Rose of Jericho

by peterpauper

Would we laugh at gilded butterflies? Sequel to Chrysanthemum.

34. Chapter 32

-

Chapter 32

-

The frustrating thing about driving manual...is driving manual. It just is. Especially when you have no idea how.

"There's three pedals." Yuuki stared at her feet with discontent. "Like...three. I only have two feet."

"You don't use them all at the same time." Kyoya pushed his glasses up.

They were on an abandoned airstrip that was part of the old Tokyo airport. In the distance planes were landing and taking off, but nearby there was nothing except a squadron of the Ootori police force; just in case.

"And this, what's this?" The girl pointed at the gear change.

"That's what you change gears with."
"Shouldn't the car do that itself?"
"It's a manual."
"So...clutch in, change gear, accelerator on."
Kyoya sighed. "Handbrake off." He pushed it down. The car moved forward slowly. Just rolling. "Now, clutch in, into first."

Yuuki did that.

"Now, off the clutch and onto the accelerator."

The car jumped around a few times and then stopped abruptly. "I killed it." She looked at him. "Did I?"
"No. You just stalled. Try again."
"Okay." A minute later, she did it again. And again. And again. Yuuki crossed her arms on the steering wheel the seventh time around and put her head down with an exasperated sigh. "Remind me why I need to learn to drive?"

"So you can get places."
"I can get places." Pause. "Without breaking you're car." Longer pause. "And, why manual?"
"If you can drive manual, you can drive anything. There is just one big straight line. All you have to do is keep going up gears and then stop."

"Alright." Yuuki started the engine again and managed to get into first.

"Clutch. Gear. Off clutch. On accelerator."
The girl went all the way to fourth and then decided she was going too fast. "Do I need the clutch in to brake?"
"No."
"Okay." She flattened the middle pedal and almost sent her husband through the windscreen. "Sorry."

Kyoya pushed his glasses up and tried to register if he'd had a heart attack or not. "Try again."
"No."
"Do it."
"I've had enough. I hate this."

"Yuuki. You'll do what you're told."
"You're not my parent."

"No, but it's my car."

"Then I'm getting out." Yuuki undid her seatbelt.

Kyoya caught her wrist as she reached for the lock. "I'm going to teach you to drive."

"I don't want to know how."
"To bad." He did her seatbelt up again. "You spend way too much on cabs."

"It's my money."
"I don't care. I'm getting you a car and you'll know how to drive it."
"I'm not getting a manual."
"Yuuki. We both know you can drive when you're in an emotionally unstable state. So you can drive."
"I'm emotionally unstable now. I almost killed you."

"Then drive."
She stalled the car again and growled in annoyance. "I hate you."
"Just drive."
"I hate you."
"Yuuki. You're driving."
"Good."
"Okay. Slow down."

"No." Pause. "Why is the car making that noise?"
"You can't go that fast in first."

She changed up a gear and stalled. "I hate you. And the seatbelt. And this chair. And this car." Yuuki had never been so frustrated in her life.

Kyoya petted her knee. "Want me to show you how?"
"No." Yuuki growled. "I can do it."
"Then show me."
"No."
"Why?"
"Just...trust me. I can do it."
"Stop bluffing."
"I'm not bluffing."
"Yuuki."
"Okay. I can't drive." Pause. "Why can't I drive?" She leant her head back and tried to strangle the steering wheel without her husband noticing.

He pried her fingers loose and told her to relax.

"Are you relaxed?" Yuuki looked at him.

Kyoya pushed his glasses up. Again. "You just took ten years off my life."
"Okay. Well, I need to take them off mine too. So, hang on a second." She started the engine. Drove in a straight line and went from first to second back to first. The car stopped abruptly and then started to roll forward lethargically. Kyoya put the handbrake on and stared at her. Yuuki smiled illicitly. "Okay. We're even."
Kyoya sighed. "You can't go first to third like that."

"I was in second."
"You were in third."
"How did I get into third?"
"You didn't put it into second."
"Wow." Pause. "I suck."

Kyoya undid his seatbelt and walked around the side of the car to take the wheel away from her. Yuuki happily accepted his offer. Her husband helped her out of the driver's seat. "I decided. I'm more comfortable with you in a cab than I am with you driving yourself."
"Thank you." Yuuki breathed.

