Chapter 4

"What lies in front of us and what lies behind us are small things compared to what lies within us."

-R.F.Fb

Darien managed to keep both of them safe on the way back. He stopped the bike at his house and put it into the garage and swooped Serena up. He went around to the back and making sure nobody was around, then jumped up into the porch outside his room, facing Serena's porch. They used to sit out on them and talk all night long without their parents' knowledge, although they probably knew, seeing their kids exhausted the next day, simultaneously, whereas others they'd be fine.

He went through his room into his private bathroom and turned the faucet to cold water. When it was icy temperatures he held back Serena's hair and dunked her head into the pool of water gathering due to the plug at the bottom of the basin.

Her shriek of shock only echoed around his empty house, his parents were already next door. The Grants didn't pay attention to the weird noises coming from Darien's home.

The back of her hand connected sharply with his cheek. Her intention was purely instinct after the shock she'd gotten, but the slap was definitely a wake up sting that if he'd been in a fog, it'd have cleared as if a tornado had come through.

Her cringe and agony that she had bitch-slapped him came at once and the tears in her eyes was enough of an apology than the words she managed to blubber.

He tugged her into a hug, crushing her against him. "It's all right." He soothed, his hand petting her head and the other her back. "I don't blame you for that, it was my own fault. I had to wake you up though."

When she pulled away there was an impression of her wet face in his shirt and said face was now completely dry. She giggled as she prodded the wet image. He caught her hand and kissed the back again, it must have stung when she hit him, and he soothed the tormented skin.

"I'm sorry." Serena said.

"Don't be, I deserve it, as I said."

"No, I am sorry for that, I shouldn't have hit you, it just happened, but I'm sorry for earlier, for being passed out."

"It isn't your fault, that either. The damned generals will pay for what they did to you." Darien promised, if he ever got the chance, Zoicite would be one dead pulp.

Not to mention Kunzite, but he was a different matter all together.

"I-" Serena paused, should she tell him about her dream, not dream? She could usually tell him everything, senshi business or no. But this felt different, like she needed to discuss it with her senshi, if she could. Something about her nightmare warned her that it had been something she needed to handle, that it directly involved her, but it didn't say whether or not she could receive any help. "Never mind." She voiced out loud. She'd deal with it on her own, at least for a little while, and once she got a grasp on it, and could articulate what she wanted, then she'd bring it to the attention of the others.

She changed tactics, her energy returned, at least for now, and jumped. "Come on, I'm starving, lets go home and get some food!"

Darien chuckled and let her lead him down the stairs and out of his house and onto her driveway before entering her home via the front door.

It wouldn't have made any sense for either of them to come from upstairs and down into the living room where no doubt Serena's mother was entertaining Darien's mother. Considering Serena had been out all day and there was no possible way for her to sneak back in when her parents were awake. Their fathers were no doubt downstairs playing pool with her brother joining in every once and a while to pick up the slack while one of the men got distracted by the soccer game that was playing on TV.

"Do you think the Crowns are here?" Serena asked as she opened the porch's door and Darien walked through first while she held it open. He thought as he walked towards the door so similar to his own, yet it wasn't his, and yet even still it was, because he was part of her family as she was part of his.

Darien knew of her crush on the other friend they both shared for quite some time, but she never acted like she had one and she never acted on it. He opened the front door that lead into the foyer and shrugged. "Only one way to find out." She walked through as he held it open and together they headed to the living room, where Mrs. Grant was indeed entertaining Mrs. Chiba and Mrs. Crown, Eliza was no where to be seen.

"Ah, Darien, Serena, welcome. I was wondering if you'd grace us with your presence." Mrs. Grant teased, both of Serena's parents has a sense of humor that wouldn't quit and that is exactly where Serena got her personality from, to an extent.

"We drove his motorcycle back, mother, from Rei's, which I told you I may have been for an extended period of time. Unfortunately we hit a water puddle and I got sprayed in the face. Do you mind ladies if I go take a shower to freshen up?"

"Not at all dear." Mrs. Chiba answered for them. Her vibrant blue eyes the same shade as Darien's but her hair was a burnt orange almost auburn tint, almost blond.

Serena nodded her head and left them with a smile as she parried on her toes and mounted the stairs off to the side.

