With exactly zero fanfare, it was a few days later that they'd decided to fill out the paperwork for legal marriage, neither of them wanting to make a huge deal over it but wanting to get it finished and taken care of. In fact, it wasn't until after they'd gone in and gotten it legally documented by the local courts that they'd even stopped by Kjelle's parents' house to let them know what they'd done, which Yarne had been worried was going to be some huge confrontation. However, her parents were just as understanding and accepting as his had been, if only a little bitter that they hadn't learned there'd even been a quick engagement until after it was already over.

"My only worry here is that you're going to 'forget' to tell us about other important things," Sully said to them as they all sat in the half-furnished living room of the house, a lot of the furniture that had once been in there moved on to different places in the house. "I'm not saying that we need all the updates every second, but an invitation to the baby shower might be nice, whenever that happens."

"Oh, uh, right, that's a thing that we're definitely going to be having." Kjelle's eyes had widened at the words, and she was looking at Yarne in a minor panic. "I haven't even thought about what someone does for one of those, but if one happens you will definitely be invited, promise."

"Someone's planning one for us, I think," Yarne told them all, not wanting to name who it was in specific but suddenly growing worried that those plans had fallen through entirely and now he was lying through his teeth. "I'm not supposed to have mentioned it at all to Kjelle, it was supposed to have been a surprise for her, but…oops."

Relaxing, knowing that it wasn't a burden she was meant to figure out on her own, it was a few seconds later that Kjelle's head snapped to facing Yarne again, her mouth opened in shock. "What do you mean, it was supposed to have been a surprise? If it was supposed to have been a surprise, why did you just mention it?"

"I didn't know how else I was supposed to not make your mom think she needs to plan one on her own," he explained, trying his best to not be intimidated by the look he was getting. "As long as I don't tell you who's planning it, I think it's okay, maybe?"

"We're going to hope that they tell me soon, or else I'll just happen to tell them that you already ruined the surprise for me." The smile that appeared on her face was devious, and Yarne swallowed down hard, nodding to accept those terms. "Good, glad we had this talk. Mom, Dad, sorry for just kind of intruding on you today and dropping some big news on you, but at least this time we did it without yelling and crying, hm?"

She was already starting to get up to leave, which no one stopped her, and so when they heard her footsteps on the stairs going up to her old bedroom, it wasn't that much of a surprise at all. "That girl, always getting in there to find something old to drag out with her, I'll go up to make sure she doesn't topple anything onto herself—or cause herself to topple over, anyway." Standing up with a rather hasty motion, Sully headed straight out of the room and soon her steps on the stairs were audible as well, in addition to her calling up into the upper floor if any help was needed.

Yarne, not sure what he should do in that situation when everything seemed to be handled, was considering standing up and leaving as well, but then he looked over at the chair in the corner and saw that he was getting stared down intensely by Kjelle's dad, and he knew that leaving wasn't an option after all. "You're treatin' her right, yeah?" Vaike asked him, maintaining his stare the entire time, and Yarne was so unsure of what was an appropriate answer that he let the opportunity to say anything slip away. "I mean, you've gotta be, she's a smart girl. No, a smart woman, she's not a girl anymore, no matter how much we like to call her one behind her back."

"I-I promise I'm not going to hurt her, if that's what you're asking me," Yarne said, stumbling over his own tongue to get the words out. "I love her, and I'm going to treat her exactly like she deserves to be treated, just like I always have. That's the truth, Mr. Kjelle's dad sir, and I'm okay if you hold me to it."

There was a moment's pause, before all of the tenseness disappeared as Vaike barked out a strong laugh. "She certainly found herself one of the strangest people around, that's for sure. You've always been a good guy for her to be with, keepin' her head where it needs to be and all that. I'm glad to get to say you're part of this family."

"Uh…thanks, I think?" He'd fully been anticipating getting chewed out for stealing his daughter away without any sort of communication, so for this to be the reaction Yarne got in the end felt very strange. He wasn't even sure if he had anything he wanted to say to that, much less that he could put into words that didn't come out choppy and completely disastrous in how they were organized. So, rather than try to force communication, he just sat there awkwardly and waited until the two sets of footsteps were heard coming down the stairs once again, followed by both women appearing in the doorway, Kjelle holding up a dark-colored jersey that had a faded team name printed in white on the front for him to see.

"Of all the things to be looking for in there," Sully remarked with a chuckle as she came to sit back down, in exchange for Yarne getting up and coming closer to see what it was that Kjelle was actually holding. "I'm not entirely sure why that's the one in particular she wanted, but it's a classic."

"Mom, I literally explained what I want to do with this while we were looking for it, why are you acting like you don't know?" Once Yarne was closer to her, Kjelle turned the jersey around so that he could see the white paint on the back, the smudged lettering where someone had corrected misspelling Tatjana that he'd remembered seeing in her sports photo album. "I just, you know, thought it would be fun if we had this to go with the jacket that Lucina gave us. It's going to be way too big for a long time, obviously, but when she gets too big for wearing her Leichtfoot jacket, she can go ahead and wear her jersey with her name on it."

"Is that what you're goin' for with all this? Tryin' to push your childhood memories onto the kiddo?" Craning his neck as he attempted to see the jersey for himself, Vaike was only able to see it when Kjelle realized that he was trying in the first place and held it so that it could be seen around where Yarne was standing. "I mean, that's quite the memory to be thrustin' onto her, are you sure you want to be doin' that?"

"Dad, I've been sure I want to do this since I was little, I just never thought I'd get the chance to do it so I'm taking it." Kjelle stopped showing off the jersey, rolling it up and throwing it over her shoulder so that she didn't lose track of where she'd put it. "Tjana is going to have so much cool stuff to show off who she is, and it's really thanks to…thanks to you guys forcing me into sports as a kid. I'm not saying I plan on doing the same to her, it's going to be entirely up to her interests, but even if she doesn't end up being an athlete, she's going to get all sorts of old athletic stuff to wear."

He seemed to accept that as an answer, nodding to himself as he reclined in his chair. "Sounds like you're already anglin' for people to give you guys certain kinds of gifts. Was that stuff the sort of stuff you bought when we let you shop with our money?"

"Ha, no," she replied without any hesitation. "I spent your money on buying the frilliest little dresses and the cutest tops and sweaters and shoes and all of that really girly stuff I wouldn't get caught dead in."

