A/N Hey guys! I can't believe I got another update together already. The muse goddess has been good to me this week. Yay! Anyhow, I'm glad everyone was pleased with the development between DJ and Katie. I was pretty happy with it too. I felt like they needed a change. Now will they stay that way? Hmm…we'll see. I think the DJ / Katie fans will be pleased with this chapter. And I had a few people who thought it was creepy that Sasha kissed Jack. Remember, they are not actually related. They are just close friends that were raised together. Okay on to hug time. BIG HUGS TO:

Atems Sister Atea

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My Veggie Burger

Thanks for all of your great reviews. I have to admit that some of them made me blush because they were full of so much praise. I try my best to tell a story, so I'm glad you all seem to be liking it. Speaking of which, I'm going to shut up now and let you get on with it.

ENJOY!

The Galactic Trinity

Chapter 7

Confrontations and Confessions

"Ace high flush!" Andrew crowed triumphantly as he laid his cards on the table. The others around him groaned in defeat.

"Oh man, I thought I had it for sure!" Jadeite exclaimed as lay out his own king high flush. "Are you sure you're not cheating?"

Kunzite patted his friend on the shoulder. "Let it go, Jed. He just had a better hand than you. It's the luck of the draw."

Zoicite pushed back from the table. "Well I'm done. I don't think my self esteem or my wallet can take any more hits tonight."

"I'm out too," Nephrite agreed. "I think we can safely declare Andrew the winner tonight."

"Not necessarily," Darien said, eying the stack of money in front of him. "I think I may have won just as much as Drew did."

Kunzite shook his head. "Well that's come to be expected. In over a thousand years, none of us have been able to beat you at poker."

"Except me," Andrew said smugly as he tipped his chair back and rested his feet on the table.

Darien snorted into his drink. "That's only because I taught you all of my tricks back in high school. We made quite a team back then, hustling all the football jocks out of their money. I was a nice little supplement to our income."

Andrew sighed. "Yeah. Good times. We'd take all of their allowance and then get the added pleasure of kicking their asses later when they'd try to jump us to get it back. Those were the days."

"Well I'm going to knock you back into those days if you don't get your feet off my table!" Raye screeched at him. "You never saw me put my feet up on your precious counter in the arcade, did you? Now I expect you to return the favor."

"Yes ma'am!" Andrew squeaked hastily as he returned his feet to the floor.

"Cool down just a little, Pyro." Jadeite tried to sooth his simmering girlfriend. "He didn't mean any harm by it. And anyway, it's just a table."

Violet eyes flashed with scorching fury. "Just a table! Just a table!" she shrieked, gesturing around the large room. "They're all just tables! But I paid a hell of a lot for each and every one of them. And I didn't buy them just so you overblown cavemen could come in and put your gargantuan feet up on them."

It was Friday night, and the large group of friends had gathered together in what was sure to soon become the hottest nightspot in town. When the generals and Andrew had first proposed their idea for the new multi-entertainment complex, Raye had jumped at the chance to finally realize one of her dreams of owning a successful nightclub.

She called it Blaze. And thanks to Jess's design ideas it definitely lived up to its name. Though there was a lot of black, as was to be expected in a club, it also sported smoldering flame accents in fiery reds and oranges that would pop under the black lights.

She wasn't the only one to take advantage of the opportunity. Lita was opening up an elegant restaurant that embraced the beauty of nature. Being inside La Foret was definitely like walking into a tropical rainforest. It had a calm, quiet atmosphere. And with Lita running the show you could be assured that the food would be sinful.

After wandering around for six months after graduation, wondering what in the world she wanted to do with her life, Mina had enrolled in a beauty school and became a cosmetologist. Modeling, however, had been her first passion, but she didn't want to spend so much time away from Kunzite and her friends. So when plans for the building were being drawn, Kunzite had made sure to include a salon and boutique just for her. The bubbly blonde had for once been struck speechless when he told her of it.

But back to the moment at hand…

"Cool down! Did you just have the balls to tell me to cool down?" Raye was screaming at Jadeite.

Amy quickly approached her friend, hoping that her cooling presence would help calm the raven-haired woman. "Come on, Raye. Why don't we just go over and talk with the other girls?"

Raye's head snapped around. "Stay out of this, Frosty! He's been acting moody for days and has had this coming to him."

Zoicite was usually slow to anger, but he was fiercely protective of Amy. And at the sight of her stricken face he jumped in. "Yo Flamethrower, you don't have to be such a bitch and jump down her throat like that. She was just trying to help."

With those words, the battle was on.

"Don't call her a bitch!" Lita snarled.

Nephrite sighed. "Lita, please don't get involved."

Mina, a little red faced from the drinks she had consumed, poked him in the chest. "She doesn't have to listen to you, you big bully!"

Kunzite tried to lead his slightly intoxicated girlfriend away. "Okay, Min, that's enough. Let's let them work it out on their own."

"Don't put your hands on me like that! I'm not your bitch that you can just lead around like a dog!" Mina shrieked as she jerked away from him.

"Whoo hoo! You tell him V-babe!" Lita, Raye, and Amy cheered.

Darien and Andrew came crawling out from in between the battling couples on their hands and knees and quickly made their way over to the booth where two blonde women were sitting, calmly sipping wine and acting like there wasn't a battle royal happening twenty feet away from them.

"They're insane!" Darien panted as he dropped into a seat next to Serena.

She clucked her tongue at him. "Poor baby! You didn't get trampled in the stampede, did you?"

He rolled his eyes. "Ha ha, very funny. I don't know why I agreed to come here. I could have just spent a quiet evening at home without all of this drama."

"Ah, com'on, Dare," Jess chirped very tipsily. "Ya gotta 'mit thatcha wouldn't find this much 'tainment on pay per view."

Andrew sighed and took the wine glass from his fiancé's fingers. "Okay, I think that's enough for you for tonight. And don't try that pouting on me, it's not going to work this time."

Her sapphire blue eyes filled with tears and she sniffled as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Why d'ya a'ways haveta ruin my fun? S'not fair!"

Andrew wiped the tears from her cheeks. "And you'll be thanking me for it when you don't wake up tomorrow morning with a massive headache and puking your guts out."

Her expression changed from teary to happy. "Aww, that's so sweet. You're always looking out for me." She hugged his arm and cuddled up next to his side.

Andrew shook his head affectionately. "Somebody has to. God only knows what trouble you'd get into if nobody kept an eye on you."

She blew a raspberry at him. "I can take care of myself. I'm not a baby. Besides, maybe I like to have a big, strong, handsome man to look out for me. I'd starve if I had to live on my cooking."

"Amen!" a voice spoke up as Alex's head popped up from the booth behind them. "It's sad, but true, if it doesn't come frozen or in a can you're completely hopeless in the kitchen."

