Knocking on the off-white metal door to Kotetsu's hospital room, Barnaby waited. He was hoping there wouldn't be as much of a crowd, like there was the day before, and the day before that. With so many visitors, he hadn't been able to say much, and Kotetsu didn't say anything to him except what was polite - along with a long irate glare before completely ignoring him.

He'd seen Karina yesterday, but she had been completely focused on Kotetsu. Barnaby didn't blame her, but he had felt the stirrings of jealousy. He'd dismissed it at first, disgusted with himself. It was still there pricking him though, like he'd trod on a screw hiding in the carpet. Karina was as maddening as Kotetsu in her own way.

Kotetsu's mother answered the door, blinking up at him. "Oh, , I'm glad to see you again. He's just finished with his physical therapy so he's a little tired, but he should be alright to talk." Her Japanese accent was heavy, but Barnaby understood her with little difficulty.

"Do you mind if I speak to him alone for a moment?"

"That's fine, I need to take Kaede and get us some lunch anyway. Kotetsu!" she called back into the room.

"What ma?"

"Mr. Brooks is here," she said.

"Oh, him" he heard Kotetsu say, his tone derisive.

"Dad!" said Kaede.

"Yeah whatever, let him in - I guess."

Barnaby closed the door behind him, seeing Kotetsu laying on his bed which was beside a window overlooking the parking lot. He was in green striped pajamas and Kaede was sitting at his feet, while he held a remote in his hand, staring up at the TV. Upon inspection it appeared they were watching a competitive ice skating program - probably more his daughter's interest than Kotetsu's.

"You look better today," Barnaby said, noticing he had more color to his complexion, and his face didn't look as waxy and pinched. He must have been eating everything his friends were bringing him. Slowly though; his diet had been basically liquid during his stay.

"Kaede, let's go out for a bit, I want to go check out the market on Mellifleur Street and we can have lunch there, I think."

"But grandma-" she protested.

Kotetsu shook his head. "Go with your grandma, Kaede."

"Aw, but Barnaby-" she pouted.

"Go," he repeated, and Kaede huffed and grabbed her handbag, following her grandmother out of the room, with clenched fists at her sides.

Minutes ticked by as he stood in silence waiting for Kotetsu to say his piece.

"If you're just going to ignore me, I'll leave," Barnaby said, gesturing with his thumb back at the door.

"I want to know why you lied," Kotetsu said, looking at his hands and then up at Barnaby. He looked tired, but also conflicted. He'd missed out on so much perhaps he was nervous to overstep himself. Then again this was Kotetsu.

"I didn't lie. You misunderstood - you assumed I agreed with you," he said. Even as relieved as he was that Kotetsu was recovering, he was annoyed with his unending assumptions.

Kotetsu made an unconvinced sound in his throat. "You were drunk, Bunny. Maybe you don't remember, but I do," he said, glaring at him like he'd committed some heinous crime.

Barnaby shook his head and stepped closer to the Kotetsu's bedside. "My memory is astoundingly good – it's been years since it's been tampered with. You said that none of us could ever get involved with her because it would only cause trouble, and I remember laughing and saying you were probably right. I never, ever, said I was taking your advice. Also, I wasn't the only one who was drunk."

"But I was right!"

"You're the only one causing trouble."

"Bunny, you're fucking twenty-six." Kotetsu spluttered. Barnaby had been waiting for him to bring that up. Considering that Karina had been risking life and limb since she was in high school, there was no way he could think of her as a normal person regardless of her age. She certainly didn't act immature. He wasn't sure that he'd ever admit it to anyone, not her, not Kotetsu, but she was his equal in a number of ways. Kotetsu probably thought she was too good for him.

"Twenty-seven," he said and shrugged. "Karina's an adult. She could have turned me down and she didn't. I don't see why you care so much, she's not your daughter." He wondered now if Kotetsu was acting this way out of his own jealousy, or because he had compartmented Karina as another daughter in his mind. Barnaby suspected the latter, but wouldn't put the former past him.

"Well she oughta be. Like hell I'd let my daughter date an asshole like you. You just don't get it."

Barnaby shook his head. "I'm not the one who fell on my head. What am I supposed to do, just ignore how I feel?" It had taken long enough for him to acknowledge that ache he so often felt was more than just missing her.

"Well yeah!" Kotetsu yelled.

"I thought I could handle it, being on my own - but you taught me that that's no way to live. Now you change your mind?"

Kotetsu shook his head, and ran his hand back through his hair. "Of course not, but why her?"

"Why not her?"

"I don't know - why don't you fool around with one of the hundreds of girls who're already crazy about you. All you two do is bicker," he said.

He argued with Kotetsu far more than he did anyone else, and he was his best friend. "Fool around, huh? If you think that I decided to make my feelings known to her on some random whim, it's not like that. Look, Karina can take care of herself. If she tells me to leave her alone then that will be it," he said, which was true. He wouldn't like it, but he'd respect her wishes.

Kotetsu didn't look convinced. "What if something happened and you two broke up? Are you going to be able to work together as a team? You've gotta think this through."

Barnaby sighed. "I don't think that will be an issue, but I'll let her explain that part."

"What, now you're going to be all secretive?" Kotetsu complained, and grabbed the big mug of water off of the table next to him. He looked down at it as if disappointed it wasn't full of coffee or beer.

"It's not a secret, it's just something she needs to talk to you about herself," he said, crossing and then recrossing his arms.

Kotetsu scratched his head. "I don't like the sound of this."

