Hope you all enjoy this chapter. The action will die down if only for a little bit. The romance will be coming back soon, but I have to plan it all out.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Sailor Moon characters

Chapter 10: Cure

"What are you giving her?" Ami asked as she stood over the doctor who was on call at all times for the palace. The short balding man with a big, walrus like mustache was injecting the queen with a clear liquid into her arm.

He looked at Ami through his thick glasses as he spoke and did his work, "I'm giving her an antidote to the poison that I believe he drugged her with. I read over the sample you sent me and I believe I know what it is. The symptoms are all there. Luckily, her being so powerful and rather resilient, I don't think it has affected the child she is carrying. However," he paused a moment as he took the needle out and wiped the area away with cotton ball, "I still strongly suggest you take her to the hospital tomorrow for a sonogram first thing in the morning. What she needs right now is sleep, rest, and for the medicine to do its work."

The doctor cleaned up his materials and put his bowler hat on over his shiny bare head before bidding the girls goodnight. Rini was sitting in the corner, huddled with knees up to her mouth as tears streamed down her face. She had been so conceited the whole night. Her father even ran up to her and asked if she had seen her mother. But no, all she had wanted to do was separate herself as far as she possibly could from her parental figures and instead wanted to see if she could get a date.

There was a sudden sound of rustling and stumbling and all of the scouts stood on their guard at who it could be. When they saw Mina's foot enter, they relaxed and watched as she helped carry Darien into the room. Ami pulled a chair out quickly for him to sit on and started to remove some of his clothing. She took her computer out and left him to sorely unbutton his shirt while she scanned his body for any internal bleeding or anything that they couldn't see with the naked eye.

"You came a little late; the doctor just left," Michiru said. She was standing in the corner near Rini while Hotaru was sitting on the floor beside her friend, trying to be as comforting as she possibly could be.

"I don't need a doctor, I need to know what's going on with my wife," he said through gritted teeth as he turned his body around to expose a large gash in his back.

"How did you get that?" Rei asked.

"Thomas Hayward took my broken cane and stabbed me with the sharp end," he winced. "Please, what is going on with Serena?"

"She just got an antidote, she needs rest now and tomorrow morning when she wakes up we're taking her to the hospital for a more thorough check up."

"The baby—"

"I scanned her already," Ami reassured him. "The baby is fine and the doctor believes that Serena's own powers and strength were able to help with that."

Haruka and Lita entered the room, their faces riddled with anger and despair. Ami looked up at Sailor Uranus and asked her, "Would you be so kind as to take Darien down the hall to the guest bathroom and clean him up?"

The Scout of the Sky didn't know what this blue-haired vixen was up to, but now wasn't the time to argue. With a side-nod of her head, she bid the king to follow her quick footsteps. They walked only a few feet down the hall before approaching the guest bathroom. The tension that filled the golden adorned restroom was hard even for a samurai sword to cut through. Darien leaned over the sink, exposing his wound while Haruka pulled out the necessary medicines needed to douse him with.

"I know you're still angry with me," he said.

"Not everyone can forgive so easily."

"You're stubborn like the rest of us."

"If that's what you want to call it."

The two were silent for a little bit longer as she drenched a cloth in the clear liquid and then slapped his back with. A loud grunt came from the back of his throat and he pounded his fist against the counter. The tingling pain from the cleansing solution was difficult to bear, but he gritted his teeth and took it.

"If I was you, I would react the same way in your position," he said.

Haruka's eyes turned to slits as she asked, "Oh really?"

"Lita's fiancé ... well, boyfriend I guess. Whatever, her ex that cheated on her? I wanted to go after him. I even drove by his place a few times and left a stalker-ish black rose on his doorstep just to creep him out." Sailor Uranus let out a small chuckle as he removed the cloth from his back and continued to explain to her, "I don't need to apologize to you, but I feel like since you're so close to her, I should. I can't begin to explain how much I understand that this was a big mistake. All I want to do now is try to move on and make sure that the baby coming into this world is going to be healthy and happy."

She simply stared back at him. He was right; there were other things to worry about other than their social problem. Look at what all of this disorder created! A man was able to pose as being a candidate for Prime Minister and nearly killed the queen! She knew she was going to have to get over it – they all were – but it would take time.

She helped bandage him up as she said to him, "I agree that we need to concentrate on the bigger matters at hand. I still think you're a scum bag for straying from such a wonderful, endearing person, but I think the reason I feel this animosity toward you is because I know how you feel…"

Darien grimaced as he lifted his arms up in the air and Haruka started to wrap bandages around his body, "How's that?"

"I've been tempted to drift away from Michiru when we weren't having that physical connection," she said as a matter-of-factly. Darien's eyebrows shot up in the air in surprise and she pursed her lips in response, "I'm not perfect, no one is. And in our high-ranking jobs as protectors, as guardians and now with politics creeping its way into our jobs, we can't all be expected to be completely faithful. I get it; you needed a physical release and nothing more. But now this whole thing has turned into something much bigger." She paused a moment as she finished wrapping the white bandage around him, "Serena needs to feel like she doesn't have to worry about you leaving or doing this again. It'll take some time to gain her trust back, but you can do it."

He lowered his arms as he asked, "Is that what you and Michiru had to do?"

"I'm not quite as bold as you King Endymion," she answered over her shoulder, "and I never told her about my wavering faith in our relationship. Nor did I completely pursue a full on affair with anyone. I looked, I didn't touch."

