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Raye groaned. She couldn’t possibly sleep any longer. The light from the window was blinding. She squinted so she could get a look at her clock but only succeeded in increasing the throbbing pain throughout her skull to excruciating levels. She rolled over to face the other direction, away from the bright lights, but she was so tangled in her sheets she fell with a thump to the floor.

“Owww!”

As if mocking the pain she was suffering the blurry figure of a tall blonde man stood over her grinning down at her messy head, with set of teeth so white, their glistening rivaled the light from the windows.

“You know, I thought Serena wasn’t a morning person but you have somehow managed to exceed her grumpy morning personality.”

Raye just stared at him blankly. Her mouth had a rather disgusting taste and her tongue felt rather fuzzy. Her mouth was dry and she didn’t doubt her breath smelled somewhat skunky.

“Really, dear; you need to learn how to hold your liquor better than this.”

With that statement the previous day came rushing back to her with the speed and force of the Japanese bullet train, making her head ache. He had taken her out to dinner and to some club, whose name she couldn’t remember right now and they had gotten around to shots. Obviously she had done one shot too many which had certainly led to a rather interesting night after they both dragged their drunken carcasses up the stairs and into her apartment.

“Just help me up and quit lecturing me,” she snapped.

He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.

“Hey! You know damn right, that’s not what I meant! Put me down this instant!” She began beating on his back weakly but seeing she was having little effect, she took to admiring his tight butt instead and wondering why he wasn’t as hung over as she was. She swallowed, a faint nauseous feeling coming over her. Her head continued to pound with all the blood now rushing to her head.

As he was about to dump her unceremoniously unto the living room couch, the doorbell rang. Instead of putting her down, he headed for the door with her on his shoulder. She didn’t weigh much anyway.

He swung the door wide open to face a generally handsome man with slicked back dark hair and a rather oily look to him standing in the doorway looking rather arrogant. He was decked out in tight jeans, a leather jacket, and a smug look on his face.

“Good Morning Sweet…” He stopped when he saw it wasn’t Raye who had answered the door, but a very tall handsome blonde man he’d never seen before, with broad shoulders and two smooth, slender, bare, female legs, obviously belonging to Raye, hanging over his shoulders.

“Yes, can I help you?” Jay asked the man in front of him. The man had a rather stunned look on his face. He guessed he didn’t often see guys with girls on their shoulders answering doors.

“Ugh… oh fuck!” He muttered under his breath. “Fucking slut…,” He muttered again, guessing that jay didn’t hear him as he turned to walk away from the door. “I musta had the wrong door,” he called out as he walked away.

“The hell you did!” Jay said in a controlled but angry tone. With that he reached his arm back and struck Mr. Hudson in the face. He put Raye down on her feet beside him.

“What the hell did you do that for?” she yelled.

“Yeah, what the hell was that about, you fucking Neanderthal?” Hudson yelled, holding his bloody nose.

“Oh come on. This guy is a complete jerk! Did you even hear what he said about you?”

“Well no, but it didn’t warrant you punching him in the nose, she yelled.” Inside she was whooping for joy and hoping he had some excuse for punching the guy, because God knows he deserved it.

“Raye! The guy called you a slut among other things.”

“Thank you Jay, but I guarantee you, I don’t need you going around fighting my battles for me. I assure you I can take care of myself.With that she turned towards Hudson who was holding his nose and mumbling something about suing.

“Mark honey,” she sang seductively, “why don’t you let me take care of that.”

He removed his hand from his nose and smiled a smug satisfied smile at her while Jay looked on in shocked amazement. With his guard down, she swung her right arm back and with a heavy-handed forceful punch she punched him hard in the left jaw. Hudson said nothing as his body hit the ground with a thud.

Jay was so shocked, he simply stood and stared at her as she shook her hand a little.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” she said as she turned and smiled the most brilliant smiled he’d seen displayed on her face. She reached up and pulled his head down to meet hers in a kiss. Obviously she was still drunk. They went back inside the apartment, leaving the slumped, half-conscious body of Mark Hudson in the hallway.

Moments later as they sat over breakfast, Jay smiled mockingly at her once more. “So… How’s the fist?” her hand was resting a tub of icy water as she nibbled on toast.”

