Nurse Venus

It was a long flight. Marvell wanted to stay up; he was a little nervous about flying, and he had embarrassed himself by having nightmares on airplanes before. Olivia fell asleep almost right away. Moms and Olivia's mother were down soon after that. Minako's girl and her "sisters" stayed up, using booklights to read. Kev fell off, but Minako stayed awake until both of Mrs. Chiba's daughter's were asleep. She finally nodded off. But Minako's kid was still reading when Marvell fell asleep.

The sun was up at seven thousand feet, and it roused the sleeping passengers. Pilot Lavonne Otis Jr. said loudly, "Rise and shine. Pull your seatbelts tight. We are beginning our descent into Las Vegas Nevada. We should be landing in about five minutes."

Marvell noticed that one passenger was still asleep: Minako's daughter.

They took cabs to the Rose Love Chapel, the place Olivia insisted on when she had found out Kevin and Minako had been married there, and Mr. and Mrs. Chiba, and Mrs. Urawa, who'd given her the bouquet of blue roses. Blue roses. What else for Marvell's bride? He would try to make the reception, mostly because he wanted to see Olivia throw that bouquet.

They had to wait for quite a while once they arrived. There was no one authorized to do ceremonies. "What happened to Mrs. Hardaway?" Marvell heard Mrs. Chiba's oldest girl asked.

"She passed away a couple of months ago, dear," answered the girl running the little office.

"Oh . . . that is sad," said the Chiba girl.

"Yes, but Grandma had a long life . . . She was right here. I was busy for a few minutes, I came back, and she was gone . . . You wouldn't believe how many people came to the funeral, and who! Grandma had a heck of a life, I guess . . . lots she never told us, I think!"

Olivia had been looking at the pictures everywhere on the walls, couples and wedding parties. She called out, "Look."

Marvell came over, and saw Olivia was holding a picture of Kevin and Minako, the colors quite washed out. They were in a group . . . Mrs. Chiba in her wheelchair; her two girls and Minako's girl, some others . . . one was the lady who had given Olivia the blue rose bouquet. The others, he wasn't sure of.

"You want that?" asked the girl in the office.

"You'd sell it?" asked Marvell.

"Actually, I was about to throw those away. They are fading out. We've got a much better photo printer now, but those old ones are too bad to keep up . . . Ten dollars for the frame, each one, but you can have any of the ones in that pile for free if you don't take a frame with it."

Olivia sat down and began going through the rest of the discarded pictures. She showed each one to Marvell. He wasn't that interested, of course, but Olivia was excited. This was her day, and Marvell wasn't going to take anything away from it if he could help. So he sat next to her, and took the pictures from her as she looked through them.

And then he saw a faded, faded one. Olivia said, "Oh, that is so old . . . that is Mrs. Chiba, isnt it?"

It was. And Mrs Chiba was surrounded by young women in costumes, some with wings . . . including a little girl with black wings and little skulls in her hair. She looked smaller than the one in Sauvage's video taken at the lake, but this was an old picture. And she was sitting in Mrs. Chiba's lap. Mr. Chiba was behind her; Mrs. Urawa was on her left, and Minako was on her right . . . with wings.

Marvell had always wondered exactly how Minako had gotten out of the lake. Now he knew.

Minako was the angel girl who'd pulled Kevin from the lake.

Suddenly he noticed that Mrs. Chiba's older girl--Sarah, though they had seemed to call her other things most of the time--had come up. She sat down on his other side from Olivia and pointed to the girl with the black wings. "That's me. We were in these costumes when okasan finally let Mamo-chan marry her. We all came here right away. I guess we look really funny." Sarah did not speak louder than normal, but Marvell noticed that everyone else in the room quieted, and turned to her.

She took the pictures from Olivia, and thumbed through them. "This is Auntie Mako and Uncle Ryo getting married. We got dressed up the same way for that wedding, too. Auntie Minako caught the bouquet, and she was the next to get married. But we didn't dress up the same for that one."

"Who caught Minako's bouquet?" asked Olivia.

"Hotaru, here." She pointed out a skinny waif of uncertain age. "My Grandma and Grandpa were not very happy about that. Hotaru is Uncle Shingo's girlfriend. They are both still in high school. I don't think they want them to be married for many years."

"Well, I guess the bouquet doesn't always work," Marvell said, trying to get off the subject of the pictures before Olivia or her mother or Moms made the same connection he had . . . did Moms know?

"I guess . . . " Sarah said, trailing off as if she was thinking of something else now.

"Hotaru should get married pretty soon," said one of the other little girls--Kimberly, or Kimi as they seemed to call her. He'd found it hard to tell her from Minako's daughter at first--Chiba had fathered them both, and they were only a couple of months different in age.

"Why do you say that, child?" asked Moms.

"Because . . . I think it is a good idea," said Kimi.

