So this is another writing prompt that I had done back in October. This one toys around with a concept that I've started to introduce in Dangerous Souls and was brought to my attention in a book series I recently became in love with. It also toys around with how Mai would handle cases after starting a family. Hope you guys enjoy!

8-Time

Time. It wasn't something that she had a lot of. She knew that for sure. It was imperative that she figured it out before the clock ran out. Too bad she couldn't see the clock. She was flying blind. She had to find that little boy before it was too late.

This case was especially difficult for the young woman. She and her husband had just welcomed their baby boy to the world only a couple months before. This was the first case she had accompanied her husband on since her pregnancy and the first case in a long time involving children. They had not anticipated such a high danger aspect on this case. Hadn't expected to find that no exorcism or cleansing would free the boy from his demon. Hadn't expected the boy to break free from his restraints and disappear.

It was winter.

They were in the mountains.

There was a storm outside.

"C'mon, Mai, stay close. I don't need to lose you too," Naru said, grabbing her hand and pulling her into the woods.

The icy wind burned their faces and made their eyes water. Since having her baby she wasn't easily picking things up with her clairvoyance anymore. Then again, she was really only picking up what spirits were telling her. But not a soul aside from her and her husband were in the forest. She felt the pit of her stomach grow cold. Her hands and feet were numb despite her clothing. The coldness seemed to seep into the rest of her body. She was certain that her frozen face wasn't red from windburn anymore. She felt like her blood was slowly freezing over. Her movements were becoming sluggish.

"Naru, there's no sign of him in the house," Ayako's voice sounded through the walkie-talkie in Naru's pocket. "He's gotta be somewhere out there."

"Thanks, Ayako, stay there with Masako in case he turns up," Naru replied. He had dropped using only family names around the time of Ayako and Monk's wedding. "The weather's just getting worse, it might be better if you wait-"

"No!" Mai snapped. "I'm not leaving you out here and I'm sure as hell not going to waste anymore time for that boy to freeze to death out here!"

"You're shaking-"

"I'm fine, Oliver-" Then she saw it. A small figure darting deeper into the woods. Should she have mentioned it to her husband? Probably. Did that stop her from charging after the shadow? Absolutely not.

"Mai!" Naru flashed his light toward his sprinting wife. She wasn't going to stop. It was dark out. How the hell was she not running into trees?

Mai weaved through the trees, leaping over roots, ducking under branches, only seeing the shadow amongst others, but managing to follow it. She could hear footsteps behind her, but it made her run faster. She finally came to a stop and was able to see the little boy in front of her clearly. "Hikaru-san, it's too cold to be out here," she told him but the boy wore a sad smile.

"That's okay, I'm not cold anymore. And the demon is gone. You guys can go home," Hikaru replied. Mai cocked her head to the side hearing the words, but not fully understanding.

"Hikaru, what do you mean? C'mon let's go back to the house, you can have some hot chocolate and we'll play charades by the fire."

"I would if I could, but-"

"Mai!" Naru's voice and footsteps had caught up to her. "Mai! Don't go running off like that!"

"Naru, I found-" But Mai's smile instantly turned upside-down when the light showed not the boy that had bee standing in front of her talking. Instead, it showed a limp arm hanging over a root, mostly covered in snow. "No."

"Shit," he swore in English. He grabbed Mai's arm and pulled her back into him. "Go back to the house."

"No…" she whimpered as realization hit her. Tears welled in her eyes and she literally felt frozen to the core. They were going to have to tell his parents he was dead. That they couldn't save him. That they had failed. "Hikaru…" Her voice cracked as she spoke. Her knees gave out and she was on the ground before Naru could react.

Someone just lost their son. If I ever lost Gene, I-And the tears fell faster. Her throat let out gut-retching sobs as she hunched over. We're too late. We didn't make it in time. How the hell could we let this happen?

Naru put a hand on his wife's shoulder and was about to address the mess she was in, but he noticed something. He walked up to the body and placed two fingers on the boy's neck. "Ayako, call an ambulance," he said into the walkie-talkie. Mai's head perked up and she heard Naru brush off the snow. She heard him swear again in English. He took off his coat and wrapped it around the boy. Mai began to remove hers.

"Don't." He picked up the boy and started walking toward her. "We don't need to send two people to the hospital tonight."

Normally she would berate him for teasing her in such a serious situation. However, she was too relieved that they had made it! Time was on their side! They had beaten the clock! They just needed to get rid of the demon, but-

She spoke with him. Did he-

Mai, worry about it later. For now focus on getting him back home and to the hospital. He will be okay, she told herself.

