NOTES::

I'm skipping replying to reviews this chapter because I feel like I owe you all a quick update! Enjoy!

Chapter Nine – Echoing Truth

The next morning when Sho arrived into work, he was surprised to see Izzie, the extremely hyper nurse, at the nurses' station, sipping a cup of coffee, her brown eyes watching him intently. The brunette offered a warm smile to her and continued on, noticing out of the corner of his eye that she was now following him at a safe distance. When he reached his office he turned around, expecting her to be right behind him, but she wasn't there.

Not yet, at least.

As Sho maneuvered behind his desk, he heard quiet footsteps approaching his office. "Hey!" Izzie said, already perked up from her coffee. Sho turned his head and smiled at her.

"Good morning, Izzie," he replied, straightening up as he shrugged off his trench coat. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes, actually," she said, taking a few steps into his office and closing the door. "I saw you with someone last night here in your office." Sho's stomach plummeted; he didn't want any of the staff to know just yet that he was married, especially since it was to another man. He wasn't sure how they would handle it and didn't want to risk finding out. "Was it your girlfriend?"

"Husband," Sho said quietly, too soft for Izzie to hear properly.

"What was that?"

It's not a silly little moment
It's not the storm before the calm.

"It was my husband," he repeated, a light blush spreading across his cheeks. But Izzie didn't seem to mind, she just blinked at him and then smiled.

"So you're married!" she said, smile turning into a grin. "Who's the lucky guy?" Sho couldn't help but smile at her curiosity.

"His name is Kei," Sho told her. "And we've been married for twelve years this coming May."

"Oh, that's so cute!" Izzie exclaimed, brown eyes shining brightly, warming Sho. "But my other concern is what you want to do about Meredith." The smile faded from Sho's face rapidly.

"So she does really like me a lot, doesn't she?" he asked seriously.

"A little too much, actually," she said honestly. "I didn't tell her, don't worry. I doubt you want me to, right?"

"Right. Thank you so much, Izzie," Sho said, relief flooding his features. "It means a lot to me."

"But when will you tell her, out of curiosity?"

"Sometime soon, don't worry…"

This is the deep and dying breath of
This love that we've been working on

The phone rang abruptly several days later, startling Kei out of his light nap on the couch. Opening his eyes, the vampire grabbed the portable phone on the coffee table. "Hello?" he said sleepily, rubbing at his eyes.

"Hey Kei," Kurisu said softly. "…Were you sleeping?"

"Mmm…I dozed off in front of the television," he told her. "What's up?"

"Sho…he's having a really bad day. Everything seems to be going wrong for him and he misses you a lot and I think he's dwelling on that quite a bit," Kurisu explained. "I'd tell you to call and try to cheer him up, but I think it would be better if—"

"I surprised him by coming in and visiting him?"

"Yes, if you wouldn't mind."

"I'd love to!" Kei replied, a smile forming on his lips…

Can't seem to hold you like I want to
So I can feel you in my arms

Forty-five minutes later, Kei was standing outside of Sho's small (and still temporary) office, a small bouquet of lilacs in his hand. He stood in the doorway, noticing Sho sitting at his desk, his face pressed against the top of the wood, eyes closed tightly. Silently, the vampire made his way into the room and over behind Sho's chair, setting the flowers down on the desk. Sho heard the noise and sat up, but immediately, Kei's hands were over his eyes.

"What—" he tried to exclaim; Kei pulled Sho backwards against the back of his chair. Leaning down, he dragged his fangs seductively across the front of Sho's neck.

"Guess who…" he purred.

"Kei-chan!" Sho squeaked happily, spinning the chair around so he could face his lover, pulling the blonde onto his lap in a rush. "Am I glad to see you!"

"My Sho senses were telling me that you were having a bad day," Kei told him, hugging Sho tightly. "And by my Sho senses, I really mean Kurisu."

"Mmm…I'll have to thank her later, then," Sho said, leaning upwards and kissing Kei. Kei chuckled and kissed Sho back, a hand curling in the silky strands of Sho's hair as their tongues caressed one another and Sho's warm hands began to stroke his lover's back.

