Sessediz

Rated M: Language and love scenes

D/S

Sorry for the longer update this time around. I've been working hard on this story and my other two Sailor Moon stories. They were all at that weird 'Order of the Phoenix' point where I had a plan for the story but needed the plot to keep moving in the meantime to reach those new developments. The plan is to have those two stories updated in the next week, so be looking for that email!

Also, thank you to TropicalRemix, Guest, Bky, PrincessRaena SS, Mysticgrnbutterfly and SMSM92 for your reviews. They really do help encourage me to continue a story and although I already have a few ideas for my next stories, this one will be finished first.

As for this story, there are at least a couple of chapters left… we have to see the new restaurant open up! :) Let me know what you think of this addition – thanks!

Serena Tsukino:

"Lita! Can I borrow your silver strappy heels?" I shouted across the echoing apartment. It was so empty now and it made me think about the last few years here.

"What happened to yours?" she shouted back. I pranced through the living room to the other side of the apartment and stopped at her bedroom door, hugging the frame.

"Because mine are packed and I can't find them anywhere," I whined. It was their idea for this girls' night and I wasn't about to wear my silver-sequined cocktail dress with plain black heels.

"Fine," she muttered as she dug through an open box. Lita handed me the shoes, "You sure you're cool with this?"

I didn't want to think about what she might be referring to so I answered quickly, "It's time I let loose." Lita gave me a knowing look but didn't push the envelope. "When are Raye and Mina arriving?"

"Uh, 10 p.m. but Raye says she has a date to pick up. He's across the bridge but she assures us that he is on the way to the night club."

"I thought this was a girls' night?" Lita shrugged. "What's his name?"

"Uh, Jed or something. He's a little older but she seems to be quite smitten with him," Lita gagged. I rolled my eyes. Raye had always been into older guys since we met her and, as far as I could tell from Mina, it was a regular habit in high school as well.

It was 9:45 p.m. when the doorbell rang. "I got it," I shouted while hobbling to the door with one heel on and one halfway on. I pulled the door open and looked down to finish putting on the silver heels, "You're early," I remarked before looking up. "Oh, Hello."

"Hi, Serena."

Darien stood before me wearing an Avenged Sevenfold tee and black jeans. He looked like the high schooler I dreamt about the night before and I blushed at the thought.

"What are you doing here?" I asked before he ushered us inside.

"We need to talk," Darien grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me towards my room. I glanced back for a second to see Lita standing in her doorway looking worried but I mouthed that I was fine. When my bedroom door closed, I looked to Darien whose face was unreadable. "Why did you leave me?"

I turned my head slightly, "Uh, you left me Darien."

"No. Six years ago. That day in the park," he ran a hand through his dark black hair, "I need to know why, Serena."

"But it's in the past," I walked to the large window in my room and opened the curtains for that last bit of sunlight.

"I don't care. It's been eating at me for years now and I need it resolved. What did I do? Was it because I said you didn't have to be successful for me to love you?"

I froze. Love?

"Com'on, Serena. I'm not waiting another six years for this answer. Why did you drive off to—well, wherever you went?"

"Los Angeles."

"What?"

I turned around to see Darien now fuming but with a spark of curiosity, "I went to L.A. for a year and then moved to Boulder. I met Lita and we came here," I gestured to our apartment.

Darien shook his head, "That sounds like a story for another time. Serena, why did you break up with me?"

"That's why, Darien; part of it, honestly." He still looked confused so I sat on the bed and motioned for him to do the same. "You know that I was never really more than a teenage girl with crazy ideas. No one thought that highly of me and your mother was the one to make that reality really stick. I had no direction."

"Serena…" he leaned closer to me, "Why do you still think that you ever had to be more than a student and kid? Not all of us have the luxury of having a childhood. You're lucky that you weren't forced to choose your career path at fourth grade."

I sighed, "But that's not entirely true, is it? See, we're from two entirely different worlds, Darien. You could never understand how I felt about this so why is it that this matters so much to you?"

Darien looked away from me and to the wall across from us, "Because I've been in love with you since eighth grade." All the blood seemed to run from the integral parts of my body. We sat there in silence until he started again, "Listen, I'm not telling you to scare you or to try and make something from it. I just, I've been suffering from everything that went down and I need closure. Ca—can you give me that?"

He looked over at me and I stared back at him before nodding. Just when I opened my mouth the door burst open.

"Serena!" Mina shouted, rushing to my side. Raye came into view and she looked upset. At me? I wasn't sure. "Can I be DJ?" she giggled. Mina always loved being in control of my car's stereo system.

