A/N hey, everyone! Right now I am waiting for the plane and have nothing else to do than post. Hope you'll like the chapter. I am in an odd mood right now, you'll probably sense it even more next time.

Unfortunately, not really convenient to name all my wonderful reviewers, but know that I read and took into account all points of view.

Again, this chapter was written on my dear iPad, that thinks it's smarter (maybe he is indeed) than me.

Thank you all for your wonderful reviews, also hi to my new followers and those who have added the story to their favorites. Hope to read the reviews from you as well!

Disclaimer: don't own Sailor Moon

Chapter 5

Though she fell asleep easily and slept surprisingly peacefully, Serena woke up in the middle of the night only to find the spot next to her empty, but still warm.

'He must have left to get the report. I heard him asking Andrew about it...'- as if proving the guess, Darien's voice reached Serena's ears from the adjoining room.

"Andrew, I don't care! It's your responsibility to protect us and yet you allowed that to happen! Twice in a day!" - Darien was furious. He was so sure about Andrew and his team and yet they failed.

"I am sorry for this. However I am absolutely sure that these actions were meant only to frighten you. If they wanted you dead, the attackers would have tried to at least wound you. They are most definitely professionals," - Andrew was able to control his emotions, though deep down he was blaming himself for not going with Darien and Mina and choosing to stay and deal with the last investigation instead. But he knew Darien didn't like to feel his men's weakness.

"Ah, thank you very much! But so are you and your team. Though now I start to question their competence, and yours as their leader. Find out who did it and get rid of them!" - by the end of the speech Darien seemed to be in control of his feelings, though the thought that lived in his head was driving him crazy: he could never let anything harm the woman who was now in his bed.

"The security will be around you 24/7, don't worry."

"I do not worry about myself. Make sure they do not get to Mina. And get that information I've asked you about. We should take care of the matter ASAP. That's all."

Serena hurried to close her eyes and pretended to be asleep as she heard Darien's fast approaching steps. Silently he got into bed, taking his place next to the woman and hugging her. She snuggled closer to him, hiding her nose in the crook of his neck. Serena heard a soft chuckle, Darien's breath tickling her a little, but she was determined to remain asleep, however his next words left her no other choice but admit the defeat.

"How did you manage to sleep al, this time if the moment I left the bed you woke up, hm?"

"Who said I used to sleep well?"

"Ah, I see now," - he was silent for a minute and then said, - "Tell me about yourself? I don't know you at all, though I have lived with you for two years and have known you even more."

"What do you want to know?"

"A lot. Everything. But let's start with what you feel at that very moment," - that was supposed to be a test for the woman, but only Mina would understand that.

Still half asleep, Serena wondered if that was the perfect opportunity to tell Darien the truth about her identity, if he would believe her, but decided against it. However, she felt so protected and cared for at the moment, that she assumed it was impossible to lie. So Serena presented him with a strange mixture of truth and almost-lies.

"I feel like I live a stranger's life. We share the same looks but completely different attitude to life. And one day we switched.

The other half's life can seem to be a fairy tale to some people, but in reality there are so many difficulties I am scared to do or say a thing and make everything even worse.
My whole life I believed in a fairy tale, in true love and I was waiting for it faithfully, looking for the beautiful image everywhere. But as time has gone by, I figured,in a real life very few people meet the one and only love and manage to keep it. And I was no longer sure I would be among them.
However now at that very moment despite everything I've gone through during this time, I feel surprisingly safe and protected next to you, although you make me furious, and there is also something else I can't name. But I feel also torn apart, because none of this belongs to me, because the other me never got a chance at that. It's like I am stealing something she was denied."

Darien was stroking the woman's back soothingly, deep in thought. He had never imagined Mina to be so direct and honest before. His wife used to play games that she was creating and obviously preferred winning. She was smart, despite the bubbly air-head image she had chosen for herself as an additional weapon to her beauty so that she could defend herself. However Darien never made the mistake believing it. Never ever in her life had she shared her emotions like that with someone else, not mentioning him. So...

'So what? What does it mean?' - this question remained unanswered, torturing him throughout the night. Serena remained clueless.

"Maybe, you should unite this two parts. Being together can solve all problems, offering all the answers you need," - his offer didn't meet an answer for Serena was fast asleep in his arms.

Zoi was pacing in a hotel room in front of an almost perfect copy of his sister, who was sitting in an armchair, looking at him with her big watery eyes. Kun - behind her, serious and silent.

It was him, who found that girl in a cafe. First he assumed she was Serena, but then, she started to answer his questions in a flirtatious way, he sensed that something was wrong: her attitude, especially, to him, her style, and even accent or lack thereof. Kun immediately sent his friend a message, stating that he had found a girl resembling Serena a lot. Zoi didn't understand the 'resembling Serena' part one bit, but claiming that he was on his way to resort, so Kun's only task was to make pseudo-Serena sit tight for some time.

Zoi had called him several hours before, telling that he had been informed about Serena's death.
"I don't believe it," - he added and that phrase only - or rather Zoi's voice - made Kun believe in it too. And so he headed towards the resort immediately, Kun was in the area anyway. He wanted to talk to Serena, without hopeful pressure from her brother and his best friend. But he met a completely different person.

So here they were, in a hotel room. After much persuading, the woman told the two men her side of the story: first of all, her name was Mina and she had never heard of a Serena.

