Part 12 "Cemented Understanding" Lunch was pleasant, aside from Reenie, Serena, and Raye trading rather dark looks. For the most part Reenie ignored the barbs that Raye put forth and Serena happily chatted with the other girls. After a little while, when the girls were eating cupcakes, Carrie became worried. The three grownups had moved off to the side and were having a private conversation. In her brief life Carrie knew the signs: Mrs. Tsukino and the other adults were planning something. It usually meant something ominous was afoot. Shortly afterwards, Chad disappeared down the path and a few minutes later brought back his acoustic guitar. The sight of the much feared musical instrument stopped all conversation amongst the little girls. Raye got up and walked over to Chad to stand right in front of him. "Chad, PLEASE tell me you're NOT going to sing!" Raye begged. Chad grinned, patted Raye on the top of her head, and said, "You know, Raye, you keep telling me that I sing terribly..." "Well it's true!" Raye said emphatically. For some odd reason Raye got the sinking feeling that Chad had been expecting her to say that. "Well then, you can show me how to sing really well," Chad said, while grinning hugely. The rather shocked expressions on the other girls' faces couldn't even come close to matching Raye's, her mouth swung open, eyes bulging. "WHAT!?!" she demanded after several seconds of silence, "You can't mean that you want me to sing?!" "Not just you, Pumpkin," Grandpa Hino chimed in, "All of you." He waved his hand broadly to encircle the other startled girls. Raye scowled as Reenie snickered at her being called "Pumpkin" and the grin that Serena had on her face was almost as disgusting. "What are we going to sing?" Amy tentatively asked. This drew some hostile looks from Reenie, Raye, and Carrie. As far as they were concerned, they didn't want any part of it. Reenie quietly prayed that Serena would beg her mother to do anything else but make them sing. "Well let's start with an easy one... How about `Row, Row, Row, Your Boat'?" Ellen asked. "Man, I have a better one," Chad interjected, "Sing `The Wheels on the Bus'!" "OH NO!!!" Raye exclaimed covering her face, "Please anything but THAT one!" That was all the prompting Serena needed. She stood up, placed her hands on her hips, and, tilting back her head, starting singing the song as loudly as she could. Chad quickly accompanied her on his guitar. Mina, being the ham of the group, wasn't to be outdone. Jumping up, she stood beside Serena, and started singing as well. For added effect she started moving her body in different motions acting the song out. Raye scowled at the two little blonde girls. "Come on, Amy!" Serena said dragging her friend up. Carrie was quick to follow suit and, soon, Amy and Carrie formed part of a quartet. By the time they had gone through the song, Lita had finally succumbed to the prompting of Ellen and Chad but also because she was beginning to think it was rather fun. Chad began to wonder why Raye didn't join in. She was rarely shy about singing. Choosing another popular children's song, the quintet soon was singing, normally, if decidedly off-pitch, for the small audience and the pair of crows that had come to investigate the shrieking in their domain. Reenie was soon dragged into the fray and, upon seeing that Raye's scowl deepened and Serena smile, Reenie threw herself whole-heartedly into the song. "I don't believe this," Raye said darkly, "I just don't believe this!" However, no matter what Raye thought of the entire affair, the other girls were having fun. Seeing the curious looks from Chad and her grandfather, she forced a smile and started to sing. Raye quickly discovered her voice was not the promising teen idol's she remembered. However, that didn't matter as she was the competitive sort, and Reenie was making herself out to be a rather large target. Raye convinced herself, As the songs progressed the others girls stopped singing one by one and even Chad stopped playing as both girls tried to outdo each other. "That was very good, girls!" Ellen complimented and applauded when the song was finished. Unfortunately, Reenie and Raye didn't pay her any heed. They were now facing each other nearly screaming the lyrics out. Neither one was willing to back down and the air seemed to come alive with the tensions they were generating. Unnoticed by either the grownups or the girls who were entranced with Reenie and Raye, Amy picked up a doll. She would normally have taken up a book but there were none around. The doll seemed to be a good substitute at the moment as Reenie and Raye went at it tooth and nail. Amy was content for all of thirty seconds. That is until Lita had turned to say something to her sister about the spectacle. She noticed that Amy