And I'm back to working on this particular fic.

So far, things are doing relatively decent, I guess. And I long ago cross-posted this fic over to AO3, because why not? So... Yeah. Not much else to say. On to the fic- I mean,

the review responses!

symbiotic: Yeah, this chapter was a bit of a clusterfuck to write, I have to admit. I kept bouncing from one idea to another, and, well, that chapter happened.

Jumamoy: Let's just say that more of Akko's former classmates are going to show up in later chapters, as well as those who already appeared in the previous ones, and leave it at that. Glad to see you're enjoying my work.

And now we can get on to the fic proper.

November. The one month that both Akko and Sucy hated more than July, for a whole slew of reasons.

While for Sucy the reasons were rather small – mushroom gathering season coming to an end, constant downfall, dirty roads – for Akko, it was the sheer autumn melancholy that began going out of control. If October at least had a major holiday going for it, and most of the time weather wasn't all that bad, then November was a very harsh transition between autumn and winter. The fact that this year's October was rather rainy didn't help matters, as the mix of heavy rain and quickly-melting snow that followed suit throughout November was anything but charming, especially due to most roads throughout the small town that AKko and Sucy lived at becoming a complete and utter mess.

And as luck would have it, of all days for the weather to be at it's worst, with the heavy wind persisting since the morning and a heavy rain predicted in the weather forecast for the afternoon, it had to be a Friday. The good news ended at just one passage – after it was over, Sucy would have at least two days away from work, as she was working by her own schedule and had at least two days off a week. However, with the weather for the weekend going to be much of the same, with heavy winds and occasional snow, Sucy just knew that neither she nor her wife would spend much time outside.

"Ugh, I just hope that today I'll get a more reasonable number of customers, and that they'll buy something other than cheap cold medicine. If you're gonna worry about your or your relatives' health, then don't be a cheapskate, buy some proper medicine! It's cheap, but you'll have to buy more, because not all my potions are some sort of miracles!" – Sucy rambled to the air as Akko handed the violette her jacket.

"Sucy, don't you feel like you're overworking yourself? I don't think that I'd want to be a single mother just because of a bad case of karoshi (Japanese, literally "death from overwork"), you know?" – The brunette asked, sounding rather concerned.

Taking some time to calm her breath, Sucy turned back around to face Akko and remarked: "I should be fine, Akko. Not the first time I've had to spend weeks working overtime. And besides, for all the bad days at work, I don't really hate this particular business. " – Quietly smiling, the violette added: "It's just that it's been a less-than-stellar week lately and I have to work extra for the sake of our family. "

As the violette shut the door behind her and left, Akko could only sigh dejectedly as she went into the living room and plopped down onto the couch.

"Seems like your other mother's not going to be spending a lot of time with you after you're born, Aiko." – The Japanese witch remarked to her yet-unborn child. After a bit of spell-based diagnostics, Akko was able to confirm that her child, indeed, was going to be a girl, so recently, she had been thinking over some names. She was currently stuck on "Aiko", which she had to admit wasn't too original, considering it was just one letter away from being like her nickname, but she figured it just sounds nice, and the meaning behind it – "beautiful child" – was also a nice touch.

Not that she had any time to discuss that with Sucy lately, as the violette's been working overtime a lot, and even on weekends, she was stuck in her alchemy lab, only coming out to eat, drink, sleep, or take care of any other natural needs. She appreciated Sucy's hard work, but honestly, that kind of overwork seemed… Self-destructive.

"That's it, this weekend, no matter the weather, I'm so gonna drag her out onto a more proper date for once! L-like a broom flight! Or a quick trip to some café, heck if I know! That woman needs to have some rest from her work!" – Akko shouted out as she quickly stood up from her couch. Of course, standing up too fast did have it's consequences, as soon enough, clutching her forehead, the girl sat back down.

"Ugh, how could I forget… Get up too quickly – and you'll fall back down even quicker." – The brunette remarked, then, after a few moments, her tone shifting back to a determined one, she added: "But my plan for tomorrow still stays the same!"

"Well, that was unsurprising."

As Sucy had predicted, quite a lot of customers ended up coming over to her shop one after another, some of them being the same people that bought Sucy's medicine previously. The smarter ones came in to buy that medicine in bulk, others came in to complain about the medicine's ineffectiveness despite there clearly being stated that one has to pay up for a whole bulk of cold medicine potions, and that they don't so much heal the illness in an instant as merely boost up one's immune system, and that they have to be taken constantly until the illness is no more.

At the very least, unlike the day before, there were a few customers here and there who agreed to the a lot more costly, but also significantly more effective remedy. Which meant that Sucy wouldn't have to work overtime today.

"You know, you haven't been paying much attention to Akko recently. And considering her current state, she certainly needs some affection from you like no tomorrow." – Honestly, Sucy was almost certain that the "Love Sucy" wasn't going to leave her till the day she dies, and was maybe going to stick around even after that.

"If only that nimwit understood that I'm merely doing this for our own family's good." – Sucy thought aloud as she looked at the clock, seeing that it was just one hour away from the usual closing hours and leaning back on her chair lazily. – "And for the sake of ensuring a more proper winter holiday. Last year, Diana had to pay for everything so that I didn't have to work my butt off instead of having a proper holiday vacation, and I'm still embarrassed to ask Cavendish for any financial help ever since.

"In any case, you'll still have to make it up to Akko for today over the weekend. Even if the weather is going to be complete hell, at least try not to make her feel bad over you refusing to spend time with her even during your off days." – And with that, the Love Sucy had nothing else to say, at least for the time being.

