Paring: Izana X Shirayuki

A/N: Sorry if there's any grammatical or spelling error in this story (English is my second language so please excuse me for my mistake.) And, yes it going to be IzanaXShirayuki pairing.

Patch Up Family

Move Along – The All American Rejects

Speak to me, when all you got to keep is strong

Move along, move along like I know you do

And even when your hope is gone

Move along, move along just to make it through

"I'll leave Clarines. I'll return to Tanburn" she said softly, her emerald eyes not meeting his azure ones. She gripped her handkerchief that she had been holding all the while she in His Highness audience.

"And how you are going to raise that child all alone?"

"I can work as a pharmacist in Tanburn. Maybe I can –"

"I think it will be best for you to remain here in Clarines. I could care for you better here and I think my brother would also want the same, " he cut her short, his blue eyes not leaving her face assessing for the smallest trace of emotion on her emotionless face. He waits for her retort, her bursts of anger or maybe a tiniest glare that she would throw him, but he was disappointed by her response when she just looked at him through her cloudy eyes.

"I'm sorry I can't accept your offer Prince Izana. I'll leave Clarines by tomorrow." The red haired woman said briskly, giving him a short and curt bow before turning around to leave.

Izana frowned before he opens his mouth and spoke with his usual authoritative tone. "I command you to stay here in Clarines until that child is born. Then you can return to Tanburn, but it will be you and just you alone as that child shall remain here as the future heir of Clarines."

Her green eyes flashed with something he comes to recognize as anger. He watched with fascination at her first display of emotion since that incident. "You can't do that to me! You don't have the right to keep me here in Clarines! You have no right to take my baby from me."

"I have every right to keep you here. That child is not yours alone. That child belongs to Clarines"

She could feel her eyes grow hot at a familiar pricking sensation behind her eyes. She took in a deep breath to stop the beginning of tears that is about to come. "No! This baby is mine and Zen alone."

"If people scrutinize you, just ignore them and do whatever you want to do."

Her breath hitched when the memory of Zen as he told her that flashed in her mind. She can feel that her anger faded off and with a soft pleading tone she continues her plead, "Let me keep this baby. I don't want this baby to grow up here, in this palace." The red haired woman threw him a glare through her now teary eyes when he just looked at her, indifferent in his eyes.

"Zen grew up here in this palace and so will his child." He said coldly. The moment he utters those words he felt the stabbing pain in his chest, the same feeling that he felt when he finally comprehended that his brother won't return from his trip to Raxd.

"You are killing me! Can't you see it? How do you expect me to walk in the same corridor where I used to walk with Zen without remembering him? How do you expect me, to… to" She found herself unable to finish her argument as she broke down in tears.

She misses him. She misses him badly and how she wished he will be here to support her. She knows that she a broken woman now. Half of her died when a messenger gave her a bracelet, her bracelet that Zen borrowed as a good luck charm for his trip to Raxd.

She was a strong woman before with him beside her as her anchor. He is her destiny, but fate is a cruel thing. He left her so suddenly, and now she lost.

"No you are lying. Where is your prove?" She remembered herself shouting when she received the news of Zen's death. The rest after the messenger present her with her bracelet was blurred, but she remembered how she tried to take her own life in her despair to escape from her anguish.

Flashed back…

Laying on her bed with her left wrist bandages, Izana had burst into her room in anger. She can't remember seeing the first prince losing his temper to that extend. "Do you know that you did today is the same as killing your own baby? Think Shirayuki! Think!"

Her eyes widen, slowly she pushed herself up, slapping his hand that he held out to help her up while another on her flat stomach. "No, I'm not with a child. I… I…"

"She didn't know that she is carrying a child Your Highness. Please, it's my fault. I haven't had the opportunity to tell her that she is expecting." The Chief Pharmacy said hurriedly, pushing her way in between the first prince and the pharmacy apprentice in her try to shield the young woman from another burst of fury that she expects to come from the lanky man in front her.

Turning around, Garaku bent down to Shirayuki's eye level. "Shirayuki, it's not the stomach bug you are having lately." She said softly, looking at the young woman in front her. "It seems that what I feared is true after all. You are expecting"

Bursting into tears, the red haired woman hugged her boss, muttering 'I'm sorry' repeatedly.

The sight of her small trembling body as she fought back her tears' pains him, so he closed his eyes slowly, trying to block the image from his mind. "Live Shirayuki. The woman my brother fell in love with is stronger than that." he said with a soft tone, a tone he remembered his father used to comfort his mother after their fight.

With that, he left the room without he knows it, Shirayuki mumbled a soft 'thank you', her teary green eyes followed after his fading profile.

End flashed back…

'The woman my brother fell in love with is stronger than that'

Wiping her eyes, she raised head; her green eyes met his blue ones. She had made up her mind. "Very well. I will stay here in Wistal Castle." She gritted her teeth when she saw a slow smirk start to make its way on his face.

He looks so much like Zen.

Blinking her eyes to stop the prickling sensation at the back of her eyes, she continued, "But when this baby is born, I shall care for him or her." She said sternly. "I don't want you to meddle with the way I raised my child."

"And I'll try to ask Chief Pharmacy for my job back. I shall remain here as a palace pharmacy."

Izana smirk widened. He can see the light in her eyes. The same one before his brother's death. The spark is faint but no matter how small it is, it's better than looking at a pair of cloudy green eyes. He knows that she needs to move on, and he will see through it. They will move on. "Do whatever you deem fit. Just remain here in Clarines"

She nodded her head, and without a word she left the room.

'Zen, you brought back a troublesome girl indeed.'