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
Chapter 21: Wedded Bliss
All through the nonstop flight back from Italy to Tokyo, the newly married couple stays wrapped closely in each other's arms.
Susan leans her head comfortably the entire ride on Terry's chest, as he succumbs to a much-needed rest. Over twenty hours later, they finally arrive back in their adopted hometown of Tokyo, though finding it changed somehow. It was exciting and new, as they both look at it through the eyes of love.
The whole city, their whole world in fact, seemed as a place no longer empty, or lonely - for they and they alone truly knew they would always have each other inside, even though they may be apart. But the two young newlyweds never planned on being apart - ever.
They had looked around for a house they could start their lives together in before they had married, but they had not found a suitable one to their liking. Terry and Susan both decided to wait for just the right one, so it would be perfect, and instead, they would stay in a hotel until the "perfect" home was located.
Anxious to see how his brothers were faring on their own, Terry takes Susan to their double (no longer "triple") bachelor abode. He was a little curious to see the state of affairs there, but not half expecting what meets his astonished eyes, as he opens the door. The key to it was still in his possession, though upon opening it, he wondered if he had gotten the right apartment.
Everywhere was mess. Clothes were strewn across the floor, draped on the furniture. Dirty dishes and glasses half empty, take-out food containers were lying forgotten on the coffee table. The kitchen was an unspeakable disaster area, where someone's attempts with a blender had resulted in chaos.
The brand new microwave was burnt out, blackened, while the remains of charcoal popcorn and who knows what else still within it, giving the whole apartment a lovely odor of scorched butter and burnt corn throughout.
Glancing into one bathroom, Terry is shocked by the piles of towels and laundry just thrown to one side of the bathtub. Razors, soaps and bottles cluttered every counter. Peeking into Sayer's vacant bedroom, Terry won't even let Susan's curious eyes see the mess too horrendous for a lady's delicate sensibilities.
However, Terry's own old room, thankfully, was the only one still sparkling clean - mess untouched as yet.
He knocks on the final room's door left in the apartment, to see if anyone was still alive in this disaster area he once called home.
"If that's you, Sayer, GO AWAY!" Terry and Susan look to each other in shock at the ferocity of Robin's nasty words.
"Robin-" Terry calls, knocking again, "it's-"
"I SAID 'GO AWAY'!"
"- Oh." Robin yanks the door open, fully prepared to give Sayer 'what-for', but he seems pleasantly surprised to see Terry standing there instead.
"Terry." His angry face turns upside down into a smile, as if an angel of heaven had just appeared before him.
"Robin, what on earth?" Terry motions around the room at the terrible messes covering everything.
"Where is Sayer?" Terry had a feeling who the culprit for most of this was.
"I don't know and I don't care." Robin folds his arms and leans in his doorway, just watching as Susan begins to clean up what once must have been a living room.
"Susan, don't." Terry stops her with an arm on her shoulder. He did not want his wife to clean up after his lazy brothers.
"Terry, darling, I don't mind-" Susan says up at him, wanting to help.
"Susan." Terry simply puts on that authoritative air, and Susan immediately stops her protest. Then he turns his attentions back to Robin.
"Robin, what has been-?" Terry begins to probe, sensing there was an underlying problem, more than just sheer laziness.
"He's impossible! I can't live with him. He said he won't clean up anything, unless I do half too! Why should I! It's HIS mess! Sayer and Alex party here at all hours of the night. And the landlord complains to ME for all their racket! I can't take it anymore. I'm just finishing my packing now. I'll be staying at Michelle's. I'm moving out, Terry. Without you here to-to- TAME him, or whatever you did. I can't handle Sayer on my own." Robin finishes his tirade, and slumps against the doorway again, his eyes angry.
Just then the doorbell rings and Michelle comes right in, announcing her entrance in melodious tones.
"Robin dear! I'm here with the chauffeur to pick up your - Oh!" She stops when she sees Terry and Susan.
"Susan! Terry!" She smiles, and rushes to Susan with a warm hug. She doesn't forget one for Terry too. "Tell me, how was it?" She asks curiously of Susan. Then with one critical look at her friend's dreamy, satisfied eyes, Michelle doesn't wait for the reply.
"Oh, Susan!" She whispers with a girlish giggle, "So lucky." Michelle was almost envious, seeing the utter contentment in Susan's eyes.
"I am so lucky." Susan hugs her back, joyously giggling as well. Then she returns to hanging on Terry's arm, as he strokes her long dark hair. Michelle didn't have to use her empathic powers to sense the loving bond between them. Michelle secretly hoped her own bond with Robin, already strong and true in heart, would also be something more. She was gleeful, that perhaps it might come to pass, as he would now be living at the mansion with her.
"Robin's coming to stay with me." Michelle says proudly, as Robin keeps coming in and out of his room, piling suitcases in the doorway.
"Robin." Terry attempts to talk him out of this rash decision, going into his brother's bedroom.
"Help me with this one, will you Terry?" He struggles with one particularly large, (overfilled with his excessive wardrobe) suitcase. Terry easily lifts it in one hand, always being the strongest of the three.
"I know Sayer can be difficult at times, but -" Terry tries to defend his not present, needy younger brother.
"I'm not you, Terry. I can't put up with all his craziness and do everything for him like you always have. I just can't. It's better this way, really. Maybe we won't argue as much if we're not always constantly in each other's hair." Robin was determined to leave. Without Terry to mediate between them (not to mention do all the cleaning and household chores) life in this apartment with Sayer was, in one word, impossible.
