Warnings: Unbeta'd. OCCness. Fluff-hunting required.

Chapter 13: MidoKuro – Predestined – Part 2

Well over 3 weeks had passed before Kuroko Tetsuna and the baby were well enough to be discharged. Within that time, Midorima Shintarou had seen to it that he visited Kuroko every day; no small feat considering how long and hectic his shifts usually were.

Both of them had been on tenterhooks since their sudden, unexpected reunion. Yet, if there were to be any chance of making their future living arrangements work, and Midorima was determined to make it so, they had to foster some sort of reconciliation.

However, 3 weeks later, they were still far from comfortable with each other.

Midorima held the door to his condominium open for Kuroko and her baby before following the pair carrying what little luggage they had.

Kuroko looked around. Midorima had downplayed his affluence. His condominium, while modest in size and minimally decorated, exuded an understated luxury.

"Midorima-kun, are you sure it's okay for us to stay here?" Kuroko asked, bouncing her baby gently in her arms.

"Yes. For now, it's your home as well. Treat it as such." Midorima expressed, leaving his self-indulgent concept of 'our home' buried deep, deep down in the recesses of his mind.

"But Tatsuya might cause a few mishaps, and with your décor it might…" Kuroko trailed off.

Midorima understood. Babies and cleanliness should go hand in hand. Yet, they almost never do.

"Note down whatever you don't like, I'll get rid of it," said Midorima.

"How are you going to get rid of the sofa?" Kuroko asked while looking at Tatsuya. He was playing with a lock of her hair.

"You don't like the sofa?" Midorima asked.

"I do. I like the carpet too. But, I can't guarantee Tatsuya won't spew on them, or that the nappy won't leak. I mean, I'll do my best to keep everything in order but-"

"Kuroko." Midorima interrupted Kuroko. She looked as calm as ever, but he knew she still held reservations about staying with him. "It's fine. They're nothing I can't afford to have replaced." At this, Kuroko looked away, unable to shake the awkwardness of his words.

It only took a moment for the significance of his words to ring in, and Midorima regretted saying them immediately.

It was the elephant in the room. The issue both of them were acutely aware of, but neither of whom wished to address.

To Midorima, it didn't matter if his material possessions were ruined, they were replaceable. Kuroko, however, was just the opposite.

The silence between them was stifling. If Tatsuya hadn't started crying, neither Kuroko nor Midorima would've known how to break the silence.

"He's hungry. I better feed him," Kuroko began.

"Right, of course," Midorima agreed and promptly directed mother and child to their room. "The master bedroom's right through here."

"Master bedroom?" Came Kuroko's unsure voice.

"The spare room doubles as my office, and there's more room in here for the cot. You'll be more at ease here," Midorima explained, but he could see in her body language that she had doubts about that too.

In truth, Kuroko was sure this arrangement of theirs broke several codes of propriety. She was still in mourning for her departed husband, yet now she was going to reside in another man's dwelling, live on another man's good graces, and sleep in another man's bed.

"Midorima-kun, we're very grateful for all of your kindness, but still, I feel horrible. We've essentially kicked you out of your own domain," Kuroko said, a small frown gracing her face.

Midorima sighed internally, wishing Kuroko would stop finding excuses to justify them not living together.

"Think nothing of it. I mostly sleep in the study anyways." It was a lie. "You should tend to him." Midorima's eyes motioned to Tatsuya, whose restlessness was becoming more and more apparent.

"Right…" Kuroko sat down on the bed, still somewhat at odds with herself, but now more concerned about having her baby fed.

"I'll get started on dinner," was all Midorima said before he closed the door, leaving a suckling baby and his ruminating mother to examine her feelings.

An hour later, after having his knocks on the door unanswered, Midorima walked into what used to be his bedroom to see Kuroko sleeping in the middle of the bed. Her baby was held, close and secure, in her arms.

Midorima furrowed his brows.

Kuroko was exhausted.

