NOTE BEFORE READING: This is a side story for "Spirit of Fire". I think it can be read well enough as a standalone story, though, if you've never read SOF.

A Rough Night

"Yes, I'm looking at the proposal right now. The Assembly will never agree to Article 3. Our best bet is… I know it's important to your constituents, but with the conservatives in the majority… Rei-san, please be quiet. … Sorry, you were saying? … Like I was saying, if we shelve Article 3 for now, then… I'm sorry. It's my daughter. My wife isn't feeling well, and she's being fussy. ... Look, let's discuss this over lunch tomorrow. Call my secretary in the morning to set up an appointment. … Yes, thank you, Ikeda-san. I'll see you then. Goodbye."

With a weary sigh, the newly elected Governor of Tokyo placed the phone back in its cradle and turned his attention to the five-month-old currently screaming bloody murder in his arms. Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes straight of Rei wailing non-stop at the top of her lungs, and Keitaro had no idea how to placate her.

"Please, Rei-san, give me a break," he pleaded, lightly patting her on the back as he paced around his home office. "I'm begging you..."

Somehow defying the laws of science, her cries became even louder, practically bursting his eardrums.

Not for the first time, Keitaro realized how uncut for fatherhood he was. Takara and Rei's nanny usually handled most of the child-rearing, but with his wife having one of her "attacks" that afternoon and Mrs. Yukana out of town for the weekend to attend a family funeral, the task of taking care of Rei for the night had fallen to him. Not even Takara's best friend Miyuki had been available to babysit on such short notice, although she had thankfully agreed to come by first thing tomorrow morning.

Groaning, Keitaro rubbed at his throbbing temple. What did she want? Rei couldn't be hungry again so soon; Takara had nursed her less than half an hour ago. Her diaper was clean and dry, too. He had changed her just before Mr. Ikeda called, an experience that was as unpleasant as he feared.

Maybe he should just admit defeat and take her back upstairs to Takara. Takara always seemed to know exactly what to do when it came to calming Rei down, motherhood coming to her as naturally as breathing. But Keitaro didn't want to bother her; she needed her rest. Giving birth to Rei had significantly weakened her already-delicate heart even more, so it was important for Takara to take it easy whenever she had one of her "attacks" and not overextend herself, no matter how much she insisted she could handle it.

Besides, he was a smart man – a Tokyo University graduate and a successful politician. Surely he could figure out how to care for one tiny baby, his own daughter.

Keitaro remembered Takara mentioning something a couple of days ago about Rei teething. Maybe that was it? He stopped his pacing and gently stuck a finger in her mouth, Rei's cries almost immediately stopping when he began rubbing her gums. He breathed a sigh of blessed relief, but it was short-lived when he realized that he was going to need his finger back eventually.

He needed to find a more permanent solution.

Keitaro carried Rei to the kitchen. At least now that she had quieted down, he could hear himself think. If only he could find something cold to soothe the pain… A piece of ice? That seemed like it would be a choking hazard, though. Maybe a cold, wet washcloth would do?

Reluctantly, he pulled his finger out of Rei's mouth, wincing as she let out another piercing wail, then began rummaging around the drawers for a clean washcloth. As Mrs. Yukana took care of all the cooking and cleaning, Keitaro had little idea where they were kept. He finally found them in the bottom drawer, snatching the red one on top and bringing it over to the sink.

"Just a little bit longer," he said to Rei, running the washcloth under the faucet's coldest setting. He wrung it out as best he could with only one hand before guiding it to her mouth.

Rei began chewing on the red washcloth almost immediately, her cries once again going silent.

"Better?"

She waved one of her arms up and down, which he took as a "yes".

Glancing down at his watch, Keitaro saw it was getting close to Rei's bedtime. He carried her upstairs and headed to his bedroom, quietly cracking open the door.

"Takara?"

He peeked inside and saw his wife was already asleep, the magazine she had been reading laying face-down on her stomach. She must have been even more tired than she had let on. Not wanting to disturb her, he closed the door and frowned when he realized it would be up to him to put Rei down to sleep for the night – yet another thing he had never done before, although he had watched Takara do it a couple of times.

Keitaro inhaled a deep breath and headed to Rei's nursery across the hall. Since he had already changed her into a pair of heart-print pajamas when he changed her diaper earlier, he checked her diaper one more time to make certain it was still dry – it was, much to his relief – and laid her on her back in her crib. To his surprise, her eyes fluttered close almost as soon as he placed her down on the mattress.

That was easier than I thought I would be, he thought. She must have worn herself out with all the crying she had done earlier.

As quietly as he could, Keitaro made his way across the room to the door only for Rei to start wailing as soon as he touched the doorknob.

He winced. Spoke too soon.

"Rei-san, you need to go to sleep," he lectured as he walked back to the crib and gathered the screaming baby back in his arm. "I know your gums hurt, but I have an early morning tomorrow."

Not that Rei cared...or understood anything he was saying. Sighing, Keitaro took a seat in Takara's rocker and brought the washcloth back to Rei's mouth for her to suck on. Again, her cries softened, but he didn't dare push his luck again. Resigned to his fate, he began rocking back and forth in the chair, humming an old lullaby he half-remembered Mrs. Yukana singing to him as a child.

An hour later, Takara awoke from her unexpected nap. That the other side of the bed was empty did not surprise her, as Keitaro frequently was late to bed, often times falling asleep in his office. The fact that he had not woken her up to deal with Rei's bedtime routine did. Were they both still awake?

Curious, she reached for her robe and padded across the hallway to the nursery. She pushed open the door as quietly as possible, smiling at the sweet sight that greeted her: both Keitaro and Rei asleep in the rocker.

DISCLAIMER: "Sailor Moon" doesn't belong to me.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Written as a gift for Charlie/CopperCrane2. Hope you enjoyed the story!

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