Risa stuffed the corner of her piece of toast between her teeth to free up her hands, grabbed her purse, cell phone, and coffee mug, and dashed for the door. Clinging to the coffee for dear life, she juggled the other items until she was able to place a hand on the door knob. Just as it was about to turn, she heard a voice behind her that sent ice cascading down her spine.

"And just where do you think you're going?"

Pivoting on one foot, Risa turned to confront her accuser as he walked slowly down the stairs towards her – each methodical step portending her doom. "Work?" She managed to slide the word around the edges of the toast.

Kyoya paused in the act of buttoning up his shirt sleeves, pushed up his glasses, and leveled her with his most intimidating glare. "Not like that you aren't."

Reaching the entry way, he plucked the mug and purse from her hand, placed the latter on the entry console table, and strode back down the hallway towards the kitchen. Risa sighed - there was no point in trying to leave. He'd just call the driver back.

"Kyo, you're being unreasonable." She scurried down the hall after her spouse. "The data on the fetal safety of dietary caffeine consumption is conflicting and riddled with selection bias errors." Ignoring her perfectly rational argument, he poured the precious, precious liquid down the kitchen sink. One hand outreached as if she could save it, she let out a whimper. "One cup won't hurt."

He tossed a bemused look over his shoulder. "Don't whine. And we both know that with you it's never just one cup." Turning around, he imperiously pointed at the breakfast counter. "Sit!"

Risa was tempted to stick her tongue out at him, but the last time she'd done that he'd asked if he could consider it an invitation. "jen ghopDu' HI'," she grumbled as she took her seat.

"HIja', 'ach reH mumuSHa''a' SoH," he replied, wrapping a long waiter's apron around his waist and rolling up his shirt sleeves to mid-forearm.

"Oh, come on!" Risa yelped, "When did you learn Klingon?"

Even after ten years, the teasing light in his eyes still had the ability to stop her heart. "When I realized it was inevitably the next language you would call me a 'high-handed dictator' in."

After grabbing a bowl and skillet from one of the bottom cupboards, he opened the refrigerator, and removed a carton of eggs and containers full of already prepared ingredients. Setting the crumbled goat cheese, spinach, mushrooms, and bacon to one side, he deftly cracked two eggs and one egg white into a bowl and selected a small whisk from the utensil caddy.

"Well you are a high-handed dictator." Risa sighed and propped her chin on one elbow and watched Kyoya assembling the ingredients for his signature breakfast omelet. "But, you're right, I do love you anyway."

He paused his whisking long enough to catch her eyes and lift one corner of his mouth in a gentle smile before returning to his task.

Lips twitching, Risa settled in to enjoy the sight of the sexiest man she knew making her breakfast. It was completely unfair - a man six months shy of thirty-nine had no right to look that good in a dress shirt and waiter's apron. It was like a secret weapon that turned her brain to mush and got her to agree to almost anything.

Marriage, her Aunt Mary had told her on their wedding day, was a series of compromises. Mutual concession was the grit that helped rub away two people's rough edges as they tumbled against each other.

Aunt Mary held a Master's Degree in Geology. She was always comparing everything to rocks.

Risa knew she wasn't the easiest person to be married to but, to be fair, neither was Kyoya. She had zero domestic inclinations and a tendency to lose herself so deep in solving a problem or pursuing a fascinating line of investigation that everything else ceased to exist.

Kyoya had adapted.

He'd co-opted most of her minions to make sure she ate at regular intervals and told the security team to cut off her computer and lab access if she didn't come home for at least a couple hours to sleep and shower. But, when those moods took her, he also cleared both her work and social calendar so she could focus. He said he only did it because every time she came out of one of her fugues it was with something that would make him a great deal of money.

She still loved all the ways he lied.

Yes, he was a bully. And a tyrant. And well-deserving of his 'Demon Chairman' reputation. But, when he was at his most despotic, it was usually because he was just trying to take care of her and she, for her part, had learned to put up with it – when he wasn't being unreasonable, of course. Because that's what he needed from her.

