HUGE thanks to everyone who read and reviewed, especially after all this time! I'm so grateful to REDEADED for reviewing this chapter and helping me get back into the swing of writing after my ridiculously long hiatus!

Kid was shaking all over by the time he got to his study. He grabbed the back of a sofa to steady himself, fingers digging into the blanket spread over its back. The World's Softest Blanket. Their blanket. He and Maka had stumbled across it at Death Mart while shopping for Tsubaki's birthday and had to take it home. Maka insisted they go halfsies on it so it would belong to them both, and $10 each for so much softness was a fantastic bargain. They fought over it regularly, giggling and wrestling until someone gave in and shared. It covered their tangled legs while they studied at opposite ends of the sofa and snuggled under it while they watched movies on Sunday nights.

He couldn't think about all the other things he'd done with her on that sofa, or he'd lose his mind for sure. He went to his desk, desperate for distraction, but the pictures on top of it caught his eye. An old photo of him and Maka that he'd dug out and framed when they started going out. A picture he'd taken of her flashing a just-for-him smile at a sidewalk cafe, the pair of them in formal wear at a dance. Nope. Don't look at those. Focus on something else.

The kid snatched the practice Death List he'd been working on for his father. After reading it over three times, his anxiety loosened. After carefully reviewing his data, he decided some changes were in order. He opened his top drawer to grab a pen, and a pad of Maka's cutesy cat-shaped sticky notes confronted him.

"Fuck!"

He slammed the drawer shut. She was everywhere, goddamnit. And not just in his study. Maka's yellow robe hung beside his, with her bunny slippers arranged neatly beneath them. There were an astonishing number of barrettes, rubber bands, and scrunchies in one of the bathroom drawers. Books that overflowed her living room until Soul complained about the piles on top of his piano had found a home beside his on the shelves. His bed was a monument to the intimacy he and Maka loved exploring together. The thought of sleeping alone in it for the rest of his life made Kid's soul ache, but thinking about sharing it with someone who wasn't Maka turned his stomach. He couldn't imagine letting anyone else touch his heart or body. They'd bound the day-to-day threads of their existence into a lifeline that Kid had forgotten how to exist without. He didn't want to go back to being who he was before she loved him.

His tortured train of thought was derailed when his father walked in without knocking.

"Kid? I'm sorry we were…interrupted, but we can't avoid this anymore. We need to talk."

"I've reviewed this list," Kid pointed at the papers in front of him, "And I agree that I need to make some changes. You were right— I've been going too easy on some of these—"

Lord Death held up a hand, "I didn't come up here to talk about work. And you should never, ever work on the list when you're angry. Or over-emotional in any way."

Kid laughed humorlessly, "I guess I get a free pass for the foreseeable future, then."

"You know I can't give you that. We need to get things back on track, and that won't happen until we talk about your mother and figure out a way forward."

"I don't care about a way forward. You two can go back to playing happy couple, but leave me out of it." Kid said coldly.

His father picked up a photo of Sophie from one of the shelves. Liz had talked Kid into displaying it to help him deal with his trauma and "face the facts." Seeing it reminded Kid that she'd lied about those facts—a lot.

"I don't know if we'll ever be happy again." Death said quietly, "And I certainly don't know if she can stay here. But I've missed her so much. It was hard sending her away the first time, but it'll be harder now that I know what it's like to miss her."

Kid had never heard his father sound so sad. And, thanks to all the lies, he knew how heartbreak felt. He was willing to admit that, while losing Maka was horrific, losing her after two hundred years together would be even worse.

"I don't know what to do or how to act," Kid left his desk and paced the room, "My entire life feels broken, and I don't know how to fix it."

Lord Death put the picture down and stopped Kid's pacing, holding his shoulders and refusing to let him go. "I was afraid you'd go mad, Kid. You were so mentally and physically damaged after your mother attacked you. If you knew she was alive and had to worry about her trying to hurt you again - that kind of fear is destructive. So I lied to you."
"But you told Liz. You didn't tell me, but you told her! You're absolute shit as a father!"

The accusation stung, but Lord Death knew he deserved it.
"After you had your first big breakdown in front of the girls, Liz was scared and tried to run away to keep Patty safe. You were doing so much better with them around, and I sure as hell didn't want them going back to their old life. I tried to smooth things over, but you know what Liz is like. That girl is something else when she's mad. She came down on me so hard that I got angry and frustrated, and…it just slipped out. I have to be honest - it was a relief to tell her. I've relied on her a lot. And I always planned to tell you when the time was right."

Kid pulled away, and his golden eyes narrowed, "But that time never came? You couldn't find the time to sit down and talk to me for seven fucking years?"

