Vegas Chapter 18
Serena woke up in an unfamiliar bed with a pounding headache. Slowly she sat up and a wave of nausea hit. She felt like the time she was turned in to a giant tennis ball and Maxfield Stanton, who turned out to be Nephrite, had that nasty youma attack on Molly's random other best friend… what was her name… Serena couldn't remember.
'Hum, but Maxfield who was Nephrite, kind of looks like Nathan who I want to set up with Lita." Hum…. Is it possible that they are the same?
"Naw!" She said out loud, the sound of her own voice causing her head to throb.
"You're up." A violet eyed girl with short black hair sat at the end of the bed. Hotaru set down the tea she had brought in to the room for Serena.
"I should have guessed." Serena sighed, laying her head back down in the pillow trying to stop the spinning and hoped her upset stomach would stop turning.
She looked up slightly as Amara and Michelle came in and Hotaru plopped down on the bed next to her.
"Well, Kitten, looks like your awake. Thought I would have to listen to you snoring some more." Amara said leaning against the wall and crossing her arms.
"Maybe if you didn't kidnap me it wouldn't be a problem." Serena pulled the covers over her head.
"More like Princess-napped." Hotaru chimed in.
Serena stuck her tongue out at the black haired girl in response showing her bruised face but she was in no mood for chitchat. She was still cursing herself for once again exerting so much power. She was in pain and she could feel the bruises from the fall forming on her skin.
"Serenity, it was for your own good." Michelle said gently as she sat down next to her while brushing the bangs from Serena's face. "You almost were eaten and then smashed by a truck. You recklessly healed everyone then passed out. What if Andromeda came back? You would have been dead."
"That would feel better than… this…" Serena gagged.
"Amara! Quick grab a bucket or something." Michelle yelled.
Amara pulled out the trashcan from under the desk and Serena emptied her insides in it.
"Ew…" Hotaru said cringing.
"Feel better?" Michelle asked as she rubbed her hair.
"Water please." Serena gasped, eyes closed, as her nausea rocked her back and forth in her mind.
Hotaru jumped off the bed to get her princess a glass of water thinking that tea would not be the best thing right now.
"You really over did it didn't you?" Amara pushed the subject.
Serena nodded then took the glass of water out of Hotaru's waiting hands and sipped on it.
"So much so, I can't even use the crystal to make me feel better" she whispered.
"Maybe we should take you to the doctor?" Michelle said.
Serena's eyes popped open at that one. The doctor would be good… one doctor in particular.
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Darien paced back and forth in his office; he had needed to go right back to work after the incident. Those outer scouts were really getting on his nerves, now that he could see Serena as Sailor Moon he could easily tell who all of the scouts were. His only fear was that they would kill his generals when they found out who they really were. He could feel that something was wrong with Serena though this unexplainable sixth sense he had. It was so much more defined now, the bond between them; but how did he get Serena back and not let the scouts in on their secret marriage?
Worst of all Andy, no Andromeda knew everything. Darien needed time to think about this… to figure out a plan. First thing was to get Serena back. He'd figure everything else out after that. He picked up the phone and dialed; the person on the other end answered on the third ring.
"Hey Dad, it's me Darien. I have a favor…."
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Serena woke up a few hours later to her cell phone ringing. She felt so much better now that she had restored her energy. Darien had not picked up when she called so doubt was eating away at the edge of her mind.
"Mom?" She picked up slowly when she saw the caller ID.
"Oh honey! How are you? Guess what!" Ilene shrieked over the phone.
"Ow"… she muttered but answered her mothers question anyway, "What?"
"I have a surprise for you and Darien!" Serena's ears perked up at that one. "We are sending cars to pick you up now!"
"What? Mom? To go where?" Amara came in at that moment as Serena said the word mom. Amara forgot that Serena's parents were in town.
"KYOTO! To the hot springs to meet your father and I, isn't it a great idea!" Ilene gushed over the phone.
"Mom… right now… I… well I'm not at home so you can't come get me…" Serena looked at Amara.
"Oh, I know. Darien told me where to pick you up from." Ilene was proud she was so knowledgeable.
"Oh really." Serena began to realize that this was her escape plan.
"Yup! Be ready in five minutes! Bye my little bunny!" Ilene cooed as she hung up.
"Mom?" She hung up confused.
Serena began to get out of bed.
"Where are you going?" Amara asked hands on her hip.
"That was my mom. She 's sent a car to come get me…. She missed me so much she wants me to join her in Kyoto over the weekend." Serena fibbed a little.
"Hum…" Amara said suspicious.
"What… you are not going to let me go with my parents?" Serena raised her eyebrows a threat clearly in her eyes.
