"Yaaaaay!" I exclaim, looking at my now cast-free arm. I was able to get the cast off my arm the day before I'm supposed to leave with Naru for England (I'd taken the sling off nearly right after I got out the hospital). After a promise to take it easy, anyway. My arm is still tender if I pick anything up that's heavier than my hair brush, but I'm just excited to have it off.

"Now, your stitches seem to be gone for the most part." The doctor says, adding pressure gently to the now close wound. He sighs, "Well, I suppose your happy the cast is gone." At my enthusiastic nod, he laughs, "Well, Taniyama-san, you can leave now. I'll see you after New Years for a check up on your arm."

"Gotcha Doc!" I chirp, bouncing off of the bed and skipping out of the room.

"Finished?" Monk asks, standing next to his wife with his arms crossed. Ayako was holding her purse with a smile on her face. I nod and we all leave.

—

"Mai?" Monk says as I walk towards the office complex.

I turn towards him with a questioning look, and he sighs while stepping forward, envelopes me in to a warm hug. I hug him back with confusion filling me, "Um, Monk, what are you…?"

"I can't believe this." He pulls away and holds me at arms length, "It seems like just yesterday you were asking me to teach you something useful for the case, and now you're going to England with an idiot who doesn't realize he's the love of your life…" His eyes were watering and I felt mine sting with tears.

A nearly inaudible smack is heard as Ayako light taps Monk of the back of the head with her hand, "Idiot. Now you've set me off." Ayako hugs me and Monk pulls the both of us in a hug.

"Guys, I'll be back after New Years. It's a two week vacation." I say, feeling the tears run down my face, "What are you two getting all sentimental for?"

"Because some where along the way…" Ayako starts.

"…you grew up." Monk finishes. He brushes my bangs behind my ear.

"Guys…" I hiccup, "I love you two."

"We love you too, jou-chan." Monk says, "And we're so proud of you. I'm sure your mom and dad would be proud too." That made me sob.

Ayako hiccups, "Houshou, you idiot." She clenches me to her and we sob together as my entire being is filled with undying love for these two parental figures. Somewhere, deep in my heart, I think my parents would have loved these two, just as I love them.

"I don't care how rich you are," I say to the dark-haired man next to me, "This is completely unnecessary, Naru."

With out asking me, Naru had booked us two first class tickets on a round trip to England. As of right now, we're both seated very comfortably in a first class waiting space and while I was reading the only book every written by Eugene Davis, Naru was avoiding the flirting glances of every single woman here… even a few men.

I'm not jealous… okay that's a lie, but I'm beginning to get used to the way that women look at Naru. He's handsome, not to mention smart, rich, and (the best part) he's British!

"Mai, I realize I'm handsome, but can you not stare at me?" Naru snaps me out of my silent praising and I scowl. Dammit. I turn back to my book, but it isn't long before I realize I've read the same paragraph several different times. I sigh and close the book, placing it back in to my carry on silently.

I sit in silence, and eventually our plan is boarding. It isn't long after that that we get in to our seats, which is large seats that have two on each side instead of three like coach. Naru moves to the front of the plane and we're on the very first row of seats. He stands to the side and gestures for me to sit by the window. I plop in to the seat with a relieved 'oof' while Naru sits elegantly.

"Mai, you've been quiet since we drove here this morning." Naru says quietly, leaning towards me and away from the prying eyes of the flirtatious people around us.

I turn to him from the window, "I'm a little worried about England…" He raises an eyebrow, a silent question to elaborate, "Well, there's plenty of things. Meeting your parents for one. I mean, what if they don't like me, Naru? SPR is a branch of BSPR, which means that they could fire me if they wanted. I wasn't even really qualified for the job in the first place, that's enough grounds for my expulsion." I run a hand through my hair, grateful that there is no longer a cast to hit me in the head.

"What else?" He says, his voice still lowered.

"Madoka and Lin said that it snows. I've never had a good experience with snow."

