All My Brothers – Part 3
By: Reba Jean, June, 2001
E-mail: rjean@ghg.net
Rating: PG13/R
Genre: Romance/comedy
Disclaimer: Characters are based on Sailor Moon copyright 1992 by Naoko
Takeuchi/Kodansha, TOEI Animation, English language adaptation copyright
1995 by DIC Entertainment. This story is not intended for monetary gain
or tangible profit, but purely for entertainment of the readers.
Notes: This is an alternate timeline / storyline. It references plot
elements from the manga, anime, and novels by Lianne Sentar based on
the anime, and is not totally consistent with any one of these. Names
are a mixture of English and Japanese.
Theme: "A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives
health to the bones." Prov. 15:30
Pushing two carts chock full of ski gear and Serena's bags and boxes,
she and Darien entered the lobby of his apartment building from the
parking garage. Darien stopped by the lobby desk. The clerk observing
Serena and the piles of luggage told him, "If you are planning on
having a guest for an extended stay you need to register with
security."
An irritated expression crossed Darien's face, "I need to get some
extra sets of keys for my 'wife' to the apartment, laundry and garage.
Do I need to register her as well?"
The clerk answered, "No of course not, immediate family members are
covered by the regular agreement. And may I offer congratulations on
behalf of the staff."
Back at Serena's side, Darien grinned, "I guess that's the beginning of
this week's gossip chain. Wonder how long before it's all over the
building? Well maybe it will stop some of the guys from hitting on
you. Nah, probably not, they'll try anyway."
Serena walked around the familiar apartment, looked in the closet, and
opened all the dresser drawers. "You need to build some more shelves
in the closet, put up a couple more hanging rods, and get another
dresser or mine from my parent's house. There won't be any room for
your stuff by the time I put away all my clothes and things."
He looked at her and said, "Don't you have that backwards?"
She raised an eyebrow, "I don't think so. Remember 'what's mine is
mine and what's yours is mine too.' It says so in the rule book."
Darien looked confused, "What on earth are you talking about?"
Serena cracked a smile and started giggling. "I had you going there.
You get the cutest expression when you're confused. But we really do
need all that stuff. And think about all the baby stuff we'll need to
put some place later."
Darien rolled his eyes, "I guess the honeymoon is over before it ever
began. The 'honey-do's have already started. See if you can just
shove over the stuff in the closet and hang up the things on hangers.
The rest will have to stay in boxes until I can get something for it."
Leaving Serena to her unpacking, Darien wandered into the kitchen and
stopped to check his phone messages. Two from Andrew, "Hey Dare pick
up if you're there…Where you been all weekend?" Have I got a story to
tell him for once! He thought. One from Ami, "Remind Serena she has a
French test on Monday. She was supposed to meet us at Lita's this
afternoon to study."
He looked in the refrigerator to see what was left, no fresh fish or
vegetables. "Hey Serena, what do you want to eat? There's only rice
or soba noodles, unless you want breakfast for dinner. How about
pancakes and bacon? Or do you want 'eggs'?"
She came over and leaned on the counter, "Depends on if you want to
clean up the mess on your carpet afterwards."
He looked over at her amused expression, "Oh, about as much as you want
to study. By the way, Ami left a message that you need to study for a
French test tomorrow." He chuckled as a disgusted expression appeared
on her face.
"Well I suppose Mr. Perfect got all his studying done Friday." She
commented.
"No, I had more important things to do this weekend than study." He
replied.
After dinner Serena was washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen
while Darien looked through his school notes. "I need to go over to
the medical school library for an hour or two to look up some stuff.
It should be nice and quiet so you can study your French," he teased.
She came over and put her arms around him, hugging and kissing him.
"Are you sure you want to go study?" she asked in a seductive tone of
voice.
"I'm sure I don't want to go," he replied. "But I know that I need to
do some work, and I know you're trying to distract me so you can get
out of doing what you need to do. One more kiss goodbye and I'm out of
here." About an hour later, he finally made it out the door.
Darien returned to a silent apartment. Either she's really
concentrating, or she's … He moved through the living room into the
bedroom. Of course, her book was upside down on the floor by the bed.
Serena was curled up on the bed holding her stuffed pink rabbit,
wearing the pink bunny print pajamas and fuzzy pink slippers, fast
asleep.
A horrible buzzing, clanging noise woke Serena. Darien groaned and
burrowed deeper under the pillows. She crawled over and turned off the
alarm. "You have got to get a new alarm clock; I hate that thing!" she
complained. There was no response from the body under the blankets.
Serena dragged the pillows and blankets off him. Holding the pillow,
she debated with herself. Whap! She started hitting Darien with the
pillow. "Wake up! Your stupid clock woke me up, so you better get up
now!"
He rolled over and groaned, "Why did you do that! I was asleep!" He
grabbed Serena and the pillow to stop the assault.
"You wouldn't wake up, she complained.
"I was up until 3AM studying," he answered.
"Well you shouldn't stay up that late studying if you have to get up in
the morning," she retorted.
"Are you always this grumpy in the morning? You were so cute asleep
last night. Why are we arguing anyway? This is silly." He mumbled.
Serena considered, "I'll make some coffee. Go take a shower or
something and wake up. You must have forgotten we're supposed to meet
my Mom downtown at 8:00 this morning. This is weird, usually you're
the one up early."