"Yes." Terry sighs, seeing the logic in his words. The relationship between Robin and Sayer might truly improve from what it's become now if they gave each other space, though for not a moment (not for a single second) did he regret his marriage which forced him to leave their bachelor apartment.
Terry knew Robin would be fine in his own finnicky, yet stable way, but he just wished there was something he could do to instill enough order into Sayer's wild soul that could allow him to be able to exist on his own, when he himself wasn't there to take care of him.
Without thinking, he finds himself cleaning up. It was his second nature to pick up after Sayer, and Susan quietly joins him, helping him clean up the coffee table as their hands touch wuth an understanding smile.
Michelle and Robin go into his room, gathering up the last of his belongings. The painting she had given him when they first moved in, not so long ago, was in her one arm, and Robin on her other.
"Let's get the chauffeur to carry these down." Michelle drags Robin out the door. "We're going now, but we're going to stop first on the way, to the hospital. Would you like to join us?" As she fixes her hair, in the one clean spot on the mirror.
"Hospital?" Susan says concerned.
"Oh, yes, you weren't here, were you?" Michelle says. In all the excitement of the day, she had forgotten to explain.
"The day you left, Tara received a phone call that her father had had another nervous breakdown. He arrived from Switzerland, escorted by nurses and his own personal physician the next day. As you know, Professor Tomoe, has never fully regained his strength. But they say it's more his mind that's been affected. Some kind of sensitive work he's been experimenting on for the Swiss government. And you know about his past." Michelle looks down, remembering the tragic story of Professor Tomoe's alien takeover a few years back.
"He still doesn't remember a thing about that, and they don't think he's stable enough now, to leave the hospital. Poor man." Michelle says sadly. Robin grips her hand in support. She gives him a weak smile in gratitude.
"How's Tara taking this?" Susan was worried for her young charge, who had already been through so much.
"Pretty hard." Robin says, truthfully. The sweet little girl's troubles had plucked even at his heartstrings.
"Oh no." Susan feels about to cry for her dear friend's sadness that she had tried to shield her from in this world.
"Let's visit her, all right?" Terry looks into his wife's saddened eyes, trying to make her smile. He succeeded somewhat, though his own heart was heavy. That child had become very special to him as well.
They follow Michelle and Robin out to the limo, as Terry wraps Susan in his arms protectively.
I hope your father will be better soon, Tara. Terry thinks, a little prayer for the young waif and her beloved "Papa" on his lips, as the limousine speeds off in the direction of the hospital.
Susan hangs on her husband's arm as they follow Michelle and Robin into the hospital and up the elevator to the floor where Professor Tomoe was located. Michelle and Robin had dropped Tara off at the hospital earlier, and they knew she would still be there, at her father's side. However, they were surprised to find the quiet father and daughter being entertained by two others they didn't expect to be seeing anytime soon after the big blow-up when last they met.
"Sayer." Robin says, his voice scratchy, giving his brother a disconcerting air.
"Amara." Michelle was secretly glad to see her cousin, after her traitorous siding with Robin had made Alex, who was always down on him, follow Sayer out when he had stormed off in a huff earlier.
The two pairs eye each other suspiciously across the room as Tara holds her father's hand. They were listening to the amusing stories Sayer had to offer, and Alex's tough guy attitude made her the perfect straight man for his stand-up comedy antics. They were trying to cheer up the sickly professor and his worried child.
"Susan! Terry!" Tara pushes past Michelle and Robin, her sad eyes light up when she spots the newlyweds, still hovering in the doorway. Rushing to them, she throws her slender arms around them both, enveloping them in a big bear hug.
"You're back!" She smiles, though Susan and Terry could still see the pain behind the smile. "I missed you." She squeezes Susan -her teacher, her mentor, her good friend - whom she had come to cherish dearly once again.
"We missed you too, Tara." Terry kneels down to her eye level and Tara turns to him, looks into his eyes and hugs him warmly. He hugs the child back tenderly, and he could feel sudden warm tears splashing on the back of his neck. Tara felt a safe presence in his arms, and lets her held back emotions go, for she was so terribly crushed about her father's sudden illness she was.
"Shh. Shh, little soldier." Terry strokes her hair as Tara quickly composes herself and no one else notices her tears through her smile. She forces herself to giggle gleefully.
"Susan, come see the funny present Alex and Sayer brought Papa and I." She tugs Susan's arm towards the contraption on the table at the other end of the room. With comical representations of little farm animals hopping up and down, it was a cute little mechanical farm scene.
"Ohhh!" Tara remembers herself halfway there, and turns Susan forward to face her father. He was watching the scene before him with interested eyes.
"Susan, Terry," She looks up to her friends as Terry walks up to the bed, casually putting an arm around his new wife, "this is my Papa." She smiles at him lovingly and proudly. Professor Tomoe, with great effort it seemed, props himself up on the hospital bed, and offers the couple a polite smile.
"It's very nice to meet the two people Tara has written to me most about in her letters as of late." He holds out his hand in greeting, and Terry shakes the weak man's hand gently. "I'm glad you've come back safe from your travels abroad. Tell me, how was Italy? It's been many years since I was last there…." A spacey tone overtakes his voice and the distant look in his eye makes apparent his weakened mental state to all those around.
"It was wonderful." Susan's beautiful smile brings him back to this time and place.
"And it's very nice to meet you as well, Professor. Tara has told us much about you." Terry's low, congenial voice calms the Professor's mind as well.
"Isn't Susan as pretty as I told you, Papa?" Tara says cheerfully, going to her father's side.
