Chapter 68: Moving day part 1

Yuzu had tossed and turned all night, her lack of sleep although had been more regular over the past few weeks still had her being slightly grouchie in the mornings. And so when she woke up to the sound of their alarm a low grunt left her lips as she reached to turn the beeping off. That was until she stopped at not feeling her wife in bed beside her like she normally would.

Turning over while trying to soothe her daughters that were kicking her stomach, Yuzu's eyes narrowed at her wife who was in fact in bed, sound asleep at the edge of the bed with her back turned to the blonde. Taking her eyes of her wife for a moment as she slipped off the bed to walk around to face the sleeping beauty. Yuzu's eyes narrowed even more at the peaceful and fully rested look on Mei's face. She could feel the bags under her own eyes, she didn't have to look in a mirror for that, and not only was her wife fully rested and slept uninterrupted, but also was not spooning or touching her at all. She had left her in the night for a comfier sleep, and that is what Yuzu told her as she pulled the covers off of her slumbering wife.

"Mei, the alarms gone off, get up or we'll be late." Yuzu said in a low tone when Mei blinked and shivered at the blanket being stripped from her.

"Yuzu?" A still sleepy Mei said as she rolled over to the blonde's side of the bed while scrunching her eyes closed to shield from the sunlight that was pouring in from the blinds Yuzu had just pulled open.

"The alarm has only just gone off, I set it 20 minutes early for you so you would have time to wake up before we actually have to get out of bed. Come back to bed for a little while?" Mei said, obviously not fully awake and she nuzzled into her pillow some more, her arm still reaching for the blonde who was still out of reach. Yuzu however, already in a sour mood from her lack of sleep and unhappy wake up call, knew she would not get a wink of sleep if she went back to bed.

"There's no point Mei, the twins are up and have been the entire night, I'm not going to get any more rest so just... tsk.. settle please... nevermind it doesn't matter, just get up soon." Stopping her sentence half way through, the young blonde tsked in a slight pain as a hard kick was made to the inside of her belly. Standing back up straight while caressing her stomach, Yuzu finished her words as she made her way to walk out of the bedroom. The door slamming as she let it draw shut with the draft of the window.

It was only a few minutes of sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of green tea before Yuzu drew her head at the sound of her wife's soft and cautious voice.

"Listen, first of all good morning and I love you. Second, I'm sorry for whatever it is that I've done... What's the matter, what did I do?" Mei slowly approached the table as she looked to her wife who she could tell was in a mood just from the way she was gripping her mug.

Mei on the other hand, had played this game before. She could already take a stab in the dark at what she had done, no even that was a lie. She knew exactly what she was in trouble for.

After a minute of silence while Yuzu continued to stare at her wife without even a mumble, Mei gently rolled her eyes as she made up the distance between them.

Placing a soft kiss to the blonde's cheek, Mei lingered just a moment before she pulled back enough to look her wife in the eye.

"Yuzu you know I was asleep and there is nothing I can do when I'm asleep if I turn or roll around. It doesn't mean I don't love you or do it intentionally. I can see you didn't sleep well, and I'm sorry but it really is too late to go back to bed if we want to be there on time.. I'll drive us down to Tokyo and you can sleep in the car and you can go for a nap this afternoon at Mother's, and I'll be there next to you keeping the twins quiet so you can get some proper rest. How does that sound?" Mei asked, placing another kiss to the blonde's cheek, this time her hand rested upon her jaw. And her words had done just as she had hoped as the blonde grazed into that hand as she closed her eyes.

"... I know you can't but it's still so mean and unfair. I get woken up nearly every night with these two, and I look over and you're looking fresh as a daisy." Was all Yuzu said with a pout as she wiped her eyes, already feeling exhausted from her day to come.

"Yuzu... You know I love you more than anyone, but you only have yourself to blame. I told you last week when we had this exact same conversation and the week before that, that if the girls were kicking at night and kept waking you to wake me up so I could at least try and get them to settle. You know me talking to them works and so do I. It's not my fault you don't do that and are tired in the morning." Mei said with a sigh as she stepped back from Yuzu, and after a moment of not getting a response, walked to the kitchen to start making her morning coffee.

