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Chapter Text

Azucena was working in her coffee shop tending for multiple customers at once, rushing back and forth from making coffee and getting food from the kitchen to serve them to people all while remaining energetic and cheerful constantly. She barely got to catch any breaks as the café was always packed at this hour of the day and so she just had short breaks to exhale whenever she went to the kitchen.

"Hija, are you sure you don't want any help from the other waiters? You don't need to take care of all those tables all by yourself.", her mother asked her as she spoke loudly over the sizzling of cooking food and loud brewing from coffee machines in the kitchen. Azucena wiped the sweat from her forehead with a piece of cloth she had stored in her apron before looking up to the older woman, smiling confidently.

"Don't worry, mamá. I love serving people our coffee!", she said proudly and hurried off after receiving another order before her mother could say another word.
'Alright, triple sugar for table 5, Original Azucena blend for table 9...', she recited the orders to herself because it helped her to avoid mixing them up accidentally. After she was done serving those orders she was about to head back to grab new ones from the kitchen until she spotted a familiar face who then approached to speak with her:

"So this is your coffee shop?", it was Lili sounding rather spiteful about the strong scent of brewing coffee all over the establishment. Azucena paused her work for a minute to turn around and felt pleasantly surprised upon seeing the girl who she'd always have a feud with about what was the better beverage.

"Welcome! Didn't expect to see you in here. Is there anything I can get for you?"

"Hmm, no. Unless you serve anything other than coffee."

"Are you here to start another debate? Sorry girlie, but that'll have to wait."

"No, I actually wanted to discuss business."

"Business?", Azucena raised an eyebrow in surprise and now had her full attention on the girl after deciding to pause her work for a while longer.

"Your establishment is a rather popular place. I'm willing to buy it off you."

"You're kidding? Nice try, but family business isn't for sale!", Azucena laughed out loud after hearing that absurd and random request but Lili seemed a bit serious about it.

"You sure? I'm up to negotiate the price.", Lili crossed her arms and although she already expected that Azucena might not agree right away, she still felt frustrated that they had to come to a compromise.

"Listen, now's kinda not the time to discuss this. I can't tell if you're being serious or not but let's just talk another time. As you can see I've got customer's waiting."

"Hmm, okay then. I'll come back sometime later...", Lili looked around the place for a brief moment, scoffed at the extreme amount of customers everywhere and the stench of coffee before finally leaving and stepping into her limousine that was parked right outside of the shop. The Peruvian watched her drive off before heading back to the kitchen to grab a few more orders and continue her work.

"What a strange and random request...is she actually being serious about it?", Azucena mumbled to herself while grabbing a few cups of coffee to deliver to customers. One glance at the clock reminded her that rushhour was over soon and that would mean she could start to relax since more and more people were about to leave.

"Phew, finally I can start catching a break.", she sighed in relief after handing out many bills to people who wanted to leave. She even handed bills to tables who were tended by other waiters just to get it over with and get the people out and that's also how she then got to Leo's table.

"Can I bring you the bill?", she inquired in a friendly tone and didn't seem to recognize him at first.

"Yeah, thank you.", Leo nodded and returned the friendly expression in form of a smile. Azucena quickly rushed off after retrieving the empty mug, but while she prepared the bill she finally noticed something about the customer she just talked to. The girl glanced back for a moment and then back at the bill and pondered for a short time before she eventually headed back.

"Here you go...", she placed the bill on the table and just stood there waiting as Leo was getting the rjght amount of money out of his wallet. Finally he placed a couple of notes on the table and was about to get up and leave the café if it weren't for Azucena stopping him all of a sudden.

"Hey, aren't you the...that guy? You were on the side of Yggdrasil, right? In that fight.", she asked and Leo turned back around swiftly after hearing the mention of the rebellion and the fight against G Corp that was already some time ago. He then nodded and grinned to her as he responded with the following:

"Oh, yes! You remember me. Guess I am that guy from Yggdrasil.", Leo chuckled a bit.

"Yeah...you're the German who loves coffee too. I knew you seemed familiar! So you truly meant it when you said that you were a fan of our coffee."

"Huh, yeah. I come here whenever I get the chance honestly."

"So a true fan! If I would've recognized you earlier then I would've given you a discount."

"Oh, that is not necessary, really!"

"Okay, but I'm going to make you another coffee. On the house of course.", Azucena seemed enthusiastic and immediately headed off to the kitchen before Leo could even talk back or decline at all and soon enough she returned with a cup of fresh steaming hot coffee.

"Oh, uhm thanks.", the German nervously accepted the unexpected drink and Azucena then took a seat at the table he was sitting at before as if she wanted to speak longer with him. Only after hesitating for some seconds did he join her at the table whilst taking a few sips from the coffee.

"Hmm...you look like a David. Or maybe...Felix?"

"Sorry?"

"Just guessing your name. Well, maybe you're more like a Noah?"

"It's Leo."

"Leo? Ohhh, I see. That fits way better.", Azucena nodded and leaned back. "So do you travel miles just to drink coffee here?"

"Well, I mostly order your coffee beans online but of course drinking the coffee locally is much better.", he replied.

"Then we should probably open a coffee shop in Germany, right?"

"That would be a great idea.", Leo nodded, smiled warmly and took more sips until the cup was completely empty. Azucena didn't want to go back to work yet because she just wanted to hang out with him for the time being but she got up from her chair upon spotting the empty cup.

"Want me to refill that?"

"No, it's alright. I don't wanna waste too much of your resources."

"It's not a waste when it goes to a true coffee lover like you."

"That's really kind but I need to get going. But I'll definitely be back tomorrow.", he declined the generous offer and got up to make his way out of the shop. The Peruvian nodded behind him and even felt a little sad that he had to go already.

"Okay then. You're welcome to come here anytime!", she shouted after him until he walked out of the door. As soon as Leo was gone though she finally remembered the work she had to do and hastily made her way back to the kitchen.

"So? Who's that boy who got you to finally stop working for more than 5 minutes?", her mother stepped out of the door to the kitchen after seeing her daughter approach.

"Oh, just someone I met sometime before."

"Hopefully he comes by more often so you can do something else besides taking the work from the other waiters.", the woman laughed before heading off somewhere else leaving Azucena feeling a little embarrassed for the way her mother said her sentences. The girl sighed and proceeded to move into the kitchen to start washing the dirty dishes as she let the others waiters do their work since there weren't as many customers present anymore. While she was scrubbing plates and mugs in the sink she somehow came to constantly think about the same thing. Whatever she thought about first her mind constantly wandered off to the same exact thought: Leo.

Chapter Text

It was another day, another day of work for Azucena. This entire day she has been waiting for Leo to walk through the door, often taking quick strolls outside to check. For some reason she was so eager to see him again and grew more impatient with every passing hour. It's almost evening by now, rush-hour has long passed and now Azucena just focused on finishing up work as she thought Leo might not be able to come after all. Most of the employees have gone home already besides herself and her parents. The sky was already a shade of orange and purple due to the sun gradually disappearing in the horizon and by now Azucena has lost all hope. She was serving the last few customers for the day and right when she was heading to the kitchen, she crossed paths with Leo, nearly bumping into him as he appeared out of nowhere.

"Oh, sorry. Are you closing already?", Leo asked concerned after noticing how quiet and empty the café was and how they were about to clean everything up. Although Azucena was visibly startled by his sudden presence she quickly smiled when she finally saw him and shook her head in response to his question.

"Ah, don't worry! Take a seat I'll brew up a cup for you."

"Is it really fine? I'd hate to be a bother...", Leo felt unsure and wanted to leave already after seeing how the shop was about to close up but Azucena was already halfway off to the kitchen. After a short minute she returned with a cup of Azucena Morning Blend and placed it on the table Leo decided to sit at.

"You decided to have a late coffee break, huh?", she joked a bit and placed a hand on her hip while standing next to the table.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Today's work's been a bit longer than anticipated...", he apologized and ruffled through his hair.

"Are you working somewhere nearby?", Azucena inquired curiously and took a seat opposite of him.

"Uh, yeah. There's an archaeological excavation site right out of town and I sort of work there. But today they held me up there longer than expected..."

"So, you're an archaeologist?"

"I'm actually a speleologist but I do study archaeology on the side just because it interests me as well. Plus, my father is an archaeologist so I guess I inherited that interest from him."

"Really? Sounds interesting.", the girl sort of muttered to herself and was fascinated by what Leo told her. She didn't expect him to have something to do with speleology let alone be interested in archaeology. The two of them then proceeded to sit there in complete silence with Leo drinking some coffee from time to time. Meanwhile the last remaining customers finally left and Azucena's parents were already wiping the tables and floors of the shop so it was clean for the next morning.

"And how long are you staying in Peru?", the Latina finally asked another question.

"Probably a couple more days. It depends what they manage to dig up from the ground. If nothing interesting comes up than probably not more than 3 days."

"Uh-huh.", she nodded in response and suddenly rose up from the chair as soon as she spotted the now empty cup in Leo's hands. "Lemme refill that for you."

"It's fine. I don't want to hold up too much of your time since your café is closing now."

"Right, this is MY café so I decide when we close. You're staying and getting another cup of coffee.", Azucena insisted and snatched the cup and hurried into the kitchen to make yet another Azucena Morning Blend. Leo just sighed and leaned back, obviously feeling grateful for her kindness but he wasn't sure why she was being so generous - especially towards him. This time it took a bit longer for Azucena to return but it was soon clear why as she had brought multiple cups of coffee and even some dessert that was conveniently left over after nobody was willing to buy it during opening hours.

"Uhm, what's all this for?", Leo chuckled surprised at the many treats being placed on the table.

"You know, since you've been working the whole day and barely even got a chance to get some coffee at a normal hour I might as well offer you these treats."

"Oh, that's...really sweet but I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish all of this."

"That's what I'm here for!", Azucena grinned confidently and already began eating some of the smaller portions of food with Leo soon joining her. The two of them would go on to eat, drink and talk for almost the entire evening until it got pitch black outside and even Azucena's parents left at that point after reminding her not to forget to lock the doors when she leaves.

"Esa chica...is she really going to spend all night eating the leftovers?", the father sighed as he walked outside the shop with his wife beside him.

"At least she's having a good time. Let's just leave her to it.", the mom spoke while smiling warmly as they walked to their car.

"Well, she better clean up after herself once they're done! I don't want to come back to a trashed café in the morning.", the father got behind the steering wheel seeming a bit annoyed about Azucena and Leo hanging out in the shop past closing hours but his wife felt the complete opposite. In fact, she was glad that her daughter got a new friend she could hang out with and that's why she didn't mind it at all.
Even hours pass and at some point Leo felt like going home after taking one quick glance at the time. He didn't even realize how late it has become since the two of them were having a lot of fun talking and drinking coffee together.

"I'll try to come at a more reasonable time tomorrow.", he told Azucena as he was about to exit through the door. The young woman laughed in response and made a move with her hand that indicated that it was no problem for her. Right before Leo was about to leave though, he seemed to remember something and turned back to her while searching for his wallet.

"Ah, right...how much do I owe?"

"Are you serious?", the Peruvian glanced at him with a weird look and looked down to the wallet in his hand.

"You gave me so much food, so it just feels wrong to leave without paying for the effort."

"No, you don't need to pay me a dime. All this food would've gone to waste anyway, so consider it a friendly gesture. You know, from a friend to a friend."

"Well, okay. If you insist. But at least let me help you clean all of this up."

"Just go home. You're a guest and cleaning up after guests is my job.", Azucena shook her head but Leo felt the need to help her out just a little bit. Otherwise he'd feel guilty if he just walked out and let her do all the cleaning by herself.

"But it's past your working hours so I'm helping.", he moved back to the table and started taking some of the dishes to the kitchen. The girl sighed before following him and although she originally didn't want to bother him with doing the dishes, she was still grateful that he insisted on helping making this work much easier and even somewhat enjoyable.

"I'll be going now. Thanks for...the coffee and snacks.", Leo thanked her after he finished up and stepped out of the kitchen while Azucena followed him to the exit.

"Sure sure. See you around."

"Yup!", Leo turned around for one last time to smile at her before walking out of the door and disappearing into the night. Azucena stood there for a few more seconds before sighing with a gentle smile on her face and going to turn off the lights and locking all the doors before finally leaving the shop herself. It's probably already around 10 or 11 p.m meaning Azucena should really head home now - but yet she still thought about one single thing the whole way. The same thing she kept thinking about the whole day and the day before.

Chapter Text

Leo was back on the excavation site, currently helping some archaeologists dig up the ground. It was hard physical work which was additionally worsened by the heat of the sun.

"Might wanna take a break, eh?", one of the archaeologists suggested after seeing how hard he was working and even how tired he sort of looked. Leo looked up and wiped the sweat from his forehead before shaking his head.

"I'm fine.", he answered confidently.

"You sure? It's about to be lunch break anyway and you're just an intern so you can take a break early if you want."

"I'll be done here soon.", Leo insisted as he didn't want to leave while in the middle of working on something.

"Uh, okay then...suit yourself.", the man had a bit of a strange look on his face and then turned to his co worker who stood nearby waiting.

"You know what they say about Germans. They always try to work as much as they can.", the other archaeologist chuckled. "Come find us if you manage to dig up something nice." he added and the two men then left Leo to continue working by himself. He sighed at their comment and just continued to focus on digging up more dirt in hopes of finding something of a little value at least but then after a few minutes he was interrupted yet again.

"Leo, there's someone who wants to see you so get out of the hole and pause your work for a moment, 'kay?", this time it was his supervisor and the young man quickly got up from the ground and brushed off some dust and dirt from his clothes.

'Who could be visiting me during work?', Leo thought to himself and climbed his way out of the excavation hole and followed his supervisor to the supposed visitor. But as soon as he saw who it was he quickly felt ashamed for his dirty appearance and attempted to brush off more dust from his clothing.

"Huh? Azucena? What are you doing here?", he asked a little stunned from her unsuspecting visit.

"Surprise! I figured you might not have some time to get coffee today as well so I brought the coffee to you instead.", Azu presented a tray holding four paper cups with each containing coffee and pushed them into Leo's arms.

"Woah, that's really kind of you! But please don't feel obligated to go through all this trouble just for me."

"It's no biggie! I can't let you starve out here with no coffee!"

"Well, thank you. That really came out of nowhere.", Leo nodded gratefully for the gift. "I'm guessing it's lunch break for you too?"

"Uh-huh. I got some time on my hands now thankfully. The other waiters and even my abuelita's come over to help out at the shop so I can have some free time for once."

"That means we can share this coffee, right?", Leo asked and Azu glanced at him with a hint of surprise in her eyes. But then she regained herself and hastily nodded.

"Sure! If that's what you want.", Azucena replied happily and then the two found a good spot to sit at and enjoy their lunch with fresh coffee.

"Azucena Morning Blend..."

"Yes! You could tell."

"Of course. It's your newest product and tastes a lot different from your other coffee."

"Yeah, you're a true fan! No one else would've spotted the difference. At least no one who doesn't love coffee as much as we do.", the young woman giggled and the two enjoyed another good time together while drinking their favorite beverage. They were like two puzzle pieces who fit perfectly together as they could relate to each other well with an additionally great dynamic. It's almost as if something clicked between them in this moment, especially from Azucena's perspective.

"What do you think? Do these two have something going on?", an archaeologist mumbled to his colleague as they sat nearby to witness their conversation. He seemed to have noticed their forming connection too even from afar.

"I don't know. I mean Leo has only been in Peru for like, what? 3 days? Unless they met before somewhere.", the other man replied in the same hushed tone.

"Pretty sure that that's the case here. Otherwise they wouldn't be getting along this well, right?"

"Either way I'm kinda jealous. I'd love to have a fine woman bring me some coffee to work. God, but my wife can't even use the damn machine."

"Hmm, sure sure...", the man munched on his lunch now making their conversation come to an end.
Not too long the four cups of coffee that Azucena had brought were already empty and Leo thanked her again for bringing them.

"No need to thank me.", she assured him with a laugh before taking a glance at the excavation site in front of them and then proceeding to get up in order to take a better look at it. "So, you work here?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. For the time being."

"Mhm...and you just dig holes all day?"

"Guess so. I didn't get to find anything special yet so..."

"Maybe I could help.", Azucena suggested but Leo looked at her a bit dumbfounded from that request and got up from his seat now too to stand next to her as she observed the site.

"Uhh, no. I don't think you can."

"Why not? It's just digging up some dirt, isn't it?"

"Only archaeologists are allowed to be on the site actually so...-", he began but Azu didn't seem to care as she was about to jump above the fence and go straight into the site.

"A-azucena! Wait!", Leo called her but it was already too late. She just turned around and smiled while making a hand gesture telling him to follow her but the German hesitated.

"Come on! I just wanna take a closer look.", Azucena said and was practically urging him to step on to the site as well, but Leo still refused.

"Hey, you! You can't be in there!", suddenly Leo's supervisor returned and he immediately began shouting when spotting Azucena trespassing.

"Qué? I just want to take a look...", Azucena felt a bit annoyed and crossed her arms below her chest as she stared right at the older man.

"Nope, you're getting out of there, now."

"Make me.", she sounded mischievous but in a sarcastic way.

"Mein Gott...Leo, get her out of there.", the man demanded but instead Leo just tried to hold his laughter in at this ridiculousness. "What are you laughing for? She's trespassing!"

"Sorry...uhm, Azucena can you please get out?", he asked nicely after managing to swallow his chuckles. The Latina rolled her eyes in a joking manner before finally stepping out of the site by herself.

"Keep your girlfriend in check, got it?", the supervisor warned them before heading off elsewhere and cursing to himself in German. Leo nodded as he walked away and then turned his attention to Azu to give her a weird look.

"What was that all about?", he crossed his arms.

"Sorry for being curious. Are German archaeologists always this rude?"

"No, it's just him...but honestly the way you just acted was kinda funny. Even if it was childish.", Leo nearly laughed again but managed to contain himself better this time. The fact that she managed to make him laugh alone warmed her heart and made her feel fuzzy inside. Though she would never even admit that to herself.

"Lunch break is almost over so you might have to get going, huh?", Leo suddenly said after taking a quick glance at his watch, but Azucena just shook her head.

"I think I'd rather stay. I wanna see how you work."

"Oh, you sure? I mean it's not all that interesting so you'll be bored quickly."

"I'm sure. I'll just leave if I actually get bored."

"Okay then...Do what you want.", he stated not believing she was genuine and soon went back to work with his colleagues at the site, while Azucena just stood outside of the fence and watched them - actually she was only intently watching Leo. Surprisingly she does so for many, many hours, specifically for the remaining working hours that Leo had to go through and it astonished everyone including the supervisor.
After the work day was officially over Leo stepped out of the excavation zone immediately wanting to ask the Peruvian something.

"Don't you have any other business except for watching us the entire time?"

"Is it a bad thing to be interested?"

"Not at all! I just didn't think you'd have so much free time on your hands."

"Yeah, I'm sure the others handled the work day just fine even without me."

"Have a nice evening, lovebirds.", one of the archaeologists joked when he walked past them which only made Leo roll his eyes in annoyance.

"Let's just get going.", he said and started walking off with Azucena following right next to him. She nodded and they began moving towards the city. Finally Leo stopped in front of a hotel, turning around to tell her goodbye.

"You...do you maybe wanna hang out tomorrow? I mean like outside of any work environment.", she questioned and even sounded a bit nervous when she spoke.

"Uh, yeah. Why not?", he swiftly agreed. "Thought of anything specific?"

"Erm, well I still gotta-", she wasn't sure yet but then suddenly she got interrupted by someone who they honestly expected to show up the least.

"So, there you are. Where have you been the whole day?"

"Lili?", Azucena was surprised to see the Monacan girl again.

"Did you forget about my offer?", she acted pissed and crossed her arms while speaking.

"Maybe just a little..."

"Gosh, so you haven't made up your mind nor did you think about a price?", Lili inquired and Azucena could only respond with a slight head shake. This all greatly confused Leo of course wondering why they were arguing about a 'price'.

"I'm sorry, what are you talking about?", he asked them.

"None of your business. You can go to your cheap hotel room.", Lili sounded arrogant but Leo wasn't going to listen to her just like that.

"As I already said, family business is not for sale no matter the price you may be willing to pay.", Azucena repeated her previous response she had given Lili days ago and this discussion just seemed so out of character for her. "Why do you want it so bad anyway? I thought you disliked coffee."

"You're right. But my father could use an additional source of income and your coffee shop is the best candidate for that."

"I have a feeling you're just doing this out of spite.", Leo added and glanced to her scornfully.

"You're still here? Ugh anyway... So, Ms. Ortiz? Are you sure you don't wanna change your mind at all?", Lili placed a hand underneath her chin, deeply hoping she'd agree even if it seemed unlikely given her last responses to the offer.

"Uh, yeah no. I'm not selling the business to you."

"Hmph, okay then. You'll regret this.", she scoffed and gave both of them dirty looks before leaving and stepping into her limousine again.

"What the hell does she mean by that?", Leo said and watched the long haired girl as she walked away.

"What's up with her? I actually liked her in the beginning but now she seems pretty damn serious about buying our business.", Azucena sighed as she tried her best to connect the dots but nothing seemed to be adding up in her mind.

"She's probably just spiteful and trying to rile you up.", Leo theorized but then he took a step towards the hotel while looking back at Azucena. "I'll be going now. Goodnight, Azucena."

"Night!", she waved to him as he left into the hotel and then turned around to head home as well. She now constantly had Lili's words in mind wondering whether she was serious or not and what "You'll regret this" truly meant in this context. All of her questions would only be answered though if she waited it out and so she tried to think of something else for the entire way.

'Oh, right. I should be thinking of what we could do tomorrow...', she pondered to herself in silence and could finally fill her mind with other things that weren't about Lili stressing her out.

Chapter Text

Azucena met with Leo again the next day after they both managed to be let off of work earlier than usual. The girl finally got an idea over night of what they could do for today or where they could go and wondered what Leo's opinion would be.

"What do you think about going to the beach?", she asked him. The young man gave her a look of surprise as he heard her spontaneous idea but honestly he wouldn't mind a trip to the beach that much.

"Huh? Wait, for real? You want to go the beach now?", he inquired her relatively shocked.

"Why not? It's not that long of a drive from here. Or do you not want to go?"

"I mean it sounds fun but-"

"Great! Let's not waste any more time then!", Azucena quickly dragged him off without further hesitation and after receiving her parents' approval, they got into their car with Azu now driving them in the direction of the ocean in the west. After about an hour drive they arrived at the coast of the atlantic ocean and the young woman quickly jumped out of her car and waited a moment before Leo stepped out as well.

"So? Anything specific you want to do?", he asked her and glanced around the area.

"Let's take a stroll first.", she suggested and moved along a path next to the beach's sand with Leo hastily catching up and following right beside her. There were a couple of people hanging out at the shore and in the water, kids and whole families enjoying a good time. It was a comfortable warm temperature as one would expect at any beach in South America.

"How are your parents like, Leo?", Azucena decided to ask him a personal question as she had a curious look.

"Oh, uhm...", he began but felt unsure when thinking of his family. He wasn't sure where to begin or what he should even be saying to her but finally he continued after making his mind up. "Well, my father is an archaeologist who used to be wanted by the Mishima Zaibatsu and my mother used to be a scientist working for G Corp..."

"Woah, G Corp? Don't you dislike them? So, what does she do now?"

"She's, uh, not around anymore."

"Oh, I...I'm sorry to hear that.", she now felt bad for asking about it and they remained silent for a while longer while strutting along the beach side by side. The sound of crashing waves echoing from behind and the many people who started to gather in larger groups as time passed were the only things making this silence a little less awkward. Leo tried focusing on other things to get the painful memories of the past out of his head, spotting children playing in the sand, couples sharing ice cream cones and even the tiniest seashells shining from beneath his feet. This was the perfect atmosphere to spend quality time with someone and clear one's mind but somehow he managed to mess it all up anyway. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Azucena broke the awkwardness by suggesting what they could do next:

"Wanna get some ice cream?"

Leo glanced over to the nearby stand and soon nodded while smiling gently. The two then tried to move there quickly before a painfully long line would form, ordered what they wanted and sat down on the sand to watch the ocean.

"What a shame they don't sell any coffee flavored ice cream around here.", Leo then muttered as he stuffed his mouth with the sweet treat.

"Right! I definitely expected they would but for some reason...", Azu couldn't agree more with him but before she could finish her sentence she suddenly fell deep into her own thoughts. Before long she continued to speak in a more muffled tone at first. "Well, they probably just lack the resources. Imagine if they sold our blend as ice cream flavors at the beach?"

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea. I'd only get that flavor every time I ate ice cream then.", the German replied honestly and with that Azucena's new spontaneous idea made her feel like it could become an actual official thing.