"She is indeed beautiful, my darling. She reminds me a lot of your mother when she was that age." Tomoe's mind often wandered to happier times when he had everything and his beloved wife still with him.
"Thank you." Susan blushes at the compliment. Terry was proud of his sensational beauty and squeezes her shoulders tenderly.
"What do you mean he's coming to live with us!?" Alex's low rumbling thunder breaks through the pleasant conversation taking place on the other side of the hospital room. Michelle looks alarmed at her friend's embarrassing outburst.
"Amara, just because Sayer's being difficult doesn't mean you have to follow suit." She knew she could strike a nerve words with those rhetorical words.
"I'm not following anyone." Alex says defiantly. "It's just the thought of that shrimp living with us in your -" She starts to explain the source of her uneasiness on this subject, instead of shouting it into Michelle's head.
"Good. Then it's settled." Michelle says sweetly, shutting Alex's tirade down curtly.
"Robin will come and stay with us. And Sayer can have that entire disaster area of an apartment to himself. See? It all works out splendidly." Michelle coos, as Alex twists her lips and eyes her French cousin's motives suspiciously.
"That sounds good to me." Robin says, sick and tired of Sayer so much that he didn't realize that, just maybe, he was jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire with Alex - and Michelle.
"Yeah, me too." Sayer says, with a huff. He crosses his arms, and shoots Robin a nasty stare. "I don't want to live with you anymore, either."
"Good." Robin says, crossing his arms too.
"Good." Sayer repeats, and the two boys turn back to back, refusing to even look at each other.
Terry is about to apologize for their bad behavior in front of company. Especially one whom they should show some respect for, but he is suddenly cut off with Professor Tomoe's soft chuckling.
"I do like your young brothers, Mr. Starr." He says to Terry, laughing at their childishness.
"They are so full of life." He smiles, wistfully looking from the argumentative boys to Terry and Susan, and wishes for the happier days of his own youth.
"Please, Professor, call me Terry." Terry offers respectively, giving the older man his due.
"Yes, Terry." The Professor nods, accepting the respect, gaining some of his own for the uncommonly genteel young man who did not seem so young. His very demeanor gave off a responsible, adult mood. His lovely wife was of the same character it seemed.
The Professor considered himself a good judge, and knew it right away they were trustworthy people.
"Have you two moved into your new house yet?" He says, making pleasant conversation, when he is startled by the warning look of his daughter's big violet eyes.
"Papa." Tara whispers and puts a finger to her lips.
"Oh, did I ruin the surprise?" He says guiltily, covering his mouth.
"Surprise?" Terry asks, curious to all the secrecy going on.
"Oh well. Now is as good a time as any to tell you." Michelle yanks Alex with her across the room, and faces Terry and Susan, standing next to Tara. "Amara and Tara and I have decided to give you two newlyweds a special wedding present." Michelle says, giggling excitedly. She had totally forgotten the heated argument between her love and his brother only seconds ago. She elbows Alex with her arm and Alex whips out a set of keys from her back pocket, and holds them out to the puzzled couple.
"The house is yours." Alex says, dropping the keys in Terry's unsuspecting hand.
"The house?" Terry says in disbelief. "But Michelle, Alex, we can't-" He says, shocked at the enormous gift they were offering.
"Of course you can, silly!" Michelle adds, and grabs hold of him, kissing him on the cheek playfully. "It is our wedding gift to you!" She hugs and kisses a dazed Susan as well.
"Oh, Terry!" Susan looks up, bursting with happiness, at her husband.
"That house is exactly what I've been wanting." Susan never felt more at home anywhere than at the home she'd been staying in for the past year. It had special memories in it - being the first place they had found each other and where had Terry kissed her for the first time.
"Michelle, Alex, Tara," Susan turns to each of her dearest friends and squeezes both their hands in hers gratefully. "Thank you so so much." She smiles, already imagining what each room would be, what it would look like and what life she and Terry could enjoy in each one.
"Thank you all. It is very generous of you." Terry says, that house having the same special meaning to him as well.
"Not at all!" Michelle waves it off. After all, it was only money and if she could make her dearest friends happy with it, Michelle considered it worthwhile.
"We're all going to be very happy at my mansion. And we're not that so very far away. It's only a few miles. That is, if you two would ever want for the company." Michelle says, her voice so high and flirtatious, with her eyes getting heavy lidded at Terry and Susan. Susan blushes femininely in the protection of her husband's chest.
Saying nothing of their conversation with the professor, but gladly accepting the responsibilities to come, they allow Tara's father break the news to her in his own way. Terry and Susan look fondly upon the loving daughter and her dutiful father with saddened eyes, knowing of the future, heartbreaking separation soon to come.
Hoping little Tara would be able to cope with it, the two of them wordlessly promise to try to make room for Tara in their new lives together. It was not so difficult to think, for both Terry or Susan cared for this child very very much - Terry, in his responsible paternal role, and Susan in her protective motherly fashion.
Susan muses these thoughts as the group bids farewell to the sickly professor, leaving the hospital all together. But, Robin and Michelle, after a few harsh words exchanged with Sayer and Alex, depart to Michelle's luxurious mansion on the edge of the cliff, overlooking the ocean.
They begin to move Robin "in" the mansion, as Alex takes the rest of the hospital visitors in her Ferrari back to the Three Lights' (well, now only "One" Light's) apartment, this time to pick up some traveling bags filled with goodies and surprises to cheer up a depressed Tara.
In addition, they want to finish clearing out Terry's room. That would leave the whole spacious three-bedroom apartment to one single bachelor who had no idea how to cook or clean, or do anything by way of caring for himself.
