AN: First off, thank you to all the people who
e-mailed me! Thank you to all those fanfic writers
out there as well who work so hard to give us
quality Sailor Moon action for free!
Oh, and I officially dedicate this chapter to Sailor
Coruscant, who helped me come up with a movie
for them to watch!! So thank you all, and Merry
Christmas!!
giggle I sound like a Disney movie. . .
Anyway, I hope you all like this next chapter - and
all email is welcome - that means:
Praise of course
Comments why not?
Questions I know I'm strange, so if you don't get
something, maybe I can clear it up
Ideas ohh! my favorite!! A girl needs inspiration,
no?
Flames what the heck, why not?
thanks guys
ja'
yuu
Operation: Spread the Spirit
Chapter 1: I Set Out to Decorate-
and End Up Buying Eggnog
by Yuubou-san
e-mail: yuubou_san@yahoo.com
We returned to the main arcade room, and Andrew
had me stand by the door and apologize to everyone
as they left, while handing out free coupons. He has
good business sense, Andrew does. I think Andrew
thought it a slight bonus that this was only more
humiliation for me. I guess it was all in good fun
any way.
While helping Andrew, Lizzy, and the scouts clean
up the extinguisher foam, I tried to think up a good
way of getting Darien to go to that party. I only had
a week to convince him, which I thought was kind
of unfair seeing as Andrew had had the length of
their entire friendship to come up with plans to get
him to be even slightly social, and all those plans
had failed miserably. Well, I was the leader of the
scouts, wasn't I? I could come up with a plan if I
put my mind to it. . .
Amy was the first to break my concentration.
"Serena, you look pretty deep in thought."
"Yeh." I agreed.
"Anything we can help with?" Lita joined in. I
turned startled eyes to Andrew, and he nodded his
head in approval. Good, so I didn't have to do this
all by myself.
"Well, I promised Andrew that I'd pay him back by
getting Darien into the spirit of Christmas and
Winter holiday. I have to get him to go that huge
party, and he has to enjoy himself. . ."
"Wow, that's a big task." Mina remarked.
Yeah - to get Darien to loosen up and enjoy himself
seemed impossible, but I kept that fact to myself,
acutely aware of Andrew's presence.
Raye, thankfully, put her two cents in, ticking the
points off on her fingers. "Not really, Serena. All
you have to do is trip on your hair, stuff your face
and make a general fool of yourself often enough to
keep him amused. It should come naturally to you."
I stuck my tongue out at Raye.
Thspppppps!!!!
She deigned the appropriate response of:
Thssssssssspts!!!
You get the picture. The war died down after a
while I had to stop because my tongue was numb
and pretty soon we were done cleaning up the
arcade.
The girls wished me luck on my mission and
promised to be there if I needed them before
leaving. I stayed behind with Andrew, who had
grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down
some basic things about Darien that would help me,
he said.
He handed me the paper after a moment, and I
quickly scanned it - Darien's phone number and
address, his favorite things - I was surprised that
Physics books weren't listed, but roses were, which,
I guess, was even more surprising - along with his
basic daily routine/schedule.
After noticing that he jogs in the early morning, I
felt fear grip my heart intensely as I realized that
this scheme just may involve me getting up early. .
.NO, I would NOT let that happen. My heartbeat
slowly returned to normal after I made my silent
vow.
"Maybe you should go over there now, and tell him
that I made you apologized to every patron in the
arcade - and since he wasn't there. . ." Andrew
supplied.
"Okay, okay. I get the picture. I'm on it, there,
Commando. .."
Andrew gave me a wry grin in return. I paused by
the doors and gave Andrew a sunny goodbye smile
and wave before I left. He smiled back warmly, and
I felt relieved to know that we were cool.
I looked down at the paper and made my way to
Darien's place.
I entered the building, slipping in after another
person used their key, not wanting to buzz him so I
could keep the element of surprise. I bravely
stepped into the elevator, and pressed the button for
the tenth floor. I fidgeted nervously while the
elevator made its way up slowly. Finally, the
elevator stopped and both the lady who had opened
the door up and I stepped off. I quick located
Apartment C and knocked quickly.
A big man clad in only ugly purple and green plaid
pants and a wife beater tee shirt answered the door.
He checked me up and down to my displeasure, and
then nodded his greasy head up and down and asked
me, "How YOU doing, baby?" He then turned back
toward the apartment and shouted inside, "Hey guys
they sent us a good one this time!!"
"Oh the GODS!" I couldn't help but utter in horror.
I didn't even want to know what he was talking
about. Before he swung his head back to me, I ran
off back to the elevator. It turns out all this Sailor
Moon business has paid off - the man never even
saw me leave, I was that quick.
Back at the elevator, I realized I had gotten off at the
wrong floor - the eighth. In I went, and arrived two
floors later and a few quick steps to Apartment C.
Again I knocked after offering a quick prayer that
Darien wasn't expecting anything like _that_
The door swung open after a few minutes. There
stood Darien, looking as handsome as ever.
"Meatball Head?" he questioned with a puzzled
look on his face.