"Then I'll ask the vendors what they'd think about it!", she looked excited, maybe even too excited to the point where she wanted to get up and immediately talk to them but Leo stopped her and asked her to finish the ice cream first in peace before rushing to business. With that the two continued to snack on their dessert, watching surfers on the waves and the few clouds in the almost crystal clear sky above them. Leo enjoyed this moment the most since it was a pleasant change from the constant hard work back at the excavation site and also because he couldn't really do things like this back home in Germany. For the Peruvian though it wasn't all that special. She couldn't even count anymore how many times she has spent time on this very beach already doing the exact same thing, eating ice cream and watching the waves but even something so ordinary to her became even so special since Leo was the one to share this moment with her this time. All of a sudden their peaceful watching and eating was interrupted by a stranger standing right in their view, obviously wanting to speak to them for a reason they didn't expect.

"Aren't you Azucena Ortiz?". a middle aged woman glanced at them from the corner of her sunglasses before eventually taking them off completely once Azucena got up to be at the same eye level.

"Uh, yeah. Can I help you?", she responded kindly.

"Well, you might not have heard of us but we have sent you many emails which all remained without a response.", the woman handed her a business card with her name and the name and logo of the company she was representing. Azucena took a quick glance before looking back up to the stranger with a confused look and that gave her the cue to explain herself in more detail:

"Oh, uh, you see, we're looking for models right now and since we found out about you, we have sent you dozens of emails wondering if you'd be interested in a job offer."

"Ohh, sorry I don't check my emails so often. I kinda got some other things on my hands so taking modeling gigs right now isn't my top priority.", the young woman answered.

"Please, we'll compensate for your time! We're in desperate need of more models showing off our designs and we heard so many great things about you. You're perfect for the role!"

Azucena felt a little helpless. Although she kinda wanted to accept this offer to make some extra cash, she had to consider her work at the café and the farm which was just a lot at the moment. After a minute of pondering she finally sighed and said to the middle aged woman:

"I'll think about it."

"Oh, thank you! Please think this through properly and don't forget to give us a call once you've made up your mind! Our number is right there, by the way.", the woman sounded joyful even though the offer wasn't officially accepted yet and she pointed to the telephone number on the card before turning around and leaving hastily, seeming like she needed to be somewhere else urgently.

"Modeling?", Leo then inquired once the woman was out of sight and he even chuckled a bit, as if he didn't believe Azucena was actually also a model besides doing so many other professions.

"Yeah, I do a couple gigs from time to time.", she descended back on the sand next to him and stored the card in her pocket.

"Huh, I never expected you to be a model too. What kind of modeling do you do?"

"Uh, different kinds, I guess. I don't care as long as I get paid."

'Vague but alright.', Leo thought to himself in silence and already guessed that she might not want to share the whole truth about her job right now. He swallowed the last bits of the waffle cone and just continued to watch the sea as before, not wanting to think about a lot right now as he just felt like enjoying the present time.

"Already know when you're gonna head back?", Azucena then asked a question after a few minutes of silence have passed and she also just finished eating her ice cream.

"I don't have an exact date yet but I'm guessing soon...internships at international excavation sites don't usually that last long. Besides I've still got some work to take care of at home..."

"Don't you just work in caves or something? What's there you need to take care of so urgently?"

"Haha, it's not all about my speleology work. Rather more personal business."

"I see. Well, at least tell me before-hand as soon as you know when you're flying off, kay?"

"I will.", he promised her with a short laugh. Leo then relaxed a bit more by stretching his legs and leaning back and sighed before saying more. "If you would've told me sooner about a trip to the beach, then I would've at least brought more appropriate clothing."

"Like swimwear?"

"Maybe."

"If you want to go in the water just go. No one said you must have a swimsuit, right?"

"Uh, I'm not sure. I don't want to get my clothes wet."

"Then you don't know the ultimate trick. Come on!", Azucena suddenly jumped from her seat, pulled Leo up and towards the water without considering whether he wanted to or not. When they stopped right at the shore Azucena took off her shoes and rolled up her pants in order to step into the water without getting any of the fabric wet. The girl turned around and waited for Leo to do the same but he stayed put.

"What's the matter?", she put her hands on her hips as she waited but the German seemed pretty reluctant.

"What's the point of just stepping our feet in the water?", he replied and that made the young woman roll her eyes and waddle back on land while giving him an annoyed look. Moments later she took off his shoes, held his arm and dragged him towards the water like an angry mother but Leo pulled away for a second to roll up the end of his pants before getting them wet.

"Not so fast! Jeez, I'm getting in, okay? No need to drag me...", Leo said but since he took a little too much time Azucena went to drag off him by the arm again to force him to step into the water.

"Why are you acting like water's such a bad thing? Your clothes will dry, you know?", she giggled while playfully splashing the water with her feet.

"I know that...", Leo answered and rolled his pants up a bit more as he stood in the water. "I just don't wanna return to the hotel soaking wet."

"Ohhh right. That would be too bad, wouldn't it?", she sounded sarcastic and a little mischievous and soon she placed her hands under the water and splashed Leo with it. He was taken by surprise from the sudden cold water soaking into his clothes but instead of being angry from the prank, he laughed and decided to continue it by splashing water on her as revenge. A few people gave them weird glances since they were playing in the water fully clothed, but that didn't bother neither of them anymore. They were just having so much fun together that they quickly lost track of time and any sense of self awareness.
Hours later they finally returned to the car as the sun was soon setting since they'd prefer to be back when it isn't pitch black yet. Although before they could get in and drive off, they first had to get the water out of their clothes since they're actually drenched and dripping. After squeezing out as much water as possible out of the fabric behind some bushes they both got into the car and Azucena started the engine.

"Whoops, looks like you have to return to the hotel soaked after all.", Azucena joked and Leo laughed along light heartedly.

"Yeah, hopefully they won't look at me too weirdly when I get there."

"Why do you care what others think about you? At least you had fun.", she spoke while driving out of their parked spot and heading towards the main road.

"You're right. It was tons of fun today.", he agreed while looking out of the passenger seat window as they drove. Azu chuckled once and even blushed after hearing that her once rather spontaneous and ridiculous idea turned out to be so much fun for him - she couldn't have asked for a better outcome.

"God, my hair's still dripping as if I just took a shower with my clothes on...", Leo mumbled as he noticed water droplets constantly falling from his hair and on to his thighs.

"I'll try to drive fast, don't worry.", the Peruvian replied and pressed on the accelerator. At least the streets began to feel a bit empty at this time of day so she could drive pretty darn fast without having to worry about too many cars being in the way.

"Do you always go into ocean with your clothes on?", Leo then asked in a bit more of a sarcastic tone after remembering the way she acted so eager to go into the water.

"Uh, no. I always bring my swim wear to the beach but I guess today I didn't really care.", she answered honestly.

"It certainly seemed like you do this more often."

"There's a first time for everything, right?"

"Totally."

Chapter Text

"And? Have you reconsidered yet?", Lili inquired sitting in a comfortable chair opposite from Azucena in an office space within the café. A couple of days have passed since their last meeting. Lili returned wanting to hold a proper discussion with the girl and now it was clear that she was indeed serious about her request.

"I don't know what to tell you...I'm not looking to sell this business any time soon."

"This is my last warning, you know? Either you give in now while I'm still asking nicely or I make your life a living hell. What's it gonna be?"

"Your pressuring won't work on me. I know you can't do anything and you're just trying to scare me.", Azucena crossed her arms still not convinced about Lili's way of threatening. "What's up with you anyway? Why are you acting so pushy?"

"If you don't want to cooperate with me then it is settled. I'll be taking my leave.", Lili abruptly got up from her seat and headed towards the door without wanting to answer her questions. Azucena just watched as she left the shop and couldn't help but feel concerned about her attitude. She couldn't quite believe that this thing was really this important to her and from the way she just spoke it sounded like she would try to find another way to get her hands on the Ortiz business. Anyhow, Azucena decided to just shrug it off for now and get back to work. But then after about 10 to 20 minutes since Lili left, there was some unusual commotion going on outside the shop and that forced Azucena to stop working and check it out. To her shock she spotted some people vandalizing the nearby area, causing a ruckus and panic among customers who were sitting outdoors. The Peruvian instinctively jumped towards them wanting to hinder them from causing more chaos.

"Stop right there!", she shouted angrily and pushed the men away. "I'm going to call the police if you don't stop whatever you're doing."

The men just looked at her, completely silent which made Azucena notice their suspiciously covered, dark clothing as if they wanted to conceal their identity as much as possible. She immediately knew something was fishy about them but what the men did next was rather unexpected: They suddenly jumped at each other and began a big brawl which only caused more eyes to look their way additionally making this situation even more dangerous. More and more customers began leaving the premises due to this event and Azucena quickly noticed that so she took matters into her own hands instead of calling the authorities and having to wait for them. She stepped between the brawling strangers and attempted to separate them but since they constantly just lunged at each other again she had no other choice but to resort to violence herself. Azucena punched a few men in the guts so they would be stunned and she then pushed them as far away as possible until most of them finally gave up and either retreated or lied on the floor in pain. Azucena was deeply angered at their random appearance and disruptive behavior so she approached one of them who was lying down in order to talk.

"What's your problem?", she sounded furious but the man remained unresponsive. The girl proceeded to kick him in hopes of making him talk. She doesn't usually like to act this violent but her anger towards these strangers was just too much that she felt like she had to in order to make them speak up.

"Ow, stop it! I'll tell you, god damnit!", the man finally spoke up and coughed from that powerful blow to the chest. Azucena crossed her arms and stared down at him waiting impatiently for his explanation.

"We all just had....a little too much to drink. We're sorry but one of the boys just suddenly began punching the other and from there it all escalated."

"Really? And why did you start destroying nearby property? That's a crime, you know?"

"I am aware of that...but I wasn't the one destroying any property, I swear! Don't call the cops on us, please...", the man begged and almost sounded genuine but Azucena wasn't sure whether to believe him or not.

"Oh, Hija! Are you okay? What happened here?", Azucena's mother stormed out of the café with worry written all over her face and she checked up on her daughter carefully.

"I'm fine. Mama, go and call the police.", she reassured the woman and after nodding quickly her mother rushed back inside to get to the telephone line. Meanwhile Azucena watched the culprits and although some of them managed to escape, she still wanted the remaining ones to face legal justice. A couple moments later the police arrived and arrested the men immediately and then went to interrogate Azucena's family about the damage that needed to be compensated.

"Why would anyone do something like this?", the mom mumbled sounding confused and worried and the rest of her family was feeling the exact same thing - except Azucena who was just suspicious and frustrated by this whole debacle.

'There's got to be more to this...', she pondered in silence before her and her family headed back inside to continue their work, although it was obvious that the business was now running slower because of what happened. Later when the day ended Azucena still couldn't stop thinking about that incident and she began overthinking every possible reason they might've actually had.

"Don't worry about it, Hija. Those people won't show up again.", her mother comforted her after seeing how clearly stressed she still felt about everything.

"Yeah, I know...", she nodded before walking away into another room which was her bedroom to lay down and think more to herself.

'I sure hope she's right. It's strange nevertheless...', was the last thing she thought of before finally falling asleep.

The next day seemed ordinary again as everyone seemed to have forgotten about the incident from yesterday but Azucena was still thinking about it all the time.

"You're saying a couple of guys just showed up and caused chaos in front of the shop? Out of the blue?", Leo asked also feeling suspicious about what he heard. He was sipping on a cup of coffee and Azucena sat by his table after telling him about what happened yesterday.

"Yeah, it was really weird. First they destroyed nearby objects but when I tried to stop them, they suddenly began fighting each other. It really scared some of the customers into leaving.", she continued her story and as she said it out loud it made her feel even more confused by it.

"Let's hope that the people who managed to escape won't come back...", Leo added and took another big sip.

"That's pretty unlikely."

"Hmm, maybe they were under the influence?"

"No, to me it didn't seem like it. The officers also later on said that they had no trace of any alcohol or drug consumption. That makes it all even more ridiculous.", she sighed and leaned back on the chair while crossing her arms. All of a sudden there was another loud sound coming from outside of the café. Azucena immediately jumped up and rushed outside to check, hoping it wasn't those guys again.

"Please not again.", she cursed to herself expecting those men to be back and when they stepped out she immediately recognized the people in all black clothing who are partly masked. "This time they won't get to cause as much of a ruckus."

She sprinted towards them and kicked most of the men down before they could even think about doing anything. Leo joined her to make the effort easier. After all of the men were knocked down and stunned, Azucena proceeded to approach one of them to hold another conversation with them.

"You came back? This is no coincidence now, huh?", she looked down on one of them furiously and demanded proper answers. "Tell me, were you sent by someone to cause chaos around here?"

The man stayed silent even avoiding eye contact with the girl so she kneeled down and pulled on the collar of his shirt to make him feel threatened.

"Ow, okay okay! Stop hurting me!", he shouted and pushed her away in order to get on his feet.

"So? Why are you trying to purposefully ruin our image?", she sounded so intimidating to the point where even Leo felt a little nervous around her. However the man fell silent again and looked to the side as if he had something to say but was forced not to utter a word. That only made Azucena more aggressive and she was close to hitting him again but Leo quickly stopped her this time.

"Don't. Maybe they just don't have a proper reason. I'll call the cops.", he tapped her shoulder wanting her to calm down.

"But why would they just want to cause trouble around here TWICE? There's definitely got to be a good reason why they'd target us."

"Maybe there just isn't.", Leo dialed the police hotline number on his phone and soon began describing the situation to an operator on the other end while Azucena kept an eye on the troublemakers.

'No...there must be something.', she thought to herself feeling like this can't be all there is to it but she kept her cool this time and didn't lash out on the men again, even though she really wanted to. After a while the authorities arrived at the scene and arrested the remaining men.

"Seems like this place is currently getting targeted by these criminals.", an officer spoke with Azucena after getting some intel from nearby eye witnesses. "Sure you don't want some officers to watch over you?"

"It's okay, thanks. I can take care of troublemakers like that myself just fine.", she replied, crossing her arms below her chest. The man in uniform nodded confirming her decision before he and the other police men stepped into their cars and drove off with the criminals.

"I swear, if something like this happens again tomorrow, I might have to hire a private investigator.", Azucena sounded sarcastic however there was also a hint of seriousness in her statement.

"I'll make sure to come back everyday to check if something fishy's going on around here.", Leo stepped next to her talking in an assuring tone as he wanted to comfort her and make her feel a little more at ease, but it's debatable whether it actually worked.

"I appreciate it. but there's no need to take care of us.", the Peruvian said as she didn't want him worrying and wasting his time on this problem. The German just nodded before heading back inside the café and Azucena followed only a moment later after taking another look at her surroundings. Some customer's unfortunately left again due to the police scaring them but this time it wasn't as many people as yesterday since the problem got resolved much quicker. Leo sat back down at the table where his half filled cup of coffee was still at but when he took a sip, it tasted gross due to it being ice cold by now. Without even having to say a word though Azucena snatched the mug from his hands and hurried to the kitchen to fill it with fresh coffee. At this point she just learned to read his mind since he never even had to say a word and Azu was already off refilling his cup. And so they spent the rest of the day hanging out drinking coffee until the official closing time. Tomorrow Azucena will keep an especially close eye on everything that would be happening at the shop to get to the bottom of the actual reason for all the events that have been happening. That's what she swore to herself.

Chapter Text

The next day Azucena stayed even more alert in case of anything strange happening again. Although she kept her eyes peeled the whole day, there wasn't anything suspicious at all which made her relax a bit while hoping that it would stay that way. It all seemed ordinary so she served customers as usual, keeping her charming attitude all while staying focused on any anomalies. At noon during the rush-hour she sat down again with Leo and they were chatting until one of the customers began acting very noticeable.

"What's going on?", Azucena turned around on her chair to check the obvious voice of that customer occurring over the other commotion around. Leo also looked over once she mentioned it and they both shared weird looks as they listened in.

"God, this is horrible! Who would come here to drink coffee voluntarily?", a man, assumably in his 50s, complained about the order he received which caused the other people to feel disturbed and they turned to look in his direction. Azucena quickly stood up from her seat and stepped towards him wanting to quiet him down a bit.

"Is there a problem, sir?", she asked him politely and even offered him a gentle smile but all she got in return was a scornful look and rude attitude.

"You're asking me if there's a problem? Why don't you take a look yourself, huh?", he presented her his cup and when she peeked inside she couldn't believe her eyes.

"What the...how could that-", she stammered in shock upon seeing a whole cockroach floating in the coffee. Although it seemed to be dead it was just as disgusting as if it were alive.

"Oh? You don't mean to tell me that you have a cockroach infestation in your kitchen, right?!", the man continued to shout in an exaggerated manner and especially once he mentioned the word 'cockroach' people were starting to feel unwell and they stared at the ongoing situation. The girl tried her best to control his behavior but it was in vain.

"I assure you we do not have any sort of infestation. We have inspectors checking every few months."

"Then how do you explain this? How can a fat ass cockroach just end up in my coffee like that? I think you guys aren't taking well enough care of your kitchen."

"Would you please calm down?"

"Oh no, I won't calm down! You nearly poisoned me and now you're telling me to calm down?! Hey, everyone! Check your orders for any vermin before consuming it!"

"Vermin? Oh gosh, now I lost my appetite..."

"Let's just leave.", a couple customer's could be heard mumbling about the man's statement and they seemed to be believing him - so much so where a whole bunch of them decided to leave. Azucena didn't know how to deal with him or with any of it since she couldn't believe herself that a cockroach might've gotten into his drink without anyone noticing. She could only helplessly watch as more customers stormed out and even though she tried telling them that they didn't have any pest problems, they wouldn't listen. After that Leo stepped beside her, looking at the man suspiciously as he turned around and left towards the door while cursing at them. Suddenly he pulled the man back so he could talk with him since Leo himself didn't quite believe there was actually a cockroach problem at all.

"Hey- what do you want?!", the man yelled and pushed Leo's hand away and glared at the two young adults before him.

"You can't just make a serious accusation like that and expect to leave without a talk.", Leo replied seriously and crossed his arms.

"What are you talking about? I didn't make an accusation! I just reported what I found and I'm definitely going to leave a bad review online!"

"Again, we don't have any problems with pest infestations, we never had and never will! This can't come out of nowhere.", Azu continued to desperately get her message across as the man didn't seem to care much about what she had to say.

"I know you tampered with the order just to make the business look bad.", Leo added and looked mad as he knew the stranger just might've lied out of spite. "I know I'm right, Marshall Law."

"Tsk, so you know me? Whatever, I gotta go now. I didn't tamper with anything, you just don't want to accept that your business has holes.", Law groaned after hearing Leo figure out who he was. He turned around again wanting to leave but once again was stopped by them and got pulled back so he couldn't go anywhere.

"That's a very realistic looking prop. Got it from the dollar store? Or maybe a halloween shop?", Leo showed the alleged cockroach in his hands which he had fished out of Law's coffee. The man stared at him and gritted his teeth, realizing that he was caught and now he couldn't find any more lies to back out of it.

"So you bought a toy that looks like a cockroach just to ruin our reputation? Why?!", Azucena got furious and she balled her hands into fists.

"Uh...argh.", the man acted like he wanted to say something but stopped himself, groaned and just looked to the side.

"You own a business yourself...or at least you used to. Why would you purposefully harm someone else's if you know what kind of consequences such accusations can have?", Leo spoke a little more calm and collected than Azucena, hoping that might make him want to speak with them more but Law remained silent.

"Maybe he got jealous after seeing how successful my business is compared to his.", Azu mentioned and glared at him with squinted eyes, feeling a strong grudge towards him after attempting to ruin her reputation and that of the family shop.

"God...I'm sorry, okay? I didn't do it out of envy! It's just that someone offered me some cash to do this - a lot of cash actually. I got bills piling up so I had to accept.", Law finally explained after hearing her assumption.

"Who?", both Leo and Azucena immediately asked in sync.

"Ah, that blonde rich girl...Lili or whatever her name was.", Law scratched the back of his neck, feeling like he shouldn't be telling him who sent him but his guilt was so strong that he didn't want to lie anymore.

"Lili, huh? I bet she's the one who organized those other events before too.", Leo nodded once and pondered a bit to himself. To him it made sense that Lili would be the true culprit but it was a bit more shocking for Azucena. Would Lili really go that far? That must mean she was more serious about buying the business than she initially thought. She didn't even feel angry, she just felt disappointed since she thought her and the Monacan girl could've become friends but maybe Lili's a bit too much of a spoiled rich girl who thinks she can do however she pleases.

"You mean those people who destroyed the area around here and got arrested? Yeah, they got paid too...", Law confirmed his theory.

"Damn, she really wants to see me suffer then. I can't believe it.", Azucena sighed feeling a bit sad after discovering the truth but then she got herself together and looked to Leo and Law.

"So? You gonna confront her?", Leo inquired.

"I doubt that'd do anything. I tried talking with her before and as you can tell she didn't exactly listen. I don't wanna call the cops on her either...", Azucena felt lost and she didn't how else she should make Lili stop. The other two waited patiently for her to collect some thoughts and eventually an idea sparked in her mind and she looked back up with glowing eyes.

"Leo, tell them I'll be out for a while!", she told him and rushed out the door without another warning.

"What? Where are you going?", he asked loudly but she was already far away to be able to hear him anymore. Law chuckled a bit before saying goodbye and leaving as well so now Leo was by himself in the shop. He sighed deeply and went off to find one of the family members or any employee to tell them what Azucena said.

Hours later Azu found herself in front of a large mansion in Monaco. She managed to catch a flight in time and now she planned on confronting Lili's father. She knew Lili was a daddy's girl and that meant telling her father everything she has done would be the best plan to get back at her. She rung the door bell and soon enough a butler answered.

"You're Ms. Ortiz, right? Apologies, Lili isn't here right now but I can give her a call-"

"No, I'd like to speak with Mr. Rochefort."

"Mr. Rochefort? I, uh...one moment, please.", the butler excused himself and hurried inside. After only a couple of minutes he returned and led Azucena inside where Lili's father was located and soon she entered a well furnished office space where the man was sitting in front of a computer probably working.

"Oh, if it isn't the face of the Ortiz farm herself! What brings you all the way here?", the man kindly greeted her and shook hands with her before offering her a seat on one of the arm chairs.

"I need to tell you something about your daughter.", Azucena began talking and she tried to be as polite as possible.

"My daughter? What did Emilie do now?", the man's mood shifted and he already guessed that she might be in trouble from the way Azucena was talking about her. The Peruvian even felt a little bad for now having to say bad things about Lili in front of her father but she didn't have any other choice if she wanted the girl to stop with the shenanigans. Azu went on to describe everything in full detail that happened over the last week and the man listened to her intently but there was a hint of him not fully believing her at first. Once she was done telling the story the man leaned back on his chair to think to himself for a moment, his kind and welcoming expression fading into a disappointed and rather angered one.

"Jesus, Emilie...that's not how I raised you.", he muttered to himself and cursed a bit more which Azucena had trouble understanding though. Then he looked back up to the girl with a more relaxed expression. "I apologize on behalf of my daughter. I wasn't aware she was busy causing trouble to you and your family and it's totally unacceptable. I'll make her stop, don't worry."
He then picked up a telephone beside his desk, dialed a number and placed it to the side of his face while waiting for the other end to respond. Lili eventually answered the call and she sounded delighted to call her father but that all quickly changed once he scolded her and practically yelled at her over the phone in French. Azucena awkwardly looked around the office as she waited for them to finish their conversation.

"Father, I'm so sorry! Please don't be mad!", was the last thing Azucena heard Lili say before her father hung up the call and turned to the Peruvian.

"I promise you won't have to worry about her anymore. That girl clearly still hasn't learned about boundaries..."

"I appreciate it very much, Mr. Rochefort.", Azucena thanked him gratefully and ascended from the seat ready to leave already.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?", he quickly asked her and got up as well but Azucena declined at first as she thought he's done enough already.

"No, it's fine."

"Please. Allow me to at least pay for your flight back home? It's the least I can do.", he offered and this time Azu accepted since she didn't want to pay for the flight back. The man was so generous and friendly which made her wonder why Lili turned out to be so different from him.

Many hours later Azucena could finally sigh of relief after arriving back in Peru and she already knew her family must be worried so she headed straight home to tell them about the news. And although she told Mr. Rochefort that she didn't need anything from him except a plane ticket, he still gifted her a couple of items like chocolates to make up for the trouble she had to go through this week. She gave some of those praline boxes to her family members to celebrate but not long after she left her home to head to the hotel where Leo was staying at in order to also tell him about what happened. It was already late, the sun nearly disappeared at the horizon but Azu didn't care. She wanted to see him nonetheless and soon knocked at the door to his room.

"Azu? Where have you been this entire time?", Leo looked at her weirdly upon seeing her appear in front of his room at this hour.

"Sorry about that. I'll tell you everything.", she stepped into the room without even being invited in first. She then sat down on the bed in the center of the room and presented the praline's she got from Mr. Rochefort. Only after Leo also took a seat on the bed next to her did she begin telling the story.

"So, I told him everything that Lili has done in the past few days and he got so mad that he immediately called her and scolded her over the phone. I could hear how Lili was frantically panicking so now I know for sure she won't bother us again!"

"Wow, I didn't expect you to fly out to Monaco to speak with her father in person. That was definitely random...", Leo was flabbergasted to hear the entire story and it wasn't at all what he guessed. Then he looked down to the box of pralines Azucena was holding and pointed at them with a raised eyebrow. "And what are these chocolates for?"

