We do not own "Sailor Moon" nor any of the characters.
SAILOR MOON ETERNAL
"The 6th Season of the Sailor Moon Saga"
By Haruka Kou
"Sailor Moon Eternal Movie: La Destiny"
Deciding to put a good spin on the matter (and not scaring her Robin silly) Michelle explains the sudden trip to the three boys as a long-awaited reunion with her beloved parents. Nothing out the ordinary - nothing at all. Robin did have his suspicions though, the cheery way Michelle bounced about, packing and repacking his clothes to make sure he had just the "right" ones of course.
Glad to get out of their hectic work schedules for the coming week (which Terry forgoes almost immediately, canceling and postponing all of the week's upcoming events, this sudden vacation to Paris displaying itself as the perfect setting for a secret agenda in his mind.) Sayer announces he doesn't care why they have to go, just as long as they did (especially if it meant he could be with Alex more. She was always so hard to figure for him, the way she ignored him at times.)
Susan arranges for Tara, who, although the thought of Paris was inviting, and she welcome at any time, wanted to spend as much of her time with the best friend who would be departing to the future soon again. She decides to stay on with Rini and the Harts' for another week, Serena's Mom Irene glad to have Tara, with all the help she was caring for little stepinfetchit "RiRi".
So, all responsibilities palmed off, all packed and readied the next morning, the Three Lights and the three Outers drive to the airport and soon board the first flight out to Paris, France.
(Play Sailor Moon in Paris: "A Natural Romance")
No problems on the plane this time — except for a seating mixup with Sayer. He insists on having the window seat, so Michelle gives it up, knowing he just wanted, really, to trade places with her next to Alex. She had placed everyone in separate seating arrangements on purpose, though somehow the couples all got together anyway, to her sighing discontent. There was a mix up with the stewardess, as Sayer kept "forgetting" which one was assigned to them, and instead kept opting to keep bothering the prettier, leggier blonde girl rather than the plump matronly woman who was the stewardess of their section. Even upon landing there was a luggage mishap as well, with Sayer nearly coming to blows, trading insults with a Frenchman who insisted that the particular traveling bag Sayer was questioning was his (and it turned out, after all said and done, it was the man's. Sayer had blamed the poor innocent Frenchman's broken English for all the confusion entirely.
Finally, after all that, early in the afternoon our six weary travelers find their way through the city of lights in a taxicab that takes them along the scenic route of Paris, to one of its finest hotels. Treated like a queen upon her arrival, (after signing the register with her renowned last name in France), Michelle leads the team up to one of the most posh suites the hotel had to offer. The plush carpeting, golden trim style and décor of France exuded from every piece of expensive furniture.
"Where's the TV?" Sayer tramps around the set of rooms, sticking his head behind the stately setees and couches, even taking a quick peek around the monstrous bathroom, complete with sauna tub, looking for the elusive television set.
"Are you just going to lay on that couch all day?" Alex asks, walking in and watching Sayer in amusement as he finally locates the TV in a separate recreation room, plopping down on the couch in front of it.
"Not unless I have someone on it with me." Sayer smiles, flirting back, clicking off with his remote the nasally speaking French newscaster, giving Alex his full attention.
"Just go and get unpacked." Alex shakes her head, leaving to do some unpacking of her own.
"What do you think of this one?" Michelle floats in, wearing a light blue summer frock all trimmed in lace.
"It's just as nice as the last one, Michelle." Robin says with a sigh, this being at least the fifth time she had changed and asked the same question. "Why are you getting all dressed up anyway? We're just going to visit your parents, right?" Robin asks, a little suspicious of her flutterings to and fro. Her inner thoughts about the matter seemed selective to him.
"You want to make a good impression, don't you, dearest? Besides, I haven't seen them for almost three years now. I want to look my best." Michelle admires herself in the cheval mirror in Robin's room.
Finally satisfied, she goes to his closet, now ready to work on him. "This one or that one?" She asks with an inviting smile, holding up on their hangers, two of his finest suits she chose from his closet. Robin shrugs with a bemused smile, turning his hands up in the air.
Why does Michelle look so worried? What's she hiding from me about her parents? It makes you wonder…
Bringing along Robin (and the rest of the gang for support) and making sure they were all properly attired, groomed and spiffed up for viewing, Michelle calls her "Ma Mere", announcing they have arrived, and one of the family's limousines is sent to pick them up in a flash.
Right away, Sayer doesn't take to the snooty chauffeur, who seems to eye them all, looking down upon them in his rear view mirror the whole trip, but Michelle doesn't notice, the way she was fussing over Robin. She was doing some last minute adjustments on his shirt, his tie, and his hair practically all the way to the front door of her stately family home.
'Stately' was nowhere near good enough to describe the palatial mansion before them. It's sprawling fenced in landscape, its monstrous stone columns, the statues and busts decorating the well-tended garden surrounding, and the largest fountain any of them had ever seen was in front of the mansion, all quite breathtaking.
"Your folks must be loaded." Sayer whispers in awe, Michelle's eyes give Sayer's low-class rudeness daggers, praying he would not be so unsociable when they went inside.
"Please be good." She whispers back to him, almost pleadingly.
With a steadying deep breath that perplexes all save Alex, Michelle leads them to the house, Robin placed purposely at her side (but Michelle keeps a proper distance, not clinging to him as she usually does). Wordlessly the huge door is swept open before them, revealing the interior of the residence, which was even more ostentatious and ornate than the outside.
The polished marble floors gleam, the many crystal chandeliers twinkle far above them, hung from the cathedral ceiling that was fashioned after the Sistine Chapel, with religious painting after painting displayed beautifully by an expert artist's hand.
Such opulence, such elegance, the works of art decorating every wall and every antique piece of furniture stun them all into utter silence as they pass the ancient family butler who bows solemnly, welcoming "Mademoiselle" home.
In a way, Robin, despite being awestruck by all the art and elegance around him, did not quite like the way he made it sound, as if she was back for good and not merely visiting.
"You remember Amara, don't you Pierre, dear?" Michelle takes hold of Alex's arm, but the old butler shows no sign of emotion, one way or the other. Michelle was very fond of the old man, who was their manservant as long as she could remember, but there was something distant about him now.
"And these are my dearest friends I was fortunate enough to meet in my time abroad in Japan." Pierre nods cordially, though Michelle is taken aback by his unusual stiffness - of all the people in the house, darling old Pierre was always a sympathetic ear. This feeling foreboding to her, a hint of what was to come, Michelle gives their names to be announced as he leads them towards the fifteen foot high double doors of the conservatory.
Upon entering yet another room, filled with high-class splendor and ostentation, in the otherwise empty, monstrous conservatory, a lone woman sits on a high-backed settee. Though tastefully dressed in the latest fashion for a woman of her age (she was no more than forty-five) but the years of high-living had taken their toll on her now matronly figure. Calmly leafing through a magazine of art, she gave off a well-bred air, the simple way she was seated and holding herself belaying the deportment of her class.
"Ma Mere!" Michelle dashes to her before Pierre has a chance to announce them. She drops to her knees and putting her head on her mother's lap, like a small child once again.
"My darling." There was a genuine warmth behind her words, as the woman strokes her wayward only daughter's head.
"Monsieurs Starr and Mademoiselle de Venici, and…" With his last introduction, for a moment, Pierre's eyes almost could be caught sparkling at his own memories of a wild child, who had lived in the mansion for a time. And turned it upside down all the while she was present.
"…Mademoiselle Sokova to see you, Madame." Pierre finishes with a graceful bow, closing the double doors behind him as he leaves.
"Amaralexis, my dear! Is that really you? My! How you have grown, my little wild one! But of course it is you! You look just like your mother…." Madame Moreau lets the words trail off as she leaves her throne-like seat at the settee and goes to Alex. Memories of a tiny golden-haired imp, held in the arms of the departed cousin she had loved so dearly -and lost so tragically.
My poor, poor Katia. That Ukrainian brute! Josephine Moreau was certain then, so long ago, to take the abandoned and destitute child that Katia had brought into this world and care for little Amaralexis as her own. To grow up as the companion her own baby, Michelle, needed. The two girls were so inseparable then, it seemed they were destined to grow into womanhood together, side by side, with the opulence and splendor of the Moreau mansion and prestige about them - but that vision of long ago was not meant to be. There was a wildness in Amara that had cried out for freedom at an early age. Josephine found her youthful charge at times unmanageable and unwilling to become a part of the society she and her husband were offering. Wealth and elegance not what Amara's soul longed for, she begged to be set free to follow her heart's dreams. And though Josephine Moreau refused to let go of the child she had sworn to care for in her late cousin's memory, wild Amaralexis Sokova had taken flight on those independent wings, running away from the richness that money and power had to offer. She had blindly raced towards the path that destiny had already carved out for her, for her and Michelle both.
Josephine had kept track of her wayward charge, but from afar, as Amara wanted. As her mother too would have wanted. When the day had come for her own little girl to spread her wings into the world, Josephine could think of no one better for Michelle to fly to. The friendship the two had forged as girls, was a bond Josephine was certain could be renewed again, her meek Michelle needing the strength that Amara was again. And her thoughts had proven themselves a thousand-fold more, though Josephine never knew exactly how or under what circumstances, but telling from correspondence with Michelle that the two girls' bond was now deeper than ever, forged together in the destiny that had linked them together now and for eternity.
"Madame." Alex nods, her own memories of this house and this woman, bittersweet in her fight for freedom. Yet there was still that certain familial warmth and gratefulness Alex would never forget, of a woman who did so much for her - and gave her the ultimate gift of the perfect soul mate Alex had found in Michelle too.
Shaking the tears that she would never weep in public, Madame Moreau pushes away the memories of the past to look at the upcoming situation of the present, emotional eyes turning suspiciously cold upon the three male guests watching the reunion from the sidelines, especially the little short silver-haired one.
"Ahh, and these must be the friends you spoke of so highly in our past communications." Her French accent was thick, but her usage of the English language was quite expansive. "Please…" she motions, Michelle rising as well, as her mother takes a few well-turned steps towards the group, extending her hand to them for further instruction.
"Ma Mere," Michelle was obviously happy to see her mother again, you could see it in her eyes, clinging to her mother's arm sweetly. "Let me introduce them to you." Michelle beams with a hopeful smile.
"This is Ms. Susan de Venici." They exchange polite greeting nods. "Monsieurs Terry and Sayer Starr." Josephine Moreau, taken aback when the darker hair man vigorously shakes her extended hand, is impressed by the taller young man's gracious taking of her offered hand and brushing it lightly with his lips in true gentleman style.
"Charming." She smiles approvingly at Terry. I like this one. Madame Moreau comments lightly to herself, as Michelle leaves her arm, and goes to Robin, taking his arm in hers, bringing him forward a bit more.
"And this is..." Michelle pauses, choking up all the courage she could muster, with a short prayer thrown in for luck, "this is Monsieur Robin Starr." Michelle smiles up hopefully as her mother turns her attention to Michelle's latest conquest.
"Ahh." Madame Moreau says simply, as she looks Robin up and down with a critical eye.
"I'm very pleased to-" Robin starts with a gracious smile, knowing how to push the aristocracy's right buttons, usually….
"Short, though. Isn't he dear?" Madame Moreau cuts him off a bit rudely, but the best of the upper crust were all a little rude in true high-standard fashion.
"Ma Mere!" Michelle was shocked at her mother's rudeness upon their first encounter. Accustomed to the general disapproving comments, made at least after the second meeting - when they usually would be reserved for, but Madame felt something immediately upon seeing the silver-haired boy and her daughter than with any other of Michelle's past flings. There was something rather serious about their relationship already that would not easily be discouraged.
Unprepared for such a welcome, Robin stands silent, holding his tongue for once at her insulting comment, when the doors tweak open again and a tall, stately looking man over fifty, with a greying moustache and beard, enters the room.
"Pa Pere!" Michelle flies to her father's warm embrace, the relation between this good-hearted man and his daughter quite deep. After the touching embrace, the lord of the manor turns his attention to his wife, who was still eyeing Robin disapprovingly.
"Josephine?" He asks the question, obviously already a pertinent one between them.
"I'm not sure yet, Henri." She answers, her diverted gaze returning to Robin. "Your parents, boy, your upbringing. Please tell us about them and where you come from." She commands more than asks, motioning the rest of the group towards the settee and the other seats around the room.
Her investigations on this young man had turned up nothing other than his being a rock star, which wasn't a very good start in her opinion.
"My parents? Well…I…." Robin starts, nervous under both Michelle's father and mother's critical glares - especially her mother's. Robin shrinks under the overpowering woman's gaze.
How do I explain any of that? What do I say? Oh, just that I'm from a distant star across the galaxy, my mother the Princess of my world, my father.…. Though fiercely proud of his rehabilitated father, Robin was well aware that in a strange way, he himself was the grandson of the evil force known as Metallia. Something that just not might bode well with these aristocrats. Even though I am royalty.
Then what do I tell them? That I've been adopted by the Queen of yet another far-flung world? Michelle! How could you put me in such a postion! Why didn't you warn me! He desperately searches for just the right words to say, knowing that his future with Michelle was now teetering in the balance.
"It's…a secret." Michelle fills in suddenly, Robin noticing a mischievous and daring glint come into her eye.
"A secret?" Madame Moreau burrows her brow beneath her raven black coiffure, for nothing could be kept a secret from her.
"Yes. You see, Robin Starr here - Starr isn't his real name of course, Terry and Sayer's parents merely adopted him when he was a baby - when his mother died in childbirth. His father would have kept him, but his family insisted on the whole affair being hushed up, the child, Robin that is, was sent off to be secretly adopted. You see, his father was a member of one of the highest house of royals in Europe and he and Robin's mother weren't….." Michelle leads off her totally farcical story with a pair of knowing French eyes, her voice excited with this made-up mystery of her own creation.
"Ohh." Madame Moreau, being of the French persuasion herself, understood her daughter's meaning right away.
"So you can see why it's been all kept so quiet. Though he and his new brothers had been provided for until their own parents were tragically killed in a boating accident a few years ago. So they turned to music to soothe their woes, and just recently had become quite popular in Japan…and now all over the world." Michelle's tall tale kept growing, Robin's eyes pop out with every fibbing word.
"I see." Josephine Moreau's hard heart softens a bit for the unfortunate son (of Royalty no less) though illegitimate, he still was of aristocratic birth, and since the trail she had already set many top investigators on had turned up empty on this young man's past, the story was entirely possible.
"Poor lad." Henri Moreau breaks the silence, he usually deems to let his wife fill.
"Yes." Michelle nods with a sad expression for her own tragic tale. Feeling her story had paid off, she takes Robin's hand without anyone seeing it behind their backs, and squeezes it affectionately and triumphantly too.
Though a little more open to the thought than when this group had first arrived, Madame and his lordship were still wary of the young man. His being royalty (however it occurred) was a definite plus, they were still very protective of Michelle, who as their treasured prize, would one day inherit all of this opulence, not to mention this good family name, and was not to be given away to just any man.
His background shrouded in mystery, more must be discovered of this young Robin Starr. We must see how well he fits in with this society you are destined for, ma cherie Michelle. Perhaps you have become to accustomed to those beneath your status while in Japan. Madame Moreau looks Sayer up and down disapprovingly and wondering if there was something between Amaralexis and he.
And your cousin as well….
