Fourth installment! YAY!

Disclaimer: Don't own, except Evie. She's mine Unfortunately for her...

Spoilers (duh): if you haven't read the manga, the books, or seen the anime, then you'll be very confused. Also, spoilers for Nature Boy (ish), but nothing too revealing.

Warnings: Some curse words, excessive Bou-san/Yasu antics, Naru being flustered, and Lin being the most emotional you'll probably ever see him (until later in Nature Boy)

Quick note: There is one character in here with whom some of you may not be entirely familiar. Dahlia is mentioned briefly, and she's Evie's adopted mother. Other than that, I think everything's square. Enjoy!

Twenty-two. Twenty-two. One more, and she'd have tried one for every year she's been alive.

"Remind me again why I'm going western?" she grumbled mainly to herself, but also to Ayako, who was too busy murdering her slowly with a corset bodice to respond. It's alright, Ayako. I don't need to breathe or anything. Vital functions are so last season.

"Because Luella has been planning this since the twins broke their first room," Evie answered idly from her seat on the dressing room bench, balancing a deadly-looking stiletto on her bulbous stomach, "and Ayako wants to wear a sexy bridesmaid dress. Would you deny them?"

Mai got the distinct feeling Evie could give two shits if she did deny them. But then, her hormones had been making the excitable Welshwoman all the more….irritable, and they had been at this for about three hours now. She couldn't exactly blame her, especially when she was ready to drag Naru off to a courthouse, just to avoid any more ridiculous wedding prep. If only he'd pushed the 'elope' agenda more fervently…..

"Besides, this is only taking so long because you're too picky. I liked number thirteen, personally," her pseudo-mother admonished breathily from the effort, giving one last yank to the ties before stepping back to admire her work. Mai bit her lip in a half-assed attempt to distract herself from the near-agonizing pressure on her ribs. No, I vote no. My ribs vote no!

"Was that the one with the feathering, or the off-shoulder sleeves?" Evie inquired, brow furrowed in concentration as she began sort of rocking back and forth. To gain momentum, it seemed. Mai almost laughed, would've if she could inhale enough air to do it. She was trying to sit up.

Ayako took pity on the pregnant woman (Mai couldn't help but think she would've left her struggling if she hadn't had Emi) and helped her to her feet. "No, it was the one with sweet-heart neckline and the beaded bodice."

"Ooh, I liked that one too. But I think twenty was more flattering."

Mai glanced over herself in the mirror while the married women chattered, noting her small frame was made even smaller by the cinching corset and her breasts were pushed up way too provocatively. Coupled with the full, tulle-fluffy skirt, she felt something like a pole-dancing princess. Somehow, she didn't think this went in line with her almost-mother-in-law's vision.

"This one's nice!" Ayako tried when she caught sight of her analytical grimace. Mai wasn't even going to bother shooting her a withered glare. She'd been doing it so much today, the priestess would no doubt see it coming and deflect.

"I can't breathe."

She scoffed. "Like that's important. Breathing is for the weak of mind, Mai."

"My ribs are deforming as we speak."

"I highly doubt that."

"Ayako!" she broke, the stress of parading herself in a bunch of satiny nonsense finally spilling over into her voice, "I feel ridiculous! My boobs are half-way to my ears, my lungs are punching my ribcage, and this stupid skirt is just begging for me to trip." She pinched the bridge of her nose, a habit she'd picked up from her fiancé. The pressure became a distraction, he explained, something to focus on so you could gather your thoughts. "I have no idea what I'm looking for, but I know for sure it's not this." She punctuated her finality with a derisive plucking of the beaded fabric.

The older woman regarded her silently, but her expression was tender. Without a word, she gathered the stressed bride in her arms and squeezed her tightly. Mai latched onto the comforting embrace with gusto, hiding her reddened face in Ayako's mahogany hair. Another hand rested on her back, and Mai thought maybe things were getting a little too dramatic, given the circumstance.

