Standard disclaimer still applies...I don't own these characters.
I know, I know...I've been gone a very long time. Insert shamed look here. But I'd rather be able to put out good chapters slowly then bad chapters rapidly. Therefore, seeing as I work full time, my creativity is usually sapped at the end of the day...must be all the rude people and completely stupid management I interact with on a regular basis. Anyway, I want to profusely thank all of you who have the patience to wait for these chapters and continue to read and enjoy them. It's people like you who make writing fun! ^_^
On a side note, Duo will later make some cracks along the lines of Heero being gay (you'll get it once you read it). These are not meant to offend anybody, just to be another example of how Duo's mouth gets him into trouble...especially when he speaks before he thinks.
Enjoy!
"After I got arrested, they took me down to the police station. They gave me a jumpsuit to change into and showed me to a cell. I guess I should have noticed it seemed kinda odd...I mean, I really expected more to happen; but I wasn't really thinking too clearly. Anyway, I spent a long time in there...hours all alone. Hours I used to think about things, prepare myself for the inevitable....Finally, a guard brought in a piece of paper and a pen, asking me to write any last words. He waited outside the cell and when I finished, I handed the pen and paper back to him. Then he opened the cell and motioned me out, demanding that I follow him. He led me down the corridor to a room with a door that had a small window." There was a pause in her narrative, as she saw the scene play out in her mind. Blinking away the images she wanted to forget, she continued.
"The guard pushed me inside the room, where I was strapped down to something that looked like those examining tables in a doctor's office. Another guard, who had been in the room when I got there, brought over a syringe and was just about to inject me with whatever was inside when a girl's voice demanded him to stop."
"Me," Relena interrupted proudly.
"It was Relena, which freaked me out....I'd killed her, and here she was floating around." Lita laughed. "But the looks on the faces of those two guys was priceless. At first they seemed to think it was their imagination because they kept blinking and waving hands in front of their eyes. Then I guess they decided to ignore it because the one with the syringe turned back to me, only to have it plucked out of his hands by his 'imagination'. Relena threatened to inject him if he so much as moved too close to me, demanding that they let me go. I think then they realized that they were really seeing a ghost."
"They told her they didn't have the authority to stay my execution. So she informed them that she was going to get that authority and if they did anything in the meantime, she was going to escort them to Hell herself. They readily promised her that nothing would happen in her absence and they retreated to some chairs on the far side of the room. Relena disappeared and then I just waited...and waited...for a really long time...."
"It wasn't that long," Relena insisted.
"Well it seemed like a long time to me," Lita said.
"I'm sure it did, but really compared to the whole span of time it was nothing but a little itty-bitty micro cosmic second."
"Whatever," Wufei said rudely.
Relena stuck her tongue out at Wufei, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Now you've done it," Duo said. "She's not going to tell us anything."
"She better," Lita said. "I'm not going to sit here all day while she feuds with turkey boy."
"You shouldn't have too." Rei glared at Wufei. "This is your fault...you apologize."
"I'm not apologizing to a phantom menace."
Relena was about to say something in response to Wufei's crack when Lita pushed herself up and stood over Wufei, glaring in a way that did not invite anything other then complete obedience. "You apologize now or you're going to get a shock so bad that all the hair gel ever produced will never keep your hair flat again."
Wufei shrank back a little, croaking out an apology, then promptly clammed up so he did not get into anymore trouble.
Lita sat back down, keeping that glare on her face.
To ease the sudden tension in the room, Relena went about beginning her narrative. She told about finding Lita's letter crumpled in the trash and her first public appearance. She started getting animated when she described her encounter with Juuban's chief of police and her threat to haunt him through all eternity if he didn't release Lita. By the time she'd gotten to the part about pestering the Sanq Kingdom's head of government, she was gesturing wildly, giving a very through demonstration of her use of that not-so-little mallet of "Divine Influence". She looked quite pleased with herself as she told of her victory in securing Lita's release; well...that coupled with the fact that her audience seemed to appreciate her narrative, for the pilots found her cussing out a government official to be extremely hilarious.
After having had her say, Relena smiled. "And that finishes it off. My work here is done. But remember...I'm always watching." With a wave, her apparition vanished, leaving a void where she'd been.
"Well, that certainly was a story worth hearing," Duo said, grinning.
