We do not own "Sailor Moon" nor any of the characters.
"SAILOR MOON ETERNAL"
The 6th Season of the Sailor Moon Saga
Chapter 29
"A Sea of Revelations"
"Yoo hoo! Robin dear!" Michelle calls into his studio apartment (all right, it was really hers, Robin was just borrowing it…). She lets herself in aimlessly walking around innocently, looking for her cute beau.
Not in his bedroom, ooh, it's so cozy in here, dearest…not in the music room…..not in the kitchen…not in any of the rooms…Robin! Where are you?
Michelle's mind knows her soul mate was in this house, just…where? She wanders past the bathroom, and hears the shower running.
"I'm taking a shower, Michelle. I'll be right out." Robin's mind's voice answers matter-of-factly, he was never the overly sentimental type. Michelle somehow found his bluntness sweet and appealing, yet at other times she did not. Michelle makes a pouty face, deciding this was the perfect time to find something out, once and for all. The past month, more and more, a little jealous green-eyed monster grew within her, prompting her to feel he was holding something back from her, something he didn't want her to know about.
She creeps into the side of his bedroom, rooting around through his things, searching for…
What am I looking for anyway? Michelle sighs dejectedly, slamming one of his drawers closed with a thud, and begins to open another one.
"Michelle? What are you doing?" Robin comes in, all wet and soggy in his bathrobe, looking like a drenched seal, his silver hair all flat and damp.
"Doing? Just admiring your good taste, Robin dear." Too busy being a busy-body to sense his approach, a falsely smiling Michelle covers up as her fingers pull away from the drawer. Knowing Robin's mind was powerful enough to sometimes disguise (at least try to) his thoughts from her, Michelle still was able to feel an overwhelming panic as his eyes spot her investigating fingers going towards a certain drawer…
But before either of them can say another word, the doorbell rings.
"Would you get it, Michelle? I'm going to get changed." Robin sidles himself in between her and that drawer, almost pushing her out. Michelle reluctantly leaves to answer the incessant bell, though now her curiosity was sufficiently piqued to find out exactly what he was trying to hide from her.
I knew it! She screams to herself as she answers the door, doubting Robin's absolute devotion to her.
Which one of those musical girls' is it? Michelle's mind races.
"We're here!" Sayer answers happily. The reason for his happiness stands beside him, holding their suitcases, and wondering why Michelle seemed so distraught. Michelle runs to Alex, throwing her arms around her cousin, needing her strength.
"Michelle, what?" Alex asks, holding her beloved close in her protective arms. She shoves the suitcases into Sayer, who takes the heavy load with a grunt and closing of the door behind them.
Gee, thanks. Don't mind me.
"He's hiding something from me!" Michelle sobs a fine greeting.
"What do you mean, Michelle? What's that shrimp hiding from you?" Alex says, her ire up very easily at Robin.
"In his top drawer—I don't know…he's hiding something!" Michelle weeps on Alex, who was ready to spring on that rotten little shrimp if he so as much hurt her like that. But still, somehow, she doubted that elf would be cheating on Michelle with someone else…
"Maybe just some smelly old socks he forgot to send to the cleaners?" Leaning in the doorway, Sayer picks a bad moment to try to make light of the situation. Alex shoots him a warning glance, while Michelle wails even louder than before.
"Here." Alex gently pushes Michelle into Sayer, as she goes off to do some shrimp-barbecuing. Throwing his door open angrily without so much as a knock, Alex comes just in time to see him disrobing…
"So that's what you're hiding." Alex can't help but jibe at the short man standing disrobed in front of the mirror.
"Hey! What're you doing in here, Alex!?" Robin quickly ties his robe back on, his face a crimson shade of red in a mix of anger and shame.
"What did you do to make Michelle so upset, Shrimp?" Self-assured Alex demands of him, not at all nonplussed herself to have walked in on this sensitive Three Light member's extremely personal space.
"I didn't do anything! I—I know she's upset, but…I didn't mean to make her—I just..." Robin sighs, shoving his frustrated hands into his robe's pockets as his wide green eyes narrow, looking down and away through the window with a far-off stare.
"What's in here anyway?" Alex zips past him, flinging open the "drawer" and reaches inside before a preoccupied Robin even realized what was happening. Alex produces a jewel case and considers it carefully.
"What's it for?" Alex asks, but she opens it before the man in his bathrobe had the chance to respond, nonetheless. One look at the flawless, excessively large, perfect emerald stone inside set on the elegant vine entwined gold ring band, Alex was certain what it was—and exactly why he was hiding it from everyone.
"Look. If you must know…" Robin's usual scratchy, high pitched, irritated voice goes a volume lower, perhaps an octave deeper and even a shade softer than Alex had ever heard him speak in before. "I've been planning for awhile to, but the right time hasn't come up yet…" This unique, intuitive individual representing the destroyed star, Healer, understood that if one was to ask this question of another senstive soul, they should already know the answer.
Michelle…Neptune…I know you by now have chosen to be with me forever…And I want to be with you too, my elegant mermaid of the deep seas…
But still, is it selfish of me to dream I can lose myself in your endless ocean…?
After a long moment of deep reflection while his filmy eyes deeply gaze in the prismatic mirror above the dresser, Robin suddenly shakes his head, as if trying to regain his composure.
"Michelle gets into everything! Doesn't she trust me?!" He saucily returns to his normal, angry idol persona. grabbing back the priceless ring from Alex possessively, then slinging it back into the drawer's furthest depths where he had it hidden all this time.
"Does she have reason to?" Alex asks him more quietly, considering the man's changeable expressions as she speaks civilly, one on one with Robin for the first time since they'd met.
"Yes. Michelle should know she owns my soul." His response was so serene, so honest, so spontaneous, that Alex could not deny its veracity, no matter how much she wanted to. And he was right, Alex's own soulful partner Michelle always knew what she wanted, to the point she had called this distant star to come to earth and claimed to be her own since his first arrival.
"Wait! Why am I telling you of all people this! I'm sure you've got something smart to say about it. You always do." Robin murmurs, then looks into Alex's deep green eyes, as she looks into his soulful lime green ones for a long moment.
