Chapter Thirteen: Returning Home

"So what shall we do today?" Ami asked, playfully tugging the covers off me and tossing them across the stateroom. When I just smiled up at her and let my gaze travel over her hungrily, she posed for me, making sure I saw every inch of the bulge our daughter made in her waistline. She laughed and danced away as I reached for her. "Uh-uh! If I let you catch me, we'll be in bed all day!"

"Would that be such a bad thing, sexy lady?" I grinned at the way her blush traveled all the way down her body. She'd been feeling undesirable ever since she'd begun showing, and I delighted in reminding her that as far as I was concerned, she was the most desirable woman in the solar system.

"You certainly know how to turn a girl's head, my lord." She blushed and curtseyed, then blushed some more as my body displayed just how desirable she was to me. With a happy sigh, she climbed into bed and snuggled up next to me. "I love you so much."

"I love you, Ami, with all my heart. What would you like to do today?" I kissed her gently and gently stroked her tummy. As always, she purred happily and pressed against my hand.

"Mmm...we really need to train a little, but where can we do it?" She giggled as I hit one of her ticklish spots and swatted gently at my hand. "Are you trying to distract me?"

"Not at all, Angel. I'm just enjoying your presence." I nuzzled her and chuckled. "We could train on wrestling without leaving this spot..." She squealed and swatted my chest, her eyes sparkling happily. "...or we could go out on deck and train under the sun...or we could do something else." I grinned playfully; once Ami's blush had deepened, I whispered, "I'd suggest training under the sun, so we can work on our tans a little before we make port tomorrow."

"What? You remembered what day it is?" She gasped in mock surprise, then shrieked as I pounced on her and pushed her back into the bed. In a matter of moments, we'd both forgotten anything about training...

"Someone must be waiting for us in port," I teased, grinning at Ami. "We were supposed to be stuck until the storm passed."

"Mmm-hmmm. We have been gone for nearly three months, and I'm willing to bet that certain people miss us." She giggled and kissed me, then stepped away so she could put on her Princess appearance. With a shimmer, as if she were viewed through a screen of bubbles, Ami had changed from her blue maternity pants and yellow sailor shirt to a gown like she'd worn when we wed, with her sigil glowing on her forehead.

Lady Mercury looked into my eyes and smiled lovingly. "And how well do you remember what we've been practicing?"

I smiled and bowed to her, closed my eyes, and focussed inside, the way I did when making MacManusite. After a moment, I felt the swirling sensation that told me the transformation was taking place. When I opened my eyes, she was smiling in loving approval as she looked over my tuxedo. I glanced into the mirror and nodded in satisfaction, then adjusted my top hat and bowed to my beloved.

"My Lady, may I have the honor of escorting you to our Princess?"

She took my extended arm and we stepped into the corridor outside our stateroom. A trail of surprised gasps followed us all the way to the gangway; we had been able to conceal who we were all the way around the world, and now that Lady Mercury and her consort were among them, the ripples of excitement spread throughout the ship.

In the first class lounge on shore, Endymion, Serenity, and the rest of our friends and family waited. Mercury and I shared a secret smile as we approached them.

**Three**

**Two**

**One**

In unison, Mercury and I knelt before Serenity and Endymion.

"My Lord, My Lady, we have returned," I began.

"We have taken our pleasure as you commanded," Mercury continued.

"And we are now ready to take up our duties," we finished in unison.

Glancing up, I noticed both of them turning interesting shades as they attempted to control their amusement. Serenity finally placed her hands on our heads and spoke.

"We are happy you are once again home. Your place at our side awaits you, as does your place in our heart. Now rise, and stand with us as is your right."

We rose in unison, and were immediately swept into Serenity's embrace as she tried to whisper amid peals of laughter.

"You two are bad! You're imps! You should be ashamed of yourselves! If all of us hadn't been wearing our royal appearance...."

We laughed and grinned shamelessly at her.

"We knew you would be," I laughed.

"So we decided this was the best way to let you know how much we love you," Mercury finished.

Endymion chuckled and took over when Serenity finally let go, then the Senshi swept in and gathered us back into the family. Sarah and Rusty stood back until we'd been properly welcomed home by the rest, then endured our happy embraces with good humor.

"So has David driven you insane yet?" I laughed as I hugged Rusty.

"Setsuna's distracted him enough to keep him out of my hair," Rusty answered with a grin. "But he's going to be ecstatic when the two of you get home."

"And how have you and Fluorite been getting along?"

It's not often I get to see Rusty blush, but this was definitely one of those times. I was glad to see that the two of them had found each other. I chuckled and put my hand on his shoulder.

"That good, huh? Let us know how it's going, eh?"

Sarah smiled warmly at me from her place beside Setsuna, and I gave her a little bow, before Mercury and I took our place among the Senshi and we all moved to the exit.

Tsukino-sama was trying to keep something that resembled order as we occupied her living room, while Usagi and Rei engaged in one of their infamous tongue wars. All of the various couples were cuddled together on various items of furniture or pillows. Somehow, we'd managed to keep our roving disaster area...err...I mean, Minako...from "helping" Usagi's mother, while she and Makoto delivered welcome-home snacks through the party.

"So how did you like the cruise?" Sarah asked. "Wasn't being on the ocean everything I'd told you it was?"

Ami and I looked at each other and sighed happily, then nodded in unison.

"Definitely. The only bad part about it was the fact that there wasn't a laboratory to work in." I laughed as Sarah tried to decide how to react to that, while Setsuna whispered into her ear. At Setsuna's whisper, Sarah laughed and wagged a finger at me.

"You are entirely too mad for your own good, do you know that?"

"Of course I am!" I answered, pressing one hand to my chest and raising the other toward the ceiling. "SCIENCE can SAVE THE WORLD!"

Everyone in the room looked at me, saw the expression on my face, and fell over laughing. Pillows flew toward me from all directions, and Ami grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me over into her lap.

"'Twas beauty that killed the beast," I intoned solemnly as I landed in Ami's lap, then let my tongue hang out of my mouth and rolled my eyes up. Ami laughed and bent down to kiss me. Naturally, I reached up, wrapped my arms around her, and held the kiss until she pressed her hands against my chest.

"You, my love, are hopeless!" she giggled happily.

"Au contraire, m'lady. I have many hopes. And they all focus on a certain princess." She turned a beautiful shade of pink and reached for a glass of lemonade, trying to hide her embarrassment. She still reacted so beautifully to expressions of love. I reached up and touched her cheek, whispering my love to her.

Usagi, distracted from her battle with Rei, bounced over and demanded loudly that we tell all about our trip. It was just too good a straight line to pass up; Ami agreed, but insisted I should be the one to take it.

"Do you really want to know ALL about our trip?" I asked, leering playfully at her. Usagi squeaked and buried her face in Mamoru's chest. As soon as she looked away, Ami and I both broke into face-splitting grins as we tried to keep from laughing. When Mamoru and the rest of the Senshi broke into laughter, we lost the fight and joined in the chorus.

"Oooooh...YOU!" Usagi shrieked and grabbed a pillow to pound me over the head with. That brought out another peal of laughter and I fell over backwards onto Ami's lap.

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Disclaimer: Sailor Moon, Sailor Senshi, and all terms, names, etc. associated with the series are copyrighted by Naoko Takeuchi and Kodansha. I make no claim to them and this work of fanfiction should not be seen as making a claim.