He let her go, "Well now you know the ugly truth. I'm not perfect all
the time. I get tired sometimes. And you want to know something else,
I hate that stupid alarm clock too!"
The appointment at the city clerk's office went as planned. As they
all walked outside, Ikuko said, "Why don't we stop for some breakfast?"
Serena agreed quickly, "Good idea, all we had time for this morning was
some coffee. And I actually drank some."
Darien looked at her suspiciously, "Don't you have a test today?"
"That's not until this afternoon. There's nothing important this
morning. Actually if I quit school I could concentrate on being a good
wife and mother." Serena floated an idea attractive to her.
A resounding "No!" came from both her mother and Darien. "I don't plan
to be married to some ignorant high school dropout. In fact, my grant
at the university would pay for up to a half time class load for you,
if you could get into the U."
Her mother added, "By next school year your father should be out of his
shogun mode and I could baby-sit for you while you are in class."
They arrived at a nearby restaurant and ordered breakfast. "How are
you doing?" asked Ikuko.
"Mom, we're fine. It hasn't even been one day! Dad's the one with
the problem. We haven't killed each other yet."
At this remark Darien started smirking, "Unless you count trying to
beat me to death with a pillow this morning."
Serena retorted, "Well if you had a decent alarm clock instead of that
horrible thing and had gotten up to shut it off…"
Ikuko laughed at their bickering, "You two are married all right. You
squabble like you've been together for years."
Serena quipped, "Centuries. But I didn't get to have the big fancy
wedding I've always wanted."
Darien gave an exasperated sigh, "I told you if you wanted to go to all
that trouble and expense, then just do it. I still think a nice time
would be during the Cherry Blossom Festival."
Serena remarked to her Mom, "Can you believe him, he actually thinks
that it would be possible to do a wedding that soon."
Her mother thought a moment before she answered, "Well if you were
flexible on arrangements and a dress. If expense didn't matter and you
had a lot of help, you could do it. I'd be happy to help you organize
it, if you really want to do this. And since you didn't have a
'church' wedding, it would make Father O'Brien happy."
Serena joined in, "What about the Crossroads Chapel? Darien, do you
remember when I wanted to enter their wedding dress contest and conned
you into pretending to be my fiancé?"
At this remark her mother asked curiously, "When on earth was this?"
Serena looked a little embarrassed, "Oh, about two years ago, I didn't
even really know him then. He was just some guy that always liked to
pick on me. We argued whenever we'd see each other."
Darien added, "And you liked to throw things at me and run into me."
Her mother remarked dryly, "I can see that a lot has changed since
then. I need to run. I'll call you and we can start planning."
Darien stopped the car outside the high school to drop off Serena. "I
need a note for being tardy to school," she said, "Doesn't that seem
absurd?"
Darien smiled and said, "Lets have some fun with this at least, lets
see, I'll say, 'Please excuse Mrs. Chiba (AKA. Serena Tsukino Chiba)
for being late to class. She had business with the city legal office
and was unavoidably detained. – Darien Chiba'. How does that sound?"
Serena giggled, "I can't wait to see Ms. Haruna's face when she reads
this. I wish I had a camera. You better give me a copy of that
marriage certificate in case she doesn't believe me. It's really
funny, she has been husband hunting for years and I'm going to show up
in class with this."
"I need to get to class soon too. I'll meet you at Crown after school.
We'll have to catch an early dinner. I've got to work from 5PM to 9PM
tonight."
Serena looked at him a little guiltily, "You work really hard. Sorry
I started beating up on you so early this morning, I guess I'm a little
grumpy in the morning. Luna would always have to duck or run when she
woke me up early."
He grinned, "Oh you can make it up to me later. I'll think of a
suitable punishment."
Serena leaned over and kissed him, "Like this?" She hopped out of the
car and called, "Bye, love ya!" as she ran up the walk to the school.
The halls were crowded as students were changing classes. Serena
spotted Molly in the hall and flagged her down. "Hi, Serena. I didn't
see you at the dance. Where were you all weekend?" she asked.
Serena said, "You wouldn't believe. Walk to class with me and I'll
fill you in." She held out the hand with her ring for Molly to see.
"Oh, no way! You didn't get engaged?" she asked.
Serena answered, "That's not all." She told Molly all the things that
had happened.
"You're the only one who could tell me a story like that and I'd half
way believe you. Of course I'd love to be your maid of honor. I'll
help with whatever I can to get everything ready. It will be so much
fun. I can't wait to see Ms. Haruna's face either. You should invite
her to the 'second' wedding. You get to have two weddings and she
can't find a man for even one," said Molly.
Serena added, "I need your help. Can we go to your Mom's jewelry store
at lunch? I want to pick out a matching man's ring. It's time 'Mr.
Most Eligible Bachelor on Campus' got 'branded' off limits. And it's
kind of a joke, but I need to get an alarm clock too."
As everyone straggled into third period class, the teacher spotted
Serena trying to disappear into the back of the classroom. "Serena
Tsukino come up here to the front please. Just where do you have you
been and why are you late? This is the fifth time in the last two
weeks you've been late," said Ms. Haruna. Molly winked at Serena. The
class watched with interest. Serena's tardiness had been legendary for
years. This was her second go round with Ms. Haruna, as the former
junior high teacher had transferred to the high school that fall.
