A/N: Thanks for the reviews! In case it's not clear, there's a time skip in this chapter; it's been roughly four months since Kanda's mission in the previous chapter.

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"You don't have to be with Kanda just because he fathered your baby."

It was by far the most annoying thing I heard from the people at headquarters. Every finder must have said it to me at least once in my first month back. But the thing that made it most frustrating was that those closest to me all said it too. Apparently I was the type to "get hung up on tradition", and therefore they assumed that my relationship with Yuu was based on me feeling like I had no choice but to be with the man who had knocked me up.

I heard it first from Lenalee, when she was helping me set up the nursery. I heard it next from Komui, later that day when I asked for a key to my new room for Yuu. Then it was Lavi; I flinched when I dropped my fork in my lap at dinner that night, but it happened right as Yuu kissed me, so it looked like I was shying away from him. I even heard it from Marie, but unlike the others, he was just as concerned about Yuu's feelings as he was mine.

Suddenly I was glad that Yuu had dragged that confession out of me. Being able to tell people that I was in love with him made them change the subject immediately.

It never truly went away though. It came back up every time Yuu left on a mission. Everyone read my depression over my boyfriend's absence as something else. And for the next three days, on top of my loneliness and my exhaustion from having to take care of Addie without Yuu's help, I would have to put up with everyone telling me that no one would think less of me if I broke up with Yuu.

Lenalee was by far the most annoying with it. Not only did she say it more than anyone else, but she was supposed to know better. She was my best friend and I was dating a guy she thought of as a brother. I put up with four months of her constantly saying that stupidest thing before I finally learned that she knew all along that I had rejected Yuu's first proposal. She was saying it to test my resolve. After she finally dropped it, she would get on my case about absolutely everything to do with my relationship.

She even went so far as to ask, "What's he like in the bedroom?"

"Lena!" It was a good thing I was sitting down. The question startled me so much that I dropped Addie, and if I wasn't sitting then she'd have fallen a lot farther than just a few inches.

I pointedly ignored Lenalee while I checked to make sure that my baby was ok. Addie was fine, she didn't even get fussy, but that didn't stop me from glaring daggers at Lenalee. The Chinese woman slid away from me and quickly threw up her hands in surrender. "I just wanted to make sure that he's not using you for sex, that's all!"

The statement was so ridiculous that it placated me immediately. I snorted. "If he is, he's doing a bad job of it. We haven't had sex yet."

My mouth snapped shut the second I realized what I had just let slip. Lenalee gave me a traumatized look before she sighed. "Damn. I owe Lavi five bucks now. I can't believe he was right about Kanda being asexual."

I was completely offended by what she had just said. Our friends were betting on Yuu's sexual orientation. "Lena! Yuu is not asexual!"

She narrowed her eyes and looked as if she was going to hit me. "Allen, you've been together for almost six months and haven't had sex yet. How else can you explain that?"

I scowled at her, but she didn't back off and I ended up caving first. I looked down at Addie with a sigh. "We haven't had sex because of me. I'm just not ready for that yet."

The words earned me a slap to the back of the head. I spent the next twenty minutes listening to Lenalee explain to me why I was being an idiot for not having sex with my boyfriend. It was very uncomfortable.

.x.x.

My first mission after my maternity leave ended was a nightmare; I couldn't stop worrying about Addie, leaving her behind was awful. The only thing that kept me calm was knowing that she was in her father's care. It nearly gave me a heart attack when I got home and found out that Yuu had had to leave on a mission. Addie had spent the last fourteen hours with the only exorcist at headquarters: Miranda. To my surprise, the normally high-strung German woman was actually a fantastic baby sitter. It was quite a relief to know that my daughter had been in good hands. The others would argue that they were better hands than my boyfriend's were, but I did not agree with that in the slightest. Yuu would always be the only one I truly trusted with my child.

.x.x.

My mission took far too long. Two weeks away from my boyfriend and our daughter was too long. Hell, my usual three day missions were too long; this was just torture. I wanted to give Komui an earful when I arrived back at headquarters, but he apologized before I got a single word out. It was dissatisfying not being able to let my frustrations out, but at least the Supervisor realized he had made a mistake.

