Here it is, the last chapter. Enjoy and REVIEW to let me know what you thought about the fic.

19

Some Things Never Change

It had been months and Serena was finally able to start planning her wedding. Raye and Seiya had proved to be wonderful babysitters as Darien had gone back to school leaving her to her own devices. "Ah think ya oughta go ta Europe fer tha honey moon." Molly said and threw a pamphlet in front of her friend. Since the twins' birth all of Serena's friends and family had come to visit and Darien had let them stay in the large house much to his annoyance. That was why he had gone back to work.

"Molly, for heaven's sake you're not an easterner stop talking like that!" Serena threw her hands in the air and looked at Andrew who was sitting across the table with a satisfied smirk on his face. He shrugged and looked at his new fiancé Rita who only covered her face with her hands in despair. Molly smiled and turned her head as Raye came storming into the room her face contorted with anger. "What?" Serena paled.

"I hate my brother sometimes!" Raye screamed towards the door as Seiya poked his head in. A playful smile played upon his lips as he winked at Serena. "You know what he's doing?" Raye raised her hands in the air.

"No…" Serena looked at Seiya with apprehension as he proceeded to laugh and motion for the people in the room to follow him. "Seiya! Where are my children?" Serena jumped up the sudden realization hitting her that something could be wrong. She followed him into the foyer then towards Darien's office, that's when she stopped. "Oh… Seiya…" She gasp as she looked in to see the office torn apart and her children sitting on the floor crumpling papers in their tiny hands. "NO!" She gasp and scooped them both up in her arms and surveyed the extent of the damage. "Seiya!" The man was laughing so hard he could barely stand. "Damn you! You know how Darien's going to react to this?"

"React to what…" Darien said suddenly appearing in the doorway and freezing. "Wh…" He stared at the papers strewn around the room ripped to shreds. Rini laughed heartily as her daddy stalked into the room and looked at his students' essays. "Did you do this?" He asked the giggling girl with an amused tone. "Did you?" He neared Serena and her children then took hold of Rini and playfully tossed her into the air. "Did my little girl not like the essays? I didn't either." He laughed and cuddled her to his chest. "We have a hellion don't we? Don't we?" The little girl in his arms giggled and grabbed at his tailored clothes just to feel the soft material.

"Darien, don't spoil her now. She's done something wrong and can't be encouraged." Serena scolded and held Rien to her bosom admiring his peaceful demeanor. Darien smiled and began to leave the room with his daughter pausing briefly only to kiss his wife and son. "Darien I mean it!"

"Nonsense Darling. What harm could a little bit of spoiling do to her?" Serena frowned a little as he continued to walk out and into the hall, the moment Rini was out of sight the two twins began to scream uncontrollably. This was the reaction each time the two were separated and Serena couldn't help but wonder when it would change. She knew twins felt a unique connection… or so she'd heard but this was beginning to be ridiculous.

"Chill Serena. The kids are going to be fine." Seiya smiled and leaned against the doorframe. "She's daddy's little girl after all. Let him spoil her now because I will change when she's older." Serena nodded and bit her lip hoping that her children would grow to be decent people.

Darien looked up from his stack of papers and sighed, once again Rini was throwing one of her fits. The twins were sixteen now and it seemed that despite his calm demeanor Rini would argue anything just because she wanted to. "You can't do that and you know it Rini!" Darien could hear his wife's voice through the thick doors, the screech alone made him rub his temples. If the argument kept up he would have to step in and mediate the conversation. "You're father will be furious." He heard Serena snap making him stand and walk to the door.

"Whatever Mom! Daddy will let me do what I want because he's a lot cooler than you!" Rini shouted at her mother. Darien could feel a twinge of rage ping in the back of his mind causing his hand to twitch. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath and balled his fists feeling himself beginning to enter into one of his moods. Neither Rini nor Rien had seen him enraged and he wanted to keep it that way but with every passing day it was becoming more and more difficult. "You'll see!" She almost spat as he heard his daughter grab the door knob.

Serena couldn't help but feel enraged by the way Rini was acting. The girl was obviously delusional in some way because she had the idea that Darien was going to let her brand her body with tattoos and piercings. As Serena glared at her daughter Darien yanked the door open and stared pointedly at the petite teen in front of him. As she stared at her husband she suddenly recognized the familiar glint. It was the same look he always had when he was about to do something that would cause some sort of damage. "Darien…" She took on a warning tone but shut her mouth tightly as he shifted his eyes to hers then back to Rini.

"What are you out here screaming about young lady?" Rini stepped back as he growled. "Do you have no respect for your mother? That you will speak to her like that?" Rini seemed to shrink in front of her towering father, his masculinity still dominating all in his presence. "Answer me Rini." He barked.