Katie's blonde head appeared next to her brother's. "Yeah, thank goodness dad knows how to cook or we would've been raised on Campbell's and Chef Boyardee."

Jess groaned and laid her head on the table. "Just great! As if I didn't have enough critics in my life. Now I've got my own kids being judgmental too."

Serena reached over and patted the dark blonde head. "Don't worry sweetie, you'll get used to it."

Jess raised her head and growled. "If I don't strangle the little snots first. What are they back there doing anyway? They've been too quiet." She turned around in her seat and got up on her knees so that she could look over the back of the booth.

Three heads were pressed together over the table, one midnight black, one light golden brown, and one pale blonde. They were whispering like conspirators, so Jess leaned in closer to hear.

"Okay, so we're all in," DJ said quietly. "Who do you think will break first? I'm going with Mars."

"No way man!" Alex snorted. "Definitely Jupiter."

After a silent moment Katie whispered, "Mercury."

Both boys laughed at her answer.

"No chance in hell, sis," Alex declared. "You stand a better chance going with Venus than you do Mercury. She's a pushover."

Katie just smiled sweetly. "We'll see."

Jess ignored the feeling of Andrew's hand tugging on her shirt trying to get her to sit back down and leaned in a little further. The three teens didn't notice her since they were engrossed in the escalating battle between the scouts and generals. She saw a small pile of money sitting on the table and suddenly their words made sense.

"Holy crap! Are you guys gambling?" she demanded loudly.

"SHHH!" all three shushed her quickly.

Suddenly the entire club cooled off by several degrees and fell completely silent. Of the eight people that had been fighting, seven of them slapped a hand over their mouths in an attempt to melt the fine layer of ice that had appeared over their lips while glaring at Amy.

The blue haired woman calmly dusted her hands together. "That's much better than listening to all this needless squabbling. My work here is done."

"YES!" Katie screeched, snatching up the money off the table before vaulting over it to stand there looking smugly at her brother and her friend. "I told you guys she'd be the one, didn't I. Thank you Amy. You are a doll!"

Amy looked utterly confused. "Uh…you're welcome?"

"Hey no fair!" Alex complained as he jumped up from his seat. "I was going to buy some manga with that money. Do you know how much I get for that if I take it back to Crystal Tokyo in pristine condition? I could make a fortune."

Katie gave him a superior smirk. "You should never gamble what you can't stand to lose bro. Maybe that will teach you a lesson."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Puh-lease. Like you could teach me anything. I'm older than you, remember."

Katie snickered. "Yeah, by a whole seven minutes. Face it, you lost fair and square."

"You cheated. I know you did," DJ growled as he stood up.

"I did not!" Katie insisted. "How could I cheat at that, hmmm?"

DJ looked taken by surprise. "I…I don't know. But you did."

Katie sauntered forward until she was close enough to him to lean down and whisper in his ear. "You're not the only one that has learned how to sense auras. And if you had bothered to use that particular talent you would have sensed the irritation coming from Amy was stronger than the others."

DJ shivered as he felt her breath brush against his ear but pulled back to point at her accusingly. "Ah ha! You did cheat!"

"Nope. I just had better insight than you," she said playfully before skipping away.

Both boys stared after her for a minute giving chase and yelling, "Kat! Give us our money back!"

"Well, sounds like the three of them have adapted well to life here," Amy said as she joined Serena and the others.

Serena nodded. "Yeah. It's been kinda nice having them around, at least when Rini and DJ aren't fighting over the TV or the last can of soda in the fridge. I thought Sammy and I bickered a lot when we were growing up, but those two make us look like saints."

"Speaking of Sammy, how's he doing?" Amy asked politely.

Serena shrugged. "Honestly? I rarely ever see him anymore. He never seems to be at home when I stop by. Mom thinks he's got a secret girlfriend or something. But I guess he's doing okay. The little parasite is graduating this spring and he's already been accepted into Tokyo U, so he must be doing something right."

Amy made a small sound of agreement. "And how about you? How have you been feeling?"

Serena knew that her friend was referring to the scare that she'd had the weekend before when Discord had targeted her past self. The scouts and generals that hadn't been let in on the secret had been steamed when they found out about it after the fact.

She smiled reassuringly at Amy. "I'm doing fine. I know Discord is still attacking the past, but I haven't felt anything from it, and neither have the others."

It was true enough. Twice in the past week, Trista had shown up to whisk DJ, Katie, and Alex off to another time to stop an attack in the past. And luckily the time guardian had been able to see the events early enough to put a stop to them before the effects could trickle down the timeline and be felt here.

"Are you about ready, Ames?" Zoicite asked, coming up and sliding an arm around Amy's waist. "It's been a long day and I could use some sleep."

"I know I could," Raye said as she rubbed her lips that were reddened from the ice that had frosted them shut. "I think I've done all I can do around here for tonight." She turned to Kunzite. "So everything's still set to open next Saturday, right?"

The silver haired man nodded. "Everything's on track. Grand opening is Valentine's Day."

Lita clasped her hands together with a starry look in her eyes. "I can't wait! The restaurant is already booked solid for that night."

"The appointment book for the salon is filled that day too," Mina gushed. "The new stylists I hired almost fell over when I told them. And I'm hoping that the boutique will do a bumping business that day too. I just got in a new shipment of Vera Wang designs that are to die for!"

Andrew elbowed Jess. "You know, we still have that empty space if you want to put some of your stuff in there. There's still time."

"Ah, no," Jess hedged. "I think I'd rather be a spectator. Anyway, if Natasha found out I was selling my paintings here after she's been begging me to do another showing at her gallery, she liable to murder me. And that woman is beyond scary."

Andrew shrugged. "It was just a thought." He stood and offered his hand to her to help her up. "Let's go round up the rugrats and head home. It's late."

She let him pull her up. "Sounds good," she said with a yawn. "I can already hear my pillow calling my name. Now where did those little sneaks…" She broke off suddenly as her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell forward into Andrew's arms.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," DJ said in an eerily crooning voice that sounded like it should be in a horror movie. "I know you're around here somewhere, and I'm going to find you."

He and Alex had chased Katie when she had run from the club, down the wide corridors and past the closed shops that were waiting for opening day. They had lost sight of her when they reached the center atrium where there was a large fountain and the escalators that led up to the second floor.

DJ reached out with the bond that he had discovered he had with her and felt her silver energy coming from upstairs. Glancing at Alex, he could tell that his friend sensed her up there as well. He tilted his head, indicating to Alex that he would take the stairs to the right. Alex grinned and went to go up the stairs to the left.

Reaching the upper level, the dark haired prince zeroed in on her shimmering aura hiding behind a column. He snuck over stealthily in the semi darkness, ready to pounce.

"Gotcha!" he cried, throwing himself around the column to grab the girl.