"I must admit it is rather amusing to picture Relena hammering somebody over the head," Trowa said. "Considering how much against her personality such behavior is."
"Against the old Relena's personality," Quatre clarified. "This new...'Relena'...seems to be a little...well...."
"Non-existent?" Wufei supplied.
"Not quite the word I had in mind...."
"Sleep," Lita said, suddenly interjecting her own comment into the conversation.
"Sleep? A person can't look sleep...sleepy yes, but not sleep. Besides, Relena didn't look tired to me." Duo rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Sleep," she repeated. "Not Relena, me. The word that I had in mind...."
"Oh," he said, laughing a little embarrassedly. "Yeah, I guess that would be on your mind...well, one of two things," Duo said, giving Heero a rather evil grin.
Heero raised an eyebrow. "You are the only person on the face of this earth who would suggest that someone who has spent a good chunk of the last 24 hours wondering if they'll live or die would first and foremost be thinking about THAT."
Quatre blushed a little. "Duo...I'm not sure this is quite appropriate morning conversation...."
"What?" Duo said innocently. "It's a natural reaction to attraction. Babies gotta come from somewhere you know."
"Oh, like you're an expert on babies Maxwell," Wufei said, rolling his eyes.
"Hey, I never said that. But it's not like you know any more."
"I'm sure I know more then you do."
Duo snorted. "Right...and I'm the Easter Bunny."
"So that's the explanation for your behavior...all those eaten candy eggs and the constant inhaling of fumes from the paint on those Easter eggs," Heero commented.
"That's mean!" Duo's face showed a little pout. "How come you're only nice to Lita? Just because you're gonna marry her and all...."
"Is there something wrong with being nice to her?"
"Well, no...I guess not. But geez...we're your friends too. If we want you to be nice to us do we have to marry you too?"
Heero gave Duo the darkest, most scowling type glare that he could muster.
"EEP!" Duo cringed. "Bad choice of words on my part! Wasn't trying to question your uh...straightness."
Heero scowled. "I know what you were trying to get at; you were making a bad attempt at a joke about what you had to do to get me to be friendly. But let's get a few things straight. First, I'm not gay. Secondly, even if I was, I would never marry any of you and especially not you Duo. Third, I...AM...NOT...GAY."
"I think I got that the first time....But seriously, we all know you're straight. At least, we'd hope that any man who's going to be a father...."
He never did finish the sentence. As soon as she heard the word father, Lita let out a strangled sort of noise, her, face losing all color. "W...why did you say that Duo?"
"Yeah, why'd you have to go and open your mouth Maxwell? You big idiot!" Wufei yanked Duo's braid, hard.
"You mean...you...you all...know...?" Lita looked slowly around the faces of the gathered group, her gaze landing on Heero last of all.
He nodded.
"You were never supposed to find out...." Her eyes began to water. Before anybody could do anything, she stood up and fled the room.
"I hope you're happy Duo," Heero growled, following after his fiancé.
"It was an accident...," Duo said, weakly. "I didn't mean too...."
"I know," Quatre said softly. "Really, this whole mess is my fault. I should never had said anything."
"No Quatre, it's my fault," Rei said. "If I hadn't gotten so worked up about things you would never have let it slip."
"It's nobody's fault, and it's everybody's fault," Trowa said. "Rei, you had every reason to be worked up. From your point of view, I'm sure it did look as if we were doing nothing but giving up. Quatre, you too had every right to be worked up as well. How could you help but be as you were, being the only one who knew the full consequences of Lita's actions? However, if you want to point fingers, then we should all point fingers at each other. If we had not been so emotional, perhaps we would have noticed that Heero had come into the room and maybe we could have stopped Quatre before he revealed that knowledge he alone knew."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Duo said.
"Something still concerns me though," Rei said. "What you said, Quatre, about hoping nothing changes...and her comment about how he wasn't supposed to have found out. She wasn't planning something was she...?"
Quatre sighed. "Not abortion, no. But I think she was planning on adoption. How she thought she could hide her pregnancy from everyone, especially Heero, I don't know."
"Adoption?" Rei looked stunned. "She would give her son away...and without ever telling Heero? Why?"
"It's because of Heero she planned to do it," he answered.
Meanwhile, outside in the courtyard of the shrine, Lita was sitting under a tree, staring at her hands through tear filled eyes.
