"Overcomed Fears and United Hearts"

I DO NOT OWN SAILOR MOON!

This is my first fic so please bear with me.

Comment: Good or bad I want to know.

Two weeks had passed since he had seen her. He hadn't gone back to the apartment since then. He had told her that he wasn't leaving, and he hoped that she believed it. Now, here he was, sitting in his apartment, waiting for the girls and Andrew to arrive. It had taken him two weeks, but he finally had a plan together. All he had to do was run it by them. He hoped that they would be willing to go through with it, but it was dangerous. If everything he had learned about Thomas Bishop was true then he couldn't risk leaving them in danger. Serena would rather keep herself in danger than to even think of putting anyone else in it. In fact, she would probably raise holy hell if she even thought someone was.

"You need to relax. Everything is going to be okay. If you start out being so tense, you're only going to make them tense. And everything will start off on a bad note."

Darien looked away from the balcony windows to see a steaming cup of coffee being held right in his face. Taking the coffee so he could see past it, he looked into Amora's eyes. Amora Ten'ou had been a good friend to him the past four years. They had met at a car show that his college roommate had somehow convinced him to go to. He was a little surprised to find out that the man who knew so much about cars was actually a she. Not that he had minded in the least, Amora had never shown any type of feeling towards him other than friendship and a mutual interest in cars.

"I know your right, but I can't help but think how they're going to react when I tell them that I actually went to her apartment and saw her. They're going to flip. Especially Lita and Andrew, maybe even Raye."

"Don't tell me that the mighty Darien Shields is afraid of some girls?"

"Hey, if Darien is afraid of some girls, do you think I should be, too?" Amora joked.

"Ha ha, very funny. I'm laughing so hard I may just collapse," Darien replied dryly. "And I'm not so much afraid of Raye, she has a temper but I think I can handle; Andrew might try to take a swing at me, but he's never been in a fight in his life. Now Lita, I'd say she takes second place only to you Amora."

"That's saying something," Amora whistled as went to take a seat next to Michelle on the couch.

Darien watched as Michelle automatically leaned her head against Amora. The two had been dating for the past three years ever since he had introduced the two of them at one of Michelle's galleries. He had been friends with Michelle since her last gallery in Tokyo, which was a year before he left for America.

When he had received an invitation to her gallery in Cambridge, he figured it gave him an excuse to pull on joke on Amora. He had gone and bought a cheap dress and gave it to her along with the invitation saying he needed a date. His arm was sore the next day from when Amora had punched him saying, 'Sure, I'll be your date, as long as you don't mind people thinking you're gay!' They had decided to just meet up at the gallery.

He had called them the day after seeing Serena and told them everything. Michelle was the one who had been able to dig up the information on Thomas. Amora and Trista, a close friend to Amora, were the ones who helped him come up with the plan. Four days later, both Amora and Michelle had shown up on his doorstep saying they were due for an adventure and he couldn't possibly kick his friends out on the street with nowhere to go. Even though he knew very well that Michelle had a flat in downtown Tokyo and Amora had a few relatives that still lived here, though she only claimed that they were distant relatives. They had spent the next week going over the plan making sure that everything was good to go.

Darien was pulled from his thoughts when his doorbell rang, signaling that his guests were beginning to arrive.

"I'll get in case it's my protégée, that way you don't have change your panties," Amora joked as she got up from the couch quickly so she could avoid Michelle swatting at her. Darien just groaned and rolled his eyes. He should not have told Amora that he was actually a little scared of Lita. Michelle gave him a sympathetic look, though it was ruined by her trying not laugh.

Amora opened the door and looked over the group that stood in the hallway. A tall brunette stood with her hand raised to knock on the door. They were all a little surprised to see Amora instead of Darien.

"Ah, you must be Lita. No wonder you're supposed to be my protégée," Amora said in way of greeting.

"Do I know you?" Lita said.

"Nope, but I know you," Amora smirked.