"I have arranged for a soiree to commemorate you and your cousin's return to your homeland, my darling." Michelle must've inherited her mother's certain French charm, which she turns on full-blast, Robin almost believing that maybe he has been accepted and everything was in the clear. "I have invited everyone you know, all of your oldest acquaintances, to see you and Amara again. And to meet your new, ahem, friends." That sense of acceptance slips away from Robin, with the way Madame Moreau looks at him, making him feel less like a "friend" and more like an amoeba under a scientist's microscope. He was glad that for the rest of their first visit, Terry mostly took over, expertly skimming over important facts and delighting both Michelle's parents with his intelligent conversation.
Alex jabbed Sayer in the gut twice with her elbow when he was about to slip up, and every once in a while Robin felt Madame Moreau's watchful eyes upon him.
"Michelle! Why didn't you tell me!" Robin demands of her as they leave her parent's mansion and are being chauffeured back to their hotel.
"Tell you what, Robin dear?" Michelle says innocently, her enlarged blue eyes not going to be enough to calm him down this time.
"That I was going to be put on trial! Picked apart like-like-" His distressed mind searches for the word to describe how her mother made him feel.
"A piece of chicken?" Sayer, who had found this whole situation funny, fills in.
"Your Royal Highness." Alex was of the same mindset, teasing the poor guy when he was down.
"And where did you get that ridiculous story from! I've never heard such a-" He starts to chastise Michelle and her tall tale, but stops when he sees her pretty smile turn into a pitiful frown.
"Oh, Robin, I'm so sorry! My parents are….I didn't want them to get a bad opinion of you…so I…" She bites her lower lip as it quivers dramatically. Her family knew nothing of her being a psychic or a Sailor Scout, and she didn't even want to think what they'd say of Robin's role in such matters. "So I…."
"You filled in the gaps. Oh, Michelle." Robin sighs. People should accept me for who I am. That's what I've always gone by. Then he smiles, lifting Michelle's dejected chin.
"I'll just have to try to impress them the best I can later tonight." He says with a confidence he doesn't quite feel inside.
One interrogation session with that mother of hers was enough….
"Robin!" Michelle brightens at his words, gleefully wrapping herself around him in the limo's back seat, causing Alex, seated next to her, to twist her lip. "Stop here, driver!" Michelle suddenly calls up, seeing something out of the corner of her eye out the side window.
"Why are we stopping here?" Alex asks, as Michelle drags Robin out of the car. She heads toward a large building called "La Belle Femme Hibillier".
"I need a new ball gown for tomorrow night, of course!" Michelle was in her element dressing up for classy social occasions and always wanted to look her best. "And so do you Amara." Michelle treads on dangerous ground with that, as the six of them enter the plush decorated fashion show center.
"Ball gown?" Alex repeats incredulously. "Michelle, you know I don't wear dresses. For anything or anyone." She shoots a warning glance behind her at Sayer, who was admiring all the dressy models rushing to and fro getting ready for the show.
"Amara, please! You need to look stately and refined and…"
"I can do all of that in the tuxedo I brought with me." Alex continues to argue as Michelle flashes her name card around, getting them all front row seats, even at this last minute.
"Mother wouldn't understand! You know how she is. She's from the old school and believes all women should wears dresses, especially to a society ball. Please, Amara? I'll buy you any dress you want. You can choose yourself. Just have a look, I'm sure you'll like one. Pleeeeaase?" Michelle puts on her most pleading voice, to which her "Amara" could never refuse.
"All right, Michelle. But don't expect it to be anything fancy. And don't ask me to ever do this again." Alex folds her arms watching as the models begin to strut along the runway in Paris' newest and most desirable fashions.
"Pass me that pen, Robin dear." Michelle whips out a piece of paper.
"What for?" Robin asks, puzzled as to what she could be writing, as he hands her the pen.
"I have to write down the numbers of all the ones I want of course. It does look like it's going to be a good season." She whispers excitedly, jotting down nearly every outfit presented to Robin's wide eyes.
He wasn't tight with money but - he did know how much fashions like these cost.
"Don't worry. We're in Paris. My parents will foot the bill for everything I buy." Michelle giggles at his silly expression and passing thought. "Ooooh, that is the one for tomorrow tonight!" Michelle nearly squeals with delight as she chooses an airy shawled black and white polka-dotted evening dress.
"It's very lovely." Susan says, amicably, next to her, when her polite smile turns into an awestruck mouth hanging open at the next selection of a gorgeous slinky black velvet number, with a low cut (extremely low-cut) cleavage line, draped with diamond and garnet jewels all around. Seeing her interest, Terry takes note of its number, but doesn't say anything when Susan remains silent, this self-sacrificing woman never asking anything for herself at all.
"Who-hoo!" Sayer whistles his approval at the next dazzling fashion, a sparkling glitter red evening dress, with long red gloves and a slit all the way up the shapely model's leg. "Very nice." Sayer says aloud as the model passes by their front row seats. The French model seems to notice him as well, pulling a small piece of paper from inside her revealing and ample cleavage, tossing it to him with a wink. Sayer winks back the flirt, sticking the phone number in his pocket for further reference later.
"Michelle," Alex's low voice was filled with foreboding anger, "get me that dress." Alex Sokova would not be showed up by any model to the man she was interested in. Giving Sayer a threatening look, she roughly grabs his jacket pocket, pulling the slip of paper just put there out, and smashing it in her fist meaningfully with a thrust across the room.
"Same thing'll happen to you." She turns her flashing eyes away from Sayer.
After the show is over, our three couples return to the hotel and partake of its finely recommended restaurant (Sayer making a big fuss over the snails Michelle ordered.)
"They're escargot, Sayer, don't say snails!" She said snootily as he made faces.
They decide to make use of this vacation in Paris the next morning, going off to see the sights of this famed city of romance with their chosen partners. Even though Alex was smidge more than miffed at Sayer's blatant behavior at the fashion display yesterday, she found herself forgiving him easily, somehow already coming to accept that he was a little too amorous for his own good.
Maybe that's what you like, Alex, the challenge. She poses the question to herself as they go down the street, choosing to walk Paris' narrow roads rather than join Michelle and Robin in the limo's guided tour.
"So where are we going first?" Sayer asks, forgetting all about yesterday's moment of anger, just as any memory of that model was gone with the wind as well.
"Where does everyone go when they come to Paris?" Alex smiles. It was so hard to stay mad at his childish attitude for very long.
"Tower of Pizza?" He asks, with a hopeful grin. Earth geography not one of his finer subjects in school.
"It's not 'Pizza" you eat, it's Pisa." Alex chuckles, wondering if he was just stupid or if he actually had just said it to put her in a better mood. Either way, it worked. "Besides, that's Italy, not France, you idiot." She softens the harsh word with a flick of his constantly askew curls atop his dark head.
"There." She points forward, the morning breeze, carrying Sayer's gaze to what she was pointing at.
"The Eiffel Tower. See? I knew it was a tower!" Sayer snaps his fingers at his sudden ingenious recollection.
"Come on." Alex sprints off, full of the morning's fresh energy, as memories of the Tower flood back to her.
Sayer, still a little bit sleepy at this early hour in the morning, takes off after her nonetheless.
"What are you supposed to do here, anyway?" Sayer was not much for simple sightseeing, a bit bored already.
"You're just supposed to look, silly." Alex whacks her unwilling companion on the head with the pamphlet from his hands that he picked up at the tower entrance. "Let's go higher up." Alex feels that strange force calling her upwards all over again.
No, it isn't strange - just an old dear friend. She feels the wind brushing across her face as she climbs the flight of stairs leading up. Although there were a few early rising tourists on the bottom floor of the tower, the higher up they went, the fewer people were present. Until, at the seventh or eighth long flight of stairs later, Alex and Sayer find themselves alone.
"Ally," Sayer finds himself huffing, knowing that even though he was in tip top shape, he wondered how Alex could keep it up with such endurance and not look a bit tired out, when he felt like he was going to fall over. "How far are we going to go up?" He huffs breathlessly as Alex never even slows her pace.
"As far as it goes. I always used to, when I came here in the mornings. No one else was awake. That's how I liked it. Quiet and peaceful. Just me and the wind."
In a moment of sweet recollection of days past, Alex tosses these words over her shoulder at him, then notices him lagging behind. "Can't you keep up, Starr?" She taunts.
"Anything you can do, Sokova, I can do just as well!" He dashes forward, his easily damaged ego giving him the extra energy boost he needed. "Or better!" It was his turn to toss words back as he dashes up the stairs ahead of her.
Maybe that's why too. Alex smirks at his competitive spirit, a close rival to her own. The likes of which she thought she'd never find in another, let alone in a mere man. But he's not just a man anymore is he? Alex quickly catches up to him, but Sayer keeps the pace, the two of them racing side by side until they finally reach the top.
On the final flight of stairs, Alex allows him to rest, sitting close together on the narrow stairwell, till they both catch their breath.
"You're hard on a guy, you know?" Sayer smiles teasingly, his breath just coming back to him, feeling triumphant he could keep up.
"And I always will be. Don't forget that." Alex teases back. "Let's go get our reward now." Up the final few steps they climb, until their eyes are indeed rewarded by a sight of sights. The sun was still rising in a beautiful melon orange sky, fresh and sweet, with colorful birds flying high on the wind. The gentle breezes flow through Alex waves and Sayer's unruly hair, making them feel as fresh and as part of the morning's magnificence, so high up in the air as the soaring gulls.
After a quiet moment of welcoming in the coming winds, remembering how it all was once again, Alex turns to the dark haired man next to her, watching with delight his hair scattering in the breezy winds. "Do you wish you didn't come up now?" She asks with a smirk.
"Nah. Right now, I couldn't wish for a single thing more." He says, and the genuineness in his voice makes Alex feel a strange closeness to him at this very moment, glad that only the two of them were here to feel this together.
Just you, me - and the wind. She closes her eyes, taking it all in.
From the eagle's eye view high above the city of Paris, Sayer and Alex could see (that is if they were looking close enough) the scenic tall treed city park. As it slowly filled with varied tourists, children at play and young lovers, wanting to explore the green forest area together so early in the morning.
(PLAY 'Sailor Moon in Paris': "LOVE IS THE GUARDIAN STAR")
One such couple stood out more than the rest. A beautifully stunning dark skinned woman in such a short mini skirted dress made such an impression that even the bluebirds were whistling at her as she strolled with a tall and handsome wide-shouldered young man on her arm, the protective look in his eye keeping her safe from any amorous passing Frenchmen.
"Carriage ride, my lady?" Terry sees a horse and buggy on the side of the park's gravelly lane and immediately thinks of Susan.
"Yes, please, my lord." Susan delights in their proper yet oh-so-fond titles for one another, Terry truly having complete rule over her heart, looking so strong and handsome in one of his more casual outfits, a pair of dark blue jeans and simple white t-shirt. But you look gorgeous in anything. Susan smiles to herself as he helps her to the carriage.
The two startle awake the snoozing carriage driver from his peaceful slumber, as he good-naturedly takes the handsome couple around the park's often horse trodden path, past all of the beautiful sights that the lush greenery late July had to offer.
The sun rises high into the sky, so Susan was grateful for the covering of the carriage roof over them - but not for its shade alone. Together in such close quarters, she could drown in the soft, subtle waves of his freshly applied scent, making her feel lightheaded and dizzy. Swaying in the carriage's bumpy travels, Susan collapses into Terry's strong arms.
"My love?" He asks, worry behind those beautiful violet eyes. Susan closes her own eyes, immersing herself in his scent, so precious to her, her head pressed against his warm chest, so as to hear his kind heart beating.
"Terry, darling." Susan whispers, feeling the palpable romance in the very air. "Do you know how much you mean to me?"
"Perhaps as much as you mean to me, my precious." He strokes her dark hair, wondering if this was the moment….
The carriage suddenly hits a huge rut in the road and comes to a crashing halt, slamming the couple sideways, the buggy lying crooked and Terry finds himself pressed atop Susan's body, which wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't the danger of the carriage collapsing to the ground entirely.
Agilely lifting himself and Susan out the side door, they find the wheel broken off its axle, Terry kindly assists the older man who was driving, putting it back on and rounding up the wayward steed.
The Frenchman who spoke no English was very grateful that there was still goodness in even the foreign youngsters of today.
"Etes vous tres gentil! Merci!" The carriage driver calls out to Terry as he leaves, smiling, the man not knowing just how foreign he was.
Terry jogs over to the side of the park where Susan was hiding from the bright sunlight, under the shade of a stately oak tree.
"I am sorry, my darling, but-" Terry starts to apologize for the mishap-though no fault of his own - but Susan presses a finger to his lips.
"It was very kind of you to lift the carriage for that man, to put his wheel back on it. You must be very strong." Susan sighs, leaning back against the tree, having watched him the whole time.
"Do you really think so, Susan?" A playful glint comes to Terry's eye.
"Why, yeeee-sssss!" She feels those powerful hands wrap around her, lifting her from the shade of the tree, out into the blinding sunlight, twirling her around in his strong but gentle way, both of them laughing. Her long legs dangling, Terry leans against the white fencepost, Susan still hanging weightless in the air. Laughter rings all through the park, so all could hear their happiness of being together, of enjoying the day, the mood of Paris, the bright sunlight and most of all, each other.
"I love you, my lady." Terry holds her in his arms, looking adoringly down into her fuschia eyes.
"And I love yo-" Susan began, stopped by a crushing kiss on her lips, the sun blazing down upon them in the middle of the park, the white clouds rolling by on this perfect Paris day.
"Robin, dear! It's almost eleven o'clock! Don't you think it's about time you got up?" Michelle knocks at his locked hotel door, receiving no answer.
"Portier." Michelle says simply in French, telling the dutiful hall watchman to unlock the door for her, which he does immediately and without question. Mademoiselle Moreau's every whim their implicit command.
"Merci." Michelle lets herself in Robin's suite of rooms, without a second thought waltzing right into his bedroom to find him still fast asleep. He was curled up in an adorable little ball like a kitten, sheets pulled up to his sweet chin, which Michelle tickles playfully, delighting in the minute unshaven stubble beginning to form on his chin.
"Michelle?" His eyes still tightly shut, Robin didn't even have to look to feel her presence in the room. "I had a really bad night. Your mother gave me nightmares. Let me sleep a while more, okay?" He says whinily turning over and pulling his sheets up tighter.
"I am sorry, my dearest." Michelle smiles at his lazy form. "I am a little tired, myself. Perhaps you wouldn't mind some company then?" She slides down the sheets from his night shirted back, taking her shoes off and getting halfway onto the bed, when Robin suddenly jumps up, wide awake now. Michelle giggles at his reaction.
"So where are we going today?" Resigned, changing the subject as he selects the clothes from the closet.
"I thought we'd do a spot of shopping. I need a new wardrobe and Paris is the only place to do that properly in." Michelle lazes on the unmade bed, the thought of doing the simple task of making it never even entering her high-class mind. The femme, the maid would do it of course.
"Shopping? All right." Robin chooses a suitable dapper suit for himself, then turns to Michelle. "Your parents don't like me very much, do they Michelle?" He asks, vainly glancing in the mirror.
"It's not that they don't like you - it's just, they're very selective of a suitable match for me." Michelle leaves the bed, draping herself across Robin's back and meeting his worried green eyes in the mirror. "They don't know you like I do." She whispers in his ear.
"Michelle, I didn't like lying to them." He says, feeling he and Michelle's honest feelings for each other degraded by the bold-faced lies.