Serena played the scene with a straight face. "I had some legal
business in the city this morning. Here's my written excuse," she said
as she handed the note to the teacher.
As Ms. Haruna read the note, she became more and more flustered. "Of
all the excuses you have ever given me, this has got to be the most
preposterous," screeched Patricia Haruna. "You're getting detention
and going to the principal's office," she added.
"But Ms. Haruna, if you don't believe me you can call my Mom, she was
there. Or read this." Playing her trump card, Serena handed Ms.
Haruna the official copy of her marriage certificate filed in the city
records that very morning. She smiled expectantly at Ms. Haruna.
Ms. Haruna read the document. It seemed to be the real thing. But how
could this be true. This was Serena after all. She blanched and sat
down quickly at her desk. "Everyone take out their history books and
read chapter 17. I need to step out for a few minutes. Melvin please
watch the class for me while I'm gone," said Ms. Haruna. She exited
the classroom and ran down the hall to the ladies room. She collapsed
on the couch in the outer lounge.
One of the other teachers, Ms. Yamoto, came out of the rest room.
"What's wrong, Pat? You look awful. You're pale as a ghost."
Patricia told her what had happened. "I'm 32 years old and haven't had
a date in 3 months. How can that sixteen-year-old tardy klutz of a
girl have gotten married on Valentine's Day! It's just not fair," she
wailed.
Serena and Molly spent the rest of their morning classes together
gossiping, passing notes, and thinking up wedding ceremony plans. At
lunch, Molly's mother found an almost perfect match for Serena's ring.
"That must have come from this store," she said. Serena acknowledged
that it did. Luckily the plain version was much less expensive.
Still, Serena's funds were almost wiped out. They stopped in an
electronics shop on the way back. On the sale table in back, she found
a travel alarm radio that would be perfect to offer as a replacement
for the hated alarm clock. Borrowing the last few yen from Molly,
Serena completed her shopping.
"I'm totally broke. When I left my parents' house yesterday, I took
all the money I had. I just spent the last of it." She told Molly.
"Darien better have some cash or we're not eating tonight. It seems
weird that I'll have to ask him if I want any money. No more begging
from Mom or Dad."
"Unless you get a job," said Molly.
Serena thought a minute, "My Mom and Dad would never let me get a job
while school was on because my grades were so bad. You know, Darien
works a lot of hours when he's not at school. I don't think I'll see
much more of him than I did before. That's a lot of time cooped up in
that dull apartment. I might even have to study out of boredom. Nah!
Housework doesn't take that much time either. Maybe I should see if I
could work a few hours a week to kill some time and get some extra
money."
Serena saw Mina, Lita, and Ami for the first time since the previous
week that afternoon during the break between classes. "Where have you
been? You weren't at our French cram session yesterday afternoon."
Said Ami.
Serena looked at her quizzically, "Didn't Rei tell you anything?"
Mina said, "She was being mysterious. She said you had done something
at the temple Saturday, but she wouldn't tell us anything more. She
said we would have to ask you …unless we wanted to ask Darien."
Serena related the events of the weekend. She concluded, "I guess
Sailor Moon will be out of the action for a few months. I don't have
any idea how all this might effect scout stuff. This is all so
different from what I remember seeing in the future."
Ami pondered, "I think the timeline has shifted or split. The future
won't be the same as we saw but I don't know what might change."
"Enough already, you are going to be bridesmaids aren't you?" Serena
asked them as she changed the subject. "Rei too of course. I want to
ask Michiru and Haruka if they will do the music." The girls were
delighted with the idea of a wedding to plan. They agreed to meet
later that week at Serena's apartment. More plans would have to wait
until after school was over.
Hurrying along the route to the Crown arcade, Serena had fallen into
her old habit of not watching where she was going. Crash. She plowed
headlong into someone. "Hey, Meatball Head watch where you're going,"
greeted her as she was grabbed and held to keep her from falling down.
"Just like old times, eh?" A thoroughly amused Darien looked down at
her as she started sputtering. "I couldn't resist seeing if you would
notice me. I must have been standing right in your path since you came
around the corner."
"Well I was hoping to run into you before we went inside anyway," she
began.
"What, not heading straight for the games?" he asked.
"Nope, I'm broke. In fact I had to borrow some money from Molly.
You'll need to pay her back for me." She answered.
"What? Did you two buy out the mall again? You're not one of those
'shopaholics' are you? Will I need to get a third job to pay all the
credit card bills?" he razzed.
She sniffed, "No, I got something for 'you'" and handed him the radio.
"I guess you really do hate that old alarm," he commented as he read
the description on the box. "You didn't have very much saved I guess;
this wasn't all that expensive."
She handed him the box from OsaP, "I got you something else too."
Darien looked at the ring that was the mate for the one he had gotten
for her two years before. "Hey, it matches yours. Thanks, I'm
touched. You didn't have to get me this you know."
Serena smiled at him and said, "Yes I did. It's to let all your
'groupies' know that you're off the market. Besides I can't wait to
see the look on Andrew's face when we go in there."
Darien picked her up and swung her around just to hear her squeal. He
dipped her down and covered her with kisses from throat to lips.
