AN: I didn't think this would be a shippy chapter. But then the shippyness grew, and it grew, and just when I thought it couldn't grow anymore, it grew even further.
"Do you think we should start leaving both of them in the nursery overnight?" Lina mused as she held Aurelia as she walked with Gourry and Midas to the nursery. "I mean, they're both starting to sleep through the night."
Gourry's eyes widened as he studied her, "You think they're ready for that?"
"Well, why not? One of them already spends every other night away from me as it is. And it's hard for me to get really good sleep when they're in the room. Plus we'd have some more time for ourselves. Though," Lina said as her voice grew tired, "it will still be awhile before I can sleep in without worrying about my milk drying up."
Gourry reached out and stroked her hair, "Is it still that hard on you?"
"Oh, it's gotten easier." Lina said quickly as she opened the door to the nursery, "It's just that I miss having the odd day to sleep in…"
"Looks like the break is over." Marlena said as she stood up from the rocking chair, "I was…"
"Quiet," Gourry said with an authoritative note that caused Lina to pay attention. "Does anyone hear that?"
"Hear what?" Lina asked. Aside from the sounds of Justina playing with her blocks and the twins indicating that they wanted to join her, she couldn't hear anything. Gourry walked up to a window and opened it, and Lina's brow furrowed as a high-pitched warbling sound became audible. "You don't think that someone's being attacked down the road? Surely we can't hear the village from this far out…"
"I don't know, it sounds like a bird honking to me." Kembreigh said, "A lot of fuss over nothing."
"No, no, it's human." Gourry said, "A woman. I can't get a feel for whether or not she's in distress…Oh." He smiled, "Amelia's home."
Lina could see a black dot on the horizon rapidly growing bigger as the sound came into focus, "JJJJJJJJUUUUUUUSSSSSTTTTTTTTT…"
"Get back!" Lina ordered as she left the window open and everyone crowded around the wall on the far end of the room as Amelia flew into it, "TIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNAAAAAAA!" she cried as she rolled ungracefully and smacked into the wall. Line winced, but Amelia bounded back up and cried, "Justina! Justina! Justina!"
Justina turned to look at her and Amelia scooped her up and held her tight as she started covering her in kisses, "Jus-Jus! My sweet baby! Mommy missed you so much! Did you miss me?"
"Ga!" Justina said as she grabbed her nose.
"You did! She missed me! Are you mad at me for leaving you alone for so long?"
"Let's find Zel, let him know his wife is here." Lina said.
"Right." Gourry said.
They smiled at each other as they left to give Amelia some privacy to reunite with her daughter. "I think the kids are back." Gourry commented as they closed the door behind them and drew further into the hallway.
"Farewell quiet manor." Lina said as a roar of voices could be heard from the foyer.
"Ah, they'll be gone for summer break soon enough." Gourry said. "Do we have to give them finals given that they helped liberate Dils?"
"As far as I'm concerned everyone gets an A." Lina stated. "Hey, Moe!"
Moe waved as he came up the stairs, and both Aurelia and Midas started babbling excitedly. "Are we glad to see you." Gourry said.
"I'm glad to be back." Moe said as he reached out and took both twins into his arms. "And I want you two to be the first to know. Naga and I are married!"
"Wha…" Lina and Gourry said as the same time. Lina knew without looking at Gourry that they were both thinking the same thing. That they had lost the best nanny they would ever have…that they could ever hope to have.
Gourry recovered first as he clasped Moe on the arm, "Congrats!"
"Naga is finishing up some royal duties in Dils." Moe explained.
"We'll throw a big party when she gets back." Lina said, and she hoped she kept the bitterness out of her voice. Nannies like Moe were one in a billion!
"Does all this commotion mean that everyone is back?" Zelgadis asked as he walked in from his office, "Is my wife home?"
"She's in the nursery, smothering Justina." Lina said.
Zelgadis ran off to the nursery, and Moe grinned at Aurelia and Midas, "I'll head on over there myself, get unpacked."
"You don't want to stay in Naga's room?" Lina asked. "Or do you need a second room since you're royalty now?"
"Oh, I am!" Moe said, "Well, I already have the room in the nursery and it suits me fine. Means I can be there quick if my niece or godchildren need me."
"But we can't exactly have you wiping bottoms now that you're a royal." Lina stated.
Moe looked at her in shock, "Why not?"
"Why not!?" Lina said, "You mean I have to explain this!?"
Moe smiled, "Justina, Midas and Aurelia are family. Amelia and Zel are my family now. And you two made me the twins' godfather, so you're my family. Family takes care of each other, no matter what our royal status."