"Wouldn't get caught dead in? Do we need to go find the family pictures from when you were just a little kid?" The smile that appeared on Sully's face when she asked that was the exact same sort of smile Kjelle got when she was about to prove someone wrong, proof that it was something that just ran in their blood. "There were a lot of frills and bows back in your day, don't you forget it."

"Okay, well, Tjana is going to be even frillier and cuter than whatever monstrosities you decided to dress me up in back then. I know your fashion sense, Mom, and I know that it's always been a nightmare." Now it was Kjelle's turn to give that same expression back to her mother, and they both ended up laughing about what they'd been discussing, no hard feelings on either side.

On their way home a little while later, Yarne decided to address something that had come to mind while he'd been listening to the familial banter. "You're not going to ask me to fish out things from when I was little for Tjana to have, are you?" he asked, unsure if the question even needed to be stated. "Because if you want me to, I have some…really bad news."

"Don't worry, I know that your mom didn't keep any of it around when they were cleaning out your old room. You always seem to forget that I'll willingly talk to her if I need something from her, and this was something I could've needed." Kjelle took a second to think about if there was anything else she needed to say, before adding, in one breath, "Also she might've already given me the one thing she did keep, because something something taguel tradition something."

"That's what I was thinking you'd say." After the conversation he'd had with his mother back in her hospital room that night, Yarne's mind had been hard at work trying to figure out what sorts of heirloom items existed that she'd been given when the tradition had been passed down to her. "Did she explain what that one thing was?"

At first, Kjelle was shaking her head, but she froze and suddenly nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, actually, she did! It's a blanket, but it's not a normal blanket, it has sleeves and straps to make sure it stays wrapped around the child. She said that it was a gift she'd gotten before you were born from…hm. She specifically mentioned who it was, but I…can't remember."

"Her cousin, I'm guessing?" he suggested, to which Kjelle very confidently agreed with what he'd said. "Right, uh, I never got around to explaining what she'd told me that night when I saw her in the hospital, and that's why I was able to guess that so easily. Her cousin, her last relative, died not all that long before I was born, and I'm sure that she's treasured that gift they gave her for as long as she could. We've got to take good care of it, no matter how much we end up using it."

Even though they were talking about something that had been gifted to them and how important it was, there was a sadness to Kjelle's voice when she spoke next. "I can't imagine how much it must've hurt her to give that to me, instead of keeping it for herself. But she made it clear that the first taguel of the next generation needed a special gift, and that's a…pretty special gift to get."

Yarne drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, trying to figure out what he wanted to say about that. He could have come completely clean about why it really was special as a gift to adhere to the tradition, but it didn't feel worth it. "Mom's been through a lot, but she's showing that family actually does matter to her, and I think this proves it. Now that I know we have it, I'll have to thank her for trusting us with it. She was very fond of her cousin, and I bet she was fond of that gift, too."

Due to how uprooted everything was with his parents, the next time Yarne saw his mom he'd forgotten all about thanking her for the gift she'd given, but it was with good reason; even though she had been discharged from the hospital less than a week after she'd been admitted, Lace was still there and still needed to be visited every day, and on the particular day he saw Panne she'd spent most of the morning getting to hold her little one for the first time. Just hearing his mother's explanation of how small she still was, and how many machines there were attached to her little body even while being held, made him thankful that he hadn't been asked to go visit her as well. That changed when she showed him pictures, and he was able to tell that even in the week after her birth she hadn't grown at all, but she looked like she was beginning to come into thriving in her own way. "I figure that you'll be able to meet her within the month, as long as things continue trending upward in her life," Panne told him, sounding very confident in that take. "Until then, I'll make sure I tell her all about you and Ribbon every time I see her."

"Thanks for that, Mom, it means a lot." It truly did mean a lot, and even though Yarne hadn't ever asked for a second sister, he had completely warmed up to her now that she was clinging to life there in the intensive care ward at the hospital. Of course, he remembered what he'd wanted to tell his mother after he'd headed home that night, but it was too late to go back and tell her anyway, so he told himself he'd save it for the next time.

That night, as he drifted off to sleep, he felt like he was beginning to drown in the minimal blankets on the bed, an odd sensation to have given that he was only covered in a flat sheet, and even then it was his legs that were under the fabric. When he opened his eyes in his dream, he was once again in the hospital, sitting in a room that was filled with medical staff calling out jargon that he didn't understand. Perhaps he wasn't understanding it because it wasn't real, but they sounded serious and he wanted to know what was going on, so he got up out of the chair he'd been sitting in, only to promptly get pushed back down by one of the nurses, who told him something that sounded garbled and unlike any words he'd ever heard someone use before.

Then, after what felt like literal ages of him being witness to absolutely nothing, there was the alarm in the room, going off despite there being so many people there trying to tend to whoever was in the bed, and he had a feeling deep in his soul that he knew where this nightmare was going to take him. Try as he might, he couldn't wake up, and he couldn't get away from what was happening, leaving him to lay there in the prison of his own mind until it was over. The alarm turned off, the room started to clear, and he could see that it was another one of his dreams in which he lost Kjelle, except this time, it wasn't just her in the bed completely lifeless.

Finally released from the chair by the invisible chains that were holding him down after his first getaway attempt, he came to the side of the bed and reached out to touch her cold, pale forehead, absolutely no sign of life anywhere to be found. After gently caressing her cheeks, then her jaw, he moved down to looking at what was in her arms, a bundle wrapped in a pink-striped blanket that stayed silent and motionless. His breath began to pick up speed, his heart racing, as he touched the blanket, slowly unwrapping it to see what was inside. Whatever was making him have this nightmare was cruel, knowing that he didn't want the first time he dreamt about Tjana in the flesh to be where he saw her dead, but he couldn't stop himself from moving layer after layer of blanket to try getting to her. As his finger brushed against skin, clammy and cold like he'd expected it to be, he felt himself being drawn to look closer, and closer, and—

The sound of Kjelle's phone ringing loudly woke him up from the scene, and he shot up in the bed, immediately reaching over to her to make sure she still had a pulse. "You're kidding me," she grumbled before he even had the chance to get to touch her, a very clear sign that she was alive. "Why am I getting called this early? Don't people understand that people like me need their sleep?"

As she fumbled for her phone to answer the call, Yarne took a deep, thankful breath and swung his legs out from under the sheet on the bed, grabbing his phone and checking it as he sat over the edge of the bed. His alarm was set to go off in exactly five minutes, so he wasn't too bothered by the disruption to his sleep, outside of what he'd been enduring before he'd gotten woken up. While he was always thankful when his anxieties weren't actively disrupting his daily life more than usual, he was beginning to grow tired of them manifesting in his nightmares. "I'm going to take a shower to cool myself off," he told himself, knowing that Kjelle would know that was what he was doing when she heard the water running.

