"Well isn't this a lovely surprise..." Raye said sarcastically as she sat herself in a seat next to Jed, and across from Darien. "Good to see you're still alive." She said with a smirk. "For a minute we thought you caught something from one of your patients and ended up in complete isolation."

"Raye you said if he was here you would be nice." Jed scolded.

"Well I didn't actually expect for him to be here." She shrugged.

"It's fine Raye, he probably won't be staying very long anyways." Lita said taking the seat next to her. "Serena isn't going to be here, so he can go back to work, the stuff that he actually likes doing."

"Lita!" Mina scolded.

"What she's not here. And we know the reason he is here is because he's expecting her. Now he can leave and now we don't have to tip toe around the him."

"Lita just stop, please." Malachite calmly asked as he took the empty seat next to Darien.

"You brought back up. Nice." Lita said throwing her purse over the back of her chair.

Mina quickly glanced up at Malachite and gave him a soft smile. His eyes locked with hers and he smiled back.

"So why isn't Serena coming?" Raye asked unintentionally breaking the moment.

"She can't answer that. Ex lover boy is here. And we told her we wouldn't say!" Lita interrupted.

"Leet, I know we promised, but he deserves to know this much." She placed both her hands on the table and and ran it across the menu, smoothing out a the already straightened page. "She's not here because she had a really hard night last night Darien."

"And yes we blame you." Lita added.

He ignored her. "What do you mean, she had a hard night?" His posture straightened.

"Well, it is not unexpected, but." She exhaled. "As you know her follicles are growing and she is feeling really bloated. She was really uncomfortable last night." Mina explained. "Her body is just really small, the injection sites are getting sore It was actually really sad. She was trying really hard not to cry."

"She must have had the worst time sleeping. And today was her first day, poor thing." Raye added.

"First day? First day for what?" Darien was confused.

Everyone turned and looked at him. They couldn't tell if he was being stupid, if he too was just exhausted he forgot, or if he really didn't know.

"Darien...what else would she have a first day for? It was her first day at her new job." Amy said cheerily as her and Greg came in. "Sorry we are late guys. Work has been crazy and I wanted to check in on Serena before we got in. She was so excited for today."

"You're fine Aimes." Raye waved. "You really had no idea she got a job?" Raye asked. "How else was she going to pay rent?"

"You didn't expect her to come crawling back to you because you were her only source of income Did you?" Lita interrupted.

"Well I don't know, I really didn't think of that I guess." He glanced down to his menu and tried to focus on the options. He is not sure why he even bothered, he really was going to leave since she wasn't here. He cleared his throat. "What did she get a job doing?"

"Oh my god." Mina exhaled. "You really wrapped up in your own world these last years haven't you Darien?"

"Mina..."Malachite could tell that she was on the brink of exploding on Darien.

"Don't Mina me. This whole time I took your side, and I was defending you. I told her over and over that she was over reacting." she shook her head. "I am going to go to the bar to get a drink."

"Mina the waiter will be here any minute."

"No Amy if I sit here with this fool for another minute I am going to punch him." She smirked. "Think of this as me doing Serena a favor, because if I hit him, he may press charges. If he presses charges, I won't be able to pay rent." She scooted her chair back. Stood up. Pulled down her skirt and was off towards the bar.

"Someone please tell me why that went zero to 100 so quick." Darien anxiously shouted.

"Neither of you two speak." Amy interrupted both Raye and Lita. "I will explain." she turned to Darien. Folded her hands across the table. "Darien did you have any idea that Serena went back to school to get her certificate in teaching?" She waited for him to respond. He said nothing. She exhaled. "She told us you had to work the day of her graduation...you had no idea she graduated did you?"

Everyone looked at Darien. Malachite shook his head. He knew Darien enough to know what the answer was.

"I am going to take your silence as you had no idea."

"This is unbelievable." Almost comical" Lita threw her hands up. "This is our future king ladies."

Darien looked back on all the nights he came home to a light on in the office. Some nights he would find Serena asleep behind the computer. He always just assumed she had fallen asleep playing some sort of online game.

"And you wonder why she left you?" Raye sarcastically asked crossing her arms.

"Raye." Jed put his hand on her lap, signally her to stop.

"What?" Raye asked innocently as she shot a glare at Darien.

"You guys were right. She is not here, so I really have no reason to be here." He scooted his chair back. He tossed his keys to Malachite. "I will call cab."

"Dare, come on! I can go too." Malachite insisted.

"No, you stay." He got up. Put on his coat. "I just need a minute to think and process..."

"Just tell the truth did you just get a page? Or did you remember there was a lab you forgot to order" Lita smirked and mocked.

Darien looked at everyone at the table and just nodded.

Back at her apartment, Serena let out a big sigh. She turned in her bed from the 100th time. She adjusted her heat pack and fluffed the pillow between her legs. She was so uncomfortable she could hardly breath. She debated on getting out of bed and trying to get comfortable on the couch, however every part of her body hurt and she could not move to save her life. She punched her pillow in frustration. The discomfort was becoming too much to bare.

She started sniffing. "Come on Serena, you're okay." She tried the breathing technic Amy mentioned to her. "Child birth is going to be a thousand times worse." She exhaled again. Bit her lip, and though she tried with everything she had, the tears started flowing and she started sobbing. She never felt so alone and helpless.

Outside her window, hiding in the corner of the balcony stood Tuxedo Mask himself. The sound of her cry. He wanted to be in that room with her so bad, to comfort her. To kiss her tears, rub her head. He balled his hands into fist, and his tears start to flow.