Uhh, ::cough:: I meant, as annoying as ever.
He was wearing wire rimmed reading glasses, and I
had to admit they made him look adorable. They
slid farther down his nose, and instead of moving
them back up, he took them off and clipped them on
his breast pocket. He seemed to redden slightly at
the thought of me catching him with them.
When he raised his eyebrow I snapped out of my
drooling session. Embarrassed, I let my anger get
away with me - as it always seems to do when I'm
around him - and I snapped, "Don't call me that!!"
He sighed. "Fine. Does this little visit of yours
have a point? What, you weren't happy with just
trashing the arcade, you wanted to trash my
apartment too?" I remained speechless for a bit and
involuntarily clenched my fists, trying desperately
not to blow my top.
He waved his hand in front of my face, mistakenly
believing I was daydreaming. "Hello? Earth to
Hurricane Serena?"
"You are impossible, you know that?" I snapped at
him. "Look, it was hard enough for me to come
here, you could at least help me out a little bit, ok?"
He seemed to consider that for a moment, and then
nodded his head yes. It seemed like he was taking
the wise road by not saying anything.
"All right. I had to come here because. . . Andrew
is making me apologize to all the arcade patrons
because of the, umm, incident, and well, you left
before I could say anything to you. . ."
Darien glowered - he was just loving this, wasn't
he?
"So?" He asked.
"So what?"
"Are you going to say it or not?"
Apparently my little spiel was not enough for him.
He was really going to make me go through with
this, huh?
"So. . ." I broke down, hanging my head and said,
"I'm sorry for all the inconvenience I might have
caused you. Happy?"
He seemed to consider it for a moment. "Well. . ."
He began.
I squinted my eyes cynically and stuck my tongue
out briefly. "Don't be a pain, Darien. Oh yeah -
that might be too hard for you."
He replied, "Man, you suck at apologizing."
I crossed my arms in front of me. "Hmp."
Darien took a step back and I realized with panic
that he was about to close the door on me. I was not
about to have apologized to him for nothing! So I
quickly stepped up and stopped the door with my
hand. "Some manners you have, Chiba. Not even
inviting your guest inside? Tsk, tsk, tsk," I supplied
smoothly while stepping under his arm and slipping
into his apartment.
I could tell he was surprised, but desperate times
called for desperate measures. I was trying to come
up a way to get him in the holiday spirit. I quickly
glanced about his apartment - it was nice, but some
what bare. Suddenly, I had an epiphany, and
couldn't stop myself from saying, "Christmas
Decorations." That was what this apartment was
missing - and how can you get in the spirit without
that? Besides it was a good reason to stay.
Darien looked at me like I was crazy. "Okay,
Meatball Head. Suuuure. . ."
I briefly stuck my tongue out at him again, and then
quickly explained, "No. You don't have any up.
We should decorate this place. Hey, what are doing
tonight? I call the guys." I ran over to the phone
and started dialing away before he could get another
word in.
Soon, all the scouts were on their way. I also called
Andrew as well the number was on Darien's speed
dial and he agreed to come with Lizzy and Rita.
I turned around to a gaping Darien and exclaimed
cheerfully, "Well, it's all settled now. They should
all be over in half an hour. We should start
preparing, huh? Maybe we should get refreshments
out?"
He nodded, and we took out some glasses and filled
them, and took out some snacks as well. We
arranged them on a tray with limited small talk and
placed them on the coffee table in the living room.
With that done, I turned to him and spoke, "I guess
we could start decorating. Do you have any
decorations we could use?"
He shook his head.
"How about popcorn?"
He looked at me like I was crazy. "Always thinking
with your stomach, Meatball Brains?"
"Umm, what cave do you live in Darien? Ever hear
of Popcorn chains? To decorate the place?"
He gave me a funny look at the cave comment, and
then replied snidely, "Won't that make a mess?"
I quickly pointed out, "It won't make a mess unless
you let pigeons in your apartment." I was rather
proud of that particular quip, and he didn't even
reply, which made me feel even better. I began to
rummage through the cabinets at this point, quickly
finding microwave popcorn and putting a bag in the
microwave. "I think Lizzy's going to bring more
anyway," I remarked while I looked at his stash -
only four more bags. "She's the queen of good
snacks."
"I thought that was your title. Or is it the queen of
_eating_ good snacks?"
I stayed silent for a moment, mentally reflecting on
how impossible my task seemed. I hoped this
impromptu get-together would help.
I took a deep breath, trying to stop the blush from
forming, and replied cheerfully, "No, I'm more of a
sundae person, to tell you the truth." The beeping
of the microwave distracted us at that moment, and I
went to put in a new bag. I turned to him and asked,
"Could you find a large needle and some thread to
string this up?"
"Uhh. . .yeah, I'll go look." I nodded and he went
off toward the bedroom. I took the time to look at
the living room more carefully. He had a really nice
stereo and television system. A couple prints
adorned the walls. A big navy blue couch was
situated across from the TV, a glass coffee table in
between them. I let myself sink down into the
couch - very comfy - and continued to look about
the room. After a while I realized that he didn't
have any photos of anyone on display. This place
was nice, but it just didn't seem like a home. How
do you get in the spirit if you don't even have a
home?