"They lied. It doesn't snow that much in England." Naru grabs my hand (the one that used to have a cast on it), and gently begins to rub his finger over the knuckles. One hand was wrapped around my wrist while his pointer finger was gently rubbing the bumps of my knuckles, "It only really snows around January and February, so you might see some snow before we leave, it might even be enough to restrict the roads. But it won't be enough to cause anything bad to happen."

"Really?" I look up at him. Right about now, I'm positive that my eyes were too big for my face, that happens a lot, actually.

Naru's eyes soften for some reason and that little half smile of his appears on his face. My face heats because he's just that handsome. His voice drops to a near whisper, "Really."

I smile at him. Even if he is a jerk most of the time, this 'new Naru' makes me want to be around him all of the time, even when he's being an idiot. I just love him. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I just do. I don't think I'd be able to put it in to words if I was asked how much.

"And about my parents," his voice was back up, but still quiet, "They'll love you. Especially my mother. Both of you seem innocent at first drop, but eventually you find out that even the most powerful exorcist wouldn't be able to get rid of you."

My mouth drops open and I push him away, "Stupid idiot!" He smirks and I turn scarlet as everyone looks at us. I glare at him, but a reluctant smile stretches across my face at the face that Naru made me feel better. In his own annoying way, anyway.

"Mai, wake up." A deep voice beacons me from the black abyss of my sweet non-dreaming world.

No…

"Mai." The voice says again, softer this time. It sounds slightly amused.

Go away…

"Mai!" My eyes snap open as Naru shakes me harshly. I look up at him with hazy vision and he smiles down at me secretively, "Get up. We need to unboard."

I yawn and nod before standing. Naru grabs my bag for me and grasps my elbow, before pulling me down the now empty isle. I stumble on our way off the plane, and the man at the door catches me from falling.

"Idiot." Naru murmurs. He hands me my bag, and I put the strap over my shoulder in a sleepy haze. He turns and kneels to the ground. Normally, I'd blush about Naru the Narcissist offering me a piggy-back ride, but I'm too sleepy to really comprehend the blush that should develop on my face.

I wrap my arms around his waist and (for want of a better word) hug his back. Naru blows hair out through his nose with a smirk on his face. He stands and holds me all the way through check out and baggage pick up. Thank God I only brought one bag.

"Master Oliver." The deep voice of a man says in English, "Welcome back. Is that Miss Mai?"

"I'm afraid Mai is not a fan of jet lag." Naru says, a tilt to his voice. That's not British.

"I see." Say the man with the deep voice, "Shall I take the bags?"

"Yes." Naru says.

Out of reflex, I groan and lightly tap him on the shoulder as my sleepy version of a hit, "Say thank you, Naru."

He looks at me out of the corner of his eyes, and speaks to me in Japanese this time, "Go back to sleep, Mai."

"Alright." I murmur, falling asleep with my head on his shoulder.

—

When I resurface from unconsciousness, I'm in a car. We're moving down a highway, and Naru is reading a book next to me. He looks up when I yawn and sit up. Naru raises one perfectly arched eyebrow, "You might want to go back to sleep, Mai. If my mother sees that you're awake when we arrive, she'll want to have an early breakfast and talk about nonsense."

"You shouldn't talk about your mother like she's an idiot, Naru." I mumble, my voice thick and my eyesight blurry. I could feel my eyelids growing heavier as I sit, with my head bobbing up and down.

"Mai," his voice is softer, "Go back to sleep."

"I can't. The seats too bumpy and I'm cold." It's after I say it that I realize that I'm freezing. I rub my hands together and shiver.

He sighs, "Come here, idiot." I move closer to him as he shrugs off his jacket. He places it over my shoulders, and then grabs my hand and pulls me on to his lap. Once again, I'm too sleepy to realize the position we're in. I lay my head on his chest, and he rests his chin on top of my head. Naru weaves his arms around my waist and is back to reading his book in no time.

I drift away.

My eyes flutter open when a large and very warm hand rests on my arm. I look to see Naru sitting on the edge of my bed, "Naru?"

