Chapter 8

It was dark as she drove along the winding, curved road that lead back up to her house. She hadn't been home in nearly six days and she was happy that she would have this brief rest before duty would call her once more.

She missed him. She couldn't deny that. Even after nearly thirty years of marriage together, he made her heart beat a mile a minute and despite his graying hair or his annoying habits, she loved him with all that she was.

He was her reason for life. He was everything to her.

She hated what he was going through, what he had to face, but his strength was indomitable and his fire kept burning.

She took another turn as her Pathfinder cruised up the road to the small house in the valley. She pulled up in the driveway and turned off the ignition taking a deep breath.

As she got out of the car, she could smell the wonderful fragrances from the nearby garden and it soothed her as a smile crossed her lips. She opened up the back door of the car and pulled her luggage from it, extended the handle and walking up to the house, dragging the lugguge behind her..

The door was unlocked and she walked in.

She smiled as she could tell from the immediate smells in the kitchen that he had been busy preparing something delicious for dinner. She left her luggage by the door and walked into the kitchen, as she walked in she saw that the table had a fresh, white linen table cloth, the good china was out along with the beautiful crystal wine goblets. Long white candles were burning in the center of the table along with a beautiful red rose in a vase in the center.

Then as she turned she saw him, he was standing by the stove smiling at her. He was wearing a long sleeved white button down shirt and blue jeans.

"Welcome home." He said as he approached her and wrapped his arms around her, giving her the type of kiss that made her knees shake and her stomach turn into butterflies.

"Mmmm…." She whispered as their lips parted and her arms wrapped around him. "I've missed you."

"Me too." He said. "I'm glad your home now."

"I am too." She told him as she stared into his gentle blue eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't want to talk about that." He said to her. "Let's just enjoy being all alone tonight."

"Alone?" She asked. "Where's Reina?"

"She's at her friend's house. I sort of made arrangements." He told her with another smirk.

"Oh?" She asked with another smile. "Kicked out the kid, huh?"

"Just for tonight." He told her. "Tomorrow will be another day."

"That sounds good." She said to him.

"Why don't you change into something a little more…. relaxed?" he asked with a smile.

"How relaxed?" She asked.

"As relaxed as you like, we are alone y'know?"

"Pervert." She joked. "Still the same way you've always been."

"Would you expect me any other way?" He said to her with a chuckle as he undid the bun in her hair and watched as it flowed down making him smile.

"I guess not. I love you, you idiot." She told him as she kissed him again.

"I love you too, Asuka." He whispered to her as he held her.

"Why don't we eat later…. I have a hunger for something else right now and I'm not talking about food either." She joked as she took his hand into her own.

"Ah but Honey, I just went through all the trouble of making this dinner for you. We have all night. Trust me on this. Having a little patience would be good right now."

"I just hate being away from you." Asuka whispered to him gently. "I get worried, Shinji, I just don't want…"

"Shh…." He whispered to her. "Some things we can't prevent but we can use our time wisely and we can make the most of it."

"Shinji…." She said to him, as she couldn't help a tear from falling out of her eye. ", I just don't want to be gone when…"

"You won't be." He said to her. "That's a long way off, Asuka. We don't have to think about that right now. I'm here now and here is where I want to be."

"I'll go on family leave if you want me to." Asuka told him. "I just want to be with you."

Shinji smiled at her and cupped her cheek as he said. "You are. Every day. You're in my heart, Asuka. Asuka, don't stop doing your job because I'm sick. You're a part of me. I see you every time I look at Reina, or hear Souke or Hope on the phone. I'm with you everyday."

Asuka smiled at him and took a deep breath. "You amaze me." She whispered to him.

"Not as much as you amaze me." He told her gently. "How was the meeting?"

"A lot of bureaucratic crap." She said to him. "Shinji, I'm going to break the rules and tell you something I shouldn't."

"Okay." He said to her.

"Shinji, they've given Hope that assignment that we were concerned about."

