The house was empty and silent. The lights were on, and the place was warm and inviting, but it was empty. Mwu looked around, peeking in every room for his wife, figuring that Murrue had maybe fallen asleep somewhere, as she was prone to doing these days. But she was nowhere to be found, not even in her favourite writing spot in the attic. She might have gone shopping, but if that was the case, shouldn't she have left him a note?

Mwu sat there on the sofa for an hour, with no sign of her. Finally, the door opened, and Murrue walked in, looking very tired.

"I'm so sorry I didn't leave a note..I didn't have time. I had to go into work to pick up some paperwork."

She sank onto the sofa beside him, resting her head against the cushions.

"You should have called me. I could have picked it up for you..."chided Mwu, brushing some of the hair out of her eyes.

She shook her head with a tired smile. "Nah, it's okay. I wanted to go out." She winced as Mwu brushed against her arm, and he noticed immediately. She tried to shrink away and hide whatever was wrong with her, but he took her arm and carefully peeled back her sleeve. There was a nasty cut on her upper arm, already cleaned and bandaged, but he was still concerned.

"Paperwork, huh?" he said, raising an eyebrow. His wife looked away.

"Okay, so after I'd picked it up, I helped out Erica and some of the guys with a ship's engine, and I caught my arm on it..."

Mwu scowled. "You shouldn't be doing that in your condition, what if you'd got badly hurt? You're meant to be on maternity leave.."

He patted her swollen stomach. "Please don't take so many risks.."

Murrue frowned. "What risks? Nothing happened to me...and it was my own decision. I can take care of myself. Stop being so overprotective!"

"I take care of you because you don't take care of yourself!" snapped Mwu.

"I don't need taking care of! Just because you act like a child, don't treat me like one!" she fired back, marigold eyes flashing in anger.

Mwu scoffed. "I'm a child? Tell me, who's acting the most childish at the moment?"

"I didn't ask you to always protect me!"

His normally open, happy face was flat and hard, his tone stony. "I don't protect you because anyone asked me. I do it because I wanted to. But if that's the way you feel, maybe I shouldn't have bothered."

Murrue's voice became ice cold. "Maybe you shouldn't have," she agreed, pushing herself off the sofa. Grabbing her car keys from the kitchen, she stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

She turned up an hour later at Kira and Lacus' house by the beach. She had driven around the city aimlessly for a while, not knowing where to go. She felt bad for the things she had said, but she didn't feel like she could go home right now. The two young people let her in without a word, sensing that whatever was wrong with her, or between her and Mwu, she didn't want to talk about it. She ate with them, not talking much, and not eating much either. She could see the worry in Kira and Lacus' eyes, but she never said a word.

They lent her an old nightdress belonging to Kira's mother (which was a tight fit due to the fact that she was seven and a half months pregnant), and she stayed in their guest room.

That night, Murrue's sleep was plagued by dreams, nightmares about being alone, about what it had been like when she had thought Mwu was dead. She saw Strike exploding into fragments, then her husband fading from sight. Then she saw the same thing, but with Akatsuki...

No, not that! That didn't happen! He was okay, he came back to me!

She snapped awake, sweat pouring from her. The moonlight streamed through the thin curtains, lighting the tiny room up as if it was daytime. Without thinking, Murrue reached out beside her, only to remember where she was when her hand hit bare mattress instead of the warm body of Mwu.

That's right. We had a fight, didn't we? Maybe the dream was trying to warn me...

The brightness of the moonlight made it practically impossible for her to go back to sleep, and she decided to go for a walk. The tiny house was right on the edge of the beach, and she took her time walking over the silver sand, the surf wetting her bare feet.

Her baby suddenly chose that moment to start getting restless, squirming and kicking inside her. Murrue smiled sadly, and began singing a lullaby her mother had sung to her when she was a child, trying to soothe her infant. But she got no further than the first few lines, as her voice refused to work, her throat closing up.

Instead, tears ran down her cheeks, dripping from her chin. She understood.

Now I know why I was so mad at Mwu...it's my own fault. I'm so selfish...

What if I said too much? What if we...?

The idea was almost too much to bear, and Murrue sank to her knees in the sand, her face buried in her hands, crying harder than she had in a long time.

A gentle hand in hers startled her out of her tears. The hand pulled slowly, lifting Murrue to her feet. Turning, she gasped as she saw the last person she expected to see, but the one she most wanted to see.

Mwu stood there before her, blonde hair blowing in the wind. He looked sad, but was smiling slightly.

Murrue backed away for a few steps, looking at the ground.

"I guessed that you might be here," her husband began softly. "I'm glad I found you. There's something I wanted to say.."

His face was perfectly serious, no trace of a smile anywhere, and it scared Murrue.

Is he..is this it? Did I go too far? Have I really lost him this time? I have to tell him before it's too late...

"I'm sorry...I..." they both said at the same time, followed by nervous laughter.

Mwu smiled. "You first."

Murrue looked at the ground again, and took a deep breath.

"I'm...I'm sorry.." she stuttered. "I didn't mean..to say things like that..I - I just..I feel bad about depending on you so much all the time. It-it makes m-me f-feel so guilty when you say you'll protect me, and when you take care of me... y-you even sacrificed everything you were for me...and what have I ever done to deserve that? H-how could I-I ever repay you for what you've done?" She started to cry again, dark eyes squeezed shut in pain.

Mwu laughed, causing Murrue to look up in surprise, a little hurt. "What?"

"It's nothing.." he said, still chuckling. "It's just that...those should be my lines. It's me that could never repay you. I protect you because it's the least I could ever do. Without you, I'd be dead several times over, on the inside as well as on the outside. Before we met, I was just a flyboy pilot, with no real goal, nothing to live for except for staying alive through the next battle. I was...empty inside. If I hadn't met you...I'd have carried on the same way, without ever knowing what I could have had. I'm sorry I seem overprotective at times, but it's just the way I feel. Because you gave my life meaning, and showed me what 'true love' meant. Now what did I ever do to deserve that?"

Murrue was awestruck, her eyes wide in astonishment. "Do you...do you really mean that?"

"Of course I do" he replied softly. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

Mwu looked as sincere as she'd ever seen him, nothing like the childlike happy-go-lucky figure she knew and loved so well. It made her wonder if there was another side to him that she hadn't had chance to see yet...

Murrue smiled, and shook her head. "No..."

He wrapped her up in his strong arms, bringing her close to him. "Don't cry anymore. It's all right now, okay?"

She nodded, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry for being so stubborn..."

Mwu lifted her off the ground, cradling her body against his. "The same goes for me. Come on, sweetheart, let's go home.."

"What about Kira-kun and Lacus-san? They need to know where I am..."

"It'll be fine. The kid knows these things without being told. I'm sure he'll know where you got to.."

Murrue wrapped her arms around Mwu's neck, and nuzzled close to him. "Okay.."

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( Lol. Sorry about that, but I kinda realised that Mwu and Murrue-san have almost a perfect relationship in my stories, and no couple are like that really, not even ones who are perfect together :laughs:

So I made them fight. But you just knew they were gonna make up in the end, ne?

Please read and review! )