Morg: Heyo!

Ikuto: I'm not exactly pleased with you.

Amu: What did she do now?

Morg: I don't know.

Ikuto: You know what you did.

Amu: She just said she doesn't know.

Morg: Wait… Is this because this story is almost over and it's one of your favorites because of the citrus quality?

Ikuto: Maybe.

Amu: Okay then. I'm glad that neither of you own me.

Morg: Sometimes I am, too.

Ikuto: I do own you, Amu.

Amu: Nope!

Morg: Maybe someday!

~Alone With You~

Being back in her home was something that Amu thought would never happen. After being on the run for so long, she felt suffocated in her manor. Her mother wouldn't allow her to leave since she was very much pregnant and very much showing. Then again, her mother didn't want to see her either. Not that Amu minded that. She spent most of her time with her maids/best friends. The four girls were doting on her so much. Amu really had missed them.

Unfortunately, they weren't Ikuto.

Amu still couldn't decide what she thought about what had happened on the mountain top. Ikuto had just given up. Part of her wanted to be reasonable and argue that it had been dangerous and that he'd acted in the only way that could guarantee not only her safety but the safety of their child.

The other part of her wanted to cry, scream and rage for a while. He'd just given up. The man hadn't even tried to prevent them from taking her. She was supposed to be the love of his life and he hadn't even tried.

Sighing, Amu shifted in the large, comfortable chair in her room. The pinkette knew she didn't have much more time before one of the girls came in and scolded her for being so lazy.

As if on cue, Ran entered the room. "There you are, Amu-chan! Let's get you up and out of that chair so you can get walking!"

Amu was beyond reluctant to do as the other girl ordered. However, she knew that if she didn't get up and start moving then she'd have all four of them fussing over her. Some days, that's exactly what she needed. Today wasn't one of those days. "I'll be in the garden then."

Ran gave a firm nod of her head and moved to tidy up the already clean room. "I'll come check on you in a while."

Since there was no getting out of her walk, Amu actually went for one. At least they had the giant garden on their secluded property. The area was Su's baby. The girl took amazing care of all the flowers and plants. Amu was rather impressed. Not much had changed while she was away, but enough had that she noticed.

Walking slowly because she'd put on some weight during the last few weeks she'd been imprisoned, Amu maneuvered her way down the garden path. So lost in her thoughts she was that she didn't notice where she was going until she was already there. Memories of that night so long ago flooded into her mind. She'd been out in the garden just as she was now. The man had appeared out of nowhere to speak with her. Amu had threatened him or something. She couldn't remember much anymore of what was said.

She could, however, remember how handsome she thought the stranger was though he seemed to be a bit of an egotistical jerk. So much had changed since that night. She'd gone to that stupid beach house to meet the son of some guy that her mom hated but secretly still loved. Things had been weird at first. Amu still hadn't touched her photo album since her return though the girls had tried to give it back to her.

Traveling the world with Ikuto had definitely changed her. He'd changed her, but then again, Amu knew that she'd changed him as well. Everything had changed.

Sitting, not because she wanted to bask in her memories some more but because her ankles were dying, Amu rested on the bench that still had a lovely view of the garden.

Glad that the night was warm enough that she didn't have to be bundled up, Amu sat in her thoughts. If Ran or one of the other girls found her she'd get scolded for sitting, but at least this wasn't just in her room.

After a while, Amu knew she was just pushing her luck. Slowly, she pushed herself and her large belly back to her feet to amble inside. Maybe she'd get Dia to braid her hair before she went to bed.

Just as she was about to leave, Amu noticed a small brown package sitting beneath the bench she'd been sitting on. Huffing out an annoyed breath of air, Amu tried to maneuver herself so that she could pick it up. Getting that package was more work than her walk had been.

Once again sitting on the bench, but this time with her prize in her hands, Amu looked down at the box. She pulled off the lid to find two things inside: a message and a cellphone.

The message read: 'I love you.'

XXX

Rima was pissed. First of all, Amu and Ikuto had been caught and Amu was dragged back to Japan. Second, Ikuto had had to sneak back into Japan even though it was his country, too. Third, Amu's mom had refused to let her see one of her best friends. Fourth, Ikuto had had to secretly meet with her because his plan wasn't working out quite the way he wanted it to. Now Rima had to go and force her way into Amu's house to settle things with the dense pinkette.

Rima had plenty of reasons to be pissed. Her anger, however, helped in this situation. It fueled her to do something that she normally wouldn't, though that was mostly because she was lazy.

Stomping her way up to the front of Amu's mother's house, Rima didn't bother knocking before she shoved the giant door open and entered the estate. The guards at the gate had known better than to refuse her. News had spread rapidly about the daughter of one of the largest companies. She'd eloped with a boy that was beneath her status and was disowned. Unfortunately, for her parents, Rima hadn't let that hold her back. All the training and grooming that she'd been forced into only prepared her for what she had to do. In the end, she still took over her father's company. Though her parents still wouldn't speak to her.

