All My Brothers – Part 8a & 8b
By: Reba Jean, December, 2001
E-mail: rjean@ghg.net
Rating: PG-8a/R-8b
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 storyline. Names are a mix of English and
Japanese versions.
Part 8a - 12/22/01
Mina looked down at the intramural track and field meet from the
bleachers where Lita, Ami, and she had been arguing over who was the
cutest new pop star. "Hey, it's Serena's race already. Look she's
really close to the leader." All three girls watched to see how the
race would play out.
Serena sprinted toward the finish. The other members of her relay team
cheered her on. It was the last leg of the relay race. She was
closing on the leader with 100 meters to go. The girls closest to her
lane could see her fading; her face was bright red, breathing ragged,
heart rate racing way over target zone. She started weaving, still
trying to make it toward the finish. Serena stumbled, and collapsed to
the ground in a dead faint, only 20 meters from the finish line. Coach
Miyako and the other team members ran over to check on her. Her skin
was hot and her pulse was racing, her breathing fast and shallow. She
was unconscious and the coach couldn't seem to revive her. The coach
flagged down the nurse to come over and take a look at Serena.
"She's badly over-heated and we need to get her cooled off as quickly
as possible," the nurse announced.
Ami, Mina, and Lita approached at a dead run close to the speed they
might have when transformed. Ami pulled the nurse aside, "I don't know
if you know this, but it may be important to her condition. Serena is
about three and a half months pregnant with twins."
"This could be really bad. I'm going to have her transported to the
medical center for treatment. Coach, hail the ambulance crew over on
the sideline to come get her. You girls, soak this blanket in ice
water from the jug on the bench and wrap it around Serena," the nurse
quickly ordered. The ambulance crew arrived and loaded her on the
stretcher and left for the hospital.
Ami hung up the pay phone after talking to her mother. "Mom is going
to call Serena's doctor; I couldn't remember who it was. Did either of
you call Darien?"
"I left a message on their apartment phone and his cell phone. He
didn't answer on the communicator either," replied Mina.
"Let's go over to the clinic and see how she is doing. I called Rei
and she is going to meet us there. I drove my car today so we can take
it over," said Lita. The three girls grabbed their stuff, piled into
Lita's car and were soon on their way.
After arriving at the emergency clinic at the hospital, Ami and the
other girls tried to check on Serena's condition. As they were not
relatives, no one would give them any information on her status. "I'll
page my Mom; she can make them talk to her since she has staff
privileges at this hospital," decided Ami.
Ami sat down next to Mina in the waiting room. Lita paced the floor
restlessly, smacking a fist against the palm of her other hand. Mina
flipped through the ancient dog-eared magazines the table next to her
chair. Ami fretted and muttered quietly to herself.
Rei arrived in a flurry. "What has that Idiot Meatball Head done now?"
demanded Rei as she approached the other senshi.
Ami quickly recapped the competition, Serena's collapse, and ambulance
ride to the hospital. Degenerating into self-blame, "I told her I
didn't think she should be competing, that it was too hot."
Rei joined Lita in her pacing circuit around the waiting room and up
and down the hall to the emergency entrance. As they made the turn at
the outside door to go back to the waiting room, Serena's mother,
brother, and father entered the building. "The school called and said
the ambulance took Serena to the hospital. What happened? Where is
she? How is she?" asked Ikuko frantically when she saw the two girls.
"We don't know anything. They won't give us any information and Amy's
mom hasn't come out to tell us anything," complained Rei in answer.
"She's in the emergency room. We'll show you the way there. Maybe
they will tell you something."
Shortly after Kenji inquired about Serena at the admitting desk, one of
the ER physicians on shift came out to talk to her family. "We've
stabilized her temperature; she's been soaking in a cold bath to bring
it down. She is still unconscious though and we don't know how long it
will be before she comes to. It was a lucky thing, they thought to
start cooling her off on the way here. It could have been serious
otherwise," he said.
"Will she be all right then?" asked Sammy.
"We'll just have to wait and see how she comes out of it. Her
obstetrician should examine her as well; she has been called and will
be over shortly. Serena will need to stay overnight at least for
observation," he answered. "Well I have to get back to work. We'll
keep you posted," the doctor added as he turned and left.
The crowd of friends and family settled glumly in the corner of the
waiting room. Sammy looked around and asked, "Where's Darien?"
Mina looked up guiltily, "Uh-oh, guys. I forgot I was supposed to tell
you something. We were supposed to meet Darien over at the Crown
arcade at 4 o'clock."
Rei and Lita looked at her angrily. Rei was about to start in on her,
when she noticed Serena's family watching with interest. She sat back
down. Ami sighed, "Oh, Mina. If it's not Serena, it's you. I wonder
if he is still over there waiting?"
* * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, over at the Crown Arcade, a restless, agitated man waited
for his wife and her friends to arrive. He flung aside the textbook he
had been trying to study, got up from his booth, and went over to the
counter where his friend Andrew was filling salt and pepper shakers.
"Where are they? They were supposed to meet me here over an hour ago.
Something is wrong. I can feel it. And my stupid cell phone is out so
I can't even check for messages," Darien complained.
"I thought they were going to be at the track meet at school," said
Andrew. "It's an intramural thing where the classes compete against
each other in different track and field events."