He didn't want to go to work, not necessarily, but he was getting up earlier than usual to go in a bit ahead of when he was scheduled at the request of one of his bosses, who'd stopped him before he'd left his shift the day before to make that request of him. If anything, his nightmare had been fueled by that and the talk he'd gotten to have with his mother regarding how Lace was doing, so he wasn't exactly thrilled to be needing to go in a few minutes early. That sleep he was being robbed of would've been lost anyway, since he'd ultimately been woken up by Kjelle getting that phone call.

And what a call it was, if her screaming after she'd hung up was any indication. Even though he was in the middle of his cold shower when she came into the bathroom, she went right on with explaining what had just happened, hoping that he was listening over the water hitting his face. "That was the clinic calling, their machines went down overnight and they have no idea what time to estimate they'll be back up, which means my appointment for today's getting rescheduled to tomorrow at the same time, since it's supposed to be later and if the machines come back up they're going to need to try and fit others in first. Which, fine, whatever, I can roll with that. So I guess I have today off for now, but I sent Effie a text to see if she'll let me work for her tonight so she can cover for me tomorrow, even though I'm sure she's going to ask to keep her shift today and then work mine tomorrow too."

"Uh huh, go on," Yarne said, only half listening to what was actually being talked about, and his reaction was clearly not the one that Kjelle had wanted from him, as suddenly her head was sticking in through the curtain, her smiling at him as he screeched at the surprise of seeing her. After nearly slipping on the wet floor, he scrambled to turn the water off and stood there, dripping wet, staring at her as she continued smiling at him. "Damn it, you really need to not do that when I'm trying to shower!"

"You weren't trying to do anything except run water over yourself, we both know that," she retorted, sticking her tongue out before poking back outside of the curtain, only for her hand holding a towel to come back in. After he took the towel and began using it, she pulled the curtain open and moved to put her hands on her hips, looking up at him with her same playful expression. "Since I've got nothing better to do, I'm going back to bed. Wish there was something I could do other than that, but…don't want to hurt myself, especially if you're not going to be here."

He stared at her blankly as he worked on drying himself, saving his massive mane of hair for after the rest of him had been dried. "You're acting like you've suddenly become incapable of doing anything on your own, which is not like you. I'm sure there's something you can do that your doctor would be happy about."

"You're probably right," Kjelle admitted, standing there in thought for a moment. "But between being labeled a fall risk after that one serious dizzy spell, being incredibly accident-prone due to how I've always been, and being considered a high-risk pregnancy thanks to all of those other issues, I don't want to risk anything I don't have approval for first. Stupid, but necessary, and therefore…bed."

Despite saying she was going back to bed, she most certainly did not move from that spot, leaving her eyes watching Yarne as he finished drying off and put what clothes he needed back on before slipping out of the bathroom to go get his work clothes ready for the day. It didn't dawn on him until he was tucking his shirt in that Kjelle hadn't even noticed the time and therefore wasn't questioning why he was getting ready earlier than usual. Either that, or she'd accepted that her call was responsible for him being awake and was rolling with it. "I'm going to head out now," he called to her, listening as she mumbled something from inside the bathroom in return, and when he realized he didn't know what she'd said, he stopped trying to leave and instead went back to check on her.

"You know what's a miracle?" she asked him when she saw his head pop in through the door, followed by the rest of him in his nice clothes. She'd gotten as far as turning around in the bathroom, with her stare now focused on the vanity mirror. "I mean, aside from us being able to have Tjana in the first place."

"That was my guess," he admitted, knowing that they really couldn't explain being able to have a child beyond it being a miraculous event. "But you're going to tell me, aren't you?"

"It's a miracle that I've basically been forbidden from doing any of the activities I love, yet it seems the only thing about me that's really changed is my stomach." As she maintained eye contact with her own reflection, Kjelle raised one of her arms and flexed it, showing off her still-there muscles that hadn't withered away due to lack of use. "I'm not even allowed to lift anything heavier than, like, a chair, and yet…I've still got it."

"Guess that'll mean that when you're allowed to get back to working out normally, you won't have that far to go before you're caught back up to where you left off." He smiled, watching as she flexed the other arm before breaking into laughter at the sight of herself doing such things. "Hey, I'd love to keep watching your gun show, but I really do need to get to work. I'll see you later, whether you're keeping today off or not, yeah?"

"Of course! See you later, Yarne, think of me and my muscles all day while you're doing all that hard, hard work they pay you for." She winked as he backed away from the doorway, and all the way to the front door he could hear her still laughing and having a great time there in the bathroom, amusing herself in ways that Yarne didn't actually understand.

He couldn't help but think of her the whole drive to the office, at how she still had the same light and energy in her body despite everything that had changed, and how she was keeping things upbeat even as they got harder. There was absolutely no way he was envious of what she was going through, and he thought of her like his own personal goddess for what she was doing for him, for their little fledgling family. He'd seen it with his mother how rough pregnancy could be, and while he felt massive amounts of guilt for putting Kjelle through that same pain when she hadn't been prepared for it, he knew that she was handling it in ways that his mother never had. After all, Tjana existing in the first place was a miracle, and everything from there was just work being done to cultivate that miracle.

When he arrived at the office, he had to take a few minutes to sit silently in the car just basking in the blessings he'd received that year, how he had a wife and a child and wasn't just bumbling through life anymore. Yarne didn't know why he'd been asked to be there early, and he was beginning to suspect that he was getting called in to be told he was a liability to the company's productivity given how many days he called off (and how many more he'd be calling off going forward), and so he was doing his best to mentally root himself in the positives so that the negatives couldn't wreck him.

All of that practice and mindfulness was for naught, because the moment he saw the boss that had asked him to be there that early, he noticed that it wasn't just him there right inside the doorway. Every member of management that he directly worked for was there, as were a couple of men who held higher positions that he'd only met in passing in his years of placing orders in the company directory. The sight of all of those sharply-dressed men watching and waiting for him brought a sense of panic and worry to him that he couldn't push through just by thinking about how great his personal life was going; they were clearly about to fire him for his incompetence and he was going to have to scramble to pick up the scraps of his life in order to maintain the lifestyle he was leading.