"Uh, sure," I looked to Darien who looked frustrated again. We all left and while Lita locked up I turned to him, "We'll talk later, alright?"

Darien nodded and smiled, "Can't wait." We went down to the lobby and parted ways. Raye stayed behind a second and then caught up.

"Alright, there's this group Rapids you guys gotta hear," Mina started pressing buttons on the car. Mina was part of the New York music scene since she was an assistant at one of the local radio stations. This meant she knew of new bands before the rest of us.

I looked in the rearview mirror to see Lita playing with her phone and Raye crossing her arms. "You okay, Raye?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" she replied plainly. I dropped it and went back to Mina's music, not talking again until I needed directions to this new guys' place. I couldn't help but notice how close we were to Darien's apartment and I wondered to myself when he might get home.

A man looking like his late twenties with short but wavy blonde hair and glasses walked out of the building and Raye opened the door for him to scoot in. "Thanks for the ride," he greeted. "I'm Jedidiah, but you can call me Jed."

We each quickly introduced ourselves and I put the car back into drive. The night club wasn't more than ten blocks away but the time it took to get through traffic made me wish we had parked at Jed's apartment and walked the rest of the way, despite my heels.

One of the bouncers recognized Lita and me from an article in the New York Times earlier that week which helped us to get into the club sooner. The simple acknowledgment of who I was made me feel like a celebrity of my own.

I had danced for the larger part of the night, trying to wrap my head around Darien's comment from earlier. He couldn't have loved me in eighth grade... We were children back then and he made fun of me all the time. I was glad to have the girls by my side, though Raye danced most of the night with her date. When it reached 1 a.m. I decided to take a break and order some more drinks for the table.

An old Tamia song was on and I watched Mina and Lita dancing slowly with the dance partners they had scored along with Raye and Jed. I twirled a paper umbrella between my thumb and index finger. This girls' night kinda sucks. It didn't do its one job; keep my mind off Darien. Then again, Darien showing up right before we left didn't help either. When the song ended, Jed walked up to me. "Where's Raye?" I asked.

"Bathroom," Jed replied. "You're name's Serena Tsukino, right?" I nodded. "I thought so."

I smiled, "You read that article too, huh? It was a little too nice on my part. I'm surprised they published such a lovely article."

Jed laughed, "No, I mean Darien's new ex."

This caught my attention, "You know Darien Shields?"

Jed sat down next to me and picked up one of the shots I had ordered for the table, "For the last few years now. I helped him get his company started. We still talk occasionally and I give him advice on building the firm up. In fact, I was trying to help him get that place on 96th that you won." He threw back the shot and then smiled genuinely at me, "Congratulations, by the way."

"Thanks." We sat there in the silence of the deafening club music. "What do you mean by new 'ex?'' I finally asked.

"Oh, you know, just the slew of girls that Darien Shields has bedded."

"What makes you think that I slept with him?"

Jed gave me a knowing look, "Because it's Darien. He likes to pretend that he's not a man-whore but it's how he's been since I met him." I stopped tipping my drink back and tried not to spit it out. Darien's like that? I guess I couldn't be too surprised; he was, after all, the star of the basketball team in high school, incredibly rich, handsome and now a successful businessman in New York. It wouldn't be too far of a stretch to see him end up like that. Like me, I thought. "Yeah, I think it's that girl from high school though."

"Huh?" I asked.

"Don't take the break up too hard, is all I'm saying. His heart belongs to a girl that he knew back in Tucson. It's a real shame; I doubt he'll ever fully recover."

I was stunned and was about to ask more when the girls walked back up. "When are you coming back, Sere?" Lita asked.

"I, uh," I looked to Jed who was now busy talking with Raye. "Jed and I were talking and—."

Raye turned to look at me, "What about?" She then looked to Jed, "You didn't talk to her about Darien, did you?"

Jed shrugged, "I thought she would feel better knowing."

Raye rolled her eyes, "I'm sorry, Serena. I didn't want you to get hurt about everything."

"What are you talking about?" I furrowed my brow.

"About Rita and all the other ones. Darien's like a serial dater or something."

I crossed my arms, "And what would you call me?" Raye was speechless for a moment and Mina and Lita didn't bother to interject. I shook my head at her, "Why can't you leave me to my own affairs?" I instantly cringed at my poor word choice.

"And do what? I know you and he have history but he's in love with someone else. Until he can get over her, there's no use trying to have a relationship with that man," she paused, almost contemplating her next words, "That's why I told him to stay away from you."

"What?" I remembered Raye staying behind at the apartment building when we were leaving. "Why would you do that?" I asked hurriedly as I reached for my purse and phone.

"Because you deserve better, Serena! Until he gets over that hussy you sho—."

