Neither the story nor the characters belong to me.

Chapter Twenty

SHIKA

My eyes flew open as I startled awake, my heart racing from the dream Temari's alarm clock had just pulled me out of. Sweat beaded on my forehead. I could still feel the scalding heat of the flames, smell my skin as it burned off my bones.

I was home. I'd been home for two days. There was no fire.

Ground. Five senses. Now.

Scent.

I took a deep breath, and the subtle scent of Temari's shampoo filled my lungs. Sound. Her muttered curse reached my ears as she leaned over the wide expanse of empty bed, fumbling for her phone. Sight. Steady morning light filled our bedroom—there was no flickering of flames, or orange, smoky nothingness. Feel. She rolled back into my arms after shutting off the alarm, snuggling her curves against me and settling right where she belonged—her ass pressed into my dick and the smooth skin of her back against my naked chest. Taste. I dropped a kiss to her shoulder. All fresh skin and Temari.

I would endure a thousand dreams like that one if it meant waking up with her in my arms.

"You okay?" she asked, her voice groggy as she rolled to her back.

"How are you so beautiful in the morning?" Her skin was flushed from sleeping, a line creasing her cheek from her pillow, and I fell right into those turquoise eyes. How had I lived without her for so long? I'd pretty much wasted the last seven years fighting what was between us.

"Hmm" She smiled, but her eyebrow quirked upward "Sweet of you to say." Her fingers swept across my forehead. "You're all sticky. You had another nightmare?"

"Just a dream. Nothing to worry about." I propped my head up and leaned on my elbow.

"Seems like a nightmare to me."

She cupped the side of my face, her thumb skimming over my cheekbone. I shrugged.

"When they're the status quo, they just become dreams. Nothing special."

Nothing a few years of therapy hadn't helped me learn to deal with. That was the thing about a publicized, mass casualty event. The therapists came running. Sometimes I wondered what happened to the kids who suffered alone, whose personal tragedy wasn't posted on the front page of every newspaper for public consumption. How did they deal with their dreams?

Temari sighed and lifted her head to kiss me, soft and sweet.

"Keep that up and we're not leaving this bed." I shifted my weight over her, and she parted her thighs, where I settled on instinct.

Damn, and she'd fallen asleep naked last night after I'd kept her up for most of it. There was nothing between us but skin.

"That's a scrumptious thought." Her face fell. "But we have to get up. Shizune is going to be here in an hour."

Any and all thoughts of sex deflated like a popped balloon. It was visit day.

"Right."

My jaw locked, and Temari ran her fingers through my hair, her fingernails lightly scraping my scalp in that way that made me want to purr like a cat.

"It will be okay, Shika," she promised, but her smile was fake as hell.

"Yeah." I nodded.

Okay for whom? I asked myself as we went through the motions of the morning. It didn't really matter that I was apprehensive. I was the adult here, and Denki's entire body seemed to hum with a nervous excitement as he devoured his breakfast. Guess he'd be okay, right? But Hoki was double fisting Cheerios without a care in the world because he didn't know what was going on. He'd never even met his father.

Shit, would he be scared? Would he look around for us and feel betrayed when we weren't there?

"You haven't touched your coffee," Temari noted, her hand skimming my lower back as she walked by.

"I'm a little nauseous." I stared at the full mug that sat on the counter between my hands.

"Yeah, me too." She plopped the diaper bag on the granite, stuffing it full of Denki's favorite snacks and three spare bottles. "I keep reminding myself that it's supervised, so it's not like he can just take off with them."

"How long are they going for?" She was sending enough supplies to feed six of them.

"Four hours." She drummed her fingers nervously, then squeezed her hand into a fist. "I just want to make sure they have everything they need. Do you think they need more snacks? What if they get hungry?" Her brow furrowed, her lower lip trembled, and that look in her eyes? It was pure, unadulterated panic.

"The bag looks great." I rubbed my hand over her back.

"It's just four hours," she whispered.

"Just four hours."

But would it turn into more?

She glanced over at the clock. It was seven twenty-five.

"They should be home before lunch. You'll be here?"

I nodded.

"I'll be here."

She nodded and pressed her lips in a firm line, her gaze darting to the edge of the island where both boys were finishing up breakfast.

"And then you'll drop Denki at the school and..."

"And take Hoki to Cherry's," I finished for her. "Don't worry. We've got this. You sure you don't need to get to the school?"

She shook her head.

"I want to be here, and I don't teach the summer session. Megan does. And Clara opens up the building every day, so they won't miss me for the first hour."

"Do you think we can go to the park?" Denki asked between shovelfuls of cereal. "We used to go to the park when he lived here before. I bet he still knows where it is."

"I'm honestly not sure what you guys will be up to" Temari answered, her tone light but her eyes heavy. "But I bet he's going to be so excited to see you!"

Even the way he chewed was full of nervous energy.