Kyoya, in many ways, resembled a mountain – cool and stable on the outside but boiling with molten heat down underneath. And sometimes the intensity of that fire, of his emotions, overwhelmed him. Times when Risa, like a not-so-virgin sacrifice, had to launch herself into the volcano to save the villagers from destruction.

She'd never forgotten the night she realized that.

~oOoOo~

"I still think you should have let me get her the chemistry set." Risa emerged from the bathroom, rubbing her arms together to spread in the moisturizer she'd just put on. "I found a great one with over three hundred experiments."

"Liebchen," Kyoya drawled without looking up from the dry-as-dust economics book he was reading, "Please don't teach my god-daughter how to make things explode until she's at least in pre-school."

He was stretched out on top of the midnight-blue duvet with his torso half propped up against headboard and a pile of pillows insulating him from the cherry wood and metal railings. The soft light of the reading lamp gave a faint gleam to the deceptively simple cotton t-shirt and gray silk pajama bottoms he wore - name brand and each worth over ten-thousand yen, of course.

"Spoil sport." Risa sat on the edge of the bed next to him and worked a dollop of cream all around her neck and shoulders, making sure to get the skin along and under the collar of the red, silk robe he'd given her for Valentine's Day. "It would be so much more practical than that ostentatious, hand-made, pink and gold high chair with 'an built-in custom playlist of classical music hand selected by child development experts and hidden surround sound speakers to enrich the meal time experience.' "

"It made Tamaki happy." His lips twisted in a grimace. "He waxed rhapsodical about it for at least an hour."

"I can't believe he's still sulking about us missing the birth. How were we supposed to know that Aki would come two weeks early?"

To celebrate her return to moderate activity, Kyoya had taken her on a week long trip to Spain around the New Year. The time difference meant they'd only heard of the birth three hours after it occurred. Without Kyoya there, Mori had been enlisted to tamp down on the exuberant father-to-be and prevent homicide at the hands of an annoyed and in pain Haruhi.

Tamaki was still pouting about the fact that his best friend hadn't been the first to congratulate him.

"Apparently, I should have. I do have my omniscient reputation to uphold." Using a finger to mark his place, Kyoya shut the book and leaned forward to nuzzle her shoulder. "Mmm… that smells nice."

Trailing the backs of his fingertips along the nape of her neck, he inhaled deeply and the soft caress of breath sent shivers down her spine. Flames of desire, barely banked after over three long months of celibacy, flared to life. Risa turned her head into the invitation just in time for Kyoya to drop his hand and fall back against the headboard.

Disappointment curdled her stomach, but she couldn't say she was surprised. Since his confession by her hospital bed, Kyoya had barely kissed her even as he had showered her with attention and an absurd number of presents. She didn't want any of them – she just wanted her husband back.

Ok. Maybe she'd keep the signed first edition of the Island of Doctor Moreau he'd given her for Christmas. But other than that…

Straightening her shoulders, Risa hardened her resolve. She'd had a very, very long conversation with Pooja last weekend. Psychology was a bullshit science, but that didn't mean the Indian behavioral scientist didn't have a point. Sometimes.

"Kyo, look at me," Risa commanded, standing up to face him. When he raised his eyes off the text in his hands, she unbelted her robe and slipped it slowly off her shoulders. "The doctor cleared me to return to normal activities a month ago. Gave me a full bill of health." The robe slithered down her body to the floor, leaving her clad in only the matching lace underwear.

Kyoya's eyes darted to the thin scar running along her left side and her heart dropped. What if the hypothesis was wrong? What if he hadn't touched her not from fear but from disgust?

Her courage ebbed and she almost reached down to grab her robe. Then she saw it – the flicker of his eyes down her legs, the bob of his Adam's apple as he forced a dry swallow. Warmth burst from her chest, flooding her from hairline right down to the tips of her toes.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, she pulled the book out of unresisting hands and set it aside. "Risa, it's late," he protested, eyes fixated in the vicinity of her bra, "We have a busy day tomorrow."

