Dedicated to Moon-Daisuke for expressing an interest in reading it.

Author's Note: I know I usually do this at the end, but it was necessary this time. This is set somewhere around eight months after the end of "Can't Leave You Alone". It does take place in Vegas, Nevada and was written by request. This is the one shot story Haruka says she doesn't want to ever hear while on the phone in "Truly, Madly, Deeply".

A Night At The Club:

By: Haruka's Knight

Thomas Coffel waited calmly in the living room of Jill's, once Haruka's, house. He glanced around the room feeling a weird lack of masculine aura now that all of Haruka's things had been shipped to Japan. With a half grin Thomas decided if Jill wanted to find a woman to date he should encourage her to go for a "butch" just so the house didn't end up painted pink or something.

"Tom, what are you grinning about?" He turned as the voice interrupted his thoughts and almost choked on air. Jill was dressed in a small, black silk dress that ended about at her mid thigh; in one hand she held a small black purse as well. She had put her hair up into a neat bun and Thomas had never seen her show quite so much skin.

'At least not since she was 19, but that's been three years.' He thought to himself.

"Um, nice dress." Was all the man could manage to mutter out. He got a bad feeling when Jill grinned at him; her eyes seemed to sparkle playfully.

"I just thought I would dress to match you Mr. Morbid." Jill said as she walked toward the door. Thomas followed and looked down at his own clothes.

"What's wrong with my outfit?" He asked as he gestured toward his clothes. He wore black shoes, a new pair of black Dickies slacks and a black, collared and longs sleeved shirt. Even his belt and buckle were black.

"Nothing, you look quite dashing." Jill tossed over her shoulder as she locked the door and the man began to grin again. Jill got her own sadistic smile as she added one last comment on her way toward the car. "For a funeral."

After a short car ride they stopped outside a club that Jill had chosen. For the fact that Thomas was tagging along the club had to be a gay and lesbian place or the man wouldn't be able to walk in. Jill smiled a bit as they entered and a few heads turned, seeing it as another chance to pick at the NASCAR scout.

"Look, Tom, they seem to like you." Jill nodded toward three men who stood in a small cluster and watched the two walking toward the bar. The music at the present moment wasn't blaring, but instead was slower dance music. "Maybe we can find you a date too."

"Hey, I bet I can get more numbers than you." Thomas told the woman next to him. She turned and gave him a look, which seemed to say 'you've got to be kidding'. Thomas just smiled at her and raised an eyebrow, his eyes glinting. "Are you afraid to lose a bet?"

"Thomas Coffel, you are a straight man in a gay club and you want to make this bet? You wont get any women's numbers you know." Jill pointed out as they caught a table near the bar. She set her black purse atop it and regarded the still grinning man who took the seat across from her. Thomas seemed to be smiling wider each moment he gazed at her and she wondered if he was losing his mind.

"Oh, I didn't say I'd collect women's numbers. I know where I am, and after you lose the bet we'll have a rematch in a straight club if you think your odds are going to be any better." Thomas leaned across the table and tweaked her nose in a fashion similar to what an adult might to do a child. His next words came out in a friendly but taunting tone. "Come on little girl, what have you got to lose?"

"You are only three years older, Tom." Jill said in a bit of frustration as she looked at him challengingly. He kept grinning confidently at her and now she had the urge to wipe that grin off his face. "Fine, you're on. If I get more numbers you are mowing my lawn and washing my cars, every week, for the next two months."

"Alright!" Thomas got an excited glint as he stood and waved over one of the two waitresses present. He happily plopped back into his seat with all the energy of a schoolboy who was planning a prank. "And if I win, you are going out with me to dinner and a movie, my treat."

"How do I lose there?" Jill asked with confusion clear in her voice, she couldn't see how Thomas benefited from either outcome. The waitress arrived and Thomas ordered a whiskey on the rocks before bothering to answer.

