DISCLAIMER: SKIP BEAT! and its associated characters are the creations of Yoshiki Nakamura. This author claims no ownership of Skip Beat or any of its characters. All other rights reserved.

Author's Note: This one didn't have a word, but it came to me after a particularly difficult day during which I did, in fact, cry. THIS ENDS FLUFFY. I PROMISE. Rest assured it ends well, though, because I need my fluff—though sometimes I have to wade through angst to get it.

Nightmare Fuel

Next up: is there trouble in paradise? Rumors about Kuon Hizuri and his Sunlit Garden co-star Ashley Wolcombe have been flying since the Route Project star joined the cast and crew of Ashley's new production. We've had reports of the two stars spending a lot of time together, and now we have proof! Of course, Kuon is married to Japanese actress Kyoko Mogami, but that hasn't stopped him from finding a California girl…

The TV was relentless. There he was, his arms around another woman—two Californian blondes under a blue Californian sky. They were kissing…and it wasn't on set. And then there were more photos—Ashley, topless by the pool, Kuon with a hand on her back, spreading lotion. It was as if they weren't even trying to hide it, because the press had picture after picture of them canoodling over sushi, or holding hands on the street. He had that look on his face, and as soon as Kyoko saw it, she knew. Kuon was gone, he wasn't coming back, and she would be a single mother just like her mother. She hadn't even told him she was pregnant before he left.

Wasn't there anything else going on in the world today? Wasn't there a war? Or an earthquake? Weren't the oceans rising? Why…why was it necessary for every news channel to show those blasted pictures on repeat? Didn't they know they were being cruel?

She closed her eyes but even when she did the pictures kept coming, playing on a loop.

All day long her phone had been ringing, friends and colleagues 'checking up on her' to see 'how she was doing.' At first, Kyoko had answered each call…and then, she'd just stopped responding. What was the point? There was always a voice on the other end of the line, apologizing for 'bringing her bad news' or telling her 'I'm sure you've seen'—and then there was the inevitable 'I can't believe he's doing this to you.'

A wave of grief washed over her and before she knew it she found herself on the floor of their shower, screaming out her pain as hot water washed the tears down the drain. She was screaming again, and again, and again…and—

"Kyoko?" A hand was on her shoulder. "Kyoko, love, wake up…"

A light came on. There were crisp white sheets. The clock was flashing 3am. She shuddered awake, and for a second, she didn't know where she was.

"Kyoko, baby, I'm here…I'm here…"

And then she was looking at him, her amber eyes focusing on his green ones dazedly. A hand came up to cup her face, and Kuon wiped away the tears that were falling with his fingers and then with his lips.

"Kuon," she whimpered, and he took her in his arms.

"I'm here," he said again, "Won't you tell me what it was about?"

She shook her head. "It's…it's nothing." Another sob wracked her as she remembered the pictures—clear just seconds ago, but fading into nothing now. Dreams were funny like that. So clear, so real one moment, and then gone just like that upon waking. But the feelings stayed. Her heart was racing, and her stomach dropping as if she was in freefall. She felt as if she'd been struck physically, and yet right now, with his arms around her, in their cozy bed, she knew that none of it had been real.

"You were screaming in your sleep, and you're crying now. It was not 'nothing,'" he responded. His eyes were looking into hers with love and concern and she broke into a new round of sobbing.

"Was it about the new movie offer? The one in LA?" he asked.

"No! No…" She looked up at him through her tears, knowing she'd answered too quickly.

"Kyoko."

"Yes," she mumbled. They'd promised each other long, long ago—when he'd told her about Corn and she'd admitted to being Bo—that they'd never lie to each other. "But I don't want to hold you back," she said.

"I was too distracted when I got home to tell you, but I decided against taking it." He'd been distracted by her. It was hard to remember anything outside their door when he was with Kyoko.

"You—you did?!" Kyoko couldn't bear the thought that he'd turned down a Hollywood offer. What if he'd done it because of her? She'd always been afraid she'd get in the way of his career. "But why? Isn't your goal to be a distinguished actor in America?"

He laughed. "Did you read the script? It was awful, love. They wanted a pretty face. They can get Cedric to do that." He brought her closer to him, spooning her against his warmth. He nibbled her ear as she sniffled into the sheet. "Besides, I have nothing to prove."

It was true. Route had made him a household name in the U.S. "But—"

"I've told you a million times. You come first. Always," he said. He smiled at her and her breath caught, catching his double entendre as his hands caressed up and down her back.

And then the smile disappeared. "But you haven't told me everything," he said.

"It…it was just a dream."

"Even if it was about me taking the offer, you wouldn't be crying like that."

"I…don't want to," she said.

He sighed and gave her a look. "My wife cries and screams in my bed in the middle of the night. Wouldn't you want to know if it was me?"

He was right. Even during their time as the Heels, she'd wanted to know what kept him tossing and turning in his sleep. He'd told her, eventually, and that had been a far more serious thing than her nightmare had been.

Haltingly, she told him everything she could remember from the dream. His eyes had darkened and his hands had clutched her tighter as she continued. She told him about the news reports. The pictures. The sympathetic calls from friends.

"I would never do that to you," he said. "Never, ever in a million years. Not in this life, or the next, and probably not the one before."

"I know you wouldn't." Her voice quavered.

"Do you?" he asked. "Do you know it, really? Deep down in your bones. You know I'm yours. You've known it from the start, even when neither one of us wanted to admit it."

She started crying again as he kissed her softly, his arms around her protectively warding off the night.

"I would die before I did that to you."

"Please don't."

"I would deserve it."

She buried her face into his neck as he breathed in the scent of her hair.

"Besides—a lot of people don't know this but…"

"But?"

"Ashley Wolcombe is a half-cousin. On my mother's side. We even have the same color eyes."

She drew back, her eyes narrowed. "Is everyone in Hollywood related to you, Kuon?"

He grinned. "Everyone that's anyone, of course."

She harrumphed and tried to hit his shoulder, but he caught her hand and kissed it. "And you're still holding out on me." He didn't let go of her hand, pressing it to his heart, instead.

She drew in a breath and looked up at him again, and there was an intensity in those eyes that she couldn't lie to. She'd been keeping it a secret for a week, not knowing what to do. She knew she needed to tell him, but every fear she had rose to the surface. She thought of the things they'd discussed and things they hadn't—thoughts of her mother, thoughts of her childhood, thoughts of him and his troubled past. But there was hope, too. Images of days in the sun, laughing with him, of him holding a little bundle in his arms and smiling up at her.

"What is it?" he whispered. Her stillness was scaring him.

She swallowed. "I'm…I'm…I'm pregnant."

The smile that broke from his face would have melted entire stadiums of screaming fans into blubbering piles of goo.

"Really?!" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "You…you're not mad?"

"No, I'm not. And I love you," he said.

He pulled her in and kissed her, and kissed her, and kissed her, and if he cried a little too, she didn't say anything. She was too busy being lost in him. There would be time, later on, for them to talk…for logistics, for the dissection of doubt, for reassurances and the restatement of everything they hoped for.

Right now, though, there was just bliss. They fell asleep entwined and happy, and no nightmares troubled their rest.