Welcome back! Once again, I find myself telling you that I am not dead. Just like Sailor Moon, I always, somehow, return. Rest assured, you have not been abandoned!

My thanks to my Luna R for giving me a small kick in the bahookey. It's nice to know that I was missed and that there are those who are patiently waiting for some closure with this story.

As this story comes to a close, I want to thank each and every one of you who have read my story and enjoyed it enough to leave a comment behind. I know some of you have had questions about a few points in this story … I hope I manage to answer them all to your satisfaction.

Author's Note: Serena's pendant design is dedicated to the memory of my son, Jareth.

Let the cheesecake begin!

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Chapter 19

The Dawning

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knock, knock

"Serena?"

There was silence on the other side of the door, then a rustle of clothing. Darien's brow furrowed with concern. He tapped on the bathroom door again.

"Buns? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." The soft voice filtered through the door, muffled by the wood. "I'll be out in a minute."

Darien sighed and walked to the bedroom. He was wearing a deep green tank top and a pair of blue jeans. Sliding his arm into the short sleeve of a faded denim shirt, his eye was caught by his watch. They were going to be late. He gave a small smile as he slid his other arm into the other sleeve and hiked the shirt up over his shoulders. Serena was almost always late.

He frowned towards the bathroom door as he buttoned the bottom few buttons of his shirt. The door opened and he quickly changed his frown to a small smile.

Serena stood in the doorway, leaning tiredly against the frame. She was still in her pink silk house robe and her hair was down. It puddled on the floor at her dainty, slippered feet. Darien walked over to her and put a hand on her cheek and she looked up into his eyes with a small smile.

"We're gonna be fashionably late again, Buns. Hurry and get dressed; I'll see to the last of the stuff that needs to go with us."

Placing a kiss on her forehead, he turned and walked to the kitchen area.

Serena smiled after his retreating form and moved into the bedroom where her clothes for the day were all laid out in readiness. Her chosen top was a soft pink gingham print tank top. Wide straps sat on her shoulders and a rounded lace of pink and white edged the modest neckline and the hem along the bottom. Next, she pulled on a pair of denim shorts with rolled cuffs and a braided pink and white belt. The short-sleeved denim shirt that she slipped on last had embroidery at the collar and sleeve cuffs - pink hearts, red roses, and green scrolling vines. On the left side of the front, above her heart, was an embroidered crescent moon with roses decorated on it and around it. She pulled on a pair of white cuff socks and, sitting at her vanity, began to put her hair up in their traditional buns.

She was almost done with the second one when she realized that Darien was standing at the door, leaning against the frame in a relaxed pose – one arm behind him, the other slightly bent at the elbow, his thumb tucked into the pocket of this jeans. She paused in her movements and raised questioning brows at him. He just smiled softly at her in response.

A soft glow appeared on her cheeks as she resumed her ministrations. Giving her bun a last finishing pat, she started to rise from her seat when Darien moved away from the door. Bringing forward his hidden hand he presented her with a flat, black box that was about the size of his hand if he spread out his fingers.

"What's this? She asked, as she looked up at his reflection in the mirror.

"I have it on good authority that the Knights were presenting gifts of affection to their Ladies. I thought I'd like to give you something too."

"Oh … Darien," she whispered. Taking the box gently from his hand, she opened it. Inside were two pearl bangles, two curved, pearl hair combs, and a large crescent moon pendant made of pearl and outlined in gold. Dangling from the top most point was a blue topaz teardrop. Matching earrings completed the ensemble. "Oh."

She couldn't seem to say anything. Darien reached down and took up the necklace. Brushing her long, pale blonde hair to one side, he did the delicate gold chain up for her. Serena reached into the box and took the hair combs and tucked them under her buns. She then fixed the earrings into her ears and put the bangles on her left wrist. Her right wrist was for her communicator. Standing up, she threw her arms around his neck.

"Thank you, Darien!"

A knock at the apartment door interrupted their intention to kiss. Darien went to answer it while Serena hurriedly put on her lip gloss.

