Hey all! I'm so sorry for not updating sooner. I haven't had much time with school, work, and life in the way. But now that I have time on my hands, I would like to take advantage of it and get out a chapter. I would like to thank bunny14, Aqua-mystica, anon, and Alexiel for reviewing the last chapter. I know that the story seems to be progressing slowly, but for me, it helps develop the story. As always, the Italian words are at the bottom.
Standard Disclaimer: "Sailor Moon" was created by Naoko Takeuchi and not by me, although don't we all wish we did.
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Last Time in All The Good In The World…
Suddenly, Serena became nervous. What if Mina didn't recognize her and threw her into the streets?! Where would she go then? What if she didn't want to see her because she didn't contact her? What if… What if… What if… That was all that was going through her brain. Then she heard the unmistakable voice of her dear and not so near cousin.
"Me venni! Me venni!" All coherent thoughts flew out the window as the door opened to slow for her satisfaction.
"Sì? Potere aiutare… Serena? Is that you? OH MY GOD!! SERENA!! How did you get here? How long have you been here? Where's Sammy? How did you find Andrew?" All these questions and more flew from Mina's mouth. She didn't notice Serena stiffen up at the mention of Sammy, but Andrew did. Not knowing if he was treading on thin ice or not, he asked,
"Who's Sammy?"
Now for Chapter Five: Getting Reacquainted
"Oh my God, Mina! It was so awful!", Andrew's question braking Serena's resolve. All a perplexed Mina could do was usher her broken-down cousin into her apartment to sit her down and wonder what was all this about.
"It's alright Sere. Shhh… It's okay. Could you tell me what happened?" Serena tried her best to calm down. As soon as she did, she told Mina her story of how she met Diamond and what he did to her. She went on to tell her about the restraining order, then about the accident that took Sammy's life, the detectives, Diamond's role in it and finally about the gunfire in her house.
"That was the last straw. I can't live there anymore! I had to get out before he could do anything else. You are my salvation, Mina. If that letter wouldn't have come along, I probably would've flown to Japan or something and maybe never hear from you again." That thought had upset her the most. How would she have lived without Mina in a place that was totally unfamiliar to her? Without her brother or her cousin, Serena didn't think that she could make it in the world. How had she come to this? She used to be a carefree, happy-go-lucky girl who had everything to live for. Now, miles away from her home and friends, and Mina being the only surviving relative she had, she didn't know how she had made it this far without having a nervous breakdown. 'Talk about being nervous, Mina must be wondering about my behavior. I haven't even said "Hi" to her.' The whole time, Mina silently cried. She cried because she lost Sammy. She cried because she wasn't there to help Serena, but most of all, she cried because she couldn't help Serena in her hour of need. 'My God! How come I didn't try harder to keep in touch? If only I knew about this, I could have sent help. If only she knew I would've done anything for her, for them. If only…'
"Oh Mina!", Serena cut her train of thought. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to cry on your shoulder like that."
Sniffling, Mina responded, "None of that. You should have in the first place. I'm just sorry that I wasn't there with you and for you."
"You couldn't help it. How were you to know that I was in trouble? Don't beat yourself up over me. You've got a job here to keep you occupied anyway". Seeing this as a means of changing the topic, she continued, "Speaking of which, how is work? What did you say you do exactly?" If it weren't for Serena turning to put her down purse down, she would have noticed Mina pale slightly at the mention of her job.
The forgotten Andrew noticed this and began wondering if she was going to tell Serena what she did. He, of course, knew what Mina did. And that was only because he accidentally stumbled upon her secret one day when he drove one of her "clients" to her house. Seeing as how the person was suspicious looking, he followed them to make sure that Mina wasn't in trouble. After all, what good is a fratello if he can't look after his sorella? The person walked up to the door and knocked in a weird rhythm. Time passed slowly as he heard a response knock on the other side of the door, wondering what Mina had to do with such a character. Once again, the person knocked his reply and the door opened. He hid behind a huge plant in the corner of the hallway when Mina looked around to see if anyone was there. When she thought the coast was clear, she let the person in, leaving her door ajar. Andrew heard a few whispers and decided to see what was going on.
"Is this what you wanted?" He could understand a lot more English due to Mina, so he was surprised when she said that in a very breathy tone.
"Uh huh… This is exactly what I wanted. You know? You are worth everything that I paid you for. You are one of the best Mina. One of the best." Andrew couldn't believe it! 'Dio mio!! What are you getting into Mina? You can't be doing what I think you are doing! No Mina!' With that last thought he barged into her apartment wanting to demand an explanation for what she was doing, but what he saw surprised him.
"Mina? Che cosa succedere?"... Andrew came back to the present when he heard Mina answering Serena's question,
"I work with people."
"You work with people? What do you mean? Everyone works with people", Serena said slightly giggling. "Oh! You mean you work in customer service."
"Yeah! That's what I mean! I work in customer service. You know how I like to work with people. I was never much for sitting behind a desk. I never really learned how to type anyway. Not my kind of thing", Mina said finishing her sentence with a smile and a quick glance of relief to Andrew.
"Well, that's great! I never could work one of those contraptions either", came the response. "Do you suppose that you can get me a job where you work? I mean, if it's okay with you?"
"Well… I don't know. I mean, it might not be the kind of thing for you. It's really high maintenance and the people can get very demanding if things are not done within the time, which is limited might I add, that they command in the first place".
