Takumi kept grinning at Eri while they ate and after a while she told him, "You look really happy."

His grin faded, and he swallowed before asking apologetically, "Sorry, are you very unhappy?"

She immediately regretted having commented on his smiles. She didn't feel happy, but she didn't feel sad either, and watching his smile fade hurt somehow. "I don't want you to be sorry, I like seeing you happy," she insisted.

He smiled a little hesitantly, and replied, "But you're not happy."

Eri hesitated for too long and his attempt at holding the smile failed. She knew that he had wanted to cheer her up and distract her when he took her to the love hotel, and she really thought that it should have been quite fun. Her body had responded to him, but her mind still felt… blank. She struggled to explain, "I'm not unhappy either. I think I just feel numb." Takumi looked more worried then reassured, so she added, "But I really like seeing that you are feeling happy, and I'm sorry I said anything."

He stood up and leaned over the table to kiss her forehead gently. When he sat again he said thoughtfully, "I was feeling pretty happy. I'm worried about you though, I want you to feel happy too."

She swallowed, and asked uncertainly, "Do you think you can just feel happy enough for both of us until I get used to the idea?"

He didn't answer right away, and that actually reassured her a little when he finally answered, "I'll try, if that's what you want."

"Please," she agreed quietly.

He summoned up another real smile for her somehow and said, "I love you."

Eri blushed and looked down at her hands. Her eyes focused on her new ring, and her gaze moved across the table to where its mate wrapped around Takumi's finger. After a moment she said quietly, "Now I'm really glad that you wanted to get rings and tried to tell me that you were falling in love with me right away. If we'd found out first, I think I would have thought you were doing it because I'm pregnant."

Takumi stuck his tongue out at her and she focused on his face with surprise. "I'm glad I rushed you then," he told her wryly. "I'm only happy about the baby because it's yours Eri, and we wouldn't have made it if I hadn't wanted you first," he added with a grin.

She smiled at him hesitantly and his grin widened. "Please say I'm taking you home with me tonight?" he begged.

His pleading didn't fit the image of the boring accountant that he had described himself as on their first night, but it reminded her of the way he'd described himself as a spoiled kid who could still ask his parents to bail him out if he needed to at the doctor's office. Her smile deepened just a little as she blushed and avoided his eyes.

She nodded, and his happiness didn't completely erase the numb feeling that filled her, but it eased a little.

--

In the morning, Takumi handed Eri his old yukata again and asked hesitantly, "Maybe you could bring over some clothes to keep here?"

Eri wrapped the worn but comfortable cotton around her, and gazed back at him uncomfortably. After a moment she shrugged.

Takumi didn't press her for anything more, he just kissed her lightly and then carried off the laundry.

She straightened the yukata and then laid back down on his bed to stare out at the city. She realized uncomfortably that except for when Takumi was having sex with her, she still just felt… numb. Empty. Blank. She didn't want to move, or think, or anything.

When he returned she was still laying there. He walked over and bent down to kiss her cheek. "Did I wear you out? Are you okay Eri?" he asked quietly.

"I'm okay," she replied.

"Are you hungry?" he asked after a moment.

She didn't answer right away, and when she did answer she only said, "I don't know."

He looked at her with a worried expression that she didn't look up to see. After a moment he settled onto the bed behind her. After a few more minutes he asked, "Want some ice cream?"

She finally turned towards him with a startled expression, as she asked, "For breakfast?"

He grinned at her and bent to gather her up into his arms. She returned his kiss warmly, and he replied after several kisses, "I'll feed you anything that will make you feel hungry. What do you want?"

"Anything?" she asked dubiously.

"Anything," he agreed.

She thought for a long moment and then suggested uncertainly, "Waffles?"

He smiled and agreed, "Okay, we'll have to go out to breakfast though."

"I don't want to go out," she protested immediately. "I'll have to go to work in a while anyway though."

"Do you want to call in sick?" he asked.

She shook her head and objected, "I think I should work as much as possible until I get too pregnant."

He gazed at her silently for a long minute, and then his phone went off. He sighed and reached for it, and then stared at it with such a reluctant expression that Eri asked, "What's wrong?"

Takumi's lips quirked and he replied obscurely, "I guess I should answer." Then he warned her, "It's a video call."

Eri sat up quickly and checked that the yukata was still fastened securely while he answered it.