Then someone who had authority to perform marriages came back, and Olivia forgot about old pictures of other people's weddings. Marvell made sure he got the three pictures Minako was in, though, before they left the Rose Love Chapel.

Minako was helping Chibi-Usa clean up from an unexpected "visitor." "Oh, Chibi-Usa! Why did you not tell us?"

Chibi-Usa said, "I didn't want to tell okasan. She worries whenever there is a change in me."

"She will read your thoughts," said Minako.

Chibi-Usa said, "I can tell when she is doing it, usually. I can fool her for awhile. I did last month, after all."

"But not forever," said Minako.

"No . . . Auntie Minako, I don't want her to worry so much."

Minako said, "I know . . . How much do you remember from before?"

Chibi-Usa said, "Just that I was still in Crystal Tokyo when it first happened, and how okasan the Queen looked . . . I remember very little about Crystal Tokyo . . . But I remember about my real father. I remember things about Jimi-chan that Auntie Nancy or mama have never told. And the first Kimi, Zo�'s mother. And my friends Gunderpal and Bonnie and Rowena . . . and I remember the thing we fought. I don't just dream, I remember."

Minako hugged Chibi-Usa. "Do you have any other secrets you are keeping from us?"

Chibi-Usa said, "Well . . . I know why Kimi said it was a good idea for Hotaru to get married soon."

"Why?" asked Minako.

"Kimi can see a baby starting to grow in Hotaru. Hotaru does not know yet." She got a devilish look on her face. "I think we should tell Shingo first, and make him tell Hotaru."

Minako laughed in spite of herself, in spite of the implications. "No, I think we will get everyone together and have Kimi-chan tell . . . Well, that is as good as we can do, I think." She took the pants to the air dryer and began using it to dry off the wetted parts. It was going to take a long while. "Are you sure your power isn't working on Kevin's brother?"

Chibi-Usa said, "Yes. He has some magic, like Uncle Kevin. His helps him against my powers, I think. He is also very smart, and has been thinking about the senshi for a long time. It is much harder for me to change an idea which a person has had for a long time, even with no magic working against me . . . I do not like touching his mind. Okasan warned me that I shouldn't do it much. I think he must have many terrible secrets that mama can sense . . . but he loves Uncle Kevin, and he loves the babies, and he sort of thinks you count as part of his family now."

Minako frowned. "This will take a very long time to dry. Maybe you should go home to get another pair."

Chibi-Usa said, " I don't have any at home."

Minako said, "What do you mean? You must have twenty pairs of jeans now."

"Not like this. See?" Chibi-Usa pointed to a seam that looked like any other seam to Minako. "Olivia would know right away. She has made hundreds of pairs of jeans in sweatshops. Her mother has made thousands. They would know right away. I don't think I can make them not notice this . . . Mama is right about you, Auntie, sometimes you lose your brains!"

Minako was tempted to pull Chibi-Usa's hair for a moment, but then she remembered she was with little Usagi, not her mother as she had been when they were young together . . . sometimes it was very hard to tell.

At least it made her forget about how much trouble would surely come now that Marvell knew.

Marvell followed Kevin into a men's room at the Las Vegas airport's passenger terminal. It was the very first chance he had to catch Kevin alone, and it paid off--there was no one else inside. He found the door had a bolt, and he turned it.

"Want some help?" he asked.

"No, I can manage," replied Kev. Marvell could see he was in pain, but he seemed much steadier now than a few months before . . . in fact, more than before the lake. "What's on your mind, bro?"

"How long did you know?" asked Marvell.

"Know about what?" said Kevin.

"How long did you know Minako was an angel?"

"Minako?"

Marvell said, "Yes. Don't fool with me, Kev. How much does she know?"

Kevin said, "I don't know exactly. I don't ask. She don't ask . . . About as much as Moms, I'd say. How long have I known? Not until after the lake . . . not until after I was up on my feet again."

Marvell said, "But that was still a long time back. And you didn't tell me."

Kevin said, "It ain't your business. Not unless make it your business, and you don't want to, Marvell."

Marvell snapped, "Don't you talk to me like that!"

"What are you gonna do, Marvell? Kill me? Kill Minako? Kill Moms?" Kevin finished his business, and started to wash up.

Marvell turned suddenly, unlocked the door, and walked out. He realized a few steps out the door he was checking for his gun--but he'd dumped it. He wasn't going to fly back with Otis and Tarry today; they would be too tired to trust, and besides, it was a better idea to leave a different way. But he had no way to keep his gun on a commercial flight.

Marvell stopped, and willed himself to cool down. He was mad at Kevin, but he wasn't in any more trouble than he'd been all along. Minako could have burned him long ago. He was safe, for now. There was some kind of truce here.

Marvell Jones actually smiled at an errant thought. He'd wished he'd brought at least one of his private security guards; they all had legal gun permits. But, of course, Minako would be better than all his guards put together.

