A/N Yes I know, it's been forever. Sorry about the long wait, but I have been going through a pretty dark and gloomy period lately. The specifics aren't worth mentioning. Long story short, I didn't really feel much like writing, and what stuff I did write was downright depressing and full of angst. Not my usual style at all. I'm still trying to decide if any of those stories will ever see the light of day. Anyhoo…after about ten re-writes and me losing several handfuls of my hair, I finally have an update for you guys. This is mostly just a bridge chapter that covers about the first 36 hours after Discord's defeat and touches on where everybody stands now. It's a decent length though, and full of sweet little funny moments between some of our favorite couples. So to anyone left out there who is still interested in reading this story, I hope you like it.

ENJOY!

The Galactic Trinity

Chapter 43

The Chaos After Discord

Mount Olympus

"Well, that didn't go exactly as I expected," Apollo muttered as he gazed into Chronos's time mirror. "But at least it was effective."

Gaia let out a disdainful snort. "I'll say it was. There's not a speck of that evil bastard left, not counting the pool of icky goo he so graciously decided to leave behind."

"That is disgusting!" Selene hissed. "Those poor kids will have to scrub themselves raw to get that filth off of them."

"So they are alive?" Serenity whispered. Then she let out a relieved sigh as she continued to watch the three motionless bodies that were sprawled out in what looked to be a lake made of tar.

Althea mirrored her friend's relief. "Thank the heavens! I was starting to get worried there for a minute. They look dead."

Edward snorted. "I'm sure we looked much the same way after our little run in with Discord all those centuries ago."

Jonathan nodded in agreement. "Besides, it would take more than that to take those three out of commission."

"They are perfectly fine," Selene reassured them. "They are severely depleted of energy, but their life forces are completely intact. It's nothing that a bit of rest won't help them recover from."

"They deserve a full-blown, all-inclusive vacation after everything they've been through," Gaia snickered.

Apollo shrugged. "I suppose they did okay. They certainly turned out better than I thought they would."

Zeus chuckled as he dropped his feet from the table with a heavy thud. "You never have had much faith in people, son. I suppose you get that from your mother. I've always said that Leto was the most cynical woman I've ever met. Luckily Artemis seems to take more after me."

"Yeah, because you just ooze with all of those warm and fuzzy emotions," Hades grumbled. He downed the last of the wine in his glass and rose to his feet. "Now if all of the dramatics are over with I would like for things to get back to normal. So if our dear resident royal spirits don't mind, I'm ready to get them back where they belong so I can get back to lording over my domain."

Selene, Gaia, and even Apollo closed ranks in front of the former Earth and Moon monarchs.

Gaia straightened to her full height. And though she was still several inches shorter than the god of the Underworld, she sneered at him. "Patience, oh Dark One. You will get your souls back. But I think they may have a few goodbyes they wish to say first. With Zeus's blessing of course."

The king of the gods waved a careless hand. "That's fine with me. Just make sure they don't stay out too long. The last thing we need is the souls in the Elysian Fields revolting because they want to pay visits to their living relatives."

"Fine!" Hades huffed. "You three just make sure that they are back in the Elysian Fields by tonight. In the meantime, I better go and see to the Fates. I'm sure they are fit to be tied right now since they were denied collecting any strong souls today." And in a swirl of dark robes he left Chronos's chamber.

Zeus stood and stretched. "I better get going too. Hera seems to think that I have been too stressed out lately and has me on this regimen that she picked up from watching mortal television. She'll be pissed if I miss out on my afternoon meditation session."

Apollo snickered. "I never thought my dear old step-mother could cow you, dad."

"Watch it, boy," Zeus growled. "Women can be highly ambitious creatures when they set their minds to it. One day you'll find one that is more interested in just a tumble between the sheets. And may the Titans have mercy on you when you do. But for now, I leave you in peace." In a flash, he was gone.

Selene flicked her long, silver hair over her shoulder. "So what is our next move?"

A pink flash of light answered her as Sailor Pluto appeared. The tall, slender sailor scout of time took but a moment to get her bearings before she launched herself into Chronos's arms exclaiming, "They did it, grandfather!"

The time god let out a rare chuckle as he caught his granddaughter up in a warm embrace. "They did indeed. But for some reason I think your uncharacteristically good mood is due to more than just Discord's defeat. In fact, I would say it has to do with a certain someone."

"Don't tease the girl, Chronos," Gaia chided. "It's nice to see that she finally has a boyfriend after all these centuries. Aphrodite has been quite beside herself over it."

"And why shouldn't she be?" Selene interjected. "Not only is the man sinfully gorgeous, he cooks, he cleans, he loves children, and he worships Setsuna as if she were a full-blooded goddess. I say hold on to that one."

"I agree," Althea giggled. "He looks like a man who has some serious talents…if you know what I mean."

Edward's head snapped up and his dark blue eyes flashed dangerously. "Hey!"

Serenity flapped a hand at him. "Cool your jets, Mr. Jealous. Your wife was just making an observation. There's no law against looking at and admiring handsome people. Men do it all the time."

"You may as well let it go, Ed," Jonathan counseled him. "You should know by now that there's no winning an argument with her. Besides, she does have a point. We're both definitely guilty of doing our fair share of ogling."

"In any case," Serenity raised her voice to be heard over the men. "As I was about to say, I'm deliriously happy for you, Setsuna, dear. I remember how heartbroken you were when Tristan died. I lived long enough to experience that sort of agony for myself first hand. But many centuries have passed now, and it's time for you to let go of the past and embrace the future."

Sailor Pluto blushed as she bowed her head. "Thank you, your majesty."

"Hmph!" Chronos huffed. "I suppose this means that you will be spending even more time away from your duties at the time gate than you usually do."

Pluto's garnet eyes widened. "Why, grandfather! I may have other duties to attend to for my king and queen, but I have never neglected my post. Even you have to admit that there isn't much need for a guardian to be present at the gate at all times anymore. I believe I can handle both of my jobs and still have time for a life of my own."

The ancient god shook his head. "You sound so much like your grandmother sometimes. Yes, my darling, you do deserve to have a life of your own. I don't think the time gate will suffer much just because you're not babysitting it every moment of the day. It really does get quite tedious after a few centuries. Besides, when you have children there is a good chance that at least one of them will inherit the power of time. Then you can train them to help you out."

"What? Kids!" Pluto squeaked. "I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself, grandfather. Evan and I haven't known each other all that long. And we definitely haven't had the opportunity to talk about our relationship properly, much less about the future or children."

Chronos snickered. "Just don't forget to invite me to the wedding, Junebug. Zeus owes me a few dozen favors. So I don't think he'll raise too much of a fuss about me wanting to make a quick trip to the mortal plane to see my granddaughter get married."

Pluto's cheeks were as red as her eyes by this point, and she slapped her hands over them in embarrassment. "Ohh-kay! I think this conversation has gone on long enough. I should be going. I've still got work to do. Yep! Lots and lots of work. I've got people who need to be returned to their correct time and I need to thoroughly check the time stream to make sure everything has settled down as it should. I'm going to be busy-busy for a while. Goodbye, everyone!" She disappeared in a flash.

"Hmm…" Gaia mused. "I'm not usually the betting sort. But if I was, I would put my money on Setsuna leaving from here and going straight into her lover's arms as soon as possible."

Selene nodded. "Agreed."

"Women," Apollo groaned as he rolled his eyes. "I suggest we follow Setsuna's example and get back to work. We have a few loose ends to tie up, and I would like to get it over with as soon as possible. Unlike you ladies, I am the betting sort. And Eros is getting together a poker game tonight that I really don't want to miss out on."

"Weelll…" Selene drawled. "That explains why Psyche invited all of us girls over for a movie night. She doesn't want to drown in all of the testosterone."

Gaia sniffed haughtily. "I was looking forward to it. But now I'm not so sure since Mr. Wonderful is going to be there."

Apollo winked brazenly at her. "It'll just make the night that much more interesting."

Using Gaia's outraged screech as a cover, Serenity leaned over to whisper in Selene's ear, "Is there something between the two of them?"

Althea joined them in the huddle. "Yes, they bicker so much that it makes me think that things are more than purely plutonic between them."

The moon goddess smiled. "I've heard rumors over the eons, but I've never seen any proof. Gossip between the other gods has had them jumping in and out of each others' beds for more millennia than I can count. Neither one of them would ever admit it, though."

"As if!" the earth goddess exploded, overhearing the last of Selene's comment. "If I want a man in my bed, then I can get whoever I want. I am a goddess after all. But the last man I would want is that womanizing bastard! I think he would screw a signpost if it could prove it was female."

The sun god snorted. "My standards are set quite a bit higher than that, love. I just don't like to spend my time entertaining rattlesnakes."

Chronos, who had stayed quietly in the background during the verbal sparring match, pressed his fingers to his temples as he felt a headache building. He found himself craving the peace and quiet of his usual solitude more than ever before. And when Gaia let out a glass shattering shriek over Apollo's flippant use of the endearment love toward her, he finally lost his temper.

"OUT!" he thundered in rage, pulling himself up to his full, massively impressive height. "All of you, get out NOW!"

A heavy silence fell over the chamber. It was so quiet that a pin dropping would have sounded like a cannon going off. And after a few seconds, and a lot of wide eyed, frightened stares, the three gods and the four ghostly monarchs vanished.

"Peace at last," Chronos muttered as he poured himself a glass of wine from the bottle on the table. Then he wandered over to sit in his favorite chair in front of his humongous fireplace.

He held the glass up in front of him, admiring the way the firelight shimmered through the red liquid, making it dance like lava. Quiet and solitude, those were the most important things to him, after his granddaughter of course. But he hadn't always been that way.