"Quatre didn't betray you, if that's what you're thinking," Heero said from his place beside her. "He never meant to tell any of us...it just slipped out when Rei had a little outburst about our...inadequacy...during this particular situation." Silence was his only answer. Now usually, that wouldn't bother Heero...but this time it did. Something was wrong with Lita, and he didn't like the fact that she wasn't telling. After a few minutes of non- responsiveness, he decided to press the issue. "So did you mean what you said in there...that I wasn't supposed to have ever known?"
There was another small pause. "Yes," she said softly.
"Why?"
Lita fidgeted a little, not answering.
"You didn't think I deserved to know I had a son?"
"Oh no, that's not it!"
"Then what?" Heero said, shifting so he was sitting in front of her. He reached out and grabbed hold of her shoulders. "Were you afraid to have our son see what monster his father is?"
"You're not a monster Heero," Lita said, tears welling up in her green eyes. "I...I was just so confused! I didn't know what to do...all I wanted was to protect you...."
He blinked. The anger that had begun to build dissolved with this confession. He was always protecting others, but he'd never thought that anyone would protect him, aside from the pilots that is. The last vestiges of his anger melted away when he realized that it was him that had helped to cause those tears. The hands that held her shoulders slipped around her, pulling her to him in a tight embrace. "I'm sorry Lita...."
"It isn't your fault Heero," she said, her voice muffled by his shoulder. "I should have told you...but I was afraid too."
"Yeah...I guess I'm not the best at handling shocking news," he said, a note of dry humor in his voice. "But I had no right to get mad at you...you've had it rough lately and it wasn't fair of me to be so...well, short."
"But you're right too...I should have told you...I just didn't know how you'd take it," she said, pulling back to look him in the face. "We never talked about kids, let alone so soon. Us not even married yet, and having a child. And even if we were, it wouldn't change the fact that you'd still be going on missions. I didn't want you to have to worry about leaving me behind in this kind of position or even after the baby was born, because I know you would. I wanted you to focus on your missions, so I knew you'd come home...I didn't want to raise my son without a father. So I thought if I hid it from you, if somehow you were called away before I started showing to badly, I could put the child up for adoption and spare you the extra burdens of worry and providing for a third person."
He smiled. "I already worry about you when I'm away...I think I've got enough worry room left for something as small as a baby. And maybe I wouldn't have taken it so well at first, because more then likely if we had talked about it, I would definitely not have voted for starting a family so soon. But this baby is a gift to the two of us, and I'm not about to return one of the few presents I've ever gotten."
Lita smiled; the tears in her eyes of happiness this time.
"But I'm curious...knowing you were pregnant, why did you turn yourself in yesterday?"
"For you," she said, a little embarrassed.
"Me?"
"I just knew you would try something, and I just couldn't bear to see you take the punishment meant for me."
"But...didn't you think about the baby?"
"I did...but...well...." She frowned a little, having trouble putting her feelings into words. "I didn't have much time to think...and in that short span of time all I could think of was you. You're always so willing to throw everything away for your mission, I thought just this once I could throw everything away to save you. When I finally got to the cell and had time to think, I realized what I had done. I had sentenced our son to die...but I guess I tried to justify it by saying I had planned to put him up for adoption anyway so he wouldn't have been our son anymore. It made me feel guilty, but I knew I'd made the right choice. If I could give up my son, then I knew that hard as it might be, I could live without him...but I knew I couldn't have lived without you. You'd just began to see there was more to life then war and being a soldier and I knew I could never have taken that away from you."
Heero had no words to say this time. He couldn't say anything. He thought he knew Lita, but he discovered that there was quite a bit more to the woman he loved then he'd ever guessed and it only served to make him love her more.
"Heero?" Lita waved a hand in front of his face. "You there?"
"Yeah, I'm here," he answered.
"Good, cause I was kinda worried there. You zoned out."
"I did. But I had a good reason."
"Oh really?"
"Well, I would say that thinking of you is a good reason."
Lita blushed. "Not being much of the perfect soldier now are you?"
"Any man can be a soldier, maybe not as good as me, but...we can't all be perfect now can we?" He laughed as Lita swatted at his shoulder. "But seriously, any man can kill and destroy things. But not just any man can be a father. And if I'm going to be one, then I want to be a good one."
Lita smiled, her hand resting against his cheek. "I have a feeling you'll be the best."