"Just get in."
Yuuki rounded the bonnet and crawled into the passenger seat. "Okay."
Kyoya turned the engine. It spluttered. He tried again. It died. He turned to Yuuki. She looked guilty. The girl opened the passenger door and began a innocent, nonchalant walk back to where the police van was waiting. They had coffee. And Advil. Kyoya put his forefinger against the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. She'd broken his car. He pulled his phone out and called for a tow truck.

"Yuuki?" He caught up with her a minute later. "What did you do to it?" Stalling couldn't break it. Not unless it was some serious stalling and a snap to the clutch.

"I..." She rubbed the back of her neck. "I...uh...might have...uh...put it in reverse when I went back and broke the gearbox. Like what I did to that nice little VW."
"I told you expressly not to do that."

"Well...I didn't mean to."
"Then why did you do it?"
"Like I said, I didn't mean too. The little button under the stick...thing...the thing in the middle of the car...I might have squeezed it in when changing gear. And moving forward." She shrugged. "Some people were born to do things, and others to not do things. Driving was one big fat to-don't on the list of things to do before I die."

"Right." Kyoya put his hands in his pockets.

Yuuki looked at him innocently. "Sorry."
He glanced at her and then stared down the empty runway.

"I'll buy you a new one? A better one. One with personalised plates. Or something."
Kyoya ignored her apology. "You know what this runway is?"
"The one I broke you car on?"
"Try again."
"The one with the..." Yuuki looked around. "...is this...?"
"Yes."
"Why are we here?" She looked around. "Why this runway? I hate this runway. No wonder I wrecked your car on it."
Kyoya kept walking. There was a scuff mark on the tar. Too thin to be plane tyres.

Yuuki looked at it and then stood in front of her husband, he had to stop walking. "You don't pick things by accident. Why this strip?"
"I just wanted to drive down it without losing something."
"Well..." The girl looked over his shoulder at where the car sat. "I seem to have done it again."

Kyoya brushed the hair that was blowing on her face away. "I also wanted to remind you of something."
"What?"
"It doesn't have to end the way you started it."

The girl thought a moment and shook her head. "I don't get it."

"Let's try again."
"Oh." Yuuki stared. "I...don't want to do that again."
"You came here again and it was fine. You can go back to a place without going back to the place it hurts."
"I can't go through that again, Kyoya." The girl looked at her feet and then back up at him.
"You still want a child."

His wife looked back to where the van waited for them. "Yes. No. But I can't. Physically. Kyoya, I'm..." She put a hand on her torso. "It doesn't all work properly." Yuuki looked at him. "I'm sorry."

Kyoya put his hand over hers. "You said we couldn't be together. You said you couldn't go to university. You said you couldn't do anything but ride."
Yuuki went to say something but didn't. Instead she let herself lean forward into her husband. He put his spare arm around her back. "I don't want IVF or anything like that."
"It's still possible to do it without assisted reproductive technologies."

"Human being talk, please."
Kyoya smiled. "You want this. I know you do. And you're beating yourself up over it."
"I know. But, it stills feels like my fault."

"Just tell me you'll try."
Yuuki breathed. "It takes two people." She looked at him. "Do you want to?"
"I sacrificed my car."
"So it's profitable?"
"Even if you don't get pregnant." Kyoya said haughtily.

The girl smacked him good-naturedly. "Okay."

"Okay?"
"You have a deal. Doctor already said I'm infertile, but hey. What the hell. Let's just go to town otherwise."

Kyoya laughed.

Yuuki started walking again. "Does this mean I don't have to buy you a new car?"
"Don't push your luck."
She grumbled and kicked at a stone that had been displaced from beside the tarmac. Her husband took her hand and they travelled together. Down a broken strip. Them on it, together, proved that it didn't have to be. Things could happen the way they wanted them to, the way they knew deep down they were supposed to. Why Kyoya had risked his life and car, Yuuki didn't know. Lord knows it wasn't for a driving lesson. But she was glad he did.