Using his powers of time, he conjured a scene from the past around him. There, on the rug in front of the stone hearth, he could see his son as he had been as a child, playing with the tiny toy soldiers that Hephaestus had made for him. Another chair had appeared next to his, and in it sat his wife, looking as lovely as she had the first time he had seen her that day on Pluto so long ago.

Although Zeus's mandate forbidding interactions with humans had preventing him from living with his family full-time, he had found ways around it, sneaking off to Pluto every chance he got and smuggling them in to stay with him on Mount Olympus whenever he could. Eventually Zeus had turned a blind eye to entire situation and left them in peace. Especially once his son had become older and was able to use his demigod powers to come and go as he pleased.

The scene around him warped and changed. The boy on the rug disappeared to be replaced by two children, a boy and a girl. Setsuna was easily identified by her long, dark green hair that she had inherited from her father and grandfather, while Nathaniel had his mother's raven black hair. But both of the twins had Chronos's garnet eyes.

The images vanished, leaving him alone once more. He sighed and took a long drink of his wine. Yes, once upon a time he had been surrounded by a family who loved him. He thanked his lucky stars everyday that Setsuna had been spared Beryl and Metallia's wrath during the fall of the Silver Millennium, but both of them had been so devastated over their losses that a certain amount of distance had opened up between them…until recently that is.

A smile played at the corners of the time god's lips. Yeah, this business with Discord had been nasty, but maybe there was a bright side to it. Perhaps, just perhaps, this was the opportunity for him to get back some of what he had lost.

Normally speaking, he couldn't see his own future. But after millennia of controlling the powers of time he had learned that if he concentrated hard enough he could catch glimpses here and there. So he focused his energy again. But instead of the past, he thought of the future.

For a moment nothing happened. And then slowly, like smoke unfurling from his fireplace, images began to form. Two small, child-size shadows appeared on the rug. It was impossible to tell if the were boys or girls, but they were definitely children. High pitched, childish giggles echoed around him.

Then he heard Setsuna's voice, trying to sound firm but trembling with laughter, "Grandfather, stop! You are spoiling them too much."

This time, when the vision faded, Chronos sat back in his chair with a satisfied smile. His line would live on. His family would begin to rebuild.

Crystal Tokyo

"Katie, sweetie, are you sure you're okay in there?"

The light blonde teen growled softly from the depths of her bubble bath before calling out, "I'm fine, mom, for the hundredth time."

"Are you sure I can't bring you anything?" Jess's voice asked from the other side of the bathroom door.

Katie rolled her eyes. "I'm positive. Right now all I want to do is soak away a few aches and pains and then fall into bed for a week."

There was a shuffling sound outside the door. "Well, if you're really sure. Just make sure you don't fall asleep in there. You could drown you know."

"For god's sake, mom!" Katie exclaimed, slapping her hands against the surface of her bath water in exasperation. "I'm battle-weary, not suicidal! I promise I'm not going to do anything that will put me in danger of offing myself. It is after 2 in the morning, and I know you have to be tired too after all the fighting we did to get rid of that bastard Discord. So please, I'm begging you, go to bed. I'm sure dad's wondering where you are."

"Hmph!" Jess huffed. "Your father knows very well where I am. You and your brother put us through hell today. Do you know that when I found you two lying facedown in that icky black lake of ooze I couldn't even tell if either of you were breathing? It scared the shit out of me."

Katie slumped down deeper in the bath, feeling a bit guilty for causing her parents so much anguish. "I know, mom, and I'm sorry. But the point is that both Alex and I are fine. We're both a bit battered and bruised and exhausted, but we're here and we're alive. And I'm sure dad let Alex take a shower in peace instead of lurking outside the door like a creeper."

There was a moment of silence. Then Jess giggled. "Okay, I see your point. I guess my overprotective maternal instinct has been kicked into hyper-drive after everything that has happened in the past twenty-four hours. But deep down I know that I would be going crazy if I were in your position and had someone hovering over me. So I'll respect your privacy and let you get some R & R."

"Thanks, mom," Katie groaned gratefully.

"Just make sure you call me if you need any-" Jess began again.

"Mom!"

"I'm going! I'm going!"

Katie sat there, barely breathing, listening to the sound of bubbles popping around her. She sighed in relief when she heard the faint thud of the bedroom door closing behind her well-meaning, but meddlesome mother.

"Finally," she moaned. "Maybe now I'll have a chance to get my head screwed on straight."

Things had been chaotic from the moment she had opened her eyes and found herself lying flat on her back on a bed in the palace infirmary. Feeling like a tractor trailer rig had run over her about a thousand times, she'd tried to struggle into a sitting position, only to find herself being gently pushed back against her pillow by a concerned looking Amy.

The next several minutes were a blur as she was poked and prodded. Amy, Zoicite, and Endymion were full of questions as they badgered her, Alex, and DJ constantly about how they were feeling. She'd looked over at her brother and boyfriend helplessly, noticing that they both looked as bad as she felt, but thankfully they were both alive.

Finally, feeling overwhelmed, she snapped. "I feel like shit, okay! There isn't a part of me that doesn't ache! Even my hair and fingernails hurt! Does that answer all of your questions?"

The three doctors put their heads together and murmured. She heard the words "severe energy depletion" "exhaustion" and "high fever" muttered, but she didn't care. She just wanted confirmation that Alex and DJ were okay before she crawled off someplace quiet to lick her wounds.

But, of course, things never worked out the way she wanted. After a few more minutes the three of them were given medication for pain and fever before being whisked away in three different directions, despite their protests. Andrew had insisted on carrying his daughter to the room she always used in the palace and, after hugging her and telling her how much he loved her and that he was proud of her, had hurried off to check on his son, leaving her with her sometimes tyrannical mother.

The first thing Jess had done was help her out of her filthy, grime-encrusted clothes and into a soft plushy robe that had felt like heaven against her aching body. Then she had steered her into the bathroom where she had assisted her with the hand-held shower. After about thirty minutes, three shampoos, and a deep conditioning, her hair was once more a shining silvery blonde cape that fell to her waist instead of a matted up, black-streaked mess.

As she'd stumbled back into the bedroom, Lita had appeared with a tray of food. Although she hadn't felt very hungry, she'd forced herself to eat some of the steaming, delicious soup and one of the light as air rolls, washing it down with a glass of ice cold orange juice. She had to admit that she's felt a bit better after that.

She'd questioned her mom some, wanting to know what had happened since she Alex, and DJ had defeated Discord. She found out that the three of them had been unconscious for about ten hours, that the city had escaped the battle with fairly minimal damage, and that, miraculously, no one had died. So all in all, everyone was considering it a major victory.

After their conversation, Katie had wanted to go see Alex and DJ. But Jess had been insistent on her getting a bath and then going to bed. The boys would still be there when she woke up in the morning.

Katie grumbled about it, but finally gave in. Still, she couldn't help but feel a bit of anxiety. After being close to them for so long, being apart almost made her feel like she'd had a couple of limbs amputated. She knew she was being irrational. She could still sense both of them and knew that were fine, just tired and sore like she was. But what made her jumpy was the fact that strong bond between the three of them had seemed to fade.

It made sense, she supposed. Their job was done. They had defeated Discord, so they no longer needed the gods' powers. But she was still linked to Alex through their twin bond and to DJ through their soul mate bond. It was just disconcerting not to hear the two of them chattering away in her head. She'd gotten used to it.

Wondering if the guys felt the same way, she relaxed completely, letting the heat of the water work its magic on her aching muscles. Her heavy eyelids slid shut, and she knew that she would have to get out in a few minutes or she would run the risk of falling asleep in the tub, just the way her mother had warned her not to.

She thought she felt a small frisson pop through the air, but wrote it off as her tired mind playing tricks on her. At least until she heard a small gasp. Her hazel eyes snapped open and immediately clashed with a pair of beautiful sky blue ones.

"DJ! What are you doing here?" she cried softly, very much aware that he had caught her in a very compromising position. She sank down deeper into the water.

Her dark haired prince stood next to the tub, looking extremely tired and haggard in his plain white t-shirt and gray sweatpants, but his eyes shone as he stared at her. "You look much better."

"So do you," she grumbled. "But that still doesn't answer my question. In case you haven't noticed, I'm in the tub."

His signature smirk turned up his lips as he sat on the edge of the tub. "Oh, I noticed all right."

"DJ!" she wailed, sliding down until bubbles tickled her nose and popped in her ears. Thank god the palace had extremely large tubs. She'd never be able to get away with this in her tub at home.

He frowned a bit as he reached out to run a finger across her cheek. "You don't have to hide from me, Kat. I've already seen every inch of you. And I have to say right now, you are the most beautiful sight in the world. You had me so worried during the fight. For a moment there I thought Discord was going to kill you."

Despite the heat, she shivered. "I thought so too for a minute. But I just had to make my mind up that I wasn't going to let him beat me. We've come too far and fought too hard. I couldn't let him destroy everything. I want to live. I don't know what the future holds for us, but I want to experience it."

"So do I," he murmured huskily. "But only if I can be with you."

She blushed at his words, still acutely conscious of the fact that she was naked as the day she was born under the layer of bubbles covering her. She only hoped they didn't decide to all pop before she had a chance to run her boyfriend out of the bathroom. Speaking of which, she was fairly certain that she had locked the bathroom door to keep her mother from barging in on her.

Her eyes swung to the doorknob. Yep, still locked. "Wait a minute! How the hell did you get in here?"

He blinked at her in confusion. "How do you think? I teleported of course."