Shinji's face dropped as he looked at her. "They put her into it?" he asked her.

"Not yet. She's going to be trained but after, yes, she's going to pilot it, Shinji."

"Do you think she's ready for that?" he asked his wife. "Do you think she can handle it?"

"She's strong and she's a good officer. I tried to make them see, Shinji. I tried to tell them she wasn't ready but the reality is, she's the only one that can."

"I can do it!" he told her as he held her onto her hand.

"No, Honey." Asuka said to him. "You can't anymore. You're too sick to do it."

"No I'm not." Shinji said to her. "I can't throw my child to the wolves like that! Cancer be damned! I am the original pilot! I can do it! Asuka, how could they…"

"Shinji, we have to believe in her. We have to give her the strength she needs to do it. Shinji, she is our child. She will be able to." Asuka told him gently. "You can't do it anymore, Shinji. You just…you just can't."

"Did you stop them from offering it to me?" he asked her. "Did you do what you promised you wouldn't?"

"No." Asuka said to him. "They did. They have your medical records, Shinji. You may not be active duty but when you signed up to be called again for the use of Eva, you knew that they would scrutinize everything! They saw it, Shinji! They know how advanced it is, they refused to even consider you as a pilot for it!"

"So you had no choice." Shinji said to her as he held her close to him. "I knew some day this would happen. I just didn't want it to happen ever."

"Shinji, there's more and you have to know this. I don't care if it goes against my duty. You are my husband and I share my life with you, all aspects of my life. Shinji, SEELE is active again."

Shinji breathed in as he heard her. "That was something I always feared. That means her life, Souke's life and Reina's life is in danger."

"No, Shinji, it's not." Asuka said to him. "I won't let that happen. I'd rather die then let anything happen to our children! I won't let them get hurt, I promise you."

"I just feel so…"

"Its okay." Asuka whispered. "You can count on me to take care of things. I will protect them all. I will keep them safe. I will do what you need me to do."

Shinji smiled at her as he said. "I know you will."

Gently, she hugged him as she whispered. "I love you so much. I promise you, I will make sure that they are all safe from danger. SEELE won't be able to get them. I promise you that. Hope especially has someone watching over her."

"Who?" Shinji asked.

"Sawyer." Asuka said. "Sawyer will protect her. I know this of him."

"Sawyer Dell?" Shinji asked. "Asuka, aren't you concerned about…."

"No." Asuka said. "Maybe, he is what she needs. I'm not worried. She had to know sometime. We couldn't not tell her. Shinji, I know how you feel about the past but the past was part of our lives, part of her heritage. Sawyer would more then likely tell her and having her involved in this project she would have no choice but to know the truth. I believe in Sawyer, Shinji. He'll do right by me. I believe in him."

"It surprises me to hear you say that." Shinji said. "I mean, you accepted Isao but Sawyer, an American? Asuka, you've changed…"

"Shinji, I just know one thing. Our daughter needs someone to watch out for her, Sawyer will do that and if necessary Sawyer will take a bullet for her too."

Shinji breathed in as he heard her. Placing his forehead against hers he whispered. "Asuka, I feel so powerless."

"You're not." Asuka whispered to him. "Shinji, don't you realize we gave our daughter what she needs? What we've always had throughout our lives to get us through was our strength. She has strength, Shinji. It is our strength that got her through Isao's death and it was our strength that will make her reach her goal. Shinji, she's ready for this. I believe in her. I have faith in her. She's ours. She's got the best of both of us. We poured all our love and all of our strength into her to make her what she is. She will do this, Shinji. I promise you. She's going to win."

Shinji Ikari held his wife close to him and breathed out as he said. "I know."

Asuka smiled at him as she looked into his soft eyes and whispered. "Do you believe in me, Shinji?"

"I always have." He answered.

"Then know, I'm not going to let anything happen to her. I swear to you on my life." Asuka said to him gently.

"I know." Shinji said to his wife as he kissed her lips gently and held her in his arms.