I stopped in the training hall before going to find Allen, letting the training dummies receive my anger so that I wouldn't accidentally take it out on him. If I lost my temper at him for something he didn't do, all my patience would be for nothing. It had been three months since he had physically recovered enough to have sex, but he was still too skittish to let me touch him like that, and I didn't want to risk scaring him off. So even though it further delayed our reunion, I made sure that I had blown off enough steam before I left the training hall.

I made my way to our room and hurriedly unlocked the door. "I'm home, Moyashi!"

Silence was my only answer. It was dinner time though, so the Moyashi was probably still stuffing his face in the cafeteria. I made my way through the lounge to the bedroom, intending to clean up a little before I went to join him.

I placed my suitcase beside the dresser, and as I leaned Mugen against the bedside table, I was wrapped in a hug from behind. I knew that embrace well, though it was still odd for Allen to be so forward. "Welcome home, Yuu. I missed you."

I pulled his arms away so that I could turn around and kiss him. "I missed you too, Allen."

He smiled brightly at me, like he always did when I used his real name, but then it faded to something nervous. "I got you something."

I raised an eyebrow at him, curious as to what he could be talking about. "Oh?"

The Moyashi blushed a beautiful shade of pink. "Yeah. It's our six month anniversary."

"It is?"

He laughed at my ignorance, but it was clear from the way he nodded that he was still nervous. "Our daughter is six months old today."

Before I could apologize for not figuring out that he would want to celebrate, he stood on tiptoe and kissed me. "Don't worry, Yuu, I didn't expect you to know. I do, however, expect you to participate in everything I have planned. And I expect you to do it with a smile."

I scowled at the devious smirk he gave me. "What are you up to, Moyashi?"

My suspicion made him laugh, but what he said next just made me more suspicious of him. "Lenalee is babysitting Addie tonight. We have the whole night to ourselves."

While he spoke, he backed away and fished something out of his dresser. When he turned back around, his hands were behind his back. "Now, I got you something special, but before I give it to you, you have to promise you'll tell me how much you like it."

"And if I don't like it?"

Allen laughed. "Then say so. But if you don't like it, we might have a problem..."

I raised an eyebrow at him, but he didn't explain. Instead, he just stared expectantly at me. "Fine. I promise to tell you what I think of it."

He broke out into a grin that made me nervous. "I didn't get the chance to wrap it, so you have to close your eyes and hold out your hands, ok?"

"Moyashi..." I growled at him, but he only laughed more.

"Just do it, Bakanda."

After staring at him for a moment, my curiosity won out. I needed to know what had Allen acting so weird. So I closed my eyes and held out my hands.

I felt Allen wave his hand in front of my eyes, making sure that they were truly closed, and then he was placing something in my right hand. The object wasn't very big and it weighed almost nothing; my first guess was that it was a note of some kind.

At the Moyashi's bidding, I opened my eyes. I looked down at the object in my hand and it took a second to realize what it was. Allen had given me a condom.

I snapped my gaze back to the Moyashi to find him nervously chewing on his bottom lip. He forced a smile at me. "Well? Do you like it?"

I knew exactly what the condom meant without having to ask him, but his nervousness kept me from jumping him on the spot, which I desperately wanted to do. "Are you sure about this?"

His eyes filled with tears as his smile fell, and I knew he had misunderstood my question. I quickly pulled him close and kissed him. "I love the gift, Moyashi. But do you really want to go through with this? We don't have to do it just because it's our anniversary."

"I know." He gave me a genuine smile and returned my kiss. "We've waited long enough. I'm ready."

Those two words were music to my ears. I had been waiting to hear them for three months, and been waiting even longer to finally get to have sex with Allen again.

I tried to kiss him, but he pulled away almost immediately. "Moyashiiii..."

He smirked over his shoulder at me as he turned back towards his dresser and rifled through the open drawer. "Sorry. I forgot..., but I also have ... this."

Allen grinned triumphantly at finding what he was looking for. Then he pulled a glass bottle filled with oil from the drawer. The Moyashi really had thought of everything if he had prepared a lubricant. His smile faltered as he offered it to me. "One of the finders gave it to me back when we first returned to headquarters. I only sort of understand what it's for, but he said it would make this hurt less."

I gently pulled the bottle from Allen's hand and placed it on the bedside table. Turning back to the boy, I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him against my chest. "Allen. If you're not completely comf-"

He cut me off with a kiss. "I'm just nervous, Yuu. That's all. It's my first time."