Instead of the worst-case scenario he'd created in his mind in the span of ten seconds, the managers were all there to make a job offer he financially couldn't refuse—giving him continued stability of a set schedule in addition to more time available to take off and a hefty pay raise, in exchange for a couple extra hours every day and no longer being on the office floor putting orders in as people called to place them. The reasoning was simple, that he was single-handedly responsible for the majority of orders taken any time he was on the floor, and he was actually taking work away from some of the other employees with his efficient work habits. By promoting him, they were rewarding and recognizing his dedication, while also allowing the rest of the staff to do their jobs. "Plus, we're all aware of your current life situation and want to be able to help you out when you need it," the manager directly above his head, the one that had asked him to be there that morning, said to him with a firm nod. "I've been in the process of arranging this offer for the better part of six months, and things certainly have changed in your life since I initially brought this to the board."

"I-I don't actually know what to say," Yarne admitted, feeling mighty small yet important even as he towered over the men in the discussion. "I didn't think I ever did enough to deserve getting to move up in the company, but you're really offering me a supervisor role just to help everyone out?"

"It would be our honor to have someone with as much knowledge of how this company should function assisting others on the floor with achieving their sales goals," another one of the higher-ups told him. "From what we hear on a daily basis, the general staff here all adores you, and the fact that you're several decades younger than the majority of them has done nothing but build their adoration further. They'll be more likely to accept assistance from you, who they've built that relationship with, than anyone else we could possibly give this position to."

His direct manager nodded again. "We could spend hours singing your praises, Mr. Leichtfoot, but we want you to know that you're an invaluable asset to the company and this promotion is the least we can do for you. Would you like to think about taking the offer a bit more, or can we step into my office to get the paperwork squared away?"

On one hand, Yarne knew that talking to Kjelle about things was the correct choice to make, but on the other, if she'd gone back to sleep like she'd said she was going to, he'd be waking her up to discuss it and she might not appreciate that, even with the positive news. "I think it's something I can't turn down, there's nothing but perks and benefits that make our whole staff better overall." He smiled at the group of men, all of whom were nodding and murmuring their agreements with what he'd said, and they soon shuffled into the office of the manager that had put the entire thing together, so that they could go over the paperwork and make the promotion official.

Even though he knew he'd been given the broad strokes of what he'd be getting with the new role, it was still in Yarne's nature to read through the entire contract and ask questions about every detail that he was curious about. Several of the managers had to leave before he finished going through it all, because the general staff had started arriving for their shifts and people needed supervising, but the ones that stuck around were helpful and willing to explain anything he asked about. The only change to his schedule that he didn't like was the change in hours going earlier and later, as opposed to just having him stick around for a while later into the evening, but the start hour was going to be around the same time he'd woken up that morning, which meant he'd only need to wake up earlier than that. He was personally fine with that as it was, but he knew that it wouldn't be something that Kjelle enjoyed having to tolerate, and once they had Tjana to care for, he was sure that she'd be another hurdle to adjust for.

Everything else, from the change in role to the way he acquired paid time off being slightly different and easier to work with, seemed like it just made sense, so after nearly three hours of scanning each line of that contract, he and the managers still there signed it, for his training to start the following week. "Oh, by the way, one of the perks you get for taking this promotion is a full week of vacation time, to use at any point before the end of the year," his manager said after tucking the completed paperwork into a file. "This is in addition to what you'll be earning anyway, as well as the paid time off you'll get around the time of the birth of your child. Which, on that note, do you know roughly when that should be? We'd like to have an idea of when you might be out of the office for a little while."

Yarne, not being used to being asked that particular question, had to think for a moment about the specific time frame he needed to give. "Well, uh, if things go according to plan, it'll be early December, but it's considered high-risk and I don't know if that means they're going to try and make things happen sooner or what."

"My, that must be quite stressful to be having to mentally contend with," one of the other managers muttered, shaking his head. "When my wife was pregnant with our first child, she had multiple medical conditions that made the doctors uneasy about letting her carry to term. Naturally, she ended up needing to be induced at forty-two weeks."

"I…can't say I know what that means," Yarne admitted, scratching the back of his head, "but it doesn't sound good at all. I'm hoping that everything ends up fine, and I know that my wife really, really hopes she doesn't have to go until her due date, because it's…" He trailed off, thinking about the one time he and Kjelle had talked about that exact thing, and how she'd made it clear she'd rather be giving birth early than late, and rather late than on her actual due date if only because her due date was actually her mother's birthday. "It's a birthday in the family," he finished, not wanting to leave it hanging. "Might make someone feel like they're more connected with the baby than everyone else."

"Hearing you talk about these adult things reminds me of the day you came in for your interview," his direct manager mused, steepling his fingers in front of his face as he looked at Yarne. "What was that, four years ago now? You were looking for a job to replace the one you previously had, and had come here because one of your customers at the other place was one of our employees and she spoke highly of us. Then, you showed up shaking like a leaf but with such enthusiasm to get to work and not have to deal with customers face-to-face that we gave you a shot, and now look at you. Such confidence, such poise, such ability to do this job as well as any of the men who hired you."

It was quite hilarious that this manager thought Yarne possessed any amount of confidence, because he felt like he was just faking his way through things. "Thank you, sir," he said, bowing his head at the manager. "I think I should go get back to my job now, instead of just sitting here socializing. I'm looking forward to training next week." With that, and no fanfare whatsoever, he left the office and went down to his cubicle, the home he'd made for himself at work that he was going to miss when he no longer held that position. He logged in to his computer and found a massive backlog of orders that needed assistance, a sign that he hadn't been working even when he should have been, and he sighed, popping his knuckles and getting right to work.

His motivation that day was not what he'd learned that morning, but rather the picture he'd taped to the side of his monitor, which he'd printed off his computer there just a few days before. It was of him and Kjelle, taken outside of the court building that they'd gone to in order to turn their marriage documents in, where they were both dressed up about as nicely as they ever did and were posing for the stranger who'd been given his phone to take. He thought she looked radiant and adored the way she had posed with one hand on her hip and the other wrapped around him, while she'd told him that if she found out he'd printed that picture she would personally rip it up, because she thought the way she posed made her look even more massive than she felt. Naturally, her arguing with him over how she looked had made him love it even more, which had meant it was a foregone conclusion that it was the picture he was going to print. Seeing her standing there next to him, looking so in love with the man she was wrapped around, was all the motivation he needed in order to get his work done as fast as he could.

