Chapter 13 – Musings and Old Friends

It's been a month since the end of the Koiya House case and it was closed without a hitch. Bou-san exorcised the house and Rina is gone, no longer out to get me. When Bou-san called us at the hotel with the news that the exorcism worked and the ghost was gone, Naru noticeably relaxed; no longer having the fear that the ghost was trying to take me away from him. Here I am sitting at my desk at SPR, completely bored because lately, people have been bringing in cases that aren't to Naru's satisfaction, most of them not even an actual haunting of any kind.

I'm now three months pregnant and have a slight bump for indication. Ayako and Bou-san have been coming over just to talk to the baby and see if it moves, which is highly unlikely and Ayako knows that, that's what makes what they're doing stupid. The only other person whose attention is my stomach that is actually sane about it is Naru; he's always coming up behind me and placing his hands on my stomach. Sometimes I wonder if he's doing it for reassurance that he really is going to be a father and I'm not fooling him.

Those three aren't the only ones who acknowledge my stomach, Madoka and Luella are acting as if the baby is going to be born any second now, and they take me baby shopping almost every weekend. They just walk into our apartment, drag me out to the shops and we spend hours buying stuff. When they finally take me home, Naru is in the living room fuming, as soon as I'm through the threshold, he grabs me possessively and tells the older women to leave. Yasuhara is almost as bad as Bou-san and Ayako, but he only talks to the baby, which I suppose isn't that bad.

Masako, John and Lin are the sanest of them all, they only ask how I'm feeling, on one occasion, Masako asked if she could feel my stomach, I of course let her. She said she could feel the small bulge and that it felt kind of funny. But what got me by surprise was that after she said that, she said the baby has psychic abilities, she just doesn't know whether or not the baby has mine or Naru's abilities. When I told Naru, he swore loudly and hoped the baby didn't get his and if it did, that it wouldn't have the problems he did.

Back in reality, I hadn't noticed Naru behind my chair until he spun the chair around. "AHHH, Naru what are you doing?" I cry.

"I called for tea three times and you didn't come. I got worried and came to check on you. I came out to see you staring off into space, I called out to you and you still didn't respond. Is there something bothering you?" he asks.

"No, I'm so bored I'm reminiscing about what's happened since the last case. I wish an actual case would come up already," I whine.

"I could always give you more paperwork," he suggests.

"You wouldn't, paperwork is the devil I tell you," I whisper.

"Mai, the paperwork is not the devil, it is a bunch of dead trees, now if you're so bored get me some tea," he tells me.

I sigh before going to do what he has asked. You'd think that since we're engaged now he'd be a little more lenient. That's right, he finally proposed, he proposed about a week after the case. From the look of it, he had been planning to propose to me for awhile, not just because I was pregnant. He said we can wait until after the baby is born, he knows that I would not want to wear a wedding dress with a big bulge for a belly. The ring is a white gold band with a beautiful diamond in the centre, a pink crystal on one side and a blue one on the other. This ring looks expensive, but since Naru's family is rich, I don't feel like it's too much. He said that he knew what I was thinking and said that I was worth all the money he spent.

When the whistle on the kettle sounded, I poured his tea the way he liked it and put it on the tray to take it to his office. I stopped at Lin's office first to give him his tea before heading to Naru's office. Another bonus since he found out I was pregnant is that I don't have to knock anymore; I have the privilege to walk right in. As soon as I had placed the tea on his desk, Naru grabbed my and pulled my softly onto his lap. "If you're so bored, I'm sure Madoka and Mother would be happy to take you out for more shopping," he suggests.

I shiver before answering, "I think that's worse than paperwork," I say.

"That's very true, we could always leave for lunch early if you want," he makes another suggestion.

"Really?" I ask.

He nods his head and I jump off his lap into the sitting room to grab my coat. He comes out of his office and does the same. I quickly yell to Lin that we were going out for lunch and followed Naru out the door, ready for lunch. We were walking to the cafe we usually had lunch at when suddenly, "Mai?"

We turn around and standing right there are my friends from school; Michiru and Keiko. "Michiru, Keiko, long time no see," I say, Naru just standing next to me with his arm around my waist.

The girls eye the arm and our positions, "Kyaaaa, when did you two get together, finally, we were waiting for this to happen," yells Michiru.

Then they notice the ring, "Kyaaaaaa, you're engaged too," yells Keiko.

"Yes, we're engaged, not only that, but I'm three months pregnant," I say.

"Kyaaaaaaaa, you're pregnant, awesome," they yell together.

"Maybe you shouldn't have told them you were pregnant," Naru whispers in my ear.

I nod my head in agreement as my friends rave on.

As yu can see, option A was the favourable option. Reviewers either said A or they didn't mind either way. So A it is. The idea to skip the end of the case was not my idea, so I give credit to the reviewer who gave that idea. Thank-you. Anyway, the usual, R&R.

Seza, over and out to OHKTOBER FEST, since I'm part German, Ohktober Fest is traditon. MMMMMMM, giant pretzels and cheese kranskeys.