A/N- Okay, sorry this took so long, guys! Shout outs to Anonia and all those others who review anonymously. Thank you for all the support, all of you. Please enjoy.

Ami wrapped her arms around herself as she stared upwards at the endless expanse of stars from where she sat on the porch steps. She'd sobered quite quickly after that little discussion with Mina. Oh, what was I thinking… She sighed. This is why I don't get drunk. Should've remembered that before it happened... She had to laugh at herself softly as she let her head tilt back slowly, her world still spinning a bit. I get far too irrational. She sighed again, and stood up only a little shakily. Hands tucked into the pockets of her slacks, she meandered down to the beach as she let the silver peace of it settle over her, allowed herself to simply be rather than thinking any more.

The sound of the waves as they gently brushed against the sands became her breath, a slow, even susurrus, while the wind pushed her tenderly along down the beach, a feather-firm touch at her back. A low chuckle rose in her throat, and she freed her hands from her pockets to sift the breeze through her fingers. For a moment it felt as though the world held her close and comfortingly in arms of moonlight and salt-scented air.

Here in the quiet of the sleeping dark with no one to dissemble for, to make excuses to, she finally had room to breathe. A deep inhalation filled her lungs with a cool sweetness that lingered in her blood, cleared her head more than any cup of coffee or other possible hair of the dog. Her expression settled into marble lines of repose, and eyes darkened to shining obsidian by the night remained unobscured by the lenses she'd left in the house. For this instance, Ami was open and unguarded, unreservedly herself.

Lashes lay dark against pale skin as she closed her eyes. Why, she wondered, whispering even in her own mind, am I so afraid? When did I become this weak? My mother raised me to be strong, to dream of miracles, and all I can do is run away. Run away from the future, run away from my life, run away from…from possible love. Shouldn't let fear stop me from…well, stop me at all. A wry smile twisted its way across her lips briefly. Is this a decision or merely another evasion? ..and, is this maybe-decision about my life in general or…otherwise? It's sad that even I don't know, isn't it…

A shift in the wind distracted her from her internal monologue and drew her eyes up to the sky. A soft smudge of charcoal clouds billowed towards her, the leading edge devouring stars with unexpected speed, the spread blanket of grey behind it covering the sky to the horizon. An honest smile now turned the corners of her mouth, true and delighted. "Storm," she murmured to herself, the word infused with pleasure. She watched as it flowed across the heavens and came ever closer, felt the nameless joy of it rise in her chest; she didn't know why she loved storms, but that she did was indisputable. The glory of them, the power and gentleness that combined so effortlessly in the elements of wind and water all called to her with a voice as pure and flawless as clear ice.



She held tight to that elation as she slipped back into the house somewhat reluctantly. As much as she wanted to see the beginning of the storm, stand out in the rain, she knew she needed sleep, and that a drenching right now would be a chill her tired body couldn't handle well. Tomorrow, she promised herself, tomorrow I'll find a moment to dance in it. A short-lived hesitation held her in the kitchen doorway before she gave in to practicality and quietly poured and drank two glasses of water. The third came with her to her room, where she set it on her nightstand in easy reach. She shed the pretty clothes, draped them over the back of her desk chair in a spill of black, and got into bed. Settled in the soft and familiar comfort of her bed she breathed, a rhythmic flow; out fear, in strength, out doubt, in hope. Maybe, she thought drowsily, if I just keep breathing, it'll be okay. Breathe all my weakness out of me 'til there's none left, all this nervousness gone… She exhaled softly once more, and slid into sleep, where warm arms welcomed her into dreaming.

000

It was the tranquil patter of rain on the roof that eventually brought her up out of sleep. A somnolent smile graced her lips as she snuggled in bed and listened to it, eyes heavy lidded and unfocused. Formless emotion filled her as she drifted in and out of a light doze. That doze was broken rather unceremoniously when she suddenly had a bed full of girls in their pj's who all giggled madly as they piled on her; all in all, it was a very good thing that she possessed a queen-sized bed, otherwise it would have been very cramped indeed.

