Dowda was determined to win Yano over. But he didn't know where to start, wooing women was not one of his expertise. Which was how ended up visiting the blind beggar again.

"Relationship advice?" The beggar laughed. "And why would you think little ol' me would know anything about romance?"

Dowda shrugged. "You seem like you know more than you let on. And I don't know anyone else here."

The beggar scratched his greying beard. "Well I was quite the eye catching man in my prime. Get it 'eye-catching' hah!" He froze, frowning. "Why aren't you laughing?"

"Do all blind people like to make blind jokes?"

"Everyone likes someone who isn't afraid to be the butt of the joke to make someone laugh. Which leads me to my first point, you want to make your wife fall in love with you, make her laugh. Are you writing this down?"

Dowda scrambled for his notepad, jotting down the beaggar's advice. "Alright. Be funny."

"If that doesn't work out, just be honest with her. Women like honest men, but don't be too honest."

"Be honest but don't be too honest." Dowda scrunched his face at the old man. "Wait what?"

"If your lady asks you if she feels like a whale clown what will you say?"

"A whale, what?" Dowda faltered. "I'd tell her such a thing doesn't exists and even if such a thing did exist and they bore a resemblance, I think it would be best to answer honestly."

"Wrong!" The beggar threw his hands in the air. "You tell her she's a pearl, a shining star, a flower. Ah yes, flowers, women love flowers. It makes their tummies itch and their brains glitch."

"All these things, will make my wife believe I love her?"

"I'm sure if you love her, it will shine through. All these are but flattery. If you truly love her, you want to get to know her. You want to see her smile. You always want what's best for her, even if it means sacrificing something for her."

Dowda took it all in. He'd prove to Yano no matter what that he loved her. "Thank you, uh, I never got your name."

"Wayn Sinclair III." Wayn shook Dowda's hand again, grinning. "Still got all fingers on you, I see." 

~~~

Everynight after, Dowda arrived at the hospital with a bouquet of flowers and some tea for her break. For the first few nights she frowned. But everytime he'd ask to spend her break with him. They talked about everything, nothing and sometimes they didn't talk at all.

Dowda learned so much about Yano and still wanted to know more. He regretted shutting her out before, spending more time in a lab than their home. He swore he'd make up for all those wasted years.

Soon she began smiling everytime he arrived and waited for him at the bench where they met everynight. The awkwardness of the first few days eased as their meet-ups became routine. But tonight was a little different.

"So this cure you're working on," Yano began. "How's the progress?"

"Well I've been talking to the doctors and have even been able to observe some patients for myself and take samples. It seems likely to be viral and bloodbourne. But here's the strange part, it only attacks neurons. If left untreated it chews away at all the neurons till the patient is left paralyzed. As soon as the discoloring begins, which is often very fast, the damage starts as well. But if I can isolate the site of infection before the symptoms set in then maybe"— Dowda caught himself. Yano was smiling at him. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head, looked away and sipped her tea, a ghost of a smile still on her lips. "Go on."

Dowda prattled on about all his findings. When he wasn't visiting Yano, he was learning all he could about the Blue Lynx. He now better understood it, and was one step closer to creating a cure.

"Thank you," Yano said. "I know you always give your best to whatever you do, so thank you."

"Of course." But Dowda wanted this disease cured more than anyone because he didn't want Yano catching it. Every time he visited he checked to see if she was alright before anything else.

"I'm sure you'll find a cure"— She bristled, eyes widened as she realized what she had said.

Dowda grinned. "You're sure I love you?"

She laughed. "You're too smart for own good. That's why I'm sure you'll find a cure. And even if you didn't, I see you trying and that's what counts."

But Dowda couldn't help feeling guilty. "If you had never told me you loved me I never would've known. I was oblivious to all you had done for me. But it's my turn now to love you. I'll make sure I find that cure."

"You know when I first met you, I thought you were such an ass. You were rude and harsh and full of yourself. But as I got to know you, I saw that you were kind and compassionate, but you always had a way of making everything sound like an argument. I liked how quick you were but I liked your heart even more. I enjoyed listening to you when you get so excited talking about a breakthrough. Because it wasn't just about the research it was for the people you helped. The little things made me fall in love with you."

Dowda felt the blood rush to his cheeks. He cleared his throat, looked away. Damn, was he glad he married this woman. Just as he turned to her, the PA system pinged.

'Dr. Yano please make your way to the ICU'

"I guess I'll see you, later." She stood to leave when Dowda caught her by the wrist.

"Um, I was gonna invite you over for dinner. I'll do all the cooking of course." Dowda swallowed. "I just thought we hadn't had dinner together in so long."

She smiled. "It's a date then."

Dowda stiffened, his thoughts going haywire. She chuckled and leaned in, planting a kiss on his cheek.