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Another Author's Note: I would like to take this moment to apologise to any of my readers who have been waiting … and waiting … and still waiting for me to update. It has been six months since rosa lunae gave me a nag to write something for an update. I did start to write something, as promised, but got bogged down by lack of time and writer's block and I let it go again. I hope I manage to create something here that makes it all worth the wait. Again, you have my deepest apologies.

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Hotaru glared at her opponent. This wasn't going to be easy. She was in a difficult situation where her target had the ability to both overpower and outmaneuver her. She'd have to try to outthink her challenger.

Amara smiled at Hotaru, her eyes twinkling as she stood her ground, ready to run. Sammy, his girlfriend, Mika, Amy, Lita, Raye, Jed, Chad, Molly, and Mina all stood in various positions around the two at safe distances.

Suddenly Hotaru feinted left, then dodged right, heading for her quarry. Caught only slightly off guard, Amara corrected herself quickly, letting Hotaru come closer. She was about to dash away to safety again, when Hotaru did something that completely surprised her.

Hotaru tripped. With a small cry, she fell to the ground. Amara trotted up to her quickly and carefully helped her to an upright position, checking for scrapes and other damage. From the hill behind them, Michelle, Judith and Ikuko watched. Judith had gasped and Ikuko, used to such scenes from Serena's younger days, grimaced in sympathy. Michelle just smiled, an almost evil glint in her eye.

Amara brushed the hair out of Hotaru's face. "Are you okay, Hotaru?"

Hotaru looked up at Amara with her large violet eyes. "Haruka-papa?" Hotaru began, using the special nickname that she had given Amara when she was little. Amara looked at her questioningly as Hotaru reached up and tapped Amara's cheek.

"Tag."

Surprise held Amara still for a moment as Hotaru exploded out of her arms, squealing in triumph.

"Dammit! That's twice!" Amara pounded the ground in mock anger. Her eyes landed on Amy and narrowed. Amy's face reflected a moment of panic as she turned to run.

Michelle was wearing a large grin on her face now. "I can't believe that she fell for that a second time. I'll have to ask her later if she did it on purpose. Even though she's holding back, there's really nobody who can catch her."

Judith laughed as she watched her daughter perform some fantastic evasions from the racer. "My daughter doesn't have much of a chance … she's more at home in the water than on land.

Ikuko lost her smile and sighed. She was wearing a vanilla scoop necked cotton blouse with ¾ sleeves. Her black full skirt was made of rough silk, and you could just see the lace of her silk slip as she sack with her legs folded beside her. Around her neck was a simple gold rope chain with an open heart shaped pendant with the family birthstones along the one side. Recently she'd added Darien's birthstone, a sardonyx, to it. She wore simple pearl stud earrings and on her left wrist she wore several gold bangles. On her right wrist was a slim design watch with a shiny black strap. Judith turned to make a comment to Ikuko and noticed the look on her face.

"Something wrong?" Michelle turned at the question and also looked at Ikuko.

"Don't worry, Ikuko," she smiled, laying a hand on her arm, "Serena and Darian will be along shortly." Her eyes flickered as she quickly glanced over Ikuko's shoulder. "In fact, here they come now."

Michelle stood and waved to Amara as Judith and Ikuko both turned to see Serena, Darien, five other young men and a young lady walk up to the party site. Four of the young men carried a couple of folding tables while another carried a large basket.

The tag group whooped and ran to meet the group to help carry things and to greet the newcomers. Ikuko and Judith stood up and waited to be introduced. Ikuko looked over her shoulder and called for her husband to notice that their daughter and son-in-law had finally arrived. Kenji, wearing his usual dress shirt and slacks, dusted himself off and came to stand with the women. Grandpa and Melvin followed closely behind. Molly had managed to get him into a shirt and cargo pants, instead of his usual short-sleeved dress shirt and slacks, but his shirt still had breast pockets. As a point of safety, he didn't put any pens in them.

"My, my," remarked Grandpa, smiling into his mustache, "what a ruckus!"

Kenji nodded, but the women only smiled. Serena and the girls were showing off their new jewelry to each other, making happy, if loud, exclamations. Kenji wondered how they understood each other for they were talking all at once.