"It wasn't lying - it was merely stretching the truth." Michelle replies, trying to smooth it all over, deep inside knowing it wasn't right herself.
"I only did it because I don't want to lose you! Not like the others. But my parents were right about them. They're wrong this time. Because, Robin, I love you." She justifies to herself, with only a tinge of guilt.
"I love you too, Michelle. And I won't lose you." Robin thinks back at her determinedly. Michelle is startled for a second, forgetting herself, knowing he could read her heart as easily as he could hear her voice. Sharing a sweet kiss, Robin smiles, leaving her in the bedroom to go shower and change for the day ahead of them.
Though inspired by her love, he was still uncertain and deep inside, a little scared too, of what was going to happen to them if her parents did not approve, if they shunned him away.
Oh well, Robin sighs as he shuts the bathroom door. I'll know everything by tomorrow night, he thinks. The mere thought of all those scrutinizing gazes upon him slowly erodes away his confidence on the matter.
The rest of the day the three couples spend touring the famed City of Lights. They now knew why it earned that name when, as soon as the sun goes down, Paris sparkles with dazzling, multi-colored light displays, from every rooftop, lighting the streets of the city, making all of Paris seem to glow with this warm energy.
Feeling the warmth in the air (not to mention arms tightly wrapped around her firm abdomen, his warm breath on her neck) Alex speeds along the brightly lit roads, on a crimson red motorcycle they had rented to explore the parts of Paris they could not see on foot.
Uncanny, how good it feels to be racing along with him. How strangely right for him to have his arms around me. Alex, what's happening to you? Her mind questions itrself, memories of the fun-filled day they spent together strating at the Eiffel Tower to now, flashing through, of the silly things he did and said, of they way he always amused her. Imagine me enjoying being with him!
Tearing up the pavement, Alex steps on the accelerator, climbing a steep hill off the beaten track, just on the outskirts of the city. Stopping the motorcycle and putting the brakes down, Alex pulls off her helmet, shaking out her golden waves to look out over the city that once was a part of her past.
(PLAY 'Sailor Moon in Paris': "LOVE'S MYSTERIOUS EXPERIENCE")
"Spectacular view." Sayer's silkiest voice comments, at more than just the scenery lighting up the city beneath them. Extricating herself from his unnecessary grip, Alex glides from the machine in one motion, sporting a white and lime green striped shirt and a small very enticing white skirt Michelle had loaned her. Alex looks face on to the brisk wind as Sayer's eyes consider her, with a certain look in them.
"What?" Alex breaks his unusual silence defensively, feeling the weight of his gaze upon her, as she leans against the bike, supposedly taking in the view.
"Nothing." Sayer says quickly, changing his position on the motorcycle so he could look up at the dusky sky.
Alex soon finds herself studying him now, as his eyes turn upward, catching the golden gleam of the last rays of the sun within them, making him radiant, on fire.
Or is that the fire within me? Alex wonders when his gaze turns towards her and the blaze reflecting back is undiminished.
She turns away though, still secretly watching from the corner of her eye, his every move, the soft way the wind blew through his hair and that sweet smile that came to his lips every once in a while.
What are you thinking when you smile like that? She wonders. His face was so pretty in the coming twilight, so full of life and spirit. Even when I get angry with you, you still give me that smile. After all I do and say to you, you still…..
Always stay like this. What are these feelings inside? What is my heart doing to me? I want to open up to you and tell you what I'm feeling but - I'm still a little frightened. Me, frightened. She smirks even at her own inner thoughts.
Of me, of you, of us, what kind of future will we have together? We always argue. You make me SO mad sometimes, but then, sometimes….you just make me love you more. Did I just think that? Her eyes widen in astonishment of these far-off realizations.
Love - A word I never thought I'd say to a man. What's happening to me? But I guess you're not just any man. You're sweet and caring, at the same you can be so arrogant and outlandish. But maybe that's what I find so attractive. I believe you can truly understand me. And beneath all the arguments and flirtations, there's really someone who could care for me truly, for who I am, and never try to change me. Like everyone else always tried.
I have to decide now, but I think it's too late for me to change. Too late for me to just turn away. I don't want to anymore. I want to hold you in my arms forever. And make you mine. And never let you go.
If you love me, I will never let go.
Alex smiles to herself, the wind whipping on the fateful decision to continue on with this love affair made in her mind and in her heart too.
"What're you thinking about, Ally?" Sayer asks, somehow feeling her pensive mood changing towards him, as he wraps his arms around her and she doesn't shake him off for once.
"Nothing much." Alex replies with a dismissive smile, knowing the time was not right to tell him yet, all that she felt.
"It's getting late." She throws a long leg over the motorcycle and turns the ignition key on.
"Why don't you let me drive this time?" Sayer asks, putting the crimson red helmet on, feeling rather confident.
"I want to get back in one piece, okay?" Alex smirks.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sayer twists his lip.
"Anyone would be crazy to let you drive them anywhere!" She taunts, though never seeing him drive close up, she was so experienced in the field she knew a good driver from a lousy one - and Sayer Starr was one of the latter.
"I can drive!" Sayer protests, insulted.
"Sure you can." Alex answers back.
"I can!" In his anger, he forgets to hold on, flying backwards and almost falling off as Alex hits the gas pedal, the two of them continuing their argument all along the way as his hands roughly grab back on.
Trust you to drive? No way. Trust you with my heart?…That's another story. Alex smiles through all of his boisterous insistences, the sound of Sayer's voice yelling in her ear becoming a familiar pleasure. Alex was falling more and more for him with each passing moment together.
Love is a truly mysterious experience. She smiles at life's most beautiful conundrum.
After spending their first day in Paris carefree hours in the parc lands, Terry and Susan visit the shores of the lake nearby, quietly feeding the swans. They walk hand in hand by the edge of the sparkling water until the sun sets. Then they return to the hotel to change into more proper garb for a dinner date at one of Paris' famed restaurants.
"For you, my lady." Terry places a gift box in Susan's as she is about to enter her hotel room.
"What is it?" Susan smiles sweetly at the surprise, with a little lilac bow tying ti together.
"Open and find out." Terry smiles down at her, leaning in the doorway over her. Susan excitedly unwraps her prize, a lavender box with a single word written in gold calligraphy across it.
"It's a symbol of everything you are to me, my 'Precious'." Terry whispers the word into her adoring ears. Smiling lovingly up at him, Susan slides the perfume bottle from its case.
"Thank you. It's beautiful." A white petaled flower was immersed in the fragrance.
"Just as you are." Terry leans his head down, receiving Susan's gratitude, despite the knowing glances of the French porters tripping up and down the hallway.
"I'll wear it tonight. Just for you." Susan splashes a drop of the "Precious" fragrance to her neck, to which Terry gives a final kiss before letting her disppear into her room.
Soon looking dashing in a fully pressed black dinner jacket, Terry reappears to claim his lady, who was especially lovely tonight in a violet evening dress. Sweet scented, she clings to his arm and they decide to walk down the moonlit tree-lined streets to the exclusive high class restaurant "Le Grand Velfor".
After a tasteful French cuisine dinner and the romantic candlelit atmosphere overlooking the Palais-Royal, Terry finds the moment presenting itself as perhaps now the perfect setting for his next well-chosen words.
"Susan, my lady," Terry starts the lines he's rehearsed over countless times, for the second time this day.
"Yes, darling?" Susan smiles at him, returning her attention to him from the swaying couples on the dance floor.
"I want you to know that meeting you was the most wonderful thing to ever happen in my life." He takes her hands across the table in his.
"Oh, Terry, you're so sweet." Susan blushes under his intent gaze, her heart bursting with love for him.
"I've longed for you in every fantasy's dream, in every secret wish, every waking thought, and every hopeful prayer. And now you have come to me." He squeezes her hands, his deep voice tries to express all he feels for this wondrous timeless beauty.
"Susan, my lady, my darling, I-" Terry releases her hands, moving his chair back - when both he and Susan look up to hear a ruckus at the restaurant's front desk.
"What do you mean we're not properly dressed, Frenchy?" Terry is not surprised to hear Sayer's high-pitched voice insulting the maitre'd.
Alex, not holding him back like a proper female companion usually would . She rather amused, folds her arms behind him, both of them still in the jeans and casual clothes of the day, making a stark contrast to the tuxedos and evening dresses of the rest of the high society patrons.
"Monsieur, please!" The mortified restaurant attendant tries to quiet them down, and gives in as to stop the scene. "Pardon moi. Of course you may stay, monsieur, madamoiselle." His accent was thick, the Frenchman bows hurriedly leading the low-class couple to the furthest back table so as for them not to be seen.
"That's better. Let's see what's so Grand about this joint!" Sayer folds his arms triumphantly, while Alex's keen eye spots Terry and Susan (who were properly attired) at the table beside them.
"Hey Ter! Susie!" Sayer smiles brightly, "How's the grub? Good here?" He asks the sighing smiling couple as the maitre'd nearly faints at his street grown words, and slaps down their menus, then escapes as soon as possible.
"I think you upset him." Alex smirks, sitting down. Sayer shrugs, continuing to gab with them about the day's events. Susan politely entertains the conversation.
Oh well, Terry sighs to himself, so much for a romantic evening. He gives up again on his chance to say what he needed to for the rest of this night.
Michelle spends her day showing off her favorite Paris sights to Robin, including several art museums, of which the Louvre was one (where Michelle secretly wished to see one of her paintings hung on its famed walls someday). Meeting up with some of her old acquaintances along their travels, Michelle proudly introduces Robin to them as her "mon cherie"- everyone in gay Paris knowing when a well-turned young lady said it like Michelle did, she was really speaking of her je'taime- her lover.
They visit various museums and art exhibits (not to mention a spot of shopping) and then dinner at the finest restaurant in all of Paris. Later, Michelle takes Robin to one of her old haunts, in her posh city neighborhood, sneaking them covertly under the cover of darkness onto the grounds of her former (Jeune fille Academie) Young Ladies' Academy.
"My parents insisted that I come to this school. They tried to make Amara come too, to learn etiquette and poise from the sisters here. But nothing could hold Amara back then. Oh, when I was younger I was always envious of how brave Amara was to leave this all behind. And I used to dream of what life was like outside these confines." Michelle uncharacteristically touches the high fence bars between the school and the street, leading to Paris' downtown.
"Sometimes it's safer inside, than in that world out there." Robin says, he himself preferring the security of being alone, than the danger of a crowd, as his hands survey the Academy's ivy covered front stone pillars.
"You sound like my father." Michelle says, meaning it as an insult, but somehow past memories turn it into a fond comparison, Michelle always being a "Daddy's girl" through her formative childhood years. Her "Pa pere" being one of the kindest souls in all of France. But still she did not like Robin agreeing with her parents' decisions so readily.
"Safer perhaps, but not half as exciting." She smiles, remembering vividly being fifteen and headstrong. "I left this school one day, a little jealous of Amara's boldness in running away. So I too, longed to rebel against my parents. There was a young boy…no more than seventeen. From, as they say, the wrong side of the tracks. You weren't the first Robin dear, who my parents disapproved of. They were right of course, he wasn't the one…my sweet Emile. I was too young. My mother scared him off one day, and I never saw him again. I was so angry with her, I rushed right to another man's arms. He was an older man, twenty five at least, appearing to be suave and dapper. Dazzling a young sheltered girl who just turned sixteen. Pa Pere and Ma Mere sent investigators after him, and they were right once again. He turned out to be a penniless gold-digger, only after my status and money alone." Michelle whispers, the pain of years past yet evident as she almost shyly focuses her eyes on the single gleaming light in the window of the school. She then swallows before continuing the very personal story she'd share with no one else.
"Twice broken hearted, my parents decided that maybe Paris was not the right place for me any longer. So they packed me up and sent me away. To a boarding school in Tokyo, where my mother knew Amara had landed. And where Pa pere had connections there with the principal. She believed life was slower paced there. A more conservative atmosphere than "Gay Paris"." Her somewhat teary eyes dance about the streets of the famed city surrounding the quiet pair.
"It wasn't long after I arrived, that I realized within myself my destiny as a soldier. And I too realized that it was Amara's destiny. After we found each other as like soldiers, she took me under her wing. By and by, I found our differences fading, my story and hers the same, she being of the same opinion of life and freedom and men, and from that time we swore allegiance to each other and each other alone. And…then I met you." Michelle finishes her tale of her far-flung foolish days in the city of her past. Just then, the moon, dark until now, lifts its shroud to reveal its mystical aura to shine over them.
Gazing upwards, her perfect skin aglow in the moonlight, Robin could almost see the tears reflecting in those eyes. Keeping silent the whole time, Robin wondered why her happy mood suddenly changed as she conveyed the sad story to him.
(PLAY 'Sailor Moon in Paris': "MOONLIGHT MAGIC")
He realizes after a moment of her pure face washed in the magic of the moon's light, that she must be afraid of it happening all over again with him.
"Don't worry, Michelle. That won't happen to us. I won't let it." He whispers, taking her shoulders firmly in his hands.
"Oh Robin!" She bursts into the tears she's held back all day, throwing her arms around him. Robin holds her close, she the lost frightened fifteen year old girl all over again.
"I promise you, Michelle. We'll always be together. Even for another lifetime." His soul calls out to hers.
"Always?" Michelle's heart longs to hear him say it over and over.
"Always." Robin verbally says with determination, aloud, pulling her into a sweet embrace as he tries to tenderly kiss away her tears and his own he kept secretly buried away from her.
As their lips part, Michelle's worried expression turns into a dreamy smile, as she gazes up at the shooting star twinkling in the crystal clear moonlight across the dark sky. In the cool wind, she could almost hear ancient souls of gods and goddesses whispering for her dreams to come true. Closing her eyes, Michelle wishes for only one of the mythical beings to watch over her and her love's destiny together, fearful of her parents' power over their fate. Her eyes close, the wistful smile on her sweet lips, as Robin pulls her even closer to his chest, caressing his cheek against her soft hair.
This fantasy we're in together - I will protect this love, as long as I'm the one you truly do want, Michelle. I won't ever let it end. Robin feels his heart throbbing within him, for the woman in his arms, hoping beyond hope, that their destiny was to always be together like this - the moonlight's magic doing it's work on a pair of troubled young hearts.
"So where've you been, Rob? Out "ooh-la-la-ing" with Michelle I suppose?" Sayer teases his brother as Robin returns to their adjoined hotel room, at an hour well past midnight, after dropping Michelle at her parents' mansion, quietly sneaking away before they could see him with her so late in the night.
Robin simply rolls his eyes at Sayer, the comment not even deserving a response, as he walks past Sayer who was lounging on the antique French settee (looking rather uncomfortable I might add on the short, stiff backed piece of furniture).
"Ahh, what's that stink!" Sayer says, wrinkling his nose as Robin takes off his jacket and tosses it on the back of the settee.
"Oh. Well….Michelle insisted on buying me this, um, cologne, when we went shopping this afternoon." Robin almost looked..embarrassed…for some reason, then turns to Terry who enters the room, in a simple pair of pants and undershirt.
"We saw several art exhibits today, and even went to the famous Louvre." Robin tries to change the subject.
"Ah, that's very-" Terry starts to say pleasantly, though his mind seemed somewhere else tonight.
"The LOO!" Sayer chuckles at the French pronunciation.
"Sayer, you are SO low class." Robin starts to swipe at his uncultured sibling, when he sees Sayer digging through the pockets of the jacket he threw on the couch.
