"D-Darien," Serena whispered. "What does this mean? Why has Rini come back to us from the future as…as a baby?" Darien only shook his head.
"I wish I knew," he responded truthfully. Serena looked back into the baby's face, thinking.
"Last time, Rini came as a child to try to get the Silver Crystal and save her mother in the future. Why has she been sent here now? Was this an accident, or on purpose?" she mused.
"Yah, but just one problem. Rini can't really do much in this state, that's for sure," Darien added back. Serena stood up, holding Rini close.
"I'm going to take care of her until we find a reason as to why she's here," she stated to Darien firmly. Darien cocked an eyebrow.
"Serena, I know you mean well, but just what are you going to tell your parents? 'Mom, Dad, I just found my future daughter lying in the road, can I take care of her?'" he teased jokingly. Serena frowned.
"I suppose you're right. But we can't just leave her here! Besides, she's our daughter, so it's our responsibility for her well-being!" she cried.
"I'm not saying we leave her here," Darien corrected. He thought a moment. "We'll take her to my house! No one lives there with me, and I'll take care of her!"
"Nah-uh! I'm her mother! You and I will both do it!" Serena scowled.
"Ok, but how will you stay all the time? I bet if you told your Dad he'd go get a shotgun right away and BANG! I'd be toast," Darien warned.
"Oh, I don't doubt that," Serena said. "At least we don't have school, it's vacation."
"Not for long… and we don't know how long Rini will be here," Darien further added grimly.
"Oh, this is just so complicated! WHY'D YOU HAVE TO SEND HER HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE, HUH?" Serena yelled to the sky. Rini began crying fitfully.
"Oh, baby, I'm sorry, come on Rini, sshhhh… it's OK," Serena soothed, and Rini was silent again.
"Amazing," muttered Darien to himself. He continued on talking to Serena. "Well, the first step is to call a Scout meeting and tell the Scouts what happened." Serena took out her communicator.
"Scouts, meeting at Raye's, now," Serena spoke clearly, then shut the communicator lid.
"Let's go."
A few minutes later, Serena and Darien were sitting at Raye's temple, the Scouts cooing and playing with Rini, who was sitting up and giggling on Serena's lap.
"So, tell us again what happened," Raye said, playing with Rini's hands.
" I was walking home, bumped into Darien, heard Rini crying, and found her in a bush," Serena recited wearily for the fifth time.
"And there was nothing suspicious," Luna pressed.
"Well," Darien said meditatively, "It seemed like only Serena heard Rini crying… I didn't hear her till we were right at the bush."
"That is weird," Mina agreed.
"So, how old do ya think the little cutie is?" Lita asked.
"8 months and 2 weeks," Amy answered precisely.
"What the hell! How'd you do that?" demanded Lita, rounding on Amy. Amy had the grace to blush as she said:
"Well, I scanned her," and held up her blue mini computer.
"Amy, you're too smart for your own good," Mina said absently as she played with Rini's feet. The baby girl was squealing cutely.
"Why is the reason I'm most interested in knowing, as to why Rini's here," Serena continued on, intent on the previous conversation and wanting more feedback and help from the girls. She was desperate for info on baby-care, although doubted the other four were any better than her.
They shared a moment of silence, listening to the cooing of a baby that they would hear once more, a thousand years from now. This little child would be Serena's daughter, so hard as it was to grasp. Rini broke the silence though with a loud screech, and began crying loudly, climbing the rungs of decibel scale quickly. All but Serena covered their ears.
"Serena! She's inherited your yelling skills!" Raye yelled at Serena provokingly.
"I think she wants to eat!" Amy yelled back surmisingly.
"What am I supposed to feed her?" Serena wailed, unfamiliar with these new mothering skills coming to rest upon her. Her cries added on to the baby's irritatingly.
"I suppose milk," Amy cried back in reply. "I'll get it!" And with that Amy was in the kitchen, with Serena trying and failing to calm the baby.
Half an hour later, Amy came out to a weary-eyed Serena and company. Rini was still wailing, but had lost much of her previous enthusiasm and only yelled half-heartedly, although it still proved to be annoying and provoked bad moods in the girls.
"Milk," Amy said resignedly, holding up a cup of it.
"What took so long?" Serena asked in a slightly annoyed tone.
"Excuse me, but I had to scrounge this thing out! Raye doesn't have much milk and finding this proved an adventure in itself, much less finding this old baby cup from who knows when!" Amy retorted indignantly.
"That's from when I was a baby, and I prefer tea," Raye quipped.
"Well get some milk, cause we've got a baby in the house," Serena argued.