I know, I know...I've been gone a very long time. Insert shamed look here. But I'd rather be able to put out good chapters slowly then bad chapters rapidly. Therefore, seeing as I work full time, my creativity is usually sapped at the end of the day...must be all the rude people and completely stupid management I interact with on a regular basis. Anyway, I want to profusely thank all of you who have the patience to wait for these chapters and continue to read and enjoy them. It's people like you who make writing fun! ^_^
On a side note, Duo will later make some cracks along the lines of Heero being gay (you'll get it once you read it). These are not meant to offend anybody, just to be another example of how Duo's mouth gets him into trouble...especially when he speaks before he thinks.
Enjoy!
"After I got arrested, they took me down to the police station. They gave me a jumpsuit to change into and showed me to a cell. I guess I should have noticed it seemed kinda odd...I mean, I really expected more to happen; but I wasn't really thinking too clearly. Anyway, I spent a long time in there...hours all alone. Hours I used to think about things, prepare myself for the inevitable....Finally, a guard brought in a piece of paper and a pen, asking me to write any last words. He waited outside the cell and when I finished, I handed the pen and paper back to him. Then he opened the cell and motioned me out, demanding that I follow him. He led me down the corridor to a room with a door that had a small window." There was a pause in her narrative, as she saw the scene play out in her mind. Blinking away the images she wanted to forget, she continued.
"The guard pushed me inside the room, where I was strapped down to something that looked like those examining tables in a doctor's office. Another guard, who had been in the room when I got there, brought over a syringe and was just about to inject me with whatever was inside when a girl's voice demanded him to stop."
"Me," Relena interrupted proudly.
"It was Relena, which freaked me out....I'd killed her, and here she was floating around." Lita laughed. "But the looks on the faces of those two guys was priceless. At first they seemed to think it was their imagination because they kept blinking and waving hands in front of their eyes. Then I guess they decided to ignore it because the one with the syringe turned back to me, only to have it plucked out of his hands by his 'imagination'. Relena threatened to inject him if he so much as moved too close to me, demanding that they let me go. I think then they realized that they were really seeing a ghost."
"They told her they didn't have the authority to stay my execution. So she informed them that she was going to get that authority and if they did anything in the meantime, she was going to escort them to Hell herself. They readily promised her that nothing would happen in her absence and they retreated to some chairs on the far side of the room. Relena disappeared and then I just waited...and waited...for a really long time...."
"It wasn't that long," Relena insisted.
"Well it seemed like a long time to me," Lita said.
"I'm sure it did, but really compared to the whole span of time it was nothing but a little itty-bitty micro cosmic second."
"Whatever," Wufei said rudely.
Relena stuck her tongue out at Wufei, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Now you've done it," Duo said. "She's not going to tell us anything."
"She better," Lita said. "I'm not going to sit here all day while she feuds with turkey boy."
"You shouldn't have too." Rei glared at Wufei. "This is your fault...you apologize."
"I'm not apologizing to a phantom menace."
Relena was about to say something in response to Wufei's crack when Lita pushed herself up and stood over Wufei, glaring in a way that did not invite anything other then complete obedience. "You apologize now or you're going to get a shock so bad that all the hair gel ever produced will never keep your hair flat again."
Wufei shrank back a little, croaking out an apology, then promptly clammed up so he did not get into anymore trouble.
Lita sat back down, keeping that glare on her face.
To ease the sudden tension in the room, Relena went about beginning her narrative. She told about finding Lita's letter crumpled in the trash and her first public appearance. She started getting animated when she described her encounter with Juuban's chief of police and her threat to haunt him through all eternity if he didn't release Lita. By the time she'd gotten to the part about pestering the Sanq Kingdom's head of government, she was gesturing wildly, giving a very through demonstration of her use of that not-so-little mallet of "Divine Influence". She looked quite pleased with herself as she told of her victory in securing Lita's release; well...that coupled with the fact that her audience seemed to appreciate her narrative, for the pilots found her cussing out a government official to be extremely hilarious.
After having had her say, Relena smiled. "And that finishes it off. My work here is done. But remember...I'm always watching." With a wave, her apparition vanished, leaving a void where she'd been.
"Well, that certainly was a story worth hearing," Duo said, grinning.
