Serena settled into her seat on the plane, by the window. She set her
carry on bag and purse by her feet. Darien sat next to her.
	"Are you excited?" he asked. She nodded and bounced a bit.
	"You bet! I can't wait to get on board the ship!" Serena answered,
then picked up her magazine and began flipping through it until the
flight attendant came on the intercom.
	"Ladies and gentlemen welcome aboard this flight from Tokyo to Ft.
Lauderdale. In case of an emergency the compartment above you will open
and we request that you please put on the life preserver and mask
quickly and calmly. Beverage carts will be around shortly and the in
flight movie tonight is 'You've Got Mail.' Thank you and enjoy yourflight."
	"Ooh I love that movie!" Serena squealed, pulling on the headset.
Darien smiled and pulled on his too. 'Why not?' he thought. They both
settled down to enjoy the movie and didn't even notice the plane takingoff.
The movie ended and Serena sighed in contentment.  "I love that movie.
It's so romantic," she sighed, 
glancing over at Darien, who was lost in his own little world. 'Wow
that's so much like us! Hmm I wonder if movies can come true in real
life?' he thought with a small grin. 'Please let them come true in real
life!' Serena shook her head as she lowered her seat, grabbed Mr.
Floppy out of her carry on bag and put her head on the pillow that was
passed out during the movie. She closed her eyes and was fast asleep in
minutes, before she even got a blanket.
	Darien finally clued in to the world around him about 5 minutes later.
He looked around to see most people settling in for the night and some
people working on laptops with little lights attached. He sighed and
was pulling out his own laptop, when his gaze rested on Serena. She was
incredibly adorable all curled up like that with her stuffed bunny,
sleeping peacefully. He reached over and brushed her bangs off her face
and she sighed and snuggled closer to Mr. Floppy. He settled back in
his seat a small smile on his face, laptop forgotten. A flight
attendant came by, passing out blankets. She passed one to Darien,
thinking 'Oh man, what a hunk! I wonder if he is available?' 
	"Here's a blanket sir. So why are you headed to Ft. Lauderdale?" she
asked, smiling simperingly at him and batted her eyelashes then peered
around him to see the young teen in the seat next to him, asleep.
"Would the young lady like a blanket also?" 
	Darien felt immediately on the defensive; she was totally throwing
herself at him and it was making him uncomfortable.
	"Yeah sure I'm sure Serena would love a blanket. And we're heading to
Ft. Lauderdale to go on a cruise," he said slightly stressing the we's.
'Leave me alone already, I'm not interested!' he thought. But the
flight attendant wouldn't take the hint.
	"Oh a cruise! How fun! You're really nice to be taking her, is she
your sister or a cousin?" Darien was a bit surprised. 'It's time to get
rid of this lady, so a little white lie won't be too bad, it could come
true!' he thought then placed a slightly cold look on his face.
	"Sister? Cousin? You have got to be kidding me. That woman is my
girlfriend and about to become my fiancée," he said slightly coldly as
if he were truly offended. She finally got the hint.
	"Oh sorry sir, congratulations, she is a lucky lady," she said then
handed him another blanket and moved on. 'That CHILD got him?! She is
WAY to young! That is so totally ironic! But he said that he was
proposing soon. He can't be proposing to someone that young!' she
thought and continued her rounds trying to figure it out. 
	Darien sighed in relief as soon as she was out of earshot, then turned
to Serena and started to gently tuck the blanket around her. She sighed
and turned over in her sleep so his face was inches away from hers. He
smiled at her innocent dreamy expression, grabbed the bunny from her
other side and tucked it neatly in her arms before firmly covering up
her petite shoulders. He leaned over to her ear and placed his lipsright by it.
	"Goodnight my beautiful Serena," he whispered softly then lay a light
kiss on her ear. He pulled away quickly before he could get so
intoxicated by her skin that he would not be able to stop, then pulled
down his seat and lay back with his blanket and pillow and soon fell
asleep to Serena's rhythmic breathing.
	During the night Darien was awakened by turbulence. The plane shook
and Serena's head fell on his shoulder. He looked down to see her still
sleeping and he smiled softly down on her. He began to stroke her hair
in a soothing motion so she wouldn't wake up. From the head of the
section the flirty flight attendant looked on kind of sadly. The girl
was beautiful she had to admit but the way he looked at her made no
doubt they were a solid couple. She could see the pure love shining in
his eyes even from where she stood. Slowly she turned to check the 1stclass.
	Darien stroked her hair for about 5 more minutes till they got out of
the turbulence. When it was smooth flying again he settled down to
sleep again with her head falling on his chest. He fell into a blissful
sleep, just missing some important information that was made public
just 10 minutes later. Serena was talking in her sleep. 
