It dawned slowly, but like clockwork. Hotaru was an
intelligent child and always promptly disappeared into her
room right on schedule. Setsuna began to work long hours,
only returning home to collapse exhausted in her bed. You
could cut the tension in the Outers' house with a knife.
Haruka was searching the bathroom in vain. 'Why does she
always have to move everything! It was fine where it was.
Come to think of it she always moves my things. Why doesn't
she move her own stuff and leave mine alone!' By the time
the object of this tirade appeared at the bathroom door,
Haruka had worked her temper into frenzy.

"Will you please stop making all that noise!" her
beloved snapped. Stepping around the blonde, Michiru began
to search the medicine cabinet for Tylenol. Her head was
pounding.

"Michiru, where did you put the things?" Haruka
was exasperated and her irritation came through in her
voice.

"What things? " Michiru asked contrarily although
she already knew what Haruka was looking for.

The blonde blushed. "You know what things."

"They're called sanitary napkins, Haruka."

"All right, fine, where are the sanitary napkins?"
Haruka ground out.

Michiru reached into the bathroom closet and produced
a small pink wrapped package and tossed it to Haruka before
walking out of the bathroom with the Tylenol.

"Why didn't you just leave them under the sink?" Haruka
called after her.

"What?" Michiru called breezily, pretending not to
hear, as she headed down the stairs.

"Never mind," Haruka mumbled to herself. She
finished up quickly, tossing the wrapper in the trashcan. She
washed her hands and went downstairs. Maybe if she was lucky
she could get some time to herself before dinner. No sooner had
she curled up on the couch with a pillow hugged to her chest
than her lover came out of the kitchen, obviously looking for
something. She inspected everywhere, even the area where Haruka
lay on the couch.

Finally, Michiru groaned in frustration. "Where on
earth is my sketchbook? I had it right here!"

"How the hell should I know?"

"Don't snap at me, Tenoh Haruka!"

Haruka ran her fingers through her bangs and sighed.
"Why do we have to go through this every month?"

"I don't know," Michiru said flatly, her arms wrapped
around her swollen breasts. The couple glared at one another.

"Well, I need a sketchbook no matter what."

The statement hung in the air for a moment.

"Fine," Haruka finally said and grabbed her car keys.

Michiru marched to the door and stopped waiting for
Haruka to open it for her. The blonde threw it open and followed
her girlfriend out, slamming it behind her.

There was a fragile truce in the car, because both
women were enjoying the feeling of being outside with the wind
in their hair. For Haruka driving was a major stress reliever.
They stopped at the art store and Haruka declined to go inside.
A short time later Michiru returned with a package and put it in
the back seat.

"Now I need to go to the grocery store."

Haruka started to complain, but thought better of it. "What
do you need... now?" she tried to sound interested and not annoyed.

"Tampons."

This promptly ended their conversation. Haruka knew
Michiru preferred tampons to sanitary napkins because she used
swimming as a stress reliever and she couldn't do that with a
bulky pad. Haruka didn't mind pads; she always wore over sized
clothing during her period anyway. They stopped in front of the
store. Haruka leaned her head back on the headrest anticipating
a short nap. Michiru reached out and touched her arm.

"Please come in with me."

Haruka sighed, but followed the aqua haired woman into
the store. Haruka grabbed a cart; it was the closest she could
come to driving inside the store. When Hotaru came along they
had fun running up and down the aisles with buggies making car
noises, much to Michiru's amusement and occasional embarrassment.
Today Haruka docilely pushed the cart behind her lover not even
playfully bumping Michiru when she had the chance.

She watched as Michiru gathered the items they needed:
rice, tuna, eggs and...things. Michiru was heading toward the
front when something on the shelf caught Haruka's eye.
'Cookies!' Her sweet tooth, made twice as strong by her period,
reared its head and roared. 'Quick! Quick, before Michiru sees
you!' She grabbed the package and tossed it in the buggy.
Unfortunately for the blonde, the bag nicked a couple of cans
and made just enough noise to attract Michiru's attention.

Haruka knew the second her lover realized what she had
done. Her head dropped in defeat.

"Cookies? Haruka," Michiru began.