"Yeah, I do. Get up some backbone and give it to her, for heaven's sake, Shrimp. You know that's what she wants." Alex says, but adds quietly, "…though I can't imagine why…"
"But—but—you don't mind, Alex?" Robin stutters, shocked that this most stubbornly impossible, impenetrable wall he thought he couldn't break down was simply opening up for him to pass through.
"Yeah, I mind. I don't think you're half good enough for her. Nobody is. But Michelle loves you and that's all that matters. Michelle matters." Alex's eyes lock meaningfully with his.
"And, if you ever—EVER—hurt her…" She trails off the threat. "You understand? If you do—" Alex picks up a Three Lights brochure, and chooses a solo picture of Robin on top.
RRRIIIPPP!
Alex threateningly rips him in half, and then again and again, till there was nothing but shreds crushed between her strong fingers. "I'll tear you limb from limb." She tosses the pieces to flutter down on Robin, who swallows hard as Alex turns and leaves his room to return to the others.
"Don't worry, Michelle. I don't think another woman would want that shrimp. Not after what I just saw." Alex teases as she returns to the living room where Sayer was still comforting Michelle.
"What did you see?!" Michelle's blue eyes flash at the slightest insult to her darling Robin, jumping up from the couch defiantly to rebuke her crass cousin.
"Oh, nothing." Alex smiles, her wide eyes innocent. "—much." She adds under her breath with a smirk.
"What's he hiding, Amara?" Michelle goes back from lioness into lamb wearing her emotional roller coaster on her sleeve as she plops back down to the couch to lean on her fortress best friend.
"I don't know, Michelle, but…" Alex tells a little white fib, causing Robin to knit his brows in wonder at what the dragon woman would next say, from where he was in the hallway as he eavesdropped. "…as much as I don't like him—and I'm not telling you how to run your life, okay? But a little faith goes a long way in a relationship." Alex couldn't believe she was standing up for that shrimp.
Robin was in shock as well, surprisingly pleased as he smiled in the dark hall to himself.
"Right, Starr?" She playfully tugs on her chosen mate's ponytail.
"Oh, yeah, Ally. I trust you completely." Sayer says, smiling innocent as a dove, while devouring half the box of Michelle's expensive truffle chocolates the Frenchwoman had left for her sweetie on the coffee table.
"That makes one of us, at least." Alex ribs at her husband, despite his track record. Deep inside, this woman who was naturally suspicious of men, did truly trust him—with her body, with her life, with her heart, too. And he knew it, even if the words came out all wrong.
Michelle watches their…strange…expressions of love before her, realizing that Alex was right—that she shouldn't be so demanding, so flighty and over-emotional. Trust needed to be nurtured and built up, until it was strong enough for two separate souls to join together as one…
My Robin and I shouldn't have any separation between us. Our souls are this close to one another, I can feel him near…
On the physical plane, Michelle pinches her fingers together with a longing smile, while on the mental one she rubs like a repentant kitten against the psychic barrier that her distrust had erected between she and her soulmate lately…
"You're right, as always, my Amara. It's not that I don't trust Robin. I do, I do!" Michelle's distraught tears fade as she holds her hand to her heart. "I'm just a bit possessive, as you well know. I know I shouldn't be, but…I just want his soul to be a part of mine already, and mine to be a part of his. When he holds something back, I can feel it! I want us never to have any secrets. Like you and I, Amara. No secrets. No distance." Michelle's elegant hand matches against Alex's strong fingertips as they reach towards one another.
"I want him to know how much I love him—with every ounce of my being. I'll hold nothing back." Michelle whispers, her eyes filling with tears again. Her flowing emotions were so much a part of who she was. Though it pained Alex to see her this way, she rejoices to see that Michelle, too, was experiencing this mysterious wonderment they had both thought impossible in their lives.
Love.
"That's what I feel for you, too, Michelle. That's how much I need to love you—with everything I didn't even know was in me that you've awakened." Robin steps from the shadows of the hall to reveal himself, looking very dapper in a designer suit.
He was at last unashamed, unafraid, to speak the truths of his intuitive heart in front of anyone. His own eyes were glossy from his oceanic maiden's heart-warming admissions. "I'm sorry I hurt your feelings earlier, I know what it is to be sensitive. And you're right, we should have no secrets." He walks over, sitting down beside Michelle, his sublime lime eyes locking with her fathomless blue ones.
"After this, I promise, there will be no more secrets between us." As if he needed to say this aloud to prove it to himself as much as Michelle, Robin squeezes her hand tightly. Then he looks deeply into her eyes and produces the little teal velvet case, holding it out to his aqua beauty. She tries to catch her breath as she suddenly realizes what she had wanted for so long was finally happening.
Her trembling musical fingers open the lid and find her enchanted eyes dazzled by the most flawlessly sparkling emerald ring she had ever seen. She recognizes the distinguished piece of jewelry as a renowned, priceless antique dating back hundreds of years in French royalty history. But more than the splendor of the jewel or of its expensive, historical charms, Michelle was most impressed with the eyes—the mirrors of the soul—of the man who was giving it all to her.
"My soul is already yours completely, Michelle. We are in perfect harmony with one another." Robin's mind tenderly reaches out to touch Michelle's with a romantic brush back to her apologetic kittenish features on the landscape of their shared minds.
"So, let's finish writing the melody and arrange our music together. Michelle Moreau, will you marry me?" Robin's usual high, scratchy voice comes out perfectly calm, perfectly crystal clear in its sincerity as he delivered the proposal just exactly as the virtuoso violinist would have played it on the strings of her heart.
"Oh, Robin…" But now that the actual moment she had dreamed of was here, his name was all that Michelle could manage to speak audibly with her earthly voice. But strong and true and pure ringing in both of their hearts, Michelle's song on the waves of her deep heart swears herself to her soul mate from the stars…
"Robin, my dearest, I will! I will be yours! Robin, I love you." Michelle's mind sings out the glorious words as Robin slips the ring on her finger, kissing her sweetly in the exterior world as their minds merge in the interior realm of their souls. Robin Starr and Michelle Moreau promise themselves to one another in countless unspoken words, and would hold tight through any darkness both their intuitive souls sensed was coming.