"I know it's stressful, but just remember, none of this is for you!" Evie offered brightly, patting the bared skin of her shoulders with sisterly affection. "Weddings are for your loved ones to 'ooh' and 'ah' over your love." Just when Mai was thinking Evie couldn't possibly be less helpful, she pinched her cheek playfully and continued, "The vows are for you and Noll. You won't even remember what dress you're wearing or what cake you ordered at that moment. Everything else just builds the anticipation."

Ayako snorted. "Sentimental as always, Evie-chan."

"Hey!" Mai swatted at her back in reprimand and released her. "No knocking the pregnant lady!"

"As the Fruitful One, I demand respect," said pregnant lady added solemnly, but the smirk peeking at the corners of her lips sort of ruined the gag. Mai giggled the rest of her lingering discomfort away and looped her arm through Evie's.

"We've been in here forever. As much as it kills me," she relented dramatically, ignoring the consequent eye-rolls, "I think 'The Masters' will be getting impatient."

This time, Ayako and Evie were the ones groaning.

By the time they'd shoved Mai through the impractically slim doorway, 'The Masters' were nowhere to be found. Only an opened wedding magazine abandoned on the bench, the pages fluttering in a nonexistent breeze. Mai just barely fought off an eye-roll-groan-forehead-slap combo. As if they needed any more theatrics today.

"Oh, Mai! You look adorable!" gushed Luella from her seat by the floor-to-ceiling mirrors. No matter how many times she heard that tender affection mingled with a touch of barely-there sadness, she'd never get used to it, to the warmth blooming in her chest or to the blush on her cheeks or to the motherly eyes that were just too delighted.

"Told you!" Ayako practically hissed in her ear, to which she responded with a 'surprised' punch to the arm and a choked-down giggle at the glare she received in return. Really, she was marrying Naru. She dealt with his Glare of Doom on the daily, and frankly anyone else attempting it just seemed kind of cute in comparison.

"No, no, no, no! The lines are all wrong!" a voice rather passionately dissented from behind the makeshift model. If Mai weren't used to disembodied interjections, she would've jumped six feet in the air. But, well, ghost hunting.

"I agree. She's already so little. The skirt just swallows her up!" Another voice, pitched more northward than she was accustomed to hearing, and she was again struggling with whether to pray for mercy or fall over laughing. Maybe both. Both seemed much more appealing. Every time I walk out of this stupid room…

Ayako looked heavenward, taking the decision out of her hands. "To think I married a rock star and a fashionista."

"I think you look lovely, Mai," Luella insisted, tossing a warning glance to anyone who dared defy her word.

"That's a moot point. Jou-chan always looks lovely," the second voice, also known as her pseudo-dad and to a lesser extent Bou-san, commented dismissively as he sidled up to the bride-to-be (she'd kill him for being rude to her almost mother-in-law later), "It's her wedding day, so she needs to look stunning."

Then Yasu claimed her other side, and suddenly she was sandwiched between two nuisances without any idea how she'd gotten there. It was a good thing she'd learned to just roll with it. "Not just stunning. Breath-taking!"

"Gorgeous!"

"Divine."

"Ooh, good one, Shounen!"

Evie decided to play champion for Mai, given her inability to breathe and the almost violent way the two idiots rocked her in time with their banter, and barreled between them, dragging a protesting Yasu behind her waddling walk. "If the English lesson is over, I think we can all agree that this is a no."

She could've cheered. Alas, she settled for nodding with fervor and ducking back into the dressing room, already yanking the ties loose by the time Ayako caught up with her.

"Seriously, if you'd let me try my hand at choosing a dress, we could've been out of here ages ago," Yasu chastised teasingly through the door. Ayako's hands were suddenly more forceful in their rapid unfastening, but miraculously, she said nothing in response to his typical baiting. In any case, Mai's ribs were definitely not going to thank her in the morning.