And before they could give further protest, Moe walked off to the nursery with the babies. Lina shared a stunned look with Gourry. "How much do you think we should protest?" she whispered to him as the nursery door closed behind Moe.
"Perhaps we should hire a few more nannies to do the grunt work, but Moe is the head one?" Gourry said. "I mean Sylphiel hasn't let Erik out of her sight, but she plans to resume her teaching duties in the fall and someone will have to watch him. One nanny for four babies, even with all of the wet nurses, is a lot."
"That's also a good idea. Especially if…good god…what if Naga and Moe well, you know…spawn?"
Gourry's eyes widened as he went slack jawed for a moment, and Lina could almost see the scenes of chaos and mayhem play out in his eyes at the thought of what a child born from Naga would be like, "Any child of theirs would require a fleet of nannies."
"I know what's going to feature in my nightmares." Lina said with a shudder. But then she gazed at Gourry from the corner of her eye and punched him playfully on the shoulder, "Hey, you actually came up with a good idea for once. Especially with the baby boom we're experiencing."
"It happens from time to time." Gourry said with a smile.
Lina stood up on her toes to kiss him tenderly, pulling back to whisper, "It was rather…exciting." He leaned down to kiss her again as they wrapped their arms around each other as Lina deepened the kiss.
A blast of bagpipes rang through the manor, and from the foyer they could hear Dave yell, "Alright my good ladies and gents! Let's get this party started!"
"It's infectious." Gourry said as he looked down at Lina as she buried her face in his chest as the students started to cheer.
"They're not really going to play bagpipes in the manor!?" Lina asked as she put her hands over her ears.
Gourry winced. It wasn't as if whoever was playing was bad…it was just loud and piercing. Lina shook her head as she marched to the stairs and yelled, "What's all this ruckus about?"
Everyone stopped, included the bagpiper. "We're just having a party, Dame Lina." Indy said as he raised a glass.
Lina glared at him for a moment as the students shifted nervously as they wondered if she was about to start excoriating them. But then she smiled, "Well I guess it's not like you didn't kick ass in Dils. Well done! We are so proud of everyone in this school!"
"So we have your permission to party?" Dave asked.
"So long as Gomez takes those bagpipes outside." Lina replied as she and Gourry started to walk downstairs. "Hell, take the damn party outside, I don't want this place destroyed!"
"Yes!" Dave said as he pulled Bettie to him and they started making out.
Lina's jaw dropped, "Wha…wha…WAIT A MINUTE!? GET A ROOM!"
Dave grinned sheepishly at her, "Sorry Dame Lina."
"We got carried away." Bettie said as she rested her head on his shoulder.
Lina sighed as Dave and Bettie walked off to follow the rest of the kids out. "Don't make me hose you down with an Aqua Create spell."
"Do you think we should go out and make sure it doesn't get too crazy?" Gourry asked.
"Well, they did just risk their lives for this school. I think they can handle a party." Han said as he walked up with Leia.
"Someone has to monitor this." Lina said. "Preferably before our schools gets a reputation."
"I don't know. If they're old enough to fight and die then they're old enough to kiss." Leia said.
"But we're training these kids to fight! Not…make love." Lina said awkwardly, "Besides, they can't even keep these private things private. We don't need that kind of reputation."
"They just liberated Dils." Han said, "That is what they will talk about. Not hormonal kids being hormonal kids."
"Honestly, Lina, we gave you even more freedom at that age." Leia pointed out, "And you turned out fine."
Lina chuckled darkly, "Or did I?"
Leia ruffled her hair and said, "Go, have fun with your friends. These kids survived Dils. They'll survive a party."
"But if one of them turns up pregnant, we're ruined." Lina muttered to Gourry, but she started back towards the steps regardless.
Gourry followed her companionably and said quietly, "Well, I'd always wondered about your parents for letting you travel alone at such a young age."
"They definitely harked from the 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger school' of parenting." Lina said.
"Is that what you're wanting to do with Midas and Lia?" he asked.
"Not really." Lina said, "It's undoubtably what Sis wants me to do. But…"
Gourry looked at her in concern as she lowered her head to avert her gaze as they topped the stairs. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "What?"
She looked at him, and then back down again, "It's just…I don't want either of them to realize they desperately love someone the moment a crazed Mazoku Lord is threatening to kill him."
Gourry grinned, "Desperately?"
"Shut up."
They stopped walking as Gourry turned to face her and ran a hand through her hair as looked up to smile at him as he put his hands on her hips to pull her close, "It doesn't take away from what we have, does it?"
"Well, no, but…"
He leaned down to kiss her passionately before he pulled away and scooped her up in his arms, "But yeah, I'd want them to find out a better way, too."
