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Maka walked into the living room of her two bedroom apartment tired and sad. With everyone else asleep, and the air conditioner on to keep everyone else cool, she grabbed her jacket and put it on over Soul's big shirt and her pajama shorts. It was Soul's old jacket that he was meaning to get rid of, but he always forgot to because of his Death Scythe missions.
She walked over to the bookshelf and pulled out a photo book everyone mistook for one of her many thick books. She made her way over to the couch, but instead sat on the floor in front of the couch and placed the picture book on the coffee table. Opening the photo book made her smile. It held all of her a Soul's best memories together and more great moments of her life.
The photo's were taken by either herself or her friends. The first couple of pictures were of them together at school, or at the park hanging out with their friends, and others of them alone at the apartment.
Maka stopped on a picture taken by Tsubaki. It had made her smile when she remembered that night. The gang was hanging out at Kidd's place all night to celebrate his becoming a full Shinigami, Soul's new status of "The Last Death Scythe", and defeating the Kishin. The picture was taken around 2:00 am with Soul and Maka sitting together on a chair in the corner of the room. It was the night Soul finally admitted to her that he loved her.
As Maka remembered that night see began to cry. It has been a little under four and a half years since Soul had left, and they broke up. She flipped over couple more pictures until she seen one that made her smile again.
It was a picture Liz had taken at the airport, the day Maka came back from her solo assignment in Tokyo. It was a picture of Soul swinging her around in the air and kissing her for the first time since she was back.
Maka pulled the jacket around herself some more. It was big on her since she was tiny compared to Soul in the first place. She felt lonely even though she was never alone. She still hung out with all of her friends. Black*Star was there for her more than the others because he knew how it felt to lose someone close to you. He watched over her and came by everyday to check up on her. He was like a brother to her already but told her he was also keeping a promise by keeping an eye on her.
Maka wished she could bring Soul back to their home, but she didn't exactly know where he was. Besides that she couldn't leave Death City anyways. She took up a job teaching students at Shibusen and had people to take care of. She wondered if he missed her. Maka laughed quietly at the thought. He wouldn't miss her, with all the nagging and Maka-Chops she gave him, he was better off without her.
Maka turned another page and laughed, but also shed a couple of tears. It was a picture she took of Soul at Black*Star's New Year's Eve party. He and Black*Star were having a dance off and they were both drunk. She flipped some more pages and found a picture of that same night. Patty took the picture but Jackie had edited it for them. Soul had his hands on Maka's waist while she had her hands on his shoulders. Their foreheads were pressed against each other with their eyes closed swaying to the music. They were slow dancing to their song. That night was the most special. It changed their lives forever. It was the night that she gave herself to Soul fully and he gave her himself to her as well. It was their first time and It was special to both of them.
She kept on flipping through all of their memories. Thinking of all the things they had done and overcome together. It made her cry a little harder.
There were pictures of them hanging out with friends, and even a picture of Soul meeting her Papa since they officially got together. She kept on going through the book and there was a lot more to go. She was flipping through the pictures until she stopped on one. It was the last picture of her and Soul.
It was taken by Black*Star. It was Maka and Soul kissing, the day before he left.
It was their last kiss.
Maka's head whipped around when she heard a knock on the front door. She thought it was probably Black*Star asking if she was ok and just checking on them. Maka got up and put her jacket on the coat rack. She made her way to the front door slowly but surely, while cussing Black*Star out in her head. She was about to tell Black*Star to get lost as she was opening the door, but her words caught in her throat when she seen who it was.
"Soul?" She gasped as her hand flew up to her mouth, like she had said a forbidden word.
He looked up from the floor and at her. She took in his appearance and compared now to then.
He was taller for sure, a little over 6 foot. His hair was a bit shorter compared to its length now. His skin was about the same color. The only thing about him that didn't change at all were his eyes. The crimson red irises still held the kindness about him and the love he had for her since they met. Soul was wearing pair of khaki cargo jeans and a forest green fitted T-shirt. His jet black leather jacket clung to his muscular arms. He had his hair held back by a thin black head band, and a pair of forest green high top converse. He looked at her face and gave her a crooked smile.