"Breakfast will be done in a few minutes." He says, "You should get up and get dressed. Wear whatever you want, I don't plan on going anywhere today."

"Where are we?" I yawn, sitting up.

"My parents' house." He says, standing up and making his way to the door, "When you're ready, just go straight down the hall to your left, and you'll find the sitting room. You should be able to find the kitchen from there."

"Thanks, Naru." He doesn't say anything else as he closes the door behind him.

It isn't long before I'm done, and then I'm making my way down the hallway. I always thought that Naru would live in a huge house with high ceilings and large hallways. However, it's just a western style home with normal hallways and about ten doors all together down the hallways. The living room, or as Naru called it 'the sitting room,' was really easy to find, and the kitchen came after that.

Naru was the first to see me when I walked in. He was sitting at a square table (that could probably hold maybe six people) with his back to me, with a tea cup. He turns when I enter and I smile at him. As normal, he's dressed in black, however, black slacks and a thin black t-shirt are new.

"You must be Mai!" A woman's voice says in Japanese. I look up to see a shockingly beautiful woman with sky blue eyes and dark wavy brown hair. She was about my height with a gorgeous figure and jealousy-worthy skin. Next to her is a man with black hair and dark brown eyes. If I didn't know that the twins' were adopted, I wouldn't even have the thought cross my mind. One could easily think that the boys' had their fathers hair and the darkness of their fathers' eyes and the brightness of their mothers' caused them to have the dark blue eyes.

"Um, hello." I say, awkward at first.

'They won't bite.' Gene chuckles. I mentally roll my eyes, but then smile brightly at the two.

"I'm Mai Taniyama," I say in perfect English (my classes are really paying off). I bow to them, "Please take care of me while I'm here."

"My God," Naru's mother says in English this time. I look in time to get squashed in a tight hug, "You're so pretty! And so polite! Where has Oliver been hiding you all this time?"

I laugh and hug her back. She's so warm. I pull away and grin at her, "In that God forsaken kitchen, torturing me to make tea."

Both her and Naru's father laugh. Next to me, Naru rolls his eyes, "Don't encourage them, Mai."

I look at him oddly. That's defiantly not a British accent. I bend over and meet his eyes. He raises an eyebrow, it's a silent question.

"It's just…" I grin, "You have an American accent?" He glares at me while I laugh.

"I like you." The blue-eyed woman says. She holds out her hand, "I'm Luella Davis. It's nice to meet you, Miss Taniyama." I shake her hand gently. She's a woman and I'm stronger than most. I don't want to hurt her.

"I'm Martin." Naru's otherwise quiet father says, holding his hand out. He had a deep baritone and was wearing a simple white and black suit. However, his jacket was undone, no tie, the first few buttons were undone, and so were his cuffs.

I'll bet you any amount of money that if he left this house though, he'd look perfect.

I shake his hand firmly, "Please call me Mai."

Luella grins at me, before taking my arm, "Are you hungry? I'm sorry, we don't have any Japanese food here."

"Oh, it's alright, Mrs. Davis. I can—"

"Don't even try, Mai." Naru says, mirth dancing in his otherwise cool eyes, "Mother won't let you." I pout and Naru's mouth twitches as Luella sits me down next to Naru and begins to make breakfast.

I sigh, "I know where you get that independent attitude from." Luella grins at me from her place by the stove, while Martin sits across from me with a book and a cup of tea. I smile, "And there's the workaholic." Martin looks up at me from his book and smirks at me. I throw my hands up in false exasperation, "And the smirk!"

Naru blows air through his nose, and I see him smirking at me, "You're a better analyst than I remember."

I roll my eyes but smile at him. A plate is put down in front of me, and I look up to see Luella smiling down at me. I grin at her, "Thank you very much."

"You're welcome, dear." She says. She sits down in the chair next to me, "Martin as always been a anorak. He rubbed off on the boys too."

"A what?" I say, confusion filling me.

"Anorak is a British term." Naru clears up, not looking too please with it, "She means we're geeks."

