A/N Hey guys, I just want to thank everyone who is still reading this story. My inbox has been overloaded with messages where people have been putting my story on their alerts, so I'm assuming that this story is going over pretty well. I want to give special thanks to my faithful reviewers out there who have been supporting me through this.

Silvermoonlight9

xo Usako ox

snoopykid

KageNoNeko

SerentiyMoonGodness

{BIG HUGS} to all of you guys. You inspire me so much. This story is my baby right now, and I feel privileged to share it with all of you. And to a couple of my reviewers that I didn't hear from on the last chapter, I hope you're still out there and haven't given up on me. Anyway, here is Chapter 4.

ENJOY!!!

The Lunar Princess of the Earth

Chapter 4

Love's Sweet Homecoming

The bright Saturday morning sunlight flooded through the bedroom window of the modest two-story house. As a shaft of golden light fell across the face of the occupant of the bed, she gave a small groan and rolled to her side to avoid the light that was interfering with her sleep. Losing the battle, wide, sky blue eyes opened to greet the day.

Serena yawned and stretched, not quite ready to wake up yet. She glanced at her clock to see what time it was. "Eight o'clock. How can I be awake this early? I was up until two a.m. getting all my homework done." Serena grumbled to herself. She had even passed on having dinner with the other girls the night before to finish up her last assignments that her teachers had given out for the last week of school.

'I must really be losing it.' she thought to herself as she squirmed around to find a more comfortable position, thinking that she might be able to catch a few more hours of sleep before actually getting up.

As she was snuggling into her pillow, her eyes landed on the picture that was on her nightstand. She looked at the picture of her and Darien that Mina had snapped of the two of them while at an amusement park about three years before. Darien was behind her with his arms wrapped around her. Both of them flushed and laughing, having just got off a roller coaster. As she looked at his smiling face and bright, sapphire eyes, she thought about how much she had missed him over the last two years. He had been home once for a week during the Christmas holidays during the first year he was gone, but had been too busy since. That was a year and a half ago.

Serena smiled to herself, thinking that soon he would be home for good. Home where he belonged, where she could see him everyday. Oh she couldn't wait. She snuggled into her covers, waiting to drift back off again, when a sudden thought hit her.

'Holy crap! It's Saturday. Darien's coming home today.' With that thought, she threw back her covers and launched herself from her bed. She flew to her closet. If she was going to be greeting her love after such a long absence, she would need to look her best.

She tore through outfit after outfit, but nothing seemed right. She wanted to look perfect when he stepped off the plane. After all, the last time he saw her in person she had been a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl. Now she was an eighteen-year-old woman. He was now twenty-one. She didn't want to appear immature and childish.

"Serena, what on earth are you doing?" Luna's muffled voice came from the direction of the bed. Her head appeared out from under the covers that had been unceremoniously thrown on top of during Serena's mad dash from the bed.

Serena twirled and gave a wide-eyed, panicked stare at her guardian. "Omigosh… Luna…Darien…coming home…nothing to wear…I…I…" With that she crumpled in a heap on the floor.

Luna leaped from the bed and walked over to her distraught princess, internally shaking her head. When Serena was younger, these meltdowns were almost an everyday occurrence, but in the last couple of years, they had become almost obsolete. She knew that if she didn't talk some sense into the hysterical girl, she would never get her up off the floor, much less to the airport to greet her returning prince.

"Now Serena," she began gently, "you have a whole closet full of wonderful clothes to choose from. Heaven knows that after all of your weekend shopping trips with the other girls, you could clothe a small country with just the contents of your closet."

Tears started welling up in those big, blue eyes. "But Luna, what if he thinks I look childish, or immature. He's been surrounded by older, sophisticated women for two years now. I don't want to look like a little girl playing dress up." The last part was beginning to turn into a wail.

Luna knew she had to act quickly. She jumped right into her mistress's lap and reared up so that she at eye level with her. "Get a hold of yourself. You don't want your prince coming home to an emotional wreck do you? Now take a deep breath. This is not a fancy formal date. You are going to the airport. Something casual will be fine. You can do this. Now get up and try again."