"Okay kitten… okay… " Amara eased up realizing that this could be the outers turn to take on Andromeda by themselves while keeping their princess safe and out of harms way. It hurt Amara to see her as sick as she was today, so she figured besides the obvious a nice relaxing weekend might do her some good.
Serena quickly took a shower and tied her hair up. Then she used the Luna pen to change her clothes and hide the bruises that still hadn't healed. She didn't want to worry Darien anymore. Now that the truth was out.
The horn outside beeped and Serena ran to the door. "Thanks for the save. Later ladies."
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Kunzite came out from around the door… "Who would have thought anyone could reason with you. Your acting skills are better than I gave you credit for."
"If she's happy then I'm happy. Plus, she needs to be out of the city for awhile." Amara said as Michele came out and took her hand.
"Uh huh." Hotaru nodded crossing her arms over her chest.
"And it's so much fun that the inner's don't know!" She laughed. "Now, we have to deal with Andy and find Pluto."
"You go deal with her, we're heading to Kyoto too. Serena's father is hilarious. I meet him one time and he finds me to set this all up. If the scouts don't know that Serena and Darien are married after this trip I may question their ability to protect her. This trip should be fun." Kunzite smirked and headed to meet the other guys and the uninformed scouts.
"Serena can be a good little liar. If anyone, Mina will figure it out." Michelle stated and Amara gave her a glare.
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Mina stood a block from a house she was sure that was Amara's. She concentrated all morning and when the string appeared she followed it. She saw the man… Kevin walk in to the Outers house and then fifteen minutes later Serena ran from the house and got in to a limo.
Kevin came out afterwards, the string between them still there. Serena's string, gold and shining, shot out from her chest toward who ever was in that limo.
"Endymion." Mina said aloud. She was right.
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Serena jumped in to the waiting car and let out a breath. 'How on Earth did Amara let her go that easily?'
"Miss me?" A velvet voice filled her ears.
Serena turned and smiled at her newest captors voice. Seeing his face was like she could finally breath again.
He didn't waste a minute and he moved in on her kissing her with so much passion the driver raised the privacy screen.
"So what's with the whole Kyoto scheme?" Serena said as she finally could breath again.
"Well I called in a favor to your parents." He said proudly.
"You what?" Serena laughed.
"They were quite ecstatic to hear from me, you know their only son-in-law… I'm a doctor you know," he said as he gave Serena a grin.
"Well I'm sure that they just wanted to see their favorite and only daughter." Serena smiled.
"You're right… No…wait…they just wanted to see me."
Serena laughed, nudging him in the side.
"Your father arranged for us to have some 'alone' time in Kyoto. They have already moved on to New Zealand. I needed to get you out of the city so we can plan how to take down Andromeda, now that she had her sights set on me and your death." He explained.
Serena frowned. "What about the senshi?"
"They will be fine. If Andromeda can't conjure up energy then she can not produce youma." He explained.
"Why?" She wondered.
"Because her solar system is dead. She needs a ton of energy to bring demons from the past, I don't think it's easy." He explained.
"How did you figure that out?" Serena asked, stunned.
"I'm a doctor" he stated, matter of factly, pointing at himself.
"What does that have anything to do with it?" She narrowed her eyes.
"I'm smart." He smiled and she smiled too.
"I can't even imagine. If I tried to bring something back from the Moon Kingdom it would be worse than giving everyone their energy back." Serena tried not to think about the lack of energy she woke up with this morning. That had been painful enough for her to not want to try it again anytime soon. Darien would freak out if he saw her bruises espically the one on her side where she fell. Even after a few hours it hadn't even started to yellow yet. She had really hit the pavement hard. The Luna pen was working though and for that she was glad.
"This is nice…" Darien smiled.
"Huh." Serena had frozen up thinking about Darien seeing her bruises on her naked body…
"That we can talk about this freely. I mean all of the weird things you were doing before. I am honored that you would try so hard to find me. I wish that I had that much sense to find you. But what doesn't make sense is why did you even want to be with Endymion in the first place? Why the need to be with him so bad when you didn't even know where to find him?" He said confused.
Serena looked uncomfortable now; was it his place to know about Rini?
"Uhh well…" She stammered.
"Come on you can tell me anything now." He urged. He didn't want anymore secrets.
"I don't want to explain this one. It will really freak you out." She stated.
He gave her a look of exasperation. "Do I need to summarize the last few week of our marriage? I think I am doing pretty darn well considering all that you have put me through."
She went beet red embarrassed about what she was going to say.
"That bad?" He asked.
"Okay… Well Endymion and I kind of have a daughter together." She whispered.
Darien had a blank look on his face. "Excuse me…"
"Yeah… I shouldn't have told you that." As casually as she could she moved to the other side of the limo.