"What makes you think you could find a dress, Shounen?" Bou-san asked curiously, in his normal baritone that settled her fidgeting agitation momentarily. Much to her confusion, as she wasn't entirely sure why she was so worked up in the first place. Probably stress from the myriad of choices she'd never expected to make in the past three days (seriously, who cares how the serviettes are folded?), combined with her admittedly low attention span (four hours, and this was their second trip in as many days) and the glaring reminders that certain people were missing from this process. But she wouldn't think about that now.

"Because I know Mai." She was shocked back into the conversation by the seriousness in Yasu's tone. He was never predictable, she thought. He could switch from troublemaker to professional to brother without any indication he'd been otherwise just moments before. A smile worked its way to her lips.

Having been released from the ribbed, satin prison, Mai sat half-naked on the bench for about fifteen minutes while Yasuhara searched the little posh bridal boutique for something he deemed appropriate. Evie and Luella chatted about styles and cuts and veils. Empty conversation, but Mai lost herself in the undulating music of Evie's Welsh accent, the lilting sway of Luella's more familiar London. Soon enough, just as Ayako was beginning to huff impatiently, a waterfall of plastic tumbled over the door.

"Five quid says it's the one," Yasu whispered to (probably) Bou-san, but Mai ignored it in favor of unzipping the garment bag with relish. Please be right, Yasu. She was half-tempted to shut her eyes against the anticipation as she slipped the delicate dress from the bag and hung it up by the mirror, but refrained. She watched every shift of the fabric without taking it in, until it was settled against the wall, waiting.

Then she stared unblinkingly.

Just hanging there, limp and formless, she knew. She knew. White silk under layers of soft gossamer, a bodice of white lace, trimmed with simple but artful beadwork, sleeveless and light and soft to the touch. When she turned the hanger to see the back, she found no train, but a subtle bustling of the skirt to give it shape. Simple without being plain. Beautiful without flare. A skirt like unmarred snow and a top like frost over glass. She shivered at the sight.

Perfect.

The fabric flowed like water over her skin as Ayako slid the dress into place and started with the little pearl buttons up her spine. Mai's breath hitched with every latch, until she thought she'd burst if she couldn't see the final result. Somewhere in the back of her mind, some girlish part of her was cheering at her finally appropriate reaction.

"Oh, Mai." Tenderness, overcome and Mai had to turn, to see what Ayako saw that could steal even the priestess's words.

In the mirror, she saw herself, brown hair made deep and dark and rich by the pure white of the dress, pale gold skin and pink lips. They were colors she hadn't noticed before, while she was swallowed by poofs and frills, tulle and decoration. Nothing forced. Just herself in a beautiful dress. She smiled and touched the glass.

"Yasu, you were right," was all the warning to which the others were privy before Ayako opened the door.

Warm arms slid around her waist. Mai didn't jump. She could always feel him near her, even before that initial jolting touch of his lips to her neck, his warmth through her clothes. He rolled through in her a series of contradictions, soothing shock, weak strength.

"You've been staring at it for hours."

The dress bag was unzipped, hanging from the closet door, its contents half-spilling out like tumbles of snow down a hill. She doubted she'd been looking at it that long, but still, she couldn't help but admire it. Couldn't help but picture herself in it, beside the man she loved. She leaned back in his arms.

"It's really beautiful. I can't wait to wear it."

He huffed into her hair. Laughter, but his special kind. "I hadn't figured that at all."

"Shut up."

He chuckled again, but a real one this time, so she could feel his stomach contract against her back and his chest rumble behind her neck, lips busying themselves just at her pulse. One hand played at the last button of her shirt, twirling it between expert fingers teasingly, in askance. Mai smiled at the same time she felt the need to roll her eyes. What was it, the third, fourth time this week? And initiated by him, no less. She never thought Naru would be the one to sink into temptation so often. Not that she was complaining.

"What do you think you're doing, Dr. Davis?" she inquired haughtily, pulling away, though only enough to turn in his arms. He smirked. No more toying with the button, apparently. The bottom three were undone before he even breathed to respond.