was playing with a doll, and HER doll at that! By now, Mrs. Tsukino, Chad, and Grandpa Hino had moved in to try and calm the other girls down. The two singing little girls were turning red in the face and their voices were becoming hoarse from use. Stalking over to her sister, Lita snatched the doll out of Amy's hands and exclaimed, "Amy, get your own doll!" "But I was playing with it first!" Amy protested, a hurt expression appearing on her face. "You didn't want to play with it!" "But it's mine!" Lita said menacingly, "You got something to say about it!?!" Amy was about to retort when Ellen's voice broke in ahead of hers, "Lita?" The singing stopped. Turning, Lita saw that Mrs. Tsukino along with the others were staring at her, some with curiosity, others with concern. "Whose doll is that?" "MINE!" Lita snapped. "But you weren't playing with it!" Amy protested again, "I wanted to play with it and SHE stole it!" Reaching out, Amy tried to snatch the doll from Lita's hand but Lita just held it away and pushed her sister. "I'll take that!" Mrs. Tsukino said as she stepped in and took the doll from Lita. "Hey!" Lita protested and turned to face the adult. "It's time for your naps," Mrs. Tsukino said sternly, "Then you may ask for the doll back." Grandpa and Chad nodded. With that Mrs. Tsukino placed a firm hand behind Lita while pocketing the doll. Guiding the little girl over, she placed another firm hand behind Reenie and proceeded to guide both girls down the path towards the temple. Serena was quick to follow her "sister" and ran ahead to catch up to her mother. Grandpa Hino came over and ushered Mina and Carrie down the path as well. He was closely followed by Chad who was carrying Raye while holding Amy's hand. Much to Serena's delight, and Reenie's chagrin, Mrs. Tsukino suggested that maybe Reenie needed a nap too. It was embarrassing to say the least. That and it seemed to give Raye some rather perverse pleasure in seeing Reenie being treated like a little kid. Reenie made the best of it for Serena's sake. Several minutes later, all three adults retired to the living room for tea and sighed. It had been such a lovely day too. The first to wake from their afternoon naps was Reenie. She lay there listening to the other girls. She could feel herself starting to blush. She turned over and looked at the dozing form of Serena. A frown crept into her features. It wasn't so much the nap that annoyed Reenie. She would have been quite content to take a nap with Serena if the little girl had wanted her too. It was just the simple fact that Serena's friends had been around and it was even more embarrassing to think that she was proving that Raye's opinion of her was right. Hearing a rustle, Reenie turned and found that Raye had sat up. Reenie slowly sat up as well and both girls looked at each other for a long moment before Raye looked away. "I guess we were pretty silly," Raye remarked softly. She felt rather embarrassed by her emotional outburst, especially with the girls there. Raye suddenly thought, Reenie looked at Raye trying to gauge the comment. She knew that Raye wasn't the type of kid who apologized very well, or openly for that matter. Giving a silent sigh, Reenie decided that she'd at least try not to cause more problems between Serena and her little friends. "Yeah, I guess we BOTH were actin' silly." Raye looked up and, after a moment, gave a half-hearted smile before getting up and crossing over to the door. Reenie debated whether or not she would follow but decided to stay and wait for Serena to wake up. The next person to wake up was Amy. Reenie watched her carefully and noticed that Amy was taking on a worried expression. She was about to ask what the problem was when Lita bolted upright and looked over at Amy. Lita's sudden movement made Reenie and Amy give a little cry of surprise; both younger girls turned and looked at Reenie. "Amy I..." Lita began and then trailed off, "What a thing to fight about!" Lita declared, "I..." she trailed off then and noticed that Reenie was looking intently at her. Getting up, she pulled Amy off towards a corner and continued in a whispered voice, "I'm really sorry. I don't know what got into me." "It's okay, Sis. I think we were just tired." She glanced back towards the other girls and noticed that Reenie was staring at them now. "I think I could've handled it better too." Lita grinned back at her sister. Then they gave each other a hug. Reenie thought, She had seen Serena have mood swings but she never thought she could credit that particular ability to any of Serena's friends. Raye was coming from just using the bathroom when she noticed Chad's bedroom door open. Walking over to it, she heard faint strumming sounds. She was about to continue back to the girls when Chad looked up and