Yu-Gi-Oh is the property of Konami and Kazuki Takahashi, and this work is only a very appreciative celebration, from which we hope to derive no profit of any kind.

Yami didn't know what time it was when he woke up. He didn't know what it was that woke him either, whether it was the coldness of Donald's unheated bedroom, or the discomfort of sleeping half-upright, still wearing all his clothes. Then he heard a voice from the doorway: "Begging your pardon sir, but His Lordship says I must fetch you right now." He looked up to see one of the housemaids - Lizzie, he thought her name was. - in the doorway, and realized she must have been knocking for some time, and that was what woke him.

"Y-Yami?" Yuugi was curled on the bed beside him, his head in Yami's lap. He looked up now, his hair tousled, his face still creased with sleep. "Is it morning?" Still half-asleep, he looked the same cute, loving boy he'd always been, but he woke quickly, and Yami saw his face change as he remembered the events of the day before.

"Is the constable here?" First he asked it of Yami, then he looked at the girl in the doorway. "Tell Father we'll be right down," he told her.

"Yes Master Yuugi." The automatic obedient response, followed by her protest: "You can stay abed if you like," she said. "Your father only said he wanted Master Donald."

Yuugi stood. Fully dressed, with his starched collar under one ear and one buckle of his knickers undone as he was, he still looked dignified, and more mature than Yami had ever seen him. "This concerns both of us, Lizzie. Tell Father we'll both be right down."

"Yes Master Yuugi." The girl was gone, and Yuugi wasted no time in following her. He paused in the doorway of the bedroom to re-buckle his knickers, ran a hand through the tumbled strands of his red-blond hair. – Yami would have waited long enough to comb his hair properly, and perhaps change clothes as well. – Then he was ready.

"Yuugi," – Yami stopped him in the doorway, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You remember what you told him last night?" He meant that Yuugi would give himself up to the constable as well, if the Earl tried to have him arrested. But he didn't want to say the words; he didn't want to picture Yuugi behind bars even for long enough to say them. "You won't…" – Normally he was the strong one, the firm one, but now he was stammering, as nervous as a schoolboy. – "I mean, that was just talk, wasn't it? It's bad enough one of us should go to prison," he said. "I don't want it to be both of us, Yuugi."

"Last night you said we could trust Father, and I'm going to trust him." Yuugi's voice shook, but only a little bit; someone outside the conversation probably wouldn't have caught it. He stood firm though, pausing in the doorway just long enough to talk to Yami, before continuing toward the stairs. "He won't send me to prison, and he won't send you either."

"Yuugi, just don't give yourself up." Yami put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him as he reached the stairs. "I don't care what happens as long as it's just to me." -

With a jerk of his shoulder, Yuugi shook him off. "No," he said, his voice rising. "I won't stand by and watch Father arrest you, you can't tell me to do it."

He continued down the stairs, pausing on the landing to look back and see if Yami was coming. "You'll see," he said, slipping his hand into Yami's as they entered the ground floor drawing room together. "Father will do the right thing." Silently, Yami followed. He'd like to have believed Yuugi, but he couldn't summon much confidence.

And inside the drawing room, was a daunting sight: The Earl sat, very upright in a wing-chair, as if it were a throne. His wife was to one side, her face troubled, her hands wringing nervously, as though she were unable to keep them still. A tall, rawboned man on the hearthrug, his Inverness cape still on, and just unbuttoned to allow for the heat in the room, had to be Constable Greer. So the Earl was going to do it, Yami thought, and he prayed to whatever gods might recognize a London street-Arab and ex-Muslim, who'd been living a sinful life these past ten years, that Yuugi would hold off from making his own confession as well. Under the cold eyes of the assemblage, he found it impossible to believe that Lord Kirkconnell would relent; it would be both of them in prison instead of just one, if Yuugi said the wrong thing. And that, he couldn't bear to see happen.

"Come in." The Earl glanced Yami's way, ignoring Yuugi's presence altogether. "Let's get this over with."

Yami heard Yuugi catch his breath. "Father, no," he said softly.

