Hey all! This chapter is the final step to all of the chaos that will ensue. ^_^ I guarantee that your patience will be rewarded soon, but one has to build these things up!

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sailor Moon characters

Chapter 8: Preparations

"Do you need help with anything?" Darien asked, leaning against the doorframe of Rini's room.

"No, I'm fine," she replied snidely.

Swiping his hair out of his eyes, he asked "You'll call me when you get home, right?"

His daughter nodded and finished zipping up her bag.

"And remember, your mother is pregnant. This means no freaking out, no fighting, no yelling, and no snapping at her. She can't take anymore anxiety than what she has right now."

"Yeah, you kinda gave her enough stress to deal with, huh?"

Darien ignored the comment his snappy little teenager made. She stepped back and looked around the room, wondering if she had forgotten anything. After going through the list in her head, she turned to her father and shrugged. He walked forward and embraced her tightly, swaying a bit as he did while she stayed as stiff as possible in his arms. He had never been away from his little girl since she had been back from the past for more than a month maybe. This was going to be a very lonely time apart….very lonely indeed.

"Rini, are you ready?" the queen asked from behind.

The father-daughter duo let go of one another and she walked toward her mother. Serena pointed out the door, gesturing that she leave her parents alone, "The servants will take your things on board. Go meet with Hotaru downstairs."

Once they were left to themselves, Darien did his best to not look at his wife; he didn't know that he could handle saying goodbye. She reached out and gripped onto his chin, making him look at her right in her deep blue eyes. He seemed so distant and so depressed to see his family leave. At least the new elections and nominations of the new Prime Minister would keep him busy for a few weeks.

"Remember, no calling me, no writing to me, no coming to Crystal Tokyo unless on strict Earth business and you need to clear it with Lita first. I don't want to see you unless I have to or I'm ready to get back together which who knows how long that'll take," she went over.

"I'm still allowed to speak to Rini and the scouts though, right?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, you are. I'll get full reports from Ami and Mina on the nominees for Prime Minister. We'll take things slow…very slow."

Darien nodded as some servants walked in and started to take Rini's things away. He sighed and looked at Serena; she showed no emotion on her face whatsoever. She tilted her head and stepped forward. Her arms wrapped around Darien's waist and she buried her face into his shirt, taking in the sweet smell of sandalwood, mint, and roses. She would never admit that she would miss him.

Wrapping his arms around her in response, he said, "I love you very much. Very much. If this is what it takes in order for us to be together, then I'll do it. I'm sorry I broke your heart. I was selfish only thinking about myself."

She pulled her face away from his chest and looked up at him, "It's my turn to be selfish."

"Yes, yes it is," he murmured. "May I kiss you goodbye or is that too much?"

"A goodbye kiss is never too much."

He leaned over and pulled her up toward him, closing the gap between their lips slowly. She felt her heart beat faster like a hummingbird flapping its wings; this was how she felt when they first kissed. All she could hear was her heart thumping, her arteries pumping blood through her veins. His lips felt soft against hers and his hands were warm and comforting. She wished she could just revel in this moment, but then she was reminded of the other woman who also must've felt this, who also must have wanted more. Before falling too deeply into the moment, she pulled back and pushed him away a little with her hand. Serena pursed her lips, trying to keep the taste of him in her mouth for as long as possible even though she wanted nothing more but to throw up.

"Goodbye Endymion."

"Goodbye Serena."

His heart sank into his stomach as he watched his wife depart from him. Would this be the last time he ever saw her? Could he really just let her go like this? Yes. Darien needed to have her come back to him when she was ready.

Three Months Later…

Serena quickly walked through the palace halls with a clipboard in her hand and directed where the large vases of flowers were supposed to go, asking when the caterers were supposed to arrive, and begged for someone to get her seamstress to meet with her as soon as possible. The palace was in a flurry for that night they were going to have a giant ball for the Prime Minister candidates. This was a setting in which the scouts and the queen could determine who would be well suited for the job. Although they really couldn't do anything at this time since the election was in two weeks, they could at least see what their personalities were like.

"Mom! Mommy! Momma! Mom!"

Rolling her eyes at the annoying cries from behind, she turned around to find Rini running toward her. She placed a hand on her hip as her daughter leaned over a bit, trying to catch her breath.

"You haven't been doing your training lately, have you?"

Gasping for air like a fish out of water, she asked in between her huffs and puffs, "What? Where would you get that idea?"

