"Oh Darien." Serena cried burying her head in Darien's shoulder. "All along they were right there. And they were mine."
Darien rubbed Serena's back and gave Luna a worried look, Luna also wore an expression that matched Darien's. Both knew that it was bad enough that Serena had just flown from Japan to America, but now all this stress, it was bad for the baby.
Darien was relieved when minutes later Serena fell into an exhausted sleep. Darien tucked Serena quickly into bed, and then he turned to pick up the phone.
"Rei it's 3 in the morning can this wait?" Mina muttered quietly hoping not to wake Andrew up.
No such luck, "Mina what does Rei want?" Andrew asked.
"I don't know Andrew go back to bed." Mina mumbled, "Rei what's going on?"
"Darien called." Rei replied.
"What's happened?" Mina asked quickly sitting up in bed.
"I guess Jordan's in really bad shape." Rei replied.
"That's what Serena said when she left." Mina replied.
"But it turns out, well, Jordan and Annie were on the Moon Kingdom." Rei spat out.
"What?!" Mina exclaimed causing Andrew to sit up, turn the bedside light on and watch his wife curiously.
"Apparently before Beryl attacked the Moon Kingdom Serenity gave birth to her and Endymion's twin daughters, Apolla and Sidra. Serena's really upset about it."
"Oh poor Serena." Mina sighed, "She's probably devastated."
"She is, but Darien's worried about her, and the baby." Rei added. "The thing is, he called Ami before me and asked her to take on Jordan's case. But he wanted to know if all of us could fly out for awhile."
Mina massaged her neck and finally replied, "Yeah, I'll take some time off. We can use the jet, it will get us there faster and this way we can come back if we need to."
"OK Mina. Call me when you make the plans. And I'm sure you could put it off until the morning, I just wanted to give you a heads up."
"Yeah, thanks Rei. I'll talk to you in the morning." Mina hung up the phone, but instead of going back to sleep she swung her feet over the edge of the bed.
"What's going on Mina?" Andrew asked.
Mina quickly explained everything to Andrew, "You and the kids will be OK while I'm away wont you?"
"We'll be fine." Andrew reassured, "Why don't you wait to make the plans until later this morning."
"No, I'm never going to be able to sleep."
"I'm brining a new doctor onto Jordan's case." Dr. Bryant announced to Serena, Edward and Elaine the next morning.
"Why?" Serena asked fearfully, "She isn't getting worse is she?"
"No she is the same. But this doctor offered to take on the case. I have no idea how she heard about it. But she is the best doctor in the world dealing with brain trauma's. You may know her Mrs. Sheilds, she is located in Tokyo. Wait here one moment and I will go bring her in."
"Ami!" Serena exclaimed hugging her friend the instant she walked in the door, "Your taking on Jordan's case."
"Yeah." Ami nodded, "Darien called me yesterday. Dr. Bryant filled me in over the phone."
"Ms. Mizuno if you would like I can show you to the patient now." Dr. Bryant offered.
"Excellent."
Serena walked slowly back to the waiting room, she was filled with love for Darien for calling Ami, but it didn't help her worry any.
"Oh Serena." Serena heard someone sigh.
Serena looked up to see Mina, Lita, Rei, Haruka, Michiru (sorry I know I am using American names but I hate Amara and Michelle!), Trista and Hotaru in the waiting room.
"Thanks for coming you guys." Serena whispered.
"We are going to wait it out with you." Haruka smiled gently squeezing Serena's shoulder.
"But the kids..." Serena trailed off thinking of her 8 friend's children.
"Are staying with out nanny." Michiru interrupted.
"And are staying with out husbands." Rei added.
"It will do them some good." Mina smiled.
2 months later
Serena looked dejectedly down on the sitting. Rain fell in torrents onto Denver and Serena felt that the weather matched her feelings perfectly. The girls had stayed for a week when they first arrived and then Serena made them all leave, they couldn't spend to much time away from their jobs and families. After 2 weeks Serena had insisted that Darien go back too, Rini needed her father, and he had to get back to his firm. Darien had been worried about leaving Serena behind in America while she was 3 months pregnant, but Serena had insisted and he had left. Only a week after Darien had left Ami had declared that Jordan was out of the woods, she wasn't going to die, but she did have a long road of recovery ahead of her.
Watching Jordan day in and day out had made Serena want to cry, her athletic, smart daughter couldn't walk at all or do simple math problems. For a month Jordan had stayed in the hospital working with her therapist everyday, relearning all her motorskills, including walking, eating and talking.