smiled at her. "Hi Pumpkin, did you have a good nap?" Much to Raye's surprise she didn't bristle at the nickname "Pumpkin" like she had done before. Nodding, she entered Chad's room and moved over to stand beside him. "Watch'ya doin'?" she asked. Chad smiled, sat his guitar down on the bed, and then lifted Raye onto his knee. Giving her a hug, he answered, "I was tuning my guitar." She looked up at him and he smiled down at her, "You know I thought you and Reenie were going to fight again." "Nope!" Raye squeaked. "We were being silly!" That response caused Raye to blink. she thought, That was the last thing in the world that she wanted to do. "Yes, you were silly," Chad admitted, "Man, I'm glad you and Reenie just acted `silly'." The statement itself was benign, however, Chad's tone suggested dire consequences would have followed if she had fought with Reenie like she had before. Raye just smiled weakly at him. "Come on, let's go see if the others are up. Serena and the other girls probably have to leave." Setting Raye down, he took her hand and they walked out of the room. Unseen by Chad, Raye smiled. She had just gotten a very sneaky idea; she had just thought up her next prank. It was sometime later that evening that Amy managed to start her analysis. It came at the point where her mother was having a talk with Lita. Setting her computer in a place easily concealed, she soon had it working away. Amy considered this, It was certainly a possibility. Serena had used it to, at least in their normal reality, reincarnate the Sailor Scouts over again. Amy suddenly thought. Reaching over, she interrupted her computer from its current task and instead had it start searching all of its files. As the preliminary data scrolled past, Amy started to get excited. It would seem that they HAD BEEN fourteen when they had fought Beryl at the North Pole. Amy paused, It at least seemed to be intuitive. She got up and started to pace. If the Crystal were intuitive, that would explain why they could have gone through the past here as teens but been reincarnated as children. After a few minutes Amy rejected her line of reasoning, there was something missing. She was just about to turn back to her computer and resume processing her original program when her mother appeared in the doorway. "Amy honey, I want to talk to you," Mrs. Anderson said seriously. Little Amy gulped, The Saturday morning sun was bright. It gleamed off of the morning dew and slowly crept over Raye's windowsill. Sitting up and rubbing her eyes, Raye softly climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom. After returning she got dressed before sneaking back into the hall. Walking softly over to Chad's room, she put her ear to the door and listened. She could hear his breathing; it was steady and deep, indicating that he was asleep. Grinning, she softly padded down the hall and peeked into the kitchen. Raye thought gleefully. Moving over to the utility drawer she opened it and frowned. Quietly, she moved along the lower cupboards looking in the drawers. Raye thought with some irritation, She craned her neck, It only took Raye another ten minutes to find what she had been looking for. Hopping off the counter, she cautiously made her way to Chad's room once again. Raye thought, Stopping in front of Chad's door, she listened and after a few moments was satisfied that he was still sound asleep. Raye gave an evil smile as she softly slid open Chad's door. Not wasting any time, she took the two containers that made up the contact cement and quickly read over the directions. Making one last check up and down the hallway, Raye proceeded to apply the first part to the door jamb and the second part to the door itself. After waiting the required time Raye slid the door closed and held it. After a few seconds she gave it a gentle test tug. Her smile grew larger when she saw that the door appeared to be firmly cemented to the door jamb. Raye thought and trotted down the hall. Raye skipped out of the temple grounds smiling, taking the steps two at a time she turned and headed for Amy's house. She irritatedly brushed off the minor sense of guilt. Another part of her mind reminded her that she would grow up. Raye pointedly told that part of her brain to take a hike. As she walked her sense of confidence was starting to vanish. People were looking at her curiously as she walked down the street. She tried to bolster her confidence but it just fled under the more unscrupulous gazes sent her way. She started to jog and after another five minutes came within sight of her destination. Raye wasn't the only one that was wide awake that morning; Amy was as well. To a lesser extent, so was Lita. Amy for her part sat on the bed, knees drawn up, computer balanced on the top of her knees as she typed