He noticed a young man looking at him, black, with some attitude. Staring at him, really. He made himself cold again, then walked up to the arrogant stranger, and said, "What are you looking at?" in his iciest tone.

It worked. Marvell could see fear in the punk's eyes even behind his shades. He actually backed off a few steps, and then turned around, walking quickly away, glancing over his shoulder again and again until Marvell lost him in the crowd.

There was a tapping at the door.

"Occupied! We're not finished!" shouted Chibi-Usa.

"We need in," came Ishi-chan's voice through the door.

Minako put the half-dried pants down while Chibi-Usa retreated to the stall so no one outside would see her. Minako opened the door just long enough to let Ishi and Kimi in, and then shut and locked it again.

"Kimi!," exclaimed Chibi-Usa. "Don't use your eye on me like that now!"

"I'm not, I'm looking for more men," said Kimi.

"More men?" asked Minako.

Ishtar said, "Kimi-chan saw a man with a gun. Uncle Marvell scared him away, but he is not so scared now. I think I feel others with feelings like his. Kimi, do you see more?"

Kimi said, "Yes, two talking with the first man, and two more there. They are looking at Uncle Marvell a lot."

Chibi Usa said, "They must be here to kill Uncle Marvell. We can't let them do that."

"No." Minako said. "Kimi-chan, I need to see with your eye."

Kimi transformed all the way and flew up to touch Minako's head. Minako hoped to find a way out . . . but with Kimi she saw there were two more coming down the corridor she hoped to use. Like the others, they had small machine guns; they were liable to hit many more people besides Marvell.

Minako transformed, begause she needed to be the General now. "Chibi-Usa, go out and take Marvell away. Take him to the house and come right back in here. Right back! I am counting on you!"

"Yes, Auntie." For once, she sounded like she would obey. She transformed, and walked out with her wings demurely folded.

Minako watched through Kimi's third eye, trying to keep track of all three groups and Chibi Moon. But then Chibi Moon was gone, and Marvell. Just when Minako was sure of this, she heard Chibi Moon behind her again. "Are we going to have to fight the men?"

Minako said, "I hope not . . . they've all stopped; they are all talking."

"They feel scared, I think," said Ishtar. "I'm trying to make them feel more scared."

Minako said, "Please, stop, Ishi-chan, they might start fighting if they get too scared."

"Yes, okasan."

After another minute, Minako said, "They are using phones . . . I think they may be leaving now."

But then Minako discovered a new problem. She had forgotten to lock the door after Chibi Moon had gone out to get Marvell. A strange lady opened the door, found herself looking at a roomful of angels, including one with three eyes, and passed out. That attracted the security guards at the airport, and Chibi-Usa was still struggling into her damp, stained jeans when one of them barged in. Instead of vaporizing him, Chibi-Usa screamed, "Get out! I will sue!"

She was really more of an American girl in this incarnation.

Marvell Jones had started to recognize the prickly feeling underneath all his other cares for what it really was: Danger. Then he suddenly wasn't in the terminal in Las Vegas. A voice behind him said, "Just wait here, please?" But when he turned around, no one was there.

He was in a fair-sized room now . . . a bedroom. There were dolls and stuffed animals around, posters on walls, clothes scattered around . . . it was a bedroom for girls.

There were two windows; he went up to one and looked outside. Men in work clothes were bringing in tables and chairs to put under a canopy. An older one with a clipboard was one corner of a triangular argument with a tall, brown-haired woman and a shorter one with vivid-green hair. The women were doing most of the talking, almost yelling, and it wasn't in English. It became a four-cornered argument when a woman in a wheelchair came up.

Marvell left the window before he could be noticed--another old habit, though in truth he had no immediate expectation of dodging gunfire, as he had moments before . . . if he hadn't passed out or something. He checked his watch; it was the same day, not much later than the last time he had glanced at it, just before following Kevin into the Men's Room.

Any doubt to where he was went away when he left the room. He was above that huge front room of the mansion where Kevin lived with his wife.

He still had his cellphone. He opened it and was about to call for Tombs when he had a cold thought. The man-boy he'd scared off could have been a shooter. That's what his feeling had to be about; he'd had it often enough. And that meant that someone had told that he was going to be in Las Vegas.

He went back into the room, then to the same window, and looked down. The lady in the wheelchair down below had sent her children with him. She didn't like him, but she wouldn't have set him up, and she wouldn't have told anybody she thought mattered, not when it would have put her little girls in danger.

Now the woman was talking in her own cellphone. She held up her free hand, and the other three stopped talking. She made some motions with her hand; the tall woman grabbed the wheelchair and began pushing her inside, while the green-haired woman exchanged quick words with the man holding the clipboard. He turned to back to his workers, and they all stopped what they were doing, and began to leave.

The tall lady noticed him, stopping. He opened the window, leaned out, and waved.