Setting her back on her feet, he held her face with both hands and
kissed her briefly. "Until later," he whispered in her ear. Serena
wrapped her arms around his neck and dragged him down within her reach
and kissed him back, molding herself to him.
"Now I think," was all she had time to say.
The doors of the arcade opened and their friend Andrew approached them.
"Get a room will you," he teased. Brought back to the present, Serena
hooked arms with both men and dragged them on inside.
Serena and Darien went and sat down in an empty booth as Andrew tagged
along. "What can I get you?" he asked. "Forget that, two hot
chocolates coming your way." Andrew made his way back to their booth
juggling three cups of cocoa. "So where were you this weekend? Nobody
would return my calls." He asked as he deposited the drinks on the
table and slid into the booth next to Serena. As Andrew was
administering his customary hug, Serena waved her left hand in front of
his face. Surprise and curiosity crossed his face and his jaw dropped.
"That's quite a Valentine's Day gift you've got there," he commented to
her.
Rolling up a menu, he leaned across the table and whacked Darien on the
head a few times. "Hey, what's that for!" the victim protested.
"That's for not telling me. So you finally asked her, you dirty dog!
It's about time. So when is the wedding? Of course as your best and
probably only friend, I'm the best man, right?" he managed to get all
out in one breath.
Darien smirked, trying hard not to break out laughing. Serena started
giggling and proceeded to laughing hysterically. She gasped out,
"We're having a church ceremony the Saturday during the Cherry Blossom
Festival," and continued laughing.
"Wow, that's awfully soon, isn't it?" Andrew commented. He looked
suspiciously at both of them. "There's something else you're not
telling me. Spill it." Serena giggled and blushed. Darien looked at
him with an amused expression and said nothing. They could see "the
wheels turning" by Andrew's expressions as he tried to think of what
they weren't telling him. He raised an eyebrow and said, "So the Bunny
has a bun in the oven?"
Serena looked away as she turned an even brighter shade of red. Darien
maintained a deadpan expression and commented, "Two."
Andrew's jaw dropped for the second time within five minutes. He also
whacked Darien on the head again with the rolled up menu, "Bad dog!"
Andrew looked at him questioningly, "You're kidding right?"
This time Serena supplied a one-syllable answer, "Nope."
Darien reached over and grabbed the menu with his left hand. "Enough
violence, well maybe just a little more," and whapped Andrew on either
side of his head. Serena gave both of them a dirty look and grabbed
all the menus off the table and put them out of reach. "Stop it you
two. I'm surrounded by a bunch of 12 year olds!"
At this time Andrew finally noticed that Darien was sporting a ring
that matched Serena's. He looked at Serena curiously and asked her,
"Isn't he supposed to get that when you get married?"
She smiled, "We had a very busy weekend."
Darien smirked, "By the way, you can let go of Serena now. By my
watch, you've been holding my wife for at least ten minutes." Andrew
of course did the opposite and pulled her closer next to him.
He said to Serena, "I don't think I hit him that hard. Has he been
behaving normally? He really believes what he just said."
Serena answered his implied question, "We sort of eloped Saturday."
"You're supposed to tell me before you do this kind of stuff,"
protested Andrew. "I bet I'm the last one to hear this."
Darien said, "You're the first one I've told anything."
Serena giggled, "Of course I told all my friends, I want them all to be
bridesmaids. We better put poor Andrew out of his misery and fill him
in on all the details. Well, most of them." So they took turns
telling the story of all that had happened to them since Andrew had
seen them last.
"How about a pizza and a couple of shakes? I've got to get to work
early tonight by 5:00PM." Said Darien. "Really into health food
today," teased Andrew.
"Oh, Serena can cook something tomorrow like tofu and vegetables.
Tuesday's her night to cook." Decided Darien since he didn't want to do
it himself.
Serena answered, "Well that's okay by me except we don't have any
food."
Darien said to her, "Well go get some groceries. Take the car, I don't
need it tonight." She replied, "The car part I like. But I don't have
any money! I told you that just before we got here."
"Then we should go to the bank after this and get you a cash card and a
credit card on my account. See I've got a solution to everything,"
bragged Darien.
"Woo, dangerous! 'Letting' her drive 'your' car and use 'your' credit
cards," added Andrew trying to get a reaction. He looked over at
Serena who was rapidly approaching the steaming mad stage. Andrew
grinned at her.
Darien pontificated, "Well that's part of the package. You'll be in
the same boat soon enough with Rita." Looking over at Serena with a
puppy dog expression, he nagged, "Don't hurt my 'baby'; only drive 10
kph. Be careful, and park away from the crowd. Please don't spend too
much. Don't go to the mall and max out my card…"
At this point Darien stopped talking as Serena was actually starting to
hiss. She was rolling up one of the menus she had taken away from
Andrew and Darien. Andrew yelled, "Uh-oh, time to run!" He and Darien
jumped out of the booth and took off toward the door to the kitchen
with Serena swatting the air right behind them. They managed to get to
the storeroom and lock themselves inside.
A little while later, Lizzie, Andrew's sister yelled, "You can come out
now. I bought off Serena." As Andrew and Darien peered out around the
door, the two girls just smiled and giggled at them. "By the way
Andrew, you're buying their dinner and you just bought Serena a week's
worth of game tokens," taunted Lizzie.
