King drew in a breath as he knocked softly at Diane's open door the following morning. The giantess sat on the edge of her bed, staring out the window.

"Hey, Diane," He greeted sheepishly, "Do you feel like talking?"
Diane sprang from her seat, embracing the fairy tightly.

"I'm so glad you're back," She said, "You're never gone this long. I thought something might have happened, or you hated me." King returned the embrace, "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"You didn't hurt me," He assured her, " I could never hate you either, You're always going to be precious to me, and I'm sorry it took so long. Things were a little more complicated this time."

"I'm just glad you're safe. If something happened to you-"

"You don't have to worry about me, " King promised. "As much of a jerk as he is, I can say this for Ban, if he's with me, He'll make sure I'm okay."

They sat on the edge of Diane's mattress. They remained silent, staring straight ahead.
King sighed for the second time that morning, thinking of what to say.

"Diane," He began, breaking the silence. "I know you've been wondering about...things for a while. I thought that if you wanted to, maybe we could talk about it."

"Only if you want to," Diane said softly. "I don't want to make you feel sad again." King shook his head.

"I need you to know that what happened before I left wasn't your fault. It's mine. I knew this had to happen sooner or later. I'm sorry that I didn't know how to talk about any of this with you. I still don't, but I owe you an explanation." Another pause passed between them.

"Can I ask you a question?" The giantess turned to face the fairy.

"Yeah, you can ask me anything," King replied.

"When you leave, where do you go?" Diane inquired softly.

"I stay in a house Ban made for us," King answered shortly.

"Ban built a house?" King chuckled lightly at the giantess' astonished tone.

"Yeah, he did. It sounds weird, but it's a nice place.
It was supposed to be for our family.
It's pretty close to-to Tiana."King replied, the sadness returning to his heart. Diane pulled him closer but said nothing.

When King was able to continue, he faced Diane with a sigh.

"I'm sorry," He said.

"Don't be. I can't imagine how much pain you feel. When you're ready, you can tell me." Diane encouraged.

"If you wait for me to be ready, it'll never happen. It's best to get it out."

"Couldn't you guys stay in the forest?" Diane questioned.

"We could have after Tiana was born. For a fairy, having a baby is something we do away from everyone. It's a private thing. Most of us don't even allow the other parent there. If they even stick around.
We don't even announce we're going to have one. We pick a quiet place, and when the time gets closer, we go back to it.
When the baby is born, we stay long enough to recover from it and then go home."

"Really? Ban wasn't there, but I thought you said-"

"He was there, but I didn't allow him in the room with me. He stayed just outside the door. I wanted him to be further than that, I couldn't exactly make him go." King explained.

"Oh. "So that was the place you picked?" King nodded.

"Yeah. He built the house so we could have a place for Tiana, and for me to be comfortable when it happened. I told him I was pregnant just a few steps away from it. Ban said that made it more special. It felt like so much more than a house at first. We planted flowers. It was home, right up until everything went wrong."

"Is that why you go there because it reminds you of her?"

"That's a little harder to explain," King sighed, "Part of it is visiting her, but do you remember me telling you that when a fairy has a baby, it changes them?" Diane nodded.

"Well, that's one of the changes. It's a process I have to go through. I can't tell you much about it other than that. It's best for me to go and deal with it in a quiet place. It's always stressful, and this time around, with Ban following me everywhere and all the pushing to talk about it- It wasn't fair for you to find out the way you did."

"You're not going to," He soothed. "It's just something that I have to get through, and it's not going to shorten my life or anything if it makes you feel better."

"It does." The giantess admitted, "I wish you didn't have to carry all that by yourself for so long. I would've helped you."

"You were only a child, and I didn't want to burden you with my pain.
You had enough of your own without me telling you all that. You did more than you know," King confirmed. Diane shook her head.

"But I didn't-"

"Diane," King paused, "If you knew what was happening at the time, you'd understand what I mean."

"Will you tell me, please?" Diane asked. King sighed heavily.