Her parent's death, her husband's death, moving back to Japan, the accident, her baby's premature birth… It must've taken a toll on her to have had to deal with them all by herself. Yet, never once had he heard her utter a single complaint.

'You've always been such a trouper, sometimes, to an almost distressing degree,' Midorima thought to himself.

Kuroko stirred, prompting Midorima's mien to harden. It didn't take much to speculate what she would do if she knew he watched her sleep wearing such a tender expression on his face.

However, it was a false alarm, she didn't wake up. The baby, on the other hand, did.

Midorima stiffened involuntarily. There was a reason he wasn't a pediatrician. He could handle the sick and injured any day of the week, but he wasn't good with children, babies especially. They were weak and helpless; needy little creatures despite their faultless innocence.

He didn't know what to do with himself around them.

Tatsuya's little coos were almost inaudible. His unfocused black eyes looked in Midorima's direction, intuitively sensing that someone was there. Yet, Midorima knew that the baby couldn't have seen more than a metre away. To the child, he was probably a big blob of homosapien capped in green.

It seemed to bother Tatsuya that he couldn't see who was watching over him and his mother for he started to fuss.

The last thing Midorima wanted to do was encroach on them, but if the baby fussed even more he was going to wake up his mother.

Midorima approached them until he was just within Tatsuya's limited field of vision. The baby calmed down almost instantaneously, as if he trusted his own and his mother's safety with the large man looming over them. Midorima wasn't entirely sure, but he could almost guarantee that the baby smiled at him before dozing off again.

Midorima took a step away from the bed. He didn't understand just what the baby found so comforting about his own grumpy face. He grimaced as he spoke to the sleeping baby in barely a whisper, "Don't act so smug, you still look like a globule of tofu to me."

It was 7 p.m. when Kuroko woke up.

Kuroko rubbed her tired eyes as she sat up, cautious not to disturb her still sleeping son. She petted Tatsuya gently on his crown, inwardly praising him for having slept so soundly, as she looked at the bedside clock. Her 20 minute nap had taken 2 hours.

After carefully depositing Tatsuya in his mahogany cot, Kuroko entered the living room. She left the door ajar in case she needed to hear her baby's cries.

Kuroko found dinner wrapped and covered on the dining room table. Kuroko heart squeezed, it had been a long time since she'd had someone cook a meal for her.

Midorima was nowhere to be found, but the light to his study was on.

Two knocks. They were all Kuroko needed to make before the door flung open. It was subtle, but a look of urgency had momentarily occupied Midorima's viridian eyes.

"You're up." Midorima stated.

"You work so hard even on your days off," Kuroko said after a glance into his study.

He had been working on his computer, numerous files and heavy medical tomes strewn all over his desk. Kuroko never knew the man standing before her to be disorganised. It proved the assumption she'd had earlier that day. Today wasn't Midorima's usual day off. He had probably taken today off just so he could bring Tatsuya and her home.

"It comes with the profession," replied Midorima, once again belittling his efforts.

"Well," Kuroko looked up at Midorima. She was still adjusting to his height. Her late husband hadn't been as tall as Midorima. "I'm sorry for interrupting your work. I just wanted to thank you for making dinner."

Kuroko gave a little bow, but Midorima caught the nuance in her expression halfway through her sentence.

"Wait," Midorima started as Kuroko turned away from him. "I haven't eaten either. Give me a sec to reheat everything and I'll join you for dinner." Midorima gave Kuroko's right elbow a little touch just before he left for the kitchen.

A small, seemingly inconsequential touch, but they both knew it was anything but.

A few minutes later, despite her best efforts not to seem unappreciative, Kuroko wrinkled her nose at her plate. It was almost 90% watercress.

Kuroko gave Midorima a little look. She had nothing against vegetables, but this amount of it was almost funny.

"It's has a lot of iron. You need iron. It's healthy, I boiled them," Midorima explained.

"From what I remember of your cooking, you probably over-boiled them." Kuroko smiled thinking back to their middle school days. She knew that ever since her doctors and diagnosed her with anaemia; Midorima had been worried, even if he didn't show it.

