Twenty minutes later, baby Erika had been cleaned up, fed, and was snuggled contently in her mother's arms. She was gorgeous; with Kanda's navy hair and Allen's silver eyes, she was the perfect blend of the two of them. And even though she was only a newborn, it was already obvious that she would be turning heads when she was older.

Allen was reclining against the pillows on an infirmary bed, grinning like a madman whenever he looked at his baby, and Kanda sat beside him, arms wrapped around his Moyashi and wearing a happy smile that was quite out of character for him. Lenalee sat in the chair next to the bed, and she and Allen laughed and cooed as they fawned over the newborn in his arms.

The joyous mood was brought to an abrupt halt when Komui and the head nurse came into the room. The matron turned a fierce scowl on Allen and immediately began lecturing him for not coming to the infirmary as soon as he went into labor. "Why the hell didn't you tell anyone that you were having contractions?"

He met her scowl with a level stare that would have been much more effective if he didn't look so tired. "I only had four contractions. Four. Her head came out with the first one, and the rest of her came out with the last one. The whole thing took all of two minutes."

While his explanation was reasonable, it did nothing to appease the matron and she continued to glower at him. "You were probably ignoring the signs. Contractions often feel more like a backache. You were probably in labor all day and weren't paying enough attention."

That made Allen mad. "First of all: no one ever told me that, so how was I supposed to know? And second: even knowing that my backache was part of my labor only adds like half an hour to the total time. The pain started during lunch and the birth was over fifteen minutes after we left the cafeteria. Like I keep trying to tell you, she simply came out too fast for me to do anything about it."

The nurse then turned her scowl on Lenalee, hoping the other woman could talk some sense into the stubborn man, but the Chinese girl just shrugged and supported her friend. "I was with them through the whole meal. Allen showed absolutely no signs of being in labor."

Komui cleared his throat before anyone could say anything more and turn what was so far a civil discussion into an argument. "Moving on, I'm sure you are all anxiously waiting to hear the results of the tests we did on the baby."

"Erika." Allen scowled at the Supervisor, offended by the nonchalant way the Chinese man was talking about his daughter. "Her name is Erika. Use it."

Komui laughed awkwardly and cleared his throat again. Allen may have been exhausted from childbirth, but that didn't mean that the young man was any less dangerous than he usually was. "Right. Sorry. Anyway, Erika is perfectly healthy. She's a little overweight, but that's because she was overdue, so it's nothing to worry about. We were concerned about the birthmark on her shoulder, but-"

"What birthmark?" The panic in Allen's voice was clear as he cut off Komui's explanation and turned his focus on the baby in his arms. He carefully freed his right hand and pulled away the blankets that were wrapped around his little girl. As soon as her body was exposed, his eyes went to her left shoulder where there was just a touch of malformed red flesh peeking out from under her onesie. "Oh."

Allen didn't have to see any more to know what was going on. He wrapped Erika back up with a sigh and held her closer to his chest. Turning his attention back to Komui, he cocked his head at the Chinese man. "Why were you worried about her parasitic Innocence?"

The sincere confusion in the young exorcist's voice and the puzzled look on his face almost made Komui laugh. "Because we didn't know that that's what it was. But you recognized it right away and you didn't even look properly."

"I didn't have to." At the look the others gave him, Allen sighed and explained. "I've had mine for as long as I can remember, it was obvious that that's what her birthmark is."

After a moment of silence, Lenalee placed her hand on her friend's shoulder. He was far too calm about this whole situation and that was bothering her. "And you're ok with that?"

Allen just shrugged off the question. "Not really. But we've known from the beginning that Eri was going to be an accommodator, so there's no point in freaking out over it now."

The comment earned him a flicked ear from Kanda. "Baka Moyashi. Stop trying to be noble and just say that you wish Eri didn't have Innocence."

Pouting at his husband, Allen sighed and shook his head, his disheveled white hair falling into his face. "But that's not true. It's because she has Innocence that I know we get to keep her. If she weren't an accommodator, Central would have tried to take her from us. And it's because of my Innocence that we even have her in the first place. I may wish that she doesn't have to grow up to be an exorcist, but I definitely don't wish that she didn't have Innocence."

Kanda rolled his eyes at the sentimental speech, unwilling to admit that the other actually made a lot of sense. "Baka. Just-"

A loud crash from the hall interrupted him, and everyone turned to the door just as Lavi burst into the room. His red hair was a mess and he was panting for breath as he skidded to a stop at the foot of Allen's bed. He was grinning like a lunatic and looked like he was about to explode with excitement. "I heard you had the baby! Where is she? I can't wait to meet her!"

Ignoring the redhead while he struggled to breathe after his wild sprint across headquarters, Allen smiled at Komui. "Is there anything else?"

The supervisor laughed and shook his head as he headed towards the door. "It's nothing that can't wait until later. You kids have fun with the baby."

The matron followed his lead, and the four friends were left alone. Lavi had calmed down by that point and he moved closer, reaching out to stroke Erika's cheek. "You actually did it. You actually had a baby."

The wild-eyed look on his face made the others laugh. Allen smiled and brushed his finger along Erika's nose, making the little girl yawn. "This is Erika. She's about an hour old."

Lavi and Lenalee oohed at the adorable way the baby's face scrunched up with her yawn. Inwardly, he felt the same warmth when watching his daughter, but Kanda scoffed at the pair, earning himself an elbow in the ribs from Allen. "Stop being so uptight, Yuu. It's ok to admit that you think your baby is beautiful."

