Mai's Point of View:

By the time Luella and I arrive in Louisiana, it's six in the morning, however, my phone says eight p.m. Counting the hours on the top of my head, I realize Japan is fourteen hours ahead of the state.

It isn't long before Luella and I are checked in to our hotel room and we both collapse on to the bed.

"I've never been on a plan for that long." Luella mumbles, speaking in Japanese for my sake, "Except to go to Japan from England."

I laugh, "Yeah. You'll get used to the flights. I normally just sleep."

Luella smiles at me. Her phone rings and she jumps five feet in to the air. I watch as she grabs it to check the caller ID; a huge smile branches across her face and she answers, "Martin!"

I smile at her as she talks animatedly with her husband. I hope Naru and I stay in love that long. To think, Naru loves ME… I'm still astonished by it.

My phone begins to vibrate in my purse, and I fish it out, answering immediately, "Hello?"

"I assume you made it to the hotel safe." That monotone, but oddly warm voice says from the other end.

I feel my entire body relax and I smile softly, "Hey Naru…" Luella smiles at me knowingly from the other side of the bed, and we both settle down on to the bed, talking to our men for God knows how long.

Madoka's Point of View:

It's beginning to get annoying. It was cute and hilarious at first. Now I'm annoyed. I want to kill both of them. The minute she gets back, I'm locking them in their apartment and not letting them out for a week. They'll make up for lost time.

"I miss you too." Noll's voice carries through his closed off door.

I groan, slamming my head against the book I'm reading. Lin chuckles, "Madoka, calm down."

I glare at him, and stage whisper, "It doesn't annoy you because you can ignore anything! I can't! You know that! Every night Mai calls me and the only thing she can talk about is how much she misses 'Naru'." I stretch the last part in a poor impression of Mai.

Lin laughs, "You don't spend every moment with Noll. I do. You should see how fast he attacks that phone when Mai's calling. It's like a heroine addict getting his fix."

I roll my eyes, "I don't think it's healthy for them to be that obsessed with each other."

Lin sends me a dead panned look, "I'm going to assume you don't remember how we were when were teenagers."

I turn red, "That's—"

"Not different at all." He says, smiling gently at me. He snorts, "Besides, at least you know our son will grow up around a loving family."

My bad mood disappears at the mention of our child and I look down at my six month swollen belly. I rub it with a gentle hand, and smile up at my husband, "Yeah, you're right I suppose. Little Gin is going to have such a caring nanny and uncle. Just as soon as we tell them."

Lin chuckles.

The vacation went on with out a hitch. The first day Luella and I spent sleeping and getting back on schedule. After we went to Wicca shops, Voodoo shops, museums, parks, libraries and several other things. We also met a real witch and that was exciting. She was so nice. She reminded me of the White Queen on the move Alice with Johnny Depp. I always had had a thing for American movies

"Well, it's the last day." Luella says, drinking the tea that the café provided for us. She's been speaking Japanese when talking to me. She's been mistaken for my translator plenty of times; lots of people seem surprised when they direct a question for me at Luella, and I answer in fluent English.

I pout playfully, "Yeah, time to go home and deal with ghosts and angry poltergeists."

Luella leans her face against her hand, a soft but stern look on her face— the look of a caring mother. "Instead of just working all the time, once in a while you should tell my son to take a few days off and you two just stay home. It won't hurt to ask something of him every now and then, Mai dear."

"Naru would never take a few days off unless Madoka or you forced him to, Luella. Naru loves me, but he loves his work too." I'd accepted that a long time ago. As much as I love him, he'll always be in love with his work. I'm not saying he's so shallow that he'll put his work before me, I'm just saying unless it's necessary, Naru won't stop being Professor Oliver Davis— even for me.

"Now Mai," Luella says, leaning forward and grasping my hand softly, "I don't think you realize just how the Davis men work yet. Madoka and I know how to bend them to our will, and we'll gladly teach you." She sends me a wink, "Nothing a little feminine persuasion won't help you with."

I laugh, leaning forward to comment when I hear a shriek. I turn quickly to see a small child running in to the street… in front of moving cars.