But Jordan was back home, living with Edward and Elaine again and as much as Serena hated to admit it they would be staying there. Despite the fact that Jordan and Annie were really her daughters.
And knock on the door drove Serena from her bitter thoughts, "Who is it?" Serena asked bitterly.
"Room service." A male voice called.
"I didn't order room service." Serena exclaimed angrily.
Serena didn't hear another word and continued to stare out the window until a white paper packet was dropped on her lap, looking up quickly she found Darien's blue eyes staring intently at her.
"What are you doing here?" Serena exclaimed hugging and kissing.
"Read the paper." Darien responded.
Serena scanned, "A petition for custody?" Serena asked.
"That's right. We aren't leaving without our daughters." Darien responded firmly.
"It'll never work." Serena said dropping the papers back on her lap. "I all ready begged Edward."
~*~Flashback~*~
"Please Edward. They are old enough to choose where they want to live and they want to live with me in Japan."
"They are my daughters!" Edward roared, "Not yours! You were their foster mother for not even 2 years. Get over it all ready woman."
~*~End Flashback~*~
"The girls are old enough to have some sway with the court." Darien responded, "We are at least going to try."
"No we aren't." Serena said shaking her head, "I'm not going to go through that again."
"But…"
"No Darien. Now did you get a flight out with mine?"
"No." Darien shook his head, "But that's fine. You can fly out. And I will come back on my flight next week."
"God damn it all to Hell!" Edward bellowed, his voice ringing throughout the house.
"What's wrong Edward?" Elaine asked rushing to the front door.
"What's wrong Daddy?" 8, 4, and 2-year old Brandy, Melanie, and Daisy asked following their mother.
"What's happened?" Annie asked, Jordan following Annie with her cane. Both girls had just gotten back from the airport were they cried when they said goodbye again to Serena.
"Read this." Edward thrust the papers at Elaine.
"You have got to be kidding me." Elaine muttered.
"Nope, they want to go through the whole damned custody fight all over again!" Edward exclaimed.
Jordan and Annie exchanged thrilled glances, Serena had refused to go through the custody battle when they had begged her to earlier, she had been in tears when she had said, "No you stay with your Dad." Darien must be going through the custody battle without Serena's knowledge, the girls knew their was a reason they liked their mother's husband.
"The trail is in 3 days." Edward exclaimed, "I have to call my lawyer."
"Mr. Shields is there a particular reason that your wife is not present?" The judge asked Darien at the trial 3 days later.
"Yes your honor. My wife is close to her 3rd trimester of pregnancy, we didn't want to risk getting to far along before we flew back to Tokyo."
"Good enough." The judge said shuffling through the papers, "The children are how old?"
"12" Edward replied.
"Almost 13." Was Darien's answer.
"I would like to see the twins in my chamber please." The judge said stepping down.
"Has your father ever mistreated you?" The judge asked.
"No sir." Annie replied.
"Has your step-mother?"
"No sir." Jordan echoed her twin.
"The family who would like to adopt you, the woman, she was only your foster mother for a little over a year. Why do you care so much?"
Jordan and Annie exchanged glances, and Annie spoke, "Well you see sir, out of all the parents we have had. Our real mother, and Edward included Serena Shields and even Darien Shields have felt more like real parents than Edward."
"It's not that Edward doesn't treat us well. But he and Elaine feel more like foster parents than our mama ever did."
"Thank you. You may return to your seats." Walking out of his chambers the judge took his seat and spoke, "I have made my decision. I am granting full custody to Serena and Darien Shields."
"But your honor you haven't even heard out case." Edward Scott's lawyer said jumping to his feet.
"Mr. Scott if you truly love your children then you will see that making them happy is worth being separated from them." The judge replied.
"We really get to go home with you?" Annie and Jordan asked rushing up to Darien quickly.
"I guess so." Darien grinned.
"Mom doesn't know you did this does she?" Jordan asked leaning on her cane.
"She hasn't a clue." Darien's grin grew wider.
"So it's a nice surprise." Annie smiled.
"When can we leave?" Jordan asked.
"As soon as you want."
"Tomorrow?" Jordan asked.
"Tomorrow it is." Darien hugged both of the girls.
"Come on girls. We have to get back to the house." Edward said appearing beside the girls.
"Fine." Annie said.
"We are leaving on the plane tomorrow. If you could have a couple days worth of clothes packed until you can get all their things packed." Darien smirked at the man who had made his wife's life miserable.
"Where were you all day?" Serena asked over the phone to Darien that night.
"Shopping for my favorite women." Darien lied.
"Oh." Darien could tell that Serena was still upset about the twins.