"I must admit it is rather amusing to picture Relena hammering somebody over the head," Trowa said. "Considering how much against her personality such behavior is."
"Against the old Relena's personality," Quatre clarified. "This new...'Relena'...seems to be a little...well...."
"Non-existent?" Wufei supplied.
"Not quite the word I had in mind...."
"Sleep," Lita said, suddenly interjecting her own comment into the conversation.
"Sleep? A person can't look sleep...sleepy yes, but not sleep. Besides, Relena didn't look tired to me." Duo rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Sleep," she repeated. "Not Relena, me. The word that I had in mind...."
"Oh," he said, laughing a little embarrassedly. "Yeah, I guess that would be on your mind...well, one of two things," Duo said, giving Heero a rather evil grin.
Heero raised an eyebrow. "You are the only person on the face of this earth who would suggest that someone who has spent a good chunk of the last 24 hours wondering if they'll live or die would first and foremost be thinking about THAT."
Quatre blushed a little. "Duo...I'm not sure this is quite appropriate morning conversation...."
"What?" Duo said innocently. "It's a natural reaction to attraction. Babies gotta come from somewhere you know."
"Oh, like you're an expert on babies Maxwell," Wufei said, rolling his eyes.
"Hey, I never said that. But it's not like you know any more."
"I'm sure I know more then you do."
Duo snorted. "Right...and I'm the Easter Bunny."
"So that's the explanation for your behavior...all those eaten candy eggs and the constant inhaling of fumes from the paint on those Easter eggs," Heero commented.
"That's mean!" Duo's face showed a little pout. "How come you're only nice to Lita? Just because you're gonna marry her and all...."
"Is there something wrong with being nice to her?"
"Well, no...I guess not. But geez...we're your friends too. If we want you to be nice to us do we have to marry you too?"
Heero gave Duo the darkest, most scowling type glare that he could muster.
"EEP!" Duo cringed. "Bad choice of words on my part! Wasn't trying to question your uh...straightness."
Heero scowled. "I know what you were trying to get at; you were making a bad attempt at a joke about what you had to do to get me to be friendly. But let's get a few things straight. First, I'm not gay. Secondly, even if I was, I would never marry any of you and especially not you Duo. Third, I...AM...NOT...GAY."
"I think I got that the first time....But seriously, we all know you're straight. At least, we'd hope that any man who's going to be a father...."
He never did finish the sentence. As soon as she heard the word father, Lita let out a strangled sort of noise, her, face losing all color. "W...why did you say that Duo?"
"Yeah, why'd you have to go and open your mouth Maxwell? You big idiot!" Wufei yanked Duo's braid, hard.
"You mean...you...you all...know...?" Lita looked slowly around the faces of the gathered group, her gaze landing on Heero last of all.
He nodded.
"You were never supposed to find out...." Her eyes began to water. Before anybody could do anything, she stood up and fled the room.
"I hope you're happy Duo," Heero growled, following after his fiancé.
"It was an accident...," Duo said, weakly. "I didn't mean too...."
"I know," Quatre said softly. "Really, this whole mess is my fault. I should never had said anything."
"No Quatre, it's my fault," Rei said. "If I hadn't gotten so worked up about things you would never have let it slip."
"It's nobody's fault, and it's everybody's fault," Trowa said. "Rei, you had every reason to be worked up. From your point of view, I'm sure it did look as if we were doing nothing but giving up. Quatre, you too had every right to be worked up as well. How could you help but be as you were, being the only one who knew the full consequences of Lita's actions? However, if you want to point fingers, then we should all point fingers at each other. If we had not been so emotional, perhaps we would have noticed that Heero had come into the room and maybe we could have stopped Quatre before he revealed that knowledge he alone knew."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Duo said.
"Something still concerns me though," Rei said. "What you said, Quatre, about hoping nothing changes...and her comment about how he wasn't supposed to have found out. She wasn't planning something was she...?"
Quatre sighed. "Not abortion, no. But I think she was planning on adoption. How she thought she could hide her pregnancy from everyone, especially Heero, I don't know."
"Adoption?" Rei looked stunned. "She would give her son away...and without ever telling Heero? Why?"
"It's because of Heero she planned to do it," he answered.
Meanwhile, outside in the courtyard of the shrine, Lita was sitting under a tree, staring at her hands through tear filled eyes.
