Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. Reality sets in on this chapter. Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate it.

She always had a warmth about her that drew everyone in. A warmth that couldn't be denied by anyone who knew her. Her smile infected everyone around her. It had always been impossible not to be cheerful around her.

That was when she was younger, naïve even. Before her heart shattered into millions of pieces and her world turned upside down that one evening. She cried and cried, then cried some more. Finally, she looked in the mirror with a last sniffle and decided something needed to change. She couldn't be this person anymore.

Since then, Usagi Tsukino vowed it would never happen again. She dried her tears, and made plans. She changed everything. It hadn't been easy either.

Gone were the days she hung out after school in the Arcade, instead she asked Ami to help her study and asked Rei to make plans to exercise with her. She wanted to be a better version of herself. There was no more Cs in every class. In a few short months, Usagi's grade drastically improved to everyone's surprise. She never hit 'snooze' on her alarm in the mornings, so there was no more being late.

This Usagi Tsukino isn't the same who called everyone 'mean' that teased her.

This Usagi had warmth but it was drowning under the sadness of what she witnessed. This Usagi made calculated decisions. One such decision was law school. Three years later, she passed the bar exam on the first try, was recruited to one of the finest firms in the country and hasn't returned home since. She's made a life for herself in the city.

"Redo this motion. The errors are marked in red. Thanks." Usagi says leaving no room for argument. She drops the three page motion on her paralegal's desk and returns to her office.

Practicing law has been no easy feat for her. She made mistakes to begin with and thankfully her supervisor caught them and explained how to avoid such mistakes in the future. That was six months ago. Today, she is reviewing motions her new paralegal drafts and rolling her eyes at the mistakes and handing it back for another draft.

Usagi never lost her youthful appearance despite being only months away from thirty. She eventually trimmed her long blonde hair so it was waist length instead of ankle length. She donated the cut off length to a local charity that used hair for cancer survivors. She didn't completely lose her big heart. She didn't wear her bubble gum pink lip gloss anymore. Instead, she opted for a neutral balm and applied only mascara to her eyelashes.

Her office isn't anything to grumble over either. It is on the second floor, she graduated from the cubicles located in the back of the office on the first floor. She knew she was in line for partner. They've all said as much to her. She had been a pleasure to work with and she had been more than happy to take the lead on expanding the practice to include Family Law. That's right, Usagi Tsukino handled divorces and has a great rapport with all clientele.

She plops down on the loveseat placed against the wall opposite of her desk and closes her eyes. Mornings are rough.

"You think a motion for sole custody is rough, wait until you meet Ruth Hayden." Her supervisor says walking into her office with a cup of coffee in hand. "Relax while you can. You're going to be joining for the interview tomorrow morning." Setsuna is a rather tall woman with dark green hair that she keeps half pulled back and no matter what she wears, she always has these oddly shaped burgundy earrings on. She tells everyone the jewelry is a 'staple piece' she received from her beau. Nobody has ever seen her out with one.

"Great." Usagi groans. "What does she want to fight over?"

"No children. That should be a relief to you. She wants to fight over their house in the Hamptons which is easily worth over 2.5 million."

Usagi's eyes widen and her jaw practically drops to the floor. They represented good paying clients and had one of the best pro bono clinics that managed to function. None of them came in with a house worth 2.5 million. Half a million, sure. "You aren't letting me fly solo on this one are you?"

"I thought about it. You're overqualified to fight for the 2.5 million. The partners don't expect you to lose." Setsuna says as she takes a sip of her coffee.

"I don't want to risk it. I'll second chair with you. Please?" She waves off the notion of handling such a big case alone. Usagi had always been humble and getting older, she'd seen a lot to get here. She never felt any shame when she asked for help or asked to be second chair instead of first. She was honored that her supervisor and the partners believed she could win this for the potential client, she didn't want to risk it.

"Fine. Oh are you coming to the office Valentines' Day party this year?" Setsuna asks as she walks toward the door, "If so, are you bringing a date?"

"I don't celebrate Valentines' Day. It is a stupid consumer holiday. Why do you bother asking me? You know this." Usagi tells her as she frowns. She made a point to stay in her apartment on Valentines' Day instead of going out. She avoided anything that remotely looks as though it is celebrating two people being together. She avoided the day every day since that day.

"You are no fun. At least come and get drunk with me." Setsuna says pouting.

"No. That is my final answer." Usagi grumbles. Setsuna rolls her eyes playfully and leaves Usagi's office and disappears.

She would never say it aloud but Mamoru Chiba did a number on her that she wasn't sure she would recover from. She had been consumed by him, everything about him, but in the end, she felt played like a fool. Rei tried warning her. She should have listened to her friends instead of believing that he could possibly be interested in her.

There had been nobody since Mamoru. There was one in college. He asked her out but she stood him up out of fear and anxiety. She couldn't apologize enough to him the next day. He didn't want to hear it. Mamoru left her with trust issues that she couldn't believe were fixable. Now here she is, almost 30 years old and single. She isn't complaining too much. It could be worse.

She stands and walks over to her desk and looks at her phone screen. She frowns seeing that she missed two calls from her mother. Ikuko never calls during the day. Maybe Shingo was arrested for abhorrent behavior. Would serve her little brother right, he could be a real cretin if he wanted to be. She presses the call button and holds the phone up to her ear.

"Hello, Usagi?" Ikuko is sobbing into the phone which further worries her. She can hear Shingo in the background trying to comfort their mother.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Fear and panic overtake Usagi. She's never heard her mother like this before. She's always been upbeat and always berating Usagi to do better, but never sad.

"Your father, Usagi."

The hairs on the back of Usagi's neck stand up and she becomes cold as ice where she stands. No, something can't be wrong with him. I was just there at Christmas. He stopped day drinking. He has to be okay. Shit.

"I'll be home soon, Mom. I'm canceling everything tomorrow." She doesn't ask what happened, she just knows that she has to go home. Of course she knows this presents some issues that she doesn't want to deal with, but family matters and they've always come first.