"Um, excuse us, we must have the wrong apartment," Amy interrupted, so as to prevent an argument. "We're looking for Darien Shields."

Amora shifted her attention to the shy girl, which caused her to blush. She simply laughed and turned on her heel.

"Then you've come to the right place, sweetheart. Come on in," Amora said over her shoulder as she began walking back to the living room, causing Amy to blush even more. They all heard Darien yell out Amora's name, but watched in surprise when she physically winced when a female called it out as well.

Lita and Raye, not ones to be kept waiting, were the first ones to walk through, followed by the rest of the group. They were surprised when they walked around the corner to see Darien laughing at Amora, as she hesitantly walked towards a woman with aquamarine hair.

"You're Michelle Kaioh!" Amy blurted out without thinking. Everyone stared at her as her face turned red as a tomato. "She's a very famous and talented artist. Both in painting and with the violin," she said as a way to explain her outburst.

Michelle simply laughed and said, "Yes, I am Michelle Kaioh. Please, you must excuse my partner; she loves to get under people's skin."

"SHE?"

Amora burst out laughing at the group's exclamations. She always loved it when people found out that she wasn't a guy.

"Yes, Amora is a she," Darien said, choosing to intervene before Amora decided to try anything else, as she was prone to do. "Please, have a seat and we can get started."

It took a minute before anyone moved, but eventually everyone began moving towards a seat. He noticed that Amy, either consciously or not, decided to sit farthest from Amora. That didn't escape Amora either if her chuckles and Michelle slapping her on the arm were any indication. Lita and Andrew sat on the couch with Amora and Michelle with Raye sitting on the arm. Mina plopped down on chair and Amy in the other.

It was until he heard, "I prefer to stay standing, if you don't mind," that he noticed a teenage boy standing in-between Amy and Mina.

"I figured, since it involved Serena, Sammy should be here," Andrew explained.

"He's a little young don't you think?" Amora asked making Sammy clench his fists.

"He's Serena's brother," Darien said. Amora just nodded as if that was the explanation she needed to accept him into the conversation.

"So what's this about Darien?" Mina asked. All eyes turned to him and he took a deep breath.

"I saw Serena about two weeks ago." When no one said anything he added, "I went to her apartment and talked to her the night I talked to you guys at the arcade."

Andrew, Lita and Raye stood up swiftly and Sammy began to walk towards him as well. Amora was up and blocking their path before they made it two feet.

"Alright, now chill out. We've got a plan and you need to hear it, which you won't if you try and dog pile Darien," Amora said as she crossed her arms and braced her feet.

Lita grabbed Andrew and put her other arm out to stop Raye, which also stopped Sammy though no one was blocking him.

"She's a fighter just like me. She's not letting anyone past her, and she's willing to prove it," Lita said before Andrew and Raye could say anything.

"Yup, I can see why you like to call her my protégée," Amora smirked at Darien.

"I never called her that, you're the one who keeps calling her that," he replied.

She simply shrugged her shoulders and continued to look at the four. Eventually, Andrew turned around and shooed Lita and Raye back into their seats while Sammy walked back to Amy who had him sit on the arm of her chair. Amora moved to the other arm of the couch so that Michelle was in-between her and Andrew.

"You promised me, Darien. You promised you wouldn't do anything rash."

"I know, but I had to let her know that I was here, and I'm not leaving. She knows that now." When Andrew just continued to glare at him he heaved a sigh. "Look, we have a plan on how to get Serena away from that asshole. Now if you want to hear it, let us explain, if not, walk out that door right now and make us try to come up with another, or, make this plan a whole lot harder."

"We'll listen. We want to help her as well," Amy, always the voice of reason, said. "If you have a plan that you think might work, then we'll do everything we can to help. Right now, that involves us listening to what he has to say," she said while looking pointedly at four in particular. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"You can relax now. They're not going to try anything, they're willing listen now," Michelle said as she put a hand over one of Amora's.

"Now that's not fair, I was looking forward to good all-out brawl," she whined.