"Please Mina. I need to work. You know me. I need something to keep my mind off of thing for a while. Get my thoughts together. Plus, I am saying this now, I am NOT going to accept charity, especially from you. I need to get started in a new life. My life."
This was what Mina was afraid of. How can she involve Serena in her lifestyle when she clearly needs a break from everything. Maybe she'll talk to one of her "friends" and see what she can get for Serena. "Alright, I'd have to ask my boss and see what he says."
"Thank you so much Mina! You don't know how much this means to me." After a few seconds of silence, Serena continued, "You don't know how GOOD it feels to see you again. God! How I missed you." She then threw herself on Mina for a heart-warming hug. It was then she remembered Andrew and pulled him into the hug also. "And you, if you are as close to Mina as you say, than you are now a part of my family also, brother.
Later that afternoon, after Mina and Serena talked all there was to talk about, and leaving Andrew barely breathing from laughing at all their anecdotes, they all decided to walk around the city so that Serena could get better acquainted with the city. They visited stores, markets, museums, and even parks. There was this one park in particular that caught Serena's attention. It had peaceful walkways with flowers all over the place. But what had jumped out at her from the very first glance was the beautiful rose garden. It had many different colored roses from many different places around the world, it was just gorgeous.
Mina leaned over and whispered into her cousin's ear so as to not disturb a revering moment, "Magnificent, isn't it?" All Serena could do was nod. She was left speechless from the remarkable beauty of it all. Yet, something in the back of her mind tugged at her, demanding her attention saying she has seen a garden this grand, if not grander sometime before. She was startled from her thoughts when Andrew began introductions,
"Well, let me present to you the pearl of our city, the talk of the town, our city's pride and joy, tan, tanana… Parco della Rosas! Named after the main attraction, of course."
"Wow!"
"That's what I said when I first saw it. I fell in love with it even before Andrew gave me the same eloquent speech."
"Um caro? Even though I know what you said is supposed to complement me, I would like to know what does eloquent means?" Mina looked at him curiously for a bit and then she answered,
"Eloquent means that what you said was smooth, persuasive, well-expressed, articulate." Andrew just nodded as though he understood, knowing Mina knew he didn't. "It means distinto."
"Oh! I understand now." The girls started giggling once they saw his "understanding" face. It was just so adorable, almost as if a real light bulb lit up above his head. With the sexiest, quirkiest smile he could muster, Andrew continued, "Well, let this ELOQUENT man give you a grand tour of our popular park" and proceeded to extend both his arms for the lovely ladies to take. Offer accepted, the trio went into the park to enjoy a beautiful sunset.
The next morning found Mina and Serena laughing hysterically as they remembered some of their childhood antics they used to pull.
"Oh goodness!", Serena said, "I can't believe I did that! (ha ha ha) Who would have ever believed that little ol' innocent me actually put pepper in someone's nose? Hey! Do you remember when those boys tried bulling us into giving our candy to them… and… and you bought some more candy and dipped them in soap just for them. When they ate them, what was it that they said, 'These are the best ones yet. Get us some more, would you?' (ha ha ha ha) That was priceless!" As both calmed down, Mina had an idea.
"Why don't we go shopping today!"
"Oh Meens! Didn't we do enough of that yesterday?"
"No, that was pre-shopping. Today we are ACTUALLY going to buy things that you need like clothes, shoes, accessories, toiletries, that kind of stuff." After a moment of silence, she continued. "I know that with… (gulp)… Sammy's death and… and that thing with Diamond that you've had no time to yourself! Let alone time to pack more of your things that were necessary."
"Well, now that I think about it, I haven't had time for anything really. I didn't have time to talk to Molly about her or tell her about my wanting to become her baby's Godmother. I guess I never will get to be, huh? I never got to talk to Sammy either, God rest his soul. The night of his death, I planned a slumber party just for the two of us so we can have a heart-to-heart talk about our lives. You know? I met his friend Mika that day, God rest her soul as well. They both liked each other, you could tell", her eyes started misting, "That's why I told them to have the day to themselves. Besides, I… I was already going to have Sammy that night, s-so why couldn't s-she have him during the day", Serena said as she broke down in tears.
"Oh, Sere!"
"I haven't even had time to grieve for Sammy. How good of a sister am I if I can't do that!"
"Now, Sere, you know that it's not your fault. Look at it this way. Would Sammy have liked it if you spent your days moping and crying around? No!! I don't think so. So what better way to spend them than to rebuild a new life? C'mon! I'll call Andrew to come pick us up and we'll all go shopping!!"
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fratello – brother
sorella – sister
Dio mio! – My God!
Che cosa succedere? – What's going on?
Parco della Rosas – Park of the Roses
caro – love (endearment)
distinto - articulate
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Dun, dun, dun….Well, there you have it. Sorry for a horrible chapter. I AM trying to finish the next chapter as soon as possible, but we'll see. Just to leave you with a hint of what I'm planning for the next chapter, there will be a meeting between two soul mates. Please tell me what you think of it. Good or bad reviews are accepted, since it all is constructive criticism. I would really like for my story to sound good, for as you can see, I'm no English major. You could also send me an email if you prefer. It's: tenwood_10@yahoo.com. I would really love you for any kind of response. Till next time! Arrivederchi!!