-

I don't know if you can hear me
I'm feeling down and can't think clearly
Even though it's complicated
We've got time to start again
I don't know if you can hear me

I'm sorry for the things I've said
But some thoughts just won't leave my head
Even though it's complicated
We've got time to start again
I don't know if you can hear me

Some things I'd change but it's too late
I'd take the past and make it straight
Even though it's complicated
We've got time to start again
I don't know if you can hear me

Even though it's complicated
We've got time to start again

(Start again, Death Cab for Cutie)

-

Yuuki sat crossed legged at the desk in the study and wished she knew the least bit about architecture. As an Ootori, she was allowed to extend the empire; she'd put forward plans for a new house for the youth that seemed to be flocking to the current one. None of the people there were homeless, they just needed to sort some things out before returning to a normal lifestyle. Yuuki had met a girl a few days before who had just had an abortion. She wasn't sorry like all the stories said she would be, she was relieved. But for some reason, the Ootori had to pass her on to another psychologist. It made her uneasy that a girl, five years younger than she was, could fall pregnant at the drop of a hat and she couldn't. A one night stand produced more of a change of spawn than she did.

Yuuki ran her hands through her hair and sighed. The piece of paper in front of her seemed endlessly boring compared to what she had envisaged. There would be a lake and a garden and a tea house. Boarding rooms that were actually nice and offices that were comfortable. Something to help those who had come for it.

"I would offer you coffee, but Aimi is going through an 'experimental' phase." Haruhi beamed from the door.

A dark haired, blue eyed child burst from behind her mother's legs and ran as fast as her short legs could take her until she collided with Yuuki's calf. Unfortunately, she had misjudged her speed and hit her head on the chair arm before the one who was seated in it could swivel around to avoid the catastrophe. Aimi started to yell and held a chubby hand to the offended area.

"Oh." Yuuki picked her up. "I wanted to say hello to you too. And then you went and used your head and obviously thought purgatory was a better idea."

Aimi had no idea what the woman had just said but stopped crying at the word purgatory. She stared with big wet eyes.

"Hello lovely." The Ootori said with a smile.

The child threw her arms around the girl's neck and let out a small cry of delight. Tamaki appeared in the door, deep in conversation with Kyoya. Haruhi pulled on his shirt and pointed silently at Yuuki as she kissed the up and coming red mark on their daughters head. Aimi giggled as the woman pulled her yellow beanie over her eyes and stood up.

"What brings you hither? It's late." Yuuki put the little girl on her feet, only to have a small hand latch onto the bottom of her skirt.

Tamaki leant on the door frame, his arm above his wife's head. "The need for friendship. What else?"
Kyoya kept a fair distance from the man's son who had just had a bottle of milk and looked remarkably sick. He shrugged in the background. Kenji sneezed.

"He still sick?" Yuuki managed to walk to her friends with a small being attached to her clothing.

"No." Haruhi turned to the boy. "Well, yes. But he got over the last one and just caught this one. He's the plague baby. Aimi was the opposite."
"Oh." The woman wouldn't know. "Okay." Pause. "He's alright?"
"Yes." Tamaki bounced his son. "Hey? Want to go to Kyoya?"

Kyoya held his hands out in protest but the message got misinterpreted and a baby ended up in them instead. "I..." He eyed the child.

Haruhi took her daughters hand. "Tamaki had to talk to Kyoya about business. Aimi wouldn't let him out of the house."
"Ah." Yuuki now understood why the whole clan was in the doorway of the study. "No. That's fine. I wasn't going to bed for a while yet. Tea?"

A minute later, she and Kyoya were in the kitchen. Kenji was still attached to the man's collar and kept sneezing. His wife took the baby and balanced him on her hip and told him to make the tea. "What business?"
"The Suoh Group has hit a tight spot as the economy slowly collapses...how did you say it? ... like a flan in a closet again."

Yuuki laughed. "Yes. Well. What can you do for them?"
"Give advice. They are still rivals."
"Okay. They'll be fine though?" Tamaki and Haruhi were in the living room, trying to settle Aimi down after she face planted the wooden floor. Just because you found your feet doesn't mean gravity stops applying itself.

"The Suoh's will never be less than extraordinarily rich."

"Ah. Right." Kenji coughed. Yuuki flinched. "If you make me sick...I have to finish my reports. So don't." The baby sneezed. The girl had a long suffering expression on. "Kyoya..."

"If it was ours, you'd love him."
"But it's not. And it yells."

"They tend to."
Yuuki eyed the baby on her hip. "I'm...rethinking this whole 'trying again' thing."

Kyoya chuckled. "I think we both know the odds of it actually happening soon."

"Yes. Well."

"It'll happen."

"I don't...."

