We do not own "Sailor Moon" nor any of the characters.
"SAILOR MOON ETERNAL"
The 6th Season of the Sailor Moon Saga
Chapter 21
"In the Home Stretch"
The flight back to Tokyo runs smoothly, though our little group was concerned about their missing companions, wondering if everything back in France was all right—and hoping sincerely that it was.
Upon arriving back in Japan, they pick up the sedan they had left in the secured parking lot, and drive home. There were more than a few luggage mishaps at the airport, with Sayer having to climb up the motorized conveyer belt for Susan's lost suitcase—with he and the heavy bag almost coming in for a crash landing in result.
Home at last, they find the front door unlocked.
"I locked this door before we left." Alex drops her suitcases on the ground, pushing ahead, always the suspicious one. She readies her stance for danger as she kicks the door in cautiously and looks around.
"Maybe you just forgo-" Sayer starts to say as he comes in behind her, very "gentlemanly" not bothering to retrieve her fallen luggage.
'SURPRISE!" A chorus of voices sing out merrily as the lights in the house pop on to reveal Tara, Rini, Mina, Rei, Amy and Lita, plus little RiRi, too. They were all crowded around a returned-from-her-honeymoon (and looking none the worse for wear) Serena who was holding a cake with nineteen red candles on it, ablaze.
"Happy Birthday, Sayer!" Serena leans over the cake, and kisses the surprised birthday boy on the cheek.
"Meatball! You remembered." He smiles, their friendship warming his heart, and the sight of the delicious cake makes his mouth water, as well.
"Of course! How could I forget? I'm a responsible lady now, you know." Serena smiles with a mischievous, haughty air about her.
"Yeah, I know. So where is Dar?" Sayer winks back at her, as he fingers a scoop of the icing off the cake and into his mouth.
"He's working right now. But he'll be here soon. Don't worry, he wouldn't miss your party!" Serena slaps Sayer's wandering fingers from devouring the entire cake before it's served.
"Lita made the cake, so you don't have to worry about that, either." Rei pipes in, not wanting Serena to get credit for anything she didn't deserve.
"Yeah, well I decorated the room, Rei." Serena rebuts. Though now a grown-up married "lady," she wasn't above her little quarrels with Rei.
"YOU decorated the room!? We all helped decorate!" Rini, looked silly with an angry face with little grey kitten Diana was atop her head, was the third cog in the argument. Tara obediently nods in agreement with her best friend.
"Don't forget how I brought the balloons! Didn't I, Artemis?" Mina says haughtily, just as one of those balloons decides to pop on a sharp edge from the grandfather clock, with a loud bang, scaring the catnip out of Artemis.
"Girls, let's not argue about who did what." Amy tries to smooth over, smiling at Terry and Susan, embarrassed at the girls' rude behavior.
"Yeah, let's just eat the frosting off the cake before the candles all melt." Sayer jumps right in the fray, taking hold of Serena's arm and guiding her to the table of divine sweetery.
Soon the cake pieces are dispersed around the room (after Sayer blows out the candles in one big puff!) and then the gossip begins.
Sayer busies himself with chatting up the girls, happy to be part of their group as he was always the life of any party—especially at a surprise one for himself.
Terry and Susan calmly converse with Amy, Lita and Tara, the more subdued members of the gabbing girls. Though they leave out a certain bit of news they too had to share that was just the tiniest bit significant as they wait for just the right moment to spring it upon their friends.
Watching the merry crowd before her, Alex finds herself amused at how boyish Sayer became around them. He had that sweet, childlike innocence about him that she would always find so attractive.
"Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?" Alex asks, as the girls all scurry off to fetch their presents for him. Sayer shrugs.
"He told me this morning not to tell you." Terry smiles with a tease, stirring up trouble, as Susan takes her place on his lap.
"What? Why?" Alex asks with an incredulous chuckle at how strange men could be at times. All right, most of the time.
"'Cause guys don't really care about birthdays and that sort of thing. That's why. I'm only playing along so the girls don't feel bad." Sayer smiles the lie, but Alex could see in his eyes that it was all a big show and he was truly enjoying himself to no end.