But Katie had been ready for him, and danced quickly out of the way, her laughter ringing like bells. She sidestepped her brother, who also tried to ambush her, and leapt nimbly up onto the railing that looked down to the first floor.

"You boys are going to have to do better than that if you want to catch me," she told them smugly.

DJ smirked at her. "That's what you think. You've got yourself cornered now with nowhere to go. You can't jump from there without using your powers, and that's a no-no."

"Shit!" she muttered when she realized he was right. If it wasn't for the power restriction Pluto had put them on, she easily could have called on a little of her scout powers to jump down to the first level without hurting herself. She looked around quickly, trying to figure out an alternative.

Alex chuckled. "We've got you this time. There's no escape."

"I say we grab her on three," DJ said.

Katie's eyes snapped up to meet his, and suddenly her vision went blurry. She blinked hard to try to clear it, but all that did was make DJ split so that she saw two of him. A wave of dizziness hit her hard, and she felt her feet slipping from the rail. Fuzzily, she heard his voice counting.

"1…2…" that was as far as he got before Alex slumped to his knees beside him. He saw the hazy look in Katie's eyes and sprang forward to grab her only milliseconds before she would have fallen to the hard tile floor thirty feet below.

DJ scooped her up in his arms bridal style and felt her arms creep up around his neck. She was shaking and her forehead felt clammy where it pressed against his neck.

"I feel sick," she whispered softly. "Alex…"

DJ hurried over and knelt down next to his friend, still holding on tight to Katie. "Lex, man, are you okay?"

Alex raised his bowed head. "Damn that sucked! I guess Discord is on the attack again. And from the looks of it, he's attacking one of our parents this time."

Over the past six days, Discord had targeted Serena again in approximately the same time as before and had gone after Darien and Andrew together when they were still in high school. The fights had been child's play. Pluto had plenty of advanced warning and the guardians and sentinels that had been sent had been easily disposed of without any notice from anyone in the past. It had been all too easy.

"I guess the bastard's upping the game," DJ growled. "He's probably tired of us killing off his lackeys."

Alex pushed himself unsteadily to his feet. "We better get back to the others and see what's going on. I'm sure Pluto will be showing up soon."

DJ stood, still holding Katie, and she struggled weakly in his arms. "Let me down. I can walk."

He wanted to argue with her, but figured it wasn't worth the effort. He lowered her feet to the floor, but kept an arm around her waist. The trio made their way slowly down the stairs. DJ kept an eye on Alex too; ready to grab his friend if he showed any signs of falling. He remembered the feeling he'd had when Serena's past self had been in danger, and he knew it wasn't pleasant.

They heard the loud voices before they even reached the doors to the club. And Jess's was the loudest of all.

"Damn it! Would everybody quit making such a big deal over this? I'm fine," she said angrily. "Now move out of my way so I can go find my kids and make sure they're okay."

"We're fine," Alex said as they walked in. "A little woozy, but fine."

"Oh, thank heavens!" Jess screeched as she pushed past Andrew and Darien, who were trying to make her sit down. In the blink of an eye, she had both twins in a suffocating stranglehold. "I was so worried about you two!"

"Can't…breathe…" Alex gasped out.

"Mom…let…go…" Katie seconded.

She released both of them quickly. "Sorry! I'm sure you both know that I have a tendency to overreact."

"That's the understatement of the millennium," Katie grumbled, rubbing her neck.

"So where's Pluto at?" DJ asked. "Isn't this about the time she usually pulls her peek-a-boo routine and pops in to drag us off to beat the crap out of a sentinel or guardian?"

"Yeah, that's strange. I've been expecting her to put in an appearance from the moment Jess passed out," Serena commented, pulling out her cell phone. "She may not even be in this time right now."

She paged down through the list of numbers until she found the one she needed and hit the call button. After several moments she breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Selene you're in this time! What's going on?"

Everyone waited in silence while Serena listened to whatever the time guardian was telling her on the other end. A look of confusion came over her face. "I'm telling you, Trista, things are not fine right now. Jess just passed out for a moment and Alex and Katie look like they've been put through a wringer. Something's going on and…hello?"

Serena stared at her phone in disbelief. "I can't believe it. She hung up on me."

"Sorry about that," Sailor Pluto said as she stepped out from her usual burst of smoke. "I didn't mean to be rude. I thought it would be better to talk about this in person. I have seen nothing of Discord's movements in my garnet orb recently, so this unexpected situation is troubling."

"Are you saying you have no idea where or when he's striking?" Darien asked.

Pluto bowed her head. "I'm afraid so. He must be expending a massive amount of energy to be able to cloud my vision like this. I've had no insight into this. I could try to enter back through the time gate to see if I can find out anything."

Serena shook her head. "No, Trista, that would be far too dangerous. I don't want to put you in that kind of situation. But there has to be a way to figure this out."

Pluto's eyes brightened. "Maybe there is. Jess, think hard. Was there any event in your life that you found to be odd or strange?"

Jess rolled her eyes. "Uh, hellooo…Remember who you're talking to. I'm the poster child for weirdness, remember? You're talking to the person who made their eighth birthday cake blow up because it was raining outside. Of course I figured it out years later that I was also the one that made it rain because I threw a temper tantrum over a gift I got. So nope, nothing strange there."

Pluto pinched the bridge of her nose. "Nice sarcasm, but I meant anything just really out of the ordinary. Like a chance encounter with someone that you couldn't explain later."

Jess nose scrunched up as she thought. "No, not that that I remember. I've met a lot of creeps in my life, but nothing that…" She trailed off as her eyes widened. "Unless…no, that couldn't be it."

"What? What couldn't be it?" several people demanded at once.

She waved a hand. "Okay. When I was seven I went to the mall with my dad the day before Christmas Eve to pick up my mom's gift that he had dropped off to have engraved." She reached up to run a finger over the locket she was wearing that had belonged to her mother.

"Anyway," she continued. "I was getting bored standing around waiting, so I slipped away to look in the toy store across the way."

"Typical you," Serena snickered.

Jess glared at her. "Am I telling this story or not? So I spent a few minutes looking at the display in the window, and when I turned back my dad was gone. I went running all over the place looking for him. I was scared that he had left me, so I went outside to look for our car. I was in the parking lot when this strange woman came up to me and asked me if I was lost. I don't know what it was, but I got a really funny feeling about her. So I didn't say anything and went to run back inside. All I remember was that she grabbed me by the arm. After that, the next thing I knew my dad was picking me up from a chair in the food court. I had no idea how I got there and he thought I had just wandered off and fell asleep there. Over time I told myself that I must have dreamed it."

Pluto snapped her fingers. "That's got to be it! Now we have a destination. Are you three ready?"

Katie, DJ, and Alex all nodded seriously and joined her. Just before they disappeared in a burst of pink light, they heard the scouts and generals all call, "Good luck!" But it was the sound of their past parents telling them to "Be careful!" that made them all smile.