Serena closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, held it a moment, then exhaled slowly. Opening her eyes she looked at the black feline in front of her. "Thanks, Luna. I needed that." She got back to her feet and went back to her closet. After a few more minutes of grumbling, she emerged with an armful of clothing and walked toward the bathroom.

'Thank goodness, crisis adverted.' Luna thought to herself as she heard the shower turn on. She turned back to the bed, hopping up on it thinking that she might catch a few more minutes of sleep. Not that she was really tired. The past week had been blissfully uneventful. No youma attacks, nothing strange at all. It seemed like whoever was behind the recent attacks had just stopped. Not that any of them believed that it was over, but it was a nice break. Serena had even been sleeping better, no more nightmares haunting her dreams.

'The calm before the storm.' Luna thought, closing her eyes. She knew that they all felt it. Something was coming, something big. They were going in blind though because there was no clue as to who was behind this or what they were after. It was very unsettling.

She heard the bathroom door open and opened her eyes to see Serena walk back into the room with a towel wrapped around her head.

"Well Luna, what do you think?" she twirled around gracefully to show the outfit she was wearing.

Luna looked her over. She had on slim fitting, artfully faded hip hugger jeans that flared out slightly at the bottom. She wore a pale pink camisole top that clung to her body like a second skin. Over this she had a gauzy, see through, pearl colored button down shirt that she had left open. A belt of silver hoops draped around her waist matching the silver hoop earrings that she was wearing. Simple brown ankle boots completed the ensemble. The look was casual, yet elegant on the moon princess.

Luna cleared her throat. "Very nice Serena. Now see, there wasn't anything to get upset over earlier."

Serena sat down in front of her mirror and pulled the towel off of her head and began brushing out the long golden mane. She had actually cut some her hair off about a month ago. Her hair used to reach her knees, but she had donated about two feet of her hair to a charity that makes wigs for cancer patients. She figured she had more than enough hair to spare. Even after having it cut, her hair still hung to her hips. She had even begun wearing her hair in different styles. Not that she had abandoned her odango style, after all, it was her trademark, but she didn't wear it everyday like she used to.

Looking into the mirror she thought about putting her hair into the odangoes, but decided that that didn't go with the look she was going for. Instead she pulled all the hair back into a single ponytail on the back of her head and tied a silver ribbon around it. Her bangs feathered on her forehead and a few small pieces of hair curled around her ears. She applied a little make up, just some mascara and lip-gloss and she was ready.

She made her way downstairs where she could smell delicious scents coming from the kitchen. As she walked in she saw her parents sitting at the table enjoying a quiet Saturday morning breakfast.

"Morning Mom. Morning Dad." she practically sang as she crossed the room to the stove where food was still being kept warm.

"Good morning, pumpkin." Ken Tsukino said, looking up from his newspaper and smiling at his daughter. "Don't you look nice. What 's the occasion?"

Ilene swatted her husband on the arm. "Be nice. Our girl is all grown up, she doesn't need for you to go all protective on her anymore."

"Right." Ken grumbled to himself. He alone had been pleased that Darien had gone away to school. He had thought that they were getting way too serious in their relationship. He had just about had a stroke when he saw the pink, heart shaped promise ring on his daughter's finger. He had thought that the long separation would have cooled things between the two of them, but it hadn't. He sighed to himself, his wife was right, their little girl was now a woman. But it was still hard to let go.

As Serena sat down at the table with her parents, her mother asked, "So Serena, what time does his flight land?"

Serena swallowed her bite of toast before answering, "2:30, but I'm going to go to his apartment and make sure it's aired out and freshened up for him. I'm sure he'll be tired after the long flight. I may even go to the grocery store and pick up a few things for him so he'll at least have some food in the place."

Tears filled Ilene's eyes. "Oh my little baby, taking such good care of her man. You'll make him a wonderful wife." she gushed enthusiastically.

Ken sputtered and choked on his coffee. "Wi…Wife!" he wheezed.

Serena thought that this might be a good time to make her exit. She took her plate to the sink and made her way out of the kitchen. Behind her she could still hear her parent's bickering as she grabbed her purse and keys and made her way outside.