Rima was not someone to mess with.

"What are you doing here?"

Midori. The person that Rima wanted to see, yet didn't. "I'm here to talk to Amu. I'll be going to her room."

Stepping forward, Midori frowned at the younger girl. "I don't think so."

Glaring, Rima simply held her ground. Rich idiots didn't scare her. "I do. I know all about her little 'predicament' so unless you want the news to get out that your daughter now only spent the last however many months running away from you but also got pregnant along the way, I suggest you start thinking so, too."

Rima was no longer the only one pissed. For some little girl to just come into her house and try to tell her what to do, Midori could barely contain her anger. "I don't know who told you such lies, but-"

"Try the father."

Midori fell silent at that. "…What?"

"Oh, didn't you know?" Rima couldn't help but smirk as the older woman visibly paled. "Tsukiyomi-sama-the old one-is retiring. His son is fully taking over all assets of his company and even making investments in others. Tsukiyomi-sama-the younger one-is becoming more and more powerful with each passing hour. It's been said that he's going to run all of Japan. Haven't you been going to work?"

"That can't be."

Not letting her smirk fade, Rima shifted to walk around the older woman. "Oh, and it's been rumored that he's soon to be engaged."

There was no response, not that Rima was waiting for one. She'd been in the mansion a few times before for dinner parties and other things. She and Amu might not have been good friends before the pinkette's stay in a beach house near where Rima vacationed, but that didn't mean that they weren't friends at all.

Just like she had at the front door, Rima didn't bother to knock. Instead, she entered the room bluntly. Amu was on her bed, fat and pampered with a servant on each side. They were feeling her belly from the looks of it. Their hands still sat on the girl's protruding bump even as they looked over at Rima in shock. "I need to talk to Amu."

"Rima?"

Rolling her eyes, the blonde sauntered into the room. "No, it's the pizza man."

"You and Nagi switched jobs?"

So she was the same snarky Amu. Good. "Not really. We just run a rather large company together now. That's beside the point, however. I'm not here to talk to you about Nagihiko."

Sighing, Amu simply leaned back against her pillows. "Then why are you here? Wait… How did you get past my guard dog of a mother?"

Grinning, Rima moved to sit on the bed with the other three girls. Clearly, these were the servants that were close with Amu. "I told her that I was going to see you and walked around her. She won't disturb us. Now, what's this I hear about you receiving a present and not using it?"

Amu knew right away what her friend was talking about. Despite knowing that the phone she'd found earlier in the week was from Ikuto, she hadn't even turned it on. "What present?"

"A lot of things you are, Amu, but dumb isn't one of them. Neither are you a liar."

Well, the dense plan didn't work. Sighing, Amu gestured to her nightstand. Miki was quick to pull out the box that she knew Amu kept there. Once it was in her hands, Amu pulled the phone out and fiddled with it like she'd done numerous times before. The girls had all tried to get her to power it up, but she had yet to do so. "This one?"

Nodding, Rima gave the other girl a small smile. "That's the one. Care to tell me why you haven't even turned it on?"

Looking at the phone in her hands, Amu remembered being on that mountain top. Ikuto hadn't done anything but let her go. "What if it tells me something I don't want to hear?"

Smirking, Rima met those golden eyes and held the gaze. "What if it tells you something you need to hear?"

Sucking in a breath, Amu tore her eyes away to look back at the phone in her hands. Without letting herself think about what she was doing, she held the power button down until the screen lit up.

"You know, he sent me here to make certain that you're doing okay. He also wanted me to make certain you got his present. I think he was beginning to worry that the wrong person had found it."

Blinking back some tears, Amu simply watched the screen as lights swirled around until the background lit up. The picture was one of her and Ikuto that was taken at some point during their travels. It looked like Africa with Kimi and Kukai. They'd taken it after finding out that she was pregnant. After seeing it, Amu couldn't hold back her tears anymore.

The smirk on Rima's face turned into a sad smile as she motioned for the two servants to follow her out of the room. "We'll give you some time to decide if you want to call or not. There's only one number saved in there."

Amu didn't move as the door to her room shut. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the handsome face beside her own in the picture. Call it denial, but she knew now that she really couldn't live without that man.

Almost frantically, Amu tried to find the phonebook. There wasn't a reason for such a fancy phone and yet Ikuto had gotten her one. After figuring out how to use the damn thing, she stared at the only number listed. It was under a name she hadn't allowed herself to say out loud for weeks.

Shakily, Amu lifted the device up to her ear to listen as it rang. Just as she thought no one was going to answer, the line clicked.

"Hello? Amu?"

Her breath hitched as that silky voice made its way through the phone. "Ikuto."

"Amu!"

She couldn't help but sob.

.

Morg: Oh snap! Only one chapter left!

Ikuto: Lame!

Amu: Finally!

Morg: There will be an epilogue!

Ikuto: Better be.

Amu: There isn't a need.

Morg: Always a need!