"So. What exactly do you have planned this time?" Jack asked as he and Sasha joined Discord. "I don't see what attacking Jessica Furuhata in the past is going to accomplish. It'll just turn out the way it has every other time. Pluto will find out about it and grab Katie, Alex, and DJ and bring them there in time to stop us like always. We're fighting a losing battle with this. We'd be better off going back to looking for them like we were before."

"Now Jack, be nice," Sasha purred as she placed a hand on his arm. "I'm sure grandpa has a perfectly good reason for doing this. Don't you, grandpa?" She smiled sweetly at him.

"I do indeed, my sweet," Discord answered with a tight grin. "I have effectively come up with a way to block that annoying Sailor Pluto from being able to see our moves, but it requires a lot of my energy to do it, so I saved it until now. I want to see if they will still show up this time. If they do, it will prove a theory of mine correct."

"And what would that theory be?" Sasha asked, her green eyes gleaming.

Discord's thin lips turned up in a smirk. "If they manage to still figure out where we will strike, then I think it will be safe to assume that they are hiding in a time where they are in close contact with their parent's past selves. That would be the only way I can see that they would be able to pinpoint which person is being targeted and possibly when it would happen. If this happens to be the case, we can narrow our search for them down to the few years between my previous defeat in the 21st century and when the Earth froze over and entered stasis. If they don't show up and we kill the girl, well, that wouldn't be so bad either."

"So this is just a test?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"More or less," Discord replied.

"Excellent," Jack said with a grin. "This should be interesting."

Discord turned away from them with a grin of his own. The poor little fools were so devoted to his cause that they never stopped to think about what this meddling in the past could do to their own lives. If by some slim chance the young heroes didn't show up this time and that meddlesome princess's reincarnation was killed, then he would never be defeated by her and the others in the 21st century. His past self would destroy the planet like he had always wanted to and history would be rewritten. Crystal Tokyo and the Trinity bearers would never exist, and neither would Jack or Sasha.

'So trusting and naïve,' Discord chuckled as he thought to himself. They thought of him as a saint, a fatherly figure that had taken them in as children when they were all alone. If they only knew that it had been a scheme from the very beginning. He had needed someone that would be able to get him inside information on his enemies, and they had been the perfect pawns. They were headed for death the same as the rest of the Earth's population, they just didn't know it yet.

The four figures materialized near a deserted service entrance of a mall in a suburb of Los Angeles. Three of the figures wobbled slightly upon landing, but none fell.

"Hey, I guess we're getting better at this," Alex said with a laugh.

"Seems that way," Katie said as she looked around. "At least it's warmer here than in Tokyo. That's the one thing I always liked about visiting mom's old stomping ground, it never gets really cold here."

"So I guess this is where you leave us like always?" DJ asked Pluto.

"Of course," she said as she detransformed. "What would the three of you learn if I took care of the problem myself? Besides, I haven't been to southern California in a while. Maybe I'll head to the beach. The sun's setting and that is always a spectacular show. Now you three get to work."

The trio walked around the building until they found an entrance and went inside. Since it was the day before Christmas Eve, the place was packed with holiday shoppers running around trying to find all of those last minute gifts.

"Oh man, trying to find mom in all of this is going to be a nightmare," Katie moaned.

"Maybe not," DJ said, walking over to a map of the mall. "Remember what Jess told us, her dad was picking up her mom's gift that he had engraved and the toy store was right across from it. There's a toy store here," he pointed to a spot on the map. "But I don't see anything but clothing shops across from it."

"What about this one?" Alex asked, pointing to another toy store on the map. "There's a gift shop across from it. I bet they do engravings."

"That's gotta be it," Katie said, quickly. "Let's go. This crowd is getting on my nerves."

They melded unobtrusively into the throng of shoppers and made their way as quickly as they could toward the spot they had pointed out on the map. They located the toy store and the gift shop and began scanning the area for any sign of the one they were seeking.

"Do you see her anywhere?" Alex asked his sister.

She shook her head. "Not yet. But there's so many people here, this could be hopeless."

"Just keep looking," DJ told them. "We know that at some point she'll show up."

"Right," Katie muttered as she kept looking around. It was much easier to spot a blonde in Japan than it was here. Fifty percent of the people here seemed to be some shade of blonde, and from looking at their roots most of them were bleach jobs.

She was keeping up the frantic search when she spotted a man with hair as light as hers in the crowd. It was a man that she had only ever seen pictures of, but she knew who he was on sight. He was looking down and seemed to be talking to somebody much smaller than him.

"You guys, I think I found them," she called out to the others.

Alex jerked around and followed her gaze to where she was looking. "Oh wow! Is that really our grandfather? He looks just like the pictures mom has of him."

There was a break in the crowd, and then they could see the little girl beside him. She was dressed in a red t-shirt that said, "I've been a good girl, Santa" and a pair of blue jeans and tennis shoes. Her curly, golden blonde hair was swept back into a messy ponytail. The trio moved in closer.

"Now you stay right here with me, Jessie," they heard Josh Alexander tell his daughter as they approached the gift shop. "The mall is really crowded and I don't want you to get lost."

"Okay," Jess chirped as she held onto her father's hand.

The two walked into the gift shop and Josh went to the counter to talk to one of the sales people. Jess looked around at some of the knick-knacks and figurines for a few minutes, but she soon started showing the signs of a child that was suffering from boredom. She sighed and shuffled her feet restlessly. She looked over toward her father and rolled her eyes as the man continued an in depth conversation with the salesman.

"That's mom for you," Alex chuckled from where they were watching near the entrance. "She never can stay still for long."

"Yeah, but this is one time I wish she would," Katie muttered.

They watched as her dark blue eyes landed on the toy store across the way where a large group of children were gathered around the display window, squealing in delight as they looked at all of the latest toys. She glanced one more time at her father before marching out of the store and rushing over to the toy store window to see what had all of the other children so excited.

A few minutes later, Josh concluded his business and turned around, "Jess, are you ready to go, peanut? Jess? Jessie! Damn it! I knew she would pull something like this."

The three teenage spies watched as he rushed from the shop, he spotted the toy store and headed in that direction. But the crowd was so thick that he never saw Jess heading back toward the gift shop to find him.

The little girl was distraught when she returned to the gift shop and found her father gone. She ran back out into the crowded corridor. "Daddy! Daddy, where are you?" Her eyes were swiftly filling with tears.

Nobody paid any attention to the girl as she did not run through the crowds calling out for her father, nor did they notice the three teens that were closely following her. She reached the exit and dashed out into the parking lot that was overflowing with cars. There were a few people walking to or from their vehicles, but not many.

"Are people blind, or do they just not care?" Katie growled. "No wonder there used to be so many child abductions. How can you see an obviously lost little girl and not try to help?"