"I'll just have to make it a home for him," I
declared, nodding my head slowly.
The beeping of the microwave disturbed me from
my reverie, and when I got up and turned around to
put another bag in, I was shocked to see Darien
languidly leaning against the door frame of the
hallway, watching me.
His eyes intensely held my form, and for the
moment, gone was the sparkling mischief that had
always been present during our little fights,
and instead a flickering blue fire flashed within
them. My breath caught in my throat - never having
seen that much pure intensity within one human
being ever before. I felt my skin flush and get goose
bumps simultaneously, as my eyes stayed in contact
with his. Time slowed as I felt one deep breath after
another rush in and out of my breast; the charging of
my blood filling my ears.
His eyes were a deep blue ocean jewel, reflecting
the light from the balcony across the way, steadily
holding my gaze with his own. The expression
behind it. . .I couldn't quite place, but I knew that I
had never been looked at like that before, and I
never wanted it to stop, never wanted him to stop.
He looked at me like. . .like I was a woman. . .the
only woman. . .
The doorbell buzzed and my head involuntarily jerked in
its direction. I quickly moved my gaze back to him.
And it was over. He had straightened and was
moving over to the door as if nothing had occurred,
as if that moment of time had never happened at all,
and I began to question if it did.
Confused, and I'd have to say, disappointed, I
wandered over to the kitchen to the microwave,
changing the popcorn bags, absently listening to the
exchange going on at the door while I did so.
It was Lita and Mina - they lived in the same area
and so had walked over together. I walked over and
greeted them with a smile. Lita was carrying a
rather large trash bag, and Mina held a huge stack of
videos and cds.
I eyed them curiously.
Mina explained perkily. "I brought the entertainment!
I've got Christmas songs, and lots of sappy romantic
Christmas movies! Darien, I'm sure you'll _love_ every
minute!" she said with a sugary smile.
His face paled a bit, seeing her intention of making
him watch what he deemed as "chick flicks" and he
tried to nonchalantly edge away from Mina. She
paid him no heed and bounded over to the TV, and
popped one of the movies into the VCR.
I turned my attention to Lita, and curiously
enquired, "So, what's in the bag? Presents?"
"No. . .Greens!"
"Huh?" both Darien and I exclaimed at her weird
display of exuberance.
She reached down into the bag and produced a
green wreath with a large red bow on the bottom.
She proceeded to hang it up on the outside of the
door before closing it herself and entering the room.
"I have more." She grinned. "Hey Darien, why
don't you help me hang this one on the mantle?"
She took a long pine garland from the bag as she
spoke. She tugged him over to the living room and
whispered to him loudly, "I don't trust either of
them when things can be broken. . ."
"Hey! I heard that!" I yelled over to her good-
naturedly. She merely winked back.
I wandered back into the kitchen and placed the
second to last popcorn bag into the microwave
when the doorbell rang again. I could see from
where I was that Darien was busy so I offered to
answer the door - it was Andrew and Lizzy.
"Hey guys, glad you could make it!" I exclaimed
with a wink as I helped them with their coats.
"Where's Rita?"
"Oh, she should be here soon enough - she's coming
from her apartment." I nodded my head.
I was about to close the door but Andrew stopped
me. "We have to get something out of the hallway
first." He and Lizzy motioned for me to follow
them, and low and behold I saw a Christmas tree. It
wasn't too big - a good size, I'd say, about my
height - barely five feet. I helped them carry it in,
and Darien looked at us bewilderedly.
"Where am I supposed to put that thing?" he
exclaimed.
Andrew looked around and pointed to the back
right corner of the room. "Perfect!" Lizzy ran ahead
of us and quickly spread out a tree skirt and took out
a tree stand. She then returned to the doorway, and
took out another bag that had been in the hallway
which I learned later contained tons of snacks.
Our favorite waitress wouldn't disappoint us, now
would she? Meanwhile, Mina and Darien came
over and helped us bring it across the apartment,
and soon we had it all set up.
As if on cue, the doorbell rang again - Amy and
Raye. While Darien answered it I dragged Andrew
over to the microwave - it was really turning out to
be a popular place, and while I placed the last of
Darien's stash I questioned him on the tree - asking
questions like, just where in the heck did he find a
tree in checking watch thirty-five minutes? He
gave me a toothy smile and told me originally it was
for the arcade, but he thought this was a good cause.
Besides, they could easily get another tree, but
Darien would never buy one on his own.
"Serena, I'm really glad you're doing this for
Darien. He needs this." I blushed a bit from his
praise, before we hurried back to the others. Amy
and Raye saved the day after all. Amy brought
ornaments and tinsel, and Raye the pyro brought
strings of lights, all perfect for decorating the tree
and the rest of the apartment. AN: hmm, how
convenient. . .
We set about making the place cheery and warm,
and Darien and Andrew even set about making a
fire in the fireplace. After they failed three times,
Raye took over and quickly got one going. . . pyro. . .