"Hey Maka, can I come in?" He asked her.
Maka nodded her head and stood aside for him to come in.
As Soul walked in, he looked around the apartment. It was a little different than he remembered. The same couches that were there when he lived there. Were in the same spot. The long orange couch was acting as a wall for the living room separating the front door walk way and living room area. She had a matching love seat on the right wall. There was a tan brown coffee table in front of the long couch, with a open book on top if it. The balcony doors were closed and so were the shades over them. On the right side of the balcony doors was Maka's same old bookshelf filled to the brim with books as usual. There was a flat screen TV in the back left hand corner of the room on top of an entertainment center. There were WII games and Xbox 360 games next to the consoles and remotes under the entertainment center. The last thing Soul noticed besides the pictures on the walls was a medium sized chest on the left wall.
He turned to his left and looked into the kitchen over the bar. There was a kitchen table in the middle of the room with four chairs around it and place mats in front of two of the chairs. It seemed odd to him but Maka was odd as well, and he loved that about her. Besides the tables and new appliances the kitchen didn't look that much different than when he was here with her.
Maka watched Soul look around the house. She closed the front door, but as she did that she noticed the duffle bag he had on top on the bar counter. She was lost, because she was wanting to know why he was here and why he brought a duffle bag with him.
He turned around, looked at Maka, and smiled a little. He really missed her. He took in her appearance and compared it to what her remembered.
She was the same height as before. Her hair was longer and cascaded down to her lower back. She filled out a lot compared to before. She had a curvy figure but not to much to make her look weird but it was just right, and she wasn't flat-chested anymore. The only thing that hadn't changed was her large forest green eyes that looked lost.
He walked up to her and pulled her into a hug. He missed her so much and it was like he could finally breathe for the first time while she was in his arms again. He felt her tense up while he hugged her, but she eventually relaxed and hugged him back. Soul was breathing in her scent when he felt something wet on his shirt. He pulled back to look at Maka.
"Why are you crying?" he asked with a raised brow.
"I thought that you were never coming back. That I would never see you again. I thought you were mad at me or dead because you never called me or anything. No letters nothing." She told him while still crying and clutching onto his shirt.
Soul led her to the couch but she collapsed on the floor. Soul sat on the floor with her letting her cry while he embraced her and whispered sweet nothings into her ear. When she finally calmed down he explained himself to her.
"Maka, I could never be mad at you. At first I was because I wanted to leave this place and start new, with you, somewhere else, but after a little time I realized I was the one in the wrong. I was asking you to leave a place you have been in your whole life. A place where you were born and raised. I'm so sorry Maka."
She was still clinging to his chest when she said. "What made you leave when I was sleeping like that. I thought you would have at least waited until the morning, so I could say goodbye. I thought you left because of me. Because I was acting different and I was being stubborn." She started to cry again.
"I just needed to get away, and I wanted to travel around a bit without having to be on some kind of mission. Not being able to enjoy the sights or things around us." He told her softly.
"Why were you gone for so long? I needed you the most when you left. I things stuff I needed to tell you and needed you here for. I was going to tell you that morning but you left while I was asleep." She told him with a bit of anger and sadness in her voice.
"I was in London when I ran into my brother Wes, and he let me go on tour with him so we could catch up and just be brothers again. He even let me play a piece of music on the piano at every concert, as an opening act, to earn some extra money." Soul looked down at Maka and she just nodded her head to let him now she was listening to him. "So I was with him for the last two years. I was around the world for the first two, and the last half a year I was with Azusa learning a bit more about being a Death Scythe. I was with her when she pointed out like her I couldn't reach my full power without the help of a miester and work solo without one either. I wouldn't ever have another partner besides you. When I was with my brother I noticed that every time on the tour I would play the song I made for you on the piano, no other song than that one and that's when I knew I needed to be home." He said to her with all the affection he could.
