This chappie is dedicated to Caro!  You’ve been such a great help!!

My sweet little Angel

            Ryou rested his head on Bakura’s chest like he did every night when they slept.  Bakura had grown accustomed to Ryou sleeping beside him.  Tonight he couldn’t sleep.  He couldn’t understand why.  Maybe it was the warmth of the room or the quiet beating of Ryou’s heart thumping against his side.  Bakura ran his fingers over Ryou’s bare back to his bare shoulders feeling every rib, every curve of muscle.

Ryou sighed in his sleep gripping Bakura tighter and tighter with a heavy sigh and a smile gracing his lips.  Bakura kissed Ryou’s forehead and rested his cheek on the clump of white hair when the door slowly creaked.  Ryou didn’t stir, but Bakura opened one eye to hear a voice calling to him coming closer to Ryou.  Bakura held Ryou closer to him causing Ryou to moan in his sleep.  As the voice traveled to the bed, the figure of the woman in Bakura’s dream materialized.  Bakura watched her as she stood over Ryou.  Around her neck she wore a gold necklace and on her finger-the wedding band.

“It’s you,” he whispered.

“Hello, Bakura.” She smiled. “You certainly look comfortable.”

Bakura looked down at Ryou and couldn’t help but smile.  He tried to pull the covers to hide Ryou’s bare back.  The woman gently took the sheets and covered Ryou.  “I’m pleased to see you have settled your differences.  He looks much happier now.”  She saw how Ryou’s arm was draped over Bakura.  “It is strange.  That is how he used to sleep with me-when he was younger.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to check on you...” The woman brushed Ryou’s hair from his eyes lovingly.  On her finger was the wedding band in Ryou’s mother’s jewelry box.  Bakura gripped onto Ryou tighter.  “….and my child.”

Bakura looked her in the eyes.  She had Ryou’s eyes.  Her figure was always obscured in light when he looked at her.  Now he could see her resemblance to Ryou.  Her hair was white, and her eyes…they matched Ryou’s perfectly. 

“You are….his mother?”

The woman turned her head to him and smiled at her.  “Rhea…My name is Rhea. Yes, I am his mother.”

 “I thought you were-.”

Rhea looked sadly down at Ryou.  She kneeled beside the bed and wrapped her arms around her son.  “Ryou was just a young boy.  His father was out on a dig in Egypt.  My Ryou was everything to me.  One day I was cooking in the kitchen and I heard a crash in the living room. I thought Ryou knocked into a table with his toys.  I found a man in black holding him.  He wanted the valuables in the house.”

Bakura stopped and sat up in the bed.  “My dream!”

“Ryou still dreams about it.  That is why I recreated that dream for you.  That day, I wrestled Ryou from that man, but he was too strong for me.  I couldn’t protect him.  I failed him.”

“You didn’t fail him, Rhea. He’s still alive.  He wouldn’t be breathing if it wasn’t for you.”

“The neighbors heard him crying ‘mommy’ By then it was too late for me.  Nothing mattered in the world as long as my son was safe.”

The smile of contentment was still on Ryou’s face in his mother’s arms.  “I didn’t want anything to happen to Ryou, Bakura.  That is why I did what I did.  I wanted no harm to come to my baby.  I wanted to see for myself that you would be willing to risk your life for him as I have.”

“About what you said about Ryou not having much time left if I didn’t mend my ways, were you serious?”

Rhea nodded.  “Ryou deserves a longer life than my own.  He deserves better than that.”

“I will look after him.”

“My son looks happy.  That is all that matters to me.”

“He is all that matters to me.  I love him.”

Rhea stood up beside Ryou and kissed him on the cheek slowly and gently.  Ryou slowly opened and rubbed his eyes.  “Goodnight, my sweet little angel.”

“Bakura? Did you just kiss me?”

Ryou turned around to see the woman behind him.  Ryou immediately went pale and he sat up in the bed.  He raised his head and his trembling hand to touch her, falling tears glittering in the moonlight.  “M-Mommy?  Mommy, is that really…you?”

Rhea smiled down at him and kissed his forehead where Bakura kissed him.  “Sleep tight, sweetheart.”

Bakura kneeled behind Ryou and gripped his shoulders.  “Goodnight……mommy.”  Rhea turned to walk to the bedroom door again.  “Mommy!  Mommy! Don’t leave! Please!  Mommy!”

Rhea turned back to him. “I love you, Ryou.”

“Mommy…”  Bakura gathered Ryou’s shaking form in his arms as his mother left the room.  “My mommy…” 

Bakura kissed Ryou’s forehead.  “You never told me what happened!  Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s been so long. I was so young!  I couldn’t protect her!  I was weak!  You were right, Bakura.  I was weak.”

Bakura cupped his partner’s face in his hands.  “You are not weak, Ryou.  You are stronger than you believe.  It may hurt, but you are not responsible for her death.  Nothing you say or do can prove to me that you are responsible for her death.  Come back to bed.”

Bakura laid Ryou back on the sheets and climbed in beside him.  Ryou hugged Bakura tighter as he nestled his head into Bakura’s chest.  Bakura wrapped his arm around Ryou.  It was strange how Ryou slept with him the same way he slept with his mother with his arm draped over his body.  Bakura stroked Ryou’s cheek until he fell asleep again, the moonlight still illuminating his tears. 

“I will love you…until the end of time, my Ryou, my sweetheart,….my sweet little angel.”