The man passed her by with a tray laden with cups and a tea pot. "You can." He kissed her forehead. "We can."
"Just because we can doesn't mean it will."

"We can try." He smiled smugly and continued his path to the lounge.

Yuuki leant on the counter and eyed him impishly. "Don't turn out like that." She said to Kenji. "Use your head a little more when you grow up. Okay?"
The boy responded by throwing up. The woman handed the baby over to a laughing Haruhi and went upstairs to change her shirt.

-

Three days later, Yuuki had a virus. She'd finished her reports, but could do nothing more than blend in with the white sheets.

"You look...dreadful." Kyoya stepped out of the bathroom, doing his tie up. For the first time in months, he had been the first person up.

His wife groaned and pulled the covers above her head. Her head was heavy, her stomach thought it was a ship and her throat felt as if it had been rubbed with a metal scrubber. "I didn't mean to break your car. Its karma."

"You don't believe in karma."
"It believes in me."
The mattress gave slightly where Kyoya sat on it. Yuuki felt his hand on her hip through the covers. "Am I calling someone?"
There was a small noise and then a muffled reply. "I hate doctors. No doctor. No."
"I'm a doctor."
"Technically."

Kyoya peeled the blanket down from her face. "I meant someone from work."
Yuuki waved a hand in dismissal. "I'll go in. I'll feel better after...water."

"Mmm. You're going nowhere." Pause. "I'll call my mother."
"No." The girl sat up. "No. Why?"
"To see if you could sit up." He wrapped his hands around her neck and felt her glands.

"That wa..."
"Stop talking."
She decided to obey for the first time. When he was done, Yuuki fell back onto her back. "Why do I feel like death warmed up?"
"Because you let that Suoh child throw up on you." Kyoya pushed his glasses up. "I'll get you something from the hospital."

His wife nodded and closed her eyes. A moment later, she felt him kiss her gently. "You'll get sick."
The man brushed the hair off her face and scoffed. "Maybe I could take a real sick day for once."

Yuuki laughed softly. "Maybe." She sneezed, her whole body vibrated in a way that only worked if it was her. Yuuki was one of few who could sneeze with her entire being and not just her nose, and still manage to be a lady about it.

"I can work from home today."
"No." The girl shook her head. "I'll be okay." She remembered the last time she'd ushered him off to work and pushed the memory aside.

Kyoya picked his Blackberry up; the iPhone had been thrown at a wall thanks to Tamaki, and looked at his schedule. "I have to be in a meeting at ten. But I'll come home after that."

Yuuki sniffed. "Okay." She put an arm over her eyes, her head hurt. "Kill me."

"Today is about profits, not losses." He kissed her goodbye. Kyoya stopped at the door. "Stay there."
His wife waved a hand at him. "No problem."

When Mr Ootori returned home, he found a pair of Twins in the living room, casually watching TV. "Get out."

Hikaru and Kaoru turned around and grinned at him. "Welcome home."
"Out."

"Why?"
"I didn't invite you."
"Yuuki did."
Kyoya raised an eyebrow.

Twin one shrugged. "Well, she tried to call Haruhi and hit Hikaru instead. So we came over to make her better."
"Where is she now?"
"Upstairs."
The Ootori examined the pair. "What did you do?"
Twin two scowled. "Nothing."
Kyoya sighed. "Okay. Get out." He pointed in the direction of the door.

The pair grumbled and rose from their chairs. "This is because of the TV incident, isn't it?"
"No. This is a you-continually-annoy-me incident."

"Oh. It can't be helped then." They said, beaming, before slipping out and shutting the door.

Kyoya wondered what they had done and went upstairs to see. Yuuki was sitting up in bed, reading a book. She looked up when her husband came in and shut it happily. "Hello."

"Why were the devil type in the living room?" Straight to the point.

"I accidentally called them instead of Haruhi."
"What did you need Haruhi for?"
Yuuki shrugged. "I was bored."
Kyoya looked at her. She seemed a little to bright for someone who had been hiding from the world that morning. "What did they give you?"
"Um..." She thought for a moment. "Two tablets. Five minutes later when I said I still felt awful, they gave me two more."
"What tablet?"
Yuuki pointed at the bedside table. Kyoya picked the box up. "You took four codeine tablets in less than an hour?" His tone was serious.
"Less than ten minutes actually." Pause. "Why?"