An amused smile on his face, Darian approached the ladies, offering Ikuko a kiss on the cheek and nodding at Kenji in greeting.

"I guess that I'll be making the introductions then," he observed with a fond glance down to the girls. Michelle giggled. One by one, he introduced Kunzite, wearing denim stone washed jeans, a casual cotton dress shirt with a black leather vest, and a hemp necklace with interspaced orange beads, Nephrite, wearing black jeans and a black shirt, Zoisite, wearing blue jeans, a sage tank and a denim jacket, his hair pulled back with a barrette that matched Amy's pendant, Andrew, dressed in jeans, a Three Lights concert T-shirt, Elizabeth, in a sundress with a Monet painting design of a pond, her hair pulled up into a pony tail, and Asanuma, in grey jeans and a navy T-Shirt with the picture of the Earth as seen from the Moon. The words Save Our Earth were written around the image.

"Well! I guess we can all dig into the food now, since we're all here." Ikuko glanced at Darian. "We are all here, aren't we?"

Darian took a quick head count and then checked his watch. "I think we're missing Chad's girlfriend, but I think that it should be safe to start without her."

Nodding, Ikuko took charge. Clapping her hands loudly for everybody's attention, she announced that everyone should gather to start the meal. Chad held back, scanning the park around them, as the others headed toward the arranged blankets. Darian and Andrew set up a couple of folding tables and Elizabeth spread some nice table cloths on them and Serena set out paper plates, plastic cups, napkins and utensils. Lita, Amara and Sammy brought all the baskets over and they all set out the dishes. When that was finished, Mika, wearing a lovely yellow checkered sun-top with spaghetti straps that tied at the shoulder, black cotton bike shorts and sport sandals, came running up with two gift bags and pulled Serena aside. A few whispers passed between them and Mika passed the gift bags to Serena. When Serena smiled her appreciation, Mika blushed and ran to sit down with Sammy and his parents, her glossy curls swinging in their pony tails.

Setting the handles of the gift bag on her arm, Serena picked up a plate and gestured to her Mother.

"Guests of Honour first, Mama." Serena smiled warmly.

"Hoshi!" Chad dashed off towards a young girl who was standing on the edge of the park, looking decidedly lost. She wore light denim Capri pants with geometrical embroidery at the hem. Her plain white T-shirt was covered with a ¾ sleeved lavender light sweater. Ankle socks and denim sneakers completed the outfit. Her dark brown shoulder length hair was pulled up on each side with little daisy barrettes. A tangled three-string freshwater pearl necklace sat at her collarbone, with a whale tail pendant made from shell, giving it a shiny rainbow of colours. A matching set of freshwater pearl studs finished the set. Hoshi turned her head at the sound of her name and gave a relieved smile. Upon reaching her, Chad took her little hands in his and kissed her cheek. "You came! I was worried that you had changed your mind!"

Hoshi smiled up at Chad, a faint blush on her cheeks and a happy shine in her hazel eyes. "Of course, I didn't change my mind." Her blush deepened. "I just came in from the wrong side of the park and was worried that I'd gotten lost."

Escorting her back to the picnic area, Chad introduced her to the others and then offered to pile her plate with anything she wanted. There was lots to choose from – three types of salads, fresh buns, pots of hot and cold meals – both traditional and new styles, and then came the desserts … which weren't on the table yet, so that nobody spoiled their supper.

The blankets were arranged in almost a horseshoe shape with the food tables completing that circle. Two blankets were in the center, for the guests of honour, Ikuko & Kenji and Molly & Melvin. Each blanket had a Senshi and a Knight either at it, or close by and watching. Just in case.

Everybody was in good spirits, the Senshi having pushed aside their worries. The worries weren't just forgotten, they simply refused to let those worries control their lives. They had all learned that you had to enjoy the good times when they came. Serena sat quietly while she ate and looked around at her friends and family. The chatter of gossip and laughter at jokes made her smile. Each time she caught a person's eye, they greeted her with either a cheeky grin, a small smile, a wink, a nod, a wave, or some other form of greeting of affection. When they had settled with dessert, Darien leaned over and wondered if she was going to keep the presents for herself.

