Paul was surprised to see one of his closest and best friends, Michael with a girl in his arms when he walked into Ben's house. It was true that the last time they had seen each other in person it had been almost six months ago when Keiko was born but they kept in touch with regular phone calls and he couldn't remember hearing about any girl other than Georgina. And even then it hadn't been good news. She had called him in some sort of drunken state, saying that her latest boyfriend had broken up with her and she needed someone to talk to. But instead of asking for a shoulder to cry on, even though Michael had insisted that what they had and even their friendship had been over for years, she had gone on to criticise him for ruining her life and she claimed that she wouldn't have the problems that she had if he hadn't broken up with her and denied her the fame and fortune of his business. It had bothered him so much that he'd called him up in the middle of the night, feeling guilty and wondering if he should go visit her in Milan so she wasn't alone and wouldn't have the chance to do anything stupid. And yet, looking at him then, he was more than a little relieved to find him laughing and smiling with the girl in his arms, looking more in love than he ever had in his life. "So, Mike it's been a while...who's the hot chick?" Paul asked, trying to be as friendly as possible in the unfriendly atmosphere he had detected almost immediately from the look on Ben's face as he'd opened the front door. He'd seemed quietly confused about something, as though not sure what to make of the circumstances he found himself in and now that Paul could see just what those circumstances were, he was better able to understand his confusion. And yet, he was glad to see that, although the room hushed to silence on his words, Michael seemed more than happy with them, beaming as he glanced down at the girl in his arms and introduced them to each other.
"This is Darcy." He smiled, his voice turning softer and much more understanding as he gazed down at his sweet girl, nodding up to their new companion as he followed through on the introductions. "Darling, this is Paul...Paul Vittorio. Remember I told you about him?" Michael wanted to make sure that Darcy made the connection quickly so that he could control her reaction over the news and not leave her to find out from someone else later and put her in an awkward situation.
"Paul...the same Paul who took care of you after the accident?" She wondered with a curious frown that made him smile as he nodded, glancing over at the man in question silently, unsure of what to say to someone who had ultimately saved her fiancé's life, however long ago it had been and regardless of the fact that she had been nowhere near being in his life at the time. That was inconsequential now.
"Now honey, it's not like I fed him soup and changed his bandages." Paul laughed in protest, stirring a soft smile from her though he could sense a sadness behind it as Michael watched her carefully, as if waiting for some kind of reaction to the reminder. "I just saved his ass from getting crushed into a two by two frame. I ain't no hero, I just didn't fancy cleaning up the mess if he managed to get himself smashed in. I was already late for a date with a very hot, very ready brunette...I wasn't planning on hanging around while the ambulance guys cut him outta the taxi." He joked, his gently laughter dying down as the smile fell from the girl's lips and she turned into their friend, snuggling in as he held a hand up, asking him to stop in his words of torment. He felt as though his humour was unappreciated and could only sense that something much more than he had guessed had occurred in the short time he'd missed. "Did I say something wrong?"
"It's just a sensitive subject." Michael sighed, taking a moment to hold his sweet girl while Ben brought a drink to his new guest, the room still silently wondering what was going to happen now that they had one unwelcome guest and a dinner to get through, pretending they felt happy about an engagement none of them approved of, though it was evident that Paul was still oblivious to it all.
"So come on mate...tell us where you found this little flower." Paul coaxed, glad for the smile that his best friend displayed upon hearing his words, glancing up at him with a tremor of uncertainty that gave him time to make continuous pleas for information. "Well? Is it some big secret? Don't tell me...you found the fountain of youth and you're about to become the luckiest bastard on the planet with a hot chick that'll always be hot? Come on, you can tell your old pal. It is, isn't it?" He teased tormentingly, making Darcy stare up at him in wonder, wishing all of Michael's friends had been capable of the same laughable, tormenting questioning that seemed to come to their friend naturally, instead of being argumentative and judgemental over something that was none of their business.
"Actually...to be technical, dad found her. And he doesn't know it yet but...we're getting married."