"Oh, all right." Alex smirks knowingly, letting him think he got away with that bluff.
"PRESENT TIME! PRESENT TIME!" Mina sings out as she trots back into the room, and she almost steps on poor Luna, holding something behind her back.
"Close your eyes, Sayer." Serena orders, as she peeks around the corner before coming in.
"And don't you dare open them!" Rei warns, as she follows Serena in.
Amy, Tara and Rini follow close behind them.
"Okay, okay." Sayer smiles obediently. "What're you guys doing anyway? Remember there are ladies present." He jokes, with eyelids tightly shut.
"We are ALL ladies here, except for Terry, of course! And you too, Artemis." Mina twists her lip at the jab, giggling at herself.
"You can open your eyes now!" Lita coos, as they all scramble behind the table they had just placed the gifts upon.
There, lying on the table was a beautiful long, wooden baseball bat, a professional leather catcher's mitt and softball. On top of it was a light blue baseball cap.
It was a baseball fan's dream come true and Sayer was certainly an avid one.
"Wow! Guys, this is great! Thanks!" He picks up the glove, and sees an inscription on it, written in indelible blue ink.
"It's a fortune I chose for you today at the temple." Rei smiles, glad her handiwork stood out and not Mina's chasing that famous baseball player for a week to sign that dumb old ball.
"'Keep on reaching for your dream.'" Sayer reads aloud, and as he does his eyes travel across the table, at Alex, who looks away from his intent stare quickly. She never wanted to look weak in front of Lita and the other girls.
"Thanks, gang!" Sayer's smile envelops all the girls. "You can count on it!" He looks back to Alex, who finds his gaze too tempting today to turn away from this time.
Sayer soon recruits the whole gang for a game of baseball. The group of friends trot outside the green grassy field to the back yard, and soon turn it into an impromptu baseball diamond. It was complete with old leather school bags, and even some of Susan's fine dinner china, in literal place of the four 'plates' around the diamond.
Sayer chooses a spot in the field, and piles up a small mountain of dirt for the pitcher's mound. He would be the pitcher, of course.
The girls change into some of Alex's offered shorts as they divide up who was to be on whose team. The birthday boy naturally assumed the role of team leader and coach for those less than athletically inclined.
Serena, an old trainee of his from not so long ago, takes the opposing team when Alex surprisingly declines Sayer's insistence that she had the makings of a great baseball player. Alex had responded that she had something more important to do than play games with "the children." She took off in her much missed Ferrari to speed down the road instead.
This turn of events cast a bit of disappointment for Sayer, but the other girls cheer him up soon with their not-so-inspirational baseball tactics. Terry and Susan watch them from the side, happily supplying them with homemade lemonade and iced tea on this hot summer day. They prepare a lunch together for the hungry players.
RiRi, in her excitement, had a little accident when she nearly caught a foul ball and "Mother" Susan has to set her right again. Everyone soon comes in from the steaming late July day for lunch.
Darien soon arrives, joining his wife, listening to her and girls gossip over the latest buzz about Michelle, after she had made a long-distance telephone call from Paris to make certain that the residents of the house had gotten home safely.
"Michelle said Robin actually faced her strict parents. He told them he loved her right in front of them!" Lita nods up and down seriously, being the one who had answered the phone, though all the girls just had to say "Hi" and get the gossip first-hand from their elegant friend.
"Her parents said they'd allow the two of them to stay together on trial for one year to see if their love lasts! How romantic!" Mina sighs, almost in tears, just imagining how much courage it took to do such a thing.
"How romantic!" Lita sighs as well, as the rest of the girls nod in dreamy agreement.
"Oh! 'How romantic!'" In a feminine high voice, Sayer sighs sarcastically at their girlish tendencies. "Get real, guys." He smirks as he polishes off a second grilled cheese sandwich. "Makes a guy sick to see them all blubbering over Rob like that. Don't you think, Dar?" He gives Darien a nudge, who had expertly scooted himself between his new wife and this youthful cad.
"I don't know about that… Sayer." Darien gives the younger man an all knowing smile. He wraps a possessive arm around Serena, who was happily chomping away at a bowl of potato chips. Rini and RiRi were in close competition with her on the other side of the table.