Nobody's gonna come and save you
We pulled too many false alarms

Outside in the hallway, Addison was staring at Sho and the mysterious blonde as they kissed passionately, a hand covering her mouth in awe. She took off down the hallway towards the nurses' main desk. "Where is Meredith, Debbie?" she asked quickly to the older woman at the desk, not paying any attention to Izzie, who was leaning against the wall, an eyebrow arching at the redhead's sudden urgency to contact Meredith.

"Like I have any idea!" Debbie replied. "Why don't you page her?"

"Fine!" Addison replied, grabbing the nearby phone off of Debbie's desk and punching Meredith's beeper number into it. Tapping her foot impatiently, she had to wait five minutes for Meredith to come rushing down to the desk.

"What is it?" she asked breathlessly.

"It's about…him," the nurse said, knowing that Debbie was listening in and completely unaware of Izzie's shocked face as she realized they had finally found out. She had seen Kei arrive minutes before and had smiled politely at him, but hadn't thought to warn him about the other nurses that actually cared about Sho's personal life.

"What about him, Addy?" Meredith asked, cocking her head to the side. Addison let out an exasperated noise and grabbed Meredith's arm, dragging her down to Sho's office, stopping just before the open door where soft murmurs and giggles could be heard.

"There's someone visiting him!" Addison said, pointing accusingly at the open door. "And they were kissing." Meredith let out a surprised gasp. "He's yours! No stupid little blonde slut is allowed to take him away from you."

"She's blonde?" she queried, poking her head around the edge of the door to glance at Sho. Sho had his eyes closed, a bright smile on his face; the mysterious blonde was nuzzling their nose into Sho's cheek, smiling as well as they murmured something into his ear. She noticed their hands were clasped, rings glittering on both of their hands. Meredith moved away disgustedly, wishing she were in the place of the blonde. "Addy…I don't think that's a woman…or a slut…"

"What?" Addison shrieked.

We're going down
And you can see it too

Inside Sho's office, Kei was saying soft, tender words against his lover's cheek, placing soft kisses as well. "I think there's someone spying on us, love," he breathed. Sho opened his eyes at the same time as he heard a shriek.

"What?"

Suddenly, Meredith appeared in the doorway, blushing furiously as she noticed both vampires were staring at her, lingering smiles still on their lips. "Can I help you, Meredith?" Sho asked, not caring that his arms were wrapped tightly around Kei's waist. He knew that the nurse had a crush on him, but he didn't care; he'd rather put her down easy now than have to deal with it later when it was more of an infatuation.

"Who is that?" she asked, glancing at Kei.

"This—" he began, tracing his nose down Kei's cheek adoringly. "—Is my husband, Kei." Kei smiled at her softly and blushed, knowing that if he smiled too much, she might think he was smiling to spite her.

"Y-you're gay?" Meredith asked, slightly taken aback. Sho nodded his head. "But…I thought I…" she let her sentence trail off, looking at Kei hopelessly.

"I think I'll go try to find something to drink," he said quickly, knowing that Sho needed to straighten some things out. He had heard stories about Meredith and had wanted Sho to tell her for a while before she tried to claim his husband for herself. Hopping off of his lover's lap, he moved around Meredith and headed down the hallway in search of a vending machine.

"Sho-kun!" Meredith said exasperatedly as Sho stood up.

"Meredith, I don't know what you expected our relationship to turn into," Sho said, shaking his head. "I love Kei and you can't stop that."

"But why does he have to be here?" she asked.

"He found out I was having a bad day and came to cheer me up…and he brought me flowers," Sho added, gesturing to the bouquet sitting on his desk.

We're going down,
And you know that we're doomed.

"I could do that, too, you know," Meredith told him in a quiet voice. Sho merely smiled at her.

"Kei and I have been together for eleven years, Mer," he said. "I'm not leaving him for you. I'm sorry, but that's how it is and always will be." The blonde nurse nodded sadly and turned to leave. "Don't hate me because of this…" She turned back around, grey eyes staring at him coldly.

