Another Black Tie Affair

By: afallenblackrose

Author's Notes: Woot! Another update for my beautiful fans! I forgot to mention this in the last chapter, but this is my fifth story to go over a hundred reviews and I couldn't be more thankful! So thanks to LGCoffeeAddict, EvaC, DarkMoonVisions, nebelflecke, mangamania, MoonPrincess568, lunalily18, sm fan, SerenaDarienforeverJune30, applenica, Jessie F. Babi, SerentiyMoonGodness, Eager Reviewer, littlepumpkin42, Fedski, missha, Aldi82, and serenityalexis for reviewing the last chapter. Many of you think that Serena went back to Tokyo, some of you think that she went to go stay with Hotaru, and a few of you think that she went to go stay with Seiya (I should have thought of that!). Who's right? Read on to find out!

Part Nine:

The Shower

Serena leaned back in her seat and let out a shaky breath knowing for a fact that her nerves hadn't settled quite yet. It was horrible, she didn't want to be here, but Darien had left her no choice. After openly accusing her of cheating on him, which she hadn't, she couldn't be in that apartment anymore. Hell, she couldn't even be in the same city as him she was so angry. So, as soon as she felt well enough she packed up her stuff, got in her car and drove to the airport where she booked the first available flight back to Tokyo. Now, she was sitting in the middle seat, and couldn't believe that she was going to spend the next eleven hours and eighteen minutes squashed between these two businessmen. She should have booked a first class ticket. She closed her eyes and hoped to sleep for the rest of the flight, but knew that her mind would not let her rest. It was too preoccupied with what had happened since she had woken up that morning.

How could Darien think that she would ever cheat on him, especially after what had happened the previous night? Not to mention that she was carrying his child – not Seiya's – in her belly. Her arms instantly encircled her stomach, knowing that all this stress probably wasn't too healthy for the baby. She sighed and tried to put her mind at ease. She just needed time away from Darien, and hopefully with the time apart, Darien would realize what he had accused her of and try to apologize.

Even though, Serena knew that she wouldn't be going back unless he made a really big apology. Something even the romantic-comedies would have been jealous over…

Back in Los Angeles, Darien had collapsed on the bed in disbelief when he saw that Serena's stuff was gone, along with her suitcase. He knew that it must have been a shock to her that morning, since it was their first major fight as a married couple, but didn't she know that he was such a pigheaded loon? The first thing he did when he saw that headline this morning was instantly think of what had happened between the two of them when Serena and Seiya had been engaged. Now, of course, he knew the only reason that Serena had done that was because she wasn't really in love with Seiya. Not like the way she loved Darien. That's why he had left work early, to come home and tell her that…but she had disappeared. He hung his head in despair. What am I supposed to do now? The thought drifted in his head for a moment, before he realized what he had to do. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed.

"Hello?" The voice on the other line answered.

"Hey, do you have a minute? We need to talk…"

Serena tiredly walked through the airport terminal dragging her suitcase behind her. The people around her, kept giving her quizzical looks, but she didn't care. She hadn't gotten too much sleep on the plane, and she felt that at any moment she was going to throw up what was left in her stomach, which wasn't much considering that she hadn't had much to eat the day before. Her only silver lining was a familiar face waiting for her near the luggage carasoul. He smiled once he saw her, even though she could tell he was concerned at her appearance. Once she was in walking distance, Andrew came up to her and hugged her.

"Hey, Andy," she whispered hugging him back. "Thanks for coming to pick me up. How is everyone doing?" Andrew took her suitcase from her, and stared down at the blonde. The look of worry was back on his face. She didn't look very well.

"How is everyone doing? Sere, I should be asking you that question," he replied. "You look as if you hadn't slept in days, and you look really ill. Is everything all right?"

"I'm fine. I just didn't sleep very well on the plane that's all." She looked around, surprised that her blonde friend, who she had called after she booked her flight back to Tokyo wasn't bobbing around and peppering her with questions. "Mina didn't come with you?"

"She's out in the car," Andrew said pointing behind him. "But we better hurry up. I bet she had more questions to ask you. We were really surprised when you called saying that you were coming back without Darien. I hate to ask, but is everything okay? He didn't do something to hurt you, did he?"

Serena smiled at the familiar older brotherly role that he was playing again. She knew that she could always count on him and Mina when she needed help, which of course she needed right now. "Darien hasn't done anything to hurt me, well, at least not physically. But before you go all postal on me, I'll explain everything in the car. I have some news for the both of you…" she smiled a grim smile. Andrew didn't say anything in response, and just walked out of the terminal towards the parking lot. Once in sight of the silver BMW, he ushered Serena forward into the backseat, and he put her suitcase in the trunk. Mina, who was behind the wheel, took one look at her friend in the rearview mirror, and knew that something was wrong.

"Okay, Serena," she said without a greeting. "Spill. Why are you back in Tokyo? And where the hell is Darien?"

Serena didn't need any more of a push. She instantly spilled into her story about what had happened since their arrival in Los Angeles, including her becoming sick with the 'flu' and soon finding out that she was pregnant. Then she told them about running into Seiya and how that previous morning Darien had accused her of cheating on him with Seiya because of some stupid pictures of the two of them together in a tabloid. After her story, she reached up to find the tears that had been threatening to spill over since she arrived on the plane pouring down her cheeks.

"Oh, Serena," Mina began, her tone full of remorse. "I'm sure Darien didn't mean anything that he said. He was probably just annoyed that you didn't tell him that you ran into Seiya before seeing the tabloid. You know how men are, Sere, they can get jealous rather easily."

