A/N: The first epilogue, enjoy!

My water broke while Seiya and I were lying in bed together. The pain started not long after that. I'd known that it would hurt, of course, but I wasn't prepared for how intense it would be: like someone had reached into my belly and was squeezing my insides regularly. Seiya got me downstairs and into the car, just like we'd planned: Taiki and Yaten would follow with Chibi-Chibi once they'd called my family, Motoki and Naru. I clutched Seiya's hand the whole way, trying to take deep breaths like Doctor Mizuno had told me to. It was, I realized, much harder to do that when I stopped breathing every time a contraction hit. My lungs were aching by the time we actually got there.

Doctor Mizuno was outside waiting for us with a wheelchair already. "Hello, Usagi-chan," she said when Seiya opened the door, her smile warm and friendly, and for a split second it was like Ami was there and my heart twisted. This shouldn't have been happening here. I was supposed to become pregnant after the rise of Crystal Tokyo, and a new queen was going to give birth to a little princess in a beautiful utopia. The Tokyo Hospital was nice, but it couldn't be considered a utopia by anyone's standards. I reached out and grabbed Seiya's arm as she started to clamber out of the vehicle.

"I can't do this," I said, gritting my teeth through another wave of pain. It was happening about every six or seven minutes and I dreaded the thought that soon they'd be coming much faster.

Seiya paused. The look of confusion that crossed her face would've been adorable at any other time. "What? Odango, what are you talking about?"

"This!" I gestured to the hospital. "I can't do it here. It's not how things were supposed to go."

"You're concerned about this now?" Seiya said.

"Yes!"

"I'll give you a moment, shall I?" Doctor Mizuno said, tactfully stepping away. She left the wheelchair there, though, and I glared at it. I'd tried to prepare myself for this moment and I'd thought I was ready, but I was just now realizing that I wasn't. I let go of Seiya's arm and pressed myself back against the seat, grimacing as another contraction rippled through me.

For a moment I thought Seiya was going to try to drag me out of the car. She could've done it, too, I was in no shape to fight back. But then she took a deep breath, obviously searching for patience, and sat back down next to me. "Odango, what's this about?" she asked, and she knew me well enough by now to know that reaching for my hand probably would've been a bad idea. "For the past two weeks, all you've talked about is how excited you were that Chibi-Usa was finally coming. Now she's here and you're... what? Are you scared? Worried?"

Try all of the above. As much as I had told myself that I was ready for a baby, in my heart I wasn't sure that I was. This had all happened so fast. Even though I'd had months to get used to it, I still felt like the time had gone by way too quickly. I closed my eyes against the hot sting of tears. "I don't know. I just... when I think about going in there, it just seems so wrong."

"Did you want to go to another hospital?"

I had to laugh, weak though it might have been. That was Seiya. She never stopped searching for ways to make me happy, and god I loved her for it. "No. Unless you can bring me to a hospital located in a castle made from crystal, I really don't think that's going to help."

"Oh," she said quietly, and then, "Oh, Odango, I'm sorry. I know you wish that they could be here."

My throat was burning from how much effort it took not to cry. "It's not just that. Seiya, I - I never expected to have a baby this soon. I know that I told Mom and Dad I was ready for it, but I..." I trailed off. Over the past couple of months I'd done my best to make people think I was ready for this. Anyone who tried to challenge me about my decision was met with a seemingly unshakeable mask. Only that was the problem: it was just a mask. "What if I'm not ready? What if do something wrong and I totally screw her up?"

"Hey. Hey, look at me. Usagi, you're not going to mess this up. Taiki's been doing some research and she said that it's normal for new parents to experience this sort of anxiety. It just means that you're going to be a good parent because you care enough to be so worried. Besides, you're not going at this alone remember?" She finally took my hand. "You have me and Yaten and Taiki, and your parents, and Luna and Artemis, not to mention all of your friends and Helios and even the Ayakashi Sisters. We're all here for you, and we're going to make sure that you don't have to do this alone."

I blinked at her blurrily. "Seiya..."

"I was going to do this later, but I..." She reached into her pocket. My heart pounded when I saw what she had: a ring box. It was a nice box, made of crushed red velvet, and Seiya turned it over slowly in her fingers as she glanced up at me. "I was going to wait," she repeated, "until you'd had the baby. But I think maybe it's better if I do it now. Odango, I love you. I've loved you from the moment I met you, when you had no idea who I was. You've never treated me as anything other than one of your friends, and that means more to me than you'll ever know. It didn't matter to you that I was Seiya a rock star or Fighter the senshi.

