"You always seem to make it sound like you're some unfeeling mecha and I'm a magical fairy." Momoko smiled gently as she thoughtlessly playing with the sugared rim of her drink. "Elena was my first. Just when I... I thought I had convinced myself it was fine that no kids ever showed up for me."

"The night before... You remember you went to that dance with me? That was like a dream come true and supposed to be enough. But then the next morning a little girl stops at my door, looks at me with the same sincere brown eyes I'd been hopelessly in love with for over a year, and calls me mama."

Momoko gently pressed her finger against the rim, now, and titled her glass slightly. She wasn't crying, but there was a shimmer in her eyes. "I guess she was a kind of proof, you know? Really the dream come true."