"Rini, you scurried across the palace, not the whole planet; if you had been keeping up with your training, you wouldn't be sounding this."

"Mom … Mom, I have a question," she responded, completely ignoring her mother's comment.

"Yes?"

"Is Dad coming to the ball tonight?"

Serena turned around swiftly and looked back at her clipboard, "Yes. Why?"

"I was just wondering."

"Well go wonder somewhere else dear. I have to finish up with these last minute arrangements, see how the scouts are doing, and then get changed for the press before the ceremony starts."

She shooed her daughter away before she could ask anymore insinuating questions and continued on her way. Through the months, she had her wish granted; she hadn't heard a word from Darien or about him. And although this is what she wanted, Serena wasn't happy in the slightest bit. She still went to bed crying every night, sometimes asking the scouts to sleep in bed with her like a security blanket. Sometimes her eyes played tricks on her and she thought she saw him out of the corner of her eye, but it turned out that she was just imagining things.

Now with this ball approaching, she wondered if she was going to be expected to dance with him, sit with him, talk to him? It was no contact at first and now suddenly she had to have a rushing wave of it? It was a bit much. Thus why she was having a meeting with Darien before they entered the ball; she needed to see where he stood and needed to figure things out together so that they were on the same page. The whole universe knew that they were taking some time apart, but it didn't mean they had to look like that at a royal function.

"Your majesty!" another voice exclaimed from behind.

Serena rolled her eyes and groaned as she turned around to a copper-haired man running after her. She blushed suddenly at her rude conduct, discovering that it was Thomas Hayward, one of the candidates up for Prime Minister of Earth. He had been consistent in keeping contact with her, sending her his ideas and policies on what he would do differently to bring the continents of Earth together. He reassured her immediately that he wouldn't let his personal life get in the way of things and he even made a joke about it.

Once he was in front of her completely, he held out a long, black velvet box for her.

"Are you trying to bribe me?" she grinned.

"Maybe," he chuckled. "This is a thank you for dealing with all of my boyish charm and annoying letters personally like you have been."

"It was my pleasure," she replied as she opened up the box. It was diamond tennis bracelet. Her face went blank and she snapped it closed; it was too much of a statement and she didn't know that she liked it. "No I can't take this. Here." She shoved it back into his possession.

"But your majesty—"

"Thomas, you're sweet, very much so, but if word got out that I received an expensive gift like that from you, I wouldn't be trusted in my post any longer," she explained. "Please return it."

He bowed to her and murmured like a hurt little puppy, "As you wish."

"Thank you for the gesture," she replied.

He smiled weakly, spun around on his heel, and strolled out of the palace. He clearly was a rookie to the world of politics and how things worked out. She knew that he had the best intentions since she was sure that he had never encountered a fellow politician who took things so personally like she did. Really, Serena never did respond to things like this often; in fact, she only did it when she really approved of the person. Thomas was adorable, genuine, and a down right sweetheart who had been as charming as an apple pie to her. She shook her head at the thought that maybe she could have a little school girl crush on him.

'I'm no longer a school girl,' she reminded herself. 'I'm a queen carrying a baby inside me and the whole universe on my shoulders.'

The hours flew by a lot faster than she had expected and soon enough Serena was in her room with her scouts and a tailor working on her royal dress for the ball. She winced when looking at her image in the mirror; it was an odd thing for her to see herself like this. Being formal had been turned into a normal thing for her, but she still thought of herself as that school girl from her past, waking up late to school everyday and not having a drop of grace in her figure.

And her figure … well she couldn't help but wonder if she was showing yet. The paranoia was settling in her mind easily and without her husband around her, it made it more and more difficult to deal with the idea of having a baby. When they first had Rini, she went through a phase during her pregnancy where she was constantly complaining about how fat she was and Darien reassured her with his arms wrapped around her, a smile placed on his lips, and kisses given to her all the time. Her heart ached as she remembered those moments.

"Really? Does this look alright?" she asked, running her hands along the smooth fabric.

"Serena, this is your formal dress, of course you look gorgeous in it," Rei replied.

"It's still difficult for me to see myself in something this beautiful," she whispered as she dragged a fingertip across the pearl strewn bodice.

"Wow," a voice said from the front door.

The scouts turned to find Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru entering the room. Serena blushed as they did and she waved them further into her bedchamber. They were wearing their own formal princess dresses, in their appropriate colors. Haruka crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the queen up and down, whistling at the sight in front of her making Serena's whole body turn red with awkwardness. Michiru lightly hit her partner, giggling and telling her to stop embarrassing the queen.