"You don't understand all the pain I went through-" Maka got cut off by Soul when she said that. "You were in pain? I made Black*Star promise to keep an eye on you, and protect you before I left." He said.
Maka giggled a bit. "Well that explains a lot. He never left me alone though, so he kept his promise."
"Then why were you in pain?" Soul asked. As soon as Maka opened her mouth to explain the others came out of their room.
"Mama I'm thirsty."
"Yeah me to."
Maka and Soul both looked over to the opening of the hallway. There stood two little kids with tired eyes. They both were small and had light tan skin. They both had thick, white hair. They looked almost exactly alike. The little girl had dark red eyes and a smirk on her face that reminded Soul of his own. The little boy had forest green eyes that looked exactly like Maka's, and he was giving Soul a scowl that could rival Maka's. Soul was at a loss for words when he seen them.
"Maka since when did you have kids?" Soul asked.
"Mama whose that man next to you." They both said at the same time.
Maka stood up and walked over to them. She knelt down in front of them and kissed their foreheads. She picked up the girl and grabbed to the boy's hand. And turned back to Soul who was just as confused as the world.
"Nick and Nicki this is your dad. Soul these two little trouble makers are your kids. Nicholas and Nichole. They're twins." Maka told him, while smiling at the twins.
Soul didn't know what to say. He was just now learning that he had kids. He didn't even know that Maka had gotten pregnant by him. They had only done that once and it was on New Year's Eve. Now that he thought about it he didn't use protection and she wasn't on the pill. He looked at the kids closer.
He looked at the twins then to Maka, checking out the similarities. They both had her nose, and the little boy definitely had her eyes. Nicholas was his name if Soul caught the name right. He then took in that Nicholas was his son. Soul looked closer at his son and seen his hair was about a shade darker than his own. It had a slight golden shine to it. Nicholas was staring right at Soul and, was giving him the look that Maka had always gave him when they were together. Nicholas was giving Soul the 'don't try me and no one gets hurt look'.
Soul then looked at his daughter Nichole. She was looking over at him with bored eyes, making Soul chuckle lightly. She had the same hair as his own, and had her long hair was wild like his as well. What really got him was that she took his eyes, the same color and everything, and it made him accept these were his kids. He smiled at them and showed his shark-like teeth. The kids both gasped and them smiled back at him. They had his teeth as well.
"Hey Nick, and Nicki. What are you two doing still up?" Soul asked as he got up and walked over to them.
"We were thirsty." said Nicki.
"Yeah and we heard mama crying so we came to check on her." said Nick.
"Mama and I were just talking and she started crying because I came back to stay with you guys." Soul told them when he crouched down to be at eye level with them.
Nick and Nicki looked at their dad, then at each other. "Are you going to stay here with us daddy?" Nicki asked Soul.
"Are you going to leave again?" Nick asked him with a serious expression.
"Well if mama says I can stay here I will, and why would you ask that Nick?" Soul looked at his son.
"Because mama was sad when somebody would ask about you, and she said that she didn't know if you were going to come back. I don't like it when my mama is sad or crying. I protect my mama because I love her, and I don't want her to be sad anymore." Nick said with his arms crossed over his chest.
"I promise I am not leaving again, I was just exploring the world and visiting your uncle. I don't like it when mama is sad either, and I want to make her happy." Soul told him while looking up into Maka's eyes.
"Yes papa is going to be staying with us." Maka told her kids while grabbing their hands. "Now let's get something to drink and go to bed." She led them in the kitchen, and they sat in their chairs in front of the place mats.
Nicki looked like she was going to pass back out and Nick watched his mama. Soul smiled and just watched.
"What do you two want to drink?" Maka asked them.
"Chocolate milk!" they cheered together.
"Ok, Ok. chocolate milk it is." She laughed and told them.