"Hey!" I yell in English, standing up and running towards him, "Watch out!" I throw myself in to the street, wrapping my arms around the kid and rolling out of the way as the car zooms pass.

"Oh my God!" People yell, running to check on us as I check the child (who is sobbing for his mommy) for injuries.

"Thank you so much!" A woman says in a Louisiana accent, running up to me. I assure that it's fine and not long after she's dragging her child away.

"Mai," Luella says, gently grabbing me and helping me up, "Come on, dear, let's get you to a hospital and get that gash looked at." A sudden stinging in my arm makes me look down, and I see a large gash, filled with dirt and rocks, bleeding profusely.

I clench my teeth, "Okay."

•

3rd Person's Point of View:

Naru jerks his arm up as pain shoots through it. Checking for some type of injury, he comes up blank, so he can only guess that Mai is hurt.

Immediately, his heart begins to race and he stands up quickly, jerking his phone from his pocket and running out of the room pass Lin and Madoka, who are sitting on the couch outside of his office.

"Noll?" Madoka and Lin say together, standing up and following him as he runs out in to the hot summer air.

The phone is answered on the third ring. He practically yells in to the phone, "Mai?!"

"Mai's fine." Luella tells him, her voice gentle but knowing, as if she known he'd call.

"Mother, what's wrong with Mai. Why is she hurt?" Naru yells in to the phone, not caring that he was disrespecting his mother, only caring that his beloved girlfriend was hurt. As cheesy and corny as it was, to Naru, only she mattered.

In the process of arguing with his mother, he unlocks his car and gets in. Lin isn't far behind, and Naru briefly figures that Madoka and Shuto are both left behind to close up.

"It's a long story. One that I can not tell you right now—" Luella starts, only for her son to cut her off angrily.

"Mother, you are currently withholding information about the most important topic that could come to surface. Now, for the love of God, tell me what happened!" It's then that Naru peels out of the SPR parking lot.

Luella huffs, "Fine."

Mai's Point of View:

I briefly surface to consciousness and see bright blue eyes staring down at me. They're warm, and motherly, and not the ones that I want. Luella smiles softly, "Don't worry dear. I pulled some strings and the doctors are giving you enough sleeping medicine to last until we get home. Now go back to sleep." She brushes my hair away from my face and I feel my eyes sting as I realize this woman is like a mother figure to me.

I doze.

•

A pressure on my left hand makes me awaken. The presence connected to the pressure is familiar, safe… and very angry.

My eyes open and I see cold blue ones staring back at me. His eyes widen slightly when he sees I'm awake, but they they return to the normal glacier gaze as we watching each other.

I try to open my mouth and speak, but all that comes out is a dry croak. With out his facial expression changing, he let's go off my hand and leans over to grab a cup of water that I didn't see by my bed. He hands it to me and I gulp it down. As soon as my throat is moistened, I croak, "Naru."

His face remains impassive, but I see something flash in his eyes. I think it's anger. A dreadful silence fills the air around us and I look down at the glass in my hands. The glass is warm and so is the water. I wonder how long it had been sitting there. However, something tells me that Naru had been sitting there longer.

"What were you thinking?" The tone of his voice cuts through me like sharp ice and my head snaps up; my eyes meet his and ice fills my veins.

"I saved the little boy." I tell him, trying to stop my voice from wobbling.

His eyes seem to freeze ever more, "Mai, you can't—" he cuts him self off with a frustrated sigh, and then runs a hand through his disheveled hair. It's them that I notice how bad he looks. His clothes are wrinkly, he has a five o'clock shadow, and dark bags are under his eyes. For all of this roughness, I still think he's the most handsome man I've ever seen.

"Naru, how long have you been here?" My voice is soft, but that seems to piss him off more than if I would have yelled.

"Who gives a fuck?!" Naru yells, standing up so fast that his chair falls backwards with a loud bang. He glares at me, "Mai, you threw yourself in front of a damn car and you're wondering how long I've been here?! You idiot! You could have fucking died Mai! And then where would I be?! I already lost Gene; I can't lose you too!" His voice breaks. His looks down at the ground, and it's then that I see it— a little droplet of water falling down his face and dripping off of his chin.