"I know that they can, Mina, but you didn't see the way that Darien looked at me. I've seen him that serious or cold when he's around me, when he's at work, yes, but not around me. He actually believed that I cheated on him with Seiya!" She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue that Andrew had handed her.

"Don't worry, Serena," Andrew tried to reassure her. "Darien doesn't handle jealously well, and I'm sure that once he cools off he'll realize how much of an ass he's been and try to contact you to apologize."

"I hope you're right, Andrew," Serena sniffed and then blew her nose. She really hated crying, and she knew that she couldn't really blame the tears on her crazy hormones. "But he better do something big to apologize, because after the way he acted? I deserve something more than a simple 'I'm sorry' call."

"You go, Serena," Mina laughed.

"So, what's been going on with you two?" Serena asked.

"Well, we've been planning the wedding…"

Darien looked again at his watch to make sure that it was the correct time. He had said noon, right? He couldn't help but rack his brain as he tried to remember the phone conversation that he had had the night before. He had said noon, he was sure of it. But now it was 12:15, where was he? Just as he was thinking of getting up and leaving the café, a bustle of activity caught his attention and he looked up. Running at a blur's speed, was the person in question. Spotting Darien, the young man rushed over and sat down quickly. After taking a few minutes to regain his breath, he looked up and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry about that, Darien," he finally said. "The meeting at the label ran late, and once I saw the time, I ran down here as fast I could. I hope you haven't been waiting too long?"

"No, not at all," Darien lied. "I'm just glad that you were able to make it at all, Seiya." He took a sip from his coffee cup and peered at the brunette haired man. Icy blue eyes met his stare, but he just smiled.

"Of course, when I saw the tabloid, I knew you'd be giving me a call," he said. "But I want to assure you, Darien, that I only showed Serena around the city and helped her pick out an outfit for the night on the town that you had planned for her. Besides, haven't you noticed, man? Serena loves you too much to cheat on you." He bit his lip a little as the words left his mouth. He should have played the bad guy here and done everything in his power to convince Darien that Serena had cheated on him. But he was too much of a nice guy to do that…

"You swear to me?" Darien asked. "Because so help me, Seiya, if I find out that you're lying to me and that you have touched my wife in any way that wasn't appropriate, I will kill you."

Oh, and there was that little threat too, Seiya couldn't help but think. His smile was not strained, "I swear to you Darien. Serena and I are only friends."

Darien nodded. "Okay, thank you for telling me that. I'm sorry about the threat, but you know how I feel about Serena. If anything happened to her…" he trailed off.

"I know, Darien, but did she really leave?"

"Yeah, all her stuff is gone and so was her suitcase," he replied. "I tried calling her on her cell, but she has it turned off or she's ignoring my calls. I want her to answer though, so that way I know that she's safe and so I can apologize."

"Don't worry, man, she'll come around…she's just probably in shock that's all."

Darien nodded his head, hoping that he was right.

Serena didn't want to be in the room at the moment. Yes, she should have been happy to be hanging out with all her friends again, and they were celebrating Mina's upcoming nuptials to Andrew by throwing her a wedding shower, but Serena couldn't find it within her to be happy for the couple. Her mind was too fixated on the problems of her marriage, and she couldn't help but wince in pain. That was the other reason that she didn't want to be there. When she had woken up that morning, she hadn't felt good. Yes, she knew that she was supposed to expect this because of the morning sickness and all, but Serena couldn't help but think that there was something more. It was probably all the stress of what was going on with Darien, she knew that it wasn't healthy for her baby.

Mina was in the middle of opening a present from Amy, when they all noticed the pale and sweaty complexion of their blonde friend.

"Serena, are you okay?" Amy asked concerned. They had all been informed of their friend's pregnancy, and they all became instantly concerned. Was something wrong with the baby?

"I'm fine," she replied and got up carefully from her seat. "I'm sure that it's just constipation or something…" she trailed off and walked towards the bathroom. The girls watched her go, not entirely convinced that that was what the problem was. But Raye just shrugged it off.

"If she says nothing is wrong, then it's probably nothing," she said. "Besides you know her mind is probably preoccupied with everything that's going on with Darien." The three muttered in agreement and Mina continued opening Amy's gift; a bed sheet set in the orange shade that Mina enjoyed.

After ten minutes though, the girls became concerned. Shouldn't Serena have come back from the bathroom by now? They all got up and walked towards the facilities. Mina knocked on the door gently.

"Serena? Serena, honey, are you okay?" She asked, but received no answer. The four girls exchanged another anxious gaze before they opened the door and walked in. What they saw shocked them and caused each of them to exclaim,

"Oh my God! Serena!"

Darien was on the phone with Sapphire when he heard his cell phone go off. Not thinking much of it he continued on with his conversation. But when the phone continued to go off for five straight minutes, he asked if it would be all right if he called Sapphire back later. As soon as he hung up, he picked up his phone and saw the name MINA flash across the screen. Instantly concerned, he answered.

"Mina?"

"Darien! Oh, I'm so glad I was finally able to get a hold of you!"

"Is everything okay?"

"Well…Darien, I think you need to get on the next available flight to Tokyo."

"What? Why?"

"Darien, it's Serena…" Mina trailed off.

"Serena? What about Serena?"

"Oh, Darien…she's in the hospital."

Author's Notes: Okay…I really need to stop writing cliffhangers, but I just can't help myself. Oh well, anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you think!