Some things were bigger than just making money, although knowing that he was able to continue providing for the person who meant the world to him and would be providing even more than he already did felt like yet another blessing to take note of. Perhaps the year of the rabbit hadn't been all sour after all.

The month absolutely flew by, to the point that Yarne had woken up one morning thinking it was still a full week earlier than it actually was. He'd shared the news about his promotion with Kjelle the night he'd learned about it and she'd been so excited for him that she'd actually tried climbing into his arms like she would have in the past, but it was just not possible to make it happen, leaving her to motion for him to come down to her level so she could passionately kiss him as her way of congratulating him. She wasn't as keen on the whole idea the moment he told her some of the details, namely the change in his hours that would have them both waking up much earlier than they were used to, but she swallowed down her disgust and told him she'd do her best to adjust to it.

"Of course, there's no guarantee I'm going to be able to adjust at all," she reminded him with a finger waggle. "If Tjana doesn't want me sleeping all night, then I'm not saying I'll be ready to wake up when you want me up."

"I'm not picking a fight with an unborn baby over this, you're welcome to sleep if she wants you to sleep," he replied, matching her finger waggle before poking the tip of her nose. "But I'm starting this tonight, so I'm used to it when next week comes." He did indeed start working on it that very night, finding it mighty hard to feel obligated to wake up so absurdly early when there was no reason for it, but when the first day of training came he was able to get out of bed and be out the door on time, thanks to his work at preparing himself for the change, so it wasn't all bad.

Training was boring and was mostly reinforcing things he already knew and made sure to do, but with the spin on it that he was doing these things to help the team, not just get good metrics for himself. By the end of the first week of training, he almost wished he'd just stuck with his original job, but when he got to go into his very own office, instead of the cubicle he'd had before, Yarne realized that some things had needed to change, and the growth was for the best. If nothing else, he was going to have plenty of wall space to decorate with pictures of his daughter once he had some, but until then he was going to have to make it work with the pictures he'd already printed of other things.

The second week of training was less being trained and more getting to do things with supervision of the managers, just in case anything happened that wasn't covered in what he'd been taught the previous week. Midway through the week, the managers decided that he was fine without them and let him take complete control of his position from there on, even though if he needed them he could always ask. From that point on, Yarne was doing the job on his own and thriving in it, going home every night exhausted but feeling like he was making a real difference in the work habits of the lovely older ladies at the office. While it did get easier to maintain the energy he needed to get through the day as he kept going, there were plenty of breaks where he would just go into his office and lay his head down for a quick nap, and with his hours at home cut shorter he found that he wasn't looking forward to going home for the night nearly as much as he was looking forward to the weekend.

Therefore, when the second weekend of him having the supervision position without being forced to sit through training came around, he was looking forward to two uninterrupted days of rest and chilling at home, catching up on his games that he'd been sorely neglecting due to everything going on at work. Those plans were immediately dashed when he got home Friday night and Kjelle had to tell him that she had been invited out the next day, and she didn't know how long she was going to be gone but she assumed it wouldn't be for more than a couple of hours. "It was really weird, how it happened," she said, shaking her head as she laughed to herself about it. "Nah came into the fitness center and talked to me at the desk for over an hour today, she had to get shooed out by Charlotte when it became obvious she wasn't there to sign up for a membership or use the equipment."

"Huh, not who I'd expect to hear about going into that place," Yarne remarked, knowing that this must have been Nah's way of finally getting around to letting Kjelle in on the secret planning she'd been doing. "Figured it would've been someone like, say, Cynthia or Inigo, someone who'd be interested in working out." He would've mentioned Lucina and Gerome, but he knew that them showing up would've been impossible.

"Yeah, well, it was nice to see her, and I'm looking forward to spending time with her doing whatever it is she wants with me." With a shrug, Kjelle seemed content at leaving things right there, and Yarne was not about to try and nudge her toward realizing what the actual motive there was. She could find out at the appropriate time, he was fine with that.

When morning came, they were able to both sleep in (for the most part, Yarne had been woken up once overnight by Kjelle getting out of bed, but he hadn't made a big deal of it even if it meant he didn't really fall back asleep) and get ready according to when her plans dictated it, instead of when his work demanded it. Nah showed up fairly early, not even asking to come inside the house when she waited at the door for Kjelle to be ready to go with her, and it was clear she was trying her hardest to restrain herself when it came to trying to get a feel for the baby that was very obviously there with them. "I'll bring her back at some point, you can count on me," Nah called to Yarne as she was heading back to her car, Kjelle following behind her. "Just don't expect a concrete time, who knows when we'll be ready to get back over here."

"Please drive like a normal human!" he yelled back after them, earning a very stone-cold glare from Nah, who still didn't see the problem with her driving habits that Yarne did. He watched as far as them getting in the car and heading down the road, before he was back inside the house with the front door locked three times and a planned date between himself, his chair, and his video games.

He had maybe an hour of getting to spend time on his rather neglected island when there was a knock at the door, the sound of which was urgent and unexpected. Immediate red flags went shooting up in his mind, as he set his controller down and went to see who was there to see him. Two men were outside the front door, both looking eager for the door to open in front of them, and Yarne actually had to do a double-take to make sure he wasn't seeing things when he saw who they were. He unlocked the door and opened it with gusto, squeaking in surprise at the sight of Owain and Brady both there, holding a couple of games and a pair of controllers between them. "Nah asked if we could swing by here and help you keep your mind off of things while she's out with Kjelle," Owain explained, talking slowly as if he'd just woken up not that long before and hadn't yet gathered all of his usual energy.

"Yeah, we're doin' this for Nah, and not just because it's been forever since the three of us just sat and gamed, even though that'd be a nicer reason for it," Brady said, rolling his eyes before pushing his way inside, Owain following with a single, solid jump into the house. Yarne was a bit confused about why any of it was necessary, but spending time playing games with his friends was a good way to pass the time, even if it wasn't what he'd allotted the time for in his mind.

"I don't have a whole lot in the way of games all three of us can play," Yarne pointed out, trying to get a look at the games they were holding after he'd locked the door behind them. "Since, you know, it's usually just me playing, and if Kjelle joins me that's still two of us, we don't need games for more than us. And, well, I'm not exactly big on fighting games… Oh! If we wanted we could get a game I've been looking at, even if I'm a…bit scared to try it out. The demo of the game made me cry, you know."

Brady blinked twice at the honest statement before making a comment of his own. "Like that's somethin' hard to accomplish. I think we can pass on the little critter game."

