Hope you guys enjoyed the last two chapters and I hope it made up for not updating! I want to say thank you again to those of you who have sent me reviews. You guys have really encouraged me and means a lot to me. Like I said last update, I am working on two new stories and I have a third in mind already. The first one I'm going to post I just started. It is a Sailor Moon fic and it will be rated T, so sorry for those of you who enjoy a little heat! It may or may not have some hot make out sessions but no promises! The next one will be one that I started working on before TCIAR but it is EPIC so it is taking a while. It is set during the Moon Kingdom years. It is about halfway finished on ch. 8 and it will be rated M for adult situations and violence. The one I have in mind will be a secret for now so you will just have to wait!

The Customer is Always Right

CH. 8

Sweetest is the sleep when I dream of my love...

His kiss made her body catch fire. The baby might as well have been playing soccer inside her. He was sure to have felt something? She wanted to hang on to him, to never let their kiss end. But it had to end, just like them. Then her heart stopped as he walked away. They were over. He was gone and it was her fault. She had really screwed up. The baby continued to kick until her father was out of site. Every chance of her having a happy ending walked away and left her on the dance floor.

She had to get out of there. She felt like she was having a panic attack. She quickly found Amy and wished her good luck. Then found Mina who was wrapped up in Ken's arms on the dance floor.

"Hey, look I'm really tired. I'm gonna head out now. I'm gonna stay at my place tonight."

"Are you sure? You don't look so good. You know you don't have to, you can stay with me or Lita tonight."

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm just really tired. You look like you really need your place tonight, plus I still have a little packing to do. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow okay?"

"Alright, but you'll call me if you need anything?"

"Yes, of course...I love you Mina."

"I love you too."

After a brief but loving hug, she retrieved her coat and made towards the door. It had started to snow and a thin white blanket began to cover the ground. She stood just outside the door and let a few snow flakes fall onto her face. The street lamps cast a yellow glow to the snow, making it look like a fairytale. The sound of footsteps approached behind her. She expectantly turned, hoping for a certain tall, dark and handsome man to be behind her. Instead it was a tall, dark and beautiful woman.

"Are you leaving?"

She gave Rei a nod and without hesitation or questioning, the two began their decent down the formal hall's steps. The only sounds as they walked to Serena's car was the distant thump of music and laughter and the snow crunching under their feet.

"Why haven't you told him?"

"About the baby? I don't know. At first it was a fear of his rejection. Now it's a fear that I waited too long. I guess there's no chance now that he will be happy about it."

"Yes but at least he would have the chance to get happy about it. Look, it's your life so I'm not going to say anything but he is my brother and he does deserve to know. Regardless of how he acts, I want you to know that...I want something to do with this baby's life."

She was surprised. This woman hardly knew her and here she was asking to be in her baby's life. It was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to her. What could this woman have possibly done to be cruelly shut out of her family's life?

"Even when we were strangers, you were kind enough to share a big moment with me. I can see why you have had the affect on my brother. For years, my father and my brother shut me out because I didn't want to follow in their footsteps. But when he met you, something changed. He began to see the importance of family and how I was important to him. Thanks to you, I got my brother back. You could at least let me repay the favor and help you as much as I can."

"That is really sweet. Thank you." She said with tears stinging her eyes.

"What is family for huh?"

She hugged her. After all they are family.

Serena occupied her mind with packing. Her feet were killing her but as soon as she stopped, her mind wondered her way to his face again. His words echoed in her mind. Did she not believe in them? She knew it was true before she even asked the question. It wasn't so much that she didn't believe in them, she didn't believe in herself. Because of that she didn't trust that Darien could want her. It was easy for her to believe that she meant nothing to him and that a woman like Michelle would be who he deserved. She worked till she was exhausted, which had it's advantages. She managed to get everything packed up for tomorrow. Now if she could sleep, she would be ready for the whole ordeal tomorrow.