She ignored him, climbing into the bed and straddling his legs. "We have time." When he lifted his hand to push up his glasses, she quickly plucked them off before he could use them to hide.

His hands switched directions, coming to rest on her hips. Fingers dug into her skin a little too deeply and he swallowed again. "I… I just…" When he raised his head to meet hers, the raw vulnerability in his eyes gripped her heart like a vise. "What if I hurt you?"

Understanding bloomed. The barricade he used to keep his emotions shielded had, this time, become a grave. While she had slowly been healing, physically and mentally, he had buried all the pain and fear of that horrible weekend so deep that he wasn't able to handle the specter of their return. Still wasn't able to forgive himself for not preventing her injuries.

He needed help. Needed someone to direct his suffering away from fear and self-recrimination. Needed her.

She brushed her fingers along his forehead, sweeping his hair to one side. Bracing herself on his shoulder with her other hand, she leaned in close and pressed her lips against his as softly and gently as she could. When she darted her tongue against his closed mouth, the tattered groan he emitted as he opened to let her in almost sounded like a whimper.

Running her hands down his arms, she interlaced her fingers with his as she tempted his tongue into a mating dance. Satisfied that his body at least was yielding to her entreaty, she gripped his hands tightly and pulled them up to the rail running along the top of the headboard.

"If you're worried about hurting me," she whispered, breaking the kiss, "Then don't move."

Raising herself up, she settled her hips over his, delighting in the shudder that passed through him and the growing evidence of his desire. She reached behind her to unclasp her bra and gave a smile worthy of Eve. "Lay back, Kyo. Let me show you just how unbreakable I really am."

~oOoOo~

The clunk of a plate being placed down in front of her broke Risa's reverie.

"Here, eat." Kyoya softened his order with a kiss to her forehead.

This time, when he turned his back to her to drop the used cookware in the sink for the housekeeper to clean, Risa did stick her tongue out at him.

Plunging her fork into the fluffy bit of yumminess before her, Risa made happy little 'mmm' sounds in the back of her throat.

"Don't forget," Kyoya nagged, removing his apron and buttoning up his shirt. "You need to be dressed and ready to go by six p.m. sharp tonight."

"Jawohl, Mein Kommandant!" She rolled his eyes at his glare. "I have my dress, makeup, and everything else I need in my locker at work. Not even I would be late for your big day."

He didn't look like he believed that for one second but refrained from snarking. Marriage was, after all, a series of compromises.

"You didn't have to go to the trouble of making me breakfast." Changing the subject, she shoveled another bite into her mouth. "Toast was fine for the ride in – you know Nakamura brings me muffins every morning like some aging, radical hippy, mother hen."

"You are free to indulge in sugar and caffeine to your heart's content later, but when you are carrying my heir I want you to eat properly."

"It's too soon to know the baby's gender," she teased, "At least, not without that experimental genetic testing you won't let me do. What if this heir you keep going on about is a girl?"

He smirked and raised one eyebrow at her. "Why should that matter? If it's our daughter, then I have no doubt she'll surpass us both."

"And if she wants to spend her life painting on a beach somewhere?"

Kyoya shrugged. "She can do as she wants, as long as she can make a living off it." An unwelcome thought flitted across his mind and his face formed a scowl. "Just as long as she doesn't marry one of Tamaki's idiot sons."

~oOoOo~

Risa looked out the window in confusion as the car rolled to a stop. "I thought your father was holding the announcement at the new Suoh hotel?"

"He is. But I wanted to make a detour first." Exiting the limo, Kyoya came around to assist her out of her side while the driver held her door.

"We aren't going to be late, are we?" Panic flitted across her face. "He gets really, really sarcastic when someone's late."

"That's because an Ootori is never late." Taking her hand, he helped her to her feet. "But, in this case, he can put up with it."