"I believe romance does have an important place in this life." He gives his newlywed a quick kiss on the forehead. With her mouth full of chips, Serena smiles, giggling, causing Sayer to burst out in a chuckle.
"I am glad to hear you say so, Mr. Shields." Terry says suddenly from his quiet seat across the table, patting the empty seat next to him, to which Susan quickly rushes to claim. She puts down immediately the soda bottle she was pouring drinks from, and comes to his beckon.
"'Mr. Shields', Terry? So formal still?" Darien found himself liking this man and his innate respect towards him more and more.
"What I am about to ask of you is a very formal request, Your Highness." He bows his head down reverently at Darien and then at Serena. "Princess." He lowers his eyes.
"Wow, Princess?! Terry! What's up!?" Serena says in shock, and almost chokes on her potato chips at her very dear friend's sudden formality.
Terry looks up at them, with his eyes intent and serious. "I do realize that we, as soldiers, should be fully prepared to devote our lives to you and you alone, Princess. It is a task in which my brothers and I—I know I may speak for them both—have discussed this subject at length, being now permanent residents of this planet. We have wholeheartedly pledged our loyalty to you and this bright Earth kingdom of yours, Prince, destined with the moon and the stars." Terry exchanges a nod with Sayer, who goes all serious and gives Serena a short, respectful bow of his head. In shock, potato chips fall out of her gaping mouth onto the table.
"And as soldiers of your court, we will lay our lives down for you if necessary, Sailor Moon. This we vow to you." Terry bows his eyes down, much to Darien and Serena's awestruck gazes. "But through all this, I am not only a soldier, but now a man as well. One who is desperately in love with a fellow soldier under your command, here in this room."
All eyes turn to Susan at his side, who suddenly, for support, grips Terry's hand on the table firmly. "I will swear to you her protection, her safety, and our eternal devotion to you still, your Majesties." Terry looks into Susan's eyes as she gives him a quick, encouraging smile.
"I am asking your permission to take this lady's hand in marriage." Terry finishes with a final bow, his eyes lower once more as Susan looks up hopefully to Serena and Darien. They look across the table, blinking.
"Why, Terry, of—" Serena was still in training before she could take her rightful place as Queen. Darien holds up a hand, sending her into immediate, obedient silence.
"You have our permission." Darien adds ominously, knowing to deserve such respect, he would have to earn it first and uphold the command they expected of him.
"Thank you, your Majesties." Terry smiles, triumph in his soul. He feels his path with Susan was now totally clear of all obstacles.
"Thank you!" Susan rushes over to Serena, throwing her arms around her and hugs her beloved Princess warmly, as Darien shakes Terry's hand.
Watching the scene in silence, the rest of the gang all burst out at once in congratulations and "oh-my-gosh," not to mention Mina's fainting spell.
Susan is no longer reluctant to show off her beautiful engagement ring that she had kept hidden all day from the eager eyes of the younger girls.
"Good job, Ter. A little talky, but…good job." Terry soon feels Sayer's loud slap on his back. Terry smiles himself, feeling pride welling up in his soul as he exchanges a loving gaze with his Susan across the room.
After the excitement of this announcement dies down, and the sun starts to sink low in the July sky, the gang goes back out to finish their game.
Darien takes over poor, trodden upon Artemis' unenviable task as the umpire, and he tallies up the two team's scores so far. He finds to his wife's and Mina's chagrin, that their team had fallen way behind the stronger team's opposing force, for it consisted of Team Leader Sayer, powerful batter Lita, with Rei and even little Rini pulling their weight. Serena had even taken RiRi under their wing, though some good she was to their team, mostly blundering in their way. Everyone had to dash to pull her out of the way of incoming balls and stolen mitts in her path.
So in the bottom of the eighth inning, when all seemed lost to the "Moon Team" (Sayer had named his the "Stars Team") it just happens that Sayer is last at bat. One of his signature home runs would cinch the game for his overconfident team, who were already throwing jabs and jeers at their less athletic opponents, to which ace volleyballer Mina takes great offense.
