Blueeyeddevil06 thank you for going through and editing this.

Chapter 12 – The Right Direction

Molly sat across from Serena as they dug into their ice cream and sighed. "So, is it weird for you that I went out with Kunzite last night?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Well… you haven't asked me about my date. Don't get me wrong. You don't have to, but you just always have in the past. You don't have to now either. I just want to make sure it isn't bothering you."

"I have had people ask me about my relationship with Darien after he broke up with me, and while it was from a kind place, it still hurt. That said, my first question was what happened to Melvin? Is that even okay to ask?"

"Yes, and I don't know. We dated for so long, and then one day, he stopped calling. We didn't even actually break up, but a month with no dates made me think it didn't need to be said."

"And, how does that make you feel?"

"Hurt at first. Really hurt. We were together for over a year and then that was how we ended?!" She sighed, "But, then Kunzite asked me out, and it made me feel better somehow. I am not expecting some huge romance, but to go out and be treated so well again. It felt good."

"Then you don't have to ask how I feel about your date. I am thrilled for you. He is a great guy."

"What I want to know is what are his powers?"

"Powers?"

"Come on Sailor Moon, powers."

"Wait, you know! How long?"

"Gosh, years! Why do you think I didn't get hurt when you distanced yourself from me?"

"Thank goodness! It was so hard, but I was younger and afraid of you getting hurt. Truly, you already were a youma magnet. I actually told my advisor that we could find the next youma by following you to your next event. The frightening thing was that I was right!"

"Really? Which one?"

"The last time you were caught up in a youma attack. It was the outdoor concert."

"I remember that one. I was on a date with Melvin. Maybe he is just afraid to go out with me because I get attacked by youma a lot."

"They are back now. But, he is just a fool. You're amazing."

"So are you."

"Yup. Two single, amazing women eating ice cream in their PJs. That's us."

"Hey, the ice cream and PJs don't make it any less true."

They both laughed and then picked out a movie to watch. They settled on the couch and enjoyed their time back together.

Jadeite walked into the Arcade and saw Andrew sitting at a table in the back. He scanned the room and didn't recognize anyone. He then walked back and sat down across from Andrew.

Andrew looked across the table and said, "Amy should be here any minute. She was gathering some data at her apartment."

Just as he said that, she rushed in and sat down between the two. "Okay. I'm here. First, I want to say this." She turned and looked at Jadeite. "You were absolutely right of course. I didn't know until today, and I was pissed when Darien told me."

"Back up." Jadeite said, "Right about what?"

"Right about the dumb dream, and I can prove it. I have proved it to Darien."

Here, Jadeite jumped up. "I knew it! I'm going to kill him."

Andrew broke in, "That would make it hard for them to get back together."

Jadeite thought about that. "Gosh, I really want that for her. Too bad that means he gets forgiven for what he did though. I should have hit him harder."

Andrew looked at him. "You hit him? Good for you!"

"Serena even thanked me. The other guys and I were surprised she wasn't mad. It actually made me even more proud of her."

"I wanted to find out if you were pro or con. Does that mean you are in the pro camp for them getting back together?"

"Yes."

"Good, that eliminates one potential problem. What about the other guys?"

"We are all in the same camp. You weren't there one thousand years ago. Whatever Darien did, and it was really bad, they can be amazing together. I want that for her. All four of us do."

Amy slid the data over to Jadeite and said, "See this bit here and this line here?"

"Yes."

"In layman's terms, it means that Darien's premonition is bullshit."

Andrew looked shocked by Amy's language.

Amy looked back and said, "And, how would you describe it Andrew? He hurt her for no reason, and we're all angry at him." Amy started to cry, and Andrew looked panicked. Jadeite leaned in and comforted her. He had experience with comforting a strong woman.

"Thanks, Jadeite," she said.

Jadeite went back to the subject to not dwell on her tears. "So, it's BS and Darien knows?"

"Yes, and yes."

"Then what is the meeting for?" he asked.

Andrew said, "We thought you deserved to know the truth since you were the one who got Darien to go to Amy for help. Also, I wanted to know what we could do to help get them back together. Darien will come to me with this. I want to give good suggestions, and I'm not great with women."

"But, you have Rita," Amy interjected.