"I'd assume it would be quite clear," he intoned smoothly, working at her shirt while his eyes watched hers lazily, "but then, I am talking to you. Perhaps I should be a bit more demonstrative."

She jabbed at his ribs with fingernails expertly filed into blunt instruments of torture, enough force to punish but gently enough so as not to deter his advances. He could be vindictive in his weaker moments. "Play nice, Naru."

"Hm, I'm never nice." Hands at her hips now, tapping out a staccato rhythm as if she'd believe him by the touch.

"You're always nice. Except when you're not," she dismissed, ignoring his raised eyebrow and opened mouth in preparation for something charmingly condescending. A kiss to steal his words before they could begin, so she'd keep liking him for the moment instead of rerouting his hyper-intelligent narcissism.

"You confuse me," he admitted freely when she released him. It wasn't lost in her, the weight of those simple words, carefully chosen and equally cautious in their utterance. So like 'I love you', 'I trust you'. He was as unsteadily and steadfastly riveted by her as she was by him. And there was security in his uncertainty, his confusion. She would forever be the riddle that escaped him, and he'd be content for all his life to puzzle her. She was in turn content to be puzzled, to give him everything and help him grasp it. Mai couldn't wait to marry him.

"I love you too." She pulled her half-undone shirt over her head.

"If there's something strange in your—." Mai laughed. Evie had changed his ringtone a number of times, but this was by far her favorite addition, even it didn't last very long. Naru almost violently aborted the call, tossing his phone to the side with an amusingly novel abandon and it occurred to her that this near wild version of him was probably excitement.

"If there's something strange, in your neighborhood, who you gonna call?"

She had to admire his persistence. He made no move to even glance at the phone attempting to derail their moment. He really does have a one-tracked mind. But Mai found it strangely difficult to enjoy his hands sliding up the bare skin of her back while being serenaded by the theme song of a cheesy movie. She pushed lightly at his shoulders, and even if he obviously didn't want to, he backed away without fuss. He pouted, you know, in his way, but no attempt to grab her while she fished around in the blankets for his phone.

"…who you gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!"

He wrapped his arms around her again as she clicked the answer button. "Hello?"

"Hello Mai-san," Lin greeted almost warmly, a color of surprise in his voice and strangely tinny even for a phone call. "Is Naru there?"

"I'm here," he replied before she could, nudging at the phone with his nose so she'd position it more conveniently for him and it was such a childish gesture that she giggled.

"Right. I'll be at your apartment in fifteen minutes." Naru tensed slightly behind her. She could've slapped her forehead. Of course, how could she forget?

When Naru didn't immediately reply, Lin chuckled mischievously (which had EVIE-SOUND stamped all over it), "You didn't forget, did you?"

"Of course not. Does Evie still need a babysitter?" Confidence and a dash of mocking. She didn't know why he tried. Lin would see right through his evasion, no matter how clever he thought it.

"'Afternoon, cos!" Evie interjected as if on cue, and Mai realized why his voice sounded so weird. Speaker phone. "Hurry up and shag so Mai-chan and I can have girl time."

Naru groaned and the sound rumbled along her back. "Must you be so crude?"

"Ha! I told you. Pay up old man." There was a shuffling on the other line, the prolonged shriek of someone holding down the horn. Evie in car with Lin was akin to him texting and driving sometimes.

"Thank you Noll. Your newfound honesty has cost me twenty quid." Which she probably fished out of his pocket while he negotiated traffic.

Oh the mental images they so generously provided.

"You're welcome." And without any more warning than that, he plucked the phone from her precarious grip and turned her hastily in his arms.

"Naru?" His eyes were a little wild, or as wild as they'd ever get, as he prodded at the button on her slacks.

"We have fifteen minutes."

Mai rolled her eyes. One tracked-mind indeed.

