Settling

The next morning, they discovered that Mizuki's grandparents had come to breakfast. All three of them. Minori was arguing loudly with her mother, while Junshiro's parents tried to help prepare the table.

Shizune and Shinichi looked rather tired and resigned, but Kyohei had already taken his wife and children home the night before, so the apartment was only full, not overflowing.

When Mizuki and Sora settled at the table, Mizuki looked at her father questioningly. Junshiro interrupted the fight between his wife and her mother long enough to introduce everyone to Sora, who had merely been introduced as 'a friend' at the wedding.

Junshiro's mother immediately pinned Sora down with even more questions than she'd asked at the wedding, while he told his youngest daughter, "Your mother is trying to convince her mother to move closer."

"Why?" Mizuki asked with confusion.

"She's been having some health problems, and apparently your uncle Toshi and his wife will be going overseas for a couple of years," he explained quickly.

Mizuki looked at her grandmother and her mother who had already resumed their argument, and interrupted questioningly, "Why not just move in here when I move out?"

Shizune sat forward and exclaimed, "That's what I suggested! But then okaasan said that she doesn't want you to move in with Sora-kun until you're married, and baba says that you won't want to share a room with an old lady in the meantime."

Shizune wasn't quite as round as Eri had been yet, but Mizuki couldn't help eying her belly as she pointed out, "It would expand the support group that you're moving back for too."

Minori's mother gazed at her youngest granddaughter with surprise, and then glanced at her daughter. "There's no rush," she insisted again, quite firmly.

Mizuki turned to her grandmother and insisted, "I'd be fine sharing with you. If you want to move in right away, I can even make more room. I have already taken some of my things to Sora's place, and can clear out more."

Sora took the mention of his name as an opportunity to move back over to where Mizuki was, and pull her into his lap so that she was between him and all her grandparents. Mizuki patted his hands at her waist reassuringly.

"Your other grandmother wants to know exactly when we plan on getting married Mizuki," Sora muttered.

Mizuki tilted her head back so she could look up at him and asked calmly, "Don't you think we should plan on doing it this spring Sora?"

He looked down at her face questioningly. She laced her fingers into his and shifted his hand downward just a little toward her belly.

Sora tensed and swallowed before replying honestly, "I'd rather wait until you're older Mizuki, but if that's what you want, we can start planning for it."

Everyone at the table except Shinichi began offering opinions about whether it was better to wait or not. Mizuki couldn't help eyeing her newest brother-in-law curiously. He caught her looking and grinned at her, his amusement easily washing away the tired lines.

As her family argued back and forth, Mizuki ignored them all and asked Sora, "Why do you want me to be older? Do you think I'll change my mind?"

Sora looked at her helplessly. "I don't know exactly," he admitted.

Junshiro turned and asked his daughter a little sharply, "Don't you love him enough to wait for him Mizuki? If you don't, I object to you pushing him into getting married."

Mizuki frowned at her father. "But it's fine to rush him as long as I'd be okay with waiting?" She looked up at Sora guiltily and confessed, "I'd rather not wait though."

Sora laughed and caressed her cheek. He took a deep breath and let it out again before telling her, "I won't make you wait Mizuki, I meant it, if that's what you want, it's fine. But," he added more anxiously, "I don't want you to want it just so you can move in with me faster, or because of other reasons." He rubbed her belly.

"Okay," she agreed quickly.

"I don't ever want you to regret it," he insisted.

"I won't," she promised.

He gazed into her eyes, hesitated, and then complained, "Argh, I don't know why it makes me so uneasy. It feels like maybe we're rushing things just because we're being told that we should."

"I don't feel like I'm willing to marry you because anyone else says it's a good idea Sora!" she insisted. "I really want to live with you. I miss you every day that we can't be together." She confessed with chagrin, "I want to rush you very selfishly, but my father is probably right, and I should be more patient and wait for you to be ready. I'm sorry Sora."

He abruptly hugged her tightly. "Why do you insist on doing everything backwards," he complained affectionately. "You make me sound like the timid girl in a sappy romance."

Mizuki grinned and asked curiously, "Have you watched many sappy romances? I get irritated with the characters, so I usually avoid them."

"If I answer that, you'll get mad," he warned her.

"Why?" Mizuki asked curiously.

Sora gave her a look, and Junshiro's father snickered and told his granddaughter knowingly, "He watched them all while on dates with other girls."

His wife poked him and said dryly, "You'd know of course, you player."

Her grandfather grinned at his wife and reminded her, "I've been happily married for more than six times as long as I spent dating, I don't think you can call me a player." He looked at Sora and said, "If she's the one, keep her."

Sora replied promptly, "She is."

Shizune suddenly insisted, "I don't blame you for feeling overwhelmed by Mizuki. Make her wait a little, she deserves it."

Mizuki rolled her eyes and ruthlessly dragged the conversation back to her grandmother. She told her mother's mother firmly, "I really don't mind if you want to move in. You can hardly snore more than Shizu-nee-chan."

"Can't I just get a cat?" Minori's mother complained to her family.

Minori protested, "But a cat can't drive you to the doctor, or help you clean the house!"

Mizuki asked a little anxiously, "Is it getting that bad?"

"It's not," her grandmother declared firmly.

Junshiro's mother suggested, "Since we live in the same town, and we're already family, what if you call us when you need assistance? We've known each other for ages after all, even if we only see each other around our children."

They argued it back and forth for a while, and Mizuki added, "If I do get to move in with Sora this spring, you'll only be one half hour train ride away. I looked at the local routes when I bought my pass."

Minori told her mother firmly, "I guess that would be okay, if Mizuki could visit you every other weekend. But if it gets to the point where you have to go in for treatments every few days, I'd really rather have you here while onii-chan is gone."

Eventually Minori's mother agreed to call her daughter's in-laws if she needed help, and promised her daughter, "If it really gets that bad, I'll come stay with you. But you're worrying about things that haven't happened yet Minori. I'm doing well enough for now."

--

Sunday morning Sora reluctantly got ready to go home.

After driving her to work, Sora asked Mizuki hesitantly, "Do you think that you are pregnant after all? I thought you wouldn't know yet?"

Mizuki promptly informed him, "I don't know Sora. You're the one who pointed out that I could be, so I've been thinking about it more."

"Okay," he replied uncomfortably.

"I'll see you on Wednesday night," Mizuki reminded him comfortingly.

"I'll be glad when you finish next week," he said, with his face buried in her hair.

She turned her face up and kissed him one last time, before she sighed and went in to work. Her expression lightened as her shift began with a string of small ordinary troubles. It felt normal.