"Bu…but how?" she stammered. "You shouldn't be able to do that. Mom said that by the time they got to us that the swords and bracelets had disappeared."

He shook his head and sighed. "Don't you remember anything about what happened while we were unconscious?"

She furrowed her brow in thought. Several things flew through her mind at once…white mist…several people talking…a choice…

"Umm…I remember a little bit," she hedged. "Most of it is really fuzzy though.

He chuckled. "Why don't you get out of that bath? Then we can go cuddle on the bed and talk. I don't know about you, but I am about to drop where I am."

She nodded. "Fine. You go on into the bedroom and I'll be there in a minute."

His smirk returned. "Come on, Kat. You don't have anything that I haven't seen before."

The pink in her cheeks darkened. Sure, they had been intimate, many times, over the last few months, and she had come a long way in overcoming her shyness around her dark haired prince, but there was a huge difference in being nude in front of him during lovemaking and flaunting herself around in the buff. She wasn't quite confident enough to cross that line yet.

"DJ, please," she pleaded, sticking her lower lip out just a bit in a tiny pout.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine." Then he leaned over the tub, framing her face between both of his hands, and placed a quick kiss on her lips. "Just don't take too long, or I'll fall asleep before you get there."

"I'll be quick," she promised.

His eyes drifted down to where the bubbles clung around her shoulders, his blue irises darkening a couple of shades. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay?"

Her face went from pink to red in less than a nanosecond. "Out!"

He stood up and began backing toward the door, holding his hands up in a defensive gesture, but he was chuckling. "All right. I'm going. Don't get your panties in such a twist, Tinkerbell." Then his grin turned positively diabolical. "Oh, that's right, you're not wearing any."

He was still laughing as he ducked through the door just in time to avoid being brained by the bottle of body wash that she had hurled at him. The plastic bottle bounced harmlessly off the door before clattering noisily to the tile floor.

"Ouch. That hurt," Katie grumbled, rotating her stiff shoulder and feeling her muscles twinge in protest. "Stupid, arrogant, sexy man!"

She continued muttering to herself as she flipped the drain for the tub and hauled herself slowly out of it. She reached for a large, fluffy towel and carefully dried herself off, wincing every now and then when she encountered a particularly tender spot. Her mom had told her that she'd had been banged up pretty good after the fight and that Endymion had used his power to heal her, but there was only so much the Golden Crystal could do. Her sore and strained muscles would just have to mend on their on. Thank god sailor scouts healed a lot faster than regular people. After a nice long sleep she should feel a lot closer to normal.

She slid on a pair of lacy bikinis and pulled her favorite black silk dorm shirt over her head. She spent a few minutes at the sink, scrubbing her teeth until they felt squeaky clean and then reached up to pull out the scrunchie that had held her hair up in a messy knot. After a brisk brushing it flowed down her back in a straight shimmering line.

Done with her ministrations, she turned to the door and flipped the lock. Just as she was about to turn the knob, she had a thought. DJ had teleported into the bathroom. Did that mean that she could still teleport too?

There was only one way to find out. She closed her eyes for a moment and focused, searching for DJ's aura. It only took her a second to find it since he was just a few yards away on the other side of the door. She honed in on his energy signature and imagined herself appearing next to him.

There was a slight whooshing sound in her ears, and when she opened her eyes she found herself standing next to her bed where her prince was laying and waiting for her. He opened his arms, and she went immediately into them. She shuffled around for a moment until she found a comfortable position.

Then she laid her head on his chest where she could hear his heart thrumming and whispered, "Okay, help me fill in the blanks in my fuzzy thoughts."

"It was so weird," Alex drawled drowsily as he trailed his fingers through the silky hair of the girl laying beside him. "One minute we were there with our swords stuck in the sucker. There was a big flash of light, and then everything went dark. The next thing I know Kat, DJ, and I are standing in the middle of…nothing. There was this white mist everywhere, like being in the clouds. It was kinda creepy, but it was also peaceful."

Emma raised her head from her shoulder to gaze down at him with her shining gray eyes. "And then Apollo, Selene, and Gaia showed up?"

He nodded slowly. "Along with Queen Serenity, King Jonathan, King Edward, and Queen Althea. It's all a bit of a blur in my head, but they were all congratulating us. Everybody was sorta talking over each other for while, and then the gods dropped a bombshell on us. They told us that since we got rid of Discord for good that we could choose one of their abilities to keep."

"And you chose to keep the teleportation?" Emma inquired as she gently smoothed back some of his unruly brown hair from his sapphire eyes. "Why did you do that? You could have chosen to keep the extra strength, speed, or the ability to talk to Katie and DJ telepathically. You probably could have kept the magic sword that can slice through anything. Instead you chose to keep the ability to go anywhere you want with just a thought."

Alex smirked at her. "Well, wouldn't you have done the same thing? I already have strength and speed, and honestly, the last place I want to be is inside my sister or my best friend's head with all the lustful thoughts they have about each other. The sword was awesome, but I kind of miss using my old one. But the power to teleport without a group? Now that's something that is way cool."

The blonde love goddess rolled her eyes. "So you chose it just because you thought it was cool?"

He rolled over, slowly to accommodate his aching muscles, until he was on his side facing her. "Not exactly. It's actually more for selfish reasons. And after talking it over with Kat and DJ, they agree with me. Being able to teleport can help us out of the bind we may soon find ourselves in."

"I'm not following y…" she began, but fell silent as he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. After a brief moment, she pulled back, shaking her head. "I don't want to accidentally hurt you."

He chuckled softly. "Sweetheart, the only way you could hurt me right now would be if you weren't here with me."

She arched a golden brow at him. "Well I don't know where else in the world you think I would be. In case it has slipped your mind, this happens to be my bedroom that you teleported into."

He nuzzled her neck gently. "I'm sorry. I just needed to see you and make sure that you were okay. I would probably have been here sooner, but my dad was hanging around and we were talking."

It's probably a good thing you weren't here earlier," she replied with a shudder. "Things got a bit…intense."

Pulling back, he gave her an inquisitive look. "What do you mean by intense?"

She waved a dismissive hand. "It doesn't matter. Now, you were going to tell me about your big reason for choosing teleportation."

"Em," he scolded lightly. "What aren't you telling me?"

She stared at him impassively while he stared back expectantly with those impossibly dark blue eyes of his. Finally, she heaved a sigh and sat up, running her fingers through her long, tousled golden hair.

"It's not fair when you use your eyes on me like that!" she grouched. "Okay, I'll spill. I just don't want you freaking out on me when I tell you."

"When you tell me what?" he asked warily, sitting up as quickly as he could. This sounded serious.

She looked at him beseechingly. "Just promise me you'll let me finish before you start asking questions. I'll never get the whole story out if you do."

He nodded, encouraging her to go ahead.

"Okay," she breathed out, sounding like a prisoner headed for her own execution. "So, after Discord got his ass handed to him by you, Katie, and DJ, the whole lot of us jumped down off the wall and ran to you as quick as we could. Some of them were afraid that you guys were dead. I wasn't positive about Katie and DJ, but I knew at least you were still alive because our soul bond hadn't broken. After a minute Amy, the past Amy that is, her computer confirmed that you guys were still alive. So between all of us we were able to carry you three back here to the palace.

It was crazy when we got here. My mom, dad, and the other scouts and generals from this time were directing people out of the palace, telling them that it was safe to go back to their homes. The moment Amy and Zoicite saw us they herded us all into the infirmary where they insisted on scanning each of us to make sure we were okay. Most of us escaped with just a few bumps and bruises. Your mom and her past self were pretty depleted and were ordered to get some rest. Not that either of them paid attention to that.

Serena and Darien, and by that I mean Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, were kind of out of it too. Seems like they really poured on some energy while protecting the palace. I've even heard a rumor that Darien saved Aunt Serena's life. But you three were everyone's main priority. There was a hair-raising moment when Aunt Serena blacked out for a few minutes. She snuck out and used the Silver Crystal to repair what little damage there was to the city after she was told to take it easy. Uncle Darien was really pissed at her for that.

Anyway, after a few hours a lot of people started to drift off. Trista bundled everyone from the past back to their own time and everyone here had other things to attend to. My brother was complaining that he was tired and hungry, so my dad said that we should leave. I told him and mom to go ahead and take care of Kyle and that I wanted to stay with you. Mom was fine with it, but dad hit the roof.

The next thing I knew he'd tossed me over his shoulder and carted me up here. I was way beyond pissed, and mom wasn't too happy with him either. We all got into a screaming match. To make a long story short, you know how I get when I get emotional. I run off at the mouth and say things that I shouldn't. I yelled at my dad that you are my fiancé and that my place was with you. Then I pulled my ring off the chain around my neck and put it on my finger where it belongs.

Dad turned so red in the face that I thought he was going to have a stroke. Then he got all quiet and scary, and it reminded me of all the stories I've heard about him from the Silver Millennium when everyone used to call him Iron Fist. Then he told me that I wasn't allowed to see you anymore and that I was going to Julliard in the fall whether I liked it or not just so I would be far away from you."

At this point she sniffled and wiped the corners of her eyes. "Needless to say, it was bad. Mom hauled him off and promised me that she would try to talk some sense into him. But I don't know what will happen."

Alex stared at her for a moment as he took in everything that she had just told him. Then, unexpectedly, he broke into a grin. "So your dad wants to send you away to school so that we can't see each other, huh?"

Her expression morphed into one of incredulous outrage. "Well I'm glad you find this funny. I've already told you that I'm going wherever you're going. But since I won't be eighteen until February, I'm kind of stuck doing what my parents want me to do for now. That is going to suck if I'm in New York while you're off in Cambridge, Los Angeles, or still here. I'll go crazy without you."

