After a lot of ceaseless complaining, Rin managed to talk Daphne into seeing a doctor as soon as she could get in, which ended up being a lot later than he would have liked. He booked the day into his calendar all the same and made sure he had it off so he could go with her, so he could be there when the results came back and told them what she'd assured him was true.

They were going to have a baby.

Rin couldn't get enough of the idea. Them. Parents. It made him giddy. Made him absolutely froth with joy. The second they were out of the hospital, he picked Daphne up and spun her around, put her down in the parking lot and kissed her and kissed her and kissed her. She laughed, shaking her head.

"This is scary," Rin said.

Daphne smiled. "I know."

They took the little certificate the doctor had given them to their local center and collected their health handbook, and a lot of other books, and a little badge with a mom and a baby on it that would let people know Daphne was pregnant so she could have the priority seating on the train. Something told Rin Daphne wasn't going to carry it, but it was so cute, and he wanted her to have it if she did need it, so he secretly attached it to her bag.

In twelve or so weeks, they would come back and find out the baby's due date and sex. Rin put that in his calendar, too.

He went around the rest of the afternoon—well, the week really—in a daze of sick excitement. They'd decided not to tell anyone else about the pregnancy until later on. Shura and Yukio and Shiemi were welcome in "the know" but the rest of the world could wait, though Rin could hardly wait to tell them. He wanted to climb to the highest tower of True Cross Academy and shout it at the top of his lungs:

"I'm going to be a dad, and I'm very underqualified and honestly terrified, but damn it if it isn't incredible!"

The only person they hesitated over was Mephisto. He probably ought to know, given the situation, but, given the situation, he seemed to have a lot on his mind. He'd been distant before, and had downright disappeared on numerous occasions, but Rin had never seen him so…distracted. It was odd. So they decided to hold off. At least for a little while.

Director Akiyama arrived on a Monday not long after, and somehow Rin and Daphne got saddled with meeting her at the train station before school in the morning. Mephisto had instructed them to show her the way to the office and research facility he'd had mocked up for her in the top floor girls' locker room in the gym building. Understandably, she didn't look too thrilled to see them.

"Welcome to Academy Town," Daphne said, masking her nausea under a smile. She'd been pretty sick most mornings, but had still managed to be up and about. Rin didn't know how she was on her feet at all. After watching her sit in front of the toilet once, puking but not really since she didn't bring anything up, he'd decided being pregnant would have knocked him down for the count.

"Thank you," Akiyama replied. Her grip flexed uncomfortably over the handle of her luggage.

"I'll take that…if you want?" Rin said, gesturing to the suitcase. The thing was gigantic. She'd packed enough for a long-term stay and was hesitant to pass it to him for one reason or another. As soon as Rin had his hands on the luggage, Daphne lead the way out of the station

"How are things going with the investigation on Miyajima?" Rin asked.

"Closed," Akiyama replied. "We determined, officially, that this demon I've been dragged out here to study was what killed my colleagues after they summoned it." She spat the last couple of words out like they had a bitter taste, but then gave Rin a quizzical expression. "Were you not informed?"

Rin shook his head. "Mephisto took us off the case."

Akiyama clicked her tongue. "But he sent you to retrieve me."

"We're not in the habit of questioning Lord Pheles's logic," Daphne chimed in, arriving at a door a few feet ahead and pulling her cram school keys from her pocket. "As logic isn't often involved."

That earned a reluctant smile from Akiyama. Returning it, Daphne put a key in the lock, then hesitated. She drew in a breath.

"Director," she said, "I understand your feelings toward us. They're very much deserved, but…we're on the same side now. Rin and I—we want to cooperate with you. I apologize for the way I treated you. I hope it won't affect anything moving forward."

Both women regarded each other solemnly, taking the other in. After a moment, Akiyama nodded. A small smile crept onto her mouth.

"My behavior is worthy of an apology as well," she said. "Had I been forthright, we might not have been in this situation at all." Glancing between the two of them, she gave a firm nod. "Your cooperation would be very much appreciated."

Daphne let her breath out and returned Akiyama's smile. Then she turned the key, opened the door, and stepped into the cram school. Rin gestured for Akiyama to go next and brought up the rear, dragging her luggage behind him.

Daphne had a first period class to teach, so she left Rin to get Akiyama settled in the new research lab. That locker room still reeked of the demon, though Daphne supposed it wasn't a smell exactly. It was a feeling. A sensation. One of deep and foreboding dread.

She could push the thought away, remind herself that the trail had gone cold, and try to take comfort in the demon's silence, but that didn't mean it was gone. She understood—at the back of her mind, where the shadows lived and crawled—that it was not gone. That it was far from gone. That she and Rin probably could have been diagnosed with some kind of dissociative disorder for deciding to add a child to the mix, but she had reached a point in her life when she was tired of allowing her demons to rule her.

She was in charge.

And she wanted to be a mother.