Midorima scowled. "You're eating them, doctor's orders."

Kuroko smiled again. Even he could make a joke sometimes.

Kuroko clapped her hands together. "Let's eat."

The pair had eaten in complete silence, the atmosphere as quiet as it had been tense. If the digital clock on the wall had been an analogue instead, there was no question that its ticking would've been heard loud and clear.

"Thank you for the food." Kuroko got up suddenly from her chair and started cleaning up. "I'll put these away."

She was rushing.

Rushing to put their leftovers away.

Rushing to get away from Midorima.

However, Midorima's hand rushed out even faster and took a hold of Kuroko's wrist. Without letting go of her, he took the white porcelain plate from her grasp and placed it on the table.

"We need to talk."

Midorima felt the tension in Kuroko's body the moment he said those four clichéd words. Still, he didn't let go. He didn't want to.

He pivoted sideways on his seat so he sat facing her. It was better with if she stood and he sat. His height had a tendency to intimidate people, and although he knew Kuroko had been the manager of his basketball team of days gone by, he didn't want to take any risks.

There was no horoscope accurate enough in the world when it came to Kuroko Tetsuna.

No risk he felt worth taking when it came to her.

"Please, just let me go," said Kuroko. Her face was calm, but her voice wavered, betraying the emotions she was feeling.

"Is there a double meaning to that sentence?" Midorima asked, his grip firm, but nevertheless gentle, on her wrist.

"Triple, if that's what it'll take for you to release me." Kuroko used her free hand to try and pry away from Midorima's hold, alas to no avail.

"Do you find me so appalling?" Midorima asked her, his eyes burning with an intensity which matched his delivery.

"I do when you act this way," said Kuroko defiantly, still tugging to free her hand.

"I wouldn't have to act so brutish if you didn't act so-"

"Justifiably nervous around you?" Kuroko cut Midorima off. "I'm sorry Midorima-kun, I thought we'd made it clear where we stood. I was naïve to believe this arrangement would work out. Tatsuya and I will move-"

"Justifiably nervous?" Midorima interjected. "It's been over 3 weeks Kuroko, yet you still act like you're ready to bolt every single time I come near you. You're conflicted, I know. The state we left our relationship in back then, your marriage, your baby… I appreciate just now overwhelming everything must be for you. But don't keep pushing me away."

"You promised me this wasn't about us. We agreed that nothing could ever happen between us," Kuroko reminded him.

"No, you said it. I never agreed." Midorima bore into Kuroko's blue eyes. "I want there to be an 'us' again. Yes, I lied when I promised that I'd 'just' take care of you while you cared for your baby. I'm not proud of it. But, even that you seem determined to reject. Why is it so hard for you to stomach the fact that I want to provide for the two of you?"

"Because!" Kuroko had finally had enough. With as much strength as she could muster, she flung her wrist free of Midorima's grasp.

She stepped back until her leg hit the wall.

Midorima had never seen Kuroko like this. He'd never heard her raise her voice. He sat completely still. One wrong move and he was sure he'd spook her.

"You've been kind to us, and no one could ever fault you for that. But, all of this…" Kuroko looked around. "Tatsuya would've provided for us."

Midorima frowned.

"I was with Tatsuya far, far longer than I ever was with you." Midorima clenched his jaw at this knowledge. "He's gone, but I still love him, and he's given me a son I adore more than anything else in the world."

As if knowing that he was being spoken of, Tatsuya started crying, causing both adults to look in that direction.

Kuroko waited a moment before she started walking towards the master bedroom, wondering if she'd stumble without the wall to brace against.

"So, Midorima-kun," Kuroko began once she had her back to Midorima. "Even beyond the guilt, and the remorse, I just don't think there's any room left for you in my heart."

Midorima didn't know what to say to that, but that didn't mean that he liked how Kuroko was walking away from him again.

"I'm sorry, Midorima-kun."

Cringe... I feel like I wrote for the wrong fic lol...

Please don't throw that rotten tomato you have in your hand :(

Let me know what you thought :)