He let out a soft laugh as he laid back down, drawing her down beside him so that her head was resting on his shoulder again. "I wouldn't worry about it too much, baby. Yeah, your dad may be gunning for me for a bit, but your mom has a way of making him behave. So I'm not too concerned about that. But your story actually brings me back to what I was going to tell you before."

She tilted her head back to look at him. "Okay. I'm all ears."

He brushed a kiss against her temple. "So, DJ and I were talking last night, after the big reveal from the parental units about our college possibilities, and we had come up with a plan. He was going to apply to Columbia so he could be in New York with Kat, and I was going to go to Crystal Tokyo University so I could stay here with you. But once Apollo and the others told us we could keep one of their powers we got to thinking. Why couldn't we have the best of both worlds? If we can teleport wherever we want to, then there is no way that any of us have to be apart for any long periods of time. So DJ, Kat, and I came up with a new plan. You and Kat will go to New York to study at Julliard while DJ and I go to Cambridge. He'll be at Harvard while I go to MIT. And since three out of the four of us can teleport, we can see each other every day if we want to."

Her eyes widened. "Oh! I see what you mean now about you picking teleportation for selfish reasons. But if my dad finds out you can do that he's liable to have Trista take me into another time and make me go to college there."

"And that's why we're not going to let anyone know what we can do," he told her softly. "We were all ready to give up our schools of choice so that we wouldn't be separated, and now we don't have to. But we figured it was probably best to not let the parents or anyone else know what we can do for now. We can always tell them about our little gift later, like after college."

Emma snuggled up next to him in contentment. "I guess you've thought of everything. I can rest a little bit easier now. The idea of having to be away from you has been bothering me for a few hours now."

Alex hugged her close. "Don't worry about it. Even if we were sent to the opposite ends of the Earth, I could be by your side in seconds." He smothered a yawn in his hand. "I guess I should be heading back to my own bed now. I'm whipped."

She tightened her arms around him gently. "No. Stay here with me. My door is locked and I promise to wake you if anyone comes knocking."

He settled in and let his eyes drift shut. "Who am I to argue with a love goddess? Love you, Em," he murmured as he slipped off into dreamland.

The Next Morning

"Serena, are you sure you should be up? Maybe you should stay in bed and have breakfast brought up to you," King Endymion pestered his wife as he trailed down the stairs of the Crystal Palace after her.

The blonde queen paused on a step and turned to glare at him, having to look up much farther than usual since he was standing a couple of steps behind her. "I'm not an invalid, Darien! Besides, I told you I feel fine now. All I needed was a good night's sleep."

He crossed his arms and shot her a glare of his own. "You need more than that. You collapsed yesterday from overusing the Silver Crystal…after I told you not to. What you need right now is to take a couple of days to rest and recoup."

"I couldn't let all those people go home to houses that had the windows blown out and the doors ripped off the hinges. And there was that one building that was taken down completely. Where would those people have gone, hm?" she retorted. "And as far as what I need, what I need is some food, caffeine, and to see with my own eyes that everyone is okay."

They stood there, staring at each other for a long minute, until a bright perky voice interrupted them. "Wow! Is this the Great National Stare-off Competition or something?"

Serenity leaned around Endymion so she could see the blond couple coming down the stairs behind them; Andrew with his sandy blonde hair and Jess with her dark burnished gold locks that had been left free from its customary braid to float in slightly damp waves and curls to her waist. Both of them looked care-free, relaxed, and refreshed.

"Good morning," Jess chirped as they came to a stop behind the fuming couple.

Andrew snorted a chuckle. "If you can still say that, love. It's past eleven already."

She reached up and flicked a few strands of his hair away from his eyes. "But it isn't noon yet, so that means that technically it is still morning."

He grinned goofily at her. "Mere semantics, beautiful."

"You two seem to be in a good mood today," Serenity observed warily.

Jess giggled. "What is there to not be in a good mood about? Our kids kicked major ass yesterday and came through it in one piece, the biggest pain in our ass has been vanquished for good, and for the first time in over two thousand years I don't feel like I have to constantly look over my shoulder to watch out for somebody coming after me and my little ole crystal. So yeah, I'm on top of the world."

Despite the irritation she still felt toward her husband, Serenity couldn't help the brilliant smile that lit her face at her past daughter's words. She beamed at her. "You're right. I mean, I was already stoked about Discord and the fact that the kids made it through the battle, but I didn't fully comprehend what all of this would mean for you. You must feel like a load has been lifted off of you."

"Off of both of us," Andrew chimed in. "In fact, I'm thinking about sweeping my charming wife away this summer on a second honeymoon. We do have a wedding anniversary coming up in July."

Jess's eyes widened in surprise and she bit her lip for a moment as a slight blush stained her cheeks. Then she laughed and pushed Andrew's hands away as he tried to tickle her. "Stop that, you maniac!" She turned her attention to the other couple. "So why are you two standing here looking all doom and gloom? It's not the end of the world you know."

"Somebody," Serenity rolled her eyes toward Endymion, "seems to think that I need to spend all day in bed and be waited on like I'm on my deathbed or something."

Endymion pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Serena…"

"Don't start again!" she snapped. "I told that I'm fine! You can take it or leave it! Now, I'm sure Lita has already started on lunch, but I am going to go see if I can wrangle a hot cocoa and some cinnamon buns or something out of her to hold me over. And if you don't like that, your majesty, you can just shove it!"

He shoved a hand through his hair and growled, "Fine! Have it your own way. You usually do. But if you start feeling tired or dizzy…"

Jess laid a hand on her past father's arm. "She'll be fine, Dare. I don't think she's going to burn a lot of energy just walking down to the kitchen to get food. We all went through a lot yesterday, so we're all going to be keeping an eye on each other. She's in good hands."

Sapphire blue stared into sapphire blue for a long moment before the king sighed and nodded his head. "Okay, you're right. I guess I'm just feeling a bit overprotective today. Let's go, Drew. I don't know about you, but I could really use a coffee right about now."

"You and me both," Andrew concurred as he fell into step beside his best friend, leaving the two women to trail along behind them.

Serenity leaned into Jess to whisper, "He's feeling overprotective because neither of the kids were in their rooms when he went to look in on them this morning. It doesn't take a scientist to figure out where they are. Rini probably took off for Elysian the first chance she got, and you probably know better than I do about where DJ is."

Jess looked startled. "I agree about Rini, but I don't have a clue about DJ. Katie wasn't in her room when I looked in, so I just figured that she was with DJ."

Serenity shook her head. "Nope. His bed hasn't been slept in."

"Weird," Jess mumbled. "Katie's bed was rumpled, so I know she was there for a while, but she's not now. Alex's bed was empty too, although I think he's taking his life into his own hands by going anywhere near Emma with Kunzite in the mood he's in right now. I can't imagine that they are up and around somewhere though. I figured they'd sleep the day away today after depleting themselves the way they did yesterday."

Her words were proven wrong a minute later and found Lita manning the massive stove, working her usual culinary magic, while a group of teens sat around the table plowing their way through a towering stack of pancakes.

"I'm telling you…" Katie was speaking to DJ while pointing her fork at him, which held a bite of gooey, syrupy deliciousness. Her eyes flared when the dark haired boy leaned forward and closed his mouth around her fork, stealing the bite. "You jackass!"

DJ merely shrugged and sat back in his chair, grinning good-naturedly as he chewed. After he swallowed, he quipped, "You snooze, you loose, Tinkerbell. Just be glad you didn't wave that fork in front of Rini. She would have taken your whole hand off."

"I would not, you jerk!" Rini grumbled thickly, her cheeks bulging from the massive bite she'd just shoved in her mouth. She swallowed heavily. "Mom's the one you have to worry about becoming murderous at the sight of food. Talk about a black hole stomach."

Serenity placed her hands on her hips. "Excuse me."

All the heads whipped around to stare at the four adults that had entered the room. Rini just rolled her eyes at her mother and returned to her food while the others all smiled and called out greetings. Endymion and Andrew chuckled as they made their way across the kitchen to where the coffeepot was full of dark, steaming brew.

"I didn't think you guys would up and about so soon, much less looking quite so chipper," Jess said as she and Serenity approached the table.

"Stop it, mom!" Katie and Alex bellowed at the same time as they jerked away from their mother's hands as she attempted to feel their foreheads.

"Geez! You'd think we were five years old again," Katie grumbled into her caramel latte.

"Tell me about it," Alex seconded.

Jess put on a hurt expression. "There's nothing wrong with me wanting to check on my kids to make sure they're okay. You'll understand one day when you have children of your own."

The twins flushed in mortification at her words and slid down in their seats. Having their mother talk about them about having kids was almost as bad as a sex talk.

Serenity held DJ's cheeks between her hands as she stared into the eyes that were a mirror image of her own. "Are you sure you're feeling well, sweetie? You don't feel like you have a fever anymore."

DJ laughed as he gently pulled his face from her hands. "I'm fine, mom. I promise. I'm sure my energy levels are still a bit below normal and I'm still a little achy, but it's not a bad kind of ache. It just feels like I've gone through a massive workout. I had a nice long sleep and that did wonders for me."

Serenity flicked her eyes over the blonde girl next to her son and noticed Katie's blush deepen even more. Yep, there was no doubt in her mind where her son had gotten that wondrous night's sleep.

"Glad to see you're so worried about me too," Rini muttered petulantly from across the table.

The queen smiled fondly at her daughter. "I do worry about you too, darling. But I already had the peace of mind knowing that you got a clean bill of health from Amy yesterday."

