**Hello everybody! Another chapter in the fanfiction after a very long time of waiting. Thank you for being so patient! : D**

X-x-X-x-L-E-N-X-x-X-x

Len was pacing back and forth in the main room madly, the fire burning brightly, filling the room with comfortable warmth. Lily was constantly looking out the window on the sofa with Leon holding her tightly. It was already ten o'clock at night, and Rin and Gumi still hadn't come back home.

'Where are they, they should have been back hours ago…' She muttered. Len saw Nessa glancing at him from the corner of his eye as he paced continuously.

'Len, I'm sure she'll come home soon. You need to stop worrying-' Nessa said calmly. Len cut her off suddenly.

'She didn't have her phone with her, she didn't have anything to contact us and what's worse Nessa,' Len asked, staring at her as he pointed to the window, 'it's a fucking blizzard outside if you haven't noticed. So don't tell not to worry about my girl.' Len snapped.

'You know that Rin can defend for herself Len, she's not a little kid.' Nessa said, standing up.

'Nessa, you know what she's been through; you know that deep down she's still a kid with a broken heart. She can't defend for herself in this weather. She hates bad weather. It makes her scared shitless.' Len snarled.

'Well being negative won't make any difference Len. Just try to think positive.' Nessa said coolly. Len laughed icily.

'You think you know everything, saying that if you think positive everything is gonna be OK in the end. If that's the case, why isn't your mom better? Obviously you weren't thinking about her when she almost died.' Len sneered. Lily stood up and walked towards Len and placed her hands on his shoulders.

'Len listen to me, it's late and you're exhausted. You didn't mean what you said to Nessa-' Lily said calmly.

'Yes I did. I'm sick of Nessa saying that everything will end in sparkles and rainbows. She needs to take her fucking rose colored glasses off and to finally realize that there's shit going on around her.' Len said darkly, shrugging Lily's hands off. Nessa looked, to Len's surprise, shell shocked. She sat down slowly and looked outside the window, looking numb.

'Len, calm down, I'm sure that Rin will be… somewhere safe-" Lily got cut off by the sound of the phone ringing. Lily froze for a second, then rushed towards the phone and picked it up.

'Hello? … Yes this is Lily speaking… what? Wait a minute are you sure… uh-huh… yes…' Lily said, nodding her head slowly. Her eyes widened suddenly, and she began to go a snowy white colour.

'Thank you, I'll be right there.' Lily muttered numbly, setting the phone down. She was quiet for a long time, eyes wide, paled faced and very still. Leon walked towards her and stepped in front of her slowly.

'Lily, dear, what's the matter?' Leon asked gently, looking at her earnestly. Lily looked at him, and then to Nessa and Len.

'Gumi's in hospital.' Len felt a sudden blow hit him in his stomach. He tried to wrap his brain around what Lily just said.

'But what about Rin; Rin should be with her.' Nessa said meekly, clutching her hands together. Lily looked frozen and just shook her head. Leon hugged Lily tightly.

'Listen, I'll get Gumi OK? You need to rest.' Leon said firmly, kissing Lily on the top of her head as she opened her mouth to protest. Leon walked out of the room, but he put his head through the doorway for some reason. Leon looked at Len sternly and beckoned Len to him. Len frowned, but he walked towards Leon.

'Look after Lily for me Len, kay? She's been… under the weather for a while now.' Len muttered, whilst giving a few glances at Lily.

'But Leon, I need to come with you. I want to-' Len said, temper rising.

'Know if Rin is OK I know,' Leon snapped, shocking Len a little, 'but now is not the time to make yourself look like the bad guy and act like an idiot. I'm asking you not to be calm here Len; I want you to be reasonable, understandable and practical. If anything bad happened, do you honestly think that Gumi would want to talk about it now?' Len met Leon's eyes. Len would always notice how friendly and warm Leon's eyes were when he was kid, how carefree and happy-go-lucky they seemed. But now, there was a definite change to them. They were looking at Len with intensity, not daring to break contact with him.

'Fine, I'll stay here. But if you're not back by tonight-'

'You can hound me as much as you want about it in the morning, OK? Now if you'll excuse, I personally hate hospitals, and if I have to stay there for too long, I'll pass out.' Leon added with a chuckle. Len forced a chuckle to come out, but it came across as a grumble. Leon patted Len's shoulder fondly.

'Hey, don't worry about Rin; she's a tough cookie to crumble.' Leon said, with a pitiful look on his face. Len gave him a stiff nod and watched Leon put his coat on as fast as he could. When he got his coat on, he grabbed the main house keys and ruffled Len's hair. Len was almost the same height as him now, but he still found Leon patting his head and ruffling his hair occasionally. Len grumbled as he fixed his hair as Leon chuckled again.

'You've grown Len. I remember when you first came here; three years old and looking for a home… and up to my knee as well.' Leon added with a small smile. Leon opened the front door, waved a little to Len, and closed the door behind him softly to not disturb everyone. Len stood there for a few seconds, lost in thought. Len knew that Leon was always fond of Gumi recently, as she began to warm up to him. And Len knew if it was Gumi who went missing, Len knew that Leon would be too stunned to even answer back on the phone.

X-x-X-x-G-U-M-I-X-x-X-x

Gumi sat up on the hospital bed, waiting for that nice lady doctor to come back with a drink. Gumi couldn't really remember a lot, but she remembered waking up in the bed with some people wrapping her up in this tin foil thing around her. They were asking her if she was warming up a lot, and she nodded at them because she was really getting really hot. After a while the nice lady doctor who had gone out was asking Gumi how she was feeling and if she wanted to go home. So now Gumi was waiting for Mama to take her home. The nice lady doctor came back, smiling as she walked towards Gumi with a glass of water. She had really pale pink hair and bright blue eyes that really stood out. The doctor sat on the bed and gave Gumi the glass.

'Here you are sweetie; I got you some water like you asked.' The nurse said, her eyes glittering brightly. Gumi grabbed the glass with both hands.

'Thank you very much ma'am.' Gumi said, taking a sip of water. The door opened, and Gumi saw Papa Lee to her great surprise. His nose was bright red and there was snow all over him and his big brown coat. But his smiled seemed to warm him up. Gumi put the glass down and put her hands up for Papa Lee to pick her up. Papa Lee picked her up and cuddled her tightly.

'Hey there kiddo, are you feeling better?' Leon said gently, holding onto Gumi tightly. Gumi nodded and pulled away to look at Papa Lee. He looked like he was ready to cry, which looked weird because he was smiling brightly. The nice doctor lady stood up from the bed and walked towards Papa Lee.

'I was under the impression that Mrs. Lily Kimura was coming to get little Gumi here. Are you a relative of Mrs. Kimura?' The nice lady asked curiously.

'Well, I'm Mr. Kimura. Leon Kimura is my full name. My wife isn't well at the moment so I thought I'd get Gumi.' Leon said coolly, holding Gumi tightly. The lady nodded in an understanding way.

'Oh, that makes a lot more sense. I'm Dr. IA. Gumi here is a very brave and healthy little girl. She answered all the questions in the ambulance; she stayed calm when we were cleaning some of her wounds. She had a brief moment with pneumonia, but she pulled through. Your daughter is quite remarkable.' Dr. IA said with a smile at Gumi. Gumi opened her mouth to say that she wasn't really Papa Lee's daughter, but he hugged Gumi tight again.

'Yeah, Gumi really is remarkable.' Papa Lee said. Gumi was a little bit shocked, and wondered why Papa Lee didn't say to the lady that Gumi wasn't his. Gumi hugged Papa Lee back, nuzzling her head in his fuzzy coat. Gumi would prefer it if he was her papa though.