"Since Terry and Susie and 'Shell and Rob are now…gonna be living together…and I'm uhh, gonna be all on my own, you wouldn't by any chance…want to…ummm…huh, Ally?" Sayer asks timidly as he continues to clean by strict orders from Terry as Alex stands over him as guard to make sure he does so, though she does not lift one finger to help. She vowed a long time ago never to clean up after any man.
Terry had to stop his own Susan and Tara from bowing and scraping to his lazy brother, who had to learn to fend for himself now. This leaves Sayer alone to clean his pig sty of a room as he pulls two week old undershirts and socks from under the bed.
"Live? With you?" Alex says incredulously, as in amused disgust she picks up some of his discarded clothing and dumps them on the pile of clothes building up in the hall.
"Do you think I'm crazy?" Alex didn't care, and knew darn well that Sayer didn't either, knowing that people may look down upon a couple of singles living together, though it may be completely innocent.
But appearances aren't why I'm refusing, are they? Alex watches Sayer's comical attempts at making his bed, still surprised at how one person who was so adept at any sport you could throw at him, and talented with any musical instrument imaginable, could be so inept at the regular chores of life.
You can see he's been spoiled. His brother must make the bed for him every morning…and get his laundry done and do all the other cleaning required to run this place. No way I would do that. She thinks, almost chuckling as Sayer falls flat on his face. The bedspread, at last satisfactory, was getting all wrinkled and mussed again. Sayer's swearing could be heard muffled against the red striped comforter.
I'd be crazy to consider it. She can't believe herself for even allowing such an unchecked thought into her mind. But Alex can't help but smile a little wistfully in his direction, when he wasn't looking of course. She knew that living here with him would mean to be with him all the time. It wasn't a completely unwelcome thought but…that's not what I want.
Once again, she feels the emotions roiling within her on the subject of her relationship with this perplexing man.
Why can't I think straight when I'm with you? Alex shakes her head at herself. Never, before she met him, had she felt such uncertainties. The only thing that was certain then, was that love would be her downfall. But, even on that, now, she wasn't so sure.
"So…the answer is no?" Sayer looks up, finally finishing the bed, this time with (was that hope?) written on his features. His face was so cute when he asked her something, and he was trying to be dead serious.
"Any one would have to be crazy to put up with you." Alex catches sight of a rolled up T-shirt peeking out from beneath the dresser.
"Oh, Ally! You hurt me right-" Sayer was dramatically putting on a show, hand on wounded heart. He didn't want it to seem like he was disappointed or anything. He was still wondering what exactly this tough lady wanted from him, when SMACK!
The red T-shirt whacks him right across the head, thrown so hard it knocks the perfectly placed and plumped pillow from the bed.
"You're gonna get it now, Sokova!" His eyes light up in that way she loved, as Alex ducks out of the room. Laughing, as she lets him catch her in the hall and allows his "punishing" kiss to run right through her.
Tara finds the pair in the hallway and hurries towards them. "Look! Have you seen what Susan and Terry gave me?" She holds up a bracelet, from Italy.
"Yes. It is lovely, kitten." Alex admires the pretty charm, swallowing a vit of shame as Sayer takes the hint and scurries away to get back to his cleaning.
"I'm glad they're married now. Terry and Susan love each other very much, don't they?" She says dreamily.
"Yes, I believe so." Alex slowly answers, lost in thought. She was reflecting on her own thoughts of the matter.
Susan and Terry seem to have strong feelings for each other - trust in one another. Do I feel that for Sayer?
She glances back across the hall into the kitchen he escaped to, as, at least in a first attempt, Sayer begins to load the dishes in the dishwasher. He tries his best to clean up and prove to Alex that he wasn't worthless, and that maybe someday there would be a woman with golden hair who wouldn't think herself crazy for wanting to be with him, as he glaces back to wink at her.
I don't know. Alex smiles at his sweetness, the determined look upon his face so cute, even as he drops a glass in the sink and cuts himself. I think I need more time to find out. I think I need more commitment. Always suspicious of men, and especially this one, with an established track record - and all with her closest friends no less - Alex still amazes herself that she could be interested in him at all. Until, when going to him, and sucking the shards of glass from his hand and wrist, she sees the scar from the blade of the sword that was also plunged into her flesh in their first battle upon re-meeting. It was still there from when he had carried her in his arms and showed her his soft side.
Then she realizes impending death made you face what you would normally shield yourself from. And that maybe, just maybe, she could trust him. That maybe she could care for him. And maybe, maybe, she could love him.
As they gaze into each other's eyes, they try to see what the other was thinking.
"Starr, keep that cut clean, and the rest of this place, too, if you think you can handle it. We best be going. Come, Tara, Michelle will be wondering." As in a goodbye of sorts, Alex challenges Sayer to rise to the occasion of his new household duties, she herself anxiously doing the wondering as to Michelle and Robin.
"Are you two done packing yet?" Alex authoratively turns on her heel to collect her passengers. Tara gives Sayer's longing look a shy smile, then looks out the window of the living room towards the hospital where her father lay, the smile wavering a bit.
For each of them had such unknown futures lying ahead of them.
A little while later, after Terry and Susan finish packing the remainder of his things, Alex and Tara help them load it all into the Ferrari and the group drives off to Susan and Terry's final wedding present. The present was the treasured house they could now call their very own, that they could fill with happy sounds and the light of their love.
