Rue sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Alright..." Her stomach hurt, but she didn't complain about it.

Eliza sighed, sitting down next to her. "I think you should break up with Dazai."

Rue woke up completely at those words, since they were extremely distressing to her. "No! I can't leave him." She looked down, her hands already slightly shaking. "He... needs me." She lied.

Eliza took her hands. "He doesn't need you, and I do not wish for you to get to the point you are dependent on him." She thought for a moment, trying to find a way to get this through Rue's head. "He's not good for you. Your mind has been more of a mess since he came along, a concerning amount more."

Rue shook her head no. "I won't leave him. I need to stay by his side and help him. I need to save him." She insisted, teary eyed.

"I believe he thinks he is in no need of saving." Eliza reasoned. "Think of the children, do you really want him to be their father?"

"That is what I'm saying as well! They need a father." Rue really had no sense when it came to Dazai.

Eliza sighed once more, exasperated. "He's a bad man! I will help with the triplets, so will Suzu. Your father might, too. We can do this without Dazai."

"I just need to get used to him... perhaps. I can make it work with him in the picture."

Eliza was trying her hardest not to openly hate on Dazai. "You do know the relationship your parents have will affect the one you have. Your children will watch you and Dazai, and may have one just like you two. Do you truly want that?"

Rue stopped her mumbling about making things work, considering Eliza's words. "We can fix things. It will get better, everything is just messy as of now because of the triplets."

Eliza shook her head. "You can continue to dream that, or secure a good future for the children. Do you really want Dazai to influence them to be horrible like him?"

Rue started to freak out, becoming stressed by all of these different ideas in her mind. "He'll get better! Everything will be alright, the children will be alright. They're beautiful little mistakes... my little miracles." She tenderly put her hand on her stomach, a fleeting moment of calm washing over her. "OW! All of this stress is making my stomach hurt." She winced.

Eliza wasn't going to give this up, but she decided to leave her alone for now. "Calm yourself. Just don't invite him over so much... I honestly dislike him."

Rue's heart sank, and she giggled nervously. "I... I invited him to stay over tonight though. Can he stay?"

Eliza got up from the couch, pouting. "Fine." She really didn't like Dazai.

Dazai ended up arriving at ten at night, that was three hours after she told him to come. Eliza reluctantly opened the door for him.

"Rueeeeeeeeee-chaaaaaaaaan!" He called, coming up to her. "I've got treats for you-- look." Dazai had a bag with him, and set it down on the coffee table. "Go ahead." He smirked goofily.

Rue blushed, gently opening the bag to see what was inside.

"Yayyy!!" Dazai said as she took out the different things he got her.

There was a notebook, a pint of chocolate ice cream for her, and a card. It seemed to be homemade, and read: "Hey, chocolate ice cream girl. You're cute." 

Dazai pointed to the book. "You told me you wanted to a be writer when you were a teenager, right?"

Rue forgot she told him about that, actually. "Oh yeah..." She then recalled the event. It was one of the many conversations they had at the Agency.

"Part of me is happy I lost my job as a judge. It sounds bad, yes..." Rue had said, then paused. "It was my father who made me do that. I actually wanted to be a writer, when I was in highschool. I wished to make something that would save others." She explained to Dazai, laying beside him on that couch.

Dazai nodded. "That's cool."

"What did you want to do when you were a teenager?" Rue asked with a curious look and a smile on her face.

"Pfft. Die." Dazai answered honestly.

Rue snapped out of the memory, opening the book and flipping through the empty pages. "Thank you, it means a lot to me." She put the book on her lap, playing with her hair nervously.

"You're welcome, my adorable Rue-chan." He squished her cheeks, grinning.

"See? He isn't so bad..." Rue thought fondly, letting Dazai mess with her face.

Eliza interrupted the moment. "I will be in my workshop if you need me, Rue." She then left, not wanting to be near Dazai at all.

"Mhm" Rue did a little nod, before look back at Dazai and putting her hands in his hair.

Dazai copied her, running his fingers through her hair now. "Your hair is soft, hm?"

"Oh... I put a lot of conditioner in it." Rue said quietly.

Dazai sat down on the couch next to her, pulling the woman close like she was a pretty little doll.

She enjoyed being held this way, and hugged him back. "I love you..." Her eyes were filled with tears, making her vision blurry. She closed them, putting her face into his chest.

Dazai didn't exactly know what to do. He loved her too? He didn't love her? Was she just a joke to him? He didn't know for sure, but something told him he loved her. He couldn't say it though, the words were stuck in his throat.

Rue was hurt, being given silence in return of her three special words again. "I love you...!" She choked it out with a hint of aggression this time around, nudging him with her head.

"I know..." He replied, his face showing an expression of pain for once. Usually all he could do was smirk or stare dully. He put on that blank face, not wanting to show any vulnerability.

Rue looked up at him, startled by the look he had. "Don't make that face, it scares me. I hate that face." She said in a begging tone, gripping onto his clothes. "It's scary, you look dead." She sniffled.

Dazai smiled for her. "Oh, you wound me. I didn't know I looked like a horrifying freak to you."

"No!!" Rue always replied to his sarcastic statements as if he meant them. "You don't look ugly..."

"Then how do I look? Like the most handsome man you've ever seen? Huh? Huh?" He wiggled his eyebrows, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Rue looked down, her cheeks flushed. "I hate you."

Dazai tilted his head at her, laughing. "You were just telling me you love me! I bet you do, I bet it's true."

Rue giggled, moving away from him a bit. "Noooo~"

He moved closer, a smirking smugly. "Come onnnnn...!"

Rue covered her face. She liked his goofy behavior way too much. "No! Stop it!"

"Fine, continue to lie." Dazai made an exaggerated bored face, kicking his shoes off and sitting criss-cross on the couch. "What do you think the babies will look like?" He wondered, putting his hand on Rue's stomach.

Rue did a small shrug. "I think about it myself. I do hope they look like you, though." She admitted, resting her hand on her stomach as well. "They don't give me too much trouble."

"Oh, how sweet. Let's hope they stay that way after they're born. Imagine, having three little troublemakers running around... all of them just like me. Wouldn't that be funny?" He chucked, almost bitterly at the idea.

Rue gazed at her stomach, fascinated by the idea that there were children growing inside of her. "Indeed..." She yawned. "I think we should go to bed now. I'm tired."

Dazai agreed, but didn't pass up the opportunity to pout. "I just got here, but okay. Let's go."

They stood up, Dazai making his way to the bedroom already, Rue took the pint of ice cream with her, grabbing a spoon from the kitchen and following behind him.