At lunchtime, she met up with Rin and he insisted that they satisfy her sudden craving for yakisoba when she mentioned it. He'd been a perfect model of a cinematic husband when it came to cravings. If Daphne so much as said the name of a food, he'd be halfway into his shoes and out the door to go to the store in a matter of seconds. She figured his eagerness would settle as the pregnancy went on, but that afternoon she wanted yakisoba and Rin led the charge.

He took her to the little restaurant where they'd first had dinner together. The second Daphne saw it, her eyes welled up.

"What?" Rin asked, suddenly concerned. "Do you not want yakisoba anymore?"

Daphne laughed, wiping her tears away as they spilled over. "Why would changing my mind about lunch make me cry?"

Baffled, he shook his head. Laughing again, but crying still, Daphne took his hand and lifted it to her mouth to press a fervent kiss on his knuckles.

"I love you so much," she said.

Her mood swings as the weeks went on were much like that one. She'd find herself crying at sappy television commercials or wanting to strangle one of her students for trying to turn in a paper late. She gained a little weight, and the morning sickness changed from a daily occurrence to a few times a week to hardly at all. In that time, Akiyama had squirreled herself away in her new lab and hardly emerged. Mephisto had kept up his decision not to involve Rin and Daphne in the investigation, as it was, of their demon. It was strange, eerie almost. Their lives had gone from off-the-rails insane to quietly domestic.

Something about it felt rather like trying to shove a square peg in a round hole.

"Does something about this seem off to you?" she asked out of the blue while she was lying on the couch with a washcloth over her eyes and feeling particularly miserable.

"Something about what?" Rin replied from the kitchen.

"I don't know…this. Life. Things."

Rin came into the room, sat down by her feet, put them in his lap, then tapped her knee. She lifted the washcloth to find him offering a bowl of egg donburi, which she ravenously accepted. He had one for himself and he settled back against the couch to eat, looking thoughtful.

"Is it bad to have a little quiet?" he asked.

"Not bad. Just unusual."

"Definitely unusual." He nodded, his mouth full. "Good timing though, maybe."

Daphne had had that same thought herself: how fortunate that things had calmed down while she was pregnant. But opposite to that was the wondering if they would have tried for a baby at all if there hadn't been a lull. She honestly didn't know the answer to that question. It was both frightening and pointless to think about.

Rin rested a gentle hand on her leg. "I think we need lessons on how to take it easy."

And the lull continued. Another week. Two. Three. Mephisto hardly spoke to them. Rin went on ordinary exorcisms, and Daphne taught her classes. They attended their prenatal appointments. Akiyama emerged once or twice to report on her findings—inconclusive, for the moment, but she felt confident she was simply developing controls. Shura wanted constant updates on how Daphne was doing, and Shiemi nearly let the secret slip a number of times. Yukio, naturally, was the only one of the three who managed to keep his head on his shoulders about it.

Quietly—to Daphne's simultaneous relief and dismay—her first trimester came to a close. She didn't know what to make of it. Not as she and Rin got ready to go to the hospital for their ultrasound appointment. Not in the train on the way there when somebody gave up their seat for her and she finally noticed the pregnancy badge Rin had attached weeks ago. Not as they went inside and checked in. Not even as the sonographer applied the jelly and put machine to stomach.

Daphne had woken up that morning sick with worry and excitement. This was it. The test. They'd find out today if everything was all right, if the baby was positioned correctly, if it was healthy, when it was due. There was so much to look forward to, and so much that could go wrong. What if it wasn't healthy? What if it had attached in an unstable place? If the news was bad, Daphne couldn't guess at the devastation.

So when the sonographer made a face, Daphne tensed immediately.

"What?" she asked.

"Give me a moment, please," the sonographer replied. She didn't even try to sound calming, just professional. Daphne looked to Rin, her brows knit with worry, and he looked back equally concerned, stroking her hand as he held it. Daphne braced herself. Ready. Ready to hear whatever horrible thing that was about to come out of the sonographer's mouth. Ready for anything but what she ended up saying, which was, "Yes, I thought I saw two."

Her heart stopped. Stopped.

Daphne didn't have the wherewithal to do much else than stare at the woman and let her mouth hang open as she whispered, "What?"

"Mm." Smiling, the sonographer smiled. "See? Here." She pointed at the ultrasound screen, which didn't look like much to Daphne outside of a black and white block of mush, and outlined two shapes—shapes which, no matter how else she tried to slice it, were definitely two distinct babies.

"How?"

The sonographer laughed. "If not genetic, then fertility treatments can often increase the likelihood of having twins. Not genetic, I take it?"

"Not for me," Daphne replied.

Finally, she looked up at Rin. His eyes were locked on the screen and they were wide, wider than seemed possible, focused so intently on the ultrasound, and…happy. Overjoyed. He teared up a little and he laughed, looking at Daphne.

"Twins," he said, and it came out a squeak.

She couldn't help smiling, giving his hand a squeeze.

Twins.