The room was darkened, tiny figure curled up in the bed underneath the window. Smiling, an auburn-haired woman tip-toed into the room, kneeling down beside the bed and shaking the shoulder of the sleeper. "Stellar, honey..time to wake up.." The little girl murmured something sleepily, rubbing blue eyes with a fist. "Mama?" she asked.

"That's right. Come on, you have a big day today, remember?" replied the woman, leaning across the bed to tug open pink curtains. Little Stellar blinked against the harsh sunlight, but sat up in bed and stretched. "I do?" She looked up at her mother in confusion, seeing the gentle smile there she loved so much. "What's today, Mama?"

Murrue reached down and ruffled her small daughter's hair. "You start school today, don't you? You don't want to be late..." The little girl's eyes widened, and she pulled back the covers and hopped out of bed. She had been for a visit to the local primary school a couple of weeks earlier to look around, accompanied by her mother and the rest of her nursery school class. "The teacher at nursery school says big school is a lot of fun. Is that right, Mama?" Murrue nodded, kneeling down beside the girl and helping her out of her pink pyjamas and into the blue and white gingham school dress that had been carefully folded up at the bottom of the bed. "How do you want your hair?" she asked, trying to smooth out the child's rumpled dark locks. Stellar pursed her lips, deep in thought. Then she smiled. "All twisty!" she chirped, sitting down on the bed eagerly. Murrue smiled at her little girl's description of a plait, but sat down beside her on the bed, carefully braiding her hair, and tying it up with a red ribbon. "There we go. All done."

"Thanks, Mama!" replied her daughter, clambering up onto her lap and planting a kiss on her cheek. The woman beamed. "Okay now. Time for breakfast. Papa's downstairs, so shall we go say good morning?" Stellar nodded, sliding from her mother's lap and charging down the stairs.

Murrue followed at a more sedate pace, the morning breeze from open windows blowing her pink dress around her legs. She and Mwu had taken today off work in order to take their daughter for her first day at school. The two parents were more than slightly nervous about it, worrying if Stellar would be okay. It had taken Erica, who already had a young son of her own, to reassure them.

"Relax." she had told Murrue sternly. "Sure, she'll be scared at first, but you know by now how resilient little kids are. She'll be just fine. It's you and Fllaga-san who are most worried, right?" At Murrue's surprise, Erica had laughed. "Honestly. It's because she's not a baby anymore. You're so used to being there for her, taking care of her all the time. But now...she's standing on her own two feet." Murrue still hadn't been convinced, and sighed, winding a lock of dark hair around her fingers. "But she's so little still. What if she gets scared...wants to come home? What do I do?"

Erica had shrugged. "You can't stop her from getting scared. It's a big change. But she will get used to it. Trust me, by the time she gets home from that first day, she'll be right as rain."

Making her way downstairs, the dark-haired woman walked into the kitchen, giggling as she saw Stellar squabbling with her father over the prize from the cereal box. The little girl was clutching the trinket with both hands, turned away from the blonde man, who was doing his best not to pout. "No!" she squeaked. "I found it first, Papa!"

"No fair!" Mwu complained. "You got the last one, I should get this one!" He attempted to tickle the child to get her to relinquish the toy, but she held on firmly. "No!"

Murrue watched this display for a few minutes, one eyebrow raised. When her husband and daughter looked up and noticed, all she had to do was place her hands on her hips and tip her head toward Stellar. Mwu sighed, broad shoulders slumping in defeat, and relinquished his hold on the toy. Murrue suppressed a grin at how easy that had been, and sat down at the table, quietly fixing herself some cereal.

"Mama..you and Papa aren't working today?" asked Stellar, through a mouthful of cereal. "No," replied her mother, sipping coffee. "Papa and I are going to take you to school, since it's your first day.." The little girl beamed. "Yay!" Then she paused. "Mama, what will I do at school?"

"All sorts." Mwu replied before Murrue even opened her mouth. "How to read and write, how to count..lots of things.." The woman nodded. "And as well as that, the most important thing is, you'll make lots of friends, and have fun."

After breakfast, the little family walked to the nearby school, Stellar sitting up on her father's shoulders, brand new pink satchel on her back. The closer they got to the school, the more children they saw, some little ones with their parents, and some much bigger and older. Stellar whimpered slightly, and Murrue reached up to squeeze her hand.. "It's okay, sweetie.." she said soothingly, seeing the fear and nervousness in the little girl's blue eyes. The classroom for the youngest children was bright and airy, covered with coloured charts of alphabets and numbers, and at the far end of the room, a young female teacher stood, with a group of children all around her. "Hello," she called cheerfully. "What's your name?"

After looking up at her parents, the little girl mumbled her name under her breath shyly. Murrue knelt down and ruffled her daughter's hair. "It's okay. There's no need to be scared." Stellar nodded, taking a deep breath, and walked up to where the teacher waited. Quietly, Murrue and Mwu slipped out of the room, closing the door behind them. Stellar heard the soft sound of the door, and turned around. "Mama? Papa?" she asked, her eyes filling with tears. Where had they gone? The last time she was here, Mama had come with her and stayed all day...and she had thought that was how it was meant to be. "Mama!" she called, beginning to cry. I don't want to be here without Mama...I want to go home!

Walking down the corridor, the two parents heard their daughter crying. Murrue winced, and made as if to turn back, but Mwu kept firm hold of her hand. "No, let her be.." he told her softly. She turned to him, tears of her own swimming in tawny eyes. "But she..."

"I know.." he soothed. "I want to just go in there and hug her too. But we can't. She'll be okay, you know that. We can't keep her at home forever..."

Back at their house, she sat quietly in a chair in the kitchen, the newspaper in front of her, but she really wasn't paying it much attention. Stellar cried so rarely..but whenever she did, Murrue's own heart hurt. Just like now.

"Hey, hey, c'mon..." A pair of warm arms wound around her shoulders, and breath tickled the back of her neck. She leaned back into her husband's embrace, closing her eyes. "I just.." she began, but he placed a finger on her lips. "I know." was all he said, kissing the top of her head. "It's tough without her being here. And we're so used to her always being around.."

Murrue nodded, getting to her feet and walking out into the sunlit garden, Mwu close behind. Halfway down the path, she looked up at the sky. "It's just hard...realising that she's not my baby anymore...that she's growing up so fast now..." she murmured, smiling a little as Mwu wrapped his arms around her. "We could always have another.." he suggested. "Give her a little brother or sister?"

She turned to him in surprise, cheeks flushing a pale rose. "Really?" she asked, smiling at the thought. "You want that?"

"Sure do," he replied, grinning. "The princess is old enough now to accept a kid brother or sister, in fact, I bet she'd love the idea. And I'd love another kid.."

Murrue leaned back in his arms, looking up at the sky again. She hadn't expected to become a mother so soon after everything that had happened...but she had loved every minute of it. Every day, her little girl had grown more, become her own person..and it had been a delight to watch. I want that again...

"So would I..."

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( Hmm. Teh ending not so good, perhaps, but I didn't get to finish it right away. Hope it's okay.

Please read and review! )