Go chapter 7 go!

It had been a couple days since Haruhi's false alarm, both her and Tamaki were still disappointed that she still hadn't regained any memories. They still reminded themselves to stay optimistic, there was still a change for the memories to return. However, Haruhi began to gain a better acceptance of the situation. Before she was scared, lost, confused, and uncomfortable about the whole situation, but after that day and night she spent with Tamaki, she began to come to grips with the idea that this was her life. Sure she was still confused, but she felt her self starting to feel more secure, accepting her condition her now and allowing others to help her along, to which everyone completely supported. Because of all this, Haruhi finally accepted; she was Haruhi Fuji-er, Haruhi Suoh and she was ending this pity party once and for all, she was going to live her life, whether she remembered the last ten years or not.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Tamaki asked for the tenth time that morning walking out of the closet tying his tie, "I don't have to go back to work, they said I could take off as long as I want in order to stay with you!"

"Absolutely not. "Haruhi approached the man and straightened his tie for him, "You're going to the office, you're going to work on the France expansion, and you won't be home until five, understood?"

But Tamaki was still not convinced. "I don't know…what if I went back part-time? Then at least-" but he couldn't get another word out when Haruhi placed her finger to his lips, forcing them closed.

"I'm tired of playing the helpless amnesia girl, Tamaki." Haruhi said in a serious tone of voice, finally dropping 'senpai' once and for all, "Everyone keeps accommodating me; you, Mei, Hikaru, the rest of the host club, and I can't keep letting you all do that for me. I don't want you all to keep sacrificing your own lives to keep me happy."

"I'm not sacrificing anyth-"

"Ah!" Haruhi pressed her finger tighter "And besides, I'm going to speak to my colleagues today about going back to work myself, which means there's zero point in you staying here all day if I'm not even going to be here. "

Haruhi finally released her finger and allowed Tamaki to speak, "And you think you'll be able to handle it?"

"I'll manage. And even if my memories don't come back-"

"Even though they will!"

"-Even though they will, I don't want to go back to no job because I've stayed home like a sad lazy bum."

Tamaki still felt hesitant, but then, from the moment he met Haruhi she had never been wrong when it came to matters of pride, or at the very least she's always been sure when it came to herself, so there was little reason to doubt her now. If this is what Haruhi wants, then he needed to respect that, even if he himself didn't agree completely. That was always one thing Tamaki had made a point of, always allowing Haruhi the freedom of choosing her own life.

"Just promise me that if anything happens you call me!" I can be reached anytime! No matter what I'm doing!"

"I know I know, we went over this already." Haruhi responded now shoving Tamaki out the door, "You have a good day and I'll see you tonight, same time as usual."

"W-wait, Haruhi-!" But he couldn't finish because as soon as his body was safely out the door, Haruhi shut the door.

With her annoying husband (that still felt weird to say) gone, Haruhi was finally able to establish Plan 'Get Your Life Back Together.'

First she took a long shower, washed, dried, and brushed her now longer hair, then went into her massive closet and picked out what she thought was a business professional outfit. After putting on some (slighty uncomfortable) high heels, the doorbell rang, her guests were right on schedule.

"Oh Suoh-san Thank goodness!" two young adults in their mid to late 20's, a man and a woman, in business suits, practically fell through the door as Haruhi walked down the staircase and saw the maid open it for them.

"Okay don't tell me, let me guess…" Haruhi said as she approached the man and woman, looking at them carefully, "You're Nagisa Kurosaki-san," she then pointed to the man, "And you're Daisuke Hanamura-san?"

"You got it!" The two then grabbed Haruhi by the wrists unexpectedly, then practically dragged her to the other room to sit down at the dining room table, their briefcases flying open and spreading paper all over the surface.

"You got to save us Suoh-san!" Nagisa exclaimed.

"This case is killing us! We need you!" Daisuke pleaded in the same regard.

"Whoa whoa whoa hold on!" Haruhi held her hands up, "I said I would meet with you, not solve a case for you! Remember I don't have any memory of finishing high school, let alone my training and schooling as a lawyer!"

The two young lawyers' shoulders slumped, their expressions crestfallen.

"Well then what did you want to do? "Daisuke said mercifully.

"Well…I would like to start coming to work"

"But how do you plan on doing that if you can't remember your work?" Nagisa asked.

"Well, I figured even if I can't work on actual cases, maybe I could do some small work around the office, like copy papers or files charts or something, maybe get coffee for the other-"

"You want to be a gofer?!" Nagisa said with shock, "Haruhi-san, a lawyer with your prestige shouldn't be reduced to doing something as degrading as getting coffee for people!"