I was caught slightly off guard when he ground our hips together. He wasn't very hard yet, but he was getting there. The feeling of him against me made my pants grow tighter, and the way he whispered in my ear was almost too much to handle. "See? I want this. Take me, Yuu."

My exorcist jacket was on the floor in an instant, the Moyashi's oversized cardigan quickly following it. I pulled him into a deep kiss as I undid the buttons of his shirt, and while our tongues danced, his fingers went straight to my waistband. With a growl, I shoved him onto the bed and yanked his shirt off. I quickly removed my boots, but when I turned my attention back to the Moyashi, he did not look good.

His earlier blush was gone; instead he was so pale that he looked sick. He was lying on the bed with his arms wrapped around his stomach, and he was pointedly looking away from me. I gently sat beside him, and he flinched when I ran my fingers through his hair. "What's wrong, Allen?"

I didn't have to ask, I knew what was bothering him. We'd had many sexual encounters over the last few months, and he always got like that whenever his shirt was removed. He was self-conscious of his stretch marks.

To my surprise, he actually answered my question, though his voice was so quiet that it almost didn't count. "I forgot that I have to be naked for this."

I reached over and gently pulled his arms away from his belly. He whimpered, but he didn't fight me. Moving so that I was straddling his hips, I began tracing the faint lines with my fingertips. This time the Moyashi squeaked and tried to squirm away. I had him trapped so he didn't get very far. I sighed at his reaction and stopped moving my fingers, taking a moment to take in the rare sight of a bare-chested Allen. He was gorgeous; after six months he'd lost all the baby weight and was back to his usual slightly too skinny self. The barely visible stretch marks that snaked across his belly were the only indication that he had actually been pregnant. "Allen. I know you're self-conscious, but you don't need to be. I think you're beautiful."

He scowled accusingly at me. "You're just saying that because I told you we could have sex. You can't actually be attracted to me like this."

I matched his scowl. His words really bothered me. "How many times have we been over this, Moyashi? You know that I love you. You know that I'm attracted to you. You know that I'm in this relationship for the long haul." I was clearly getting nowhere, so I switched tactics. "Besides, I thought you said you're ready for sex. Do you really want me to stop?"

Allen's silver eyes were huge as he stared at me in shock. "No! Of course not!"

I raised an eyebrow at him as I slowly leaned down and kissed one of the stretch marks. He tensed under my touch, but didn't squirm away. Instead, he vocalized his displeasure. "Yuuu! Knock it off!"

I wanted to continue teasing him, but I knew that I had already pushed him far enough on the stretch marks, so I moved on to something else. Sitting up, I pulled my shirt off over my head. The Moyashi's reaction was immediate. His body relaxed and the uncomfortable expression on his face morphed into one of awe. He was almost drooling at the sight of my bare chest. Note to self: taking off my shirt shuts the Moyashi up.

Seeing me shirtless made Allen spring into action. He quickly sat up and threw his mismatched arms around my neck. I raised an eyebrow at the reaction, but didn't get the chance to question it as the Moyashi was firmly pressing our lips together. I gave into the kiss, pulling him down onto the bed with me. We stayed like that for a while, just lying together and making out. I wanted to go further, but I knew that this was something he was comfortable with, so I chose to wait until he had relaxed a little more.

When he pulled away for air, I took the opportunity to move things forward. I left a trail of kisses along his creamy neck, stopping when I reached his collarbone. Allen let out some beautiful moans and gasps as I sucked and nipped at his flesh, marking him as mine for the first time. Satisfied with the hickey, I moved on to another spot.

The Moyashi finally moved after the fourth hickey, though it wasn't to make me stop; he ran his fingers through my hair until he found the hair tie at the bottom of my braid. He struggled to untie it for a moment before he got impatient and just yanked it out. He showed a lot more care with unwinding the braid, certainly more than I ever did, gently unweaving the strands so that my hair fell loose around us without any tangles in it.

I had reached his navel by then, and to my surprise, when Allen had finished with hair, his hands moved straight to the waistband of my pants. Taking that as a sign that he was ready for the next step, I stopped what I was doing in favor of removing his pants.

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A/N #2: We're nearing the end, but we're not quite there yet. I tweaked the epilogue the other day and ended up writing two more chapters. So, instead of this being the second-to-last full chapter, there are actually three more coming after it. ;)