"Eri, what are you doing?" Takumi asked when she suddenly rolled off the bed, edged over to the balcony, and slid the door open.
"Several of the places with nice views had balconies," Eri explained quickly.
He set down the tablet and got up. It only took him a few steps to reach her and pull her into his arms. "So?" he asked a little anxiously. "Does that mean you suddenly need to push yourself to do something that scares you so much?"
"I'm really not afraid of heights Takumi," she protested. "I've stood in lots of high places and been fine, and I usually love rollercoasters and things that twirl you through the air!"
Takumi eyed her skeptically, and Eri blushed. She avoided his gaze and looked through the open door at the tiny balcony. Remembering still made her feel apprehensive, but she was also curious.
"I really have no idea why I got so scared, maybe it was just because I was already nervous?" she speculated.
He hugged her against him. "If you decide that you only ever agreed to do it with me because of the suspension bridge effect, I'll cry Eri," he told her plaintively.
She looked up at him in surprise, and then quickly looked away again. "Even if I tried to claim that for the first time," she protested with embarrassment, "I love being with you way too much to claim that it matters anymore."
Takumi sucked in a deep breath and slid his hands down to run them over her hips, as he suggested, "Then how about doing it now?"
"In a few minutes," Eri replied with a surprisingly cheeky grin. "I want to try going on the balcony first."
He released her reluctantly, and after a moment she hesitantly stepped forward, out onto the balcony. She couldn't help the gasp that escaped her as the wind hit her and the whole thing thrummed.
He immediately moved toward her, but stopped when she said firmly, "Give me a minute." She had to struggle to breathe, and her grip on the rail showed white knuckles on her tightly clenched hands. "It really is scary," she admitted reluctantly.
"So come back in?" he suggested.
Instead she edged a little farther out, and actually leaned over the rail. Takumi watched her a bit anxiously, but waited in the doorway.
She was shivering as she straightened and told him, "It is a really pretty view though."
"It is," he agreed.
"I don't understand why it makes me so nervous," she complained.
"I have no idea Eri, but watching you is making me nervous, can you come back in?" He held his arms out toward her coaxingly.
"Don't help me," she insisted quickly. "I can do it, just give me a few minutes."
"Alright," he agreed reluctantly and stepped back away from the door a little.
She edged along the rail and stood looking at the door for a moment. Then in a sudden rush she transferred one hand from the rail to the door frame. She took a deep breath, and transferred her other hand, and finally stepped back inside.
"I did it!" Eri declared proudly.
Takumi scooped her up, and then sat on the edge of the bed with her in his lap. "You did," he agreed dryly. He kissed her before asking, "But please don't go out on the balcony when I'm not here. I don't know why it scares you, but I can tell that it really scares you."
"Yeah," she agreed unhappily.
He tugged gently on a stray curl of her dark hair, kissed her again, and then started taking off her clothes. She let go of her disappointment with herself as she laughed and wiggled out of his arms.
"Eri…" he protested gently.
"Just a minute," she insisted laughingly as she turned out the lights before she let him continue.
--
Their week began peacefully enough, and Eri even started to think that she was pretty happy, even though things were moving so fast. After she finished her classes in the afternoon, she returned to her parents to work on packing her things until Takumi finished work.
They arranged in advance to have dinner with Takumi's parents and his little brother on Thursday night, but Wednesday morning when Takumi wrapped his hands around her waist, Eri wriggled out of his grasp, dashed to the bathroom, and threw up.
"I hate being sick," she complained miserably when he leaned over her after a minute.
He looked surprised, and then frowned and stopped her when she tried to move to the sink and rinse her mouth. She stared at him blankly as he rummaged in the cupboard, and blinked when he pulled out a thermometer. He calmly took her temperature, and then told her doubtfully, "I don't think you're sick Eri, I think it's just morning sickness?"
She stared at him in shock for a long silent moment, and then denied it, "It's too soon! Onee-chan didn't start having morning sickness until she was six months pregnant!"
Hesitantly, Takumi asked, "Eri, did you read all the pregnancy information the doctor gave us?"
Guiltily, Eri admitted, "No, I really haven't wanted to think about it." She rinsed her mouth out before adding, "I'm not even a whole month pregnant yet though! Most people don't even know they're pregnant at this point, so it doesn't really matter yet?"
He hugged her and replied gently, "I guess it's okay if you don't want to read everything, but it said that morning sickness is most common in the first three months, even in the first couple of weeks. Because of all the changes and hormones your body starts making for the baby."
She started to cry, and he scooped her up and carried her back to the bed.
She just sobbed into his shoulder miserably for a while, before telling him, "I was just starting to feel happy about living together, it's like even my own body doesn't want to give me time to get used to it!"
He kissed her forehead gently and said, "I'm sorry Eri."
After a while she finished crying. They quickly dressed, ate a few mouthfuls, and left the apartment.
--
That afternoon when Takumi arrived to pick Eri up, her father told him calmly, "They're at the hospital, they should be back soon I think."
Takumi paled. "I told her I thought it was morning sickness, was she sick after all?" he asked anxiously.
Minami shrugged. "I don't think so. Eri doesn't get sick very often, but she's a horrible patient when she does. But she said she felt faint, so her mother demanded she go in for an exam."
--
A very miserable Eri returned with her mother a while later. She saw Takumi waiting for her and walked straight over and crawled into his lap. He cuddled her worriedly.
"You were right," she told him miserably. "They said I'm already having morning sickness and it's even affecting my blood pressure already."
Takumi hugged her tightly and asked, "Are you okay? What can I do?"
"I don't know," she replied unhappily.
He bit his lip and thought, while she cuddled against him. Finally he suggested, "It seems like it's already time to find a doctor to monitor you regularly. How was the one you saw today?"
She just shrugged, but her mother told him comfortingly, "They suggested another appointment in six weeks, nothing urgent."
"Okay," he agreed quietly.
--
When Takumi took her home, he tucked her into the bed and asked, "Do you want to cancel tomorrow?"
Eri gave him a puzzled look before remembering, and then she gasped and protested, "No! I don't want to cancel dinner on your family."
"It's not that big a deal, they'd understand," he told her reassuringly.
"I do sort of want to meet them though?" she confessed a bit shyly.
"Okay," he agreed, and summoned up a grin for her.