Well, these past two days have been hell. I am starkly reminded why I hate basketball in the first week. I don't think there is a part of me that does no hut. Ever see a granny that takes forever to sit down, well that's me.

But I managed to get this written this weekend, so I am able to get it out. I also have a side story that goes into more detail on a few things that will be up in the next few days. I hope you all enjoy this.

~Ravyn~

Rei slammed the phone back onto the hook and took several deep breaths. Calmly, she walked over, picked Kei up, and made shushing noises when he began to cry.

Walking by the counter top, Rei grabbed her car keys and her purse. Turning, she locked the temple door behind her. She was going to kill Mamoru slowly and in the most painful way she could think of.

Usagi had gone into labor. But could he tell her that? No. He had to say, in nearly hysterical tones, that Usagi was on her way to the emergency room. She was thanking whatever deity was out there that Ami had grabbed the phone and explained why she was going to the hospital.

Rei had almost had a heart attack right then and there.

Hospitals had been on her top ten list of things never to go back to, and the emergency room still inspired nightmares. Looking at the watch in her car, Rei backed up and drove toward Tokyo Hospital.

Usagi was a month early, and she and Mamoru had only been moved into their new house for six or so months.

Mamoru had gone to the airport to pick Ami and Zach up from their flight back to Japan. Usagi, in her sick sense of humor, had left him a message. She and Zach were supposed to be heading to a meeting, but they had made a detour when Usagi's frantic call had come.

Apparently, Mamoru had fainted.

Rei found a parking space and pulled the cranky toddle from his car seat. Picking him up and running as fast as her legs would let her, Rei soon found herself meeting the anxious eyes of Makoto.

" Rei," Makoto said dryly, her dark eyes laughing at something " glad you could make it. I will take this little fellow. She wants us all in there, and it seems like you are about to drop."

Rei handed Kei over to Makoto's strong arms and allowed herself to be led into the hospital room. Usagi's hair had come down part of the way, and her face was coated with sweat. The doctor chose that moment to look up.

"You all can NOT be in here," the doctor said in exasperation. He had already tried to get Ami out, and the little woman had said she knew what she was doing. He had managed to kick Zach out, but Usagi had insisted she get to keep the cell phone saying something about Minako helping her breathe.

And now these two women, with one of them carrying a child of her own, were too much.

Usagi raised herself up slightly, her silver-blue eyes screaming at him. " They WILL be in here. Do you understand?" Usagi snapped.

Mamoru looked at the doctor with sympathy. He had had that look directed at him before. It was never that pretty.

Rei walked over and took Usagi's hand the same way that Usagi had taken hers. Usagi squeezed it and Rei heard Minako on the cell phone that was propped up the pillow barking at her to breathe. The whole scene would have been hysterical if it had not been so serious.

Fifteen hours later, Minako was standing there instead of the phone, and Usagi was holding a screaming baby girl with russet eyes and a puff of pale pink hair. They decided to name her Usagi after her mother. Chiba Usa.

Rei leaned over the bed with the others. The now crowded room was mysteriously silent. Kei looked down at the baby and back up at his mother. " Bawa," he said simply.

Rei stroked his head and smiled. " Baby."

~*~

Mia hummed as she cooked the large pot of spaghetti. Rei had just called to tell her that Usagi had given birth to a little girl. She had met the startling little women through Rei, because after you knew Rei, you soon knew several new people. She was glad that Usagi had had a little girl. It seemed fitting somehow.

Mia brought the spoon to her mouth, with one hand resting on her stomach, the other tasting the sauce that was boiling on the stove.

More sugar.

Mia blinked when the doorbell rang. She was not expecting anyone till Jason came home after work. That was another thirty or so minuets away.

Opening the door, Mia's eyes traveled from the ground up to the shapely form in front of her. The woman with the suitcase at her feet stood perhaps just under five eight. Her hair was strawberry gold, and it fell to her shoulders in a curtain of silk.

Dark amber eyes looked at her with an innocence that was not quite real. Thick lashes framed her eyes, her skin was as white as Ami's, and her form, well, it made Mia feel like a buffalo.

" Cousin Mia, I am so sorry that I did not call, but I just knew that you and Mark would be happy to see me!"

" Cousin?" Mia repeated, feeling slightly like a light bulb that had not been turned on.

" Did Mark never mention me? My name is Anastasia," the woman said, her tone sweet as honeysuckle. " My friends call me Stacy."

