So I've been keeping up reading all the reviews and I've definitely been taking your comments into consideration. ^_^ I've even adjusted future chapters based on what people have been saying. I take your reviews whole heartedly! Thanks so much for them and keep them coming!

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sailor Moon characters

Chapter 5: Gift

Darien limped toward the bedroom that Serena had taken up in the Golden Palace for the night. He didn't even bother knocking. He barged in like a gust of wind and found all of the scouts on the floor surrounding Serena who was sitting in a chair at her vanity desk, smoking a cigarette. She blew the smoke out and glared at him, a matching gaze with all of the other scouts. Luckily Rini was in her own room so he didn't have to bare the guilt of his own daughter's anger.

"Get out," he ordered the scouts. None of them moved. "GET OUT!!" They still stayed where they were like statues.

"We don't take orders from you," Mina replied curtly. Darien had never heard that tone come from her unless it was directed to someone she despised; he guessed he had turned into one of those people over night.

"Serena … please," he begged, his lips pursing shut.

She waved her hand in air and gestured for them to leave.

As Haruka stood, she asked, "Are you sure?"

She replied with a silent nod and drag of her cigarette. With that, the large group of guardians exited the room and left the couple to duke it out with words.

"What you did today was ridiculous," he said once he knew that her friends had left out of ear shot.

"Really? I didn't think it was half as ridiculous as you cheating on me," she said casually.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, dragging a chair from the corner of the room and sitting directly in front of her. "Do you want to divorce me? Is that it?"

"No," she whispered, looking down at the glittering gold thread sewn in her corset. "I want you to feel the pain I feel. I want you to suffer like I have suffered. It hurts to go to bed, surrounded by my friends, our daughter … our daughter. Rini was clutching onto me last night like when she was a baby. It was sad and depressing." She took another drag of the white stick and said through the smoke she blew out, "I don't have an answer as to how this will be solved, but I know that I won't be over this for a while."

"We can't even be apart for more than a day," Darien replied. "I wrote you a note, you came to Earth … we're useless without each other."

"But I'm infuriated at the sight of you," she said calmly as she tilted her head and started to remove her pigtails. "I hate being in love with you right now. It's the worst feeling I have ever had to endure. It's like you're dead to me but you're still living right in front of me and I only recognize a shadow of the man I once knew."

"You're seeing things in such black and white terms," said Darien in a frustrated tone. "What I did was wrong, there is no denying that, but that doesn't make me one-hundred percent awful. Neither one of us is perfect; it's our flaws that connect us together."

Serena stared at him while smoking her cigarette. She looked at the ash that was about to fall and quickly stabbed it out in the crystal tray on her vanity, "I need to quit this awful habit."

"I agree," Darien replied.

She shot up from her chair and shouted, "No! I mean you! I need to quit you and this whole scenario between us! What if we weren't meant to be? What if you cheating on me is a sign?"

She started to pace back and forth while Darien stared at her with a confused expression on his face, "What do you mean? Serena, no one else knows you inside and out, can handle your seemingly rare tantrums, your klutz attacks, or has a child with you."

"So you get to cheat on me, but I don't get to go out and play the field? That is such a double standard!" she exclaimed.

He could see her teenager-like qualities coming back through her whining tone. He simply shook his head and tried his best to not laugh at her. Despite all they had been through in the last few days, even the last few hours, she still warmed his heart and melted his soul. He wanted nothing more but to have their old ways back, to get to their life back before this whole mishap started. But maybe this event would make them stronger.

"Have you spoken to Rini yet about what happened this afternoon?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered. "She's scared. She doesn't want us to break up, she doesn't want me to start a war with Earth, and she really thought I was going to kill that woman."

"I thought you were too," he said quietly.

"I could have, but she's not worth the energy."

Serena stretched her arms up in the air and then started to run her hands through her glowing white hair. The moon was shinning on her long tresses making them illuminate in the low lit room. Darien loved it when he woke up that heavenly glow. Would he ever get to do that again?

"Can I show you something?" he asked suddenly, tilting his head with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"I've had my fair share of discoveries for the past week, don't you think?" she replied, arching an eyebrow.

"Seriously, I want to show you something," he insisted. "It was just completed few days ago."

She narrowed her eyes at him. Usually she knew everything that happened or was being constructed within the palace walls. She was sent constant updates and Ami would have mentioned if something big was going down, wouldn't she?

"Keeping more secrets from me?" she said, her voice not hiding that she was intrigued.

