"Hello?"

"Hello, is that Tamao- San?"

"…yes, who's calling?"

"Hanazono Shizuma"

"…"

"… Hello?"

"What do you want?"

Shizuma flinched slightly at the steely, biting tone she could hear directed at her.

"I need to talk to you."

"I have nothing to say to you, not after everything you've done."

"You don't know anything about what happened."

"That may be, but I know how broken Nagisa was, and THAT was because of you."

A retort on the tip of her tongue, Shizuma bit her bottom lip in hope that it would prevent her from saying something she'd regret. 'I can't lose my temper, I need her help…'
Taking a deep breath she tried to ignore the comment and went straight to the point of the call.

"Nagisa needs you."

"…" Taking the silence as permission to continue the silver haired woman carried on.

"She just seems so … sad, I thought that you coul-"

"You've found her?" It was barely a whisper, but the meekness within the response cut Shizuma off straight away.

"Yes."

"Where is she?"

"I'm pregnant."

The red head gaped at the elder woman, the words floating through her mind yet not quite registering as Shizuma held her posture rigidly, unable to keep the fear from flashing in her eyes.

"You're what..?"

The silver haired woman noticeably gulped, taking a deep breath before she continued; "I'm pregnant."

The younger woman nodded her head slowly before pushing the blankets off her and trying to leave the bed to no avail. Hands were soon pushing her backwards, forcing her to stay in the bed.

"Nagisa! What are you doing?"

When no answer was received Shizuma huffed a sigh in desperation, training her eyes on the others face, trying to find some form of emotion on the otherwise neutral face.

"Why are you here?"

Taken aback by the sudden question Shizuma furrowed her brow, unable to keep the hurt from her voice as she stated; "You were –are – hurt, I wouldn't be anywhere else."

"Surely your husband wouldn't want you here with me; unless he doesn't know about me, poor man."

"Nagisa! Stop. I've had enough of this now, will you just listen to me for goodness sakes!"

She knew she should have reigned in her biting tone, but the frustration was slowly beginning to boil, she wanted to explain, spill her deepest secrets and regrets for the red head; something she'd always struggled with. She was unsure and not in her comfort zone, but willing to try for the one person she loved with all her heart, yet said person was refusing to listen. Refusing her the chance to explain.

Watching for any tell-tale signs that Nagisa would dispute her plea and finding none she cautiously began her explanation.

"He knows who you are and before you say anything, we're getting divorced. We didn't have a normal marriage, it was purely for show. I didn't love him and he didn't love me. We're both from wealthy families – we were both forced to marry and uphold high class social etiquette, he is truly no more than my friend."

"Then why are you pregnant?" The retort lacked the red head's earlier biting tone as she began to stare intently at a corner of the bed.

"Again; for social standing, I know that sounds… awful, but it was the least I could do for him. Also, I recently decided that I would like a child of my own it was the best of both worlds. He wouldn't be disowned by his family and I'd… I'd have someone that would love me unconditionally…"

"The least you could do for him? Why?" The red head enquired seemingly brushing off Shizuma's admittance and relapse of her normally controlled emotions.

"He knew I was looking for you. He knew our marriage was only temporary but it doesn't dismiss the fact that I am divorcing him because I've found someone better. Or re-found should I say. It was a silent agreement throughout our short marriage, we never spoke of it but we both knew it was inevitable; even if I hadn't found you again. This has only sped up the process, and now he has to deal with his issues rather than burying them in denial and hiding." Shizuma's reply was unwavering and answered with such conviction that the red head didn't want to probe her ex-lover about her husband's issues, opting instead for a completely different approach.

"If you didn't love him, then why did you have sex with him?"

The silver haired woman scoffed, biting back a laugh at the question.
"I didn't."

Confusion marred the younger woman's features as she furrowed her brow, biting the inside of her cheek in contemplation.
"… but you're-"

"Pregnant?" Shizuma cut her off swiftly, smiling softly as the confusion continued to play across the other's face. "Have you heard of Artificial Insemination?"

Once again the elder woman had to bite back her laughter at the younger woman's expression; rapidly opening and closing her mouth.

"Daisuke didn't want to be with me like that anymore than I did with him."

Confusion was then replaced with shock as the red head finally croaked out her thoughts.
"How? You're the most beautiful woman I know; in fact you're more than that, how could he not want to be wi-"

Chuckling heartily at the sudden confession, Shizuma couldn't wipe the smile off her face. 'Well at least I know she still finds me attractive.'
Deciding to put the younger woman out of her misery as the shock changed to embarrassment the longer her rant went on Shizuma intervened.

"He's gay."

"Oh."

"We were in a similar situation; he was hoping that as long as he provided his parents with grandchildren they would love him regardless of his sexual orientation."

"So… you're pregnant then?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you, yes."

"Is-Is he going to, well… umm… you know… is, he going to have anything to do with the –the baby?"

Shizuma's eyes softened completely as she fought to stop herself from wrapping the shuddering woman on the bed up in her arms. She watched as her internal struggles were playing across her rapidly reddening cheeks rivalling the colour of her hair.

"I can't stop him from seeing the baby. It wouldn't be fair on him or my unborn child."

"Oh... Do his parent's know about the baby then?"

"I would have thought so."

"Well what do they think… I mean, this is what they wanted right?"