"Don't worry, if you don't want to beat us up in a game, we've got other choices. Nah didn't give us any estimate of when we needed to be finished here, so we came prepared." Clearing his throat, Owain held up a single game, which was in a makeshift case that amounted to nothing more than an old CD jewel case, with a label that had been clearly handmade by himself. "Feast your eyes on my secret special edition of the single best game this generation has ever seen."

"It's just a normal copy of a normal game, he found it in the trash after a game night at Ma's place and since we didn't throw it away, he kinda kept it for himself and hyped it up as being somethin' special. All because he found it in the trash," Brady explained, while Owain blabbered on about what made his game so unique. By the time that Owain was talking about conspiracies and how he'd been fated to find the game where he did, Yarne had begun to tune him out and was waiting for the talking to stop, but the end never came.

Ultimately they decided to play Owain's "special" game, and what Brady had said about it was true, it was just a copy of the game that any normal person could have acquired by going to the store, with zero bells or whistles to make it notable outside of it lacking a label on its front. After hooking up the extra controllers and making sure they worked, the men figured out who was going to sit where in the room, so that they could all see the TV, and the gaming session got started. Since it wasn't a game that Yarne actually owned, there wasn't any "plot" progression or unlockables obtained, and that meant that they got to work together to get things done, while not feeling like they were having to merely roll over and let someone else collect all of the wins.

Until he got more comfortable with the controls of the game, Yarne did poorly compared to the other two, who were beating and banging and yelling things at the screen when stuff didn't work out in their favor. It seemed that, even though it was his special copy of the game, Owain wasn't all that great at it either, and he was getting swept regularly by Brady, who was very focused on what he was doing and making sure to use all the optimal strategies on different tracks. "Me and Sev used to play this all the time together," he said wistfully after completing another track in first place. "She's the only person who could kick my ass every time we played, and I got good to beat her, then never played with her again."

"What…happened to Severa, actually?" Yarne asked, not wanting to dredge up that topic but knowing that he still hadn't heard a thing about what was going on with her in months. "Did anyone ever get ahold of her after we tried that night at dinner?"

Owain grimaced, leaning back against the part of the chair he was sitting up against while on the floor. "I do have news of her whereabouts, but where I obtained this information is…perhaps not somewhere that certain others want me to talk about."

"It was from Niles, wasn't it?" Brady asked, looking somewhat disgusted at the idea, and when Owain nodded, he sighed. "Of course it was. Didn't that dude skip town after getting a speeding ticket not that long ago? Why're you still talking to him?"

"He didn't 'skip town' so much as go on an already-planned trip back to Nohr without rescheduling the court date for the ticket, but he handled it all when he came back. While he was gone he was able to see Beruka—you know, Severa's friend that she was spending a lot of time with—and she told him in great detail what happened to Severa." Owain paused, waiting to see if either of the guys prompted him to keep explaining, but when neither of them did he went on anyway. "She ran away to Nohr to get away from her family, and just hasn't bothered coming back. Hence her phone being shut off, she didn't want to incur any charges for being out of the country."

Yarne felt conflicted hearing that update, because while he was glad that Severa had been able to get away and find the peace she needed, he now knew that making amends in a messy parental relationship was possible if it was really desired. "I hope she comes back sooner or later, I bet she'd get a kick out of finding out that me and Kjelle are going to be parents here in a few months."

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure she'd be all over that, because Sev has always loved children." Faking a gag, Brady looked at Yarne and immediately apologized for that. "Sorry, but that was one of those things she'd go on and on about whenever she'd get stuck near a child in public, how she absolutely can't stand the idea of raisin' a snot-nosed brat and how she doesn't get why others would want to."

"Okay, but I'm sure it's different when it's the kid of someone she actually likes." Was Yarne certain that Severa even liked him? Not in the slightest. But he did know that her and Kjelle were friends to some extent, and it would just make sense for her to feel a bit of excitement for someone who'd had struggles related to her fertility over the years. "Not like it matters, if all anyone's heard of her has been through…one of Owain's friends, then I don't know if anyone of us will hear from her again."

He closed his eyes, remembering the day that Severa had shown up there at the house unannounced, looking for some companionship when her family situation had gotten to its absolute breaking point. He'd felt more connection with her that day than he'd ever felt before, and had he known that was going to be the last time he might've ever spoken to her, he may have done things differently. "Dude, are you crying? Over Severa?" Owain asked, his head tilted back so that he could look up at Yarne as he heard the tell-tale sniffles. "I don't think she's worth the tears."

"You don't get it." Really, no one was going to understand the deep, complicated feelings Yarne had toward that troublesome woman, given that she'd been a bully of his at times and someone he'd been able to connect with at others. He had to take a moment with some steady breathing to collect himself, then he was back to focused on the game they were playing. "I'm fine now. Can we just get back to losing horribly to Brady again?"

"If that's what you want, I'm down for it." Brady held his controller up, making a big deal of pressing the button to move on to the next race. "We could easily spend all day playin' this if we wanted to, but you guys might get tired of losing before too long."

Owain scoffed, gripping his own controller tightly. "No, soon will be the time that this grand hero begins to rise to the top, defeating you and your evil, highly-rehearsed methods! That's my fancy way of telling you you're going down. Hard."

"Can't wait to see it happen," Brady told him, as the game began its countdown to the start of the next race. Yarne, sitting above them in his chair, felt a bit better listening to their playful banter, even though he knew there was never going to be a chance he'd be contesting for the lead against either of them. What mattered was that he was having a good time, which was the entire reason those guys were there to begin with.

Somewhere around noon, there was another knock at the door that surprised all three of them, Brady scrambling to pause the game while Owain slid out of the way so that Yarne could get out of his chair without kicking him, just to go see who was now there to see them. It wasn't anyone he was familiar with, but the hat on the guy outside was labeled with the name of a local food delivery company. "Did…either of you order lunch?" Yarne asked as he hesitated on opening the door, looking at his friends while they exchanged confused glances before shaking their heads. "Okay, neat, I think they're at the wrong house then."

"Don't just leave it out there, free food is free food!" Owain called, sounding mighty excited at the prospect of stealing someone else's lunch. "Answer the door!"

Even though it was not something he wanted to do in the slightest, Yarne did unlock and open the door, the delivery man on the other side asking for him by name. "I didn't order anything," he stated, the driver's eyebrows furrowing at the statement. "And I don't know who did, but they're not expecting me to pay you for this right now, are they?"

