58 and a Half Hours/September 5, 2016
Yuu and Miku each pulled up to the house. They had checked out of the hotel at six in the morning, and didn't even have to discuss heading back to patch things up with everybody else. As they walked towards the front door, Yuu motioned to Miku. “I want you to stay out of sight, but within earshot,” he half whispered, before hastily adding, “... if that's alright with you, of course. I'm going to try and explain what's going on.” Miku looked a little skeptical, but nodded, as Yuu put his key in the lock and quietly opened the door.
On a couch just inside, Yuu saw Valen sleeping. As he made his way into the living room, he found Natsu sitting on a couch. She looked like she hadn't slept all night. Natsu looked up as Yuu moved over to sit next to her. “You finally got back; did you ever find Miku?” Yuu nodded. “We got to talking last night. I explained what was going on, we don't have to worry about her telling anyone about it.” “Oh... that's good...” Natsu said. She didn't actually sound any better. “Valen stayed up with me most of the night, talking over what happened with Miku. Not just yesterday, but over the last ten years. Eventually she couldn't stay up anymore, but I just couldn't make myself go to sleep.” The two sat quietly for a long moment.
“Mom,” Yuu started, “was Miku a mistake?” Natsu looked up, shocked. “What do you mean?! How could you ever...” Natsu started, but was interrupted by Yuu leaning over and hugging her. “I'm not attacking you; I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm just asking because... well, because Miku thinks so.”
Natsu looked like her heart had been pierced. She pushed Yuu away and took a deep breath to keep the tears from flowing. “Did she say why she thinks that?” Natsu asked. “It was a fight you had, years ago, where you called Natsumi a mistake...” “I took that back immediately,” Natsu interrupted. “I never meant to say that, what I was trying to say in the heat of the argument came out wrong...” Yuu moved back in to hug her to try and calm her down. “And she mentioned that. Like I said, I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm just telling you where she got the idea. But even with taking it back – maybe even especially because you tried taking it back immediately – the thought planted itself in her mind that you had accidentally shared what you thought about her; that it explained why you were so upset with her about having Natsumi even though you were the same age when you had her.”
“I want you to understand something. None of you were a mistake. It's true, none of you were planned, but that's how it is with most babies – you weren't necessarily trying to have one, but that doesn't change how you feel about them when they come. I was upset because, well, it looked to me like she was setting herself up for failure. Not that I thought she'd be a bad mom,” Natsu quickly added, “but because I remember how hard it was for me. I was only able to make it because of your father's support at the time, along with both of our moms. With the way that asshole kid and his family behaved... I was overwhelmed with fear. This was so soon after the divorce, it was like going through it all over again, only this time Miku had to bear all the burdens. And I was honestly scared that she would eventually have to drop out of school, despite her obvious intelligence. There was even a tiny fear that maybe the pressure would get to be too much and... we'd lose her...” Natsu trailed off.
“The truth is, she's a better mom than I could ever have been. I never would have made it in her situation.” “Then why do you keep fighting?” Yuu asked. “It's just so hard... we both just get so defensive that it becomes impossible to ever solve anything. So it never comes out how proud of her I am that she's succeeded so spectacularly against trials that would have crushed me.”
At that, Miku decided to walk into the room. “Is that really how you feel?” she asked, quietly. Natsu looked up towards Miku in disbelief. “Miku, is that really you?” she asked, as she slowly got up from the couch. Miku wandered over, trying to keep from breaking down along the way. As she got close, Natsu slowly stood up. Both Natsu and Miku started crying as they hugged each other.
“I'm so sorry for everything!” Natsu cried. “It's okay, I'm sorry too,” Miku cried. Yuu sat and watched them as they held each other for a long moment, before they let go and looked over at him. “I'm sorry for how difficult I've made this for all of you,” Natsu said. Minako, Faye, and Valen had all woken up and made their way into the room.
Suddenly, Natsu's head dipped hard before she straightened up again. “Maybe you should go to sleep, Mom,” Miku smiled. “Yeah, you might just be right,” as she yawned deeply. Yuu got up from the couch. “Here, I'll help you to your room.” Yuu got her arm over his shoulders, and led her out of the room.