"Serena didn't say anything about it this morning when I asked her to
meet me here at four P.M.," replied Darien.
"She probably thought it would be over by then. Maybe it's just
running late," guessed Andrew.
"No, Serena's not at the school. She's somewhere the other direction
toward downtown, and something is wrong," said Darien, trying to use
his alter ego's senses to locate her.
"Whatever. You're not psychic like Rei are you? She gives me the
willies sometimes, reading minds and predicting the future," asked
Andrew suspiciously.
"I guess it's something like that, except it's just about Serena. I
can usually tell where she is and if she's okay or not. And we can
project thoughts to each other if we really try," Darien admitted
absently.
"Sheesh, am I the only "normal" one around here? Rei, Greg, and now
you too. Hey, can you predict stuff too – like winning lottery numbers
or sports winners?" asked Andrew with a greedy gleam in his eye.
"No, nothing like that. I sometimes dream true about the future but
it's usually only bad stuff. Like what I get right now, there's
something bad happening!" Darien exclaimed.
The phone behind the counter rang and Andrew answered it. "Yeah, he's
here. Do you want to talk to him?" Andrew replied to the person on the
other end of the line. He passed the phone to Darien. "It's Mrs.
Tsukino."
As Darien listened silently, the color drained from his face. "Okay.
I'll be over there in just a few minutes." He looked up at Andrew,
"Serena's in the hospital. She collapsed during the track meet at the
school and she hasn't woken up yet. I'm going over there now. I'll
let you know what happens."
"Hey, I'm really sorry. Let me know if I can do anything," said Andrew
as Darien grabbed his stuff and left.
Darien opened the stowage compartment on his motorcycle to stuff in his
books and take out his leather jacket. He heard a beeping noise coming
from his jacket pocket. "So that's where I left that damn
communicator," he said to himself. It was flashing with the earlier
message from Mina to meet them at the hospital.
Darien wove his bike in and out of the traffic, jumping lights and
taking corners at excess speed. He was making good time and had almost
reached the hospital when he heard a siren and saw flashing lights
behind him in his rear view mirror. Of course, it would be today of
all days that they would stake out this route. He debated stopping or
trying to evade the police car following closely behind him. I'm
almost there; I'll stop in front of the emergency room, he
rationalized. So he pulled up his bike at the ambulance entrance,
angry police escort in tow.
Darien dismounted and kept his hands in plain view. The policeman
shouted at him as he got out of his car and approached, "Hold it right
there. What kind of stunt are you trying to pull?"
"Sorry about the bad driving, Officer. I just got call to come to the
emergency room; my wife had an accident and is in a coma," explained
Darien.
"Well with that kind of driving, you're lucky they didn't haul you
there in the meat wagon. I was going to take you downtown. I guess
I'll just give you a ticket for reckless driving. I can understand the
circumstances. Take it and get in the hospital. I don't ever want to
see that kind of riding again," admonished the officer.
Darien crumpled up the ticket and stuffed it in his pocket without
looking at it. He hurried down the corridor to the admitting desk. He
saw the Tsukino's and the senshi in the corner of the waiting room.
"Where is she? What more do they say?" he asked as he crossed the room
to where they all were waiting.
"They're moving her to a room and keeping her overnight at least. She
still hasn't woken up," explained Ami as she wiped away a tear.
Darien went up to the admitting clerk, "I'm going in with my wife.
I'll be waiting there to talk to the doc on shift."
She looked at him closely and said, "Don't I know you?"
"Probably. I'm in the third year class and we're over here for clinical
labs pretty often. I work second shift on Thursday as a Paramedic II
on ambulance runs too," he replied as he fished out his employee
identification.
"No problem. Go on back. You can escort the others to see her one at
a time if you want a little later," she told him.
As he approached the curtained off exam room, he closed his eyes and
swallowed nervously. "Oh Serena, what have you done to yourself?" he
whispered as he slipped in beside the table where she lay.
To be continued.
Author's notes:
It has been a little longer than usual since I posted, so I wanted to
put up at least the first half of this episode. Holidays and all that,
so I missed the deadline last week. I hope to have the rest of this
out a little sooner. Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate the
holiday (Luke 2:1 is a very readable telling of the birth of Jesus.)
Happy New Year to all!
Part 8b - 12/30/01
(This section contains a little bit of parody of the "SM/TM sneaks into
the other's room" stories by fanfic authors such as Princess Destiny,
Luna Hope, Firegirl, etc. It is intended to be amusing rather than
insulting. I like their stories. If there are any like that I have
missed; an email with the title & author would be appreciated. So I
can read them too.)
"She's been moved to a single room up on the third floor and is resting
comfortably. At least that's how they say it; she's still out,"
reported Dr. Mizuno, Ami's mother. "You can all go up for a few
minutes, but then you'll need to go on home," she told the senshi.
After they all had a look at Serena and saw no visible changes, the
senshi departed. Darien and the Tsukino's remained behind. "I wonder
what they did with my bike; I left it out front at the emergency
entrance," Darien remembered. Serena's parents kept vigil while Sammy
and Darien went to look for the misplaced motorcycle.