"The world was a different place back in this time," DJ said as they ducked down between cars to stay hidden from sight. "I know my parents wouldn't tolerate it."

That was true enough. If anyone had the nerve to kidnap a child in the future, they could be assured of a harsh punishment. Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion had little tolerance for scum like that.

Staying close to the ground and out of sight, the three weaved through the cars following Jess. The little girl finally spotted a black Lexus and ran over to it. She jerked on the door handles, but it was locked. She stomped a tiny foot in agitation.

At that moment, a brown haired woman popped up from beside the car next to her. She was obviously one of Discord's guardians. The glowing red eyes gave her away.

"Are you lost, little girl?" she drawled in an ominous sounding voice.

Jess took a step back, her blonde head whipping back and forth in a silent no. She spun on her heel and was preparing to book it back toward the building when the woman jumped over the car to land in front of her.

She reached down with a long nailed hand and grabbed Jess tightly by the arm. "You're not going anywhere, little one!"

"Oh hell no! That bitch did not just put her hands on my mother!" Katie hissed.

Alex growled next to her. "That bitch is so dead!"

They were preparing to leap out from their hiding spot when Jess let out a blood curdling shriek. The ground beneath them trembled and there was a flash of bright blue light. When it faded, both Jess and the guardian were on the ground.

"Well that explains why she didn't remember what happened," DJ said as they jumped up and ran to the scene of the attack.

Jess was unconscious, but the guardian was stirring. It snarled viciously as it started to get up.

Consumed by rage, Katie ran over and kicked the guardian hard in the ribs, slamming her back to the ground. "How dare you attack my mom when she's just a little girl! Pick on somebody your own size, you piece of shit!"

"You've got that right, sis!" Alex said as he delivered a punishing kick of his own. "Let's show this bitch that nobody screws with the Furuhata's and gets away with it."

"Together?" Katie asked with an evil grin.

"Together," Alex confirmed with a nod.

Without even bothering to transform, the two shot a blast of energy at the fallen guardian. She let out a short scream as the combined silver and bronze power slammed into her, and then exploded into dust.

"Looks like you two didn't even need me to tag along this time," DJ said jokingly from behind them. "Talk about pent up aggression."

The siblings turned to see that their friend had picked up Jess from the ground and was holding her in his arms.

"Is she okay?" Katie asked anxiously as she rushed over and swept some loose hair away from the girl's face.

"She's fine," DJ reassured her. "But think we better split while we can. I'm sure we attracted some attention with the light show and we need to get her inside so her dad can find her."

The others agreed, and after handing Jess off to Alex, they went back inside and made a beeline for the food court.

DJ saw the troubled look on Katie's face and grabbed her hand. "Hey! Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm all right. I guess I'm just, well…pissed I guess, and scared. If we hadn't figured this out and been here, she would have died. She wouldn't have grown up and married dad and I would have never existed. It's a scary thought."

DJ tugged on her arm to bring her closer to his side and put a protective arm around her shoulders as they walked. "I know it's scary, but we stopped it and you're still here. I'm going to try my best to not let anything happen to you."

She smiled shyly up at him. "Thanks DJ. I feel the same way about you. We all have to watch each other's backs. I've got a feeling that this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better."

DJ shuddered a little as he remembered the nightmare that had plagued him for so many years; the gaping hole that opened up and swallowed Katie and Alex right in front of him and the look of terror in her hazel eyes as she fell. He would do everything in his power to make sure that never became a reality.

They reached the food court and Alex set Jess at a secluded table in a corner. The three conspirators barely had time to duck behind some fake trees before Josh Alexander stormed into the food court with a thunderous look on his face. His features softened as his gaze landed on his sleeping daughter.

He rushed over and plucked the sleeping girl up into his arms. She mumbled a bit before opening her eyes.

"Daddy!" she squealed as she threw her little arms around his neck. "Where were you? I couldn't find you anywhere."

Josh tried his best to look stern. "Where was I? Where were you young lady? I've been searching everywhere for you. Didn't I tell you to stay right with me?"

Jess looked down and her lower lip trembled. "I'm sorry, daddy."

Josh sighed and hugged her close. "I'm just glad you're okay, peanut."

"I'm sleepy, daddy," Jess whispered as she laid her head on her father's shoulder.

He chuckled lightly. "Then let's get you home and into bed, princess."

"Bye, mom. See you in about twelve years," Katie said quietly as she watched her grandfather that she would never get to meet walk away with the tiny version of her mother locked safely in his arms.

Alex cleared his throat and looked at her expectantly.

"What?" she asked him bewilderedly.

"Is there something you two want to tell me?" he asked in an amused tone as he pointed to her waist where DJ's arms were wrapped around her. Somehow, unconsciously, she had backed into him and he had put his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.

They both rolled their eyes and answered "No" at the same time, but neither moved to break the contact either.

Luckily for them, Trista interrupted before any more could be said. "I take it the mission was successful?"

"Yep," DJ answered quickly, avoiding his best friend's gaze. "One lost little girl saved from the evil guardian and delivered safely back to her father."

Katie nodded eagerly. "It's all taken care of. Can we go back now? I'm bushed."

Alex just shook his head and grinned as he followed them into an empty service hall so that they could make the time jump. There was definitely something brewing between his sister and his best friend, but they were both too idiotic to figure it out. He decided to drop it for now.

As soon as Trista was sure that there was no one around, she transformed and used her staff to transport them back to the time they were calling home for now. The appeared back inside Raye's club, and surprisingly, given the late hour, everyone was still there. Even Rini, who had been on a date with Helios earlier in the evening and had missed all of the excitement, had come in while they were gone.

"Oh my gosh, you're back!" Serena squealed excitedly as she rushed over to engulf DJ in a giant hug, unintentionally pushing Katie over to the side in the process. It seemed from her demeanor that the future queen might have enjoyed a couple of more glasses of wine while they had been gone.

Jess jumped up from where she was sitting and ran toward the twins, but she skidded to a stop when her future daughter held up a warning hand.

Katie was shaking with emotion as she walked up and poked a finger into the chest of the older version of the little girl she had just saved. "You have got to be the biggest idiot that has ever been born in the history of the world!" she screamed at her. "Are the words 'stay put' so hard to understand?"

Jess seemed to shrink back from the fury in her future daughter's voice for a moment, but then her infamous temper kicked in and her blazing sapphire eyes clashed with infuriated hazel.

"Hey!" she snapped. "I was only seven years old and it was Christmas. Of course the toy store distracted me. What kid wouldn't be? For crying out loud, I didn't know dad and I would get separated that easily."

Katie glared at her; they were almost nose-to-nose now. "You were this close," she held up a hand with her forefinger and thumb almost touching, "to becoming nothing more than a bloody smear in that parking lot. Did it ever cross that little pea-brained head of yours that your dad told you not to wander off for a reason? If we hadn't gotten there in time you would have been just another statistic in the morning news. You would have been dead! D-E-A-D dead! Do you get that? Goodbye life! Goodbye future!"

