Lina sighed contentedly as she piled Gourry's hair on the pillow above his head so she could draw her hand down his bare back, which was still slick with sweat from their joining. "I could just do this all night." She commented lazily.
"It's late. And we have classes tomorrow." He said, though it was chidingly.
"Where did the weekend go?" Lina mused as she reflected that she was going to have to adjust to getting on a weekly schedule again. She was used to stretches of free time between weeks of frantic running from one emergency to another. "I know we should be sleeping, but with Sis and the Eternal Queen arriving in two days I just can't!"
She moved so that it would be easier for her to plant kisses on his spine, "And this is such a nice diversion."
"I won't complain. If this is how you want to take your mind off your stresses, then I'll gladly sacrifice some sleep." He purred. And he could certainly use the diversion! Worrying about what his relatives in the Elmekian Empire were planning had not been good for him. "I'll just take a nice, long nap after lunch."
He gasped as he felt the press of her lips against his skin, especially as her fingers followed, and then her hair would brush against him like a silken blanket! Damn, but she'd gotten good at this, and fast. But then, since they'd officially become a couple they'd gotten in a lot of practice. And they had always been so in tune with each other. He surrendered himself to the enjoyment until he noticed something discordant, and then he stiffened as he raised his head off the pillows, "Someone is coming."
She sounded confused as she said, "But we've not even really started yet."
He turned and looked at her, and then she reddened, "Oh! Oh damn!"
She jumped out of bed and ran to the couch where her robe had been tossed and grabbed it and put it on, and Gourry quickly grabbed his pants as the footsteps became louder. He could tell it was Zel and Amelia before they had even knocked. She looked at the mirror and started messing with her hair as she hissed, "I don't look like we've just been having sex, do I?"
He wanted to tell her to give it up. She was still rosy and pink and still radiated the glow, and then there was the smell. Fortunately before he could answer Zel and Amelia knocked. He took a deep breath and tried not to look too flustered as he opened it. "Hey!" he said as he tried to sound as casual as possible.
Lina relaxed when she saw it wasn't her parents as Amelia said, "Sorry to disturb you so late, but we have a problem. I noticed a change in energy with the wards I used to contain the Sad Lady. It's like they vanished!"
"What?" Lina said. And then the sounds of the children screaming rang from the foyer.
Gourry grabbed his shirt as Lina raced into the hallway. "You're just going to have to put them back up, and quickly!" Lina told Amelia as they started running to the staircase.
"There's a problem with that." Amelia said.
"What do you mean, 'there's a problem with that!?'" Lina spat back.
"Well, it being a certain time of the month." Amelia said, "I don't have the power to do that."
"But I thought you weren't…oh dammit!" Lina said as she got to the head of the stairs as her parents came out of their room.
"What's going on?" Leia asked.
"The Sad Lady escaped." Lina explained as she raced down the stairs and right through a ghost. "Dammit!"
"Are you okay?" Gourry asked.
"Just like an ice bath." She replied as she continued to race down the stairs, and when she saw a group of students heading towards them relief washed through her. "Is everyone okay?"
"All of the girls are accounted for." Honor explained. "Our beds were turned over and objects were flying every which way in our rooms. I thought it best to get everyone out there."
"Good thinking." Lina said.
"Indiana and Jean-Luc are gone. They were missing when we woke up." Owen explained. "But I swear they were in bed on time!"
"And Susan and Marcus went into the Sad Lady's room to see what they could do." Honor added.
"Susan has a background in White Magic, but Marcus...?" Lina mused.
"He didn't want her to go in there alone." Honor explained.
"Right. Mom, Dad, stay with the kids. Everyone else, to the Sad Ladies' room." Lina ordered.
Yet as soon as Lina charged forward she immediately had to divert to the left as a curio cabinet flew down the hallway. Gourry sliced it in two with the Blast Sword and it splintered and shattered as it fell harmlessly to either side of him. He reached a hand to help Lina up as more objects started hurling towards them.