The security guard had a good laugh when they asked about it. "If you
weren't an employee, it would have been impounded and taken to a
district police lot. They moved it over to the hourly V.I.P. visitors
lot, that's 1000 yen per hour you know and you can't get it back until
morning. You lose parking privileges for three months except at the
remote lot about a kilometer over there." He grinned like a shark, "We
have these policies to discourage illegal employee parking you know."
Back in Serena's room, Sammy and her parents were preparing to leave.
Darien said, "I'm staying. I'll call you if it's not too late when she
wakes up."
The floor was quiet now. Evening visiting hours were over. Medication
rounds were finished. Room and hall lights were dimmed as the hospital
settled into the night shift routine.
Darien set aside the immunology textbook he had been trying to study.
He flipped through the channels on the TV; nothing was on. He
considered Serena's condition; he sensed no danger around her. It felt
as if she was simply asleep. He wandered out to the nurses' station to
see if he could bum some coffee. The vending machine brew was a vile
chemical cocktail.
A couple of cups of coffee and an earful of hospital gossip later, he
returned to Serena's room. Boredom, fatigue, and depletion of the
adrenalin high, finally left him sleepy. He dragged the most
comfortable chair next to the head of the bed, retrieved an extra
pillow from the closet, and propped himself against the side of her
bed. Serena was curled on her side, one hand tucked under her cheek,
and the other curled beneath her chin. Darien folded his own larger
hand around her smaller one. It would be the last thing he remembered
doing before sleep took him.
Serena awoke in the middle of the night freezing. A chill wind was
blowing on her bare legs and back and she was lying against cold metal.
She opened her eyes and looked around. She was in a strange bare room
smelling of disinfectant and dressed in a gown tied down the back with
gaps between the ties. It had to be the hospital.
Darien was curled asleep in a chair next to her bed, his arms tightly
wrapped around a large wad of pillows and bedding. Her stolen pillows
and blankets. Serena crawled up to the top of the bed and peered at
Darien. He was mumbling about his princess. She poked his nose once,
twice, thrice, before his eyes opened. "Her Highness commands yon
thieving knave to return her pillows and blanket," she teased him.
"Serena, you're awake!" he exclaimed and swooped in to hug her close.
"I was so worried about you. Everyone's been worried about you," he
told her as he planted kisses up and down her face.
"All I remember is the race and then I woke up here," she said.
"You passed out from getting too hot. Why were you running in a race
anyway? Don't you know you shouldn't have done that?" he chided her.
"I do now. They needed someone fast for the relay," she explained.
"Didn't your doctor give you instructions for your coach about P.E.?
She shouldn't have let you do that," he questioned.
"I never gave it to her. I wanted to stay in the same class as all my
friends and not be transferred to the class for the disabled kids," she
admitted.
"Rei was right," he stated flatly. "You are an 'Idiot Meatball-Head'.
If you EVER do something that stupid again, you will live to regret it,
if you live," he said in his most intimidating Tuxedo Mask voice.
She angrily responded, "Threaten me and you're moon dust!"
Darien folded her in his arms and held her tightly, "Oh, Bunny, you
could have died or miscarried and I wouldn't even be able to do
anything about it! Please don't scare me that way again. I love you.
I want you ALIVE and WELL."
"I'll try. I love you too," she whispered. "But I still want my
pillows and blanket back," she said more loudly. "Curl up here with me
so I can go back to sleep. You can block the cold draft on the back of
this stupid gown," she ordered as she showed him the gaps on the back.
The nurse checking patient status before the doctors' early morning
rounds found them still nestled together sharing the blanket and
pillows. She shook Darien, "Check out time for this hotel."
He opened his eyes sleepily and exclaimed, "She woke up during the
night and we talked. She sounded fine."
"Well she can talk to her obstetrician then when she checks on Serena
later this morning."
After morning rounds and Darien had cleaned up a bit, he called the
Tsukino's and the senshi to tell them the good news. "The doctor
confirmed that her condition was good and ordered her release. She
said Serena should skip school today and rest at home and have someone
there with her in case any complications turn up." Serena's mom
offered to let her spend the day at her parent's house. She said that
she would be home all day and that he should go on to class and work
after dropping off Serena.
Darien paced up and down the office hallway. He wasn't accomplishing
anything and hadn't done a line of code in the last hour. He heard a
beeping sound coming from the jacket hung on his chair. Ami
broadcasted an alert. "A youma is chasing people at Ueno Park near the
zoo. I need you all to come."
All the team (except Serena) arrived on the scene. What appeared to be
a much larger-than-life purple rhinoceros was charging people and
terrorizing a group of people near the zoo fence. The ordinary rhinos
in the pen nearby were bellowing frantically. Mina speculated, "I
wonder if it escaped from the zoo? Nothing has really happened for at
least three weeks this time."
Rei answered sarcastically, "Yeah, I saw in the newspaper that there
was a new exhibit with giant purple rhinos and pink giraffes. Venus,
engage your brain before your mouth for once."
Mercury took readings with her computer. "We'll need a coordinated
attack for it to have any effect. I'll fog the area to confuse it.
Venus use your chain attack to catch it. Jupiter zap it. Rei and Tux
stay in reserve."
Mercury bubbles blast!
Venus love chain encircle!
Jupiter thunder crash!
