blueeyeddevil06 thank you for being my beta for this.

Chapter 21 – A Time to Plan

It was eleven at night, and Amy was getting really frustrated. Daren had given her a file telling her that it outlined Diamond's and Sapphire's powers. Hours into it, and she wished it had been as easy as he pretended. Now she was staring at the text Mina had sent earlier in the day, wondering if she should just call Zoisite.

At the time, the text seemed like wishful thinking. Kunzite has given Mina the numbers for all the Generals, and Amy lamented that it was unlikely she would get to use them anytime soon. Really, it was one number that haunted her, and now she was staring at it.

She grew frustrated with her own stalling and called Zoisite's number.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.

A sleepy sounding Zoisite answered, "Who the hell is calling me at eleven at night? You better be dying right now, or I will kill you."

Amy tried to sound confident on the phone, "It is me, Amy. Well, Sailor Mercury. I, um, needed some help with something Darien gave me on Diamond and Sapphire. Um…."

Zoisite tried to sound more awake and kinder, "Hey Amy, sorry about that. I will have to program your number into my phone. I wouldn't have answered you like that. What can I do for you?"

"Sapphire gave Darien information on the dark energy fueling Diamond and himself. I am trying to work through it all and find a way for Serena to counteract it without her having to weaken herself in battle. I am struggling to meet the timetable set up. If I had more time, I could do this but…."

"You're brilliant. I know that. You've been given less than a day to do a week's worth of work. If you give me your address, I will head over, and we can work on it together."

"Thank you! That was what I was hoping to get you to agree to. I'm sorry it's so late."

"Don't worry. Hey, maybe we'll get lucky, and the attack will be at seven in the evening. An afternoon nap probably wouldn't hurt tomorrow."

Amy laughed, "I'm already looking forward to it."

She gave him her address, said goodbye, and hung up the phone. She then turned and tried to calm her breathing and her heart.

She spoke to herself, "Remember, Amy, they are disappointed in us all. He is just coming over for Serena and Darien."

Twenty minutes later, Zoisite knocked on her door. She opened it up and couldn't help but smile at him. He looked so handsome, and she noticed he smelled good too.

She collected herself and said, "I have a pot of coffee that just finished brewing, and if you take creamer or sugar, I have some. The coffee and the mugs are here," she pointed them out. "I also have snacks on the counter. I figured we will need to keep our energy up this late at night."

"Wow, Amy, thank you. This is perfect. And for the record, I take my coffee with two sugars."

"Noted." She almost giggled, but managed to hold it in. He thought she would need to know his coffee preferences. She hoped she wasn't reading into it too much.

He poured his coffee and got some snacks. He then said, "Alright, let's dive into the data. We have a morning planning session and a bunch of people to wow at it."

At three in the morning, Amy shrieked and scared Zoisite so badly he fell out of his chair. She was then laughing at him so hard tears came to her eyes, and she struggled to breathe.

He looked up at her from the floor and said, "Please tell me my humiliation was worth it. What did you find?"

She really tried to stop laughing, but with the exhaustion and the pressure she had been under, she couldn't get a single word out. She held the printout she had in her hands to him and pointed.

"Har. Har." He said, took the page, and immediately grew serious.

That calmed her down enough to stop laughing.

He stared at her and said, "What made you think to run this?"

"Your question earlier about what made energy dark. It got me to thinking that maybe it wasn't dark exactly. Maybe it was 'twisted' for lack of a better word. It is late or actually early and my brain hurts," she lamented.

"Your brain lacking sleep is better than most people at their best. This is brilliant! You are brilliant! She doesn't have to counteract darkness, she has to counteract the raw energy."

"You helped. I really wouldn't have gone down that line of thinking."

"It's sweet of you to placate me. I make random comments all the time. They never work out like this."

"I would argue more and point out you helped me distill the data and pull out the important factors, but I'm tired. We have our answer, and I want to go to bed."

"I could fall asleep right here," he commented.

"Feel free. That couch is surprisingly comfortable."

"Thanks, I will take you up on that."

She paused and smiled. She was kidding and never thought he would stay at her apartment. She liked the idea of knowing he was safely asleep on the couch. "I will get you a pillow and blankets."

"Can we talk a second? No big long talk, I promise."

"Sure. What did you want to talk about?" Her nerves took over. She was afraid of what he could say.

"I miss you."

And, that was not what she was expecting. She sat down on the loveseat harder than she meant to. "I miss you too. I didn't even know what I was missing until I found out about us in the past."

"Working with you tonight helped me realize how much I need you around. I don't have anyone who can keep up like you can. Let's be honest. I struggle to keep up with you. It feels good and being near you feels good."

"I was afraid to call you. I was afraid that you didn't want to deal with me."

"I was upset before, but surely you know that couldn't last. Or, maybe you don't remember. I'm completely entranced by you, especially when you're working."

"I don't really remember that well, but I'm glad to hear it."

He got up, walked over, and carefully sat down next to her. He then leaned in and kissed her. She felt like she was flying and on fire all at once. It was incredible.