"Stay out of this, Yuugi." The Earl's voice wasn't his normal boom, but something almost like a growl. Apparently Yami wasn't the only one worried by Yami's threat. "This doesn't concern you."

He looked toward the constable, standing on the hearthrug. "We're about ready to begin," he said. "There's just one more gentleman to wait for."

Pegasus. He meant Pegasus. Yami wondered whether his partner was taking his time arriving on purpose, to give him and Yuugi more time. But more time for what?

"Father, there's no need to wait." Yuugi stepped forward. "Remember, I have something to tell Constable Greer too." He looked at his father, challenge written on his face. "Shall I go first?"

"Yuugi, be still!" The Earl's voice rose. "I told you to keep out of this."

"Do as your father says, Yuugi." From the sidelines, the Countess spoke up, her voice sounding very unhappy. "You've always been a good boy."

"I will not have defiance in this household." The Earl was still thundering, but his voice sounded a little scared. Yami was scared too. How far was Yuugi going to go with this? And what would happen when the events went out of his control?

"This doesn't concern me?" Yuugi threw a challenging look at his father. "Father, this concerns everything about me." He looked at the constable. "Did Father tell you why he wanted you here, Constable Greer?"

"No sir, Master Yuugi." Greer looked nothing but confused. He looked at the Earl, then looked back at Yuugi. Who knew what was going through his mind? He had to be used to the way Lord Kirkconnell blustered and shouted, but did he know Yuugi at all? And did he know him as anything but the friendly, playful boy he normally was?

"I brought you here," the Earl began. He threw an angry, very stern look at his son, as if daring him to say a word. Then he looked back at Greer. "There are some people…"

"There has been a crime committed here," Yuugi said. He stood very straight, and he looked dead-on at Constable Greer, not sparing even a glance at his father. Yami's heart swelled, even while fear gnawed at him: This was courage, this was love in action. Yuugi had promised he would not let Yami go to prison alone, and he was standing by his words. "Perhaps Father didn't tell you the details, but I will."

"A crime?" Like so many, apparently the Constable was used to underestimating Yuugi, because his head turned toward the Earl, and it was to him that he addressed his questions. "Has there been a crime?"

The Earl looked conflicted. It was the only word. His face was troubled in a way Yami hadn't seen before, not even right after he'd found out about Donald's death. He looked Yami's way, then he looked at Yuugi, and then he looked back toward the constable.

"Tell him, Father." Yuugi's voice was low. "Tell him or I will."

"A crime?" Greer repeated the words like saying them again might make this whole confrontation start having some sense to it. "Someone has stolen… There's been violence perhaps?"

There was a long silence, a very long silence. Everyone looked at everyone else; no one said a word. Greer's face was a study in confusion, while the Earl's face showed a look Yami couldn't find a name for. Only Yuugi's expression was un-conflicted, love shining out of it, and the courage of someone willing to speak the simple truth. Then, right when Yami was wondering if anyone would speak at all, a voice broke the silence.

"Ohh, if no one else will tell you the truth, I will." It was the Countess. She threw a quick, challenging look her husband's way, then she continued. "It's simply a crime, Mr. Greer, how my husband and I have been neglecting our local constabulary, and all our generosity has been going elsewhere all these years."

Yami gaped. He looked around and saw that the others in the room were surprised as well. Yuugi's eyes were like saucers. The Earl was opening and shutting his mouth, as stunned-looking as a fish on ice. Only the Constable was taking her words calmly. No doubt he was past trying to understand the ways of the nobility.

The Countess was taking out her purse. "Why just this afternoon," she said, "I gave rather a large contribution to the dear Vicar for the church repair fund. And the ladies were talking about how we should raise money for the poor-fund as well. But it's one thing to help a lot of shiftless beggars. What have we done for our brave men who protect our dear community? That's the question I asked myself." She had her checkbook in her hand. "And I want to know, dear Constable Greer: Is there a fund for the support of retired police officers? One to help your men if they are wounded in the line of duty? I simply can't bear the thought that the men who protect me might want for anything after they are past working any more."

"Your Ladyship…" The constable's mouth didn't seem to be working quite right; his words coming out in jerks, through stiff lips. All his movements were stiff, and he stared at the Countess like he'd never seen anyone fill out a check before. "I… – Certainly we have a fund."

