Mercury's Daughter
Chapter Two: Counting Down
A/n: Sorry for the long wait. Writer's block really got the best of me. Hopefully things will be running smoothly now. Here's chapter two!
Dedication: For Kat, for putting up with my crap in the middle of the night and then demanding me to bed. Thanks girly.
For The Rest: Enjoy! R&R
Amy had taken to telling her fellow scouts she was 'two and a half years pregnant' as she entered her eighth month of pregnancy. After much begging and pleading with the extremely hormonal scout, Serenity had finally ordered that Mercury take maternity leave. A pregnant scout was easy on no one.
Amy had become rather annoyed herself; her birth sign had started showing itself at random moments of the day due to the baby's short attention span with her own powers. At seven months, she had shown full Mercury power. Amy had never been more sarcastic in her life than when Greg asked if she was excited about their new scout.
So, a week into her eighth month, despite much protesting and fit-throwing, Amy had moved into the apartment with Greg for the remainder of her pregnancy, much to the palace's relief. Raye had requested the locks be changed at once the day she left, only earning a half-hearted glare from the rest of the scouts.
The palace running smoothly, even without Amy coordinating everything. Posts had tentatively been reassigned to make up for the short staff, and the medical wing had called in some extra help while their Chief of Medicine was out. Serenity and Pluto had things under control in the palace, while Endymion was handling all the business with foreign officials until things were back to normal. Despite the face she put on for husband, Serenity wasn't all the upset to be leaving him to do it alone, while she sat in the comfort of her own office and handled business out of the public eye.
Serenity loved her office. The large windows looked out into the rose garden and across into the main walkway. It was just big enough without being a waste of space. The walls were painted a light blue with pink picture frames taking up nearly an entire wall. There was a brown leather couch and a coffee table next to the floor-to-ceiling windows for small lunches or early morning duty meetings. The desk in the middle was a large 'L'-shaped top with her laptop on one side and a pile of paperwork on the other. There were two chairs in front of the desk for the scouts at various times of the day. Her chair was probably her prized possession in the room, bought as a joke from the girls from a birthday present the year before. It was pink, overstuffed, and covered in sparkles. She'd live in that chair given the opportunity. Needless to say, her office was her favorite place to work. If Serenity couldn't be found anywhere on the palace grounds, her office where she would be.
"Serenity? I have your status report." The queen perked up instantly, quickly choosing a more lady like position to sit, pushing aside a large mound of paperwork.
"Pluto! Do come in! Good news? Tell me... We're six days ahead of schedule, right?" The older scout smiled as she entered. The younger girl took a second to envy her effortless gracefulness as she crossed the room before smiling again. Pluto seated herself across from her queen.
"Maybe not six days," she laughed playfully. "But we are managing to keep up. As far as posts go, Neptune and Jupiter are in Red Room running the monitoring, Endymion is sorting out a misunderstanding with Egypt, Uranus is on patrol out by the outer wall, Mars is running new scenarios in the training room's generator and..." Her eyes scanned the paper in the folder in front of her. "Oh yes, Venus. She said to tell you she needs to go into the city. Something about being out of paint." She tried to look serious and smother the chuckle gathering her chest. Serenity groaned.
"I should have never put her in charge of the nursery. Luna and Artimis? The medical wing?"
"Artimis is with Venus, and Luna is overseeing things with the King. As for the medical wing, it's a bit tight, but Dr. Owens is supervising, and Dr. Montail has the nightshift. You should also know that Mercury has called in to check on things at least six times today."
"I know. I had to turn my communicator off just to finish the paperwork from the agreement with Turkey." Pluto nodded with sympathy as she handed the report over.
"How is Small Lady?"
"Asleep. Endy finally got her to take a nap about forty minutes ago. She's quite the handful; she has a new favorite game. She screams until her birth sign lights up four city blocks, laughs as it fades, and then does it again." The queen rolled her eyes.
"Ah, a princess with a sense of humor." Pluto stood up. "My queen, I must return to my post. Anything else you need done?" Serenity shuffled some more papers around.
"Nothing that can't be put off until the last minute," she teased cheerfully. "Thank you, Pluto. I'm not sure what I'd do without you."
"It is my honor, Serenity." Pluto let herself out, feeling slightly less rushed than before she had gone in.
"Pluto?!" The time scout stopped mid-step.
"Yes, Venus?" The blonde came bounding down the hall, a cheery smile plastered to her face.
"I need another opinion. I'm doing the Little Mercury's room in blue and pink. Should the main walls be pink with blue trim? Or blue with pink trim?" Pluto blinked. This was not in the job description.
"Uhm, I don't believe I'm the person to decide that." The Venus scout heaved a sigh.
"Artimis says pink walls and I say blue. I mean, Mercury is her power source. Mercury, blue? It's fitting right?" Pluto shifted uncomfortably as Artimis rounded the corner.
"I thought blue was for boys?"
"That's what I tried to tell her!"
"Cram it Artimis!" The guardian growled, sitting on the ground next to her.
"Pink walls, blue trim. Serenity approved the trip for the paint, I've got to get to the medical wing." The older girl scurried past the younger girl. "Keep an eye on her, Artimis," she whispered to the cat. He nodded miserably. The time scout moved on to avoid any further random questions.
"Majority rules," Venus sighed. "I'm going to go change into civilian clothes and then we'll go get paint. Saturn should be out of classes; ask her if she wants to come with us, okay?" The girl ran toward the housing wing, leaving her guardian in the dust.
MDMDMDMDMD
Amy stuck her head around the corner, quickly searching for Greg. Her husband was nowhere in sight.
"Greg?!" she whined rather out of character. 'He must still be out looking for coffee ice cream. Useless.' She sighed to herself and moved back to the couch. She took her communicator from the coffee table and eyed the message icon. Zero new messages. She groaned, pressing the call button for Serenity. The line didn't go though. "Serenity! This is an emergency line!" the Mercury scout hissed.
"Amy? Did you want chocolate with your ice cream?" Distraction set in and the communicator was abandoned on the couch.
"Yes please!" Greg sighed in amusement. Just one more month.