"Amora!" Darien said exasperatedly as Michelle rolled her eyes and threw her hand in the air, causing everyone else to laugh, effectively easing the tension in the air.

Serena slowly opened her eyes as she heard the front door open and close. He was home from work. She didn't bother to move from her spot on the bed, not even to get under the covers so as to cover her nakedness. It didn't make a difference. It never did. She was too tired. She was ready to give up. There was no point. No point to get dressed; he would just rip them off. No point to hide; he would just be more angry that he had to find her. No point to cry; no one would hear. There was just no point to do anything.

She listened as she heard him walk around in the living room, throwing various things on the table. She saw when his shadow passed her door, and heard when he closed the door. She heard the shower come on his room and guessed that he wasn't thinking about her at all. She closed her eyes again hoping to fall asleep to ease the pain she was in. She could barely move she was in so much pain, not that she bothered trying to move. Her head pounded from sleeping so much and not eating. Oh, he had remembered to come visit her so as to inflict pain, but he had kept conveniently forgetting to bring her food or let her out to get her own food from the kitchen in the past two days. Or was it three? She couldn't remember anymore and she didn't care. Maybe this time she would fall asleep and never wake up. Maybe this time she would slip into a darkness that no light could penetrate.

She winced as light shown through her eyelids. She tried to bring a hand up to cover her eyes, but it was grabbed and pulled with her other hand above her head. Opening her eyes now to the blinding light, she saw Thomas pushing her onto her back. Did she fall asleep again? She hadn't heard him walk in. He didn't look like he had taken a shower yet either. But she had heard him turn the shower on!

"I can't very well take a shower and then sleep with you, now can I? I'd have to take another shower just to wash you off," he said as he read the confusion in her eyes. "Then again, you haven't bothered to shower in a few days. I think it's time you did."

He lowered her arms and lifted her off the bed until her feet were touching the ground. As soon as he let her go, her legs gave out from under her and she fell into a heap on the floor.

"Tsk, tsk, no wonder you haven't been fighting back. You can't even stand."

With that, Thomas picked her up and carried her bridal style into her bathroom. He sat her down on the counter and moved to turn the water on. He made sure the water was warm before putting the stopper in to let the tub fill up. Turning around he looked and pointed a finger at her.

"Don't move from that spot. I won't be happy if you do. I'll be back in one minute." He turned on his heel and walked out of the bathroom.

She didn't bother trying to move. It was taking all of her strength just to hold herself up on the counter, let alone trying to hop off it and try to stand. She took a deep breath to try and keep her strength so she didn't fall off. It was then that she smelled it. The aroma of food. Looking up at the doorway she saw Thomas walking towards her with two plates full of food. Putting one plate next to her, he placed the other one in her lap. Her legs instantly began to warm from the heat of the plate. She hadn't realized how cold she was before. She looked at him briefly as she hesitantly reached for a biscuit. He nodded his head and turned back to the tub. With that she began shoving whatever she could into her mouth. She was so hungry! By the time he turned the water off and turned back to her, she was swallowing the last piece food, the plate empty. As she began reaching for the other one, he grabbed her hand with one of his and moved the plate from her lap with the other.

"You can have the second plate if you're good while I'm giving you a bath," he said.

She nodded her head, showing him that she would behave. He picked her up and slowly put her in the tub. Once she was in, he began rinsing her hair.

"Why? Why are you being so gentle and nice?" she asked in a whisper. She was afraid that she would anger him by questioning him.

"Because you don't fight me anymore. You've finally accepted that you are mine. Although I wouldn't mind if you fought me a few times. Besides, I love you."

She was surprised that he had answered her. She was even more surprised that he had actually said that he loved her. Was this what love was? Had she been wrong all along about it? Her parents loved each other, so did her dad treat her mother this way? She didn't know. Maybe he hid it well. Just like Thomas. Both her and Sammy were always the first to leave the house, and their mom didn't work. Maybe he did it when they left? She didn't know!

