The best way to spell love is t-i-m-e. (Rick Warren) ...that is SO TRUE. a friend of mine told me that it's the only thing that you can give and not take back...

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The next morning Lily woke up in her room, located next to her daughter's. She wanted to take a shower, but then remembered that she didn't bring any baggage. (Why? She's weird, that's all. She planned on not staying very long, but then that changed.) She opened the cabinet, not expecting to find anything, but to her surprise, her old clothes were there. The ones from eight years ago. The ones that she just left there because she spent the night at his house, too. She grabbed a pair of cargoes and a navy blue polo shirt. Her bras were there, too, and she smiled.

When she finished the shower, she went over to Emily's room to find her still sleeping. Hungry, she made her way to the kitchen and found Kaiba sitting at the table in flannel pajamas and a white tank, reading the paper and taking a bite out of a bagel covered in cream cheese.

"Morning," she chirped.

"Somebody slept well last night."

"I did," she replied and opened the refrigerator, "juice?" she poured a glass for herself.

"No thanks," he said and took a sip of his coffee.

Taking a seat next to him, she said, "So, what's for breakfast?"

"You're the cook, remember?" he responded.

"And the guest," she took the bagel out of his hand and took a bite out of it.

"That's mine!" He tried to take it back from her, but she ran away towards the living room. Both were dashing around the furniture, but then Kaiba tackled her onto the couch and grabbed it back. They wrestled on the couch but the bagel was long forgotten when he started to tickle her. She squealed in laughter and when he stopped, he really, really wanted to just kiss her. To his surprise, she initiated it, and before long they were making out.

"Mommy! Daddy! There's food in the kitchen! Don't eat each other!" Lily and Kaiba turned to their daughter. He quickly moved off of her and thought for a moment.

"You told her?"

"I couldn't decide."

"I'm hungry!" Emily wailed, ignoring her parents' conversation.

Straightening out her shirt, Lily got up and said, "Okay, what do you want? Cereal? Pancakes? Eggs? Sausage? Bacon? Fruit? Toast?"

Her face lightened up, and she yelled, "ALL OF THEM! ...wait, toast is bread, right? No bread."

"Okay," Lily walked to the kitchen.

"Are you sure she can eat all that?"

"Stop talking as if I weren't here!" Emily glared at her father.

"Er, can you eat that much?"

"Of course," she said, as if he were the biggest moron alive, "Mommy says I'm growing, so I can eat all I want. Plus, she also says I have a fast me- ta-bo-lis-um"

"Uh...that's nice."

"You're gonna have to be friendlier than that if you expect us to stay," she said matter-of-factly and opened the freezer, "ICE CREAM!!! Now that's a step in the right direction," and she took the carton out.

"Here's a spoon," Kaiba tried to say sweetly.

"What about mommy?"

"I don't think she wants ice-cream for breakfast."

"How do you know?" she rolled her eyes at him.

"Well, I—"

"No, you don't know that we eat ice cream with our pancakes and fruit...Are they done yet?"

"Almost dear."

Three minutes later she started stuffing her mouth with pancakes, which shut her up.

"I'm so full..." Emily moaned.

"Honey, don't eat so much next time. You don't have to eat like there's no tomorrow."

"So, uh, Emily, how'd you sleep?" Kaiba tried to start conversation.

"Good."

"Is the house to your liking?"

"Yeah."

"Find enough things to play with, or do?"

"Look, if you're trying to make me choose you over Steven, you're gonna have to do better than just a fancy house. Steven can get one, too."

"So, what do you want to do today?" Lily tried to steer the conversation away from something ugly.

"Uh...I don't know. You've lived here before. You choose."

"Hmmm...how long do you want to stay here?"

"I don't know."

"We didn't bring much clothes. We can go shopping."

"Okay! Let's go!" she jumped out of her seat and dashed to the door, "Beat you! Hahahaha!"

"Don't run after you eat. How many times have I told you?" Lily chided.

"No fun."

"You guys go ahead; I have a meeting to go to..."

Lily gave him a disappointed look and Emily just shrugged.

"Steven always has time to spend with us, and he's a CEO too, you know."

"If he's busy, then he's busy. Let's go Emily...oh, can we use your car?"

"Uh...yeah."

She's just like her mother...outspoken and blunt but adorable all at the same time. She's not shy or submissive...she speaks her mind and doesn't let anything get in her way...she wasn't even intimidated by me, and I was a stranger. And she's right...it's going to take a lot from me to convince them to stay with me...and way to start it off by blowing them off. Great job...well, they can handle the meeting without me...I think...anyway, they screw things up, they get fired, simple as that...anyway, I can't babysit them all the time...let's see what these people can do without my guidance.

He picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Kaiba here, can't make it to the meeting, so you're in charge, okay? Full report tomorrow."

"But—"

He hung up.

Now if I'm not mistaken, there's only one mall that Lily really likes to go to, and since Emily still is wearing that thing...I can track them down easily.

He spotted the two in food court as he passed by a jewelry store.

Oooh, shiny. That's it! I'll challenge his proposal with one from me.

And he went inside and bought the most expensive ring they sold. He put it in his inside pocket for safekeeping and made his way to the ladies munching on fries.

"Hello ladies."

"Meeting finished early?" Emily snickered.

"Hi Seto."

