AN: Happy (early) birthday, Ami-chan!

Ami shut the door to her room, and in the dark walked to her night stand and turned on her lamp. A strange melancholy filled her as she changed into her pajamas. In a few short hours, she would be twenty years old. She would no longer be a teenager.

It was strange, she thought, as she pulled back her blankets and sat on the edge of her bed. So much had happened in her teens she was almost sad to no longer be one anymore. After all, she met her best friends as a teenager after fourteen years of not having friends. She learned of duty and destiny as a sailor senshi. She saved the world with her sisters-in-arms countless times.

She fell in love.

With a small smile, Ami raised her legs and slid them beneath the blanket as she pulled it up and laid down. She reached over and shut off the light.

Tomorrow was her birthday. Tomorrow her dearest friends would celebrate with her and help her say goodbye to being a teenager. Though in school and having a great need to study, Ami wouldn't touch a single text book in the next twenty-four hours. With that happy, if a bit guilty, thought, Ami closed her eyes in an attempt to sleep for the night. She would need to be well rested for her friends tomorrow.

A light tapping, however, caused her eyes to pop open.

She listened for a moment, unsure of what it was she heard. Not hearing the sound again, Ami shrugged beneath the blanket and closed her eyes again, thinking perhaps it was a car passing below on the street.

As she settled into her bed, Ami heard the tapping again. Sitting up, her eyes, now adjusted tot he darkness, scanned around her room. Nothing seemed to be out of place. So what was that noise?

And there it was again.

Ami snapped her head around to her bedroom window and startled. Bright green eyes twinkled at her as their owner smiled and waved. Makoto had been tapping on the glass!

With a deep breath to slow her hammering heart, Ami climbed out of bed and moved to the window, opening it for the brunette to crawl through. The fact Makoto was able to even do such a thing this high up on Ami's apartment building still mystified the bluenette; it wasn't the first time Makoto had done it and Ami doubted it would be the last.

"What are you doing here, Mako-chan," Ami asked as she closed the window. Makoto had moved past her and when Ami turned to look at her, Makoto's warm hands cupped her face and her lips pressed against Ami's.

Surprised though not unwelcome, Ami's mouth moved against Makoto's, her small hands moving to lightly grip the Amazon's wrists. After a moment, Makoto pulled away and smiled down the smaller woman, her smile growing when she saw Ami's eyes glaze over.

"Happy birthday, Ami," Makoto whispered, her thumbs gently caressing Ami's cheeks.

Ami smiled shyly and moved to hug Makoto, her arms around her waist and her head against Makoto's chest. Holding her tight, Ami responded, "It's not my birthday yet."

Makoto chuckled, her arms wrapped tightly around Ami. "Close enough." Ami giggled and Makoto added, "Besides, you know how impatient I am."

Ami's giggle turned into a soft laugh. She pulled away and unzipped Makoto's light jacket. "You're staying for a while, right," Ami asked as she tossed the jacket over the back of her desk chair.

Makoto laughed. "I guess so."

Ami smiled and moved back to her bed. She crawled beneath the covers once again and moved to lay on the other side, closest to the wall as Makoto removed her shoes and socks and stripped out of her pants. She left her shoes, with her socks stuffed inside, under Ami's window and her pants joined her jacket before crawling into bed with the older girl. It took them a moment of fidgeting and moving around, but finally the pair settled down with Ami's back to Makoto with the taller woman's form wrapped around her.

Makoto kissed Ami's ear, her arm around her waist tightening. "I love you."

Ami smiled and squeezed Makoto's hand. "I love you, too."

As Ami drifted off with Makoto's breath in her ear, she couldn't think of a better way to start off her birthday than this.