Relena walked stealthily over the new black carpet and very carefully sat down on the edge of Heero's bed. She looked around at the newly redecorated Nursery. Evidences of Duo having won the fistfight with Wufei and Heero to determine the accent color for the Nursery were everywhere. The sunlight was coming through the large windows, with their new black curtains and black woodwork. The black light bulb in the nightlight was shining faintly.

Chibi Wufei saw Duo peering around the doorframe to the Nursery. "What 'cha doin', Duo?" he asked.

"Shh--I'm waitin' for the fun to start," whispered Duo. "Stay and WATCH."

Heero was lying on his side, covered up to his chin with his black and olive green reversible comforter. The hood on his cow pajamas was slightly askew, making the horns tilt adorably, Relena thought. She leaned forward and kissed the shock of brown hair that was sticking out of his hood and she sighed happily.

Heero opened one eye because he thought he heard Relena. He shook his head unbelievingly, and when he realized that Relena really WAS there he sprang out of bed in one motion, the back hooves of his pajamas sinking into the plush black carpet.

"Don't kiss me!" Heero exploded, making the horns on his hood wobble. "YOU'RE not s'posed to be here! You don't got premission!"

"Yes I do!" Relena declared, now standing, hands on hips.

"You CAN'T! I was sleepin' so I COULDN'T a gave you premission!"

"Duo said I could," Relena said defensively.

"He can't give you premission!"

"Yes he can! He said it's his room too!"

"Look at the Mad Cow!" Wufei taunted from the doorway.

"Heero's got Mad Cow Disease!" heckled Duo.

They both roared with laughter. Duo was laughing so hard that when the Mad Cow grabbed him by the shirt and knocked him to the floor he was completely defenseless. He couldn't stop laughing.

Tegan and Melody ran up the stairs to see what all the fuss was about.

"Heero Yuy, you stop that right now," Tegan scolded as she wrenched Heero away from Duo.

"Lemme go!" Heero demanded as he struggled to get away from her, his arms and legs flailing in Duo's direction as he attempted to get back to his attack.

Melody put a hand on each side of Heero's face and made him look at her. "Just what is going on here?"

Heero stopped struggling so Tegan put him down.

"Duo gave Relena premission to come in here and watch me sleep. An' Relena KISSED me!"

"Duo," Melody said sternly. "What makes you think you can give Relena permission to come in here and watch Heero sleep?"

"It's my room too," Duo said defensively.

Melody gave Duo The Look.

Duo looked up at her sincerely. "Relena has been so mopey an' I felt sorry for her..."

Melody continued giving him The Look.

"Duo, I don't believe for even one minute that you have suddenly become compassionate toward Relena. If you were it would be a first. So don't lie to me. What's the real reason?"

Duo looked at the floor, twisting his hands behind his back and scuffing the toe of one shoe.

"Duo, I'm waiting."

Duo stopped waffling and came straight to the point. "Well, it's been so BORING 'round here I just thought I would liven things up. You know, make somethin' fun to watch."

"That sounds more like it. It makes me very sad when you lie to me, Duo. You have to stop doing that."

"I'm sorry," Duo said. And he really DID look sorry, having turned the power of his big blue eyes onto "full blast".

"I'll deal with you and Wufei later." She turned her attention to Relena. "Now, young lady, you know better than to kiss somebody that doesn't want to be kissed. You have to respect Heero's personal space."

"How was I s'posed to know that he didn't want me to kiss him? He was sleepin' so I couldn't ask him."

"You know he doesn't want you to kiss him. If he's asleep you'll just have to wait till he wakes up to ask him, okay?"

Relena nodded solemnly.

"Relena, you will be doing Heero's chores today for a punishment. And you two--"

Melody turned to talk to Wufei and Duo, but they were missing. She caught them sneaking down the hall. She took each one by an ear and led them downstairs.

Wufei walked toward his fate with as much dignity as he could muster.

"Ow! That hurts!" Duo complained, as he twisted and squirmed and tried to get away.

"It only hurts when you pull away from me..."

Duo and Wufei sat grumpily on the back porch watching the other chibis play. Wufei glared at them, his arms folded in stubbornness. Duo's arms were also folded, and his face was so scowly that he looked like a storm cloud.

"I think Melody's bein' totally unfair makin' us watch the others havin' fun," Duo grumbled. "'Since you wanted to watch the fun you can watch the other chibis have fun this mornin','" he mimicked. "Why does she think that 'the punishmint hasta fit the crime'?"

"The WORST part of it is that we hafta play with Relena ALL AFTERNOON 'cause we got her in trouble--an' we hafta play ANYTHING she wants to," Wufei complained.

"Well, it makes me feel a LITTLE better that she got punished for envadin' Heero's pers'nal space at least."

The nearby church clock chimed, announcing that it was noon. Relena appeared at the screened kitchen door with a big smile on her face.

"Will you guys please open the door for me?" she asked politely.

Relena brought a blanket and a child-sized picnic basket out onto the porch.

"The first thing we get to do today is have a picnic!" she exclaimed. "I made a extra samwich just in case Heero gets hungry too. It's his fav'rite--peanut butter an' grape jelly an' cheddar cheese an' a slice of raw onion. I just made reg'lar peanut butter an' jelly for the rest a us. Will you spread out the blanket for me?"

The boys reluctantly obliged. Relena proceeded to arrange the dishes and the food, not skipping a beat.

"We're gonna have LOTSA fun today! I've got it all planned," Relena chattered on, not noticing that she was the only one participating in this conversation. "After our picnic we'll play House an' take my dollies for a walk. I'll let you take turns pushin' the buggy. An' then we'll all play jump rope. We'll take turns jumpin' too, but I get to go first 'cause I'm the girl. An' then we'll all get dressed up an' have a tea party! We'll use my tea set with the roses on it. We'll use lem'nade for tea an' I already made the cookies. They're coolin' in the kitchen."

"I hope Melody helped you," Wufei said doubtfully.

"No--I did it all by myself with my Easy Bakin' Oven," Relena said proudly. "I'll go get the juice."

"We're doomed, you know that?" Wufei rolled his eyes resignedly.

"Yeah--'member the last time she baked cookies with that oven? They were hard as rocks."

"Those were cupcakes."

"Well, you'd never know it. They were hard an' flat. The only thing that was any good was the frostin', 'member?"

"That's 'cause Melody let her use the frostin' she buys at the store, so Relena couldn't a goofed THAT up too!"

Relena returned and continued chattering happily.

"An' it's s'posed to rain later this afternoon so then we'll play Beauty Shop! I've got TWELVE new curlers to try out! An' then while your hair is dryin', we'll all go to my room an' play Barbies..."

The boys' brains shut down at this point and they stopped listening. They were too horrified by the afternoon's planned activities to hear any more.