"You should really should have gone with the navy three-piece. Black is more traditional, but…." But you've been wearing it so long. He didn't acknowledge his mother, or the unspoken end of her sentence as he adjusted the cuffs of the black tux. The sleeves were the perfect length, just scraping the apex of his thumb and wrist.

"He looks dashing, Lu. Leave him be," his father admonished gently, taking her pale, gardening-calloused hand in his to appease her. Noll was infinitely grateful that his father was here to be a balm. Don't think about it.

Mai told him black, and he'd acquiesce. "Lin looks better in black."

The Chinese man looping a deep red bow-tie around his neck tossed him an unamused glare, to which he responded with his typical smirk. Typical, because it was equally malicious and teasing and strikingly similar to the expression he'd given Gene so many times. Don't think about it. He almost wished she wasn't so understanding. So much like him, but entirely herself at the same time. Almost hoped that she'd push for blue so he wouldn't have to remind himself who his best man should have been. But she said black, because it was the color she'd always known him to wear and she never wanted to change him. A moot point. She did change him, or at the very least reminded him who he was before part of him had been cut off from the whole. Gene would be proud of him for that. Don't think about it.

"Besides, Mai wanted red in the ceremony." He turned to his mother and attempted to soothe his features into a smile. Or a not-grimace. Her blue-eyes were sparkling too much for his liking. "The black is more accommodating."

"Of course, of course," she agreed dismissively, padding at her eyes with a handkerchief when she thought he wasn't looking. Don't think about it.

He adjusted his tie in the mirror. A straight, slender line of deep-red silk, embroidered around the edges with a barely perceptible pattern of gold. Meant for luck, Takigawa explained when he'd presented it to him at his 'stag party' (which essentially involved him pretending to take more than three shots while his companions drank themselves into a stupor). The red winked at him in the mirror under the casual lighting of Martin's go-to tailor.

Beside him, Lin straightened his completed bow-tie, similar in color but unembellished, and stood straight. They regarded themselves in the mirror.

"You two look very handsome. Your ladies won't know what hit them!" Luella gushed, coming to stand just behind her son in the mirror. Eyes a little puffy, but she was smiling earnestly, her expert eyes adjusting this swath of fabric, that fold in the pocket square, fiddling because she didn't want to be away from him. He let her exhaust herself of her affectionate ministrations, even capturing her hand and squeezing it as she backed away.

"My boy," she said simply, laying her free hand along his cheek. He managed a sweet smile at her touch. "I'm so proud of you."

He wasn't entirely sure what to say. Gene would. So lay his head almost imperceptibly against her hand. "Thank you."

She released him with a watery smile, slinking back into the embrace of her somewhat baffled husband. Martin nodded in approval while his wife once again cleared the smudged mascara from her bottom lashes. Noll gave his father the same smile and turned to look at himself in the mirror.

He'd always looked good in a tux, but this was somehow different. Not for a social gathering that he could hide from, or dancing with silly girls to avoid conversation, or pretending in any way that he was separate and disinterested. He was getting married. He was a groom. Lin was his best man, in a matching fitted tuxedo that made him look even taller than he was, looming beside his unspoken friend. How unendingly strange.

As if on cue: "When there's something strange in y—."

Lin killed the obnoxious ringing with a decisive swipe of his finger. "Hello?" Naru gave him a knowing look—She got to you too?—which was notably ignored in favor of the person on the other line. "Mai-san?" He pressed the button for speaker phone before Noll could even think to signal him.

"Hi Lin-san! Um, this is weird." She giggled nervously, and he could imagine her twirling a lock of brown hair around her finger. "I can't really say why I called. Maybe I had a question…?"

"It's fine, Mai-san. Is everything alright?"

She giggled again, but it was an easy sound. "How many times have I told you to call me Mai?"

"How many times have I told you to call me Koujo?" he countered, and Noll wondered how long his well of patience would last. "Is everything alright?"

