Sorry its been so long guys. Loads of stuff's been happening. (don't worry, I haven't delivered yet, I still have plenty of time to finish the story. And I promise you all, I will try to finish before the baby's born!)

But here's another chapter! I know its choppy, but please bear with me, I have no beta!

Oh, yeah. I don't own the Chrono Crusade gang, I just love to mess with them!

Chap: the hows and whys

A nervous tension filled the inventor's workshop. The late afternoon sun shone through the room's only window, bouncing off of the many odd machines and project scattered throughout. The elder couldn't help his excited pacing as the girl and demon watched. "The first, the first in recorded demon history! Chrono, you lucky boy! Now how, how to explain all of this? Oh where, where is that blasted doctor! Should he be here by now? Damn all medical men, never on time when you need them, they should have some sort of time keeper, ought to invent one," the old man rambled.

He was more shaken than he'd ever been in his life. He had never, ever heard of a devil re-growing their horn. Horns in this case. It was thought to be impossible! So how in the hell had Chrono done it? His agile brain whirled in possibilities, stopping only as the doctor came in. "Ah, St. Justice! So what's the verdict with those two?"

The stoic doctor nearly rolled his eyes at the inventor's impatience. Turning, he addressed the nervous couple. "Sister Rosette, Chrono. All the tests are back from the lab, and as far as your physical bodies are concerned, you're both in fine health, except for a few"—he couldn't help his slightly sarcastic arch of an eyebrow—"scratches. As for you, Sir Chrono," he gave a slight smile to the worried demon, "you appear to be in better health than you were previously. Those horns seem to be speeding your metabolism, increasing your vitality."

"Was he sick before?" Rosette interjected. If he'd been hiding something like this from her, she'd beat him senseless. The glare she shot him spoke volumes, and the devil hunched in reflex.

The doctor shook his head at the girl before addressing the demon once more. "It appears that your body has missed having a more regular supply of energy than that of your contractor. As for why your horns have re-grown, I'm afraid the medical community is at a loss. Demonic biology has never really been any human's area of expertise"—

"I've got it!" The elder shrieked. He turned his excited stare on St. Justice. "Run with me here. Is it possible that with the spell's energies supplying Chrono with enough power to stay in his larger form for such a long time, his body could finally repair the damage done? With his horns being torn off? The spell would have acted like a massive supply of astral, being absorbed directly into his body."

"Through the blood, you mean? He wouldn't have needed the horns to collect the energies, he would have been having it supplied directly to wherever his body needed it." The doctor blinked in thought as Chrono frowned, thinking. Rosette tilted her head in concentration. That did make a kind of sense, but—"If that were right, why wouldn't he have healed whenever I used the seal?" she asked. "I've been giving him energy in place of the spell for years, so shouldn't the same thing have happened?"

"Unlikely," Chrono replied absently, still thinking. "Every time we've used the seal, I've had to fight, using up your energy with attacks and immediate injuries before I could, well, finishing healing? I guess?" He looked to the two men for confirmation.

"That makes sense," St. Justice replied. "Hmm. The theory seems sound. Either way, no harm seems to have been done to either one of you," he nodded to them both. "You both may do as you like, but I would recommend Sister Rosette rest a bit more before she returns to active duty."

Chrono looked up at that. Would there even be a duty for Rosette to return to?

The doctor traded looks with the elder before turning back to them. "The abbess has requested to see you as soon as possible. So I told her that you needed a day or so of recovery before you meet with anyone."

Rosette started before shooting him a grateful smile. "Thanks."

He shrugged off her gratitude. "I thought the both of you need to sort a few things out before facing the dragon," he replied. "Now go on back to the garden shed and rest, Sister. You too, Chrono. I'll send some lunch your way soon."

"Thank you, doctor," Chrono nodded. He glanced nervously at Rosette as they walked back out into the light of day. Man, did they ever have something to talk about.

Afterglow my hind end, Rosette fumed. She sat on one end of the bed, Chrono on the other. He looked like he honestly thought she would bite him. True, she had bitten him not even twelve hours ago, but that wasn't the point! Lord be above, but she hated silence. Especially between her and him.

Chrono slowly cleared his throat. "So, um, I guess this means that a lot of stuff is about to change, huh?"

"No kidding," she answered. "Where the hell are we gonna get you a new wardrobe? And if you mention one monosyllable of Satella's name, I will kill you."

"What? Why would I go to Satella for clothes?" He asked, confusion written across his face. What had gotten into her? For one moment he considered using his horns to read her mind, but decided against it. It wouldn't be fair to her.

"Just don't want any competition to show up," the girl muttered in reply. She ignored his surprised look as she blushed.

Chrono suddenly frowned as he picked up the massive wave of uncertainty coming from her aura. Followed by sadness, fear and even a little—guilt? What? What the hell was going through that girl's head? He suddenly felt a twinge of guilt himself. He'd almost forgotten how sensitive his horns were to the auras of people he liked. He'd have to be more careful of that. "Rosette? Are you okay?"

She looked back at him with a bright smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Sure! Why would you think otherwise"—

"Rosette?"

