Hope you guys are enjoying the progress of this story! I know I'm enjoying writing it. ^_^ Please leave feedback and comments and tell me what you think.

PS: Rini gets better as the chapters move along, but she is a rebellious teenager so she's bound to have an attitude problem.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Sailormoon characters

Chapter 3: Curiosity

Lita, Ami, Rei, and Mina all sat around the fire in silence. Lita was pacing back and forth, Mina was twirling her hair around her finger, Rei was flipping a coin through her fingers, and Ami was reading a book supposedly, but she had been staring at the same page for an hour. A door slam broke the silence and all four of them turned to find Queen Serenity entering with Luna and Artemis at her feet and a bottle of the King's best whiskey in hand. They all straightened up a bit more and waited for her to speak. She was in one of Darien's tuxedo shirts; she had stolen it from him when he was in the bathroom earlier that morning.

"How are you Serena?" Mina asked.

She sat on the floor in the center of all four chairs that had been shaped in a U in front of the fire.

"Lita, please sit," Serena begged, her voice cracking.

"I can't! I'm so pissed at Darien for doing this to you!" she exclaimed.

"Lita…"

She stopped pacing and caught Serena's tear-filled gaze. She slouched a little and walked over to the empty chair she had left. Her leg bounced up and down restlessly, but at least she was sitting. Luna walked up to Serena and curled up in her lap.

"I want to explain to you all how I found out," she said staring off at spot on the carpet. She held her arms out and looked at the sleeves, "It starts with this shirt."

"I'll be just a minute Luna!" Serena exclaimed as she bounded into her bedroom.

Darien was coming home that day and she wanted to greet him in one of his shirts and nothing more. She had to choose the right garment though. She tore through his closet and found the crisp white shirt that he had worn as Tuxedo mask. She beamed at it until she caught a certain scent from it. With her face covered with curiosity, she leaned forward and sniffed the fabric.

"Maybe it's just the fabric softener," she thought aloud. But upon investigating this scent, she dug through all of his shirts and found that this one in particular was covered in something different.

She backed out of the closet and walked to her bedroom door to find Luna waiting for her. She beckoned the cat inside and asked, "Will you smell something for me?" Serena went into the wardrobe and pulled out the shirt. She held it to Luna's nose whose eyes popped open the moment she smelled it.

"Oh my …"

"It's not a good sign, is it?" she asked.

Luna shook her head.

"Please leave. I need to be alone," she declared. As Luna exited, Serena ordered, "Have one of the servants bring me two bottles of wine and a glass please."

Once she broke into the wine and was getting a little bolder with each sip, she started to go through his pockets in his pants, his coats, his other shirts, sweat pants, sweatshirts. And then when she though that this was a ridiculous idea, she felt cold metal in her grasp. She pulled out a long gold chain with a golden key encrusted in diamonds. She recognized it from somewhere, but she couldn't figure it out. However, with this information in her head, knowing that another woman had been around her husband and this closely to embed her scent on his shirt – her favorite shirt – she thought it best to finished her red wine before he came home.

Serena turned out every light in the room and let the earth light beam in through the tall windows. About an hour later and half way through her second bottle of wine, Darien waltzed into the room. He smiled at his wife as he strolled toward her, but her face was covered in anger and her lips were stained purple from the wine.

"Um … hi," he said, slowing his steps. "Are you alright, darling?"

She pushed herself off of the bed, took her half empty glass of wine where she had dropped the key necklace in and poured it all over his head. Darien stood still as the red liquid dripped down his face and stained the carpet around him. He held his hand out as he felt the weight of the metal slip off his head. When the necklace landed in his palm, his eyes widened. Serena just glared at him as she stumbled backwards to sit back down on the bed. She extended her arms out in front of herself.

"Who is she? The woman is all over your Tuxedo Mask shirt – my favorite shirt. Her necklace was in your pants pocket," she explained drunkenly, her words slurring a little bit.

"You're drunk—"

"But I'm not stupid!" she shouted. "Who is she? Who is she?"

She got up again and dragged him by his tie down to the bed. She climbed on top of him and scowled, "Did you cheat on me?"

