A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I was planning to have Usagi keep it a secret for a while but she decided someone had to know… Enjoy!

I was the first one up the next morning, which wasn't surprising. On the rare occasion that Queen Serenity visited me in my dreams I usually woke up feeling refreshed, as though I'd slept for a lot longer than I actually had. I slowly detangled myself from the group on the bed and slipped out of the room, gently closing the door behind me. I went into the bathroom and by the time I came out I could tell that I wasn't alone in the apartment anymore. But Seiya's door was still shut and the kitchen and living room were both quiet. I thought I knew who was there and as I stepped out into the living room I saw that I was right. Big ruby eyes were looking back at me.

"Good morning, Usagi-chan," Luna said quietly. She was curled up beside Artemis, who had his head tucked underneath Luna's tail. He was sleeping. "It's really early for you to be awake. I didn't think I'd see you for a few more hours. You always did love the chance to sleep in." She gave me her version of a kitty smile and I knew she wasn't going to scold me for not going to school, that she understood why we weren't going. I lifted my hand and beckoned to her and she leapt off of the couch and padded into the kitchen after me.

"Luna, what are you doing here?" I asked, automatically going over to the refridgerator. There was a pitcher of cream that was almost full and several cartons of cold leftover Chinese food. I put some of the cream in a little dish for Luna and snagged one of the cartons for myself.

"Queen Serenity contacted us," she replied, lapping daintily at the milk. She stopped to clean her whiskers before she continued, "She told me about Rubeus and advised me that this is the time when you needed us the most. I'm sorry that we've been neglecting you, Usagi-chan. The queen is right. You're still my charge and I've left you here with the Starlights." There was a look of remorse on her face that nearly broke my heart.

"It's not your fault," I said, kneeling down on the floor. I reached out and stroked her soft fur and she purred, turning her head to nuzzle against me gently. "Luna, the Starlights have been taking good care of me. Don't let Mother make you feel guilty. This has been really hard on all of us and I want you to be there for Artemis."

She stared at me for a long minute and I didn't understand why until I went back over what I'd just said and then it clicked. Unless I was dressed as Princess Serenity, I rarely referred to Queen Serenity as my mother. I had a mom here on Earth and for the most part I was perfectly content with her. But after the night I'd just shared with Queen Serenity I didn't feel right in pretending that she was anything else. She'd cared for me, loved me, exactly the way a mother should. I'd felt safe and warm and above all loved in her arms. She was my mother and I had to acknowledge that. But before I could explain Luna just shook her head and smiled.

"I know you love the Starlights, Usagi-chan, but your mother was right." She spoke the words carefully, like she was expecting me to get angry. When I just sat there and watched her she added, "And I think it will be good for Artemis to have something else to focus on. This constant mourning over Minako-chan isn't good for him either."

"I can't really blame him," I said quietly, prying open the top of the container. I put a fork inside and lifted up a spoonful of chicken chow mien. It tasted just as good cold as it had the night before. "He must miss Minako-chan something awful."

Luna sighed. "He does, but no more so than you miss them." She looked up at me. "I wanted to tell you how proud I am of you."

"Eh?" I blinked at her in puzzlement.

"I didn't know how you would do after the battle. I was really worried about you. I thought that you might lack the strength to go on," Luna said. She flicked her tail when I started to speak. "And yes, I know that the Starlights have been there for you every step of the way. You'll never know how much I thank the gods that they were. But they could've given you all of the encouragement in the world and it wouldn't have made any difference unless there was a part of you that wanted to keep going. I'm glad that you were strong enough. You've really grown up."

My eyes misted with tears. Luna had seen me at my worst. She'd stuck with me during that first battle when I'd sat in the corner and cried like a child, all the way through everything. To hear her say that meant more to me than I could have imagined. It also made me want to tell her what I'd found out. I rarely kept secrets from Luna and I didn't want to start now. I leaned forward, brushing at my eyes, and whispered, "Luna, can you keep a secret? I mean, really keep it, not sharing it with Artemis or my mother or anyone."

"Of course," Luna said. "You can tell me anything."

I took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."

There was a moment of silence during which Luna processed this and then her eyes got real big. "You're what?" she screeched so loudly that I cringed.

"Luna! Keep your voice down!" I hissed. It wouldn't take much to wake Seiya, Yaten and Taiki up. The three of them were pretty light sleepers. I leaned forward and listened but I couldn't hear anything. Luna was still staring at me in disbelief and I nodded, keeping my finger over my lips as a reminder for her to stay quiet. "You heard me. I'm pregnant."

