you're no match for winter's cold

        ☠▒ 〝You are not innocent in this either.〞

“Can I make a robot to do the dishes?”

“Thanks mom. I love you.”

“I’m disowning all of you. Goodbye.”

     “That’s true. Everyone does have their own morals.” She just tended to believe most people would do good where they can. Sure, it might’ve been a little naïve, but she was hopeful. Hearing the question, Kaida raised her head from her hand. Immediately, her instinctive answer was ‘yes’, but she kept her mouth closed. “Closer to when it happened, yes.” That much she would admit. “But now it’s harder for me to commit to a yes or no.” Idly, she played with her old wedding ring. “I miss them, but I love my son, too. I don’t think I would have considered adopting another child if nothing had happened.” After all, she’d been happy with just her daughter.

Rei gave a quiet hum in response, thinking. She thought of the pregnancies she’d lost, the ones that had happened right before a baby she’d carry to term - family and friends had told her that the miscarriages had ‘happened for a reason’, and if it hadn’t happened, she wouldn’t have her son, and didn’t she love him?

The answer was, of course she loved all of her children. But she’d loved the ones she’d lost, too, and she didn’t think she was wrong for wishing she could have had them all.

He eyes the bottles– so it was that kind of doctor, huh?

“I should really get home.” He stands, through the pain, grabbing the bottles on the way up.

“I can’t stand making everyone worry even longer.”

There was an immediate change in Rei's demeanor, a cold hand placed on Natsuo's shoulder. "Absolutely not." It was the sort of authoritative voice she hadn't used on her children in a long time. "You're going to stay here for at least a few days, so I can keep an eye on you."

She exhaled.

Rei considered the question in silence, looking up at the cloud-covered dark sky above. She could have given any silly answer. Ghosts, aliens, a higher power, but she felt that the question went deeper than the superficial. She folded her hands in her lap.