She walked over to the red sports car parked in her driveway and slid into the driver's seat. Amara had finally taken pity on her after her father had refused to teach her to drive and had given her lessons. After she had gotten her license, Darien had graciously let her use his car while he was gone. After all, it was just sitting up in the garage at his apartment complex and it needed to be used.

She started the car and headed toward the Crown. The late night had left her a little groggy, so she thought a shot of caffeine was in order.

A few minutes later she pulled up to the arcade and went inside. Since it was early, the place was fairly empty. She went up to the counter and a new waitress that she didn't know came up to take her order.

"Hi. What can I get for you?" the girl asked with a smile. She looked to be about Serena's age with long, caramel colored hair pulled back into a braid and deep ocean blue eyes that shown with a friendly brightness.

"I'll have a mocha latte, double the mocha, four espresso shots, extra whipped cream, with chocolate sprinkles." Serena ordered.

The girl laughed as she turned to make Serena's drink. "You must be Serena. Liz and Drew told me that I would be able to pick you out, and they were right. I didn't think that there was anyone but me that could handle that much caffeine and sugar in one sitting. But they assured me that you would give me a run for my money."

Serena laughed, taking an instant liking to this girl. "Serena Tsukino, chocoholic and caffeine junkie extraordinaire, nice to meet you."

The girl sat the coffee on the counter in front of Serena. "Jessica Alexander, but most people just call me Jess. I'm always glad to meet a fellow addict."

"So how long have you been working here?" Serena asked.

"About a week." Jess said. "I'm fairly new to town. I'm studying visual arts at the university. This job has been heaven sent. Andrew has been really great about working around my schedule. My school is paid for and I have some money coming in from a trust fund left to me, but a girl has to have extra shopping money you know."

Serena smiled in understanding. "Yeah the malls would go bankrupt without us." she laughed.

Andrew came out of the backroom to find the two girls laughing and chatting like old friends. "Hey Sere. I thought I heard you out here."

"Hi Drew. I just came in for my boost." Serena grinned at her friend. "I had a late night and I have a lot of stuff to do today."

The doors to the arcade opened and a large group of people walked in. Four girls and four guys to be exact. They all saw Serena at the counter and headed her way. The blonde girl at the front of the group squealed and let go of the arm of the silver haired man beside her to run across the room and throw her arms around Serena.

Serena struggled to breathe as Mina was trying to hug her and jump up and down at the same time. Just as she thought all of her oxygen was going to be cut off completely, the rest of the group reached her and Kunzite put a hand on Mina's shoulder and said, "For crying out loud sweetheart, let the poor girl breathe. I sure don't want to be the one to tell Darien that his girlfriend's dead because you accidentally strangled her."

"Oops." Mina squeaked, letting go of Serena and stepping back slightly. "But aren't you just so excited though?" she gushed quickly.

"Yes I am, but can you turn down the theatrics a bit Mina? I haven't had my fix yet." She picked up her cup and took a sip as she shared a conspiratorial smile with Jess. "How did you know I was here anyway?"

Raye stepped forward. "Well we were on our way to your house to see if you needed any help getting ready when we saw Darien's car outside, so we knew you had to be in here."

"Anyway, what do you have planned today?" Lita asked jumping into the conversation.

"Not a whole lot. I'm going to the grocery store to get some things to stock up Darien's fridge and pantry, and then just tidy up the apartment and make sure that it is ready for him." Serena said.

"Okay, time to split up the chores." Mina said, assuming her leadership role. "Lita and I will handle the shopping while the rest of you go tackle the apartment. By the time that's all done it will be almost time for us to head to the airport and…"

"Wait!" Serena exclaimed. "I thought I already said that I wanted to go and meet him by myself."

Amy spoke up in her soft voice, "She's right guys, she did say that."

Loud groans came from the others, knowing that they were not going to be able to get away with this.

"I mean it's not like you're not going to see him today. I just want a few minutes alone to welcome him home. Just us. I'm sorry if that sounds selfish, but it's the way I want it." Serena's voice dropped to a whisper, "The way I have dreamed it."

Raye put her arm around her friend and gave a gentle squeeze. "We understand. We'll help you get everything ready and then send you off to bring him home. But we will be waiting at that apartment to ambush you guys when you get back, deal."

