Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat! And its characters…

This is for the one who requested an early update for her/his birthday… Hope you'll like it… This will just be my Christmas/New year gift to you all… Just finally finished it, so my apologies for all the typos and wrong grammars… I know I'm not that good with English grammar to begin with… Enjoy! ^_^

Chapter 30

Kyoko and Ren reluctantly dropped the baby off at the daycare center and went to their respective work. But that day, they were so pumped up, they worked twice as hard and twice as fast, and so eager to go home to spend every second of their remaining time with the baby before they hand them over to some strangers and would not see him forever.

Kyoko was the first one to got off work because she had less work that day than Ren. She immediately dashed over to the center to picked up the baby. They went to the park again and Kyoko let baby Ren try to walk on the ground by holding both his hand, assisting him and teaching him to walk. They played at the swings and slides which they both really enjoyed. The whole time Jeffrey, their driver, was taping them with Ren's video. Kyoko did not want Ren to miss this moment with baby Ren. They played enthusiastically for thirty minutes and then, decided to go to their usual store to get groceries.

Kyoko did not use the stroller because she planned to buy more ingredients and pushing both the stroller and cart would be a hassle. So she carried baby Ren by hand which the baby liked because he get to hug Kyoko. She got a cart and put the baby in it. Baby Ren enjoyed the ride a lot and he got to touch and hold the things Kyoko bought.

When they arrived home, Kyoko juggled between feeding the baby and preparing their dinner. She was dancing around the kitchen multi-tasking. After feeding the baby, Ren was still not home yet. So, she decided to bathe the baby because he was all dirty from all the playing in the park and playing with his food. Even after all the playing outside, baby Ren was still very energetic in the bath. He played with his floating rubber ducky that Ren bought him. He repeatedly hit it, trying to strike it down unto the water, which splashed all around. By the time they were done, Kyoko was soaking wet. Kyoko hurriedly dried and dressed the baby. She put him in his walker, dragged him inside the bathroom and closed the door. The bathroom was big enough for him to walk around with his walker. Kyoko prepared the bath, stripped and dipped inside the tub.

Ren, as soon as he got off work, hurried home as fast as he could without running a red light and get into an accident. He even forgot his gentleman and graceful reputation and practically ran to the elevators and to their apartment door. He opened the door and called out excitedly, "I'm home!" He slipped off his shoes and was confused when nobody replied. The lights inside were already on, so Kyoko was clearly home. He passed the living room and into the kitchen. They were empty. But the table was messy and the sink had dirty pots and dishes.

Ren padded to their bedroom and found it empty and so was their closet. He was about to go check the laundry when he heard noises coming from the bathroom. He went to stand in front of the door and pressed his ear on it to understand the muffled voices.

"Ren! No! Don't touch that. Hey! Come here." Ren recognized Kyoko's voice and heard noises that seemed like splashing of water and plastic rolling on the bathroom tile floor. "Good boy! Now give me that." He heard the baby babbling. But her words were causing inappropriate images in his head. "Good… No, no, no… Ren… Don't come inside!"

The real Ren could not take what he was hearing anymore, so he spoke up and made his presence known. "Kyoko? Are you okay in there?"

Kyoko, inside the tub, froze and her heart started racing against her ribs as she realized that Ren was standing outside the door while she was sitting inside the tub naked, and on top of that she forgot to lock the door. Even if I locked it, since when did that stopped him? Kyoko thought. She did not realized the double meaning of her thoughts.

Kyoko was jerked out of her thoughts when the baby rolled in his walker to the door. The baby clearly recognized Ren's voice and smiled widely. "daa, daa, dada, dada!" The baby called out happily.

"Hey there, little guy. You two seem to be enjoying yourselves in there. Can I join in?" Ren greeted and asked hopefully and half jokingly.

"No!"

"Daa!"

Kyoko and the baby said at the same time.

"Okay, I'm coming in." Ren teased.

"Ren! I mean, Tsuruga-san!" Kyoko exclaimed as she hugged herself into a ball trying to cover herself. Ren chuckled and the baby giggled too upon hearing Ren's chuckle.

"I'm just coming in to get the baby, so you can enjoy your bath." He explained and asked, "Did you lock the door?" There was a moment of silence before Kyoko answered 'no'. "Close the shower curtains. I promise, I won't take a peek." He said with a small smile while he was trying his hardest to stop his imagination from running wild. Ren heard the shower curtains closed and turned the knob of the bathroom door open. The baby looked up at Ren and smiled happily showing the only tooth he had.

"Hey… I'm home." He greeted and kissed the baby. "Now, where's my welcome home kiss?" Ren asked the baby. But baby Ren only turned to Kyoko's direction. Ren looked at the baby for a second and let out a laugh at the baby's response. "No, from you. Give me a kiss here." Ren pointed at his cheek, but baby Ren only put his hand on his cheek.