I slammed a heel down, "I am that hussy, Raye. Don't you remember me telling you that I grew up in Tucson?" I turned to Jed who looked as surprised as Lita and Mina were with this entire revelation, though I couldn't say how much information each of them possessed before this conversation. "You guys can borrow the car," I tossed the keys to Lita. "Don't wait up."

I sped through the crowd, dodging couples and sweating dancers on my way out to the street. The cool night air was a refreshing treat after the heat of the club. It wasn't a far walk and I knew that without heels I could make it in twenty minutes. About halfway there I took them off and walked across the dirty sidewalk but I didn't care; I had someone to apologize to and it had to be tonight.

Darien Shields:

It was really late and I knew I should have been in bed like Ami and Andrew were but I couldn't stop thinking about her. Damn it!

Serena was never going to leave my mind; that much I was sure of. Five years of drinking couldn't drown her out, so why did I think that one night of it would do anything?

"Wishful drinking," I whispered to myself. I wasn't even close to drunk and it was already past one-thirty in the morning. I was about to retire to my room with a bottle of Disaronno when there was a loud and rapid knock at the door. "Shit," I muttered, rushing to the door to keep the noise from waking my roommates. Did I order takeout?

I opened the door to see a frazzled Serena still wearing that sexy, tight-fitting dress. Before I could open my mouth she jumped onto me crushing our lips together. Her hands were holding my face, obviously hoping that I would continue to hold her to my body but I rested her bare feet to the ground.

"Ser—Serena," I tried to catch my breath, "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think I'm doing here?"

"I don't know," I pulled away from her and sat down on the couch, my Disaronno still in hand. "Your friend doesn't like me."

"I don't care. She's dating your friend though."

"Which?"

"Jed something?"

I squeezed my eyes and sighed, rubbing the back of my neck, "What did he say about me?"

Serena stilled and slowly began to smile, "About a girl in Tucson that you haven't gotten over."

Her cheerful smile while saying that was all I needed and it didn't take me long to respond. I set the bottle on the coffee table and walked back over to Serena, picking her up. She watched me without a word as I carried her to my bedroom.

We didn't talk, and maybe we should have, but I was just happy to have Serena back in my arms. The last few weeks were more torturous than the six years prior and I was intent on making her mine. Again.

I thrusted into her gently and slowly, attempting to keep this moment going for as long as I could manage. My arms were braced under her shoulders, my face resting near hers as I lightly ran my tongue over her collarbone. Part of me was afraid to look her in the eyes; afraid that this moment with her was a dream or that I had been too careless in my sudden reaction to her statement.

Her hands found their way to the sides of my head and she moved me to look at her. Her eyes were the bright blue ones I remembered from that day in eighth grade when us kids were all shooting hoops at the park. Serena and her friends walked up to watch us play and I had teased her about checking me out. She remarked that she was only thinking about how much better she was at hooping.

I had marched up to her and tossed the ball into her arms which she caught suavely. The guys were shouting a string of our regular teases at her but I was focused on her skill. Is she actually good? Serena dribbled the ball and waited for me to get into position. All I had to do was block her throw.

And I did, before realizing that Serena was now lying face down on the ground.

"Serena!" I had yelled. She had jumped off the pavement and attempted a layup, a move that I halted when my elbow accidentally hit her in the jaw. I rushed to her side and rested my hand on her right shoulder when she started to sit up. Blood was pouring out of the wound on her right eyebrow and the girls were shrieking from the sight. "Are you alright?" I was worried that Serena could be concussed or need stitches, something I had been reading from the neurology book my parents got me for my birthday.

Serena didn't cry, whine or scream and she didn't freak out when she wiped up a bit of the blood and saw it on her hands. Instead, she looked at me with those beautiful yet stern, blue eyes and said, "You suck, Darien Shields."

She stood up to leave the area but the girls were almost too scared to go near her. Before I rushed to help her to her parents' house and then subsequently to the hospital for three stitches, I remember thinking to myself, I'm in love with you, Serena Tsukino.

Looking at her now I saw that the little Serena I knew was still a part of this woman. And she saw me. If it weren't for the setting, I could have sworn we were teenagers again; Serena with her hair in those ponytails and me with shorter, spiked-up hair.

After I released in her I brushed the curly blonde hairs from her face and tilted her chin up to me, "I want to hear everything." And I meant it; I wanted to know why she left, where she went and just everything about the last six years.

She smiled into the gesture and looked back up at me, "In the morning. For now, please don't let me go." Her whispers sent chills down my back and I nodded immediately, pulling the covers up and over us. My arms were tight around her as I heard her breathing slow down.

"I love you, Serena."