I can't take it. My eyes water, "Naru, you've never been this mad—"

"I couldn't do anything this time!" Naru yells, his voice breaking again and the shadow of his hair still covering his eyes, so I can't see them. He bites his lip so hard that it bleeds. He looks up at me, and I see it. The pain, agony, relief, anger, sorrow; all of it. Naru sniffles, "I need you, idiot."

I hiccup, putting my hand over my mouth as I silently sob. He's never shown me this much emotion before. Not this much pain. It's only now that I realize just how deeply he was hurt by his brother dying and leaving him, and I also realize just how much he loves me. I wasn't exactly, one hundred percent sure… now I am.

Before I can voice my thoughts, his head leans up and I see shiny blue eyes. Naru gaze hardens, "But if your going to continue to be stupidly selfless, don't expect me to stick around for the show." And then Naru promptly turns on his heel and marches out of the hospital room, leaving me in silent shock.

3rd Person's Point of View:

Luella watches her son throw open the door to Mai's room and storm out. He looks so angry that Luella steps aside when he passes her.

"Naru!" A croaking and dry voice calls. She sees Mai running out of the room barefoot and in a hospital gown. Luella glances back at her son to see his steps stutter (as if he wants to stop) but he continues to move. Mai has tears streaming down her face and she's sobbing, "Naru, please!"

Please what? Luella wonders. Everyone in the halls have paused by now. The nurses and doctors and patients and visitors and everyone else in between. Luella grasps Madoka's hand tightly as she witnesses her son and his girlfriend in a fight for the first time. It seems everyone else hasn't seen a fight like this either. They were all stock still and watching like hawks.

Noll stops. He doesn't turn around to look at Mai, but he does stop walking. Mai hiccups, "Please Naru… don't leave me…"

That causes her son to turn around and Luella is shocked to her core by the utter pain she sees in her sons wide eyes. She's never seen him like this before. Not even when Gene died. He's locked himself in his room and refused to see anyone. Now she glimpses just how deeply her son loves this woman.

Noll swallows, "I'm just going outside, Mai—"

It doesn't seem she hears him as she covers her face with her hands. She sobs, "Don't leave me again, Naru… please… I-I'm soorrryyy." The last word is said in a sob.

In three giant steps, Noll is in front of Mai and he wrapping his arms around his crying girlfriend. He sighs as Mai's body wracks with sobs in his arms. It doesn't seem like either of them notice nor care that almost the entire hospital is watching this exchange. Luella doesn't care either. She never thought she'd see anyone as in love with each other as her and her Martin were, even though she wished it for people. Luella had always thought that there was no surer love other than hers.

My, my, my. How wrong was she?

Her dark haired son sighs as his girlfriend calms down slightly, "You idiot. I was just going outside. I wasn't breaking up with you."

Luella's heart breaks as she realizes just how utterly destroyed Mai would be if Noll actually did break up with her.

Noll continues, "Why do you always assume the worst, mon tout?" The French words have Luella filling with warmth. She knows enough French to know that this words are probably the most romantic she's ever heard come out of someone's mouth.

'My all.'

"I-I d-don't—" Mai tries to answer but only ends up crying.

Noll sighs and pulls away from her. He grabs her by her forearms and holds Mai away from him for a moment, before sighing again and leaning down to kiss her briefly on each eyelid. Mai sniffles and looks at him as he wipes a tear away. Suddenly, Noll's entire body tenses, "I know how to help with your abandonment issues, Mai."

Mai's eyes harden slightly, "I don't have—" She stops when Noll places a finger over her lips. He leans down and kisses her forehead, before taking a step away.

Slowly, and deliberately, his eyes never leaving Mai's, he gets down on one knee. Mai's eyes water, and a collective gasp is heard through out the entire hospital. Noll grabs Mai hand, and kisses the knuckles, before speaking:

"Mai Taniyama, will you do me the utmost honor of being my wife?"