She had prayed for sleep, but she should have prayed for a dreamless one. Dreams of her parents and Darien leaving her played over and over all night long. Finally, as the gray dawn light peered into her windows, she gave up. She slipped off her Pj's and got dressed. Putting on a pair of maternity jeans that fit tight on her legs but had a stretchy waist band for her belly, she decided to show off her bump for once. She picked an older t-shirt that pulled tight across her belly making it impossible to miss and shrugged on a thick cardigan. Thick socks adorned her feet as she quickly put her hair into a messy bun. She still had hours before the gang arrived with the moving van. Why not put her new cooking skills to use and surprise everyone with breakfast! Thanks to Lita, she could pull off a few tasty things with ease. She pulled out everything she would need to make some simple danishes and started a large, strong pot of coffee.

"DARIEN!."

"Rei, I let you stay here last night so you wouldn't go home with that guy, not so you could ruin my Saturday!"

"That guy is called Jed, and he is a nice guy! And I didn't stay here to protect me, I stayed here to protect you!"

"Rei, I mean it. Go home. I'm not going to talk to you about this any more."

"I like her. She is really nice. And you love her. Call her. Call her right now."

"Leave Rei. I mean it."

"Even if I leave now I am going to come by your office every day and bug you till you call her!"

"You are seriously making me regret the day I called you."

"Well I don't. Clearly you need me. I'm going to dad's today. I'm going to get him to take a serious look at his life too. Call her Darien. You are going to turn in to dad permanently if you don't and no one will be able to help you. Not me, not Serena, no one!"

Her words hung in the air after she left. Wasn't he already like his father? The months without her had made him cold and he knew it. He saw himself becoming more and more like his father but he didn't care. Until then, until Rei said her speech, he thought it was too late for him. He looked at his phone like it was a venomous snake. What would he even say to her? He was so cruel to her last night, would she even take his call? I guess Rei is right, I'm not my father yet because I still hope for us, for love to be between us. He picked up his phone and dialed the number by heart. If she didn't answer, he would just go there and make her talk to him!

Breakfast was finished and it actually looked pretty. Now what? Before she could answer that her phone rang. A picture of Mina giving peace sign, popped up on the screen.

"Hey. You guys here yet?"

"Almost. Andrew, Rita, Ken, and I just picked up the van. Lita and Nick are on their way. We should be there in aboooouut...30 minutes?"

"Okay, well everything is ready to go. We just have to load it up!"

"Good. We'll see you soon!"

"Okay Bye!"

30 minutes huh? Serena unlocked her door and sat down at her piano. She had just began to warm up when she heard the door open and two pairs of feet walk in. 'Well that was faster than I expected.'

"I'm in here!" She said without looking.

"You're a hard girl to find these days."

Her skin turned cold. She recognized the voice but was blanking on the face. She knew that she knew it and she knew it wasn't good. She turned to see none other than Deemond. He had another guy with him that she didn't recognize but he didn't look friendly either.

"I've had a man sit on your place for months now. You should have stayed away, but then that would have been good for you, not so good for me." He turned to the creepy man beside him. "Go stand outside, I wanna handle this myself."

The man glared at her like she was something to eat, making another chill run through her body. Then he walked calmly and silently out her door, pulling it shut behind him. Her mind began to race with all the horrible things they might do to her. She had to think of something fast if she wanted to save her baby. First plan, stall. If I drag this out long enough, maybe Mina and the others will get here before he can do anything. But then they might get hurt instead. Okay, second plan. Slowly inch my way to the bathroom and when I get a chance lock myself in. It wasn't perfect but she was out of options.

"You. You little bitch, cost me everything. Shields' back out of our agreement and now no one will touch me. I was going to be big. My name was going to be in lights all over this city. But you had to go and sleep with him. You ruined everything you stupid slut!"

She got to her feet, slowly to not seem as if she was going to run or make a move. She hoped her swollen belly would keep him from touching her. Being naive, she couldn't imagine anyone cruel enough to hurt a child, even if it was unborn.

