Author's Note: -ahem- If you're looking for some kind of hentai scene, you're going to have to look elsewhere. Innuendo is as close as I get.
"Could you please wait outside?"
The doctor was a bit frightened when the young noble glared at him in response to his query. It seemed an innocent enough request, and was not one that people usually reacted to with vehemence.
"I'm not going anywhere," Luke announced defiantly, planting his feet and daring the confused doctor to try and contradict him.
"Luke, please don't make a scene," his exasperated wife scolded him before addressing the doctor. "It's all right, he can stay. I don't mind."
The doctor eyed Luke suspiciously for a moment before shrugging and turning to prepare his various instruments for the examination.
That morning, earlier than Luke liked to be up and later than Tear liked to be, the two of them had roused themselves (or rather, Tear woke up and dragged Luke along with her), and had not wasted much time in getting over to Baticul's most medically advanced doctor's office. It was not quite up to par with the technology at the lab in Belkend, but it was nonetheless considered cutting edge. Luke had actually wanted to travel to Belkend, insisting that they get the best possible, but Tear had finally convinced him it was not worth the trip. She won the argument when she pointed out that if they went somewhere local they would get results much sooner. They technically should not have been allowed to meet such a prestigious doctor on such short notice with no appointment, but because of Susanne's condition he was well acquainted with the Fabre family and did not mind doing favors, though Tear was a bit uncomfortable accepting such a favor.
After a few basic tests for overall health, the doctor began asking Tear questions about the problems she had been experiencing. She answered to the best of her ability, with Luke chiming in if he thought he had anything useful to add.
"You say you've been having dizzy spells? And you've been feeling unusually tired?" Tear nodded, and the doctor continued with his battery of questions. "Have you noticed anything else out of the ordinary? Perhaps any emotional symptoms?"
Tear shook her head. Behind her Luke shifted anxiously; he was torn between the risk of angering his wife and the risk of not mentioning something that may be important to identifying her condition. Deciding nothing was worth the risk of the latter, he spoke up. "Actually, um, she's been... pretty moody lately."
As expected, Tear turned to scowl at him. He cowered a little at the look she gave him. "Come on Tear, I don't mean anything by it. But... you know it's true."
Tear opened her mouth to protest, thought for a minute, then turned back to the doctor instead, looking a little sheepish. "I suppose I have been overreacting a bit to certain situations lately."
"A bit?" Once again Luke's tendency to speak before thinking worked against him. He was given a harsher look this time, and he winced at the realization of his own stupid mistake. I really need to learn when to keep my mouth shut.
The doctor intervened before any kind of fight could ensue. "What do you mean exactly?"
Luke wisely decided that it was best to let Tear answer the question herself. He remained silent as she spoke. "It seems that words and situations are affecting me more strongly than they usually would. And I admit I have been more emotional as of late."
"I would like to run a few more tests. Is that all right with you?"
Tear gave her consent, and was subjected to several tests that were slightly more invasive than the last set. Afterward, the doctor left to process the information he had gathered, leaving Luke and Tear in the room alone.
A minute of uncomfortable silence passed, before Luke decided to break it. "Um, Tear... are you mad at me?"
Tear laughed as she turned to meet Luke's gaze, though there was a distinctly nervous sound to it. "No, I'm not mad. I understand you were just trying to help. Though I do wish you would consider how you word your statements."
"Yeah, I know."
The two of them engaged in idle conversation for the next twenty minutes or so in an attempt to stave off the boredom and nervousness that came from waiting for the results.
Finally the doctor returned, clutching a clipboard and grinning. Before the other occupants of the room could ask what was so amusing he turned to Tear. "Congratulations! You're pregnant."
"I'm... what?" She stared at the doctor in disbelief. It should not have been particularly surprising, considering the situation. Yet for some reason the possibility simply had not occurred to her. Having children was not something that she and Luke had ever seriously discussed. It was an unstated assumption that they would have them eventually; Luke needed an heir as much as his father did. But it had also been assumed that they had a few more years before they would have to deal with such a thing.
