'Why are you bringing her home, Spirit?' The Death Scythe asked himself as he drove to his apartment. 'She's not going to sleep with you, and bringing the Committee into your personal dwelling, really? She's just going to analyze every inch of it and never let you live it down.' He sighed. 'It's because you're too much of a softy to make her stay by herself with Marie and Stein in the hospital.'

Walking in, Spirit tossed his keys on the counter and began giving her a tour, pausing when he got to his room.

"Hey, Azusa. You can sleep in here tonight." Spirit said, motioning to his room. "I'll get you some clean linens."

"Thank you, Spirit." Azusa said, pushing her glasses up on her nose and looking around.

'Oh great! She's already started analyzing!' Spirit thought to himself with a pained expression on his face.

"It's quite… homey. I never imagined a man's apartment would be so." She said finally.

"You… approve?" Spirit asked questioningly.

"Hardly. It's just different than I had expected it to be. It still needs a woman's touch." Azusa slapped her hands together. "But, that's not important. I imagine that most of the women who see this place aren't here for the décor."

Spirit sighed, wishing this was one of those nights. If only he knew.

They crashed not long after Spirit got fresh linens for her and they had some tea, both of them far too exhausted after their vigils for anything other than sleep.

Which is why, when Spirit heard the sobbing around 2am, he almost didn't get up. Something nagged at him; some part of him left over from when Kami or Maka would cry knew that he had to comfort her.

Opening the door to his room he heard rather than saw Azusa sobbing. "Azusa? Hey, Committee?" He called softly as he walked over to his bed.

She lay on her side, arms and legs drawn up around a pillow, her back to the door. Sobbing miserably and trying to ignore the fact that someone had heard her and was trying to talk to her. She tensed immediately when he touched her shoulder.

"I'm trying to sleep, Spirit." She said, her voice broken.

"Yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "So was I until you woke me up."

"So, go away." She said, not turning to look at him.

"You're leaving me with no choice Azusa. Either talk to me about what's bothering you or you'll get the same treatment Kami and Maka got when they wouldn't." His voice, while soft, had an edge to it.

"Just go away, Spirit. I won't wake you again." Her voice trailed off. "I don't need your sympathy."

Spirit removed his hand from her shoulder, sighing. He then did the unthinkable. He slipped into the bed behind her, and wrapped both his arms around her smaller frame. Then, to her surprise he sang.

"Some days the winds come blowing hard,

And the rain comes right along.

Some days the heart sinks down low,

And there is nothing you can do.

But, dear one, remember this;

We all have felt the sun's sweet kiss.

And when the darkness overwhelms

The sun will break through the clouds."

Spirit felt Azusa relax in his arms as he repeated the song. It only took three repetitions before she was asleep in his arms, and even though he wasn't a meister he could still sense the stillness in her soul.

Azusa woke up alone the next morning. Stretching she looked at the clock beside the bed and gasped.

"Spirit!" She bolted out of the room. "Wake up! It's almost 10am!"

"Huh?" The bleary eye Death Scythe looked up at her from his sprawled position on the couch.

"We told Marie and Stein we'd be there to visit by 11am, so we had plenty of time before our classes started."

"Oh, Shit. Well, let's hurry."

The two rushed to the hospital, Azusa stealing glances at Spirit.

'Does he even remember last night? Or what it meant to me?' She wondered, feeling herself blush again. "Azusa,' she told herself sternly, 'Do NOT fall for Spirit Albarn.'

A/N: This is going to be a series of chapters set within my story, Heart Shaped Stitches. I'm separating them into their own section because I want Heart Shaped Stitches to be more SteinxMarie centric... and this may develop a bit further. Enjoy!

I don't own Soul Eater, or any of these characters or concepts.