*****
The announcement that Michael hadn't yet told his father of his engagement to a young, blonde girl that would most certainly be deemed unsuitable, didn't install any more faith in his friends that he was doing the right thing. But thankfully, he was glad to see the smile that greeted him after revealing the news to Paul, and the pat of congratulations that hit his arm in recognition of the good news. And it was good news, it was great news and he was glad that someone was finally taking note of that and not ignoring the bigger picture to focus on their disapproval as Ben and the others had only moments before. He could see that they all considered his inability to inform his father of the engagement to be some kind of reluctance to get married or some feeling of shame that he had over his fiancée, but in truth, he knew his dad would be happy with the news, no matter how he felt about Darcy personally. Asato had promised to give him all the responsibility and power in his own relationship and promised not to interfere and knowing that he was going to stick to his word, was one thing that made them feel that they didn't need to rush to tell him the good news, however much they were both bursting to telling everyone.
"Congratulations mate...that's great news. When's the big day?" Paul wondered, eager to know the details when it looked like they were really in love, the girl Darcy, clinging to Michael, with her arms around his waist as she leant into him. They really looked happy together and no matter what had happened to cause the tense atmosphere, he didn't see why it should make him anything but thankful that one of his best friends had finally found someone who he loved, and who really seemed to love him in return.
"We haven't decided yet." Looking down at his sweet girl, he couldn't decide if he was happier about Paul's reaction to their engagement or the longing and excitement in her eyes that told everyone just how happy she was to be with him. "We do know we don't want to wait long. No more than a few months, I think. Just enough time to let us do some planning and make the arrangements. Of course that all depends on how big a wedding Darcy wants..." Michael laughed quietly, teasing her in the gentlest of ways that she didn't seem to register as she closed her eyes and snuggled further into the warmth of his body, perfectly content to spend the rest of the night talking about their forthcoming wedding.
"I couldn't care if it was just you and me in the back garden. Just as long as we're together." She thought to herself, unaware that her words were spoken aloud to a room of people that were nothing more than strangers to her, though her fiancé found them more than comforting in the hostility they had been surrounded by prior to Paul's arrival. Although he was happy to hear that she didn't care if their wedding was extravagant or simple in design, just as long as they were together and really getting married, he was disappointed to see Mika laughing and whispering her suspicions to Nara, as though Darcy had carefully constructed her words to persuade them that she really loved him. And he didn't appreciate the implication, especially when they had already completely ignored her and hadn't even made an effort to get to know her as he had hoped they would. If they just took the time they would see how great she was and how much they would have in common once they got past the question of their morals. Mika was a lot more careless and inconsiderate than his sweet Darcy was, but they had the same preference in musical artists, painters and literature...if they only took the time to find it out, they would see it.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starving..." Paul sighed, rubbing his hands together as he pulled out a seat from the dining table and sat down, fully prepared to just walk right into the house and sit down to eat. "So, when's grub up?" He asked, glancing at his hosts before taking in the confusion everyone else displayed, looking to be wondering how he could pass off the engagement subject so easily, without even thinking of object. But as he saw it, it was none of his business and he firmly believed that Michael was old enough and wise enough to make his own choices. "What did I say now?"
"It'll be another half hour before it's ready." Ben laughed to himself quietly, glad for the return of their regular atmosphere, filling the room almost instantly once he spoke, lifting Paul's beer from the table, smiling when he made a complaint and even went as far as to get back up from his seat to follow his drink into the kitchen behind Ben. "I thought we'd have a game of footie while the girls did their thing in here. That way, Darcy can get to know everyone and they can talk about all the wedding stuff they want while we sod off into the garden...escaping the torture." He joked, sending his best friend an apologetic smile from the kitchen doorway as the boys quickly agreed to the plan and left the girls with little more thought than to pass them without trampling over them. And Michael was happy to accept his apology, offering his fiancée a quiet word of comfort and encouragement before taking one last drink from his bottle of beer and following the rest of the boys outside, to enjoy a little juvenile play time to their selves.