Rei looked at Darien, tapping her foot, arms crossed. "It's not
working. Are we just supposed to stand around here?"
The youma broke away and galloped towards the crowd trapped against the
zoo fence. Tuxedo Mask threw roses to distract it. They bounced off.
The rhino turned around and started chasing him as he ran back towards
the senshi. Mercury called out, "Use your cape like a toreador."
As Darien frantically played bullfighter and Mercury looked for a new
attack on her computer, Mars got mad. "Mars fire ignite!" she shouted
in rage, as her flame thrower attack enveloped the youma.
As the fog and smoke cleared, Venus ran toward the youma. Instead of a
pile of dust, there was a charred and blackened very dead baby
rhinoceros. "Mars, you killed it!" she wailed.
"Well that's the general idea!" Rei yelled back. It was just a baby,
she thought guiltily.
Lita and Darien came over and Lita added, "But it was doing a lot of
damage and would have killed those people over there. You did what you
had to do." Lita had a thoughtful expression, "Rei, Darien, do you
remember those big guys we fought about three or four months ago? This
reminds me of them for some reason."
Darien absent mindedly added in, "Yeah, that was the same night that
Serena got preg-, uhm, first slept with me. . . . Uh, never mind," he
trailed off as he reddened.
Mina and Rei laughed. Rei commented, "I think we get the idea on the
timing, Cape Boy."
Ami arrived entering notes on the battle into her computer, "I show a
73% probability of a positive correlation between these two occurrences
based upon the currently available data."
Mina added, "Yeah, it's like really weird about both attacks. They
were something really big and bad and then they morphed back to
something normal."
Ami looked up, "But that's what I just said.
* * * * * * * * * *
Tuxedo Mask flitted silently through the shadows as he neared the
Tsukino house. Thinking, "I'm sure glad that the subway was still
running south [AN: in civilian guise of course]; it saved me one long
trip across town. I must be out of shape for this stuff. I'm really
tired." He climbed up the tree in the Tsukino yard and perched on the
ledge as he quietly knocked on the window of Serena's old room.
Serena looked up from the manga she was reading as she lay sprawled
across the bed. She ran over, opened the window, and struck a
theatrical pose. "Who is this strange man entering my room? Shall I
call my husband or father to protect me? No, this fair maiden does not
fear the intruder. She will summon Sailor Moon, the champion of love
and justice."
Serena picked up her broach and chanted her lines. Tuxedo Mask sat
down on her bookshelf to enjoy the show. His favorite part was where
her clothes melted and the ribbons twirled, of course. Sailor Moon
stopped in her trademark stance and smiled at him invitingly.
He suddenly remembered her close call the previous day and asked, "Are
you sure you're okay? Should you even be transforming?"
Sailor Moon bounced over to him, "I feel great! I just ate half a
chocolate cake and drank three cups of cocoa." He shuddered at the
thought of her high on sugar and caffeine both.
Sailor Moon grabbed Tuxedo Mask, picked him up, and tossed him on the
bed. "I am Sailor Moon, the Champion of Love and Justice. I will
punish all evil doers and this means you!" she recited as she dove on
top of him. Tuxedo Mask, being a sensible man, did the logical thing
and immediately surrendered.
As Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask rolled about enjoying one another's
company, a sneaky little brother listened to the strange noises and
speeches coming from his sister's room. His equipment was still ready
from previous forays conducted while his sister still lived at home.
Instant camera and tape recorder in hand, he silently approached her
door and opened it. His jaw dropped at the strange sight before him.
Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask were locked in passionate embrace on his
sister's bed. Sailor Moon lay beneath Tuxedo Mask with her golden
pigtails fanned out to the sides like wings. Her arms and legs were
wrapped tightly around him as he kissed her throat and the exposed skin
on her shoulders where her fuku was pushed down.
Snap, snap, snap. At least one shot should come out good, thought
Sammy as he closed the door. After hiding his equipment and two of the
photos, he ran downstairs into the den. "Mom, look at this! You won't
believe it! Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask are making out up in Serena's
room." He waved the darkening photo in front of her.
Ikuko took the photo and looked at it. There were two people dressed
as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask "making out" as he had said. "Sammy,
this is your sister and Darien. Leave them alone! You're invading
their privacy and spying on them. And don't show this to your dad when
he gets home. You go to bed now!"
Ikuko looked at the photo again before hiding it in the pile of
magazines she was reading. Their costumes were really good; she
wondered where they bought them.
Sammy messed around in his room for a while before deciding to take
some more photos, just in case his mom was wrong about their
identities. For the second time, he snuck over to Serena's room and
looked inside. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask were still there doing
pretty much the same thing. Their clothes were scattered all over the
room, except for her tiara and his mask, which were still in place. As
they were mostly covered with the blankets, he couldn't see too much of
the couple moving rhythmically together. Those did look like Serena's
pigtails though, and it appeared to be her legs and feet wrapped around
Tuxedo Mask's butt. He took some more photos just in case. They never
noticed me; he laughed to himself. These pictures should come in handy
for something.
Early in the morning, Sammy snuck over to Serena's door for the third
time and looked in. It was Serena and Darien asleep in the bed. He
didn't see any costumes and only ordinary clothing was thrown on the
floor. Rats.
