Nothing Will Ever Change That
A/N- This chapter was proof-read by Frost-Eva-04.
A/A/N- Okay, a lot of you have been asking me about The Effects Of Puberty lately, and I have an answer. I will be picking it up, but only after I'm done with this fic (which is extremely soon). It won't be a traditional story though; you know how a few shows have different plots in each episode (in this case, chapter) and rarely relate to each other? It'll be like that. So, DDK has deleted 'his' fic, and I'll be picking it up soon. See ya then!
Chapter 116: Shinji Opens Up
Shinji/Asuka's Room – 10:00 PM
"It's too quite around here…" I lay on my bed staring up at the ceiling, finding it impossible to get to sleep, "No Asuka, no Sam, not even Cass…" I let out a soft sigh, "I really need a hobby…" up until two hours ago, I was just playing with Dietlinde on the sofa, but then I had to put her to bed. I have to admit, sleeping alone is weird now… hell, even being ALONE is weird!
I wonder how Asuka is doing down there… hell, how's Sam? She's the one that needed help! Hopefully Asuka didn't get TOO mad at Cass… what am I thinking? She probably kicked his ass from Miami to here…
"Shinji? Can I see you in my office please? I need to speak with you about Asuka," okay, now that didn't sound too good!
"Yeah, I'll be right up," I look at Dietlinde's crib… please don't wake up! Thankfully, she kept quiet – thank God! When she wakes up it's hard to get her back to sleep! After checking to see if Dietlinde's okay, I leave the room and make my way down to Akagi's office. I never get tired of seeing Dietlinde sleep; no matter what; she always sleeps clutching that bear of hers. It's amazing how much she took after her mother, it's getting to the point that even her movements remind me of Asuka; even how she holds herself. Just as I grasp the door handle, I hear a faint sound, growing fast…
"Mmmmm!" damn it… I walk back to Dietlinde's crib and pick her up while she whines.
"It's okay Dietlinde, it was just Akagi… damn her…" I mutter that last part under my breath. With Dietlinde on the edge of crying, I walk down the hall and into Akagi's office. By the time I was there, Dietlinde had calmed down, but she was wide-awake… I'm going to have one hell of a time getting her back to sleep… I better make some coffee…
"Oh, hey Shinji, have a seat," cradling Dietlinde in my arms, I take my seat in front of her desk. She takes off her small oval glasses and smiles at me, "So, I bet you're pretty lonely, huh? All you got is Dietlinde, and she can't even talk to you!" well… she can say my name!
"She almost can!" she raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, she said her first word the other day. She called me 'daddy'."
"Wow! She's early!" she cleared her throat and lost the smile… ah crap… "Back on topic, Shinji. We have a small problem with the Evas here. NERV is running low on funds lately, and we can't afford to support the Evas anymore. Now, of course, we need to keep at least two so if we have a national crisis we can at least defend ourselves. So what I'm asking of you is; which ones are we going to keep?" ah crap… I'm sure that I'll be bitched at no matter which two I pick…
"Oh… wow… well, which do you recommend?" she flipped through a few papers before responding.
"Well, I think we should keep Units 01 and 02, then keep the specs for Unit 07 just in case," might as well follow the expert!
"Yeah, I agree. Whatever you think is best goes, I'm giving you full authority when it comes to this," she sets down the clipboard and smiles at me, leaning her head on her hand… okay, kinda weird for her!
"You're so different Shinji! Remember when I first met you? You were such a scrawny little boy, and now you're this strong, confident man – in charge of NERV no less!" Dietlinde smiles at Akagi, but she fails to notice.
"Thanks… I think…" she lets out a small chuckle, "You know, you've changed a little too…"
"Oh yes? How so?" time for a little embarrassment!
"Well, dating my father for one…" she grows bright red and laughs nervously, "Yes, I knew about you two, and may I say – ew!"
"Hey, your father was quite the romantic, whether you saw it or not. I remember one night when he-" okay! Time to cut this off!
"Enough! I'd rather not hear about my father's sex life!" now she's just laughing fully… oh real nice Shinji, try and get that out of your head now! "Okay, back on subject. What will we be doing with the other units? Just tearing them apart?"
"Well, the armor will most likely be used to make other military weapons, but – as you know – and Eva is a living thing, so to speak. The actual 'body' will be killed and disposed of. It should be done pretty quickly, the country wants these Evas gone NOW," oh yeah, that'll get me to sleep tonight…
"Okay, whatever needs to be done…" she jots a few things on her clipboard before looking up at me.
"You okay Shinji?" might as well just say it…
"Yeah… I've been meaning to talk to you about something for awhile now," she raises and eyebrow, asking me what, "You've done so much for both of us in the past years, I just wanted to say thanks for everything," jeez, I sound like a bad soap opera…
"You don't need to thank me! I help you guys out because I just want to see you two happy – which worked out quite nicely I might add!" this might be easier then I thought!