Rini huffed for a moment. Then she grinned and stuck her tongue out at her mother.

Serenity wagged a finger at her playfully. "Watch it, young lady. I think you've been hanging around my past self too long. Serena may let you get away with things like that, but remember, I'm older and wiser than she is." With those parting words, she and Jess wandered across the kitchen to where the promise of caffeine lured them.

"Here you go," Endymion said with a smile as he handed her a steaming mug of cocoa.

"Thank you," she replied gratefully as she wrapped her fingers around the hot mug and took a tentative sip. She moaned appreciatively as the thick, chocolate sweetness slipped down her throat.

"And for you, my lady," Andrew drawled, presenting a cup to Jess with a slight bow. "One peppermint mocha with extra everything. It has enough sugar and caffeine to re-energize a comatose person."

Jess batted her lashes at him coyly. "Why thank you, kind sir."

"Okay, you four, get over here and put some food in your stomachs," Lita demanded, pointing at the stools at the breakfast bar. "I managed to save you some breakfast from the attacking hordes."

Serenity and Jess were on their stools in an instant. Endymion and Andrew followed at a more sedate pace. In minutes they were all tucking into their own pancakes.

"So where are everyone else?" Serenity asked after she had appeased most of her hunger.

Lita shrugged. "Carrying on with their daily lives. The guys are out on patrol. Zoi wants to see about getting the protection grid back up and operational as soon as possible and Jed's helping him with that. Kunzite was in a strange mood this morning. It seems he and Mina were up most of the night arguing about the way he handled Emma last night. I'm sure my poor hubby is getting an earful of it right about now. Raye said she had to go to the club to look over payroll and Mina had some ideas that she wanted to go over in her workroom. She took Sasha with her. Amy took Nick, Ryssa, Kyle, and Corey to go over their lessons for the day, amid a lot of grumbling I might add. Jack took off to go to Michelle and Amara's place for some piano practice. And, of course, everybody else went home last night. The teen brigade just started trickling in here about an hour ago."

"I guess life is back to normal then," Serenity mused before popping a bite in her mouth.

"It looks that way," Endymion agreed. "Of course you are not going near your office today. And before you say anything, neither am I. I am going to make sure you take it easy today, even if it kills me."

Andrew groaned and buried his face in his hands. "I can only imagine what my desk looks like after everything that has happened. I've probably got a million e-mails and voice messages from people wanting to know what's been going on here."

"I don't even want to think about how far behind I am," Jess muttered, pushing her plate away like she'd suddenly lost her appetite. "The summer show is set to open in less than two weeks and we're nowhere near ready for it. I must have been crazy to buy that gallery when Natasha offered it to me."

"It was a good investment," Andrew told her.

"It was insanity!" she shot back.

He grinned. "Well a lot of people would never accuse you of being sane.

"You take that back!" she shrieked.

"Um, guys," Rini's voice interrupted them before a squabble could break out. "Before you two decide to hold the international debate over whether to choke or kiss each other, can we talk?"

The four adults turned on their stools, Lita watching on with a knowing smile, to face the eight teens at the table.

Endymion crossed his arms over his chest. "What's up?"

Rini paused and looked over questioningly at her brother.

DJ took a deep breath before meeting his father's gaze. "You see, we were thinking…"

Tokyo - Present Day

"I can't believe I was crazy enough to actually go to class today," Serena groaned as she slipped into the back corner booth of the Crown Arcade. "I mean seriously, even after ten hours of uninterrupted sleep, I still feel like I'm dragging."

Her lone companion shook her head woefully. "Honestly, Serena," Amy sighed. "There are less than two weeks left in the semester and next week are exams. So I'm sure all of your classes are doing nothing but reviews. It shouldn't be that hard to get through that."

Serena slumped over the table, resting her chin on her folded arms. "The hard part was not falling asleep in class. I felt like I was back in middle school again, trying to keep from dozing off while listening to Miss Haruna drone on in her monotone voice. Do you know how hard it was to stay awake in that woman's class after being up fighting youmas for half the night?"

Amy pulled a large textbook out of her bag and began flipping through it. "It wasn't that hard for me. I was already used to keeping up long hours while studying. It took a bit of adjustment when I became Sailor Mercury, but I was able to adapt fairly quickly."

"Well goody for you," Serena grumbled petulantly.

After a few minutes of silence, Amy glanced up. "So where was Jess today? Didn't she have a couple of classes too?"

Serena shrugged. "I don't know if she went to school or not. We haven't really talked much since we got home yesterday."

Amy's eyes flared wide. "But you live right next door to each other."

"That doesn't mean that we're right up in each other's business," Serena retorted. "Besides, I'm sure she was just as wiped out as I was after we got back from Crystal Tokyo. She probably passed out as soon as she walked into her apartment and hit the bed."

"I think we all were tired," Amy mused. "As soon as the rest of us got back to the penthouse we scattered for our own rooms. I took a quick shower and then went to bed. Zoicite wasn't far behind me. But it was strange being there without the kids. Everything was too calm and quiet."

Serena nodded. "I know what you mean. I've gotten so used to hearing Rini and DJ bickering over things and Katie and Alex constantly coming and going. Last night the apartment felt like a tomb."

"Well they're back where they are supposed to be," Amy stated. "And we're where we are supposed to be. So I guess everything is fine for now."

"What are we talking about?" a voice snapped as the two occupants of the table looked up to find a raven-haired woman in a red blouse and black skirt stomping toward them.

"The kids," Serena sighed as she watched Raye slide into the booth beside Amy. "Everything just seems so normal now that they're gone."

Raye slumped in her seat. "Yeah. I never thought I would be sad to see my little Jadeite clone gone, but I miss the brat. He was as obnoxious as his father, but I genuinely miss him. I could use some his bad jokes after the day I've had."

"Business bad?" Serena asked in genuine concern.

Raye shook her head. "Quite the contrary. The club had a record breaking weekend while I was gone. It just took forever to go through all the paperwork. I'm just glad I made Logan manager and Amanda head bartender, or I'd still be there now trying to make the liquor order."

"Make way. I'm beat," another voice drawled as Mina practically crawled into the booth and proceeded to lay her head on Serena's shoulder. "My feet are killing me! One of my stylists called in sick today, so I helped fill in. And then the boutique was so busy you would think it was prom season all over again. I need a pick me up."

"Amen, sister," Lita agreed as she joined them. She nudged Mina in the ribs. "You two blondes scoot on around so I can sit. I've spent half the day hunting down sirloin steaks because my regular meat supplier is out of stock. I gave him an earful about it too. That is one of the number one sellers on my menu."

"It sounds like we've all had a pretty rough day," Serena murmured as she slid further back into the large circular booth while craning her neck to see if she could spot Lizzy or one of the other arcade waitresses' attention.

"Uh oh," Mina whispered loudly. "Looks like we aren't the only ones who've had a bad day." She nodded toward the door.

The five girls turned to look, and were shocked to see five very harassed looking men dragging through the sliding door. Their hearts sank as they became attuned to their soul mates' emotions.

"Hey, honey. Is everything okay?" Serena asked timidly as Darien reached the booth.

He and Zoicite were the most shocking of the five. They were both still dressed in their blue hospital scrubs with their white lab coats over the top. The two doctors always changed clothes at the end of their shifts. The other three were uncharacteristically rumpled looking; ties hanging loose around their necks with several buttons undone, shirts untucked, and sleeves rolled back.

Darien shook his head. "The hospital was a nightmare."

"More like hell," Zoicite grumbled. "I think every whack job in the city decided to come in today. It got to the point where I could hardly tell who was a hypochondriac, a junkie who was looking for a pharmaceutical fix, and who was legitimately sick."

"And don't get me started on the meeting we just had to go through," Kunzite growled.

Nephrite's lips turned up in a sneer. "The old man's crazy if he thinks we're going to give him the price he's asking for that building. He's asking twice what it's worth. And that's not counting all of the renovations that it needs just to bring it up to code."

Jadeite snorted. "I'd like to tell that bastard to stick that building up his ass! I don't care if it is in a prime location. There are other properties around that we can get our hands on."

Everyone took a couple of minutes to shuffle around and get settled, now sprawling out so that they took up both of the back, side by side booths. They all broke off into couples as they lamented about their miserable days.

Things were just starting to calm down when Andrew came storming through the door that led to his upstairs office. His blazing eyes zeroed in on the group and he stomped over, gripping his cell phone in his hand so tightly that it was amazing that it didn't crumble to pieces in his fingers.

He slammed a hand down on the table in front of Kunzite and hissed between gritted teeth, "Never, and I mean never, use that electrician that we hired to do the work on the Galleria ever again. I've had ten stores shut down due to loss of power today because that asshole screwed something up in the wiring. I'm tempted to black-ball his ass!"

Even the big, mighty general cringed at the sight of the enraged solarian soldier. "I wasn't going to use him again anyway. I'd heard some rumors about him doing some shoddy work. I just hoped that maybe we'd get lucky and not have any problems."

Andrew seemed to calm after that. "It's okay. I've got a call in to another guy with great references. I'm waiting to hear back from him. I'm hoping he's willing to come out this evening and see what he can do. I'm willing to pay the extra money if it gets things back up and running."

Then his hazel eyes swept the rest of the group and he frowned. "Where's Jess?" Everyone shrugged.

"I haven't seen her all day," Serena replied. "I usually see her once or twice on campus, but I didn't today. I figured she was at home or with you."

"Weird," Andrew muttered as his phone chimed, signaling a text message. He sighed in relief when he saw it was from the electrician he'd contacted. He quickly began typing a reply. "She was up this morning before I left and said that she was going to class. I'll check in on her in a minute. I hope she's not off getting into trouble."