The man scowled. "Codeine is an opiate. If the twins aren't getting you drunk, their getting you drugged." He was annoyed. "I won't even bother asking how you feel because you won't know."

The girl stared at the box. "Ha." She opened her book again.

Kyoya watched her. "What?"
Yuuki ignored him.

"Yuuki, it's in your best interest."
"Well, if that's the case, then don't make it feel like a guilt trip. How am I supposed to know?"
"Who takes four tablets in ten minutes?"

"I don't know. Gee. Come on. You didn't even say hello and you're getting mad at me for a mistake." Yuuki closed her book again and glared at him as she lay down facing away from him and pulled the covers over her head.

Kyoya sighed and sat down beside her. "How long ago did you take them?"
"Nine." Came the muffled reply.

It was nearly one, she would feel like nothing was wrong until the middle of the night. "Did you seriously not know?"
"I had a headache."

"That bad of a headache?"
"Yes."
Kyoya ran a hand over his face. "How do you feel now?" There was a small, muffled noise form under the covers. It was her new hiding place. "I'm sorry I got mad at you." Silence. Sometimes one just had to start again. "Hello, I missed you today."

There was a flurry of blankets before Yuuki latched onto her husband with a happy smile. "I missed you too."

Kyoya steadied himself a second. "Are you feeling better?"
The girl didn't let go. "Remarkably."
"Really?"
"Deep down, no."

The man smiled. She wouldn't. "That's what happens when you overdose."
"I didn't overdose."
"Not intentionally."
"I hate doctors. Stop it."

Kyoya laughed softly. "The Ootori group is about creating happiness for its patients and public."

"Mmm...like that overly successful jungle water park whatever."
"You liked it."
"I liked it until Deedle Dee and Deedle Dum decided to show off their mothers new swimsuit line on me."
"You didn't have to say yes."

Yuuki pulled back slightly from her grip and looked at Kyoya. "Do you think I said yes?"
Thoughtful pause. "No. Probably not."

"And then I had funny swimwear lines for like...months. I don't tan. Except in the places you've set to 'tanning weather'. But then it faded."
Kyoya let his wife hold him for a few moments more before telling her to lie down again.

"You haven't told me about your meeting."

"It started. Everyone suggested some brilliant ideas. I accepted their proposals and told them to go forth and write a draft."
"Were these brilliant ideas related to the articles that suitably found their way onto respective desks the week before?"
Kyoya pushed his glasses up and smiled. "They might have."

"Convenient."
"Very."

Yuuki laughed. And then coughed. And then decided to lie down. Codeine works like a watered down version of morphine, but it doesn't discourage the cause of the pain from occurring.

-

Kyoya spent until sundown in the study, contacting contractors in France and Britain about the construction of the hospitals over there as well as the possibility of opening a leisure resort for those associated with the Ootori group. Riveting stuff. But it would ensure a copious amount of money made it from overseas funds and into his family. The pound was still highly desired as a currency.

Yuuki was watching Slumdog Millionaire in the lounge when he finally emerged from behind his desk. She'd started to lose colour again but was happily sipping a cup of tea. "I like this movie."

Kyoya collapsed on the couch beside her. "What happened?"
"Not a lot. I just started it."

"Okay. When the scene with the autograph comes up, be prepared to run."
"Why?"
He raised an eyebrow at her.

Yuuki blinked slowly in a way only the physically unwell can do. "Oh. Yes. No. I know what you mean."
"Why are you even watching this?"
"Because, I feel like it. You should be interested. Indian Economy. The incredibly rich and the incredibly poor."
"No. That's culture. That's what you're interested in."

"Mmmm." She ignored him behind her tea-cup.

Kyoya waited for her to put it down before pulling her against him.

"You'll get sick." Yuuki sniffed.

He ignored her.

"You will." She looked up at him. "You're not invincible."
"You're not arguing."
Yuuki relaxed some. "Don't say I didn't tell you so."

Kyoya liked having her close. Even when she was discoloured and smelled like eucalyptus. "Okay."

-

"I told you so."

Kyoya growled and rolled over, three days after the prophesy and one after his wife had recovered.

Yuuki sat on the floor on his side of the bed, dressed in track pants and singlet. Her hair was wet from her recent shower and she seemed very pleased indeed. "You can't say I didn't."

"Just put your boots away." He hissed. She'd just come in from her ride.