He followed the scout out of the bathroom and down the hallway back to the queen's chambers where only Mina was left residing over her and Rini still sitting in the corner. The rest of them had been left to their own devices, protecting the queen in their own ways and dealing with the political chaos that had most likely ensued after the whole ordeal. Darien sighed and walked over to his daughter, extending his hands out for her to reach for. She grabbed onto them, lifted herself up into a standing position and hugged her father tightly. He groaned as he bent down and scooped her up into his arms like a baby. He cradled her out of the room and down the hallway. He quickly opened the door to her room without letting go of her and breezed in, finding Hotaru waiting for her on the edge of her bed.

"She wanted to wait for you when Mina told us all to leave," Hotaru explained.

"I assumed as much," he grinned as he laid his daughter her bed. He leaned over kissed her on the forehead and then lightly on the lips before saying, "Goodnight little princess. I love you."

She sniffed as she pushed the covers down for her to get underneath, "I love you too Daddy." Before he could exit the room, she said to him, "Dad! I'm … I'm sorry for being so … difficult."

"I don't blame you sweetheart," he replied, his palm on the handle, dragging it closed. "Goodnight."

Darien entered the queen's bedchamber, finding Mina still sitting on the edge of the bed, watching over Serenity. He walked across the room, hugged the bedpost at the end of the bed, and stared at his sleeping wife. She was curled up on her side in a fetal position, her blankets wrapped up against her pale face as she breathed lightly.

"Do you want to stay the night with her?" Mina asked.

Words couldn't come out of his mouth; he would just cry if he spoke. Serena looked so helpless and so silent. He watched as the leader of the scouts exited and with a click of the door, Darien walked around the bed to the side she wasn't sleeping on. For some reason she was stationed on his side where he could clearly see a slight indent from where he spent a many a night. He took one of the pillows and walked back to the side of the bed she was sleeping on. Like a dog, he slept on the floor below her that night, waiting for Serena to wake up.

A small, slender hand gripped onto Darien's own that was placed on his bare chest. He woke up to find Serena rolled over onto her stomach, looking down at him. She gestured with a toss of her head for him to come up to the bed. He waited for her to slide over to her side and handed her back her pillow before climbing in. Once he did, she immediately found her niche right up against his chest and pressed her ear against his heartbeat; it was speeding up at every touch.

"I thought I was going to lose you," he whispered, choking back the tears.

"What Thomas doesn't know is that queens die proudly and loudly," she replied quietly, lacing her fingers through his. "I wasn't supposed to go this way. I know I wasn't. I called out for you inside myself and you heard me." She looked up at him and started to trace his jaw line with her finger tip. She leaned up and kissed him gently on the lips before saying, "Explain it to me please. Explain to me why you did it."

He let out a loud breath before starting to finally explain his side of the story to her, "I met her every time I went to Earth. She was the one person, besides you, that I saw all the time, was in contact with on a daily basis, and grew to know very well. You and I … we hadn't made love before conceiving this child for a year Serena. You can say that the physical part of a relationship isn't more important as emotional and mental and I would fully agree with you because it's just as equal. Trying to talk to you about this situation was harder than I had expected; I had to schedule appointments just to hold you. I felt like I was in an ocean and you let go of my hand; suddenly I was floating away from you and I bumped into this …buoy. I grabbed on for a while—"

"How long?" she asked.

"Three months. Three confusing, chaotic, unruly months. The whole time I was with her, I was imagining she was you. I closed my eyes during sex even. But I could never finish, I never climaxed. I wanted you and instead was stuck with some lower-class version…. I couldn't stand it.

"I took her to dinner one night, ended things in person, and explained to her that I couldn't go on with this physical relationship any longer. If I wanted to be your true husband I had to be all there. She didn't get it," he sighed. "She continued to try to contact me. She sent me love notes for crying out loud. I tried talking to her multiple times, I sent her rejection letters, and I even had her meet with other superiors other than myself for briefings. I had removed myself completely from her world and tried to eject myself from it. She was persistent. When you poured that wine over my head with the necklace in it, I was shocked because I didn't think she would be so stupid to go as far as send any sign in my pockets."

"Stupid bitch," she mumbled.

"I think you got it through to her when you threw her in to a freaking coffee table though," he said, rolling his eyes.

"But I saw her talking to you in the garden!"

"How did you see that?"

"Sailor Neptune."

"Of course…. Well, then you saw that I sent her off. I don't want anything to do with her. She's like a child emotionally and the only thing she's good at is getting what she wants, so she makes a damn fine politician. It was purely physical though. You have to believe me."

"I do," she said simply. "So there weren't multiple women?"

"No," Darien said shaking his head. "I don't know where you got that from, but there was one, single, rather cunning woman…. This is why I got a bit upset with you when you used the words 'fast and loose'. She had expressed herself to be so straight forward and uptight. She reminded me of you … I think that's why I was so attracted to her."

"You can't get away from me," Serena murmured.

"Nope. And I don't ever want to be away from you," he replied, kissing the top of her head.

"This whole experience has taught me so much. I can't put my family on the backburner just because I'm queen," she whispered. "Balancing my life is much more difficult than I expected. I don't want to be without you though when I'm trying to figure everything out. We will get through this … together."

"But you won't forgive me yet?" he asked, lowering his chin.

"You'll known when I do," she exhaled as she dug herself deeper under the covers and made him wrap his arms around her. "Like I said, if you have to ask, you'll never know."

"You deserve someone so much better than me, Serena."

"You're absolutely right," she replied, "which is why you need to build yourself back up into the man I know you can be, not this weak thing you were. We have a new baby coming into this world…"

Her words fell off as her mind was taken over by exhaustion. The two fell asleep for another few hours, both of them anticipating the busy day they had scheduled with doctors, nurses, hospitals, and that awful rubbing alcohol smell.

Up Next: Serena finds out if the baby is alright and they all try to figure out what to do with Thomas Hayward