By: Reba Jean, December, 2001
E-mail: rjean@ghg.net
Rating: PG-8a/R-8b
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 storyline. Names are a mix of English and
Japanese versions.
Part 8a - 12/22/01
Mina looked down at the intramural track and field meet from the
bleachers where Lita, Ami, and she had been arguing over who was the
cutest new pop star. "Hey, it's Serena's race already. Look she's
really close to the leader." All three girls watched to see how the
race would play out.
Serena sprinted toward the finish. The other members of her relay team
cheered her on. It was the last leg of the relay race. She was
closing on the leader with 100 meters to go. The girls closest to her
lane could see her fading; her face was bright red, breathing ragged,
heart rate racing way over target zone. She started weaving, still
trying to make it toward the finish. Serena stumbled, and collapsed to
the ground in a dead faint, only 20 meters from the finish line. Coach
Miyako and the other team members ran over to check on her. Her skin
was hot and her pulse was racing, her breathing fast and shallow. She
was unconscious and the coach couldn't seem to revive her. The coach
flagged down the nurse to come over and take a look at Serena.
"She's badly over-heated and we need to get her cooled off as quickly
as possible," the nurse announced.
Ami, Mina, and Lita approached at a dead run close to the speed they
might have when transformed. Ami pulled the nurse aside, "I don't know
if you know this, but it may be important to her condition. Serena is
about three and a half months pregnant with twins."
"This could be really bad. I'm going to have her transported to the
medical center for treatment. Coach, hail the ambulance crew over on
the sideline to come get her. You girls, soak this blanket in ice
water from the jug on the bench and wrap it around Serena," the nurse
quickly ordered. The ambulance crew arrived and loaded her on the
stretcher and left for the hospital.
Ami hung up the pay phone after talking to her mother. "Mom is going
to call Serena's doctor; I couldn't remember who it was. Did either of
you call Darien?"
"I left a message on their apartment phone and his cell phone. He
didn't answer on the communicator either," replied Mina.
"Let's go over to the clinic and see how she is doing. I called Rei
and she is going to meet us there. I drove my car today so we can take
it over," said Lita. The three girls grabbed their stuff, piled into
Lita's car and were soon on their way.
After arriving at the emergency clinic at the hospital, Ami and the
other girls tried to check on Serena's condition. As they were not
relatives, no one would give them any information on her status. "I'll
page my Mom; she can make them talk to her since she has staff
privileges at this hospital," decided Ami.
Ami sat down next to Mina in the waiting room. Lita paced the floor
restlessly, smacking a fist against the palm of her other hand. Mina
flipped through the ancient dog-eared magazines the table next to her
chair. Ami fretted and muttered quietly to herself.
Rei arrived in a flurry. "What has that Idiot Meatball Head done now?"
demanded Rei as she approached the other senshi.
Ami quickly recapped the competition, Serena's collapse, and ambulance
ride to the hospital. Degenerating into self-blame, "I told her I
didn't think she should be competing, that it was too hot."
Rei joined Lita in her pacing circuit around the waiting room and up
and down the hall to the emergency entrance. As they made the turn at
the outside door to go back to the waiting room, Serena's mother,
brother, and father entered the building. "The school called and said
the ambulance took Serena to the hospital. What happened? Where is
she? How is she?" asked Ikuko frantically when she saw the two girls.
"We don't know anything. They won't give us any information and Amy's
mom hasn't come out to tell us anything," complained Rei in answer.
"She's in the emergency room. We'll show you the way there. Maybe
they will tell you something."
Shortly after Kenji inquired about Serena at the admitting desk, one of
the ER physicians on shift came out to talk to her family. "We've
stabilized her temperature; she's been soaking in a cold bath to bring
it down. She is still unconscious though and we don't know how long it
will be before she comes to. It was a lucky thing, they thought to
start cooling her off on the way here. It could have been serious
otherwise," he said.
"Will she be all right then?" asked Sammy.
"We'll just have to wait and see how she comes out of it. Her
obstetrician should examine her as well; she has been called and will
be over shortly. Serena will need to stay overnight at least for
observation," he answered. "Well I have to get back to work. We'll
keep you posted," the doctor added as he turned and left.
The crowd of friends and family settled glumly in the corner of the
waiting room. Sammy looked around and asked, "Where's Darien?"
Mina looked up guiltily, "Uh-oh, guys. I forgot I was supposed to tell
you something. We were supposed to meet Darien over at the Crown
arcade at 4 o'clock."
Rei and Lita looked at her angrily. Rei was about to start in on her,
when she noticed Serena's family watching with interest. She sat back
down. Ami sighed, "Oh, Mina. If it's not Serena, it's you. I wonder
if he is still over there waiting?"
* * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, over at the Crown Arcade, a restless, agitated man waited
for his wife and her friends to arrive. He flung aside the textbook he
had been trying to study, got up from his booth, and went over to the
counter where his friend Andrew was filling salt and pepper shakers.
"Where are they? They were supposed to meet me here over an hour ago.
Something is wrong. I can feel it. And my stupid cell phone is out so
I can't even check for messages," Darien complained.
"I thought they were going to be at the track meet at school," said
Andrew. "It's an intramural thing where the classes compete against
each other in different track and field events."