"I knew it!" Sayer pulls out the bottle of "cologne" Robin was wearing, reading it's label. "Musk!" Sayer almost bursts out laughing at Robin, of all people wearing such a…provocative…scent. "What're trying to do, Rob? Drive Michelle crazy?" He teases, popping off the cap and taking a whiff, then replaces it quickly, a grossed out look on his face.
"She GAVE it to me! I didn't want it!" Robin grabs the bottle sulkily, heading towards his room.
"You shouldn't tease him so, Sayer. I think he's really worried about tomorrow night." Terry says, considerately, always able to read into his brothers' moods.
"Yeah…I'd be worried too, with that mother of 'Chelle's." Sayer pulls off his red t-shirt, tossing it unceremoniously to the ground, to which immediately and without thought, Terry scoops it up and folds it, quite accustomed to the task.
"Say-" Sayer's mind wanders (as it often does), "You think maybe I should try some of that musk stuff?" He looks to Terry for advice.
"Somehow, I don't think Alex would appreciate it much." Terry chuckles at the thought, Miss Alex Sokova, being a decidedly different kind of woman than her flirtatious cousin.
"Yeah. You're right." Sayer agrees. "I don't think she could put up with it anyway." Sayer shrugs, his stonewashed jeans going the way of his t-shirt.
"The smell of it, you mean?" Terry folds those as well, handing the two neatened articles of clothing in Sayer's hands as he's about to leave for his bedroom.
"Nahhh. All those women who'd be crawling all over me if I wore it, of course!" Sayer gives his brother a wicked smirk. "Poooooor Rob." Sayer loved to pick on his shorter sibling, even when he wasn't present. "'Night, Ter." He tosses over his shoulder casually, then adds as an afterthought. "You for onesure don't need any musk to get Susie to…." His eyes roll innocently in his head, his mouth in that perpetual smirk.
"Good NIGHT, Sayer." Terry says authoritatively, closing the bedroom door in Sayer's smiling face, shaking his head at Sayer's funny ways, he goes out to the balcony, his eyes gaze up at the star-filled sky.
"Susan…" Terry whispers into the night, seeing in his mind, his beautiful lady silhouetted in the moonlight.
Susan and Alex join the three boys for breakfast the next morning in the hotel's dining room, Michelle had called earlier to say that she'd been there after a few "errands."
After breakfast, Terry takes Susan out for a stroll around town, and Alex and Sayer disappear to who knows where again, on that motorcycle, leaving Robin very much alone in his hotel room, anxiety over tonight beginning to overwhelm him.
The day rolls by, otherwise unfettered, as Michelle arrives late in the afternoon with the high-priced clothes they had selected yesterday at the fashionable Paris runway. Not much altering had needed to be done on their slinky evening dresses, for our women had bodies as well formed as any of the models who were on display.
Returning from their outing, Susan leaves Terry and goes to her room, and what she finds inside sends her into awestruck surprise. A dozen white roses, beautifully arranged in a violet tinted blown glass vase, was awaiting her on the vanity. Many little boxes were placed around it, several wrapped parcels lay on the floor beneath it, and on the Louis XV bed, was lying something long and delicately wrapped in white tissue paper.
Going to the vanity, Susan gently removes the card buried within the beautiful roses. Slipping it from the envelope, which only had the title "My Lady" inscripted upon it, she reads the message inside.
'Only you can surpass the gentle touch of a rose.'
The sweet poetry brings tears to Susan's eyes, for she knows who it is from.
Only he could say such things that speak to my heart…. Susan smiles as she goes to her bedside, gently unwrapping his gifts with curiosity, her breath catching in her throat when she sees just what it is….
"Oh Terry…" She sighs, running her long fingers over the ebony black velvet dress she so longed for, the other day at the runway. How did he know? She lifts the soft velvet to her body. How did he know I wanted to wear this for him? She smiles blissfully, finding the packages on the vanity overflowing with garnets and diamonds encrusted on sparkling silver chains, necklaces and earrings to be draped around her, in that dazzling evening gown. A pair of elegant high heeled shoes completed the ensemble in the parcel on the floor.
"Oh!" Susan giggles, with a tear or two of joy, running down her blushed cheeks, as she brushes her long hair in the mirror, readying herself to put on that gorgeous dress.
He cares this much for me. Susan smiles at her reflection, never before she had met Terry, had she experienced the wonder of someone caring for her so deeply, to so easily just give to her such expensive gifts. I'll wear it for you, my darling. She smiles, beginning to undress, her eyes being drawn to the black velvet dress and jewelry .
"Where have you two been?" Michelle, looking quite lovely in her long, black and white polka-dotted silk fashion demands in a hyper voice of Sayer and Alex as they return at sunset.
"Out." Alex answers simply, not finding it necessary to explain herself, not even to Michelle.
"Well, you only have half an hour before the chauffeur is to collect us! Hurry up and get ready Amara! Your dress is in your room." Michelle herds her unruly friend out the door of the 3 Lights' suite.
"Michelle, it will take me only a few minutes to get dressed." Alex wonders what all the rush was about.
"Amara! A proper lady needs at least two hours to be dressed and fully prepared for a ball. I've been getting ready all afternoon." They could heard Michelle saying, exasperated, through the hallways.
"Michelle. How did I ever let you talk me into.." The door slams, cutting off Alex's voice.
"Well, Sayer,. " Robin, still primping at his bow tie in the mirror, prods this latecomer as well.
"Yeah, yeah. You've been getting ready all afternoon I bet, Rob? 'Like a proper lady?'" Sayer takes the tuxedo from Terry (looking very dashing in his own) and disappears into the room before Robin has a chance to say something as sour as the expression on his face.
"Tie's still crooked!" Sayer's shoots his final parting at Robin, who though satisfied a moment ago, wheels himself back in front of the mirror, wanting to look "just right" for this big event, knowing everyone's scrutining gaze would be on him this evening.
"What do you think, Terry?" Robin fusses at the bow tie, asking his more pleasant brother his view.
"Perfect." Terry smiles, generously, as he goes out the door, to collect his lady for the ball.
Hearing a knock at the door, Susan hurriedly finishes putting a dazzling earring on, checking herself over in the mirror quickly, before she answers the call.
Satisfied with what she sees, she opens the door.
"Susan, are you-" Terry is about to ask if she were ready, when he stops, mid sentence, his breath catching in his throat at the vision of beauty standing before him.
"Yes, I'm almost ready." Susan blushes, as his gaze travels down her long velvet body. The model on the runway was not nearly as eye appealing.
"Susan, my lady. You will be the most beautiful woman in all of Paris tonight. I am so lucky." He whispers, finally able to speak. Susan ushers him into her room, both jewels and velvet gleaming in the light.
"No, I'm the lucky one." Susan smiles, her eyes sparkling too, as she looks down, gesturing at the dress clinging to her, the chains of silver and jewels hanging on her. "Thank yo-" She starts to say, but Terry presses a finger to her lips.
"You never have to thank me, my lady. I want to do these things for you." He smiles, his eyes soaking up her shapely figure.
"How did you know I wanted this dress?" Susan smiles, turning to look in her vanity's mirror.
"Because I too wanted to see you in it." Terry gingerly touches the silver chains draped around Susan's bare shoulders, gently straightening them, and pulling them upwards a little bit…..to which Susan places her hands upon his, and slides them back down to her lower shoulders. Her eyes twinkle up at him mischievously, with a look Terry just could not ignore.
He kisses her moist red lips, his hands going around her tight dress, the velvet adding to the softness beneath his touch. Susan wonders, with the further inspiration of this dress, what more could be awaiting her on this special night.
"Come on, Amara! We're going to be late!" Michelle returns to claim her escort for the night, an anxiety ridden Robin calmly trying to collect his courage as he sits on the settee.
A little hesitantly - or was it more embarrassed? - Alex steps through the door, following Michelle, even shocking Robin at how a tough, tomboyish girl could transform into such a dazzling (and shapely, though Robin chides himself at the very thought) woman because of the very red slinky dress.
"Don't look at me like that, shrimp." Alex catches his stare, "Remember, I'm only wearing this because -" she starts to complain. Michelle rolls her eye lined blue eyes at hearing this for the thousandth time, when Alex stops. Sayer was coming into the room at the sound of her voice, the bottle of his cologne still open in his hand.
"Ally..." he whispers, gazing at her approvingly with the tight glitter red dress causing his eyes to pop out at her.
"What?" She says nonchalantly, such frivolous things as dresses not making a bit of difference to her. (Though deep inside, she was secretly pleased at the way Sayer's eyes lit up upon seeing her.)
"You look…." He stops, for at once at a loss for words. Nothing presented itself as good enough for her.
"Oh, that good, huh?" Alex says sarcastically at his "non compliment", though the sparkle in his eye told her all that she needed to know.
"Ally." Sayer's sweet side comes out as he smiles, looking down from her questioning gaze, seeing her open toed red slippers to the top of her bejewelled head. "Wow." He whispers, now it was Alex's turn to look away from his intent gaze.
"Well, are we ready?" Michelle tosses a shawl around her bare shoulders, going to Robin who stands up.
Michelle was glad she could easily pick up that scent of musk she had just bought for him. "Perfume!" She stops her reverie into Robin's eyes, just recalling something "important" forgotten.
"Amara! You forgot to put on your perfume." The look on Michelle's face made it seem like the end of the world as she tried to dress Amara properly in the ways of a lady.
"I didn't bring any of the stupid stuff." Alex starts to feel like a dummy on parade with all of Michelle's pamperings.
"I'll go get you some of mine, then." Michelle was determined for Amara to be proper tonight. And what was a lady without her perfume? Michelle is just about out the door when Alex stops her.
"Don't bother, Michelle." She raises her hand, simply taking the bottle of men's cologne from Sayer's hand as he was just about to put some on, and splashes it generously onto herself.
"There. Are you happy?" She smirks as Michelle looks about to collapse.
"Men's cologne! What will everyone think?" Michelle says snootily at the social "no-no".
Reveling in it, Alex shoves the bottle back at Sayer, who takes it and finishes putting some on himself.
"Good. Guess all the guys there'll all know that you and me belong together, huh?" He smirks, capping the cologne with a flourish. Alex gives him a pair of raised eyebrows and a warning glance in return.
The chauffeured limousine soon arrives, as Terry and a rosy-cheeked Susan with a white rose placed in her hair, join the two couples in the hallway.
On the drive to her parent's mansion to this oh-so-important ball (more a showing of Robin's fitness to be accepted or not into the prominent Moreau clan) Michelle gives out some final instructions.
"Now, everyone. The key to being a successful guest is to just listen to whatever the person you're speaking to has to say. And just nod at the end of each sentence. Only once in a while you must throw in a "That's true" or "Yes, it is so" when it seems required."
"Ladies, you can politely giggle at the end of a story, or just smile bewitchingly, see? Like this." Michelle brandishes one of her most bewitching smiles. "Don't - whatever you do - start up stories about anything common, like car mechanics or sports for instance." She flashes a quick glance across the dark limo towards where Alex was sitting, who shakes her head at her mockingly.
"The weather is sooo out of date. Everyone knows you are saying it just not to be stiff." Michelle's snootiness shows as she is giving this advice. The short ride from the hotel to the mansion about over, Michelle quickly turns her full attention to two of the limo's occupants especially.
"And please, I beg of you, Amara, Sayer. Please don't cause any scenes." Michelle knew quite well both of her friends' penchant for inviting in trouble.
"Who, us?" Sayer says innocently, a fake hurt expression on his handsome face.
"Yes you!" Robin whispers frantically, the closer they get the more he feels about to implode.
"Promise me." Michelle says seriously.
"All right. We'll behave." Alex smiles, while jabbing with her elbow Sayer's hand that was crawling up her leg in the darkness.
"Ahhh!" Sayer exclaims at the instant pain caused, then joins in with the most innocent of smiles at Michelle and Robin, neither of which look entirely convinced, but there was no time for further reproach-the limo had arrived.
Terry and Susan, who were quiet the whole trip in the darkness (Sayer wonders why…smirking to himself…hee hee hee), when suddenly the lights flash on when the doors open and Susan hurriedly wipes lipstick from Terry's mouth with a handkerchief, the white rose that once resided in her hair, was strewn across the seat in petals.
"Are you two ready? Or should we tell the driver to take another swing around the block?" Sayer smirks as he gets out. Watching Robin and Michelle walk in front of him, arm in arm, he turns to Alex as she appears from the car, the moonlight and the stars illuminating her sparkling gown. He extends his arm out to her as he watches Terry do the same for Susan, and he waits for Alex to take it. She eyes him suspiciously, hesitant for a moment.
"We have to be proper, right?" Sayer whispers to her with a smile, as Alex slides her shimmering red arm through his black tuxedoed one.
"Only for tonight. Tomorrow we go back to being improper." Alex says teasingly.
"I like the sound of that." Sayer squeezes her arm to his chest, knowing tomorrow Alex will be just as dazzling to him in a long pair of pants and a men's suit and tie as she is tonight. My Ally, he thinks proudly as they walk down the moonlit path together towards the palatial mansion's huge double doors.
Opulence and extravagance are the words that come to mind when describing the scene before them. An all out social occasion, the richest and finest bred in France and even some others from nearby on the continent had turned out for the excellent dining societal company. And yes, a chance to be presented to sweet young Michelle Moreau's new beau, who if all went well, would one day be rather influential in France's high society. (Not to mention political and economical matters as well, to which the current Moreau clan had quite a hand in.)
"There you are mon cherie! I did think for a few moments you were going to be more than fashionably late." Josephine Moreau greets her daughter with a kiss on both cheeks.
"Yes, Ma mere." Michelle smiles sweetly, becoming suddenly weak in her mother's commanding presence.
"Good evening, Madame More-" Robin begins to politely address her, but the lady seemingly chooses to ignore him, walking right past and taking Alex's hands in hers.
"Amaralexis, my beautiful girl! You look more like your mother every time I see you! So much nicer in a dress, ne pas?" Her French accent was thick, as Madame Moreau kisses both of her cousin's little girl's cheeks.
"Madame." Alex nods, with a courteous smile, finding herself liking Michelle's mother's bold ways more now (and her treatment of men too, especially that shrimp).
"You have turned out exquisite! We must show your cousin off too, to our guests, Michelle cherie." She coos at Alex's fashionable evening dress and more feminine air. Alex merely smiles at the compliment.
"You can say that agai-" Sayer starts to say when Alex's heel smashes down on his foot, shutting him up.
"What was that young man?" Madame looks at Sayer questioningly.
"Uhhhh, nice party." Sayer fills in, put on the spot.
"Yes." Michelle's mother says amicably, though not liking something about this one. Perhaps we will see about this one too, Amara.
"Ah! You have arrived." The lord of the Moreau household comes to join them.
"Pa pere!" Michelle smiles at her father's loving kiss. At least he had the courtesy enough to exchange nods with Robin and with Sayer and Terry as well.
"Mademoiselles." He kisses both Alex and Susan's hands, graciously adding a very French, "Enchante" as he looks at Susan approvingly, and exchanges a nod with the girl who had given his wife so much trouble and worry when she was a girl.
Quite a woman now you are, little troublemaker. He shakes his head with a smile at the memories.
"Tres vous charmant sembler." Henri says amicably to the three ladies.
"May I say the same of you, Madame." Terry bows in Madame Moreau's direction, as she smiles at his understanding of the French language in her long trained gown. She was perhaps, no longer shapely, but still very becoming. Josephine was very pleased with the complimentary young man, wishing for a moment that it was him and not the other shorter one that Michelle was interested in.