"I get to choose both food and movie." The man grinned at the look of horror the thought brought to the young woman's face. As his drink arrived he saw her curious look and gave her a sheepish look. "Like you said, I am straight so I have to have something to make me relax. I'm not uncomfortable here, but it'll take a minute to adjust my flirting lines to hit on guys instead."

Thomas finished his drink and jumped up with a grin. He winked at Jill as he turned and merged with the crowd in the dark club. Jill suddenly felt a bit uneasy about the outcome of this bet. Sure, Thomas was straight, but he was also kind of cute in the right light and now he was hyper as well.

'No way, he isn't going to be able to do it.' She told herself.

Thomas started making his rounds, it wasn't like he was new to clubs and he'd even made similar bets in the past. The only new factor for the man was that he had to keep away from the pretty girls, and focus on the guys. As he looked around, faking an appreciative look at any guy with dark hair (his random choice of the night) a song began to play over and over in his head. He'd been in the car one day when it had played on his radio and the tune just stuck in his mind. The only lyrics he could remember were the words: I must not chase the boys. The pure irony brought a huge smile to the man's face.

Jill began to think up a strategy, and hated to admit that her past infidelities had been where she had learned much of her flirting skills. She had never fully explained it to anyone, but she never cheated on Haruka with another woman. Most people would, of course, not care and still condemn her actions. Jill still condemned her own actions, even if at the time she'd seen nothing wrong with them. The point of it all boiled down to, even as a bisexual, she wasn't used to flirting with women. It seemed the two had a more level playing field than Thomas thought.

Thomas stood across the club from where he had started; talking to a very thin and somewhat short young man with dark hair and light skin. He tried to focus on what the man said, but as a great deal of it was compliments of his own appearance he found it very hard. His eyes scanned the room and finally landed upon the black glad figure of Jill. The bisexual was out on the floor with a young woman who was only an inch taller. The unknown woman was dressed in black pants, a white collared shirt with long sleeves and an eye catching blue tie, which Jill currently had a hold of. She also had short, spiked brown hair and reflective blue glasses.

'How in the world can she see in those?'

Jill glanced up from the surprisingly shy young woman she was dancing with to find Thomas watching them. The music of the club was currently an Italian rave track with bass that boomed from the speakers. Jill winked at her competition before winding the tie she held around her hand to bring the twenty-one year old closer. Jill smiled as she wrapped her arms around the slightly taller woman's shoulders and swayed to the music. Even with her now all but still partner they turned heads around the club. Jill held back a laugh, feeling somewhat sorry as she completely shocked woman before her.

"You are a bit of a closet case, aren't you?" She whispered into the woman's ear, taking the chance to pull her just a bit closer.

"Um, for the most part I still am." The young woman blushed a bit and Jill was sure those hidden eyes darted about the club. She began to wonder. "My job frowns on homosexuality."

"Oh, who do you work for?" Jill asked as the song ended and she led the younger woman off the floor and back to a table.

"Its, well, it's a government job." The taller woman responded as they returned to their drinks. Jill almost choked as she stared at the woman in front of her.

"I just thought you had good posture and were a bit too polite, I didn't think you were with the..?" A hand gently covering her mouth and the other woman shaking her head cut off Jill. "Sorry, I guess you don't really give that detail away too much."

"No, ma'am." The other jumped at her own speech pattern and took a glance at her watch. She gave Jill an apologetic look and took out some money for the drinks. Quickly she jotted a number down on a napkin and handed it to Jill. "That's my cell, if you ever want to call me." Jill blinked as the young woman rapidly left the club.

'Poor soldier, must have a curfew or something.' Jill thought as she shock her head. 'Okay, for the rest of the night I avoid women with sunglasses. I don't want to help someone lose a career.'

Thomas laughed at the story the other man was telling, to be honest he was enjoying himself more than he thought he would. Right now he stood with three other men and one of them kept eyeing him curiously. He'd stopped when he over heard one of them laughing and found that the tallest was talking animatedly about his last boyfriend.