Miku moved over to Valen. “I'm sorry for leaving you behind yesterday. I'm sorry for lashing out at you, when you did nothing wrong.” Miku turned to Minako and Faye. “And I owe you two a huge apology. I was the only one who did anything wrong. I'm so sorry... I didn't consider how you two felt. Faye, I'm sorry I made you cry. You have one of the gentlest hearts I know of, and I should never have questioned it. Minako, I'm sorry for making you angry. I understand now that you were just trying to find a way to share your happiness with me.”
“Hold on,” Minako said. “By that, do you mean that you managed to come to terms with how I feel about Yuu, or do you mean...” Minako trailed off, wrapping her thumb and index finger from one hand around her index finger from her other hand and shaking it slightly.
Miku blushed. “Well, I've always been jealous of Faye's relationship with him...” With that Minako broke out into a broad smile, ran over, and hugged Miku. “I'm so happy!” Minako exclaimed, holding Miku tightly. Miku couldn't think of anything else to say, and just hugged her sister back.
Later on in the day, Natsu came out of her room looking rested. After helping Natsu to bed earlier, Yuu had poked his head in and told the girls that he needed a nap as well, and he was finished shortly after Natsu.
Shortly after noon, Ayaka and Naomi showed up for a visit to celebrate Labor Day. While Ayaka was catching up with Miku, Yuu pulled Naomi aside. “Hey, I never got an answer to that text I sent you the other day,” he said. “I'm sorry...” Naomi said apologetically. “Truthfully, I forgot to answer. The reason I turned down admission to your school is because I really would rather not transfer for just my senior year. Besides, I'm a year older, so it'd be a little like being held back a year for me. You're not mad, are you?”
“Nah, it'd have been nice to go to school with you, but I can understand why you didn't,” Yuu answered.
Right then, Ayaka called out for everyone to gather round. “Miku's just finished telling me about this weekend, and I think it's important that we go over a few things while we have a moment, before you go pick up the girls.”
“First, I want to check if there's anyone here that isn't on birth control. My job does let me write prescriptions, so I can take care of that if anyone's had a problem getting them.”
Everybody in the room looked around uncomfortably for a moment, telling Ayaka everything she needed to know. “You're saying Naomi and I are the only ones. Are you all insane? How is it that none of you have gotten pregnant yet?! Shit, I'm calling them directly into the pharmacy for every one of you tomorrow.”
After a second of rubbing her temples, Ayaka continued. “Okay. Second, it should go without saying, but we really should try and keep our little arrangement secret. With most people, it should be enough simply not to advertise it – it's not like any random stranger who happens to see one of us kissing Yuu in public or something will happen to know how we're related to him. There is one person I'm worried about catching on, though.”
“Mom?” Natsu asked. “Exactly,” Ayaka answered. “As bad as Miku's reaction was, I can only imagine grandma Meg's reaction being a thousand times worse. If I didn't know better, I'd think she just popped Natsu and I out like a whiptail lizard. I've never once in my life seen her interested in a guy; really, I think she's asexual.”
“You think?” Faye asked. “That's pretty uncertain, coming from you.”
“My Mom has always been a mystery to me,” Ayaka answered. “I never could quite figure out how to read her.”
Everyone was seeing Miku and Natsumi off at the airport. After Miku had picked up Natsumi and Rika, Faye and Natsu had grilled a few burgers for everyone to have for a late lunch, before Miku and Natsumi had to make their flight home.
“I promise I'll visit more often,” Miku said after hugging Natsu. “I'm looking forward to it,” Natsu responded. “And when you do, please,” Yuu started, “Please, I want the two of you to visit a counselor. That one moment of catharsis only started the healing, it can't have made everything all better yet. I want everybody I love to get along.”
“I promise,” Miku said. “I'm going to schedule my vacation days as soon as possible. After all, long distance relationships with a new boyfriend are never easy,” Miku smirked.
Next Entry: Tuesday, September 6th, 2016
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