In the Bushes

"Fort!" Noble gasped. "What are you doing out here?" 

The woman had thankfully recognized her husband's hand when it had taken hold of her, or she might have unintentionally ended his life. Fort seemed too frantic to realize how close he had come to being seriously injured or worse. 

"I wanted to catch you before you go inside." 

"Ok, well you did, now can we go in…" Noble thought about the people she had just passed on the street. If they could see the couple hiding in the shrubbery of their own home, what must they think?

But Fort took her words to have a very different meaning. "Please don't put this off until later. I don't want us to have to put on a brave face around each other for the kids' sake until they go to bed. I know you must be angry but.."

"Fort…" Noble tried.

"Please let me finish. I know you have every right to be upset. I took your father's papers without your permission. Although I had my reasons, I was wrong to do it. Even if I couldn't tell you why I needed them, I should have at least let you know they were required. I am sorry." The man took his wife's hand and kissed it gently. 

Noble's heart was touched by his tenderness. "You didn't want me to spiral when it looked like I was recovering from my obsession with the gates. I have a bad history of being consumed, and you feared it was going to happen again. While I am upset you didn't tell me, I…understand. You had my best interest at heart." 

"I promise I did," Fort assured her. "And I promise I will never keep anything like that from you again."

"I forgive you." Noble hugged her husband. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and lifted her into the air–or at least farther into it than usual. 

Noble could feel the love and relief radiating from the man holding her, which is why she was surprised when he said, "Well, this is awkward." 

"What?" the woman pulled back, nearly catching her hair on one of the tall shrubs. 

"I hadn't exactly expected this to resolve so easily. You said you were staying out late and didn't answer any of my messages. I assumed you were livid. I figured I would have to take some drastic measures and some serious groveling before we got to this point." Fort winced. 

"Since when have I ever made you grovel?" Noble arched her brow.

The man's eyes darted away. "There's a first time for everything. I messed up pretty badly." 

"I admit I was hurt and angry, but I didn't go out with Sarai to get back at you. She could see I was struggling and invited me to unload my burdens." It was Noble's turn to feel guilty. "I didn't see your messages until I was getting ready to leave and then I hurried home." 

"What burdens did you unload?" Fort's brow wrinkled.

"Nothing about us or what happened today," the professor assured him. "I told her about Seb and then about Honey's adoption." 

Fort pulled his wife close again. "Oh Bee, I am sorry. I know those are emotional subjects."

"Don't be sorry. It was good. Sarai inadvertently did you a favor." Noble smiled as she placed her chin on her husband's shoulder. 

"Oh?" 

"Talking about the past reminded me of how you are always there for me. And I know you always will be. That's one of the many things I love about you." The woman breathed in her husband's scent. No matter where she went in the waking world or the Dream Realm, this scent was home. 

"I love you too." Fort kissed his wife's hair. 

"Wait, did you say you would have to take some drastic measures to calm me down or that you already did?" The wording raised a red flag in Noble's mind. 

"I…well…I suppose this would be a bad time to tell you that I bought a rather nice gift for you to make it up to you?" Fort felt Noble shake her head. 

"You know how I feel about apology gifts. All they do is remind me of the argument." 

Why would she want a reminder of when things were less than happy?

The man seemed to understand, "How about I'll give it to you tomorrow as an 'I love you' gift instead?" 

"Sounds perfect, but uh…" Noble pulled a leaf out of her hair and looked around. "Can we get out of the bushes?" 

"Sure," Fort led his wife back to the porch, stopping at the door. "But I should let you know one more thing before we go inside. I might have invited someone to dinner. You know, as a buffer to keep things light for the evening. That was before I decided to wait for you outside." 

"Who did you invite?" The Awakened noticed that Fort had not mentioned a name. Sarai had been with her. Her mother was busy all week with a project. "Teacher Julius?" 

"Close!" Fort opened the door. 

In the living room, Brock and Blaze were rambunctiously tackling someone much larger than them. The table and couches were haphazardly pushed out of the way to create a makeshift arena. The rug was bunched up under the furious strugglings. 

"Come on, Uncle Dimi. That's not fair!" Brock squealed as he was thrown to the ground.

"War is never fair. I am already fighting with one hand tied behind my back!" The former duelist easily lifted the other child into the air and tossed him onto the couch's cushions. 

Noble placed her hands on her hips. "Boys! What have I said about attacking guests?" 

The twins immediately froze just as Blaze was about to leap from the couch. They lowered their heads. 

"Remove all the breakable things first," the boys replied in unison. 

The woman picked up a vase from the table and held it in her arms. Floating over to the kitchen, she set it down on the counter. "There you go. Proceed."

Dimi stood with a child hanging off each arm like an ornament. "I don't usually lift human weights anymore, but it seems I need to make an exception," he grinned. "Good to see you, Noble."

"Nice to see you, Dimi. It's been a while!" Noble might have given the man a welcoming hug if not for the twin bracelets he had recently acquired. 

The last time she had spotted the famous Dreamscape duelist, he had been announcing for the tournament. But they had both been a little distracted with all that was going on and even if Dimi had known of her alter ego, there had been no time to chat. 

Tonight was only slightly calmer thanks to two rowdy boys. 

"Uncle Dimi! Look at this!" Blaze wrapped his feet around the man's forearm and hung upside down. 

"Nice. Now, look at this!" Dimi held out his arms in front of him then dropped them suddenly, sending both boys into a cackling heap. 

"Leave Uncle Dimi alone for a bit," Noble grinned. 

"I still don't know how that 'uncle' thing started. I'm not that old!" Dimi clicked his tongue. 

Noble shrugged. The man was not related to them. He had been a friend of Fort's from even before the couple was married. Since the children had no uncles that they knew, they adopted one of their own. 

"I can tell them to stop if you like," Fort offered. 

"Nah, leave it. It suits me just fine." Dimi puffed out his chest. Then he sniffed at the air. "I was told I would be fed when you got here, Noble."

"Still lured with the offer of food, I see," the woman teased. Really, her own mouth was watering even though she had just eaten. Whatever was in the oven smelled amazing!

"We are just missing Honey. Does anyone know where she is?" Fort pulled out his communicator to message the girl. 

Just then, the door flung open. Honey stood there in shock. She was crying.