Author's Notes: I do not own sailor moon. Thank you ever so much for the helpful reviews; I have updated the first chapter to reflect some of your thoughts, and included a glossary for the included Japanese vocabulary. Here is the next installment! Please note that text in italics is flashback.

Ami's mother unlocked the door and haggardly entered her and her daughter's shared apartment at approximately 1:30 am. What a long day it had been! But she was glad to be so exhausted. After all, her exertions had saved the lives of several patients that day, hadn't they? Several patients, but not nearly enough, she grieved. Not enough to ease her aching heart.

"Why must you always work such long hours?" her husband had asked. "Ami and I miss you so much. Was it so bad taking a hiatus during our daughter's first year? I recognize your independence, and your desire to re-enter the workplace, and I know that it is your passion to heal, but couldn't you come home early sometimes? Or at least take a long weekend now and then? Ami has been crying herself to sleep nearly every night because you're not here to give her even a good night kiss, and I confess, a few times I have done the same."

"Healing isn't just my passion, it is my life. And it means saving the lives of others. Don't you realize that in a split second any one of my patients could die? I love you and Ami dearly, but you are both safe and healthy. Don't you realize that I'm more needed elsewhere?"

"But we need you too! Although we may not have external injuries, our hearts are breaking. You've rarely been home at all the entire last six months! All I ask is that you come home one or two hours earlier. Just early enough so that you can admire Ami's rapidly expanding vocabulary and tuck her in at night. Just early enough to do more than grunt 'Is the alarm set?' when you crawl into bed with me and lie as if dead for the next four hours until you set off again. Can't you give us that much?"

"Let's sleep," she had answered, then hesitated, and continued, "I'll try."

The next day had been a nightmare of emergencies at the hospital, but as promised, she watched the clock, and officially checked out at 6:30, three hours earlier than usual. As she headed for the door, a young intern ran to block her way. "Mizuno-sensei! A two-year old has just been admitted. She has third degree burns covering her entire body and severe head trauma."

Ami's mother had winced, then looked away. "My family needs me," she replied. "This is what your are trained to do; I can't personally oversee every case. I'm sure she will recover in your and the doctors' hands." With that she had rushed out, determined that at least tonight her husband and daughter would not feel neglected.

It was a lovely evening. Ami's vocabulary had indeed exploded; she could now talk in complete sentences, and when she was finally given one last kiss and was tucked in for the night, she stated proudly "Papa helps me read. We study so so -yawn- I be a doctor like -yawn- Mama…someday." How precocious she was!

After Ami fell asleep, Ami's mother remembered, she and her husband had even shared a romantic caress for the first time since she had gone back to work. Perhaps she did need to learn to let go of her patients just a bit…

She had gone to work smiling the next day; she had made the right decision. And then she saw the young intern. Her face was sunk and tear-stained. "Mizuno-sensei," she sobbed, "I- I- why, why couldn't we save her?"

How could she have been so selfish? How could she have left somebody else's two-year old dying child, just to go home and kiss her own, healthy daughter good night? From that morning forward work became her one, frenzied focus. If only, if only…

Her husband had left her tearfully sometime after. He loved her he said…but she had become obsessed. He hoped that when he left she would come to her senses, if only enough to care for Ami as such a wonderful daughter deserved.

Ami is a wonderful daughter, her mother thought with pride. She understands how important my vocation is. She is so patient, so uncomplaining…and how hard she studies! Someday she will take my place as- "Ami-chan!" Suddenly Ami's mother leaned against the wall and sobbed. Her daughter sat asleep at her desk, eyes swollen, with her hand resting on a tear-stained, barely recognizable snap shot, fourteen years old, of a laughing man, woman, and infant.

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glossary:

sensei-doctor's title (yes, also used to address teachers)