Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, Naoko Takeuchidoes.
A/N- Thank you for reading and reviewing, feedback is appreciated.
Waking up to the morning sunlight shinning through their bedroom window Darien and Serena slowly got up and out of their warm bed.
The previous night Darien and Serena decided that their house was long overdue for some kind of cleaning and after all, the Sailor Senshi are due to arrive at their house anytime later in the day.
After finishing their quick breakfast and after finishing with washing the dishes Serena helped Darien pack his bags since he was going to be gone for a good week or two.
When everything was done on the main floor level Serena started walking upstairs so she could start cleaning.
After helping Darien pack most of his clothes and other things into a rather large green suitcase Serena headed over and into the bathroom and left Darien to pack the rest of his suitcase. Serena then grabbed all of the necessary cleaning supplies, then she started with dusting all of the furniture in every room.
Serena was idly dusting off the last piece of furniture in the guest bedroom when she glanced up at the clock on the wall, she was surprised at what the time said so she started putting all of the cleaning supplies away.
Hoping that Darien was done with his suitcase Serena called out to him." Darien have you seen the time? They are going to be here soon, I suggest that you get dressed into something presentable. Oh and I hope you have already finished packing your bags for your bodyguard duty because it is almost time for you to leave." Not waiting for Darien to answer, Serena walked back upstairs to get changed into clean clothes.
While upstairs Serena looked at the rather heavy and fully packed suitcase, she then walked into the great expanse of her closet, she had no idea what she was going to wear but making up her mind Serena picked out one of her favorite pink shirts and a knee length skirt. A few minutes later she heard the door bell chime a familiar song and Serena realized that her friends had finally arrived at her house. Feeling quite anxious Serena quickly finished up the last buttons on her light pink blouse, Serena then yelled for Darien to run upstairs and change into his good clothes.
Passing Darien on the way down to the front door Serena gave him a small nervous smile to see what he would do and she felt instantly better when he returned her gesture with an encouraging smile. With increased courage to face her friends after a while of not seeing them Serena took a deep breath and touched the door handle while thinking about her friends.
Wow I haven't seen any of my friends for a good six months, more like I haven't seen them since I had my wedding with Darien. I doubt that anything is different between us, we've been through so much. And we weren't able to see each other because of other commitments and college.
Unlocking and opening the front door Serna was greeted with the familiar smiling faces of all her friends, that lasted a second though because all of her friends attacked her with hugs and them telling her how much they missed her. After what seemed like forever Serena reluctantly let go of her friends and faced them, noticing that her friends haven't changed in the least bit since she had last seen them. Serena sighed happily and gave her friends a truly happy smile, she also motioned for everyone to come inside.
" We should get inside and talk, everyone can leave their bags by the stairs, Darien will bring them up and set them in the guest bedrooms. I ordered some food for us to eat also."
Serena then made everyone walk inside of the house and when everyone was inside she shut the front door. Serena took her friends through the kitchen and into the adjoining room where they would all sit. Once in the room everyone sat down, the chairs and couch was all positioned to face each other.
" Wow, Serena you have a nice house, when did you get the money." Said Raye jokingly.
" I forgot you guys never got to see the house, I'm happy you like it. Thanks."
" So what have all you been doing for the past six months, has anything interesting happened?" The girls seemed to be thinking about the question, but by the look on all of their faces it clearly showed that nothing of importance had happened to any of them.
" Serena we were all actually wondering if anything had happened with you, the rest of us go to collage together so we can talk with each other when we want to, do you have anything interesting to tell us?"
Serena tried to answer Amy's innocent question truthfully, but in all honesty she wanted everything to be normal with them for a few more hours, maybe until after they had their food. Serena wished something or someone would change the topic until later, but no luck.
" Um, there are just a fe…" Serena's response was interrupted when Darien came downstairs with his suitcase in hand and a jacket.
" Hey everyone, it is nice to see you all again after some months."
Everyone then turned their gazes and attention to Darien and gave him a positive response. Serena felt relief that Darien was turning everyone's attention away from her for a little while. To Serena it felt like Darien felt her distress, but she knew better.
" I don't know if Serena got to telling you but there is a change of plans, I'm going over to some families house to be their bodyguard, hopefully I will get to talk to all of you later or may be in a week or two that's how long I will be there. Now I have to head off to the house since it is about a two hour drive from here, not too far I guess."
Serena was happy that Darien didn't tell everyone the details about why he was being hired as a body guard, she still wanted to wait until later to tell everyone everything.