Even Alex knew that, for some silly reason, the first entrance into a new place of residence together for a married couple was an age-old tradition, so she hustles Tara off, seeing that was best left for the happy couple to share on their own. Besides, Alex was anxious to get back to the mansion, where she left Michelle and Robin, doing goodness-knows-what.
So Alex merely drops the couple's bags on the front walk and she and Tara wave a swift goodbye to the newlyweds, leaving them standing afront their new house together as they sun sets behind it, and a soft breeze blows through the multitudes of trees surrounding. It made this secluded hideaway all the more romantic now, that it was to be their first home together.
Watching his wife's wistful expression as she gazes at the house, as if she had never seen it before, with new eyes, Terry feels the same way. The place had a warmer, more homey feel about it now. And he lifts her, sweeping Susan off her feet so easily, as she hangs onto his neck and Terry holds her up with one arm. He opens the door with the other and throws it open, carrying his beautiful wife over the threshold, kissing her sweetly as he closes the door behind them.
"There. Now it's sealed with our kiss." He says with his poetical, romantic manner. He lowers her down slowly and kisses her again as he does. The house already seems to glow with their light. Susan shows her new husband around the house (as if he hadn't been there before), exploring it all over again. She now totally forgot the first time she herself arrived here, and the lonely feelings of that distant day, all wiped away by the splendor of today-with the feeling of utter belonging to him.
"Here. This can be the conservatory music room for you to write your music in. You can put a piano right here by the skylight, so you can see the stars as you play." Susan lifts her love's musical fingers and presses them to her lips adoringly, eager to hear the melodic strains of a piano echoing through the halls, knowing he would play wonderfully for her.
"And Alex's old room can be your library." Susan smiles up, trying to please him as much as she possibly could. "We'll put up some shelves and cabinets and fill them with novels and books of all sorts. And poetry! Don't forget the poetry. I want to fill this house with your beautiful poetry." Susan spins, spreading her arms out, for she was so proud of Terry's seemingly endless talents—especially the ones he used for her.
"My lady, you're too good to me." Terry kisses in her hair, wondering what he's done to deserve such a noble creature. "I think you're excited, aren't you?" He asks, inside he was excited by her excitement.
"Very." Susan whispers, her eyes lighting up, when she passes by Michelle's former room—the last one in the house for her to fill. She of course left Tara's room, dining room and living room the same.
"What's this one going to be now?" He playfully wraps his arms around his wife, seeing her mind going a mile a minute at new ideas for this last vacant room.
"Oh, just a guest room, Terry darling." Susan quickly covers up. In her mind, in her heart, she knew what she wanted this one to be. She planned to paint the walls a happy light lavender, making it so bright and cheery, with a cute little border of baby deer and other sweet creatures hanging. She eventually planned to move the bed out and a cradle in….
Susan sighs blissfully, not letting her husband notice.
"Now we have a library, a conservatory, a guest room, Tara's room, the kitchen, living room and dining room still, of course." Terry motions around the house from where they stood, still in the hall. "But I don't think you've mentioned what this last room here is going to be." Terry teases playfully, opening the door to the bedroom Susan had called her own, but was now willing to share with another.
"Oh this room?" She teases back. "Maybe we can just use it for storage, or maybe…" Her eyes light up in mischief as her hands touch his chest.
"Or maybe?" Terry asks, as he gently releases the bun in her hair, as it cascades around her shoulders.
"Maybe it could be our bedroom." Susan whispers lowly.
"What about the suitcases, my love?" Terry says in between kisses.
"They'll be fine until tomorrow. We won't be needing anything until then." She says as Terry carries her into the room and shuts the door behind them.
And the new house sighs itself, pleased that finally these lovers could finish what began so long ago, in this house of endless dreams.
Meanwhile, a few miles down the road on the edge of the coastline, a storm was brewing. But not outside under the clear cast starry night, rather inside the spacious mansion atop the hill's crest. A singular young man within, who had come here earlier for refuge, was right at the moment wishing he was anywhere else - the moon for instance would be preferable to what he's had to endure the past few hours.
As much in love with Michelle as he could be, Robin was still unwilling to do everything she wanted, for he now had her parents to answer to as well. They gave him strict "hands-off" orders, until something more permanent could be established in the next year's passage of time. And on top of all that, to add to his difficult relationship with Michelle, was Alex. And Alex was one woman who was always sure to make her opinions on every subject clear - and then pound you on the head with it.
The unpacking was done in peace, until Michelle decided to just happen to go through Robin's underclothes drawer, moving everything back and forth between the chest and the dresser, and driving poor Robin absolutely batty, until she suddenly decided to forgo the rest of her packing. She then asked Robin if the bed was comfortable enough with the sweetest eyes filled with concern for him and his well being.
Robin, with a sigh, decided it was easier to just oblige her and lie on the bed a moment, swearing of it's suitable comfort zone. However, he finds Michelle suddenly appearing on top of him on the bed as well. Her well buttoned up blouse had a few too many buttons undone, her curls also were loosened from the ponytail she was sporting just moments ago. And there was a wicked look in her blue eyes to boot.
"Michelle. The bed is very comfortable. Let's finish the unpacking, okay?" Robin tries the gentle approach, and attempts to push her off, but finds her hands steely clamped to the bedding beneath them both.
"Aren't you going to thank me for my hospitality, Robin dear?" Michelle was bursting with giggly excitement.
"Thank you." Robin says simply, offering only a smile—sort of—to the disappointment in her eyes, at his unresponsive behavior. For some reason, it made him feel rather like a cad. Her tantalizing French perfume and her rather pinkish, moist lips, made him feel a little vulnerable and something else too…
Robin amazes himself as he wraps arms around Michelle's back. Seeing the pleased look come to her eyes at his touch, stretches his neck up and tastes her moist lips. He feels the warmth of her body press against his...