"Windy Shield!" Lina called, and other magic users started casting the same spell. "Get the kids in a circle! Magic users on the outside need to use the wind shield to protect those on the inside!"
"Right!" Honor acknowledged. Lina moved in front of Gourry and looked over her shoulder to ensure that the kids had the hang of it as debris hit their wind shields and went flying in other directions.
Once she was sure they would be fine, she proceeded to move forward again, only to be hurled violently backwards as her feet were kicked up as the carpet was pulled from under them. Lina and the others cried out in shock and pain. "Dammit!" Lina said as she got up and rubbed her sore posterior, and then dodged as a bookshelf sped towards her. It smacked against her head as she couldn't move quickly enough, and the world started to spin.
"Lina!" Gourry cried in alarm as she knelt down and held her head as wished desperately that the world would slow down. She felt his strong hand on her back, and she took a deep breath and told her to get it together as she stood up and felt as though she was going to vomit.
She tried to chant but found herself struggling to remember the words, and forget making the movements. She was too dizzy! "I-I may have to sit this out." Lina said. The room wouldn't stop spinning and she couldn't even get a good sense of what was coming at her.
"It stopped. What happened?" she heard Amelia ask.
"Please look at Lina, she bumped her head." Gourry asked.
"Susan! Marcus!" she heard Zelgadis say as the students came out of the Sad Ladies' room, "And it looks as though we solved the mystery of what happened to Indiana and Jean-Luc."
"I believe I managed to put the wards back up." Susan reported as Amelia started examining Lina. "The Sad Lady is once again under lock and key."
"How did she get loose in the first place?" Zelgadis asked.
"Look, the Sad Lady told us if we lifted the wards she'd show us where her buried treasure was." Indiana explained.
"And you believed that!?" Zel exclaimed.
Indiana and Jean-Luc looked at the floor as Zel lectured, "Rule number one, never, ever trust a ghost! Their only reasons for staying in this world is to torment the living. They have nothing to lose and will tell us whatever lies we want to hear to wreck whatever havoc they please."
Lina felt her eyebrow twitch as she turned away from Amelia to yell at them, "What were you thinking!? And look at this place! It's trashed! And the Eternal Queen is coming in two days! How are we ever going to get this place fixed?"
She had a lot more she wanted to say, but she found herself putting her hand over her mouth to keep from throwing up. Amelia, meanwhile, tutted, "Looks like a bad concussion my friend."
"I don't have time for a concussion!" Lina yelled.
"We're sorry, miss." Jean-Luc said.
"That's not going to do anything to put this right! Start cleaning!" Lina barked, granted, she had to admit that she couldn't have been too intimidating. She could barely lift her head! Lina felt a new presence as her mother came over and started a recovery spell.
"But won't the maid…" Indiana said.
"You really should stop while your only punishment is having the clean the mansion." Gourry said, "You have no idea what she's capable of. Well, when she's not punch drunk."
Indiana gulped, "Right."
"In fact, I think for the next month you should take over downstairs cleaning duties from Alona." Zelgadis said.
"And this place better be spotless by the time the Eternal Queen arrives, or you will be taking over Alona's duties permanently!" Lina added.
"Let Zel take care of disciplining them." Leia said, "That is one nasty bump on the head."
"But Sis is coming…" Lina protested.
"You have two days." Leia said sharply, "And you'll just make it worse if you push yourself too much."
"She's right, Miss Lina." Amelia said.
From behind her, Lina heard Han address the students "Go back to your dorms. Get a few hours sleep until breakfast. Classes will resume as usual today."
A few students mumbled in protest, and Han snapped, "If you think that the Mazoku will care how well rested you are when they attack, then you'd better go home now."
"Can I volunteer to help with the clean up?" Honor asked.
"Later. Let Indiana and Jean-Luc go at it alone for a bit." Han said. "Now get the kids back to bed."