Haruhi let out a snort, much to her co-worker's confusion, "Actually, I have plenty of experience in that line of work." She then composed herself into serious mode, "Look, I understand it may seem beneath my level to do such work, but as of right now my skillset is limited, once I get my memories back then I'll of course go back to my original position, but for now, I'm not going to spend my days sitting at home waiting for a miracle, I want to be a productive member of society, even if it is just little things."

Daisuke and Nagisa looked at Haruhi carefully, they thought the idea sounded quite ludicrous (after all who wouldn't want an excuse to take time off work?) but they had worked with Haruhi Suoh long enough to know that she is not the type to take unnecessary time off, she was known for working on holidays for crying out loud.

"Well, we can't really argue with that." Daisuke said shrugging his shoulders.

"Extra coffee would probably be really helpful for these all nighters we've been pulling." Nagisa agreed.

"So then we have a deal?"

"Welcome back to the office, Haruhi!" Daisuke got up excitedly and squeezed Haruhi tightly.

"Um…can't..breathe…"

Hikaru wasn't getting much work done at his own office, so he decided to go for a late afternoon drive. For some reason, even though he was in the midst of developing his own game, his ideas were at a standstill. That's why he goes on drives like this, helps his mind open up and sometimes the little things he notices on his drives are enough to kick his creative juices back into gear. Oddly enough though, he didn't take his usual drive through the city, well, he kind of did, but at the point where he usually turned around he ended up going straight, then made a couple turns, and went up a specific hill…until he found himself right in front of the Suoh mansion.

What the hell was he doing here!? It was like his mind suddenly went on autopilot and took him straight here. Hikaru wondered if he should even park the car and get out, he heard about Haruhi and Tamaki's day out the other day, and he also heard that Haruhi was contemplating going back to work, so he wasn't even sure if either one of them were even home. He was about to turn around and go back when suddenly-

"Hikaru?" Hikaru jumped and turned to see Haruhi, dressed in a business suit and holding a file leaning down while looking at him through his passenger window, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh! I-I was just in the neighborhood and I…sort of ended up here."

Haruhi gave him a bemused look.

"But what are you doing out today?"

"Oh, well I was taking a tour of my office, it-really is a lot nicer than I thought, but at least everyone is nice and they're actually being really accommodating to me just doing desk work, considering I can't do actual lawyering, at least it's making me feel useful again."

"That's great, Haruhi." Hikaru said with enthusiasm.

"Thanks…do you want to come in? I can put on some tea?"

This kind of welcoming attitude was something Hikaru didn't remember much from the old Haruhi, it was kind of weird "Oh, um..sure! Why not?"

"Great-let's" Haruhi paused for a moment looking up at the dark clouds in the sky, a look of worry on her face, Hikaru knew exactly what that face was for, boy did he know all too well. But he decided not to say anything, he didn't want to embarrass or worry her, so he quickly changed the subject to his new game and that seemed to take her mind off it, at least he hoped so.

"Ah, Haruhi, your tea making skills haven't changed!" Hikaru said after his third cup of black tea.

"It's nice that I'm even able to, it seems like the staff here won't let me lift a finger." Haruhi said sitting down, "to be honest, it's starting to get a little annoying."

"Yeah I know what that's like." Hiakru said with a chuckle, "I think the staff here is just being extra doting on you because of your amnesia."

"Well then I need to hold a staff meeting explaining that I don't need special treatment, you'd be amazed how long it took me just to get them to stop bowing whenever I entered a room!"

Hikaru laughed. He liked this. Just hanging out with Haruhi, talking to each other like they were longtime friends. Well, okay they were longtime friends, but it was as if the amnesia had never happened. Hikaru liked talking with Haruhi, and he couldn't help but notice the little things Haruhi did as she drank her tea. The way she gently blew on the surface before taking a sip, the way she put his hair behind her ear as she lifted the cup to her lips, and how she sipped it very quietly, to the point where it would have to be dead silent in order to hear it. It was those little things that drove him crazy, though not in a bad way. He wished it could always be this way, him, Haruhi, sitting together, drinking tea…

Wait-where did that come from?

"U-um, excuse me Haruhi, I-uh, I think the 3 cups of tea are calling me, where's your bathroom?"

"Honestly…I don't know" Haruhi said defeated, "I've sort of just been taking the trip back to my room to use that one, I'm not sure why I agreed to move into such a large house."

"I'll just go find it then!" Hikaru said hopping that it wasn't obvious that he was trying to get out of the room, he needed to splash his face with some water…or take a cold shower, whichever worked.