She made them their chocolate milk, and they drank it all and washed their cups. Soul laughed when Nicki put up a small fight about washing her dish, but Maka gave her the mother look and she did her dish quickly.
"Daddy will you tuck us in?" Nicki asked Soul.
"Yeah, come on you two." Soul smiled at them.
They crawled in their beds in Soul's old room. The walls were painted a pale green and their beds were on opposite walls. They had a toy box in between their beds with a big square rug on the floor in between them. Their closet was on the left wall in front of Nicki's bed. The dresser was next to the door with some books on top of it on Nick's side of the room. He walked over to Nick and was about to tuck him in when he sat up and hugged him. He was shocked at first, but gave him a hug back.
"I hope you're here when I wake up papa." Nick whispered in Soul's ear.
"I will be." He whispered back to him. Soul then tucked him in, ruffled his hair, and give him a kiss on his forehead.
"Now go to sleep." Soul told him.
Soul strode over to his daughter and look alike. She sat up and gave Soul a hug which he returned back to her.
"I'll see you in the morning Nicki." He told her. He leaned down and gave her a kiss on her forehead, and when he was going to pull back she gave him a kiss on his cheek.
"Goodnight daddy. I love you." she told him and rolled on her side to sleep.
Soul smiled at her and told her. "I love you too."
He turned around and looked to see Maka standing in the doorway smiling at him with tears in her eyes. He walked over to her, shut off their light, and closed their bedroom door. Soul felt sad suddenly and it showed because Maka grabbed his hand and squeezed it a bit. He looked up at her with saddened eyes and a broken heart. She lead him back into the living room and grabbed the book off of the coffee table. They both sat on the couch and Maka turned to him and handed him the book.
"Do you remember this book?" she asked him.
He looked it over and realized what it was. "Yeah, it's the photo book we had started when we became partners and when we started dating."
"Well it's not just that anymore. It's our family photo book. You may not know much about them Soul, but they know a lot about you. I had showed them this book when they were old enough to understand what it meant. I had showed them pictures of you and told them that their dad was on an adventure and would come back home one day and tell us all about it." She said with a proud tone.
"Why would you do that? I don't deserve to be in their life because I didn't even know I had kids. I don't even know what their favorite color is or when they first walked or talked. I wasn't even there for your pregnancy." Soul said.
He was angry, but only at himself, he didn't have to leave but he did. The worst thing about it was that because he left he never knew his kids. He never got to see them when they took their first breath or even watched them change into the little kids they were now. He was just a person they knew was their dad and had never met until now four and a half years later.
"Soul I used to show them this book because I wanted them to see how much we loved each other and how much that I know you would love them. Like I said this book isn't about just us anymore." She said with a smile.
"What do you mean?" Soul asked with a curious look written all over.
She handed him the book. "Look through it, and you'll see what I mean."
Soul took the book and looked at it from the beginning. It was like watching his past from a different point of view. He seen the picture of them after their first mission. Of them when he finally asked her out after his Death Scythe Ceremony. He smiled at them all and remembered all the pictures and the days they were taken. He stopped on the page of their last kiss. His hand touched the picture as he remembered what he was thinking of that day.
Soul flipped the page over and seen a picture of Maka and her little baby bump with Liz, Patty, and Tsubaki holding their hands on her stomach. He flipped over more pictures of Maka and her belly getting bigger. Another picture he looked at was of Maka and Black*Star at one of Maka's Doctors appointments. They were smiling at the camera and holding up two fingers. He looked in the corner of the picture and there was the date and a caption. It said, 'the day we found out I'm having twins''. There was more pictures of Maka and her big belly and a couple of pictures of her and the early baby shower for the twins.
The next picture made Soul choke a bit. It was a picture of Maka in labor having the twins. The next picture was of Maka and Black*Star holding the twins they were so tiny, and hooked up to machines. He looked at the caption and choked some more. It said, 'Uncle Black*Star holding Nicholas and me holding Nichole after their premature birth'.