Jess's mouth snapped open to let loose her own volley of scathing retorts, but she stopped herself when she got a good look into Katie's eyes. Underneath the anger were several other emotions, fear and worry the most predominate ones.

So instead of laying into the other girl, she said softly, "You were worried about me."

Katie blew out a ragged sigh as a few tears leaked from her eyes. "Of course I was worried about you, you stupid woman! You're the only mother I've got!"

Suddenly Jess laughed and pulled Katie into her arms to give a hug. "You are so definitely my daughter. I bet home life between us is never boring."

Katie pulled back from her with a grin. "You taught me well. We've been known to go toe to toe a few times."

"Yeah, and that's when I know to go and hide. Is it safe to come out now?" Alex asked from where he had actually hidden behind Darien, Andrew, and DJ. "I just want to make sure the estrogen levels have dropped before I expose myself to possible bodily harm."

Katie shook her head. "I don't see how we could possibly be related, much less twins. You can be such a wuss sometimes."

Alex stuck his nose up indignantly. "I am not. I'm smart. I know what it's like when both of you lose your temper. And I would rather face Discord and his entire army alone than be stuck in the middle of you two battling it out."

Katie giggled. "Sorry. I didn't mean to bruise your manly ego." Then she yawned. "Can we please go home now? I'm completely wiped out."

Andrew pulled the keys out of his pocket and tossed them to her. "Here. Why don't you go wait in the car while we say goodbye? We'll be out in a minute."

DJ bent down in front of her with his back to her. "Climb on. I'll give you a ride."

Katie backed up. "Uh uh! Not happening. Last time I took you up on that offer you dropped me in a mud puddle, on purpose too."

DJ rolled his eyes. "That was six years ago, Tink. I wouldn't do that to you now. I promise, I won't drop you. Now get on my back, unless you're too chicken."

He knew she never backed down from a challenge, and he grinned when she stomped over and leaned over his back to wrap her arms around his neck. When he straightened up, she automatically put her legs around his waist and he hooked his hands under her thighs.

"Hold on tight, but don't strangle me," he told her.

She growled in his ear. "I won't strangle you unless you try to drop me. Then all bets are off. Now take me to the car. I'm tired and I'm getting cranky."

DJ chuckled. "Whatever you say, Tinkerbell."

She pulled a piece of his hair, making him yelp. "I have been asking you for nine years to stop calling me that. Do I look like a four inch tall fairy to you?"

"Not anymore," DJ muttered as he walked out of the club with her on his back, leaving behind a very shell-shocked group of people.

Rini was the first to break the silence. She stalked over to Alex and yanked him by the ear.

"Ouch! What the hell, Rini?" Alex roared, rubbing his offended ear.

Rini stood with her hands on her hips. "You know what. Just what the hell is going on with the two of them? They have spent the last sixteen years either ignoring each other or trying to kill one another. Now they spend a little time in the past and suddenly they're bosom buddies? There's something going on there. I still think they were abducted by aliens. They've gone all Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and it's wigging me out. You're around them more than anyone, now spill!"

"I promise, I don't know anything!" Alex hastily said. "I tried asking them again when they got a little touchy feely while we were in the past earlier, but they both claim it's nothing."

Mina giggled, making all eyes shift to her. "Oh come on people! This isn't rocket science. Can't any of you recognize young love when you see it?"

"Duh, Mina," Rini said with a shake of her head. "Alex and I figured that out a few years ago. But the two of them are both so stubborn that they always fought against it. So for them to suddenly start being friendly to each other is totally out of character."

"I had a feeling about those two," Serena mused.

"Me too," Jess said with a grin.

"So did I," Darien added.

"What!" Andrew squeaked. "Are you saying her…and him…Oh no! No boy is going near my little girl until she's at least eighteen. Longer than that if I can help it." He started for the door.

Jess blocked his way. "You leave them alone, Drew! They are both sixteen, and it's perfectly natural for kids that age to have crushes. Don't you remember when you were that age?"

Mina giggled again. "There's more to it than that. I can sense these things you know. They are soul mates, bonded together just as tightly as any of us here. They are meant to be."

"Not on my watch!" Andrew growled. "Get out of my way, Jess! I know how teenage boys think, and I just let one walk off with my only daughter with the keys to my car. They could be making out in the back seat right now!"

Jess didn't budge. "You will leave them alone, or I promise, you will be sleeping alone on the couch from now on. Got that?"

"But…but…" he stammered.

She held up a silencing hand. "No buts. I swear if you do anything to come between the two of them I will spill every embarrassing thing I know about you."

"Hah!" Andrew retorted. "You don't have anything on me! There's nothing that you could blackmail me with."

"I didn't say it was from this lifetime," her eyes glittered dangerously. "Motoki."

Everyone gasped. Jess only played the Silver Millennium card when she had something really juicy to share. She had embarrassed Serena and Darien on more than one occasion with the tales of things that she saw between Serenity and Endymion in their past life.

Andrew paled. "I…I don't know what you're talking about."

An evil grin appeared on Jess's face. "Oh! Then I guess you won't mind if I tell everyone about that time you snuck into my room and…"

Andrew lunged forward and put a hand over her mouth. "Okay, okay! I'll leave them alone. I promise."

"You snuck into her room," Lita growled, cracking her knuckles.

"You…you pervert!" Raye sputtered angrily.

"You see!" Andrew yelled. "I knew this would happen if you said that. Did you have to make it sound so…so dirty? I was only eight years old, not some hormonal teenage boy like the one that's outside with my daughter in my car, right now."

Jess patted his cheek. "Aww sweetie, you're so cute when go into overprotective father mode. Okay, let's go so you can make sure that Katie's virtue is still intact."

Alex clapped his hands over his ears. "That's enough! You guys are giving me some seriously disturbing mental images that I could've gone the rest of my life not thinking about. Thanks a lot!"

So amid chuckles the group said good-bye and split up. Once outside, Rini and Alex rushed over to where two red cars, Darien's BMW and Andrew's Mustang, were parked. The peeked into the Mustang and grinned at each other before pulling out their camera phones and snapping pictures.

"What are you two doing?" Serena asked them.

Rini smirked. "Blackmail material. I bet my darling brother will think twice about picking on me if I threaten to show this picture to all of our friends."

She turned the phone so that Serena could see the picture. In it DJ was slouched down in the seat, head back, eyes closed, and his mouth slightly open. Next to him Katie had her head on his shoulder with her eyes buttoned up as she snuggled up to his side. They had fallen asleep holding hands, and their fingers were still entwined together.

The next week passed quietly with no signs of activity from Discord. Rather than put their minds at ease, it had everyone on high alert. Past experiences had taught them that when the enemy lay low, they were usually planning something big.