"Serena, are you—"

She slapped him across the face and asked again, "Are you cheating me?"

He drew in a deep breath as his heart beat sped up and he said, "Yes."

She let the fear consume her and practically blind her as she leapt off of him, grabbed his tie again and swung him around so hard that he stumbled backwards into their dresser, crashing into the mirror, glass bottle, and empty wine glass. He had forgotten how strong Serena was. Before she could lash out at him again, he grabbed her wrists and pushed her away. There was a fire in her eye; she wanted to beat him up, pummel him down, maybe even if kill him.

"Serena, let me explain myself," he begged.

"No, no, no!" she screamed as tears ran down her face. "I could stab you! I could murder you right now!"

Her face grew red as he backed away from her. She fell to the ground and started to cry, letting her wails and sobs fill the room that was clouded with tension. She may have been queen, but she was still the same Serena that Darien had fallen in love with and to see her so upset broke his heart. He knelt down wrapped his strong arms around her. She tried to resist and even started to punch him, but her blows did nothing to stop him. He scooped her up into his grasp and laid her down on the bed. She winced as he pulled his touch away from her. She lashed out for his hand and pulled him on top of her. Her slender hands slipped through his black hair and pulled his face closer to her. Darien had always been hers; even when he had been dating Rei for a little bit and their small break-up after they had defeated all of the evil in the world. She was sickened with the thought that someone else had taken him from her. She needed to claim her territory again. Serena searched his glassy grey eyes and then suddenly smashed her lips against his. She pulled him down on her and removed his jacket. The weight of him on top of her was something she had missed oh so much.

"Make love to me," she pleaded in between the passionate kisses that ensued.

"As you wish," he replied with a breathy tone.

He was ready to rip open the shirt she was wearing, but she stopped him. She slowly unbuttoned it, gentle with her touch at every move. Serena removed the shirt, exposing her naked body to him and dropped it down on the floor. Darien hadn't seen her nude in such a long time that he let his eyes drink it up. With the way things were going he probably wasn't going to see her like this for quite a while. She ignored his gaze that was fixated primarily on her breasts. She started to undress him quickly before she changed her mind; the tie, the suspenders, ripping open his shirt, etc. She let her fingertips slide up and down his well sculpted stomach and continued to kiss him as he removed his lower garments.

Before entering inside her, Darien paused and whispered above her lips, "I love you so much Serenity."

Serene took a sharp breath as he slid inside her and let herself become enwrapped in passion.

"And just like that you had sex?" Rei asked, a twinge of anger in her tone.

Serena took a sip of whiskey from the crystal container. She wiped her lip clean of the excess alcohol and lazily glared at Rei, "I wanted to remove this woman from my husband's body. It was the only thing I could think of in that state of mind. I wouldn't ever re-do it if I had the chance. It was … an experience.

"The next morning I woke up before him and washed myself harder than I ever had. I scrubbed my skin until it turned red and was raw. I got dressed, took his tuxedo shirt – this tuxedo shirt – and had one of the servants wash it five times in bleach before I would touch it. I can still smell her on it though."

Ami tilted her head as she said, "So you let him stay here for a whole week before you decided to tell him to leave?"

"What made you wait?" Mina continued.

"I love him," she shrugged. "I have always loved him. I will never stop loving him... ever. I want to go back to the way we were before this train wreck. I thought that if I just ignored it things would be fine, but it wasn't. I grew more and more hurt. Every time we climbed into bed together, I thought of how another woman had been wrapped up in his arms. Another woman had slept beside him. Another woman had made love to him."

She tied her arms around her knees, squeezing Luna out of her lap. The scouts looked at her with concern. The queen only drank when she was at a party or ball and even then it was usually a glass of wine or a glass of champagne. She had never really been disgustingly drunk. The flames crackled and danced in the silence and stillness of the room.

"Have you told Rini how you found out?" Lita asked.

"No. What would I say? 'Mommy smelled another woman on Daddy's shirt, found a necklace, got drunk, beat Daddy up, and then we made love.' That would go over great with her," she scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "I believe Darien told her that we 'talked' and that we're 'working it out'. She doesn't need to know the extent of our argument."

