A/N: Wow. People seem to like this story. I wasn't going to post it but I wasn't too keen on it but... basks in self-reflected glory

Anyway... I hope you enjoy this chapter... was the other one upsetting, was it, was it, was it? Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

Just keep swimming,

Just keep swimming,

Just keep swimming,

Swimming, swimming.

What do we do?

We sw-iiiiiiiimmm!

Dory, Finding Nemo.

Midnight Unusualities

The Understanding Nature of Wives

Dom rapped on Neal's door, hard. He hoped Neal would open the door soon, before he dissolved into tears right outside his cousin's room.

It wasn't Neal who opened the door, it was actually his wife, Yuki, wrapped up in a beautiful silk kimono, her usually perfectly styled hair now mussed from sleep.

When she saw Dom's pitiful state, she looked down him with sorrowful eyes. Dom had clearly been drinking. And by the look of him, obviously a lot.

She turned around to get Neal from their bedroom, but Dom, thinking she was going to leave him, grabbed one of the long sleeves of her kimono and hung on for deep life, nearly ripping the delicate material before Yuki stopped moving and turned back to look at him, surprised.

"Dom," she whispered, gently prising the valuable material of the flowing sleeve from his tight and sweaty grasp. "Let go. I'm going to get Neal for you. I wouldn't leave you here when you're in such obvious distress."

Dom nodded slowly, releasing the last of the material, now creased from his strong grasp on it, and tried to speak. His voice came out as a croak. "Get Neal, Yuki," he might have been a mess, and be slightly drunk, but he still remembered his manners, "please. It's important. Tell him it's very important."

Yuki hadn't needed Dom to voice her suspicions. She could tell it was important just by looking at him. He wouldn't have dragged himself down to her and her husband's room so early in the morning when he was clearly drunk if it wasn't.

"Neal, honey," Yuki called from her position standing in the doorway. "It's Dom, darling. He wants to talk to you. He says it's important. And by the look of him, I'm guessing it is."

When Yuki received an illegible grunt from inside her room that only Neal could have made when he was waking up, she turned back to Dom. "Who was it, Dom? Who did this to you? Who made you so upset?" When Dom diverted his gaze from her beautiful, almond shaped eyes and down to the floor, she knew that she had struck a nerve. "Was it Wolset?" When Dom shook his head, she tried again. "Raoul? Flyndan? One of the men of the Own? The King? The Queen?" Every time Dom shook his head she became even more frustrated. "Kel?" She asked as a wild guess, knowing it could not have been Kel, while throwing her arms up into the air in a sign of submission.

What Dom did next shocked her to the very core. He nodded. "It was Kel," he croaked, his voice cracking just by saying her name.

Yuki drew in a sharp breath, inhaling between her clenched teeth. "Kel?" She hissed, letting the breath out. "Kel did this to you? Why? How? I thought she liked you so much..." Yuki trailed off. She had not meant to tell him that.

By the way Dom's eyes opened in surprise, she guessed he hadn't known. By that simple gesture, she knew that Dom was obviously not in this state from hearing Kel admit her feelings to him.

"Right," she said, quickly drawing Dom's attention away from what she had just let slip out of her mouth. "I'll go and... get dressed, and then I'll... go and see Ke-"she stopped, sure that Dom wouldn't want her talking about Kel in front of him. "Someone. Wait one minute until I'm ready and then you can go in and speak to Neal more privately without me interrupting you."

She patted Dom on the shoulder in what she hoped was an understanding, yet reassuring way. She would normally have to reach up to give Dom this simple gesture, but as he was slouched against the doorframe, slipping down even more each minute, she barely had to go onto her tiptoes for her hand to reach his shoulder.

Yuki entered the room she occupied with her husband to get dressed, leaving Dom outside the door.

Without a sound, the handsome commander sagged down to the ground, leaning his back against his cousin's door. He allowed one single tear to fall down his cheek. It dropped to the floor, and shattered.

A/N: Awww! Poor Dommy! I hate doing this to him, I really do, but I wanted an original fic so I have to shrugs that's the beauty of being a writer.