The young Aihara knew it was dangerous to speak to her wife in such a way, for the fear that she would either break down in tears with her hormones or start an argument between them. But what she said was true, she couldn't take the blame if Yuzu didn't wake her or let her help.

However, Mei seemed to be wrong as she came back to the table with her eyebrow raised at her wife who didn't say anything back to her at all. Instead, just continued to hold her stomach with one hand and her cup with the other, her gaze fixed on the table.

At the continued silence Mei began to panic, maybe she had been too harsh? She knew Yuzu didn't wake her because she didn't want to disturb her sleep. It was sweet really... until she had to keep having this conversation in the morning when her wife was grumpy.

"Hey, hey, hey..." Before Mei could figure out what to say to resolve their conversation, or rather what she had said, she quickly stood from her chair to join her wife at the other side of the table when she saw her eyes close and bottom lip start to quiver.

" Yuzu honey, no please, you don't need to cry. I'm sorry I didn't mean that, okay?" Mei said while trying her softest tone, and after giving the blonde a quick hug rested her hands on either side of the blonde's face to make her look at her. Mei had gotten used to Yuzu calling her many nicknames since they first moved out, and over the years had on occasion used some herself. One she noticed seemed to perk her blonde lover up was honey, and she found her wife was in current need of perking up.

And as she hoped, she saw a small smile pull at the sides of Yuzu's plump lips at her words, her eyes opening to meet Mei's. The smile widening when a soft kiss was placed on her lips, and soft thumbs swiped over her cheeks.

"That's better... I know you don't want to wake me, but it'll only be for a little while then we could both go back to sleep. You are already low on energy, this lack of sleep isn't helping you. I would rather I had less sleep so you could get even a little bit more at night... We can have breakfast now and that should leave us with fifteen minutes or so before we have to leave. Why don't we sit on the couch and you can get a power nap in and I'll try to settle them with a book? Should make the car ride easier for you, hmm?" Placing another kiss, this time on the blonde's temple, Mei offered a reassuring smile to her wife to have a quick nod.

Her gaze dropping from Yuzu's eyes to her stomach, Mei's smile brightened ever so slightly. "And good morning to yous too. I expect yous will sleep all day after keeping Mama up all night?" Mei spoke softly as she rested a hand on the bulging belly, giving two soft kisses there too.

Yuzu sat in her chair looking down at the woman crouched down infront of her, smiling as she listened. With her outburst having been swept aside, Yuzu focused on her wife, for a moment shocked at the scene. It was almost hard to believe that the strict woman she knew years prior or even her girlfriend from months ago, would be able to speak her down as she did or would be speaking to her tummy with such adoration. Sure she got inpatient with Yuzu's mood swings, some were shockingly unnecessary, but she always came back to sooth her in any way possible.

The first time they had this conversation about Yuzu's lack of sleep and being upset in the morning, Mei had came home that afternoon with a book of miscellaneous children's stories. When she handed it to the blonde she had stated 'Next time you can't sleep because they are too active, wake me up and I'll read them one of these. You don't have to do it all alone' then gave her a warm kiss. And yet Yuzu had only done this once since, she hated the thought of them both sleeping poorly when it could just be one.

"You really have changed a lot Mei, the twins aren't even born yet and you're already an amazing mum." Yuzu whispered as she ran her fingers though the jet black hair.

A moment of silence filled the room as Mei stood, pondering the blonde's statement. "I suppose I have, but I would say this relationship and our family has changed me for the better. Wouldn't you?" A sincere smile graced her lips as she looked to her wife, who only smile back before nodding.

"Alright, I'll go make something for breakfast why don't you go get dressed so you don't have to just before we leave?" Mei suggested already helping Yuzu from her seat knowing she would do as she said.

"Mmhnm, thank you." Steadying her feet, Yuzu placed her own kiss to Mei's cheek before wadding through to the bedroom to get changed.