Author's Notes: Thanks for reading, everyone! This fic directly follows the "Denmark" chapters.

Although she hadn't believed it possible, the return flight had been even worse on Erina's stomach than the outgoing trip. By the time they were back in their Tokyo apartment, the proud Totsuki chairwoman had been reduced to a pitiful ball curled up beneath a heap of blankets.

"Ma, are you gonna live?" Raiden asked, stroking the small part of her head that was visible.

With a clear image of her own mother weak and languishing in her mind's eye—and an acute memory of the myriad ways in which that image had scarred her—Erina forced herself to sit up and contend with the world.

She took her son's hand and squeezed it lightly. "Love, it may not look like it now, but I promise I'm going to live."

Raiden, for his part, looked less than convinced. "Do you want me to get Auntie Hisako?"

Oh, the things she would do to have Hisako with her now. "Your godmother is in Boston," she said. "She's giving a talk at Harvard University this week."

"She'd still come, though," Raiden pointed out, and Erina couldn't help but smile. If nothing else, this child knew people.

"You're probably right," she said. "But we're not going to test that theory quite yet. Why don't you go help your father with the laundry?"

"Okay, ma. Just yell if you need anything."

As soon as he was gone, Erina sunk back into the bedding, wondering how on earth she had survived her morning sickness the last time.

A few minutes later, Souma came into their room, bearing a steaming bowl of something he would probably try and get her to eat. "Still alive, then?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Honestly, you're just as bad as your son," she said. "If I reach death's door, you two will be the first to know."

"That kid." Souma shook his head. "You're really the center of his universe, Erina."

"It's strange," she said, smiling a bit. "I never thought I'd be the type of mother a child could feel that way about. It's not like I had much of an example."

"I knew you would be," Souma said, taking a seat next to her on the bed. "Even back when we were first years, your 'sensei' personality was pretty maternal."

A slight blush colored her cheeks. "You're biased," she told him. "And you slept through all my lectures, anyway."

"Really? I don't remember doing that."

"Of course you wouldn't!" she growled, suddenly annoyed in retrospect. "You have the long term memory of a goldfish when it comes to anything other than food."

"I guess you're right about that." Just then, Souma handed the bowl over to her. "Forgive me?"

It was a simple ochazuke—rice, nori, and sesame seeds topped with his Yukihira-style furikake seasoning and steaming green tea. Under normal circumstances, it was far too commonplace a dish for anyone to put before her god tongue—least of all her husband.

But now the gentle, familiar flavors calmed and soothed her delicate palate and frazzled nerves. It was a dish like a kiss on the forehead, a gentle hand resting on her stomach. Halfway through the bowl, Erina paused and blinked once, twice.

"When did you find out?" she asked. Despite her cousin's suspicions, Erina hadn't said anything to Alice while they were in Denmark. In fact, she hadn't even gotten around to taking a test yet.

Her husband gave her a long look then. "When you ransacked my suitcase looking for a Kit-Kat."

Erina sighed deeply; damn those random cravings. "Yeah, that's legit." She rubbed her right temple for a minute. "What are we going to do?"

Souma reached for her hand and interlaced their fingers. "We'll just do what we did last time," he said. "Have the child, raise her, teach her to cook, and in another six years or so, we're gonna be sitting here talking about how you're the center of her universe too."

Erina rested her head on his shoulder. When in the world had he gotten so charming? He had been a bumbling, classless idiot back when they met.

"Are you insulting me in your head again? You're making the face."

Goddamn it!

"How are you so certain it's going to be a girl?'" she asked.

Souma shrugged. "Alice taught me something about manifesting a few years back."

"You're such a fool," Erina said, and hoped it sounded like 'I love you.'

He kissed her then, softly, and she knew that it had.