Michiru sat in her room, not knowing what to do. She had left Tokyo long ago after the sailor scouts last battle. For some reason, she couldn't get herself to call anyone, or see them. It was as if time was holding her back. A hand touched her shoulder and she turned to see her lover Haruka.
"Hey." Haruka said to her wavy-haired girlfriend.
"Hey." Michiru responed and looked away.
"What's the matter? I know you're usually quite, but you're not calm. What's bothering you?"
"Nothing really. I just can't seem to get myself to do anything. I guess it's just one of those days." Haruka straddled Michiru and kissed her on the cheek.
"Michi, I can help you out, but you need to ask for it. I know you're thinking about them, but we've moved on. There's no more demons to fight. Usagi is becoming the queen of the moon in a couple of years. Then, well, we'll go on about our business on our respective planets. Right now, there's nothing to worry about."
"Yes there is, Haruka." Their eyes met and Michiru whispered something Haruka couldn't believe.
"I want a baby." Haruka stood and walked to the other side of the room.
"Remember how good it was when we had to take care of Hotaru? How much fun that was? How we all worked as a team and took care of her? Why can't we have one of our own? Women and men couples do it all the time in other countries."
"Michiru, I really don't know if I want one right now. Hotaru was duty..."
"DUTY!" Michiru snapped. Haruka couldn't meet her lover's gaze. "You call having a child duty? You know what, fine." Michiru grabbed her purse.
"Where are you going?"
"Out." She slammed the door on Haruka and walked off into the afternoon sun.
Michiru walked along the beach and let the white foam cascade over her feet. The bubbles zoomed through her toes and over her ankles. It felt good to live near the beach in a large condo, but she knew that she had to go back and see her friends. Europe was good for a time, but her homeland was beginning to call to her, along with her womanly instincts. Her 36th birthday was coming up, and she still didn't have a family. usagi and Mamorou had already had Chibiusa and both Rei and Ami were on their way. (They had sent Christmas cards to talk to each other once a year.) Setsuna wasn't married yet, but her duty as the time keeper was a 24-hour job. Michiru sat down on the beach in her blue dress and sighed. If one of them didn't want a child, then they couldn't have one yet. Besides, how could they have a natural child anyway? Michiru knew she wasn't going to have someone else's genitals rubbing up against her, especially a male's. Haruka was the love of her life and she wasn't going to just throw that away for a child. A tear ran down her cheek as she felt the sea mist brush over her face.
"Michi." Said the alto voice of her lover behind her. She turned and wiped the liquid from her eyes.
"Sorry about yelling at you." Michiru said as Haruka sat down in the sand next to her.
"I don't mind that much, but I need to talk to you. If you really want to have a baby..."
"Don't worry about it, Haruka. I can wait. I really want to be a mother with OUR child, not anyone else's. I don't want to have a natural child unless it is with you and only you. We can adopt, but not now."
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I'm just really scared. I think I'm going to be a bad mother and I'll corrupt the kid somehow. Hotaru was easy because I knew she really wasn't ours. I don't have to dicipline her like she's mine. If we had a kid right now, I just wouldn't know what to do." Michiru smiled and held her lover's hand.
"We'll wait. After all, we have all the time in the world to do so." The two women smiled and kissed one another. They watched the sun extinguish under the sea as the wind blew onto their faces. Sometime, perhaps in another time, the weeping seabirds will have their wish to have a child of their own.