And just like that she began tearing up again. Tears fell and giggles shook her. They made it. That's all she could think. We actually did it.

Back at the house, the ambulance was waiting for them. It took Hikaru and his mother to the hospital where he was treated for hypothermia. Mai and Naru got changed into warm and dry clothes and each given a hot cup of tea. Mai sat at the table with her hair up in a towel and sighed into her cup.

For some reason, I still don't feel any warmer, she thought as another shiver went down her spine. Naru placed a hand over hers, she was still too numb to feel it.

"You're still like ice," he said quietly to her. She just took a sip from the mug in her other hand. The hot liquid seemed to burn her throat on the way down.

"I guess you were right in not letting me take my coat off to give to Hikaru," she replied quietly, suddenly feeling sleepy. She stifled a yawn and took another scalding sip.

"Hey, why don't you two go to bed?" Ayako offered, walking to the table where they sat. "Masako and I can keep tabs on Base and call Himeko-san to find out how Hikaru is doing."

"Thanks, Ayako, but-" Mai tried to protest, but Ayako held up a hand.

"It was a suggestion, but not anymore." The older woman smiled, looking between them. "You guys were out there a while earlier and the search for the kid was not easy nor quick. It's taken a lot out of both of you. Now go get some rest."

"But-"

"She's right, Mai," Naru said, stopping her. "We both need rest."

She knew right away that that meant he needed to talk to her. Alone. She just wasn't sure how long she'd be able to last in conversation. She was having difficulty keeping her eyes open. Nevertheless, Naru stood and took her arm as they said their goodnights to everyone and walked to the room they were staying in.

Neither of them felt like going through the hassle of buttoning their pajamas, and settled for sweatpants and t-shirt or tanktop for each of them. He asked her what was wrong and she told him how she followed Hikaru's spirit to where he had collapsed. "That's why you were more freaked when we saw his body," Naru said. Mai nodded. "But that's not why you were crying." And Mai nodded again.

"I…" Once again her voice cracked, as they both sat on their bed not quite in the covers. Naru placed a hand on her arm and was alarmed at how cold she still was. "I-I could only see us having to explain to Himeko that her son was dead. A-and how she'd react." Tears well in her eyes again as her voiced cracked once more. "All…all I could think of is, 'what if that were Gene? How would I react?'" She choked out a sob and tried not to look at Naru's face. "S-so, in-instead of Hikaru, I-I saw Gene. H-how awful is that!"

Naru pulled her close into his arms and held on tighter than ever before. She sobbed into his shirt, her fists clenching the material. He noticed how cold her whole body was. They had been inside in the heat for more than an hour, she should have warmed up some by now. Should he have made her go to the hospital too? Then he realized that the cold outside was only a part of what was affecting her. Sometimes, her psychic abilities would leave her cold from the inside out.

"Shhh," he cooed in her ear, rubbing her back. "It wasn't him, and you found Hikaru just in time. If you hadn't followed his spirit when you did, we wouldn't have made it."

"But we almost didn't!" A broken sob crackled from her throat. "We won't always be that lucky! Time might not be on our side next time. And what if next time-"

"Stop." He didn't shout. He didn't scold. He didn't tease. He just brought her face to meet him. "You're not supposed to be the cynical one in this relationship." Okay so he sort of half-teased.

"Oliver, this isn't the time for-" But she silenced her with a kiss. Unable to resist, she melted into him. Finally they both came up for air.

"Hikaru is going to be fine. Gene is safe. The case is almost solved. And you did your part." He said flatly, not giving her a chance to respond he continued. "We might not always be this lucky, we sure as hell aren't always. We've seen quite a bit of death over the years. But we'll get through it together."

Beside herself, Mai chuckled, as she leaned up to kiss him. "What did I ever do to deserve you?"

"Broke my assistant's ankle," he smirked, she nudged him. "Let's get some sleep, are you getting any warmer?"

Mai thought for a moment, realizing the feeling was coming back to her fingers. "You know, I think I'm finally thawing out. I guess you don't have a frozen heart."

He reached over and turned off his lamp and pushed her into the bed with another kiss. He pulled the blankets around them and held her close. Within minutes, they were both asleep.

So it's a little OCC I know, but I still love this scene. ^.^ I also wanted this chapter to sort of help explain some things that I have planned for the next chapter.

Thank you all for your ideas and reviews! I can say that I do plan on writing out some of those ideas and have already started to. But some might take place in Dangerous Souls so please stay tuned! Next chapter will be a sweet one!

Hope you enjoyed!