Haruka already knew she was going to get a lecture. 'Oh
no, here it comes.'

"Do you know what would go really well with cookies?"

Haruka's head came up.

Michiru was looking off into the distance smiling
dreamily. "Ice cream."

Their eyes met. A slow smile spread across both women's
faces. Haruka bolted with the cart and Michiru ran after her. By
the time they left, they had collected quite an impressive amount
of sugar and chocolate. Haruka happily loaded their purchases into
the trunk.

At home Michiru made a simple dinner. Hotaru appeared
from her room to eat quickly before excusing herself to do homework.
As soon as their daughter went back into her room, Haruka broke
out the ice cream scoop. Together they created the biggest, most
fattening sundae they could. Grabbing their cookies and chocolate
and two spoons they put on one of their favorite movies and lost
themselves in a world of sweets.

Michiru was savoring a gooey piece of rice candy. "Mm," she
sighed, "That's so good."

Haruka swallowed the last of her spoonful of chocolate chip
cookie dough. "I can think of something better," she teased
suggestively, smiling lasciviously at her lover.

Michiru gave her a dirty look. "Don't even go there."

Haruka chuckled. She wasn't quite up to making love either,
but she felt a lot better and the temptation to tease Michiru
was just too much to resist.

Around nine, the two stuffed senshi were exhausted. Haruka
could hardly hold her eyes open and Michiru was dozing on her shoulder.

"Come on, Love, it's time for bed."

Michiru mumbled and snuggled closer.

Haruka yawned. "Michiru, you have to finish your sketches
tomorrow."

One blue eye opened. "Party pooper," Michiru grumbled, but
she stood up and stretched. Haruka rolled to her feet. Together,
they headed upstairs.

Michiru changed into her nightgown. While she washed her
face and moisturized, Haruka wandered through in her underwear,
carrying her pajamas. She made use of the toilet; this time she
knew where the "things" were. The blonde changed into her blue
flannel jammies and was heading for the bed, when Michiru grabbed
Haruka's collar and dragged her back to the sink. She glared at
the blonde with tired eyes.

"Mmrush!" she commanded around her toothbrush, pausing
to spit. "After all that junk food you need to brush your teeth."

Haruka scrunched up her face. She was sleepy, but she
complied and squirted Crest on her blue toothbrush and started
scrubbing. Michiru made her floss too. Finally, they staggered
into their bedroom and curled up under the covers, falling
asleep within minutes.

Down the hall a door opened. Hotaru popped out and looked
around. She had spent the afternoon outside playing and after
dinner she had done her homework. She listened to the steady
breathing that was coming from her parents' bedroom. They were
obviously asleep. The television was hers! She could watch The
Learning Channel and see all of those surgeries that made
Haruka-papa sick to her stomach. She scampered into the living
room and her eyes opened wide. There were chocolate and cookies
spread all over the coffee table. Michiru-mama must have lost
her mind, but Hotaru was going to make the most of it. She
got herself a glass of water.

Setsuna let herself in at 11:00pm. Hotaru sat on the
couch eating chocolate and watching a woman give birth.

"Where are Haruka and Michiru?"

"They went to bed early." The little girl looked up,
her eyes bright with excitement. "Isn't this wonderful," she
exclaimed. She gestured toward the TV. Setsuna knew it was
Hotaru's dream to become a doctor one day. She sat down beside
her daughter and took a cookie from the open package. Really,
this was the last thing she wanted to see because it felt as
if her own body was trying to give birth to a blood clot. Since
at the beginning of her period she was usually crabby, Setsuna
took pains to stay away from her two housemates. Women who
lived together often synchronized their cycles. Haruka and
Michiru were probably in the same state of mind. Imagine if
they had kids? Setsuna didn't know if she could handle more
dangerous Tenohs and Kaiohs around. Then she shook her
head, now she was being silly.

Hotaru looked up.

"Setsuna-mama?" she asked.

"I'm fine Hotaru-chan," said Setsuna, smiling
reassuringly. She almost laughed at herself. 'Haruka and
Michiru having kids? What a silly notion.' She turned back to
snacking. A trip to the refrigerator discovered ice cream and
Setsuna enjoyed a rare night of staying up late and pigging
out with her child. Somewhere between the bypass and gallbladder
surgery, Setsuna fell asleep on the couch. Hotaru got a blanket
and covered her mama up. She decided it was pretty chilly so
she brought in one of her own blankets and fell asleep in front
of the TV.