"Oh, Mr. Rochefort gifted some to me even though I told him it wasn't necessary. I already gave some to my family so now you can have this.", she placed the box on Leo's lap and smiled happily.

"But why? I don't think I deserve these.", he chuckled nervously.

"Uhm, yeah you do! You were a great help after all so your welcome.", she glanced at him strangely which made him blush a bit in embarrassment. He didn't believe that he has done as much as Azu is making it sound like but he still gratefully accepted the box.

"Thanks, that's really nice.", he mumbled while looking down at the beautifully decorated box in his hands. "At least you and your family can run your business as usual again."

"Yup, this week was really something but I'm glad it's all over now."

"Mhm, it's over.", the German spoke a bit quietly which made Azu worry a bit, however she decided not to point it out and just thought he might be tired.

"Well, I gotta go now! Enjoy the chocolates!", she jumped up energetically and waved as she headed towards the door. Before she could leave though Leo asked her one more thing:

"Wanna hang out tomorrow? You know, somewhere other than the café?"

"Hmm? Of course! What you thinkin' of?"

"How about the aquarium?"

"Sure. See ya tomorrow!", Azucena grinned and finally hurried out of the hotel. Leo stayed seated on the edge of the bed sighing, obviously thinking about something. Something was worrying him and he planned on telling Azucena about it tomorrow. Though he could already imagine perfectly how she will react to what he will say.

Chapter Text

"Woah, come take a look at that thing!", Azucena called Leo over to one of the fish tanks where she spotted a huge animal swimming inside. Leo hastily made his way towards her and also watched the shark in the tank. It was fascinating but Azucena has been fascinated by pretty much everything in this aquarium which made her look a bit childish. Leo didn't mind it though. He loved it when she enjoys herself but that made it even much harder to tell her about the reason why they met today in the first place. He decided to wait a while longer so he didn't ruin the mood so soon and thus they spent some more time spotting fish and other marine life. Finally after some time they took a break at one of the small restaurants in the aquarium and Leo decided to take this chance and finally tell her

"Azu, I need to tell you something.", he nervously began and already felt guilty as he was about to ruin the fun mood.

"What's up?", she inquired.

"I'm afraid this might be the last time we get to hang out like this."

"Huh? Why's that?", she acted confused and her smile faded already.

"My work at the excavation site is done. I'm flying home tomorrow.", he said and then it was totally silent between the two. Azucena already saw it coming but she didn't want it to be this soon. She didn't want him to go but was there really any other choice to be made?

"Tomorrow? But can't you stay a little bit longer?", she finally spoke up, her voice a little more quiet and sad than it normally is.

"I wish I could. The thing is I don't have a job here and no secure place to stay. The excavation company covered most of my expenses by now and so I must head back. I'm sorry.", he explained feeling his heart aching at the sight of Azucena's downed look. She was silent again and tried her best not to feel that sad about it since she knew that day would've come eventually. However she tried to think of a way that could make it possible for him to stay but nothing sprung to mind even after a long time of pondering.

"But don't worry! I'll probably visit Peru again in the near future.", Leo attempted to lighten her mood but it seemed like Azu barely even heard his words. She was so deep in thought that she nearly shut off everything else around her, desperate to find a way so they could see each other for a while longer. Eventually after what felt like an eternity digging for a solution she seemed to have found it:

"I know! What if you work for us for some time? And you can stay at my place. Would that make you able to stay longer?"

"Huh? You want me...to work for you and live in your house? I mean it could work but is it really okay?", he was taken aback by that sudden idea.

"Of course it's fine! It won't last forever anyway just for some time."

"And your family will be okay with it too?"

"They will, don't worry! So, do you agree?", she asked him eagerly but Leo wasn't entirely sure with the idea. It sounded interesting but there was a sense of uncertainty holding him back from immediately saying yes to it. However he didn't have much of a say anyway, like always, as Azucena got up and dragged him out of the aquarium once she grew too impatient. She led him across many roads and past many buildings until they arrived at the Ortiz farm in the mountains by bus.

"This is our farm by the way. I don't know if you've ever seen it before.", she quickly mentioned and finally let him go from her tight grip.

"I could tell...", Leo needed to catch some air first from all the running. "But why are we here? I haven't even agreed yet."

"Oh, right. But does it harm you to get to meet my family?", she just grinned playfully and led him inside the main house where she then called for her relatives to gather together. Most of them, if not all, looked at the two surprised and confused, especially at Leo. However they still acted friendly towards him even if his appearance was sudden.

"Is ma at home?", Azucena asked one of them and they quickly nodded.

"Yup, we are all at the farm today. She's probably in the kitchen.", an older man replied to her and the girl nodded.

"Alright, well she knows Leo already anyway so it doesn't matter if she's here.", she muttered to herself quietly before looking back up to the crowd of people, smiling and ready to introduce her newly found friend to all of them. "Everyone, this is Leo! A good friend of mine and he'll be working with us and living in this house for some time. I'm sure none of you will mind it, right?"
Her family seemed even more surprised after hearing what she said and Leo already felt like one of them was going to tell her that it wasn't a good idea, but the total opposite was the case: All of them smiled happily and warmly welcomed him as if he just became a part of their family! It took the German by complete surprise and this big family alone made him feel a bit nervous.

"That's great! Stay as long as you want, Leo!"

"I've seen him before a couple of times at the café I think..."

"Welcome!", they all cheered. All of this even though he didn't even say yes at all and now it made a lot harder for him to actually decline if he wanted. Leo nodded in response to all the kind words and smiled back at the people, clearly overwhelmed so he couldn't say anything for himself right now. Finally Azucena pulled him away again and showed him around the house for a brief moment before eventually stopping in front of a specific room.

"This is my room by the way. We'd have to share it if you're staying here.", she spoke while showcasing the bedroom but then her cheerful attitude shifted and she sighed to herself. "I apologize. You didn't even say yes or no to my suggestion but I still dragged you into it. I'm such a dumbass."

"It's okay...I mean next time you shouldn't just drag people into things, but your family seems really nice. I wouldn't mind staying and working here.", Leo scratched the back of his neck and glanced around the room for a moment before looking back at the Peruvian with a reassuring look.

"Huh, really? Awesome! I'll help you get your things from the hotel.", she clapped with her hands before rushing out of the room again not even bothering to wait up until Leo could catch up. As him and Azu carried his stuff from the hotel room to the car, he thought about how grateful he was for Azucena coming up with this rather strange idea. He loved staying in Peru and especially hanging out with her and it wasn't like he had any incredibly urgent business back in Germany that couldn't wait for another week or two.

"So, try not to get our clothes mixed up, okay?", Azucena laughed once they finished storing Leo's stuff into the wardrobes of the bedroom. He rolled his eyes and laughed sarcastically in response to that. Suddenly someone knocked at the door calling them downstairs to eat dinner and so the two of them hastily made their way out of the room to join the family at the dinner table. It was so unusual for Leo to sit at a large table with a big family like this since he only ever knew two relatives being close to him and additionally for the majority of his life up until now he has been by himself. Of course Azu's family began asking tons of questions which made him barely able to enjoy his meal properly.

"Where are you from, Leo?", one of the younger kids asked him with wide curious eyes.

"Germany.", he shortly answered before taking a bite from his food.

"Woah, that's like...really far away, right?"

"I guess it is, yeah.", he chuckled after quickly swallowing the chunks of food.

"And why did you decide to work for us and live here now?", the kid continued to ask dozens of questions which Leo couldn't always give an immediate answer to.

"Maybe because him and Azu are...together?", another kid tried whispering to the other but that 'whispering' tone was clearly loud enough for everyone at the table to understand what he just said. Both Leo and Azucena nearly choked on their food after hearing that sentence.

"How about you let the poor lad eat in peace?", an older man scolded the kids and they finally went quiet and ate their food in silence. Leo and Azucena gave each other weird glances before slowly continuing to eat. However that silence wouldn't last long due to another person beginning to ask questions.

"Well, if you're a good friend of Azu's then you must be just as much of a coffee fanatic as her.", an older woman, likely Azucena's grandma Leo assumed, asked in a bit of a joking tone.

"Not really a 'fanatic' I'd say...", he began speaking but suddenly got interrupted by Azucena mid sentence.

"Maybe he's not as crazy as me but he says he's been a long time fan of our brand. I even sent some coffee beans that came straight from the farm over to Germany, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I remember you picking the 'perfect' beans hand by hand and packaging them yourself. How could I forget.", the grandma chuckled. Leo just kind of sat there between them awkwardly and smiled along, feeling a bit too nervous to add anything to the conversation right now.

"Anything for a true fan, right?", another family member joked.

"Come on, anyone who likes coffee also likes the Ortiz coffee. It's not like I'm a special case.", Leo chuckled feeling a bit flattered after hearing all the effort Azucena went through to send him those coffee beans.

"To me you are and that's why you're a true fan of coffee in my book!", Azucena replied and everyone at the table laughed. The evening was going great and it would end after about half an hour once Azu's family became tired of bombarding the foreigner with questions. It was finally time to call it a night as most of them headed straight to bed after finishing up with dinner and so Azucena and Leo also went up to their room.

"One of us is gonna have to sleep on the floor though.", Azu said as she realized that she forgot to think about where Leo could sleep since she only had a single bed. He immediately volunteered and said he didn't mind sleeping on a mattress but she didn't let him. Otherwise she'd feel bad having to see him sleep beside the bed like a dog on the floor.

"I got it! Wait here a moment.", an idea sparked in her mind and she rushed out without another word. Minutes later he could hear some noises from outside and when he checked outside the room he spotted Azu carrying a whole sofa up the stairs by herself! Without another second to waste he hurried towards her to help with carrying the heavy object into the room and once they placed it down he began talking to her:

"Why didn't you just say that you want to carry an entire sofa up here? You didn't have to do it by yourself...", he face palmed himself and sighed.

"I don't know...well, anyway at least you don't have to sleep on the floor!", she grinned proudly for her idea and Leo couldn't help but be at awe with her expression.

"Thank you, that's very thoughtful. But I really wouldn't have minded it."

"But I would've. Now, sweet dreams!", she replied and jumped into her bed, getting ready to go to sleep so Leo also lied down on the sofa after turning off the room light. He certainly never expected to spend the night at Azucena's house but here he was. Tomorrow'll be a hard day at work so it's best to get some rest now.

Chapter Text

It was very early in the morning, perhaps around 5 a.m when Leo woke up, and the whole farm was already up working. After eating a quick meal for breakfast, him and Azucena made their way outside where she showed him the farm in more detail and explained everything he needed to take care of. She teaches him various things involving the care of coffee bean plants and the animals.

"How do you like it so far?", the girl inquired as they fed the alpacas with hay.

"Definitely something I've never experienced. It's pretty fun.", he responded, smiling as he watched the animals eat from his hand.

"Yeah, working on the farm is definitely way more fun than in the shop. You'll join me there tomorrow by the way.", she informed him and the German nodded twice in response. They moved on from the animals to the plantation where they picked ripe coffee beans and tended to other crops. They gather more and more beans into their baskets until suddenly a new person joined their side.

"Azucena, one question. Is he going to get paid for this though?", it was one of her younger cousins and they could spot his head peeking through the plants. She couldn't even give an immediate answer to that since she hasn't thought about any payment yet to be honest, but then Leo jumped in and replied to the question himself:

"Uh, no. I'm not getting a penny from this. Just glad I can help out and hang around in Peru a bit longer."

"Okay...and why do you like Peru so much? Or is Germany that horrible?", the teen continued asking and Azucena flicked her tongue and shook her head, wanting him to take his question back but Leo just laughed.

"Not at all! I love my home, but sometimes you just want to spend a bit more time somewhere else.", he kindly grinned to the young boy who shared quick glances with Azucena before disappearing behind the plants without another word. The Peruvian woman sighed in a rather annoyed way before she continued picking more coffee beans with Leo doing the same after briefly looking over to her direction.

"Ignore that rascal. I'm sure he didn't mean to offend you.", she then spoke up while not keeping her eyes off the plants in front of her.

"Oh, no offense taken.", he quickly assured her and that luckily managed to make her feel a little less embarrassed for her younger relatives. All of a sudden they got startled by an even younger cousin of Azucena and she seemed to be in a hurry.

"Azu, come! It's urgent!", the young girl pulled on her cousins arm to force her to get up and move.

"Huh? What's up?", she asked rather confused but the girl kept acting like there wasn't any time for explanations and so Azucena kept getting dragged by her arms.

"Just follow me!", the child shouted before running off along the tracks in the plantation. Although Azu was confused she decided to quickly follow her after telling Leo to stay put and continue working without her. He watched them as they hurried off into the distance and felt amused by the family's constant moving around. Without wasting any more time he continued to collect the best coffee beans and place them into his basket though it felt a little more boring and lonely now that he was doing it by himself. Well, if only he hadn't thought about being lonely so soon.

"Hey, Leo!", the teenage boy from earlier returned and appeared through the plants again but this time he sat down next to the German.

"Oh, hi. You're back.", he gave him a small and friendly smile and paused his work once again.

"Hmph...", suddenly the boys attitude seemed to be getting a bit more serious and he gave Leo a pout in return to his smiling face.

"Something wrong?", he asked him taking quick notice of his change in expression.

"I know why you're here...You don't actually want to help us out.", the teenager continued and his eyebrows narrowed into a look that made it seem like he was scanning Leo's insides.

"Pardon?"

"I've been watching you very carefully this morning and yesterday too. And I came to two conclusions why on Earth you'd ever start coming here to work.", the boy put a hand on his chin and at this point Leo guessed that he just wanted to play detective so he relaxed and resorted to not taking him seriously.

"So let's hear it.", he crossed his arms and smirked ready to hear whatever crazy story this kid came up with.

"Either you want to learn our tricks and take over our business or...", Azu's cousin paused and pulled out a leaf from one of the nearby plants to place it into his mouth as he continued to 'ponder' before speaking. "Or you want to steal the recipe to our unique flavors!"

"Okay, Sherlock Holmes. How do you expect me to do that?", Leo joked.

"Well, obviously you will want to get close to the key...which is Azucena! You will become best buddies maybe even partners and then... BAM! You run away to Germany with the secret formula to our success!", the kid thoroughly explained his theory but it was so ridiculous that Leo couldn't contain his laughter very well.

"Wow, I didn't even know you guys had any secret formula but that's a good theory, haha!", he answered but the teen still acted pretty serious as if he wasn't aware of how ridiculous he's being.

"Yeah, you're pretending not to know. You're laughing now to seem innocent but I know the truth. The real you behind the mask."

"Right. If I wanted that 'secret formula' you keep talking about so badly then I would've already gotten it ages ago. Whatever you want to believe, I guess.", Leo chuckled before finally getting back to work and collecting more beans around this certain area in the plantation. Before he could move far though he abruptly had to stop due to another young kid jumping right in front of his feet. He guessed it was another one of Azu's cousins.

"I knew that theory of yours was trash, Lorenzo! I know the real reason!", the young boy said very loudly. Leo could only sigh at them making up plausible reasons for his stay but it was sort of entertaining seeing how convinced they are by their own theories.

"Oh yeah? What's your big idea then?!", the teen boy yelled back at his cousin as he approached him rather hastily.

"I think he just likes Azucena..I mean, LIKE LIKE.", the boy slightly whispered at the end and his teenage cousin looked at him strangely.

"Ugh, seriously? That's stupid.", he argued acting like it's the grossest thing ever. Leo only watched the two cousins argue it out while standing on the side lines laughing amusedly. Until, yet another cousin joined and this time it was an older girl, perhaps around 16 years old, who also wanted to argue with them.

"I think it's pretty obvious. You know how in those books couples have to a share room? And Azucena only has one bed so I think those are enough signs! Right, Leo? You guys have to share a bed, right?", she asked and turned to the German who hasn't been a part of the conversation for quite some time but he just lightly chuckled at their assumptions instead of being defensive or rude like some people would be.

"Is that why you sent Azu away? To discuss this with me?", he asked a question in return and the kids then stayed silent as they've been caught.

"Oh, yeah. I think that's the case here...", out of nowhere Azucena creeped up behind them which scared everyone to death, even Leo. Her unusual intimidating and dark tone made her cousins shriek and they quickly ran away before she could actually say any more words or do anything to them.

"Those kids. They can never keep their mouth shut, can they?", she pinched the bridge of her nose acting clearly upset about what they just said.

"It's fine. They're just being kids. Let's finish up here already.", he quickly brushed it off and went back to work acting like it's nothing even though it wasn't like that for Azu. She was honestly dumbfounded by his careless attitude as if he was already used to it but perhaps she was just taking it more seriously than she should.
Hours later it was finally time to call it a day and the workers made their way home. After the family ate dinner and got to talk (mostly about Leo again) they each prepared for bed. Azucena was cleaning up her bedroom while Leo was busy in the bathroom and she happened to stumble upon his backpack where she immediately noticed the untouched pack of pralines she had given him after her quick trip from Monaco. It kind of shocked her since she expected him to have already eaten them by now and it made her wonder if he even appreciated them as much as he made it seem.

"You don't like pralines?", she asked him once he entered the room still drying his hair with a towel after taking a shower.

"What?"

"I just noticed that you didn't eat the pralines yet that I gave you. You could've just said so if you don't like them, you know?", she smiled and crossed her arms whilst sitting on her bed not wanting to sound like she took any offense to it.

"Oh no. I'm just keeping them for a special occasion. I don't eat a box of pralines for no reason.", he hastily explained and that was a good enough reason for Azu. She nodded now feeling embarrassed for wondering about it before but she wanted to forget about it by lying down and going to sleep. It was silent after Leo turned the lights off and hopped on to the sofa, covering himself with the blanket but after a while of thinking to himself he spoke to her again:

"What are you doing rummaging through my stuff anyway?", his tone was sarcastic but he was also genuinely curious why she had any business looking through his things while he was gone.

"Ah, I just spotted that box while putting your backpack away after cleaning up the room. I'm not a weird stalker, don't worry.", she laughed in the dark. Leo slightly chuckled too, even though it wasn't all that funny to him but he didn't feel like talking longer about it now. He just closed his eyes and thought about how the following day might go. Working in the café is a lot different than on a farm and he was excited to see how Azucena does so. He had always wondered how their coffee was made behind the scenes before serving.

Chapter Text

"Welcome to...your second day at work! I'm guessing you don't need much of an introduction for this place.", Azucena energetically presented the place as they went inside. Leo nodded as he already knew majority of it but of course he still needed to get to know the kitchen so that's where they headed immediately. After he got handed an apron with his nametag on it, they began to work — well, firstly Azu needed to show him the machines and how to use them of course before he could start doing any actual work. Fortunately Leo got the hang of it very quickly and soon he could start preparing orders once the shop officially opened for business. In the kitchen he got to speak with different family members, that weren't annoying little cousins like the day before, and also other workers who weren't blood related. It was a nice environment to work but he soon felt tired of the constant conversations and questions that he got bombarded with. Not too long after though Azucena returned to the kitchen to check on his work and was pleasantly surprised by the progress he was making.

"Wow, you're getting the hang of this quickly! Go serve some tables then for a change.", she spoke to him with a wide smile and watched Leo as he nodded and hurried off to deliver orders. She then took his position at the coffee machine preparing drinks all while glancing over through the window to see how he was doing.

"Seems like this isn't the first time he's worked in an environment like this.", one of the employees began talking with her while also watching the German work.

"Yeah, he's totally a natural at this! I imagined him having a harder time but I'm glad that he exceeded my expectations.", Azucena could only agree with her and went on to focus more on her work as she knew not to worry about his performance anymore. A while later she shortly checked on him again and since he was only talking with a customer she immediately went back to her own business but after waiting a couple of minutes to look back up, she noticed that he was still talking to the same person.

'Is it trouble?', she pondered to herself and now began watching them a bit longer. She couldn't tell what was going on from afar but soon enough Leo's body language gave hints that made her feel a bit uneasy.

"Just go back to work, Azu. He's an adult and he can handle it himself.", she attempted to calm herself but her curiosity ultimately made her step out of the kitchen and hide somewhere near a wall to eavesdrop for a bit. 'But if he doesn't know how to deal with rude customers? I better make sure before I jump to any conclusions...'
Azucena justified her own actions and after she found a good and inconspicuous place to hide she could properly listen to their conversation.

"Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about.", Leo shook his head, speaking in a rather distant tone and wanted to rush off but the stranger stopped him by saying the following:

"Is now not a good time to talk about this? When should I come back then? Come on. I just need answers...", he acted like he was desperate and in a hurry and as if he has been begging Leo to talk for the entirety of their interaction. Leo sighed, looked to the side to think before cramping up a piece of paper and wrote something on it to hand to the man.

"After my shift.", he just said to him and rushed away, heading towards the kitchen. Azucena instinctively got away and back to her original position once she saw Leo approaching. There he picked up a few more orders, smiled to Azu, she smiled back and he was off again. Now she was really intrigued what they have been talking about but more was she worried. Was this man bothering him and Leo just used that note as an excuse to not cause a scene in the café? She had to figure out the truth and thus quickly decided to follow Leo once he meets up with this stranger after his shift.
Hours later, it was evening and the shop began closing up. Azucena hasn't seen the stranger from before meaning they might be somewhere else that wasn't near the shop.

"So? Any plans for the evening?", she asked him and tried to act as usual as she could.

"Uhm, yep! I gotta go somewhere quickly so you just head back without me.", he excused himself and waved to her before heading off to a completely different direction. Azucena waited until he was far away enough so she could start following his path hopefully without causing him to spot her.

"I don't wanna act like a stalker but I just have to be safe. In case this man from before means trouble I gotta be there!", she spoke to herself in a mumbling tone to again justify her own behavior. It wasn't a long walk and soon she found herself behind the building of the coffee shop where she immediately spotted the stranger waiting next to some dumpsters. She tried to get as close as she could all while staying hidden in order to properly listen in on them again.

"Who do you think you are going up to me while I'm peacefully working and asking me to talk about my deceased mother?", Leo crossed his arms looking displeased having to talk to the man, however the stranger didn't seem like a bad guy at all. He looked empathetic and quickly apologized for the inconvenience he caused for the German.

"Sorry, I just didn't expect to meet a relative of her here.", the man scratched the back of his head.

"Who are you anyway? An introduction would've been appropriate at least."

"Right! Forgive me. The name's Steve. Steve Fox.", he reached his hand out for a polite handshake but Leo just glared at him suspiciously and rudely refused.

"That's why you were so familiar...I've seen you at the tournaments before.", Leo spoke rather to himself in a muttering voice before looking up and speaking to Steve directly again. "And what's your business with Emma? Are you affiliated with G Corp or something?"

"No! Well, maybe I kind of am, but not in the way you think. I don't work for them, however they're the reason I exist...and so is Emma. She helped me to escape so I could survive and live my own life normally. Her face is what is so deeply engraved into my memory when I think about my childhood — so I immediately knew you were related when I saw your face.", Steve thoroughly explained, leaving Leo and Azucena shocked. It was silent for a moment between the two since Leo needed to process everything first.

'Luckily he isn't a bad guy...but is all of that really true?', Azucena wondered and Leo was thinking the exact same thing. Instead of giving an actual response though, he suddenly turned his back towards Steve to leave. Azucena got worried as she might be spotted if he took any more steps but to her luck he was stopped by Steve's hand grabbing his arm.

"Hold on a minute! Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Did I say something to offend you?", the British boxer sounded a bit concerned and confused by Leo's attitude. Half a minute later Leo finally turned to face Steve again and pressed another piece of paper into his hand, turned around and left. This time Azu had enough time to get a better spot to hide behind so she could avoid being noticed but now she was curious what was written on the paper. Steve just glanced back at Leo after reading what was written and grinned before leaving the area as well.

'What could be so secretive that he couldn't just tell him face to face? Is he trying to hide something in case someone might listen in...?', Azu thought to herself feeling like there was way more to this and continued to think about it as she made her way home. 'I'll tell him to work in the café again tomorrow...let's see if that Steve guy will show up again just to meet him.'
She knows it may be exaggerated but she can't help but feel like something weird's going on — if only she could also read that 'top secret' note Leo left behind.

Chapter Text

The next day Leo worked at the café as Azucena had planned but she told him that she'd be working at the farm today just to see if he'd act differently in her absence. She chose a place to disguise herself at and waited for Steve to step foot into the coffee shop. As expected at around 9 a.m she found the blonde boxer taking a seat in the café – conveniently at the exact same table he sat at the day before. It took a while for Leo to notice his appearance but once he did the two of them began chatting for a long time and Leo even took a seat at his table. Sadly Azucena wasn't able to understand a single word they were exchanging due to her inconvenient hiding spot but she could clearly see the expressions on their faces. They were getting along way better than the day before and she guessed they were sharing their memories with Emma making them quickly relate to each other.