He grabbed her and pulled her close. "You me… Me and you…We have a daughter? Are you pregnant?" He looked faint.
"No! No! I am not pregnant." She screeched.
Darien looked relieved.
"In the future we have a daughter. And we sort of… well hang out time to time. You know the usual me saving the world and stuff. And the future from the past…" She stopped. Too much explaining. "Well she let it slip once, and I saw him once, that her father, my husband and king, was Endymion."
"So what you are saying is…"
"I couldn't mess up the timeline. In order for me to rule the planet I needed to marry Endymion and have Rini, but we didn't know who he was… hence all of the craziness. Even if I loved you, before I knew that you were Endymion, I would have left you to fulfill my duty." She looked at him and he knew she was telling the truth.
"You know so much more than I do…" He stated taking in what she was telling him.
"That's an understatement." She huffed out.
"So, who is this Rini?" He asked.
"You remember the Black Moon Clan and the pink haired brat?" She said.
He nodded.
"Pink haired brat belongs to us." She smiled sheepishly.
"Hum…" Darien sat studiously.
"Are you mad? I know this is a lot to take in. Future king and queen. Future kids. The fact that I would have divorced you if fate didn't come in…"
Darien didn't say anything.
"Darien?" She whined.
"No… I'm not mad. I just want to know when we can start trying to make her?" He smirked as he grabbed her and kissed her.
They stopped at the apartment first to get some clothes and other necessities and then were back in the limo for the long drive to Kyoto. Serena had to stop the more than welcomed advances from Darien. She wanted them but she didn't want the first time, well the first time she remembered, to be in the back of a car.
So Serena answered all of Darien's questions. Darien was glad that she had such good friends and they had helped keep other men's paws off his wife.
She also had a huge hissy fit when he explained that his best friends were actuality the dark generals that tried to kill her in the past. Even though they were now good she still felt strange about the whole situation. It took some serious memories about how good they were before they turned dark to convince her to reunite them with the girls.
It was time for some payback for them constantly trying to set her up. She was also glad that Molly was with Melvin now. She had some serious love for the dark general Nephrite.
More than anything she was looking forward to having some alone time with Darien. That dream was cut short when the limp pulled in and eight eager eyes were waiting for them at the inn.
Mina noticed the gold string, shining between the two of them. They were keeping secretz. She smiled; Darien was Endymion. She looked at Kevin who had just arrived after her and he looked at her. She smiled and like a magic bridge, the string appeared again.
This was good. Now she had time to hound Serena for details and get Darien divorced from his wife.
"Um… what are you guys doing here?" Serena asked alarmed.
"Your dad invited us and when we told him you had important dating plans he said we should invite everyone!" Mina smiled.
"My dad?" She stumbled out.
"Yeah. He even told us to invite Darien but we couldn't get a hold of him so we are a little surprised he is here." Mina added, fishing for more information. 'Did Serena know that Darien was Endymion?'
"Ke… Mr. Tsukino called the hospital and let me know. I have met him a few times on. Uhhhh…. Medical conferences." Darien stumbled out.
"Yeah… he said he met you in Vegas." Ami stated.
"What.!" Rate stated. "You didn't tell us that meatball head!" Raye yelled.
Serena choked on a snowflake. Everyone started at her and then started laughing.
"Come on. Its cold just standing out here lets go check in!" Jed complained grabbing Raye by the arm.
Raye felt a sense of warmth and comfort from his touch, unlike she had ever felt before. She followed eagerly, something strange for her.
Serena sighed in defeat. She thought she would get this time as… well maybe a honeymoon. The girls were all placed in one traditional room and the guys in another. They shared a traditional common room with a table. All of the girls changed in to their robes and so did the guys. Serena pretended that she left something behind and Darien stayed to help her.
"What a bust." He sighed.
"Tell me about it. We finally find out that we are soul mates and now we are being torn apart again." She hung her head.
"Your dad is just trying to get us to tell them." Darien mumbled.
"I know. But they made me suffer so much with all of those dating schemes. Its pay back." She pounded a fist in to her palm.
"Yeah not to mention the few pounds you gained from all those milkshakes." Darien smiled.
"I'll kill you, Chiba." She said with a threat.
"SERENA!" Raye yelled. "HURRY UP!"
"I like my girl with a few curves." Darien pecked her on the lips leaving her stunned.
"SERENA!" Raye called again and Serena stomped off behind Darien who was already making his way toward the door.
The girls stripped down in to the hotel hot spring and relaxed. The falling snowflakes slowly drifted onto the hot water melting into the warm pool.
"Nice bruise." Lita pointed on Serena's butt before she sat down in the water.