By: Reba Jean, June, 2001
E-mail: rjean@ghg.net
Rating: PG13/R
Genre: Romance/comedy
Disclaimer: Characters are based on Sailor Moon copyright 1992 by Naoko
Takeuchi/Kodansha, TOEI Animation, English language adaptation copyright
1995 by DIC Entertainment. This story is not intended for monetary gain
or tangible profit, but purely for entertainment of the readers.
Notes: This is an alternate timeline / storyline. It references plot
elements from the manga, anime, and novels by Lianne Sentar based on
the anime, and is not totally consistent with any one of these. Names
are a mixture of English and Japanese.
Theme: "A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives
health to the bones." Prov. 15:30
Pushing two carts chock full of ski gear and Serena's bags and boxes,
she and Darien entered the lobby of his apartment building from the
parking garage. Darien stopped by the lobby desk. The clerk observing
Serena and the piles of luggage told him, "If you are planning on
having a guest for an extended stay you need to register with
security."
An irritated expression crossed Darien's face, "I need to get some
extra sets of keys for my 'wife' to the apartment, laundry and garage.
Do I need to register her as well?"
The clerk answered, "No of course not, immediate family members are
covered by the regular agreement. And may I offer congratulations on
behalf of the staff."
Back at Serena's side, Darien grinned, "I guess that's the beginning of
this week's gossip chain. Wonder how long before it's all over the
building? Well maybe it will stop some of the guys from hitting on
you. Nah, probably not, they'll try anyway."
Serena walked around the familiar apartment, looked in the closet, and
opened all the dresser drawers. "You need to build some more shelves
in the closet, put up a couple more hanging rods, and get another
dresser or mine from my parent's house. There won't be any room for
your stuff by the time I put away all my clothes and things."
He looked at her and said, "Don't you have that backwards?"
She raised an eyebrow, "I don't think so. Remember 'what's mine is
mine and what's yours is mine too.' It says so in the rule book."
Darien looked confused, "What on earth are you talking about?"
Serena cracked a smile and started giggling. "I had you going there.
You get the cutest expression when you're confused. But we really do
need all that stuff. And think about all the baby stuff we'll need to
put some place later."
Darien rolled his eyes, "I guess the honeymoon is over before it ever
began. The 'honey-do's have already started. See if you can just
shove over the stuff in the closet and hang up the things on hangers.
The rest will have to stay in boxes until I can get something for it."
Leaving Serena to her unpacking, Darien wandered into the kitchen and
stopped to check his phone messages. Two from Andrew, "Hey Dare pick
up if you're there…Where you been all weekend?" Have I got a story to
tell him for once! He thought. One from Ami, "Remind Serena she has a
French test on Monday. She was supposed to meet us at Lita's this
afternoon to study."
He looked in the refrigerator to see what was left, no fresh fish or
vegetables. "Hey Serena, what do you want to eat? There's only rice
or soba noodles, unless you want breakfast for dinner. How about
pancakes and bacon? Or do you want 'eggs'?"
She came over and leaned on the counter, "Depends on if you want to
clean up the mess on your carpet afterwards."
He looked over at her amused expression, "Oh, about as much as you want
to study. By the way, Ami left a message that you need to study for a
French test tomorrow." He chuckled as a disgusted expression appeared
on her face.
"Well I suppose Mr. Perfect got all his studying done Friday." She
commented.
"No, I had more important things to do this weekend than study." He
replied.
After dinner Serena was washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen
while Darien looked through his school notes. "I need to go over to
the medical school library for an hour or two to look up some stuff.
It should be nice and quiet so you can study your French," he teased.
She came over and put her arms around him, hugging and kissing him.
"Are you sure you want to go study?" she asked in a seductive tone of
voice.
"I'm sure I don't want to go," he replied. "But I know that I need to
do some work, and I know you're trying to distract me so you can get
out of doing what you need to do. One more kiss goodbye and I'm out of
here." About an hour later, he finally made it out the door.
Darien returned to a silent apartment. Either she's really
concentrating, or she's … He moved through the living room into the
bedroom. Of course, her book was upside down on the floor by the bed.
Serena was curled up on the bed holding her stuffed pink rabbit,
wearing the pink bunny print pajamas and fuzzy pink slippers, fast
asleep.
A horrible buzzing, clanging noise woke Serena. Darien groaned and
burrowed deeper under the pillows. She crawled over and turned off the
alarm. "You have got to get a new alarm clock; I hate that thing!" she
complained. There was no response from the body under the blankets.
Serena dragged the pillows and blankets off him. Holding the pillow,
she debated with herself. Whap! She started hitting Darien with the
pillow. "Wake up! Your stupid clock woke me up, so you better get up
now!"
He rolled over and groaned, "Why did you do that! I was asleep!" He
grabbed Serena and the pillow to stop the assault.
"You wouldn't wake up, she complained.
"I was up until 3AM studying," he answered.
"Well you shouldn't stay up that late studying if you have to get up in
the morning," she retorted.
"Are you always this grumpy in the morning? You were so cute asleep
last night. Why are we arguing anyway? This is silly." He mumbled.
Serena considered, "I'll make some coffee. Go take a shower or
something and wake up. You must have forgotten we're supposed to meet
my Mom downtown at 8:00 this morning. This is weird, usually you're
the one up early."
