AN: First off, don't kill me. I found this piece on my computer after I thought I lost it and I wanted to at least get this part up before I managed to lose it again, possibly forever. I will be focusing on finishing my other pieces before I continue it though, so if you hate waiting, turn back now!

This year has been kind of a mess for me, but I'm hoping to finally have time to start writing again this summer. So without further ado…

Sailor Moon does not belong to me. Just mountains of guilt. Those are all mine.

Usagi hummed to herself as she rocked back and forth on her feet, basking in the warmth of the sun as she waited for Mamoru at the entrance to the park. It was finally warm enough to be outside in nothing but a light jacket, and she was determined to celebrate!

For her, of course, this meant food, and after cajoling Mamoru relentlessly for a week, she had finally convinced him to take an afternoon off from the hospital so that they could have a picnic.

Mamoru wasn't the biggest fan of eating outside – "Humanity's made progress, Usa, precisely so I don't have to worry about dirt in my food." – but after 2 years of marriage, Usagi had mastered the art of getting Mamoru to do things he claimed he didn't want to.

Of course, sometimes she thought he put up a fight just so that she would set about…convincing him. But she didn't mind. The process was always tremendously fun. And this most recent time? Usagi giggled to herself in remembrance. Even Minako had learned not to ask about her sex life anymore.

Adjusting the basket on her arm, and sending another mental 'thank you' to Makoto for helping her prepare a lunch on such short notice, Usagi closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sky.

This really was her favorite time of the year. Everything was coming back to life, shaking off the cold grey of winter, warm and light and –

"Usa!"

Usagi opened her eyes at the distant sound of Mamoru's voice. Glancing to her left she saw him walking towards her, hand raised in greeting.

She smiled and took a step in his direction, not comprehending why his eyes were suddenly going wide, his hand moving back down and out as if to stop something, his lips forming her name even as a shout and harsh whir sounded behind her and –

Usagi blinked her eyes open to see black and gold and blue swimming above her. Some of the blue sharpened into circles – wide and frantic – and a voice was pushing through the waves around her ears.

"Usako, Usako!"

She squinted. Tried to lift with an arm that felt too heavy. Let go.

"Mamo…"

Everything went black.

Mamoru ran his hands through his hair for what must have been the two hundredth time in an hour. Surprised again to find he still had any left. Pulling it briefly into view to check, he wondered how it hadn't turned white from worry.

With a grunt of derision for his own thoughts, he stood up. Pacing forward to grip the handle of the hospital bed, he took a moment to stare down at his wife, pale against the bed sheets, before tearing his eyes away and walking to the window.

She looked so small in that hospital bed. So frail. It was easy to forget sometimes, exactly how small she was, when normally she existed as a bright ball of energy – bouncing next to him in excitement or poking her finger into his chest in frustration – so full of life, her presence so large in his mind.

Mamoru ran his hands through his hair, pulling tight on the strands before dropping his arms against the windowsill with a sigh.

He knew she would be okay. The doctor assigned to her was an older man– kind, smart, and meticulous – who knew exactly what he was doing. Mamoru had even looked over all her charts himself and it all added up to the same thing: she had a concussion, but she should be just fine.

He pressed his forehead against the cool glass and closed his eyes, fighting off the headache that had been slowly throbbing in his temples for the past half hour.

That bicyclist hadn't been paying any attention. Looking at his phone to change a song or check a text. He didn't know. He hadn't asked.

His hands strained around the plaster until he forced himself to relax. He had dealt with him already. Legally, of course. Not that he hadn't wanted to break the hand holding that phone, and the other one for good measure, but that wouldn't have helped Usagi in the long run.

He'd had to pry the basket from her grasp to pick her up.

He felt his lips form a small smile. Even passed out, Usagi would protect their meal.

A soft moan and the shuffle of blankets behind him had him whipping around and sprinting for the bed.

He gripped the bed handle again and couldn't stop a small laugh of relief when he found her slowly blinking her eyes open. "Usako? Sweetie, how do you feel?"

He watched as she slowly focused on him in the harsh light of the hospital room and found himself smiling at the adorable look of confusion being shot his way.

He was about to reach forward to smooth away the crease between her eyebrows when she murmured, her voice thick with sleep, "Mamoru-baka, what are you doing?"