"It's a surprise, not a secret."

"A surprise is just a happy secret."

"Well do you want to know what it is or not?"

Darien stood up, held his arm out to her and she cautiously took grasp of it. Normally when holding onto his strong arm it was because she was entering a room full of politicians, she was a bit tipsy and couldn't walk straight, or she was hurt. This time the tables had turned and it was because he was limping and he needed help. But being a king and all, his ego had blown up a few sizes and he wasn't about to admit that to her. Serena winced at the thought that his pain was her fault. She stopped him from limping any further and made him stand still. She knelt down to his leg and held her hands around it. A glowing light emerged from her hands and warmth took over the pain that he was experiencing. Serena pulled her hands away after a few more seconds of this and then stood back up to her feet.

"There. Now you can walk without my help," she declared. Darien tried to reach for her hand anyways, but she turned around and slapped it away, "Don't make me regret healing you!"

They walked out of her bedroom and traveled down the large hallways. He felt awkward walking next to his wife and not touching her. She couldn't have felt much comfortable either. She was trying to figure out what to do with her hands at the moment and settled with wrapping them around her upper arms. They made it to the large glass doors leading to the outside gardens. Darien pulled his black and red cloak off of the hanger beside the door and then handed Serena a matching white one specially made for her with the moon crescent emblem on the back of it. She couldn't help but smile at the gesture. She put it on and journeyed outside with him. They traveled passed the rose garden, passed the vegetable garden, and the large green house. It was a pleasant walk with the moon guiding them through each garden specifically tailored to certain types of roses. When they made it the red rose garden, Darien turned around and smiled widely at Serena.

"You have to close your eyes," he said happily.

"I … Darien! No. This is childish," she said.

"Please! It'll make it better," he pleaded.

She finally consented to his request and closed her blue eyes. He covered them with his large hand before guiding her forward with his other hand resting on the small of her back. She swallowed a hard lump that had risen in her throat as her breath and heartbeat picked up the pace a little bit. She didn't know why she was nervous … or maybe this was excitement? She had forgotten that the two emotions coincided with one another.

He dropped his hand from her eyes and made her stop walking. "Okay… Open!"

Serena's ocean colored eyes unlocked and she gasped at the sight in front of her; it was the gazebo that she had hid behind multiple times in their past lives to sneak a peek at him. At their wedding, she had the decorator build a gazebo modeled after the one from her memory, but it wasn't exactly right because no one could get the correct paint or the right framework. Darien on other hand was a stickler for detail and he wouldn't stop until everything was absolutely perfect.

"I had them build it five times," he said. "The first one was too round, the second one was too tall, the third was too short, and the fourth one was too wide. This one turned out perfect."

A rushing wave of memories hit her and made her light headed. Serena stumbled backwards, trying to find her footing and Darien stepped behind her to catch her falling body.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a bit dizzy."

"You don't like it? Maybe I didn't get the right color—"

"No, Darien, you did just … great. It's beautiful. It's perfect. It … it brings back a lot of memories," she stammered.

"I know," he said quietly. "I sometimes come out here and stand by the bench and turn around quickly thinking you're going to appear."

She turned and looked at his glittering eyes with a somber expression over her face, "No. I won't be there. I won't be trying to sneak glances at you while you're thinking by yourself outside the palace and away from the real world. We have come too far to go back to that easy time. I'm too shattered to go back."

Tears started to pool in his grey eyes and he murmured, "I love you Serena."

"It's too late."

And with that she left him to wallow in his misery. She raced through the large garden, her heeled feet clacking every time she ran across cobblestone pavement. Looking down at her shadow beneath her feet, she wondered if he was going to stay there all night. Serena was starting to see that she had caused him just as much pain as she had wanted. They still had a long way to go, but it was a start. She didn't know how much of this she could handle.

Upon entering the palace, she was greeted by the ever beautiful Michiru, still adorned in her Sailor Scout outfit. Sailor Neptune asked, "Are you alright your majesty?"

"Yes I'm fine, why?"

The blue haired goddess of the ocean handed the queen her mirror and she gasped at the sight of it; she had been crying the whole way toward the palace and didn't even notice. She looked up and smiled weakly, "I guess I'm becoming numb to the feeling."

Michiru stepped closer to Serena and over her shoulder she reached out to the mirror and tapped it with her finger. The reflection made small waves and suddenly revealed King Endymion sitting on the steps of the gazebo, crying. His body shook lightly under the shadow of the mini hut he had built. Serena grasped her chest and turned her head away from the image.