"I mean, its not like this is anything too weird compared to some other stuff we've been through. Is it?"

He reached out a hand and gently cupped her face. "Rosette?" He asked again. "Are you okay?"

She kept her smile, but couldn't look him in the eyes. "No. No, I'm no okay. I'm scared." She looked back at him. "Why did my body react like that? What was that? I mean, really, what was that! Its never happened before, and I have no idea what it is, or what it really means. It was tingling and almost burning and it scared me! And why do I still feel that way right now?"

"You do? Wh"—

"When—when you look at me, sometimes, I would feel something like that, before. But nothing like it is now. All you're doing is sitting next to me. Then I think about your arms and hands and your smile and I want something, and I thinks its what we did last night, but I just don't know! I'm scared and I hate it!"

He ducked his head a moment, thinking over her words. "Its desire, I think. To want something like that, and be afraid of it. I know exactly how you feel," he said quietly. "It scared the hell out of me too."

"It—it did?"

"Every time I've ever heard of someone feeling like that, in Pandemonia, it meant something terrible. I think I was more afraid this morning than I ever have been in my life." He gave a self-depreciating smirk. "I was more scared of you than any demon."

Rosette felt like smacking herself. She should have known that Chrono would feel the same way. "I'm sorry," she said softly.

"Don't be," he said. "Its my fault this happened in the first place."

Bang!

"Yeeoowww!" He slowly came back up off the floor, rubbing the back of his head and glaring at her. "What the hells was that for?

"For being an idiot," she primly replied. "This was not your fault. This was Taj-mere's fault. And don't give me any crap about this, that's just how it is."

Chrono smiled to himself. She would phrase it like that. A thought made him suddenly frown, terrified of its implications. "Rosette?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you mean it?" She paused, head tilting in question. "When you said you loved me. Or was that the spell?"

She froze, her eyes going wide before she suddenly blushed. "I meant it. I—gosh, I think this is scarier than what we were just talking about." She looked him in the eyes with a tiny smile. "I do love you, Chrono. Did you"—she ducked her head to the side, unable to meet his eyes any longer, "did you mean it too?"

He smiled, his hand going back up to cup her cheek again. "Yes, I meant it. I love you, Rosette Christopher." She closed her eyes and leaned into his hand, and for one minute he felt the happiness that filled her whole being. He couldn't help his slight surprise at that. He really made her that happy? How had he missed this for so long?

He shook off that thought. He could analyze their relationship later, but right now, they needed to think over a few things. "So what do you want to do now?"

She started before answering. "I think that question covers a lot of things. Mind if you narrow it down a bit?"

He nodded. "I meant, with the demon hunting. What do you think the Order will do about all of this now?"

She grew pensive for a minute, blowing out a breath in thought. "Well, for the reactions of the elder and the doc, I'd say we're okay for now."

"But what about later? What if Sister Kate turns you over to the witch hunters?"

"Why would she do that?"

"You consorted with a demon, or don't you remember?"

"I've been consorting with you for years now! Why would they kick up a fuss now?"

He rolled his eyes in exasperation before he answered. "Consort, noun. A male or female companion to another person, typically for intimate or sexual purposes. To consort, or consorting, with someone is to have sex with them."

Rosette blushed red. "Oh. Bu-but still! I've been with you for so long, why would they say anything now?"

"Because now the whole abbey knows what happened! Don't you think that's going to change somebody's opinion about you just a bit?"

She glared at him. "Chrono, do I look like I care what people say about me? Or the company I choose to keep? I do hear them, you know, when I walk past and what they would say about me. About us! I didn't care then, I don't care now."

"And if they decide to punish you for it?"

"I'm more worried about you"—

"Don't be. I can fly now, and no plane on earth can catch me. But you can't."

She smiled determinedly. "Then I'll go with you."

"Just like that?" She nodded. "And what about Joshua? Without the Order, we're blind to his movements."

She paused, getting a hold on her thoughts. "We know his last location was in San Fransisco. We'll just look for him there and follow the clues. We have much better training now than we did starting out. It was always a hard search. It'll just be harder now. But I'm not gonna worry about it as long as we're together."

He leaned against the bed, one hand on her knee as he looked at her. "You'd abandon the abbey, everything you've known, to stay with me?"

She grinned cheerfully. "Yep!"

He smiled quietly back. "Then no matter what happens, we're good?"

She leaned forward and shyly kissed his cheek. "Yeah. We're jake!"

He nodded. "Alright then. We'll get through this together."

A sudden thought struck her, and she giggled. "Want to know something funny?"

He looked warily at her as he sat back on the bed. "What?"

"While me and Azmaria were doing research on the curse, we found out something. Either he did the spell wrong, or he got the wrong blood for it."

"Huh?"

"The curse, we found similar things to it in this really old, smelly book in the adult section of the archives"—

He frowned at her. "What were you doing in there?"

"and we found out that the spell is normally done on two men."

Chrono went blank for a moment. "Two men?"

She grinned wickedly. "Yup. The spell was supposed to be on you and Remington.

Guess Taj-mere thought he was your contractor."

Chrono thought he was going to dry heave.

So what do you all think? Please review!