"Serena didn't say anything about it this morning when I asked her to
meet me here at four P.M.," replied Darien.
"She probably thought it would be over by then. Maybe it's just
running late," guessed Andrew.
"No, Serena's not at the school. She's somewhere the other direction
toward downtown, and something is wrong," said Darien, trying to use
his alter ego's senses to locate her.
"Whatever. You're not psychic like Rei are you? She gives me the
willies sometimes, reading minds and predicting the future," asked
Andrew suspiciously.
"I guess it's something like that, except it's just about Serena. I
can usually tell where she is and if she's okay or not. And we can
project thoughts to each other if we really try," Darien admitted
absently.
"Sheesh, am I the only "normal" one around here? Rei, Greg, and now
you too. Hey, can you predict stuff too – like winning lottery numbers
or sports winners?" asked Andrew with a greedy gleam in his eye.
"No, nothing like that. I sometimes dream true about the future but
it's usually only bad stuff. Like what I get right now, there's
something bad happening!" Darien exclaimed.
The phone behind the counter rang and Andrew answered it. "Yeah, he's
here. Do you want to talk to him?" Andrew replied to the person on the
other end of the line. He passed the phone to Darien. "It's Mrs.
Tsukino."
As Darien listened silently, the color drained from his face. "Okay.
I'll be over there in just a few minutes." He looked up at Andrew,
"Serena's in the hospital. She collapsed during the track meet at the
school and she hasn't woken up yet. I'm going over there now. I'll
let you know what happens."
"Hey, I'm really sorry. Let me know if I can do anything," said Andrew
as Darien grabbed his stuff and left.
Darien opened the stowage compartment on his motorcycle to stuff in his
books and take out his leather jacket. He heard a beeping noise coming
from his jacket pocket. "So that's where I left that damn
communicator," he said to himself. It was flashing with the earlier
message from Mina to meet them at the hospital.
Darien wove his bike in and out of the traffic, jumping lights and
taking corners at excess speed. He was making good time and had almost
reached the hospital when he heard a siren and saw flashing lights
behind him in his rear view mirror. Of course, it would be today of
all days that they would stake out this route. He debated stopping or
trying to evade the police car following closely behind him. I'm
almost there; I'll stop in front of the emergency room, he
rationalized. So he pulled up his bike at the ambulance entrance,
angry police escort in tow.
Darien dismounted and kept his hands in plain view. The policeman
shouted at him as he got out of his car and approached, "Hold it right
there. What kind of stunt are you trying to pull?"
"Sorry about the bad driving, Officer. I just got call to come to the
emergency room; my wife had an accident and is in a coma," explained
Darien.
"Well with that kind of driving, you're lucky they didn't haul you
there in the meat wagon. I was going to take you downtown. I guess
I'll just give you a ticket for reckless driving. I can understand the
circumstances. Take it and get in the hospital. I don't ever want to
see that kind of riding again," admonished the officer.
Darien crumpled up the ticket and stuffed it in his pocket without
looking at it. He hurried down the corridor to the admitting desk. He
saw the Tsukino's and the senshi in the corner of the waiting room.
"Where is she? What more do they say?" he asked as he crossed the room
to where they all were waiting.
"They're moving her to a room and keeping her overnight at least. She
still hasn't woken up," explained Ami as she wiped away a tear.
Darien went up to the admitting clerk, "I'm going in with my wife.
I'll be waiting there to talk to the doc on shift."
She looked at him closely and said, "Don't I know you?"
"Probably. I'm in the third year class and we're over here for clinical
labs pretty often. I work second shift on Thursday as a Paramedic II
on ambulance runs too," he replied as he fished out his employee
identification.
"No problem. Go on back. You can escort the others to see her one at
a time if you want a little later," she told him.
As he approached the curtained off exam room, he closed his eyes and
swallowed nervously. "Oh Serena, what have you done to yourself?" he
whispered as he slipped in beside the table where she lay.
To be continued.
Author's notes:
It has been a little longer than usual since I posted, so I wanted to
put up at least the first half of this episode. Holidays and all that,
so I missed the deadline last week. I hope to have the rest of this
out a little sooner. Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate the
holiday (Luke 2:1 is a very readable telling of the birth of Jesus.)
Happy New Year to all!
Part 8b - 12/30/01
(This section contains a little bit of parody of the "SM/TM sneaks into
the other's room" stories by fanfic authors such as Princess Destiny,
Luna Hope, Firegirl, etc. It is intended to be amusing rather than
insulting. I like their stories. If there are any like that I have
missed; an email with the title & author would be appreciated. So I
can read them too.)
"She's been moved to a single room up on the third floor and is resting
comfortably. At least that's how they say it; she's still out,"
reported Dr. Mizuno, Ami's mother. "You can all go up for a few
minutes, but then you'll need to go on home," she told the senshi.
After they all had a look at Serena and saw no visible changes, the
senshi departed. Darien and the Tsukino's remained behind. "I wonder
what they did with my bike; I left it out front at the emergency
entrance," Darien remembered. Serena's parents kept vigil while Sammy
and Darien went to look for the misplaced motorcycle.