"It's not like other customers are waiting to be served, Leo...", she murmured rather judgmentally and shook her head, continuing to watch the two from afar. However, she couldn't help but feel like something was tearing inside her the longer their relationship developed right in front of her very eyes. This strange feeling of wanting to burst in and pull Leo away from him. This strange feeling of wanting to separate them. This strange feeling of jealousy. Why was she jealous? Because Leo got along with other people? Maybe she was more afraid than jealous. Afraid that he might get along with someone so well that he'd forget all about her. She didn't even know at all whether Leo feels the same way she feels about him so it made all of this even worse. They weren't even a couple yet but this emotion is making her feel pretty possessive over him. Is this normal or is she just being dramatic? Either way the feeling persisted and now she plans on watching them until Steve would leave. That may take hours but she needs to see how their interactions go — she needs to watch all of it, from beginning to end.

"Azu? I thought you weren't going to work at the shop today?", suddenly Leo appeared next to her. She didn't even notice how he left Steve's table and approached her outside because of her loud, intrusive thoughts, so she flinched after hearing his voice.

"Oh! Just wanted to see how things were going. Everything good?", she tried playing it cool although she almost got caught red handed and that's why she felt incredibly nervous.

"Yeah, all good. Why didn't you just come in to check then?"

"Uh, didn't want to ruin the flow you were in, you know? You're really good at this job! But, well, I gotta get going already. Just wanted to check up quickly.", Azucena rose up from her seat and grinned in attempt to hide her nervous expression and she quickly moved away from the café's premise while shouting: "Keep it up!"
Leo watched her weirdly from behind and he couldn't even say bye since she was already gone so quickly. Then he just shrugged it off and headed back inside to continue his work.

'Damn, that was a close one. I can't hang around here much longer or else he'll definitely be suspicious. But there's gotta be one way to keep track of what he's doing...', the Peruvian thought to herself and held up a hand to her chin until finally an idea clicked. Without wasting any more time she headed off in search for a specific individual, hoping that he was still in Peru.

"You want me to spy on your boyfriend?", Law raised an eyebrow when Azucena told him her idea. Luckily she managed to find him at a local street sale where he was enjoying a warm meal on some barstools.

"Not boyfriend, just a good friend. And I wouldn't call it something insane like spying. Just keeping an eye on him to make sure everything's alright.", she corrected him.

"I think going into the café he works at and taking notes of whatever he's doing counts as spying...better yet that's mere stalking! Why would I want to do that?"

"Is this enough reason?", Azu sighed at his stubbornness and presented a couple of notes in her hand which obviously immediately convinced him. He snatched the money from her hand and stored it in his pocket after saying:

"Hmph, alright. But payment upfront!"

About half an hour later Law took a seat in the café, at the exact table Azucena told him to and began his task: He watched Leo whenever he saw him and took quick notes in a notebook of whatever he was doing just like the girl asked him to.

'What's all this for anyway? Why can't she just do this herself? This is her goddamn shop it's not like she isn't allowed to be in here...', Law thought to himself and sipped some coffee he ordered, already dying of boredom. Although not too long he finally noticed his friend Steve sitting near him and he was close to greeting him out of instinct, yet remained put after remembering that Steve might become a distraction for him if they were to talk.

'What's Steve doing out here? Last time I checked he wasn't much of a coffee fan...', Law thought and was confused but when Leo sat down at his table again for them to talk it became clear for him. 'Looks like he got a new friend. Yeah, that would be the only reason for him to ever step foot in a coffee shop.'
He joked to himself and wrote down some brief notes while trying his best to listen in to their conversation, even though it felt pretty immoral to him.

"So, why are you in Peru?", Steve changed the topic of conversation from before and leaned back on his chair.

"Originally I was staying for work but now I'm staying for a while longer because of a friend. She offered me to work in her business and stay in her house.", Leo explained while Steve nodded listening to him curiously.

"Neat. I'm guessing Azucena's that generous friend?"

"Yup. That's pretty obvious, I think.", the German giggled. "And you?"

"Hmm, there's just a boxing tournament happening tomorrow which I'm going to participate in."

"Really? I'd love to watch it. Where is it going to take place?", Leo asked him seeming pretty optimistic and totally different from the way he acted towards Steve before when he first approached him. Law quickly wrote down everything that was being said in bullet points and soon after Steve gave Leo the address, he left the shop which was Law's cue to head out too. He hurried to find Azucena who was waiting for him a bit further away from the shop on a bench and as soon as he sat down next to her, he shared everything he had discovered.

"I knew there was more to it...Why would Leo ask him so quickly to watch him in a fight? How can they be so close already? It hasn't even been two days!", Azucena sounded outraged and crumbled pieces of the notebooks paper. She eventually pulled herself together and handed the book back to the Chinese man. "You're going there tomorrow, okay?"

"Seriously? Am I some sort of secret investigator now? I actually wanted to fly home tomorrow.", Law said annoyed and felt like not wanting to help her anymore but Azucena wasn't letting him off so easily.

"Then fly home another time! I'll pay you double than what you just received if you go, alright?", she hastily added making Law sigh and agree once more.

"But just so you know, Steve knows me personally so I can't act like a nobody if he sees me."

"The closer you get to them, the better. I'll be hearing from you tomorrow.", the young woman stood up and walked off towards the direction of her home leaving Law by himself and unsure whether this was the right thing to do.
At the farm Azucena needn't do much work as it was already pretty late so she just headed to her room to be by herself for a moment and be in her own thoughts. Not too long after though she got scared by Leo interrupting her inner monologue again. She greeted him nicely attempting to act as normally as she could even with all this jealousy in her mind.

'What could be so great about this Steve that they become so close in such short notice?', she ruminated in silence while having a conversation with the blonde German. Seems like Leo wasn't suspecting a thing about her secret emotions and plan for tomorrow so she expected everything to go smoothly until Law would return. Hopefully her expectations will be correct.

Chapter Text

It was evening and Law already arrived at the location of the tournament after having a brief meet up with Azucena. His plan for now was to avoid any attention from Steve and witness everything from the side but how easy would this be? The man already knew that it will be a challenge since the area for audience was quite small and if Steve finished his match he could see him wherever he was standing in the crowd. But he still promised to try his best so he went in after seeing that Leo had already appeared too. Unfortunately Law had to find out that there even less people at the event than he imagined so staying hidden may be even harder now. Indeed it didn't take long because only minutes after he found a spot to stay at that was close enough to spy on Leo, he heard his name being called out and soon Steve greeted his friend by subtly pushing him from behind.

"Law! What are you doing down here in Peru?", the Brit sounded pleasantly surprised to meet his friend but Law felt the complete opposite.

"Oh, haha, it's a long story. I didn't know you were here too.", he attempted to come up with an excuse that wouldn't make him say too much or spill too many lies.

"Yeah, small world we live in. Oh, I'd like you to meet someone.", Steve chuckled and turned to Leo who stood a little further away seemingly still waiting for him to arrive. "Leo, hey! Over here!"
Leo quickly turned around after hearing his name being called and approached the two men while smiling kindly.

"Hi, there you are!", the German said and looked over to Law with an interested look.

"Law meet Leo. Leo meet Law.", Steve introduced them even though an introduction wasn't needed at all. Law awkwardly grinned and waved slowly and he thought that Leo might be a little suspicious of his appearance. However for now he acted like they never met before.

"Nice to meet you.", Leo responded and shook Laws hand politely.

"So, are you guys like friends or...", Law decided to ask so he could get an insight on their relationship.

"Uh, I guess so. We only met like 2 days ago but we seem to get along quite well, right?", Steve answered although he sounded a little unsure of his response.

"That's right.", Leo agreed and nodded.

"Oof, gotta go! The matches are about to start. See ya!", Steve suddenly left after taking a quick glance at the time and now Law and Leo were by themselves and they could talk without the boxer around.

"So? What brings you here?", Leo then asked the Chinese man and crossed his arms

"I just felt like watching some fights", he replied and Leo nodded once before it was silent between the two. Just a couple seconds later the first match began and everyone watched it closely, cheering, snacking, drinking and having a blast - not Law though. He felt a bit tense being right next to Leo since he has a feeling that he secretly knew the truth meaning he could potentially confront him about it at any time.

'Stop overthinking it, damnit! Just relax and act natural, otherwise you'll definitely get busted.', Law ruminated to himself and constantly glanced between Leo and the ring in front of them with the fighters brutally beating each other up. 'All I need to do is watch what they're doing. That's it. Nothing crazy.'

"I hope no one hired you again to spout nonsense about the organization.", Leo made a joke while they waited for Steve's match to take place.

"Haha, no. Not doing any of that anymore...", Law awkwardly laughed and scratched the back of his neck nervously. Finally their rather awkward conversation was interrupted by an announcer telling the crowd who the next fighters will be and when they heard him mention Steve Fox, their whole attention quickly turned to the ring. As Steve entered and stood his opponent face o face, Law cheered loudly wanting to motivate his friend before the fight. Eventually the match began and now everyone had to watch, anticipating who might come out as the winner. After about five tense, yet exciting minutes the fight concluded after Steve managed to make his opponent retreat. The whole crowd clapped and shouted his name in celebration as he stood on one of the posts and held his arm up high in the air, presenting himself proudly to the people. Both Law and Leo couldn't feel more happy for his successful victory.

"Amazing work! These so-called boxers are way out of your league.", Law gratulated his friend by patting him on the back and grinning proudly. A couple hours have gone by at this point meaning the tournament was nearly over so Steve no longer had to fight for today.

"Ah, I think I was just going too hard on them. Maybe they were just beginners.", Steve answered as he sat down to rest.

"No beginner would go into a tournament where there are mostly professional fighters participating.", Leo shook his head in response to Steve's statement and handed him a bottle of water he had just purchased. "But seriously. The way you fought out there was really impressive. Now I know how you got your title as the Counter-Punching Paragon."

"Heh, thanks.", Steve chuckled and took a couple of sips from the bottle before talking some more. "Honestly, I feel like I perform way better when I got friends watching me in the audience."

"Then we should always come along with you to matches.", Leo said.

"If you can afford the travel costs, then sure.", the Brit laughed warmly.

'Well, she's been worrying for absolutely no reason. They are just good friends.', Law thought in silence and considered taking his leave already. However, he decided to stay after remembering that Azucena told him to only leave after the two left. After a while however he thought about wanting to tell Steve of the ridiculousness he was in since he felt like telling it to anyone but considered that Leo may discover too, exposing Azucena's plan. He got another idea though so he excused himself from the conversation and headed to the restroom where he picked up his phone and called his buddy Paul Phoenix. He just had to inform someone about this thing so he couldn't hold himself back from talking.

"Damn man. You spend one day in Peru and then get yourself involved in a circus.", Paul laughed on the other line and so did Law.

"Yeah, totally. This girl acts really possessive and she can't trust her own boyfriend! - Uhm I mean friend. Apparently he's just a friend.", the Chinese martial artist spoke rather loudly as he stood in front of a mirror.

"Did you tell Steve about your new job as a 'secret investigator'?", his friend then asked.

"Nah. Maybe not now since that Leo guy could find out about her plan that way. She precisely told me to stay secretive or whatever."

"Well, then just get your paycheck and immediately head home before she can tell you to do more spying."

"Already planned on doing that.", Law chuckled and hung up the call after saying goodbye. He looked at himself in the mirror for a few more seconds before taking a breath and heading back to meet up with Steve and Leo again. They wouldn't hang out for any longer though as Steve just said his goodbyes and left. Soon Leo also exited the building and walked into another direction. Finally Law could meet up with Azu for hopefully the last time before he could go home back to the USA.

"What? So, you didn't notice anything weird? Like nothing sparked between them?", Azucena inquired sounding more surprised than glad since she was so convinced of her own theory.

"Nope, nothing. They were just hanging out like any ordinary friends. I didn't see anything odd.", Law assured her and he was already tired of talking about this topic. "Can you finally leave me alone now?"

"Well, maybe I just overreacted...", Azucena mumbled to herself and looked down. Now she finally realized what she had done and felt ashamed, but suddenly everything would become even worse for her once she heard that voice speak to them.

"Really? You sent this guy to spy on me?", Leo approached them with a disappointed look as if he had been lurking behind them for a while already. Both of them glanced at him with mere shock in their eyes after getting caught red-handed.

"L-Leo? Uh, what a coincidence...!", Azucena tried acting like it was nothing but she knew all too well herself that she couldn't lie to him anymore.

"No need to act dumb in front of me. I know everything.", Leo crossed his arms and he definitely felt mad and betrayed by her.

"But how?", she asked completely dumbfounded but Law could already guess how he did and went on to facepalm himself.

"He was a little too vocal on the phone earlier.", the German glanced over to the embarrassed man who was standing next to the Peruvian and she gave him a dirty look.

"I think I'm gonna go now...", he carefully said before taking slow steps away from them as this was no longer his issue to deal with. Total silence overwhelmed the girl and she just stared to the ground feeling ashamed and guilty.

"Can I know why you decided to hire Law to spy on me? And is this the first time or has my privacy been violated before already?"

"I'm sorry...I just wanted to make sure that...you're safe.", she attempted to excuse herself but judging by Leo's expression he wasn't all too convinced by it.

"You don't think I can take care of myself? You do know that I can fight back in case something actually happens, right? No, just stop with the lies."

"I'm not lying...", Azucena muttered obviously not wanting to tell him the real reason for her actions yet due to her embarrassment.

"You're acting like a child right now, do you know that? Is it true that you did this out of jealousy?", Leo continued speaking in a serious manner, making Azu even more anxious whether she now permanently ruined their relationship. She stayed quiet and avoided eye contact with him for a while until he eventually had enough and turned around.

"Wh-where are you going?!", she quickly asked with a worried face.

"I'm taking my things and flying home.", he sounded cold. Azu just watched as he walked off in the direction of the Ortiz farm as she didn't know how to stop him. She wasn't ready to confirm the truth yet but she also didn't want him to leave. After waiting until he was out of sight she also made her way back slowly.

"Leo, please wait!", Azucena told him as she rushed into her bedroom where he was already in the middle of packing his things.

"Ready to drop the childish act now?", he spoke calmly not facing her and folding his clothes into his suitcase. She stood beside the doorframe, anxiously twisting her fingers for a moment before she'd reply.

"Are you really going to leave because of this? I mean, it wasn't a nice thing to do but it certainly isn't that big of a deal!"

"Not that big of a deal? Do you hear yourself right now?", he said, trying to hold his anger in as he continued to stuff his suitcase and bag more hastily.

"Just stop it!", Azucena closed his suitcase to prevent him from packing and glared at him as she wanted to talk normally without him turning his back against her. Leo gave her a weird look and backed away.

"Of course this doesn't seem like a big deal for you because otherwise you wouldn't have done it.", he began to speak sounding clearly annoyed but also a bit melancholic.

"You're acting like we're a married couple and that I cheated on you or something!"

"I'm just really pissed off, okay? I'm mad because you decided not to talk about your worries. Why do you feel like you have to keep secrets from me? Especially secrets that directly involve me! This is making me feel like you don't trust me at all.", Leo finally snapped and his tone was so unusual which made Azucena finally realize how horrible her actions were. She never expected him to find out about this but she also never expected him to react like this. Perhaps it did affect him a lot more than she likes to think. The girl went silent again as she was shocked by how spoke but she also simply didn't have any words to say to him. He might already know her real intentions but did he know about her real feelings? She wasn't ready to confess yet but what else is she supposed to do? Maybe it's the only way to save their relationship? Because she just kept thinking about it, Leo eventually grew impatient again and continued packing his things. At last he got all of his things together and headed towards the door while Azucena just stood behind him still thinking about what response to give.

"Okay stop! I'll...I'll tell you. Just wait.", Azucena quickly spoke up and Leo stopped right before walking through the doorframe and he turned to look at her. He crossed his arms and waited for her to talk but she still needed to gather herself first.

"Alright...uhm, I admit. Maybe I was jealous. I just wanted to make sure that you wouldn't...become interested in someone else and forget about me.", she said rather nervously and in a hushed tone.

"Hah, and you were talking about me acting like we are a couple.", he scoffed in annoyance after hearing what she said. "I get that you were feeling jealous when I hung out with someone else but I never would've thought you'd go this far. I'm just really disappointed right now."
He continued and his expression changed from being angry to being sad, making him look away from her. Then Leo took some more steps towards the door as if he was convinced that now he shouldn't be staying in Peru anymore - especially not in this house. Even though deep inside he didn't really want to leave. All of a sudden he was pulled back by Azucena and she even had tears forming in her eyes as she held on to his arm.

"I will not stop you from leaving but I still need to tell you something first.", she said, nearly crying but she contained herself in order to speak properly. She finally manag to gather the much needed courage to spill the whole truth. His reaction couldn't get any worse than this, right? That's what she made herself believe in order to say the next sentences out loud.

"I'm really sorry. I should've considered how you would feel and for that I'm truly sorry. I acted so egotistical and stupid which honestly is not how I normally act. I don't know what came over but I guess I just...fell in love.", she looked down when saying the last three words in her speech, embarrassed but also anxious how Leo would react to her confession. Her face turning slightly red as she stared down to her own feet and just waited for him to respond badly. However after about a minute of pure silence she began to worry and decided to glance back up to take a look at his expression and then she saw Leo staring at her with wide eyes. He wasn't exactly shocked, more was he glad and relieved that she finally shared how she truly feels, without keeping secrets from him. The resentful expression completely faded and instead he gave her a subtle smile.

"Finally you're talking about your feelings. Was it really that hard?", Leo spoke in a tone that was a lot softer than how he spoke with her before. Now that the full truth was out he couldn't be angry with her anymore.

"Wait, aren't you mad? I thought it would ruin our friendship if I said anything..."

"Nonsense! The only thing that would've ruined our friendship is the fact that you paid someone to stalk me.", Leo answered confidently which made Azucena feel positively surprised. "Wouldn't it be shocking if I told you that I feel the same way?"

"Wait, what?", the Peruvian widened her eyes in surprise to what he said. "Are you serious?"

"Of course, I am. I did think about it for a while and I wouldn't mind being a bit more than friends."

'I can't tell if this is real or if I'm dreaming...', Azucena thought to herself and scratched her head feeling twisted whether this was reality. 'So, I've been racking my brains all this time about nothing...'

"See? My theory was the right one all along!", suddenly their emotional moment was interrupted by one of Azucena's cousins speaking rather loudly near the door and soon they heard other family members shushing them.

"You guys have been listening in all this time?!", Azucena spoke up towards the door and soon she spotted a couple heads sticking out to glance at her. Surprisingly it wasn't only younger cousins but also older family members like her aunts, uncles and even her grandma was there to watch the scene! That only made the two blush from embarrassment when they saw how many people have actually noticed their situation.

"If you don't want anyone listening to your conversations then close the door! That's why it's there.", an aunt spoke up and the others laughed a bit. Not Azu and Leo though. They just glanced at each other awkwardly and sighed since they couldn't even have this moment for themselves.

"But does that mean you won't be leaving?", Azucena then turned back to Leo and he grinned back at her kindly.

"Not today at least.", he answered. The young woman was so overjoyed by the fact that he wasn't mad at her anymore and that he feels the same way as her that she couldn't stop herself from just going in for a hug. Her family all awed them and few of them were even a little emotional.

"But promise me that you won't do anything like hiring 'secret investigators' ever again, okay?", Leo told her after letting go.

"Promise.", she nodded hastily while having a wide grin on her face. Although she imagined the day of her confession being a little different it still turned out the way she always hoped for. Were they now officially a couple?

Chapter Text

A few days later Leo and Azucena took a stroll around town after finishing up their work at the farm. They hung out often enough before but this time it felt totally different. It felt like they were starting their relationship over but now it would be going in another direction. As they walked along the streets, Leo began to notice more and more festival like decorations being placed around making him wonder if something big was soon to be celebrated.

"Is there some festival going on soon?", he inquired Azucena while continuing to glance around curiously.

"Oh, yeah! It's almost time to celebrate Fiestas Patrias. There're gonna be festivals all over the country.", she replied brightly.

"Huh? What are you guys celebrating?", he asked again confused with raised eyebrows after hearing those foreign words.

"Peru's Independence Day. There's going to be a huge parade going on here and everyone's gonna be there."

"Wow. Sounds like fun.", Leo sounded impressed and also intrigued as he never got to visit any big parades like that before in his life.

"We can go together, if you want.", she suggested.

"Sure! I can't possibly miss a parade like that.", he quickly answered, making his excitement rather obvious which made Azucena chuckle a bit. She could immediately tell that he was eager to go and she found it pretty cute. As the two of them walked a bit more Leo thought about something he wanted to bring up but wasn't sure for a while whether he actually should. After short moments of reconsideration he eventually opened his mouth to say:

"So, what about that woman who offered you a modeling gig? Did you answer at all?"

"Huh?", the girl seemed a bit confused at first but soon she remembered the lady who had approached them about a week ago when they were spending the afternoon at the beach. "Oh, that woman. Uh, no I think I completely forgot about it. But no response technically means 'no', right?"

"Maybe.", he just shrugged and laughed a little. The two of them then stopped their stroll to take a break on a bench as they would go on to talk more about pretty random things until suddenly some stranger came to interrupt them rather rudely.

"Excuse me, are you Azucena M. Ortiz? You haven't been answering our calls so I thought it'd be better to speak in person.", a tall suited man with a briefcase stood before them.

"Who are you?", she raised an eyebrow while looking up to the man, feeling salty about him just bursting in to their conversation without warning.

"I'm from StyleSphere Attire. You may have heard of us since we're a local clothing brand."

"Oh, yeah. And you want me to model for you?", she nodded as the brand name did ring a bell.

"That's right! Give us a chance and you won't be disappointed. We pay greatly to compensate for your time."

"Uh...", the Peruvian had to pause to think to herself as all of this came out of nowhere. Well, at least she had a bit more time on her hands since her work isn't all too stressful anymore from her family hiring new employees. She quickly looked over to Leo before she stood up to be at the same eye level as the business man in order to give her response.

"Alright then."

"Really? Amazing! Here, we'll talk the details once we begin with the shoot!", the man pressed a card in her hand before rushing off with a big smile on his face. Azucena read through it carefully but her eyes widened when she saw the date the shoot would be taking place.

"Wait, tomorrow?! That's a bit of a last minute call.", she exclaimed but the man has already gone too far to be able to hear anything she said. Leo then also took a look at the business card in her hands and sighed.

"You can still call them and tell them you changed your mind.", he suggested but she shook her head.

"No, I'll go. Not like I got anything going on tomorrow anyway."

'But tomorrow is a Sunday...', Leo thought in silence finding it odd that she'd work on a day that's supposed to be used to take a break. However, he kept that thought to himself and soon the two of them would decide to head back to the farm before the sun completely disappeared at the horizon. Although it's already been a couple of days since Azu's confession, it still didn't seem like either of them thought they're officially a couple now. Perhaps because none of them directly asked the other. Either way, both lied down in their respective sleeping place with Azucena being mostly curious of how her day at the rather sudden shoot might go.

Finally the morning arrived and Azucena hastily jumped out of bed in order to get ready in time. Not even Leo was awake yet after she took a shower, brushed her teeth and styled her hair. Once she was ready to go she looked back to him sleeping on the sofa.

'I wonder when he can stop sleeping on that sofa.', Azucena pondered to herself and chuckled quietly.

"See you later, Leo.", she whispered before carefully heading out of the room without making too much noise, yet before shutting the door she glanced at him for one last time. She quickly treaded downstairs and saw how a couple of her family members were already up and lively in the hallways, especially her cousins.

"Azu? Where are you headed this early?", her aunt then spoke to her right before stepping in front of the door.

"I got a photo shoot today.", she turned around and smiled to the woman.

"Oh, well your parents took the car today so I can drive you.", the middle aged woman was already about to grab her keys but Azucena quickly interfered.

"Not necessary! I'll just take the bus, so don't worry because of me."

"The bus? C'mon it's really not a problem for me."

"I'll be fine, but thanks. See you later!", Azucena shouted while hurrying outside since the bus would drive off pretty soon. Although, she would've preferred driving by car, she didn't want to occupy her aunts time that she should be using to watch over the kids. As soon as Azu left, Leo got out of bed and headed to the nearby bathroom to wash his face.

'Azu's out already, huh? What am I supposed to do the whole day...', he thought as he brushed through his hair to make it sit right. Since today was a day off he had all the time in the world to do other things, but what? He couldn't come up with any good ideas himself as Azucena would always be the one to come up with them. He could just stay indoors for today but that's not really the kind of person he is. For now he just decided to head downstairs to greet the family but was soon perplexed to see a lot of suitcases near the front door.

"Ah, morning! Slept well?", one of the older cousins greeted him first as she stood in the kitchen washing some dishes.

"Yeah...hey, what's with all those suitcases?", he asked her in a confused and still pretty tired sounding tone.

"Oh, a couple of the family members are leaving soon. Especially the kids because they got school."

"I see. That's a bit of a shame. Isn't some festival holiday soon?"

"You mean Fiestas Patrias? Yeah, sadly they won't be able to celebrate with us this year.", the girl sighed sounding very displeased about it herself. Leo nodded understandingly but before they could continue any further with their conversation, he suddenly felt someone pulling him by the side and when he looked down in surprise he saw one of the kids pulling on the end of his T-shirt.