"They were premature? When is their birthday and how early were they born?" Soul asked in a yelling whisper.
"They were born when I was a little over seven months. So they were about two months early. Their birthday is August 15th. Keep on going." She told him a little sad.
The next picture brought tears to his eyes.
It was one of Nichole.
She was hooked up to a breathing machine and had a heart monitor going on, while Nicholas was next to her without a machine, looking like he was watching her. Soul looked at Maka and back to the book he flipped the page to see Nichole holding Maka's finger before she went into surgery. Maka was smiling. But you could tell she was about to cry.
"So why did she need surgery?" Soul asked Maka. "She had a heart defect when she was born. The doctors said that one of the valves in her heart didn't develop right and that blood was leaking backward into her heart when it was supposed to go out. They kept both of them in the hospital for a month. Nick got to come home first because he was developed just fine and could breath on his own just fine, but Nicki had to stay and be kept under watch. They told me that they could fix it and she would be able to grow up like her brother, but she would have to be checked on once or twice a year while she was growing up. I chose the surgery and they cut into her chest and rebuild the three flaps of her valve." Maka sighed and then looked happy. "She stayed in the hospital for another two weeks, then she came home. Since then she hasn't had to have another surgery she just has a scar on her chest now. I told her that she's like you because you have a scar on your chest." Soul looked into Maka's eyes and she smiled at him.
He looked back at the pictures and kept going through them. Although she had surgery Nichole was a strong little girl, but her brother always looked after her.
They had birthday pictures and some of them first crawling and walking. Pictures of all of their first moments. He flipped to the last few pages and noticed they were blank.
"They were waiting for their dad to come back so we could have family photos and they could have pictures with you." Maka told him with a smile and a couple tears falling down her cheeks.
"I have great kids." Soul said. "But I also have a great woman to thank for that."
"I was just there to protect them." Maka said with a blush.
"Maka I want to be in their lives from now on. I missed to much to be away." He turned her head to look at him, so he could continue. "I don't want to be in their lives as just some stranger who came in and just so happened to be dad. I want to be the father they deserve. I don't want to be your friend, boyfriend, or baby daddy."
Maka's heart felt like it broke when he said that. As soon as he walked through the door she wanted him to be hers again and for them to make up for lost time. She looked down and then he pulled her chin up.
"I want to be more than that. I want to be their father and your husband." Soul said.
Maka's eyes widened and she couldn't believe what he was saying. He got down on one knee in front of her, and pulled out a small black velvet box.
"Maka I was stupid to leave you and not stay here with you. I missed you everyday I was gone. I realized that I need you in my life forever. I love you more now than I did then. Maka will you do me the honor of being my wife? I want to wake up to you every morning and be the last person you see at night. I love you Maka. So what do you say?" Said Soul as he opened the box.
It was a thin silver ring with a ruby and emerald making a heart. It reminded Maka of there eyes. How they both had unusual colors but it was that thing that had attracted them to each other since the beginning. Maka nodded her head.
"Yes, Yes I will Soul!"
He took the ring out of the box and slid it on her left ring finger. He held his arm open and Maka jumped into them. They looked into each others eyes and got lost in them. Soul then leaned in and kissed Maka for the first time Since he found his way back to her.
"Soul I love you." Maka said to him.
"I love you to Maka." He said back to her adoringly.
They got up and she grabbed his duffle bag. He looked at her a little confused.
"Well come on and let's go to bed." She smiled at him.
Soul's grin broke into a full smile, showing teeth and all. They walked back into her, no their, room and got ready for bed. Maka climbed in and waited for him. He climbed in when he was done and laid down. She cuddled up next to him and put her head on his chest while he played with her hair.
"Soul?" Maka whispered.
"Yeah Maka." Soul said.
"I love you."
"I love you too, Maka."
Maka reached up and kissed him and they both went to sleep.