"Ren…" Kyoko whined nervously.

"Okay, okay. Let's go little guy. Your 'Mamma's kicking us out." He chuckled quietly as he pushed the walker with the baby out of the bathroom and closed the door.

Kyoko walked out of their bedroom dressed in her pajamas and into the kitchen. She was surprise to see the table was already set and smiled appreciatively. She wondered where the two were when she did not find them at their living room. Then, she heard noises coming from the laundry room.

"Arf! Arf! Arf!" The baby broke into high pitched giggles and emerged running in his walker from the laundry room. "Arf! Arf! Arf!" The barking sound was not coming from the baby but it was surprisingly coming from a big guy in cute puppy plush animal hat, scarf and paw gloves, who was obviously Ren. He was in all fours and barking after the baby playfully.

Kyoko was stunned for a few seconds but then dashed to the living room couch to get their video camera in her purse. She ran to them and quickly taped them in their little game. Ren in his dog role barking at the baby trying to scare him. But the baby only giggled more and more that Kyoko and Ren could not helped but to laugh with him.

After their little game, Ren picked up the baby from his walker put him in his high chair to begin eating before their food grow cold. Kyoko could not stop giggling while looking at Ren wearing that cute hat. She nearly choke on her food, so Ren decided to take off the hat before Kyoko really choke on her food and put it on the baby, who rocked the cute hat with his super cute one-tooth-grin. Kyoko took a picture of baby Ren in her phone and could not stop herself from sharing it to Maria, Kanae, Chiori, Yashiro and the president.

After they finished eating their dinner, Ren helped Kyoko washed their dishes after ten minutes of persuading her. Ren then took his shower, while Kyoko and the baby laid down on the bed. Before she read a book to the baby, she looked at the pictures in her phone one last time. She smiled at the baby's picture and then scrolled it to the previous picture she had taken. It was a picture of the cute but still screaming sexy Tsuruga Ren wearing that plush animal hat and paws. She took it secretly while Ren, hands in the paw gloves, posed as a scary dog showing his paws with sharp nails to the baby next to him in his high chair. Kyoko giggled and flipped her phone close and read the baby his bedtime story.

Ren exited the bathroom in his pajamas and heard Kyoko finished reading the story to the now asleep baby. Ren smiled and moved to picked up the baby from the bed and transfer him to his crib but Kyoko stopped him. "What?" He asked in confusion.

"I want to sleep next to him." She said. There were two reasons Kyoko wanted to sleep with the baby. First, "There's only more than a day left. I want to spend as much time with him." She explained to Ren. And second was, she was scared of a repeat of last night's sleeping positions.

Ren simply nodded and slipped to his side of the bed with the baby in between them like a line of pillows separating them. He looked at her as she looked at the sleeping baby's face.

"Are you sure you want to give him away?" Ren asked in a whisper. Kyoko looked at him. He saw her searched her mind for an answer.

"I don't know…" She quietly answered as she continued to gaze lovingly at the baby again. "…It's not like he's mine to begin with…" She caressed the baby's cheek.

"But do you want to keep him?" Ren persisted in getting her to tell her true feelings. "Be with him forever?"

"We already know that we have to give him to a real family from the beginning. So we don't really have a choice." She replied. Ren noticed that she did not really answer his question.

"We do have a choice." Ren pointed out.

"No, we don't. We can't keep him, Ren." Kyoko agued and then suddenly realized what she just said. "I mean, I can't keep him. Like you said, he's better off being with a real, complete family who loves him and-" Kyoko would have continued ranting when Ren put a finger on her lips. Then, she noticed the baby stirred in his sleep and realized she was talking too loudly.

Ren was surprised and felt a little bit hopeful because that was the first time he heard Kyoko said the word love without stammering. But he did understood where she was coming from. They were really not in the best position to keep a baby and he knew it would really be unfair for Kyoko. It may not affected him and his work as much but he knew their over two months of pretend-family changed Kyoko's daily routine and slowed her career's progress. So he did not continue to pursue the subject.

Ren just looked at her with love and whispered, "Alright, I understand. Sweet dreams, Kyoko." And kissed the baby good night.

"Good night, Ren." Kyoko said in a barely audible whisper and he closed his eyes to succumb to a deep, restful slumber.

I'm so sorry it's so short, but I think it's sweet… Don't you think? I know some of you are patiently waiting for the storm I was talking and it is coming… The first wave of it was the sudden bad news and the second wave will be coming soon… But not in the next chapter, I think. Anyways, thank you so much for continue reading, reviewing, alerting, fav-ing and just liking my story… May God bless you all and Happy New Year! I hope that next year, I would be a faster writer than I am now, don't you agree? ^_^