"You get milk, meatball head, she's your baby! I'm not having ANY kids, and Rini isn't living here, so I don't have to!" Raye bickered.
"You gotta, we have meetings here and Rini's coming!" Serena yelled back, keeping on the dispute.
"You can't tell me what to do!"
"We need milk!"
"Fine but you'd better breastfeed Rini when you're older cause I'm not providing the milk!" This left a chorus of blushing, but Rini paid no mind to anything but food, giving a loud screech when she didn't get anything at once, even though the wanted milk was so near.
"Just shut it, you two! And give her the damn milk, for crypts sake! And excuse my French!" Lita exclaimed, vexed by the two. Amy stuffed the bottle in Rini's mouth, who, with Serena holding it, sucked the bottle contentedly.
"Aaaahhhh…." gushed the girls, instantly around Serena and Darien in a circle.
Feeding Rini with the bottle proved to be pretty easy, though occasionally she let go and began softly crying.
"What's wrong with her? Doesn't she like it?" questioned Mina after the fourth time. She tried putting the bottle in Rini's mouth, who wouldn't take it. The teen gave up, setting the bottle down and saying Rini was a lost case. All the sudden, Rini made a grab for the bottle and began sucking again.
"How weird," breathed Raye, observing the tranquil baby. "She's a bit strange, that one. Got those genes from her Mom!" Serena clicked her tongue angrily, but avoided a fight by not retorting. Suddenly, an odd thought came to her head, disconnected with her other thoughts…. 'Rini's almost weaned to the bottle, she just finished breastfeeding a while ago.' Whoa! Where did that come from? That was definitely not her, how on earth would she know that? The voice almost sounded mature- definitely not her! Was it Neo-Queen Serenity? Serena told the girls, and they were perplexed. Why was Serena hearing things of the future? What was going on?
"At least you took my breastfeeding advice to heart," Raye said with an uneasy, shaky laugh, trying to break the tension. For now, they decided to ignore it.
Rini chowed for an hour, with the girls switching holding Rini to give Serena's arms a break.
"That girl can eat!" Lita said.
"Wow, I wonder why?" Raye replied sarcastically, tilting her head to Serena subtly. "Who else do we know is a crater mouth?"
"Shut up," Serena shot happily, staring at the girl in Amy's arms now. She felt so much love for the little baby it was scary, like an unknown feeling had sudden crept up on her. A fierce protectiveness, and an undying love, as well as an urge to die for the little girl if needed. She'd do anything for the little pumpkin; anything.
Darien was also staring at the baby, but also at Serena, feeling an emotion uncannily similar to Serena, though when he looked at Serena he also felt a romantic love, and a burning desire. His heart leapt when he just looked at her. 'God I love those two,' he thought of the mother and daughter.
When Rini was done, she was handed back to Serena to be burped.
"Why do I have to do the dirty work?" whined Serena.
"You're her mommy," Mina said with a smile.
"Darien's the daddy, he can do it," Serena said.
"That's more of a mother's job," Darien responded, coughing a bit.
"Load of help you are," Serena retorted, still smiling though. It was hard to be truly angry with Darien. Gingerly, she rested Rini's head onto her shoulder and began to pat the baby on the back, as if it came naturally. They all watched with a sort of awed fascination, wondering how Serena knew all this mother care. Rini hiccupped slightly, then with a lot burp emptied some contents of her food onto Serena and down her shoulder.
"Yuck!" Serena cried, revolted, and Darien quickly wiped it and Rini's mouth off for her. Rini cuddled down, nestled in Serena's arms and up against her chest, reveling in the mother's warmth. With a small sigh, her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep.
"Look at her. Such a little angel," Mina sighed, stroking Rini's head where tufts of pink hair lay.
"Yah well, the demon'll come out of her and show itself when she wakes up," Raye said. Serena looked worriedly out the window and into the dark night that had snuck up on them so quickly.
"Mom' n 'Dad are going to be worried," she commented. She looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms. She didn't want to leave her, or let go. Darien looked at Serena and knew the decision she must be struggling with.
"Serena, why don't you come to my house over night; call your mom and say you're sleeping over at Raye's. Just for tonight," he suggested. Serena nodded.
"And leave you two alone to do hentai things? We're staying too; you've never done this before!" Raye exclaimed, secretly not wanting to leave her friend alone with this responsibility.
"I'm all game," Lita agreed with a smile.
"My parents are on vacation so I'm alone," Mina added.
"Mom had a late call and patient emergency so she'll be at the hospital overnight," Amy smiled. Serena beamed, realizing what her friends were doing.
"Thanks guys," she thanked gratefully. They all stood up and followed each other out the door.
A/N: REVIEW!