Amy and I both caught her starting it with her fingers
when no one was looking the wood was wet, I
guess and gave her a disapproving look. She just
quickly stuck her tongue out at us.
You know where this is going, so I'll spare you the
details.
Mina suggested another Christmas movie - a
romantic one, of course. We decided to string up
the popcorn - or what was left of it blushes while
watching the movie. Before it started, Rita finally
arrived. Darien, Andrew and I answered the door.
She said hello and kissed Andrew on the cheek - it
was very sweet, after which he took her coat.
"So, Rita, did you bring something to this little
Christmas decorating party?" I eagerly asked her,
eyeing the bag she held in her hand. She always had
imaginative ideas up her sleeve.
"Um-hmm," she agreed, nodding, while giving
Darien and me a knowing smile. She reached into
the bag and slowly took out. . .a bunch of leaves.
Darien's eyes seemed to bug out a bit, but I didn't
get what was so cool about leaves.
"Oh, err, how thoughtful." I stuttered, taking the
leaves into my hand and inspecting them carefully,
giving the two confused looks. After a long pause I
queried, "Uh, Rita? What is it?"
She gave me a bright smile as she took it back.
"Mistletoe, of course. You can't have Christmas
without it. Where do you think we should hang
it up? Not in the bedroom, don't want to give
Darien too many ideas, huh?" she asked playfully
with a wink. Why did I get the feeling she
knew something I didn't? I turned to see
- with awe - that Darien was blushing. I was
shocked to say the least. "Andrew!" she called.
"Why don't you help me hang this up?"
"Sure hun," he told her as they moved away from
us. I turned back to Darien, and noted that his color
was back to normal.
"Why don't we go watch the movie?" I asked,
unsure of myself for a moment. He nodded and we
headed over. The couch and recliner were taken
already, and we sat down on the floor by the tree,
and began to help the others string up the popcorn.
Andrew and Rita joined us all after a bit, and we
settled down to watch the movie, Sleepless in Seattle.
It ended up being very sweet. . .
Just as the two were confessing who they were with
soulful stares, across a busy highway, I felt
this. . .vibration, that soon had me laughing
hysterically. I'm very ticklish, and
I had set my communicator to "vibration" mode
for the first time, actually. Soon the other girls
were laughing too - except for Amy, whose
communicator was beeping annoyingly. We all
looked at each other, nervously after we had
successfully all turned them off and I stood up. I
was their leader, after all.
"Uhh, that was my beeper. . .I'm gonna take this in
the kitchen," I excused myself elegantly, my face
beet red from the tickling session.
With a whispering voice when in the kitchen, I
flipped it on and said, "Moon here. This better be
good!! We were at the most romantic scene of the movie!"
I heard some "oohing" from the living room, and I
craned my head to try to see what was happening,
but Luna, who was on the other line, quickly
recaptured my attention.
"Attack at the mall! A crazy nega-elf is sucking all
the energy out of the children who came to see
Santa! Serena, you get here as soon as you can!!
Are the other scouts with you?" I nodded my head
yes. "Good. We'll need them! Luna out."
"Moon out." I whispered back. What was I going
to tell them?
I quickly moved back into the room and all eyes
quickly spun to me. "Err, that was my mom, there's
a slight emergency at my house. We're, uhh,
needed girls, to, umm, do something for my mom.
She's out of," I searched my head for something we
could possibly be out of that would take all five of
us out of here. I had always been awful at lying.
Thankfully, or unfortunately, Mina supplied, "eggnog?"
I grabbed at the sliver of an excuse. "Yeah! Eggnog!
So we have to go get some for her! Mina, Lita,
Raye, Amy, come with me - I think I'll need all of
you for this!" I exclaimed, ready to bolt out the
door.
Darien, of course, cut in cynically. "Wait, there's
an eggnog emergency and you need four other girls
to go with you to get some?"
Raye helped me. "Umm, Darien, you don't know
her mother. She's very particular about her
eggnog." We all nodded our head solemnly while
Darien, Andrew, Lizzy, and Rita looked at us like
we were crazy.
Lita added, "And she uses _a lot_ of it. So we'll
need all of us to carry it. She's sort of an eggnog
junkee."
Amy continued, "You should see her. She gets the
shakes and everything from withdrawl. She simply
_needs_ her eggnog, and umm, we're wasting time
by talking to you guys, so we'll, uhh, be going
now."
By now we all had put on our coats and shoes.
"Don't worry, we'll come back right after we're
finished with this nega- I mean, mega-load of an
eggnog errand. Err, yeah. Bye guys!" I exclaimed
to them quickly. We were out of the door, and we
took off at a run down the hall to the elevator,
where we transformed. I filled the rest of the girls
in on our way to the mall.
Meanwhile. . .
**********Darien's Apartment**********
After a few moments in stunned silence after the
girls left, a strange expression crossed Darien's
face.
"Uhh. . .I have a weird craving for eggnog myself.
I'll be right back guys," he told the rest as he
quickly left the room.
Rita looked over to her boyfriend. "That is a
strange bunch of people you are friends with,
Andrew. Nice, but strange."
