I was looking back through some of my older stuff, and I happened across my "Merits of Marriage" folder and thought, 'perhaps I should start that up again. I know it may not be up to my usual par, but please enjoy, and hopefully I'll have more out soon!
"No."
Kyouya raised an eyebrow. "And why not?" he asked.
Haruhi, sitting on the edge of their bed, folded her arms crossly. "You know why not," she said stubbornly. "I don't have time right now... we agreed that we would wait until we were both ready."
"And when will that be? When you're too old to carry a child?"
"Don't be ridiculous," she scoffed. "I'm only twenty three."
"Youth is fleeting Haruhi. My father is getting impatient. He wonders why all my brothers have produced heirs, and yet I have nothing to show for this marriage."
Haruhi replied, "Tell him we're waiting."
"I have. He asks 'for what?' What am I supposed to tell him, Haruhi? Because I have no answer to the question either!"
Haruhi, blinked, realizing that Kyouya was angry. He was generally a very collected person (save first thing in the morning), so this sudden outburst alarmed her.
"Kyouya..." she said softly, rising from the bed.
He regarded her warily. "Why does a child threaten you so much?" he asked. "You will continue to work through the pregnancy and then you will give birth, take perhaps a month off, and then go back to work."
"And what of the child?"
"That's what a nanny is for."
"I'm not raising our baby that way!" she snapped. "Children deserve to know their parents!"
Kyouya sighed. "Haruhi, I am trying to find a solution to this, but you have two goals that you refuse to combine! You want to be a lawyer, and you want to be a mother. And you don't want to be both."
Haruhi looked down, her hair falling into her face.
Kyouya could tell he had upset her. With another sigh, he took her into his arms and said, "We'll wait."
It was as much of an apology as Haruhi could ever expect from him. Swallowing, she said, "Twenty-five."
"Twenty five?" he repeated, looking down at her.
"Yes," she confirmed. "We can have a baby when I turn twenty-five. That should be young enough for your father, right?"
Kyouya could barely believe what she was saying. "Haruhi, are you certain?" he asked, tensing.
She nodded. "Positive."
"Very well, but I'll hold you to this," he said, lowering his face to hers.
"I have no doubt," she replied, placing her arms around his neck.