"Quatre didn't betray you, if that's what you're thinking," Heero said from his place beside her. "He never meant to tell any of us...it just slipped out when Rei had a little outburst about our...inadequacy...during this particular situation." Silence was his only answer. Now usually, that wouldn't bother Heero...but this time it did. Something was wrong with Lita, and he didn't like the fact that she wasn't telling. After a few minutes of non- responsiveness, he decided to press the issue. "So did you mean what you said in there...that I wasn't supposed to have ever known?"
There was another small pause. "Yes," she said softly.
"Why?"
Lita fidgeted a little, not answering.
"You didn't think I deserved to know I had a son?"
"Oh no, that's not it!"
"Then what?" Heero said, shifting so he was sitting in front of her. He reached out and grabbed hold of her shoulders. "Were you afraid to have our son see what monster his father is?"
"You're not a monster Heero," Lita said, tears welling up in her green eyes. "I...I was just so confused! I didn't know what to do...all I wanted was to protect you...."
He blinked. The anger that had begun to build dissolved with this confession. He was always protecting others, but he'd never thought that anyone would protect him, aside from the pilots that is. The last vestiges of his anger melted away when he realized that it was him that had helped to cause those tears. The hands that held her shoulders slipped around her, pulling her to him in a tight embrace. "I'm sorry Lita...."
"It isn't your fault Heero," she said, her voice muffled by his shoulder. "I should have told you...but I was afraid too."
"Yeah...I guess I'm not the best at handling shocking news," he said, a note of dry humor in his voice. "But I had no right to get mad at you...you've had it rough lately and it wasn't fair of me to be so...well, short."
"But you're right too...I should have told you...I just didn't know how you'd take it," she said, pulling back to look him in the face. "We never talked about kids, let alone so soon. Us not even married yet, and having a child. And even if we were, it wouldn't change the fact that you'd still be going on missions. I didn't want you to have to worry about leaving me behind in this kind of position or even after the baby was born, because I know you would. I wanted you to focus on your missions, so I knew you'd come home...I didn't want to raise my son without a father. So I thought if I hid it from you, if somehow you were called away before I started showing to badly, I could put the child up for adoption and spare you the extra burdens of worry and providing for a third person."
He smiled. "I already worry about you when I'm away...I think I've got enough worry room left for something as small as a baby. And maybe I wouldn't have taken it so well at first, because more then likely if we had talked about it, I would definitely not have voted for starting a family so soon. But this baby is a gift to the two of us, and I'm not about to return one of the few presents I've ever gotten."
Lita smiled; the tears in her eyes of happiness this time.
"But I'm curious...knowing you were pregnant, why did you turn yourself in yesterday?"
"For you," she said, a little embarrassed.
"Me?"
"I just knew you would try something, and I just couldn't bear to see you take the punishment meant for me."
"But...didn't you think about the baby?"
"I did...but...well...." She frowned a little, having trouble putting her feelings into words. "I didn't have much time to think...and in that short span of time all I could think of was you. You're always so willing to throw everything away for your mission, I thought just this once I could throw everything away to save you. When I finally got to the cell and had time to think, I realized what I had done. I had sentenced our son to die...but I guess I tried to justify it by saying I had planned to put him up for adoption anyway so he wouldn't have been our son anymore. It made me feel guilty, but I knew I'd made the right choice. If I could give up my son, then I knew that hard as it might be, I could live without him...but I knew I couldn't have lived without you. You'd just began to see there was more to life then war and being a soldier and I knew I could never have taken that away from you."
Heero had no words to say this time. He couldn't say anything. He thought he knew Lita, but he discovered that there was quite a bit more to the woman he loved then he'd ever guessed and it only served to make him love her more.
"Heero?" Lita waved a hand in front of his face. "You there?"
"Yeah, I'm here," he answered.
"Good, cause I was kinda worried there. You zoned out."
"I did. But I had a good reason."
"Oh really?"
"Well, I would say that thinking of you is a good reason."
Lita blushed. "Not being much of the perfect soldier now are you?"
"Any man can be a soldier, maybe not as good as me, but...we can't all be perfect now can we?" He laughed as Lita swatted at his shoulder. "But seriously, any man can kill and destroy things. But not just any man can be a father. And if I'm going to be one, then I want to be a good one."
Lita smiled, her hand resting against his cheek. "I have a feeling you'll be the best."