"Michelle, get off him right now." Michelle keeps her eyes closed for an extra second before obeying, as she knew she must, knowing it was all too good to be true.
"Amara, dear! I didn't hear you come in." Michelle jumps up and combs her hair back into position, feeling like a little girl caught in a candy dish. Well, it was almost something that sweet. She sighs and gives Alex a fake, innocent smile.
"I know you didn't." Alex twists her lip with a dark, angry look in her eye. She crosses the room to her wayward friend and tugs her unbuttoned shirt firmly closed. She rougly buttons it up and angrily gives Robin an evil glare the entire time.
"I don't think that you should be staying here if you can't…behave yourself." Alex says authoritatively to Robin, protective of her dear cousin.
"Amara, it's not his fault. I was just excited with all the unpacking and such. That's all. Nothing happened. Really." Michelle tries one of her wily smiles on Alex who herself knew how difficult life was now that they had accepted these men. She can't help but be a little more lenient than she would've been before. Which meant not killing Robin Starr dead - maybe.
"Uh huh." Alex noticed, before she stopped them, that that shrimp wasn't doing too badly himself in the romance area. She had a good bird's eye view of what his hands were up and down to.
"Out, Michelle." Alex forcefully pushes her cousin out the door. I'm going to have a little talk with our guest here." She says, smirking at Robin, who upon her arrival, had immediately jumped up and thrown himself into the business of unpacking and folding clothes.
"Listen, Shrimp. I know you've got a problem because you're a man now and can't control yourself. But that doesn't mean you can just waltz in here and take advantage of the situation that you caused." Alex says, laying the blame for everything upon him.
"I caused! It's Sayer's fault for being so…so…." Robin searches for the word that best described his impossible brother.
"It's not him I'm talking about." Alex cuts Robin off, her unexpected defense of his horrid brother made Robin emboldened towards her.
"Oh? Aren't you?" Robin sneers, an evil look coming to his eyes. "I don't think you can tell Michelle and I what to do when you and Sayer are…" He trails off, smugly, snidely and insinuating, he revels in Alex's shocked look, thinking he upped her for once. He gets a bad feeling when her face turns, a dark cloud over it.
"You know what, shrimp? I'm glad you're going to be staying here. Because you just signed your own death warrant. I'm going to make your life a living hell. And when I'm done with you, you're going to wish you never were born." She smirks, the look in her eyes making Robin believe her every word - that every threat - was no bluff.
The few short hours he was here already, he was already wishing for escape…..
Early the next morning, Sayer is awakened by a crashing sound at the front door. He shrugs it off as part of his dream and goes right back to sleep. Back to his dream where he and Ally were speeding down the road on her motorcycle. They had hit a huge rut, causing them both to go flying, landing in soft grasses. Her eyes were ablaze invitingly and….
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
The crash at the door turns into explosive knocking and Sayer trudges out of bed, silently swearing at his interrupted dreaming, and flings open the door to find a worn out and disheveled Robin standing there. Bags were loaded in his hands and feet, as well as dark under his eyes.
"I lost my key." He says simply, pushing past Sayer and walking into the apartment. He drops his full suitcases on the ground, and plops down on the couch in sheer exhaustion, believing he'd never be able to sleep a wink again after the night of terror he had endured.
"You want some orange juice? Looks like you can use some." Sayer goes into the kitchen and pours them both a glass each. He brings one to Robin and slumps across from him on the other couch.
"Thanks." Robin accepts and takes a large gulp. Then he looks up, a sudden quizzical look on his frazzled features. "How come you're not surprised I'm back?" Robin asks his brother wonderingly.
"'Cause I knew you would be." He gives Robin a sideways smile. He downs his juice and goes out the door, picks up the Sunday paper on the front step.
"Ally?" Sayer asks knowingly. Leafing through the paper, he chucks all the unimportant parts to the ground until he reaches what he was looking for — the funnies - keeping the sports page tucked safely underneath.
Robin holds the cold glass of orange juice to his throbbing head when he nods. "Alex." He repeats. Her name was one of his stand-offish terms. Sayer's fond name of "Ally" for her was quite unacceptable to him- - Yuck! He sighs, closing his eyes and leans his head back against the couch.
"She's a tough lady." Sayer says, almost proudly.
"That's one word for it." Robin tries to forget last night's barrage of attacks on him by that "tough" lady.
"You and me again then, Rob?" Sayer asks, flipping through the sports section without even looking up at his brother.
Sigh.
"You and me."
Sigh. Robin decided to go with the easier of the two evils. Even if he's messy, at least Sayer doesn't terrorize me.
"All right, then. That means half the housework is yours. I'll make my bed and do all the dusting. You do the dishes and the laundry. We'll order take-out. I don't trust your cooking either. So that's the deal, okay?" Sayer states as he turns his attention back to the comic strips.
Robin twists his lip, feeling somehow that he had gotten the short end of the stick, but just sighs. He thought that a little bit of cleaning couldn't be half as bad as facing the golden dragon again on the other side of the coin.
"Yeah. whatever." Robin lets it go, knowing that if he was going to live with Sayer again, he would probably end up doing all of the work anyway, so why argue? Besides, in a strange way, he had missed his brother's midnight hauntings, and loud snoring. It kind of gave everything a sense of normalcy. Robin smiles to himself. He was used to Sayer's strangeness by now and much preferred it to Alex's bluster.
