Mu's Home

September 17th

"You honestly couldn't help yourself, could you?" Mu grumbled at Erica, who was beside herself with laughter as she sat patiently in the corner of the couch. Natarle seemed to be in the same state of mind, laughing so hard there were tears of mirth in her eyes as she hugged herself. The source of their amusement sat right in centre of the living room, a big plush teddy bear with a blue ribbon tied around its neck. Written on the ribbon in gold lettering was his name.

"It's funny." Erica answered through giggles, her entire body shivering with mirth as she tried to smother her laughter with her hands. It was a difficult battle to fight, especially considering how Mu was looking at his teddy bear opposite. She had gotten it as a present for her yet-to-be-born godchild, and in a spur of the moment jest, she had gotten Mu's name printed on the little piece of blue ribbon and died it promptly around the bear's neck.

The moment Natarle had seen it, she'd nearly fallen her own two feet laughing, honestly amused with what had just happened. Mu was still grumbling, but she saw by the way his eyes twinkled that he was happy about it too. "Murrue will love it." That seemed to be enough for the man to accept the little present, and the three of them wandered into see the little baby's room again.

"You know, it almost looks finished." Natarle mused out loud, glancing around at the smooth creamy pale yellow of the walls, a little smile playing over her lips. She knew that Mu had been working incredibly hard to get it finished as quickly as possible, and the fact that it was still a secret, relatively, from Murrue, it was a near miracle.

"Yeah... It's really pretty." Erica agreed with a smile, glancing up at the small outlines of various flowers that created a long chain near the ceiling. They had yet to be coloured yet, but Erica knew that once it was really finished it would be the perfect nursery. The walls were finally dry of their paint, and the glossy-looking sheen was gone now too, creating a pleasant and warm atmosphere, and it wasn't even finished yet. "What colour's the crib?"

"Baby blue." Mu answered, his eyes still on the flowers that were yet to be finished. He hadn't had any trouble simply painting the walls, and the outlines alone had give him trouble, he wasn't sure if he would be able to paint the flowers yet. It was why he had asked the girls to come over, he was sure at least one of them had some sort of artistic ability. "It's going to be perfect."

"And the flowers?" Natarle questioned, not having been able to draw her eyes from the outlines at the top of the walls, letting her imagination getting away with her and painting them every colour under the rainbow. She smiled a bit to herself, imagining the room finished with the little girl in the crib holding tightly onto the bear with one strong arm, babbling happily to her parents. She was sure that it would be a fine looking nursery once the blond was finished with it.

"That's why I dragged you here, I wanted to know if either of you know how to paint. Cause I'm pretty sure I'll never get this done." Mu answered her sheepishly, turning hopefully towards the women. Natarle looked sheepish but shook her head, and he nodded, turning his gaze to Erica, who looked rather thoughtful. "Erica? Can you do it?"

"I think maybe.. But I only took art in highschool, and I wasn't that good..." Erica mused thoughtfully, still examining the flowers with a keen, and wistful gaze. She took a breath and answered somewhat sadly, "You might want to ask the princesses before you consider me."

"Think they'd do it?" Mu asked doubtfully, knowing how busy both young girls were with their own lives. He didn't want to take them away from anything they might be doing if they were too busy. Lacus had the orphans to deal with almost twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The missy wasn't much better off either, she had a lot on her plate now that she was the one in charge. "I mean, they both have some pretty heavy stuff to carry..."

"Both of them love Murrue." Natarle told him almost fondly, remembering the way all of the children from the ship seemed to naturally take a shine to their former captain. 'It's just the way she is.' Smiling a little at a new thought, she added almost casually, "I'm sure they'd be happy. Maybe you could even get the kids to get involved too, I'm sure they'd love it."

"That's not such a bad idea." Erica remarked cheerfully, amused with Natarle's obvious smile on her face when she mentioned the children. "I'm sure they'll love the chance to help out. We should go ask them when we go to see Lacus and Cagalli. It would be fun enough to see how they'd like to help out one of their 'big sisters'."

Mu was smiling at the thought of how Murrue would react to all this when she finally found out, and he couldn't stop thinking of how annoyed she was getting with him over this whole business. She'd been attempting to ferret out the details since he'd started the project, but he hadn't let her get within an inch of finding out what he was doing. He didn't intend to let her know anything about it even when he finished the room, he wanted to see her reaction when she actually had their little girl in her arms. It meant the world to see that, instead of ruining the surprise early. He knew she probably would hate him for it, but he didn't mind it so much.