"Leo! Leo! Come play with us!", the child kept pulling him impatiently.

"Hey! Stop that already, Diego. What did I tell you about pulling on people?", the girl paused her dish washing to scold her cousin even though it wasn't that serious for Leo.

"It's fine. I'll gladly play with you guys.", Leo giggled and felt in awe at how eager the kid wanted him to come with as he took his hand and dragged him away to the other children. He didn't really get a chance to spend some time with the younger generation anyway and since they'd go soon, he thought it was appropriate. Soon he joined a circle of kids who all have been waiting already and right after he was handed a toy cup and some plastic food.

"Are we having a tea party?", he chuckled at the organized plates and how the kids were mostly sitting well behaved.

"Yup, but only the coolest cousins get to take part. And you're our special guest.", Diego nodded before descending down to his own seat.

"I feel very honored.", he warmly said and looked down to the toy dishes in front of him before looking back up to see who was also there. Although he has been in this house for some days now, he still wasn't familiar with a couple of the people's names and could only remember the most notable ones. There were just simply way too many to remember!

"Did you go to school as a kid?", Diego then asked after noticing how no one else was talking yet.

"Yep. I mean, everyone has to go to school.", he replied with a nod.

"You must've hated it too, right? School is so buns!", Maria, a younger girl spoke and she sounded genuinely disgusted after the mere mention of it.

"It wasn't always great but school is important, you know? Otherwise you end up as dumb as a potato."

"I agree! I don't understand how anyone dislikes school because I love it!", another boy, Leo couldn't remember the name of, spoke up proudly but was quickly silenced by his female cousin.

"We already know that and we don't care!", she yelled at him and both kids glared at each other. Their silly and exaggerated behavior made Leo laugh, but soon he felt rather gloomy about the fact that he never got to grow up with anything like a cousin or sibling. It sure would've sweetened his childhood up a bit.

"So, are you and Azucena, like together now? Are you her boyfriend?", suddenly he was pulled out of his melancholic thoughts as Camila, a girl older than Diego, asked a bit of an out of pocket question. Leo already opened his mouth to give a quick reply, however stopped when he struggled on finding the right words. To be fair, he wasn't too sure himself since they haven't done anything 'couple related' yet, making the state of their relationship a bit unclear for him. He could feel the gaze of the other kids on him as they wanted to know the answer just as much. They began growing impatient when he didn't reply for quite a while bit right when one of them wanted to continue asking him, Azucena's aunt, the same woman who offered to take her by car to the shoot, saved him and told the kids that she needed to speak with him.

"Thanks, I didn't really know what to say there...", he quietly thanked for dragging him out.

"Yeah, those kids still don't understand that it's none of their business.", the woman spoke lightheartedly and drank some coffee as she leaned on a windowsill. A few moments of silence occurred before a question popped into Leo's head that has been unanswered for quite some time now.

"Can I ask what kind of modeling Azucena usually does?", he asked and the woman turned her head to glance at him weirdly before placing her mug on the sill.

"What? She didn't tell you either?", she chuckled a little surprised and crossed her arms. "I'm not all too sure myself honestly because seems like she doesn't like talking about it much. I mean it's definitely for clothes, that's a given."

"Only clothing brands then?", he inquired and the middle aged woman nodded assuringly.

"Pretty much. Someone brought some magazines once where Azucena was in it but abuelita always throws them away immediately way before anyone else can have a closer look.", she took another sip from her cup before saying more. "If you're so curious just go look at some magazines in the corner shops. Maybe you'll find her."

"Thanks.", Leo nodded and walked off thinking about what she said. He headed to the bedroom but he wasn't sure what he would do there.
'I don't think I'll actually go to some corner shops to look through every magazine...', he thought to himself as he sat down on the sofa and snatched his phone out, not knowing what else to do. He'd prefer to go outside but what could he do all by himself on a Sunday?

'Maybe instead of searching every magazine I could just search her name online?', a random idea came to his mind and even though he didn't plan on doing that at first, his fingers still typed it in a search engine and before he knew it he was on an article which wrote about Azucena. He scrolled and clicked through dozens of links until he landed on a website that finally gave him the answer - and a pretty shocking one. He quickly shut his phone off after seeing some of the pictures and sighed deeply.

"That was not at all what I expected...", he muttered and covered half of his face that was gradually turning more and more red. "No wonder she doesn't want to talk about it."

Chapter Text

Leo and Azucena were working on the plantation again and just like on the first day, they sat together at a specific spot gathering coffee beans. For the whole time Leo felt rather awkward near her as he could only think about what he found on the internet earlier. However, he also still thought about what her cousins had asked him and wanted to ask her about it, yet constantly stopping himself to rethink how to phrase his words.

"Uhm, Azucena?", he finally asked her and paused his work for a second. The girl turned her head to him and questioned:

"Yeah?"

"How do you view our relationship?"

Silence overwhelmed her, obviously being taken aback by the question. She looked toward the plants, on the ground and her basket before her eyes wandered back to Leo.

"However you want to view it.", she responded with a slight smile. It was quite clear that she didn't know the answer herself, hence that vague response she gave him so he pondered a little more to himself before speaking more.

"I wouldn't say we are partners yet, right? I mean we haven't done anything that couples would do..."

"Then let's change that.", Azucena grinned widely and she that spark in her eyes like always whenever she had an idea. "How about we go on a date tomorrow? I mean like a real date."

"But isn't that Independence Day festival tomorrow?", Leo raised his eyebrows at her sudden energetic attitude, although it's sort of expected from her to act this way.

"So? Who says you can't have a date at a parade?", the Latina chuckled. Leo wasn't quite sure how to feel about that idea, and even though it was so unfamiliar and even a bit strange to him, he was still excited. He never had a date, let alone a first date at a parade or on a special event like tomorrow's going to be so hopefully it will go well. They just continued to pick beans from the plants until the day concluded and it was time to hit the hay.

The next morning felt like it came way too slowly for Leo since he could barely sleep the night before. Surely this isn't the first time he's going on a date with someone so why does he feel so thrived for it? Never has he looked forward to a date this much but somehow this time seems to be an exception. Everyone got ready at about noon and even the house itself was colorfully decorated at that point though he never noticed how anyone did any work in that regard. Unfortunately it was a lot quieter than usual due to a ton of the family member's having left already. Azucena's family dressed up in pretty colorful attire that already screamed festivities, but it made Leo feel a bit out of place with his ordinary clothes. Soon the family made their way out of the farm and headed to the city by car. Once they arrived Leo was immediately overwhelmed with the loud music, large crowd of people, bright and colorful decorations everywhere, even performers were a part of the festivities. It's like nothing he's ever seen before in his life so astonishment may be an understatement to describe his feelings. Azucena of course took notice of how Leo reacted and she chuckled to herself while watching his facial expressions. Meanwhile her family gathered elsewhere around the festival, so she suddenly took Leo's hand and guided him through the crowd before stopping at a certain point in front of the parade.

"You can view it way better from here.", she told him before letting go off his hand. Indeed it was a better spot to view the parade from and now Leo could take an even better look at the impressive performance. It was totally new to him to see such prideful people and such vibrant culture together with great music all in one place. He couldn't feel anything else but being purely overwhelmed and happy from their contagious joyfulness. Azucena on the other hand was already very familiar with these things but she found it quite entertaining and intriguing to watch Leo's reactions towards them. Especially since his reactions were pretty visible from the outside. In fact the German was so amazed by everything around him that he didn't even notice Azu leaving for a brief moment.

"Here, so you don't look too out of place.", she said once she returned and neatly placed a colorful feather in his hair.

"Oh, where'd you get that from now?", he seemed surprised since to him it came so suddenly. Azucena just stepped back and formed a square with her fingers as if she was capturing a picture of Leo's face before she smiled at him.

"It suits you perfectly! As if that feather was made just for you to wear.", she sounded genuinely at awe with his appearance which made him feel pretty flattered.

"Really? That's pretty convenient...", he chuckled nervously not knowing how else to respond to a compliment like that. Leo wasn't sure why but he's been feeling rather shy around Azucena as of late especially when she says something nice to him. Certainly strange since he never acted like that before but it's not like he had a lot of control over his emotions. Azucena seemed to have noticed this making her wonder why his emotions changed that way. Even if she found his shyness pretty weird, she also thought it made him more adorable.

"How do you like it so far? Pretty cool, right?", she sounded proud when asking how he found the parade as if she hosted it all herself.

"Definitely something I've never experienced before.", Leo nodded still purely amazed by everything the festival has to offer. Dancers and musicians were making the streets very lively and all the people surrounding them were joyfully singing along to the songs. Everything here is so much more bright and colorful like Leo has never seen any town before. Now he was glad to have stayed in Peru to witness this spectacle. To think that this kind of occasion happens pretty frequently was beyond him. Once again he failed to notice how Azucena rushed off somewhere else before returning and handing him a skewer with meat.

"I brought Anticuchos in case you're hungry.", she said while holding two more skewers in her hand.

"Oh, thanks!", Leo was surprised as he didn't notice her walking off at all, but he gratefully accepted the food. He tried to eat without making too much of mess, yet it was rather difficult due to the beef slices being cut a little too big for his taste. As soon as he finished eating, he suddenly got handed another one from Azucena so he glanced to her a bit strangely. Looks like she wasn't going to eat any of the Anticuchos herself.

"Am I supposed to eat them all?", he asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Eh, I'm not that hungry anyway. And I want you to try as much food as possible.", she replied with a slight shrug before her eyes sparked up again and she pressed the last skewer into Leo's hands before running off in an unpredictable direction again. Not long after she came back but proceeded to grab Leo's arm to drag him to the place she had just been at.

"You've gotta try Pachamanca.", she sat down with him at some stall where the vendor was already preparing the meal. "The ingredients are cooked in stones on the ground. You'll love it, trust me."

"Interesting...", he murmured being intrigued by the preparation. He watched the man place the ingredients on some stones which are pre-heated by fire. That was definitely an unusual way for him to prepare any meal, but he still thought it was pretty cool. After some time the vendor placed a shallow bowl in front of them with loads of food including meat, corn and some cooked vegetables. The amount of it kind of overwhelmed Leo at first so he just stared at it for some time.

"Gracias!", Azucena thanked the man and handed some money for the bill before turning to look at Leo with an amused expression. "Go ahead, try it."

"Uh, yeah...", he replied while trying to make sense of anything that was in front of him. He struggled to pick where to start eating which made the Peruvian chuckle.

"Let me help you out.", she then said and took a random piece of meat to give to him. "It's just ordinary food. It won't bite you!"

"Right.", he nervously laughed before taking the piece of meat from her hand to taste. As soon as the food entered his mouth he was hit with an unexpected wave of aroma and he felt genuinely shocked from how good it tasted. It made him feel like he has been eating the wrong food for his entire life.

"Wow, so much flavor...", he muttered after swallowing the last bits down.

"I know right?", Azucena agreed enthusiastically with a wide grin from seeing his positive reaction.

"But, I'm not supposed to eat all of this myself, right?", Leo then looked down to the food.

"No, I'll help you.", Azu shook her head and giggled before also taking a piece from the Pachamanca to feed herself with. They went on to enjoy the meal together, laughing a lot and talking about pretty random stuff like always — later they were even feeding each other with the food, though it was more in a joking way than romantic. Still, that goes to show how their relationship has developed quite a bit since that time they met in the café.

"I don't think I can try any of the other local specialties now. I'm pretty stuffed.", Leo sighed after they finally finished eating.

"Darn, I should've thought this through.", Azucena giggled before getting up from her seat. Leo followed her to the center of the street but by now the parade has calmed down a bit and barely any performers were now marching through. People just spread all across the roads dancing and generally vibing to the music that was being played or enjoying a flavorful meal like these two just did.

"Ah, we should get home early so we can watch the fireworks from the mountains.", Azucena just remembered. The German nodded in response but for now he didn't feel like going any time soon.

"How early?", he then questioned her.

"Maybe in like 2 hours.", she suggested. So for the next 2 hours they walked around the area since Leo wanted to take a look at everything the festival had to offer. He was still just as amazed with everything he spotted but his sightseeing would come to an end once Azucena's family approached them, telling them that they would leave. Disappointed from having to leave before the sun even set, Leo followed them back to the car where they drove home to the farm and as soon as they arrived, Azu lead him a bit further from the house where they could sit at a cliff. There they waited for nighttime, watching the beautiful sunset and later the moon rise with tons of stars becoming more visible as the sky got darker. Azucena felt like she was a kid again since she'd always bring her friends to this spot to watch the fireworks every year on July 28th. But being besides Leo brought another kind of feeling that wasn't just nostalgic memories.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the first firework lit up the dark night sky. Because none of them brought any light source it was incredibly dark out there but now that the fireworks have started it was not even needed. Both of them watched the beautiful, colorful night show with glowing eyes. This moment felt like it was straight out of a movie!

"Even though I've already experienced this exact moment at least a dozen times, I don't feel like today is like any of the other days I had.", Azucena suddenly began talking to Leo in a soft tone but she still kept her eyes toward the sky. He turned his head to her silently listening to what she would say next:

"To be fair, you aren't the first person I went on a date with on Fiestas Patrias, but this time felt a lot more special. And even though it's not a typical first date, I think it was still awesome."

"I loved it too. Honestly, this is the first time I genuinely had a lot of fun being with someone else.", Leo replied with a nod and spoke in a similar gentle tone in his voice. His words made Azucena turn her head completely away as she blushed.

"I think I would actually cry if you ever left Peru...", she said after a brief moment of silence.

"Let's not think about that now.", Leo replied and turned his head back to watch the fireworks. Now as they continued to watch the sky in total tranquility, Leo had a thought in his mind. He thought about it, but held himself back before saying anything. Maybe it wasn't the right time yet? Although this setting was perfect. He felt like he was acting like a timid teenager, but he genuinely didn't want to make any mistakes or make Azucena feel uncomfortable. But what if she was thinking the same thing? If only he could read minds. Should he just go for it? No, that could go wrong in so many ways. Maybe he should just ask? But he didn't know how to properly phrase it without making it sound weird. All of this thinking led them to continue sitting in total silence until the fireworks were starting to come to an end. Once the final firework lit up the sky and Azucena was sure that none would follow, she got up from her seated position to head back to the farm.

"Time to go back then.", she sighed, being pretty sad that it must end. She would've loved to sit there with him for some more time, but fireworks can't go on forever. Leo hastily stood up since she was already on her way. Now he needed to make a choice quickly if he still wanted to do it.

"Wait up a second.", he told her before catching up as she's already gone quite a few steps. It was pitch black but he could still clearly see Azucena's questioning face when she turned around. Leo sighed and pondered for a quick second before continuing.

"Uhm, I've been thinking that...maybe we could...", he started but suddenly stopped himself mid sentence to shake his head, seeing that he couldn't bring himself to say it. "Actually, nevermind...Let's just go back."
Leo walked past her, feeling incredibly embarrassed. He couldn't believe that he could act this shy and just wanted to forget about it. However, Azucena seemed to have already guessed what he wanted to say, so she suddenly grabbed his arm to pull him back and — they kissed! It was a short kiss but Leo still turned bright red like a tomato when they let go. He was obviously stunned by that action and had to step back to recollect himself for a second.

"Sorry, isn't it what you wanted?", she asked with a chuckle after seeing his reaction. It also made her quite insecure about her spontaneous decision just now. Maybe this was the first time where she couldn't guess his thoughts accurately.

"No, it's...exactly what I wanted.", he shook his head and gave her a subtle grin. Then he reached for Azucena's hand to hold it for a while. "Let's stay here a bit longer. I don't want to go back yet."

"Sure.", she agreed and cutely smiled before they would sit back down on the ledge of the cliff. The stars and the moon in the night sky were the only things giving some sort of light to make the area a little less dark and eerie. They hung out for about 30 more minutes before ultimately making their way back home where everyone was already questioning where they have been. Today might have been the most successful date Leo ever had and also Azucena thought she had the best day in a very long time. Good thing that they took another, big step in their relationship.

Chapter Text

The next morning both Azucena and Leo slept in because it was a holiday, so no need to work today. However, they slept unusually long, especially Azucena because she's usually an early riser even on her day offs.

"Shouldn't we wake them up? It's almost noon...", Azucena's older cousin asked her parents as they stood near the bedroom.

"Oh, let them! Kids need tons of sleep.", the grandmother walked past them having overheard what she said for a brief moment.

"But they aren't kids, mama...", Azucena's father sighed rather annoyed before walking off elsewhere with his wife.
Meanwhile in the bedroom, Leo was finally the first to rise up and after rubbing his eyes he noticed the sofa right in front of him.

'Huh? Didn't I fall asleep on the sofa?', he pondered in confusion and when he looked around he quickly came to the realization that he had actually slept right next to Azucena in her bed.

'I don't remember falling asleep on the bed with her...', he could feel his face turning red again so he got up to wash his face in the bathroom next door. While cleansing his face he tried to recall every detail of what happened once they returned to the house, but it was all foggy – as if he was already so tired by that point that he didn't care where he'd fall asleep. And apparently Azucena didn't really care either – at least not enough to tell him to move. Ashamed he combed through his hair to even it out before heading downstairs to meet with the family.

"Ah, look who's finally crawled out of bed!", Mr. Ortiz announced upon seeing the blonde man as he sat on an armchair while reading the newspaper.

"Sorry...uhm, what time is it?", he scratched his head feeling a little disoriented.

"10 to 12 o'clock.", Mrs. Castillo, the mother, replied gently and smiled. "Here, eat something. It's some leftovers from breakfast."

Leo nodded gratefully and sat down to eat, but he felt pretty embarrassed for having slept in so much. Usually he would get up at 8 o'clock, even when he didn't need to work so he didn't understand how he managed to sleep so much. The woman joined him at the table, probably wanting to keep him company while he ate.

"What about Azu? She still asleep?", she then inquired curiously.

"Yeah, at least she still was when I woke up...", he quickly replied.

"You guys must've went hiking yesterday to be tired like that.", the father on the other side groaned, being pretty annoyed for no reason.

"Let her sleep in if she wants to, cariño. No need to be so fed up about it."

"I am not fed up.", the man scoffed before flipping a couple pages in the paper. Leo just awkwardly grinned at his rather comedic attitude, but honestly he would like to know himself what the reason was for them to sleep more than normal. Soon Azucena walked down the stairs and arrived in the living room, greeting everyone rather tiredly. She proceeded to brew herself some coffee before joining her mother and Leo at the table.

"How was your sleep, hija?", she kindly asked her daughter as the girl took slow sips from her cup.

"Good...good.", Azucena responded sounding as if she really did have a good sleep.

"Sure looks like it.", Leo chuckled a bit and the girl glanced back at him with a sheepish smile.

"Oh, she'll wake up once she finished her morning coffee...or rather noon coffee in this case.", Mrs. Castillo laughed gently before getting up and heading to the kitchen to put the dry dishes away that have already been washed. She was right, because as soon as Azucena drank the last drop of coffee left in her mug, her expression changed and she was her energized self again.

"Nothing like some fresh coffee first thing in the morning!", she spoke loudly and immediately her father yelled 'Noon' from across the room to correct her sentence. She didn't pay much attention to him though and just blatantly looked at Leo and noticed how he was eating but wasn't drinking anything. "Leo, did you drink any coffee?"

"Not yet, but I usually fill my stomach with food first before I drink any."

"Seriously?", she sighed and shook her head as if she was disappointed by his answer and got up to the kitchen to fill another cup. Azucena returned and placed the mug right next to his plate before hastily sitting down and grinning widely.

"Had a good dream?", her mother asked when she finished up in the kitchen and returned to the table seeing Azu's bright smile.

"Fantastic I'd say.", she just confidently stated and leaned back in her chair.

"Can we hear what it was about?", the woman curiously inquired, wondering what she could've possibly dreamed of to make her smile this much. Leo was just as intrigued and listened carefully while he finished eating.

"Uh...yeah, why not? But you should cover your ears, Leo.", she thought loudly for a moment before eventually deciding that it can't be that bad to tell.

"Are you serious?", he looked at her strangely.

"Fine, then don't.", she rolled her eyes before going on to tell everyone in the room about her dream. "Maybe it's a little weird, but I dreamt that me and Leo were sitting at a cliff to watch the fireworks after the festival, right? Then once the show was done I wanted to head back but Leo stopped me to tell me something but for some reason he acted really shy. Now comes the strange part: for some reason dream-me decided it would be a good idea to kiss him!"

"Oh, how cute!", her mother clapped with her hands after hearing her story but Leo knew it wasn't a dream. He experienced the exact same thing yesterday, but now she thinks it was all a dream. Surely, she's got it mixed up but it still confused him a ton what she said.

"But that wasn't a dream...", he sort of mumbled to himself, even though Azucena managed to understand every word.

"Wait, so it was actually real?! That's even better!", her eyes sparkled from joy and her expression was one of surprise, as if she couldn't believe his words.

"So that's what you've been doing instead of going home? Kissing in the middle of the night?", Azu's father glared at them from the corner of his newspaper.

"Can you stop judging for one second?", his wife scolded him and crossed her arms, having enough from his attitude by now.

"So, you two had your first kiss at the fireworks? Wow, I can't think of anything more romantic!", she then turned to the two young adults at the table and smiled warmly.

"Actually, by that time the fireworks already stopped so...", Leo chuckled and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Yeah, because he was constantly too scared to do it himself.", Azucena teased him playfully.

"Maybe I was afraid of ruining everything?", he talked back with crossed arms. Azucena's mother just giggled at their silly interaction before leaving the two by themselves to do some house chores.

"Then you should try taking more risks in life. It's more fun that way!", Azucena laughed. But then her mood shifted to a more serious one as she was about to ask him a genuine question. "But does that kiss mean that we are together now?"

"If you want to, then sure.", Leo answered with a smile and Azucena jumped up from happiness.

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes! So I get to kiss you as much as I want, right?", her eyes began glowing again, her smile brighter than any star in the sky.

"I guess!", he laughed and smiled in return, her happiness being so contagious that he couldn't help it feeling overjoyed as well.

"Like right now?", she then asked him with a hopeful look. When Leo nodded she rushed to the other side of the table to give him a dozen kisses on each cheek as she couldn't control her excitement.

"Come on, let's go out!", she then pulled him out of his seat already wanting to spend some time with him outside.

"What, now?", Leo was taken aback by her energetic and quick movements.

"There's no better time than now!"

"Okay, fine but we can't go outside in our pj's..."

"Oh, right."

Chapter Text

It's already been 2 weeks since Leo stayed with Azu's family to work, and yet he's never considered when he planned on flying back home. Frankly, he's had such great times and now since him and Azucena are officially a couple he simply doesn't want to head back anymore. However, he should probably think about the approximate time he would leave, because he can't stay in Peru forever. He's got work to take care of in Germany and he knew that, but he kept telling himself that he'd think about it eventually. Well, he wasted enough time and now would be a great time to start thinking.
Right now Azucena and Leo were having a small afternoon picnic not too far off the farm, which was originally her mothers idea.

"Something on your mind?", Azu asked him after noticing his thoughtful expression.

"Hmm? Oh, no it's nothing.", he shook his head and stared into the mountainous landscape ahead. Azucena didn't quite believe him but she chose to stay silent for now to give him some space. After a short while though, Leo began telling her everything anyway without her needing to ask further. "You know I have to fly back some day, right?"

"Yeah, I do.", she sighed after hearing him mentioning that and placed her face in her palm.

"It's just that I don't know when to even consider buying a ticket."

"Well, not anytime soon I hope?", she simpered but Leo couldn't really promise her anything. The fact that his father also hasn't called or texted him in the past weeks deeply concerned him, making him wonder if he ran into some trouble again. The German got his phone out to check for any notifications but he couldn't find any that he hoped for. Only a dozen messages he has sent to his dad which are left without a response.

"You know you can tell me when something's worrying you.", she spoke up again clearly able to tell that he was concerned, no matter how hard he tried to seal it.

"It's just my dad...he hasn't texted or called me a single time these past weeks. I'm really starting to worry if something happened.", Leo confessed and Azucena scooted to his side to comfort him.

"I'm sorry...", she just said. Although she didn't really want to say the next part, she did anyway as if it was coming from her subconscious. "Maybe you should consider heading back then?"

"I should but...I'd hate to leave right after we just became official.", he spoke in a pretty melancholic tone of voice, already knowing how difficult it would be to maintain a long distance relationship. Azucena shook her head lightly wanting to disagree to make him feel a bit better but right when she opened her mouth, a sudden buzz came from Leo's phone. He immediately picked up the call after seeing who it was, but the news he got wasn't really what he hoped for.

"Was it your dad?", Azucena carefully questioned after he finished the call.

"I...I have to start packing.", he had panic in his eyes and hurried to clean up the picnic they had arranged. The Peruvian rose up from the ground in shock and confusion after seeing how hastily he was moving around.

"What? Now?", she uttered but Leo didn't reply. Instead he packed the things into the basket, with Azucena only helping out a little before rushing back to the farm. Once they were in the bedroom, Leo already began searching for his suitcase and rummaging through the closet to pack most of his items.

"Leo! What is going on?!", she held his arm to prevent him from packing for a split second.