"I see you're eating...again."

"Want some?" Emily stuck a fry in his face.

"Er, thanks, but no."

"No? How can you say no to a delicious, greasy, fatty, strip of 'potato'?" she did the quotes handmotions and popped one into her mouth and picked up another, "Eat it, Dad. I'll even let you have ketchup." Lily pushed the cup of ketchup towards him and laughed.

"Whoa. You know, your mother did the same to me before, except with ice-cream."

"You denied the chance to eat ICE-CREAM?!?! Are you...stupid?"

"That's not the way to talk to your father, hun. Trust me, I gave him a hard time, so don't worry your pretty little head about it," she said and patted her head, "Now apologize."

"Do I have to?" she whined.

"Yes."

"Fine," she crinkled her face.

"Go on."

"Don't hurry me."

"Well if you didn't take all day..."

"Sorry dad."

"Apology accepted...now have you done any shopping yet?"

"Nope," the two said together.

"So first thing you did was go to the food court?" he raised his eyebrow.

"Mommy was thirsty, but you're fine now, right?"

"Yeah. We need to get you some pants..."

She groaned, "Clothes are boring."

"Well, would you rather go around wearing nothing at all?"

"Yes."

"All right...well then let's take off your t-shirt," Lily said and started to lift up her shirt.

"Ahh! No! Don't do it!" she struggled to push the shirt down, "Okay, okay! Let's go get some clothes."

"You have a unique way of parenting."

"So?"

"When's it my turn?" he said suggestively.

"You're a big boy now; you don't get a turn."

"What are you guys talking about? Are we going to go or not?" Emily demanded, hands on her hips.

So, the three went around and bought some stuff, well actually a lot of stuff. But that didn't matter, since Kaiba did all the holding of the bags. What? That's his job. What he didn't expect, though, was such a large quantity; otherwise, he would have brought some servants along.

He watched the two ladies interact, and although Emily was high maintenance, spoiled, and bossy towards all the mall employees, Lily always had control over her. Her word was law, and Emily certainly knew and respected that. She'd need more time to adjust to having Kaiba as an authority figure, though. He didn't worry because he knew that if Lily still loved him and decided to stay, Emily would see how much the couple meant to each other, and she'd grow to respect him. He was waiting at the entrance of the store for the two to finish, and he turned around to inspect the ring again.

"Daddy, what are you looking at?"

He immediately snapped the box closed and slipped it into his pocket, "Nothing."

"Mommy...dad's keeping a secret," she said and tugged on her sleeve.

"Well, I'm sure when the time's right, he'll tell us."

"You mean show."

"Sure."

Lily gave off an air of indifference, so Emily dismissed it. After all, if her mom didn't care, she didn't either.

-----

It was dinnertime, and the three of them were eating at a fancy restaurant. Emily kept on pestering the waiter by interrupting him and asking more questions, and when he said that she was obnoxious, she responded with, 'You're obnoxious. And don't think I don't know what that means.'

"Mommy, the waiter's mean. Can we go now?"

"Don't worry about him, remember, the customer is—"

"Always right," she grinned.

"Don't you want dessert?"

"Ice-cream?" her face glowed.

"How much ice-cream did you eat when you were carrying her?" Kaiba asked worriedly.

"A lot."

"That explains it."

Kaiba was the only one who wasn't eating ice-cream, and after they stopped pestering him, he decided that it was a good a time as any and took out the ring. Dropping to one knee, he said, "I'll never know why you two love ice-cream so much, but I know one thing. There is undeniable chemistry between us, and despite the time we've spent apart, I still love you, I always will...both of you, so uh...Lily, will you marry me?"

Kaiba felt so nervous that he was actually sweating. He was a grown man, and yet her presence still had the power to incapacitate all reason within him. He couldn't bear the refusal, but knew he'd never get the courage to just propose alone with her, he'd just put if off forever, and by the time he talked himself into doing it, she'd be gone...with that Steven fellow. So there he was, proposing to her in front of a crowd. He must have had too much wine to drink or something...what else would explain this seemingly reckless behavior? Still, he would have been devastated if she said no. in his mind he was praying please say yes...please say yes...say yes...please...

The people from the other tables turned to them, and Lily became nervous from the attention, but her daughter brought her attention back to Kaiba as she said, "Well, aren't you going to say yes? I mean, dads and moms are supposed to be married. And the ring is so pretty!"

"Y...yes."

The restaurant folk (hehe, folk), cheered and clapped their hands before returning to their meals.

Kaiba slipped the ring onto her finger, and said, "So, will you stay?"

"Well, I am engaged."

"Mommy! Can I see the ring?"

Lily showed her hand to her daughter, and she was transfixed by it.

"I can't wait to get married."

"Ooh, yes you can," Kaiba said, and Lily just laughed.

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ah...finally...a decision has been made! :D wonderful news! :D :D well, i think the choice was obvious...but it was STILL under my control. i don't think anyone wanted them not to be together. but...will things work out?! huh?! HUH???

ahem, so i didn't really develop Steven, mostly because with Kaiba out of the picture, it wouldn't really be related to yugioh would it? no...yeah...just saying...we're nearing the end...just a couple of chapters...i've already written them...they'll be up before friday, cuz that's when i'm leaving for a well deserved vacation...yeah...so, review!