He let her go, "Well now you know the ugly truth. I'm not perfect all
the time. I get tired sometimes. And you want to know something else,
I hate that stupid alarm clock too!"
The appointment at the city clerk's office went as planned. As they
all walked outside, Ikuko said, "Why don't we stop for some breakfast?"
Serena agreed quickly, "Good idea, all we had time for this morning was
some coffee. And I actually drank some."
Darien looked at her suspiciously, "Don't you have a test today?"
"That's not until this afternoon. There's nothing important this
morning. Actually if I quit school I could concentrate on being a good
wife and mother." Serena floated an idea attractive to her.
A resounding "No!" came from both her mother and Darien. "I don't plan
to be married to some ignorant high school dropout. In fact, my grant
at the university would pay for up to a half time class load for you,
if you could get into the U."
Her mother added, "By next school year your father should be out of his
shogun mode and I could baby-sit for you while you are in class."
They arrived at a nearby restaurant and ordered breakfast. "How are
you doing?" asked Ikuko.
"Mom, we're fine. It hasn't even been one day! Dad's the one with
the problem. We haven't killed each other yet."
At this remark Darien started smirking, "Unless you count trying to
beat me to death with a pillow this morning."
Serena retorted, "Well if you had a decent alarm clock instead of that
horrible thing and had gotten up to shut it off…"
Ikuko laughed at their bickering, "You two are married all right. You
squabble like you've been together for years."
Serena quipped, "Centuries. But I didn't get to have the big fancy
wedding I've always wanted."
Darien gave an exasperated sigh, "I told you if you wanted to go to all
that trouble and expense, then just do it. I still think a nice time
would be during the Cherry Blossom Festival."
Serena remarked to her Mom, "Can you believe him, he actually thinks
that it would be possible to do a wedding that soon."
Her mother thought a moment before she answered, "Well if you were
flexible on arrangements and a dress. If expense didn't matter and you
had a lot of help, you could do it. I'd be happy to help you organize
it, if you really want to do this. And since you didn't have a
'church' wedding, it would make Father O'Brien happy."
Serena joined in, "What about the Crossroads Chapel? Darien, do you
remember when I wanted to enter their wedding dress contest and conned
you into pretending to be my fiancé?"
At this remark her mother asked curiously, "When on earth was this?"
Serena looked a little embarrassed, "Oh, about two years ago, I didn't
even really know him then. He was just some guy that always liked to
pick on me. We argued whenever we'd see each other."
Darien added, "And you liked to throw things at me and run into me."
Her mother remarked dryly, "I can see that a lot has changed since
then. I need to run. I'll call you and we can start planning."
Darien stopped the car outside the high school to drop off Serena. "I
need a note for being tardy to school," she said, "Doesn't that seem
absurd?"
Darien smiled and said, "Lets have some fun with this at least, lets
see, I'll say, 'Please excuse Mrs. Chiba (AKA. Serena Tsukino Chiba)
for being late to class. She had business with the city legal office
and was unavoidably detained. – Darien Chiba'. How does that sound?"
Serena giggled, "I can't wait to see Ms. Haruna's face when she reads
this. I wish I had a camera. You better give me a copy of that
marriage certificate in case she doesn't believe me. It's really
funny, she has been husband hunting for years and I'm going to show up
in class with this."
"I need to get to class soon too. I'll meet you at Crown after school.
We'll have to catch an early dinner. I've got to work from 5PM to 9PM
tonight."
Serena looked at him a little guiltily, "You work really hard. Sorry
I started beating up on you so early this morning, I guess I'm a little
grumpy in the morning. Luna would always have to duck or run when she
woke me up early."
He grinned, "Oh you can make it up to me later. I'll think of a
suitable punishment."
Serena leaned over and kissed him, "Like this?" She hopped out of the
car and called, "Bye, love ya!" as she ran up the walk to the school.
The halls were crowded as students were changing classes. Serena
spotted Molly in the hall and flagged her down. "Hi, Serena. I didn't
see you at the dance. Where were you all weekend?" she asked.
Serena said, "You wouldn't believe. Walk to class with me and I'll
fill you in." She held out the hand with her ring for Molly to see.
"Oh, no way! You didn't get engaged?" she asked.
Serena answered, "That's not all." She told Molly all the things that
had happened.
"You're the only one who could tell me a story like that and I'd half
way believe you. Of course I'd love to be your maid of honor. I'll
help with whatever I can to get everything ready. It will be so much
fun. I can't wait to see Ms. Haruna's face either. You should invite
her to the 'second' wedding. You get to have two weddings and she
can't find a man for even one," said Molly.
Serena added, "I need your help. Can we go to your Mom's jewelry store
at lunch? I want to pick out a matching man's ring. It's time 'Mr.
Most Eligible Bachelor on Campus' got 'branded' off limits. And it's
kind of a joke, but I need to get an alarm clock too."
As everyone straggled into third period class, the teacher spotted
Serena trying to disappear into the back of the classroom. "Serena
Tsukino come up here to the front please. Just where do you have you
been and why are you late? This is the fifth time in the last two
weeks you've been late," said Ms. Haruna. Molly winked at Serena. The
class watched with interest. Serena's tardiness had been legendary for
years. This was her second go round with Ms. Haruna, as the former
junior high teacher had transferred to the high school that fall.