"Good." Sayer smiles brightly at Robin. "And since I did all your jobs yesterday. You can start by making my bed and doing all the dusting too. It's only fair." Sayer states, and goes back to his funnies. He breaks out in raucous laughter at the latest offering of the Peanuts gang.
Oh yes. Robin sighs, getting up and going into his room. He decided to let Sayer win for today, for tomorrow was another day for arguments. Everything is back to normal. He messily makes Sayer's bed, just throwing the pillow on top, when he spots something new he'd never seen before on Sayer's cluttered night stand.
"You are something from out of this world, do you know that!?" He says, and makes a frown face at the color photo. Clipped out of a sports page was a young, golden haired race car driver who had just won the latest race a week ago. Robin shakes his head as he finishes making the bed. In a last stroke, he "accidentally" knocks the picture to the floor as he leaves.
But it lands face up and Alex Sokova's dazzling smile still looks up at him tauntingly, triumphantly, even as he leaves the room.
Sayer disappears soon after he gets changed to meet somewhere or the other with Alex. Robin enjoys some peace and quiet for himself alone at the apartment, while Terry spends some quality time with Susan at their new home, on this last day of their vacation before the Three Lights would have to go back to work.
Mr. Pym had already thrown a fit at them and their two and a half-straight weeks of goofing off. He wanted the boys to be prompt and early Monday morning for a full day's work at the recording studio.
Terry and Susan enjoy their last day planning out what goes where in the house's now empty rooms (Susan actually does all the directing), and Terry, very husbandly, moves the furniture about to where she points. And then moving it all back again when she very womanly changes her mind. He does so uncomplainingly for he loved to do things for her. Anything she wanted was at his command and she receives a full breakfast in bed, served quite lovingly with his adept hands.
After breakfast, they visit the furniture store in town, buying odds and ends to fill their home. They stop by a prominent music store whose manager was more than pleased to be providing a gleaming white, gold trimmed grand piano to the Three Lights' own Terry Starr. Susan chose the style and color of the piano so very tastefully. The manager even personally saw that the grand instrument would be delivered to their house that very afternoon while the young couple completed their furniture shopping. Terry stops along the way in many shops on the road buying Susan everything a good wife deserved plus more than a few extras, such as jewelry and clothing. Susan blushed at his attention and thanked him wholeheartedly with kisses and embrace.
On the way home, Susan requests a quick stop at the supermarket, so she could prepare the most delicious meal of Terry's choice for the first home cooked meal in their happy home by her loving hands. Terry pushes the shopping cart for her as Susan fills it to the brim with everything she believes her man would like. She desperately wanted to be as good a wife as he deserved. Terry himself was proud to show her off as his wife now to every passing fan or store employee.
Upon arriving back at the house, they find the piano exactly where they described. He only had to push it a little bit to the left at Susan's request. She sighs with adoration at his strength.
Terry endlessly compliments his Susan's culinary skills after dinner and he insists on helping with the dishes. They both thoroughly enjoy even this mundane tasks, because they were together now. Terry steals a kiss between dishes as the evening quickly passes.
Returning to the conservatory, Susan lounges on the settee they had just purchased. It suited the room perfectly next to the stately grand piano. Terry plays a beautiful melody, all romantic themed. Adding to the perfectly tuned strains of the musical instrument, his own voice sings as he plays for Susan alone. His eyes dance upon his lovely lady as she lay before him on the settee to the sound of his beautiful voice. The words coming from his lips she knew were meant just for her. Seeing the wistful look on her face, Terry begins to play their melody, the one that has been Susan's for all time. The one he has come to know and share in her eternal love theme that was once lonely and sad, and now had become triumphant and fulfilled. All because of their love, to which even time itself could stand no boundaries against.
As he finishes the last glorious strains, he leaves the piano and goes to his audience, touching her cheek softly, only to find it moistened with tears.
"My love?" He whispers, kneeling down to her level, taking her hands within his.
"Thank you, Terry darling." She opens her eyes, still glistening with happy tears. "Thank you." She whispers, kissing the hands that were wrapped around hers.
"For what, my darling?" Terry kisses her cheeks, her eyes, taking the tears from them.
"For loving me." She whispers, gliding into his open arms, kissing him, holding him tightly to her, knowing that he was now and forever hers to love in return. "I love you." Susan murmurs as Terry carries her to their bedroom.
"And I love you." He responds breathlessly as he kisses her lips.
Asleep hours later, with Susan pulled close to his chest, Terry smiles with adoration down at her. He strokes the soft locks of her hair. She was most important thing in his life, pledging his everything to her silently, all over again, when he suddenly recalls another pledge to another lady. Though the circumstances were different and the feelings not the same, a noble creature like Terry can't help but feel guilty. The life, the soul, the allegiance he promised to Susan now, was once promised to another Princess alone.
To Princess Fireball, whom he left so readily a galaxy away. Though his mind was riddled with guilt over his and his brothers' abandonment of their Lady of the Stars, Terry knew deep in his heart that he could never give up what he had found with Susan.
For their souls were now one and his love for her eternal. He could not imagine a life without his beloved wife. And for all that, his responsible heart felt selfish and ashamed.
Forgive me, my Princess, my Lady, my Ruler. But another now owns my soul…. Terry closes his eyes, wishing that he could explain somehow to the Princess and tell her that he still loved her, that she too was still important to him. He wished that she could understand somehow, some way that his love for Susan was an overwhelming force beyond anything he had ever known. This Princess of Pluto was the missing half of his soul he had always longed for.