"I'm sorry, but I must leave tomorrow. My father...he thinks I'm in Germany by now and he's in more trouble than I thought. He's asked me to come see him."

"Tomorrow?! But...", Azucena quickly stopped herself since she shouldn't be arguing with him whether he should see his father or not, but all of this felt so sudden.

"I know. It's just as unexpected for me as it is for you. However, I can't just let him hanging..."

'But we didn't even get to do much as a couple yet...', she looked down with a saddened look. She knew this day would come, but she hoped it would wait on for maybe a few more weeks...or maybe even a month. Knowing that she can't stop him, she just accepted it and kept quiet while he continued packing his things. Once she got out of her thoughts though, she decided to help him a little.

"Don't worry. I'll stay for one more day so we can properly say goodbye.", Leo embraced her hand with his after they finished packing his bags.

"Yeah, one more day...", Azucena repeated his words quietly. She has never really felt this down and emotional before and didn't really feel like her at all. Of course, that made Leo feel horrible seeing how doleful she looked but he didn't have much of a choice. He'd possibly feel even worse if he decided to stay, knowing that his dad might be going through terrible things.

"Then let's not allow this last day to go to waste.", she added after quite a long pause.

"And how?", he inquired her wondering what she had planned since there wasn't much of the day left.

"I thought maybe so you could never forget me...", she made subtle hints and caressed his hands gently. Leo knew what she was implying but he had to decline firstly for a very important reason.

"Azu...no, we can't. We don't even have any protection."

"We'll be careful! Please.", she was practically begging at this point and although Leo had his doubts, he found it difficult to say no to a face like that.

"Fine, but extra careful.", he gave in with a sigh and smiled to her softly.

"Yay! You won't regret it~"

Chapter Text

The next morning Leo got up extra early to get ready and catch an early flight, but the whole time he felt his heart aching when he remembered how sad Azucena was about the news. He brushed his teeth, washed his face and combed his hair before packing up the very last essentials into his bags. Then he walked downstairs where he greeted the family as always.

"Morning, Leo! Breakfast's already ready.", Mrs. Castillo greeted him friendly as usual but this time Leo had to decline the meal.

"Thank you, but today I need to go to the airport early.", he felt bad as he watched the smile on the woman's face vanish.

"Oh, that's too bad. Let me drive you there.", she placed her apron away but Leo quickly stopped her.

"No need! You've done so much already. I don't mind going by public transport."

"No, we're all going together so we can say goodbye.", suddenly Azucena walked in, already fully dressed and ready to go. No one seemed to have anything against that and so the remaining family members, including the grandma, the parents and Azucena's only cousin that was currently staying, got decently dressed, hopped into the car before they drove to the airport together.

"We will all miss you, Leo.", the mother said from the front seat and everyone in the car agreed with her – well, almost everyone except for the father who's constantly grumpy about everything. They neared the airport approach and quickly parked the car so Leo could get to the flight in time. They hurried inside and all stopped right before the check-in to say their final goodbye's.

"Feel welcome to come back anytime!", the grandma grinned.

"We'll miss you a ton!", Azu's cousin added and also had a warm smile on her face. Everyone smiled, waved and even hugged him happily, making Azucena the only one who was just visibly in the dumps. Leo stepped towards her and gave her one big and long hug to make feel a little more comforted.

"Bye Azu. We'll keep in touch and I'll make sure to come back in the future.", he whispered feeling a bit torn once they had to let go, but right when he wanted to turn around and take a step, Azucena pulled him back for a sudden kiss.

"You're not only the queen of coffee, but also the queen of unforeseen kisses.", Leo chuckled and waved to all of them before heading through the security checks.

"Queen of unforeseen kisses. Heh, I like that.", finally a subtle smile formed on her face as she waved goodbye until Leo was completely out of her sight. The family stood there for a while until Azucena was ready to leave the airport and when they went outside they watched the planes at the departure, waiting until Leo's plane would depart. Azucena knew exactly which plane it was due to being told by him so she watched it closely from the outside. It would take a while until it would actually begin moving though but once it did, she wouldn't take her eyes off it for one second. Soon enough the aircraft took off into the air and was out of sight but Azucena stayed put staring into direction it flew towards until her family would finally tell her to get in the car. Somehow to her this felt like a break-up even though they still had contact via the phone. She already couldn't wait for his return.

About 25 hours later Leo finally arrived in Germany and immediately took a taxi home to place his things. Sadly there wasn't a lot of time to appreciate being back home as he needed to urgently search for his father Niklas Kliesen. He remembered him talking about being stuck in a cave and his flashlight dying but that wasn't the most concerning part – apparently he's being followed again by some organization meaning his safety was constantly at risk. Leo wasn't sure how his father managed to deal with it all by himself before but this time he promised him to help out.
He drove to the exact location his father described by car and entered the cave after getting the necessary gear and equipment ready. Luckily they could stay in touch since his father brought a sort of telephone-walkie talkie thing that could survive for many hours and soon he spotted some tracks that were valuable hints to his whereabout. Leo followed them for some time until he stumbled upon some rocks that appear to have collapsed and so he got out a useful gadget that was similar to a shovel to get rid of the wall and inside he found his old man crumbled up in a tight space. Relieved to finally being saved the man jumped out and hugged his son, thanking him multiple times.

"Finally! You had no idea how uncomfortable it was in there! And tight, and gross...and cold. What took you so long though?!", Niklas brushed the dirt off his clothes and stretched his limbs.

"Sorry. You know I was on that excavation site abroad...", Leo apologized.

"But shouldn't you have been back home since, like, a week ago? Or two weeks?"

"Maybe I stayed abroad for a little longer than anticipated...but let's talk later and get out of here first.", Leo even sounded a bit ashamed for not following his own prerequisite plan but now they had to focus on finding a way out together. Luckily, the young adult set up torches that now guided them out with ease and both drove back home.

"So, you just arrived today? If I would've known that I would've called someone else to help me out...", Niklas exhaled in relief as he made himself comfortable on the couch in the living room.

"And who would you have called exactly? Someone who wouldn't put you at risk of being found by that organization that's now looking for you? And why are you being followed again anyway?!", Leo crossed his arms as if he was scolding his father and the older man nervously chuckled in response.

"Ah...haha, right. I was just minding my business doing my research as always until these guys suddenly felt offended. It's not like I did anything on purpose to piss them off.", he explained but that didn't sound very convincing let alone even genuine coming from him. "But tell me. What else made you stay in Peru if it wasn't the archaeology work?"
Leo thought for a second and sat down at the dining table that was right next to the couch. Thinking back to Peru and Azucena made him feel quite emotional but he managed to control himself in order not to humiliate himself in front of his dad.

"Well, I met someone who made me able to stay. I could work at the farm and in the cafe while living in their house so I could stay longer.", he began telling his experiences, trying to sum them up as much as possible. "I helped with minor things in the beginning and in return she also helped me with some things. Even though there were some...inconveniences we managed to pull through and eventually even got together."

"So, you finally found a girlfriend! That's really sweet but also really dumb. How do you expect to maintain your relationship if you live on opposite sides of the globe!", Niklas was happy for him but he also had to judge his son to a degree. Leo knew he was right in that aspect but he simply didn't think of that at that time.

"I want to go back as soon as I can but for now I have to focus on protecting you."

"Hah, your old man doesn't need protection! These minions can seriously suck my-", Niklas laughed but suddenly he was interrupted when someone rung the door bell. Both were immediately in high alert and Leo rose up to check the windows before looking through the peep hole.

"Are these the men?", he questioned and his father quickly pushed him to the side to have a look himself.

"Verdammt...seems like they overheard my funny joke just now. Time to go!", he whispered and quickly rushed to the back door of the house. Leo nodded once before hastily following behind and he could hear how their door was shut down right when they exited the house. The two of them rushed behind the house before slowly crawling up to the front carefully to check if anyone was waiting outside. Once the coast was clear they hopped into the car and drove off rapidly.

"So, how's that girl you met? Is she nice? Good looking?", Niklas then asked out of pocket questions while Leo controlled the vehicle.

"Are you serious? Now's kinda not the time to ask questions like that...", Leo looked at him strangely and rolled his eyes, frequently checking the mirrors in case anyone was on their tail.

"You clearly aren't used to the constant runaway lifestyle then."

"Yeah, because unlike you I don't make enemies wherever I go."

"Hah, you will soon if you keep protecting me like this.", the middle aged man chuckled loudly and paused for multiple seconds before saying more to his son, who was clearly more stressed than he was in this moment. "So? Your answer?"

"Not. Now!", Leo shouted feeling panicked enough already. Eventually they stopped in a forest when he was sure that no one was following them and decided to stay here for the time being. They built up a small bon fire to keep themselves warm at night but were forced to sleep in the car since they couldn't bring any sleeping bags during their escape.

"Sorry, Leo. I didn't mean to drag you into this mess.", Niklas suddenly apologized as he stared into the fire.

"It's fine. You just need help with getting rid of some bad guys, that's all. And I'm always glad to help my father.", Leo sighed and shook his head after hearing his deprived tone. "But can you tell me the actual reason why they're after you?"

"I may or may not have gotten my hands on a rare artifact that they've been keeping treasured.", Nikas finally confessed the whole truth and his son ended up face palming himself after hearing what he said only thinking to himself 'Seriously?'.

"You stole from some organization? Better yet, you stole something rare and valuable and you expect not to face any consequences? Remind me who the older person is here..."

"Hey, don't put all of the blame on me now! What they were doing was illegal too. They shouldn't be keeping something so ancient to themselves without anyone actually using it for research. It should be illegal to put ancient artifacts for mere show to the public anyway...", the older man argued. Leo rolled his eyes in silence and just kept his eyes on his surroundings that were getting increasingly more darker as time passed.

"Now will you please tell me about that girlfriend from across the globe."

"You really want to know?", Leo breathed out finding it amusing how eager his father to hear about Azucena. Seeing the man's genuine expression he thought of how to form his words before he actually told him anything. "She's kind, awesome and very energetic. Now that I think about it, her energetic attitude could be from the amount of coffee she always consumes...But anyway, she's also very fun to be around, very social and pretty confident. Incredibly beautiful too..."
The more Leo talked about her, the more he fell in love with her. Niklas just let him go on and on without interruption because he hasn't seen his son this happy from talking about another person.

'She sounds like a great match for my boy...even if the description may be exaggerated coming from him.', the man chuckled quietly and so the two of them spent a couple more hours at the bonfire, chatting. It felt like Leo has gone back in time since him and his father would do things like these in his childhood as well. This moment gave him a pleasant feeling of nostalgia even if the actual reason for them being in this situation was rather adverse.

Chapter Text

As soon as the next morning arrived Leo and Niklas already moved on since they decided it would be too risky to stay at one spot for too long. They drove to a different part of the forest, further away from where they spent the night. However, as soon as they stopped and were starting to settle in, they noticed a random car driving nearby. It made multiple turns before driving right to their direction and that's when they realized that they were already found. They jumped in the car, leaving anything behind they had gotten out of it already and speeded off as fast they could, often attempting to get rid of their stalker by taking random, swift turns. Leo was driving like a maniac, nearly putting both of them in danger a couple of times but he had no other choice if he wanted to get the strangers off their tail. After a long while it seemed like the threat had vanished because the car was nowhere in sight, so Leo drove a bit more until he stopped at a more mountainous area in the south.

"Let's hope we're safe from them for a few more hours...", Leo exhaled, feeling hella exhausted from that stressful drive and rested his head against the steering wheel while Niklas confidently stepped out to have a look at the area. It didn't take long though until they suddenly heard gun shots and Niklas immediately ducked behind the car, the bullets landing on the car's covering. Leo also ducked his head as low as he could to protect himself from anyone who'd shoot through the windows.

"Scheiße! Father, we gotta go!", he yelled but Niklas was still hiding outside unable to hear anything he was saying from inside the vehicle. Leo kept his head low, desperately trying to come up with a plan as more bullets hit the car. They couldn't run anymore but if he were to go out then he might get hit by one of the shooters. Soon though he saw the bullets only came from one particular side, so he quickly opened the door of the opposite side and rolled out of the vehicle, trying to hide his body as much as he could while crawling next to his dad.

"What should we do?!", Niklas panicked as more and more bullets hit from behind.

"We can't keep running forever. We have to stop them, and fast!"

"But how do plan on doing that if there's a rain of bullets coming our way?", the man asked but instead of Leo giving him a normal response, he looked around for a moment before getting a hold of his grappling hook he retrieved through one of the shattered windows and waited for the right moment. Then once the shooting calmed for a second, Leo ceased the opportunity to rise up and check from where the people were shooting at exactly and he saw that it was the exact same car that has been following them this whole time. Right before the shooting continued he ducked down again and now he knew what to do. He just needed to wait until they had to reload their guns again so he could use the chance to go through with his plan.

"Leo?", Niklas asked again feeling a bit worried and terrified in this situation as he had no idea how to get out of it.

"It's the same car that has been following us. Luckily, only 3 guys so I think I can take them."

"Wait a minute. What do you mean by that?", the man looked at him concerned but there was no time for further explanations as now the gunfire paused again and Leo saw his chance. He quickly rose back up, aimed his grappling hook towards the people's car and flew toward them quickly while they were still reloading their weapons.

"Leo!", his father yelled and looked back up to follow what his son was doing from afar. The man was surprised to see him fighting off two men at once in close combat while the third one was back to shooting. Leo neatly dodged the bullets by going low and swept the mans legs so he lost his balance, allowing the blonde German to continue with his attacks after snatching the dangerous weapon away from him.

"Backup, we require immediate backup!", one of them yelled into his speaking device but Leo already jumped into their car after retrieving their weapons. His father didn't hesitate for a second and followed him on the passenger's seat before they drove off into a random direction, leaving the wounded men on the ground.

"And I thought I was a crazy man! Great job, son!", Niklas cheered enthusiastically.

"Thank the genes.", Leo answered calmly, but also sarcastic while he primarily focused on the road and whether they were being followed again. It was pretty bizarre how these two were running from close death situations and dangerous people while Azucena on the other side of the Earth was just going through her ordinary day to day life of working in the café and at the farm. Hopefully Leo and Niklas could get out of this trouble soon so they can start living a little more normal as well.

Chapter Text

"What's the next plan?", Niklas inquired after they stopped the car somewhere far from any civilization. Leo proceeded to check the whole vehicle for anything of importance that could link to the organization that sent the hunters.

"This car is bullet proof, so we'll be safe staying in here.", he told his dad after checking how it was built. "And they left some guns here too. How convenient."
Leo then reached for what looked like an action plan and read through it carefully before finally an address was mentioned.

"Bingo.", he nodded and started the engine of the car, driving back on the main road.

"Where're we going?"

"To the headquarters. Do you have that artifact on you?", Leo replied, keeping his eyes peeled as if he expected to be followed and attacked again in the middle of the road.

"Yeah, in my bag...Wait, you don't expect me to give it back, do you?"

"Either that or you get hunted for the rest of your life. We don't have any other choice."

"But it doesn't even belong to them!"

"Neither does it belong to you. Why are we even arguing about this? It's for safety's sake."

"Fine...for safety.", Niklas groaned in annoyance, knowing he had no other choice if he wanted to stop running from them. Sooner than later, they parked in front a tall building and as soon as they took one step into it, they were surrounded by armed guards who were viciously aiming their guns right in their faces.

"We're only bringing back what was stolen!", Leo explained as both him and his father held their arms in the air to show they aren't here to start a fight. One of the guards cautiously led them up an elevator before entering a room with a platform in the center, obviously where the artifact should be standing at. Niklas slowly pulled it out of his bag and handed it to the guard with a scornful look on his face as the armed man aggressively snatched it and placed it where it originally stood. Leo was relieved to have finally solved this issue, but to his surprise there was more.

"You, stay here.", the man pointed his gun towards Niklas and Leo instinctively stood in front of his father to protect him.

"No, we're both leaving! We brought you what you wanted.", the young adult argued but that seemed to just anger the guard a lot more.

"He needs to face proper punishment. You can go.", the man spoke in a bit of a creepy monotone voice and kept his aim at both Germans. Leo cursed inwardly to himself, having expected that it might not go as smooth as he hoped. He took a quick glance around the room, noticing how it was sealed off, with no mirrors or any other way to escape quickly so he needed to think of another way. Eventually he slowly moved his hand toward his pockets, in a way that wouldn't make the guards around suspicious while staring the man standing in front of him dead in the eye. Suddenly Leo pulled something out and threw it to the ground causing smoke to spread across the room in a matter of seconds. Together with his father he rushed out but his actions were immediately noticed from outside as now the other guards were making their way up. He tried his best to look for a way to go around the crowd that was approaching until Niklas grabbed him by the arm and dragged him up the stairs until they reached the rooftop.

"What now?", the young adult asked and almost felt sick after seeing how high up they were. Niklas hastily rummaged through his backpack before holding up a grappling hook.

"We can launch ourselves to another building's roof with this. We just gotta be careful.", he showed the gadget to his son and stepped towards a ledge, trying to see which building would be the best to go for. Leo wasn't really fond of the idea as it was way too risky, but then he heard noise of the guards footsteps rushing up to the roof.

"Let's go then!", Leo told him in a panicked tone. Once Niklas launched the grappling hook to a roof and it stayed attached to a certain point, he held on to his son and both of them went flying between the tall buildings. Then they hid behind a wall when the guards burst on to the rooftop so they wouldn't spot them from afar.

"Damn, they got away!", one of them cursed loudly.

"Hey, forget about them. Boss said we should stop hunting them because we got the artifact back. However, if that guy or his sidekick dare to show up here again, don't hesitate to blow their head off.", possibly a supervisor talked with them and so the guards walked back down. Leo exhaled in relief and leaned back finally being able to relax his muscles.

"I hope you heard what he said. Don't ever cross their paths, okay?", he then turned to look at his father who was just as exhausted.

"Loud and clear.", the middle aged man nodded. Finally it seems like this adrenaline filled and deadly adventure is coming to an end and now Leo could enjoy his normal life again. Yet he didn't look forward to it very much since the only things he could think about were Azucena and the time he spent with her. He already wondered when would be a good time to pay them a visit, but maybe for now he should focus on spending some time back in his home country and with his family. Both of them took a cab to drive them back to their house and now Leo had the chance to feel comfortable and grateful that he was back home. Well, he couldn't spend much time with Niklas anyway since the man immediately threw himself on the bed as soon as they stepped foot inside, but Leo stayed awake for many hours even when the sun was already gone. He just didn't feel well sleeping right now because he felt the urge to always check out the window if the same people appeared in front of their door to give them a surprise attack. Leo also spent those hours chatting with Azucena through a messaging app — though it was more sending each other silly stickers rather than actual text messages. She also constantly asked him how everything went and how his father was doing throughout the day, warming his heart at how caring she was. They ended up calling each other where he could explain everything that had happened to her in more detail. But throughout the call, Leo had an odd feeling that something felt off. Even though he couldn't see her face or her body language at all something in his guts was telling him that something bad was going on or might happen soon. Since he couldn't say for sure though, he tried to forget about it after their call ended and went to sleep in his room, although this feeling was still lingering no matter how hard he tried to suppress it.

Chapter Text

When Leo woke up he surprisingly didn't find himself in his bedroom, but instead he was lying....on a field? No, it was the plantation on the Ortiz farm. Confused he sat up straight and rubbed his eyes. The sun was high up in the sky but no one was working on the plants or the animals. How strange. He slowly stood up from the ground and wandered around not knowing where his feet were taking him. Soon enough he spotted an area that was completely empty, as if the plants have been uprooted in this specific spot. As soon as he stepped foot on the soil field, his body felt odd. He wasn't dizzy, neither did he have any stomachache or migraine. It was a different kind of strange feeling which he couldn't really describe in words. As Leo stepped further into the field he spotted a tiny seedling coming out of the ground and kneeled down to inspect it. Right in front of his eyes it grew more and its leaves started showing as well like time was fast forwarded. But then, the sunny atmosphere shifted into a grungy, cloudy and eerie one, the plants around him weeping and dying, animals running away and some even loudly shrieking as if they were terrified of something.

"What...", the young adult murmured in bewilderment watching as the world around him turned into something so unrecognizable and terrible. Soon there was catastrophic weather conditions like immense rainfall, strong wind and even some thunder strikes he could spot in the distance. It destroyed the whole plantation but only after a couple of minutes, everything calmed down again. The sun was shining, the strong wind became a pleasant breeze and even the animals started returning — however, all the plants have been destroyed for good. When Leo glanced down to the seedling he was shocked to see that it managed to withstand all of the harsh conditions and now it was even blooming as it grew taller into a beautiful and precious plant.
In that moment Leo actually woke up in real life and he first had to stare into the void as he tried to make sense of what he just witnessed.

"What a...weird dream.", he scratched his head, still perplexed and even anxious. He jumped out of bed and headed to a sink to cleanse his face before looking at the time and seeing that it was half past five in the morning.

"Random dreams like that definitely have meaning.", Leo's father mentioned, hours later during their spelunking trip after his son had informed about what he dreamt.

"What kind of meaning is that supposed to convey though?", Leo questioned as they squeezed through some tight passes in the cave.

"Maybe it's telling the future or something. A bad harvest perhaps?", the man lit his torch towards the walls as he walked in front of his son. To Leo that didn't make a lot of sense though. Firstly, he wasn't really that type of person to believe in metaphorical dreams like that but if that were true, why would a dream warn him from a bad harvest instead of the people who actually need to worry about it?

"But everything seemed nice and sunny in the end again.", the young adult shook his head as he considered his father's theory.

"Well, then it could be a metaphor that something bad might happen soon in your life, but that it will all turn out okay. I don't know I'm not a specialist when it comes to dreams.", Niklas joked before he spotted something in the distance and suddenly ran off.

"Look at that, Leo.", he pointed at a tiny glowing crystal stuck in the ground which looked a lot like the Azazel crystals they have discovered before on other expeditions.

"How cute.", his son chuckled as he stepped closer to inspect it as well. Niklas looked at it for a while before taking out a plastic ziplock bag and carefully removing the crystal chunk to take it with him. Then they moved on to explore more parts of the cave.

"So, how's your girlfriend? Have you been keeping in touch?", the man then asked him as he just wanted to have a conversation instead of trotting around in silence.

"She's doing fine. Not like her life changed much from how it was before.", Leo answered while walking right next to his dad most of the time.

"Maybe you should tell her about the dream you had. You said it took place on her farm, right? Best she knows in case it's actually a warning for a bad harvest."

"Right. I will do that.", Leo nodded talking in a more joking manner. He hoped this strange dream wouldn't have any meanings at all but if it did then at least not for her plantation being destroyed by weather.
Later in the evening when they arrived back home, Leo quickly got his phone out to give her a call. Although it took some time he immediately began talking after hearing her voice.

"Bad crop, huh? You really believe dreams have meanings?", he could hear Azucena laughing on the other line which made him smile as well.

"Not necessarily, but there's a possibility, right?", he sounded a bit sarcastic and the girl just quietly chuckled along before it was silent for a moment. She was probably pondering about what to say next so he gave her some time to think.

"Listen, when do you think you can come back? Just for a short visit?", her tone shifted into a more sad one. Seemed like she was really missing him a lot since Leo frequently got messages from her asking the exact same thing.

"I don't know...it still feels like I just made it home. I would love to but I don't feel like constantly going in and out of planes.", his voice spoke in a pitiful way and he felt bad for telling her this, even though it was the truth. Flying for 25 hours to Peru only to stay there shortly feels like a waste so he thought he should wait a few more months before deciding to come back.

"I understand. There's just...something I'd like to tell you in person.", she spoke a bit quietly and also tender, making it sound like it's something important. "But I can wait some more time. Just come back when you feel it's a good time."

"What? Wait, why can't you just tell me over the phone?", he was confused, wondering what could be so serious that she couldn't just tell him right now.

"It's best in person. I gotta go now. Love you!", she abruptly hung up the call before Leo could even say goodbye at all which left him staring at his phone dumbfounded. Something was definitely up now meaning his gut feeling may have been right all along. He noticed how her voice got more emotional right before ending the call which worried him even more. There wasn't much he could do though so he shut off his device and thought to himself in silence for a bit. Leo tried his best to think of a plausible reason for her only wanting to tell him if he took a 25 hour flight across the globe, but nothing he thought of seemed to be a good enough reason to him. Suddenly he heard some noise coming from right outside of his room and when he checked he saw his dad standing suspiciously close to the door.

"Have you been listening in?", he felt a bit irritated but Niklas laughed it off as he tried to lie.

"Ah, no! I just walked past and happened to hear a part of it! Sorry...", the man spoke waving his hands around trying to make himself a little less guilty but Leo just sighed and crossed his arms, obviously not being convinced by what he said. Right after though Niklas' joking expression switched to a more concerned one as he began speaking in a rather serious tone. "Whatever she said sounded pretty serious. Aren't you going to pay a visit to check if everything's alright?"

"Uhm...", Leo was unsure and looked to the side while leaning on the doorframe to his room. "How serious can it be? I think she's just emotional because we haven't seen each other for two months."