They all nodded in agreement with her and then covered themselves in silence again. Serena rubbed her upper arms and closed her eyes. This whole problem was exploding all around her and she couldn't believe it had actually happened to her. Lita had been in a relationship before where her boyfriend (almost fiancé) had cheated multiple times on her. This was why she was so up in arms over the whole situation. She was one of the few people who knew the pain she was going through. Mina, Ami, and Rei could only merely try to understand. Although Rei had been through her own hardships with men; her brief husband years back died during a battle on Neptune. She held her head high after the event, did her best to show no emotion, and resented Sailor Neptune because of it.

"I called the outer scouts to come to Crystal Tokyo," Mina announced. "They'll be here tomorrow afternoon."

Rei shifted in her chair a little bit at the comment.

"That's fine," she replied dully as she stood to her feet. Some of the scouts started to get up, but she held her hand out to them, "Don't. I'm going to bed."

With that she walked out of the room and padded down the marble hallways barefoot, her steps making noise in the dark night. She made it into her room that she once shared with a loved one and shut the white doors behind her. The rage and sadness that she had inside her bubbled a little bit as she swallowed what felt like a rock. She walked over to the vanity and placed the whiskey container on the glossy top. She opened the large bottom drawer and pulled out a battered shoe box where she kept all of her memories and photos. Most of her pictures were now digitally saved in the kingdom's system, but she liked to have something tangible and something to hold. Serena walked back to the double doors and shouted out at a passing servant, "Get me some cigarettes!"

She bounded over to her bed and sat down on it placing the box of remembrances in front of her. A servant quickly sprinted into her room with a fresh packet of cigarettes and a lighter and then left just as quickly as he came. She tapped the pack against her palm and opened it up, sniffing the sweet smell of tobacco. It reminded her of raisins. She pulled out a white stick and placed it between her lips before lighting it. The first drag felt amazing as the smoke filled her lungs. She blew the grey substance out and held the lit cigarette between her fingers as she went through her pictures.

There was a light knock at her door and she bid the person to come in. It was Rini. She looked like she had been crying. Serena patted the spot beside her and her daughter rushed to the bed. She curled up next to her mother and sniffed a little bit.

"I hate him," Rini said through her tears.

"No you don't sweetheart," Serena replied as she took a drag of her cigarette.

She blew the smoke out away from her daughter's face and started to run her nails gently against her pink scalp. Rini huffed a little bit and then sat up straight. She looked into the box of memories and picked up a photo of her parents at their wedding.

"You were so happy," she said, her eyes blank.

"Yes we were," her mother replied. She ran her slender finger over Darien's face, "Neither of us wanted outfits that resembled our past or future selves. I wanted a dress that resembled my present. He wanted a jacket that expressed joy and that day of exchanging vows. It took three months to get it specially made for him with all of that embroidery."

"I remember helping you find the dress," Rini beamed. "You tried on so many."

"Fifty-seven to be exact. It took fifty-seven dresses to try on before I found the right one."

"Will you and Daddy ever be okay?"

"I don't know sweetie."

She tapped her cigarette in the crystal ashtray on her night stand as another knock hit her door. She bid the person in to discover that it was multiple people; the scouts slowly and cautiously entered the room. They all wore light, silk and cotton nightgowns in their respective colors. Serena stared at them while taking a drag of cigarette as they tip-toed in. Blowing the smoke out between her lips, she stabbed the stick into the ashtray.

"We thought you could use some company," Lita stated.

"Please, come, sit," Serena ordered as she covered the shoebox with its lid. She put it on the floor and slid it under her bed. She pulled back the covers and got in the middle of the bed, sliding underneath the cotton Egyptian sheets. Rini snuggled right alongside her and Rei climbed in on the other side followed by Lita and Ami. Mina curled up next Rini. All six of them cuddled together, arms tangled and webbed together. Luna, Artemis and Diana quietly walked in and curled up together at the bottom of the bed. Serena had never felt more loved; her friends always knew what to do and what to say.

Next in Chapter 4: Serenity and co. go to Earth to confront Darien. What sort of adventures, arguments or fights will ensue? Find out next!

Please review for me! I'd really appreciate feedback. ^_^