It had been nearly a month and the house looked like Sophie had never been here to clean it. All she did was stay in her room trying to make herself look better. Calcifer had never seen Howl so depressed and Markl had definitely lost weight. Things just seemed to be getting worse and worse. It was early in the morning and Howl was sauntering aimlessly down the stairs. "Calcifer, heat up some water. I can't stand anymore of Sophie's nonsense – it's driving me crazy! I'm not even sure I care for her anymore…"

"Well…" the flame shrugged. "She was doing this for you, remember? Because you didn't want to have kids, right?"

"That's not it, Calcifer… it's not that I don't want kids with Sophie; I just don't want kids, period."

"Markl's a kid."

"Markl doesn't crap in his pants and expect us to clean it up." Howl rubbed his forehead and went back upstairs to the bathroom. "Is the water warm yet?"

"Yes," Calcifer replied, suddenly hearing a door slam shut. Then Howl yelled Sophie's name and told her to get out of the bathroom. "She beat you to it?" the flame called, smiling. Howl growled loudly in frustration. He was always bad at hiding his emotions.

He stomped downstairs and dropped himself in the chair, cursing under his breath. There was no denying that Howl was thoroughly pissed off now. Calcifer sighed deeply. "Master Howl, I know Sophie's been acting differently and all but… I don't know, maybe you could try to be a little bit more understanding. You know she has… well, had a low self-esteem. To be honest, it's partly your fault that she's like this."

Howl death glared at the flame. "My fault?" his voice was murderous. "You can't pin the blame on me for Sophie becoming a-!"

"Calcifer?" Markl yawned from the top of the stairs. "Howl's making too much noise – it woke me up."

"And now you're disturbing Markl's sleep, master Howl. Really, he's a growing boy and he needs his rest!"

Howl abruptly stood up, face full of fury. "That's right, it's all my fault!" he yelled. "Blame the guy that didn't do anything!"

You did Sophie enough… Calcifer mentally argued. Sophie soon emerged from the bathroom at the top of the stairs, a hand on her forehead. Everyone stared at her for a moment before she finally spoke. "Howl…" her voice sounded like she was recovering from a hangover. "I feel dizzy…" she said. It wasn't even clear to her why she was standing at the top of the stairs in her condition but for the moment, nothing made sense. She'd suddenly forgotten everything and heard nothing but Howl's voice shouting her name. And then, she felt nothing but Howl's arms wrapped around her protectively. "Howl…" she managed one last time before everything went blank.

-star- -star- -star-

Sophie's vision slowly swam into focus. She could only just make out the figures of Markl and Howl sitting beside her. She was lying on the floor of the main room, oblivious to everything. "W… what happened?"

Howl's expression was frantic. "You fainted, that's what! Haven't you been eating properly? Did you hit your head?"

Sophie let out an uncaring sigh and sat up. "I didn't hit myself, did I?" she asked.

"No," Howl answered. "I caught you before you hit anything. What happened?"

She shook her head and made an attempt to stand but found herself stumbling backwards. Luckily, Howl caught her before she hit the ground. Sophie's eyelids were dropping again. "Sophie," Howl said before she fell asleep again. "Please – tell me what happened?"

She groaned and rubbed her eyes but could not fight the exhaustion she felt. "Please, Howl… take me to my bed…" she mumbled finally letting go of consciousness. Howl looked at her for a long while before finally exhaling deeply and carrying her to her room.

"Markl," he called. "Get a damp cloth and a bowl of water."

Calcifer had a smug grin on his face. "I thought you said you didn't care about her anymore?"

Howl paused. He'd forgotten about that. "Fine – I was wrong. She may be disguised a selfish whore but…" he sighed deeply, closing his eyes and bringing her closer to his chest. "But my Sophie is still there. I don't know where but she is." With that, he went into Sophie's room without another word. The flame continued to smile to himself, suddenly feeling superior after getting his master to admit he was wrong.

Markl entered Sophie's room, carrying the bowl full of water with a cloth. Sophie looked like she was only half conscious but still sitting upright on her bed with Howl sitting on the chair beside her. "are you alight now, Sophie?" he asked (for the seventh time that minute.

Sophie nodded vaguely. "Howl," she croaked. "I have something to tell you."

"what is it?" he said as Markl put the bowl down on a table beside Howl.

-star- -star- -star-

"WHAT?"

Markl stumbled out of Sophie's room, gasping in fear.

"what is it, kid?" Calcifer asked him.

Markl tried to catch his breath again. "it's Sophie…" he managed. "she's going to have a baby…"

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alright, so now Sophie's pregnant - DUNDUNDUN!

So review and tell me what you think:)