Serena played the scene with a straight face. "I had some legal
business in the city this morning. Here's my written excuse," she said
as she handed the note to the teacher.
As Ms. Haruna read the note, she became more and more flustered. "Of
all the excuses you have ever given me, this has got to be the most
preposterous," screeched Patricia Haruna. "You're getting detention
and going to the principal's office," she added.
"But Ms. Haruna, if you don't believe me you can call my Mom, she was
there. Or read this." Playing her trump card, Serena handed Ms.
Haruna the official copy of her marriage certificate filed in the city
records that very morning. She smiled expectantly at Ms. Haruna.
Ms. Haruna read the document. It seemed to be the real thing. But how
could this be true. This was Serena after all. She blanched and sat
down quickly at her desk. "Everyone take out their history books and
read chapter 17. I need to step out for a few minutes. Melvin please
watch the class for me while I'm gone," said Ms. Haruna. She exited
the classroom and ran down the hall to the ladies room. She collapsed
on the couch in the outer lounge.
One of the other teachers, Ms. Yamoto, came out of the rest room.
"What's wrong, Pat? You look awful. You're pale as a ghost."
Patricia told her what had happened. "I'm 32 years old and haven't had
a date in 3 months. How can that sixteen-year-old tardy klutz of a
girl have gotten married on Valentine's Day! It's just not fair," she
wailed.
Serena and Molly spent the rest of their morning classes together
gossiping, passing notes, and thinking up wedding ceremony plans. At
lunch, Molly's mother found an almost perfect match for Serena's ring.
"That must have come from this store," she said. Serena acknowledged
that it did. Luckily the plain version was much less expensive.
Still, Serena's funds were almost wiped out. They stopped in an
electronics shop on the way back. On the sale table in back, she found
a travel alarm radio that would be perfect to offer as a replacement
for the hated alarm clock. Borrowing the last few yen from Molly,
Serena completed her shopping.
"I'm totally broke. When I left my parents' house yesterday, I took
all the money I had. I just spent the last of it." She told Molly.
"Darien better have some cash or we're not eating tonight. It seems
weird that I'll have to ask him if I want any money. No more begging
from Mom or Dad."
"Unless you get a job," said Molly.
Serena thought a minute, "My Mom and Dad would never let me get a job
while school was on because my grades were so bad. You know, Darien
works a lot of hours when he's not at school. I don't think I'll see
much more of him than I did before. That's a lot of time cooped up in
that dull apartment. I might even have to study out of boredom. Nah!
Housework doesn't take that much time either. Maybe I should see if I
could work a few hours a week to kill some time and get some extra
money."
Serena saw Mina, Lita, and Ami for the first time since the previous
week that afternoon during the break between classes. "Where have you
been? You weren't at our French cram session yesterday afternoon."
Said Ami.
Serena looked at her quizzically, "Didn't Rei tell you anything?"
Mina said, "She was being mysterious. She said you had done something
at the temple Saturday, but she wouldn't tell us anything more. She
said we would have to ask you …unless we wanted to ask Darien."
Serena related the events of the weekend. She concluded, "I guess
Sailor Moon will be out of the action for a few months. I don't have
any idea how all this might effect scout stuff. This is all so
different from what I remember seeing in the future."
Ami pondered, "I think the timeline has shifted or split. The future
won't be the same as we saw but I don't know what might change."
"Enough already, you are going to be bridesmaids aren't you?" Serena
asked them as she changed the subject. "Rei too of course. I want to
ask Michiru and Haruka if they will do the music." The girls were
delighted with the idea of a wedding to plan. They agreed to meet
later that week at Serena's apartment. More plans would have to wait
until after school was over.
Hurrying along the route to the Crown arcade, Serena had fallen into
her old habit of not watching where she was going. Crash. She plowed
headlong into someone. "Hey, Meatball Head watch where you're going,"
greeted her as she was grabbed and held to keep her from falling down.
"Just like old times, eh?" A thoroughly amused Darien looked down at
her as she started sputtering. "I couldn't resist seeing if you would
notice me. I must have been standing right in your path since you came
around the corner."
"Well I was hoping to run into you before we went inside anyway," she
began.
"What, not heading straight for the games?" he asked.
"Nope, I'm broke. In fact I had to borrow some money from Molly.
You'll need to pay her back for me." She answered.
"What? Did you two buy out the mall again? You're not one of those
'shopaholics' are you? Will I need to get a third job to pay all the
credit card bills?" he razzed.
She sniffed, "No, I got something for 'you'" and handed him the radio.
"I guess you really do hate that old alarm," he commented as he read
the description on the box. "You didn't have very much saved I guess;
this wasn't all that expensive."
She handed him the box from OsaP, "I got you something else too."
Darien looked at the ring that was the mate for the one he had gotten
for her two years before. "Hey, it matches yours. Thanks, I'm
touched. You didn't have to get me this you know."
Serena smiled at him and said, "Yes I did. It's to let all your
'groupies' know that you're off the market. Besides I can't wait to
see the look on Andrew's face when we go in there."
Darien picked her up and swung her around just to hear her squeal. He
dipped her down and covered her with kisses from throat to lips.