Glancing nervously at the makeshift scoreboard Luna and Diana were expertly controlling, and seeing that her team only sadly had one home run, on account of Mina's "Oh, look! What's that up there in the tree?!" had caused Sayer to look up and slow his fast ball just enough for Mina to wham it into the outfield triumphantly, and nearly knock Rei's brains out in the process.
The opposition had 10 homers, 3 of which Lita whipped out with her strong arm, one Rei had expertly fielded between Serena and Mina, causing them to crash into each other. The other six could be chalked down to Sayer's expertise.
Sighing at her assured defeat, Amy closes her eyes as, though calculating the exact trajectory to perfection, she did not allow for the indomitable spirit of a sportsman. Amy's curveball pitch was not enough to elude Sayer's wicked batting skills. The softball hits the wooden bat with a loud CRACK, sending it high through the air at a blinding speed. Sayer had given it that extra "oomph" knowing it to be the winning hit.
As he drops his bat, he leisurely trots from first base to second, then second to third, third to—
When he looks up after hearing his teammate's warnings, Sayer finds it too late to stop at third. Somewhere far out in left field, a sudden new player enters the game. She and the ball dash forward towards the batter making for home on third. She taps him out with such force, that she knocks him to the ground, mere inches from the home plate.
"OUT!" Darien calls, almost too happily for Sayer's taste. But it wasn't him that Sayer's attentions were now fixed upon in rapt astonishment.
"You heard the man." Alex holds her hand out to help him up.
"I thought you weren't playing this 'children's game.'" Sayer stands up on his own, dusting his pants off.
"Somebody's got to help those poor girls on the other team you're trashing." Alex smirks at that cute, pouty expression on his face. And, despite the shocked gasps of the audience watching intently, Alex playfully ruffles his dark curls in a rather intimate fashion. Everyone's jaws drop who witness the scene at the sight, save for Terry and Susan, who had seen this replayed too many times to take much notice any more.
Alex gazes at the changed look on his now pleased features and pulls the blue cap over his eyes. "Now let's play ball, birthday boy!" Alex dashes off to impart strategy to her underdog team, though she does all the talking. Her skillful direction and agile playing techniques quickly even up the score into the next inning, until the "Moons" and the "Stars" were at a tie. Sayer was the last hitter once again, but this time, in Amy's place, Alex was the pitcher.
Staring each other down across the field, the tension in the air was palpable, as Alex readies her curve ball, winds up the pitch and sends it flying like a speeding bullet towards the plate. Sayer follows the difficult ball, waiting, waiting…
Don't overjudge it! SWING!
WHACK!
A mighty hit sends the ball soaring so high into the sky that they think for a minute it may actually hit the sun as it disappears into the tree line. Everyone claps at this dramatic ending to a perfect summer day in July. All of them were exhausted from the close game and rush into the house for a cool refreshment. Sayer sticks around outside, gathering up the bat and the plates. He stops by Alex as she passes by.
"Thanks, Ally." He smiles appreciatively.
"For what?" Alex asks, brushing her hair out of her eyes, sweat dripping from her soaked bangs.
"For just being you." He hooks his own sweaty baseball cap on her head, and trots away into the house with the others.
"He knew." Alex smiles to herself, proudly putting the hat straighter on her head. How easily she could've won that game. But it was something more, deeper inside of her than victory that made her throw the game to him.
"Happy Birthday, Starr." She smiles at his departing form.
Another week passes by, with Robin and Michelle staying on in Paris for an extended vacation. The two of them utilized their time in France to really enjoy the city this time—and more importantly, each other. They knew that what they had would be able to go on forever now.
The gang back home in Tokyo run themselves into a frenzy of excitement over Susan's rushed wedding preparations. They had recently experienced the field of wedding arrangements that had taken planning of over three months just to get Serena and Darien's marriage off to a flourishing start.
Serena's dress just had to be made by that now famous fashion designer friend of hers, Peggy, but Susan, on the other hand, wanted to make her beautiful and elaborate wedding gown herself.
"But you don't want to delay this wedding anymore than it already has been!" Rei had said with insinuations and with a tongue-click at the rumors of Terry and Susan's naughtiness prior to their marriage.
