He glanced at the clock again. Yui had been gone eight hours already and he didn't think she'd be back any time soon. Looking around the apartment, the preparations he had made, Gendo frowned.

This was ridiculous; he couldn't sit around and wait, and she shouldn't have been working so much. Cursing under his breath, Gendo left everything as it was and exited the apartment.

Yui had skipped lunch, and that had been a huge mistake. If she had been tired in the morning, then she was dead now, and still had a couple hours to finish things up for the day.

"I'll see you Tuesday, Yui," Satoshi said as he was about to leave.

"Bye, Satoshi." She didn't remove her eyes from the data she was looking over though. The sound of the door opening registered to her, but not the fact that Satoshi had left. Or that someone else had arrived.

"You really shouldn't be here when we're trying to do serious work."

Yui looked up at the sound of Professor Fuyutsuki's voice. For a moment, she thought he was talking to her and was very confused. But he wasn't looking in her direction.

"It's time to go, Yui."

She turned and saw Gendo standing just inside the doorway. Her face lit up immediately. "Gen... do! What are you doing here?"

"My question exactly," Fuyutsuki said, obviously without the delight that Yui had expressed.

Ignoring Fuyutsuki completely, Gendo fixed his solemn gaze on Yui. "I'm here to take you home, Yui. So you can get a decent meal and get some rest. You don't need to work yourself this hard for anything."

"Gendo, I shouldn't," she said apologetically.

"Yes, we're trying to do work, something you probably wouldn't really know anything about." Fuyutsuki folded his arms and glared at Gendo.

"Professor, I'm going to step out for a few moments to speak with Gendo," Yui said quietly, keeping her eyes trained on her visitor. She wasn't angry with him at all; she was just...

"No, you're not. If you're going to 'step outside' it'll be for the evening, not for a few moments," Gendo said evenly.

"I suggest you leave before I call security. Ms. Ikari has made it perfectly clear that she's not going to..."

"Shut your mouth before I knock you unconscious," warned Gendo, his teeth clenched.

It did quiet Fuyutsuki out of sheer surprise.

"Gendo! What are you talking about?"

Gendo grabbed everything of Yui's he could identify, the strode forward and took her hand. "I'm looking after your best interests. I'm not asking you to quit; I'm making you leave two hours early _one_ night."

He began pulling her toward the door, disregarding all her half-hearted protests.

"I guess I'm leaving early tonight, Professor," she said finally as Gendo opened the door. She gave him a weak smile and an even weaker wave.

As the door closed, Kozo could only release a muted growl of frustration.

"Gendo, why did you do that?" Yui asked. She wasn't mad, but still wanted an explanation.

"Because you're working too much, and I think you need someone to pamper you. And not just on the days you're too tired to do anything."

Excitement began to bubble up in Yui. With every step closer to the apartment, the more she clutched at Gendo's arm