Theirs was a bond that would last forever…
"All right. Break it up now." Alex says with a resigned smirk, standing up (knocking Sayer's restfully sighing, romantic head off her shoulder) as she gently tugs Michelle's lodged lips away from her new 'fiancé's.
Ick, Michelle. Alex almost wrinkles her nose as she gazes down at the little shrimp and the dreamy expression etched on both his and Michelle's faces.
Sigh. What you want is what you want—even if he's not good enough for you—even if I don't like him all that much. I can't—and don't—and won't - wish to stand in the path of your love for him. Because I believe, that despite all his...ahem…shortcomings…I think that shrimp really truly does love you. I'd never have let it get this far if he didn't.
"But, remember what your parents said Michelle." Alex tries to bring her celestially happy friend back down to earth. "It's not been one year yet." Alex reminds them. "So you'll just have to wait a little bit longer, Shrimp." The golden haired sailor soldier of the wind declares a bit too pleasantly, causing Michelle to audibly sigh.
Then she busies her excited fingers in petting her Robin's silver coif back in perfect place, kissing a gentle fingertip tenderly to his inexplicably bruised cheek as she does.
"Not too much longer, my dearest. Only two months and five days." Michelle says in a quixotic dream, the countdown to the exact year from that day in Paris was inscribed on her soul.
"Right. We'll all set our calendars. Now off to bed, everyone." Smugly spoken, Alex starts to drag her beloved off by her shoulders to their shared bedroom in Michelle's two bedroom studio apartment, rolling her eyes the whole way. Alex had, after inviting herself and Sayer abruptly over, quickly taken control to reset the sleeping arrangements of the apartment that was previously intentioned to be the famed young artist's lone painting studio.
For safety's sake with the newly engaged French maiden on the prowl more than ever, Alex decided that it would be best for she and Michelle to share the one bedroom of the studio, while the two Starr brothers would bunk in the other room's bed.
That'll take care of everything neatly, thank you very much.
"But, Ally…?" Sayer was already ready to forgive and forget their day's argument and have the 'fun of making it up' with his wife like they generally did, here in this cozy studio of Michelle's. But it seemed Alex was yet holding a grudge and some lingering resentment, as well, for him.
"No lip, Mr. Starr. Have fun without us, boys." Alex picks up her suitcase, giving Sayer a dirty look to go with their cold, now standoffish 'Mr. Starr' address that told the poor man that his own tantalizing bride was off-limits tonight.
"Good night, Robin, my love." Michelle blows an airy kiss to her silver-haired beloved as she is bodily hoisted away by Alex, though her thoughts were still echoing in Robin's dazed mind, sleep not really on her thoughts.
"'Mr. Starr'? I'd rather be 'Mr. Sokova' tonight." Sayer twists his disappointed lip with a great big sigh and slumped shoulders, sulking as he plops on the couch beside his pale bro.
"What'd'ya say, Sayer?" Robin only vaguely heard his brother's dissatisfied frustration at the lonely night, his own mind full of activity with Michelle's unleashed flirtations and enthusiastic ecstasy at being engaged to her 'dearest one'' running rampant through his thoughts.
"Nothing." Sayer had no shame in being dubbed 'Mr. Sokova,' but he had a feeling Robin would rag him for it forevermore, since it concerned Alex, and her abnormal, gender-bending demands. Don't know why you two don't get along? You should, being like double family now with 'Chelle being Ally's close cousin.
"Wow, Rob. Two months, five days—and counting down!" Sayer then changes the subject, starting to hum a deathly dirge, jabbing his brother in the gut teasingly. Robin had gained a little more (very slight) respect from Sayer for his bravery above and beyond the call of duty to ask Michelle to marry him like that right in front of Alex, too.
That took guts. Good thing I didn't have to, since Ally was so madly in love she couldn't help herself from throwing that proposal out after ravishing me... (Hey! That's not what happened!) Wish we were still like that now… Reminiscing those happier times full of passion not so long ago, Sayer Starr Sokova knew first hand just how death defying the big plunge into marriage was.
As for Robin, the sudden realization of what he had just done (either that, or those consistently amorous silent mental messages Michelle was sending to him still) hit Robin like a ton of bricks, as his eyes open wide.
"Sayer! Stop that!" Robin makes a face at his immature sibling's dramatically somber countdown, the thoughts of his now impending marriage was almost too overwhelming for him without Sayer's antics adding to it.
"OK, OK, loverboy." Sayer keeps on teasing as he gets up, tapping Robin's shoulder as he goes on in a proud, brotherly way. "Good job, Rob. I'm proud of ya." He says in an unusually kind tone to his rival, sharing a smile with Robin, who smiles back.
"I'm turning in." The smallest starlight gets up to go to bed, though he was sure he wouldn't be able to sleep soundly after this life changing evening.
"Good night, Robin, my love." Sayer mockingly throws a kiss at Robin's sour face, in his most girlish tones, copying Michelle's fond farewell to a 't.'
Zoning out stupid Sayer's taunt, Robin pauses at the bedroom doorway, almost wanting to see Michelle for a minute—just to talk—when Alex comes out of Michelle's room to fetch a glass of water.
She gives Robin, skulking in the shadows there, the evil eye as they pass in the hallway, and a stiff hand directing him away from Michelle's room with a no-nonsense, pointed finger. Robin changes his mind quickly after that and hurriedly departs to his own studio bedroom, leaving Sayer alone with Alex in the kitchen.
"Go to sleep, Starr." She orders coolly, gathering up her lone suitcase from the entranceway, kicking his red one over almost purposefully as she heads towards the room where a dreamy Michelle was already tucked in bed. Without even a kiss 'goodnight' to her hungry-eyed, hopeful hubby, Alex moves like the wind back to where she was sure she could keep a close eye (and ear, too) on her French cousin as she slams the door shut tight behind her.
"I'd rather be 'Mr. Sokova' tonight." Sayer repeats the wistful sentiment to himself as he finishes shoving the piece of lunchmeat into his mouth before he goes to the 'correct' bedroom, namely the 'unlocked' one.
Geez, Ally. Your cold shoulder might give a guy nightmares. Sayer unhappily thinks as he settles to his unsatisfactory pillow with a soulfully restless Robin's silver ponytail draped between the two brothers sharing the small bed instead of his golden beauty's long limbs.