"Never mind all that! She's marrying one of the Three Lights! AHHH! Susan sooo is lucky!" Mina had to be slapped back into reality by Lita, who herself had sighed.
And to Terry too…sigh… Lita always had a soft spot for the Three Lights' tall lead guitarist.
After informing their new agent, Mr. Pym, of Terry's "good" news, the poor man nearly went into shock, looking like he was about to have a nervous breakdown.
"MARRIAGE!?" He had shouted incredulously. The staff at his office all stared at each other over the loud yelling with the Three Lights behind closed doors. (Well, Two Lights, plus Susan.)
"Are you crazy, boy? You're only nineteen! How do you expect me to promote you as an eligible bachelor idol if you're no longer a bachelor?! What will my advertisers say?!" Mr. Pym's red balding head would have looked comical were he not so angered with them.
"I expect you to promote me as I am, Mr. Pym, sir. And I don't care what the advertisers say. I believe the fans will learn to accept it over time. I don't see my marriage as a problem to anything, as long as we keep up the singing and songwriting quality as usual. Anyway, if it did, it still wouldn't matter." Terry firmly states his position on the matter, and pulls a frightened Susan closer to him defiantly.
Pym, for once, was at a loss for words to rebut this eloquent young man.
"Besides, Pym, old man! You've still got me to promote as your sex symbol." Sayer leans strikingly against the doorway, his shirt was hanging open, and the familiar wicked smirk was in his devilish eyes, proving his worth as any girl's fantasy idol.
"Yes, weeeee—llllll…" Pym was starting to see there was still a small light through this dark news just dumped upon him. "You had just better give it all you've got, Sayer! With your one brother off gallivanting with that Moreau woman in Europe when he should be hard at work. And now this other one…" Pym offhandedly motions at Terry and the lovely bride to be in his arms. Pym sighs audibly, and shakes his head as he gives up trying to convince Terry's set mind against this unwise career move into marriage. He saw this young man seemed to care more for love than for career anyway. Sigh. Kids these days!
"Congratulations, anyway, you two. She is lovely, Terry." Pym wasn't the totally heartless sort, even through his money grubbing eyes he could spot true love when he saw it as he shakes Terry's hand.
"Thank you, sir. Of course, you are invited to the wedding in one and a half—"
"Just one." Susan corrects gently, getting more and more excited as she counts down the days.
"One." Terry repeats, corrected, with a smile, as he too grew impatient for the joyous day to arrive. "In one month, if you would honor us as a guest at our wedding.' Terry finishes, and gives the older man a respectful nod.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll be there. If only to make sure the bloodhound reporters and brainless photographers you know are going to leech onto such an event, take all the right shots and get the right stories down. Might as well not waste the free publicity." Pym, ever the promoter had the attitude "if you can't beat 'em, you might as well join 'em."
"All right." Terry and Susan chuckle at this funny man as they head for the door.
"And Sayer," Pym puts a fatherly hand on his young charge's shoulder. "Don't be getting any ideas from your big brother here. Some of us weren't meant for the old ball and chain life. Right?" Pym says, almost pleading, not wanting to lose his overwhelming female crowd-pleasing star to such a horrifying thing as marriage. He had been through two of those mistaken atrocities already himself, and vowed never to again.
"ME? Get married!" Sayer almost shrieks, his pain-stricken face in shock at the thought. "You don't have to worry one little bit about that, Pymmie." Sayer says with a nervous giggle. The very idea was mind boggling to him as he follows Terry and Susan (who, for some reason, were laughing at him) out the door of their agent's office.
"Oh, good, Sayer, my boy. At least I can count on you." Mr. Pym plops at his desk, and continues to sort through good mail (advertisers) and junk mail (bills) before this unsettling meeting with his most successful clients had happened.
"Poor young Terry. He has no idea what he has wrought upon himself." Pym glances out the blinds on his window to watch Terry and that fiancée of his strolling out to the parking lot, arm in arm, stealing a few kisses along the way, ignoring Sayer who was bouncing up behind them. "A nice looking woman, but...stilll…poor boy." Pym clicks his tongue at Terry's foolish mistake, to which Terry himself would disagree wholeheartedly, as he knew it was not a mistake, but the best thing that would ever happen in his entire life.