Apparently the tall one was a bi and he claimed that his latest ex-boyfriend had seemed obsessed with pink. That wasn't funny in and of itself, but the fact that the guy had just gotten his apartment back to "normal" from a prior girl friend, only to have this man continually cover everything in pink was. Apparently he'd even found something to put in the toilet that turned the water pink, and scared the tall man out of his wits one morning.

"Would you like to dance?" Thomas jumped when he realized the sudden question had been directed toward him. He turned to see it was the man who'd been eyeing him through out the tall man's story.

"I'm a horrible dancer, I'm sure I'd step on your toes." He tried to talk his way out of it, somehow not up to being on the dance floor with another man now that the music had changed again to a slow song.

"I could teach you." The younger man offered hopefully. He smiled at him and even seemed to pull off the puppy eyes routine. "It'll be fun."

Two hours after the two had entered Jill was quietly talking to an attractive young woman in a casual business suit when she noticed something. Thomas wasn't just talking to people but one man seemed to be asking him to dance, actually the man seemed to be near begging. The scout seemed like he was trying to politely decline when Jill excused herself and walked over. She placed a hand on Thomas' arm and smiled at the man before him, giving her most encouraging look.

"Don't listen to my brother, he loves to dance he's just shy." Jill said and gave Thomas a small push toward the dance floor. He didn't have time to even glare as the man he'd been talking to pulled him into a slow dance. Thomas was a bit surprised to not be leading but shrugged it off. There was nothing he could do about it now after all.

"I swear I have seen you somewhere before, actually you're sister looks familiar too." The young man said as he gazed at Thomas, his expression thoughtful. "What did you say your name was again?"

"Thomas Coffel." He replied and to be honest the young man did look oddly familiar.

"Coffel. I know I've heard that before." Something suddenly clicked in his mind as he looked up then back at Thomas, eyes wide. "You're that NASCAR guy!"

"What?" Thomas almost jumped at the man's sudden revelation than it clicked for him too. He met this guy during one of his many trips to the old racetrack, in fact he was one of the one's that had pointed out Jill leaving with one of the racers. "Yes, well that is my job."

"But wasn't your sister married to somebody?" The guy gave a look of confusion but before they could talk anymore about it a flash bulb went off once, then again. The two looked up to see Jill holding a Polaroid camera as a bouncer tried to sneak up on the woman. Thomas vaguely remembered seeing a sign that read 'No, cameras please' outside and was tempted to let her get caught.

"I think I should go save my sister. Thanks for the dance." Thomas started to pull away but the guy caught his hand and passed him something. Thomas paused at the unexpected action.

"Give me a call sometime, man." And the young driver disappeared into the crowd. Thomas looked down and found a slip with a name and a number written on it. He grinned a bit, mentally counting the numbers he'd received.

"I think we should go now." Jill said in an urgent tone as she appeared next to him, glancing nervously around the dance floor. She still held the camera in one hand but had hidden the pictures away somewhere.

"Oh?" Thomas said regarding the woman with a raised eyebrow. "So the bets over right, we leave and count numbers?"

"Yes, yes." Jill said as she spotted the bouncer elbowing through the crowd toward them. She grabbed Thomas' elbow and pulled him toward the door. "But we should go right now."

Twenty minutes later Jill's jaw dropped. The two were seated at a table in "Denny's" and had both counted their phone numbers. Jill had received three numbers from the girls in the club, and one from the male bar tender when she mentioned she was bisexual. Thomas had received two hastily written slips of paper, two business cards and someone had written a number and hotel room on his palm.

"You scare me. We were in there for only two hours and someone even invited you to their room?" Jill asked in surprise as a woman refilled their coffee cups. The waitress just ignored their conversation as she walked away.

"Yes, actually that was the bouncer who was chasing you around the floor." Thomas smiled and poured some cream into his coffee. He watched the mute look of wonder wash across Jill's face with satisfaction. "So, do you want that rematch or are you free Friday night?"

