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.

He opened the door of the dining room. Inside, breakfast was laid out just like any other morning. The toast racks were filled, the chafing dishes steamed. Fragrance rose from a dozen delicious dishes, and a pot of tea sat under its cozy, with sugar bowl and cream pitcher close by. Of the Earl, there was no sign, but the serving girl, Lizzie, who'd been fetched Yami and Yuugi down earlier, was there, hanging around, dusting random objects, looking more as if she was waiting, than like she had any real purpose for being there.

"Good morning again, Master Donald, Master Yuugi." Her words were the bare, correct greeting of a servant to an employer, but her face spoke volumes. "I…" She looked at them urgently. "That is to say..." A swallow, and she fiddled with her apron. "Oh, Master Donald, Master Yuugi, you're not leaving, are you?"

"Oh, Lizzie." Yuugi hugged her. - By every rule of aristocratic behavior that Pegasus had taught Yami, by every standard he'd expect of the nobility, it was completely wrong. It was an astoundingly inappropriate thing to do, but Yuugi, put love ahead of station as he'd always done, ever since Yami had known him. He was warm and caring to a servant girl, just as he was to his mother and father ...just as he was to a street-rat from Central London, who'd lied and pretended to be his brother. "No, we're not leaving," he said. "We wouldn't leave, this is our home."

"Your father..." The girl seemed relieved, a little confused.

"Mother," Yuugi said, and Lizzie nodded, as if this answered a question she hadn't dared ask.

"Her Ladyship's a good person. Impulsively, Lizzie gave Yuugi another quick hug, then she turned and broke away. "I'd better tell Cook," she said. "She'll want to know. Oh, thank you, Master Yuugi," and she left the room.

As soon as they were alone, Pegasus turned towards Yuugi and Yami. "What the hell just happened?"

"Mother," Yuugi stammered.

While at the same time, "the Countess," Yami said.

Pegasus' eyes widened. "And the Earl just let her?" Before the others could so much as nod, "she said she wanted a talk with me, didn't she?" He clutched Yami's shoulder, threw Yuugi an appealing glance. "You'll both stay, won't you?"

It would be more than any of them could do, to cross Her Ladyship when she was in full spate, Yami thought, feeling a little amusement at the greenish, fearful look his normally debonair partner wore on his face, combined with fear at the thought that he might have to face her himself as well. The tap-tap-tap of heels in the hallway outside the door, told him that someonewas going to face her though, and sooner rather than later.

A moment later, the door opened. The lady outside was petite and sweet-faced, dressed in fluffy lace and smelling of lavender sachet in proper motherly fashion, but though her smile was warm, the steely glint in her eye brooked no opposition.

"Yuugi dear," she said. "Run along up to your room, will you? There's a good boy. And Don - Ah, Yami, why don't you go with him? I'm sure you have a lot to talk about."

"Begging your pardon, Your Ladyship," - Pegasus, normally the equal of whoever he met, from Dukes all the way down to flower-sellers in Covent Garden, was in full crawl-mode now, as meek as a servant facing his master. "but I'm not staying. Perhaps you should speak to..."

"Did you say something, dear?" The Countess tilted her head his way, her expression never changing. "If you'd rather talk to the constable instead of me?"

"Oh no, Your Ladyship. It's just that I'm ...Yami's the one who will be staying here, you see."

"Perhaps you're right." She nodded. "All right, dear, Yami may stay. Trot along now, Yuugi. We're going to have a nice talk, just the three of us."

She watched, waited until her son was out of the room. When she turned back to the other two, she was entirely the lady of the manor, her motherly attitude gone completely. "Sit down, you two," she said. "There are some important things we need to discuss."

There was no thought of disobeying.

The Countess for her part, took her time. She poured a little tea, tasted it, then rang for Lizzie to bring fresh hot water. Then she waited, before bringing the hot pot to the table.

"Tea, Yami?" It wasn't an offer, it was an order. "And for you, Max dear?" Fragile, bone-china cups were passed to them, cups containing the proper mix of tea, lemon and cream to suit each of their taste, such as any good hostess would provide.

"Who are you?" The Countess looked at Yami over her teacup. "I want the whole story, and I want the truth."