The month shoots by like lightning and Mr. Pym, purposely it seemed, filled the Three Lights work roster to a frantic pace.
Before young Terry would take the plunge off the deep end.
Even within this worldly old bird, goodness wins out in the end, as he gives them a final day off the day before the wedding to spend as a singular bachelor trio, for the last time in their lives.
Robin, had returned from Paris in a sunny disposition, well, sunny enough for him. Though he would miss his brother very much, was not too distressed over Terry's departure from the way things had been for forever it seemed. Just the three of them living together as a family, as the closest three brothers this world or any other had ever seen.
Robin, as the oldest, simply saw this as the next step in their growing into adulthood.
Sayer, on the other hand, had a harder time of seeing it like that. Though not showing it—not at all—he was boisterous and teasing, happily jabbering at the upcoming wedding like it didn't bother him at all. But Terry knew Sayer, knew his tendency to cover up his true feelings that were burning a hole inside his passionate soul, and could see the pain of their soon-to-be separation in his brother's blue eyes. Because, more than Robin, as close as the three of them were, it was always, in the end, the two of them. Sayer and Terry, Terry and Sayer. Two as different as night and day people, but with deep inside the same passions, hopes and dreams that made them more than merely brothers—more than best friends. They were each other's confidant, protector, conscience and inspiration.
And now, Sayer felt like it was all going to be changed. All going to slip away from him. As much as he liked Susan, and as much as Alex was taking hold of him, Sayer still felt this intensely, as his beloved "brother" would no longer be always at his side.
Becoming good friends with Terry in the few weeks they had come to know each other, old experienced married man Darien, along with his best friend, Andrew (who had decided Terry was an all right guy now that his intentions seemed to be far flung from Lita), throw the younger man a bachelor party on the night before the wedding, with all the usual trimmings. The guys attending were the same gang that had graced Darien's bachelor shindig not so long ago. Through their associations with their respective young lady friends, this group of men, consisting of Darien, Andrew, Chad, Greg, Ken and the Three Lights had slowly become a close-knit bunch. (As far as men usually go, that is.)
Sayer was not in the mood for much mischief, though. He tried for Terry's sake, to put on a brave face, and Terry did his best to lift his usually light-spirited brother's mood, and he succeeded somewhat, as the bachelor party stretched long into the night.
Terry wondered why they held such events, and was told that is was held on this last night before a wedding so there could be no regrets of things missed as a single man. But Terry knew, deep inside that there COULD be no regrets if Susan was to be his wife tomorrow.
Across town, in Serena's new apartment, Darien's old flat, but now changed totally around, touched here and there by clumsy hands, to make the place more her own, the girls congregate together, at Susan's request, to have a final sleep over with them as a single lady. Serena had kicked out her husband for the night, to go find someplace else to sleep.
Susan enjoys all the giggling and rumor filled chattering immensely on this girls' night together. Finally, they all change into their sleepwear, preparing for sleep.
Lita shows off her lacy pink nightgown, which seemed a little too adult for her age. The other girls' cute and girlish outfits did not compare to Lita's showy low cut nightie, even Alex and Michelle's attire were more modest than usual. That is, until, upon wondering where Susan was, they all sneak into the bathroom, to find her, trying on a very tiny lacy lavender lingerie adorned with roses from her wedding trousseau.
"Susan!" They all exclaim, in unison.
"OHHH! Girls!" She quickly puts on a long sleeved red button up shirt, rather embarrassed to have been seen posing in front of a mirror.
"Pretty lady." Alex says, leaning against the door, as Michelle teases "I'm sure Terry will be very pleased this time tomorrow, eh, Susan dear?" Which causes Susan to blush and the other girls to sigh.
"Lucky Susan!" Mina sighs at the thought of marrying an idol, her nose bleeding, especially one as handsome as Terry. "You're marrying Terry tomorrow!"
"Yes, I'm so lucky…" Susan trails off, in a wistful voice and expression, "… My Terry…"