*****
Half time gave Ben time to sneak inside and check on dinner, frustrated to see that his wife had once again chosen the safer option of turning the over down to a lesser temperature. She was always doing such things and it was an ever continuing argument between them, him reprimanding her for turning it down and being reprimanded in return for turning it up. But he didn't care, as long as he was cooking then it would be done his way and with a quick glance out into the empty living room, he made sure that Nara wasn't close by and turned it back up to where he felt it should be. "No wonder it's not ready." He frowned to himself as he wandered through to the empty living room, curious as to where the girls had all disappeared off to, only to find that there was one, still smiling girl, sitting in the room that he hadn't noticed. Ben was disappointed to see that Darcy had been left on her own once more and ignored by not only his wife but her friends and he felt guilty for having started it all with his initial doubts. "You alright?" He asked her softly, hoping not to startle her as she sat next to Keiko's play pen, wiping her hands clean with one of the baby wipes.
"Oh, yes thank you. But Keiko's been sick." Darcy admitted, biting her lip as though she had been the guilty party, and true enough when he ventured over, he could see it all over her clothes and the remnants that Michael's young fiancé had wiped from her hands.
"Welcome to parenthood." He teased, glad to see her smile, about to lift Keiko from the play pen when he heard voices calling him from the kitchen, telling him if he didn't come back to the game quickly they would go on without him. But his daughter came first and he just ignored them, smiling at the curious glance Darcy gave to the kitchen as though he should go. "So how come you got stuck with the dirty job of cleaning up?" He wondered, opening the long drawer of the cabinet beside her to extract one of the mats they regularly used for cleaning up the awkward messes that their little girl left them with.
"I was just reading my book at the table and when I heard her...I couldn't just sit and do nothing." She shrugged, not sure how else to explain the fact that the girls had each ignored her as earlier that night and had disappeared to go see Keiko's nursery and that they hadn't returned. It wasn't that she grudged not being invited along, even though she would have liked to see the room, but she felt lonely, especially with the boys playing football outside, their laughter and chat making it's way through the seemingly thin walls of the house to her ears. "I didn't want to disturb you and I tried to find the nursery to tell your wife, but I got lost." Darcy blushed wildly at the admission, all too able to detect the sympathy in his smile as he laid the mat out across the dining chair to her side and laid Keiko down on top of it.
"Come on Ben...you're holding up the game." Paul's voice called through from the kitchen again, though sounding louder than before and Darcy knew that he had ventured as far as the back door before going back outside to join the game, hoping Ben would do the same.
"You know, I can do that if you like. So you can go back to the game." She offered quietly, just as he began to use the wipes to clean as much of the mess from Keiko's clothes as possible before attempting to remove them. But he only glanced up at her in confusion, as though unable to understand why she would suggest such a thing. "I might be young Ben but I have eyes and ears. I know you can't have much time to enjoy yourselves with always having to put Keiko first. It's not like I have anything better to do. Go out and finish the game...you can go back to being superdad later." She smiled, gently slipping the baby wipe from his hand with an encouraging nod as he looked down at his daughter and then out towards the kitchen, thinking it through. He could understand what she was saying and he hated that she was right, but could he really go back out and finish the game knowing that she was in there all alone, cleaning up his baby's mess just because his wife and her friends had disappeared and left her alone?
"Are you sure?" He wondered, not sure what to do.
"I'm a compulsive cleaner Ben, a little bit of sick isn't going to put me off. I had to clean Michael's kitchen and I don't think it's ever been cleaned." Darcy confessed, proving that she had much more stomach than anyone gave her credit for and it was all down to willpower. She didn't see why she had to be selfish and unkind just because everybody else was. "There's a disposable bag over there that I can put the wipes in and I know where the sink is. I saw the spare clothes in the drawer you just pulled out and I think I can handle changing her and giving her clothes a quick rinse under the tap." She made sure to tell him that she knew what to do, without having to be told and he was impressed by the efforts she was willing to go to just to take over his job for five minutes. But he couldn't deny it was a fantastic offer.
"No wonder Mike's so crazy about you." Ben couldn't help but say the words as he got to his feet, barely straightening up before Darcy slid down off her seat and into his place, trying to hide the blush of her cheeks at his words. And he couldn't help but notice that, as he made his way over to the kitchen to go back to the game of football, Keiko didn't cry as she usually did with strangers, she just giggled and smiled at the sweet words Darcy treated her to as she talked her through what was happening.