"Honestly? Nagisa, I don't care what they think; I don't care what any of them think. A child isn't going to change their views; they won't suddenly be okay with Daisuke's life choices just because he can now say that he's fathered a child, if anything they'll try to restrict him further. I don't want that for my child, I won't allow people to dictate how they live their life, or belittle them as much as my Uncle or Daisuke's parents did us. You can barely tell I'm pregnant, but the baby is there. I'll love him or her regardless of anything."

"I don't understand… Where do I fit in in all of this?"

Shizuma furrowed her brow unable to resist the urge to grab the other woman's hand and entwine their fingers.

"You fit in wherever you want. I love you Nagisa, you should know that. Yet, I can't make you love me back" Faltering slightly she felt the hand she was linked to squeeze gently in reassurance. "I can't make you love me, especially now that I'm pregnant, but I want you in my life and if you'll accept I want you in my child's as well."

"YAYA-CHAN!"

The scream reverberated throughout the hall, alerting one of the dark haired occupants to her impending admonishment.
Wincing slightly she turned to her companion looking for help, only to receive a slight chuckle in response.

"Thanks for that, you're so helpful I could almost burst with gratitude." Sarcasm dripped from every word as she was met once more with a smirk.

"You're welcome." The other persons smirk continued as the stamping of feet grew ever closer.

"Why are you even here?" the dark haired girl whispered sharply unable to hide her growing frustrations.

"Oh, I'm hurt." The other woman exclaimed, raising a hand to her heart in dramatic gesture, a smirk still firmly marring her features. "Shizuma-San asked for my help, begged me to come and this is the gratitude I get?"

Yaya rolled her eyes in exasperation; "Somehow I struggle to believe that Shizuma begged the likes of you – Kaname- for help."

Before a retort could be expelled a flash of pink hair was suddenly in front of the pair, belonging to a fuming tsundere, glaring intensely at them.

"Tsubomi-Chan…" Yaya began, her pleading tone only causing a slight chuckle from the woman stood beside her. Scowling in return she turned back to the pinkette just in time for the argument to commence.

"Don't you 'Tsubomi-Chan' me! Why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Don't play stupid with me! The fireworks? Why did you get fireworks?"

"Oh that… Phew."

"Phew?"

"Oh, uh, nothing." She added sheepishly fully aware that the woman wouldn't drop the subject now.
Suddenly she felt a pair of lips ghost her ear and a voice reached her senses. "Looks like she's found out, that's my cue to leave."

"It's your fault as much as it is mine!" her exclamation was only met with a cackle as the other dark haired woman strode away.

"Now I know something's definitely wrong if you've been coercing with that –that thing!"

"Thing?" Yaya raised a perfectly sculptured eye brow at the declaration.

"You know what I mean, she's evil. Worse than the devil. Don't change the subject. What else have you done?"

Just as she was about to speak the rest of the group began to bring in the tables to scatter around the room as had been planned, except Tsubomi noticed one significant alteration.

"Squares? The Tables are squares?"

"Tsubomi, look I can explain… huh?"

"Squares? We needed circles! The tables were meant to be circular, we discussed this, and we planned this! Shizuma agreed to this!"

"Tsubo-"

"No! You've ruined it!" With that the huffy pinkette stormed off, leaving a confused and bewildered Yaya behind.

"But I didn't change the tables…" she muttered under her breath before her gaze landed upon a smirk across the hall.

"Kaname…" She growled in frustration before rushing after her girlfriend, apologises and a plea for forgiveness on the tip of her tongue.

As she rushed out of the room, the last thing she heard was a distinctive cackle belonging to a certain someone who loved to stir up trouble.

"You – You want me in your life?"

"Of course I do Nagisa! I love you; I always have and probably always will, even if you don't love me back."

"I-I…"

The red head's mind was a whir of emotions as she desperately tried to grab a-hold of them and work out her feelings.

"Nagisa… you don't have to say anything just yet, you've just had a major accident."

"An accident? What happened? I can't remember anything…"

The emerald eyes fixed on her flashed in pain as their owner began to recall the events that had occurred to the red head, trying to prevent the forthcoming tears from spilling.

"A car?"

"Yes… you walked in front of it; it didn't have time to stop."

"I don't remember any of that at all…" She muttered; bringing her hand up to her face only to wince in pain as it came into contact with the swollen cheek. "How long have I been here then?"

"About 3 days…"

"Oh."

It was then that the red head finally took in the actual damage the car had done to her body, shifting uncomfortably as she was unable to concentrate solely on one of the pained areas at a time.
The emerald eyes watched in silence as the woman in front of her seemed completely overwhelmed with the entire situation and finally relented.

Tentatively Shizuma perched on the side of the bed, gently reaching out for the other woman and pulling her into a soft embrace.
They sat like that for some time, and it wasn't until a wet patch finally formed on the elder woman's shirt that she realised the red head was silently crying.

"Shh, Nagisa. It'll be okay, I promise. Everything's going to be okay." She cooed, brushing stray hairs out of her face and placing a small kiss on the red head's cheek.

'I will make this better.'

Note:

Helloooo. (: Okay… so this is not where I imagined this story going when I originally started so I'm sorry if I've annoyed anyone. :S Anyway, I tried to make this chapter a bit… lighter? Than the past few anyway. :P
Not really sure what else to say… I have a feeling I've forgotten something. Hmmm. Oh well.
Thank you for reading and/or reviewing. :D As always it means the world to me. (:
I do not own Strawberry Panic. Until next time; Bye. (:

Becky. xx