Maybe I'll send you some sweet dreams about me to keep you company, U, where we'll be having fun making up for that stupid argument. I know I'm gonna laser-focus try tonight to imagine I'm sleeping with you, instead of dumb Rob…
Angrily Alex shoves her slacks and shirt into her bag as she yanks on her pale blue pajama pants and button up top. She crawls lightly into the bed where Michelle was already slumbering on the other side.
But the taller woman was fairly sure that her aqua curled best friend was only pretending to sleep—at least, Michelle was lost inside one of those dreamlike states again when she was doubtlessly sending off unspoken messages to that shrimp through the intimate mind link they shared. So Michelle, on this night she considered so thrilling—hmph—would probably see little sleep, chattering mentally to her little green alien loverboy all night if Alex knew her cousin well.
And Alex had her coquettish soulmate pretty pegged by now, as she could instinctively hear Michelle's lovely voice softly humming away in her exhilaration. On top of that, Alex was certain this would be a sleepless night for her as well, between all her worries over Michelle's upcoming ordeal that she had lost her sense to condone, and that argument with a certain aggravating man that would gnaw at her usual insomnia, too.
What a day! Please! I've gotta get some sleep. Alex begs for sleep to claim her on this maddening night, as she grabs a pillow and pulls it over her head to drown out all the excess noise.
But, even in her inner consciousness, as she indeed finally drifted off to sleep, Alex was apparently not safe from her own desires…
'I need you now, Uranus… Can't my voice reach you right now?'
'Come to me now, Alex…How many times inside of my dreams have we secretly exchanged soft kisses?
'You are my true Princess now, Ally...Embrace your warmth wrapped around my body!''
'I love U now…Please answer me!'
A gorgeous silky voice was singing to a double longing, seductive mixed beat of music entrancing her. The sexy, smooth throat chanting all the mesmerizing names had Alex blindly responding to her lover as she felt her bared body and soul being lifted from this uncomfortable bed and straight up into the soft pillows of the clouds high. Raised to the endless light blue sky in the singer's strong, muscular arms, her body willingly melds with his mid-air, driven by the exhilarating energy of this man's laser-like passion.
For 'the fun of making it up' was just that thrilling for the pair of fighters as Alex could feel his desire that was burning in his deep blue eyes just for her surge through her entire being. The independent golden woman loses all her well-cultivated control to this star man's undeniable charms and needs in new ways of their collected wild intensity rebellious Uranus never submitted to before. As the ungovernable woman closes her eyes, she, feeling so out of control - and liking it - gives in to his rising, dynamic will…
GASP!
In a cold sweat, Alex awakens in the night, sitting up and clutching her thankfully still well-covered, but drenched with perspiration, chest. She was panting for air at the so very real dream—No! Nightmare!—sequence that she was sure her potent partner, lording his acquired male dominance over her for once, had just used some of his galactic star power to punish her with for neglecting him cruelly before.
Sayer Starr! I'm going to kill you tomorrow for disturbing my sleep like that, you smug jerk!
…Haunting my fantasies like that with your songs ringing in my head, in my heart…
Sigh.
But Mrs. Alex Starr couldn't stay that vexed with her aggravating mate, as each time she felt his so intoxicating message sear right through her entire being, her heart heard his genuine love song too…
"I forgive you for being such an idiot, Starr." Alex's angry gale cools down to a gentle breeze silently whispered on the white cloud of her pillow. The soldier of the wind hoped her projected message was received just as well as his was now, on reflection. Her shirt coming unbuttoned – to relieve the, ehem, heat - Alex drifts off to a more peaceful sleep again, with the wish now for his last tempting dream to continue where it left off, long into the night…
In the studio apartment's opposite bedroom, after Michelle's insistent mental 'chatter' had finally died down, and Sayer had ceased thrashing about the bed in some wildly amorous, fantasy nightmare he had been projecting to Alex, no doubt, Robin closes his eyes. His soul was in an uproar, just starting to calm down, as much as it could anyway, under the circumstances, as he drifts into something close to resting…
But then…
"Definitely in Paris, Robin dear." Michelle's thoughts then begin going a mile a minute again, now getting into the excited weeds of dress code, flowers, guest lists, etc, as the thrilled young woman was already busying herself to envision the details of their wedding. Every detail was vital, and Michelle's animated mind felt the need to discuss it thoroughly with her already exhausted groom to be, her prattling thoughts filling his entire night.
By morning's dawn, Robin already had a pretty good idea of what married life with Michelle was going to be like…
And he could hear the dirge Sayer was humming before in the back of his mind playing as he holds his head between his hands in a silent scream…
Doo, doo, da, doo, dad a doo dad a doo…
A pleasant drive home after their celebratory dinner with their closest family at a fancy restaurant, Susan truly felt that through Terry, Sayer and Robin were her brothers; and that Alex and Michelle were already her bonded sisters. The rest of the scouts were her extended family as well, but the three of them would always be special to each other. (Though Alex's strange behavior at her announcement of her impending expectancy caused Susan to wonder just a little…) Three? I really mean four… Susan's kind thoughts turn to Tara's exciting day as she and Terry share a kiss under the starry, moonlit sky.
"Welcome home!" Tara sings, bouncing into the hallway to greet them.
"Sorry we're late, my pretty girl. Did you just get back?" Terry asks, seeing Tara still in her party dress.
"Almost an hour ago. Sammy's dad drove me home after Mrs. Hart's lovely dinner." Tara smiles at his nickname for her, informs them sweetly, as she rushes about, making Terry a cup of coffee and Susan a green tea before they hustle her off to bed. It was way past her bedtime and Susan tucks her in lovingly.
"Did you have a nice day, Tara?" Susan motherly brushes back her charge's loose strands of dark hair from her wide eyes.
