My Worst Fear

I don't own Sailor Moon, or any of the characters, and all that fun stuff.

July:

Darien walked into the hospital, a bouquet of red roses, a stuffed bunny, and a brown paper package in his arms. Serena had been in and out of the hospital since April, so the nurses knew him by now. He was the man who came to see his wife every day after work, and brought her a stuffed bunny every week.

Privately the nurses all thought that Darien and Serena Sheilds had one of the most tragically romantic stories that they had ever seen. Darien's loving relationship with his wife was increasing his popularity across the city, and he wasn't aware of it. In fact, he would have been appalled to be benefiting from his wife's suffering.

"Mr. Sheilds!"

Darien nodded to a plump nurse with dusty red hair. "How is she today Peggie?"

"Oh you brought her a bunny! You know she just loves these things to death?"

Darien took it as a bad sign that the nurse was avoiding telling him about Serena. If she was doing well Peggie would bounce up and immediately tell him how lucky he was to have come today, that Serena was in a rare state and looking spectacular. If Serena was doing poorly the woman would simply shake her head and say "It is nothing she can't handle, you've got one fighter on your hands Mr. Sheilds." Today must be bad.

"I hope she likes this bunny. I went to a lot of trouble to get it." The rabbit in question was Darien's favorite yet; it was a white rabbit that wore a pink silk kimono with silver birds embroidered on it.

"It is a beauty." Peggie smiled a bit. "I'll run and fetch the doctor for you."

Darien felt his heart plummet; he usually talked to the doctor on Tuesdays, but today was a Friday. Serena had been doing well on Tuesday, or as well as could be expected. She had been steadily declining for the past four months, but the doctor said that she could still live another year.

Darien sat down heavily in a hard chair in the hall, he was afraid to peak through the door into Serena's room.

What if she had died without him there? What if she had died alone and scared, with just the cold professional comfort that could be found in a hospital? Would she think he had abandoned her?

After a few minutes of sitting there, staring blankly ahead, someone tapped Darien on the shoulder. Darien bounced up, desperate for good news.

"Doctor Icheda!"

The doctor smiled sadly at Darien, the doctor hated to quash the desperate hope that he saw in the young man's eyes. "Mr. Sheilds, I'm afraid that your wife has taken a turn for the worst."

Darien wouldn't have thought it was possible, but his heart fell further. "But..." He couldn't think of anything to say.

"She is one of the most calm and kind women that I have had the pleasure to meet. Even when she is in pain she always has a smile and a kind word for the people around her." The doctor patted Darien's arm. "It is so sad that she will die so young."

Darien nodded dumbly; he didn't hear half of the complementary things that the Doctor said about Serena. "How long?" He finally choked out.

Somehow, over the past nine months he had never let himself completely believe that Serena would die; there had always been a part of him that revolted at the idea. That part of him had stubbornly held fast to the idea that Serena would make a remarkable recovery, that he would walk into the hospital one day to see her standing there ready to go home. Now, hearing it from the doctor made it all too painfully real.

"Soon. This week, probably. Maybe next week."

Darien nodded and pulled out his cell phone, hitting speed dial for his assistant. "Hello, Reagan."

"Hello Mr. Sheilds, what can I do for you?"

Darien paused for a moment, his eyes glazed over. "Cancel everything I have for the next two weeks. I won't be coming in to work, and I don't want any calls forwarded to my cell phone. Even if the world is about to end and the only way to save it is for me to take a call, it is not important enough."

"Yes sir."

"Good. I'll talk to you in two weeks."

Doctor Icheda blinked at Darien. "What are you going to do?"

It took Darien a moment to focus his eyes on the Doctor. "If you have to ask me that, then you have obviously never been in love."

"Good morning, Baby."

A smile slowly spread across Serena's face. "I love you." She murmured, not even opening her eyes.

"Do you feel up to visitors?"

Serena nodded. "Do I look okay?"

She felt the side of the bed sink as Darien sat next to her, and took one hand in his. "You look like an angel." He murmured as he bent down to kiss her forehead.

In reality Serena looked like a ghost of herself. Darien knew that her friends would be shocked when they saw her, but he didn't have the heart to tell them that they shouldn't come. He would simply have to warn the girls that Serena looked bad. Well, she was entitled wasn't she? She was dying after all.

"Liar."

Darien laughed. "You look beautiful, because you have a smile on your face and the kindest heart I've ever seen." He bent down to kiss Serena's forehead again, only to meet her lips instead.

She felt his smile grow as they kissed.

When Darien drew away Serena's eyes were open, still big blue and enchanting even when she was going through hell. "For a politician, you are a terrible liar." She said with a mischievous grin.

Darien shrugged. "My life in politics had one purpose, and it has been served." He plucked at the lapel of Serena's pajamas. "All I had to do was convince the doctor to stop insisting that you wear that silly hospital gown." He had purchased the pink bunny pajamas on a trip a month before Serena had entered the hospital, and they were the first thing that the blonde had demanded from home. "You can at least be dressed decently."

Serena smiled and leaned up against her husband's chest, listening to laughter bubble up in him as he teased her. She knew that he was trying to be strong for her, but she also knew that he needed to pretend that they would go on forever. She sighed and closed her eyes, tired again after just a few minutes.

"Did you talk to Doctor Icheda?"

The only answer Serena received was Darien's arms tightening involuntarily around her, as though he could just hold her there forever. It was all the answer that she needed to confirm that Darien knew the bad news. "I want to go home."

"Then I'll take you home."

There is just one chapter to go. For those of you who where upset that I didn't write about Serena telling her friends that she has cancer I would recomend that you hold you horses... You'll get it, even if it is not in the way that you thought you would. And as always, I hope you liked this chapter. Please read and review. - LS