"You can't keep playing house forever."

Those words kept echoing in Akane's head.

She laid in her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She had been sleeping alone a majority of the time since then, making up excuses to go home early and not being able to stay at the Bureau.

She knew it probably made Kogami worry, but she desperately needed to sort things out on her own. It was probably the hormones that made her cry every time she thought of what her partner had said, but the fact was that it would be hanging over her head even if she wasn't pregnant.

The Inspector took a deep breath and ran her hand over her abdomen that was now poking out a few more centimeters, showing that she was pregnant and not just a little pudgy in the stomach anymore. She closed her eyes and stared to imagine her baby. Their baby.

She imagined it looking like a mini Kogami, sometimes even a little girl that was just like herself.

She thought of how her and Kogami would make it work. They would probably keep switching between staying in the apartment and going to the Bureau every other night. Maybe Akane and the baby would move in to the Bureau completely, so that they wouldn't have to put that confusion on the child.

She began to think of when the child would start school, and how she would most likely have to walk them there some days by herself. She imagined the cruel things some kids would have to say about her and Kogami, and how the child would probably come home crying.

And it would truly be their fault.

She put her hands to her eyes when she realized she was crying again. Akane hated showing weakness like this. Mika had no clue what she was talking about. She didn't understand their life.

Then again… No one would.

Not even Ginoza, who they had designated the godfather of the baby.

She knew that it was time to face the facts and swallow her pride. She needed to talk to Kogami.

—-

Kogami laid in his bed, staring at the empty spot next to him. He wasn't sleeping as easy now that she had started going home at night more often.

He couldn't help but wonder if it was something he did to make her upset. She had been avoiding him completely, it seemed.

Yesterday, he had pulled her in a closet and made a move on her, but she declined and said that they needed to get back to work. She had never done that before.

He even asked her to stay last night, but she turned him down again, saying that she was going home early because she wasn't feeling well. Normally, she would have just said that she was going to rest in his quarters and wait for his shift to finish.

A thought crossed his mind that maybe there was something wrong with the baby, but she didn't want to tell him.

He swallowed hard.

Could she be miscarrying?

He sat up fast and put his hand to his head.

There was no possible way of that happening, was there? Her doctor had told them that they were both really strong and he even gave her the shot that had been developed for all women to take to almost completely do away with the possibility of miscarrying.

That was it.

He needed to swallow his pride and talk to her. He needed her to let him in a little.

—-

Akane walked in to Kogami's quarters in the early afternoon. Since it was both of their days off, she wasn't completely sure what he would be doing.

She smelled cigarette smoke when she came in, signaling her that he was awake.

The light was on in his room.

She opened the door and saw him on his bed, shirtless and reading a book as he smoked. It was such an attractive sight to her.

He looked up, surprised to see her.

"Hey." He greeted with a smile as he put the book down in his lap. "I was beginning to think you were angry with me."

Akane shook her head. "We need to talk."

"Uh oh. Don't like the sound of that." He said, putting his cigarette out. "What's going on?"

"I've done some serious thinking, and I can't act like everything is going to be okay."

"What do you mean?" He stood up and walked to her. "Is it the baby? Is something wrong?"

"No, the baby is fine." Akane looked away from him. "It's us, Kogami."

"What about us?" He asked.

"We can't keep playing pretend…"

"What?"

"I'm sorry, Shinya… I just can't take this ring."

She took the ring he gave her off and gave it back to him.

"Akane, no." He shook his head. "What are you doing? Are we at least going to talk this out?"

"We can't get around the fact that I'm an Inspector and you are an Enforcer. We can't pretend that everything is going to be okay when this child comes in to this world." Tears started to flow down her cheeks.

"This isn't you." He reached to wipe her tears, but she maneuvered from his touch.

"I'm sorry!" She quickly ran out of his room, leaving him standing there in shock.

He stared after her, knowing that he needed to give her space.

What had gotten in to her? This wasn't the Akane he knew.

Those words were things that he thought they had got past. They knew that they would have to raise their child differently. There was no pretending involved.

He sighed and looked down at the silver band in his hand.

He would make her realize how much he really loved her.

—-

The next day that they were supposed to work, Akane didn't show.

"Where is Inspector Tsunemori?" Kagari asked when he came in to relieve Kunizuka.

"She called in sick." Ginoza answered, putting on his coat. "Inspector Shimotsuki will lead Division One. There better not be another incident like last time."

"Yes sir." Mika bowed to Ginoza out of respect. "I will keep them in line."

"It's not them that I was referring to." He said, looking at her coldly.

Mika swallowed hard and went to her desk.

"Call me if anything serious comes up. I mean it." The Inspector told Kogami as he left.