She had never been happy, despite the fact that everyone thought she lived a dream: the sun was shining brightly above her. Mina was the second child to a well-known diplomat, Mr. Daniel DeVeene, who had taken part in solving a great deal of international problems and therefore was very respected and wealthy man; and a carefree mother, Ilene, whose smile Mina was not to remember, since she had died in a car accident before the girl became five. To tell the truth, Mina didn't know much about Ilene as her father, still mourning the death had gotten rid of everything connected to her. She found a picture of her mother in one of Shields' albums. She was standing next to Arthur Shields, smiling brightly at him. Mina could say that she looked a lot like her, almost a spitting image of her mother.

Her older brother Jade was a rare guest at their home: first he left to study, then he started working at Shields Inc. The corporation was owned by their parent's friend: Arthur Shields. It started out as a small drug store, Arthur's grandfather was a doctor and after the retirement he decided to continue his work in that sphere, then, thanks to endeavors of Arthur's father the firm started growing and expanding, going beyond the medical sphere and Arthur became a CEO of a large corporation, that also owned several newspapers, a TV channel and a chain of hotels all over the world. His son - and Jade's best friend - was the next in line to take over the ruling, so he was creating a trust-worthy team and Jade became a part of it.

"Very conveniently, my brother fell in love with Darien's sister and married her."

So Mina was the princess of the DeVeene estate. Taking care of her aging father, she also was having the time of her life, traveling around the world, trying herself in modeling and even acting. During one of her trips she met her Mr. Right, Alan. However, somewhere on the way her life had gotten really messed up and promised to get even worse: her love broke up with her and chose another woman to start a family with, Mina married a man she didn't love, and eventually, she bumped into so many skeletons in their family closet, she started questioning her own birth, so she had seen no other choice but run.

For several months Mina was trying to get in touch with the most important - for her plan that is - people, those who would provide her with transportation, documents and temporary accommodation. Mina had made sure that her spouse - actually, nothing more than just a poor excuse for it - thought she had been cheating on him.

"He deserved that! That's what you get for not being interested in your own wife!"

According to Mina's plan, it all should have looked like she committed a suicide. Living in a golden jail and all the unfulfilled dreams stuff could drive insane anyone.

But the closer she had got to the day X, the stranger things started to occur. At first, Mina noticed that she was being followed by some strangers, not her husbands's men as usual - she had managed to get rid of them - but someone she had never seen before. Then, two days after that, she almost got into a car accident because of some problems with the brakes.

"Thank God, the speed was not too high and I managed to stop the car with the handbrake! That day I was going to meet with my father for our usual Friday lunch. I am not really the punctual type, but I am always on time for those lunches. My dad understood something was wrong and so he kept asking about the matter... Long story short, I confessed. Not about the plan, but about being followed and the accident. He seemed to be... very disturbed. After all, my mom died in the accident and he loved her so much. He still loves her. I see so much pain in him every time she is mentioned in a conversation... And several weeks ago I found out she was...cheating on him. And I even may be not his daughter. I never made the DNA test, believing this story to be just a huge mistake. And I was too scared to know the truth. But now that I found out about the other woman and the fact that we are so much alike, I think, I should have completed the investigation. Maybe there's more to that mistake after all."

"There is much more than you think", - Zoi stopped and inhaled. Then cautiously, as if being scarred of his own words, he proceeded: - "Serena - and I - were born in Russia. Our father was a great journalist, almost a celebrity. In the mid 80s he got a new assignment: to Russia. The situation in there fascinated the whole world and everyone wanted to know the details. It was a great opportunity - just think about it: he could write the history, the way everyone would know it all over the world - that was a dream, though of course, there were a lot of buts as every side of the story is very much subjective, but he wanted at least try to tell the truth. And so he accepted, taking his wife with him. Serena was born there, then I, and so we spent our early years in Russia. She even has a slight accent. But then the channel father was working for decided they didn't like his version of the events and we came back."

"Actually, that may be a beginning, because I... was born during one of my father's missions as well. "

They were silent, processing the new information. However, somehow instead of answering the existing questions, it created even more.

"Well, if Serena is alive, then where is she?!"

True to Darien's words Serena woke up the moment he left the bed. He watched her stir and then open the magnificent cerulean eyes. The man could not help but smile at the blonde woman in his bed. She looked so small and innocent among the black sheets, it killed him to stand up and leave for work, but there were meetings to attend and contracts to sign.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!" - he pecked her on the cheek, feeling absolutely happy for the first time in many years. - "Your room is cleaned, in case you want to return there, but I'd rather you stayed in this room."

"Why?"

"Well, for one, your bed is not as comfortable and big as mine."

"Yeah, actually, mine is much better!"

Darien chuckled and headed towards the bathroom, leaving Serena to wake up completely. He heard the knock on the door and a minute later magnetizing smell of fresh-made coffee reached him, making him speed up and return to the bedroom to have breakfast with his wife.

She was wearing one of his old t-shirts, its length reaching only mid-thigh and leaving her long beautiful legs for his admiration. Not that he minded. She looked at him thoughtfully, as if deciding whether or not to say something.

"Go on," - Darien encouraged her.

"Do you think I could go with you? I... I am scared to be alone. I know, there is nothing to be worried about, but... I just... I am sorry, I am being childish and foolish. Don't..." - Darien interrupted her with a peck on the tip of her nose.

"You'd better be ready in 15, otherwise you'll have to come up with a plausible excuse for the board... Or I could always say I am ill and stay home with my beautiful wife."