"But how…?" She looked me over, her eyes narrowing on my tummy. I was still wearing what passed for pyjamas and the top fit closely enough for her to be able to tell that I hadn't gained any weight. "You don't look like you're pregnant," she said suspiciously.

"The doctor said I'm not very far along," I replied, shifting so that I was leaning against the cupboards. "Only a few weeks."

It probably wasn't the best thing to say. I could see Luna doing the math in her head. Mamo-chan had been gone for quite a while before the final battle. Even if we'd had sex before he left I would've been about four or five months along, not just a few weeks. That meant it had to be someone else, someone who had been close to me. Maybe even someone I'd been staying with. This was exactly what I had been afraid of. Even Luna, who knew that the Starlights were technically girls, was thinking of Seiya. Before she could say anything I reached out and clapped a hand over her muzzle, keeping it shut.

"It's not Seiya," I said flatly. "So don't even go there, okay? The father is Mamo-chan. His spirit came to visit me in a dream a few weeks ago. He wanted to say good-bye and we ended up… you know." I blushed a little. "I think the ginzuishou must have reacted to how upset I was over losing Chibi-Usa and somehow what happened between us became… real. It's the only explanation, Luna. I haven't had sex with anyone else."

Luna stared at me for a long moment. I took my hand away so she could speak. The first thing she said was, "You know that it might not be Chibi-Usa, right?"

"I know," I said defensively, even though I had been trying my hardest to not consider that. I'd be happy to have any child that was a mix of Mamo-chan and me, but to have Chibi-Usa back would be wonderful. "But there is a chance that it might be."

"Usagi-chan," she sighed. "You certainly do get yourself into messes. I take it that the Starlights don't know yet since you told me I wasn't allowed to tell Artemis. You do know that you're going to have to share this information with them eventually, right? This isn't the sort of thing that you'll be able to hide forever. Even if you used the Luna Pen, eventually you'll have a… a baby." Her voice stuttered slightly.

I smiled wearily. "I hadn't even thought about using the Luna Pen. I know I'm going to have to tell them sooner or later but we need to deal with Rubeus first. You should have seen him, Luna. He was so angry at me and he said that he wished Chibi-Usa was there so he could kill her, too. If he finds out there's a chance I'm pregnant with her he'll be even more determined."

She frowned and I knew she wanted to argue with me but couldn't figure out how to do it. I didn't want to go into the whole worrying about people's reactions because I knew what Luna would say. She'd tell me that it was the Starlights' choice to make and that I should tell them privately and let them decide what to do. And she was right, but I also knew that it could be left until later. It wasn't like I was going to be giving birth tomorrow. Eventually I reached out and started lightly scratching behind her ears in a way I knew she loved. Sure enough she began to purr.

We sat there for a long time, until light began to come in through the windows and I heard the sounds of someone getting up. I leaned my head back against the cupboards, watching through half-open eyes as a sleepy-looking Seiya stumbled into the room. Her hair was hanging around her face in a tangled mess and her clothes were wrinkled. I knew it was a dangerous way to think, but I couldn't help it: when she stopped in a little patch of sunlight and smiled down at me I thought she looked beautiful. It made my heart turn over.

"You're up early, Odango," she said in a rough voice. "Did you want to go to school today?"

"Not really," I said honestly.

"I didn't think so. We have a meeting with our manager this afternoon. You can come with us if you want." Seiya ambled across the room and started pouring water into the electric kettle. After turning it on she got a couple of boxes of tea down. "It won't be too interesting, I'm afraid. They want to know what we're planning to do."

"Oh." I sat up straight, intrigued. I knew that the Starlights were going to be staying on Earth but no one had broached the topic of what, exactly, they would be doing here. I'd wondered if they would start singing again and I said as much.

Seiya shook her head. "I have no idea. It was fun to sing at the service but… I guess I thought we'd said good-bye to that life after the farewell concert. I never expected for it to be an option, you know?" The kettle whistled and she poured boiling water into two cups, then added a tea bag to each one. She sat down next to me and handed me one of them. "Plus we'd have to decide if we want to do it as boys or girls. Either way has the potential to be a media nightmare. And then there's you."

"Me?" I stirred my tea and frowned.

"Yes, of course. What if we went on tour? We can't just leave you here by yourself," she replied. "Being pop stars meant our lives were incredibly busy and we wouldn't have as much free time. It's something we're going to have to think about before we commit to writing new songs and doing concerts and advertising and everything. Right now we've got the chance to walk away and that might not be something we get again for a long time."

"I guess," I said. I didn't say what I was thinking: would Seiya, Yaten and Taiki ever really be happy just being normal teens on Earth?

Please review!