*****
By the time the boys finished their first game, almost half an hour later, they happily returned to the kitchen for a cold drink, talking and laughing amongst themselves at how good it was to be all back together under one roof again after so long. No-one had mentioned Michael's insistence on marrying Darcy since the game had resumed after half time and Ben had patted him on the back and given his utmost approval, stating that Darcy was nothing less than the perfect little firecracker to put him in his place. And although he had highly approved of the praise, knowing how true the words were, he was curious as to what had provoked them, and was still curious as Ben rushed past them swearing. "Shit. I forget to check on Darcy." He cursed himself, intriguing not only Michael but the rest of the boys as well. None of them could understand what would warrant such words or the rush to see the girl he had previously disapproved of just an hour ago, taking his mind off the dinner he had initially rushed inside to check. And as they moved over to the kitchen door out of curiosity, they could all detect Michael's anger at seeing that Darcy was the only one in the room, sitting reading her book with Keiko in her arms, sleeping.
"Hi." Darcy whispered as she saw Ben approaching, smiling back at her as he crouched down to her level, now unsurprised to see that she hadn't only cleaned up the mess his daughter had made earlier but she had cleaned up the array of toys that had cluttered the sofas in the other half of the room as well as having fully washed the outfit Keiko had been wearing when she had been sick, by hand.
"You weren't kidding when you said you were a compulsive cleaner, were you?" He teased her, glancing around at the room in disbelief, though thankful that there was none a few less things that he had to do since his wife was still absent from the room. He didn't approve of how inhospitable she was being, but he was glad that Darcy wasn't taking it to heart and hadn't been so upset by it that she refused to stay for dinner as had been planned. He could only imagine that if he had been treated so badly by her friends, he would have wanted to leave right away. "Has she been asleep long?" Ben asked quietly, oblivious to his friends watching them from the kitchen doorway, curious as to what was going on as he gently pressed his hand to his daughters forehead to make sure that her sickness hadn't been due to some illness he had failed to notice, and he was relieved to find that she was her normal temperature. But his relief wasn't shared with Michael, who was able to connect the dots all too well, swearing aloud to himself in disapproval of his best friend using his fiancé's sweet nature to give him a babysitter while he wandered off to play football.
"I got her changed and she dozen off almost straight away." Darcy nodded, allowing Ben to take his daughter from her arms as he stood up, deciding that she had been asleep long enough and that he had come back in just in time to wake her up and give her a bottle. He thanked Darcy for taking care of his little girl and wasn't oblivious to the chatter of the kitchen as he left her to get back to her book, heading to the fridge to grab a bottle of milk. Everyone could tell that Michael was upset to see his fiancé all alone again as he watched her, quietly wondering what to do as his friends laughed at him behind his back.
"Poor guy...you're screwed now Mike. You're not even gonna make it back to the hotel tonight without hearing about how much she wants a kid of her own." Jin scoffed, Ronin joining in the laughter as Ben stood quietly at the side, feeding his daughter as they all watched Michael with curious eyes, in turn watching his fiancé intensely with a faint smile on his lips. "As soon as you get out the door it's gonna be 'Michael I want a baby...can't we have a baby Michael?'" He mimicked jokingly, frowning at Paul as he nudged him to gain his attention and nodded over to their friend, mesmerised by his young love. He wasn't sure how, but he knew that look and if he wasn't mistaken, Michael was already wondering the same things himself, imagining how it would be to have a baby with her, to have a baby of their own, some time in the future. It was all there in his stare, never wavering from the sweet girl who had captured his heart, each of them wondering who was going to say it first and just how he was going to react.
"You know Jin...looking at him now, I don't think he'd mind so much." Paul smiled to himself, taking a sip of his beer as Michael pushed himself from the kitchen doorframe and walked over to the girl in question, crouching down before her as he asked her if she was alright, happy for her silent nod of reassurance. And no-one was sure of what it meant when they saw the smile she showed him freely as he settled himself at her feet, gently laying his head on her lap as she ran her fingers through his hair.