Everyone left nodded in agreement.
e-mailed me! Thank you to all those fanfic writers
out there as well who work so hard to give us
quality Sailor Moon action for free!
Oh, and I officially dedicate this chapter to Sailor
Coruscant, who helped me come up with a movie
for them to watch!! So thank you all, and Merry
Christmas!!
giggle I sound like a Disney movie. . .
Anyway, I hope you all like this next chapter - and
all email is welcome - that means:
Praise of course
Comments why not?
Questions I know I'm strange, so if you don't get
something, maybe I can clear it up
Ideas ohh! my favorite!! A girl needs inspiration,
no?
Flames what the heck, why not?
thanks guys
ja'
yuu
Operation: Spread the Spirit
Chapter 1: I Set Out to Decorate-
and End Up Buying Eggnog
by Yuubou-san
e-mail: yuubou_san@yahoo.com
We returned to the main arcade room, and Andrew
had me stand by the door and apologize to everyone
as they left, while handing out free coupons. He has
good business sense, Andrew does. I think Andrew
thought it a slight bonus that this was only more
humiliation for me. I guess it was all in good fun
any way.
While helping Andrew, Lizzy, and the scouts clean
up the extinguisher foam, I tried to think up a good
way of getting Darien to go to that party. I only had
a week to convince him, which I thought was kind
of unfair seeing as Andrew had had the length of
their entire friendship to come up with plans to get
him to be even slightly social, and all those plans
had failed miserably. Well, I was the leader of the
scouts, wasn't I? I could come up with a plan if I
put my mind to it. . .
Amy was the first to break my concentration.
"Serena, you look pretty deep in thought."
"Yeh." I agreed.
"Anything we can help with?" Lita joined in. I
turned startled eyes to Andrew, and he nodded his
head in approval. Good, so I didn't have to do this
all by myself.
"Well, I promised Andrew that I'd pay him back by
getting Darien into the spirit of Christmas and
Winter holiday. I have to get him to go that huge
party, and he has to enjoy himself. . ."
"Wow, that's a big task." Mina remarked.
Yeah - to get Darien to loosen up and enjoy himself
seemed impossible, but I kept that fact to myself,
acutely aware of Andrew's presence.
Raye, thankfully, put her two cents in, ticking the
points off on her fingers. "Not really, Serena. All
you have to do is trip on your hair, stuff your face
and make a general fool of yourself often enough to
keep him amused. It should come naturally to you."
I stuck my tongue out at Raye.
Thspppppps!!!!
She deigned the appropriate response of:
Thssssssssspts!!!
You get the picture. The war died down after a
while I had to stop because my tongue was numb
and pretty soon we were done cleaning up the
arcade.
The girls wished me luck on my mission and
promised to be there if I needed them before
leaving. I stayed behind with Andrew, who had
grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down
some basic things about Darien that would help me,
he said.
He handed me the paper after a moment, and I
quickly scanned it - Darien's phone number and
address, his favorite things - I was surprised that
Physics books weren't listed, but roses were, which,
I guess, was even more surprising - along with his
basic daily routine/schedule.
After noticing that he jogs in the early morning, I
felt fear grip my heart intensely as I realized that
this scheme just may involve me getting up early. .
.NO, I would NOT let that happen. My heartbeat
slowly returned to normal after I made my silent
vow.
"Maybe you should go over there now, and tell him
that I made you apologized to every patron in the
arcade - and since he wasn't there. . ." Andrew
supplied.
"Okay, okay. I get the picture. I'm on it, there,
Commando. .."
Andrew gave me a wry grin in return. I paused by
the doors and gave Andrew a sunny goodbye smile
and wave before I left. He smiled back warmly, and
I felt relieved to know that we were cool.
I looked down at the paper and made my way to
Darien's place.
I entered the building, slipping in after another
person used their key, not wanting to buzz him so I
could keep the element of surprise. I bravely
stepped into the elevator, and pressed the button for
the tenth floor. I fidgeted nervously while the
elevator made its way up slowly. Finally, the
elevator stopped and both the lady who had opened
the door up and I stepped off. I quick located
Apartment C and knocked quickly.
A big man clad in only ugly purple and green plaid
pants and a wife beater tee shirt answered the door.
He checked me up and down to my displeasure, and
then nodded his greasy head up and down and asked
me, "How YOU doing, baby?" He then turned back
toward the apartment and shouted inside, "Hey guys
they sent us a good one this time!!"
"Oh the GODS!" I couldn't help but utter in horror.
I didn't even want to know what he was talking
about. Before he swung his head back to me, I ran
off back to the elevator. It turns out all this Sailor
Moon business has paid off - the man never even
saw me leave, I was that quick.
Back at the elevator, I realized I had gotten off at the
wrong floor - the eighth. In I went, and arrived two
floors later and a few quick steps to Apartment C.
Again I knocked after offering a quick prayer that
Darien wasn't expecting anything like _that_
The door swung open after a few minutes. There
stood Darien, looking as handsome as ever.
"Meatball Head?" he questioned with a puzzled
look on his face.
Uhh, ::cough:: I meant, as annoying as ever.