His wife did so and then returned to her original position. "Does your stomach think it's a rollercoaster and your head think it just got detached from your shoulders?"
Muffled, unhappy mumble.

"Aw, darling." Yuuki turned around and smiled at the back of his head.

Growl. Turn over. Stare miserably whilst managing a touch of morning demon in there somewhere.

The girl brushed the hair out of his face and tugged the covers down so he could actually breathe. "Want some coffee?"
Kyoya sat up and held his head in his hands. "Yes."

"Well, you can't have any. You can have orange juice; your immune system will love you for it."

"I have to go to work." He groused.

Yuuki stopped him from climbing out of bed by placing a steady hand on his clammy one. "You're going nowhere."

"I ha..."
"No. You can't drive."
"Neith..."
"No. Stop talking. You can't even think. I know."
"I can think." He flinched as his head sent a shaft of pain through his eyes.

Yuuki slid his glasses out of reach. "Okay. What is the capital of South Africa?"
Pause. "Pretoria; legislative, Cape town; administrative, Bloemfontein; judiciary."

"Ha." The woman said sharply. "You got one out of three. Pretoria is the administrative capital, Cape town is legislative; not vice versa. But yes, Bloemfontein is judiciary."

"What country has three capitals anyway." Kyoya snarled.

Yuuki pushed his shoulder down. "Uh. South Africa. Duh."

Her husband fell back against the pillow, offering no resistance. He moaned about something.

"I'll get you some tea. I can do video calls today. I'll ring Su." Su was the head of the current Youth House. She knew that the teens were good with Yuuki, she'd let them use the webcam in the Ootori's office.

An hour later, Yuuki was sitting crossed legged in the lounge attached to the bedroom where Kyoya lay like a victim of the plague. He refused to take codeine. There was a large pot of green tea and orange sitting on the bedside table. It ensured not only that he would drink something, but also that the room smelled less like death and more like citrus.

"Hello Chou." The girl said quietly, glancing into her room to make sure Kyoya was still breathing.

"Hey." There was a thin teenager on the screen. "Where are you?"
"At home."
"Is something wrong?"
"My better half is infected with the pestilence."
The girl looked confused.

Yuuki smiled. "He's got a virus."
"Oh. Right. Tell him get better."
"You can when we're done."
"Is he good looking?"
"I think so."

"Well, you would."
"You can google him. My husband is on google. Isn't it cool?"
"You're on google." Chou rolled her eyes but was obviously clicking to the internet. "What's his name?"
"Kyoya Ootori."

There were a few tapping noises and then a short pause. "Oh. I like."
"Yes. Me too." Yuuki smiled coyly. "Anyway." She breathed. "Enough of my disgustingly sick marital status. What did you do yesterday?"
Chou closed the search engine so she could pay attention. "I talked to my parents. They say I look better."
"You do."
The girl scoffed. "You're paid to say that."
"I'm not paid. At all. I actually mean that."
"Really?"
"Yes. Really, really. What did you have for breakfast?"
"I didn't."

Yuuki leaned back against her chair. "It's important."
"So they say."

"No really, if you're going to skip a meal, skip lunch. But make sure you have some carbs in the afternoon and late morning."
"Ew. Carbs."
"Yum. Carbs. Pizza, pasta, bread..."

Pause. "What did you have for breakfast?"
"I had..." Yuuki thought a moment. "Toast with Philadelphia cream cheese on it."

"Was it good?"
"You should try it."
There was a long silence.
"Chou, I know it's hard. But it's not going to get easier unless you help yourself. You need energy to help yourself and energy comes from food."
"I know..."
"Why do you want to be so thin anyway?"
"Have you seen the models?" The girl looked through the net at the Ootori. "Their all so thin and beautiful."
"I'm a model. Technically. And yes, I'm not emaciated, I like food. Health, not size is the key. Some people were born tiny, some huge. You have the structure that a million girls would kill for. You just need to fill it in."
"No...but, you're a model. It means you're beautiful."
"You know...if I called the guy at Vanity Fair right now and told him about you, he would want a look for himself. Seriously. But I know for a fact that he would tell you to gain ten pounds. At least."

"Really?"
"Do I lie?"
Accepting pause.

"Look, I promise to give him a call if you gain those ten pounds. Okay? And don't go eating a million cookies to do it. Do it the healthy way. Alright?"