Serena smiled at her friend, "Deal."

Lita grinned at all of her friends before saying, "Well let's get this show on the road. Mina, you're with me. We'll meet the rest of you at Darien's. I guess you guys can go find something to keep you entertained, unless you want to help clean."

Kunzite, Nephrite, Jadeite, and Zoicite all began backing toward the door. They had all stayed quiet during the girls' discussion, but now that the attention was on them, they knew that they needed to retreat, and fast.

"Uh, no…" Kunzite began.

"That's right we gotta…" Nephrite started to say.

"Yeah we had plans." Jadeite stated.

"Maybe another time." Zoicite spoke softly.

And with that, the generals turned and practically ran from the arcade, leaving all the girls laughing behind them.

The laughter continued for a few minutes and then started to die down. Serena turned back to her coffee and saw Jess wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.

"Oh that was priceless." Jess said. "Show a man a mop and watch them run."

"Hey!" Andrew spoke up in his own defense. "I use a mop daily around here you know."

Jess ruffled Andrew's hair fondly. "But you're special sweetie, an exception to the rule that all men should strive to become."

Andrew blushed dark red and stammered, "Th…Thanks, I think." Then he turned and went into the backroom.

Serena turned to her friends. "Everyone, I want you to meet Jess. She just started working here about a week ago. Jess this is Raye, Mina, Lita and Amy."

"Nice to meet all of you." Jess said with a wide friendly smile.

The others responded in kind and they all talked for a few minutes until a customer came in and sat at a table. Jess went to wait on them while the others got ready to leave.

Andrew came out from the back again. He looked around for a moment. Seeing the girls getting ready to leave he said, "Don't go hogging my best friend all to yourself Serena. You tell Darien that he better come by here or I'll be over there pounding on his door, and it won't be pretty."

Serena smiled at him. "I'll be sure to tell him, but if I know Darien, he'll be here before he has even had a chance to put his suitcase down good."

Everyone said their goodbyes and then made their way outside. They were all standing by the car when Mina said, "So she's the one."

The rest of them looked around confused. "Who's the one?" Serena asked, having no idea what her friend was talking about.

Mina shook her head. "Jess. She's the one that Andrew has fallen in love with. And what's more is she's in love with him too."

"Really! That's great!" Serena exclaimed happily. "She seems like a really nice girl."

Now that her own true love was coming back to her, Serena wanted all of her friends to be happy. Andrew always put on a cheerful smile for everyone, but Serena knew that he had been terribly hurt when he and Rita broke up. Maybe Jess would be the one that could heal him and bring him back to being his usual happy go lucky self again.

"Okay scouts." Serena said, adopting her Sailor Moon tone. "We have our assignments. Let's get to work."

Laughing, they all split to get things ready for their prince's long awaited homecoming.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will be landing in Tokyo very shortly. Please make sure that all seats are in their upright position and that your seatbelts are securely fastened." the flight attendant said over the intercom.

"Finally' Darien thought to himself. It had been a long flight. He had tried to make it pass quickly by trying to sleep as much as he could, but the excitement of going home and being able to see Serena again had him too wired to do much more than nap.

The past hour had made him really jittery. As the plane had gotten closer to their destination, Darien could feel his internal bond with Serena strengthening. When they were closer together they could feel each other's moods and emotions. They had even progressed to the point where they could speak telepathically to each other. That had come in handy in few battles when they didn't want the enemy to know their next move. Chuckling to himself, he thought about how convenient that particular ability had been when they wanted to talk late at night, but Serena couldn't use the phone without her father finding out and practically going into convulsions.

Of course, being Tuxedo Mask had its advantages. If Ken Tsukino knew how many nights he had leapt through his daughter's bedroom window, he would probably be dead right now. But since he had been so far away the last two years, all he could get through their bond was brief glimpses of Serena's moods, and then only if she was feeling a really strong emotion.

But now she was close. He could feel her through their bond. Her nervousness and her excitement flowed through him, making his already heightened emotions even more so. He however was keeping himself shielded from her. He was hoping to have a moment just to gaze upon her without her realizing he was there.