"Not even your wife calls you Koujo, Lin-san," she tried, and there was a detectable edge to her voice. Not anger, probably confusion. Noll stepped closer to the phone as if the proximity would help him identify her misgivings. Behind them, Martin was chuckling silently (or trying to) at Mai teasing their stoic employee.

"Is everything alright, Mai?" he relented, a smart move given that the slight victory would encourage her to focus.

"Yep! I mean, Evie says her backs been hurting a little, but other than that I just had the urge to call you. Weird huh?"

Lin breathed a sigh of relief that was audible to even Luella. "Alright. If that's all then—."

"What?" Muffled voice, she was covering the receiver with her hand as someone, Evie probably, interrupted her. "Hold on Lin-san. Evie wants to talk to you." Another scraping noise, as the phone presumably changed hands.

"Koujo?" Her voice was distinctly pressed. In the background they could hear Mai squeal. Lin was suddenly standing much taller, back tense in preparation.

"I'm here. What's wrong?"

She laughed, and it was a painful sound. "Nothing's wrong, per say, but…uh—I t-think my water just broke."

Silence. Luella released a huff of air in surprise, but she was grinning. Noll blinked owlishly, staring at Lin's phone much the same way as its owner.

"Hello?"

Nothing. Evie hissed on the other side of the phone, Mai's comfort—it's okay, just breathe—skipping across the line. She's in labor. I'll be an uncle, he thought, unbidden and stupid because he most certainly wasn't going to be an uncle. A cousin, if he were being generous. Such a Gene sentiment. But then he supposed it wasn't altogether a bad one.

Noll was just considering jabbing his teacher in the ribs if it would prompt some response when he finally spoke. "You have two more weeks."

"Yeah, no. No we don't. I need you—god—to come home now, okay?" She urged slowly, like she were speaking to a frightened child.

"She's not due for two more weeks."

Noll gave into his urge and jabbed a knuckle into his back. "Don't be ridiculous. Most women give birth well before their due date."

And that was all he needed, evidently. Without stopping to remove his fairly expensive, tailored, unpurchased clothing, he was darting through the French doors, shoving a greasy-looking teenager aside and setting of a piercing alarm. Several workers called after him, but he was already gone.

Noll looked at Martin, who was grinning widely and shaking his head. "Make sure he doesn't kill anyone. We'll take care of things here."

The doors swung shut behind him.

"You certainly know how to dress for the occasion," Dahlia had commented from behind her hand. He couldn't help but think she'd wanted to use that line on her son-in-law, but had to resort to her pseudo-nephew when he didn't pay attention. He'd dismissed her with an affectionate roll of the eyes and trotted after Lin to the waiting room.

Evie was already in a chair, a little sweaty and breathing raggedly but grinning excessively at the sight of her husband. Lin had wasted no time rushing to her side and planting a kiss on her lips.

"Did you steal a tux?" she inquired breathlessly, almost laughing but then her face twisted in a grimace as a contraction stole her breath. Noll looked away then, while Lin saw to his wife.

Mai was at the counter, clipboard in hand and arguing in her heavily-accented English over whether Evie's doctor was available and if not he had better damn well make himself available. He plucked the paperwork from her hands in way of greeting and pressed a kiss to her cheek before she could yell at him.

The nurse shot him a grateful look, which he ignored, and shuffled off to escape the stress induced rage of his fiancée. "Abusing the hospital staff I see?"

"I learned from the best," she retorted, poking him sharply in the ribs, only to roll the fabric pensively between her fingers. "You look like a spy. Evie's baby is gonna think her family is a bunch of secret agents."

"Baka. Evie's baby won't remember her own birth, let alone how two near strangers were dressed."

Mai huffed. "Well, you're still overdressed."

She was right, of course. Six hours later, and he was still in his finery while she slept soundly against his shoulder. They were in the hallway, originally slumped on the floor until a couple of orderlies brought out some chairs. He'd lifted his unconscious fiancée into his lap. How she could sleep with Evie howling on the other side of the door was beyond him, but then Mai could sleep through just about everything, poltergeists and childbirth apparently included. He smiled to himself. Hell, she might even sleep through the birth of their child.