Chuo's face lit up. "Really?"
"Really, really." Yuuki nodded. Vanity Fair would. Chuo had the face shape of an angel. Proud with huge eyes and thick lashes. The girl had the features of a supermodel. She was just much too thin, even for a catwalk.

"You're awesome."

"You're pretty awesome too, but go hither and eat a late breakfast."

"Okay."
"A healthy breakfast. If I hear tomorrow that you had just a grape I will come and haunt you." Pause. "I'll bring my infected husband and have him breath his germs all over you."
"Oh. Any day." Came the laughed reply.

Yuuki smiled and said goodbye before turning her webcam off.
Kyoya had moved. He was on his stomach; his arm was hanging over the side of the bed, closely followed by his head. The girl put her laptop down on the coffee table and kneeled by him. The man snarled when she peeled him off the side of the mattress and rolled him onto his back.

"You're not being very intelligent." Yuuki said, fixing the blankets. "I know that lying in a position that has the potential to cause suffocation and death is very comfortable. But it's not smart when your airways are already swollen and filled with snot."

"That's disgusting." Came the heavy reply.

"You're the doctor."
"I'm the doctor..." Kyoya sounded sleepy.

Yuuki sat beside him and shook her head, smiling softly. "Who knew that an Ootori's Achilles heel was a little bug?"

Actually, it was a pretty awful bug. "Little bug?"
"Yeah."
"Yes." He corrected.

"Whatever." Yuuki leant forward and kissed his forehead. "Sleep sweet."

There was a mumbled reply and then rare obedience.

-

Two days after that, Kyoya was walking around the house, trying to find his laptop.

"Yuuki!"
"INBOX!" She called down the hall. She was trying to work on her own.

"Put it on my desk." Came the reply. He'd found it.

"It was." Yuuki turned around on the couch and looked down the corridor to where the study was. "It just wasn't on the desk. It was in the inbox on the desk."

"It's not quite the same thing." Kyoya appeared in the doorway with Marvin.

"Yes, but you're overtly analytical."

"And you have issues with your laptop. Plug it in to the wall power."

Yuuki smiled congenially. "Would you like some tea?"

Pause. "Yes."
"Do you still have a headache?"
Kyoya smiled. "Yes."
His wife hit save on her computer and shut the lid before disappearing. Procrastination. When she returned, her husband was reading her report. "How..."
"Marvin."
Yuuki scowled. He'd hacked her. "Invasion of privacy."
"What privacy?"
"Personal privacy. Personal bubble. No touchy." She waved a cautionary finger.

"Yuuki, we share a bubble."

"Yes, and it got you sick. Let's rethink boundaries." She sat down and pulled her laptop over. "Like...stay on your side."
Kyoya looked at the couch. "You're on my side."

"No..." Yuuki shifted over slightly. "I'm not."

"You were."
"Drink your tea." She stubbornly looked at her screen and then glanced at him. The laptop was closed and put aside. Kyoya was laughing quietly to himself. Yuuki threw a couch pillow at him. It missed by a few centimetres. The man put his cup down and stared at her blankly before picking the pillow up and tossing it back. Yuuki hurled it at him again, he was still laughing. Kyoya tossed it back. She pegged it at him. It missed. Again. Her husband picked it up and handed it over once more. Amused. In humoured frustration, the girl took the decorative plush and leant forward, using the momentum to land on him pillow first. Yuuki left it on his lap and laid her head on it.

"Lose interest in the 'personal bubble' ideology?" Kyoya pushed his glasses up.

"It was overrated."
"And you can't aim."
"No. No. I really can't." She said solemnly. "Not at all." Yuuki shook her head.

Her husband looked at his now occupied lap and then at his laptop and then back at his wife.

Yuuki half sat up and put her elbow on the armrest, surveying the man audaciously. Kyoya slid his hand behind her neck and kissed her with abandon.

-

You're kissing me
And saying I'm the one you need
To keep you warm
And lay with you tonight
Baby I feel the same way
I don't want to leave
Wanna hold you close
And feel your love inside
Close to you a little longer now
It's hard for me to break away from you
Never could resist you

(Stay the night, Mariah Carey)

-

The weeks blurred into months and soon spring was back again. Suki was six months with her second. Aimi was learning to talk. She could make coherent syllables. Kenji could crawl.

Yuuki still couldn't get pregnant.