Risa tilted her head and gazed up at the Eiffel-esque, orange-and-white structure looming over them. "You know, I don't think I've ever actually been here," she remarked, "It's funny how when you live in a city, you never go to any of the tourist attractions."

Tucking her hand in the crook of his elbow, Kyoya escorted her to the left of a line of people waiting to purchase tickets. A balding man in a black suit hovered by the ticket booth and sprang to life when he saw them approach. Bowing low, he offered the type of servile greeting Risa had become accustomed to whenever the Ootori name was dropped.

The man unhooked a barrier rope and ushered them past a group of people waiting for the elevator. Even though the doors were wide open, uniformed employees were preventing anyone from entering before the newly arrived trio. And, once Kyoya and Risa were inside, the employees continued to hold back the throng.

Waiting for the doors to close, Risa felt heat rise up the back of her neck at the stares and pointed fingers. Flashes of light illuminated the twilight as some took pictures on the off chance the VIPs were someone famous. "You didn't do something pompous like rent out the whole tower, did you?" she whispered furiously to the smug bastard next to her. In German so the other occupant wouldn't understand.

"Sadly, my wife's renown makes it difficult to mingle with the common folk. I don't want to be swarmed by your fans."

"That only happened once!" she protested, "And we were at MIT Tech Reunions. Besides," she beamed up at him, her mood too good to be ruined by something this trivial, "After tonight you are the one of us who'll be more recognizable Mr. Youngest-Chairman-in-the-History-of-the-Ootori-Group."

Kyoya didn't need to say a word; his self-satisfied smile said it for him.

At the top, the doors opened up on an observation deck crammed to the fire code limit with dating couples and tourists. The pleasantly surprised smile that formed on Risa's lips vanished when their guide directed them to a second elevator - this one blocked off with a sign proclaiming that the popular upper observation deck was 'Closed for Private Event."

On the ride up she called her husband 'pretentious' in sixteen languages.

When these elevator doors opened, it was onto a circular, dimly lit deck hovering above the Tokyo skyline. The man with them murmured that they could stay as long as they wished and to simply descend to the lower observation deck when ready to depart. With that, he gestured for them to exit the elevator and closed the doors behind them, leaving them alone.

Drawn to the view, Risa walked forward until she reached the full-lenght windows and could look down on the city below. The sun was just beginning to set, washing Tokyo in a warm, rosy hue. Far beneath her feet, buildings and streetlights were starting to light up like little twinkly jewels.

She felt, more than heard, her husband come up behind her. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her back against his warmth and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"It's beautiful up here." Risa reached her hand up to caress Kyoya's hair. "Although I half-expected you to get us to the party early so you could have more time to gloat at your brothers."

"Today of all days we had to come here first." Kyoya chuckled, his breath feathering across her ear. "Tsk. Don't tell me you forgot about it? But, I suppose that's what I should have expected from a woman who can't remember her own wedding anniversary."

"Not fair, I always remember the actual one." She began tracing the curve of his ear with her finger, knowing it drove him wild. "Who cares about the day we held the wedding ceremony?"

"Stop that." He nipped at her neck and she ceased teasing his ear. For now.

"Remember, Liebchen?" Kyoya whispered against her hair. "Almost ten years ago today I met an insipid little debutante who transformed into a siren right before my eyes. She asked me a question which changed my life - 'Don't you ever want to see what you could do, what you'd be capable of if given the chance?'…"

"…'I don't want to stay safe on the ground,'" Risa continued, memory of their Omiai flooding back in a rush, "I want to climb to the top of the Tokyo Tower and jump off to prove to everybody that I can fly."

From the highest vantage point on the Tokyo Tower, Risa smiled at the city sprawled out before them. Lifting her arm, she wrapped it around Kyoya's head and hugged him tight. "And you did. You proved it to them all."

"We did." He pulled her closer. "Last year, we brought the first of many viral genetic treatments to market. Tonight, my father officially announces his retirement and names me as his successor. It seemed apropos the two of us come here to celebrate."