"Right," Honor said, "Follow me."
Lina felt the pain in her head abate under her mother's healing spell, but the dizziness remained. "Can you get her to your bed?" Leia asked Gourry, "I don't trust her to walk up there without falling over right now."
"Right." Gourry said as he effortlessly scooped Lina up.
"The kids aren't watching, are they?" Lina asked. While she agreed she was in no shape to walk up a flight of stairs, she also didn't want them to see her so helpless.
"They're in the dorms." Leia said as she and Amelia followed Gourry as he made his way up the stairs.
Lina relaxed a little, "Man, this week is off to a great start."
"At least it was you who was injured and not a student." Amelia said chipperly.
"I'm sure that will be a great comfort once I'm feeling better!" Lina said snarkily.
"We may want to rethink keeping the portal open." Leia said as the got to the top of the stairs, "Keeping her around may be more dangerous than we thought."
"Noted." Lina said.
"Well, is that a yes, we'll get rid of her, or are you pushing me off?" Leia asked.
"I'm pushing you off until things stop spinning and I can think straight!" Lina snapped.
"Here we are." Gourry said as Amelia opened the door to the bedroom. "Amelia, do you have anything you can give her to help?"
Gourry laid her on the bed as Amelia said, "Yes, let me get it ready. Is it alright if you use your washstand?"
"Have at it." Lina said as Gourry pulled the covers over her.
"She is going to be okay?" Gourry asked.
"She just needs a bit of rest. By tomorrow she'll be back to her usual self. But she'll be like this for the rest of the day probably. And someone needs to keep an eye on her. I can do that for now until I leave for court."
"I'll take over for a bit while Gourry does his morning classes." Leia said.
"And then I'll pop back in at lunch." Gourry said.
"Here, take this." Amelia said as she handed Lina a spoonful of potion. Lina did, and then settled back onto the pillows.
"We're going down to help Zel and your father." Leia said. "Be back later."
Gourry leaned forward to give her a quick peck before he left with Leia, leaving Lina alone with Amelia.
"It looks like I'll be getting into court late." Amelia said as she collapsed onto the couch.
"By the way," Lina said as she turned to stare at her, "What happened to waiting to start a family?"
"Huh?" Amelia said.
"You obviously stopped your sterility spell if you're on your period."
"Oh," Amelia said, "Well, since we were at my daddy's wedding, and I obviously wasn't pregnant, it put a lid on any rumors about why Zel and I eloped. So we decided to go ahead. Why?"
"I'm just being nosy." Lina said as she closed her eyes as she smiled. "Don't tell my sis, or anyone else really. But Gourry and I are trying, too. Nothing so far. Though after this morning, I'm rather thankful for that fact."
"I was wondering!" Amelia exclaimed, "Oh, it will be so much fun when it does happen, though! And our kids can grow up to be best friends!"
"One thing at a time!" Lina said, "First the race is on to see who gets knocked up first!"
"What!?" Amelia exclaimed, "This is a competition?"
"Of course it's a competition!" Lina said, "It makes it more fun."
"Hm." Amelia said, "It's only more fun if there are stakes involved."
"Good point. What are you wanting to put on the line if I get pregnant first?"
"Well…" Amelia said contemplatively as someone knocked on the door. "Oh, I'll get it."
Amelia walked over to the door and Lina didn't bother to turn to face it. It was likely someone wanting to check in. But then when she heard who was speaking she broke out into a cold sweat. "Good morning, Princess. I heard my sister was injured and I wanted to drop in and see how she's doing."
"Sis!" Lina screeched as she sat up and nearly threw up as the dizziness overwhelmed her. "What are you doing here so early!? You're not supposed to be here for another two days!"
"Well, how else are we supposed to know what's really going on here if we give you time to make everything perfect? This is a much better way to gauge how well you're implementing things. Now Lina, about this morning…"
AN: Hoping that your Monday will be better than Lina's :-)