The women hung around for a little while, laughing and talking casually at their future plans once the little one was born. Neither of them seemed really surprised that the still had yet to find a name, Erica had laughingly told them that it could take awhile before something would seem to suit the little one, which eased some of Mu's anxiety.

When the time began to wind down, the girls left to go about their own business and he sat around for awhile, thinking of which young girl to call first. Finally he decided on Lacus, reaching for the phone and dialling her number at a rapid speed. She picked up on the third ring, the sounds of child-induced chaos making the background noise.

"Hello?"

"Hey Lacus, it's Mu." Mu tried not to laugh at a particularly happy shriek from the other end of the phone, it seemed like it was an all-for-one day at the kid's house. He was pretty sure he could hear Kira chasing the orphans down, yelling and laughing himself as he did it, which only made it all the more difficult not to laugh. "I was wondering if you'd mind joining up on this little mission I have going."

"A mission?" The poor girl sounded entirely baffled. "What exactly are you talking about?"

Mu told her of what he was doing, and much to his amusement she was fully on board before he had even got to the request he'd wanted to make. Barely able to speak through his laughter, he finally told her of what he needed her to do, and she'd readily accepted the duty. Making arrangements went quickly, and then he called the miss next.

A secretary answered the phone. "Miss Athha's direct line, who is calling?"

"I'm a family friend, is the representative in a meeting right now?" Mu asked politely, adding his name after a beat, "It's Michael Berns."

"Give me a moment, I'll connect you..."

Roughly one moment later a soft 'on hold' melody started to play and ended after about a fifteen second pause. Cagalli's voice was tired when she answered, sounding weary, "Representative Athha speaking. Can I help you?"

"Depends if you want to help me missy." Mu teased, relieved to hear a laugh at the other end, and he could almost picture the tired princess smiling through her weariness. "If you're busy though it's alright."

"Give me the details and I'll decide from there."

Mu gave her the entire story, knowing that the blond already knew about Murrue's pregnancy. He wondered if she would want to do anything and he was a little surprised by how solemnly she'd agreed to help. Unable to hide his curiosity, he added, "You don't have to if you don't have the time."

"I'm a busy person yeah, but I have time for this." The young representative's voice was stubborn, and he heard the hint of affection in her tone. She explained herself a second later, the affection washing out the rest of her emotions. "Murrue... She helped all of us through a lot when we joined her ship. We all owe her a lot, she was the mother we missed when we were serving. I feel like I owe her my life on top of everything else, she's a woman to aspire to. I'll be happy to help you guys out with the nursery, it'd be a small piece of my gratitude."

Mu could barely hide the broad smile that was growing across his face at her words, and the surge of pride was warm. He knew that most of the kids felt the same way about their captain, he certainly did. She never would have admitted to it if she knew, he wondered if she even really noticed that it went beyond a friendship. The woman respected all of her crew, and saw everything that was good in them before the shortcomings, and the kids did the same to her. He wondered if she ever thought of that. 'The girl would probably blush till steam came out of her ears...'

Finishing the conversation with Cagalli, he hung up and waited patiently for his wife to come home after a long shift. Erica and Natarle had snuck away to have the little meeting, and run back so they could see murrue before she started to suspect anything. A lot of planning had gone into this little job, Mu didn't want anyone else to be on the other end of his wife's ever-shortening temper yet, it was better it be a huge surprise.

Both women had volunteered to be put on the stake anyway, it was kind of fun to see Murrue try to sneak out details, but the less the brunette knew the better. It would be all the sweeter when she saw the room for the first time. Stretching out on the couch with a contented smile, he peeked over at the stairs which led to the nursery. 'It'll all be worth it when she sees it with our little girl in her arms... It'll be just perfect.'

Later that Night...

She gently pulled the covers off of her, slipping out of bed as silently as she could manage. As if her little girl knew what she was doing, Murrue felt a sharp kick from her stomach, and frowned a little in her daughter's general direction. 'Don't you get smart with me.' Sneaking a glance at her fast asleep husband, she practically raced from the room before he woke up.

She didn't turn on any lights, too worried that it might wake him up, and she tiptoed down the hall towards the nursery, holding the key Mu had hidden to keep her out of the room in case she ever decided to try to get in. If she hadn't been the one that was having it hidden from her, she probably would have agreed with the idea of a lock, but since the circumstances weren't that cheerful... She'd gone ahead and stolen the key anyway.

She felt it again, a sharp nudge from her mid-section. With a frown, she rested both hands on her stomach and focussed her thoughts towards the womb. 'What? Do you not want to see your home?' Another nudge, and Murrue swore it was disapproving too. The brunette shook her head. 'I'm going crazy.'