"Eemph!" Ami yelped unintentionally as Mina carelessly flopped over her stomach, closely followed by Makoto, who sprawled over them both. Rei and Usagi each took a side, which made her feel like she was sandwiched between night and day, midnight locks and dusky violet eyes to her right, sunshine hair and summer sky eyes to her left. Torn between amusement and annoyance she couldn't decide whether to laugh along or glare at them all, and ended up looking rather silly as she tried to do both.

"Sleepyhead Ami, sleepyhead Ami, get up and pla-ay, get up and pla-ay!" warbled Usa. Ami looked at her sideways, bemused. Mina tweaked her nose and drew her attention to the other blonde, and past Mina to Mako who made faces at her.

"What," she asked mildly, quiet laughter easily apparent in her voice despite her efforts to the contrary, "is going on here?" The attempted solemnity of the question was somewhat abolished by another squeak on the heels of it when Rei poked her in the side. A quick frown at the girl to her right showed not an ounce of remorse, but rather a wicked grin and mocking lift of the eyebrow. Ami sighed, but the 

subtle curl of a smile was evident. "I'd thought to be able to sleep in today; I-fallaciously, obviously-assumed you two at least," she inclined her head to each woman at either side, "would have something of a hangover."

Mako added her grin to Rei's as she peered over Mina's shoulder. "Nah, I made sure those two'd be fine; made them drink lots of water before I let them go to sleep. Went to bring you some, but Mina beat me to it, and you'd already wandered outside by then."

Usagi nodded gravely and mock-whispered, "She did make us drink lots of water, Ames, so much that I couldn't sleep in this morning at all because I had to use the bathroom. Isn't that mean? To make an engaged woman have to get up early on her vacation before the wedding? I think it's downright cruel and unusable."

Rei snorted. "Mina's rubbing off on you, Dumpling Brain; it's cruel and unusual."

This bluntly indelicate statement met with indignant cries from both blondes, and another whumph! from Ami and a holler from Mako when Mina bounced huffily in herannoyance. "Hey!" Mako complained, "Watch it, spaz, or I'm going to decorate the upholstery; namely, you."

Mina made a face and kept still. "Ew, Mako. Puke is not my best colour at all." She perked again as another thought struck her. "And we should all get out of bed, anyway; since it's raining the guys are coming over here to spend the day!"

That jolted Ami into an attempt to be upright, and nearly smacked her head right into Mina's startled face. She gathered her scattered poise and questioned Mina, "So, when exactly are they coming over and why wasn't this mentioned sooner? And what, pray tell, are we going to do while they're all here?"

The girls rolled off the bed, and Ami swung her legs over to sit on the edge as they arranged themselves around her room. Mako looked amused and guilty, Rei smugly pleased, Mina like a cat in the cream, and Usa just shone merrily at Ami from her seat on the floor. "We're going to cook breakfast, and play games, and watch movies, and then tonight we're going out to dinner again and karaoke!" Usa beamed happily as she burbled, obviously euphoric about the whole concept. "We have all sorts of board 

games, and the boys are going to bring over their Wii, and some movies, and we might make cookies, Mako says, and it's going to be so much fun!"

Mina clapped her hands together to bring attention to herself. "Which means we need to all get dressed and ready for the day since they're going to be here in about an hour!" Rei, Usagi, and Makoto scattered, laughing, as Mina chased them out of the room while she threw a mischievous smile over her shoulder to Ami. "You too, shutterbug!"

Ami smiled wryly as she got out of bed and padded over to her dresser. For a moment she hesitated, wondered if she shouldn't dress up just a little, since he would be there…but then she shook her head, and stubbornly extracted some of her comfy, worn jeans and a pale green shirt with an overlay of a storm cloud on it. After obtaining undergarments as well, she headed to her private bath for a shower to freshen up before the guys got there, not to help soothe her nerves at the thought of being cooped up in her home all day with him. Really.