"I got a flight, I'll be home a week from today." Darien lied again.
"OK. Well I'm going to go to bed." Serena said.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
"Wow Tokyo is so cool!" Jordan gushed.
"How far away is our house?" Annie asked.
"About a mile in the other direction." Darien replied.
"Then where are we going?"
"Your Aunt Mina is throwing a party." Darien responded, "When she found out that I we got custody of you she decided to throw a party." Darien caught Jordan's fearful look, "Jordan what's wrong?"
"What if they don't like us?" Jordan asked.
"You have met most of the woman." Darien responded.
"But they have kids don't they?" Jordan asked.
"Well yes." Darien responded, "Well yes. Mina and Andrew have a 6-year-old daughter Hayley and a 3-year-old son. Ami and Greg have 3-year-old Meg, and Alex is just a baby. Lita and Ken have twin boys, Ken Jr. and Danny are 3, and Theresa's 2. Rei and Chad have 5 children."
"5?!" Annie exclaimed.
"Yes. Joey, that's Josephine, is 5, and then Rei has 2 sets of twins, Tyler and Tamara are 4, and Joshua and Jenna are 2. Haruka and Michiru have twins too, Daryl and Audrey are 4. (Medical Miracles, Medical Miracles. Think about it, or not, the choice is yours…)Hotaru and Justin have Brad who's 3, and Jamie who's just a baby too. And Trista and Jared have 5-year-old Howie and Charlotte is a little bit older than Jamie."
"That's a lot of people." Jordan said stunned.
"That's a lot of twins." Annie said happily.
"Darien's here." Mina announced.
"Oh good." Serena nodded, her spirit had not been lifted.
"Now he said he has a surprise for you." Mina smiled brightly covering Serena's eyes.
"Hi baby." Darien said kissing Serena.
"Darien what's going on?" Serena asked.
"Hold out your hands." Darien responded.
Serena did as Darien said and she felt two smaller hands take hers. Mina pulled her hands away and Serena looked down to see Annie and Jordan standing there with tears in their brown eyes.
"What are you guys doing here?" Serena asked not moving.
"Dad," Annie said the word slowly for the word was foreign to her, "Went against what you said and he kinda won against Edward. You have total custody of us."
Serena was speechless, suddenly tears were running down her cheeks as she tried to hug Darien, Annie and Jordan at the same time.
"I have my girls back." Serena cried.
Darien rubbed Serena's back and gave Luna a worried look, Luna also wore an expression that matched Darien's. Both knew that it was bad enough that Serena had just flown from Japan to America, but now all this stress, it was bad for the baby.
Darien was relieved when minutes later Serena fell into an exhausted sleep. Darien tucked Serena quickly into bed, and then he turned to pick up the phone.
"Rei it's 3 in the morning can this wait?" Mina muttered quietly hoping not to wake Andrew up.
No such luck, "Mina what does Rei want?" Andrew asked.
"I don't know Andrew go back to bed." Mina mumbled, "Rei what's going on?"
"Darien called." Rei replied.
"What's happened?" Mina asked quickly sitting up in bed.
"I guess Jordan's in really bad shape." Rei replied.
"That's what Serena said when she left." Mina replied.
"But it turns out, well, Jordan and Annie were on the Moon Kingdom." Rei spat out.
"What?!" Mina exclaimed causing Andrew to sit up, turn the bedside light on and watch his wife curiously.
"Apparently before Beryl attacked the Moon Kingdom Serenity gave birth to her and Endymion's twin daughters, Apolla and Sidra. Serena's really upset about it."
"Oh poor Serena." Mina sighed, "She's probably devastated."
"She is, but Darien's worried about her, and the baby." Rei added. "The thing is, he called Ami before me and asked her to take on Jordan's case. But he wanted to know if all of us could fly out for awhile."
Mina massaged her neck and finally replied, "Yeah, I'll take some time off. We can use the jet, it will get us there faster and this way we can come back if we need to."
"OK Mina. Call me when you make the plans. And I'm sure you could put it off until the morning, I just wanted to give you a heads up."
"Yeah, thanks Rei. I'll talk to you in the morning." Mina hung up the phone, but instead of going back to sleep she swung her feet over the edge of the bed.
"What's going on Mina?" Andrew asked.
Mina quickly explained everything to Andrew, "You and the kids will be OK while I'm away wont you?"
"We'll be fine." Andrew reassured, "Why don't you wait to make the plans until later this morning."
"No, I'm never going to be able to sleep."
"I'm brining a new doctor onto Jordan's case." Dr. Bryant announced to Serena, Edward and Elaine the next morning.