"A wonderful day! Sammy took me to see that new "Star Wars" movie. We had popcorn and candies. It was very nice." Tara sighs at the happy memory. Susan knew it wasn't the science fiction movie that so enticed Tara's girlish heart, knowing herself the thrill of sitting close together in a movie theatre's back seat with someone you care for—in the darkness…
Susan remembers the first time Terry took her to the magic of a movie house, though she was fairly certain that what had happened in the darkness then didn't happen to Tara this afternoon—well, hopefully anyway! Susan was a little protective of the young girl whom she had taken on the role of mother figure for. Stroking her hair, Tara drifts off into a dream-filled sleep of movies and popcorn, sweet young love and first dates. Susan feels a hand gently around her shoulders, which then wraps around her adoringly.
"How did it go?" Terry whispers curiously into her ear, as they both gaze down upon the softly sleeping child before them.
"Perfectly, from what I can gather." Susan whispers back, covering Tara tenderly before she and Terry leave the room. "She's in love, I think." Susan continues the whisper as they go back into the living room.
"So am I." Terry says, kissing his beautiful Susan's eyelids and lifting her gently, carrying her to their bedroom.
"Darling? Have I told you just how happy I am? To be here, living this dream with you, to be your wife, to be having your baby…" Susan leans her blissfully spinning head against her husband.
"Precious, you don't have to tell me—I can see it in your eyes. Your beautiful eyes."
"One banana split comin' right up.' A beautiful young woman with enchanting green eyes and a curly brown ponytail bounces away merrily from taking orders, to fetch that dessert, happy with her now full-time job as waitress of the local café. She was happy with the way her life was going in general, as she flits to and fro in Crown's "uniform" little mini dress and white frilly apron.
"Hi, Lita!" Serena sings, another young woman pleased with how things were going in her life as well, as she looks up at her tall friend in awe. "Aren't you afraid you're going to drop all those plates and saucers!" Serena bites her lip at the mere sight of Lita balancing a tray full of empty dishes with ease, since her own apartment she shared with Darien was a lot the worse for wear (actually dishless) in that department.
"Don't curse the poor girl, Serena." Artemis the cat comments from where he and Luna were sharing a bowl of chocolate milk that Lita had kindly slipped to the felines earlier. Even in all her mad rush to fill orders as the lone waitress at the busy café, Lita Mitchell had a heart larger than the powerful young woman's growing even taller body.
"Only you would ask such a stupid question, Serena!" Rei comes in the sliding door behind Serena just in time for her usual snide remark. Serena looks down, embarrassed to her companion Luna, who shrugs sympathetically up at her clutzy Princess. The intelligent indigo cat had become a pro at both being tactful to respect the Prince and Princess' marital privacy and side-stepping all the dropped dishware at the home Darien and Serena had welcomed her into, right from the onset.
"Oh, Rei, it's not a stupid question! To tell you the truth, guys, I have broken a couple saucers but Mr. Toraru, our boss, was really great about it. He's a really nice guy—just to take me on without any experience on Lizzie's say so. He even let me try my hand at the baking!" Lita bubbles at her attempts at starting out on her long cherished dream of running her own bakery someday.
"So that's why the cookies have been so good lately!" One by one the gang streams into their favorite meeting haunt. Mina squeezes in the door in a very summery pair of shorts, just fresh from her volleyball practice. She was thrilled to find Ken an avid fan as well, and they both joined up for the school volleyball club activities.
"Cookies! I want some!" Serena hears her growling tummy, her own home cooked breakfast had been less than satisfying, since she made it, though Darien had manfully eaten it before racing off to work. He had taken on a part time job at the nearby physics lab to supplement his training in that field.
"Some of those lovely cakes of yours, too, Lita!" Serena sings as Lita leads them to a table by the sun shining window.
"Yes, yes, Serena. But keep it down a little, okay?" Lita chides gently, "Amy is already here—with Greg—over there." Lita was a softy for romantic couples, especially that she herself was now part of a "couple." In their spare time, she and Andrew, though two very busy people, particularly Andrew, who was trying to juggle both a full time job and demanding university classes that would get him into his dream of the medical field, still found time for each other in between. All eyes followed Lita's finger as she secretly points out where Amy and Greg were quietly sharing a vanilla shake together.
"Oooh, oohh, do you think it's a serious conversation?" Mina whispers conspiratorially as she scoots in next to Rei, in the booth across from where Serena sat, her mouth watering.
"Cake! Cookies!" Serena inserts in between their girlish gossip, being ignored.
"Well, it's something about Greg's parents moving away—I mean even farther away, like in another country or something. But I didn't hear exactly where." Lita leans her elbows down on the table, spreading the latest rumor she learned from eavesdropping on Amy's timid love life at the next table.
"Ooh, Lita! You've been eavesdropping! Bad, bad girl!" Mina slaps her friend's arm playfully, she the usual instigator for juicy gossip, and was never one not to enjoy the latest tidbits.
"Cake! Cookies!" Serena begins to pout at her 'special' treatment (just being forgotten as a customer) as her closest friends gab.
"I haven't! I just couldn't help overhearing, as I was bringing them shakes—that's all." Lita says in her own defense.
"Yeah, yeah. You were listening in, admit it!" Rei jibes as she fixes her sparkling hair in the window, then spots something familiar outside. "We better make some room, guys." She predicts.
"Cake! Cookies!" Serena was nearly in tears, not liking her hunger to be so easily ignored.
"Hey, Miss! What's a guy gotta do to get some service around here?" The four girls turn to the loud, boisterous voice filling Crown's Café.
"Sayer! Alex!" The girls sing out in unison, happy to see their friends. It seemed such a long time since they'd seen the secretive newlyweds last.
Newlyweds? Ahh! These two? Sca-ry!
Has it been over six months since we last saw you two and your Christmas Eve
surprise ? Serena thinks to herself. I've missed you both so much!
"Hi, there pretty kittens." Alex strides up to them, looking dazzling as usual in a tight (Man, those are tight! Rei thinks to herself) tight pair of jeans and even tighter midriff shirt that showed off her flat, muscular stomach and abs, not to mention busty curves that appeared to be particularly ample today.
Way less mannish and more bosomy female than I remember ever seeing Alex before. Hmmm…interesting…Rei was a tad more perceptive in some areas than her other friends, as she eyes their least feminine member carefully.
Sigh…How does Alex always keep in such perfect Junoesque shape? Lita sighs, thinking that she had put on too many pounds being a baker and sampling far too many of her own pastries.