I understand, Maker. I understand. Fireball's soft voice enters his mind gently. Though she was sad and they were gone, she was joyous her beloved soldier had found true happiness at last. Worry not, my beloved. Find peace in the life you now lead. You are still with me in my heart and I will forever be with you in yours, my chosen one. As I myself have now found too, love is eternal. Her scent, her soft words, her very presence sets Terry's troubled mind at ease. He thanks her silently, knowing why his bond, his love for his cherished leader would always be strong. For her kindness, her compassion and her understanding of each of their souls was a blessing.
Thank you, my Lady. Thank you. Terry opens his eyes and gazes lovingly at the beautiful creature resting peacefully on his chest. She was a delicate beauty, God had given her to him, and he loved her dearly. And now, he was certain that his Princess wanted it to be this way, and that she was somewhere far away smiling down upon their love.
"Thank you." Terry whispers out loud, stroking Susan, and holds her closely, deeply, truly, inside his heart.
Monday morning dawns on our newly wedded couple. Terry had to pull himself out of bed for once in his life. He seemed unwilling to leave Susan's side, as she wrapped her arms around him, not wanting to let him go. But finally, he pulls away, both feeling the loneliness of their first separation.
As he drives away, she runs into the kitchen and bursts into tears, her brave smile fading.
Hours pass and Susan believes herself to be silly. All housewives must bid farewell to their husbands every day. It's just a few more hours. Then I'll be with him again.
Trying to busy herself with the decorating, Susan keeps glancing at the clock ticking so slowly by today. For she, the official keeper of time, believed truly it was slower today than any other, as she tries to keep her mind on the "secret" project in the guestroom. Somehow, yesterday, when Terry was talking to the furniture movers, explaining where everything was to be placed in their absence, Susan had made a special request of the store manager, to include something extra in the package.
"And please don't breathe a word of this to my husband, it's a surprise." She had told him and he happily obliged. Surprise it would be, for Susan herself didn't know, but was very eager to learn. She knew Terry would welcome it, and it would please him.
Thinking about Terry, she could no longer take the loneliness as she jumps up, gathering her things together and leaving the guestroom, whose bed had been removed, leaving only a brand new baby's cradle standing in the middle of the otherwise vacant room.
Across town, in the recording studio, the Three Lights had been hard at work all morning, arranging and singing and laying out their newest compositions to record. Usually the calm, level headed one of the bunch, Sayer and Robin find Terry growing more and more anxious with each passing hour. He had very little patience when things went wrong (as it often did in his eyes, Terry was a bit of a perfectionist when it came to his own work). It raised the level of the tension in the room to a feverish pitch.
Sayer and Robin (not the most even-tempered people in the world) were even taken aback by their brother's most uncommon state of mind.
"Hey, Ter. You all right?" Sayer asks, putting a brotherly hand on Terry's shoulder as they go into the office to drop off some papers, about to take their lunch break.
"Yes. I'm fine, of course." Terry says, too quickly, and puts on a forced smile as the crews working with them eagerly clear out for a well-deserved luncheon.
"Yeah, well, you're not acting like -" Robin begins to complain of Terry's uptight manner when a knock comes at the door.
"Come in." Terry says, almost expectantly, cutting off Robin as he feels his insides suddenly catch flame at the sight of the person just entering the room.
"Terry." Susan whispers, her own feelings mirroring his. "I-I brought you some lunch." She stumbles over her words, and walks over to him. She lays his sandwich on the desk.
"Thank you." Terry nods, not seeming to know what he was saying. Susan nervously squeezes her hands together, a bundle of energy.
Sayer and Robin begin to exchange blinking glances at the strange way Terry and Susan were acting in front of them. Susan, embarrassed, catches their gazes. "I brought you boys something too. I hope you like ham sandwiches." Her fingers quickly dig inside the bag, and she hands out two hurriedly wrapped sandwiches to Sayer and Robin, who look at each other, then back to Terry and Susan before accepting them.
"Gee. Thanks, Susie." Sayer shrugs, never looking a gift sandwich in the mouth. He hungrily unwraps it and takes a big bite. "Good!" He smiles gratefully, and it suddenly dawns on him what the look in Susan's eye meant.
"Yeah…..Thanks." Robin eyes the sandwich in his hands, about to sit down on the couch and see if it was edible enough for him to eat it. But Sayer's yanking hand, pulling him up towards the door, surprises him.
"Well, uh, I think we'll maybe go and, uh, take our one hour break." Sayer says, wondering if either Terry or Susan was even listening to him.
"We'll have lunch break in the cafeteria with the crew, okay? So, we'll see you guys, later, all right? And, uh, thanks for the sandwiches, Susie." Sayer says with a small blush on his cheeks as he pulls a grumbling Robin out the door with him, complaining already of having to eat with the crew.
Terry quickly closes the door behind them and Susan rushes into his arms. They embrace and kiss as though they hadn't seen each other in years, completely forgetting about the sandwiches.
As Sayer and Robin leave, Robin whines, curious as to why they left so suddenly.
"Sayer, why did you have to pull my arm off getting out of that room? We have the right the be there as much as they do!"
"Rob, don't you have any tact? Geez. The two lovebirds want to be alone!"
"What for?" Robin asks, puzzled. "They were just alone this morning and nearly every second for the past few weeks."
"Wow. Is marriage that good?" Sayer asks, more to himself than to Robin as he plops down to take a big bite of his sandwich.
"I doubt it." A foreboding thought enters poor Robin's cool mind. "I don't even want to think about it." He slowly unwraps his ham.