Setting her back on her feet, he held her face with both hands and
kissed her briefly. "Until later," he whispered in her ear. Serena
wrapped her arms around his neck and dragged him down within her reach
and kissed him back, molding herself to him.
"Now I think," was all she had time to say.
The doors of the arcade opened and their friend Andrew approached them.
"Get a room will you," he teased. Brought back to the present, Serena
hooked arms with both men and dragged them on inside.
Serena and Darien went and sat down in an empty booth as Andrew tagged
along. "What can I get you?" he asked. "Forget that, two hot
chocolates coming your way." Andrew made his way back to their booth
juggling three cups of cocoa. "So where were you this weekend? Nobody
would return my calls." He asked as he deposited the drinks on the
table and slid into the booth next to Serena. As Andrew was
administering his customary hug, Serena waved her left hand in front of
his face. Surprise and curiosity crossed his face and his jaw dropped.
"That's quite a Valentine's Day gift you've got there," he commented to
her.
Rolling up a menu, he leaned across the table and whacked Darien on the
head a few times. "Hey, what's that for!" the victim protested.
"That's for not telling me. So you finally asked her, you dirty dog!
It's about time. So when is the wedding? Of course as your best and
probably only friend, I'm the best man, right?" he managed to get all
out in one breath.
Darien smirked, trying hard not to break out laughing. Serena started
giggling and proceeded to laughing hysterically. She gasped out,
"We're having a church ceremony the Saturday during the Cherry Blossom
Festival," and continued laughing.
"Wow, that's awfully soon, isn't it?" Andrew commented. He looked
suspiciously at both of them. "There's something else you're not
telling me. Spill it." Serena giggled and blushed. Darien looked at
him with an amused expression and said nothing. They could see "the
wheels turning" by Andrew's expressions as he tried to think of what
they weren't telling him. He raised an eyebrow and said, "So the Bunny
has a bun in the oven?"
Serena looked away as she turned an even brighter shade of red. Darien
maintained a deadpan expression and commented, "Two."
Andrew's jaw dropped for the second time within five minutes. He also
whacked Darien on the head again with the rolled up menu, "Bad dog!"
Andrew looked at him questioningly, "You're kidding right?"
This time Serena supplied a one-syllable answer, "Nope."
Darien reached over and grabbed the menu with his left hand. "Enough
violence, well maybe just a little more," and whapped Andrew on either
side of his head. Serena gave both of them a dirty look and grabbed
all the menus off the table and put them out of reach. "Stop it you
two. I'm surrounded by a bunch of 12 year olds!"
At this time Andrew finally noticed that Darien was sporting a ring
that matched Serena's. He looked at Serena curiously and asked her,
"Isn't he supposed to get that when you get married?"
She smiled, "We had a very busy weekend."
Darien smirked, "By the way, you can let go of Serena now. By my
watch, you've been holding my wife for at least ten minutes." Andrew
of course did the opposite and pulled her closer next to him.
He said to Serena, "I don't think I hit him that hard. Has he been
behaving normally? He really believes what he just said."
Serena answered his implied question, "We sort of eloped Saturday."
"You're supposed to tell me before you do this kind of stuff,"
protested Andrew. "I bet I'm the last one to hear this."
Darien said, "You're the first one I've told anything."
Serena giggled, "Of course I told all my friends, I want them all to be
bridesmaids. We better put poor Andrew out of his misery and fill him
in on all the details. Well, most of them." So they took turns
telling the story of all that had happened to them since Andrew had
seen them last.
"How about a pizza and a couple of shakes? I've got to get to work
early tonight by 5:00PM." Said Darien. "Really into health food
today," teased Andrew.
"Oh, Serena can cook something tomorrow like tofu and vegetables.
Tuesday's her night to cook." Decided Darien since he didn't want to do
it himself.
Serena answered, "Well that's okay by me except we don't have any
food."
Darien said to her, "Well go get some groceries. Take the car, I don't
need it tonight." She replied, "The car part I like. But I don't have
any money! I told you that just before we got here."
"Then we should go to the bank after this and get you a cash card and a
credit card on my account. See I've got a solution to everything,"
bragged Darien.
"Woo, dangerous! 'Letting' her drive 'your' car and use 'your' credit
cards," added Andrew trying to get a reaction. He looked over at
Serena who was rapidly approaching the steaming mad stage. Andrew
grinned at her.
Darien pontificated, "Well that's part of the package. You'll be in
the same boat soon enough with Rita." Looking over at Serena with a
puppy dog expression, he nagged, "Don't hurt my 'baby'; only drive 10
kph. Be careful, and park away from the crowd. Please don't spend too
much. Don't go to the mall and max out my card…"
At this point Darien stopped talking as Serena was actually starting to
hiss. She was rolling up one of the menus she had taken away from
Andrew and Darien. Andrew yelled, "Uh-oh, time to run!" He and Darien
jumped out of the booth and took off toward the door to the kitchen
with Serena swatting the air right behind them. They managed to get to
the storeroom and lock themselves inside.
A little while later, Lizzie, Andrew's sister yelled, "You can come out
now. I bought off Serena." As Andrew and Darien peered out around the
door, the two girls just smiled and giggled at them. "By the way
Andrew, you're buying their dinner and you just bought Serena a week's
worth of game tokens," taunted Lizzie.