"Maybe, but you never know if it's something more. Even if it's a brief visit I'm sure it'll make a big difference."

"Maybe so...", Leo pondered, considering his father's words a lot now. The way he said it made it sound even more important for Leo to go. It's better to check for a minor thing, instead of waiting around in case it's something much bigger than anyone could imagine. This could also prove why he had an odd gut feeling for the past months. Eventually the young adult made up his mind and nodded to his dad. "Okay. I will book a flight for next week. I hope it's nothing too bad."

"Good. Then I should try not to get into any more trouble with some random organizations in the mean time...", Niklas chuckled before walking down the hallway and into his bedroom. Leo sighed before heading back into his room too and lied down on his bed, with a dozen swirling thoughts in his mind. Most of them negative, even imagining the worst case scenarios. But he closed his eyes with one final thought: I hope Azucena is okay.

Chapter Text

Finally, a week later Leo took a flight to Peru. He had texted Azucena beforehand that he'd come for a visit since she wouldn't answer any of his calls but she hasn't even read that message yet. Whether she read it or not he was still on his way and in about 25 hours he'd land at the airport in Lima. When the plane was about an hour away from landing, he received a notification from his phone and to his relief Azucena had finally responded to his messages. It read:

How long until you land?

Leo hastily typed into his phone, saying that he'd be on the ground in about an hour and she then replied saying she'd drive off now to pick him up. It's only been two months but he already couldn't wait to see her again. Leo quickly rushed out as soon as he got out of the plane to look for his girlfriend and then he spotted her near the exit of the airport. So overjoyed to see each other again they immediately hugged and gave each other small kisses.

"Hey, I missed you. How's everything?", Leo asked her with a happy smile on his face, feeling curious as to what she has been meaning to tell him so urgently in person.

"Fine. Everything's fine. I guess.", she smiled back subtly but he could quickly tell that something was still off about her. Now he could just notice it much more clearly after seeing her face to face. Then she made a quick movement with her head before heading out. "Let's go."
Leo followed her out of the airport and got into the car after walking for a while across the parking lot, but once they sat down everything got a bit more strange. Instead of driving off, Azucena just tightly gripped the steering wheel, her gaze fixated in front of her as if she was thinking about something.

"Everything okay?", he carefully asked with a worried look and patted her shoulder. The way she was acting was so out of character for her, making this even more concerning. The young woman remained quiet, her finger nails practically stabbing through the leather, slightly lowering her head as if she was...crying? Indeed, single tears began dropping from her face. Leo was shocked to see her sudden outburst in emotion and stared at her with wide eyes.

"W-what's wrong?!", he even felt a bit scared to see her like this. He had never seen Azucena this suddenly emotional before which made him think that maybe one of her relatives passed. Was that what she wanted to talk about in person? Azucena let go off the steering wheel, which now had marks from her nails and wiped her face while turning a little away from Leo.

"I don't know why I'm crying, sorry...", she sobbed and took a deep breath before turning to face him again. "There's something you need to know, Leo. I haven't told anyone about it yet..."
Leo held her hand tightly and looked her in the eyes with a ton of worry, feeling scared about what she was about to say next. He didn't know what to expect. Something so horrible that she couldn't even tell her own peers about? Something so terrible that she asked him to fly for thousands of miles just so she could tell him in person? What could be making her so emotional so suddenly?

"You haven't been acting like yourself lately. I noticed that through our calls...Tell me, what's going on?", his tone was soft and caring. Azucena needed a moment to pull herself together before she would begin explaining everything to him.

"A few weeks after you left, I suddenly felt really sick. I thought I just ate something bad so I went to the doctor for a check-up but he told me that it wasn't food poisoning or anything. I'm actually...expecting."

"Wait...what?", Leo let go off her hand and couldn't really believe her words right now. Surely he misheard her, right? Maybe he was misunderstanding her words? It can't be what he thinks it is...it just can't. "You don't mean to tell me that..."

"I mean it. You're going to be a father, congrats!", Azucena's tone was sarcastic but not really in a humorous way. It still had that hint of sadness and guilt. Leo was too shocked to say anything for a while and just looked somewhere else as he gathered his thoughts.

'Me? A dad? This must be a joke...', he thought in silence and bit the skin off the tip of his finger from anxiety. What should he do? Should he even do anything at all? How should he react to this information being thrown at him out of nowhere? Being told that he'd become a dad was definitely not one of the things he expected her to say.

"But I thought we were careful..."

"Well, looks like not careful enough.", she sighed and crossed her arms. Silence again. Both of them were stressed on how to handle this situation. Was now really the time to settle down for Leo? But what if he wasn't ready for that? He doesn't want to throw everything away to focus on raising a child now. Leo didn't want to say what he was about to, but it still managed to slip from his lips.

"What if...you got rid of it?", he quietly asked, worried about her reaction and worried he should be. Azucena glared furiously at him after hearing that suggestion.

"Are you insane? I'm not killing it! I could never bring myself to do that and besides it's illegal anyway...", she answered and looked away from him with crossed arms.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that...", he quickly apologized feeling terrible for even having thought about it. "I just...don't feel like I can do this yet. It's such a big step...not to mention that we've only been together for two months!"

"I know, I felt the exact same. It's all my fault...", the girl got emotional again and hid her face with her hand that was leaned against the window sill of the car.

"I was responsible for this too, okay? Don't just blame yourself. We just need to...figure out a way to deal with this.", he assured her trying his best to comfort his girlfriend even though he needed just as much comfort himself. He then held her hand again, looking at her eyes with determination. "You won't be alone. We'll get through this together, I promise."

"But what should we do? I'm afraid how my family will react.", she shook her head slowly and looked down in shame.

"They seem like nice people I'm sure their reaction won't be too awful.", he continued to comfort her. Azucena looked up to him with a slight smile on her face, showing that she was grateful for his kindness and understanding.

"Thank you. I was so scared to tell you but I'm glad you're not leaving me."

"Only a real douche bag would do something like that.", Leo smiled back to her warmly and then was immediately embraced by her while she whispered 'Thank you' again. Although he was unsure where this would go in the future he needed to stay by her side and offer support. It's his child too after all.

"There's nothing to be afraid of. Let's tell them about it now.", he suggested. Azucena nodded slowly before starting the engine driving off, heading to the Ortiz farm. She's been so incredibly anxious these past two months, but now that Leo was by her side she feels more confident. Though the worry of her family's disappointment still lingers.

"Mama, papa? Can we talk?", Azucena approached her parents who were sitting outside on the patio with Leo right by her side. The mother was delighted upon seeing the blonde German and she immediately rose up from her seat.

"Oh, Leo! You're back! Hija, why didn't you say he'd pay us a visit? I would've cooked something.", the woman jokingly scolded her daughter. Both young adults nervously laughed along before Leo would start speaking to the parents more seriously.

"Mrs. Castillo, Mr. Ortiz. There's something we need to share with you.", Leo said and looked over to Azucena. Both parents glanced at them with a bit of worry from his tone. The mother also slowly sat back down and waited patiently for them to continue talking. After a while of gathering her thoughts and pulling herself together, Azucena eventually opened her mouth to confess the truth.

"I've been keeping a secret from everyone for the past two months. I'm ashamed for keeping something like that to myself but I figure now's the time to tell you, no matter what you may think of me — of us."

"Hija, you're scaring me. Why would we think any different of you?", her mom was probably the most concerned and touched especially from the way her daughter was speaking right now.

"Because I'm pregnant.", she quickly told her and both parents stared at her in disbelief. Her father got up from the chair with a grumpy attitude, but not his usual one. This time it looked like he was a hundred times more furious.

"Qué? By him?! It hasn't even been half a year!"

"Shhh, cariño! Stop yelling. You're only making it worse!", his wife snapped but the man just scoffed and glared at the two young adults in a very judgmental way.

"Hmph. I knew something was up with you these past weeks. Young people are so careless nowadays! Now you have to live with the consequences of your own stupidity.", the man continued to curse some words in Spanish under his breath, but ultimately sighed in mere disappointment and frustration.

"Oh, you two...everyone makes mistakes. I'm glad you came early enough even if it would've been better if you told us right away.", the woman took Azu's hands her tone tender and caring as if she was speaking to two children. Her behavior was a complete contrast to her husband's.

"I'm just glad Leo isn't the type of guy to run away from his responsibilities.", the dad still had a ton of attitude, but everyone decided not to give him any sort of acknowledgment.

"You are going to keep the baby, right?", the mother quietly asked, her eyes quickly wandering from Azucena to Leo and back to Azucena.

"Yeah, I couldn't bring myself to do otherwise.", the Peruvian girl nodded and her mother sighed in relief after hearing her response.

"Well, you can count on us to help you out!", she enthusiastically promised them and the couple smiled in gratitude to her kindness.

"Us? Who's us?"

"You, me and the whole family. Now be quiet!", she scolded her husband again finally making him shut up for good as he leaped back down on the chair he sat on before. Azucena immediately hugged her mother tightly and couldn't describe how much she appreciated her support.

"Thank you, mama. You have no idea how much this means to us.", she nearly cried due to becoming emotional again. The middle aged woman wrapped her arms around her daughter, giving her a loving hug which basically was another way of saying 'I will love you no matter what'. Leo was deeply touched by this scene but now he had his own worries: He still needed to tell his father about everything and think about how to adjust his life. Now that they were expecting a child he should probably spend most of his time with Azucena which meant potentially moving to Peru permanently. There was so much they needed to arrange and take care of which quickly overwhelmed him just by how many things they now had to consider. They did have to prepare and reform their lives for a new human being so of course it wouldn't be easy — especially since all of it was a mere accident.

Chapter Text

Azucena and her mother were at a store, looking for any essentials they needed early on, but also thinking about what to get for the baby's arrival. In the meantime, Leo was on his way back to Germany to pack all of his things as he wanted to stay in Peru for the entire duration of the pregnancy. At first the young woman wasn't at all enthusiastic about shopping for a child she didn't want, but her mother was so eager and dedicated of guiding her through all of it, that she was even starting to have a little fun.

"What about this? Isn't it cute?", her mother presented a pastel pink baby onesie, but Azucena giggled and shook her head.

"We don't even know what gender it's going to be yet, so let's back down from the clothing aisle for now.", she spoke and glanced over to something else. Her mom sighed in disappointment and slowly placed the item back on the shelf. The women left the store with a couple of necessities like diapers, baby formula and even a few toys since Azu's mother insisted on getting them.

"I hope you're not secretly stressing about bothering us, Azu.", the middle aged woman spoke up after they finished stuffing the purchased items in the boot of the car since she noticed her daughter appearing to feel down again. "Because it is not a bother at all. You can stay on the farm as long as you like and we don't mind if you raise your baby here either."

"Thanks.", Azu muttered, not being surprised anymore at her mom's ability to read her mind perfectly. "But I've already thought getting my own place before...all of this. Maybe now's the time to actually go for it?"

"You should decide that for yourself. I will support your decision either way.", the older woman smiled warmly before getting behind the wheel. Azucena nodded thankfully before she got in as well so they could drive home.

A month later: Leo's now guaranteed to stay at the Ortiz farm for the next 6 months, and likely even longer. One day him and Azucena went to the doctor for an appointment for a checkup and also to find out about the baby's gender. Of course both of them were extremely curious what it would be. The doctor had a wide smile on her face while telling them that the embryo was developing perfectly fine.

"And can you already tell what gender it's going to be?", Azucena inquired eagerly as they watched the ultrasound of the baby on the display.

"Do you want me to tell you now?", the doctor asked just to make sure and they both nodded to her, assuring that they really wanted to know. The woman smiled at the two before continuing to talk. "Well, it's going to be a little girl. Congratulations!"

"A girl?", Leo mumbled. Although he didn't care about either gender, he was more than happy after finding out that they were having a daughter. Azucena was also glad, though her attitude was still a bit down as if she couldn't accept it even after receiving so much support from other people. Leo on the other hand has started to learn to deal with it, even feeling excited and touched by the thought of taking care of a small human. Perhaps she will feel more connected once she actually see's the baby in her arms.

"Remember to come back regularly!", the doctor told them as they headed outside of the office after the appointment concluded. They decided to spend a little more time in town instead of going straight back to the farm, maybe browse for a bit in nearby shops. They wandered around mindlessly, not looking for anything specific.

"And? Are you happy about the gender?", Leo then spoke up wondering about her opinion since she didn't share it out loud earlier. Azucena put down whatever item she was holding to turn and look at him.

"I don't really care about the gender. As long as it's healthy and developing as it should.", Azucena's words were sincere and he was moved by that statement because it sounded genuine and for once she seemed to actually care about the child. Her opinion was respectable and he couldn't agree more with it.

"Good point. Health is definitely top priority.", he nodded and walked along a couple more aisles with her right by his side. It was silent for a short moment as they glanced at random shelves before Azu abruptly stopped to talk again.

"I need to ask...what are planning on doing once she's born?"

That question struck him like lightning but he knew that it was valid. Leo wasn't entirely sure himself what he would do in a couple months time but for now he just knew that he will stay with her so she wouldn't have to go through the journey all by herself.

"What I plan on doing? Sounds like you'd expect me to leave as soon as she's here.", he ultimately replied, with a little sarcasm in his tone to lighten the conversations mood.

"Oh, that's not what I meant. I was just wondering...", Azucena sounded like she was feeling bad for 'offending' him but Leo took it lightly and smiled.

"It's okay. Well, my answer would obviously be to stay for as long as I can."

"You're willing to abandon everything for this? I'd understand if you wanted to fly back home for a while."

"I'm not abandoning anything. I will visit home again but next time I do, it will be with the three of us.", he assured her. Azucena was honestly surprised at how well he already adjusted to this new life and how he was thinking about their future as a family. It warmed her soul and now the young woman didn't feel as down anymore because of him. After a few minutes they finished up their browsing spree to head back to the farm where they were greeted with a delicious meal for dinner. So far, Azucena's parents are the only ones among the family members who were aware of the pregnancy, but they planned on informing the others soon enough. The atmosphere at the dinner table felt the same as always, even though the dad was still holding a strong grudge. Everyone enjoyed the company and the relaxing evening.

"So? What'd the doctor say?", Azu's mom asked them after taking a big sip from her drink.

"The child is developing just fine. Nothing to worry about.", Azucena replied and slightly smiled to her.

"What about the gender? Do you know it yet?", for once the older man seemed curious about the child, yet he still had that same grumpy look on his face.

"Well, we found out that it's going to be a girl.", Leo answered and a bright smile formed on his face, still feeling excited about the news. The mother's eyes began glowing and she was just as excited for them.

"How wonderful! I'm going to have a granddaughter!", she clapped with her hands and the young couple looked at her with warm grins. Even Azu's dad was a bit happy to hear about the official gender and his serious face gradually softened. After a while of chit-chatting it was time for bed so Azucena and Leo headed upstairs to the bedroom they were sharing. They lied down on the bed to sleep, however the Peruvian could not sleep just yet as she still had a question in mind she has been meaning to ask. After a couple of reconsiderations, she eventually spoke up when the light was already shut off.

"Leo, do you think it's a good idea if we get our own place to live?"

"Why? I don't mind staying here.", his voice sounded in the dark and he turned to the side to face her.

"I don't know. I don't want to be a burden for my family. And if we're about to have our own family together, maybe it'd be better that way.", she replied quietly and Leo needed a moment to think about what she said.

"If it makes you feel better, then I don't mind moving to another place either.", he just said but that wasn't really the answer she was looking for. She wanted a concrete opinion from him, not him saying that he'll do anything she does.

"So, we should?"

"Sure. But maybe now it's too early. Let's just wait it out a bit, okay?"

"Alright...goodnight then.", she nodded and turned to the opposite side while making herself comfortable with a pillow.

"Goodnight, Azucena.", he wished her back, closing his eyes in attempt to fall asleep soon. He was feeling a lot more content than at the start of all of this and all he could think about was the possible future. He never expected to abruptly think about this in a, still pretty young relationship but he was happy with the thought of having a future together with Azucena. Now all he was hoping for was that the next 6 months go by smoothly and quickly so they could finally meet their daughter in person.

Chapter Text

Azucena was currently in her eighth month of pregnancy and so far every doctor visit was brief and always gave the same response of the baby being healthy. The couple had no worries. By now the rest of Azu's family also knew about the upcoming baby and they showered the couple with dozens of gifts that could come in handy during early parenthood. They also got a due date by now and every day they looked forward to it more and more, preparing, being a little panicked but also delighted about the thought of a child — though their mindset was totally different 6 months ago. With the help of the family and each other, they could accept it more easily and now see this unwanted pregnancy in a more positive light. Everything was fine, everyone was excited for the date of the arrival until one faithful night would shake up everything.

Azucena woke up in the middle of the night, likely some time around 2 a.m. She felt a bit sick so she headed to the bathroom, thinking it was just morning sickness, but while she was making her way there she started feeling worse. Unmeasurable pain in her stomach area, dizziness, nausea and fatigue. This wasn't her usual morning sickness, since it never felt this way before. Worried she decided to head back to the bedroom in order to wake up her boyfriend and tell him about it but with each step she could feel her muscles getting weak making it insanely difficult to move at a faster pace.

"Leo...wake up.", she arrived at the bed and tried to shake him even though it was hard to do it properly. Shortly after he rose up from the bed while rubbing his eyes.

"What's wrong?", he inquired but then he noticed how she looked and immediately jumped out knowing something wasn't right. Without even changing into outdoor clothing, he grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the bedroom and decided to wake up the parents next.

"Did her water break?!", the mom asked in a panicked tone as she and her husband hurried out of the house and to the car.

"No...", Azucena whispered in an exhausted voice as Leo supported her while walking. He helped her get in the backseat first before sitting down himself and once the dad got behind the wheel and turned on the engine, they drove off as quickly as possible. Luckily, there was barely anyone on the road so he could speed up.
As soon as they arrived at the hospital they helped Azucena, who was close to passing out at this point. out of the vehicle while the dad walked in front to search for a doctor.

"Anyone hello?! We have an emergency over here!", he yelled around until finally a doctor headed their way and took a quick look at Azucena. Then the man hastily lead them to a room where he carefully let Azucena lay down on the hospital bed to check her condition more thoroughly. Leo and the family stood at the side waiting for the doctor's results.

"And? What's wrong with her?", Leo inquired worried, not taking his eyes off Azucena for a second. The doctor sighed before turning around to face him and the family.

"It's not looking very good. Did she have any earlier issues during pregnancy?", the man said, his face serious which only made them even more concernend.

"No, not at all! Our doctor always told us that everything was perfectly fine.", Leo answered hastily.

"I see. That makes this even more strange.", the man pondered for a bit before he went to tell them more. "Seems like the baby is undergoing some sudden issues. But no worries, we'll have it under control."

"What do you mean by 'some issues?! What's wrong with the baby?", Leo's voice got louder and his heart dropped after hearing what he said.

"I can't tell you right now. I will have to perform some more examinations first.", he replied calmly and tried to be reassuring so that they wouldn't panic as much, although that didn't really work out.

"But everything's going to be okay, right? They said she will be healthy..." Azucena's voice was quiet and weak as she glanced up to the doctor with sad eyes.

"I will make sure she will be. Should I get you a wheelchair or can you walk on your own?"

"I'm fine.", the young woman slowly got out of the bed and followed the doctor to another room while Leo and the parents had to wait in the hallways for now. Worry growing stronger with every passing minute. What was the reason for these sudden symptoms? Hopefully it wasn't as serious as it looked...
After about an hour or two, the doctor stepped out of the door and called the three of them inside so he could share what he discovered.

"Looks like the baby's having some trouble. Can I ask when you're due?"

"In 5 weeks...what kind of trouble do you mean?", Leo answered.

"The baby can't develop properly for some reason, causing her body to react harshly. If it gets too bad we will have to perform an emergency surgery."

"Oh no...", the mother muttered and nervously fidgeted with her fingers. The doctor left the room so they could talk with Azucena alone, however everyone was silent as they tried to comprehend everything. Leo sat down on the edge of the bed to check up on Azucena and holding her hand.

"How are you feeling now?", he asked her in a caring tone.

"A little better...but I'm worried."

"The doctor said he will take care of it, hija. Everything will be fine.", her mom also stepped to her side with a soft expression, trying to suppress her own doubts. They all stayed by her side for many more hours, but eventually they had to leave Azucena by herself in the hospital. It was 4 a.m and she just lied in the bed, staring into nothingness while pondering, overthinking and doubting. Could this mean that she might face a miscarriage? If the child is endangering her wellbeing then it will be removed early...so then that would lead to its death, right? Shouldn't she be glad that she won't have to take care of an unwanted child? No, she was far from glad. They have already prepared so much for the arrival that by now she actually bonded with her daughter before she could even see her. Azucena was happy for a while and that all because of her lovely family and Leo making her even feel grateful about the pregnancy, but now this sudden issue was tearing her from the inside. All she could do was hope for the best. Hope that the baby's condition won't get any worse and that it could be born like any other normal child. That night she couldn't fall asleep anymore and stayed wide awake until the first rays of sunshine came through the windows. She was incredibly exhausted, her body itching for a minute of sleep but the pain she had to endure was too unbearable for her to relax at all. It's as if 4 hours went by in the blink of an eye for Azucena so now the hospital was a lot more lively than before. Doctors coming in to start their morning shift, patients waking up and family members walking around in the halls. She could hear all of it. Around half past eight, a nurse entered the room and checked up on her before handing her a tray of food.

"Good morning! How are you feeling?", the young woman greeted her politely.

"Better, I suppose. It still hurts though...", Azu muttered tiredly while rising up to sit up straight on the bed.

"The doctor said to take this medication if the pain gets too much.", the nurse pointed to some pills that were placed next to the food and she smiled at her warmly and told her one last thing before leaving to take care of other patients. "Eat up and he will be with you soon."
Azucena nodded and tried to smile back, though even smiling right now turned out to be difficult. However, she didn't feel like eating anything at this moment so instead she drank a glass of water. For now Azucena decided not to take the pain killers. Minutes later the doctor appeared and checked up on her medical state.

"Slept well?", he started some small talk while doing examinations.

"Uh-huh...", she nodded slowly but the man quickly saw through her lie. He paused from checking the monitors and glanced over to the young woman with a displeased face.

"Doesn't look like you did. I know it may be hard for you, but sleeping is important especially if you're heavily pregnant."

"I know, but there's too much going on in my head right now. I just want everything to end well."

"Don't worry about that. You can trust me when I say that we'll do our best to make sure everything will go well for you and your baby. All I'm asking from you is to treat your body well, so eat, sleep and don't stress too much. This affects the child as well.", the doctor explained to her and Azucena nodded along, understanding that she should be more considerate in that aspect. Once the man finished up his work, he left the soon-to-be-mother by herself to tend to some other people.

"Then I should probably get some sleep now...", Azu mumbled to herself, before closing her eyes attempting to now get the hours of sleep she missed. After managing to oust the pain, she fell into deep slumber.

Chapter Text

Azucena woke up not in the hospital bed, but in the middle of a plantation. She immediately recognized that it was the plantation on her farm so she rose up from the ground. While doing that she noticed that she felt a little lighter than usual and that was when she realized that she wasn't pregnant anymore.

"Why am I here?", she asked herself while looking around confused. Not long after she stood up, the sky started to become dark as rain clouds started forming and soon enough drops began falling from the above. Right after that followed a loud thunder roar and harsh wind which all lead to the crops on the farm being destroyed mercilessly. It was identical to the dream Leo had many months ago and she clearly remembered him describing it to her. After the storm ended, everything went back to normal, however the plantation was still ruined except for one, tiny, green seedling rising up from the soil. Azucena approached it without thinking twice to check and it was fascinating to see the plant totally fine even after all this chaos that destroyed every other plant in the area.

"This is the same dream Leo had described to me before.", she uttered while leaning down to inspect the young plant. "How odd. Maybe there is meaning behind it after all? But what could it be? This makes no sense to me..."

She then stood up straight again to watch the landscape around her. Not too long though she heard voices calling her name, which sounded rather ghostly and distant. These voices kept calling her from all directions over and over again until — she opened her eyes and found herself back in the hospital with Leo and her parents hovering over head. She slowly rubbed her eyes and once she got to sit up straight, she spotted a few of her other family members surrounding the bed with worried faces.

"Oh, hello everyone...", she greeted them with a faint smile.

"Oh, nieta! You poor girl! How are you feeling??", her grandma grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly and she acted the most worried out of everyone in the room.

"I'm better, but it's still uncomfortable. I'm just hoping the child is doing okay..."

"I prayed for you the entire time since your parents shared what happened.", the elder told her and Azu nodded gratefully while looking around the room to the other people before keeping her eyes locked on Leo for a while.

"What time is it?", she eventually asked after glancing back to the others.

"It's about to be 4 p.m. You slept the entire time, we nearly thought you weren't with us anymore!", one of Azu's cousins replied after briefly checking her watch.

"Sorry, I didn't sleep the entire night..."

"Don't apologize! You need sleep. We don't mind if you go back to sleep right now.", her grandma had a sort of scolding tone when she heard the young woman's apologetic voice. Azucena chuckled softly before her eyes began feeling heavy. Was she still tired? Even though she slept nearly the whole day?

