This might be a weekend cliffhanger because I'm mean. I'm still trying to write more, I promise!
Black Star guided Crona down the corridors back to their room, or really, Crona was more doing the escorting since Black Star had been the majority holder of the wine skin which had been emptied some time ago. "Is Soul going to be alright?"
"You mean with Maka?" Black Star snickered to himself.
"Yes." Crona was watching Black Star's face with little surety but much interest.
His shoulders rolled in something close to a shrug. "Probably. Soul was right, love is great but it can suck, too." His head started to bob knowingly, even though he was really only rattling around thoughts and not actual experience. "Since you can't read another person's mind you're bound to fuck up."
"Maka sort of can," Crona answered tentatively.
"Which means she should know everything," Black Star answered with that fake haughty aire before spitting out the rest with a sigh, "or maybe it's more like she knows it but doesn't get it." He waved a rough hand near Crona's face. "But forget it. Did you have a good time tonight? I feel like watching us drink wine had to be boring."
"No, I liked it," Crona beamed. "You two are funny."
"A regular comedy act," Black Star huffed, "but you're getting better, Crona." He stopped short at Crona's door, swinging it open for him and almost tossing his own balance off. As he clutched at the door to steady his world, he laughed, "You didn't apologize once."
Crona's eyebrows fluttered upward, unsure as a startled bird taking flight. "But-"
"Nope!" Black Star crowed. "We're all friends now, Crona. No more apologizing."
"Um… OK," they murmured. "Friends."
"Yeah." Black Star left him with a cheesy grin before motioning Crona back to his room. "'Night."
"Good night." Crona gave a weak wave but the one in their heart was going wild. Even the creak of the door behind them didn't elicit the usual fear, the sinking feeling of being alone because all of them was full. The inky darkness in the room, the scraping of trees outside in the wind, the amorphous shadows that painted the room created by the pale moonlight from the window, none of it brought an ounce of terror to Crona. That didn't come until they heard the frog croak from the window frame and the slithering scales rustling from underneath the bed.
It was now rare that Maka was awake before him since much of her night consisted of the ups and downs of their children's movements. Soul had tried to stay up with her but she mostly insisted on lulling him back to sleep, making soft promises that he'd be losing rest soon enough. When he woke, he couldn't tear himself away from her sleeping frame, watching the gentle breaths flutter across her lips. He didn't count the minutes, actually wishing time would slow to the point where the day would not eke forward towards the inevitable. Her soft murmur broke the spell, "Soul?"
"Here." No longer fearing waking her, he settled back into her, fitting their bodies together as best they could with the bundle between them. "How much did you sleep?"
"Enough," but her yawn betrayed her as jade eyes still blinked full of sleepy haze.
He grunted a laugh, "Stay in bed this morning. I'll have Liz bring you up something. We'll… we'll have work to do by noon."
"We will." Maka took a moment to search his face, lifting her hand to draw a gentle line along his jaw. "Our babies will be fine. I'll be fine."
"I know," came as a weak mutter and he saw it fall unconvincingly on her ears.
She pressed her lips together tightly before working the bottom one in her teeth. "You want to know what scares me more than this?"
His eyebrows should furrow, he knew that, since worry should be what populated his mind when Maka was afraid but instead he found them curling upward in interest, partially surprised because finally, here it was, a moment of her burden being pushed towards him. "What?"
"Going back," Maka's voice was miniscule in comparison to the feeling bubbling inside of her. It was a black mess of fear, of loathing the weakness of the moment but loving him too much to let it take hold. "I… loving you was always easy but being a princess, a Queen, and a mother on top of it all…"
"Don't worry, prince, King, father wasn't clearly laid out for me, either," he sighed effortlessly but a grin followed it. "I thought this would be Wes's problem, but I think we can do it together. Before we left, between the meetings and all I think we had a rhythm. You enjoyed the authority." Soul pressed his lips to hers to catch the laugh that he knew was coming, making the kiss a thousand times sweeter.
"I did." She continued to giggle and he stole each one, leaving her breathless as he sunk a hand into her hair.
"Tell me one more," he murmured across her lips.
"One more what?"
He let his fingers drift through her tresses before he pulled his head back far enough on the pillow to see her eyes again. "One more something, anything."
Maka stared at him, feeling that shuddering horror in her chest. It was a terrifying offer from her mouth but it made it past her lips slowly, "Big or small?"
Soul knew it was dangerous, could practically feel the dread leaching from her skin, but he let the word come all the same, "Big."
She wasn't the least bit surprised but it still brought a pained sigh to her lips. Her eyes drifted to the pillowcase, contemplating the threads to avoid his reaction. "The drinking, Papa's drinking was hard but one of the things I can't seem to forget is… Papa cheated on Mama."
While that was more than enough of a blow, Soul waited for more and when nothing came he softly prodded the wound she'd left open. "Is that why she left?"