Ah well, c'est la vie. She nods back to him kindly.
"Please enjoy the soiree." She extends her hand out invitingly. "Dinner will be served shortly. In the meantime, some of my guests would be very interested in meeting you, I think." Madame Moreau at last turns her gaze to Robin, with a forced, yet polite nod in the very smallest of slight smiles.
"Madame." Robin nods back, wishing Terry didn't have to show him up all the time. Especially in front of Michelle's parents with all that French and good manners. What can I do? Well, they should just like me for who I am and that's that. Robin decides as Michelle leads him off to the oh-so-wonderful task of introductions to people who had a fixed opinion of him already, he was sure. After several introductions to nosy old biddies, and the highest class socialites this side of the continent, Robin was grateful when Pierre the butler rang the dinner bell, the crowd swarming around him making him feel more like a circus monkey than a man.
Dispersing to their appointed seats at the dinner table, Robin was now glad he only had to deal with those few surrounding him at the table in close vicinity. Though he was certain Madame Moreau placed him amongst the most talkative and nosily inquisitive of the bunch, one particular old Frenchman questioned him on every subject imaginable, making him feel like he was a victim of the Spanish inquisition (French style of course) than a dinner guest. Robin's only picked at meal was not going down well at all.
But somehow his love for Michelle drives him and he unusually muddles his way through, not offending anyone, though trying to avoid the lying, he keeps up the appearance of a well-bred young man who somehow overcame the odds to become a success in famous circles.
Feeling both her parents' gazes bearing down upon him through the entire meal, Robin feels a certain triumph at their semi-appeased nods exchanged with each other as the dinner breaks up and the guests return to their milling around, reveling in each other's company.
Maybe it's not going to be so bad. Robin thinks as Michelle squeezes him arm, feeling the tide going her way. Maybe I'll make it after all. He thinks as they enter the Great Hall, rejoining the rest of the guests.
The party continues with a musical duet, Michelle and Alex giving a recital of sorts, to everyone's rapt attention, impressing them all with refined violinist skills and deft pianist fingers, Michelle's grace and poise exuding from the stage.
Truly she was a Moreau, a dazzling example of classic etiquette, and her perspective partner did indeed have high expectations set upon him, for the next generation of France's societal leaders. Couples begin to dance to the romantic melodies, the finest orchestra in all of France as the duo's backup, as they make beautiful music play throughout the crowded hall.
Entertaining those around with his fine manners and intelligent conversation, Terry takes his gorgeous lady out onto the dance floor, enchanting the audience with their flowing charm together displayed.
As promised, behaving (that meant keeping his mouth shut completely) Sayer's only enjoyment in this boring old house was watching Alex dazzle both men and women alike. Onstage and then in the crowd, forming around her, there was something dignified and attractive in her natural charm and beauty that always drew people to her. They were all pleasantly shocked to find the outcast cousin had turned out to be such a fine lady as well.
Staying quiet outside of the group around Alex, feeling the wanting gazes of several (not too bad looking) French mademoiselle wall flowers as the music plays on, Sayer's wandering thoughts look up to see Alex's hand extended out to him.
"Aren't you going to ask a girl to dance?" She smiles at his surprised expression.
"Maybe if there was a girl here I knew - I only see a woman." Sayer teases back, taking her hand in his as she leads him out to join the dancing couples.
Your choice of anyone in this crowd and you still choose me. We do have something, don't we? Sayer thinks to himself as he feels Alex's arms wrap around him as she takes the lead and they begin to sway to the romantic music of Michelle's violin.
Sayer was now feeling completely in his element, hobnobbing with those high-class snoots was not his cup of tea. Smiling into each other's eyes as they dance rhythmically to the music, Alex spots Terry and Susan dancing together, Susan's head was pressed tightly to his chest, both their eyes closed, seeming terribly in love with each other.
Maybe Susan was right. Alex recalls her conversation a week or two back, when she told Susan that all men were the same.
Maybe there are special exceptions. Alex gazes from Terry's blissful expression at Susan to the same happy one on the man she was dancing with herself, believing she and Susan might just have found two of the very few.
Terry you are wonderful. Susan lets him lead her in their romantic dance across the floor. Terry was as good a dancer as he was at everything else - perfect, in Susan's eyes. In your arms…I never want to be anywhere else…. Her eyes closed, pressed to Terry's warm chest, Susan could still his violet eyes haunting her every thought, as her fuschia ones right one, were soaring through his.
Susan, my love, you look so beautiful tonight. As you do every night. But tonight….perhaps tonight is the night. Will I have a chance to ask? My lady…if I could be so lucky…. Terry thinks adoringly of her, when he feels a sudden tap on his shoulder. Opening his eyes, he sees a rather portly looking man with a balding head, but a full beard, asking him to move aside.
"Pardon, M'sieur." His French was thick with wine along with high-class snobbishness. Terry must force himself in true gentlemanly fashion to let Susan dance with another man, as was required of tradition and etiquette, even if he would really rather not.
Reluctantly, Terry steps aside, almost changing his mind when he sees the look in Susan's eyes, as the man, jaunty with wine, dances her off away from, leaving Terry standing alone, amongst the crowd of couples, his arms feeling empty without her in them.
"Charmante, charmante, Mademoiselle." The man begins to murmur in her ear, pulling her closer to him. "Je avoir besoin vous. Laisser nous en mi ne temps, de belle mi ne bien, bien considerable…"
As Susan struggles frightened in his grasp, she knows not what he says but the amorous tone in his voice was enough for her to know what he wanted as she tries to escape his drunken grip. But he was stronger than he looked as he holds on to her with one hand, the other hand touching her where she didn't want anyone but maybe Terry to touch…
"Excuse me, Sir," Her heart lifts as she hears Terry's deep voice, rumbling low with anger from behind them, as he taps the rude man on the shoulder. "The lady does not approve of your attentions," he says, his voice threatening but still checked.
"Au contraire, mon ami, she does, I am in belief, she will more approve later." In his broken English, he takes a wriggling Susan and begins to dance her away again with his unwanted attentions. Seeing the desperation in his love's eyes, as she looks to him, fear written on her lovely features, Terry loses all control.
Grabbing the fat man's chubby arm, and pulling him with such force, he could have broken it were it not so well-padded, Terry, in one strong motion, sends the man flying across the dance floor with a powerful right hook. He then takes a dazed Susan in his arms and leads her out the large double doors without a single glance back. The butler is left standing with their wraps, which he immediately brings to the front upon seeing the couple's intention to leave the premises, with an ominous slam of the doors.
The entire hall elapses into mortified silence, even the orchestra ceasing its soft background strains, while Michelle nearly drops her beloved violin to the ground at the scene.
"All right, Ter! You showed him!" Sayer's unwelcome remark breaks the silent room, the crowd as one gasping in horror at the out and out hooliganism just displayed before their snobbish presences as many hurry to help the poor victimized member of their society from his collapsed state lying on the floor. His jaw was bleeding profusely, staining his pristine white vest and shirt front. Even Madame Moreau and her husband rush to his aid, apologizing for the rudeness of that hot-headed young man to this well-respected member of France's leading political party.
Robin's eyes widen in disbelief that his calm and collected brother - the one they thought would never be any problem-would do this to him and Michelle.
He holds his head in his hands, suddenly feeling his chances slipping away, meeting Michelle's shocked gaze, he could sense she felt the same way, proven by the displeased glances they both receive from Madame Moreau after she has her own doctor (thankfully present) attend to the unfortunate politician. Slowly, the hall quiets down, though now instead of looking him over approvingly, the guests all whisper about his brother's little escapade.
"Oh, Michelle," Robin whispers to her as they timidly dance, knowing everyo
ne was talking about them.
"Maybe it's all right." But he didn't like the uncertain tone in Michelle's voice. "If things were really bad, Ma mere would just walk out," she tries to brighten up his depressed, dimmed mood.
"Does it get worse than that?" Robin wishes he had not asked, the words just finishing coming from his mouth as a sudden resounding "SMACK!" could be heard across the hall.
"Close your eyes. Count to three," Robin hears Michelle chant in his mind, both of them already having a pretty good idea of who was at the bottom of the trouble this time.
When they open their eyes after a count of 3, they do find exactly what they had expected. In a situation similar to Susan's, Alex was asked to dance by a man other than Sayer, who had an even harder time accepting this. Etiquette meant very little to him so he stood firm, until Alex had to push him aside, reminding him of their promise, and the trouble that had occurred already, so he had relented. This man was perfectly sober, perfectly well-bred, spoke perfect English and was perfectly a jerk, with his hands sliding up, up, up Alex's long slitted evening dress. But Alex's quick response was immediate.
SLAP!
She held herself back, meaning she doesn't deck him across the room as Terry did, that would have been just TOO unladylike for her Michelle to bear. Instead she whacked him hard across the face, enough to leave a bright red hand print on one cheek. That in itself was enough to constitute a scene, but the fun wasn't over yet. To Michelle and Robin's utter horror, they watch Sayer, who had been leaning against the drink table, trying to calm himself with a glass of "punch", take off like a laser beam across the room. Grabbing the unknowing Englishman before he had a chance to even register what was happening, he shoved him across a nearby confection table, resulting in a cake and dessert mess.
"Don't you EVER touch my woman!" his eyes flash angrily down at the taller man pinned beneath him.
"STARR!" Alex's voice commands, rushing to him, pulling on his arm to stop.
"You come near her again, your hands won't be able to hold a pencil, never mind do anything else!" Sayer's voice darkened threateningly, his grip on the astonished man's shirtfront loosens, but not before shoving him down hard into a banana cream pudding bowl, sending a splattering mess all over the man's jacket and pants.
"I took care of it. I didn't need you to-" Alex whispers low, realizing her breath was wasted when he was this angry.
Robin looks to Michelle's parents, and his heart sinks in his chest as he watches Madame indignantly leave the room, her husband close behind her. The guests decide to leave this madhouse as well, the crème-pied Englishman the first to take off, the hall empties out on this now very unsociable occasion.
"Michelle, what can I-?" Robin's mind searches for a way to rectify the situation coming up horribly blank, as he turns to her. Michelle's large eyes brim over with tears at the ruined evening, at her ruined chances, at her ruined life as she runs from the hall, racing up the spiral staircase to her room, and throws herself on the bed, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Michelle…" Robin whispers about to go after her, when her father appears before him, a stern expression on his greying features.
"Please leave my house." He says simply, motioning him and Sayer towards the front door. He motions for Alex to go upstairs, but she stands firm with the two castouts.
With a final longing look up the staircase she had disappeared to, Robin leaves, along with trouble-making Alex and Sayer right behind him.
"This is all your fault." He hisses as the butler closes the front doors after them with a resounding bang.
"My fault!" Sayer defends himself, "Terry started it!" he whines, blaming it on his absent brother.
"Yeah, well, you sure did a good job of finishing it!" Robin snaps.
"That jerk should've learned that he can't mess with-" Sayer was still fuming over that guy when the door opens again and Pierre the butler wordlessly shoves out three jackets, so surprised by his master's anger at them that he for once forgot himself.
"-us." Sayer finishes, smirking to himself.
"Did you have to threaten his body parts?" Robin recalls the scene vividly as he leads them around the side of the mansion.
"And did you have to tell them all I'm "your woman'!" Alex speaks up, his words now coming back to her as well. "Let's just get this straight. I am NOT your woman." She would not - not ever- be treated like a mere possession by anyone.
"Then what are you?" Sayer says in an argumentative mood, though really wanting to know their current relationship status.
"I'm-" Alex looks away searching for the right term, not so sure of it herself as she sees Robin beginning to climb a trellis leading up to the second floor of the mansion.
"What're you doing?" she asks incredulously.
"I'm going to see Michelle. She's shut me out." He tries to reach out to her mind, once again finding it closed to him since she ran off.
"You're not going to be able to do it that way." She calls up to him.
"Believe me, I've tried it." Alex recalls a wild golden-haired youth climbing in and out of the "escape route" of Michelle's window, to the city's freedom, until one day the sturdy back trellis was "magically" replaced with an old rickety antique one. But did that stop me then? Not a chance.
"Be quiet! Somebody might he-hea-AHHH!" The shaky trellis rocks to and fro until it finally cracks, Robin and ivy vines and little white forget-me-nots tumbling to the ground in a heap.
"See?" Alex smirks as Sayer helps his fallen brother up.
"You sure that's 'Chelle's room?" Sayer asks looking up at the closed window in the moonlight.
"Of course I'm sure!" Both Robin and Alex shout together, then stare at one another, and quickly look away arms folded, disbelieving that they could ever have any thoughts in common.
"All right then. Ready Ally?" He looks at his sparkling beauty.
"Ready." She smiles knowingly, though Robin had no idea what they were up to…
"AHHHHH!" Each grabbing hold of his petite body, they forcefully thrust him upward, aiming him directly at the closed window.
SPLAT! Robin finds himself against the cold panes of glass, agilely holding himself up somehow on the ledge.
"Gotcha up there!" Sayer whispers loudly, smacking his hands together and sticking one out to his partner, who shakes it, chuckling at this lark and at how ridiculous Robin looked. First he seemed like a monkey tangled in a web of ivy vines, then a gangly little froggy stuck to the window hanging on Michelle's sill.
"What're you laughing at down there?" Robin asks angrily, as he lightly taps on the window whilst holding on tightly.
"Nothing," Sayer joins in the laughter.
Robin rolls his eyes. How can they be laughing at a time like this! And it's their fault too!
"Michelle, Michelle!" Robin calls softly, the urgent sound in it caused from his slipping fingers.
"Go away!" He could hear her muffled sobs through the window. He realizes that she is emotionally sensitive -like him -but enough is enough.
"Michelle, we have to talk." He bangs now at the window, trying to be authoritative.
"It's all ruined! RUINED!" She cries, distraughtly looking at him through the window.
"Michelle - let me in - or I'm gonna fall," Robin demands, though still surprised when the window quickly slides open.
"Hurry!" Michelle helps tug him in until the pair sinks to to their knees on tthe floor of her bedroom.
"Robin!" She throws her arms around him, her hot tears spilling down his neck. "Let's just run away together! Forget this all - take me away from here!" she cries into his ear plaintively.
"Michelle. I don't know what to do - I can't take you away from your parents." In his eyes she could see the fear in them.
"You can't?" She asks, pulling back from his embrace.
"No! It's - it's not right. Maybe it's best if we just let them cool down awhile and then-" he starts.
"You're afraid of my mother," Michelle's distraught mind feels somehow betrayed, she had believed he wouldn't just give up so easily.
"I'm not afraid. I'm just - just-"
How do I tell her I only want everything to go right? That I don't want to anger her parents any further? That I want my chances with her-
"You ARE afraid! Afraid to take me away! Afraid to fight for me!" Fresh tears stream down her disappointed cheeks.
"Michelle - it's not that - listen -I just-" the words he chooses are obviously not the right ones for her troubled mind.
"They were right about you! You are just a seasonal idol! Maybe you aren't good enough if you won't stand up for me, if you don't love me enough to take me away with you!"
"Michelle, you're not in your right mind. You really don't want me to go against your parents like that. You're just upset and -" He believed her words were just clouded by her dismayed emotions.
