The baby grew, and grew and grew, until he was a beautiful five year old with Natsuki's eyes and Harvey's confidence. Thanks to Harvey's support, Natsuki had her own tea shop, and Harvey was thriving in his law firm and life seemed to be perfect.

It was then, at the zenith of their happiness, that Natsuki started getting thinner and thinner. It was seemingly nothing at first, just a health kick, and then Harvey chalked it up to too much tea and not enough food, but after months of watching her waste away he decided he had to take her to the doctor.

The doctor wasn't sure what it was, he said it could be a sign of diabetes and he suggested some blood work. When the work came back he called them in.

"We have some news, Mr. Specter, Ms. Takeshi," he said.

"I have diabetes?" she asked nervously, tugging at the leather of her pocketbook.

"No… no, you don't have diabetes," said the doctor. He readjusted his glasses, moved the case files on his desk, and straightened up again. He swallowed.

"Quit stalling, what's the problem?" Harvey asked.

"I'm very sorry to tell you that you have cancer, Ms. Takeshi," he said.

Harvey watched as the color drained from his girlfriend's face.

"How bad is it?" she asked.

"It's… it's quite bad," he said. "It's stage four liver cancer. You never complained about any sort of pain, you never came in for tests, so we had no way of knowing that it was spreading, but it's too late to operate. I'm sorry to tell you, you only have a few months to live."

She sat back in her chair. She didn't cry but her breathing was shallow.

"There must be other options," Harvey said. Natsuki swallowed hard.

"I'm afraid there aren't many," said the doctor. "At this point, it's a miracle she's alive at all. The cancer is inoperable – it's spread all through the organs."

"There must be some treatment – chemo, radiation, some other sort of alternative-"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Specter," said the doctor. "At this point chemotherapy may give you a few more months, but there's really nothing that we can do to stop the cancer. I hate to give you folks such terrible news."

Harvey stalled for a few more minutes, and then stood abruptly and they left the office, Natsuki trailing behind him, holding a tissue to her mouth. They went home to their son and Natsuki stood outside the door while he heard Natsuki talking to their child:

"Honey, mommy got some bad news today…" he played with his trains. "Honey, can you listen? Gordie, can you pay attention to mommy? Mommy might not be around anymore in a little bit… I need you to know that I love you very much."

"Mom, you're on top of my track," said the boy, trying to run his train over where his mother's knee was.

"Of course. I understand," his mother said, laughing, standing up and walking out of the room. "We'll try again another time," she whispered to Harvey as he stood outside of the room.

"Why'd we raise such a brat?" he whispered. She looked at him in surprise, and then her face fatigued.

"Don't, Harvey," she said. "I know you love your son, even if you won't admit it even to yourself. He's not a brat. He's just too little to understand. Do you even understand? What this means? For us?" He swallowed hard. Harvey's throat tightened and he nodded. She smiled her geisha smile and touched his face.

"I'll start making the preparations now, so you have little to worry about later," she said softly, and then she made her way down the hallway.