Even though Ayame was practically screaming 'lady' at her, she just continued to causally walk up the driveway.
Rowen couldn't believe his eyes, "... Kia?"
The woman finally slowed to halt just before Ayame, who had now quieted, but her eyes where on Rowen.
My gods, how Rowen's changed...
"Ayame... I can't believe it..." Kia slowly looked down to her dark haired, blue-eyed daughter.
"Are you..." Ayame blinked, "Mommy?"
Kia nodded and kneeled down, taking her into her arms and practically squeezing the life out of her. She tried so desperately to hold back her tears that she felt her eyes could have exploded with them at any moment.
"Dadie!"Ayame cried, turned her head just slightly to make eye contact with him, "Dadie! Look it's my mommy!"
All Rowen could do was smile.
After a few moments with her daughter, Kia let her go and stood up slowly, making eye contact with Rowen at the same pace.
"Rowen..."
"Kia... I would have never have thought... KIA!" He bolted from the porch as if someone had lit him like a rocket. He even hit Kia with so much force that he tumbled on top of her onto the ground, planting full kisses on her lips. Kia was left to only do the same.
Eventually, Ayame ran inside and got Sage and Nastuki. The three ran rushed out of the house and Sage and Natsuki only laughed to find Rowen and Kia on the ground.
When Rowen finally realized that Sage and his wife were outside, he stood up from Kia and helped her do the same, but taking her in his arms.
"Kia! I can't believe that you are actually back!" Rowen cried. "Are you sure that you're okay?"
Kia pulled Rowen's arms tighter around her, "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Kia..."
"Natsuki! Oh my gods!" Kia flew from her husband's arms and ran into Natsuki's. She hugged and kissed her on the cheek. Then she held her back by the shoulders, "You look so much... older and smarter. Has it really been that long?"
"Now, hey. What about me?"
Kia locked eyes with Sage, smiling softly, "I can never forget about you, Sage." She stepped away from Natsuki and into Sage, embracing him tightly.
"Wait a second. Something's wrong."
"Huh?"Kia pulled away from Sage just enough to look a Rowen, "What?"
"I know what's wrong." Sage smiled, "But I was just about to fix it." He pulled Kia back to him and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek.
Kia pulled away quickly, giving Sage a glance that only told him that something was wrong.
But no one else noticed it, "So, Ayame," Rowen bent down to pick up his daughter, "What do you think of your mother?" He moved his dark blues over to Kia.
Ayame smiled, pressing her face into Rowen's shoulder, "Nice," came the muffled reply.
Kia laughed, "Just nice?"
Ayame nodded, bringing her face up, "And pretty."
At that, everyone laughed.
"I love her already!" Kia cried, holding Ayame's face in her palms.
"Well, everyone, now that we are further acquainted, can we all go back inside? I'm getting cold." Sage whimpered, shuddering.
"Good idea. We can't have you two more sick that you already are." Rowen started walking back towards the front door, Ayame in his arms. Kia, Sage, and Natsuki followed.
"So, do we want green tea," Kia rummaged through a cupboard, "or this tea?" She pulled out a clear, long necked bottle.
"Definitely that tea," Rowen watched her as he sat down at the table, across from Sage.
She laughed, "Good idea. This is a celebration, isn't it?"
"I'll say. We haven't seen you in over two years, Kia-chan." Sage remarked as he threw on a sweatshirt.
"Who's doing the honor of calling Cye, Raya and Ryo?" Kia implied as she searched through more cupboards, trying to find glasses.
"I will!" Natsuki spoke up from the family room, "I haven't talked to Raya in the longest time." She walked off to the next room where the phone lay.
There was a long, suspenseful silence that followed next in the kitchen, Kia preparing tea drinks and Rowen and Sage sitting at the table. The guys never spoke, only eyeing each other in question or maybe something else.
This isn't right. Something is wrong. Kia and Sage aren't... well, they are just normal! Rowen thought as he looked to his wife again as she moped around the kitchen.
"Hey, Ro, where are the glasses again?" Kia sounded from the kitchen.
"The last cabinet to your left... no, your other left."
"Oh, okay. Thanks."
Gods, what am I thinking? Of course nothing is wrong. Stop imagining things, Rowen.
"So, Kia, how was your two years back at the institute?" Sage spoke up, running a hand down the front of his shirt, seeming undisturbed and casual.
She grabbed the last glass from the cabinet and sat it down on the counter. Then she made her way over to the table and grabbed a seat next to Sage, "Boring as usual. But I'm out of it for good and there is no way that I'm leaving you guys again." She smiled as she made her last comment, looking to both Sage and Rowen.
Ayame ran into the kitchen then, her eyes sitting upon Kia. She ran to her, "Mommy... you are my mommy, right?"
Kia scooped her up in her lap, "Yep. Even ask you dad if you don't believe me."
"Dadie-"
"Yes, she is, Ayame." Rowen smiled, nodding his head.
Sage rolled his eyes and took his index finger, stuck it in his mouth and pretended to gag. "How sappy."
Rowen laughed, "Shut up, Sage." He threw a wad of newspaper at him.
"Hey!" he batted the paper away from him.
"Did I miss something?" Kia asked, playing with her daughter's hair, smiling, but with a hint of confusion.
"No. I'm just joking around... like I always do." Sage smiled at his comment, looking to Kia.
She grinned, but didn't look up from her daughter.
Something is definitely wrong, "Are you okay, Kia?" Rowen looked sympathetically to his wife, his tone hinting confusion.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Maybe just a little tired, that's all."
"Do you wanna see my room, mommy?" Ayame looked up to her mother's face, grinning like a child who has had too much sugar.
"Sure, why not?" Kia chuckled.
"Oh-kay. Follow me," Ayame took a hold of her mother's hand and led her to the stairs.
As soon as the two were out of sight, Rowen looked directly to Sage and asked, "Is it just me, or is something wrong with her?"
Sage shrugged, "Just you. I don't see anything wrong."
Rowen sighed, "This is all too weird. Kia can't just be back after all of this. Ayame has already accepted her as her mother and... it's just all too strange."
"Stop questioning things, Ro! Aren't you happy that Kia is back? Ayame finally has a real mother. Things are finally looking up for you, but yet all you're doing about it is asking why."
Rowen shot a long hard glare at Sage.
"Look. Don't get mad at me. I'm just wondering why you aren't up there, telling Kia that you love her and eternally thankful for her return. You're her husband for god's sake, Ro. You have a beautiful child together..."
Sage didn't have to say another word before Rowen stood up and stormed his way towards the stairs.