The security guard had a good laugh when they asked about it. "If you
weren't an employee, it would have been impounded and taken to a
district police lot. They moved it over to the hourly V.I.P. visitors
lot, that's 1000 yen per hour you know and you can't get it back until
morning. You lose parking privileges for three months except at the
remote lot about a kilometer over there." He grinned like a shark, "We
have these policies to discourage illegal employee parking you know."
Back in Serena's room, Sammy and her parents were preparing to leave.
Darien said, "I'm staying. I'll call you if it's not too late when she
wakes up."
The floor was quiet now. Evening visiting hours were over. Medication
rounds were finished. Room and hall lights were dimmed as the hospital
settled into the night shift routine.
Darien set aside the immunology textbook he had been trying to study.
He flipped through the channels on the TV; nothing was on. He
considered Serena's condition; he sensed no danger around her. It felt
as if she was simply asleep. He wandered out to the nurses' station to
see if he could bum some coffee. The vending machine brew was a vile
chemical cocktail.
A couple of cups of coffee and an earful of hospital gossip later, he
returned to Serena's room. Boredom, fatigue, and depletion of the
adrenalin high, finally left him sleepy. He dragged the most
comfortable chair next to the head of the bed, retrieved an extra
pillow from the closet, and propped himself against the side of her
bed. Serena was curled on her side, one hand tucked under her cheek,
and the other curled beneath her chin. Darien folded his own larger
hand around her smaller one. It would be the last thing he remembered
doing before sleep took him.
Serena awoke in the middle of the night freezing. A chill wind was
blowing on her bare legs and back and she was lying against cold metal.
She opened her eyes and looked around. She was in a strange bare room
smelling of disinfectant and dressed in a gown tied down the back with
gaps between the ties. It had to be the hospital.
Darien was curled asleep in a chair next to her bed, his arms tightly
wrapped around a large wad of pillows and bedding. Her stolen pillows
and blankets. Serena crawled up to the top of the bed and peered at
Darien. He was mumbling about his princess. She poked his nose once,
twice, thrice, before his eyes opened. "Her Highness commands yon
thieving knave to return her pillows and blanket," she teased him.
"Serena, you're awake!" he exclaimed and swooped in to hug her close.
"I was so worried about you. Everyone's been worried about you," he
told her as he planted kisses up and down her face.
"All I remember is the race and then I woke up here," she said.
"You passed out from getting too hot. Why were you running in a race
anyway? Don't you know you shouldn't have done that?" he chided her.
"I do now. They needed someone fast for the relay," she explained.
"Didn't your doctor give you instructions for your coach about P.E.?
She shouldn't have let you do that," he questioned.
"I never gave it to her. I wanted to stay in the same class as all my
friends and not be transferred to the class for the disabled kids," she
admitted.
"Rei was right," he stated flatly. "You are an 'Idiot Meatball-Head'.
If you EVER do something that stupid again, you will live to regret it,
if you live," he said in his most intimidating Tuxedo Mask voice.
She angrily responded, "Threaten me and you're moon dust!"
Darien folded her in his arms and held her tightly, "Oh, Bunny, you
could have died or miscarried and I wouldn't even be able to do
anything about it! Please don't scare me that way again. I love you.
I want you ALIVE and WELL."
"I'll try. I love you too," she whispered. "But I still want my
pillows and blanket back," she said more loudly. "Curl up here with me
so I can go back to sleep. You can block the cold draft on the back of
this stupid gown," she ordered as she showed him the gaps on the back.
The nurse checking patient status before the doctors' early morning
rounds found them still nestled together sharing the blanket and
pillows. She shook Darien, "Check out time for this hotel."
He opened his eyes sleepily and exclaimed, "She woke up during the
night and we talked. She sounded fine."
"Well she can talk to her obstetrician then when she checks on Serena
later this morning."
After morning rounds and Darien had cleaned up a bit, he called the
Tsukino's and the senshi to tell them the good news. "The doctor
confirmed that her condition was good and ordered her release. She
said Serena should skip school today and rest at home and have someone
there with her in case any complications turn up." Serena's mom
offered to let her spend the day at her parent's house. She said that
she would be home all day and that he should go on to class and work
after dropping off Serena.
Darien paced up and down the office hallway. He wasn't accomplishing
anything and hadn't done a line of code in the last hour. He heard a
beeping sound coming from the jacket hung on his chair. Ami
broadcasted an alert. "A youma is chasing people at Ueno Park near the
zoo. I need you all to come."
All the team (except Serena) arrived on the scene. What appeared to be
a much larger-than-life purple rhinoceros was charging people and
terrorizing a group of people near the zoo fence. The ordinary rhinos
in the pen nearby were bellowing frantically. Mina speculated, "I
wonder if it escaped from the zoo? Nothing has really happened for at
least three weeks this time."
Rei answered sarcastically, "Yeah, I saw in the newspaper that there
was a new exhibit with giant purple rhinos and pink giraffes. Venus,
engage your brain before your mouth for once."
Mercury took readings with her computer. "We'll need a coordinated
attack for it to have any effect. I'll fog the area to confuse it.
Venus use your chain attack to catch it. Jupiter zap it. Rei and Tux
stay in reserve."
Mercury bubbles blast!
Venus love chain encircle!
Jupiter thunder crash!