He was wearing wire rimmed reading glasses, and I
had to admit they made him look adorable. They
slid farther down his nose, and instead of moving
them back up, he took them off and clipped them on
his breast pocket. He seemed to redden slightly at
the thought of me catching him with them.
When he raised his eyebrow I snapped out of my
drooling session. Embarrassed, I let my anger get
away with me - as it always seems to do when I'm
around him - and I snapped, "Don't call me that!!"
He sighed. "Fine. Does this little visit of yours
have a point? What, you weren't happy with just
trashing the arcade, you wanted to trash my
apartment too?" I remained speechless for a bit and
involuntarily clenched my fists, trying desperately
not to blow my top.
He waved his hand in front of my face, mistakenly
believing I was daydreaming. "Hello? Earth to
Hurricane Serena?"
"You are impossible, you know that?" I snapped at
him. "Look, it was hard enough for me to come
here, you could at least help me out a little bit, ok?"
He seemed to consider that for a moment, and then
nodded his head yes. It seemed like he was taking
the wise road by not saying anything.
"All right. I had to come here because. . . Andrew
is making me apologize to all the arcade patrons
because of the, umm, incident, and well, you left
before I could say anything to you. . ."
Darien glowered - he was just loving this, wasn't
he?
"So?" He asked.
"So what?"
"Are you going to say it or not?"
Apparently my little spiel was not enough for him.
He was really going to make me go through with
this, huh?
"So. . ." I broke down, hanging my head and said,
"I'm sorry for all the inconvenience I might have
caused you. Happy?"
He seemed to consider it for a moment. "Well. . ."
He began.
I squinted my eyes cynically and stuck my tongue
out briefly. "Don't be a pain, Darien. Oh yeah -
that might be too hard for you."
He replied, "Man, you suck at apologizing."
I crossed my arms in front of me. "Hmp."
Darien took a step back and I realized with panic
that he was about to close the door on me. I was not
about to have apologized to him for nothing! So I
quickly stepped up and stopped the door with my
hand. "Some manners you have, Chiba. Not even
inviting your guest inside? Tsk, tsk, tsk," I supplied
smoothly while stepping under his arm and slipping
into his apartment.
I could tell he was surprised, but desperate times
called for desperate measures. I was trying to come
up a way to get him in the holiday spirit. I quickly
glanced about his apartment - it was nice, but some
what bare. Suddenly, I had an epiphany, and
couldn't stop myself from saying, "Christmas
Decorations." That was what this apartment was
missing - and how can you get in the spirit without
that? Besides it was a good reason to stay.
Darien looked at me like I was crazy. "Okay,
Meatball Head. Suuuure. . ."
I briefly stuck my tongue out at him again, and then
quickly explained, "No. You don't have any up.
We should decorate this place. Hey, what are doing
tonight? I call the guys." I ran over to the phone
and started dialing away before he could get another
word in.
Soon, all the scouts were on their way. I also called
Andrew as well the number was on Darien's speed
dial and he agreed to come with Lizzy and Rita.
I turned around to a gaping Darien and exclaimed
cheerfully, "Well, it's all settled now. They should
all be over in half an hour. We should start
preparing, huh? Maybe we should get refreshments
out?"
He nodded, and we took out some glasses and filled
them, and took out some snacks as well. We
arranged them on a tray with limited small talk and
placed them on the coffee table in the living room.
With that done, I turned to him and spoke, "I guess
we could start decorating. Do you have any
decorations we could use?"
He shook his head.
"How about popcorn?"
He looked at me like I was crazy. "Always thinking
with your stomach, Meatball Brains?"
"Umm, what cave do you live in Darien? Ever hear
of Popcorn chains? To decorate the place?"
He gave me a funny look at the cave comment, and
then replied snidely, "Won't that make a mess?"
I quickly pointed out, "It won't make a mess unless
you let pigeons in your apartment." I was rather
proud of that particular quip, and he didn't even
reply, which made me feel even better. I began to
rummage through the cabinets at this point, quickly
finding microwave popcorn and putting a bag in the
microwave. "I think Lizzy's going to bring more
anyway," I remarked while I looked at his stash -
only four more bags. "She's the queen of good
snacks."
"I thought that was your title. Or is it the queen of
_eating_ good snacks?"
I stayed silent for a moment, mentally reflecting on
how impossible my task seemed. I hoped this
impromptu get-together would help.
I took a deep breath, trying to stop the blush from
forming, and replied cheerfully, "No, I'm more of a
sundae person, to tell you the truth." The beeping
of the microwave distracted us at that moment, and I
went to put in a new bag. I turned to him and asked,
"Could you find a large needle and some thread to
string this up?"
"Uhh. . .yeah, I'll go look." I nodded and he went
off toward the bedroom. I took the time to look at
the living room more carefully. He had a really nice
stereo and television system. A couple prints
adorned the walls. A big navy blue couch was
situated across from the TV, a glass coffee table in
between them. I let myself sink down into the
couch - very comfy - and continued to look about
the room. After a while I realized that he didn't
have any photos of anyone on display. This place
was nice, but it just didn't seem like a home. How
do you get in the spirit if you don't even have a
home?