Darien thought about this as he walked down one of the many hallways of the hospital on the way to his office. He had just finished his last rounds for the day and he was looking forward to what he hoped was going to be a nice quiet evening at home. The next day was Valentine's Day, and he had luckily gotten the day off. He and Serena planned to attend the grand opening of the Crown multiplex, including dinner at Lita's restaurant and dancing the night away at Blaze, but tonight he just wanted peace and quiet.

"Any messages for me, Nora?" he asked the receptionist that took his calls.

The slightly graying, middle-aged woman pushed her overly large glasses up the bridge of her nose. "No Dr. Shields, it's been a fairly quiet afternoon so you're getting off easy today. Now Miss Tsukino did call me a little while ago and asked if it looked like you were going to get of here on time for a change. She said something about planning dinner."

Darien groaned. "I hope she means ordering it from somewhere and not cooking it herself. I love the woman, but she could literally burn water."

Nora chuckled. "I was the same way at her age. I shudder now when I think about all of the horrible meals my poor Howard suffered through when we first got married. Luckily my skills improved by the time the kids came along so they were spared the agony."

Darien laughed. "Speaking of your husband and kids, why don't you go ahead and get home to them. It's almost five."

The older lady beamed a smile at him and stood to gather her purse and coat. "I think I'll take you up on that offer. I'll see you on Monday. And I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day with that little fiancé of yours. She's such an angel."

Darien grinned. "That she is. I'm a lucky man. Goodnight, Nora."

He was turning toward his office when Nora suddenly smacked herself on the forehead. "I can't believe I forgot. You have a visitor waiting for you in your office. He said he was your cousin. I must say that I can see the family resemblance; he looks more like your twin than just a cousin. I thought he was you for a moment when he first walked in. He said he needed to talk to you, so I thought it would be okay to let him wait in your office. I hope that was all right."

"That's just fine," Darien reassured her. "I guess I better go see what he's up to"

He hurried to his office, concerned about why DJ would come and seek him out at work. He pushed open the door to find his future son sitting at his desk with his dark head bent over one of his many textbooks as he worked diligently on a school assignment.

"Lot of weekend homework? That sounds just like teachers to bog you down with work on a holiday weekend," Darien said as he walked into the room.

DJ looked up with a grin. "It's not too bad, just some Trig and this write up I have to do for Biology. I'll probably have it all knocked out by tonight so I'll have the rest of the weekend free."

Darien chuckled and shook his head a little. There were little things about his future son that continued to surprise him. In the beginning he had thought the boy was more like his mother with his light hearted and easy going personality, but over time he was starting to see some of his own traits appearing in him. Like his study habits, DJ had thrown himself into school with the same intensity that Darien himself had always had. Not that Serena was a bad student, she had made a turn around in high school and was doing well in college, she just didn't have that same drive for education that he had.

Darien had also been secretly thrilled when he saw the classes that his son was taking. Math and science had always been his favorite subjects as well, and he had doubled up on them just like DJ had done. He had asked the younger boy why he took so many of those classes, and had swelled up with a little pride when he had muttered that he would like to go to medical school.

Since then they'd had several conversations on the subject and had discovered that they shared the same love of the medical field and burning passion to want to help people. But then the young prince had turned melancholy and said that medical school was probably out of the question. He seemed pretty sure that his parents were expecting him to study political science or something of that nature. He may not be heir to the throne, but he was a member of the royal family and he felt that there were certain expectations expected from him.

It had been pretty humorous when he suddenly remembered that he was talking to his father's past self. He had hastily assured Darien that he was cool with helping to run the kingdom. Darien had just grinned and filed his future son's aspirations away in his mind until a more appropriate time to act on them.

"So what brings you down here this evening?" Darien asked him. "And alone at that. I thought you agreed to not go roaming around by yourself."

DJ rolled his eyes at Darien's attempt to sound stern. "I wasn't alone. Alex and Kat walked here with me after school and then they went home. I just wanted to talk to you alone, and that's almost impossible at the apartment. There's always someone around."

Darien nodded his head. That was true enough. With the two of them sharing an apartment with Serena and Rini and Andrew, Jess, and the twins right next door, it was hard to get some alone time.

He shrugged out of his white lab jacket and removed the stethoscope from around his neck. "So what's on your mind?"

DJ ran his hand over the back of his neck in a nervous gesture and Darien hid a grin at the sight of another one of his habits coming out in him. Damn that boy was just like him in some ways.

"Well…" DJ started slowly. "Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and there's…there's this girl."

Darien's eyes twinkled. "Anybody I know?"

DJ slammed his book closed with a groan. "I don't know why I'm bothering to hide it, you already know. All of you have been making snide comments about it all week. It's Katie, okay! Happy now!"

Darien choked back a laugh at the irritated look on his face. "Okay. So you're saying that you're interested in her in a way that's more than just friends?"

DJ let his head hit the desk with an audible thump. "I don't know. I feel so mixed up. I think I'm in love with her, I mean really in love with her. But I don't know if it's real or not. We have done nothing but fight all of our lives. But two years ago when the timeline got messed up and Jess disappeared, Katie and Alex both vanished too. I couldn't believe how hard that hit me. I was sad about Alex and Jess, but when I thought about never seeing her again, it physically hurt. And when she came back it was like everything was suddenly all better. But for some reason I couldn't stop the picking and the fighting. I didn't know how else to act around her. I was trying to make it better between us, but then Discord struck and she changed. I'm seeing the old her coming back and it's got me all twisted up inside."

Darien propped a hip against the edge of the desk and chuckled as he patted the boy on the shoulder. "That sounds like love to me. Nothing is ever simple about it and you don't know if you're coming or going. So are you trying to figure out the best way to tell her?"

DJ raised his head up to look at him with those same frustrated blue eyes that he had seen in Serena's face a thousand times. "I don't know. We've only recently become friends, and I'm scared to rock the boat. But I want to do something for her for Valentine's Day. Do you think flowers and candy is too cliché?"

Darien thought about it for a minute. "No, it's not cliché at all. Women usually like that stuff and it's always worked for Serena. Of course I've always had the advantage over other guys when it comes to flowers." He flicked his wrist and a beautiful, blood red rose appeared in his fingers.

DJ smirked at him. "Not any more." With a twist of his own wrist he produced a snowy, long stemmed white rose.

Darien grinned. "Ooo, competition. Well I think you'll be safe enough to give her flowers and candy, just as a friendly gesture. And who knows, you may be surprised by her response."

DJ heaved a huge sigh of relief. He wasn't usually one to share his feelings, but he had to admit that he felt much better after having this talk. "Thanks for listening."

"Anytime," Darien said, grabbing his coat. "Now let's get out of here. My receptionist said something about Serena making dinner plans and I want to make sure the apartment building hasn't burned to the ground."