"When you found me, it wasn't long after I lost Tiana and Ban walked away. I thought I'd lost everything. Fairies heal pretty fast from injuries, but having babies is something else. It's a slow process because there's so much involved. If you have complications, it makes it worse. I had a lot of those with her. The medicine Ban had to give me to try to slow things down didn't make it any easier."

"Slow things down?" Diane asked.

"Yeah, sometimes babies come sooner than they should. You have to slow the process down, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It's a tough decision to use it, but it's the only thing that can work. I was still in a lot of pain, very weak.
I don't know how I made it as far as I did, but after everything that happened, I couldn't-I had enough.
Dying of a broken heart is a real thing that can happen to a fairy. One day, we go to sleep. We sink deeper into it until we can't wake up.
We can't do anything, then our hearts stop." King explained.

Diane sniffled, wiping away a tear.

"Y-you were dying?" King nodded.

"I got close to it, but sometimes we're lucky. Once in a while, something comes along and pulls us back. For me, that was you. I could hear you telling me how lonely you were, and you'd cry sometimes, asking me to stay. I knew then that I'd have to be stronger for you. You gave me a precious gift. Not only did you save my life, but you became my reason for living. Over time, our bond grew, and I started to think of you as my daughter.
I wanted to protect you from everything.
Sometimes, loving someone means making hard decisions, whether that's leaving them so they can be safe or keeping painful things to yourself so they don't have to feel them."

Diane embraced the fairy. "I'm so grateful for what you've given me and that I get to be your family." The giant said softly,

"I'm really glad I have you too, Diane, I love you."

"I love you too, so much." After they released each other, King lovingly wiped away the giantess' tears.

"So I was thinking," The fairy continued, "It looks like a good day out there. If you want to, maybe we could do something. Anything you want." Diane nodded.

"Maybe a picnic and some games?" She asked hopefully.

"Sounds like a good plan. I'll grab a couple things, and when you're ready, we'll head out." Diane and King stood from the bed, going their separate ways.
King returned to the room he shared with Ban, finding the immortal man still on the floor.

Ban sat up, yawning and stretching. He watched King pick up the green pillow and turn to leave.

You talk to her yet?" The fox sin asked casually.

"Yeah," King confirmed.

"You okay?"

"It went better than I thought it would.
I think it'll be easier for her now that she knows."The fairy replied.

"Probably," Ban said, pushing himself off the floor.

"She asked me where I was going when I left, so I told her about the house. " King said.

"Yeah?"

"I think I'd like to show her some time so she knows it's a safe place," King explained. Ban yawned.

"I guess it's a good thing I put that extra room in then," Ban replied casually. King turned to him.

"You're okay with me taking her?"

"Harlequin, I built that house for our family. Whether you like it or not, that's always what you're gonna be to me. You said she's your kid, right?"

"Right," King said shortly.

"Your kid, your house, I have nothing to say about it. Let me know when you guys are heading up that way. I'll make sure I give you some space." Ban promised.

"I will. Thank you." The fairy said, surprised by the reaction from the fox sin. "Speaking of space, you'll have to give me some today. I promised Diane we'd go out. I don't know when we'll get back."

"Don't worry, I'll leave you alone." Ban watched the fairy leave the room and sat down on the bed. Ban made it downstairs a short time later, just in time to see Diane run out the door with a wicker basket, and King flying after her.

"Everything okay?" Meliodas asked from behind the bar. The blond sin was busy cleaning the glasses and putting them away.

"Yeah. Seems like it's getting back to normal." Ban scoffed.

"Is anything with us ever normal, Captain?"The dragon sin shrugged.

"Good point. Since you're here, if you don't mind, I promised to meet Elizabeth in town. Do you think you just keep an eye on things? I'm not opening today, so you shouldn't be bothered."

"It's not like I have anything else to do, "Ban replied. Meliodas placed the last stein on the shelf before putting away his cloth.

"She'll probably come back with me later, so we'll see you then." The dragon sin called over his shoulder. Once his friend was gone, Ban rummaged through the bottles until he found what he was looking for. He chuckled to himself.

"Looks like it's just you and me," He smirked, twisting off the cap and taking a sip
. He made his way into the kitchen to make breakfast before settling down to his drink.