She and Kyoya decided not to turn to fertility treatments, they were still young. The age that many couples got married at. They had married very young and still were a few years on. Yuuki joked that Kyoya's brain had only just stopped developing fully so he should stop trying to cram so much into it. He kept saying that Tamaki kept trying to kill him when they played basketball, so it was a fair go at replacing that lost information. Impasse was a comfortable part of their relationship. He had his life, she had hers. They were still themselves, despite belonging to another.

Even so, not being able to get pregnant hurt Yuuki. It was like she was failing at something that she couldn't control. Like waking up and being told she had an exam on a topic she'd never learnt.

"Kyoya?" It was late. The moon seeped through the curtains and gave the room a soft blue edge. "What if...what if I can't? What if it's impossible?"She stared at the ceiling.

Kyoya shifted and spread his arm across her waist and pressed his forehead against her temple. He was fast asleep.

Yuuki turned her head slightly and looked at him. She traced the lines of his arm with her fingertips and quietly drew patterns on his shoulder blades. The girl smiled delicately as he shifted again, ever so slightly. His other arm was tucked just above his head, his stomach flat against the mattress. Yuuki let her hand rest on his elbow where and put the other in his hand, locking her fingers into his.

Kyoya didn't move again that evening. He just slept beside his wife and was content. If that was all he had left in the world, the ability to rest with her, then it would be enough. It would take a lot of getting used to, but it would be enough. Yuuki slept lightly. She knew that she could be perfectly happy without a child, but the fact that they both wanted one made her feel a little nervous. She'd always tried to make her husband happy, it made her happy. But to see something they both wanted so fervently begin to become an unlikely reality was like waiting to miscarry again. Waiting for the shame and the disappointment. And she was afraid. Even if she got pregnant, she was scared. Scared of failing again. Of losing it again. Of feeling a life stop inside of her that was half her own.

Yuuki lay, tangled with Kyoya, and thought about it. She wanted a child. She wanted to see them come to life as one person, as something to cherish. Suki kept asking when she would get pregnant, Haruhi kept telling her there was time. But the Ootori didn't want any of that. She just wanted Kyoya. Just them.

In the morning, Saturday morning, Kyoya woke up first. Yuuki was asleep, wrapped in him. He kissed her temple gently and then the corner of her jaw. The girl woke up and looked at him with a personal brightness. Kyoya didn't say good morning, he just pulled her against his form and cradled her there. Yuuki nestled into the curve of his neck and said a quiet hello.

Her husband traced the ridge of her spine. "I love you."

The girl closed her eyes again. "I love you too."
"You know what?"
"What?"
"If all that was left of you was your smile, I'd be happy."
"Just my smile?" Yuuki thought a moment and then understood.

"I'd be happy with yours. But not completely."
"Mmm?"
Yuuki smiled. She stretched her neck up and kissed him. "A smile can't do that."

Kyoya laughed quietly. "It can't do many things, but it makes me happy."
"I don't want you to just be happy. I want you to be euphoric."

"Mm?"

"Mm."
"How do you plan on doing that?" His tone was smug.
Yuuki kissed him again. And again. And again. Until he understood completely and wanted to give the same back. If they were all each other had left in the world; it would be okay. They could be much more than happy with just the other. Even if they were missing out on something they wanted; they wanted the other too. And it was enough. It would always be enough. Yet, even enough leaves a little space left to be filled.

-

From now
Until forever
And ever, my darling
Forever
You will always be the only one
You will always be the only one

As long as I shall live
I'll hold you dear

And I will reminisce
Of our love all through the years

From now
Until forever
And ever, my darling
Forever
You will always be the only one
You will always be the only one

If you should ever need me
Unfailingly, I will return to your arms
And unburden your heart
And if you should remember
That we belong together
Never be ashamed
Call my name
Tell me I'm the one you treasure

(Forever, Mariah Carey)

-

------

Again, I apologise in advance for late posts. I'm trying, but I don't want to force anything. Every day is to much at the moment, please look to every two or three. I'm sorry. If you have a problem with it, let me know, I'll see what I can do.

I know this chapter is shorter than most, but it was much longer. I cut out a whole chunk because it didn't fit with this chapter. Fits perfectly with the next though. ^-^

Anyway. Hope you enjoyed. Let me know what you thought. I love your reviews.

Blessings,

-pp