I laugh and clap my hands together, "Oh that's wonderful!"

"Mother, please refrain from teaching this idiot new words."

"Hey! You narcissist idiot!" I say, glaring at him.

Luella laughs beside me, "Gene would have loved you, Mai." I turn to her and smile at her, trying to chase away the sadness that was developing in her eyes.

"Father, don't you and mother have a meeting soon?" Naru says to his dad. I look at them, and Martin nods while standing.

Luella puts a hand on my shoulder and I turn back to her, "I hope you enjoy being here, Mai. Please, make yourself at home, and if you need anything, just bother Oliver until he does it."

I grin and give her a thumbs up, "Can do, Mrs. Davis."

"Call me Luella."

"Yes ma'am."

She smiles and leans down to kiss me on the forehead. My eyes sting as nostalgia fills me. I remember my mom doing that. Luella then leans over me and kisses Naru too, on his cheek. Then the two of them leave promptly.

I turn to Naru, "Your parents are great." He smiles.

Madoka's Point of View:

"Lin." I say, calling him over as I see the video call from Luella flashing across the screen. He stands from his position on our couch and moves behind me as I accept the call.

Luella appears on the screen with tear marks on her face and a bright red nose. Martin is behind her with a small smile. Luella sobs, "Oh Madoka!"

I laugh and Lin smirks, "I'm guessing you noticed the way they are?" Lin's English always has been perfect. Even when we were teenagers.

"She's so much like Gene, yet she's not either." Martin says, "Noll is… well, I'm sure you know."

I smile, "Yes, we know. Another interesting thing is that Mai's PK allows her to have a telepathic connection with Gene, who is her spirit guide."

Luella's eyes widen, "What? Why is there not a report on this girl if she has PK? Not to mention a telepathic connection with my son?"

"There is a report." I tell her, "Noll must have hidden it from the two of you."

"Why would he—"

"To protect her." Lin interrupts Martin, "He doesn't want Mai to be experimented on. Noll thinks that Mai is too fragile for that sort of experience."

"But she seems so…" Luella tries to find the right word.

I smile at my old mentor, "Don't let that independent 'I-can-take-on-anything' attitude of hers fool you. She feels emotions stronger than normal humans would. That's has to do with her instincts. Noll described it as basic animal instincts."

"So she's a golden retriever?" Luella laughs.

"No, defiantly not." I grin at her, "Although, she does have puppy dog eyes that even Lin can not resist." Lin rolls his eyes, but I see the telltale signs of his embarrassment.

"Maybe," Lin growls, "Noll is worse than I am, though."

"There's a difference between you and Noll, though." I tell Lin. He seems to know what I mean because he smirks down at me. I turn back to the Davis', "Luella, you're just going to have to get used to the way Noll is with Mai. Mai doesn't notice much, but she notices enough. Oh, and please refrain from situations where either of the two is in danger. They're protective of each other."

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Luella says, tears still in her eyes. She blows us a kiss and then hangs up.

"I feel like something bad is going to happen." I tell Lin.

He sighs, "Yeah maybe." My husband looks down at me, and that smile crosses his face. He bends down to kiss me and I moan in to his mouth.

"God, I love you." I tell him, and he chuckles before laying me down on the couch.

Mai's Point of View:

"This is so cool!" I exclaim, twirling around in a circle as I see the book shelves of books and books. They all seemed to be of the rare variety. All research and some for pleasure. I could tell the Davis' like classics, because there is Edgar Allen Poe and Shakespeare.

"After we came here, Gene and I would spend hours in here." Naru tells me, leaning against the door frame. His hands were in his pockets and he was gazing around the room with a certain look that I couldn't place, "I used to get angry that Gene would read faster than me."

"You two were really big competitors, huh?" I ask, rubbing my arms through my thin sweater. Black tights and a caramel brown loose sweater that stops just past my butt. Add black ankle socks and my pony tail and you have a 'I'm-freezing-my-ass-off' outfit.