"Keep watching," Michiru urged quietly and warmly.

She looked back at the mirror and saw a dark figure approaching him or rather stumbling toward him. Squinting a little bit, she made it out to be a female figure. Sailor Neptune tapped the mirror again with her gloved finger and the image zoomed in on the person walking up to Darien; it was Stella. She had her arm in a sling and a bandage wrapped around her head. Serena couldn't help but smile at this reflection.

"Are you alright?" she asked the king.

He raised his eyesight up and shook his head. She began taking a few steps toward him, but he held his hand out, "Don't take a step further. You need to leave, you need to get your things in order and resign immediately. We need to set up a special election for a new Prime Minister."

"Darien—"

"It's King Endymion to you," he interrupted. "I came to you in a very weak, confusing phase of my life and I shouldn't have. I should have gone through a better process." He stood up and took a step forward as he said, "I want to do anything to get my wife back in my life."

"You're only saying that because you were caught."

"If this was true, would I have tried to get you out of my life two months ago before this affair was discovered?"

"You wouldn't have fallen for me if I hadn't persisted."

"I didn't fall for you," he replied, "I tripped over you, stumbled a bit and now I have gotten my footing back." He ran a hand through his silky black hair and then started to walk out, "If I ever see you again after you resign, I will have revenge. You think my wife was damaging to you? You have no idea what I can do."

He strolled out of the gazebo area and left the distraught woman alone. Serena backed away from the mirror and glanced at Michiru, "Just because he wants to see her gone, doesn't mean I forgive him. He doesn't want to be reminded constantly of the mistake he made with her face around him all the time."

"I'm only showing you what transpired," the turquoise haired woman replied with a regal tone. "I don't expect you to forgive and forget so easily." She strung her arm through the queen's and guided her back to her room down the long hallway. "In fact I don't expect you to forget ever. I expect this moment to make you stronger. I hope that you two will make it through this, but it will take time."

Serena pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and asked cautiously, "Have you and Haruka ever been through something like this?"

She nodded solemnly and looked forward as she explained, "After the war between Mars and my home planet, I … I wrecked havoc on our relationship. She has always been the fast-paced, stubborn one in our long-lasting connection and I was the level-headed, cool, calm and collected one. But after that terrible time and after seeing the pain I inflicted on Sailor Mars … I became recluse, I was picking fights with Haruka, I wouldn't speak to her about my troubles, and I often slept in a separate bedroom. She stayed where she was at the whole time, supported me in my horrendously out of line moment. When I was ready to come back to the proverbial bed, she was there, patting the empty spot she had been sleeping next to for close to a year. It was the first time she had ever been the composed one and I had been the radical, out of control person."

"But how did you get through it?"

"Time. We spoke often about our troubles. Well, she spoke and I yelled and then I would storm out of the room," she said. "I had to heal; I had to separate myself a little bit. I thought Haruka was suffocating me, but she was just waiting patiently for me to open up. When I did finally, she expressed that she had gone through some of the same feelings, even almost drifted off to another lover, but resisted the temptation as best as she could. I believe our conversation lasted for a good twelve hours. I cried, laughed, screamed, yelled, and all the while, she sat beside me. That's what helped."

The two women stopped at the bedroom door and turned to one another face to face. Michiru swiped a white strand out of Serenity's face and said, "You need to express yourself, you need to lash out, you need to do all of this with him there. You will be the wrecking ball and he should be the strong standing brick wall."

Queen Serenity nodded and hugged her friend, "Thank you."

Sailor Neptune patted her head gently and asked, "Do you want us to spend the night with you?"

She pulled away and placed her hand on the door, "No. Tonight I need to sleep on my own. I think I need to miss him."

"It's a start," Michiru smiled. She leaned over and kissed the crescent marking on her forehead, "Goodnight my queen. I'll see you in the morning."

The two women parted ways and went to bed. Once Serena was dressed and washed up, she climbed into her large bed with Luna at her side. She lied down on her back, staring up at the canopy ceiling, feeling rather restless. She flipped over onto her side and looked at the empty space next to her where she would normally find her husband. She sat up a little bit and kissed the pillow where his head should have been. Her mind was a tangled web of what to do, but Michiru's ideas and comments swirled in and out of her head. She did need to lash out; her time to express herself was now. When she would return to the proverbial marriage bed, she didn't know.

And that's it for now! Lemme know what you think!

Next in Chapter 6: Serena ends up in the hospital!