A/N: Shall we say I'll try and get this done by the time Mother 3 is translated into English? Assuming, of course, that time isn't "never" (as I'm sure we all hope and pray...)

On to Chapter 5!

Chapter 5: Paradise Lost

The last few days, Ness had had the nagging feeling he'd been forgetting something. The thought had always been brushed aside, though. His column, and Tigers practice, and starting to make plans for Jeffrey's birthday, had taken precedence over everything else.

But now Paula was standing in front of him, holding the soccer ball. "I found this downstairs," she said, in that voice that suggested she was just on the edge of very angry.

Ness was, for the briefest of moments, proud of his ability to play it cool. "Did you?" he asked nonchalantly, and went back to his notes.

"How did it end up down there?"

Shit. Why could a woman never just come out and say they knew something was up? Especially when they were psychic. "It must've rolled down there while he was playing."

Paula placed the soccer ball on the table. It landed with a muffled thud, and Ness dared to look up at his wife again. She had that don't-lie-to-me look on her face, her lips pressed together and her eyebrows slanted just slightly downwards. Somehow Ness figured 'you're so cute when you're angry' wasn't going to cut it.

After a few seconds' silence, Paula sighed. "Don't make me do this."

Ness looked back down at his notes, readying himself. "No one makes you."

She leaned forward on the table. "Please just tell me what happened."

"You already know," he snapped before he could think better of it, and suddenly he doubled over, feeling as though he'd just woken up from a bad night out on the town. He could feel her in there, rifling through the contents of his memory, and by the time he tried to tell her it was too late. The nausea left him, and he was left looking up at his wife's face, pale as a ghost.

By the time she'd turned and stormed out the door, he couldn't remember whether he'd tried to call her name, or not.

-

"Oh-ho-ho-ho," Phil laughed knowingly, "Trouble in paradise. Boy do I know about that."

"It's not like I didn't do anything to deserve it." Ness sighed, watching the boys pack up their stuff and squabble as they waited for their parents to pick them up. One hand felt his cheek, rough and stubbly--he'd been so afraid to spend time around Paula that morning he'd forgotten to shave before he left.

"Ah, she'll get over it," Phil grinned, waving a hand as if Ness' marital dispute was a pesky fly. "They always do, right?"

"Sure," Ness answered absentmindedly. The topic wasn't pursued any further, though, as Jeffrey came shambling over in that moment. Ness grinned, but it was Phil who knelt down to the boy's height and gave him a pat on the shoulder:

"Hey, Jeffy! Great job out there today. Real good!"

"Thanks, Mr. Spec."

"Gonna be a star shortstop one day." Ness smiled down at his kid, feeling the sort of pride that comes from a parent watching his kid get praised by someone else.

"Oh, hey, Ness." Phil stood up, addressing the other man. "Could you pick me up next practice? Wife needs the car for work."

"Yeah, no problem," Ness nodded. Meanwhile, the last of the boys were filing into cars with their mothers and fathers. "Maybe we could go for a coupla beers afterward?"

"Sure. Anytime, man." Phil turned to go, then turned back. "Well, what about tonight?"

Ness felt a sting as he remembered what was waiting for him at home. "No, I gotta--I probably should--"

Phil sucked air through his teeth. "Right. That. Sorry. Well, have a good night, then."

"See ya next time. C'mon, Jeff."

Sure enough, she was waiting for him in the kitchen when and Jeffrey arrived, leaning against the counter, her arms crossed. Jeffrey, oblivious to the sparks flying between his parents, asked whether he could play in the backyard for a while. Ness looked to Paula, who nodded, and Jeff was shooed outside, leaving behind a tense silence.

Finally, Paula broke it: "So let's talk."

"Let's talk," Ness agreed, dropping his bag and going to sit down at the table. He felt like a schoolboy about to get paddled.

There was an inordinately long silence.

"You found him down there--"

"--with the Sound Stone in his hand, yes." Better to finish the sentence before she did. Didn't want her thinking he was still unwilling to admit anything.

"And he said he had--"

"--a nightmare. That he didn't remember."

Paula nodded very slowly, not looking at Ness. "He didn't ask you about any of the stuff down there?"

"He hasn't, no." Ness' hands played with each other, fingers criss-crossing. "...I think he's a little scared."

"Well, with good reason!" Paula's voice raised a little now, she turned to look at him. "God knows what he saw if he put that thing to his forehead! No one's supposed to use it except for you!"

Ness played the 'so-what' card. "He seems--fine."

"Seems! He could be too scared to bring it up. This sort of thing can have lasting repercussions. Trauma, even!" Paula exhaled sharply. "What would you have said if he did ask?"

"I don't know."

"Well, you must've thought about it."

"We have to tell him someday!" But that wasn't the point, they were getting off-track. "Paula, you--you saw it in here!" he exclaimed, tapping at his temple, "You had to have seen... me," he faltered, not quite willing to admit he'd been scared, but knowing she knew. "I didn't cause this," he asserted. "No one did. It was an accident."

Paula's jaw was stiff. "And you didn't tell me."

Well, she had him there. "I'm sorry."

"I know."

That bugged Ness even more. She knew, of course. She always knew. Sometimes with Paula, he felt he was a few dozen steps behind.

"Well..." Paula looked intently at her feet for some moments. "I think we should have a talk with him, don't you? Nothing about what's down there, but... about what he might have experienced."

Ness looked down at the table, still wounded. "You're the shrink, not me."

"I'd rather have you there."

He looked up again and studied her. Even without the ability to read minds, he had the experience of knowing Paula for twenty years. There was something behind her eyes--a shrinking back. A fear.

His indignance melted. "What are you always so scared of?" he asked.

Paula shook her head and shrugged. "I don't know," she said. When all was said and done, she seemed most frightened of that.