"I'll just have to make it a home for him," I
declared, nodding my head slowly.
The beeping of the microwave disturbed me from
my reverie, and when I got up and turned around to
put another bag in, I was shocked to see Darien
languidly leaning against the door frame of the
hallway, watching me.
His eyes intensely held my form, and for the
moment, gone was the sparkling mischief that had
always been present during our little fights,
and instead a flickering blue fire flashed within
them. My breath caught in my throat - never having
seen that much pure intensity within one human
being ever before. I felt my skin flush and get goose
bumps simultaneously, as my eyes stayed in contact
with his. Time slowed as I felt one deep breath after
another rush in and out of my breast; the charging of
my blood filling my ears.
His eyes were a deep blue ocean jewel, reflecting
the light from the balcony across the way, steadily
holding my gaze with his own. The expression
behind it. . .I couldn't quite place, but I knew that I
had never been looked at like that before, and I
never wanted it to stop, never wanted him to stop.
He looked at me like. . .like I was a woman. . .the
only woman. . .
The doorbell buzzed and my head involuntarily jerked in
its direction. I quickly moved my gaze back to him.
And it was over. He had straightened and was
moving over to the door as if nothing had occurred,
as if that moment of time had never happened at all,
and I began to question if it did.
Confused, and I'd have to say, disappointed, I
wandered over to the kitchen to the microwave,
changing the popcorn bags, absently listening to the
exchange going on at the door while I did so.
It was Lita and Mina - they lived in the same area
and so had walked over together. I walked over and
greeted them with a smile. Lita was carrying a
rather large trash bag, and Mina held a huge stack of
videos and cds.
I eyed them curiously.
Mina explained perkily. "I brought the entertainment!
I've got Christmas songs, and lots of sappy romantic
Christmas movies! Darien, I'm sure you'll _love_ every
minute!" she said with a sugary smile.
His face paled a bit, seeing her intention of making
him watch what he deemed as "chick flicks" and he
tried to nonchalantly edge away from Mina. She
paid him no heed and bounded over to the TV, and
popped one of the movies into the VCR.
I turned my attention to Lita, and curiously
enquired, "So, what's in the bag? Presents?"
"No. . .Greens!"
"Huh?" both Darien and I exclaimed at her weird
display of exuberance.
She reached down into the bag and produced a
green wreath with a large red bow on the bottom.
She proceeded to hang it up on the outside of the
door before closing it herself and entering the room.
"I have more." She grinned. "Hey Darien, why
don't you help me hang this one on the mantle?"
She took a long pine garland from the bag as she
spoke. She tugged him over to the living room and
whispered to him loudly, "I don't trust either of
them when things can be broken. . ."
"Hey! I heard that!" I yelled over to her good-
naturedly. She merely winked back.
I wandered back into the kitchen and placed the
second to last popcorn bag into the microwave
when the doorbell rang again. I could see from
where I was that Darien was busy so I offered to
answer the door - it was Andrew and Lizzy.
"Hey guys, glad you could make it!" I exclaimed
with a wink as I helped them with their coats.
"Where's Rita?"
"Oh, she should be here soon enough - she's coming
from her apartment." I nodded my head.
I was about to close the door but Andrew stopped
me. "We have to get something out of the hallway
first." He and Lizzy motioned for me to follow
them, and low and behold I saw a Christmas tree. It
wasn't too big - a good size, I'd say, about my
height - barely five feet. I helped them carry it in,
and Darien looked at us bewilderedly.
"Where am I supposed to put that thing?" he
exclaimed.
Andrew looked around and pointed to the back
right corner of the room. "Perfect!" Lizzy ran ahead
of us and quickly spread out a tree skirt and took out
a tree stand. She then returned to the doorway, and
took out another bag that had been in the hallway
which I learned later contained tons of snacks.
Our favorite waitress wouldn't disappoint us, now
would she? Meanwhile, Mina and Darien came
over and helped us bring it across the apartment,
and soon we had it all set up.
As if on cue, the doorbell rang again - Amy and
Raye. While Darien answered it I dragged Andrew
over to the microwave - it was really turning out to
be a popular place, and while I placed the last of
Darien's stash I questioned him on the tree - asking
questions like, just where in the heck did he find a
tree in checking watch thirty-five minutes? He
gave me a toothy smile and told me originally it was
for the arcade, but he thought this was a good cause.
Besides, they could easily get another tree, but
Darien would never buy one on his own.
"Serena, I'm really glad you're doing this for
Darien. He needs this." I blushed a bit from his
praise, before we hurried back to the others. Amy
and Raye saved the day after all. Amy brought
ornaments and tinsel, and Raye the pyro brought
strings of lights, all perfect for decorating the tree
and the rest of the apartment. AN: hmm, how
convenient. . .
We set about making the place cheery and warm,
and Darien and Andrew even set about making a
fire in the fireplace. After they failed three times,
Raye took over and quickly got one going. . . pyro. . .