"The whole order's been paid for already," the driver replied, holding up a bag that had been picked up from the restaurant right down the road. "Says someone by the name of K. Leichtfoot ordered it? Delivery instructions said to make sure it gets to you."

His eyes widening at the explanation, Yarne decided to play it off with a forced laugh, opening the door more so that he could get the bag from the delivery driver, which he was handed with a pretty forceful motion. "She must've forgotten to tell me she was ordering lunch, sorry about that. Uh, thanks for bringing this. And sorry again for thinking you were at the wrong place."

The delivery driver, still with furrowed brows, shook his head and turned to walk away, muttering something under his breath as he went back to his car and drove off, leaving Yarne with the bag of food and more questions left unanswered. "You got the free food?" Unaware of what the truth was, Owain still seemed excited that they'd just been given something that none of them had asked for. "I hope it's something good!"

"Look at him, something's not right," Brady pointed out, watching as Yarne closed and locked the door, coming over to his friends with the bag still in hand. "What happened, why're you contemplating so hard over a free meal?"

"It's not a free meal," Yarne replied, going past his oversized chair and where his friends were still sitting to take the bag to the table to crack into it. "Kjelle apparently ordered it, and specifically noted that it needed to be delivered to me. That's not something she does, and if she does order things she tells me first." Feeling guilt that he'd just gotten a meal delivered for himself without having anything to offer to his friends, Yarne opened the bag and was met with much more food than he could eat on his own—meaning that Kjelle was very much aware of the fact that the others were there with him.

Based on how he'd fallen silent upon opening the bag, Brady took that as a cue to stand up and see what was going on. "Did she get you something good, at least?" he asked as he came closer, only for Yarne to reach in and pull out one of the containers, just to turn and hand it off to him. "What? Are you sayin' this is for me?"

"There's something for both of you in here, yeah. I think Nah told Kjelle that she asked you both to be here to keep me company or something, and she's repaying that by buying you guys lunch for your effort." It didn't feel right, it didn't feel reasonable, but it seemed to be the only explanation for what was going on. "Here, let's not let this go to waste, then we can get back to playing the game."

Scrambling to his feet to come over and get his allotted meal, Owain seemed to find enjoyment at how he was actually getting a free lunch after all. "Here we are, getting to spend time with a friend of ours, and he lets us know we matter by giving us food to eat. I'm thinking that I'll need to spend more glorious time over here in the future!"

"H-hey now, this isn't normal in any way!" Shaking his head as he wanted to make sure that the wrong idea wasn't perpetuated, Yarne continued, "Like I said, this isn't something Kjelle does, and it's definitely not something she does without warning me first. I think this was Nah's idea, and she just had Kjelle take care of ordering it for us."

"What's even going on with Nah today, anyway?" Already having cracked into his food despite still standing there, Brady looked at Yarne as if he was going to be able to supply an answer. "She's been real cagey lately about all sorts of things, and now she's pullin' off things like this without explaining a damn thing."

Pausing as he thought about how much of that he could answer without going against his word, Yarne decided that he could go into pretty good detail on what he did know, because neither of these guys were the person he wasn't supposed to be telling. "Right, so, keep this under wraps, but she's been in charge of putting something like a baby shower together, and I think this is her getting the last things taken care of. I'm pretty sure that's why she's got Kjelle out with her right now, so that she can let her know that's what's going on, but at the same time, maybe it's just a distraction from something else."

"Oh yeah, she'd told me about how she was getting a huge celebration put together," Owain admitted, opening the container he'd been given and inhaling deeply, flinching at how strong the scent of sauced and steamed vegetables hit him. "Ahem, I mean, I might've asked her if she knew if anything was going to be happening, on behalf of someone dear to me, and she might've supplied more information than I was anticipating receiving from her."

"Someone dear to you…?" Yarne had to take a second to figured out who that was in reference to, and when the realization struck his head snapped to face Owain with eyes as wide as they could possibly get. "You're talking about Lucina, aren't you? Is she planning on being here for it?"

"This stays here between the three of us, but that does seem to be the plan indeed. Just her, someone has to stay there and keep watching the house so Gerome won't be coming with, but if all goes well Lucina's coming back for a few days just to be here for the two of you." Owain paused, gave a single snort of a laugh, and then added, "Unless that plan has changed, which it very well might have. I did direct her to speak to Nah on her own to get the full details, because a lot of what I was told when I'd asked wasn't exactly useful to someone traveling into town from Ferox."

"No wonder Nah wanted me keeping this a secret, she's really been putting in the work to make sure that everyone we could possibly want to have there gets the chance to show up. It's going to be such a nice surprise for Kjelle when it happens." Yarne almost felt like he should've said if it happens, because things were always fluid when it came to plans, but he wanted to remain positive on the matter. With how much planning had happened, there seemed to be little chance that Nah wasn't going to be able to pull it all off, and he fully believed in his friend's ability to make it happen.

After they'd finished up lunch—and both Owain and Brady both tore apart the paper bag it had been delivered in to write thank-you notes to Kjelle for ordering it, so that she could see them when she got home, while Yarne took the faded receipt off of it to see that it read Dinah Balakin for the name on the card used for payment—the trio went back to their racing, spending several more hours exhausting every last bit of interest they had in the game before deciding that they could call it a wrap. While they'd been playing, they'd been hypothesizing about what other things Nah was potentially trying to make happen, since she clearly had her hands in multiple pots trying to get things done. None of them were really sure what to expect with her plans, but it was said best as the guys were packing their games back up to head out for the day, Brady looking at the other two and commenting, "You know, she's doing a real great job keeping people involved but not letting them know a single thing, and that's probably the scariest thing in all of this. I don't wanna open my eyes one morning to Nah standing over me, looking to see what else she can do."

"That's silly," Owain replied, "because why would Nah be in your bedroom to begin with?"

"It's just a fear, okay, don't be reading that far into it." Rolling his eyes as he counted the games he'd brought along one last time, Brady started for the door, finishing up with, "I'm just saying that she's got a lot of control and power right now, and those little ones are honestly the scariest kinds of people. Lots of desire to have control in their hands."

His eyes shifting from side to side as he tried to make sense of that, Yarne decided that it was best to just leave it where it was when it came to talking about Nah and what she was capable of. "Well, I'm looking forward to seeing how she's gotten everyone to pull this off, whenever it might be," he said, following his friends to the door so that he could make sure it was locked behind them. "Hopefully I'll learn when that is after Kjelle gets home, if she's learned anything about it today, that is."