"Okay, Azucena, just lay down and get rest. We won't bother you.", her mother stepped forward and moved her daughter's upper body so she'd lay down. "We only wanted to make sure how you were doing. Sweet dreams, my girl."

"Bye, Azucena!", her other family members said and most of them immediately left the room to give her peace. However, her granny and Leo were the only ones still present for a while, but soon her grandma also left after giving her a caring kiss on the forehead. Now it was just her and Leo.

"Are you going to stay?", she inquired him after a moment of silence.

"If you don't mind it.", he shortly answered and sat down on a chair that was right next to the bed. "I just wanna make sure that everything's alright while you sleep."

"You don't have to do that. There are nurses here for a reason."

"I just want to stay by your side. Just pretend I'm not here if it helps you to fall asleep.", Leo talked back. She wasn't mad that he wanted to stay in fact it was quite the opposite. With Leo watching over her she wasn't as anxious anymore and could fall asleep way easier, but before she closed her eyes she wanted to talk a bit longer.

"I just had a strange dream." , she began and paused for a quick moment. "It was exactly as the one you described months ago. The one on the farm and the storm."

"Seriously? Also with that seedling that managed to survive?", Leo was surprised to hear that they may have experienced the exact same dream. Azucena just nodded to his question and then the young man went to ponder a little to himself.

"Huh...maybe it does have a meaning if we both had it? Surely it can't just be a coincidence, right?"

"I don't know. All I know is that it's weird."

"Yeah, I agree.", he leaned back and crossed his arms while looking sideways. The two of them stayed quiet for another while since Azucena was now thinking about asking him another thing, but she constantly thought if she actually should or not. Not too long though Leo started speaking up again first: "Alright, you get some sleep now. I can't believe you didn't sleep the entire night."

"You're right...", the Peruvian nodded to him and turned around the opposite way to sleep on her side, but not too long after she turned back around to speak with him again. "Could you maybe lie down next to me? I'd fall asleep easier that way."

"Sure.", he nodded with a kind smile and carefully climbed into the bed next to her and they both hugged each other. This made Azucena feel more serene and at ease, feeling Leo's warmth made her worry a lot less and now she could actually fall asleep peacefully without any more strange dreams hopefully.

Chapter Text

When Azucena woke up, it was already night time but she still found Leo sleeping right next to her. She got out of bed quietly, trying not to wake him up, because she just wanted to walk around for a bit instead of laying in bed the whole time. The hospital was dark, since there weren't many people active around this hour so she could take a long and mindful stroll through the halls. She still felt dizzy, but the abnormal pain in her belly has reduced a bit by now and so walking was a little less exhausting. The girl thought about many things, but most were about her unborn daughter. Maybe since the symptoms have gotten better, it meant that her condition has improved as well?

'I'll ask the doctor about it tomorrow.', she thought to herself and smiled a little at the idea of everything becoming better and that she could soon give birth without any problems. Her due date was coming closer and closer and by now she couldn't wait anymore. Azucena never expected to be this excited about an unwanted baby but that's just how it is. After about 10 to 15 minutes, Azucena returned to her assigned room but once she stepped foot inside, she felt sick. It was exactly the same as how she felt right before being rushed to the hospital. The young woman acted quickly and rushed over to Leo to shake him and once he opened his eyes she explained to him what was happening.

"Stay here, I'll get someone!", he panicked and hurried out to find a medical professional as fast as he could. Azucena sat down on the bed and held onto her belly because of the pain until Leo finally returned with a different doctor a couple of seconds later. The man did a check-up on her and the baby and soon realized that it was serious.

"When's your due date?", the man asked the couple while taking a look at Azucena's symptoms.

"In about 4 weeks.", Leo replied quickly, panic overwhelming him.

"Either this may be a premature birth or...", the doctor muttered and stepped away from the pregnant woman.

"Your body is reacting harshly against the baby. We could undergo surgery now to get it out early."

"Isn't 4 weeks a little too early?!", Leo's voice got louder in shock after hearing the doctor's suggestion.

"I've seen earlier births, but these symptoms are concerning. I'll let you decide how you want to act.", the man answered before heading towards the door to let the couple discuss their decision, but right before he could step out he heard the sound of a splash behind him. Once he turned around he was shocked to see that Azucena's water just broke!

"Looks like it wants to come out early anyway.", the doctor said and rushed back to them. "Alright, just relax. All you need to do is to wait until you're fully dilated. I'll check on you once in a while."

"Wait, a minute! Does this mean that–", Leo couldn't believe what he was hearing and certainly couldn't believe that Azucena actually got into labour just now. It wasn't still a while to their actual due date!

"Hopefully no surgery will be needed. My advice is to go for walks if you want to speed up the dilation process.", the doctor told them and headed towards the door, saying one more thing before leaving. "If you need anything I'll be at the reception."
Leo looked over to Azucena with wide eyes and totally speechless. She seemed just as shocked by this situation as he was, if not even more.

"Should I call your parents?", he then asked in a panicked tone but surprisingly Azucena shook her head.

"Let's not wake them at this hour.", she replied and started heading out to take a walk like the doctor suggested. Leo followed right behind her with a concerned look. unsure on what to do at all.

"A-and what about your symptoms?", he nervously inquired.

"I don't know...maybe I was just really stressed because now it just feels like cramps.", she answered. After they strolled around the entire hospital, they went outside too to walk around the building in circles. After walking for half an hour they returned to look for the doctor since they wanted to know how mich progress they were making and how much she actually needed to be dilated in order to deliver.

"You are 1 cm dilated. 9 more to go.", he told them after checking.

"9? So I need to wait until I'm 10 cm dilated?!", Azucena was a bit frightened by that number but the man assured her that it wasn't something to be concerned about.

"Don't worry. Also, if you're having strong contractions, just come to me for an epidural.", the doctor mentioned before heading out of the room. Azucena sighed as she stayed seated on the bed.

"It's going to take a while.", she sounded like she was already exhausted, understandably so because going into labour right now wasn't what she expected or necessarily wanted.

"I'll stay with you during all of this, so no need to worry!", Leo tried to sound confident to make her feel better and it helped. The young woman nodded and got up from her seat.

"So, then let's take more walks!", after a long time she sounded energized and was the first to walk out of the room.
Hours pass and by this time Leo already felt way too exhausted to continue walking around so Azucena had to do it by herself while he rested on a couch. Azu has felt pretty down these past months but now she was almost back to her old self, energetic and charismatic as she was motivated to get this over with. She could feel her contractions getting worse and so she went to check up with the doctor again who told her that she was now 5 cm dilated. When he asked her whether she wanted an epidural she refused feeling like she didn't need it.
Then she checked on what Leo was doing and spotted him just napping on a couch. She understood that it was pretty late so she didn't blame him for sleeping. She herself didn't want to rest yet since she decided to go on more walks, as her sole motivation being to finally have this pregnancy over with.

By now it's been nearly 12 hours since going into labor, so the sun was now up. When Azucena checked her dilation again she was finally fully dilated and the doctor went to go over the next steps with her. Leo was also awake by now so he followed them with his anxiety growing stronger but he also felt a sense of excitement because it was almost time to meet their child. Leo sat next to her to hold her hand while she was going through the toughest part of labour and once the midwives arrived the birth could begin.
It was certainly not easy to push out an entire human being but after all the pain, screaming and difficulty the effort paid off. After 20 minutes a midwife carried the newborn out and immediately checked for any issues. To everyone's surprise, the baby was totally healthy even though it was a premature birth. The midwives quickly handed the child to her mother for bonding. When Azucena held her newborn in her arms she felt relieved and overjoyed. Seeing her own child face to face for the first time was definitely making her emotional. After a minute or two she handed the baby to Leo and he was just as emotional. He still couldn't really believe that all of this was happening, the fact that he was holding his own creation still baffled him. Now he could officially call himself a father and Azucena a mother. Suddenly the doors burst open and Azucena's parents along with her grandma rushed inside.

"We got a call that you were giving birth so we came as fast as we could!", the mom shouted and caught her breath for a second before spotting the newly born child in Leo's arms. The family's eyes started glowing and they hastily approached it, all wanting to greet it at once. Leo carefully placed it in the woman's arms and she almost started crying upon seeing its face up close. The three of them each took turns holding the child and even the grumpy dad was joyfully smiling once he got to hold it himself. Meanwhile Leo took the time to check on how Azucena was doing after the birth but she seemed to be fine.

"We're officially grandparents now!", the mom happily cheered with her husband.

"And I'm a great-grandparent!", the granny laughed as she was now holding the baby.

"Did you decide on a name yet?", Azu's mother glanced at the couple curiously, but they both shrugged and thought to themselves for a moment.

"Not yet...", Leo muttered and looked over to Azucena if she had any ideas. After some thinking she had a first idea in mind.

"What about Adela?", she suggested and everyone seemed to immediately like that idea.

"That's a beautiful name.", Leo nodded.

"Welcome to our family, little Adela!", the grandma smiled brightly before handing the baby over to Azucena. This might be the best day both Azucena and Leo ever had and although they weren't fond of the pregnancy at the start, they were now grateful for having such a beautiful child. This unwanted baby that was like a curse for them at first turned out to be their biggest blessing.

Chapter Text

Some more family members got to meet the newborn baby the day after the birth likely because they couldn't really make it to the hospital that time. Everyone was in awe and joyful about the new addition. They all wanted to hold her of course but the child needed rest just like her mother so they had to hold themselves back. Leo kept a close eye on both, especially the baby, while pondering about some things.

'I would love for my dad to meet her as well...', he felt disappointed about his father not being able to visit but he'll make sure to come back to Germany one day with his daughter so they could meet. 'I never would've thought that I'd have a child by the end of the year. Life is so strange.'
Once Leo felt like that the family has gotten to know the baby enough, he carried her out of living room and upstairs, where Azucena was already sleeping in the bed, so he could place her in the crib to rest.

"You guys need it the most.", he mumbled under his breath and left the room after taking one last glance at both of them. As he was making his way back he thought about what Azucena had once told him before. Maybe she was right about moving out? He found it may be better if the three of them got their own place to stay. Back then he only gave her a basic answer to the question and not his actual opinion, so he decided to talk about it with her again once she was well rested. For the time being Leo was hanging out with the family in the living room.

Later in the afternoon, Azucena finally woke up from her nap, but most of the family members who came over to visit have already gone home. Leo greeted her with a kiss before asking how she feels. Then he went on to talk about what he has been thinking about before.

"I thought about what you said before. Maybe it is better if we find our own place.", he explained. Azucena was a bit stunned by him mentioning the topic again but she beamed before answering.

"I think so too."

"You guys plan on moving out?", all of a sudden Azucena's mother joined their conversation as if she had listened in nearby.

"Uh, yeah. We think it's better to have some space to ourselves.", Azucena responded, a little perplexed by the woman's unexpected appearance. She thought that her mother might not be very fond of the idea and try to argue but the complete opposite appeared to be the case.

"Well, then I'll gladly help you with finding a good place.", the middle aged woman grinned enthusiastically before walking off into another room. Both Azucena and Leo followed her after she made a sign with her hand that told them to. They spent almost the entire afternoon and evening searching online for a good and affordable apartment and even the dad joined in later to help. It wasn't easy but eventually one place caught the couple's eye. It looked promising from the pictures and description so they sent an application to view it in person the next day. After doing that they called it a day and ate dinner before everyone began preparing for bed.
Azucena checked up on Adela before she climbed into bed next to Leo who was already ready to go to sleep. But before she could close her eyes and sleep, she had to ask him one more thing like most of the time.

"Leo?", she questioned wondering if he was still awake.

"Yeah?", he answered, his back facing toward her while making himself comfortable underneath the blanket.

"What if we got married?", she continued and that's when he had to turn around upon hearing that precipitous idea.

"Don't be silly. It's way too early for that.", he eventually replied, sounding as if he wasn't too keen on marrying any time soon.

"But it's also way too early to have a child."

"True but we can't do anything about it now. We have to focus on other things right now."

"You're right...", Azucena muttered and sighed before turning of the night light and laying down to go to sleep. "Good night."

"Good night, Azu."

Chapter Text

A day later Azucena, Leo and Adela were at the apartment that they wanted to check out and by now they were convinced that it was the perfect place for them to live in. After strolling around, checking the rooms, they returned to the realtor who was in charge of showcasing the property.

"Does it meet your expectations?", the suited woman politely asked them with a friendly smile after spotting the young family.

"It's perfect. We'd like to buy it.", Leo answered and the woman nodded while getting some paper documents on the table.

"You can sign it now if you like."

"Sure.", the German nodded and took a look at the papers, flipping through them before signing them. Then he handed them over to the realtor.

"Alright, you're all set. You can start moving in whenever you like.", the woman told them and the couple nodded thankfully before heading out of the door. They took some glances at the neighborhood before stepping out of the building.

"This isn't a bad area to live in. Stores are just a couple blocks down, the neighborhood has a good reputation and the school isn't too far away either.", Azucena observed her surroundings out loud. Leo couldn't agree more and was relieved to have found such a good place.

"Yeah, it's perfect. Let's get back and start packing.", he suggested. However, as they made their way to the car they were stopped by someone familiar coming their way...

"Found you at last! Oh, you have no idea what's coming for you!", it was Lili and she nearly ran Azucena over because of how furious she was. Seems like she figured out that Azucena had snitched on her father and now she finally managed to find her to begin scolding. Perplexed by her presence, Azucena swiftly stepped back while holding onto her child and right before Lili opened her mouth to start shouting or even becoming physical, she refrained from doing so once she noticed the newborn.

"What the? Are you a babysitter now or something? Don't you earn enough from your business anymore?", she glared at the Peruvian as if she had only come here to challenge her to a fist fight but now she couldn't.

"Actually, I gave birth two days ago.", Azucena corrected her with a bit of playful attitude in her tone.

"You gave birth? You're joking.", Lili couldn't contain her laughter because it sounded too ridiculous to her but soon she calmed down and noticed that she was in fact not joking. "Okay, hold on. So you're telling me that you have a family now? When did all of this happen?!"

"I'm still quite befuddled myself. These past months went by in a breeze!", Azucena replied, but she was happy to be holding her own child.

"Huh...", Lili scratched her head and glanced at the baby weirdly before looking over to Leo and then back to Azucena. "Who's the father if I may ask? Because last time I checked you didn't even have any boyfriend."

The young woman just pointed over to Leo with her head silently, which took the Monacan girl a minute to realize.

"Oh...", her eyes wandered over to the German and they kept switching back and forth from Azucena to him. "Last time I saw you, you guys were just friends and now you have a kid?"

"To be fair it was quite some time ago you saw us. And honestly, Adela was actually an accident but over time we grew to love and appreciate her more than anything.", Leo chimed. Lili was confused by everything she just heard but she was also a bit touched to see their young family, even if it was nothing what she expected to find.

"Adela, huh? That's a sweet name.", the girl uttered and for the first time she sounded nice towards them and less narcissistic.

"Thank you. Here, hold her for a bit.", Azucena approached her ready to hand over the baby, but Lili refused saying that she wasn't good with children, yet she was still forced to hold it. The rich girl found it rather strange that she was trusted with holding their child even though she acted like a douche towards Azucena. She carefully held it and looked down at the cute, sleeping face with awe. After a minute she gave the baby back to the parents and now Lili felt a lot more ashamed for how she behaved before.

"I wouldn't mind fighting with you, but now we have to start packing our things. Maybe another time, Lili!", Azucena told her kindly before her and Leo sat down in the car to drive off to the farm. Lili stayed behind staring at the vehicle until it disappeared behind a turn. She was so staggered by what she saw that she couldn't properly close her mouth and went to think to herself.

'I always thought she'd be the last person to settle down for a child. But she looked genuinely happy having a family so maybe I was wrong. Ugh, I guess my revenge'll have to wait...', she pondered silently, crossing her arms and holding a hand up to her chin. Then she turned around and walked back to the limousine where her butler, Sebastian was already waiting.

"That was a quick fight. Everything alright, m'lady?", the old man was stunned to see her return this soon as she stepped into the backseat of the car.

"It'll have to be postponed. Let's go to the airport, Sebastian.", she ordered and her butler quickly nodded while starting the engine. During the whole drive, she continued to wonder about the small family as she still couldn't quite wrap her head around it.

"Then what is the baby's last name? Surely these two aren't married yet so it maybe it's something like...Ortiz Castillo-Kliesen? No, that sounds stupid.", the blonde girl mumbled under her breath.

"What was that, m'lady?", the butler inquired upon hearing her mumbling, thinking she was talking to him.

"Nothing. Mind your own business, Sebastian.", she snapped. Then she continued to think to herself, in total silence this time.

'Now that I couldn't fight against that coffee fanatic, I might as well pay dear Asuka a visit in Japan to make up for it!'

Chapter Text

A couple weeks later, the family of three have settled in to their new place and everything has been going well. Currently Leo and Azucena devoted most of their time to their daughter so they didn't have a lot of time to go after their own hobbies anymore. Azu's family also has been visiting them frequently so it wasn't all too stressful. However, Leo hasn't heard anything from his father these past few days, making him worry if he got himself in some trouble again but right when he thought about that, something or someone appeared in front of their doorstep.

The young parents were now watching television with Adela since it was evening, so there wasn't much to do anyway. Suddenly they heard someone knock on the door and so Azucena rose up from her seat to answer since Leo was occupied with the baby sitting on his lap.

"I'll get it!", she announced and rushed over to open the door for the stranger, likely expecting it to be another one of her relatives, but then she saw an older man she had never seen before.

"Can I help you?", she inquired rather confused while observing his appearance. Then man's clothes were pretty dirty, as if he had been working outdoors, he was wearing sunglasses and a cowboy hat. Additionally she noticed his long, blonde hair tucked into a low bun.

"Ah, sorry if I'm bothering but you're Azucena, right? I heard that my son, Leo is living with you now?", the man spoke up in a pretty nervous tone and glanced over her shoulder inside the apartment. As soon as Leo heard that voice he carefully placed Adela on the couch and walked towards the door to see if it was really who he thought it was.

"Father? What are you doing here?", astonished Leo stepped out to hug him. He didn't expect him to just show up in front of their new home. That meant he flew all the way to visit him without any warning.

"Hey, Leo! We haven't seen each other for so long. I thought the baby must be here by now so I decided to come by and visit.", he replied, sounding pretty anxious.

"Yeah, she's here. Come in and say hello.", Leo nodded and invited him inside. The three adults headed to the living room where the TV was still running and where Adela was asleep on the couch, but she woke up once she noticed her parents returning with a stranger. Leo went to pick her up and proudly present her to Niklas, before handing her over to his arms.

"Aww...", Niklas' mouth corners formed into a soft grin when he looked at the child's face. "So, it's a girl?"

"Yep. Her name's Adela.", Azucena nodded and crossed her arms while smiling brightly.

"Adela? Sounds a bit like the German word for noble.", Leo's father chuckled and lightly nudged the baby's nose.

"Huh, right. I didn't even notice that before.", Leo laughed along with him. Then they all headed to sit down on the couch and talk a bit more while Adela rested in Niklas' arms.

"Well, I thought it'd take at least 30 years until I can call myself a grandpa but here we are.", the older man mentioned in a sarcastic tone of voice and the other two giggled.

"I don't think anyone expected us to become parents by the end of the year.", Leo added.

"You better teach her some Baji Quan when she gets old enough though.", his father stated and the two young parents just laughed in response. They couldn't share another word to that topic though since they overheard someone in the news talking about the Mishima's — specifically Heihachi Mishma who has seemingly been brought back from the dead.

"What a way to ruin the evening.", Azucena scoffed and turned off the TV as she didn't want to hear any of it anymore.

"Oh, how will you two compete in the future tournaments now that you've gotta take care of a baby?", Niklas then asked after remembering that the King of Iron Fist tournaments will likely still be hosted in the near future. Leo and Azucena glanced at each other for a moment, internally thinking about an answer.

"I guess we won't at all. We'll see when the next one gets announced.", Leo eventually told him and shrugged with his shoulders a bit. Azucena just nodded silently with his answer.
Niklas only stayed with them for a few more hours until he had to leave again since he wanted to catch a flight back home because he's still got work to do back there. They said each other goodbye and then the family went to bed right after.

The next morning Azucena and Leo got up early at around 5 a.m because the baby woke up them up with loud crying. Once they managed to calm her down, they went to have breakfast and turned on the TV to watch the news at around 7 a.m. But what they heard being broadcasted was rather surprising to say the least.

"So, I'm hosting another King of Iron Fist Tournament! May only the strongest and most willing fighters step into the ring. And you Kazuya better not back down from it even if your silly little devil powers are gone now!", Heihachi shouted through TV and laughed hysterically until Azucena grabbed the remote to shut it off once again.

"That was sooner than expected.", she mumbled. "The last tournament didn't even happen too long ago."

"He's only doing it to find Kazuya. Apparently he's missing now.", Leo added and was a little skeptical about it just like her. He didn't feel like participating again anyway so he didn't have to worry, but Azucena had that itch for battle unlike him. But should she just leave him alone with Adela in order to fight?

"I'm thinking if I should sign up. I haven't fought in the ring for so long...", she spoke to him sounding unsure but Leo didn't seem to deny her idea.

"I think you should if you want to.", he told her assuringly.

"But what about the baby? You're going to have to take of her all by yourself."

"I'll deal with it, no worries. This shouldn't stop you from doing what you like."

"Thanks. You're the best.", she thanked him gratefully and nodded once.

"I will sign up later today.", Azucena lastly added and took a bite from her food.

"We will come with you.", Leo answered and smiled to her which was then returned to him.

Between 1 or 2 p.m the young family made their way to a booth where Azucena could sign up to participate and get tickets for the upcoming tournament. To no one's surprise there was a long line already waiting to get signed up so it was a bit of a pain.

"Huh? Oh, hey there, Leo!", it was Steve who tapped him from behind out of nowhere. Leo turned around in surprise but then a smile formed on his face once he saw the British boxer. Steve's smile quickly faded into a more shocked face once he noticed him holding a baby.

"Oh, what's that?", he pointed to Adela confused.

"That's Adela. She's my daughter.", the German explained while Azucena was busy elsewhere.

"Daughter? Woah, you're a dad? Since when?", Steve was taken aback by that fact and stared at him wide eyed. Leo chuckled a bit seeing his perplexed reaction.

"Since 3 days ago.", he then answered but Steve was still unable to believe any of it. Just like Lili , Steve saw Leo a long time ago, never suspecting that he'd have his own child in a couple of months.

"Are you for real? That's your kid?", Steve asked again sounding incredibly befuddled.

"Yeah.", Leo nodded and held Adela a little closer to Steve to show her off.

"Woah...", the Brit was dumbfounded and his gaze quickly wandered between the two. "Well, she's got your blue eyes. That's pretty cool."

"Thanks.", the German replied and he could tell that their conversation was getting a little awkward so he offered his friend to hold the baby for a bit. Steve didn't decline and nervously held on to the young child. Soon after Azucena returned and was pretty surprise to see Steve again, though this time she didn't hold a grudge against him anymore. Instead she greeted him kindly and they began to talk casually.

"Well, congratulations to you guys. It must be fulfilling to now have your own kid.", the boxer was happy for them even though his baffled tone was pretty obvious. "But I gotta go sign up now or else I won't get a ticket anymore!"

"Bye Steve!", they said each other farewell because now Leo and Azucena also started heading home.

"By the way, I got two more tickets so you and Adela can watch me fight.", finally Azucena showed him the three tickets in her hand while they were treading to their apartment.

"Really? That's great! We'll cheer you on.", he seemed joyful about the idea of watching the fights with Adela, making Azucena glad for making that spontaneous decision to buy extra tickets. Well, now all they were looking forward to was the tournament. It's really strange how the last time they were anticipating a tournament their life situation was totally different from how it is now. These changes were sudden, unpredictable and even pretty drastic but even with how their life changed, these two were glad it turned out the way it did. They were glad for having created an angel like Adela — even if it was all just a mere accident.

Chapter Text

Azucena would go on to participate in the 9th King of Iron Fist Tournament and even with all the support she got from Leo, Adela and her relatives she couldn't manage to win it, but she still got impressively far. After the tournament ended the two of them solely focused on raising their child leading them to have many joyful moments and delightful experiences together. Adela grew up fast and she was soon to start speaking some proper words and moving around on her own. It was difficult having to raise a human for the very first time but it was proved to be worth it as they spent wonderful family time.
After a couple years, Leo and Azucena would even get married, but they decided to refrain from having any more children in the future and by the time of their wedding, Adela turned 3 years of age. Time really flew by fast for the parents because when it was their daughter's 5th birthday, they still felt like she was just born yesterday. They thought about teaching Adela a mix of Baji Quan and Azucena's MMA style once she turns the appropriate age but that is still going to take ages. Right now they were glad that the Mishima's conflict was a bit calmer than usual so they could raise her in a more peaceful environment. Maybe if Adela gets older, she'll be a great fighter just like her parents and regularly participate in tournaments just like they did — but all of that is a matter for another time.