Just then, the doors to the arcade slid open and a whirlwind dressed in blue jeans and a tie-died shirt, carrying an old blue backpack and sporting a long, honey-blonde braid blew in. In seconds she was in front of them. Loose curls of her hair danced around her face, which was flushed more than usual, making the light dusting of golden freckles across her button nose stand out more than usual, and her dark blue eyes glowed like precious sapphires.

"Omigosh you guys! You won't believe the incredible day I've had," Jess began to gush. She tugged playfully on Andrew's sleeve. "Hey, are you listening to me?"

"Uh huh," he murmured distractedly.

Her eyes narrowed. "No you're not."

"Uh huh," he said again, clearly not paying attention as he continued to type on his phone.

She stood there for a moment, her face turning red as her infamous temper rose to the surface.

"Uh oh. She's gonna blow," Jadeite cried, looking around desperately for an escape. But he was boxed in by Raye on one side and Nephrite on the other.

"Oh this is not good," Serena whispered.

"No it's not," Darien agreed as he felt a surge of energy quake lightly though his planet. Luckily it calmed after a few seconds.

Jess's expression went from furious to dead calm in the blink of an eye, except for her eyes. They still sizzled and snapped with barely controlled rage. That terrified the group around her more than if she'd had a meltdown and lost her temper.

Then she leaned closer to her fiancé and cooed in a deceptively sweet voice, "Well since you're listening to me so well, you'll be happy to know that I'm pregnant."

Gasps burst from everyone except the sandy-blonde man, who merely said, "That's nice, honey." A few seconds later he looked up from his phone and blinked hard. "Wait a minute! What did you say?"

She sneered at him. "I see that finally got your attention."

"Did you…did you just say that you're…you can't…" he stammered helplessly.

She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Oh, don't go wetting your pants, sun-boy. I'm not really pregnant. I was just trying to see which one of us had more of your attention, me or your mistress in your hands."

Andrew's temper was usually kept on a slow simmer, but after the stressful day he'd had it exploded without warning. "Well excuse me if I happen to be in the middle of an effing crisis! I've got to get this problem taken care of as soon as possible or I take the chance of having ten businesses moving out of the Galleria, all because some shit head electrician couldn't tell his balls from his brains! And if those businesses move out others will follow and the Galleria will shut down and I will lose my ASS!"

Jess stared at him for a moment while everyone else waited with bated breath for her to let loose and start screaming. But after a moment, silent tears began pouring from her eyes to spill down her cheeks in a flood.

"Shit!" Andrew groaned, tossing his cell phone down on the table and pulling the now trembling woman into his arms. "I'm sorry, baby. Please don't cry. I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you. This has just been a really shitty day."

She sniffled into his chest and shook her head as she wrapped her arms around his waist to hug him back. "No, it was my fault too. I could tell that you were busy, so I should have waited instead of pestering you."

"Good thing he came to his senses," Darien growled, cracking his knuckles under the table. "For a second there I thought I was going to have to break his face."

Serena poked him in the ribs. "Down, Endymion. Our little girl is all grown up now. She doesn't need daddy to protect her anymore. She's more than capable of taking care of herself."

Jess and Andrew had drawn apart a bit by this point, and he was busy wiping away her tears with his thumbs as he asked gently, "Now, what was your big news?"

"Well," she said slowly, rubbing her now red nose with the back of her hand. "You remember that Fantasy art competition, the one that will help determine my final grade? I turned mine in the day that Beryl attacked the college."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes. I definitely remember that day. I could have spanked your butt for being out running around in rain while you were still half sick."

She waved a hand at him. "Anyhow, the teachers were bringing in all kinds of people to help judge, artists and art historians and the like. Well some of them were coming in from out of the country, so it's taken a while to get all the votes in. Well, evidently the last judge came through this weekend and the results were released today."

Andrew grinned down at her now beaming face. "You won, didn't you? I knew you could do it!" He began spinning her around.

"Wait!" she cried breathlessly, swatting at his shoulder. "I didn't win it outright. I actually tied with somebody else for first place. But this does give me some credibility and throws open doors that may have only opened just a crack before."

"But you're on your way up," he told her as he set her on her feet again. "This calls for a celebration. Where's Lizzy or that other waitress at?" He eyed the empty tables in front of his friends and frowned. "Hasn't anybody been by to take your orders yet?"

Right about then, Andrew's red-haired sister stumbled up, panting. "Sorry it took me so long to get back here, guys. This place has been an absolute madhouse today. I swear it feels like a dark cloud of doom is hanging over me. Drew, I wish you would see about hiring a couple of more people. I don't know how much thinner I can stretch myself."

Andrew threw an arm around Lizzy's shoulders. "I've got an ad out. As soon as I get some decent applicants we'll get them in here ASAP. In the meantime, don't worry about this bunch. I'll handle it."

"Thanks, big bro," Lizzy sighed gratefully. "I know I don't say it often, but you're a lifesaver sometimes."

"I think I deserve that title too," Kunzite chuckled as he handed Andrew the cell phone that he had thrown on the table. "The electrician is all lined out. He'll be here later and maintenance will let him out if he runs past closing time."

"Thank god," Andrew groaned. "Maybe something will actually go right for a change."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, bro," Lizzy groaned. "I think trouble might have just walked through the door. I thought you said your zoo crew had left town to go on some trip."

"What are you…" Andrew started to ask, but trailed off as he turned to look at the doors.

Everyone's eyes widened in shock as they followed his gaze and their sights landed on the eight teens that had just come into the arcade.

"Hey guys!" Rini cried, waving wildly. "So did we miss anything while we were gone?"

"Whoa! Whoa! Hold on a minute, Serena," Amara said as she reached up to adjust the Bluetooth earpiece she was wearing. Then she picked up the knife from the counter in front of her to continue chopping the vegetables she had laid out. "Okay, now run that by me again."

"You heard what I said, Amara," her princess's voice filled her ear. "We were all in the arcade and they just showed up, out of the blue. I thought when we left them behind yesterday that they were there for good. At least that was the impression that I got from Neo Queen Serenity. That's why I wondered if you knew where Trista was. I can't seem to locate her. She's definitely not in this time or at the time gate. If I knew for a fact that she was in Crystal Tokyo I would feel a bit better. I just want to make sure the kids haven't snuck back here on their own. They say they haven't, but you know Rini has that time key."

"I don't think she'd go that far," Amara replied haltingly, but deep inside she wasn't quite sure that was true. The pink-haired princess was just as sweet and loving as her mother, but there were times when she seemed to have a bit of a devious side.

Across the counter from her, Michelle arched a questioning brow at her as she sat on a stool sipping a glass of wine. Amara shook her head at her to let her know that she would fill her in later.

She was saved from that chore by the sudden appearance of their adopted daughter. Hotaru whirled into the kitchen squealing like she was a fourteen year old at an idol concert, clutching her cell phone to her ear like it was a lifeline. "Guess what guys! Rini's back! Oh, and the others came with her." And then she was gone again.

Michelle giggled softly. "Well, I guess that answers that question."

Serena sighed over the phone. "I hear the news is spreading. Hotaru sounds happy."

"Hmph!" Amara huffed. "That girl was already acting bat-shit before Rini's call. Your brother is coming over for dinner tonight and this will be the first time that she's seen him since we got back. So she's been in this loopy spiral most of the day."

There was a pause on the other end of the line, and then, "Amara, please promise me that you'll go easy on Sammy. He can be the world's biggest brat, but he's not that bad."

Amara laughed at that. "Serena, your brother doesn't have a thing to worry about from me. I like him. In fact, Michelle and I may be the ones in trouble before the night's over. We both seem to have a bad habit of teasing Hotaru mercilessly when he's around. One of these nights she's probably going to murder us in our sleep. I don't know how I'm going to get through the evening without hinting about what we saw of their future."

"Amara, be nice," Michelle mock-scolded her in her soft alto. Then she spoke louder, "Don't worry, Serena. I'll keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't spill the beans. It's bad enough that Hotaru knows so much about her own future. Sammy doesn't need that burden."

"Tell Michelle I said thanks," Serena giggled. "Anyway, about Trista?"

"I don't know when or where she is," Amara answered her. "When we got back here yesterday she stayed long enough to shower and change and then took off. She acted like she was in a hurry, like she had somebody to go meet or something."

"Hmm…" Serena mused. "You know, Mina thinks Trista has found a boyfriend."

"Or a girlfriend," the scout of wind teased her. "I'm still waiting for you to give me a chance, beautiful."

She could almost feel the younger woman's blush through the phone connection as she stammered, "Sorry. I'm afraid I'm already spoken for."

Amara chuckled huskily. "You better tell that prince of yours to hold on tight to you. Somebody else might just come along someday and sweep you off your feet. Who knows, it might even be me. I am faster than he is."

"I think Michelle might have something to say about that," Serena retorted with a laugh.

"Ahh, too true," Amara sighed. "And with that being said, the lovely sea-goddess in question, who is supervising my dinner preparations, will start giving me the evil eye soon if I don't get on with my cooking. So I better let you go. Have fun playing mommy again."

"I'm glaring at you through the phone, Amara," Serena growled. Then she snickered, "Have fun playing host to my brother tonight. And try not to piss Hotaru too much. I may not want to go out with you, but I would still hate to lose you if she decided to whip her scythe out and hack you into bloody pieces."

"Aww, I love you too, princess," Amara cooed. "I'm just grateful that Sammy doesn't eat as much as you do."

Serena cackled evilly, "You still better make sure you make plenty. He may not have a drop of Lunarian heritage in him, but Sammy is still a Tsukino. And we like to eat."