Alex leans one hand on the table, easily slinging the other muscular arm around Lita's shoulders to, like second nature, catch the bottle of ketchup that her dark-haired partner had just jarred Lita to knock off her serving platter.
She'd be great on the volleyball team! Mina thinks to herself in awe of their always cool under pressure older friend who seemed to have developed a special ability to pull her reckless man's butt out of the fire. "Count yourself lucky, Artemis! This ketchup bottle had your name on it! Get it? Cat-sup? Hahahaa!" Winking Mina tauntingly holds the 'catsup' bottle over the pure white cat's head, even daring to turn it upside down over the quivering feline who had his paws over his head to block her cackles, too.
Unaware the messy crisis in his wake had just been diverted, skinny Sayer scoots right in behind his wife. Though uninvited to join the girls, the still boyish charmer slides in the booth next to Serena with a playful punch to her arm.
Ouchy!
"What's up, Meatball? Service lousy around here? I'll fix that!" Behind his dark idol sunglasses, Sayer sympathetically asks his dear friend. For some reason being full of hell this fine Sunday morning, he grabs up the fork and knife placed on the table and begins to bang them up and down, making Serena burst into giggles. Marriage to Alex had not changed his impetuous nature one bit, instead perhaps adding to his wild streak.
"We want food! We want food! We want—" Looking quite the rowdy rebel in his shades, red jacket and slouchy pants, Sayer protests loudly with a wink at his favorite bunhead.
"What are you doing, Sayer?! You're making a scene!" Lita was glad that Mr. Toraru and Lizzie were both late today as she flies away from the noisy man. The tall waitress flits across the room, looking up and down the café nervously, smiling and apologizing to patrons as she went.
"Cookies and cake!" Serena laughingly joins in, banging her own silverware. Amy and Greg finally notice the girls, looking at them in amusement.
"Cookies and cakes!" Sayer grins wickedly into Alex and Lita's admonishing faces glaring down at him. After all, he was only having a bit of fun with his "Meatball."
"We don't know this person." Snootily, Michelle, with Robin at her heels, drifts in behind them, no one noticing them (for shame!) - nor her delicately fluttering to and fro left hand, conspicuously extended with the ornate, ostentatious, obscenely large emerald ring glimmering upon it - in all the commotion as she looks down at Sayer's childishness haughtily. The elegant sophisticate was already more than ready to disown her crude, future brother-in-law after their morning spent together all in the same apartment.
"Michelle! Robin! We didn't see you guys come in!" Mina scoots Rei over (hey!) and pats the seat so her favorite teen idol could sit next to her, though Michelle was holding onto her man's arm tightly.
"How could you notice anything with all that noise?" Robin smirks in sarcasm at his brother who proved his immaturity once again by sticking his tongue out at his brother. Alex rolls her eyes as a contrite Sayer jumps up and pulls the empty tables nearby over to theirs, making one large table as he slaps a chair into place with a screech and a bang.
"'Chelle?" Sayer dramatically bows, making a big show as he pulls out a seat for her. Michelle takes the polite gesture with a gracious nod and he gentlemanly seats her like a proper lady.
"Here, Rob." Sayer grabs a spare chair, slapping it down hard in front of Robin. His good etiquette was thrown to the wind though, as he roughly pushed in next to Alex, who somehow had slid into his previous place next to Serena.
"There! We're all set now. Oh! Hey, Ames, Greg! Why don't you come on over and join us!" Sayer sings out merrily, obliviously, across the room. The rest of the customers, who had come in for a romantic shake with their sweetheart suddenly cleared out at this moment, tired of this boy's rude shouting.
"Starr. Maybe they want to be alone." Alex hisses to her husband, pursing her lips. She had given up long ago trying to tame his wild streak, and didn't really want to, either.
"Hey, do you want to be alone with me, Ally?" Lowering his shades for his sexy blue eyes to burn embers at her, Sayer asks amorously, putting on the other hat he was famous (or was it infamous?) for as he squeezes in closer to Alex.
Extremely close.
"Later, lover." Alex wasn't shy to show her affection for him in front of all the prying eyes now as she puts a finger up to his lips tantalizingly, the memorable fantasy he sent her last night still so compelling in her mind that it definitely required a live remake.
"Hello." Amy's soft, lilting voice comes up as she takes a seat next to Robin and Michelle.
"Where did Greg go? Did Sayer scare him away?" Rei says, giving Sayer a dirty look. She was in a bad mood, and everyone knew why. Chad had to go to the mountains to train at Gramp's insistence. He was growing more and more aware of Chad's attraction to his granddaughter and tried to keep them apart as much as possible.
"No, he just had a class to attend. I'll come and sit with you guys if that's all right?" Amy smiles pleasantly—she and Greg were constant study hounds.
"Well, that's a relief." Sayer jibes the 'dull' couple. Alex jabs him in the ribs with her elbow. "I meant, so we can all talk. I think somebody has something important to announce." Sayer's bright blue eyes flash at Robin, who was trying to let this be a pleasant, quiet day after his unanticipated proposal to an upset Michelle and her subsequent incessant wedding preview last night. But his mind could sense hers linked with his that there would be no such luck.
Michelle didn't need much prompting as she gets ready to joyously sing out her happy news to all her friends. She was only a little pouty that nobody had noticed the enormous rock on her left hand without some nudging.
"Girls, I am happy—so happy to announce that Robin and I are—" Michelle starts all bubbly and excited, everyone raptly listening—just as she wanted.
"Hi hi hi!" Tara, unknowing that she had interrupted Michelle's gleaming moment, bounces in on a cloud of air. Terry, Susan and Darien were close behind her.
"Everyone, listen up. Susan and Terry have an important announcement to make." Darien says in an unusually joyful mood. He had met the happy couple on the way in to Crown's Café and they had approached him, as Prince and future King with the news first.
"Another announcement? We should put up a bulletin board! Geez, what's going on today?" Rei wonders aloud as Luna and Artemis exchange looks with one another, pledging to Queen Serenity, long ago as appointed guardians of this special group, to watch over all the sailor soldiers' welfare.