" How nice," Mia commented.

Stacy picked her suitcases up and brushed by Mia as if she was not there. " I do hope I did not catch you at a bad time," Stacy went on.

'I bet,' Mia thought sourly.

" Is Mark not here yet?" Stacy questioned, turning with a raised brow.

" No. He is off on a business trip. And you're related to him how?"

" I am his sister," Stacy said sweetly. Mia wracked her brain trying to remember this sickeningly sweet person from her wedding. She pulled up a blank. Stacy was cut off from making another comment when the door opened.

Jason stood there, with his leather jacket slung over one shoulder and his hair wind blown. Mia looked at Stacy and felt her heart drop to her stomach.

The woman's face had gone from slack jawed to interested. Very interested, almost cat stalking the canary interested. Mia had a very bad feeling about something. Even if she could not quite put her finger on it.

~*~

Rei woke up to the smell of coffee. It was, perhaps, the first time in close to two years since she had had that pleasure. Very few people woke before she did, and her grandfather never touched the stuff. So that left one person.

Rei jumped out of bed, threw on a pair of discarded sweats, and raced into the kitchen. The sight that she saw caused her to mutter words that would have burned a sailor's ears.

Minako had stayed with Rei after a long debate. Ami and Zach had gone with Makoto. Rei really adored the blonde haired girl, but her coffee was another matter.

Minako made a cooing noise as she attempted to get Kei to eat his breakfast. Kei gave her a pointed look before tossing a handful of cheerios into her face.

" This child has your temperament," Minako said with firm clarity as she picked cheerios off the floor. Which was a mistake, for once Kei had the all clear 'I see adult's head,' he gleefully threw another load of cheerios at her head.

" I think he should take up baseball when he grows older," Minako grumbled looking up at Kei with a disgruntled expression as she tried to find the cheerios that had hidden in her hair.

" There is a reason that I find something he can't throw at me to feed him as often as possible," Rei growled. Picking up the coffeepot, Rei poured herself a cup. Wrinkling her nose, she Rei downed the cup fast enough to burn her tongue. It left a nasty tasting aftertaste.

" Minako, you still can't make a decent cup of coffee." Minako snorted.

" There is something called creamer. I try to put as much as possible into it. It gives you sugar. I don't see how you can drink that stuff black as it is."

Rei looked at Minako and snorted. " It's stronger."

" You are still going to drink the pot, with or with out creamer" Minako pointed out.

" Let's not fight over coffee okay?" Rei smiled, and Minako almost groaned.

Rei never smiled this time of morning. Of course, while she had been watching Rei, Kei had been slowly dropping a couple of handfuls of cheerios into her coffee cup, which she had left on his high chair.

Rei took the coffee and dumped the entire thing into the sink. Turning, she watched her son drop a few more cheerios in Minako's cup, and he turned and looked at her.

" Minako I don't think you want to drink that," Rei said in a serious tone.

Minako snorted. " I can handle my own coffee, thank you." Rei shrugged. Minako tipped her head back and then promptly began to choke on the cheerios that had entered her windpipe.

~*~

Jason walked into his kitchen, his eyes narrowed with lack of sleep. Actually, it was Mia's kitchen; she had asked him to get up early on his day off so they could go and see Usagi early in the morning.

Not that he minded. He had not seen the little blonde in sometime, and he had not seen Mamoru in an even longer period of time. Not since he had completed designing and building their dream house.

Jason sighed as he ran a hand through his blond hair. He was in his boxers, and the tile was cold in the early morning light. But this place was better than an apartment, which he was forced to stay in until his house was complete.

Plus it gave Mia an extra pair of hands, which she needed.

Looking up over his coffee cup, Jason almost groaned. Stacy was looking at him from her bowl of cereal, and her look said rather bluntly that she wished she was coming at him with the spoon.

And that was exactly what was running through the girl's mind. Her eyes traveled up from Jason's ankles to the top of his head. Unconsciously, she licked her lips. But instead of a spoon, it was more like skip the milk and the spoon.

" Morning," Jason commented his voice gravelly from sleep.

" A very good morning to you," Stacy said, the predatory look gone and replaced with an innocent look that made him feel ill.

Jason nodded, grabbing a granola bar; as he headed back to his room to get himself covered up. He felt naked somehow in what he had on. Something about her eyes.