" Why do you have to be a bodyguard, for who? Is it serious, or can't you tell us since it is classified or maybe you don't want to tell us? Is it something like that?" Mina said skeptically.Serena thought that Mina was way too curious, but after all it was Mina.
"This is going to disappoint you guys I guess, nothing interesting is going on, it isn't even that serious. The family that wants my service is just scared for their safety."
Everyone seemed to believe Darien, but he wasn't even lying anyway.
"It has been nice seeing everyone again and to see that everyone is doing fine, now I have to leave or I will be late."
Grabbing his bags from where he sat them, Darien started walking towards the front door so he could leave. He was stopped from opening the door when he felt a hand grab onto his outstretched hand. Darien knew it was Serena. Looking down he saw that Serena was on the brink of tears. Grabbing Serena's hand this time Darien took her outside so they could have some privacy.
" Darien, I want you to know that you still should be very careful even though everyone has told you that this bodyguard duty will be easy and that there is supposed to be absolutely no threat to you and the family you are with."
Darien looked down at Serena again and saw that she was holding back tears, he realized that this was the first time in a while that they will be separated for more than just a few days. Darien also felt very guilty that he was leaving Serena at home without him, the only thing that made him feel better was that all of her friends were there and that he could trust them to look after each other.
" We have been through this already, but I will assure you again that I will be very careful despite what everyone has said to me."
Serena looked convinced that he wouldn't do anything other than what they talked about, but it was hard to tell since she had her head turned away from him facing the driveway. Darien then gently lifted Serena's head up with his fingers and he kissed her with all that he was feeling at that moment, the kiss wasn't too long or too short. When they were done Darien just held Serena in his arms and kissed her forehead telling her that he will come back the same as he left
Still sad that Darien was leaving Serena nodded her head in agreement to what Darien said and told him goodbye. Standing in the driveway Serena waited until Darien left and drove away, she then walked back into the house and got ready to face her friends bombarding her with more questions about how she has been since they last seen her.
Shutting the door behind her Serena walked back into the room that contained her friends, Serena looked at all of there faces and noticed that they were all smiling at her, finally Lita spoke and told Serena all that she needed to know.
" Aw, that was so cute out there, you and Darien make a wonderful married couple."
That brought another smile to Serena's face, knowing that her friends were back to normal and messing with her.
" So the food should be arriving any minute, actually I think it is here right now."
Everyone walked towards the door and greeted the pizza man that held about three pizza's. Serena gave the man a tip and paid for the pizza. Back inside Serena set the kitchen table with plates and napkins and waited for everyone to sit down.
" Did you see that pizza guy? He was so good looking, wasn't he Lita?"
" He sure was, we should have talked to him."
Again her friends brought a smile to her face, whether it was there intention to or not, Serena was reminded of all the times that they shared together when they were younger. Serena was also very happy that nothing had changed between them in all the years that they knew each other.
" Okay guys I think it is time to eat, and stop talking about the pizza guy." Amy jokingly reprimanded the still boy crazy girls.
As they were eating their pizza the girls talked about their memories from middle school and high school and everything else that they could think about. Serena then remembered about Luna and Artemis.
" What ever happened to Luna and Artemis, the last thing I remember about them is that Luna was crying when I got married six months ago. I remember her telling me that she and Artemis was going to take a break and go somewhere."
" That's the last time that I have seen them also, though I remember that Artemis said they were going to still be near here."
Believing Mina, Serena and the girls went back to sharing their memories with each other.
With Darien
After driving for a total of two hours Darien finally started to arrive at the city where he was to meet up with the Bryant family. Passing a few houses here and there Darien came upon a little community of houses, it looked to be gated. Driving up to the gates he was stopped by security guards, he told him why he was there and it seemed that the family had already alerted the security about him in advance. After getting directions from the man at the gate Darien drove for about five more minutes and then he came to a nicely sized country house, it reminded him of his home.
Parking in the driveway Darien recognized the Deputy's car so he felt confident that this was the right house. At the front door he pushed the door bell and he also heard the bells go off inside of the house also. Looking into the windows next to the door he saw a middle aged women and a older woman walking down the hardwood steps toward the door.
Putting on his most friendly and convincing smile Darien impatiently waited for the door to open, then finally the door opened up to revel the older woman and the younger woman he had previously seen coming down the staircase. With them was the Deputy and a little boy that held a striking resemblance towards Bryant and the rational side of Darien knew it was Bryant's Six year old son. Darien decided to introduce himself first since not one person was saying anything yet.