"Why?" Serena asked fearfully, "She isn't getting worse is she?"
"No she is the same. But this doctor offered to take on the case. I have no idea how she heard about it. But she is the best doctor in the world dealing with brain trauma's. You may know her Mrs. Sheilds, she is located in Tokyo. Wait here one moment and I will go bring her in."
"Ami!" Serena exclaimed hugging her friend the instant she walked in the door, "Your taking on Jordan's case."
"Yeah." Ami nodded, "Darien called me yesterday. Dr. Bryant filled me in over the phone."
"Ms. Mizuno if you would like I can show you to the patient now." Dr. Bryant offered.
"Excellent."
Serena walked slowly back to the waiting room, she was filled with love for Darien for calling Ami, but it didn't help her worry any.
"Oh Serena." Serena heard someone sigh.
Serena looked up to see Mina, Lita, Rei, Haruka, Michiru (sorry I know I am using American names but I hate Amara and Michelle!), Trista and Hotaru in the waiting room.
"Thanks for coming you guys." Serena whispered.
"We are going to wait it out with you." Haruka smiled gently squeezing Serena's shoulder.
"But the kids..." Serena trailed off thinking of her 8 friend's children.
"Are staying with out nanny." Michiru interrupted.
"And are staying with out husbands." Rei added.
"It will do them some good." Mina smiled.
2 months later
Serena looked dejectedly down on the sitting. Rain fell in torrents onto Denver and Serena felt that the weather matched her feelings perfectly. The girls had stayed for a week when they first arrived and then Serena made them all leave, they couldn't spend to much time away from their jobs and families. After 2 weeks Serena had insisted that Darien go back too, Rini needed her father, and he had to get back to his firm. Darien had been worried about leaving Serena behind in America while she was 3 months pregnant, but Serena had insisted and he had left. Only a week after Darien had left Ami had declared that Jordan was out of the woods, she wasn't going to die, but she did have a long road of recovery ahead of her.
Watching Jordan day in and day out had made Serena want to cry, her athletic, smart daughter couldn't walk at all or do simple math problems. For a month Jordan had stayed in the hospital working with her therapist everyday, relearning all her motorskills, including walking, eating and talking.
But Jordan was back home, living with Edward and Elaine again and as much as Serena hated to admit it they would be staying there. Despite the fact that Jordan and Annie were really her daughters.
And knock on the door drove Serena from her bitter thoughts, "Who is it?" Serena asked bitterly.
"Room service." A male voice called.
"I didn't order room service." Serena exclaimed angrily.
Serena didn't hear another word and continued to stare out the window until a white paper packet was dropped on her lap, looking up quickly she found Darien's blue eyes staring intently at her.
"What are you doing here?" Serena exclaimed hugging and kissing.
"Read the paper." Darien responded.
Serena scanned, "A petition for custody?" Serena asked.
"That's right. We aren't leaving without our daughters." Darien responded firmly.
"It'll never work." Serena said dropping the papers back on her lap. "I all ready begged Edward."
~*~Flashback~*~
"Please Edward. They are old enough to choose where they want to live and they want to live with me in Japan."
"They are my daughters!" Edward roared, "Not yours! You were their foster mother for not even 2 years. Get over it all ready woman."
~*~End Flashback~*~
"The girls are old enough to have some sway with the court." Darien responded, "We are at least going to try."
"No we aren't." Serena said shaking her head, "I'm not going to go through that again."
"But…"
"No Darien. Now did you get a flight out with mine?"
"No." Darien shook his head, "But that's fine. You can fly out. And I will come back on my flight next week."
"God damn it all to Hell!" Edward bellowed, his voice ringing throughout the house.
"What's wrong Edward?" Elaine asked rushing to the front door.
"What's wrong Daddy?" 8, 4, and 2-year old Brandy, Melanie, and Daisy asked following their mother.
"What's happened?" Annie asked, Jordan following Annie with her cane. Both girls had just gotten back from the airport were they cried when they said goodbye again to Serena.
"Read this." Edward thrust the papers at Elaine.
"You have got to be kidding me." Elaine muttered.
"Nope, they want to go through the whole damned custody fight all over again!" Edward exclaimed.
Jordan and Annie exchanged thrilled glances, Serena had refused to go through the custody battle when they had begged her to earlier, she had been in tears when she had said, "No you stay with your Dad." Darien must be going through the custody battle without Serena's knowledge, the girls knew their was a reason they liked their mother's husband.
"The trail is in 3 days." Edward exclaimed, "I have to call my lawyer."
"Mr. Shields is there a particular reason that your wife is not present?" The judge asked Darien at the trial 3 days later.