"One of the reasons." Maka sucked in air desperately, trying to will away the urge to let the hot tears course her cheeks. "Maybe it was just more of an excuse for her to do what she had wanted to all along."
"Maka…" His hand softly came to her cheek and she clasped hers over it.
"Wait." Again, it was a battle for breath, but she forced the trembling out of her throat before carefully choosing her words. "Neither of them was right or innocent and neither deserve my forgiveness." She punctuated that with fingers pressing tightly to his chest, swearing over his heart. "After that, you were the first person I trusted not to leave me and, well, you did, and that wasn't your fault, I know it, but please, stay with me. I survived both of them leaving but I can't with you. When you left, Soul, when you left," her voice trembled and broke, a pitiful groan leaving her lips.
"Don't, that's enough," he whispered as he dug his fingers back into her hair, getting enough purchase to bring her lips back to his. First, he worked to steady her breath, waiting until the hitches of air stopped between their mouths. He moved to kiss her cheeks, along her forehead as his hands roamed over her as she clutched to him. "Today will be fine." It came with surety now, an order to the universe to make sure to set it straight. "And then you and I will spend the rest of our lives in the same damn place."
"Please," it was one last pitiful cry before she pressed the steady words into his chest. "I love you."
"I love you," he murmured into her hair, letting a few more kisses fall into the strands. "Thank you."
"You shouldn't," she sighed, "but I suppose I appreciate the sentiment."
"Still gonna do it," he chuckled, "mostly because while I'm not happy that you're hurt like that I'm fucking ecstatic that I know about it. Because you… you were scared of the same thing with me, weren't you?"
She nodded silently against his chest.
"Those stupid chamber maids talking shit they know nothing about and then before you left," he sighed forlornly at the memory but not the knowledge. "And because I didn't know, Maka, I assumed it was something with me, something I'd done."
"You don't even look at other girls," she managed a delicate smile, hidden carefully against his chest.
"No point," he muttered. "I want you."
She took a slow breath, letting her fingers play against his chest, "Even with the babies in the way?"
Soul snorted a laugh, "Even with the babies in the way."
Maka planted a kiss on his neck, reveling in the satisfied grunt it elicited from his throat. "Tonight, do you think we could…?"
"Definitely," he let the need hit his voice, trying to solidify his claims. I want you. Just you. Always you.
She let a pleased hum vibrate from her chest to his as she cuddled closer. "I am looking forward to my body being just mine again."
A laugh started but stopped in his chest, his fingers drifting slowly over the curve of her belly, a swell that was still not entirely unstrange to him. "After they're born, we should… or at least I think maybe we should wait for more if we want to have more or…" he let the idea slip through his fingers like the fabric of her sleeping gown.
Maka's breath was pure relief as her fingers searched to tell him so. "Two will be more than enough for now especially since… I'm hoping that no matter how busy we are after they're born that we can keep doing this. Keep figuring out us because it all had to happen so quickly but after…"
"I'd like that," he murmured. "Because we can't just be parents, right?"
Her breath was another gentle hum against his neck. "Right."
Soul wanted to stay tangled, to keep anchored to her since a small piece of him wanted to be just them, but there was a world outside calling. He pressed a few more kisses wherever he had space for them to fall before he started to pull away from her. "I'll get you that breakfast promised. I'll come get you when I've arranged everything else."
"Be careful," she warned uselessly. It didn't abate the knot in her chest as he slipped away, getting out of the bed and leaving the sheets to instantly chill without him. Maka watched him dress silently, Soul keeping his eyes from her in an attempt not to fall into the siren's call of the bed. As soon as he was fully dressed he returned to the edge, leaning over her to brush his lips over hers one last time. Maka grasped into his shirt so her whisper didn't need to go further than a few inches, "Please, Soul, be careful."
"Same to you," he smirked sweetly as he detached her fingers. "Don't worry, Maka, you're stuck with me for the rest of your life." It wasn't necessarily carefree but something close to a content laugh fluttered from his lips as he moved to the door. He threw one last look over his shoulder, captivated for a second by the soft blush she was pressing into the pillow. Which will hopefully be something close to forever because today has to be fine, and even you having the babies will be fine. With that thought he moved out of the doorway, shutting it behind him and starting a few steady steps into the hallway.
Instead of empty he found a face he wasn't expecting, the sight still bringing a smile to his. "Oh, Crona. You OK?"
"Just coming to see Maka," that nervousness was back but Soul dismissed it easily.
"Perfect timing," he laughed, sure that catching them in bed together a few minutes before would have been even more anxiety-producing. "Just go ahead in. I'm sending some breakfast up for her. You want something?"
"No, thank you," Crona murmured. "Just needed to talk to Maka."
"Go ahead." Soul waved them past, watching with a soft smile as Crona still stopped to knock, still played it safe and slid the door barely open at Maka's sweet call. Soul waited until Crona disappeared in the room, letting a ghost of a smile follow.