"He'll recognize me," he said with authority after swallowing. "I haven't grown too much. And I'll tell him who Hoki is."

Right. Because the guy hadn't bothered to stick around to see his second son born.

I was saved from my assholeish thoughts by the doorbell.

"He's going to love Hoki," Temari promised, her smile faltering for a fraction of a second. She'd been a ball of worry since I'd gotten home, unfocused and hovering over all of us, not that I blamed her. She was terrified.

I chose anger. It was the safer emotion.

"I'll get it." I pressed a kiss to Temari's temple and strode for the door, opening it like the Grim Reaper was on the other side. "Shizune."

"Hey, Shika." She gave me a professional smile. "Are the boys ready?"

"I have a couple questions."

I stood in the doorway, one hand on the door handle.

"Figured you would." She peered around me. "Why don't you step outside?"

"Excellent idea."

I stepped out onto the porch and shut the door behind me. She held a small, spiral notebook in her hand.

"What's that?" I pointed to it.

"It's for visit notes. Nolan or the supervisor will jot down anything significant so there's a clear line of communication." Her assessing gaze swept over me. "You look like crap."

"I look like someone who is wondering why the hell it took Nolan four months to come for his kids." I folded my arms across my chest.

"Three months, three weeks, and..." She sighed. "Fine, four months."

I raised my brows at her with expectation. Maybe I didn't deserve an explanation, but Hoki and Denki did.

"Shika, I can't tell you everything about the parent's private life," her voice softened.

"Then what can you tell me?" I gestured toward the door. "I know those aren't my kids in there, but..."

"But they feel like they are," she finished, sympathy lacing her tone "And I can't imagine how this must all feel after you guys said you were willing to adopt."

"Shit," I clarified for her. "It feels like shit. Watching Temari go through it? Even more shit. But that's not important." I shoved my hands into the pockets of my work pants. "What those boys feel? That's important, and Denki is in there bouncing off the walls with excitement, which would be a great thing if you could guarantee that this guy isn't about to up and disappear on him again."

"I can't promise that." She shook her head. "But I can tell you his mind changed sometime in the last month. It could have been that his father was lying, and Nolan really was interested in…"

"Parenting?" I filled in the blank.

"Yes. He said he called as soon as he heard Tayuya died. He wants to be their father."

"He is their father," I snapped. "He was their father from the second Tayuya conceived them. Is he going to start acting like it now? And why did it take two weeks for this visit to happen after he called you?"

Her sigh was a sign of slipping patience, but I just didn't care.

"Besides getting on Judge Stone's docket, it took Nolan time to move his things back here, rent a place, and get us out there to make sure that it's safe for kids."

"And it is?" The nausea in my stomach had turned to pure, acidic frustration.

"Shika, do you think I'd be here, ready to take them over there, if it wasn't?" Shizune rubbed the skin between her eyebrows.

"No," I admitted.

"Exactly. Look, the visit is supervised at his place, so nothing bad is going to happen to them."

"Today." I swallowed the knot in my throat. "Nothing bad will happen to them today. So, what about after today?"

When was the boys' safety net removed?

"We see how this visit goes, finish all the legal checks, and then go back to court. If all goes well, the boys go home." I pressed my lips together to keep from saying that this was their home. "And we keep them on our radar for about six months," Shizune finished.

"So if anything suspicious happens, we're on the lookout for it. Shika, he deserves a chance to try."

"Again," I muttered. Because he royally fucked it up the first time.

"Again," she conceded. "Now, let's get the kids loaded up."

I nodded because that was all I could do. Shizune couldn't see the future. She couldn't tell me if Nolan was going to bolt on the boys again.

Temari had the boys pretty much ready to go by the time I'd finished venting my frustrations on poor Shizune.

"…and maybe the ice cream shop," Denki said as he grabbed his Konoha hat, which was just a smaller version of mine.

"Maybe," Temari agreed with a practiced smile and apprehension in her eyes, Hoki on her hip.

She was so damn good at this, at making everything go as smoothly as possible for the kids.

Shizune held out her hand, and Denki took it without question as we walked to her car.

I took Hoki and buckled him into the car seat Shizune brought with her, nodding with approval that it still faced backward.

Holy shit, I'd become the guy who knew babies needed to face backward. A couple clicks and he was locked in, Denki beside him in a booster.

"He has sippy cups in there too," Temari explained as she handed over the diaper bag. "But he still refuses to drink formula out of anything but a bottle, so I packed those in the side pocket."

"Got it," Shizune said as she put the bag in her passenger seat. "See you guys around twelve fifteen."

Temari wrung her hands, and I moved to her side, tucking her under my arm as Shizune pulled out of the driveway with the boys.

The second they were out of sight, her composure slipped, and she sagged against me.

"It will be okay," I promised, kissing the top of her head.

"I just…" She sucked in a breath. "I just hope he lives up to Denki's expectations."

"That makes two of us."