"I had resigned myself to the idea that I would never have the chance to be with you, so being here with you now… It's…" She trailed off and shook her head, her eyes growing damp. I was speechless. "You have no understanding of what you've done for us. You think you're the lucky one that we stayed on Earth with you, but really it's the other way around. If you hadn't let us stay, I don't know what we would have done or where we would've gone. You took us in and made us yours.

"So I… almost feel selfish asking you this, if only because I've already gotten so much from you." She smiled at me and opened up the box. My breath caught. It was gorgeous. The ring was surprisingly simple: the band was white gold and had a small fire opal with two smaller sapphires on either side, surrounded by several miniature diamonds. "Will you marry me, Usagi?"

My throat was so tight that it took me several seconds before I could respond. She had already asked me, but it made this moment no less meaningful. "Yes," I whispered, that one word coming out all choked up. A tear spilled down Seiya's cheek when she heard my answer, and she plucked the ring from the box and gently slid it onto my finger. I wasn't sure how she'd got my ring size, but it fit perfectly. I gazed down at it, realizing that it was official now. I was engaged.

"Odango," Seiya whispered, and I looked up just in time for her to kiss me. I kissed back eagerly, all of my anxiety washed away in the flood of love that was throbbing through me. Even when a fresh bout of pain kicked through my insides, I still felt a lot calmer. I pulled back from Seiya reluctantly.

"It's time," I said. Seeing the way she smiled made me smile and I realized that was another reason to love her: she seemed to know what I needed before I did. I let her help me out of the car and sat down in the wheelchair. Doctor Mizuno, seeing that it was safe, walked back over to us.

"Are you ready now?" she asked. Coming from anyone else the question might have sounded patronizing, but she was genuine in her concern for me.

"I am." I couldn't help showing her my ring, even though she'd probably been close enough to hear what was going on. She clucked over it and told me how lovely it was as she wheeled me back into the hospital. We went straight to the ward and Seiya helped me to get changed into one of those awful hospital gowns so that Doctor Mizuno could check to see how far I had progressed.

"You're not doing too badly," she told me. Words couldn't describe how weird it was to be talking to someone who had their hand between my thighs. "You're about four centimetres along, but you've got a while to go yet. Try to relax for a little while and I'll be back to check on you later, okay?"

I nodded and watched leave. The next several hours became a muddled blur. Yaten and Taiki arrived with Chibi-Chibi, and then Mom and Naru came in. I kept Chibi-Chibi with me for a while, but eventually she got upset at seeing me in pain and Seiya took her out to stay with Dad and the others in the waiting room. Doctor Mizuno came back and ordered me an epidural, which took a little bit of the edge off but not much. The medicine made me feel like I was floating, but every sharp pain brought me back down to Earth.

Finally, Doctor Mizuno told me I was ready to push. Seiya and Mom stayed with me, both of them clutching my hands while I strained and struggled. The nurse spoke to me encouragingly, but I didn't even pay attention to what she said. It hurt too much. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but hearing a wail echo through the room instantly made it worthwhile. Tears streamed down my cheeks as nurses worked to clean both of us and checked her out to make sure that she was okay, and then they brought her over to me and laid her gently on my chest.

The hair on her head was wispy and pale pink, the eyes peering up at me already a brilliant ruby instead of the blue that the doctor had told me I might expect. I stared down at her, awed that she was actually here, while the rest of the world bustled around us. I couldn't wait to introduce her to everyone, but for the time being it was enough that Seiya was beside me, Mom having slipped out to share the news. I turned my head as Seiya perched on the bed, leaning over so that she could wrap her arm around me.

"She's beautiful," she whispered, and my eyes filled with tears.

"She is, isn't she?" It was the first time I'd held her when she was just a baby. I could hardly imagine that this delicate little thing was going to grow up to be so strong.

"Do we have a name yet?" one of the nurses asked.

"Kou Usagi," I said, feeling Seiya start. We hadn't discussed it, but I wanted her to have Seiya's name. There was no point in keeping the name Tsukino anymore. I lifted my hand and touched her cheek. "We're going to call her Chibi-Usa for short."

"Lovely," said the nurse, writing it down in her book.

"Odango, are you sure?" Seiya said hoarsely.

"I've never been more sure," I said simply, gazing back down at the bundle in my arms. As I looked at her, I felt the last lingering bit of pain and misery in my soul fading away, as though her birth had given me the strength I needed to let go of the past once and for all. I'd always miss my friends, but I knew they were with me just like she was. I tipped my head down and kissed her cheek gently.

My little Chibi-Usa.

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