She tiptoed down the hall, pausing at the door to the nursery with speculative eyes. What had been hidden from her for the past month was pretty much in her reach now, all it took was to reach forward and slide the key into the lock. She didn't move, just kept staring at the door with curiosity running rampant down her veins.

There it was again, that little annoying nudge from her unborn daughter. Murrue was sure that the unborn girl knew exactly what was going on, and didn't like it one bit. That both confused and amused the brunette, she felt torn to laugh and cry at the same time. The child had made her mark on the woman, she'd been severely affected with horrible mood swings and morning sickness for almost seven weeks straight. And to put the cherry on the cake, (in Murrue's mind anyway), the little girl had her father's attitude.

Murrue reached out to experimentally put her hand on the doorknob, and before her fingers brushed the metal, there was another nudge. She couldn't help but smile, drumming her fingers against her shirt to caress her child. 'Are you warning me, you little monster?'

As if to be funny, she got another nudge in reply.

'What am I going to do with you when you're actually free to run around?' Murrue wondered idly, one hand on her stomach and the other on the doorknob. She idly slid the key into the lock, a little surprised when there was no answering nudge to ward off her actions. Laughing gently to herself, she let her imagination get away with her and asked silently, 'Are you curious too? I've been going crazy...'

She knew her husband had good reasons to keep the nursery a secret from her, and to be honest she did kind of want to wait too. She thought about what the man probably could do all on his own, and the first image that ran into her head was a comical one, a hot pink little room with flowers and plush toys everywhere. She barely was able to keep her laughter silent. 'He's not that bad...'

But she couldn't stop wondering. The curiosity was driving her insane, and it was all she could do to stop her hand from turning the doorknob. A little nudge came again from her very active baby, though it wasn't as sharp as the previous ones, as though the little one was losing her edge. 'Ah, so you are curious... Just like your mommy...'

She wanted to twist the knob and let herself in, to see what her husband was up to, but the little nudges from her unborn daughter made her think. 'Maybe it would be fair to wait...' She felt the urge to grumble and muttered unhappily to herself, "It's like reading a really good book and having to stop at the last page before the end... No fair..."

As if her daughter had heard her, she suddenly went wild in the womb, nudging and fidgeting and seeming to be having a party all on her own. Murrue froze and stared down at her stomach, wondering what had suddenly caused that reaction. With a little smile, it was like a lightbulb had went off in her mind and she lovingly crooned, "Paige, is that right? Do you like that?" The tiniest of flutters was an answer, and a new maternal joy lit Murrue's face. "Paige..."

As if she knew she'd received a name, little Paige gently nudged her mother from the inside one last time, as though in thanks. Laughing softly, Murrue walked back down the hall, leaving the nursery behind her. She had to admit she felt a bit regretful for not taking her chance and opening the room, but when she began humming her lullaby to herself, the feelings slowly began to disappear.

"You are my sunshine..." Murrue sang softly to her unborn girl as she slow walked back to her room, swaying a little as she walked. She lowered her voice to a hum as she returned to her husband's side, taking care to slide into the bed as quickly and subtly as possible.

Tugging the sheets securely around herself, she curled into Mu's side and rested her head on his shoulder. She noticed the smile on his face and the way his arms curled around her instinctively, and she smiled too, still humming. She could wait a little while longer to see his surprise. After all, she'd been prepared to wait a lifetime to see Mu again, what was a few more months?

With that thought on her mind, and one hand gently rubbing circles on her stomach, she curled closer to her husband and fell asleep with a happy smile on her face. Everything seemed just right now.

Mu opened one eye the moment he felt her relaxing entirely against him, and he peeked over his shoulder to make sure she really was fast asleep. Smiling, he reached out to brush her hair from her face so he could admire the happy expression she was wearing as she dreamed.

He'd known the second she'd left the bed, despite how quietly she had done it. He'd suited himself with waiting patiently until she returned, and he could tell that she had never opened the door to the nursery. Listening intently, he'd heard her whisper their baby's name, and he couldn't help but smile. It suited the impatient little girl, he'd listened to everything Murrue had said, he didn't doubt that the little one understood everything that was going on. It fit for his wife's child.

It fit for their child.

AN

Bleh, lol. I never like how I end chapters, lol, I think it's a disease... Anyway, PA day tomorrow!!! (throws a wild party) That means I get to sleep in! (Moar dancing and partying) I'll start now cause I'm really tired, lol. Anyway, hopefully the chapter was alright enough, lol, and the lil one got herself a name (smile, smile, smile) Hehe. Yes, I still recycle ocs. I'm lazy XD Oh, this also marks the beginning of the last five chapters too, woot, lol.

Sky