"Yes your honor. My wife is close to her 3rd trimester of pregnancy, we didn't want to risk getting to far along before we flew back to Tokyo."
"Good enough." The judge said shuffling through the papers, "The children are how old?"
"12" Edward replied.
"Almost 13." Was Darien's answer.
"I would like to see the twins in my chamber please." The judge said stepping down.
"Has your father ever mistreated you?" The judge asked.
"No sir." Annie replied.
"Has your step-mother?"
"No sir." Jordan echoed her twin.
"The family who would like to adopt you, the woman, she was only your foster mother for a little over a year. Why do you care so much?"
Jordan and Annie exchanged glances, and Annie spoke, "Well you see sir, out of all the parents we have had. Our real mother, and Edward included Serena Shields and even Darien Shields have felt more like real parents than Edward."
"It's not that Edward doesn't treat us well. But he and Elaine feel more like foster parents than our mama ever did."
"Thank you. You may return to your seats." Walking out of his chambers the judge took his seat and spoke, "I have made my decision. I am granting full custody to Serena and Darien Shields."
"But your honor you haven't even heard out case." Edward Scott's lawyer said jumping to his feet.
"Mr. Scott if you truly love your children then you will see that making them happy is worth being separated from them." The judge replied.
"We really get to go home with you?" Annie and Jordan asked rushing up to Darien quickly.
"I guess so." Darien grinned.
"Mom doesn't know you did this does she?" Jordan asked leaning on her cane.
"She hasn't a clue." Darien's grin grew wider.
"So it's a nice surprise." Annie smiled.
"When can we leave?" Jordan asked.
"As soon as you want."
"Tomorrow?" Jordan asked.
"Tomorrow it is." Darien hugged both of the girls.
"Come on girls. We have to get back to the house." Edward said appearing beside the girls.
"Fine." Annie said.
"We are leaving on the plane tomorrow. If you could have a couple days worth of clothes packed until you can get all their things packed." Darien smirked at the man who had made his wife's life miserable.
"Where were you all day?" Serena asked over the phone to Darien that night.
"Shopping for my favorite women." Darien lied.
"Oh." Darien could tell that Serena was still upset about the twins.
"I got a flight, I'll be home a week from today." Darien lied again.
"OK. Well I'm going to go to bed." Serena said.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
"Wow Tokyo is so cool!" Jordan gushed.
"How far away is our house?" Annie asked.
"About a mile in the other direction." Darien replied.
"Then where are we going?"
"Your Aunt Mina is throwing a party." Darien responded, "When she found out that I we got custody of you she decided to throw a party." Darien caught Jordan's fearful look, "Jordan what's wrong?"
"What if they don't like us?" Jordan asked.
"You have met most of the woman." Darien responded.
"But they have kids don't they?" Jordan asked.
"Well yes." Darien responded, "Well yes. Mina and Andrew have a 6-year-old daughter Hayley and a 3-year-old son. Ami and Greg have 3-year-old Meg, and Alex is just a baby. Lita and Ken have twin boys, Ken Jr. and Danny are 3, and Theresa's 2. Rei and Chad have 5 children."
"5?!" Annie exclaimed.
"Yes. Joey, that's Josephine, is 5, and then Rei has 2 sets of twins, Tyler and Tamara are 4, and Joshua and Jenna are 2. Haruka and Michiru have twins too, Daryl and Audrey are 4. (Medical Miracles, Medical Miracles. Think about it, or not, the choice is yours…)Hotaru and Justin have Brad who's 3, and Jamie who's just a baby too. And Trista and Jared have 5-year-old Howie and Charlotte is a little bit older than Jamie."
"That's a lot of people." Jordan said stunned.
"That's a lot of twins." Annie said happily.
"Darien's here." Mina announced.
"Oh good." Serena nodded, her spirit had not been lifted.
"Now he said he has a surprise for you." Mina smiled brightly covering Serena's eyes.
"Hi baby." Darien said kissing Serena.
"Darien what's going on?" Serena asked.
"Hold out your hands." Darien responded.
Serena did as Darien said and she felt two smaller hands take hers. Mina pulled her hands away and Serena looked down to see Annie and Jordan standing there with tears in their brown eyes.
"What are you guys doing here?" Serena asked not moving.
"Dad," Annie said the word slowly for the word was foreign to her, "Went against what you said and he kinda won against Edward. You have total custody of us."
Serena was speechless, suddenly tears were running down her cheeks as she tried to hug Darien, Annie and Jordan at the same time.
"I have my girls back." Serena cried.