"Serena, It hasn't gone away yet?" Amy asked, ashamed that they didn't show up at yesterday's battle.
"It was a good thirty foot fall. The Luna pen must be wearing off." Serena mumbled getting comfortable in the spring.
"You're lucky you are not dead." Raye smarted off.
"So… who did save you?" Mina asked trying to figure out if the hunch she had was correct.
"Well… I am not sure. I blacked out." Serena lied.
"Before giving everyone back their energy?" Mina prodded.
"Look I have a bruise on my ass the size of China. I am still drained and then the outers questioned me this morning. Can we just let this slide?" She asked exasperated.
"Yeah. Lets just relax." Lita added.
"Fine! But date night is still on!" Mina smiled.
"Uggggg!" Serena roared sinking in to the water. "Why don't you go out with them!"?
"And leave what… Darien with you?" Raye said heated.
"Please, I saw you with Jacen earlier. You like him!" Mina splashed her.
"I do not! He is a little pip-squeak… I could squash him!" Raye yelled defensively.
"Wow, Raye, way to sell him to Serena as Endymion." Amy laughed.
Raye sulked and Serena had to hold herself back from drowning the pyromaniac in the hot spring.
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"Dude, this is awesome." Jed said relying in the water.
"Yeah. Serena's father is pretty awesome. We should go skiing tomorrow. I bet Lita has some moves." Nathan smiled.
"I bet that little fireball Raye has more moves than anyone." Jacen said not thinking about skiing.
Darien laughed. He knew there was no way that Serena was good at skiing.
"So. Endy… how does this go? When do you tell those girls that you are Serena's lover?" Jacen asked.
"Maybe when we take out the enemy. Everyone is in too much danger as it is. I mean Andy was pissed when she realized that we remembered who we are to each other. I just wonder when she recovers what kind of damage she will inflict." Darien was perplexed by how difficult things still were even after knowing the truth.
"Well the outers are all over her. They used to destroy those Andomedian creatures all the time. They can handle any little youma Andromeda throws at them." Zack stated.
"Zack, what do you remember about Andromeda when we lived in the Silver Millennium?" Darien asked remembering something.
"Why?" He asked eyes brows raised.
"Well… The golden crystal took down that bird demon like Serena can take down a milkshake." He explained.
"I'll look in to it." Zack said now intrigued.
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All ten people gathered around the table in traditional kimonos. Darien smiled at Serena causing her to blush. Mina smirked to herself she definitely didn't miss that one either.
"This is amazing!" Serena wailed when the hotel staff started to bring out all of the sushi. Large trays of fresh sushi that were laid out in front of them.
"Yeah.. this is… wow!" Lita studied the precise cuts of a master sushi chef in envy.
"I love your dad, Serena!" Jacen gushed as he dug in.
"So, what are we doing tomorrow?" Serena asked, her mouth full of sashimi.
"Well, Serena's father put me in charge of activities!" Mina smiled.
"What!" Raye yelled. "Why you?"
"Because I am amazing. Duh." She announced as she flipped her hair over her shoulder.
"Okay, princess of love, what's is the game plan?" Raye said sarcastically.
"Let's meet for breakfast and then…" Mina started.
"SKIIING!" Jacen yelled.
"Okay! Skiing!" Great idea Mina thought.
Serena groaned. "Not skiing…"
"I love skiing and I am awesome at it." Raye perked up.
"I like skiing too." Ami blushed slightly.
"We are in!" All of the boys said, all except Darien.
He just looked at Serena with worry as she played with her food now not eating it.
Raye noticed him not voicing his opinion in the choice of activity.
"Darien. If you can't ski I would be more than happy to help you." She said more friendly than intended.
Mina watched at Serena and Jacen both glared at her.
"No, I can ski just fine. I think I will pair up with Serena. I don't think she is much of a ski bunny." He explained.
Serena smiled but stuck her tongue out at him anyway.
"Great, idea! We should pair up! Okay, Ami with Zack, Lita with Nathan, Raye and Jacen and that leaves Kevin and I" Mina said excited.
"This is dumb. We are here trying to find a guy for Serena and now we are skiing with them?" Raye spat.
"No this is a great idea. This way we can talk to them all separately." Ami smiled.
"I have a better idea! Let's race down the mountain tomorrow and who ever wins gets the first private date with Serena." Lita said with enthusiasm.
"Awesome!" Ami added.
Serena groaned again.
"Hey, could you not talk about us like we are not here?" Zack said and the others nodded.
"Oh, I guess you are not up for some friendly competition with one another?" Lita challenged.
"Oh we are in!" Kevin said accepting the challenge.
Darien and Serena locked eyes. They needed to tell them soon and end this annoying charade.