"I could tell you when she's thinking of having it, if you'd like." The offer, as tempting as it was, didn't feel right for Yarne to accept, and so he turned it down, Owain understanding with a boastful laugh. "Right, noble as always, my friend! You'll want to hear it from the source, or the person the source wants to tell you, not just some middleman who knows thanks to gathering intel for someone else!"

That was a lot of big words and dramatic speaking to accurately sum up how Yarne felt, but rather than acknowledge that, he merely wished Owain (and Brady) a good night and a see you later, and escorted them out the door. The house felt quiet without them, but he was home alone again and could return to doing what he'd intended on using the day for, which he got back to as soon as he'd put the correct game back in his system and settled back down in his chair.

Not too long after he'd begun playing on his island again, Kjelle unlocked the door and came inside completely by herself, locking it behind her before turning to face Yarne, who was more focused on the TV than on what she was doing. "Remind me to never, and I mean never, accept an offer for a day like this again," she groaned, coming over to stand next to the chair and look down at Yarne, waiting for him to acknowledge her before she kept going. When he gave her a side-eye then went back to his game, she took that as the acknowledgment she was waiting on. "All day, Nah's been taking my phone and placing orders and messaging people, not telling me a thing about what she's doing until she drops me off outside and—"

She was interrupted by the distinct sound of a car horn blaring in front of the house, which she rolled her eyes at but Yarne visibly jumped at. "I'm guessing that was her saying goodbye?" he asked after collecting himself from the minor fright.

"Either that, or she drove into someone and they're pissed at her, and honestly? Both options are completely likely. Now move out of the chair, I need to sit down so I can tell you all of this." Motioning for him to get out of her way, he climbed up onto the arm of the chair so that she had all of the space she wanted in the chair itself as she sat down, sighing as she made herself comfortable. "Okay, where do I even start?"

Looking at her again, there was something immediately noticeable that caught Yarne's eye. "She took you to get your hair cut, instead of you letting me use the clippers."

"That's a great place to start, thanks for helping me there! Right, so she picks me up and we head straight to her favorite salon, where she forces me to get an actual haircut for the first time in years, then sits me down in one of those massage chairs and lets someone paint my toenails, because I told her I wasn't getting caught dead with my fingernails done." Sure enough, Kjelle raised her feet to show Yarne that her nails had indeed been painted a very light purple color, which she seemed to be content with in terms of color. "I asked why it was necessary in the first place, but Nah just told me she wanted to take me out and treat me right, and that was when she took my phone the first time and…ordered lunch for you, I guess? I don't know, I was more annoyed she was wasting her money on something I can't even see than I was focused on finding out what she was doing."

"Uh, yeah, she ordered me lunch under your name. And Owain and Brady too, they were here while you were gone because she asked them to come over." Realizing that hearing all of the details of the day was going to be something that required his full attention, Yarne looked at the TV long enough to save and quit his game, even though he wasn't mentally finished playing. "So okay, she ordered us lunch and got it delivered here, but what did you do after getting your nails done?"

She pushed her lips together as she lowered her feet and got back to her comfortable position in the chair. "Went and did lunch ourselves, her offering to pay and me fighting her over it but losing because she insisted. Whatever. Then we were out looking at a couple different stores, I didn't buy anything but she did and said she'd give the things she got to us later, which I took as her saying that she was saving it as gifts specifically for Tjana, which…makes sense, right? And this whole time, she's stealing my phone off and on and deleting the messages she sends, so that I don't know what's happening. Until we get back here after this whole day of her basically dragging me around to do things, anyway."

"Sounds like you had a great time," he said, trying not to make it too obvious that he knew where things were headed, even though he knew that Kjelle knew was already in on things to some extent. "Nah's just being a good friend."

"A good friend who's planned out an entire party for us, yeah." Raising a finger, Kjelle instantly corrected something she'd just said. "When I say 'us', I mean all three of us, by the way, not just me and you, and honestly? It's less me and you and more Tjana anyway."

"Oh, you calling it a party makes me think I've sort of misunderstood what she was planning," Yarne admitted, shrinking his shoulders down a little as he thought about how he'd been going about thinking about what he knew Nah was up to. "I kind of figured that she was doing the baby shower planning, even though she didn't ever use those words with me about it."

Her head slowly turning until she was facing Yarne directly, her mouth opening slightly, Kjelle seemed to be thinking about what she wanted to say, until she began laughing. At first it was just a couple of giggles, but it soon evolved into full-blown laughter that had tears lining her eyes and her doubling over as best as she could. "I think it might've been, at one point or another, but she went so overboard with the planning that it's far from it now. I'm sure we're going to be set up for the first, like, year of Tjana's life with how much she's putting into this."

At seeing how humorous she found things, and hearing that breathless explanation of what was going on, punctuated with more laughter, Yarne couldn't help but start laughing for himself as well. With how many other people seemed in on the plot, it should've been expected that things had spiraled far out of control, but they were only going to benefit more from it so there was zero downside to the whole thing.

After the laughter had subsided and they were able to speak without breaking into more giggling fits, Kjelle gave the last piece of information she had received, when the whole thing was planned for. "Exactly one week before my birthday," she said, which meant a bit of mental math for Yarne to piece together. "Which means we'll be able to have one of those formerly monthly dinners with not just your parents, but all of our friends as well."

"That's one way to bring us all together," he remarked with a smile, thinking about how it would be nice to put a spin on one of the best family traditions that had been created that year, one that had been thrown into disarray with everything else that had happened. "I'm looking forward to this, it feels like all of this planning is going to make it worth it."

"And then, once it's over, we get to figure out what else we need to do and we'll have, like, ten weeks at best to get it done." Nodding at her own use of her mental calendar, Kjelle looked down at her stomach, then back up to Yarne with a less-than-enthused expression forming on her lips. "Actually, can I take that thought back real quick? I don't want to be imagining that right now. I want to take this all one week at a time, not mentally jumping that far into the future."

Given how they both knew about how easily things could suddenly change, he was more than happy to say she was welcome to take the thought back. "But, if it's possible, let's hope that we get all of those weeks to figure things out, instead of…" Yarne trailed off, thinking about what had happened with his mother, and his wordless shaking of his head was all Kjelle needed to know what was on his mind.

"Right, we're going to hope we get every single one of those days. No matter…how much I can't say I necessarily want to."