Haruka woke up to a dull pain in her lower abdomen.
She lay very still breathing deeply, trying to ignore the ache.
She really hated cramps. Michiru never suffered much from them;
her lover just had mood swings that were fun for the whole
family. Michiru moved beside her, pulling up the covers around
herself. Haruka eased out of bed and padded to the bathroom in
search of Tylenol. It was missing, but Haruka was still under the
influences of her chocolate binge so instead of being irritated
she tried to find something that would work just as well and
ended up with Hotaru's chewables. She wandered back to the
bedroom with the bottle. She attacked the lid a bit too
aggressively and it popped off.

"Shimatta," she hissed as the tiny pills scattered
across the floor.

Michiru's eyes opened. "Haruka? What are you doing?"

Haruka flopped back onto the bed and groaned. "Hurts,"
she mumbled as her belly tightened again. To anyone else she would
have been stoic about it, but Michiru would have figured it out anyway.

Michiru rolled out of bed and slipped her feet into her
slippers, padding to the door.

"Come on to the kitchen, I'll make you some tea and
breakfast if you feel up to eating."

Haruka followed her lover and sat down at the table. Michiru
started with tea base before adding tansy. She kept a store of herbs
in the cabinet and occasionally used them to treat minor complaints.
Haruka glanced up just in time to see her girlfriend liberally
pouring Angelica root into the mix. Boy, this stuff was going to be
vile, but it would probably work. Haruka though wistfully of all her
sweet treats from the night before. Come to think of it, there were
leftovers in the living room. After she drank this disgusting stuff
and fixed her cramps she could sneak some more chocolate before
Michiru cleared it all away.

Michiru handed her the cup of tea. Usually Haruka would have
sipped, but today she downed the cup in three big gulps. It helped
with the taste...a little. Michiru blinked when Haruka gave her the
cup right back. Haruka headed for the living room. She was
surprised to see her daughter and best friend...and several empty
wrappers. Setsuna was just waking up and Hotaru was still fast
asleep, but there was a suspicious little ring around her mouth.

"Oh, how sweet." Michiru appeared from the kitchen. The
aqua haired woman gazed lovingly at Hotaru who was just beginning
to stir. The girl sat up and blinked her violet eyes.

"Looks like they had visions of sugar plums that danced
out of their heads and right into their mouths," Haruka growled.

Hotaru licked guiltily at her lips.

"Good Morning," Michiru said with a bright smile. She was
in a good mood.

"Ohayo," Setsuna answered. "We finished off the snack
food. I hope you don't mind."

"Well, as a matter of fact..." Haruka began, but
Michiru cut her off.

"Oh no, we don't mind. I was going to throw the rest of
it out this morning."

Haruka but her hands on her growling belly and glanced
forlornly at the empty cookie bag.

"What's wrong, Haruka?" Setsuna asked, concerned.

Michiru glanced at her lover. "I guess you need another
cup of tea."

Haruka winced, but accepted her fate and quietly
followed Michiru back into the kitchen. She plopped at the
table and waited for the tea.

Michiru fished around in the back of the cabinet and
tossed something in the cup. She handed it to Haruka. The blonde
started to absently take a drink. Her eyes crossed as she found
herself nose to nose with a pile of Hershey's Kisses. She looked
up at Michiru. The other woman smiled and planted her own kiss on
Haruka's slightly open mouth.

"I love you," she sighed as they broke the kiss.

Haruka pulled Michiru into her lap and they snuggled
together. After a moment Michiru sat up. "Aren't you going to
eat your chocolate?"

"Not this second," Haruka said hugging her lover. "Because
right now I have something better than chocolate."

End

Author's Notes: Ok this one is small and not terribly inspired
I'm afraid. I just thought it was interesting that no one else
had addressed the perils of three grown women living together.
Even people who love each other dearly have moments when
they'd love to throttle their mate. I don't think H&M are
terribly different in that respect. So I wrote a little fic
about it. Enjoy