"If you're so sure they're right, then why don't you just go away! I don't need you! You're not the whole world! I can take care of myself since you obviously don't want to! My parents were right about you. You know what they said? They told me that rock stars are vain creatures who care about nobody but themselves. Yesterday I would've said…" Michelle trails off, her love almost winning out, almost...
"…But now, now I know! It's true! It's all true!" Michelle's tears turn angry at his insensitivity, hurt at his reluctance.
Maybe it's all been only a dream - my mind playing tricks on me. She feels the tears sting her cheeks.
"Go away! I never want to see you again! Go back to Japan with the others! Go back to Janus for all I care! Just go away!" She thrusts open the window again, her hand pointing out, her face turned away.
"Michelle…" Robin begins to plead, though she wouldn't even look at him, his own sensitive soul hurt to the core less by her angry words than by her quickness to distrust him - and their bond together - so easily.
"I thought you were the one who would understand me." He says sadly, disappearing out the window with one final look into her glassy blue eyes.
I guess, after all. I am truly alone in this universe. Robin feels his heart being ripped asunder in his chest as a dark cloud passes over the moon's light, casting a shadow over the mansion.
"What do you think's happening up there?" Alex asks, her lip twisted as Robin and Michelle's silhouettes in the window had disappeared further into her bedroom.
"I don't know." Sayer says nonchalantly, when the butler and a maid come out the front door, Alex quickly grabs Sayer's arm and pulls him down into the bushes so as not to be seen.
"So, Ally," Sayer watches in amusement as the old French butler and the young French maid exchange a few stolen kisses in the garden behind the mansion. Looking back at his own little bit of ooh-la-la, his eyes travel to her rather revealing position, she not remembering to properly hold herself in that very much slitted gown, so as not to show too much leg.
"Where'd that jerk touch you?" Sayer suddenly needed to know.
"Somewhere you never have." Alex smirks, raising her eyebrows at him.
"Where?!" Sayer almost shouts, Alex putting a warning finger to her lips to be quiet, then she shrugs teasingly.
"Here?" He boldly just sticks his hand pretty high up her thigh, not wanting to be outdone by any man when it came to this sort of thing and his Ally.
"Higher." Alex shakes her head at his warm touch on her leg.
"Here?" Sayer says a little less confidently, his fingertips touching the very top of her leg now. Alex shakes her head, eyes challenging him.
"Here!" His voice cracks, as he closes his eyes moving his hand VERY far up her leg…too far….
"Hey, it wasn't that high up," Alex breathes, the sensation of his touch much different from that of the other man earlier. Alex grabs his neck and passionately kisses him as they both collapse over into the lush thorny rose bushes beside the mansion.
"Ally, are you stuck?" Sayer, huffs from the long, painful due to thorns kiss, but he finds her body still pressed to his, so it was worth every prick.
"Maybe," She teases still unmoving from atop him.
"Uhhh - there's Rob, come on - let's see what happened." Wriggling away, Sayer gets himself out of another very tempting situation he wasn't ready for yet, upon seeing Robin seemingly wandering aimlessly down the garden path.
Alex lets him go, smiling at his sweetness. Always stay like this. I guess I might not mind being - though I'll never admit it to you -'your woman' as you put it.
She helps him up, a few rips and tears from the thorns on their clothes, but what the hell.
"Why so glum, Rob?" Sayer jogs up to his wandering lost brother, "'Chelle's parent's catch you and Michelle -ahem— in her room and - -threw you out?" Sayer smiles thinking this all one big joke, never realizing that Robin was dying inside. Alex, on the other hand, did realize it.
"Michelle?" She asks simply, knowing that look in his eye could mean nothing else and strangely she felt pity for him.
"It's over." He answers, trudging forward ahead of them, out into the dark street, the cold night air hitting him hard, it's ice biting all the way, deep into his heart.
Feeling the cool winds himself on the other side of town, Terry pulls Susan closer to him as they stroll through the city. Still proud of what he did himself at the party, he suddenly feels as if he may have embarrassed her.
"Susan, did I…embarrass you in front of all those people?" He asks suddenly, the first words passing between them since they stormed out of Michelle's parent's mansion.
"Embarrass me?" Susan looks up from his chest into his eyes. "You rescued me, my darling. I never felt so…frightened before and then you came and I was safe again. Safe." She whispers returning her adoring head to his warm chest as they make their way through the park.
"I will protect you, my lady. I will always keep you safe-in my heart as well as in my arms." Terry kisses the top of her head, buried in his chest, wondering if, after all this trauma tonight, now would be the right time to…..
He looks up and the distant stars twinkle their assent to him.
"My Precious," he whispers close to her bejewelled ear. "A crystal shining brightly in the heavens, a gazelle running gracefully through a field, a perfect white rose in full bloom-there is only one thing more splendid, more beautiful, more dazzling that surpasses them all-and that is you, my lady." Terry suddenly leaves her side, bowing down on one knee before her.
"Terry…" Susan breathes as he takes her slender hand in his, not believing this was happening to her, Susan feels her breath catching in her throat, her heart quickening in her chest. Terry darling, are you going to…?
Susan dares not even think it, her other hand clutching at her chest as she hears his every word as if in a dream.
"I am not good enough for you, my Princess. Nor will I ever will be, but please, allow me the privilege of requesting of you, the honor of proposing to you-Susan, my lady, my love," Terry pauses, pulling out a large violet amethyst ring. It was encrusted with small jewels and diamonds surrounding it, set on a beautiful gold band, and he holds it out to her. "I am so bold as to - I am asking for your hand in marriage." Terry's eyes gaze up at her adoringly filled with hope beyond hope, that he would be so lucky as for her to accept.
"Terry." She whispers, in awe of what Providence had blessed upon her, tears springing to her eyes, for she could find no words good enough to express her overwhelming joy.
"I know I am not worthy," Terry takes her silence as reluctance, it truly being the opposite in fact.
"Darling! Darling! I hope that I can be worthy of your love! Worthy - as your wife," she smiles her beautiful joyful smile down at him, nodding her acceptance of his offered hand in marriage.
"My beloved," Terry smiles up at her in a dream, sliding the gorgeous ring on her delicate left hand and then closing his starry eyes, kissing the ring finger that now symbolized their love for each other, the promise to come-their engagement. Susan looks down on her new fiancé adoringly, clutching her chest, her heart exploding from within as she gazes at Terry, his chestnut hair gleaming in the moonlight as he lips tenderly press her trembling hand.
"Are you chilly, my love?" Terry rises, his violet eyes sparkling brighter than the stars, and gently squeezes her hand. He takes off his jacket and drapes it around her bare shoulders to fend off the cold, but it was not the cool wind from without making her tremble, it was the sheer joy from within.
"I love you, Terry." Susan whispers, as his arms wrap around her slender form, feeling she would burst if she did not utter those three small but oh-so-meaningful words.
"And I will always love you, my Susan. I can't imagine my life without you any longer." Terry replies in his poetic way, happiness and joy not enough to express the feelings in his heart, in his soul, as he leans his head down to hers. Her kiss tasted even more sweet somehow, knowing that she was his forever, his and his alone, that they belonged to one another, as their new promise together lasts long into the Paris night.
An evening filled with moonlit romance, of soft caressing kisses, of warm and tender embraces along the star lined walk back to the hotel, Terry holds Susan close to him all the while. Both of them were in a trance called 'love', clinging to each other tightly.
Glancing every once in awhile through dream clouded eyes, Susan sees the ring on her finger, it's beautiful, flawless gems glittering in the moonlight. Susan closes her eyes and opens them again quickly, just to make sure it was real and not only an illusion. For what it symbolized-of the promise Terry made to her this night-for all nights-was her every wish, her every dream, her every waking desire-to be loved, to be accepted, to belong to him and he to her.
"I will give you everything you deserve. I'll do all I can to make you happy, my precious." For countless times that night, Terry whispers sweet promises in her adoring ears, caressing them with his words as a sweetheart would, caressing them with his lips as only a lover could.
"You do make me happy - so so happy!" Susan breathes, looking into his low-lidded eyes, exchanging yet one more passionate kiss in the hotel hallway.
"Maybe we should go look for them," Alex says getting up from her seat on the settee in the 3 Lights' room. She had quickly changed into something more "her style" as soon as entering her hotel suite. This consisted of a pair of slacks and a button up shirt. Going to the door, she turns the handle, knowing just where to look for a missing Susan and Terry, not so concerned about their whereabouts as much as Susan's—ahem -well being.
She's about to head towards Susan's room, which she had tried to keep a close eye on but they could have slipped by with all of Sayer's constant blabbering.
We'll see, Alex turns the French styled handle to find the missing couple kissing on their front step, so to speak.
"You two can't keep your hands off each other, can you?" Sayer calls out to them from his comfortable lazing across the couch as Alex steps back with raised eyebrows. Terry and Susan enter the room quietly.
"No, we can't." Susan boldly admits, unwrapping her hands from Terry and innocently holding her left one out, displaying it in quite a graceful manner before them all.
Noting….something…different about the pair, Alex's suspicious mind immediately jumps to conclusions (that aren't so so very far off if they don't take care, this night especially) and looks the flushed Susan, her hair slightly askew, up and down. Her observant eyes suddenly catch upon the glint of a violet glow. She grabs her friend's left hand, pulling it closer to the light, raising it high in the air for her eyes to see it clearly.
"Susan." Alex breathes, not knowing what to feel exactly.
Any woman - especially a woman with a career like ours - should consider the consequences very carefully before she just gave her life away to a man. That was always Alex's belief on the subject and now it was presenting itself in one of her closest circle of friends, a fellow soldier.
But he's a soldier too. Alex glances quickly to Terry's proud smile, back to Susan's glowing face, and in disbelief at Sayer's obliviousness behind her.
"Are you-?" Alex asks in shock at one of the fastest engagements she's ever heard of. They only just started this all two weeks ago! Her independent mind shouts. Susan nods up and down, trying to hold back her overwhelming happiness in vain, from the bursting smile on her face.
"'Are you' what?" Sayer sits up on the couch curious to the inner workings that women often annoyingly omitted crucial words.
Both of these particular women were ignoring him, as Susan grips Alex's firm hands, beginning to giggle ecstatically, wanting to share her joy of joys with one of her dearest friends. Perhaps after all was said and done, Alex was her closest friend, despite a stark contrast between them, with Alex's tough exterior, yet she was someone who truly deeply cared for her.
"What, already?!" Sayer twists his lip, women a mystery beyond him.
"Engaged, Sayer." Terry wraps a strong arm around his lady, proud to call her his own.
"Oh, right." Just recalling that Terry had explained his intentions a few days back, his eyes wide at his brother's courage. Sayer jumps up, the very first to shake Terry's hand.
"You are the man, Ter!" He jokes with a pleased wink, glad to see at least one brother happy.
"Congratulations!" He vigorously pumps Terry's hand up and down.
"Thank you," Terry smiles.
"Congratulations." Alex, with the first shock over, takes her cue and shakes Terry's hand uneasily in her powerful grip.
"Thank you." Terry's eyes lock with hers for a moment, understanding all she wanted him to know. "You'd better be good to her."
"I will." He answers, and pulls Susan, who was trembling again, close to him, protectively, stroking her hair. They listen to Sayer's teasings and all the goings on for a few minutes before remembering, in all his excitement, he had another brother to share the good news with.
"Robin? Did you hear? Susan has agreed to become my-" Terry starts over towards Robin, who was seated in a chair facing the balcony, unnoticed, looking dazedly out at the stars in the dark night sky.
"-wife." Terry's exuberance turns into concern as he suddenly notices his brother's strange mood. Unchanged as yet from his fancy dress evening wear, Robin's usually neatened clothing was loosened and askew, his tie dangling unfettered around his neck, his well-cared for hair a mess (and that was being kind), Robin looking more like he had just been through World War III than at a high societal ball.
"About before, Robin, I truly am sorry, but I couldn't just stand by and—" Terry begins to apologize but stops, seeing from the blank distant look on Robin's face that he was not even registering his presence, never mind his words.
"No use talking to him, Ter-–he's been like that all night," Sayer says with a sigh, plunking down on the settee again. Although Robin was not always on Sayer's 'good side', the dark-haired boy still cared for his brother immensely and was feeling bad that he was a state like this.
"All night?" Terry asks, feeling responsible somehow (but still not regretting his necessary actions earlier).
"Since we left," Alex plops down next to Sayer, pulling a long leg up on the couch and leaning her head on her raised knee.
"Did her parents…?" Terry asks delicately trying to gather what had happened after he and Susan left so suddenly.
"Well, we didn't help matters either after you left, and Michelle's parents walked out of the party - but that wasn't what did it," Alex explains quietly.
"I don't know exactly what, but… we gather something happened between him and Michelle," Alex whispers as the four of them huddle close as for Robin not to hear.
"Oh," Susan tries to bring herself from the blissful reverie to feel concern and easily succeeds. Just gazing across the room at the despondent look on poor Robin's face, Susan is saddened that anyone could be unhappy on this, her special night.
Thinking of Michelle, as she has all evening, Alex wonders what she was doing right now.
Crying herself an ocean, still, probably, Alex smiles, and all because of that shrimp. Gazing across the room at Robin's transfixed-out-the-window stare, Alex can't help but feel a little sorry for him. I warned you both about this - how love can hurt - how it can break you. Why didn't you listen, Michelle? Alex reaches out to Michelle through her own link but feels nothing in return save for this immense overwhelming sadness.
I guess it's the same reason I can't either, Alex glances at Sayer, a confused expression on her face, then turns back to studying Robin. But you know what, Michelle? I do sincerely think he really loves you, it almost pains Alex to see the lost look in his eye. That's how I would feel if I lost you, too, Alex can't imagine herself without Michelle in her life, and just thinking of her - sad-depressed-lonely - is almost too much for Alex to bear. But I have to let you do this on your own! You have enough interference without me too.
That mother of yours! Alex vividly recalls a restrained childhood's attempt to be forced upon her wild days as well. You do deserve to choose your own way in this, though. Maybe after you cool off, you'll see your way straight - whatever that means. But through it all Michelle, I'm here for you, as I always have been, as I always will be, no matter what. Alex opens her mind to her troubled friend, distance meaning nothing to two hearts who were one. And Michelle's opens finally with a waterfall of tears of uncertain regrets to Alex's caring soul.
Alex excuses herself early, feeling the welcomed in weight of Michelle's woes on her. Terry finds his bit of happiness in this crazy world once again in Susan's loving arms as they embrace goodnight, a promise yet to come on their lips. Though concerned for his brother, hoping the best for him, Terry is still overwhelmed by the feelings of joy in his own heart.
"I hauled him off to bed," Sayer comes out of Robin's bedroom, the shorter man's tuxedo pants and jacket on Sayer's arm (which he promptly dumps on the couch).
"Did he say anything?" Terry asks, smiling at Sayer's unusual and sudden concern and attention to his oft argued with sibling.
"Nah. I just heard him say her name when I shut the door. Ter-?" Sayer says thoughtfully as he follows his brother into his room.
"Yes, Sayer?" Terry begins to undress, Susan's sweet scent on his shirt as he unbuttons.
"Is being in love supposed to be so hard?" Sayer asks, wondering what was in store for him in this chosen path with Alex.
"Yes, sometimes, if it's real and true," Terry answers reflecting on his own romance.
"But then in the end, it's more than rewarding," Terry smiles softly, a crystal clear picture of Susan's adoring eyes gazing back at his proud soul.