"I suppose I better head down stairs and join the men in their pool game and cheering of the Sydney team." Darien smiled and took his leave. Serena would be fine without his presence and by the time she finished her shower it'd be time for dinner. Not that she couldn't take short shower, but she hated being left alone with the three married women without the relief of Eliza to accompany her. So she'd take a unusually long shower and then take a long time getting ready.

When Darien got downstairs he discovered that Eliza was downstairs watching the game with the guys. Every once in a while the girls would join them, enjoying their company just as much if not more than their mothers. It was the start of the soccer season so it made sense for her to be curious about the potential for this year. "Hey Lizzy, what's the score?" Darien asked sinking down onto the couch next to her as she played solitaire cards.

"Sydney 2, Brisbane 1." She answered and then greeted him politely. "Is Serena around?" She finally asked, noticing the daughter of the house was not here yet.

"She's gone to take a shower. I don't think she'll be done until dinner."

Lizzy sighed, Lizzy was her nickname, Eliza to her sounded so stuffy. "All right, I guess I better head up there soon and tell her I'm here, so she'll get done faster."

"Yeah." Darien agreed half-heartedly, part of him didn't want her hanging out before dinner, taking as much time to reorient herself as possible, and the other half knew she'd be sad that she missed this gathering, even though they had it once a month. The whole family, the rest of them got together quite frequently.

It was also better if Lizzy went up there, it would not do to have people questioning his motives when there was so many around. Although he did want to get a look at the wound on her shoulder to see how much more it needed to heal and if medical attention was still needed.

Part of him felt that Serena would tell him if there was something wrong and part of her was secretive when it came to injuries. He could not blame her, he was the same way but she always seemed to know that there was something wrong. She was stronger than most people gave her credit for, she only complained when it was a surface wound, she didn't even squeak when it was more serious.

"Hey Andy!" He greeted when the man was no longer concentrating on his shot. "Mr. Crown, Mr. Grant, father, Sammy." He greeted the other men, and almost brother.

"Hey Darien." Was the common response from the males.

Sammy took it a bit farther, seeing that there were already four males playing pool at the current game and jumped the couch and landed next to Darien on the other side, leaving enough room for another person however. "Where's the Meatball head?"

"I don't know Spaghetti Brains, where do you think your sister is?" Darien asked affectionately. He didn't mind that Sammy called her that, they all had nicknames for each other that were half insults and half endearments.

"Out stuffing her face?"

"Now why do you think that Sammy?" Lizzy cut in. "When she can be here stuffing her face with a nice home cooked meal." Lizzy's defense of her older friend was littered with vague insults but she didn't mean it that way and nobody who knew her would think she was being mean.

"I guess. So where is she?" Sammy asked.

"Taking a shower."

"Oh." Sammy froze for a moment and then his eyes widened. "Uh-oh." He moaned and buried his head into his hands for a moment before he shot out of the basement and upstairs. Darien shrugged when Lizzy looked at him and Darien looked around the room. "Want to play foosball?" He asked, seeing nobody was bothering with the nice set up Ken had bought for Sammy one day.

"Sure." Lizzy and Darien jumped up and raced to the table and played a few games.

Serena was just rinsing out her hair, and they were shut as her head dunked under the water to get the last bit of conditioner out of it. The shower's radio was playing so she didn't hear the knocking on the door. Well, it was more of a pounding but Serena didn't hear it and when she turned off the taps and the radio, she finally heard it. She slid on her robe, her shoulder was still a little stiff but she didn't pay any heed to it. She wrapped her hair into a towel and opened the door. Sammy was standing in front of her.

"Oh good." He breathed a sigh of relief when she was just looking at him with a mild annoyance.

"What did you want?" She demanded rubbing her head so she didn't have to dry her hair as much later.

"Um… I guess…" His mind raced, obviously, thank goodness, she didn't decide on using the one shampoo today, he had been hoping that she'd take a morning shower as usual and for her to do it tomorrow, but luckily she used a different brand today, otherwise she'd be screeching her head off at him. "I wanted to tell you that Lizzy is here, she's downstairs playing a game with the dork."

Serena's top lip was pulled into the confines between her two teeth and her tongue touched it while she was contemplating on laughing out loud or keeping this for a fond giggle in her head. She kept it in. "All right, thank you Sammy." She mused his hair and he backed away with a 'don't' whine and straightened it.