In his musing he almost missed the sudden buzzing quiet that meant, maybe, it was over. He waited, straining for any signs of distress or of celebration. From their private room, he could hear the broken, hiccupping shriek of a newborn baby trying out her lungs for the first time. A sob, muffled "congratulations" in a bundle of accents, an Irish, a Pakistani. Footsteps coming towards the door. He shook Mai awake.

"…what?" She blinked the sleep from her eyes and sat up in his lap. "Is everything alright?"

"I think so. I can hear the baby crying. That's a good sign."

The door clicked open.

"Noll, Mai," Lin greeted, running a hand through the flop of sweat-matted hair in his face. At some point he'd abandoned his jacket in favor of a pair of scrubs thrown hastily over the remainder of his suit, and the ugly mint fabric clung to his neck and arms. Exhausted, a complete mess, yet he was smiling, grinning, and Noll could count on one hand how many times he'd seen that expression. Relief settled in his stomach as he rose to his feet, inadvertently knocking Mai to the floor but she caught herself. She reached for her teacher's hand and clasped it between hers.

"I have a daughter," he said, bewildered, his eyes wide like he'd never seen them. "I—you have to see her. She's perfect. Perfect."

"Oh, Lin-san!" Mai gushed, wrapping her arms around his middle. The bemused father returned her embrace stiffly at first, then he all but lifted her feet off the ground in his excitement. He was laughing freely, Mai too, and Noll felt a smile lift the corners of his mouth.

"Naru," was all the warning he received before Lin pulled him between himself and Mai. He felt the warm press of her lips to his cheek, heard the pop of minute suction as she passed the kiss to her teacher, their friend.

"Come on, Otousan, show us your daughter," he teased, extracting himself from their overemotional reveling but keeping a hand on his shoulder. Lin nodded, suddenly unable to speak. It was fascinating, bewildering, to see the most collected person he knew overcome with emotion like this. Completely affecting to see Lin smile and accept Mai's congratulatory kisses and to know that beyond the door Evie would be cradling a wrinkled, screaming infant that belonged to them all.

He let Mai tug him across the threshold.

"Hey," Evie acknowledged them somewhat anticlimactically given her normal wit, but then he supposed he would be lacking in colorful salutations if he'd just undergone roughly eight hours of labor. Her hair was a frazzled halo of coppery curls, ruby with sweat and stuck along the frame of her face. She breathed normally, if not deeply, her head flopping back on the pillow behind her. "You look spiffy, Noll."

"Of course. Your timing is impeccable, as per usual."

She laughed. Lin scampered to her side with all the grace of a pubescent boy getting used to his limbs and kissed her forehead. "How are you?"

"Since the last time you asked? Peachy." There it was. A little bite, but blinding joy underneath. "Will you take her? My arms are getting tired."

Noll watched her transfer the squirming bundle in her arms to Lin's, watched him carefully align the infant along his forearm, her capped head cradled in his palm. Lin smiled at the bundle, his daughter. He felt his heartbeat quicken, unprompted and the shift was so confusing. He wanted to sit.

"Noll," Evie called, her voice low and serene in a way that was foreign to him. He almost didn't look up, until Mai pushed him forward a little bit and his feet complied. "We'd like you to be Song's godfather."

Mai thought that maybe they'd broken him. He didn't seem ready to respond. To think even. His mouth opened, once, twice, maybe more but not a sound came out. Lin-san walked slowly to the young man staring at him as if he were looking at something that might bite him or bring him to life. She gripped his hand tightly, trying to encourage him out of his little spell.

"Go on," she whispered, and he didn't let go until the last second, as Lin slipped the baby into his waiting grip.