Alex frowned down at his computer screen as he listened to the chatter going on around him. Serena and Jess were busy discussing all of their plans for the next day. Darien and Andrew were having guy talk as they each sipped a beer. DJ was sitting on the floor next to Katie trying to help her with the Trig homework.

"So Katie, are you going to come with us in the morning to Mina's salon?" Jess asked her future daughter.

Katie's head came up from the paper she had been writing on. "Uh yeah, sure. I could use a trim. The split ends are starting to get pretty bad and if my bangs get any longer I won't be able to see."

DJ tugged gently on a piece of the pale blonde hair. "Time for primping later. Right now you need to finish this assignment. Miss Haruna will boil your head in oil if you don't have it done Monday."

"Ha-Haruna!" Serena sputtered. "You mean that dragon lady is teaching at Azabu now? Oh you poor things! That woman followed me like the plague. I had her all during middle school, and then when I went to Juuban High she ended up transferring there, so I got stuck with her for another four years. I half expected her to show up at the college as a teacher just to keep torturing me."

Darien laughed. "You just didn't like her because she always gave you detention for being late."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "It was more than that, Darien. The woman is an absolute terror!"

"Would you people keep it down? You sound like a pack of laughing hyenas!" Rini's voice screamed down the hall. Then her door slammed loudly.

"Geez! What's up with bubble gum brains?" DJ muttered.

Katie shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I think she and Helios had some kind of an argument. I heard her talking to Hotaru earlier and she sounded pissed. It was quite a colorful conversation. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes right now. Whatever he did, he's in the doghouse for sure. Or maybe I should say stable since he turns into a Pegasus."

"Ha ha," DJ said dryly. "Get back to work."

Alex tuned out the conversation after that and turned his attention back to his computer. With just a few clicks he pulled up a picture. Soft, dove gray eyes stared out at him from a face framed by long, silky, golden hair. The lips were tilted up in a slightly mischievous smile.

He ran his fingers over the screen, wishing that he could touch her for real. It had been so long since he had last seen her, and he was missing her like crazy.

Jess had gotten up to go into the kitchen, and on her way back she passed behind the chair Alex was sitting in. She saw the picture on the screen and paused. "Who is that? She's pretty."

Alex snapped the computer closed with a sharp click. "Nobody," he said shortly before getting up and stomping out the sliding doors to the balcony.

"What did I say?" Jess asked in bewilderment. "All I asked was who was the blonde girl in the picture."

Katie slapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh no! I didn't think about that. I bet he's really missing her, especially with tomorrow being Valentine's Day."

Comprehension clicked in Jess's eyes. "So that was his girlfriend?"

Katie nodded. "They've been together for a year now. I never stopped to think about how hard this must be on him. He's used to seeing her everyday. And counting the time that we spent in Elysian before coming here, it's been over two months since he's seen her."

"That's so sad," Serena said softly. "I hate it when evil circumstances stand in the way of love. If it wasn't for Discord, he would be with her right now."

Andrew looked out the doors where he could see Alex standing at the rail with his shoulders hunched. He shared a look with Jess before getting up and walking out the door to join him.

Alex stood staring out at the night sky. His fingers gripped the railing so tight that his knuckles turned white. His throat was burning and he felt tears stinging his eyes.

"I miss you, Em," he whispered as a tear broke free and rolled down his cheek. He wondered what she was doing right now. Were the attacks still happening? Was she still fighting? Was she safe? And then the more troubling thoughts rolled in. What if she got tired of waiting for him and moved on to someone else? He didn't believe that she would, but she was a fiercely passionate person. She may not want to wait for him when his own future was so uncertain.

He heard the door slide open and he quickly wiped the tear away. He turned his head to see who it was, figuring it was Jess or Katie, or perhaps even DJ, but was surprised to find Andrew standing there.

"Are you okay?" Andrew asked gently.

Alex nodded, not trusting his voice to work well at the moment.

Andrew came to stand next to him. "So you have a girlfriend. That's one little detail that you haven't mentioned up until now. But it also explains why Lizzy said that she's seen you turn down five girls that worked up the nerve to approach you in the arcade this week. Most guys would be all over that."

"I would never do that to her," Alex growled. "I made a promise to her before I left that I was going to come back to her, and she told me that she would wait for me. But what if she doesn't? I've been gone from home for a while now. I wouldn't blame her if she found someone else."

Andrew watched him with knowing eyes. "Long distance relationships are hard, I know. Did you ever know that I was engaged to someone else before I met your mom?"

Alex's eyes grew wide and he shook his head. He had never dreamed of his parents ever being with anyone other than each other.

Andrew sighed. "Her name was Rita, and we dated back in high school. We were together for two years before I proposed to her on graduation night. We both planned on staying here and attending college, but then she got an offer to study geology over in Africa for a year. I knew it would be hard, but I let her go and promised to be here when she got back. She came back a year later and dropped the bomb on me. She was going to finish her schooling there, and she had also found someone else to love. I was crushed. I didn't date for a long time after that. Darien left for Harvard for two years right after that, and I watched Serena closely to see if they would drift apart like Rita and I had. But they didn't, and my faith in love was restored. I had just hired this new girl at the arcade, and I found myself falling for her, so I finally took a big step and asked her out."

Alex was pretty sure he knew where this story was going, but he asked anyway, "And what happened?"

Andrew grinned. "Almost two years later I'm engaged to her and I find out that we have two kids together. So I guess I can say that it worked out great. All I'm saying is that if you truly love this girl, and she loves you just as much in return, things will work out."

Alex felt a sense of relief sweep through him. "Thanks dad. I feel better now."

Andrew ruffled his shaggy hair. "Good. Now let's get back inside. It's freezing out here."

They had just walked in when a shrill beeping filled the room. Serena and Jess both jumped and looked at the communicators on their wrists. After sharing a wide-eyed glance, they flipped them open.

"Moon here."

"This is Shadow."

Amy's frantic voice came over the line. "You guys aren't going to believe this, but there are a couple of beast looking things attacking the park. I think you better get down here right away."

All movement in the room stopped. It was so silent that you could have heard a pin drop.

Alex and DJ both cursed under their breath and Katie whispered through pale lips, "Oh no! They found us!"

A/N Oh no, a cliffhanger! (Evil Laugh) I have to sneak one in every now and then. The plot bunnies are running rampant in my head and I have no idea where things are going to end up. The battle has come to present day Tokyo, and now Sailor Moon and the others are about to get pulled into the fight. Should be interesting. Coming up next, the heroes get their first taste of Discord's forces and then it's Valentine's Day. There should be some aww moments between our fave couples and there might even be a little surprise waiting for lonely Alex. DJ and Katie will have a moment too. How will that go? Will they finally get together, or will their new friendship fall apart? Stay tuned to find out. Catch you guys next update! Don't forget to review! Lots of love to everyone!

~Sere~