away. Lita would occasionally open a bleary eye to glare at her sister before shutting her eye again. "Amy, do you have any solutions?" Lita groggily asked. "No..." Amy responded with a hint of irritation in her voice. This caused the little girl to sit up and look at her sister. "What's the matter, Sis?" Lita asked sitting up and turning to look at Amy. Amy typed away in silence for a little while before giving a sigh and turning to face Lita. "I had a solution..." "That's great!" Lita exclaimed. "But... it was the wrong one," Amy finished. "I'm sorry, Lita," Amy continued as she saw her sister's disappointment, "It would have been right if we had been dead." "Huh?!?" "What I found out was that WE WERE fourteen when we fought Queen Beryl. It looks like Serena used the Imperium Silver Crystal just the same as she did in our normal reality but..." Amy trailed off, unsure of how to put it. "But?" Lita squeaked out. She didn't like the direction this was heading. "But when Serena made her wish, for us to be normal girls again... well... the Imperium Silver Crystal interpreted that wish and made us five!" "Holy cow!" Lita croaked out, "Are you saying that it thought that Serena wanted to be normal so IT reincarnated us and brought us all back as five year olds and reset time like it did before?!?" Amy nodded, "But that doesn't answer why when Prisma zapped us..." Lita trailed off as Amy's eyes grew wide and her jaw swung open. "What?" "Lita, you are a genius!" Amy exclaimed. Lita was about to respond when a gentle rattle at the window drew their attention. Walking over, Lita glanced out and noticed that it was Raye. "Hey!" Lita called out softly after opening the window, "What are you doing up this time of the morning?" "I was going to ask you the same thing!" Raye shot back, "Can I come in?" Lita was about to respond when she heard her mother come into the room. "Lita, who are you talking to?" Mrs. Anderson asked. "Um... it's Raye, Mommy," Lita said after a nervous look at her mother. Mrs. Anderson frowned. Walking over to the window, she looked out and indeed saw that it was Raye. "Girls get dressed," she told them before leaving the room. Raye had the habit of showing up early in the morning. Although not overly annoying, it was inconvenient at times. Both Lita and Amy hurried and got dressed. When they came out they found their mother talking to Raye who was just taking off her shoes. "Raye, would you like to stay for breakfast?" Raye blushed, "I'm sorry for barging in like that, Mrs. Anderson." She hadn't been planning on showing up for breakfast. "That's all right, Raye. Come on, let's get something to eat and then you three can play together." Oddly enough, this sounded quite reasonable to Raye and nodded her acceptance of the plan. It was shortly after the girls and Mrs. Anderson were finishing breakfast that the phone rang. It made everyone jump. Muttering something under her breath about tropical islands with no one around for miles and miles, Mrs. Anderson got up and went to answer the phone. As soon as she was out of the room Raye leaned over and said in a hushed tone, "Amy, you gotta get me out here!" "Why?" Amy asked, "Raye, we're still Scouts." "Yeah but I DO NOT want to stay five!" Raye hissed vehemently, "Look, Amy, you're the brains of the family. Can't you figure something out?!?" "Hey!" Lita squawked in protest, "Don't start picking on my sister like you do Serena." She folded her arms and glared at Raye hotly. Raye sighed and ran a hand over her face before saying, "I'm sorry, Lita. It's just that I'd prefer to be fourteen." Any further conversation was cut short by Mrs. Anderson walking sternly into the kitchen. The three little girls turned to look at the adult and gulped. "Young lady," Mrs. Anderson said, glaring disapprovingly at Raye, "You get your shoes and jacket on this minute!" "Why?" Raye asked. She tried to sound demanding but it came out only above a meek whisper. Mrs. Anderson was certainly an imposing woman when she wanted to be and Raye's five year old chemistry was playing havoc with Raye's confidence. "Mommy?" Lita questioned. She had never seen her mother act like this. Even when she had talked to Lita about pushing that bully around. "Chad is coming over to get you," Mrs. Anderson explained softly, "You snuck out of the house again. He called over to Serena's and then called here." Raye started to open her mouth to protest but hastily closed it when Amy's mother pinned her with a look that would have cut through granite! "Now go and get ready," she ordered pointing towards the door. Nodding meekly, Raye slid off the chair and went to get her jacket and shoes on. Not more than ten minutes later, Raye found herself sitting on her bed waiting for Chad. The moment he had shown up on the Anderson