"Hello," he said to the bundle, and his voice was soft like she'd never heard from him. His baby voice, apparently. "Hello Song. I'm your godfather, Oliver." A little fist thumped against his chest a few times, and he commented how strong she was already. The words tumbled from his lips without thought. Mai smiled. Who knew a baby could shatter his walls so quickly?

"Mai." She was surprised when a heavy hand fell on her shoulder, more so than her name sounded by a soft, smoky voice like winter fog. Which was kind of stupid. She'd grown accustomed to that hand adjusting her stance, resting on her middle to feel her breathing, or even flicking her behind the ear when she was being petulant.

"Lin-san," she began, giving him her most radiant smile. "She's absolutely beautiful."

The wave of his hand was dismissive. "I tell you too often to call me Koujo outside of your lessons. Lin, if you prefer." She couldn't say why, but the idea of calling him Koujo seemed silly, like calling the prime minister 'buddy'. In any case, she nodded, smiling a little sheepishly when Evie laughed breathlessly at her expense.

"Sorry, Lin."

"Don't apologize." His hand stayed at her shoulder in his moment of silent regard, his eyes sweeping over her with a clinical sort of scrutiny. A habit, she guessed, from her lessons. "Mai, I'd like you to be Song's godmother."

Evie's near silent exhale made it clear that this was a spur of the moment thing. Probably, since Lin had two sisters who'd be more than happy to fulfill that role. She sputtered, trying to respectfully decline, at first, fuddled and confused by this random declaration of affection from her teacher. Naru, she could understand. They were family. She, she was just a student, not an exceptional one at that, and a friend. Evie was sisterly, of course, just as she was with everyone on their team. And there were times when Mai felt that she had been adopted too. But this…

"Please, Mai." Lin didn't speak again. He almost never explained himself, never felt the need to she imagined. Naru (reluctantly) relinquished the child to her father, who in turn slid her into Mai's waiting arms. She hadn't even realized they'd moved, let alone circled into a makeshift cradle. He was smiling as he adjusted her arms, as if she were running through her qigong forms.

Song was very pink. Eyes open, they were already darkening to match her mother's, but they were the sleek almond shape of her father's. Her hair was a curly puff of black, full and thick for a baby, and softer than anything she'd ever felt. Mai grinned at the details. Her mother's color. Her father's ears. Her mother's nose. Her father's brow. Lips that were entirely her own, rosy and pink and stretching into a little 'o' as she yawned. A beautiful baby. She said as much, and Lin smiled his early morning smile.

"Thank you guys," she whispered, unable to look away from the warm little doll in her arms. "I'm honored. Really."

Song shut her eyes and fell asleep.

Later that night, or rather, early the next morning, Mai and Naru tumbled into bed, exhausted and a little giddy (probably because of the exhaustion). He laid down beside her, on his side so he could look down at her from where she burrowed her face in the sheets. It was good to be home.

"That could be us soon," he proposed, with all the inflection of a CEO at a mundane business meeting, but she knew underneath there was a sort of wistful hope that Naru would probably never express plainly.

She didn't needed to ask what he meant, almost did but that would have been a waste of words. His mind was still in the hospital, still rocking his goddaughter tenderly. Maybe he'd replaced Evie, a little haggard but so happy that Mai finally got what people meant about mothers glowing, with her face, the little raven-haired baby with a brunette, blue eyes and a freckle by her nose.

"Are you asking me to bear your children, Dr. Davis?" she inquired half-teasingly, half as serious as the cool set of his smirk.

"That depends if you're saying yes."

Mai smiled. Of course she was.

If anyone's wondering where Lin's family is, they'd be coming soon. But of course this story focuses more on Mai and Noll, so everything else is implied.

Also, I slapped this together pretty quickly, so my editing is probably extra-lazy this time around. Please please please let me know if you find anything. Stupid things are immaterial, but anything annoying should be reported as constructively as possible.

Thanks guys! I hope you enjoyed Say Yes to the Dress/Tux/Bringing Home Baby all in one with a dash of SPR for shits and giggles!