	Serena woke to the sound of a heartbeat and something warm underneath
her head and hand. She also awoke to tingly electricity flowing through
her head and hand to the rest of her body. Confused, she lifted her
head and gasped and blushed. 'Oh gods I was laying on his chest! How
did that happen?' she thought then peeked at Darien and was relieved to
see he was still asleep. 'Thank God he's still asleep, I wouldn't be
able to endure the teasing I would get from that!'
	Darien immediately felt the cool spot when Serena lifted herself off
his chest. 'Darn she's awake and probably embarrassed so I'll pretend
I'm asleep for a little longer,' he thought, already missing her warmth
and closeness. 
	5 minutes later Darien stirred sat up and stretched, then looked over
at Serena. 	"Oww, have I ever got a crick in my neck," he commented rubbing his
neck.	"I know what you mean," she replied, rubbing her own neck. Darien
resisted the urge to rub her crick out.
	"So did you sleep well?" he asked. She looked at her feet.
	"Yeah I guess but those pillows were rock hard," she said, then
mentally kicked herself. 'Stupid girl! Don't make hidden comments on
his buffness! What if he figures it out!' 'Huh?' Darien thought. 'Was
she talking about me? Nah, that's just wishful thinking. She was
probably embarrassed about where she ended up and just said the first
thing that came to mind. After all, pillows are a common complaint when
you're travelling. Don't see stuff where there's nothing.' 'Quickly
girl, think of something to get off this topic.'
	"Do you have any orange juice?" she asked then hit herself for asking
such a stupid question.
	"Hold on I'll get ya some," he said then waved at a passing flight
attendant. "Could you please get her some orange juice?" he asked theman.
	"Of course, sir. I'll be right back." About 5 minutes later he came
back with a tall glass of orange juice. Darien handed her the juice and
a tip to the attendant then excused himself to the bathroom. 'I really
hope she didn't get a whiff of my breath. I really need to brush my
teeth,' he thought. As soon as Darien was out of sight Serena dove for
her purse and shoved three breath mints in her mouth, then downed the
orange juice. 'I really hope he didn't smell my breath. That would be
so embarrassing,' she thought.
	Serena was fixing her meatballs when Darien came back. He sat in his
seat and decided that he really didn't want to do work right now so he
pulled a copy of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' out of his
carry on bag and opened it up to where he was. Serena pulled out the
magazine she was reading last night and flipped to the page she left
off. It was the embarrassing moments section. Serena read a few,
giggling at some of the dilemmas, but stopped and gasped after she read
one of the 4 star ones.	
	"My god that poor girl," she muttered. "That poor, poor girl. How
embarrassing!" Darien heard her say that and he got curious.
	"What?" he asked. She just handed him the magazine and pointed out the
piece. He read it and grimaced. "Ouch, that girl must be pretty
embarrassed," he commented, then started to flip through the magazine,
curious about what was in the magazines that Serena read. 'Hmm, let's
see here fitness tips, beauty tips, celebrity spotting, '15 ways to
make him want you bad', 'I didn't know I was Pregnant', '21 sexy
alternatives to sex'?!?!?!? What on EARTH is this girl reading?!'
	"Serena do you actually read his stuff?" he asked, pointing out some
of the latter articles he had noticed.
	"Well yeah, but that's really not why I buy them. I like the good
stuff like horoscopes, romantic stories and the quizzes and all that
but I do read everything other wise I won't get my money's worth out of
them," Serena replied, a faint blush tinting her cheeks. Darien
chuckled at her adorablness and flipped to one of the quizzes that
hadn't been done yet. He chuckled.
	"Ok then, let's find out your Best Astro Guy," Darien said, handing
her a pen and the magazine. She nodded and set to work, the tip of her
tongue sticking out in concentration. 'She is just too adorable,' he
thought, 'and sexy,' he added taking in her impossibly long legs that
went with her short stature and his heart started thudding. Soon she
was finished.	"Ok," she said and pulled a little book out of her bag and flipped
through it, confused. "My Astro Guy is a Leo and I don't know anybody,
guy or girl who is a Leo." She looked over at Darien, who had the
beginnings of a blush. 'Aww that's kinda sweet,' she thought not
realizing what it meant.
	"Umm," he said putting his hand behind his head, "I'm a Leo." Serenablushed.
	"So umm when's you're birthday?" She asked flipping through her book
to the Leo section.
	"Uh…August 3rd," he answered and looked confused as she recorded it in
the book. "What's that?"