"You realize she lives in Africa, right?"

"Yea, but…."

"I can manage to not screw up a phone call every few days with my girlfriend who works in a remote location in Africa. In Africa, where she is on a team with four women, one 40-year-old man, and one man in his mid-50s. Casanova I am not."

Jadeite shook his head laughing. "Keep it simple. Have him tell her the truth and then tell her how he really feels then and now. That and lots of presents."

Amy chuckled at that.

Jadeite added, "He needs to approach us generals too. She needs to see he is working on getting to know us again." He paused and looked at Andrew. "You know about them, right?" Andrew nodded. "Okay, well she brought us back for him. He needs to show that it matters to him."

Amy nodded and smiled. "Sounds good to me."

Andrew stood and stretched. Thank you for coming. I won't take up more of your time, Jadeite. You have been a huge help in all of this. Thank you."

"Darien better be grateful."

"If he isn't yet, he will be. He had a lot to take in. This is a huge reality shift for him. Well, good night."

Jadeite then left and took a walk in the park for a while. He kept going through what he had found out. He was so relieved he was right about the dreams.

When he arrived home, he found movie credits rolling on the TV and Serena and Molly asleep on the couch. He chuckled and nudged them both awake. Then he laughed quietly as they both stumbled up to Serena's room half asleep. Next, he turned off the movie and TV and then, he too, turned in for the night.

Molly didn't think through breakfast when they set up the sleepover at Serena's house. It felt like a lesson in Good Idea/Bad Idea. Good idea: Having a sleepover with your best friend. Bad idea: Being at breakfast with the guy you just went on a date with and have no idea if there will be a second date coming. Awkward! Surely it wasn't just her right? She watched him fidget and decided that it wasn't just her. That helped her feel a little better. She did eat really fast though. She was glad Serena was a notoriously fast eater.

Serena laughed when they made it back to her room. "I am so sorry I didn't think about Kunzite being there at breakfast with you."

"I forgot too. I can't blame you."

"So, how awkward was it?"

"Very. It helped to know he was fidgeting too."

"He was really funny. The guys are going to give him such a hard time. Especially since you didn't give anything away."

"Thank goodness! I was too afraid to ask you if I did."

"Nope. You looked so calm. I was so proud of you."

Molly looked sad, "You don't have to hide your feelings all the time."

"How did that come up?"

"It is hardly a jump from me hiding my feelings to you hiding your feelings."

"I guess you're right about the jump. I don't hide my feelings as much as you think. I try to live in the moment. I'm truly happy in all those moments. It is the long term where I get sad."

"Can you believe me if I tell you it will work out?"

"Yes."

"It's that easy? I don't believe it."

"You said work out. That is pretty vague. It will be what it will be. I can't change his mind and I can't live in a relationship that doesn't even exist."

"Fair enough. So, back to my situation…."

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Serena replied, "Come in."

Kunzite opened the door and looked at Molly. He swallowed, and they heard someone whisper "coward" from the hall. That got him to talk. "Molly, will you go out with me next Saturday?"

Serena smiled at Molly, and that was enough for her. Molly looked back at Kunzite and said, "I would like that."

"Well, I will call you this week, and we can work out a time."

"Sounds good to me."

He shut the door, and they heard someone get shoved into the wall out in the hall.

Serena chuckled and said, "There are a lot of great moments. They keep me laughing."

Molly truly believed her and was glad she had the guys.

After Kunzite asked Molly out and then knocked Jadeite into the wall for his barely whispered comments, the guys met downstairs around the kitchen table.

Jadeite rubbed his back and scowled at Kunzite then said, "Kunzite can leave. I will tell the rest of you what I found out about Darien."

Kunzite shook his head. "You earned that, and you know I'm not leaving."

"Fine. Fine. But, that hurt! Anyway, I talked to Darien, and no, I didn't hit him again," he said before anyone could ask. "Darien believed he suddenly got the ability of premonition. Idiot. He had a straight month of Serena dying in his arms in his dreams every night at their wedding and decided he had to save her by breaking up with her."

Nephrite said, "Even if it was true, he could elope!"

"That's what I said! I said it bit more colorfully though. I told him that, and that he never had the power of premonition. I also pointed out that Queen Serenity did, and she gave her life for them to be together. She wouldn't have done that if it would have meant Serena's horrible death."