" Hello, I'm Darien and your name is?"
The middle aged women looked him over suspiciously and seemed to reluctantly announce her name. " Yes, Hello. My name is Mrs. Laura Tate and the people standing before you are my son Robert and my mother, Katherine. And I trust you know who this man is, your Deputy."
Darien noticed that when Laura said her name she seemed to defend her status as Mrs. It seemed like she was still trying to prove that she was married or something like that. And by her sarcastic remark about him knowing the Deputy, Darien could tell that this woman was going to be annoying.
" Yes it is nice to meet all of you and I hope the time that I spend here is very stress free and that nothing comes up that is of concern."
After he completed his sentence he felt the middle aged woman's gaze, or Laura's gaze on him. It was uncomfortable to have her stare at him with a look of suspicion or something else, Darien still couldn't place it. Again after an awkward silence the older woman named Katherine ushered Darien inside because it didn't seem Laura was going to.
Darien was seated at a wooden kitchen table as he awaited everyone to come back into the kitchen. The Deputy walked in a few minutes later and Darien looked up at him in question as to why Laura was acting so cold or just plain weird, she should be happy he agreed to protect her for a few weeks, after all they did want him to be their bodyguard.
" Okay Darien there is a few things you should know." Stated the Deputy
" What is it, why are they acting so weird towards me? After all they did want me here and they did pay for me to be here also."
" That is very true that they are acting a touch weird, but what would you feel like if a strange man, hired no less was to stay in your house when a loved one just died. I don't know about you Darien but I would be on alert if one of my family members was killed. Oh and know that this house is Laura's mothers home not Laura's. She sold her house when Bryant was proclaimed dead"
" Yeah I guess your right, I will just have to gain their trust in the few weeks that I'm going to be here and I figured it wasn't her house because Bryant didn't travel two hours to work everyday."
" Now you have the spirit, I have to leave now because my job calls me to be at other places, I was just here to see that you made it to the house okay and that the family knew our policy on bodyguards. See you later Darien, this task shouldn't be too hard or challenging for you at all and in no time just think, you will be home."
As Darien watched the Deputy walk out of the house Darien looked out the window and the darkening sky, and he wondered will things get less awkward between him and the family. Darien just figured that he would just take each day as it comes and with what happens, happens. Hearing the floor boards creak Darien looked up and was greeted with Laura who was looking pretty annoyed for some reason.
" Are you just going to sit there all night, or maybe get to know everyone."
" I'm sorry, I though you would come in here and show me around."
Laura huffed and said something under her breath that Darien couldn't hear and he didn't know if he wanted to know what she said anyway.
" Yes, well get up now I decided to show you around the house."
Without saying anything Darien followed Laura around while she showed him the various rooms of the house. He also got to know the other family member a little bit better. The last stop was his bedroom which was a nice size and had a light blue color on the walls, all and all it looked very nice.
" I think you should retire for the day, you look very tired and it looks like you haven't gotten any sleep in the past week. I can't have you falling asleep on the job, can I?"
" I think that is a good idea, I will go to sleep now since it is late."
With a nod Laura left Darien alone in his new bedroom. Seeing as his bag was already brought upstairs Darien changed into his nigh clothes and slide into the full sized bed. After a few moments of reflection on the day that had passed Darien felt very tired and was slowly sliding into an unconscious state when something slowly started nagging at him from the back of his mind to do something, Darien didn't know what though. Just about a scant few minutes past when the nagging turned into some sort of urgency that told him to jump out of bed and find out what was making him so nervous.
Now fully awake again Darien willed himself to calm down and think rationally, after he did that he concluded that he felt like he was being watched. Sliding out of his cold bed Darien slowly crept across the glossy hardwood flooring, thankfully there was no creaking of the wood. As Darien reached the window of his bedroom he pushed back the see-through curtains to be able to see better and he peered out the window. With his eyes straining Darien thought he cause a glimpse of a figure in the yard, but when he strained his eyes even more the figure was gone and so was the feeling of being watched by something or someone.
Walking back into his bed Darien decided to save thinking about this until tomorrow for he really needed to get some kind of sleep in, but for now he concluded that the figure was just apart of his imagination, he was not quite sure he agreed though.
A/N- There is the newest chapter. I hoped you enjoyed it, Thanks for reading.