"You swear you didn't bribe anyone, no drugs in their drinks?" She asked with an untrusting look.

"Why would I do that?" Thomas asked as he held back laughter. "Besides, I wouldn't even know where to get any drugs."

"What time Friday?" Jill asked in resignation, hanging her head.

"7PM." Thomas grinned at her evilly as he started to pour sugar into his coffee as well. "I hope you like Batman movies." Jill didn't respond, just rolled her eyes and waved over the waitress.

Thomas got home late that night and took up one his favorite pass times of late. Call and see if Haruka was awake. Thomas made a slow and diligent production of dialing the international number. He sat in a chair at his kitchen table and all but bounced up and down waiting for an answer. After five rings Haruka's somewhat resigned voice answered, already knowing it was him from the caller ID.

"So?" Thomas started with out preamble. The man did his best to imitate the voice of a hyper teen girl from an anime he'd recently watched, something about teens that transform and save the world. "How did it go? Did you kiss? Did you bring her flowers? What kind?"

"Yellow roses?" Thomas wrinkled his brow a bit at that answer, trying to remember what he'd been told once by some female. "Aren't those something bad, I thought they meant jealousy my dear, Kurama. Did you throw them like those rose darts things, Kurama? But I like calling you Kurama, he's my favorite character out of that show Jill leant me. We are going out to dinner and a movie Friday, by the way." Thomas pulled the phone away from his ear when Haruka exclaimed 'what' a bit too loudly.

"Do you have a problem with it, Tokyo Raider? I can cancel if you do." Thomas nodded, ignoring the fact that his blonde friend could not see him across the ocean. "Yeah, I said that once but we were in this gay bar and we made a bet, and I had to dance with this guy." Haruka cut him off before he could explain further and he couldn't help but laugh at how disturbed the blonde seemed, in fact the man nearly fell from his chair. "He was a guy from the track, actually he's a pretty good driver now that I think about it. Okay, you go do your thing; I have to plot ways to irritate your ex-wife on Friday. Bye."

Thomas grinned as he set the cordless phone down on the wooden table before him. In the course of a single night he had proved he was attractive to both sexes, won a bet, made Jill run from a bouncer (though not truly his fault), found an attractive date for Friday, and disturbed Haruka. His brow furrowed, did he just think of Jill as attractive? No, no. Okay, so the woman had a bit of sex appeal, but after what she did to Haruka, no, just no.

'Bad idea, Tom. Pull up now' He thought to himself.

Thomas stood, walked into his bedroom and fell onto the bed still fully clothed. He landed face first in the pillows and blamed the whiskey. Otherwise, why was he thinking his friend's ex might make a good date?

'Bad Tom.' Was his last thought before he fell asleep.

Somewhere across town Jill was carefully copying an address onto a tan envelope. She carefully checked the address again, making sure the Tokyo address was spelled correctly and realized she should send it through a special company or something. She took out a pen and jotted down a quick note onto a paper before placing the note and a Polaroid into the envelope to mail tomorrow.

A few days later, in Tokyo, Haruka opened the door and signed for the odd little special delivery. She raised an eyebrow at the rush sticker and the return address. 'Jill?' Haruka carefully opened it and pulled out two objects, she chose to read the note before she looked at the picture.

"I thought this would appeal to your sense of humor. Consider it part of my bribe to the higher powers to be forgiven in my next life. Enjoy, Jill."

Haruka looked down at the Polaroid photo and laughed. Thomas stood on a crowded dance floor, his arms around the neck of another man and his expression like a dear caught in headlights.

AN:

I hope you enjoyed this short little story. I mainly brought Haruka into it as an excuse to describe the photo. I tried to get some humor in here, and hope it was successful. Let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: Okay, as always any Sailor Moon character's I mention or who appear do not belong to me. The only people I own are Tom, Jill and anyone appearing that you don't recognize from Sailor Moon. Any similarities of Tom and Jill to anyone are nothing but coincidence.