"I suppose." He smiles over at me. Each time he does that I become more and more accustomed to it. He's just so… beautiful.

"By the way, what time did we show up here last night?" I ask, "I'm drawing a blank from the time we got on the plane until I woke up this morning."

"You really don't remember anything?" He asks, and at my head shake, he smirks, "That explains it."

"Explains what?"

"Why you aren't embarrassed."

I feel my eyebrow draw together, "What do you mean?" I'm sure I look confused too.

Naru smirks, "Think really hard, Mai. Concentrate. PK-MP comes with a certain control over ones self. If you wanted, you could probably look back at memories from when you were only an infant, but we'll just try last night for now."

He walks across the room in a few graceful steps, and is in front of me in no time. Naru grabs both of my hands, "Close your eyes and clear your mind. Listen to only my voice." I do as he says and Naru continues to speak in that calming voice of his. Soon he sounds so far away and I'm reliving my memories…

•

•

•

My eyes pop open and I stare at the man in front of me. My face heats up and I jerk away from him as he does that weird hiccup laugh thing of his again. He's tense and it looks like he's trying to hold back immense laughter. Three months ago, I'd never thought I'd see this expression on Naru the Narcissist, but right now I'm too embarrassed to care.

"Naru!" I whine, covering my smoldering face with both hands. I turn away from him. My eyes were stinging from frustration and embarrassment. It's bad enough I was practically clinging to him! Now he's making fun of me!

A hand rests on my head and I look up to see Naru looking down at me with a softened expression, "You're so…" His eyes brighten for a millisecond, before he smirks, "Stupid."

"Ugh!" I exclaim, pushing his hand away and stomping off, "You stupid narcissist!" As I'm going to slam the door behind me, Naru's phone rings. His cell phone never rings unless it's his parents or Lin. I freeze and turn back to him.

"Hello?" … "Yes." … "But mother—" … "Yes mother." … "You too." He hangs up. He looks annoyed.

"What's up?" I ask, forgetting about my anger for a moment.

Naru sighs, "Some girls from an internship are coming over to use our library for research. I'm to be attentive and considerate." He rolls his eyes, visible dislike of the girls written on his face.

"Why don't you like the two of them?" I ask, making my way towards him.

"They are both… clingy and annoying." He growls.

I giggle, "Must be related to Masako." He turns to me, surprised for a moment before a smirk stretches across his handsome face. Chimes sound around the house, making us both look up. I turn back to my boss, "I'll be in my room." He nods once, and we both leave.

I knock on the door, and three heads turn towards me. One handsome professor and two blushing teenage girls. Naru raises an eyebrow, "Mai? What are you doing here?"

Why is he speaking in Japanese? The girls both look confused, so I assume because he wants to keep our conversation quiet. I mentally shrug and continue what I originally came for.

"Do you have any books telepathic responses?" I ask.

"Come here." Naru says, turning away from the girls and browsing one of the shells. I walk towards them but stop when one of the girls (cue the sudden frustration in my blood) step in my way with a completely fake smile. I swear, Naru can force a better smile than that.

"HELLO!" She shouts, "ITS NICE TO MEET YOU! I AM HANNAH!" She puts a hand on her friends' shoulder, "THIS IS KELSY!"

I feel my eyebrows furrow and Naru comes next to me, "Is there a reason she is shouting?"

"They don't think you know English." He says, mirth dancing in his eyes.

It clicks and I away at his shoulder, "You did that on purpose!" Both girls' jaw drops, and I remember normal people don't hit the professor. I turn to them, "I'm sorry. I wasn't sure why you were yelling. It's nice to meet you two. I am Mai." I hold my hand for a shake, and they both look at each other before turning their noses up at my hand and stomping back over to the book.

I raise an eyebrow, and Naru blows air out of his nose, "Yeah, they're quite snobbish."

I turn to him with a hand on my hip, "And you aren't?" He rolls his eyes and I giggle. I wave before leaving the room once again.

'Oh, this ought to be amusing.' Gene chuckles.

'What do you mean?'

'You'll see.'