blueeyeddevil06 thank you for being my beta on this chapter

This is the chapter where I pulled the title from. I enjoyed writing this chapter about Serena growing into a confident woman yet still not quite seeing how sweet and caring others saw her to be.

Chapter 7 – A Time to Shine

Serena wondered if it meant that she was high maintenance if it took five men to make her this happy. Her uncle was her constant support. His love and his maturity gave her a stability she hadn't realized she so desperately needed. Sometimes she wondered if Luna was right advising her to keep her parents in the dark. An adult authority figure that knew her secret and supported her helped her feel truly stable for the first time since she found out what she was.

The Boys, as she had started calling them, were a constant in her life and a support since they chose to care for her. She knew they really owed her nothing in this lifetime, and yet they chose to be there for her. The feeling of being chosen by them grew her confidence and helped her grow her own sense of self.

Of course, being Serena, she couldn't comprehend what the five got out of it. Her uncle got to feel, for the first time, what the love of a daughter would feel like, and he reveled in it. Her beautiful heart and her abounding love brought him a joy he never knew he could experience. He marveled at her love and care for others no matter how little of a connection she had to that person. He watched her go out of her way for everyone. She even brought home a stray kitten that he let stay. She had to nurse it back to health from malnourishment, and she did with great care and gentleness.

Serena had announced, "I'm going to call her Stella. I wonder what it will be like to have a cat that can't order me around. Although from that look she is giving me, she might try."

Everyone chuckled.

He was even more proud of her the day she gave Stella away. The neighbors next door had a sweet five-year-old girl named Lucy who had fallen in love with Stella instantly. Oddly enough, Stella loved her back and loved to get pets from her. One day, Serena came home and saw the girl's mother sitting out back crying. The family's cat had died that day, and she dreaded telling her daughter when she came home from school. Serena handed her Stella and said she would be thrilled if Lucy adopted her as it may help ease the little girl's tears. Lucy came over that night with a drawing of Stella to thank Serena. Serena had cried happy tears.

Everyone laughed so hard, some had tears in their eyes the day she came down to breakfast wearing a Rolling Stones t-shirt. The Boys showed their appreciation and senses of humor by clapping loudly. Serena took a small curtsy and sat down.

Jadeite, always the first to speak up in support of her, announced, "And, that is one of the reasons I like you even better." The rest of the generals all agreed.

Serena was confused and asked what he meant.

"You can laugh! You have this lightness and this joy that Serenity never had. You are still the best parts of her, but you are so much easier to relate to. Maybe your royal training took this part out of her. If it did, then I am sad that she lost this. I always liked her, but you are a joy to be around."

Zoisite spoke up next, "Serenity was always Endymion's to us. We respected her and the relationship she had with him. You, Serena, are so much more to us."

Nephrite chimed in, "Darien is an idiot."

Kunzite said, "True but not helpful, Nephrite. Moving on from the heartbreaking elephant in the room… What made you decide to get that shirt?"

Serena gave a watery smile and sighed. She then was able to manage a true smile and replied, "I saw it and immediately thought of you four. Also, the tongue on the shirt just seemed to fit the personality too much of at least one of you." They proceeded to argue over who she meant by that. She smiled and never told.

Work continued to go well. They adored her, and she worked incredibly hard. As she learned more, she interacted more and more with the customers at the reception desk. Eventually, it became her desk, and she handled the calls and customer interaction that didn't take place during training. She loved it, and they received a lot of wonderful reviews of their customer service. The owner was grateful his childhood friend sent his niece to them.

Serena's lessons at the dojo continued on pretty well. She struggled less and less to remember to just stick to the training moves and forms at the dojo. She kept slipping in her "park fighting technique" as she called it in her head. She did, after all, spend an enormous amount of time fighting youma in parks. Her teacher wasn't too put out by her occasional slip ups. After all, she was slipping in different techniques and not letting her guard down. Her need to master each individual form was the only thing that kept her from advancing even faster than she already was. She was a star pupil, and the instructors all enjoyed working with her.

In the evenings, Serena and The Boys would go out; they laughed and started referring to themselves as The Stones one night.

Serena laughed out loud and admitted, "If everything else had failed, I considered making you all into a necklace. You, in your stone forms, were rather pretty."

Jadeite scoffed, "Pretty! We are not pretty."

Zoisite rolled his eyes, "Yea, because that was the revelation in that statement. That we were pretty. Not that we were close to being turned into jewelry."

Nephrite shrugged and stated, "Either way, we would be serving Serena."

Kunzite laughed, "Yea, because decorating her neck is even close to what we are doing for her now."

"And, what exactly are you doing for me now?" She asked coyly.