"I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed," she answered. "You're missing out…" And with that, she strode away, acting rather high-and-mighty.

"Mmm…I don't think I'm missing out on anything," Sho murmured to himself as he made his way over to the doorway and leaned against the frame, glancing down the hall to where Kei was chatting with Kurisu by the vending machines.

My dear
We're slow dancing in a burning room.

"Hey Kei! You made it!" Kurisu said from behind the vampire as he reached down to grab the bottle of Coke he had just purchased. The vampire stood up and smiled at her warmly.

"I rushed right over," he replied.

"Why aren't you in Sho's office?" she asked, glancing down at the open door, noticing that the nurse named Addison was walking briskly in the opposite direction.

"Uh…he encountered some difficulties with the nursing staff," Kei told her.

"Was it Meredith?"

Kei blinked. "You knew?"

"She's only been asking me to fix her up with Sho-kun nearly every single day and I keep telling her no because he's 'off the market', but she just doesn't believe me," Kurisu explained. Kei turned around and looked over at Sho's office; Meredith was already halfway down the hall after Addison and Sho was standing in the doorway, giving him a look that made it seem as though the brunette wanted to take a bite out of him. He offered a wave and Kei waved back, grinning.

"I should probably head back…" He strode back over to Sho's office, arms wrapping around Sho's neck. "And what is that look for?"

I was the one you always dreamed of
You were the one I tried to draw

"You look absolutely beautiful, angel," he replied, leaning down and capturing his lover's lips in a tender kiss.

"Mmm…that was more like an 'I want to eat you' look," Kei purred.

"Maybe I was giving that look to the Coke bottle in your hands and not you," Sho offered, hands gripping Kei's hips tightly as he backed the blonde against the doorframe.

"That's mean, Sho."

"I know," he said before attacking Kei's neck with his mouth, making the vampire laugh.

"I think you guys might want to continue inside Sho's office rather than halfway in the hallway," Kurisu said, suddenly appearing next to them. Sho stopped and looked up at their friend, smiling apologetically. "Not that I mind, but other people might take offense to it. Mainly Meredith."

How dare you say it's nothing to me?
Baby, you're the only light I ever saw

"She's right," Kei said, smiling as Kurisu simply shook her head and walked away. "And…if we close the door, we have much, much more privacy." Sho grinned and pushed Kei into the office, shutting the door with a resounding click.

"Now on my desk?" he asked, approaching the blonde and backing him against the front of his desk.

"Do you think Kurisu would fire you if she walked in on us having sex on your desk?" Kei queried, smirking wickedly as he pushed away from the brunette.

"She probably wouldn't want the papers that were underneath us," Sho replied thoughtfully, rounding his desk and sitting down in his chair; he was joined moments later by Kei. "And her memory might be scarred for life." Kei chuckled.

"Well, besides that, what just happened with Meredith? How did telling her go?"

"It was hard…in more ways than one," the brunette replied with a light flush. Kei arched an eyebrow and shifted his hips down against Sho's, feeling the younger's hardness stretching his dress pants.

"Mmm…" Kei purred, tongue flicking out to play with Sho's earlobe. "I can still feel that…" Sho laughed breathily and pulled the teasing vampire away from his ear, their lips pressing together tightly.

"Oh god, angel, I love you," Sho gasped as their kiss ended. "You know exactly how to make my day so much better." Kei gave him the sweetest smile and he nuzzled at the brunette's neck…

My dear,
We're slow dancing in a burning room…

Lyrics are Slow Dancing in a Burning Room by John Mayer.

I promise the next update will be within the next two weeks. Once I find out my work schedule, I'll write around that. Because it's summer and I feel as though I owe all of you dedicated readers some quick updates, at least for a little while.

My neighbors are in Disney World for the next few weeks, so I'll be making their video as usual. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's perfectly all right. But I am enjoying working at Caribou Coffee. I work by one right across from a college, so we get a lot of crazy regular people in. Like one guy who's 25 that I'm supposed to be marrying sometime today. …Yeah, I know. xD

Thank you all for reviewing!