000

I'm going to kill him.

This was the singular thought that made its way into the sleepy haze that was Zane's brain as he stared blearily up at the grinning face of the devil. Green eyes narrowed as he tried to focus on the beaming apparition above him. "Why," he growled, "are you grinning like a jackal in front of my face at," narrowed eyes flicked sideways to the clock on the nightstand, "eight in the goddamn morning?!"

Zane hadn't known it was possible for Jad's grin to get any bigger, but he seemed to manage. "Because we're going over to Ami's for the day because rain has spoiled any other plans we may have had. I didn't think you'd mind."

After the actual meaning of the blond's words sunk in Zane sat up abruptly, and knocked his head against Jad's with a smart crack! Once the spate of incoherent swearing had run its course Zane rolled out of bed, ignoring the groans coming from the other side of it. "Man," Jad complained as he rubbed at his new lump, "you're lucky you just hit my head and not my face, peacock. I would've had to beat you if you messed up my ravishing good looks with a black eye."

Zane tossed a grin back at his best friend as he dug his brush from his toiletry bag. "Lucky thing you've got a hard head, then. And I wouldn't be insane enough to give you a black eye; the only one who can do that is your girlfriend."

"Oh ha ha," came the dry answer. "Just because that one time…"

Zane laughed, "She was so pissed! I was surprised she didn't do more than that, honestly. And the look on your face…"

A surly glare was his only reward for the recollection. Zane grinned again and snagged his toothbrush and toothpaste; he felt entirely upbeat, even after being woken absurdly early. Her house, we're going to her house! I get to see the heart of her, see the personal touches, the little clues to the workings of her mind… He slung his towel over his shoulder and aimed his charm at Jad. "Anyway, I'm going to go shower, as you should if you want Rei to be able to breathe around you, sparks."

Jad just snorted. "As if you'd leave any hot water, peacock."

Zane shrugged and smiled. "You need more cold showers than you take anyway."

Jad laughed and jumped up from the bed. "Not I, my friend, not I. I have my hot little number to satiate me; you're the one with that need after lusting over our shutterbug."

As tempted as Zane was, he decided to leave the smug mug alone for right now; he had to go shower. He waved a languid hand at Jad. "Well, I'm going to go get pretty, you might want to try to do something with that mop of yours."

The chuckle from Jad brought an answering one from Zane. "I try," Jad dramatized, "but I can never achieve the femininity of your flowing locks with my own short mane. Alas, that I may not know the womanish beauty of Zane Aestus."

A scornful snort was Zane's only retort as he left the room, promising himself he'd get back at the impudent puppy later. If things go well, maybe I'll even forget it entirely. He smiled to himself, pleased with his world and all the possibilities it held. Today should be fun…

000

The clatter from the kitchen announced the beginnings of breakfast as Mako started cooking; a few seconds later the ejection of Usagi from said kitchen ensured it would be edible. Usa pouted her way over to where Ami was trying to smother a smile, and flopped down. She plopped her head into Ami's lap heedlessly, and proceeded to mope. Ami nearly bit her lip as a laugh almost escaped her. She gripped her self control with both mental hands and asked diplomatically, "What's wrong, Usa?"

Usa sank deeper into her sulk. "I wanted to help Mako cook breakfast for my Mamo-love…but she kicked me out."

Ami suppressed another smile, and made her voice as soothing as possible, though she was afraid it was still slightly tinted with mirth. "Well, since you couldn't do that, do you think we need to rearrange anything in here?"

Usa tilted her head to look at the room and consider the idea. She and Ami sat on the long leg of the dark green couch, the mahogany coffee table in front of them with a tidy stack of coasters, and a lone book on the end where Ami must've set it down. The lower-L-part of the couch was scattered with dove grey plush pillows, same as the side they were on.

