Haruka looked at the pink envelope in surprise.
"Ne, Michiru, we got a card from Odango Atama," she told her wife. Despite the fact that the girl once known as Usagi was now Neo-Queen Serenity, Haruka had never stopped calling her "Bun Head."
Michiru looked over her shoulder. "Ara, what does it say?"
Haruka opened it. "Oh! It's an invitation to a baby shower on Mercury. Ami-sama's having another baby!"
"Honto? Wow, she and Ryo-sama are really fortunate."
"You think?" Haruka curiously asked her wife. Michiru nodded to which Haruka responded, "I don't know. With the twins and a one-year-old, I don't know how they plan to take care of an infant too. I mean, we just have Tenshi and -"
"I'm sure they'll manage," Michiru cut her off. She was still smiling, but Haruka could pick up on the slightest hint of disappointment in her voice.
"Come on. I just meant that they're going to have their hands full, that's all." Haruka knew that Michiru eventually wanted to have another daughter, although neither of them were ready for it now. She quickly changed the subject. "So should we take our little tenshi to Mercury, then?"
"Well, since Setsuna-sama is probably going as well, we'll be hard pressed to find someone to watch her while we're gone. Besides, we shouldn't depend on Setsuna-sama to watch her as much as we did for Hotaru-chan, especially since she has to look after the Gate of Time now."
"Yeah, you're right." Haruka gave her wife a kiss. "And she should meet the other Senshi anyway."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Baby showers made Ryo nervous. *Guys just shouldn't have to hang around for things like this* he thought. King Endymion had the good luck to be able to stay away from the shower while he waited for Serenity. But Ryo couldn't leave, because he was certain that Ami was going to have the baby early. Perhaps even today. He certainly knew that Ami's friends were still going to be around on Mercury for the event.
*Sometimes being psychic is helpful, but it's times like this that make it annoying.* He couldn't really get a reading on when exactly Ami was going to go into labor and she wasn't actually due for another week, but he was sticking around the party just in case because he wanted to be nearby when it happened.
But that didn't mean he had to be in the room with the women, "oo-ing" and "ah-ing" over every gift that she got. He looked over at little Tenshi, who appeared bored as well. Unfortunately, the twins were at preschool until 3:00, and Kimahou was asleep in her crib. And little Princess Serenity had been left on the Moon with Setsuna (if only Haruka and Michiru had known�).
"Ne, Tenshi-chan? Do you want to help me bring in some cookies from the kitchen?" he asked the four-year-old.
She looked at Haruka, who nodded her permission. Then she answered shyly, "Hai."
He smiled. Tenshi was very kawaii, with her short blond hair and her boyish outfit. Haruka had been disappointed to find out that she could never have a son, but if she had her way, Tenshi would grow up to be the perfect tomboy. Of course, Michiru was set on making Tenshi into a refined little lady instead. The result would no doubt prove to be interesting.
She followed Ryo into the kitchen, where he gave her a chocolate chip cookie. "That's for you," he said, and then went to another tin. He took out some fancy sugar cookies, "These are for the girls out there," he explained. Then he winked at her. "They aren't as good as the chocolate chip."
She giggled.
Suddenly, there was a big commotion from the other room. Ryo closed his eyes and sighed, knowing that the moment he had been waiting for was here.
"Honey�" Ami called from the other room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Haruka parked her rental car at the Suisei Preschool parking lot, wondering how she had gotten roped into picking up the twins and taking them to the hospital.
She went in and found an employee. "Hi, I'm Tenoh Haruka. I'm here to pick up the Mizuno twins. Their father should have called and -"
"Ah, yes, Tenoh-sama," said the very nice teacher Haruka had found. "They're in room 2. Their teacher is Miss Kitsuki."
"Arigatou," Haruka answered and ran over to room number 2.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mizuno Michiru, known as Mi-chan to her twin and friends, looked up from the house she and Neko were making out of blocks, and pointed to the guy who had just come into the room. "Ne, Neko? Whose papa is that?" He looked kinda familiar.
Her twin, Neko, also looked up from the blocks. "Don't know." She put the last block on top and smiled. She bounced over to Mi-chan and gave her a hug. "Yay, we have a house for Luna!" Luna was Neko's stuffed cat, named after Sailor Moon's guardian cat, even though the two looked nothing alike.
"Girls," Neko stopped bouncing as Kitsuki-sensei called to them. "This is Tenoh Haruka-sama. She's going to take you to your parents. You're going to have a little brother."
"Yay!" They jumped up and down in excitement, not even noticing the surprising information that Haruka was female.
"Shall we go then?" asked Haruka.
Mi-chan grabbed her hand, but Neko grabbed Mi-chan's arm instead. Mi-chan was a lot braver around new people than Neko was. "It's ok," she whispered to Neko, "Kitsuki-sensei said she was ok, so she must be." Actually, Mi-chan sorta remembered hearing about a Haruka from her parents and she was sure Neko did too. Neko was just being shy, as always.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