"I'll keep that in mind," Amara replied. "Later, Kitten."

"Bye." The call disconnected.

Amara pulled the Bluetooth from her ear and tossed it on the counter. "Well, that was an unexpected call."

Michelle shrugged. "Not for me. I had a feeling that those kids would be back to finish out the school year."

Amara shook her head. "You just want Katie, Emma, and Jayden to enter the talent show to represent your department."

Aquamarine eyes widened slightly. "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't," Amara smirked.

Michelle took another sip from her glass of wine. "Well, it would be nice for the music department to win. From what I understand the past four winners have been drama students."

"I love it when you're devious," Amara growled.

"And yet you continue to flirt with another woman right in front of me," Michelle sighed in a dramatic fashion.

"I can't help it if Moon-face is incredibly adorable when she gets flustered." Amara leaned across the counter to tip her mate's chin up. "But you have nothing to worry about. You know that you are the only one for me."

She sealed her declaration with a kiss.

"So no lead on Trista?" Darien asked as Serena hung her phone up and tossed it on the bedside table.

"Nope," she answered as she turned on her side to face him. "Amara said she took off yesterday not long after we got back."

He reached over and cupped her cheek in his hand. "I'm sure everything's fine. If the kids weren't supposed to be here she would have shown up by now and dragged them back to Crystal Tokyo."

"You're probably right," she agreed. "Trista just got the timeline back in order. That's why I was shocked when I couldn't sense her at the time gate. I figured she would be watching things like a hawk. Maybe Mina's right and Trista has found someone. Which would be awesome if she has. She totally deserves it."

"She does," he concurred with a nod. "Out of all of us in our immediate group she's the only one who has had to endure the longest. She's never been reincarnated or been locked away in a rock for a thousand years. She's a survivor."

Serena grinned. "Well, as she always likes to say, time will tell."

"Yes it will," Darien agreed as he heard her stomach growling. "And right now time is telling me that I need to feed you."

She flushed dark red at his words. "Believe it or not, all I've had today is a couple of doughnuts and a mocha latte. I spent my lunch break trying to make sure I had my notes in order for my English class. You know I suck in that subject, and I wanted to make sure I was prepared in case my professor called on me in class."

He pulled her close into a tight hug. "I guess it's a good thing I left some money with the kids and told them to order pizza before I came back here to check on you."

Just then a shrill voice erupted down the hall and through their closed bedroom door. "Why did you add a supreme pizza to the order, DJ?"

"Because dad and I like supreme," they heard their future son retort.

"But that's just gross!" Rini wailed. "I don't like pizza when it's covered in onions, peppers, mushrooms, and olives. It totally ruins the flavor!"

DJ chuckled indulgently. "Well if you had walked in a few seconds sooner you would have heard me also order two meat-lovers specials. I got one for you and one for Serena so you won't have to share."

There was a moment of silence, and then, "I know I don't say it often, but you really are an okay brother sometimes."

"And you can be a tolerable sister, every now and then."

There was a muffled thump, and then a muttered, "Oof!" followed by, "I take it back. You can be just plain abusive sometimes, Rini. Just for that, I'm going to find a scary movie for us to watch while we eat."

"No!" Rini cried, sounding desperate. "I can't handle a horror movie right now. Not after yesterday."

"Chill, sis," DJ replied in a calm tone. "I was only joking. Trust me. It will be a while before I'm ready to watch anything scary either."

Another few seconds of silence passed before Rini said, "I am glad you came through everything okay, DJ. You had me scared for a while. You're my only brother after all."

"I love you too, big sister," DJ mumbled after a few seconds. "Come on. Let's search through the channel guide. I'm sure we can find something mind-numbing to watch."

Serena buried her face into Darien's shoulder and giggled. "It sounds like things are back to normal, for us."

"Yes, it does," Darien agreed as he muffled his own laughter in her golden hair. " Now, I don't know about you, but I could use a shower before the food gets here."

Serena's eyes darkened at his implication. "Oh, I could definitely use a shower."

He stood from the bed, and then swept her up into his arms before carrying her into the bathroom.

"I love you," Jess murmured as she snuggled into Andrew's chest, listening as his heart slowed its rapid thudding under her ear.

His arms tightened around her. "I love you too."

She fell to her side and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Mina told me that the alterations to my wedding dress are done, and she wants me to come in for a fitting tomorrow."

"I'm sure you'll look beautiful," Andrew told her sincerely. "Of course you always look beautiful to me. You could wear a potato sack and still come out looking like a supermodel."

"Flattery like that could get you anything you want, Mr. Furuhata," she giggled. Then she sighed. "I'm sure Mina has done a wonderful job with my mom's dress. But going to see it and actually being able to put it on, that's really going to bring home the fact that in two months we are going to be getting married."

He lifted himself up on an elbow to look down at her. "You're not starting to have second thoughts, are you? Because no matter how much I want to marry you, I don't want to push you into anything before you're ready."

Her head whipped back and forth on the pillow. "No! That's not it at all! Besides, it was my idea to have the wedding in July. It's just that with everything else that has been going on the idea of us getting married has seemed like a far away dream. Now I feel like it will be here before we know it."

"It probably will be," he agreed. "Nine weeks and counting. I can't wait to officially make you Mrs. Furuhata."

She wrinkled her nose. "Just don't call me that too often. It makes me sound like your mother."

He pouted at her. "You don't like the idea of sharing my name?"

She pushed playfully at his shoulder. "I love the idea of sharing your name. I just don't want to sound old before my time. I am only twenty years old, for crying out loud."

"I can think of many other names to call you. Beautiful. Gorgeous," an evil smirk turned up his lips. "My insatiable sex kitten."

"Drew!" she choked as a hot blush flooded her cheeks."

"I'm just speaking the truth," he chuckled.

An incredible shyness washed over her, making her sit up and reach for his discarded shirt at the foot of the bed.

"Hey!" His long fingers wrapped around her wrist, stopping her before she could pull on the long sleeved button down. "You don't have to do that. I can't believe you can still feel so shy around me sometimes after all this time."

She glanced up at him through her lashes, her face still a bright cherry red. "I never thought in a million years that anyone would ever apply the words sex kitten to me."

"You purr like one sometimes," he said mischievously. "Especially when I do this." He swept her heavy mass of hair to the side and leaned down to place a long, slow kiss to the tender skin just behind her ear.

Jess let her head fall back, and was surprised when she heard a contented sound, just like the satisfied purr of a cat, rumble in her throat. She groaned and rolled her eyes. "Great! All those years of being around Nebula must have rubbed off on me after all."

Andrew sat back up with a grin. "Nah! Personality-wise you're nothing like her. Thank goodness. Besides, she doesn't strike me as much of the purring sort."

A peal of giggles bubbled past her lips. "Normally she isn't. But her future self sure was purring like an engine when I found her curled up with Orion before we left Crystal Tokyo. I sure would like to know what happened there."

He shook his head. "No telling. By the way, did you tell your Nebula here about that little development?"

"No. And I'm not going to," she stated firmly. "Some people definitely shouldn't know too much about their own future, and she falls neatly into that category. Orion obviously did something to sweep her off her feet, er…paws, in the future, and I don't want to mess that up. If she even had the faintest idea about how things may turn out between them, she'd spend all the years between now and then plotting ways to keep it from happening. So I'm going to keep my mouth shut and let the cards fall where they may."

"That's probably for the best," he agreed.

Jess cocked her head to the side as she heard the soft thump of a door closing in the hallway. "Do you think Katie and Alex got settled back in okay? We ditched them kind of early tonight."

"I'm sure the kids are fine. They both said that they were still a little tired from the fight and wanted to get some rest before diving back into school tomorrow," Andrew answered her smoothly. He leaned forward to brush a kiss across her bare shoulder. "Now how about you lay back down with me. I think I've still got a little bit of energy to burn before I pass out for the night."

She laughed softly as he pulled her back down against the sheets and rolled so that she was pinned beneath his body. "And you called me insatiable."

"Feeling better now?" DJ asked as he stroked his girlfriend's silvery hair gently. He had sensed her fear about a half hour before and had teleported immediately into the bedroom she shared with her brother. Alex had been missing, no surprise there, but he had found Katie in the middle of what had appeared to be a fairly intense nightmare. She had awoken within seconds of his arrival, and with a small cry had held her arms out to him. He had crawled into the bed beside her and had pulled her shaking body close to him.

Katie lifted her head from his shoulder and gave him a tremulous small. "Much better. It was just a stupid dream."

"About what?" he inquired, though he was fairly certain what her answer would be.

She ducked her head in embarrassment. "About Discord. Honestly, I don't know why I would dream about him. We got rid of the bastard."

He gave her a tender look. "Baby, it makes perfect sense for you to dream about him. We went through hell yesterday. I wouldn't be surprised if me, Alex, and maybe some of the others have a bad dream or two. The thing to remember is that the asshole is gone. He can't hurt us anymore."

"I know," she sighed. "I just want to put it all behind me."

"And we will," he insisted. "Some day in the future this whole fiasco will be just a distant memory."

She dropped her head back to his shoulder and pressed her face to his shirt to muffle a laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing," she giggled, looking up at him. "I was just thinking about our future selves. I wonder what kind of lives they're living now since we changed their past."

His low chuckle rumbled. "I don't know. But knowing us, there will never be a dull moment." Then he yawned.

She poked him in the chest. "You're tired. Go back to bed. We could get in a lot of trouble if you fall asleep here and we're caught. We got lucky that we weren't busted last night."

He stretched his arms over his head. "I think I will. Are you sure you'll be okay?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'll survive somehow."