Serena headed into her room to get dressed and to dry her hair. Now that she knew Lizzy was here, she'd stick to the bare minimum. As soon as Serena undid her towel around her head she screamed.

The bathroom mirror was foggy due to the warm condensation, in her room, she had a clear sight of exactly what Sammy had been trying to stop her from doing today. Because today, he'd get into a lot more trouble than he would had she fell for it when there wasn't company. Her scream echoed through the whole house, shaking the door.

Sammy winced and then took off down the stairs as his mother came up the stairs with his father running behind him, and Darien not much farther behind him. Ilene seeing her son's decent when her daughter had just screamed bloody murder grabbed him by the ear and dragged him back up the stairs while the rest of the company sat where they were thoroughly confused, though they should be used to their children's antics. Andrew and Lizzy casually strolled behind the more concerned members of the family, if it was emergency, they'd soon find out what the problem was and then deal with it if it was something bad.

There was no use bottlenecking her door if she was in trouble, the others would be having that issue without two more people clogging it.

Ilene opened the door and discovered exactly what was wrong with her daughter. Instead of comforting her, she turned to her son and boxed his ears. "What the hell is wrong with you? Can't you leave your sister alone for one day? The day when I have friends over? Why did you have to embarrass all of us when all I wanted was a nice dinner and conversation?"

By then the other two men reached the room, it hadn't been a blood curtling scream as Darien heard once when she was facing a youma alone, but that situation almost had him revisiting his lunch so he could understand the scream. This one wasn't nearly as bad so he let Ken get there first. His house, his daughter. However Darien was a step behind by the time they reached the situation.

Serena was just standing there mumbling as she ringed her hair and Ilene was taking out her anger in a not very violent way with her son. It would have been hilarious had Serena not been so distressed.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Ken asked his son, and Ilene stopped ranting at him to hear his answer.

"At least you don't have any business associates here?" Sammy asked glumly, knowing it wasn't the right thing to say but didn't feel right apologizing quite yet, he did a better one when they were alone anyways.

Ilene shrieked in frustration and threw her hands up in the air, she marched out of the room and Ken followed, dragging Sammy by the ear and got grounded for long enough that by the time he got out it, he'd have gray hair.

Darien just blinked at Serena. Her blue eyes looked up at him and seemed to realize that he was standing there, looking at her with something akin to horror.

Serena bawled and collapsed in a heap as she tried pulling her hair out of her head. Lizzy and Andrew took one look at the situation and Lizzy instantly went to Serena's side and tried to sooth her with a calming, reassuring voice that everything would be all right and go back to normal, they'd find a way.

Andrew grabbed Darien's arm and dragged him out of Serena's room. Serena's robe was loosening and neither one needed to see it. Lizzy grabbed Serena's towel and rubbed at Serena's hair, hoping to see if it'd come out by pressure and friction alone.

It didn't even stain the towel.

"Oh dear." Lizzy couldn't stop the slight admittance of unsure reaction. Serena's curelean blue eyes blinked up at her, beneath the plum wine color fringe. It was such an interesting look, that Lizzy knew exactly why Darien had just stared at her, the colors were so similar but it was different enough to drag attention to her gorgeous blue eyes, but the hair was slightly red in tint but definitely a bluish purple as well. It was so hard to describe. Lizzy took a deep breath and confronted the main issue. "We have to find out what Sammy used."

Serena looked at Lizzy and then nodded. "All right, just let me get dressed, and then do my hair, we'll tackle Sammy later."

Lizzy sank onto the bed as Serena struggled to get dressed, Lizzy and Serena had sleepovers so often growing up that they were comfortable changing in front of each other. Once Serena had her underwear and jeans on, she let the robe drop and hung it up so the only thing she still had to don was her shirt over her bra.

Lizzy's gasp had Serena turning around to look at her and ask. "What is wrong?" Serena looked at the bed and around the room but she didn't see anything the matter.