"I… just want… a tattoo and she… she said no… and…" She paused to look at the ground. "I'm not getting one am I?" Serena smiled lightly but didn't let her daughter know it. "This is so not fair."

"Fair?" Darien spat and stepped into Rini's space. "You don't think it's fair that you can't mutilate yourself with ink that may or may not disagree with your skin thus leaving you permanently scarred?" Her blue eyes widened in shock. "You are not getting a tattoo and you're not getting your body pierced and you are especially not going to go out with any boy who thinks you need anything like that!" Serena stared wide-eyed at her husband. Sometimes he was scary but at the same time, his love was absolute. It always had been.

"Daddy… I… I just… I want to express myself!" Rini's eyes watered in an elaborate attempt to play on her father's emotions. She'd never tried to appeal to him in such a way yet she'd be dammed if she wouldn't try now. "Everyone has a tattoo and mine wouldn't be so bad…" She looked up and saw a broad yet almost sadistic smile spread across her father's face. "What?"

"You can have a tattoo if I get to tell you where to put it and what it is." Serena almost chocked on her own saliva at his words. "What do you say Rini?" Darien was brimming with fury and it took every ounce of him not to do something physical to his daughter. Something in him wanted to bend her over his knee and hit her so hard she'd be crying for years. He wouldn't though… at least not now. He needed to stay in control of himself long enough to make her realize what a stupid little girl she was being.

Rini stepped away from him as the words registered in her mind. Was he kidding? What sort of proposition was that? "Would… it be cool?" She asked hesitantly suddenly realizing just who her father was. He was known for being cold and mean though she had never thought him to be so. Obviously she was wrong about that simple fact because he was being very cold now.

"Rini, what I would pick would be so cool that anyone who saw it would realize you where the coolest girl in the world and would respect you in that way." Serena stepped forward and placed a hand on his arm realizing that whatever he would do to their daughter would have serious implications.

"What is it then?" Rini placed a hand on her hip and knitted her brow in an attempt to draw her father's idea out of him. He only smiled and looked past her, the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs alerted them to an audience.

"NO! Rini!" Rien practically jumped over the railing and pushed his sister behind him. "Don't ask anymore, subject closed." Serena was about ready to laugh as her son, Darien's carbon copy stood between his sister and his parents. "Dad, no, that would be wrong."

"What? What would be wrong?" Rini's eyes widened and looked from her brother to her father who were obviously at some sort of stand still.

"Do you have any idea what dad would have tattooed on you? You'd never be able to have a real boyfriend!" Rini raised her eyebrows in suspicion. "Oh, please… Rini… dad would have some type of threat tattooed on the inside of your thighs." She let out an eep and instinctively put her hands to her inner thighs protectively. The gesture caused both Darien and Serena to erupt into fits of uncontrollable laughter. "See, told you."

"You are definitely my son." Darien smiled and hugged the boy close. "I just hope you're not too like me." Rien looked at his mother apprehensively not understanding the meaning of his father's statement. He knew that there was something to be feared in the statement but he wasn't sure what.

"Okay… well, if I can't have a tattoo can I go to prom this year?" Rini asked slyly smiling at the opportunity Rien had presented her with. She was a senior this year, two years ahead of her age mates and she thought herself quite the genius. Perhaps not as much as Rien who had chosen to go to university and follow in their father's footsteps. The question seemed to catch her father off guard giving her more time to formulate her proposal. "Well, daddy… it's my senior year and I really want to go and… there's this guy who…" Darien held up his hand thus stopping her from talking any longer.

"Who asked you? What is his name and who are his parents?" Serena sighed and tightened her grip on her husband hoping to prevent him from exploding. There was no father more protective of his daughter than Darien Shields and it was a wonder any boy asked Rini at all.

"His name is Helios and his parents… I'm not sure of their names… what does that matter daddy? He's a nice guy… I'm sure I could convince him to come to dinner if you want to meet him." Rini was offering a fair compromise in Serena's opinion. She watched Darien's blue eyes cloud with darkness and immediately stepped in.

"Sure honey! You invite him over and we'll all sit down together and have dinner. Then your father and I can decide if he's a nice boy or not… right Dare?" She tugged at his twitching arm and looked into his eyes. "Dare?"

"Sure… whatever you'd like Serena… I'm going upstairs…" Rini raised an eyebrow as her father walked past her stiffly then up the stairs. Rien watched in silence as his mother sighed and began to follow their father up the stairs.

"Mom… what's up?" Rien asked his angelic blonde mother as his sister rushed to the nearest phone to share the verdict with Helios. "Mom?" Serena looked down at her son and smiled a reassuring smile.