He pressed a light kiss to her lips. "I'll see you in the morning." Then he faded away in a muted flash of gold light.

Katie lay there for a moment, pondering over everything that had happened over the last few days. And then she shoved the thoughts out of her head. It was time to move on. The future was a wide open blank slate before her, and she couldn't wait to see what it would bring.

Slipping out of bed, she wandered down the hall to the kitchen to get herself a quick drink. After that, she made her way to the bathroom where she took care of her personal business and splashed some cool water over her face to help chase away the last of her nightmare.

She snickered to herself as he left the bathroom and heard low voices speaking from behind Jess and Andrew's closed bedroom door. The two of them had been about as subtle as a herd of stampeding elephants earlier when they had excused themselves shortly after dinner. They had claimed that they were tired, but she had read between the lines of the looks they had given each other. The past forms of her parents had wanted some alone time together. She found the circumstances sweetly romantic, yet disturbingly creepy at the same time.

Letting herself back into the bedroom, she was mildly shocked to find that her brother had returned. She'd figured that he would have been away most of the night with Emma. But there he was, stretched out across the futon in a pair of cotton shorts and a t-shirt.

"Hey," she whispered to him as she climbed back into bed.

"Hey yourself," he mumbled back drowsily.

She pulled the covers up over her. "I didn't think I'd see you back so soon. How's Emma?"

He yawned widely. "She's fine. I was practically falling asleep in her bed, so she urged me to come back."

She giggled softly. "I just did the same with DJ. He was barely running on fumes."

Alex smacked a hand to his forehead. "Please tell me that I didn't almost teleport in on the middle of you two doing the down and dirty."

Katie pitched a pillow at him. "No! For your information, I had a bad dream and he came to check on me. There was no hanky-panky involved."

"Thank god for small favors," he groaned.

"We were talking though, about the future," she mused lightly. "Have you wondered what kind of lives our future selves are living now that the past has been changed from what they know?"

He rolled onto his side, punching his pillow into a more comfortable shape. "Maybe a bit. I guess we'll find out when we get there." And almost as soon as the last word escaped his lips, he began snoring softly.

Katie smiled indulgently at her brother for a few moments before snuggling down into a comfy position. She was still thinking of their future selves as she began to drift. They had been though so much and had been such troubled souls when she had met them. She kept her fingers crossed that they now had fulfilling lives.

Crystal Tokyo - The Far Future

"Mmm," Katie sighed as she felt firm fingers gently kneading the muscles of her back. After a few minutes she came fully awake and rolled over to her side to smile up into her husband's sky blue gaze. "What time did you get home from the hospital?"

DJ shrugged. "About 2 am. We were completely swamped. Luckily Amy's mom and Hannah were both on duty. Even Amy and Zoicite came in to help out. You would have thought it was a full moon out." He held up a placating hand. "And don't get your hackles raised up over the moon comment. You're as bad as my mom and sister. It's a sad but true fact, things tend to go crazy when the full moon is out."

"Hmph!" she huffed. "I don't think it's the moon's fault if things on Earth decide to go haywire just because it happens to be full." She turned her head to look at the bedside clock. "And how are you awake and looking so chipper after such a late night? It's barely 7 am."

"Years of learning to adapt, baby," he quipped teasingly. "So how did things go around here last night?"

She stretched out, relieving the kinks in her arms and legs. "Surprisingly quiet for a change. Allie actually went to bed when she was told to for once. I guess it was a good thing that I took her to Elysian yesterday to let her romp with Josh and Endy. She was so tired that she was asleep almost before her head hit the pillow. The twins took a bit more convincing. Eddie wasn't too much trouble, but Jon was fussy. I think he has another tooth coming in. And you know how those boys are. When one is keyed up about something the other one senses it."

"Ah! The curse of the twins," DJ smirked. "Speaking of that, how is Alex doing? I've been so busy that I haven't seen or spoken to him in almost a week."

"Alex is fine," she replied. "Emma says he's been consumed with work since the deadline is coming up on his latest game. This one is supposed to be even bigger and better than his last one. It should be since he has Jayden working with him on it. I hope it is for his sake. Emma slipped over for a few minutes last night and told me that she was pregnant."

His jaw dropped open. "Again? They already have their hands full with the four they have. They're going to have to add on to the house at this rate."

Katie giggled. "Emma said that Alex has already talked to Nick and Kyle about it and they're drawing up plans."

DJ shook his head. "Somehow I always knew that they'd end up with a big family. So what are your plans today?"

She sat up and twirled a lock of her long, silver-blonde hair around her finger. "Well, my mom said that she wants to have a grandma day, so she's coming over to pick up the boys in a little while. Then I've got to drop Allie off at the palace for lessons with Corey and Ryssa. After that I thought I might pop down to the studio to help out Michelle a bit. She wants to go over the tracks that she, Jack, and I recorded last week. What about you?"

He shrugged. "I've got a few appointments to see this morning. Then I'm supposed to meet my dad for lunch before we head over to Amara's track with all of the guys. Evidently she's got some new car that she's just dying to show us. I think your brother is even going to try to break away for a while to come."

"Sounds like we both have busy days, as usual," she said. "But don't forget that tonight is the opening of the new restaurant. Lita is letting Skye and Kyrian have full control of it, and I told them that we would be there to support them."

"I remember," he assured her. "Now, before we both get wrapped up in our days, do you think we might have a few minutes to have a little fun?"

She shook her head and slapped a hand over her mouth. "Morning breath!"

"I don't care," he growled, pulling her hand away and diving in for a kiss.

His lips had barely brushed hers when their bedroom door slammed open to reveal their furious looking, eight year old daughter. Allie was modestly dressed in a pair of dark-washed jeans, black sneakers with hot-pink laces, and a pink vintage t-shirt with Hello Kitty on the front. She gripped a hairbrush in one hand and a pink ribbon in the other. And she was shaking so much that her waist length, straight, raven black hair quivered around her.

"Momma!" Allie wailed, her one sky blue eye and her hazel one rapidly filling with tears. "I wanted to surprise you by getting myself up and ready all by myself. But my stupid hair won't act right!"

Katie bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Her eldest child had an independent streak a mile wide and always wanted to be taken seriously. She was definitely the female embodiment of her father and paternal grandfather, being the first princess in well over two thousand years to have been blessed with the powers of the Earth at her birth. Within moments of taking his newborn daughter into his arms for the first time, DJ's soft gold crystal had emerged and granted Allie with a crystal of her own.

So Katie held back her laughter and patted the spot on the mattress beside her. "Come here, sweetie. I know what it's like to have a bad hair day. I'm sure we can get it straightened out in just a few minutes."

Right about that time, cries were heard over the baby monitor on the nightstand.

"I've got it," DJ announced, heaving himself up off of the bed.

As he left the bedroom he heard Allie chattering to her mother. "Hey mom, do you think I'm old enough now to get contacts to make my eyes the same color?"

Shaking his head to himself, he crossed the hall and went into the nursery where he was greeted by the cheery color scheme of soft yellow walls accented by pictures done in bright, primary colors. The nursery was a gift from Jess to her grandsons. She had done the same when Allie was born, and had updated the room twice since then. First into a toddler's paradise and then into a room that would make a fairy princess jealous.

His mother's touches were in the nursery as well. Although the Earth had frozen over before Serena had the chance to graduate college, Neo Queen Serenity had taken classes part-time after founding Crystal Tokyo and had still managed to get her degree in early childhood education. Therefore there were shelves full thick pasteboard books, puzzles, and building blocks covered in numbers and letters just waiting for when the twins were ready for them.

Leaning over the crib where the loudest cries were coming, DJ scooped up the blonde haired tot who was sitting up in the middle of the bed and rubbing his bleary hazel eyes. "Hey there, Jon! Is somebody a little cranky this morning? Momma said she thought you might have another nasty tooth coming in."

The nine month old gave his father a drooly smile, showing just a hint of white tooth that had broken through his top gums next to the tooth that had come in the week before.

"Wow! You're getting quite a set of chompers there," DJ told him. "In a couple of days you'll be caught up with your brother."

He glanced over at the other crib, where Eddie had managed to pull himself up by the side rail. The baby's shock of black hair stood up all over his head and his light blue eyes twinkled as he grinned, proudly displaying his set of four teeth, two on top and two on bottom. "Dadadada," he babbled.

"I see you, little Earth boy," DJ told him. "Just let me get a fresh diaper on the Moon prince here, and then I'll take care of you."

He carried Jon over to the changing table and laid him down. As he set about giving the little boy a dry bottom, his eyes drifted toward the window in front of him to the bright Crystal Tokyo morning. Right next door was Andrew and Jess's house. And just visible beyond that was the house that Alex and Emma had made their home in. A mere block away the Crystal Palace, where he had grown up and where his parents still ruled, stood tall and proud, glittering in the early morning sunlight.

Yesterday had been the anniversary of the day he finally took control of his life. Fifteen years before he, his wife, and his brother-in-law had defeated Discord and had rid the universe of his threat forever. Fifteen years ago he hadn't known exactly where his future lay.

Now he knew. And he wouldn't trade a moment of it for anything in the world.

A/N So that's it for now. But this story isn't quite over yet, I still have some graduations and weddings I want to cover before I wrap this up. So I hope everyone enjoyed this little glimpse into the world post-Discord. I have to admit, it feels phenomenal to be back in business again. Please, don't be shy about leaving a review to tell me what you thought. Now I'm off to see if I can scrape together some updates for my other stories. Until later! Lots of love and hugs!

~Sere~

P.S. Has everybody checked out Sailor Moon Crystal? OMG! I have fallen in love with the SM universe all over again!