Lizzy pointed at her shoulder. Serena ran to the mirror and looked it in, on both sides of her shoulder was a size shape the size of her fist the combined color of her hair and eyes in an interesting pattern. It didn't really look like a bruise but that was the excuse she used for Lizzy. "Oh. I had forgotten about that. It doesn't hurt or anything." That was a blatant lie, it didn't hurt like it did when it was inflicted, but it was a niggling pain that hurt more when she moved her arm. She had thought it was the side effect, sort of psychological pain than actually physical. "I ran into a pole that was sticking out in the street, you know me, certified klutz."

"Why was there a random pole in the middle of the street?" Lizzy asked suspiciously.

"It was a construction sight." Serna lied. "They were putting in a new building. I'm not quite sure where I was in the city, so I couldn't tell you to even watch out for it yourself." Serena shrugged and managed to hide the wince from Lizzy's concerned gaze.

"And the back bruise?"

"I fell into a door knob." Serena told her and looked for a shirt. She found a white soft cotton long sleeved button up tee-shirt and slipped it on. She did up the buttons and turned to Lizzy. "Ready to go eat?" Usagi asked as she pulled her hair back to a simple pony-tail.

Lizzy frowned. "Why aren't you doing your hair in your trade-mark style?"

"Can't I change my routine at all? Maybe I want to just pull it back." Serena told her friend.

"All right." Lizzy sighed. "Let's go eat!" She brightened and dragged Serena from the room, which wasn't all that unusual with the two of them. Lizzy could rival Serena for her appetite sometimes.

Lizzy and Serena raced to the dinning room and slid on the hard wood floors, they took their rightful places next to each other, with their brothers next to them and Darien next to Andrew with both sets of parents on the other side of the table and the Grants on the ends. Once everybody got a significant other, the whole table would be more even. But that would be a while considering Ken didn't like Serena dating.

"So who won the game?" Serena asked Mr. Crown.

"Sydney."

Serena nodded with a huge smile. "What does that mean for Canberra?"

"They are in a close second for the Australian stint. I can't wait for the Nationals to start when Sydney and Caberra play Germany and Brazil."

"America isn't coming this year?"

"After last year's wailing?" Mr. Crown asked astonished. "If they manage to show up, they better have a trick up their sleeves."

"I don't know, the East coast had some promising players leaving the college, they may have some good turn around yet."

"Who are you cheering for Serena?"

"Why France, I thought you knew." She teased. At Mr. Chiba and Mr. Crown's sputtering outcry, she laughed. "I'm kidding, Brazil is a very good team. Italy won last year. Although England does have a very nice outputting, Beckman is a very good player. But I guess I have to vote for my national teams if they'll go national, but Sydney's my favorite in Australia."

"Second favorite?"

"I don't know, it makes me mad that Rhys went to Ireland. But my second would have to be Perth."

"Makes sense."

"Excuse me a moment." Serena apologized and snapped her head at Darien. "What?"

Darien could tell she was exasperated but he just blinked at her before finding his voice. "It's purple!"

"Yes, and it's the brat's fault." As she spoke her hand hit her brother in the shoulder which he responded with 'Hey!' Serena ignored him. "Once I figure out how to go back to blond, I'm going to, now get over it!"

"Geez, testy today aren't we." He teased and then returned to his plate for a bite.

"Well, now that my son's not staring at you anymore, would you like to continue our football talk or a different sport, my dear?"

"Hockey, the g'ol' Western sport of the North." Serena teased and Serena's mother cut in with the newest releases of Hollywood, nearly two months after they were out in theaters in America. Ilene was tired of the sports talk and wanted to introduce a little culture. All the girls jumped onto the discussion and Ken added his input every once in a while. The rest of the males liked movies but declined to say anything.

The rest of dinner went by smoothly and everybody left in a few hours.

That night before Serena could slip into bed, Sammy knocked on the door before letting himself in. "I'm sorry about when the hair dye disaster happened, I hadn't meant for it to happen today."

Serena brushed off the somewhat apology. "What I want to know is when it's going to come out." When Sammy bit his lip she grabbed him by the collar, suddenly very frightened. "It comes out right? I don't have to redye it or worse, cut it all off?"

Sammy smiled reluctantly. "I'm pretty sure the one I grabbed was the one that said it'd come out after two weeks or twenty washes, which ever came first."

"Two weeks?" Serena screeched and kicked him out of her room. "You better watch your back little brother, or else you'll be in for the shock of your life!"

"But Serena-!" The door slammed in his face, cutting off his plead.