A.N. Ok, I'm back for the time being to try and finish these stories. Not having much luck with it though, as you can see.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of its affiliated characters, yada, yada… They belong to Naoko Takeuchi, DiC, and Toei Animation.
Title: Moving On
Chapter: Nine
Author: Icess
They'd only been married a week and already it seemed like a whole year had passed. Every time they were together, they wound up fighting about something as childish as to who was going to control the remote for the T.V. that evening. The good thing though, was that Darien was always gone on business. Serena pretty much had the house to herself and Raye came to visit often.
While Serena hadn't completely taken over as CEO of Olson Inc. yet, she still showed up at the office everyday, making sure that everything was running smoothly. One morning, while Serena made her way to the elevators for her first meeting, she ran into someone. Hard. Because, of course… she was running late. "Oh, I'm so sorry… are you okay?" She asked, too humiliated to look up.
She heard a deep, husky laugh and dared to face her victim. "Darien? What… uh, what are you doing here?" She asked numbly. Her eyes raked over him like a wolf, taking in every inch of his tall, suit-clad frame. She then shook her head, as if trying to clear her mind.
"Are you quite finished?" Amused, Darien just stared right back at her. She blushed furiously and looked away once more. "I'm here because I wanted to see how things were going. I am part owner of this business now, you know." He reminded her. 'As if I could forget!' Serena seethed inside. Darien sighed and put his arm around her shoulders, turning her the opposite way that she needed to go.
"Wait, I'm supposed to be in a meeting. I'm late already." Serena objected, pulling away from him.
"Don't worry, I took care of it." Darien stated simply.
"What is that supposed to mean? I was supposed to be in that meeting with the board of directors and you tell me not to worry about it? I think not!" Angry, Serena marched down the hall to the meeting room. It was empty. All that was left on the mahogany oblong table were scraps of paper and empty water glasses. Those were disappearing as well for the janitorial staff was setting everything back to order. Serena glared up at Darien. "Why is there no one in here?"
"I stood in for you. Everyone was getting impatient. So we discussed what we needed to and that was that. No need to get all huffy about it. I know as much about running a business as you do, if not more." Came Darien's reply. If Serena could glare daggers, Darien would have been on the floor bleeding to death.
"Did I ask you to take my place? Did I ask you to waltz in here and run my company?" Tempers flaring, they faced off. Secretaries stopped answering calls, the janitors in the meeting room stopped vacuuming. Everyone stopped to see who would back down first. Some even took bets. In the end, Serena won. Darien was barely audible when he said through clenched teeth, "We'll talk about this later." He then stalked off to the elevators and left a bewildered staff and furious Serena behind.
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"So much for being a dutiful wife." Serena chuckled to herself as she walked onto the sidewalk in front of Olson Inc. She was over being angry, she had overreacted, which was something that she did very often. As she made her way to the parking garage, she noticed a little girl standing alone on the edge of the sidewalk. She had startling gray eyes and pitch-black hair. And she was alone; Serena could see no adults nearby that were going to claim her. "Hi there, are you lost?" Serena asked as she kneeled down to the young girls height. She looked to be about five or six years old.
"No, my uncle is across the street at the bank. He had to put a lot of money in there today." The girl smiled widely, showing gaps where she had lost her baby teeth. "What's your name? Mine is Sierra."
Charmed, Serena responded in kind with, "I'm Serena."
"Would you like to be my friend? I don't have many friends." Sierra said sadly.
"Well that's too bad." Serena remarked and looked down the sidewalk a little ways… and she saw Darien. He stood as if transfixed; his gaze was locked on the girl with long, flowing hair. Then, coming out of his stupor, he began to run toward them.
"Sierra?" He asked incredulously and dropped to his knees before her. The girl's eyes widened as she gazed at the man. Uncertainty showed in her expression, and then child-like delight. "How did you know my name?" She giggled.
Serena watched the whole scene, afraid of the look in Darien's eye as he gazed around him. Then, like an eagle catching its prey from the air, scooped the girl up, grabbed Serena's hand and began ran as fast as he could to the nearest police station. "Darien! Wait! What are you doing? Her uncle is waiting for her!" Serena yelled as she gazed over her shoulder to see a big, burly man come out of the bank and yell Sierra's name. Serena's eyes made contact with his and she felt a chill all the way to her bone.
"No time to explain!" Darien had to yell over Sierra's screaming for her uncle. Darien then turned a corner and marched quickly up the steps to precinct #12. As they neared the front desk, Darien said briskly, "Detective Brown, pronto." Darien ran his hands over Sierra's back to try and calm her down. She only cried harder, pushing against Darien's shoulders with all her might, trying to get away. Brown came around the corner and stopped dead at the sight of the ragged trio.
"Mr. Stenson, what's going on?"
"I've found my daughter, Sierra." Darien stated grimly. Serena felt the wind knock out of her, leaving her breathless. The other shoe dropped at the commotion at the entrance. There stood Mario, gun in hand… ready to shoot. At Serena.
A.N. Dun, dun, DUN! Gotcha! Woohoo! I love cliffhangers! Yes, a lot of drama in this chapter. But I need to get the ball rolling. Stay tuned for the next installment. Icess
Written On: March 30, 2006