"Good evening your majesty," Hotaru smiled.

"Good evening you three. I'm glad you could make it," she replied cheerfully.

"Where's the big bad wolf?" Haruka asked as she wrapped her arm around Michiru's waist.

"A little late," Darien's voice cued in from the door.

Serenity swallowed hard as she looked up and found him wearing a white and silver tuxedo with his white gloves and light lavender cape strung across his chest with gold chains and rubies as well as a cane in his hand that had a platinum skull at the top with matching ruby eyes embedded in it. Serena squinted at the button down shirt he was wearing; it couldn't be, could it? She made the seamstress stop sewing whatever details she had left and hopped off of the ottoman she was standing on. Sprinting to his closet, she burst open into the room to find that his Tuxedo Mask shirt had been removed from the premises.

"I had a servant get it back while you away from the room," he quipped. "You're not the only one who has tricks around here."

She tried to not let it show, but Darien could see her silently throwing a tantrum behind her bright blue eyes. She stomped back over to the pedestal and raised her arms in the air as the tailor continued to work with her.

"Scouts, could you please exit the room?" she asked, her eyes glued to the mirror in front of her. She turned to the seamstress and asked, "Are we almost done here?"

"Just one or two more stitches your majesty."

After a full minute of a staring match with her husband, the woman was finished and she scuffled out of the room, trying to follow the rest of the women. The door slammed shut and Serena hopped down from the footstool. She walked over to the edge of the bed, plopped down and grabbed her shoes, starting to slip them onto her feet. Darien knelt down on one knee in front of her and started to instinctively buckle her feet into the white silk shoes. She had a specific way of having her shoes put on; one ankle was larger than the other so one buckle needed to be placed in the third hole and the other one had to be in the second hole so her circulation wasn't cut off. After living with her for decades upon decades, he had learned most, if not all, of her little quirks.

"So how are we going to handle tonight?" he asked as he finished his work with her right foot.

As he tapped her thigh for her to lift her other foot, she replied, "We'll go to the press conference together of course. We'll greet the candidates together as they're announced into the ball—"

"You can do that by yourself if you wish," he said as he pushed her foot into the shoe and started to buckle it. "I've met them all. I played tennis with Kenji, had tea with Franz, and dined on two separate occasions with Brown and Hayward."

"Why didn't you tell me you did that?" she asked, removing her foot from his grasp when he was finished.

"I communicated with the scouts and I kept myself from you as you had specifically demanded. It's not my fault that they didn't convey this information to you," he shrugged as he got back up to his feet.

She waved her anger away with a swish of her hand in front of her face as though it were a pesky fly and continued, "Anyway, I'll greet them myself along with the scouts then. You'll sit with me at the royal table, I assume?"

"Your scouts have created the option of seating me at my own private Earth table in the center of room where all of my advisors and cabinet members are sitting or I could sit alongside you; whichever you prefer," he announced.

"Why doesn't any information get sent to me? I had no idea about this!"

"Well now that you do, where would you like to me to sit?"

"Sit with your members of Earth. I don't want to be distracted by you when I'm meeting with the nominees," she huffed as she stalked off to the bathroom to complete her make-up.

"Don't get all pissed off because your scouts did their job," he said after her as he strolled lazily to the entrance of her large washroom. "I was told that nothing was going to get back to you unless it was a life or death matter."

She stubbornly kept her lips shut as she stabbed her earrings into her earlobes. She didn't know how much she really liked being in the dark of things. When they were together, they never had to figure out stupid stuff like this; it was just known that he would be by her side when greeting guests, he would sit next to her at dinner, and he would always be right behind her when she needed him. When did things go so terribly wrong?

"Are you ready to leave?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

"No, I'm not!" she snapped. "Please go wait with the scouts. I'll be out in a minute."

He left her alone and once she heard the door click behind him, she shouted in frustration. She clenched her fists tightly until her nails dug in so deeply that her hands started to bleed. Feeling the rapid rage and hopelessness inside her, she suddenly burst out and punched her reflection, letting the shards of the mirror shatter everywhere and even stick into her knuckles. She tried to catch her breath as she leaned over the glass covered countertop, groaning in despair.

"Guess I'm wearing gloves tonight," she murmured to herself as she picked the thick flakes of mirror out of her skin.

Up next: The Ball! Please review!