~~~

Dowda hadn't finished cooking when Yano arrived. He'd cooked up so much and only hoped they were at least edible. The kitchen was the aftermath of a disaster and he hadn't even sat the table.

He met her at the door and invited her into the living room, apologizing for his tardiness. But she waved away his worries and insisted she set the table.

"I'm so excited," she said, "I've never actually had your cooking."

Dowda winced, cooking was a way lot harder than he thought. He carried the bowl of cold pumpkin soup to the table when he slipped on something slippery and fell on his back, the bowl somehow ending up turning over on his head.

"Dowda!" Yano was by his side in a heart beat. She lifted the bowl from his face and wiped the sticky soup from his eyes. Dowda blinked and beamed. She erupted into a fit of laughter at the sight of him. He couldn't help laughing along that was until he sneezed all the soup onto her white sweater.

"Oh no." Dowda went to grab a tissue. He wiped what he could off of her, but he only seemed to make it worse.

"Is it that bad?" She asked.

It was a hideous mess but Dowda wasn't gonna tell her that. "It might be uncomfortable. I'll grab a shirt of yours."

Dowda waited for her to change, but when she took longer than normal he went to knock on the door. No response came.

"Yano?" Still no response came.

He pushed the door open to find his wife changed into a shirt that hugged her potruding belly. She scrambled to cover herself but she knew she couldn't hide it any longer.

"When?" Dowda said, his mind going blank. Then it hit him, five months ago after his father's gala he'd gone home  drunk out of his mind, one thing led to the next and in the morning he found Yano beside him. And for five months he didn't know that his wife was pregnant. "Were you ever going to tell me?"

She refused to meet his eye. "I didn't mean for you to find out this way. You had every right to know but I didn't want our child to be the reason you'd stay with me. It wouldn't be right, not for our baby and not for me. Our child deserves to be raised by parents who loved each other, and I didn't think that would ever be, until now."

She met his eye, smiling. He couldn't keep the grin off his face. "Do you really mean that?"

She nodded, tears streaming down her face. "I love you Dowda and I already love our family."

Dowda pulled her into an embrace. "I love you, Yano," he said over and over again. He dropped to a knee, caressing their child. "Hi baby, it's me Dad. I know you can hear me because you should already be able to respond to sounds at your age. I'm sorry if I made Mummy sad, but I want you to know that I love her. And I love you too."

He kissed his wife's tummy and stood, pulling her into a kiss as well. Everything was perfect. He may have lost his job and title and his country was overrun by barbarians, but he had has family and he'd do whatever it took to protect it.

In the very next moment, there came a great boom from the front door. Then another and another.

Yano stilled in his arms, fright filling her gaze. Dowda pursed his lips and shook his head, opening the bathroom cabinet.

"No," Yano cried, resisting. "No, I'm not letting you go alone."

"Shh," Dowda hummed, easing Yano into the cramped little cabinet. "Don't make a sound and don't come out until I'm back. I'll see who it is, it could just be some addict at the wrong door. "

"Dowda I have a bad feeling about this."

He kissed her forward. "I love you, I promise I'll be back." Closed the cabinet door and went to meet their visitor.

The front door burst open. Men with guns filled the room. Dowda raised his arms in surrender. One of them held up a phone, looked at it then at him.

"Maz," another said, eyeing the set table.

"I am Prince Dowda of Dhulka," Dowda announced, in a panic. "I'm the one you want, right?"

Maz took one long look at the table before his gaze swung back to Dowda, eyes empty. "Damn surface dwellers why do more than we were asked to. Take the prince."

A cloth went over Dowda's mouth, sweet scents filling his nostrils as sleep came quickly.

A/n: 'ellloooo anywhoo I just watched Elementals and can I just say that Disney had no business being that romantic, bejidkaihaia, gahhhhh🥲I thought it was weird asf but it was freaking adorable. Also yes I am a fan of the arranged marriage trope and I was literally on wattpad for the sole purpose of reading such stories until I forgot my password😅