"Some things never change baby doll and your father is the same man I fell in love with. He's rather unpredictable and I'm going up to check on him… if I don't come down in an hour or so come to see if I'm okay but don't open the door." Her blue eyes glittered in the afternoon sun calming his troubled heart. He nodded his compliance and turned to Rini who was giggling on the phone uncontrollably.

Serena continued to the doors to the apartment and quickly made her way inside to look for her husband. Her eyes scanned the living room catching on the open French doors. The wind made the sheer white curtains billow in lightly and through them she could see Darien's large frame at the terrace railing. Stepping out to the terrace she quietly approached him and waited just behind him for any sign that he was in one of his moods. "They're practically grown Sere… where did the time go?" His strong voice was soft and gentle telling her that he had come to the terrace to think.

"I went into our hearts. Where else?" She smiled and wrapped one arm around his shoulder while she placed the other one around his waist lovingly. "Darien, I really want you to try and be civil with this boy. I know that you're apprehensive about this but I really think you owe it to your daughter to give him a fair chance." Darien almost snorted in disgust and turned suddenly pulling her against his chest.

"What would have happened with us if I gave anyone a fair chance?" Serena frowned and attempted to pull away only to be held firmly in place. "I'm going to meet the kid okay? I promise you I'm going to try but if he lays a hand on her I'm going to kill him. I know I will… you know I will." His eyes were still dark but lightened a bit in response to her frightened expression. "Calm down Sere…" He reached a hand up and cradled her neck thus burying his hand into her thick long hair. "How long has it been?" His question was a simple one and was reinforced with a light kiss on her forehead.

"A few years I think." She sighed and leaned into him missing these moments. Since their birth the twins had been their world, the two had little time to be a couple again. Serena was busy with raising them and Darien with his careers. Each night he'd come home late and collapse onto the bed. The only intimate contact they'd had since the twins hit puberty was his protective arms wrapping around her in their sleep. The truth was that she knew exactly how long it had been since they had last shared a true intimate moment and many a time it had torn her apart. The wonder if Darien had found some young graduate student constantly plagued her.

"God I miss you." He sighed and held her close to him. "You know… I often worry that when you're here alone so much that Seiya keeps you company." Serena opened her eyes wide and looked at her husband. "I know that isn't the case so don't look at me like that little bunny." He then smiled and leaned down to kiss her, her lips tingling from the long absent sensation that was him. "How long do you think they'll stay down there?"

"Not long enough." Serena suddenly pulling away from him and turning towards the doors. "You know we don't have the time or the…" She froze as strong hands pulled her back and against what seemed like a wall. "No Darien. Not now."

"Yes now." Darien grabbed her then lifted her light body into the air. "I know you want it." She grasp for the bedroom doorframe and attempted to hold on only to be pulled away from it and into the room. The door shutting behind them with a swift kick of Darien's foot sent a long awaited chill down her spine.

Rien looked up the stairs at the door of the suite and closed his eyes briefly before walking to the large objects and entering the apartment. He knew his mother had told him to stay out but he couldn't' help but worry about her. Her tone had been less than comforting at the time and now he just wanted her to be safe. "Mom?" He shouted and looked around approaching the French doors. There was no sign of either of his parents. "Mom?" The sound of a splash caught his ears and drew him towards the main bathroom. "Mom?" He jumped when his father opened the door to the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his dripping body. "Dad, I'm sorry… I thought mom was up here." Rien looked away from his father wondering how a forty two year old man could look twenty.

"Who said she wasn't?" Darien asked with a slight smile making his son blush furiously. Rien turned suddenly and walked towards the doors. Darien turned towards his wife and held up his index finger before chasing after his son. "Rien, is there something you'd like to talk about?"

"Nope!" Rien said with a higher voice than usual. "Nothing." Darien frowned and managed to halt his son. "What?"

"Talk to me." Darien offered and crossed his arms making his muscles bulge a little. "You've been very quiet as of late and I don't like it. What's going on with you?" Darien hated pinning Rien like this but it was becoming clear that it was the only way he was going to talk.

"Look… dad. I just… right now I don't want any part of what you've got going on so can I go and we can talk later?" Rien almost pleaded. "So, we'll talk about my girlfriend after you're done with my mom okay? See you downstairs." Darien watched his son walk out and smiled. He was such a good kid, and it was in that moment that Darien realized he'd spent his life in the best way. He had two beautiful, healthy children, a wonderful life, and now a poor boy to threaten. His life couldn't have played out any better. As he turned back to the bathroom with the naked woman waiting in the tub he smirked. Oh the surprise that boy would have when trying to impress him. The poor kid wouldn't know what happened when he was done with the boy, after all, Darien was the master of playing mind games.

The End