"What is it, Susan?" Caring Serena smiles big as her unexpected-to-arrive-until-later husband sits across from her with a knowing glance that made her sit up primly. Between Luna and Darien, they had been training her to be more queenly and mature to accept that great responsibility someday which was to come to she and her prince both.
"Princess, Terry and I wish to ask your…that is…Terry and I...I mean...I'm…expecting." Obviously flummoxed on how to make the announcement herself to this large crowd of eyes all peering down at her, Susan speaks shyly with a touch of trepidation. Though not as much as she thought yesterday, as she looks up at her husband standing stalwart behind her. Terry squeezes Susan's shoulders encouragingly, devotedly and she leans her cheek to his warmth, gratefully, lovingly, as he was her pillar of strength, tall and proud.
"Expecting what?" Serena blinks in confusion, and everyone blinks back at the young Princess' ignorance, Luna and Artemis simultaneously slapping shamed paws over their moon encrusted noggins at their Princess' naivete.
But Susan starts to giggle, losing all of her nervous fear at her perhaps taboo revelation to her Prince and Princess of the Moon entirely, just as her wise husband had predicted.
"A baby! Stupid Serena!" Rei piercingly snaps as she glances at Susan and Terry. She exchanged an uncertain look with Lita, then with Amy and Mina, as they all then turned to Alex who shared the same concerned look. They could obviously see she had the same apprehensions about this as they all did—perhaps more so, for she was leader of the Outer Sailor Scouts which Pluto was vital member of.
Luna, too, had great reservation on this questionably inevitable issue that she and Uranus had discussed in particular when Sailor Pluto had taken the male form of Sailor Star Maker as her husband.
Marriage was one thing, with a partner who could share that duty, having your back and best interests in such an intimate way was just about acceptable to the tough soldier. But Alex had taken the hardline stance that children were not a viable option for serious guardians of the Moon Princess to keep their responsibility first and foremost to the Princess alone.
I warned Pluto that they were men now—with all the trouble that automatically comes with those—and she must take precautions, as I have. But apparently Susan didn't pay heed to my counsel as fellow sailor soldier…
So that left Luna wondering on how severely harsh Uranus would decide to deal with this, what she might consider a 'debilitating' problem, for one of the soldiers under her direct command, should her ruler come down with that same verdict.
But neither hesitant Luna, nor her less inclined for such extreme measures partner, Artemis could imagine sweet Serena ruling in rigid Alex's drastic favor.
"A baby! Oh, Susan! Terry! That's wonderful!" Yes, Serena Shield's friendly voice breaks the silence that was taking over the group with nothing but happy smiles and delight. Serena, in her obliviousness (or was it wisdom?) did not have the same concerns the rest of her soldiers did around her.
No, her generous heart was overjoyed for her dear friends, without a second thought.
"Thank you, Princess." Susan smiles gratefully at her ruler, as Terry exchanges a glance with Darien who nobly took the attitude of his wife with a permissive nod. The birth of a child, borne from love, could never be anything but a beautiful event. Seeing their leaders' outlook on this difficult subject, the team decides to follow suit, Lita leading the pack.
"Oh, Susan! I'm so happy for you!" She puts a hand on both Susan and Terry's arms with care.
"When is the baby due?" Amy says sweetly.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" Rei asks, smirking at Terry, though still unsure if this was the correct path for a soldier.
"What are you going to call it?!" Mina wipes any trace of worry from her sieve-like mind as leader Sailor V shares a nod with Artemis, who, thinking of his Diana, understood how having a child with the partner you were destined to be with was a thing of joy.
"Susan, you're so lucky!" Serena smiles, she herself knew what it was like to wait for a child to arrive. She already knew everything about her future baby. And still wanted her to come, nonetheless—big pink sugar surprise heart attack!
Oopsy! Sorry!…Huh?
"Oh!? What happened to your eye, Sayer?!" As her excited digits accidentally flip her slurping straw out of its fizzy cream soda, Serena out of the blue notices her dear friend's bruised face when the lead singer of the Three Lights removes his splashed sunglasses.
"Uh…I crashed into something…?" Sayer stumbles over the falsehood, his male pride not quite willing to spill that he had been decked by his ladylove for his penchant at being 'indiscriminate about women' once again.
Particularly not to one of his previous female targets.
"Oh, poor Sayer." As for kind-hearted Serena, she coos at her friend and instantly pets his slightly swollen eye socket in such a tender fashion that Darien and the other girls all raise their brows at the cozy pair.
"Here. You can share my fresh cappuccino, just the way you like it, Mrs. Shields." The Prince of the Earth swiftly exerts his own name claim on his bride, with a dour look at his once rival for her affections. Tuxedo Mask-like scoops his innocent little wife right over the back of Crown café's bench seat where she had been sandwiched in between Darien's least favorite pair of extremely annoying, rebellious sailor soldiers who may or may not have had some amorous designs on his blameless Moon Princess in the past.
"Ooh-ooh! Does it have all the powdered sugar and cinnamon sprinkled in the fresh whipped cream on top, Darien?" Lip-licking good Serena, in her sweet naiveté, just as her jealous possessive husband predicted, jumps at the chance to indulge in this tempting whipped cream offer of his over any either of those two beguiling weirdos.
"Jealous, Dar?" Sayer understood that Darien Shields suspected his intentions for the eternally shining Sailor Moon weren't always strictly platonic. But it still wasn't above the rogue Casanova—all parties spoken for or not—to rub salt into their contentious rivalry.
Just for the hell of it.
Meeting smug Darien's triumphant gaze at having won this confrontation, Sayer smirks sardonically back at him. Then the younger man watches Serena's giggling display of affection for the manipulative jerk she had married when Darien 'spoils' her with chocolate sprinkles added on the extra whipped cream she was making a mess of all over her cute face.
"Maybe you deserve to 'crash' into that 'something'' again to get a matching shiner for the other 'poor widdle' eye, if you don't quit fluttering them at every woman you meet, Mr. Sokova." Tugging his ponytail roughly until his head hits the back of the bench hard, to gain his attention, Alex threatens what belonged to her as well in a quiet, earth-shaking low rumble from where she was apparently forgotten, still seated next to her roving-eyed Starr.
My fist won't be so easily forgotten next time, Mister.
