Room 503, Saturday Evening

[dojima_hime]

It was wrong.  It had to be.

Yurika had spent the day wandering the island, trying to clear her head and praying for another result.

No luck.

Now she was seated at her desk, pen at the ready, as she tried to find some way to explain this to Romeo.  To Father Juliano.  To anyone.

"You better be worth this," she muttered, placing her hand on her

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[withoutverona]

After his conversations with Juliet and Father Ned, Romeo took a long walk around the island, ending at Yurika's door. Summoning all his courage, he leaned into the open door, almost hoping she wasn't there.

Of course she was. Could things possibly get worse?

"Good day," he said, sounding as though his day had been anything but.

[dojima_hime]

Yurika squeaked in surprise, turning around quickly. "Oh-ohayio," she stammered, startled. "Come on in, koibito."

Great. Why did he always show up when she had something to tell him, but before she could figure out how? She was starting to think he had a Yurika-radar.

[withoutverona]

He came in and sat on her bed, carefully keeping a physical distance. He barely registered that she seemed startled. "You may not want to call me that," he warned. "Not after you hear the news of great import I have."

[dojima_hime]

"Can't be any worse than mine," she muttered, pushing her chair out from the desk as she went to sit on the other end of her bed. She needed some reassurance, dammit.

"What, your father want you back in Verona for another set of meetings?" she asked, looking over at him. "Don't keep a girl in suspense."

[withoutverona]

"I would not wager on that, love," Romeo said, the endearment slipping out before he caught himself. "Would it were as simple as a few meetings."

"Juliet -" his breath caught in his throat. "Juliet is here."

[dojima_hime]

She laughed suddenly and shook her head. "No wonder you look like you've seen a ghost!" she teased. "It's Homecoming Weekend, remember? You probably just saw that girl that looks like her. Remember?"

[withoutverona]

The look Romeo gave poor, innocent Yurika, who would so soon be lost to him, was full of sorrow. "I thought it was Angela, but no, it was Juliet herself," he answered. "She too failed to die and was spirited away. She had been magically concealed as Hinata Hyuuga, but her disguise and brainwashing have crumbled and she wishes to be with me again."

[dojima_hime]

"No." Yurika suddenly felt very cold. This wasn't happening it wasn't. "Some witch is playing a trick on you, Romeo, it's not possible."

She stood, quickly moving to her desk to pick up a thin white object and toss it at him. "Pretty sure he would have mentioned it if 'Mommy Juliet' were in the picture somewhere."

Her delivery probably needed work. Again. But Yurika was too frantic to care.

[withoutverona]

He was too flabbergasted to say anything at first; it took him a long minute to even recognize what the plastic object was. Then it came into focus and a cold sweat covered his body.

"Jesus fucking Christ," he said, probably undoing any good he'd done for the state of his soul by confessing. "Are you sure? How long?"

[dojima_hime]

"I haven't gone to the clinic yet. I just took - that - because I was starting to get freaked out. I figured I was just late because my body was confused after being a boy," she answered, staring down at the floor. "Only a few weeks, maybe?"

[withoutverona]

"A few weeks," he echoed, closing his eyes and drawing his legs into his chest. "What did you want to do?"

Romeo had his own religious beliefs on the subject, but he'd been known to be flexible about such things. The odd thing, though, was how almost happy he was about the prospect of a child, somewhere under the shock.

Juliet was nearly forgotten for the moment.

[dojima_hime]

"I don't know." It sounded small and lost to her own ears, and Yurika wanted to just curl up under the bed and cry. "I don't know."

"I'm sorry."

[withoutverona]

"It's my sin as much as yours," Romeo insisted, giving in to the urge to take her hand. "You ... you have time. But if you have the child, I would be there for him."

If he didn't say he would be there for her, well, that was for a reason.

[dojima_hime]

Yurika wasn't stupid, she knew what he was saying.

"She's not real!" she hissed, shaking her head. "She can't be! She's dead, Romeo. This is some spell or illusion, some trick that Hinata girl thought up because she has a crush on you!"

[withoutverona]

"She knew me," Romeo said flatly. "She looked as Juliet did, she spoke as Juliet would, she had a story Juliet would tell, and even if Hinata had noticed me in that way, she wouldn't be able to convince me so easily."

"I spoke to a priest," he continued. "She is my wife, and nothing can break that bond."

[dojima_hime]

Yurika reeled back as if slapped, pulling her hand away from him. "Lots of things can break that bond," she said tersely. "Like being dead. So she comes back through Fandom magic, and now I'm not good enough for you?"

"You said you loved me."