Sorry this has taken so long to come out. I've just gotten over a bit of a bad spot. If this chapter is not long or of a particularly good standard, i will oppoligise and promise that at a later date i will be reviewing it. Sorry again for the long wait, hopefully I won't have to leave it for so long next time.

Tandem.

All the usual disclaimers regarding sailor moon apply

Pain, Serena decided, was an inevitable outcome of living with a bunch of children, who delight in making mischief. That the pain she was experiencing at the moment was that of a headache, and not particularly unusual, did not make her feel any better about it. Nor did she feel any too good about the dripping wet toupee dangling from her limp hand. Or for that matter, the pair of eyes glaring daggers at her from the eating hall door way. Those eyes were making her feel as if she were a small child who had just done something very, very bad, and she would have taken a step back, had it not been for the presence of a very angry Ken! Of course he had every right to be angry, after all she was holding someones, presumably once very nice, dripping wet toupee in her hand, while her charges looked on with varying degrees of guilt on their faces. But, at the moment she was more worried about the man walking towards her.

The man snatched his hair piece from her hand, shrieking when it feel to pieces and landed in a soggy heap on his shoes. He stood staring down at them, seemingly suspended in his state of disbelief. The silence was almost defening, causing Serena's headache to get worse. It was broken however, when Davie let out a howl of laughter. And Serena couldn't help but join in, which turned out to be a very bad idea!

Serena sat with her pounding head pressed to the glass of the window in her room, feeling the slight vibration as the rain splattered against it. She was exhausted from the events of the last couple of hours, but her mind was to full to let her go to bed. She replayed her discussion with Ken, over and over again in her head, feeling more and more mortified every time she replayed the memories. She remembered the tone of voice Ken had used to point out her faults in the outcome of the afternoons incident, letting her know he held her responsible for allowing her charges the opportunity to play such a prank. And then he had gone on to point out all the small areas of her supervision she had neglected in the brief time she had been with them. Her tendency towards lateness since she had been there hadn't won her any points, nor had her relaxed attitude towards the children. Many of the other staff had been complaining about their lack of puishment from her. It was humiliating to realise just how much she seemed to be failing at this job she had wanted so much.

She knew she had played a part in the disaster that had occured that afternoon, and she felt the guilt travel through her entire body. And it just made her miss Darien even more! She really missed his support, his gentleness and his love. She needed to be able to tell him how insecure she was feeling and to know that he would offer her the hand she so desperately needed to grasp. She woke up every morning wanting him there to help her laugh and start her day on a good note, she wanted to feel his hands pressing into her ticklish spots to make her get out of bed, which she seemed incapable of doing. She needed to use her hands to make more sophisticated signals.

She wanted to go home! But knew she couldn't. Instead she let her mind drift to the memories of Darien, let his imagined presence sooth some of her ragged nerves and heal some of the pain.

The knocking at her door a while later brought Serena back to the earth with as thump. The fright made her push away from the window so hard, she landed on her backside with a loud thump. Grumbling about rude interuptions, she got up and opened her door to find Ken standing there with a pot of Tea and two mugs balanced on a tray.

" Feel up to a good old spot of English Tea and a jolly old chin-wag?"

" Sure, come on in." Serena said, trying her hardest to sound enthusiastic about it.

Ken placed the tray on a table and turned to her.

" I'm sorry I was so hard on you today. I was wrong to take so much out on you. The man whose toupee those kids ruined was a very important member of the board. He finances all the new additions to this place and without him we would cease to be able to function properly. Having one of my staff members laugh at something he regarded as a personal insult didn't improve his mood. His mood didn't improve mine and I took it out on you. Please accept my appologies."

" No appology needed. I should not have laughed." Serena said, relaxing a little bit. "Have you talked to the kids yet?"

" Just come from there. They were concerned their actions would reflect on you and were most eager to take the blame. I think they quite like you." Ken said, sounding amused.

" I like them, but they are a lot of hard work." Serena replied.

" It's not an easy job."

"No, it isn't. Kids are exhausting! I've never wanted to go to sleep so much as I do now!" Serena replied with a hint of humour.

Ken laughed.

"If that's the case, then I will leave you this tea and take my leave. Just please, next time something like what happened today ever happens again, try to keep your composure, it would make my life a lot easier. And your I'd wager."

Serena couldn't agree more.

Again sorry it's short. But it's the best I could do at this stage, with so many people begging for another chapter. I will extend it at a later date, but for right now I'd love it if you could let me know what you think. Now that you've had a look at Serena's new life, what do you think?

Tandem