"Thank you, Your Ladyship," he mumbled, taking the completed check from her but without any change to the confused look on his face. And if he looked confused, the rest of the assembly looked gobsmacked. The Earl in particular, looked like he couldn't decide if he was angry or delighted, relieved or confused. His eyes were so round they looked about to pop out of his head, and he opened and shut his mouth, watching his wife as if her actions would tell him what to say.

"Father?" Yuugi stood still and straight, as he'd been standing since he'd come into the room. He didn't push his father, he just looked at him with the proud look of someone standing on principle.

"The Earl and I like to think of ourselves as friends of the constabulary." Meanwhile, Her Ladyship was burbling on, her usual stream of cooing, not-quite-meaningful chatter, and she edged Constable Greer away from the rest of the group, engaging him in conversation about the police fund, who it covered, and where it was most in need of revenue. In the background, Yami could hear them, the constable telling her about several officers who had lost limbs due to improperly use of animal-traps, and the Countess suggesting that she put this before the ladies of the church, and raise more funds that way. He felt relief, but mixed with confusion, as he watched the two principal actors in this scene, face off against each other.

"You know I have nothing to say." The Earl's voice was gruff, and he didn't look Yuugi in the eye as he spoke. "Your mother is protecting you the way she always does."

"I'm not afraid, Father." Yuugi looked toward the other side of the room, where the Countess and Constable Greer were talking. "The constable is still here, if you have something you want to tell him."

The Earl followed Yuugi's gaze, but then looked quickly back at his son. "By God, Yuugi! A man! A criminal," he sputtered.

"The heart has its reasons, Father. Did you choose to fall in love when you met Mother?"

"Your mother and I… It was a very good match. Oh by God, I can't talk to you any more Yuugi." The Earl sprung from his chair, his whole manner a study of agitation. But he kept his voice low, pitching his words to avoid the constable hearing. "You are completely out of control," he said. "I tremble to think what kind of end you will come to," and he hustled out of the room, his movements quick and abrupt.

"Have I missed anything?" It seemed no sooner did the Earl shut the door behind him, than Pegasus was opening it, popping his head in like a Punch and Judy show. His partner looked bright and debonair as always, Yami noted, not deigning to notice (or show that he noticed) such little things as the risk of being sent to prison.

"Oh, good morning Colonel." The Countess' own façade was just as good; from the looks of her, she might have been at a garden party, enjoying the company of all her favorite friends. "Do come in. I was going to show Constable Greer out, and then we'll go to the dining room and have breakfast, shall we?"

"Breakfast, ah certainly." His eyes flicked toward Yami and Yuugi. If ever there was a man looking "what the hell is going on," Pegasus was that man. "The most important meal of the day, isn't that what they call it? Ah, good morning, Constable, er, Margaret?" His bow toward the Countess was just a shade stiff, his voice a bit nervous, as befits a man when he's not quite sure but what one guest might still turn around and arrest the other one.

"Dear Colonel." There was the tiniest hint of acid in the Countess's tone, nothing Greer would be likely to notice. "Trot along into the dining room with the boys, won't you? I'll just show the constable out, and then we'll have a nice talk." For a sweet lady, she could be ominous when she wanted to be, and there was something of that in her look now, or perhaps it was in her voice. Her 'nice talk', Yami suspected, might be harder to deal with than any of the Earl's roaring, thunderous speeches.

"Yes, ...Er, certainly." But it wasn't Pegasus who left, so much as Yuugi who hustled him out. - He hustled Yami out as well, his presence of mind, or his familiarity with his mother's expectations, better at this confusing moment, than either of theirs.

"Your mother just saved us, didn't she?" They were in the hallway outside the dining room when Yami found his voice. - Pegasus still seemed confused into silence. - "Did you expect that?"

"Mother loves us." Yuugi caught himself, swallowed, then spoke again. "She will love you, Yami, she'd love anyone I... Well, she'll love you, because we're together. She understands that. You're her family now, as well as me. She's just faster than Father is, at understanding that."