"You look fabulous! It's not too tight, is it?"

Yui shook her head.

"Oh, this is just perfect!" Chisa stood back, hands on hips and shook her head. "Does he know what he's getting in this deal?"

That brought a ghost of a smile to Yui's lips. "Yes, he does," she said quietly.

"Well there goes the honeymoon." Chisa went back to straightening Yui's dress. "I know I'll never look this good in a wedding dress, not that 'Hiko would notice even if I did," she said, just prattling on. "I swear, he couldn't even pass basic math unless I was there to tell him how to do long division."

Yui wasn't listening though. There was still an emptiness in her that left her listless and incommunicative, even to Gendo. She had been plagued by nightmares as well, though they were far worse when she woke up. That was when she had to face the fact that she had only been dreaming.

"I don't know if I can go through with this," she said abruptly. "I want to, but at the same time..."

Chisa put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm not going to tell you whether you should or shouldn't, but I will tell you this: I'm your best friend, and you're mine, and I love you. And he loves you too."

"He has a name. He's not a bad guy, unlike popular opinion."

"Fine. I love you, your father loves you, and Gendo loves you. We all want to see you happy, so do whatever makes you happy, marriage or not."

"Gendo would kill me, and then Dad would kill Gendo," Yui mused.

"I don't think you're giving him enough credit. He's smart; I don't think he'd get mad at you for it. This isn't an easy time at all." For some reason, Chisa could never come up with any helpful wisdom for her own life.

"I had been saving this too. I wanted it to be a surprise for my m... mother."

Chisa grimaced and put her arm around Yui, who had started to cry again. "She knows. She can see," she said quietly, offering a tissue.

Somehow, Yui managed to laugh a little. "You know, sometimes I'm fine. I don't think about it, and then it's like someone just taps me on the shoulder." She blew her nose and looked upwards. "I just want things to be normal again."

Chisa sighed, offering another tissue. "I don't think they ever were."

"Get me out of this," Yui said suddenly. "I can't stand to wear this right now." Doing anything to impress anyone seemed so... pointless. It was so fleeting, just like everything else about life.

"Yui, your work is suffering."

The words she had been waiting for really. She was actually surprised they hadn't come sooner. "I know. It's just been a very difficult time."

"Of course it has, and I know how busy you are, so I've let it go, but... we need your dedication in the here and now."

Yui looked up at the man, his sympathetic, pitying eyes looking down on her... She missed Professor Fuyutsuki and found it odd that he had declined to join the move to the Seele facilities, where all people and resources could be pooled. "I know. I'm trying to get back into things, but it's difficult."

"Of course. I don't mean this as a reprimand or anything, but we really do need your input and full concentration."

Yui nodded then stood. "I'll... do my best." She exited the office quickly and ran right into Gendo. She sagged against him, barely stopping herself from crying. "I just want to go home," she said in a shaky voice. "I hate this place. It makes me think of a prison."

From the outside, she had a very valid point. Bland, featureless, and almost completely windowless, the buildings were state of the art anonymity. That didn't make coming to work each day a pleasant experience. "Let's take a break, have some tea."

Yui nodded and started down the hall to the lounge. "This all couldn't have happened at a worse time, could it?" she asked.

"I don't think so," replied Gendo, knowing there probably was a worse time for Yui or anyone else to collapse.

In the well-appointed lounge, Gendo ignored the others looking at them curiously and made Yui sit on one of the couches. "I'll be right back with the tea." Crossing the lounge, for the briefest moment, his eye was caught by that of a woman. He looked away quickly, but couldn't help to glance again when he felt her gaze linger on him.