"Careful," she chuckled, squeezing him tighter before releasing her grip. "If anyone finds out about your sentimental streak your business reputation will be ruined."

"Not in the least. They'll come to realize that even the most ruthless Oni-kaicho still loves his wife." Risa gave a happy little sound and snuggled back against him.

For a minute, they stood there quietly observing the beauty of the twilit sky. Taking a minute to rest. To enjoy their success before the struggle to keep it would begin all over again.

Kyoya broke the silence first. With his thumb and forefinger, he tilted her chin until their eyes met. "I am sorry that the board insisted on dropping your grandmother off the company name as a condition of the merger."

"I know. You did your best, but it can't be helped." Turning back around, she resolutely looked out at at the sunset to keep her disappointment at bay. "I even understand why they demanded it. Ootori-Sakura… I mean Ootori Pharmaceuticals is going to become the anchor of the Ootori Group's empire. They didn't want to dilute the brand."

"I do have a counter-proposal that I hope will make it up to you." With gentle hands he caressed the bump still small enough to be hidden beneath the folds of her dress. "Sakura." He paused, letting it sink in. "It works equally well for a boy or a girl."

Her startled gasp turned into a laugh and Risa turned in his arms. His eyes gleamed in an expression she knew so well – the one that said that even though someone thought they had gotten the better of him, he'd arranged things to be exactly as he wanted.

"You," she said as her smile grew wide enough to hurt her cheeks, "Are the best pompous, high-handed, dictator ever."

~oOoOo~

About six months later, Ootori Sakura, at 2.73 kg, squalled her way into the world. Black hair, onyx eyes, with her mother's genius, her father's competence, and both her parents passionate nature, she would go on to surpass them both.

But first, even though she swore it was impossible – he was too flashy, too impulsive, and a complete and utter moron – she suddenly and unexpectedly fell in love with and married the youngest of Tamaki's idiot sons.

On her wedding day, when not even her legendary composure could quite overcome her apprehension, when she paced the length of the dressing room fretting that this was a mistake, that it was went against every part of the meticulously detailed plan she had for her life - her father stopped her in her tracks, smoothed back the veil from her face, placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled with more love in his eyes than any of the many competitors and enemies he'd left strewn in his wake would have thought possible.

"Calm down, Mäuschen, Everything is going to be fine," he reassured her, "Just remember what I've always taught you – the best things of your life, the things that will bring you the greatest happiness, are always things that were never a part of your plan."

A/N: And now it really is the end. I hope I tied up all the lose ends I left dangling as well as put in my own fan-theory of why Mori was the first to congratulate Haruhi and Tamaki on the birth of their child.

Bear with me please, I'm going to wax rhapsodic a bit - I can't thank anyone who followed, favorited, reviewed, or just read this story enough. As of publishing this chapter, it has 242 followers, 189 favorites, 274 reviews, 38,811 views, around 146K words and I've been working on it for just under 16 ½ months. That I've managed to keep it up all this time is due to the amazing readers and writers and fellow Ouran-fans here on FanFiction.

As for what's next – the Hikaru fans seem to have spoken. The story idea I have for him is set in New York around the summer after this story ended. Working title: It's Not Easy Being Hikaru. I could still change my mind, neither idea is fully outlined to my satisfaction yet.

Finally, for the last time, a few selected review responses:

LaughterLover98 – Request for a baby heard and acted on!

WinglessHawk – I will write both stories, eventually. But two at a time is my max so just need to finish off 'Finding Home' first.

Storz – I don't know if I could do justice to a bachelorette party with the twins and Risa's friends. I think it would end up being something like The Hangover. All I know is it would involve them waking up with Haruhi hugging a 2000 year old bronze vase, Reiko missing a bra, and the twins without any hair. Anywhere.

AussllyBeliever, Lemontea-addict, saltqueen, Chalice13, germanwriter, seralyon88, MillieGirl and lilyannp, Magic1623, and AngusH (and also xxxSerinaxxx) – thank all of you for your ongoing support and reviews.