"What are you doing?" she asked as she gently wrapped her arms around his neck.
"I'm just taking full advantage of the nanny being back." He said as he started to walk to their bedroom.
Lina chuckled as she moved so she could hear his heartbeat, "Good."
"You've been quiet." Gourry commented to Zel as they took their morning run.
Zel shook his head, "Sorry. Been distracted."
"By what?" Gourry asked.
Zel exhaled, "Something Amelia was telling me last night. There were some royal bigwigs in Dils and she stepped on their toes a bit in the process of doing what needed to be done to protect the mission. And one of them made veiled threats towards Justina."
Gourry's eyes widened, "That's a hard thing to live with."
Zel wiped the sweat from his brow, "I mean, I think she was just blowing off steam to rattle Amelia a little bit. At least that's what I told Amelia to get her to calm down. But, what if she's serious?"
"It's a good thing Moe is planning on continuing in the nursery in some form." Gourry said. "And I know how scary this can get. I hate that your family has to live under these threats too."
Zel suddenly stopped running as he knelt forward and put his hands between his knees as he took a few deep, gasping breaths. Gourry stopped and put a hand on his back. "You okay?"
"You don't understand!" Zel said, his voice raised in pitch as it started to crack. "This, having all this, it shouldn't have happened to someone like me!"
"Why not?" Gourry asked.
"It's too good."
"I know how that is." Gourry said, "When your family is messed up it's hard to believe you can have something better."
"I'm not like you, Gourry." He said, "It's not the family I came from. It's what I did! Back when I was Rezo's henchmen. I did things, horrible things, things I know that you would never do. There are stains on my soul that can't be washed away. And I keep remembering the look on some of the faces of people I've hurt, that look of rage, and that sense that one of these days they would make me pay. What if Justina ends up paying?"
"Hey, you may have done a lot of bad things, but you also helped to save the world. And you've turned things around. The person you became is what matters, not the person that you were."
"Tell that to the people grieving the innocents that I killed!" Zel spat. "Or those that I robbed of their priceless heirlooms so I could add to Rezo's coffers…"
"You were a kid. Everyone deserves a second chance." Gourry said. "You turned things around, that's what matters."
"The people I murdered, they never got to turn things around." Zelgadis said as he collapsed to the ground as the guilt became overwhelming. "And then, when I think of what I could bring upon Amelia with this, I think I was a fool for returning to Saillune for her."
Gourry sat down beside him, "Amelia and Justina are fine. And there's no reason that they won't stay that way. The nursery staff already know to be alert. We'll let them know to take extra precautions for Justina as well. They likely won't think too much of it. We don't even know that anyone is wanting to take revenge."
"I don't deserve any of this." Zel said as he buried his face in his knees. Gourry, realizing that there were no words that he could say that would fix this, sat beside him silently as the sun rose up in the sky, the peaceful tranquility of the spring morning at odds with the emotional torrent that Zel had unleashed.
Eventually Zel's breathing became calmer, and Gourry asked, "You ready for breakfast?"
Zel took a deep, ragged breath and looked back towards the manor as though fortifying himself as he said, "Yeah."
"Come in." Lina said without looking up from her desk.
The door opened and Susan walked in with Marcus, both of whom were avoiding eye contact with her as they radiated an air of nervous energy. Lina set her quill down and gestured that they sit down, "What can I help you with?" she asked.
"Well…" Susan began her voice an octave higher than it usually was and twice as brisk. Marcus, meanwhile, broke into a grin that was a bit too big as he shifted nervously in his chair, and Lina's breath hitched as she thought to herself, Please don't tell me that you're pregnant!
Susan blushed, "Oh no, nothing like that!"
"Oh, good." Lina said as she cursed the fact that she couldn't hide her thoughts from Susan, "We can work through anything but that!"
"Good! That will make this easy then. Well, Maeve offered us positions in the government that she is forming." Susan explained, "And since I'm from Dils, I welcome the opportunity to help my kingdom."
"And I go where Susan goes." Marcus said.
"Right." Lina said as her stomach sank. Kara had already let her know that she would be joining Maeve's government. While she knew the larger goal was to have her students graduate to become movers and shakers in the world, why did it have to be her most talented students who had to leave first?
"Oh, thank you." Susan said as she picked up on the complimentary nature of Lina's thoughts.
"Heh." Lina said as she waved her hand dismissively, "When do you plan on leaving?"
AN: Since I ended this with a Susan and Marcus scene, I must add, RIP Mira Furlan. J. Michael Straczynski has a lovely tribute to her. The Babylon 5 cast is cursed.