Rei looked at Darien, tapping her foot, arms crossed. "It's not
working. Are we just supposed to stand around here?"
The youma broke away and galloped towards the crowd trapped against the
zoo fence. Tuxedo Mask threw roses to distract it. They bounced off.
The rhino turned around and started chasing him as he ran back towards
the senshi. Mercury called out, "Use your cape like a toreador."
As Darien frantically played bullfighter and Mercury looked for a new
attack on her computer, Mars got mad. "Mars fire ignite!" she shouted
in rage, as her flame thrower attack enveloped the youma.
As the fog and smoke cleared, Venus ran toward the youma. Instead of a
pile of dust, there was a charred and blackened very dead baby
rhinoceros. "Mars, you killed it!" she wailed.
"Well that's the general idea!" Rei yelled back. It was just a baby,
she thought guiltily.
Lita and Darien came over and Lita added, "But it was doing a lot of
damage and would have killed those people over there. You did what you
had to do." Lita had a thoughtful expression, "Rei, Darien, do you
remember those big guys we fought about three or four months ago? This
reminds me of them for some reason."
Darien absent mindedly added in, "Yeah, that was the same night that
Serena got preg-, uhm, first slept with me. . . . Uh, never mind," he
trailed off as he reddened.
Mina and Rei laughed. Rei commented, "I think we get the idea on the
timing, Cape Boy."
Ami arrived entering notes on the battle into her computer, "I show a
73% probability of a positive correlation between these two occurrences
based upon the currently available data."
Mina added, "Yeah, it's like really weird about both attacks. They
were something really big and bad and then they morphed back to
something normal."
Ami looked up, "But that's what I just said.
* * * * * * * * * *
Tuxedo Mask flitted silently through the shadows as he neared the
Tsukino house. Thinking, "I'm sure glad that the subway was still
running south [AN: in civilian guise of course]; it saved me one long
trip across town. I must be out of shape for this stuff. I'm really
tired." He climbed up the tree in the Tsukino yard and perched on the
ledge as he quietly knocked on the window of Serena's old room.
Serena looked up from the manga she was reading as she lay sprawled
across the bed. She ran over, opened the window, and struck a
theatrical pose. "Who is this strange man entering my room? Shall I
call my husband or father to protect me? No, this fair maiden does not
fear the intruder. She will summon Sailor Moon, the champion of love
and justice."
Serena picked up her broach and chanted her lines. Tuxedo Mask sat
down on her bookshelf to enjoy the show. His favorite part was where
her clothes melted and the ribbons twirled, of course. Sailor Moon
stopped in her trademark stance and smiled at him invitingly.
He suddenly remembered her close call the previous day and asked, "Are
you sure you're okay? Should you even be transforming?"
Sailor Moon bounced over to him, "I feel great! I just ate half a
chocolate cake and drank three cups of cocoa." He shuddered at the
thought of her high on sugar and caffeine both.
Sailor Moon grabbed Tuxedo Mask, picked him up, and tossed him on the
bed. "I am Sailor Moon, the Champion of Love and Justice. I will
punish all evil doers and this means you!" she recited as she dove on
top of him. Tuxedo Mask, being a sensible man, did the logical thing
and immediately surrendered.
As Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask rolled about enjoying one another's
company, a sneaky little brother listened to the strange noises and
speeches coming from his sister's room. His equipment was still ready
from previous forays conducted while his sister still lived at home.
Instant camera and tape recorder in hand, he silently approached her
door and opened it. His jaw dropped at the strange sight before him.
Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask were locked in passionate embrace on his
sister's bed. Sailor Moon lay beneath Tuxedo Mask with her golden
pigtails fanned out to the sides like wings. Her arms and legs were
wrapped tightly around him as he kissed her throat and the exposed skin
on her shoulders where her fuku was pushed down.
Snap, snap, snap. At least one shot should come out good, thought
Sammy as he closed the door. After hiding his equipment and two of the
photos, he ran downstairs into the den. "Mom, look at this! You won't
believe it! Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask are making out up in Serena's
room." He waved the darkening photo in front of her.
Ikuko took the photo and looked at it. There were two people dressed
as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask "making out" as he had said. "Sammy,
this is your sister and Darien. Leave them alone! You're invading
their privacy and spying on them. And don't show this to your dad when
he gets home. You go to bed now!"
Ikuko looked at the photo again before hiding it in the pile of
magazines she was reading. Their costumes were really good; she
wondered where they bought them.
Sammy messed around in his room for a while before deciding to take
some more photos, just in case his mom was wrong about their
identities. For the second time, he snuck over to Serena's room and
looked inside. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask were still there doing
pretty much the same thing. Their clothes were scattered all over the
room, except for her tiara and his mask, which were still in place. As
they were mostly covered with the blankets, he couldn't see too much of
the couple moving rhythmically together. Those did look like Serena's
pigtails though, and it appeared to be her legs and feet wrapped around
Tuxedo Mask's butt. He took some more photos just in case. They never
noticed me; he laughed to himself. These pictures should come in handy
for something.
Early in the morning, Sammy snuck over to Serena's door for the third
time and looked in. It was Serena and Darien asleep in the bed. He
didn't see any costumes and only ordinary clothing was thrown on the
floor. Rats.