So much for that. Luke appeared to be struggling to take in the information as well; for a long while he simply stood, looking dazed, before he finally said, "So... there's nothing wrong with her, right? She's gonna be okay?"
"Well," the doctor replied, his grin fading back into a more professional expression, "I admit that I'm still a bit concerned about the fainting. But according to everything we've found here, yes, she's perfectly healthy."
An incredible sense of relief came over Luke. He found himself laughing at his previous worries. There he had been, afraid that she was dying, and it turned out she was just pregnant!
"Wait, pregnant?!" The immediate concern for Tear's health gone, Luke suddenly found himself under siege by an entirely new set of worries. Oh man, I'm not ready to raise a kid...
"Yes. She has been for about a month, it seems. That explains what she has been experiencing. It is perfectly common for pregnant women to experience many physical discomforts, such as tiredness and dizziness. However, as I mentioned, if it progressed to the point of fainting there may be something else aggravating her condition." Once again the doctor turned to Tear. "Have you perhaps been experiencing a lot of stress lately?"
It took Tear a moment to realize she was being spoken to. She had been staring at the opposite wall, lost in thought. When she noticed the doctor was looking at her she focused her gaze back on him. "What? Oh. Actually, yes, I have been rather stressed."
"My advice, then, is that you do whatever it takes to reduce your level of stress. Pass on responsibilities to someone else, let someone take of you. Whatever you need to do to help yourself relax. Experiencing high levels of stress over a prolonged period of time can be a health risk, both for you and your baby."
"I'll keep that in mind," Tear assured him. Though she had a feeling Luke would not let her forget anyway.
"Luke, are you all right? You haven't said a word since we left the doctor's."
"Huh? Oh, right. Yeah, I'm fine."
In a somewhat uncharacteristic action, Tear giggled. "You look more distraught than you did when you thought I was sick."
"Do I? I'm not. I just... I don't know..." Luke had come away from the doctor's visit with incredibly mixed feelings. On one hand he was very glad that there was nothing seriously wrong with Tear. On the other he was now being haunted by thoughts of the many different ways he could screw up while raising a child. And more urgently, they needed to find a way to solve Tear's unhappiness with her current living conditions.
Tear was in a much brighter mood than her husband. She had been more concerned about her own health than she had been willing to admit, even to herself. Not only that, but after the initial shock of the information that she was pregnant had worn off, maternal instincts had set in. She found herself experiencing a growing sense of excitement at the concept of becoming a mother.
The two of them were walking through town, headed in the general direction of the manor, though neither of them seemed too anxious to get back.
"Luke, must you always be so pessimistic? Can't you just appreciate what you have instead of worrying what could go wrong?"
"I'm sorry, Tear. It's just, I'm trying to figure out what to do to help you not be so stressed out. That, and I'm worried you might get in trouble for what happened... last night."
Tear felt her good mood quickly being compromised; in the light of all that had happened in the past several hours, she had forgotten about the incident at the party. "I suppose all we can do is wait and see."
"Well, whatever happens," Luke said, stopping and turning to look at Tear protectively, "I'm not letting them lock you up."
"Is that so?" Tear stopped and turned as well. "And what do you plan to do if guards come for me? Beat them up and get yourself in trouble, too?"
"I don't know..." Luke admitted sheepishly. "But... dammit..."
"I appreciate the sentiment, but please promise me that if I do get in trouble you won't make the situation worse."
"But Tear," Luke protested, "It wouldn't be good for you, having to sit in a dungeon, even if it wasn't for very long."
The urgency in Tear's voice rose. "Luke, promise me."
"...Alright," Luke reluctantly conceded, "I promise I won't start anything if they try to take you away. But that doesn't mean I'll just sit by and watch. Maybe if I talked to Uncle..."