Mamoru let his hand fall back down. Her head probably felt worse than his right now and she must not want him to touch it.

Instead, he watched carefully as her eyes moved passed him to rove around the room and so saw the exact moment when they widened in fear. He immediately leaned forward to comfort her, hands moving automatically to her shoulder and her cheek. "You got hit by a bike and fell pretty hard. The doctor says you'll be okay, but you have a minor concussion and… Usako, sweetie, what's wrong?"

She had moved away from him as he tried to touch her and he pulled his hands back carefully. "A concussion?"

He nodded.

"Oookaaaay," she narrowed her eyes at him and he wondered if she was about to blame him for the loss of their picnic. Instead, however, she threw him for a different loop when she asked, with a blunt and rather angry tone, "But what the heck are you doing here?"

"What?"

"I mean where are my parents? Or my friends?" She was glancing around as if he might be hiding them somewhere. "Didn't the hospital call anyone?"

Mamoru opened his mouth and then closed it. Her parents were on vacation and wouldn't be back for another week, as she knew, but he had of course called them and the girls. After a lot of assuring and reassuring everyone that she would be okay, the girls had agreed to come see her after they got off work. That wouldn't be for another couple hours at least, though.

Mamoru wasn't sure what his face looked like, but his uncertainty must have been clear, as Usagi shrank back into her pillow with a soft, "They are coming, right?" and she looked so lost he found himself nodding before he could think to do anything else.

She brightened at that, but he quickly found himself being viewed again through narrowed eyes.

"Weeeeell," she drawled slowly, flicking her eyes suspiciously to the side before focusing on him again, "You don't have to stay then. I'm sure you have somewhere better to be."

"W-what?" Mamoru found himself asking, again, hopelessly confused.

Usagi raised her eyebrows at him, "I mean, you don't have to stay with me." She shrugged slightly, plucking at a corner of the hospital blanket, "I'll be fine."

He felt his jaw start to drop, but before he could respond, the door opened and the nurse on duty, Yuta, peeked in. His smile brightened when it fell on Usagi. "Oh good, she woke up. I'll have the doctor in here in just a second, Dr. Chiba."

Mamoru nodded and raised his hand in thanks, before the door shut with a click.

He looked back to find his wife watching him with confusion. "I thought you had to finish med school to be a doctor."

Mamoru opened his mouth to ask what the heck she was talking about when, suddenly, it all fell into place.

"Shit," he murmured, staring at her in horror before running his hands through his hair and gripping at the strands as if perhaps, if he just pulled hard enough, he'd wake up from whatever nightmare this was. "Shit, shit, shit."

"What? What?!" He could hear the confusion and frustration in Usagi's voice, could feel her desperation like a second heartbeat, but he didn't know what to do because this could not be happening! He felt himself moving, back and forth in front of her bed, and he knew he must be scaring her, knew she was demanding answers from him, but he was scared and he had no idea how to answer her questions. How could he explain to her that –

"Wait, you're married?"

That got him to stop pacing, and he turned to find Usagi staring at his left hand in undisguised shock, which quickly melted into something hurt and distraught and for just a brief moment he felt a flash of joy that she hadn't forgotten her feelings for him completely – that his Usagi was still here somewhere – but then it was gone in a wave of guilt and he approached her bed quickly with a placating gesture. "Usako, honey – "

The door opened again and this time it was the doctor looking up from his clipboard with a smile and before Mamoru could say anything, could tell him what was wrong, he greeted Usagi with a cheerful, "Good afternoon, Mrs. Chiba. I'm glad to see you're awake and, I assume, doing okay?"

Mamoru watched with morbid fascination as her mouth fell open, her eyes moving from the doctor now looking at her in concern, to Mamoru, to his left hand currently gripping the end of her bedrail, to her own hand, laying on the blanket next to her.

He watched her raise it closer to her face, as if to be sure, as if she couldn't quite believe what was there: a small gold band on her fourth finger.

"M-Mrs. – ?" She looked up, then, meeting Mamoru's worried gaze for one fleeting instant before she fainted.

AN: Anyways, this chapter has been written for a while and, like many of my fics, it has a general outline, but won't be going anywhere in the foreseeable future. Sorry… But I really wanted to get it up before I officially lost it, and maybe having it up here will make my progress a little faster!