Eager to see his new fiancee, Terry rises early, dressing in a casual suit and appearing fresh and clean-shaven at Susan's door in the hallway. Just as excited to see him as soon as possible too, Susan is already dressed, looking lovely in a perfectly suited to their French surroundings frilled blouse and mini-skirt. Susan just finishes making her bed when her heart leaps at a knock at the door, she knowing by the soft gentle rapping that it was him.
"Terry." She whispers, almost tripping on her own feet as she races to the door like the giddy schoolgirl she never was.
"The most beautiful flowers in Paris for the most beautiful woman in France, or anywhere else, too." Terry smiles as he holds out an assortment of lilies, roses, and other delicate blooms, all white and lavender, wrapped in tissue and tied with a ribbon to Susan when she opens the door.
"Oh, Terry," Susan beams at the compliment, receiving the flowers gingerly in her arms as Terry closes the door behind them.
"Good morning, my sweet," Terry leans down kissing her fresh bright cheek.
"Good morning," Susan turns her head just at the right angle as he was pulling back, she kissing his willing mouth fully on the lips and Terry's arms wrap quickly around her. More than a simple morning kiss, for it was truly a good morning for them - their first as a fianced couple.
The scrunching sound of the squished flower bouquet and tissue paper calling him back to reality, Terry pulls back, gazing down lovingly at the deliriously happy look on Susan's beautiful face, feeling the joy inside of himself.
"I'll put them in water for you," Terry caresses her hands, playing with the ring on her left-hand finger as he takes the flowers from her. Susan opens her eyes slowly, nodding at whatever he was saying, Terry's kiss always enough to send her into ecstasy's trance. Seeing this, Terry chuckles softly at her sweetness, running his hand over her soft neck.
"Would mademoiselle care to join me for breakfast?" He asks playfully.
"Merci, Monsieur - mon chere," Susan answers him in kind, her eyes turning serious as she utters yet another fond title for her beloved Terry.
"Mon cherie," Terry repeats softly, meeting her gaze as he offers his arm, Susan attaching herself to it almost second nature by now as they leave the room. In the hotel's sparsely populated dining room, Terry gentlemanly seats his lady. The two of them soon find themselves well-cared for by the overly polite French waiter, whose eyes (much to Terry's chagrin) assess Susan's long legs showing from her mini-skirt, the waiter even so bold as to take a quick peek under the table at her. Susan finds Terry uncommonly almost rude when ordering, making her giggle after the very French waiter disappears meekly away to fetch their breakfast. Terry looks to Susan's laughing eyes questioningly.
"Were you jealous, my love?" Susan, for some reason, loved to see her Terry this way especially – it bringing out his masculinity even more.
"It may be a common practice in France, but I believe it is ungentlemanly and belittles the…" He trails off at Susan's soft squeals of delighted laughter.
"You were jealous," Susan states, smiling.
"Yes, I was," Terry admits, a very amorous tone in his voice. Both of them lean across the table, their lips joining in the middle for a sweet kiss. Soon their breakfast arrives (one look from Terry at the aforementioned waiter was enough to send the poor man scurrying back to the kitchen).
"How is your Crepe Suzette?" Terry asks, this being the first time Susan would be trying it, he opting for the more manly eggs and sausages.
"Very good." She carefully forks at the wafer thin French version of the pancake, finding the taste rather pleasant, even if she wasn't all that hungry.
"Here I want you to try it," Susan cuts off of the crepe with her fork, holding it out across the table to Terry, who, though not much interested in sweet things (save for Susan!), takes a bite. As soon as it's in his mouth, Susan suddenly remembers something.
"I almost forgot - it tastes much better when you eat it with the strawberry at the same time." Taking one of the prepared red fruits from an overflowing bowl into her hand, Susan holds it across the table gingerly between her fingers pops the strawberry into Terry's mouth.
"Does he have you feeding him already, Susan?" Alex's low voice says sarcastically as she and Sayer, tagging along behind her, enter the dining area.
"Good morning, Alex, Sayer," Susan says with a smile and a small hidden sigh as Terry quickly pulls back, swallowing the crepe and strawberry in his mouth almost whole.
"Mmmm! These look de-li-cious!" Sayer simply grabs a chair, swinging it around in one hand and straddling it easily. Alex pulls her own seat up to join them as she watches Sayer stuff several strawberries into his mouth with mild amusement.
"Want some?" Sayer catches her watching him and offers her some, his mouth full and red.
"Nah. Let's save some for your brother - in case he wants attention again," Alex's raised look at Terry and Susan makes the meaning obvious behind her teasing words.
"Did you see Rob this morning?" Sayer asks his brother over a plate loaded over with scrambled eggs and French toast. Sayer insisted on ordering these though he had to explain to the waiter of the French establishment what exactly "French toast" was and then shoving them over on Alex because he really didn't want them, it was just for' fun'.
"I checked on him this morning. He was there when I left." Terry answers.
"Not just now when I got up. He's flown the coop." Sayer says nonchalantly, re-passing those pesky French toast slices back onto Alex's plate after she dumped them back on his, not wanting the powdered sugar and syrup drenched things herself.
"Where do you suppose he went? Do you think he's all right to be out on his own at such a time?" Terry says, concerned thinking about the state Robin was in, when last he saw him.
"Yeah - you know Rob. He's the loner type. He'll be fine. It'll all work out for him…I hope." Sayer could not imagine what could've happened between his brother and Michelle.
They seemed all lovey-duvey yesterday. Ah well. Love is a rocky road, isn't it? He glances over at Alex, thinking at how hard a struggle it was just to get the two of them to this point in their relationship. It is worth it, though. Sayer smiles as Alex rolls her eyes at him, in that way only she could, almost throwing the toast at him, as he slides them once again on her fruity plate.
"Yes. I wouldn't want him to be this way at the wedding." Terry says so naturally, but the word "wedding" pricks up everyone else's ears.
"Wedding!" Sayer chokes a bit on his orange juice. "Didn't you just get engaged last night? Why rush things?" He looks at his currently happy bachelor brother and for the life of him can't figure why he'd want to jump right into that frightening thing called "marriage" so suddenly.
C'mon! Engagements can last for a very long time - Meatball's did, almost two years, so…
Sayer was eager to gain Susie for a sister-in-law, sure, but not so to lose Terry. Amused, Alex chuckles at his innate fear of the mystery called marriage, always having herself more than a few doubts about it.
"So, when is it?" Alex asks, assessing the weak way Susan was subservient to Terry, hanging with her eyes closed in bliss on his chest.
"As soon as we get back to Tokyo, my love?" Terry asks hopefully, the feelings started within him pushing for the relationship to soon be consummated. Marriage to this beautiful creature was Terry's highest dream he was eager to obtain.
"Oh! No, Terry darling." Leaving her comfortable resting place on his chest, "There's so much to be done first - the church, the arrangements, my dress. I'd like to make my wedding gown myself, so it will be just everything I've always wanted. If - if that's all right, my love." Susan finishes her abrupt contradiction meekly.
"Oh." Terry says, a bit disappointed. Susan was feeling the same way herself, but - I want this to be the perfect wedding. Everything I've dreamed. And it will be, because of you, Terry my darling. Even if it means we must wait…..Though if we're engaged already….I don't know why…..Susan still was not giving up on her merry chase.
"Of course. How much time do you think you'll need?" Terry says, immediately trying to cover up his disappointment. I would wait a thousand years for you, my Susan. He smiles to himself, stroking her long, raven green hair.
"A month, perhaps, no longer. The first of September we'll start our new lives together. Is that….all right?" Susan smiles up at him, but if he protested even a little bit, she would of course, change it immediately.
"Your wish is my command, beloved Susan." Terry leans over, kissing her sweetly to seal their agreement.
Sayer and Alex exchange a sideways smirk at each other, as the two lovebirds continue to kiss in the crowding restaurant, drawing more than a few glances from the public.
"Let's get out of here." Alex gets up from her seat, not embarrassed as much as bored with the seemingly endless kisses passing between Terry and Susan, knowing that the excitement she craved was out there, somewhere.
"Coming?" She throws over her shoulder at Sayer, who was scooping the last bit of egg into his mouth.
"Yeah!" He jumps up, scampering after her and out the doors of the hotel.
Somewhere out there -with you. Alex smiles back at him as they leave.
Terry rounds off the last free day of their vacation by taking Susan to the most romantic sights in all of Paris wanting their first day as a fianced couple to be spent together in bliss, planning their future together, though the melancholy mood overtaking one of their brotherly trio put a small bit of damper on their otherwise deliriously happy hearts.
Speeding around all afternoon, and lucky the local gendarme where out monitoring a passing parade in the city's center, and a little more recklessly than usual, Sayer holds on tightly to Alex's slim waist for dear life, as their flaming red motorcycle streaks through the streets of Paris. Sayer knew the source for Alex's silence as well as her living dangerous behavior was because of Michelle's torment on her mind, eating into her shared soul.
I think I know what you're feeling, Ally. Rob and I haven't always been very close - nothing at all like what you and 'Chelle have - but still, he's my brother. And I hope everything will turn out okay for him and 'Chelle both. Sayer's thoughts go spinning in his head as the motorcycle comes to an abrupt, screeching halt, sending his unhelmeted head (he ditched it miles back, it being too hot for a "helmet oven" on such a blazing July day) smashing against Alex's stiffened back.
Stiff and hard. Ow. Sayer rubs his smarting forehead. I sure hope Michelle and Rob get back together soon! 'Cause I want to live a little longer, Ally! Sayer's mind whines at the small lump forming at his temple. Looking up, he follows Alex's gaze, and finds them both looking at a long pier at the edge of the sea. "How far have we-?" Sayer begins to ask, when Alex holds up her hand for silence, and takes her helmet off. And just then, do Sayer's unobservant eyes pick up the figure of a smallish man with silvery hair standing at the end of the dock, looking out over the rippling waves as if he just might…
"Robin!" Sayer is off the bike in a flash, suddenly realizing as he dashes to his depressed brother, that this was the reason for Alex's crazy speeding, that somehow she knew EXACTLY where Robin was - and that maybe he needed them here…
In a wink, Sayer's there at Robin's side, looking at his lost expression worriedly.
"Have you ever been to the bottom of the ocean, Sayer?" Robin asks, spacey, his voice, eerily calm. His eyes were still transfixed upon the rushing, incoming waters.
"It's not all that bad, Rob!" Sayer says, panic stricken, trying to comfort his brother, hoping it would stop him from any suicidal tendencies. But coming up from behind to the two men, Alex understands that was not what he was saying at all. That Robin was comparing the ocean to Michelle and how much she was like it.
How it was like her. And how he was drowning in her swirling emotions.
As if on cue, the clouds break, and thunderclaps deafen with a torrential rain suddenly pouring down upon the three lone figures. Everyone else in the vicinity had run for cover at the sudden downpour.
"Maybe I'm not right for her. Maybe she does deserve more." The wet rain dripping from his upturned face, Robin was grateful for its disguising his tears. Sayer does not believe he was hearing his snobbish brother say that there was something above him. Something he of all people may not be good enough for. Knowing Robin, he knew he must be hurting inside badly.
"Rob…I'm sure-" Sayer starts, himself getting drenched, and not knowing what to say to make things better. Everything was way out of control.
"Tomorrow I'll see her again. Before I go, I need to see her again." His voice was scratchy and faint, Sayer nor Alex could barely make out what he was saying in the deafening storm around them.
"I need to see you again - if only for a moment. I have to know - and then I'll let you go." Robin's eyes close as the skies above continue to pour down the rain, roaring with thunder and sizzling with lightning, as the whole sky threatens to swallow the entire world up in its darkness.
After safely seeing to Robin's condition, Terry and Susan tuck him warm and dry in bed, at the hotel. Then the two of them, seeing nothing more they could do for Robin, go off determined to enjoy their last night in Paris.
Sayer and Alex volunteer (surprisingly) to stay home and keep a close eye on Robin (but not too close). The night was still young and Robin was still quiet in his room, supposedly sleeping, though such peace would not claim him on this tormented night. For far across town in a stately mansion, another broken soul finds sleep an impossible commodity for her as well.
The romance that was Paris was not wasted upon Terry and Susan. Each moment spent together this night, made the city of lights shine brighter, if just for them. Tiring out the city before they themselves were, well after midnight, the happy couple return, finding Sayer and Ally both dressed and ready in striking evening wear, waiting up for the two of them as they finish playing a game of cards.
"Did you know your brother cheats at poker?" Alex asks with a smirk, as Terry unwraps Susan from her shawl lovingly.
"Is that what you two have been up too while waiting for us?" Terry asks with raised eyebrows and a teasing smile at Alex's shiny black vest and dressy black slacks. Sayer was in his open red shirt and tight black pants.
"Weeeell….." Sayer starts, with a wicked grin, Paris was not wasted on them either, as he recalls his spots of flirting with Alex throughout the evening.
"The shrimp's been quiet the whole time, but I don't think he's sleeping." Alex cuts off Sayer, looking at Robin's bedroom door with a hint of concern. All eyes follow her gaze.
"So." She says, turning around, trying to forget the problems that were part of her as well. "You two had better keep your FULL attention on him." Alex sends Terry a warning glance.
"Let's get out of here." She grabs her motorcycle's keys from the coffee table and heads for the door, Paris' seamier side was someplace Alex Sokova knew well from bygone days.
"Yeah. Gotta collect my winnings." Sayer winks at them mischievously as he jogs to Alex who was waiting for him, the door open.
"You didn't win, you cheated." Alex retorts, never wanting to lose to her finest competitor.
"YOU just won't admit it! You lost to me!" Sayer treads dangerously as he comes up to her.
"Don't think I didn't see that card up your sleeve." Alex argues, her eyes flashing.
"What card? What sleeve?" Sayer argues right back, looking indignant.
"This one." Alex grabs his forearm forcefully as they continue fighting going into the hallway.
Terry and Susan watch in amusement as Alex slides her long fingers up into Sayer's shirt's arm, triumphantly producing a handful of aces and kings.
"Now how did those get there?" Sayer says toothily, with a fake, innocent grin.
"As if you didn't-" Sayer closes the door behind them, Terry and Susan both swearing they saw his card-cheating arms wrapping around Alex as it does.
"Those two." Terry chuckles, at his brother and Alex's…interesting…relationship.
"Perhaps I should slip into something…more comfortable?" Susan lays those eyes of hers on Terry, her voice low and sultry.
"Would you like to…?" She stops in the doorway, tugging playfully at the straps on her mini-dress. Terry stops breathing for a moment, the scale of what was right and what was wrong tipping more favorably this night in Susan's tempting direction….
"I think I'll go check on Robin - see if he's all right," Terry's good morals win out (just).
"All right," Susan giggles, opening the door, "I'll be back," she whispers in an extremely feminine way out into the hall towards her room. His eyes watch her, and Terry smiles to himself as he goes to Robin's bedroom and sighs.
"Please give me strength to be right, just for one month more." He sighs, his whole being filled with the thoughts of a night promised not too long from now.
Then Susan darling, I will be yours - and you will be mine completely. Terry sighs once more blissfully as he peeks in the darkness at Robin's still motionless form.
Church bells ring from somewhere in Paris. Terry rises early, rubbing his tired eyes, for he and Susan had stayed up talking - really - until 2 or 3 AM, as he shuts off the alarm clock. Hoping Sayer wouldn't be too difficult to wake up today (not anymore than usual anyway) due to his assuredly late night on the town, for their flight home was scheduled for less than a hour from now.