“I keep reminding myself that it was well worth the pain. I haven’t had a more satisfying moment in a long while.”

“Really! I’m disappointed! I feel so…” He clutched a hand to his heart, pretending to be mortally injured. I guess I’ll just have to do better from now on.”

Raye’s face turned a brilliant shade of red. “You know what I mean! Get your mind out of the gutter!”

“Do you think he’ll sue?”

“No,” she said confidently. He’s really a wimp. Besides, even if he does, he’s so conceited, he’ll insist on representing himself, in which case he’s bound to lose. He’s an ambulance-chasing loser. He probably got his law degree from some backwater school further south.”

There was a pause, a comfortable moment of silence when none of them said anything. Raye broke the silence when reality came rushing back to her, and her hang over no longer having any real effects allowed her to think clearly.

“How do you know Serena? How do you know she’s not a morning person? Who are you really Jay?”

“I postponed telling you who I am because I wanted you to get to know me for who and what I am and not because you feel obligated or influenced by whom I represent to you.”

“Why would I…” He cut her off before she could finish.

“I’m not Jadeite, at least not the evil one you remember. In fact as afar as I am concerned, I’ve never met you before in this lifetime until now. We’ve been together before, in the Silver Millennium. I was a member of Endymion’s royal guard and you a princess of Mars.

“I loved you then, as I love you now,” he continued solemnly and with great emotion causing Raye to look at him in surprise. She didn’t doubt him when he said the words. Somehow coming from him they seemed natural. Surprisingly she didn’t doubt she had similar feelings towards him.

“I met Serena when she’d just come from Tokyo to San Francisco. She’s one of my best friends.”

“She used to be my best friend,” Raye said sadly, lowering her eyes to her hands to avoid looking at him so he wouldn’t have to see how guilty she felt.

“She can be your friend again, Raye. She’s already forgiven you, you know. Don’t you think it’s time you forgave yourself?”

“I don’t think I can. I just don’t think I deserve it.”

“Try. For me.”

She smiled slowly.

“I will.”

Mina was in the middle of a conversation with Serena. She was pacing her balcony even as the smells of breakfast wafted through the open doors. Andrew maybe ok with having a child but she wasn’t so sure she was. What about her career? She wanted children but now that she really thought about it she wasn’t sure.

Would he be sure when he found out she was the beautiful and powerful Sailor Venus? What if something came up and she had to fight again; how would she protect her child?

Those were just some of the many questions she had thrown at Serena when she’d picked up the phone, not nearly as grumpy as she usually was in the morning. By the time she had completed venting she didn’t really feel any better now that she had identified all her problems.

Serena had given her permission to tell Andrew about her secret identity if she felt it necessary and was in the middle of helping Mina deal with her fears of motherhood.

"You know,” Serena began, “I used to worry about the future and my life too. It was so scary it prevented me from being the best I could be. In my mind I'd tell myself that I wasn't worthy, that I was too stupid and too weak to be who I was and do the duty that destiny had bequeathed me.

She paused before continuing with her story, one that obviously was very important to her. “It was hard to come to terms with holding the power of the universe in my hands. When you're as young as I was and trying so hard to fit in with the world around you that no matter how many times you tell yourself you want to be better, stronger and more special than everyone else, the truth is you just want to belong. Finding out that I was unlike any being who has ever lived and that I had the responsibility for the lives of everyone around me was extremely difficult to handle. With so many people depending on you for their future, it all becomes so massive. I grew up though, and accepted it and I wouldn't give this responsibility up to anyone because I know now that I was chosen because I can handle it. This baby inside you knows you are capable of being a mother.

There is a rhyme and reason for all things and this is what has been chosen for you. Think about things that you have done, you help to protect the very earth on which we live.A small child is not so great a task for so great a woman. You're not a child anymore, as wonderful as it would be to reclaim those times, it is time to give those things up and be what you are now, a mother."

Mina actually felt much better after talking with Serena. She had never realized Serena had felt this way. She was so strong, so wise. Mina felt very grateful; her problems seemed minor right now. As different as things would be, it would all be ok.Women had been facing the challenge of motherhood for centuries, surely she could manage.

Questions? Comments?
watsonma@hotmail.com
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