Stacy watched him leave with an expression of delight on her features. 'Damn, he has a walk, but to bad he had to leave.' If she had known that her fat sister-in-law had a find like that hiding in her back closet, she would have been here a long time ago. Her brother was going to be pissed beyond belief when he found out she was here, but that was his problem.

She had planned only to crash here for a few days, to try and wheedle a few more dollars out of her brother if she could, but now it looked like it would be better to stay as long as possible. Licking her lips again, she looked like a lion cleaning her chops.

And if she managed to cause a little trouble between her darling brother and his fat wife, then so be it.

~*~

Jason walked his sister into the hospital. It was the same hospital they had attended Lamaze classes in went to Lamaze classes at.

It was relatively easy to find Usagi's room. Walking in, he smiled at the sight that was before him. Mamoru was propped up in one of the ridgeback chairs, his eyes closed to the late morning sunlight. Usagi, though, was wide-awake.

" Mia, Jason, you guys came!" Usagi whispered her eyes dancing.

" Like we would miss the birth of the next Princess," Mia teased, making reference to the nickname Usagi had been given by Mamoru and Jason. Usagi grinned at that.

" She is right over there." Mia followed the finger and walked over. Getting as close to the toddler as her protruding stomach would allow, Mia grinned.

" Rather wrinkly but adorable nonetheless." Usagi shot her a grin. " That's what I said. But I commented on the red part as well. Mamoru told me she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen." Usagi shrugged. " I think he was afraid I would yell at him."

" No," Jason commented, " you yell? Never!"

Usagi pointed her finger at the blonde man." I suggest you watch your tongue."

" I would hate to have to cut it off." Mamoru commented, sitting up. He rubbed his jaw, where a two day-old scruff had grown.

" I am so worried," Jason teased, flexing his muscles.

" Oh, did I interrupt a testosterone moment?" a sarcastic voice demanded.

Jason turned and met the clear amethyst eyes of Rei. A single eyebrow was cocked over her eye, an expression he knew all too well.

" The argument was only getting warmed up by the looks of things" Minako said innocently, Kei propped up on her hip. He was sucking on his pacifier with an intent expression.

" Rei, Mi-chan. I am so glad you guys are here," Usagi said sweetly. Minako laughed at that, sliding in the door, leaving Jason and Rei to stare at each other.

" You just want the present you know we have." Usagi sniffed.

" Point?"

Minako started to chatter endlessly, pulling Mia and Mamoru into the conversation, and no one realized that Rei and Jason had not moved.

" Rei," Jason said softly, his tone almost caressing the word.

" Do you mind moving aside so I can go see the little addition to our family?" Rei demanded her voice was low, but they carried the same bite as if she had screamed them.

" Minako got by with no problem," Jason said, his eyes darkening with something Rei did not want to read into.

"And she also had to brush up against you." Rei pointed out. " I would prefer not to touch you at all."

" Afraid, Rei?" Jason taunted.

" Afraid? Of what, Jason, you?" Rei hissed.

" Of me, now that's a thought. Afraid of what will happen, that we might have sparks?"

" Sparks?" Rei growled in a tense whisper. " With you? That ended a long time ago. I have every intention as of staying as far away from you as possible."

" Whose kid is that, Rei?" Jason demanded.

Rei's eyes flashed with anger and pain. His tone suggested something rude. " My husband's." Rei snapped, before shoving him rudely aside and composing her features as she stared down at the sleeping bundle.

Jason felt like he had been hit in the stomach with a sledgehammer.

Husband.

It rang over and over in his mind until it left him breathless. She was gone forever. It should have made him happy, but for some reason, it made him feel ill.

Watching everyone laugh, he attempted to join in and avoid a pair of violet eyes.

Jason noticed that Mia looked worn down, so he and they began to make their excuses. Turning one last time, he met Rei's eyes and was hit by the endless depths of sadness in them.

And then it was gone, replaced with cool anger. Striding out the door, Jason swore to remove Rei from his very thoughts. He would do whatever it took.

Rei turned back to Kei, who she had taken back from Minako. His thick curls caught her single tear.

I was not so evil this time, I decided to take pity on those who I have been leaving in suspense. Now the question lies in this: When and what broke Rei and Jason up. When is he going to find out about Chad? *Waggles eyebrows* Who knows?

Okay feel sorry for this poor, in pain, child and review. Thanks to those who are so willing to review, and please continue. What can I say, I am selfish. I LIKE reviews. Makes my day.