"I love it when you call me that, Ally." Eyelashes 'fluttering' for her alone now, Sayer's pensive gaze at Darien melted like butter in a split second as he shocks everyone left at the table by cupping his hands around and kissing Alex's fist in his face before pulling the rest of her into a full-blown, open-mouthed kiss.
And what was more shocking was how the toughest sailor soldier didn't shove him away as the racy pair start making up their argument in public before all the younger girls' stunned eyes.
"Guess that crisis was averted." Amy nervously chuckles, glad her sweet Greg had already left so as not to witness this embarrassing scene of her friends.
"Yeah. Never can tell if these two are gonna end up ripping each other's throats off, or making out. Or maybe that's the same thing with Alex and Sayer…Sigh." A bit envious that she didn't have the guts to 'attack' Kenny in that way—yet—herself, Mina wonders at the adult mood ferocity of these two strong soldiers' clashing passions, especially when a little jealousy was thrown in the mix.
"'Mr. Sokova'? What's up with that, anyway?! I don't think Darien needs to be jealous anymore. Sayer's sounding pretty domesticated to me." Rei snidely gossips behind her hand, proud of Alex, in a way, on how she had tamed the wildest of the three wandering, shooting Starrs.
As everyone continues to chatter on and on, Michelle sits back, her arms crossed, an indignant look on her high borne features.
She was upset that, in their excitement over Terry and Susan's news and the scene Sayer, Serena and Amara had made, everyone had forgotten her and her most important news.
The oceanic debutante felt uncommonly doused, like she had just been dropped like a sack of potatoes in the water as even her Robin had abandoned her to pet Luna near the old-fashioned jukebox in the corner where Terry had Susan sitting at the front counter, pampered with ice cream and fruits he was spoon feeding her.
But Artemis was skulking around the jukebox selector in a stray cat strut, giving the supposedly affianced rock idol dirty looks as Robin and Luna were choosing out love songs to play, like a couple.
"Robin Starr! This is no time to be playing musical kitty!"
As her silent mental voice commands the silver-haired young man to come scurrying back to her side, Michelle catches Alex's laughing eyes at her plight, and observant Rei notices Michelle sulking as well.
"Luna was just helping me choose songs to play at our wedding reception."
"Oh, my, were you really, dearest?" Michelle's flustered mind easily accepts Robin's excuse with a pleased smile since he was taking some initiative to participate in the most significant day of their young lives. All he had to mention was any interest in their 'wedding reception' to get on her good side again. Michelle curls her arm possessively around her silver fox with a coy, pleased air.
"Well, what was your announcement, Michelle?" Rei asks, suspiciously now, and everyone's eyes turn to Michelle hanging on Robin with questioning gazes.
If that was Susan's announcement…
Guiltless Robin suddenly feels eleven pairs of eyes upon him so intently, it made him cringe.
"Robin and I—" Michelle excitedly jumps at her chance back in the spotlight. She takes Robin's embarrassed hand in hers as the girls hold their collected breaths. "—are getting married! We're engaged!" Michelle states proudly, flipping her hand to display that monstrous ring in all of its sparkling emerald glory.
"Oh. Is that all?" Rei sighs in relief, after all, Michelle's impending marriage to Robin was an expected event. After all, two of the Three Lights' were already wed. So the third straggler hitching up with the final Outer Sailor wasn't much by way of news.
"Is that all!?" Michelle indignantly exclaims, nearly knocking a forlorn-eyed Luna off the edge of the bench top where Robin had been petted her as soon as she chased him back here. The once love struck cat was staring tearfully wide-eyed at her favorite idol, to great big grinning Artemis' beaming pleasure now.
"What's up Pussycat? Whoa-oh-oh!" Tom Jones' iconic song starts to croon in the background on the jukebox at the lucky white cat's paw request as he gloats at his capricious Luna.
But Michelle felt her marriage was the most important thing in the world at this moment. "I was only going to ask all of you girls to be my bridesmaids when we go to Paris but maybe if it's not important enough to you—"
"PARIS!" Like an explosion, the five inner scouts shout their excitement at the thought of traveling to the romantic city. Their happy chatter soon satisfies Michelle's miffed feelings as she merrily explains her plans. Robin closes his eyes, having already heard about the wedding so much he felt like he already went through with it.
Sigh.
"I've already called Père —my father, that is—and he said it would be all right if Memere—my mother, that is—said it was all right. And she only said it would be all right after she talked to Robin for a long time, I might add. Didn't Mémère talk your ear off, Robin dear?" Michelle giggles all in one breath, everyone else dizzy and breathless just from following her whirlwind speech.
"Now I know where you get it from." Robin mumbles under his breath, wondering just how much else of her mother's "charms" Michelle had inherited. Robin was already cringing just from the conversation he'd had with dear "Mémère" on the telephone, wondering how he had made it through her endless questioning.
"What was that, Robin dear?" Michelle smiled so sweetly at him that Robin couldn't help but feel it was all worth it.
"She said she can't wait for us to come." Robin covers up, though it was true those were Madame Moreau's final words. Well, something like that, Robin wasn't paying that much attention, his head spinning by the end of the phone conversation with the French Mémère. Sayer snickers at him and he shoots back a warning glance.
"Oooh, me too! I told her to get everything up in just over a month. We are going to have the biggest wedding to ever hit the Paris scene! And you're all invited!" Michelle sings to the girls. Robin's frozen smile and wide eyes reflect the panic he was just beginning to feel. Marriage was something he never thought he'd need…but Michelle changed all that.
Robin looks into her ecstatic blue eyes, gazing at Michelle almost tenderly as her moist lips speak in such vivid lively animation.
Yeah, I could do that.
"Wow! What exciting stuff you guys bring with you! This calls for some triple hot fudge sundaes for everyone!" Lita smiles cheerfully with the sweet offer.
"YEAH!" The gang calls out as one joyfully unified group on this happy, sunny day.
Dear Sailor Moon friends,
HAPPY EASTER!
May each of your lives be touched by the glorious sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, on this day we celebrate His promise of new life Eternal.
God bless and be with your heart on this Happy Resurrection day!
Jesus loves you!
HarukaKou