Jadeite stood up and said, "Dancing, care to join me?"

Serena smiled and took his hand as he whisked her away to dance. The whole night proceeded with her dancing several times with each of them. She noticed but didn't remark on each time they quietly sent away every other man who came to ask her to dance. They weren't saving her for Darien; they just didn't trust other men round her. At least that was what each of them told themselves.

One day at breakfast, she bolstered up her courage and asked them about it. Why did they never let men approach her? Why did they keep them away?

Jadeite jumped in first. "And, why should we trust any man around you, Princess?"

"I'm not a princess."

"Well, you are." Zoisite spoke up. "You just happen to be a princess of a dead race of people."

Nephrite cut in, "Oh yea. That is helpful! What he meant to say is that you are the Crowned Princess of the Silver Millennium. You are special, and really, what can a mere man say to relate to you?"

"Oh, great! So, I'm single for the rest of my life? Darien won't have me, and no one else can relate. So what!? I get no one? Have you all even thought this through?"

Jadeite swallowed and said, "No, obviously we haven't. We just feel the need to protect you, and we may have gone too far. You, of all people, should have the chance at love. You, who seem to embody that very emotion in everything you do."

"I second that!" Kunzite yelled. Zoisite and Nephrite added their voices in agreement.

Her uncle spoke up, "So, it's settled then. Serena starts dating."

The Boys agreed out loud with her uncle. In reality, they weren't fully on board with her dating. Still, not one voiced an objection to her.

And so, it happened that following Saturday. Serena was dressed up for her first date post Darien. She forced a smile and really looked at herself in the mirror. She realized she looked older, and it surprised her. She reflected that maybe she shouldn't be. She, for one, was older. Her clothing style had matured also, and on top of it all, she was a different girl than the one who met Darien. She was a woman who had fought and survived countless youma, Beryl, and Metalia. She had graduated High School and held down a job that she was good at and where they valued her. She had the comfort and the complete support from five men that included the knowledge of who she truly was. Sure, Darien had broken her heart, and that was in there too, but she decided what defined her about that moment was her strength to move on. Or, she acknowledged, to move forward. Her deepest fear was not being able to move on from loving Darien. She tucked that aside and walked down the stairs for her first non-Darien date.

The actual date was wonderful. She smiled and enjoyed getting out and having a good time. She was nervous at the beginning but relied on her natural ability to talk to people, and it quickly became easy to carry on a conversation. While the date was fun, the guy was rather unremarkable. Sure, he was handsome and a few girls were sending her jealous looks, but she quickly realized that they didn't have much in common. At the end of the date, she thanked him quickly and darted to the door. He never had the chance to even try to kiss her. A fact that The Boys noticed and were glad about.

And so, she went on with her new life. She smiled and laughed a lot, and she grew in confidence daily. Half of the money from her job immediately went into savings and the other half supported her free time and new wardrobe. She went about a date a week, but never with the same guy twice. She was enjoying being single, and none of the men tempted her to give that up even the slightest bit. The Boys kept helping her train to fight and access her powers. The day she disappeared from the living room and appeared in the kitchen, they all went out to dinner to celebrate. She was getting stronger every day, and they were all proud.

About six months after she brought The Boys out of their stones, they gave her a present at breakfast.

Smiling, she lifted the long jewelry box, "Guys, you didn't have to do this."

Jadeite said, "But, we wanted to, and since it is custom made, you have to keep it. No returns, Princess."

"Thank you." She opened it up and then gasped. Happy tears ran down her face while she laughed. "What a perfect necklace! And, to think you got me one with jadeite, zoisite, nephrite, and kunzite stones on it! Thank you." She gave them all a huge smile, and she radiated with joy.

Zoisite said, "We decided that your success could result in the loss of a necklace." He winked and smiled at her.

Kunzite remarked, "After all, now you know we will always be with you, Princess. Or at least you will be reminded of the fact that it is already true."

She jumped up and hugged each one of them, and then her uncle helped her put the necklace on. The necklace rarely ever left her neck after that. During her moments of doubt and worry, she would touch it and remember she had them to support her. When her courage or strength failed, they would be there. And she grew even stronger from that day on.

And so, she became, at nineteen, what she had always wanted to be. She was kind, confident, and no longer a klutzy girl. She walked with poise and had an ease about her that drew others in even further. Along with her maturing looks and new style, she looked lovely. And that was where she was eleven and a half months to the day after she had first left home and moved in with her uncle.

Diamond smiled as they approached Earth. Finally, they were there, and Serenity would be his. "Sapphire, you will oversee sending out the youma. Go get ready."

Sapphire headed out to obey him and do the final preparations with the youma. It was all going according to plan.