"It never felt right. Changes kept coming nonstop. Liz and Patty came to live with us, and they were a lot to handle for a while. Then, you enrolled at the DWMA and had friends for the first time. You were more stable and happier than you'd been in years! I didn't want to risk a setback. Then, the kidnapping happened, and the battle on the moon. We lost a lot of good people up there and rebuilding took precedence over everything else."
"Yeah, the moon," Kid said snidely, "That time you sent me up to kill the brother I never knew I had. That was fun." Fresh anger over that cruelty swelled, and Kid wanted to punch something. Or someone. Preferably the man standing in front of him. His fingers crackled as Reaper energy flowed from them, and a haze of smoke obscured his view. The visual distraction gave him a moment to calm himself. Losing his temper would feel like giving his father the upper hand, and Kid had promised himself that wouldn't happen again. He'd promised Liz, too. She'd given him hell about tearing up the house and making them all evacuate it because he was "acting like a fucking psycho."
"I hoped you'd never find out. At least not until you were much older. When things played out the way they did, and you had to fight him in my place…what was I supposed to do, Kid? Say, 'By the way, that Kishin is your older brother. I'd like you to go kill him, please?' But I saw what keeping that secret did to you, and it made me decide to tell you about your mother. And about two minutes after that, you and Maka fell in love. I wanted you to have space for that happiness without another mind-scarring burden getting in the way."
Death reached out and held his son's burning hands. The unexpected touch and the sadness his father's words triggered doused his anger, and the purple sparks retreated under his skin.

"But that happiness is gone now!" he cried, "And knowing about Maman would have kept it from happening! Don't you get that? If Maka and I knew about our mothers, she'd be here right now instead of at her apartment hating me! But she doesn't want me, and I don't know how to stop loving her, no matter how much I want to."

"Don't give up on love, Kid. There has never been a day that I haven't loved and missed your mother. Not a single second. But loving her gave me meaning, even when she couldn't be with me. I'd give almost anything to have her back. Anything but your safety and sanity." Death sagged bleakly onto the sofa.

Kid thought about that for a moment. "Couldn't…could Miss Marie help her? I know she tried before, but maybe Maman needs more time?" he asked, sitting beside his father.

"She's been able to calm the madness in your mom's soul but not extinguish it. It's too late for that. When that spell got into her soul, I tried everything I could think of, and nothing worked." Lord Death's voice hitched, and Kid looked away so they wouldn't have to see the tears running down each other's cheeks.

"I should have sent you both away after you were born and hidden you from our enemies, but I couldn't let go of either of you." Lord Death told him, "And I didn't send Maman away when the madness got so far into her. I should have. Learn from my example, and don't ever hold on to someone so tightly that it costs the other person or anyone around them. That's not love, it's selfishness. I was selfish, Kiddo, and I'm sorry I didn't protect you."

Lord Death's finally broke. He'd never flat-out cried in front of Kid, who wasn't sure what to do about it. He patted his father's back awkwardly while his mind raced.

Had he depended on Maka too much for his happiness? What if he had, and she saw it as neediness instead of desire and love? She'd never said anything like that, but Maka was very good at sacrificing herself for the people she cared about. He knew she was mad about the terrible things he'd done and said to her - but, deep down, was she relieved that they were over? The thought was too much to take.

"I don't know how to handle all this, Dad!" he screamed, "I feel like I've lost Maman all over again. And now Maka's gone, too! I can't stand it!

Kid hunched over like he was in terrible pain, and it was Lord Death's turn to feel completely helpless. He'd left comforting his son to others for so long that he no longer knew how to do it. But he could try. He could offer that much. And he knew it might be too late.

"Listen," he said, kneeling in front of Kid and gently tipping his chin up, "Nothing I can do or say will make this better, but I will be here for you. I promise not to let you down ever, ever again. No more lies, no more secrets, okay? You're right; I've been a shitty parent. I lost myself in my grief for your mother, and I put distance between us because I was so afraid something would take you away from me, too. I didn't want to tell you about your mother and Asura because I was afraid I'd lose you, too. The rest is all excuses. I was scared. I still am."

Death smoothed Kid's rumpled hair back and kissed his boy's forehead for the first time in years. The physical affection and his father's honesty snapped something inside Kid. The shell of anger that had been protecting him for years cracked open, and he could finally forgive all the years of confusion and neglect. He cried like he'd wanted to since his mother hurt him and then disappeared. Like he'd wanted to since he'd fought with Maka. His father cried right along with him.

Liz had been hovering in the hall since Lord Death returned to Kid's room. Just in case they needed her. She'd been running interference between them for years and knew when to step in. When Kid started screaming like a banshee, it was time. She marched into the study but stopped in her tracks when she saw father and son crying in each other's arms. She tried to sneak away, but avoiding two people with soul perception was impossible. The Reapers held out their arms to Liz, and she joined their embrace.

"I'm sorry I lied to you, Kid," she told him through her own tears.

"I get it. You were both trying to protect me. I know you'd never do anything to hurt me. Either of you." Kid whispered. Liz realized that her years of deceiving, mediating, and caregiving were at an end, but they'd taken their toll. She hadn't realized how heavy that burden was until she set it down.

They sat, healing in their teary little pile and losing track of time until Patty showed up. She'd snuck back in to see Sophie since nobody was around to stop her, and they'd had a grand old time until Mrs Hurst finally found her and chased her out.

"You guys are scaring the hell out of everybody with all the crying," she announced, "So nobody wants to come up here and tell you dinner is ready, but I'm starving. Can you please get your shit together so we can eat?"

And, as a new and better family, they did.