She was pulled from her thoughts when Thomas yanked her head back so she would look at him.

"I said I love you," he growled.

"I-I love y-you, too!" she cried.

He released her and went back to putting shampoo in her hair. She remained silent throughout the whole time. She just listened to him ramble on about how he loved her hair, and how he loved her body. Eventually he helped her out of the tub and she was able to stand on her own as he used a towel to dry her off. He wrapped the towel around her and picked her up and took her to the bed. He sat her on the bed with her back propped up by pillows. She watched him walk back into the bathroom and heard him unplug the tub to drain the water. He walked back out with the other plate and placed it in her lap. He sat next to her on the bed and watched her eat the second plate. She didn't eat as fast as she did the first time, but it was still gone within a few minutes.

He took the plate and put it on her dresser then found some pajamas of hers and helped her put them on. Once fully clothed he tucked the covers around her and told her to sleep. Before walking out the door he turned back to her.

"Since you've been such a good girl. I'll let you out tomorrow morning before I leave for work. However, I expect this place to be spotless when I come home. Do you understand?"

She nodded her head.

"If it is, I'll take care of you again, just like I did tonight."

Again she nodded her head, and he just left locking the door behind him. She didn't understand. What was love? Had she been wrong all this time? Was this what love truly was? She didn't know anymore. She was too tired to think. Her body was warm and relaxed from the bath, the bed was warm as well, and the food she had eaten all combined to make her so sleepy she couldn't stay awake. The tension had eased out of her body as she had realized that this was all that he had planned to do to her. Her relief was so immense that she fell into a sleep so deep that she wasn't plagued by any dreams or nightmares. It was just a black nothingness, and she welcomed it with open arms.

"So tomorrow, we put the plan in motion?" Darien asked.

When he received nods from everyone in return, he finally allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. Everyone was willing to go through with the plan. He knew it would work, deep down in his heart he knew it would.

Everyone began to leave so that they could prepare for tomorrow. It was a little sudden to inform everyone of the plan tonight and then enact the plan tomorrow, but it had to be done. If Thomas was watching them, then he would notice that they were acting strange in the upcoming days. This way, not even they knew what was going on until last minute.

Tomorrow morning; they would put everything into motion. Tomorrow morning; Amora, Darien, and Sammy would see Serena and get her out of that hell hole. Tomorrow morning; Serena would finally be free.

'And maybe, just maybe, I can show her what true love really means. Maybe I can finally tell her how I have felt all these years," Darien thought as he looked up at the night sky. 'But first I have to free her.'

With that, Darien walked back in and began preparing himself for tomorrow. Amora and Michelle watched as Darien finally had a purpose and a determination that shone through his eyes.

"It's going to be a rough road ahead. For all them. She won't be the same person that they once knew her to be," Michelle said as she heard Darien softly close his door.

"They know it's going to be rough. They have to be strong for her though. I just hope it's not too late. That this…monster... hasn't completely broken her. If he has, there's no hope of saving her," Amora replied.

"Should we call Trista? Do you think she'll be able to help?"

"I think we should. Trista will know how to get through to her, if not her, then Hotaru can. That kid can see straight into a person's heart and soul, just like her mom."

"I'm guessing you've already called her?"

"They'll be with you at your place when the three of us arrive with Serena."

"Then let us hope for the best," Michelle said as Amora lead them into the guest room. Tomorrow was going to be a trying day for all involved.

Author's Note: I am so very sorry for how long it took for me to update. But I promise it won't take this long again. I've been studying hard for all my degrees and finally have a break. I've also been going from country to country with a good friend of mine and my boyfriend. I'll go back and put some line breaks in the first two chapters for scene changes, because I know that bugs the hell out of me when there aren't any. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'll try to get the next one up in the next week. I'll try to make up for my absence, so I'll try and get the two up. Don't forget to review! I'll take the good and the bad, and any suggestions; I love reading your reviews. Thanks for being patient!