"Tempting," she replied, a sly smile on her face. "Very tempting." As she rose from her place, Darien loudly cleared his throat to gain silence and attention. All eyes on her, a faintly blushing Serena looked fondly on her parents and her newly married friends.

"In honour of my parents' anniversary, and to welcome Molly and Melvin home to their new life together, I've arranged a present for each couple to remind them of today … and other good times." She handed one gift bag to Molly and another to her Mother. "I hope you enjoy them. Each they will be part of a unique set," Serena glanced at Mika and winked, "so guard them carefully." She stepped back and waited.

Molly carefully removed the tissue paper from her bag and removed a size-able bundle of blue cloth printed with crescent moons and black cats. It seemed to have a bit of weight to it and she wondered what it was as she unwrapped it. The final layer fell back and Molly gasped. There in her arms was a Sailor Moon china doll, complete with goggles. "Oh, Serena! Just as she first appeared in my mother's store! And the goggles! Nobody makes her with goggles!" Molly looked to Mika with a radiant smile. "This is wonderful work, Mika. I look forward to seeing the others!"

As she wrapped it back up carefully, attentions turned to Ikuko's package. Wrapped in pink silk, Ikuko found a china doll version of Serena, as she looked in junior high school. The long pony tails were wrapped in plastic sheathes to keep them from becoming messed up with travel.

"Oh, Serena! It's lovely! And such perfect details, right down to the brooch you used to wear!" Ikuko couldn't take her eyes off the doll. She kept touching the fabrics, lightly brushing the bangs. Kenji marveled over her shoulder for a bit and then turned to Mika.

"I think I'd like to make an order with you myself, young lady. This is marvelous quality!"

Mika blushed with pride and nodded. "Serena's given me enough to keep me busy, Tsukino-san, but I will happily take your order." She glanced around at the group and noticed that certain wistful gleam in few eyes. "I'll take everybody's orders! And everybody here will get a discount!" Cheers arose from the group as Sammy hugged his girlfriend. He glanced up at Darien, who gave him an encouraging nod and cleared his throat again. Serena looked to Darien, a questioning look on her face.

"I don't think that's the end of the gift giving, just yet. Sammy?"

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Commercial break!

Mwahahahahahahahaa! I'm so evil!

Don't worry, the descriptions are almost over! ;) Watch out for those yawns! They're contagious, you know!

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All eyes turned to Sammy, who cleared his throat nervously. "Uh … Mika, I, uh … here." He thrust a small package towards her hands and blushed brightly, his eyes lowered. Serena and Ikuko's eyes widened with surprise.

Mika opened the small box and stared. Clearing his throat, Sammy worked his nerve back up. Taking the ring out of the box, he held it up so that she could just slide her finger into it.

"Mika? Will you marry me?"

Mika couldn't get any words out. She lifted a slightly shaky hand up and Sammy slid the simple heart-shaped diamond ring onto her finger. Breaking free of her shock, Mika gave a glad cry, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. The cheers echoed across the park as Andrew reached behind him into a cooler and pulled out the champagne.

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"Your orders, my Queen?"

The graceful white hand swept over the scrying waters. There was no immediate answer to her question, but the woman knew better than to ask again. Her Queen wouldn't accept any suggestion, however slight or inadvertent, that she was not in complete control of her surroundings. It was kind of ironic, given the circumstances.

"Have you found her yet?" The voice was harsh, but the servant was used to it.

"I have narrowed it down now, Oh Great One. I will force her to show herself today."

"See that you do. Use what you must."

The servant bowed her way out, passing through a single narrow shaft of light that momentarily revealed blonde hair and a slate grey eye as the servant quickly left.

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Well? Is there anybody left to read this thing? Doesn't matter. I'm determined to finish it. I swore I'd never drop a story into the mists … and I'm not going to. If there is anybody left who is reading this … Enjoy!

Today's Quote:

"Anywhere is walking distance if you have the time."

Stephan Wright

Stay tuned! We'll be right back!