Going to Sayer's adjoining room for their daily wake-up tussle, and upon opening the door, Terry is surprised to find Sayer's bed unslept in, and Sayer nowhere to be found.
Haven't you returned back yet? Terry thinks worriedly as he looks out the window, the sun already rising high into the sky. Or should I be looking elsewhere for you? Terry muses to himself, a little shocked at how easily his own thoughts could think that the…unlikely pair…of his brother and Miss Sokova could perhaps be…
Then shaking his head at the very idea and chalking it down to too much wine at dinner last night with Susan, Terry goes to awaken Robin, just hoping that Sayer would remember what time they had to be at the airport.
Yes...well maybe not...well, no matter. I'm sure that Alex would be able to still…Terry, man! Stop those thoughts! He chides himself. They may not even be together. Alex may have come back already and Sayer might have dashed out.
Terry begins more farfetched imaginings when upon opening Robin's door, he finds yet another brother's bed empty as well. Usually a light sleeper, he didn't hear Robin leave so early that morning. I wonder where he's - Terry hears raised voices at the front door and then a loud slam.
"Hey, Ter!" Sayer greets him with a short wave, looking a bit more worn than when he left late last night, but still bright-eyed, running his hand through his more-than-usually askew hair. He starts to pull off his red shirt. "Long night? You look tired." He smirks, his eyes making certain insinuations at his "adult" brother.
"Sayer, Robin's not in his room." Terry says, rather worried, ignoring his comments.
"Gave you the slip, huh? I guess you and Susie must've been too busy to-" Sayer continues his teasings.
"Sayer." Terry reprimands authoritatively, cutting him off. "His bags are all packed and prepared in his room already."
"Yeah. He said he was going to see 'Chelle before we left. I sure hope they make up. Rob's such a downer like this. Way worse than usual." Sayer peels out of his pants, and throws them across the room as he disappears into the bathroom for a quick shower.
"Yes, I hope so too." Terry says to no one in particular, going into his own room to shower, dress and pack his (and then Sayer's too) bags, preparing for their flight back to Japan, soon to leave the memory that was Paris behind them forever.
(Play Sailor Moon in Paris: "La Destiny")
Rising from her French tudor style bed, though her tear-stained eyes never closed in sleep this night, Michelle walks out in her silken wraps onto the balcony she'd spent so many long hours dreaming to the stars of her youth. If only one of those stars would return to me…
Michelle sighs, looking out over the lush green lawn spreading before her. But through the eyes of a breaking heart, the green world was dead. The beautiful sunrise a painful reminder of the shine he would no longer bring to her.
Are you really gone? She asks her tormented soul, and finds only an empty void in the part of her he once shared. You don't want to be with me anymore? Wouldn't you have come back for me already? If you loved me, wouldn't you fight to keep me?
Perhaps there is no such thing as love. Not the kind I thought we had. That was only an illusion. Only a dream.
Her eyes dried out, Michelle could cry no longer. She could only feel inside, her heart sinking, melting into dust, as the seconds tick by, she knowing, written on her soul, the exact time the plane would leave.
When the sky will take you away from me. Michelle's tearless eyes gaze out as a taxi pulls up to the Moreau mansion. When it stops, a singular figure appears from it slowly, hesitantly, walking up the long driveway. The sight of whom makes Michelle's aching heart stop beating.
"Robin. Robin!" Her frantic whispers barely escape her lips as she throws propriety to the wind, and dashing like a child down the staircase, runs past the dining room, where her surprised parents were having breakfast, past the shocked staff in simply her nightdress, out of the monstrous front doors, down the cold, cement steps and out into the lawn.
Racing through the dewy grass in her bare feet, Michelle cares of nothing - nothing but seeing him again. Of hearing his soft words of forgiveness, of telling him how she loved him and that this had all been a terrible mistake - that she was so wrong.
As Michelle runs to Robin, she could see the pain in his eyes. Suddenly she realizes that she had hurt him, hurt him horribly, with those stinging words, all the terrible things she had said on that night.
It's all my fault! My fault! You did nothing! I'm so sorry. But how do I tell you? How could you possibly ever forgive me for what I've done? How I've doubted our bond, how I didn't trust you. How I could turn on you so easily. It wasn't that at all! I was just so upset and...I took it out on you. Robin, my dearest, my love! Because…I thought our chances to be together were ruined - that our future was over before it had begun and I could do nothing about it. Oh Robin! Open up to me! Just for a moment, I need to tell you…I need to love you again…
Michelle's heavy breathing from her dash catches in her throat as Robin breaks his silent gazing into her blue eyes and begins to speak.
"I came to say good-bye." He says simply. His words were so tentative, so distant.
Goodbye? Good bye! No! Michelle's eyes open wide, but she cannot speak, her voice gone. Her head begins to spin, the dizziness overtakes her.
What's happening? Robin, don't - don't say this! Make everything all right again, forgive me. I'm the one unworthy of you. Her emotions were so intense that Michelle loses all sense of things around her. Her heart stops in her chest as she clutches it.
Pausing a moment, Robin waits for her to say something - anything. But the response never comes. Swallowing hard, he fights back the tears within himself.
I guess I'm not worthy of you after all. If she had only given him a word, just one single little thing he could believe that it wasn't over, that they could find each other again through this mess somehow. Things would've been different, things might've been…
"You'd better get back…inside…before..you catch pneumonia….Michelle…" Robin watches her entire body begin to violently tremble, though the cold morning air on her lacy nightgown was not the reason for her tremors.
His hand begins to reach out to touch her, to warm her, to stop her shaking, but he pulls back, turning from her, so she could not see the tears in his eyes.
"Goodbye." His hoarse voice chokes out as he turns and leaves quickly down the path, disappearing into the taxi still waiting for him at the end of the drive.
"No…" Michelle whispers in a small voice, as her knees begin to buckle.
"NOOOOOOO!" Too late she screeches at the top of her lungs as the taxi speeds away, and she collapses to the cold, wet earth, the tears finally coming, like a crushing ocean wave, and she sobs uncontrollably in a curled up ball on the ground.
"Michelle! My darling!" Madame Moreau herself rushes out to her, after watching the heartbreaking scene from the window. Her husband was close at her heels, as she scoops up her daughter, wrapping motherly arms around her protectively, herself kneeling down to the damp grass.
"Ma mere…I want to die…please, just let me die…" Michelle sobs out her pleas, in desperation, as the world turns into a river of tears, a dark empty place she could no longer exist in without him, without the other half of her soul.
"Robin." His name on her trembling blue lips, Michelle's father carries her into the deathly quiet mansion in his strong arms. Michelle loses all consciousness then of the sorrowful world around her.
Minutes before the plane scheduled for Tokyo is to take off, a taxi cab pulls up to the Paris airport. It's only occupant a lone, silver-haired young man, steps out, slowly trudging to the correct terminal where Terry, Susan, Sayer and Alex were all anxiously waiting.
"He's alone." Alex is the first to spot him (or did she know already before he arrived?) as Robin dejectedly lets the escalator carry him to where they were seated.
"Oh no." Susan whispers sadly, clutching Terry's strong arm for support as Robin lethargicly trudges up to them, not meeting a single one of their eyes.
"Rob…" Sayer says, wanting to reach out to his brother, but could find nothing good enough to say. He turns to Terry and finds he also, had the same unknowing look in his eye, then looks to Alex, whose eyes go down, a distant, painful look on her strong features as she acutely feels the pain herself through her own deep bond with Michelle.
His eyes still on the ground, Robin plunks down hard in an empty seat next to Terry, silence overtakes the usually noisy group. Long minutes pass by when the call comes over the loudspeaker.
"ALL FLIGHTS TO TOKYO, JAPAN LEAVING IN 2 MINUTES. ALL PASSENGERS MUST NOW BOARD THEIR PLANES." A computerized voice says mechanically.
Exchanging hesitant looks, Alex stands first, picking up her bag and she slings it over her shoulder. Sayer, Terry, and Susan soon follow, gathering themselves up as Robin takes his own small bag from Terry.
Meeting his sorrowful green eyes for a split second, Terry could see the utter pain and heartbreak within them. Oh, Robin, how can it be that you can be sad at the same time I am so happy? Is life so cruel, my brother? Terry squeezes Susan all the tighter, carrying her bags too of course, as they go through the metal detectors and into the final stages before the five of them go out to the plane.
Alex quickly glances back at Robin behind her and Sayer, as she follows Susan and Terry through the machines, casually flicking out her passport.
Michelle, what happened? Why weren't you able to tell him how you really feel? Alex was privy to her soul mate's deepest, innermost thoughts and knew Michelle's true feelings for this shrimp of a man. Well, maybe it's all for the best anyway. After this all cools off, I'll come back and get you. And then maybe….
Alex sadly shakes her head with a sigh at her cousin's heartbreak, feeling the depression seeping into her soul as well, when she feels a warm hand on her shoulder and turns to see Sayer's supportive smile. His eyes were trying to comfort, knowing the link between Alex and Michelle was that strong - that important to her.
Alex's eyes give the smallest of smiles back as she steps out onto the runway tunnel, following them. Robin dazedly walks out towards the waiting plane. Looking at its vastness, at the all-encompassing sky beyond that would soon carry him away from all this, from Paris…from Michelle. Forever.
Michelle. If only it were different. If only….
(Play Sailor Moon in Paris: "La Destiny")
He closes his eyes in pain hard, blindly following behind Sayer and Alex, not watching where he was going and not really caring either. Replaying their last moments together, he remembers the short, clipped words he had said, her deafening silence, the way she had trembled and that scared look in her soulful eyes.
Michelle. His souls whispers her name. He no longer cared if he was unworthy, no longer remembering her hurtful words. No longer knowing anything, but the one thought searing through his very consciousness -
Michelle, I love you! What am I doing! What I've discovered in you I never thought possible. There's nothing out there for me without you. I have no future, no destiny - -I can't live without you. His mind, his soul, his heart screams as he stops in his tracks, halfway up the steps leading into the airplane.
"Go on without me!" He suddenly shouts up, loud enough for Terry and Susan to hear clearly on the bustling stairwell.
"I can't leave here without her!" Just like that, he takes off down the steps, two, three at a time, deftly maneuvering through the hoards of oncoming passengers, leaving the astonished quartet behind, as the crowd forces them up into the plane. They could only watch their companion race down the runway, through the airport, towards an uncertain fate. The only thing he was sure of is his love, his undying love. An inextinguishable love for that soulful creature who once belonged to him, whom he would move heaven and earth, and even hell itself if he had to, to reclaim her as his own once more.
His thoughts steel himself against any obstacles that lie in the path between them. His soul on fire as he races, skipping steps at a time, down the escalator, racing out of the airport, running, running, as he never had before, to the one true love of his life. A life Robin never believed himself capable of having or wanting, he speeds across town, through the gates of the Moreau mansion. Racing out of the taxi, and up the driveway, his feet pump hard on the pavement as he flies up the monstrous steps, whizzing past Pierre at the front door in a swirl of wind, and goes directly to the study, knowing exactly where he wanted to be, exactly where he needed to be - right into the lion's den itself. Robin determinedly grabs hold of the ornate handles of the double doors and without a second thought, throws them open wide, dramatically coming to a breathtaking halt.
"Sir, Madame." Robin's usually scratchy voice booms out across the room loud, strong and true as, shocked by this sudden and undignified entrance into their private study, both Madame and Monsieur Moreau look up at the boy with guarded eyes at his rude interruption.
"Young man, I do believe your business here is finished. Please leave." Josephine Moreau was more than a little angered at this young cad who had so broken her daughter's heart. Truly, really this time, for a mother always knew when her child was in love like Michelle was.
"Haven't you done enough?" Henri Moreau could only remember the pain as he had never seen before in the eyes of his beloved little girl and the feeling of helplessness, knowing all his money in the world could not right her scattered heart this time.
"No, Monsieur. No, I have not." Robin feels his courage building from his love, as he moves closer to Michelle's difficult parents and faces them directly as he speaks.
"I know you don't approve of me - that I'm not good enough for Michelle, that I'm not worthy. And I would have to agree with you wholeheartedly. I do not deserve her warmth, her caring, her spirit. And I don't deserve her love. I am, by far, not the finest European society has to offer. I have no name, no rank, no title in this world, as her rightful partner in life should. That was all a story Michelle made up so I would be more acceptable in your eyes. There is some truth in it. But if I told you more about myself you wouldn't understand. So the only thing I can tell you, the only thing that makes any sense, is what's in my heart, what's in my soul - what Michelle put there. I love her. More than anything in the universe, I love her. And I think I'm lucky enough that she loves me too. I come to you now, with only what I have within me. This love I feel deep in my soul. I will promise to you, and more importantly, to Michelle, that it will last a lifetime. That it will last forever. That this is our destiny." Robin, barely stopping for breath in between words, finishes his speech. His pleas for love were as determined as his eyes, looking straight into both of Michelle's parents gazes with a little prayer of hope playing through his anxious mind.
Silence.
Searching the eyes of this bold young man, Henri Moreau, the head of this monstrous household (not to mention countless business and society circles as well) looks to his lady wife for consent. He himself somehow believed this young Robin Starr, believing in his love for his own beloved daughter, believing in his promise that it would last forever. For Henri Moreau knew such boundless love himself, though others of his class may choose different paths, he was man of his word, with a passionate soul mate in his wife. And in this boy's soulful eyes, he could swear he could see something he saw in the mirror every day, of a love deep and true for another.
Yes, I need not know who you are. Class and rank have never been important to me. My Michelle may marry a pauper if it made her happy, but we never wanted her to be loved only for her money and her status, her family name. But never before have I seen in her eyes this degree of love either.
Exchanging a long glance with her husband, Josephine Moreau surveys the scene before her, this young man's powerful words were still echoing in her mind.
'I can tell you only what's in my heart…I love her more than anything in this world…'
Familiar words of another young man, Josephine could still recall so vividly in her mind's eye.
"Words you once spoke of me, Henri. To my own pa pere." Madame Moreau says aloud, her husband knowing well what she was referring to.
"And I still could speak them of you, this very day, my Josee." Henri was the true meaning of the romantic Frenchman, he goes to wife and kisses her hand.
Robin's soul fills with hope as he sees the faint hint of a smile upon her face and the slight nod passing between the couple.
Then Madame Moreau turns to face him. "If you truly mean those inspiring words, my young man, truly mean them, mind you," she says, searching his eyes one more time, satisfied that what she was looking for was indeed there, "you may have our consent." She nods with a knowing look.
"If," she smiles at last, her outstretched hand motioning towards the doorway, "you still have Michelle's."
Robin turns to find Michelle standing behind him, leaning in the doorway. From the look on her face, she had been there long enough to have heard his heart moving speech.
"Robin…" She whispers, trembling in her lacy wraps. "I love you." She rushes to his open arms, throwing herself around him, their eyes filling with joyous tears. Robin holds her to himself, warm and tearfully hugging her close.
"Michelle." He whispers into her soft aqua hair. "I love you." His soul calls out to hers, breaking down the barriers they had erected between them, as both, in tears, Robin leans to her, kissing her quivering lips, fully, passionately and lovingly, as he had never done before.
Michelle's parents, close to tears themselves, watch the happy scene before them. They were certain that, at long last, their tormented in love daughter had finally found the true love she needed so very desperately, for two lives that had found a place in one another, like the stars that ruled them, Michelle Moreau and Robin Starr's love was long ago fated in La Destiny…