A glance at the warm wood floor showed a lush rug of the same silvery color as the pillows, trimmed in sapphire blue. The thought that Ami had fantastic taste and decorating sense ran through Usagi's head, bemusing her. The walls were a blue so pale that it almost looked cream, more of a tint than a shade, and were covered with photos in elegant black framing; most of them were ones Ami herself had taken. As Usa looked at them she wondered again how Ami could ever doubt that she had a talent for photography; they were all beautiful, and seemed to capture the personality of the woman behind the lens as much as they did the scenes they depicted. The rest of the room was rather standard; the TV opposite the couch was a medium large flat screen, nothing particularly fancy, but still quality. Lamps 

stood at three corners of the room and gave off illumination without being too noticeable. The only other thing that was of real note was the stereo next to the TV and right outside the door to the library, in that it was surprisingly extravagant, though still fitting with the rest of the decor. Memories of that stereo flooded Usagi briefly, of having it on as they painted, sanded, and worked around the cottage; of listening to it play quietly while Ami was in the library reading.

She grinned slightly at the memory, but then let it go in favor of answering the question. "No, I don't think we need to move anything, Ames. You've got good decorating sense, and you've left a nice big area for us to play around in. Though, if you're worried about it, maybe we should move your stereo into the library?" Usa quirked her head to look up at Ami inquisitively. "Where did you get that, anyway? I know you always had it going when we were all doing stuff here, but I never thought to ask before. It's really nice."

Ami's smile was a bit far-away, but she still replied. "My mother gave it to me for my eighteenth birthday; she knew how much I love music, encouraged it even as she laughingly told me I must've gotten that from my father since she was tone-deaf. She could appreciate music up to a point, but it never moved her the way it moved me. She teased me that it was the one thing that I was never entirely logical about." She gazed down at Usagi, but the blonde got the feeling that she wasn't really seeing her. "Well, that and my strange fascination with storms." The look on Ami's face was sweet and unguarded, and Usagi rejoiced silently, glad to see what used to be such a common expression for her friend, one she hadn't seen in some time.

The moment was broken by a bang from the kitchen, and a stream of profanities that followed a laughing Rei as she scooted quickly into the living room, licking her fingers as she came. The brash woman grinned at the two on the couch. "It may not have been the best idea to nick a taste from the Dragon Lady in there, but damn is it good. She's making quiche, and tarts, and all sorts of really nice stuff." Rei tossed an amused glance towards the kitchen and raised her voice enough to be heard through the renewed clanging of pots and pans. "Of course, it would take having the guys over to get her to cook the good stuff; she'd never do this if it were just us."

That brought Mako out of the kitchen in a hurry. She blew into the room with a gust of delicious smelling air and a brandished wooden spoon, a smear of dough up near her temple where she must've pushed back her hair absently. "That is totally unfair, Rei! And untrue! And you know it! I make you guys treats all the time, and you drop by the restaurant constantly for goodies. It's not often the guys and us are all in the same place at the same time, and I wanted to do something nice for it! I don't have to, you know, it's not like I'm not in a kitchen for most of my day anyway being a chef or anything, not 

like I don't have anything better to do than play domestic servant for you, after all!" Mako huffed at them, green eyes shooting sparks that were a mix of exasperation and well-intentioned mockery. "And if you'd let me get on with it, this breakfast might even be done by the time they get here! So all of you, stop coming into my kitchen while I'm cooking!"

At that opportune moment Mina came through the door with a half-eaten raspberry tart in one hand. "Hey, Mako," she chirped, "these are great! What else do you have going in there?"

With a shriek that would do a beansidhe proud, Mako whirled on the hapless blonde and let loose a flood of invective that nearly scorched the eyebrows off her, all emphasized with flailing gestures of the spoon that splattered Mina and her surroundings with blotches of cream. The fuming Amazon then whisked back into her domain, and 'ware to those who dared to cross it.

Mina stood there, mouth agape and tart dangling forgotten in her hand. "What'd I do?"

The other three women in the room all looked at each other, looked back at her, and then did the only thing they could think of; they burst into laughter.