"I don't like it either. Maybe you can be useful and change her mind."

"Shit," he said, sounding like he understood what Barnaby was referring to.

"That's pretty close to what I said." He shook his head; in the back of his mind he held the hope that one day he'd be as important to her as Kotetsu was.

"Why would she quit singing though? She's so good!" said Kotetsu, in dismay.

"Why would I quit singing?" Karina said, looking around the edge of the door behind them. She gave Kotetsu a quizzical look, before flicking her gaze to Barnaby.

Kotetsu's face lit up just hearing her voice. "Oh! Karina, you're not seriously going to keep going with this guy are you?" He pointed at Barnaby rather rudely.

She strode into the room, bringing the scent of pastries and soft perfume along with her. "Don't change the subject. What were you telling him, Barnaby?" She had a small, white-and-violet, house-shaped box with a handle on it in her hand. He suspected it contained something very edible.

"Nothing. He came up with that himself, after I asked him to wait and talk to you," Barnaby defended, as she came to stand beside him.

"And you complain about people getting into your business," she said, looking up at him through narrowed lashes.

This was ridiculous, but with her looking at him like that, he couldn't make himself back down. "If you'd have told him already, I wouldn't have to skirt around it."

"Why did you bring it up anyway?" she asked.

"He was asking about us, it was unavoidable," he explained.

"Oh, we're an 'us' already? I didn't know." Karina's eyes went livid, and Barnaby felt his heart jump.

"In the context of the question, yes," he said, noticing that his voice had gained some unintentional volume and he sounded far more defensive than he had hoped.

Kotetsu threw his hands up in the air. "Do you see what I mean?"

Barnaby and Karina turned their heads at him sharply. "You stay out of this!" they said at the same time, then looked back at each other, Karina a little sheepish.

"I was going to tell him today!" Karina cried, flustered. He had a feeling though that she had planned to do no such thing.

"Excellent, then this is a non-issue." he said making an effort to going back to sounding like the calm reasonable one, nodding to himself.

"What non-issue? What the hell is going on?"

All the fire went out of Karina's eyes once Kotetsu spoke again. She turned back to him, and took a deep breath. "I quit being a hero," she confessed, her face written over with shame.

"What?" Kotetsu said, almost falling off the bed, as he sat up too quickly. He was scrabbling and grabbing for the edge of the mattress to hold on to. Barnaby jumped over to help him, but Karina already was at his shoulder. "Karina, why would you do that?" He looked up at her like she'd said something heartbreaking. Well, perhaps it was.

"It's hard to explain. You got hurt, and then..." she trailed off.

"Then what? I think I need to lay down." He was wobbling on the edge of the bed, and alarmed, they both helped him get back against the pillows and tucked in.

"You're not better yet you know, you should be more careful," Barnaby chided, as he helped his friend prop himself up.

Karina had her hands on her hips, scowling at Barnaby. "This is why I wasn't going to talk about that."

"You had to tell him eventually," he replied.

"Well I guess you helped me rip that bandage off fast. Not that I asked you to assist," she grumbled, and shook her head. Then she held up her pastry box in front of Kotetsu, and smiled wide, like their conversation hadn't even happened and he had disappeared through a hole in the floor. "Here, I bought you a bagel. I've got cream cheese and cutlery, too, if you want it."

"Eh?" said Kotetsu. He was looking a little pale. Perhaps Karina was right that they should have held off talking about anything that might be stressful to him.

"They're from the patisserie on Hyacinth Boulevard," she said as she lifted it out with one of the napkins she'd stuffed on top.

The bagel was honey-raisin-walnut from all appearances and it looked delicious. Barnaby sulked internally for a moment that she probably hadn't brought him one. "Fancy shop, like he'd know the difference," he groused.

"Stop talking like I'm not here," Kotetsu said, sounding tired and tugging his sheets up almost to his neck.

Karina deigned to notice Barnaby drooling over Kotetsu's gift, and snorted, putting the bagel back. She took out a smooth, red-colored sweet, which somewhat resembled a sandwich cookie, and turned to hold it under Barnaby's nose. "I suppose you can have a macaron - but you only get one."

He took it gladly. "What flavor?"

"Hibiscus was what it said on the card."

He blinked, noticing as he peeked over the edge of the box, there were about a half-dozen more of the almond-paste confections, colored in red and green and blue, probably in other flavors. She couldn't eat all of those herself.

"You weren't thinking of me at all?" he asked, with a wry grin.

"I forgot to put it back," she replied, which from the contrary tone she used and the look in her eyes, he did not believe for a second.

"Of course, a happy accident then. Thank you." He nibbled on the edge. The crisp outer shell melted in his mouth, the filling, sweet and tasting of honey and papaya and some sort of spice – ginger maybe. He didn't usually go much for sweets, but it was heavenly.

While enjoying his treat, he glanced back down at Kotetsu, wondering why he hadn't started whining and complaining again. Of course he'd fallen asleep, his mouth agape, snoring lightly. Barnaby chuckled, and glanced over at Karina.

She sighed, and set aside her gift on one of the tables near the bed, next to the vase of flowers. "Shall we leave him?"

"He should rest," Barnaby said, silently hoping that he wouldn't get a call from Hero TV anytime soon, so he could stay with them both a little longer.

"Um. Would you like to go get some coffee in the meantime? I think there's a little cafe downstairs inside the lobby," she said, surprising him. Perhaps she wasn't quite ready to go, either.

"Bring the macarons and I'll get the coffee," he said. It was only fair.