Tear sighed; Luke could certainly be persistent. She had already decided that if she got in trouble for what she had done, so be it. She did not want Luke calling in any more favors on her behalf. "We don't even know if anything will come of it. Try not to worry about it for now."
"I'll try not to."
Despite the obvious lack of confidence in Luke's voice, Tear decided to accept his response. She turned back in the direction they had been facing earlier and began walking again, Luke quickly falling into step beside her.
Another few minutes passed before Luke suddenly spoke up. "We could move."
Tear frowned at him. "If you're wanted for arrest, guards can chase you to other cities you know."
"Huh?" Luke stared at her in confusion for a moment before he realized that she had misunderstood him. He shook his head. "No, I didn't mean to get you out of trouble or anything. I just meant in general. Since you mentioned you don't like living in the manor."
"Oh, I see."
"Yeah. To tell you the truth, it makes me kind of uncomfortable, too." A familiar sadness crept onto his features. "Nothing will ever change the fact that everything there that's mine, including my parents, used to be Asch's."
"Luke, I thought you were past that..."
He shrugged and looked over at her apologetically. "I'm as past it as I'm going to be. It doesn't bother me like it used to. But if I really stop and think about it, it still kinda hurts. And honestly, sometimes I think my father would have preferred if Asch came back instead of me."
Tear immediately rounded on him. "How can you even say such a thing?!"
"If Asch had come back, he would've happily married Natalia. He wouldn't have put up a fight, like I did. You know how my father is. Do you think that's never occurred to him?"
"I see what you mean," Tear said, relenting slightly, "But I still can't believe that he would think anything so horrible. He said himself that he considers both of you his sons, and if that's true he shouldn't favor one over the other."
"Just because he shouldn't doesn't mean he doesn't."
"Well, if your father truly thinks that way then he is an idiot."
"You're right, he is an idiot." Tear looked startled by Luke's response, but he just grinned. "He thinks I married below myself. As far as I'm concerned, it's the other way around."
Tear smiled back at him. "Both our lives would be much simpler if he agreed with you."
"No kidding. ...Wait, how did we get on that topic in the first place?"
"You mentioned moving."
"Oh yeah! Anyway, I was thinking we could move into our own house. We wouldn't be giving up our nobility or anything, just living somewhere other than the manor. Just the two of us." He smiled somewhat nervously. "Well, I guess it'll be three before long. But that's what you want, isn't it? To live somewhere else?"
Tear allowed herself to indulge in a short daydream about the life Luke had just proposed before she responded. "Yes, it is what I want. But how are we going to buy a house? We don't have any money."
Luke preemptively cringed, already knowing Tear would not like his suggestion. "My parents have money..."
"No," she stated shortly, "I'm not living in a house your parents have to buy for us."
"Why not?" Luke asked plaintively. "We're depending on them now anyway."
"This is different," Tear insisted. "A house would be much more expensive than how we're living now. And really, I'm not comfortable with depending on them in the first place."
"I could get a job." Luke had convinced himself that moving would solve several of their problems, so he refused to give up on the idea.
"You have no work experience. Where could you get a job that would pay you enough to afford a house?"
He let out an aggravated sigh. "I don't know! Do you have any better ideas?"
Tear was a bit taken aback by the harshness of his tone, but it made her stop and considering the situation more seriously. "No, not really. Maybe it could work, if I got a job too-"
"No."
She stared at Luke confusedly, startled by his sudden interjection. "No? Why not?"
"Because if you get a job, you'll take it way too seriously and stress yourself out."
"So what am I supposed to do? Stay home and cook and clean for you?"
He frowned. "I didn't mean it like that. I just don't want you to overwork yourself."
"So what do you want me to do?"
"Stay home and let me take care of you," Luke said, his grin returning.
"Really?" Tear asked, sounding amused. "And I'm guessing I have no choice in the matter?"
"Nope. I'm going to make you relax whether you want to or not."