Hello, everyone! It's been a long while since I've taken out the time to write an Author's Note, so bear with me while I take a moment from your incredibly precious reading time.

Life's been throwing some curve balls over the past few months (and doing an incredible job pegging my head with them), which might help explain the back-up on my other set of Usako and Mamoru drabbles, as well as my latest fic, "Notebooks." I do apologize for the lag, but I'm not particularly sorry about it--sometimes, what can you do? Everybody needs to take a step back to get their bearings in order every once in a while. School's starting with more credits than I've ever taken before, I have volunteer work and a job on my plate, and on top of all that, I have some personal issues to wrestle with. In comparison, writing is kind of getting slipped in here and there through the cracks.

That being said, however: I'm glad to announce that the system has rebooted (in a manner of speaking)! I've been receiving so much warm feedback lately that I don't know how to thank you guys for it, but thank you bundles for everyone who has taken the time to simply ask a question or make a comment about what they read. It really does give some incentive to this whole writing thing. Right now, I'm halfway through the next chapter of "Notebooks," and I'm planning on alternating between the two drabble sets, to give different groups of readers a chance to revel in the updates. -yay-

So that's it! Thanks for listening, and I hope you guys enjoy the drabble!

35 Themed Drabbles—2nd Anniversary Challenge

Ala Verity

6. Wool (Word Count: 1210)

Mamoru looked from the angelic visage of his wife next to him, to the face contorted with murderous intention halfway across the room, to the beaming expression of Mrs.—no, Mama Ikuko—and back at his wife again. He gulped hard and raised his eyes to his new mother with a forced smile.

"Thank you for the socks, Ikuko-M-Mama."

Mama, if possible, beamed even more brilliantly at him. On her other side, Tsukino Kenji—for he didn't yet allow Mamoru to call him "Papa"—if possible, deepened his glare.

But Mamoru didn't think that was quite possible. He would drop dead any second now from his father-in-law's Stare of Death.

"You're welcome…Mamoru-chan," Ikuko-Mama said warmly, her face aglow with joy. "I'm glad you like them."

"Erm…v-very much, thank…you…" He held up the gray wool socks with what he hoped was a gesture of son-like affection, but used the opportunity to duck behind the footwear and hiss to his wife, who was sitting on the ground by the Christmas tree with an oblivious smile spread across her face, "Why is your dad looking at me like that?"

"Doesn't he always?" Usagi whispered out of the corner of her mouth, her contented smile never once faltering.

"Well, yeah," he murmured, pretending to brush some pine needles away from her feet and using the opportunity to lean closer to his wife. "But when I opened your mom's present just now, he looked like he wanted to kill somebody. Er, kill me, I mean."

"Who else would he want to kill?" Usagi asked, fiddling with a loose strand of her hair—Mamoru had to shove one sock into each hand to keep himself from reaching out and toying with her silky golden locks.

He was just about to open his voice and reply that she could show a little more compassion for the fate of her newlywed husband in the hands of her father when a loud voice cut him off.

"This is not whisper-whisper time, boy."

"Oh, Daddy, please," Usagi replied loftily. She turned to her brother, who was sitting on the couch with his arms crossed in the spitting image of his rifle-toting father and said, "Shingo, open the one Mamoru gave you."

Shingo muttered something along the lines of "I'm not a little kid anymore, I don't see why I have to sit through this nonsense" and shot a pointed glare at Mamoru, 

who stared hard back. Dealing with his father-in-law was one thing, but he could at least preserve a shred of dignity and deal with a menacing kid brother…right?

"Whatever," Usagi retorted, rolling her eyes.

"Don't sit there looking so innocent, mister," Kenji cut in, looking purposefully at anyone and anything in the room but Mamoru.

"I think I'll get some tea for us all," Ikuko-Mama trilled in a ringing voice.

"Don't change the subject, Mama," Kenji snapped.

Ikuko turned sharply in her seat, her bright blue eyes alight with a dangerous fire that made even Kenji shrink under her penetrating gaze.

"Who's changing the subject?" she demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

"You gave him…those," Kenji almost whined, pointing at the woolen socks dangling from Mamoru's hands.

"And?"