Zoisite asked, "Does he believe you? Will he try to get her back?"

Here, Jadeite smiled, "He went to Amy to see if she could figure out what happened. There is evidence that someone tampered with his brain at that time. She has some computer readouts that I pretended to understand."

"Well, shit." Nephrite muttered.

"Andrew asked if we would get in the way when Darien tried to get her back. I said we were team reconciliation."

Zoisite nodded and said, "More accurately, we are team Serena. But, I get what you mean. Wow, so we should expect a groveling Darien around the house. This should be fun."

Nephrite smiled and said, "Please tell me that doesn't mean we have to go easy on him."

Kunzite shook his head, "Of course we can give him a hard time. Just consider how it will affect Serena. We should be able to be creative enough that only Darien is really affected."

They all smiled at that one.

That evening, there was a knock on the door and Nephrite answered. "Ah, hello,

Darien."

Darien looked behind him and asked, "Is Serena available and willing to talk to me?"

"Well worded. Stay here, and I'll find out."

Three minutes later, Darien stepped into Serena's room.

"Hello, Darien. How have you been?"

"Awful."

"I don't know what to say to that," she sighed at his self pity.

"Fair enough. Do you have time for me to tell you everything? The truth this time. Even the ugly parts?"

"I have time, and I think you owe me that much for over a year now. Don't you agree?"

"I do agree. And, I'm… words just aren't enough right now."

"So then, what are you feeling? Tell me that."

"Deep and bitter regret for what I did, foolishness for being so wrong in my assumptions, and when I look at you, an overwhelming sense of love and devotion. I love you so much. I never stopped for one second. It was all lies I told you that day. Despite everything I have done and the mountain of stuff I have put between us, just being around you now makes my whole being sing. I don't even know if I'm describing it right. Just being next to you feels like coming home and discovering bliss all at the same time."

"That's a good place to start. Why don't you tell me the truth of what happened now?"

And, he told her everything, not leaving anything out. He told her about the dreams and the fear. He told her about the deep loneliness and emptiness. He told her about the one date he went on and how badly he felt afterwards. Especially once he knew she saw him. He told her about Andrew trying to talk sense into him. He told her about Jadeite actually talking sense into him. He told her about Amy's scan, the results, and the crushing self-hatred he felt afterwards.

She listened to all he told her and heard him, and his heart laid out for her. She looked in his eyes and saw it was all the truth. Then she looked into her own heart, and then she looked at it with her head. A heart, especially hers, could be easily swayed. Her head told her he was telling the truth. Her head told her she believed he wouldn't make the same mistake. Her head told her that her heart was still very much his, and his heart was still hers. Her head told her she needed to go slowly since her trust had been broken, a trust he was already on the way to restoring. Her head knew that they were sent a thousand years in time to be together by a mother who loved her deeply and wanted the best for her.

He finished and looked into her eyes, barely restraining himself from holding her hands. "I will do whatever you need me to do. Anything. I know I have a lot to make up for and trust to rebuild."

"Ask me out on a date. We'll see if I break my streak with you."

"How about tomorrow night?"

"How about Saturday night? Don't you have school?"

"I do, but none of that will get in the way of us."

"Saturday night we'll go out on a date, Darien."

"Whatever you want."

"Don't turn into a complete doormat for me. That isn't something I want. I'm a strong enough woman that I can handle a strong man."

"Deal. I can be a bit of a doormat though, right?" He gave her a wry smile at that.

She laughed, "Deal. Oh, and I love chocolates. I'm a bit tired of flowers."

"Noted."

"This isn't us being boyfriend and girlfriend again."

"I know and this is already more than I deserve or was gutsy enough to ask for."

"As long as we are on the same page."

"We are." He pretended to look at a piece of paper and stated, "See, right here it says, 'Darien is an idiot, and he is lucky any time Serena willingly talks to him.'"

She smiled, "Yup, same page."

Darien stood and said goodbye to Serena, not planning a time on Saturday before he left. He knew that way, he would have a valid excuse to call her and hear her voice mid-week. Serena wasn't fooled by him in the least. She was looking forward to the call too. He just didn't have to know.