There was no point keeping anything from her; her blue eyes felt like they could see into his soul and extract any secrets he kept back. Yami gave her what she'd asked for: The whole story. About his birth in Egypt, about his mother's death while he was still a baby, about his father taking him to London, and how he'd died too, just a few years later. He told about the desperation of trying to find a living all by himself, on the streets of London, and how he'd been grateful to accept Pegasus' offer of help, even though it had meant helping him to con people and break the law.

The Countess listened, her eyes cool, impassive, maybe showing a little more warmth as he told his story, but certainly not showing any of the quick emotion he might have expected from a relative of Yuugi's.

"And is that the whole truth then?" she asked when he was done.

Yami nodded.

"I hope so, for your sake." Her words were cool, but the look she gave him was not unkind.

The Countess turned to Pegasus. "And you," she said, "did you really take this boy off the streets so you could teach him to be a criminal? Did you have no thought of his character?"

Pegasus' face hardened just a little. "Begging your pardon Your Ladyship," he murmured. "I thought more of his survival. He was starving on the streets."

The Countess just looked at him.

"I grew up among the aristocracy," Pegasus said. "All through my childhood I was with them, but not one of them. As an adult, I turned the lies I learned as a child to my own profit. I'd never been trained for a profession, or taught to do an honest day's work. What was I supposed to do, starve? And I'm not ashamed of having taught Yami the same thing. He's good-looking, he's talented; he'd have been wasted in the life of a rag-picker."

A rag-picker… The Countess' gaze flicked over to Yami for a moment. What was she seeing, he wondered. Was it the street-Arab lowlife he'd been, or the presentable gentleman he'd managed to make of himself?

"Enough." She looked back at Pegasus. "You're Raffles in your own eyes, I'm sure. You're the very picture of a heroic, larger-than-life villain, and your exciting crimes of stealing a family's heirlooms or kissing married women on the sly are much more thrilling than the normal lives of law-abiding people. Never mind," she said. "You'll be gone soon enough, and I'll have the task of straightening out your young protegee's character." She looked back at Yami again, and this time he knew he did not mistake the kindness in her expression.

"Did you really come so close to starving?" She sounded like a mother, like his mother probably sounded, long, long ago.

"There was food to be gotten." Yami didn't like to even think about his past, but if this was the way to the Countess' heart, he didn't want to stint with the details. "I worked," he said. "And my father had a few friends in London. They helped me sometimes."

The Countess looked at him, her face kind. "Didn't your father teach you to be honest?"

"Honest!" He heard Pegasus' snort. He knew his partner wanted to jump in and defend him – defend his own role in Yami's life, - but he took the question himself instead of letting Pegasus answer it.

"My father taught me not to hurt people," he said. "And I never have. – Pegasus and I haven't. I've survived by playing cards, - And I don't cheat. – and by flirting with people who wanted to be flirted with, and could afford to pay for the pleasure." He looked down. "You're the first people who were ever going to be really hurt by one of our cons."

"And look how that turned out." The Countess' expression was very kind now, very close to motherly. "I can't say I condone your actions," she said. "And I can't imagine how you ever thought you could take my son's place and notcause my family pain."

"I'm very sorry for your loss, Your 'Ighness," Yami said, his accent clearly audible in his nervousness.

"It's Your Ladyship." The Countess' look at him was nothing but kind. "And you may call me Mother."

"And as for this reprobate:" – She looked at Pegasus, amusement and disapproval on her face. – "I ought to make you stay so I can sort out your character as well," she told him.

"Hummph." He looked back with challenge in his eyes. "As if you could." Their eyes met, and Pegasus' look softened. When he spoke again, his tone was warm and honest. "I am sorry about your son," he said. "I should never have come here to take advantage of your loss. It was a rotter's move."

"But you're not going to give up your thieving ways, are you?"

"A man has to eat." He smiled at her. "You'll hear of me next when Her Majesty's crown jewels go missing."

"So long as I don't hear of you next when you're convicted to twenty years' hard labor." The Countess took his hand, but not in a flirting way. It was the move of a friend. "Stay in touch, won't you, Max? I want to know you're safe."

"I'll write," he said, but his tone said he wouldn't. His partner would want to give him the chance to start his life fresh here, Yami suspected.

"At least you'll stay through Christmas?" the Countess asked.

"Of course," Pegasus said. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."