"Were your mother senses tingling?" Takumi asked with amusement. The dark haired woman on the screen looked oddly familiar to Eri, but if Takumi hadn't identified her with his greeting, she wasn't sure that she would have recognized Mirage's Hikaru.

His mother raised her eyebrows at him and replied, "I was just calling because both your father and I will be home for three days next week and we'd like to see you. What happened? Are you okay?"

Takumi scooted over to Eri and hugged her against him, tilting his phone so that they were both in the pick up area. Hikaru looked at Eri's startled expression and suggested, "You could introduce us to your girlfriend in person instead of over the phone, we could have dinner?"

Eri stared at the small image of Takumi's mother shyly. It wasn't that she hadn't believed him, but seeing her was somehow shocking.

"I'll bring her," he promised. "And don't tease her too much. She's your fan, and she's having my baby."

His mother's eyes went wide, but Eri went pale and froze in his arms.

Takumi glanced at her and said abruptly, "I'll call you later." He ended the call without waiting for a response. "I'm sorry," he told Eri anxiously. "Should I not have told her?"

Eri shrugged helplessly. She couldn't explain why hearing the words, 'she's having my baby', had dropped her heart back into a cold empty place.

He cupped her cheek with his hand and pleaded, "Talk to me?"

"I don't know," she replied blankly after a moment.

He tried kissing her gently but she didn't respond much. After a moment he sighed and sat back, and just looked at her.

"I'm sorry," she apologized quietly.

He hugged her to him for a moment and then assured her, "Eri, I'm the one that should be saying sorry." She looked up at him doubtfully and he asked, "What about crepes? I have enough stuff that I could make those here?" She just blinked at him, and he added wryly, "For breakfast?"

She nodded.

It didn't take him very long to cook the delicate pancakes, and she looked at the plate he presented her and finally smiled at him a little. He smiled back at her and then scooped up a dollop of cream and made a dot on her nose with it.

"Takumi," she protested gently, and he leaned in and kissed her nose, sucking the dot of cream up while his lips were on her. He licked his fingers and she laughed. He grinned at her and kissed her deeply.

She smiled at him when he released her and he suggested, "Eat?"

She ate while telling him seriously, "This is delicious, it makes me afraid to try cooking for you."

He looked at her with surprise and asked, "Why? I want you to cook for me anytime you feel like it?"

She explained a little anxiously, "All of the things I know how to make are plain compared to your cooking."

After a moment he replied, "It sounds like by trying to impress you I've intimidated you instead. I'm sorry Eri. I'll eat anything you make quite happily."

She blinked and asked, "You've been trying to impress me?"

He grinned at her and replied quickly, "Of course I have, I'm trying to persuade you to fall for me?"

"I really like you," she told him unhappily.

"I'm so glad," he replied cheerfully.

She blinked at him again, with a surprised expression, and he grinned at her with cheerful determination. She smiled hesitantly and he slid his arm around her and whispered into her ear, "And if you don't keep eating, I'm going to feed you with my mouth."

She blushed and took another bite quickly.

He pouted at her.

--

Takumi took Eri to work and then called his mother back. She asked him wryly, "I take it you didn't warn her that you were going to tell your parents?"

He shook his head.

"How long have you been dating?" she asked after a moment.

He blushed and admitted, "A week."

"Takumi!" Hikaru protested.

He explained quickly, "We were using protection but it didn't work. We found out when we went in to get birth control."

"That must have been a shock?" she suggested after a moment.

"That's an understatement," he replied unhappily. "But she's agreed to keep the baby if I want it, and I'm doing my best to make her really fall in love with me. Right now she will only say that she likes me."

"Well she's only known you for a week? Or have you known her longer and only been dating for a week?" his mother asked dryly.

"We've only known each other for a week, but I love her already. She's so damned cute, and everything shows on her face, and her blushes are like a storybook," Takumi explained enthusiastically.

Hikaru laughed and said gently, "And now I understand even better why your grandmother was always telling me that I was just like my father when I was younger. You really are just like your father Takumi." She added more seriously, "Take good care of her. And while I really want to meet her, if it's too soon for her, we can wait."

Takumi grinned affectionately at his mother and said, "I will, and I really don't know yet."

"Okay," she agreed, and then looked at something off to the side and said, "I have to go, love you."

"Love you too," he replied quickly before she ended the call.