He felt the plane drop and realized that they were coming in for their landing. A few minutes later the plane touched down and began to make its way toward the airport terminal. As the plane came to complete stop, passengers began grabbing their belongings and making their way toward the exit. Darien grabbed his carry on bag, and followed the rest of the people off the plane.

As he approached the gate, he began scanning the crowd for her. It was so crowded that it could be hard to find anyone in here. Focusing on Serena's energy, he could feel her off to his right, so he went left and circled around so that he could come up behind her. Following that internal pull, he knew he was getting close. Suddenly there was a break in the people, and he could see her.

Darien had always been good at keeping his emotions in check, but when he saw his princess, his knees almost buckled and he even felt the sting of tears in his eyes.

"She's even more beautiful than I remember.' Darien thought. The Serena he remembered was a sixteen-year-old girl in a high school uniform. The woman standing in front of him now was a goddess. She had matured and grown while he was gone, and he took in the differences.

Well she definitely had a few more curves now that hadn't been there before. Of course he had always thought she was perfection wrapped up in that petite body. But now as he looked he realized that she wasn't as petite as she had been. Where the top of her head used to barely reach the middle of his chest, he could easily see that now she would be able to tuck herself right under his chin.

She still had her back turned toward him, searching the gate where a few passengers were still making their way off the plane. He was starting to feel panic coming from her, so he decided that it was time to let her off the hook. He opened his end of the link so she would be able to sense him.

Serena was starting to panic. A lot of people had already gotten off the plane, but there was no sign of Darien. Of course there was such a crowd it was almost like trying to find a needle in a haystack. She had tried feeling him through their bond, but had felt nothing. That wasn't right, she should be able to feel him if he was near.

'Oh no! Did something happen to him?' Serena's chest started tightening and her breathing became erratic as she remembered how Darien had been stolen off a plane when Galaxia had taken him. 'Please no, not again.'

Suddenly she felt a warm rush of energy fill her. It was a comforting feeling that she knew well. She started to look around, desperately searching for the source. As she turned to look behind her, she froze.

There he was. Her prince. Her protector. Her love. He looked exactly as she remembered. Maybe a little broader through the chest and shoulders, but other than that he was still the same. She gazed into his midnight blue eyes as she felt tears well up in her own eyes.

'My princess' she could hear his voice in her head.

'My prince' he heard her answer in return.

Her tears overflowed and ran down her cheeks as she began running to him. He dropped his bag and opened his arms as she launched herself at him. He wrapped his arms around her tightly as she let out a sob against his shoulder. Both of them could feel the souls of their past selves celebrating along with them at this long awaited reunion.

Serena raised her teary eyes to look into the eyes of her beloved. She cupped his face in her hands and whispered, "Endymion"

Darien reached up to brush the tears from her cheeks as he breathed out on a sigh, "Serenity"

He pulled her closer to him as she went up on her tiptoes to meet him halfway. Their lips met in a sweet, lingering kiss, both of them hesitating just a little in case they woke up just to find out that this was a dream. But the kiss deepened as they both realized that this was real. They were really together again. No more separation.

Oblivious to the crowded airport, they reveled in being in each other's arms, only drawing apart when the lack of oxygen started getting to them.

Looking down into her beautiful eyes, Darien said, "Wow, talk about a homecoming."

Serena threw back her head and laughed. "You better believe it, buster. We've been apart way too long, and I plan on making up for lost time."

"What did you have in mind?" Darien asked, nuzzling the soft hair at her temple and breathing in her citrus scent.

"Well I guess you're just going to have to follow me and find out." with that she turned and grabbed his hand began leading him away.

Darien barely had time to grab his bag. "Lead on, my lady."

A/N Okay there's chapter 4. Darien's home and we've found out who Andrew's crush is, but don't think that I have forgotten about Melody. More info on her is coming up. These chapters have just been laying the groundwork, but soon we are going to be getting into some action. Our heroes are close to finding out who the enemy is and what they are after. I've had several PM's and emails making guesses as to who the enemy and Melody are. (Evil Laugh) You'll just have to wait and see. My review count is still lower than I would like, so hit that button and tell me how I am doing. Until next time!

Sere-chan