Haruhi did notice Hikaru acting strange, well more strange than usual, but she figured it was just another trait that perhaps she hadn't remembered yet, nevertheless she continued drinking her warm tea, gently sitting it and letting the liquid slide down her throat. She was really enjoying readjusting back to her life, her job and coworkers were very nice, she liked gaining some independence again, no longer feels like Tamaki is always behind her shoulder, and even Hikaru-

BANG

Haruhi yelped as she jumped in place, "oh no…" Haruhi whined inside her head,

BANG

Haruhi yelped again as she covered her ears and quickly slid from her seat. She knew those clouds didn't look good!

BANG

UGH Why now!? She wondered if she had gotten over this fear by the time she was 26-years-old. Maybe she had, but as of right now, Haruhi had converted back into 16-year-old Haruhi, curling up in a ball underneath the table, waiting for it to go away like she had always done.

"Haruhi?" She heard Hikaru's voice as he entered the room again, then saw Hikaru's head popping from above the table, "I knew I was gong to find you here."

"I'm sorry, I'll just be a few-"

BANG

"Ahhh!" Haruhi yelled again burying her head in her knees. She shook in place, taking deep breaths, going to her calm state where she tried to tune the thunder out, telling herself that it would go away, that it can't get to her.

Then suddenly felt the tablecloth on her shoulders, a pair of headphones go over her ears, and what felt like a strong arm wrapping around her.

When Haruhi looked over she saw Hikaru next to her.

"Don't worry, you honestly think none of us figured out that you're afraid of thunder and lightning?" Hikaru said with a soft look. "Just relax, it'll be over soon."

Haruhi did find herself relaxing to Hikaru's touch, she leaned against him, listening to the music coming from the headphones, from a song she didn't know but didn't care, and let herself get lost in the melody.

She didn't even realize she had fallen asleep, but she had an interesting dream. There she was, dressed very fancy, in a dress of all things, her hair in...pigtails? There were dark clouds in the sky, and she had just heard thunder, she was trying to find Hikaru, who just ran off for some reason, she wasn't sure, when the thunder began. Nowhere to go, Haruhi found what looked like a small church in the distance, then found herself sitting below a pew curling up into a ball exactly like she was doing at that moment. Then she felt an arm going over her shoulders, it was Hikaru, and he placed his headphones over her ears, put her close to him, and allowed her to be distracted by the same music. It felt nice, she felt warm, she felt calm and most of all…she felt safe.

"Thank you, Hikaru." Haruhi said quietly as she drifted to sleep.

"Haruhi!" Haruhi woke from her slumber when she heard Tamaki's voice. He was kneeling down next to her, Hikaru having gently dragged her from under the table.

"Damn, I'm so sorry, Haruhi! I didn't even realize there was going to be a thunderstorm tonight! I should have come home early! You must've been so scared!" Tamaki held her close to his own chest.

"I-I'm fine…I had Hikaru here with me, "Haruhi looked over at Hikaru, who was gently smiling, "and…I had him before..too…"

Tamaki and Hikaru looked at Haruhi expectantly,

"Haruhi, what are you talking about?" Hikaru asked carefully.

"It…it was back in Karuizawa…I was, running after you I think...you had ran off…then the rain started, and I went into a church for shelter. Then Hikaru came back…he put on music and..he stayed with me…

"Haruhi…"

Haruhi's hands flew to her mouth at the realization,

"I…I remember…I remember!"

OH MY. What will happen next? WELL...that is something for you guys to find out(and honestly I need to kind of sort out myself haha...)
Quick thing, I know I'm bad enough as it is when it comes to updating on a regular basis, but I just recently started school again(I know, how long AM I staying in school for? Well when you spend years trying to get into classes at community college, change your major, transfer to a university, THEN decide to pursue a teaching credential on top of a BA...yeah it takes a while -_-;)

Anyway, on top of school I also have a job now, so I rarely get any days where I can just chill and write. Believe me I would love to update every week but it's just SO HARD. So I ask you all to bear with me as I slowly but surely update, like my other fics I KNOW how I want this story to end(in fact I already have part of the final chapter written...) so as long as I keep the ending in sight then I should complete it someday. And I think about you guys all the time and how I never want to be one of those writers who abandons a fic for years and never get back to it.

But that's all I have to say, once again thank you so much for reading and I appreciate every last one of you! Let's get through this together okay? :)

P.S. random note, just found the most awesome song, "Beautiful Now" by Zedd. I was listening to it while I was editing this chapter, and even though I wrote this before finding it, the song reminds me of this chapter and the last chapter. *siiiiigh* if only I could make a TamakixHaruhi AMV with this song using my fic but unless I become and animator that's impossible haha.