Lavi wanted to laugh at the pair, but after the last four months of watching them be a married couple, teasing them over their relationship wasn't fun anymore. All laughing at them now would do would make them mad at him, and he did not want to risk having Allen kick him out of the room. So he ignored his gut reaction and turned his focus on Erika.

But when the redhead reached for the baby and moved to take her from Allen, the young man hissed and pulled her away. "What do you think you're doing?"

Lavi blinked at the hostility in the question, wondering what he'd done to upset the new mother. "Holding the baby?"

The look on his face made Kanda snicker and Lenalee laugh. Taking pity on him, the Chinese woman explained as gently as she could. "That's not allowed yet. It's still Allen's turn."

Lavi frowned in disappointment. "And when will it be someone else's turn?"

Kanda snickered again. "At this rate? A week from Tuesday." When Allen made a face at the joke, the samurai rolled his eyes at his husband. "She's my baby too, you know. I should be allowed to hold her."

Allen continued to pout, but when Kanda pressed once more, he actually relinquished his hold on the baby, moving Erika into her father's arms. He didn't want to let go of her, but he knew that Kanda was right.

Catching the look on Kanda's face when the baby was settled into his arms, Lenalee sprang from her chair and dragged Lavi from the room before he could tease the samurai, like he was inevitably going to do if he were allowed to stay. It was time for the new parents to have some privacy.

Allen had also caught that Kanda was trying to conceal his true feelings in front of their friends. He smiled cheekily at his husband when he heard Lenalee close the door. "They're gone. You can cry now."

The comment was rewarded with a growl and a glare, but the restrained tears did fall; Kanda was just too happy to hold them in. The baby that had been growing inside his Moyashi was now in his arms, and she was every bit as perfect as he had hoped she would be.

Allen sighed contentedly and leaned his head against the samurai's shoulder, his gaze firmly fixed on their newborn baby. Everything he'd been through in the last several months was all for her, and now that she was actually in their lives, he could say that it was worth it. The next few months were going to be hard, but if the first hour of her life was any indication, Erika was going to be a well behaved child.

While Allen was lost in thoughts of raising their daughter, Kanda was staring not at the baby, but at the head of white hair that was resting on his shoulder. The Moyashi was gorgeous both physically and spiritually, even if he didn't look it after the strain of childbirth. "So, when are you going to let me get you pregnant again?"

The sincere question made Allen snort. "Are you capable of thinking about something other than sex?"

The samurai blinked at the comment. It was not the outright refusal that he had expected. "I'm being serious, Allen."

Allen's heavy sigh turned into a yawn. "I know. But it's only been an hour since I gave birth. I don't want to even think about having another baby right now. Ask again in a couple months."

.x.x.

The next few weeks were hard. Taking care of Erika was a hell of a lot easier back when she was still inside me. Instead of getting no sleep because I was big and uncomfortable, I was getting no sleep because my infant daughter was completely helpless and always needed something.

Breastfeeding was by far the worst part of having a baby. While I loved having Erika that close to me, all nursing her did was draw attention to my breasts. Those things were awful and, outside of sex, I hated them with every fiber of my being. And it was all because the people at the Order had no boundaries. They all thought that it was perfectly acceptable to ask how my milk was flowing or if I was making sure that my nipples weren't drying out or if my breasts hurt. It was mortifying and annoying; I was a man, I did not want anyone to be talking about my breasts. Even if I were a woman, my breasts should not have been an acceptable topic of conversation. The whole thing was far too private and personal.

But after a month, I had finally figured out how to make them leave me alone. All I had to do was turn to my husband, who was almost always at my side, and say, "Yuu, make them shut up." Whoever was bothering me would be gone before Kanda could so much as glare at them. It was mean, but unlike politely asking them to stop, it actually worked.

Kanda was way more supportive than everyone said he'd be. Back when I was pregnant, everyone had said that he'd make himself scarce when it came time to take care of our baby; a few had even insisted that I wouldn't even be able to get him to hold her. But not only did Yuu hold the baby when she was being quiet and adorable, he held her when she was crying too. He even changed her diapers and helped bathe her.

I was not surprised that Yuu was putting so much effort into being a good father and husband. Back when we had first learned of my pregnancy, I had agreed with the others, but after being married to Kanda for several months, I knew that he wasn't capable of being anything other than helpful and supportive towards people that he loved.

There was only one thing about his behavior that surprised me: whenever Yuu was holding Erika in his arms, he was talking to her. In Japanese.

With the flawless way he spoke English, his lack of interest in Japanese things, and the fact that his body was the result of a science experiment, I was under the impression that Kanda didn't actually know his native language. (Aside from a few random words and insults, that is.) I was clearly wrong about that.

I was far from fluent, but I knew quite a bit of Japanese from my travels with Master Cross. It was a beautiful language, but it was even more beautiful hearing my husband speak it to our infant daughter. I could sit and listen to him talk for hours, if it weren't for the fact that I didn't actually have the time to do that.

I will never forget the look on Yuu's face the first time I spoke to him in Japanese. He had just finished talking Eri to sleep, and I had popped into the room to ask him a question. It slipped out in Japanese, and he just stared speechlessly at me. After what had happened when we learned I was pregnant, Kanda frequently told me he loved me, but that was the first time it had ever shown on his face. It was priceless and it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I truly was the love of my husband's life.

Unsurprisingly, he pounced on me the moment he collected himself. The sex we had that afternoon was more tender and passionate than it had ever been before.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N: No updates next week. I'm also moving my posting day from Thursday to Friday. You'll have to wait till 3/09 for Chapter 14.