He pulled back and looked dazed. "Now that is better than I remembered. We should probably sleep now. Will you go on a date with me on Friday? Situation willing." He asked with reason to hope she would say yes.

"Yes, situation willing." She smiled.

Amy stared at her ceiling in the early hours of the morning and tried not to squeal.

Serena grabbed Amy as soon and she and Zoisite walked through the door the next morning. Everyone else was waiting, but Serena didn't care.

Serena pulled her up to her room. "Amy! What happened?"

Amy shook her head. "I was stuck on the information that Darien gave me. I called Zoisite at eleven last night, and then we figured it out somewhere around three in the morning. I let him sleep on the couch."

"Ah," Serena said. "I'm glad you figured it out."

"He did kiss me."

Serena squealed. "That is fabulous!"

Amy asked, "Do we have time to be worrying about my love life?"

"Sweetie, with our lives, yes. If we waited until the quiet moments, we would miss out on a lot."

"Good point." Amy smiled and hugged Serena. "Well, then we have a date Friday if youma don't crash it."

"I will kill them if they do."

"Isn't that the…. Sorry, I'm catching up now. I'm lacking sleep. Very funny."

"Let's go down. I'm glad you're working things out with him." Serena smiled.

"Apparently, I'm irresistible when I'm working." Amy blushed.

"You will have to take advantage of that. Oh! You need glasses."

"What? My eyes are fine." She was confused by Serena's comment.

"No, you need those fake glasses. The sexy kind. Then you can study and get him all hot and bothered. Props never hurt."

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe you just said that." She laughed and shook her head.

They walked back downstairs and joined the group. Amy and Lita were given a brief update on Raye, and both looked uncomfortable.

Serena looked and said, "As far as I am concerned, there aren't any sides in this. I did what I needed to for my safety. I need to trust everyone at my back. That said, we were close once, and I hope to be again. I'm not asking any of you to stay away from her.

Lita spoke up, "She won't agree. She'll believe there are sides in this. That was where this was headed. She wants to be the leader, and she was trying to make us fall in line."

Everyone grew quiet and looked at her.

She spoke again, "Hey, I notice things too. I don't think we have a choice but to show her we have chosen sides. I'm not going to support her idea of a coup."

Nephrite smiled and said, "Nicely done."

Serena spoke up, "You really think she was angling to overthrow me?" She sounded shocked.

Lita looked sad, "Yes, I do. She wanted to be in charge. I thought she would eventually give up. I'm sorry I was wrong. I should have told Mina what I suspected."

Mina looked sad, "How did I miss so much?"

"You didn't miss anything. I knew she was always more open about it with me, but I let her talk so I knew what she was thinking."

Kunzite broke in, "While this is important, we have a more pressing need. Amy and Zoisite figured out what Serena needs to do to suppress Diamond. And, Mina, if you missed it, that was because you couldn't fathom anyone betraying Serena."

Darien was angry. Even at the worst he suspected of her, this was way too far.

Zoisite looked to Amy. "The floor is yours, you figured it out."

"With your help."

"I will accept thirty percent credit." He flirted with her.

She smiled coyly at him, "Let's not get carried away. Twenty percent, and that is generous."

Zoisite looked at her in awe. "You really are charming." Amy blushed.

Then they all got down to business. Everyone was filled in on Sapphire's plan, and Mina laid out the backup plan she and Kunzite had come up with.

Amy amended it saying she should take readings of Sapphire's energy output at the youma attack today. She then went on to explain that, if the readings were the same as what he gave them, it would make it all look more credible.

Serena beamed at her and agreed, and Amy felt so proud of her accomplishments in the past twenty-four hours.

Two exhausting hours later, they all had gone over the plan and knew it by heart. Serena had worked with her Silver Crystal in a mock battle and believed she could cancel out Diamond's power in a fight.

Darien took up her hand after the meeting broke up. He drew her aside and looked her in the eye. "Can you really help kill him?"

"I kill all the time." She looked puzzled at his question.

"You kill youma all of the time, not people."

"What about Beryl? She wasn't a youma."

"That's true. What we are talking about here is a different situation. You're going to render him powerless so I can kill him. In all practicality, he will be unarmed and defenseless. Can you handle that?"

"You're worried it won't feel like self-defense. It is though. He wants you dead and me under his power by any means necessary. He will… he has resorted to torture, and he even attempted to rape me. His own brother believes he will try it again."

"I completely agree. I just don't want you coming to any wrong conclusions during the heat of the battle."

"Thank you. You're right. It needed to be talked about now." She hugged him.

"I want him dead. Does that bother you?" He pulled back and looked into her eyes.

"It doesn't." Serena leaned in and kissed Daren. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Forever?"

"Forever and a day." He reached up and brushed her cheek with the back of his hand.

By the time they looked around, Mina and Amy had left, and the Generals had made themselves scarce in the house.

Darien smiled, "It's nice that Kunzite remembers an order."

Serena kissed him again and said, "Go to class. I'm going to get a nap. I believe Amy was going to take one too."

Darien kissed her hand and left to get to his class. If he hurried, he would make it on time.