Amy and I both caught her starting it with her fingers
when no one was looking the wood was wet, I
guess and gave her a disapproving look. She just
quickly stuck her tongue out at us.
You know where this is going, so I'll spare you the
details.
Mina suggested another Christmas movie - a
romantic one, of course. We decided to string up
the popcorn - or what was left of it blushes while
watching the movie. Before it started, Rita finally
arrived. Darien, Andrew and I answered the door.
She said hello and kissed Andrew on the cheek - it
was very sweet, after which he took her coat.
"So, Rita, did you bring something to this little
Christmas decorating party?" I eagerly asked her,
eyeing the bag she held in her hand. She always had
imaginative ideas up her sleeve.
"Um-hmm," she agreed, nodding, while giving
Darien and me a knowing smile. She reached into
the bag and slowly took out. . .a bunch of leaves.
Darien's eyes seemed to bug out a bit, but I didn't
get what was so cool about leaves.
"Oh, err, how thoughtful." I stuttered, taking the
leaves into my hand and inspecting them carefully,
giving the two confused looks. After a long pause I
queried, "Uh, Rita? What is it?"
She gave me a bright smile as she took it back.
"Mistletoe, of course. You can't have Christmas
without it. Where do you think we should hang
it up? Not in the bedroom, don't want to give
Darien too many ideas, huh?" she asked playfully
with a wink. Why did I get the feeling she
knew something I didn't? I turned to see
- with awe - that Darien was blushing. I was
shocked to say the least. "Andrew!" she called.
"Why don't you help me hang this up?"
"Sure hun," he told her as they moved away from
us. I turned back to Darien, and noted that his color
was back to normal.
"Why don't we go watch the movie?" I asked,
unsure of myself for a moment. He nodded and we
headed over. The couch and recliner were taken
already, and we sat down on the floor by the tree,
and began to help the others string up the popcorn.
Andrew and Rita joined us all after a bit, and we
settled down to watch the movie, Sleepless in Seattle.
It ended up being very sweet. . .
Just as the two were confessing who they were with
soulful stares, across a busy highway, I felt
this. . .vibration, that soon had me laughing
hysterically. I'm very ticklish, and
I had set my communicator to "vibration" mode
for the first time, actually. Soon the other girls
were laughing too - except for Amy, whose
communicator was beeping annoyingly. We all
looked at each other, nervously after we had
successfully all turned them off and I stood up. I
was their leader, after all.
"Uhh, that was my beeper. . .I'm gonna take this in
the kitchen," I excused myself elegantly, my face
beet red from the tickling session.
With a whispering voice when in the kitchen, I
flipped it on and said, "Moon here. This better be
good!! We were at the most romantic scene of the movie!"
I heard some "oohing" from the living room, and I
craned my head to try to see what was happening,
but Luna, who was on the other line, quickly
recaptured my attention.
"Attack at the mall! A crazy nega-elf is sucking all
the energy out of the children who came to see
Santa! Serena, you get here as soon as you can!!
Are the other scouts with you?" I nodded my head
yes. "Good. We'll need them! Luna out."
"Moon out." I whispered back. What was I going
to tell them?
I quickly moved back into the room and all eyes
quickly spun to me. "Err, that was my mom, there's
a slight emergency at my house. We're, uhh,
needed girls, to, umm, do something for my mom.
She's out of," I searched my head for something we
could possibly be out of that would take all five of
us out of here. I had always been awful at lying.
Thankfully, or unfortunately, Mina supplied, "eggnog?"
I grabbed at the sliver of an excuse. "Yeah! Eggnog!
So we have to go get some for her! Mina, Lita,
Raye, Amy, come with me - I think I'll need all of
you for this!" I exclaimed, ready to bolt out the
door.
Darien, of course, cut in cynically. "Wait, there's
an eggnog emergency and you need four other girls
to go with you to get some?"
Raye helped me. "Umm, Darien, you don't know
her mother. She's very particular about her
eggnog." We all nodded our head solemnly while
Darien, Andrew, Lizzy, and Rita looked at us like
we were crazy.
Lita added, "And she uses _a lot_ of it. So we'll
need all of us to carry it. She's sort of an eggnog
junkee."
Amy continued, "You should see her. She gets the
shakes and everything from withdrawl. She simply
_needs_ her eggnog, and umm, we're wasting time
by talking to you guys, so we'll, uhh, be going
now."
By now we all had put on our coats and shoes.
"Don't worry, we'll come back right after we're
finished with this nega- I mean, mega-load of an
eggnog errand. Err, yeah. Bye guys!" I exclaimed
to them quickly. We were out of the door, and we
took off at a run down the hall to the elevator,
where we transformed. I filled the rest of the girls
in on our way to the mall.
Meanwhile. . .
**********Darien's Apartment**********
After a few moments in stunned silence after the
girls left, a strange expression crossed Darien's
face.
"Uhh. . .I have a weird craving for eggnog myself.
I'll be right back guys," he told the rest as he
quickly left the room.
Rita looked over to her boyfriend. "That is a
strange bunch of people you are friends with,
Andrew. Nice, but strange."
Everyone left nodded in agreement.