"And…" Kenji whispered in a voice that nonetheless carried throughout the room, "And you know what those mean."

"So what?" she demanded again.

"And…and he's not!" he complained, sounding comically like a child trying to persuade a parent to buy them a new toy.

"Oh, please, Kenji," Ikuko-Mama snapped impatiently, turning to Mamoru with a benevolent smile. "He's as much a part of our family as anyone could ever be. Our Usa-chan loves him, and that's what counts."

Kenji made an unintelligible reply.

"Mamoru-chan, dear," Ikuko said, and Mamoru, who had been preoccupied considering whether or not self-defense warranted knocking out his newly-acquired father-in-law, looked up. "I want to let you know that you're welcome to our family."

"Th-thank you, Ikuko-Mama."

"Say it again, boy," Kenji growled from his spot on the couch. Ikuko silenced her husband with a fierce look, then turned back to Mamoru with a kind smile.

"I think somebody is forgetting the time when he received the wool socks."

"What do you mean, Mama?" Usagi asked, looking up curiously from the silver-wrapped box in her hands.

"What I mean," her mother said, raising an eyebrow at Kenji, who had become mysteriously preoccupied with the tie from his children that he had previously shown no interest in whatsoever, "is that your father went through the same dilemma twenty-three Christmases ago."

"No way!" Usagi and Shingo exclaimed at the same time.

"Did not," Kenji muttered, picking at the loose threads on the cuff of his shirt.

"Yes," Mama continued, smiling reminiscently. "It was our first Christmas as newlyweds, and we decided to spend it at my mother's house."

Kenji harrumphed, but did not say anything.

"When we got married, my mother swore that she would only knit for the man that she felt truly deserved my love. That Christmas, we all sat around the Christmas tree just like we are right now, and opened presents.

"By the time Kenji had opened every single one of his presents, there was not a single knit item in the boxes to be found. He thought that that meant that the family—my family, had not accepted him."

A dreamy look crossed Ikuko-Mama's face as she went on with her story.

"And that was when Kenji fell to his knees in front of my parents, in front of every person that ever shared even a drop of blood with my family, and begged to know what he had done to not earn their respect."

"And then?" Usagi asked in an awed voice, looking between her father and her mother with wide eyes.

"After ten minutes of confessions of his love for me, their daughter, he took me by the hands…and kissed me, right there in our living room."

"Papa, you sap!" Shingo protested, looking both horrified and impressed at the same time.

Ikuko-Mama shot her husband a meaningful look and continued, "Then my mother, who had listened to all of these professions without once moving, reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a pair of woolen socks, and gave them to Kenji, saying, 'Take care of my daughter, Kenji-chan.'"

"Wow…that's so romantic!" Usagi exclaimed, grasping Mamoru's hand without thinking. Kenji coughed. "Papa, I didn't know you did all that to earn Mama's family's love!"

"In a manner of speaking," Kenji said gruffly, looking embarrassed.

There was a moment of silence, before Usagi said, "So…Papa?"

"Hrm?"

"Does this mean…"

"Will you allow me to make your daughter the happiest woman on Earth for the rest of her life, Kenji-san?" Mamoru suddenly cut in, standing up and looking straight at his father-in-law.

Kenji surveyed Mamoru for a second, then turned his head pointedly away from him and muttered in a gruff voice, "Call me 'Papa.'"

Usagi squealed, Ikuko-Mama beamed, Shingo gagged, and Mamoru—the newest member of the Tsukino family—took his wife by the hand and stood in front of his father-in-law.

"Thank you, Kenji-Papa," he murmured, bowing.

All he got in reply was a half-hearted growl, but it was the most welcoming growl Mamoru had ever heard in his life.

It's kind of interesting how I'm typing this, and I'm virtually blind in one eye so the letters are doing a little jig in front of me right now. I put on my contacts last night (I have gas perms, which correct your vision in the nighttime so you don't have to wear glasses or contacts in the daytime) and had this weird pseudo-dream about taking out my right contact because it was bothering me...and when I woke up, I didn't have my right contact on! Luckily for me, I found it on my bed, but honestly...I need to get better dreams. -makes face-

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it, and please drop me a note!

ala underscore verity at yahoo dot com (Stupid FFnet...)