"Well, well, well. Maybe your not so stupid after all. You got knocked up. Tell me, is it his? Did you score yourself the gravy boat of a life time?"

She thought about her choices. She could tell him the truth, tell him it was Darien's baby. Maybe she could tell him that she would use the child as a bargaining chip so Darien would support him again? But that didn't seem like the best choice. The way he talked about Darien, knowing it was his child would probably set him off. If she told him it was someone else, then he wouldn't get as angry. If he thought that she had cheated on Darien, maybe he would like that she hurt him and let her go. Lie. She should lie.

"No. It isn't Darien's. It was just some guy. Darien and I are over."

"Awe, well that's too bad. You know I didn't know on my way up here just what to do with you."

Her plan had failed, he was still just as angry as he was when he entered. She made a dash for the bathroom but he quickly closed the distance between them before she could make it. He grabbed her roughly by the hair, yanking her back and painfully forcing her to look at him.

"I didn't know whether I should fuck you, or kill you."

He kissed her roughly on the mouth. She bit down hard on his lip causing him to pull away and curse. Then the slapped her hard across the face forcing her to the floor.

"I don't really dig fat chicks so I guess I am just going to kill you."

Then the beating began. Serena did the only thing she could. She curled up into a ball, protecting her baby as much as she could. He kicked her legs, arms,head, and then in the back over and over again. Pain seared through her as blow after blow hit her. Then something cracked, she knew he had broken a rib. The pain was so much but she had to hold on, she had to stay conscious so she could protect the baby. Red hot flames licked her back and her sides as her finally stopped his assault. Then she heard glass shatter and everything went black.

She didn't know how long she had been out but he was gone. There was blood all around her and her eyes refused to focus. Her ears kept ringing loudly. After a few moments of steadying breaths she noticed it wasn't her ears that were ringing, it was her phone, she could hear it ringing. She pulled herself across the floor screaming in pain at the clearly broken ribs on her side. There was glass all around her and it dug into her flesh as she clawed at the floor. She was in so much pain but she had to reach that phone, she had to get help for her baby. She made it to the kitchen but the phone was all the way up on the table. She tried to stand but the pain was so sharp she almost lost consciousness again. She began to shake the leg of the table hoping to knock the phone off. It worked, sliding the phone across the floor. Cursing she pulled herself a little more till she could see the picture on the phone. It was Darien. Tears flooded her eyes and she reached for the answer button. Blood made her hands slick and she dropped the phone a few times before she finally held it in her hands. The pain made it hard to think, hard to move, and hard to breath. The phone stopped ringing as soon as she got it into her hands. She tried to call him back but she was just so tired...so tired...

There was so much noise. People screaming, then the sound of metal and tiny clicking sounds. Something beeping. Then a really loud siren. She opened her eyes to fuss and strange men were around her. They had come back, they had come back to finish the job. Instinctively her hands moved to shield her stomach. Then she saw Mina's face. She was saying something but she couldn't understand. She was too tired for this.

"Mina, could you ask them to be quiet. I'm really tired."

"No Serena, you have to stay awake!"

Mina was crying. I don't see want the big deal is. It was just a nap. She didn't get any sleep last night and here was Mina trying to keep her up. One of the strange men was in her face now.

"Serena, Serena, sweetheart, you have to stay awake okay? Just for a little while okay? You need to promise me you will stay awake!"

"But I'm tired. I don't know you."

"I know, I know your tired. But we all need you to stay awake. Especially, the baby."

"My baby?! You have to help my baby! You have to save her!"

"We will we will. I promise, if you stay awake we will save your baby. Deal? Serena? Serena?!"

DUM DUM DUMMMMMM! Okay so I have a love/hate relationship with cliffhangers. I hate them when a story is unfinished but I love how they make me crave the next chapter. I won;t keep your breath baited for long though, I promise!