She decided that, at least for starters, she might as well call Akko up to tell her she'll be coming home much earlier than usual.

The brunette seemed to have picked the phone up rather quickly, as her overly chipper "Moshi-moshi!" was almost immediately heard on the other end.

"Wanted to tell you that I'll be coming home much earlier today. No overtime for today – things went rather smoothly, and the revenue is just about perfect. How're you doing, by the way?" – Sucy asked over the phone, not noticing that one last customer had walked into the shop.

"I was just about to tell you that! So, there I was, having some rest after finishing my housework for the evening, then I randomly lightly moved my hand over my belly, and… My baby just kicked! I cannot wait until you get home to feel it up yourself!" – Akko excitedly explained over the phone.

"Of course I will, honey. Oh, and before I hang up, I just wanted to ask if-"

"Excuse me, Miss, I couldn't really come any earlier. I see that you're probably busy, and it's nearing closing hours already, but still…" - The last customer, a green-haired teenage girl, spoke up, interrupting Sucy. Her uniform, however, quickly gave away that she was one of the first-year students of Luna Nova.

"Eh, it's alright, I was about to hang up anyway." – Sucy remarked, covering the phone with her hand, then, after quickly telling Akko that she'll just need to get done with one last customers and hanging up, asked "So what is it you needed? You look a bit too healthy for someone who came by for cold medicine, unlike at least 90% of my customers today who did. " – Sucy remarked, rather confused.

"Not really… I kind of… Well… There is a… Certain person that I took a liking to and-"

"I don't sell love potions, so scram." – The violette deadpanned, getting up as she figured she might as well close her shop early today.

"No-no-no, please, it's not that! I'm getting to it! So, that person kind of barely gets to have any restful sleep, as she kind of went off-schedule because of her overnight studying, and I wondered if you have any revitalizing potions? Preferably a whole batch, if I even have enough money to cover the costs for that." – As if to emphasize her point, the witch took out a rather sizable wad of bills.

"Now, that's a bunch too many." – She remarked, shoving the money away, briefly wondering where the green-haired student could have acquired that, considering their scholarship payouts were far less generous back in her studying years, and that money conjuration was heavily outlawed. – "A weekly amount of sleep treatment should do her just fine, and what you have here covers the costs for three months, if not more. But let me just tell you, potions alone won't be enough. If you really… Took that much of a liking to that person-"

"Wait, how did you know that-"

"Darling, I studied in that particular academy. And I know that quite a lot of students from Luna Nova often end up "coming out of the closet" during their studying years." – As Sucy said that, she went over to get the necessary batch of sleeping potions. – "So what I meant to say is, it's not just potions that you'll need to use. Talk it out with her, tell her she needs to take some breaks from her work, all that. The youngest recorded case of karoshi – death from overwork – isn't what Luna Nova needs." – As she finished saying that, she handed the package containing seven medium-sized vials, "Sleep Treatment" written on the package label.

"One vial each day before sleeping, no breaks in between treatment days. If her sleep problems persist, just come back here for another batch. If she keeps overworking herself to insomnia, try to ask someone whom she is more likely to listen to that they convince her to dial her overworking back a bit. " – The violette remarked, later giving out the cost for the batch and counting off the necessary amount of money.

"Thanks. And… Hope you and your wife have a nice weekend. " – The green-haired teen remarked as she scurried out of the shop with the box of potions she had.

Well, Sucy figured she might as well head on back home.

"There! There, she kicked!"

Not too long after Sucy had gotten back home, it wasn't long before she complied with Akko's request and went on to check her out. As it turned out, the brunette didn't just get a random sensation, as her baby really was reacting whenever Sucy even as much as lightly stroked the asian witch's pregnant belly.

"As hyperactive as her mom, huh." – Sucy remarked, smiling warmly as she stroked her wife's baby bump a couple more times, getting the expected reaction from the little life within the girl.

After the violette ceased with the touching, Akko pulled her undershirt back over her belly and asked: "So, you still didn't tell me why you were overworking yourself so madly lately."

"Eh, no big deal. Just saving up money for the December holidays, nothing too important." – The alchemist responded in her ever-so-typical "gadfly" kind of tone, grinning as she finished her sentence.

"Aw, you didn't have to overwork yourself that much!" – Akko replied in her usual cheery tone, not seeming to pay any attention to the way Sucy said it. – "But still, thank you. At least that means we won't have to ask someone else to fund our vacation for us." – After saying that, the brunette hugged her spouse as tightly as she could, although she quickly let go of Sucy once the girl gave out her typical pained grunting.

"Well, guess I'd better go reheat that mushroom soup. Even without working overtime, you're probably hungrier than a wolf who didn't have any good hunts for two weeks already!" – Akko remarked as she ran off to the kitchen.

"If that were the case, I'd already drop dead from starvation." – Sucy morbidly joked as she followed her wife over to the kitchen. Not that Akko paid much attention to that particular joke anyway.

After all, her thoughts were currently on to the weekend she was looking forward to spending with her wife.

Well, that was a trainwreck. I feel like I must have screwed up the ending here, and I sincerely hope that the remaining chapters are going to be done a bit better. I have to admit, this one was more of a filler chapter. Maybe to show some of the possible family problems the duo might have or something, I don't really know what I was expecting with this chapter.

Any-way!... We're gonna have some returning characters in the next chapter. And hopefully, I'll end up writing a better chapter than the previous attempt at throwing in some other characters.

So with all that said...

Darky Out!