"Yeah." He nodded. "I will."

And it seemed to go like that for the next three days.

Akane kept calling in with no explanation, except to say that she was sick.

She wouldn't call him or answer his calls when he tried to contact her. It was beginning to make him upset.

He sighed and gave up trying to call her again.

"When is she going to be back?" Kagari groaned. "If I have to take any more of Inspector Bitchiness, I'm gonna lose it."

"I can hear you." Mika glared to the Enforcer.

"I just don't get it." Kogami sighed. "She starts spouting this nonsense of us playing pretend and the next thing I know she stops talking to me completely."

"Oh please." Mika snorted from her seat. "You can't believe that you really love her."

"That's none of your business now, is it, Inspector?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

"You're an Enforcer and she's an Inspector. You can't pretend it would ever work out between you two."

Kogami stood up fast and gripped the edge of his desk. "You got to her, didn't you?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Mika rolled her eyes.

"Don't play dumb! Those are the exact words she told me when she gave me her ring back!"

The Inspector shrunk back in her chair when she saw the look in his eyes. He was truly angry with her.

"Damn, you did it now." Kagari snickered.

"So what if I talked with her?" Mika snapped. "It's not like she wouldn't have figured it out later on."

Kogami stepped to her desk, his fists balled up at his sides. "What gives you the right?"

"Huh?" She backed her chair up against the wall. "What do you mean?"

"You had no right to stick your nose in MY family's business!"

"Family?"

"That's what we are." Kogami growled. "Me, Akane and our child. We are making it work. We don't have to fit the mold of Sibyl's society because we are making our own."

"What's going on here?"

The three people in the room turned to the doorway and saw Inspector Tsunemori standing there with her hands on her hips.

"Inspector Tsunemori?"

Kogami turned and walked to her and dragged her out of the room.

"Let go." She pulled her arm away when they got in to the utility closet across the hall.

He grabbed her again and pulled her in a kiss.

He was shocked when he felt her slap his cheek.

"Y-you idiot!" She yelled.

"No, you're the idiot!" He yelled back, pulling her against him. "Akane, why would you let Shimotsuki's words get to you?"

Akane looked up at him with wide eyes. "Shinya, you're…"

"I love you too damn much to let you go." He said, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking down at her.

"But…"

"There are no buts about it. I'm all in." He leaned down and kissed her again. "I have been all in since the beginning, Akane."

She covered her mouth and began to sob. "I'm sorry." She hiccuped. "I'm so sorry."

"No, I'm the one who is sorry." He embraced her and let her cry in to his suit.

After a few moments, Akane was able to calm down.

"Can I ask you something?" She sniffed.

"Anything."

"Even though these hormones make me seem like a big baby and may get to my head from time to time… Will you still let me stay by your side?"

The Enforcer smirked. "What kind of dumb question is that?"

"It was lame." She hung her head.

"I'm kidding." Kogami chuckled and lifted her chin so she could look at him in the eyes.

"Inspector Tsunemori Akane, it would be my honor to stay by your side."

—-

Akane came back in to the division office after making herself look decent. She had a stronger air of authority about her, making the atmosphere so much lighter.

"Yeah! Our Inspector Badassemori is back!" Kagari smirked when he saw her enter.

"Sorry that I have been gone." Akane apologized. "I wasn't myself the last few days. My hormones are pretty terrible when it comes down to it."

"You and the Enforcer seriously made up, didn't you?" Mika wrinkled her nose.

"You know what? We did." She crossed her arms and walked over to Mika's desk. "Is that such a terrible problem?"

"Not for me." The young Inspector rolled her eyes.

"This might come to you as a shock, Inspector Shimotsuki, but Enforcer Kogami and I have been getting along more than fine with our personal relationship throughout my whole time here at the Bureau."

"And?"

"And, if it weren't for that relationship, you most likely would not have been assigned to work in Division One."

"So?"

Akane put her palms on Mika's desk and leaned forward, looking her in the eyes.

"If it were any other division you were assigned to, I promise that you would have been treated with less patience. You most likely would have been fired within ten days. Inspector Ginoza and I have been going easy on you, but now that my leave date is approaching, that is going to come to a stop. Is that clear?"

Mika swallowed hard when she saw how serious her fellow Inspector was and nodded her head slowly.

"Good." She smirked. "Now forget everything you learned in the Academy, because we do things differently here."

—-

(A/N:)
This is the official end to this fic. Thank you to the ones who have stuck with me during these 10 chapters. A major thank you to my friend, who has helped me so much with the writing process.
I hope you enjoyed and look forward to the other fics I will be working on.

(There will also be one shots that will sort of be tied in with this series later on as they come to me.)