After dinner and a rousing game of 'Who Done It?', Melody glanced at the clock and uttered the two words that were a bane to little ones the world over: "Bed time!"

"Awwww!" The normal chorus of chibi voices greeted her announcement and six little forms solemnly made their way up the stairs. They knew better than to argue about bedtime.

"I'll tell ya what, guys." Duo grinned up at them. "If ya'll can get in your jammies and all ready for bed in 15 minutes, I'll tell ya a special bedtime story!"

The chibis lit up at this promise and thundered upstairs.

"No running in the house!" Melody fruitlessly reminded them, and then turned a stern look on Duo.

He shrugged and gave her his most disarming smile. "They must've forgotten to tell me that one."

"Riiight." Melody just rolled her eyes at that.

Above, they could hear the shuffling of little bodies as the chibis hurried to get ready for bed. After a few minutes, the noises subsided, and a voice piped down from above: "We're all brush'd up, Duo!"

Duo winked at Melody as he headed upstairs; she was stifling a grin as she shook her head in exasperation. After all, he couldn’t help it if the chibis were a bit…rambunctious. He poked his head into the Nursery and was surprised to see all of the boys sitting up in bed in their animal pajamas, an expectant look on each little face. “A cow, a bunny, another cow, a duck and another bunny,” he thought. “Where’s Relena?” he asked, pulling the chair out from under the desk, straddling it and leaning his arms on its back.

"She's in her room," Chibi Heero replied, with almost a look of relief.

"Well, why don't ya'll ask her in? After all, I promised her she could hear the story too, and you should always keep your promises!"

"Even to girls?" Chibi Duo queried.

Duo nodded. "Yep--even to girls!"

The five chibis looked at each other. After a moment, Chibi Duo spoke up. "Heero, you should go get her. She likes you!" he said with a smirk in his voice.

Heero simply fixed him with his Smoldering Glare. "I'm not gonna do that. She'll wanna sit with me!"

Before the argument could get any further, Duo cut in. "Quatre, why don't you go get her?" As he watched the little bunny hop out of his bed he thought, “I wonder if she’ll be an animal too?”

"Okay," Chibi Quatre answered, and padded across the hall, his bunny ears flapping, to knock on Relena's door. "Relena? You wanna come ‘n listen to the story?"

Relena opened the door a crack and looked out across the hall. "Can I really?"

Quatre nodded. "Yep! We all 'greed, so you can come in!"

Relena's smile lit up her face and she scampered across the hall. Duo was not disappointed when she came into the room in her lamby jammies and settled on the edge of Heero's bed. Heero threw Duo a long-suffering look as she did so, trying to ignore Chibi Duo's snickering. The rest of the chibis settled down, fixing Duo with excited expressions.

"What'cha gonna read t' us?" asked Trowa, noticing that there wasn't a book anywhere near Duo.

"I'm not gonna read--I'll just tell stories that I know from memory," Duo answered. "I know tons of great stories! Even some good poems, like the first one I've got for ya."

"Oh, goody!" Relena enthused. "I like poemetry! So does Heero--don't 'cha, sweetie?" She slipped her arm through his and clung to his side, laying her head on his shoulder. One of the ears on the hood of her lamby jammies tickled his cheek, and he brushed it away, trying his best to ignore her. She didn't get the hint, however, just moved a little bit so that she was more comfortable. Heero decided not to say anything to her about being annoying because Melody had told them to behave especially well because they had a guest, so he didn't dare. But he made a mental note to remind her about how annoying she was after Duo went back home.

Duo gave a severe look to those who giggled at what Relena had said and the room suddenly went silent. Then the stories began.

Duo was in his element--he had an audience. He entertained them all with his own renditions of his favorite stories, adding the appropriate sound effects when necessary. After he regaled them with several of his favorite tales, he personally escorted Relena back to her room and tucked her in. He left the lamp on and made sure that he didn't close the door any farther than she had insisted it be kept open. He thought she looked a bit on the sick side, but decided that it was the lamplight that made her look so pale. He then said goodnight to the boys and went downstairs, where he saw that Melody had his bedding all ready for him. He didn't normally go to bed so early, but supervising such active little ones had worn him out! "How does Melody keep up with them day after day after day?" he wondered as he settled in for the night, falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.