"But still, thanks… how's your new house treating you?" no, I'm not trying to change the subject, not at all!
"Pretty good actually, I like all the extra space. Aren't you and Asuka moving in pretty soon yourselves?" yeah, we will, that is if she isn't put in prison for killing Cass!
"Yeah, in two days actually. It's about time we got our own place!" just then, the room was filled with the sound of Akagi's phone ringing.
"Sorry, hold on," she picks up the phone and recites the normal welcome, "Asuka? Are you okay? What's wrong?" now, why didn't I like the sound of that? "Oh… okay… I'll book a flight back to Japan for you, I'll call you when it's done… yeah, hold on, he's right here," she holds out the phone to me, "She wants to speak with you, she sounds really upset," damn it… I take the phone and I hear a slight whimpering on the other line.
"Asuka? Are you okay?"
"Yeah… I'm fine… it's Sam and Cass… both of them are just so fucking stubborn!" Dietlinde perks up slightly to the sound of her mother's voice through the phone.
"Just calm down, tell me what happened," she takes a deep breath.
"Sam is refusing to come back and Cass is threatening to go back to Germany. I don't want to see this baby only have one parent Shinji!" damn, this is really upsetting her… "I'm coming home, and Cass is coming too. I tried to get him to stay, but he's refusing to… I think that Sam just needs some time to think alone…"
"Okay, I'll meet you at the airport, just call me when you're getting close to Japan, okay?"
"Okay… love you… see you soon…"
"I love you too, bye," after hanging up the phone, I look at Akagi with that same worried look she has seen countless times before.
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Three Days Later – 3:00 AM
"Asuka, will you PLEASE sit down? I know that you want to change this house around, but you're pregnant! That and you need some sleep!" not to mention me! I fall back onto a large leather chair we uncovered a few hours ago, which is now sitting in our room!
"Okay, okay, just hold on a little bit more, I want to finish rearranging our room," who would have thought that a four month pregnant woman would have so much energy! "Now, what do you think we should paint the room? I was thinking an earth tone… you?" okay! Time for bed!
"Asuka, let's just go to bed, even Dietlinde fell asleep…" I get up and fall forward onto our king-sized bed.
"Ugh… fine… I still think that our dresser would look better if we-" I grab her shoulders and pull her back onto the bed, making her laugh, "Shinji! Now what was that for?" she looked up at me from my stomach, where her head was delicately resting.
"You. Need. To. Re. Lax." She once again chuckles.
"Fine, let's go to bed…" she crawls under the sheets and I join her, after turning off the lamp on the nightstand, "Shame on you for keeping your wife up so late," hey!
"I wanted to go to bed at ten, you're the one that kept me up until three in the morning…" she makes her way to her favorite position in bed; head on my chest and leg swung around my waist.
"Uh huh, riiight… night Shinji…"
"Night Asuka," within ten minutes, as always, I find myself staring at the dimly lit ceiling. The move into this house was barely a move; it was more of a drive and walking in! I've barely seen Cass since we walked in; he just immediately took one of the rooms and hasn't made a sound since. I called up Sam yesterday, but the 'conversation' barely lasted two minutes. She didn't want to talk, let alone about coming home.
When Dietlinde first saw our new house her face lit up like I've never seen before. After awhile of her wanting to go into each room, Asuka let her just crawl around on her own – with her in our sight, of course. Her curious eyes eventually made themselves to her own room, where she is sleeping right now. It seems odd now that she's not in our room, but she had to get her own eventually.
"Hey Shinji?" she's still awake? "Mind if I ask you a question?"
"No, go ahead," she looks up at me with those beautiful blue eyes.
"Can you be in the delivery room when I'm giving birth this time? I didn't like being alone last time," actually, I was planning on asking her if I could be in this time.
"Of course, I'd love to… are you scared?" oh yeah, real smooth Shinji, get her scared before she even goes into labor!
"Well, yeah! It can't be as bad as last time though, Dietlinde HAD to have stretched something out… but honestly, it's a huge payoff in the end. Feeling our baby's breath on my neck is like heaven… but anyway, promise me that you'll be in the delivery room with me," didn't I already say yes?
"I promise, now let's get some sleep," she smiles and once again relaxes. I fall asleep soon enough, dreaming of our new life in this home.
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5:00 AM – That Same Morning
"Hey Shinji? You up?" I open my eyes and was instantly blinded by the bright light on the ceiling.
"I… am now…" I cover my face with the pillow, "What time is it…?"
"Oh… um… I think it's about five… I wasn't too tired so I decided to get up and finish redecorating the house. This woman sucked when it came to that!" with a sigh I pull the covers up over my head.
"Wake me up in a few hours…" I knew it'd be impossible to get her to stop now, so I just gave in.
A/N- Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, a short and filler chapter. Sorry, but I've barely had any free time lately. I promise, I'll make up for it in the next chapter: Delivery, and yes, it'll be a time jump in case you can't tell. Keep on keepin' on!