doorstep she KNEW she was in very serious trouble. The veins on Chad's forehead were standing out like mountain ridges. His facial muscles were very tight and, when he was thanking Mrs. Anderson, Raye thought that his head might explode from the pressure. Once they had gotten back to the temple grounds, Chad had only directed her to her room and told her to stay put. Although the veins on his forehead had receded, Chad had kept silent. By the time that Chad came into her room, Raye wasn't feeling very well. Her stomach was tied into knots and she was starting to doubt the wisdom of taking off for Amy's place. She began to think she should of asked Chad or Grandpa for permission to visit Amy. She had difficulty suppressing that thought. "Do you have anything to say for yourself, Raye?" Chad asked quietly. "I was okay!" Raye snapped. She didn't care what her emotions were screaming at her. Her pride was going to win out this time. "I was okay. You didn't have to worry!" "Is that all?" Chad asked, a sterness coming back to his features. "You'd better believe it," Raye said defiantly. Chad took two quick steps over and, in two fluid motions, sat down and pulled Raye across his lap before she could get away. Raye immediately recognized what was about to occur but found herself held firmly in place. Her tears were already flowing and she was just about to protest when the hand of doom descended. Bracing herself, Raye prepared to give vent to all of her frustrations but the first swat never landed. Instead Chad picked her up placed her on the bed and started for the door. "Aren't you going to spank me?" Raye finally questioned, watching him warily. "No," Chad said through clenched teeth, "I won't, Raye. I'm too angry with you. I'm also very disappointed in you for taking off alone. I don't think spanking you will do anything but make me feel better." He had said this with his back to her, turning around Raye noticed that there was moisture in his eyes, "I don't know why you're acting so strangely, Raye. It's like you hate me or something!" Sighing, Chad walked to the door, "Stay in your room. Grandpa will come get you for meals." With that he left. Poking his head back in the door, he added, "And we're going to be talking about these doors." Then he was gone, and Raye sniffled. Later that night, after Raye had been put to bed early by her grandfather, she lay awake doing battle with her emotions. Chad hadn't spoken to her all day and staying in her room had made her feel very lonely. On the other hand, she tried to deny that Chad cared about her or had been worried about her, or, even worse, that she cared about hurting him. As the minutes passed and her worry and frustration grew, a pain started to develop. After a little while it had grown more intense. Curling up, she tried to relieve it but it just wouldn't go away. She was about to get up and get something for her stomach when her door opened. Turning her head, she saw that it was Chad. She couldn't let him see that something was wrong. Turning away, she tried to straighten herself out but found that it was very uncomfortable. "Raye?" Chad asked as he softly came into her room, "Is there something the matter?" "No," Raye answered in a voice of false hostility. She saw Chad walk around the bed. "Are you cold?" he asked. "No," Raye said again. She grimaced a bit. "Well then why are you all curled up, dudette?" Chad said and forced a smile. He soon lost it when Raye didn't respond. "Are you okay, Pumpkin?" a note of worry coming into his voice. "It hurts," Raye finally admitted, some of her guilt forcing her pride into a dark corner of her brain. Chad lifted the covers away and looked at Raye more seriously as he turned on the bedside lamp. "Can you point to where it hurts?" "My tummy..." Raye said again and tried to wrap her arms tighter. "I know but can you point?" Chad insisted again. Raye didn't really understand the relevance but being in no mood to argue pointed to her tummy. She was slightly surprised when Chad gave a sigh of relief. "Come on," Chad said lifting the child up and starting to head for the door, "Let's see if Grandpa has something for a tummy ache." As he moved he started to rub Raye's back and oddly enough Raye found this quite comforting. Within a few minutes Raye was back in her room, but this time being rocked in the rocking chair. Her Raggedy Anne doll snuggled close to her and she endured falling asleep while being rocked by Chad. She would normally protest such treatment but after today, strangely it felt good; it felt proper. And as Raye closed her eyes, she had another feeling: one that had long been absent, even in her normal childhood. It felt like home. And to Raye that was something very soothing. Coming next in ACS Part 13 "Relationships and Revelations"