	"Oh it's a combination phone number/address book and a horoscope
thingy according to your birthday," she answered absently as she read
the entry under Aug.3, then giggled. "Well Darien this is your personal
horoscope. 'You are uncommunicative, independent and have great
perseverance. In a quiet modest way you carry out your plans, relying
on your own good judgement. You are affectionate and demonstrative and
require a steadfast love from your mate.' Interesting Darien so does it
match?" Darien was rather stunned on how accurate that thing was. Some
of the things needed some tuning but on a whole it was pretty good.
	"Wow, pretty accurate," he said, taking the book from her. "So what's
your birthday?"
	"Mine's not all that accurate, but it's June 30," Serena said shyly.
'Gods I hope he doesn't laugh at it. That's not me at all!'
	"Ok lets see, ah 'You are self-reliant and indifferent to the opinions
of others, thereby sometimes annoying your friends and associates. You
are very interested in and sensitive to art and artistic surroundings.
You acquire knowledge easily and can impart it to others; a rare gift,
you would make an excellent teacher.' Wow Serena this is pretty
accurate too!" Darien exclaimed.
	"What?! No way! Me learn easily? Indifferent to the opinions of
others? Artistic? You have got to be kidding me!" Serena exclaimed.
	"Nah Serena, when something interests you, you sop it up like a sponge
and tell everyone else about it so they can't help but be excited about
it too. And the way you hold out against Raye and still be best friends
with her 5 minutes later is proof that you can be indifferent. And
don't think I don't know about your talent with taking candid pictures.
Andrew's told me about the one you got of Amy and her burger. Say have
you got anything on Andrew?"
	She giggled. "Yup! You bet! And you wouldn't believe the stuff I've
got on my brother! Too bad he doesn't know how extensive my collection
is. I swear he'd give up video games for his entire life to destroy
just one package of those pictures!" He chuckled.
	"Sounds like I'm gonna have to watch out this week with your candid
camera around." They both laughed as Serena showed him a couple of the
snapshots she kept in her purse, up till when breakfast came. They ate
the awful airplane food, trying not to gag, then Serena went back to
her magazine and Darien opened 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
again. Presently Serena got bored and peered over to see what Darien
was reading. She managed to read 3 paragraphs before the swirlies took
over her eyes.	"Gaaaa…What is this Darien? It doesn't make any sense!" 	
	"It's not suppose to Serena, and that's what makes it so funny. 'The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' is famous for it's absurdity, so much
that the original four part trilogy" Darien cracked a smile at this,
"has been expanded to at least 6 books now," Darien finished, still
grinning and very aware of the distance between him and the blond
trying to read his book. His fingers shook as he tried to keep from
stroking her hair out of her eyes. He failed and his fingers reached up
and brushed the soft hair out of her eyes. Serena stiffened in
surprise, which Darien mistook. Feeling a bit stupid he quickly made a
joke out of it.
	"Maybe that's why you couldn't understand it Meatball Head. All your
hair was in your eyes so take it away and voila, it makes sense!" he
teased. Serena relaxed, rather disappointed, but kind of not.
	"Whatever, but doesn't a trilogy have THREE parts?"
	"Yeah they do, that's part of the humor." She sweatdropped.
	"O-Kay. What are you on Darien?"
	"Nothing. Maybe you should try reading it when you're older, I think
you'd like it."
	"Uh-huh," she said, unconvinced. "Whatever." He shrugged and settled
back into his seat and got involved with the unfortunate life of Arthur
Dent. Serena sighed, and in desperation picked up the short story she
was to read for English. 'Blarg. The Pit and the Pendulum, what a
boring name for a story,' she thought. 'But where have I heard that
name before? Oh yeah Edgar Allan Poe wrote that weird Raven poem! Well
I'd best get this over with.
"I was sick-sick unto death with that long agony; and when they at
length unbound me, and I was permitted to sit, I felt my senses were
leaving me. The sentence -the dread sentence of death- was the last of
distinct accentuation…" Ok this is too confusing! What on earth does
this gibberish mean?'
	"Darien," she whispered. "What does distinct accentuation mean?"
Darien put down his book and looked over at what Serena was reading and
did a double take.
	"You're reading The Pit and the Pendulum?!" he asked, surprised.
	"Uh, yeah. It's an English assignment. We have to read it then
interpret it." 'Oh my god,' thought Darien. 'This is going to take a
long time. And sheesh, they're starting them on Poe younger and younger
these days. What's next, taking it to elementary? I started doing Poe
in high school!' Then he shifted closer to Serena, partly to see the
book better, but mainly to be nearer to her. For the rest of the flight
he helped her with her homework in English, Social and Math that was
assigned to her that week. Looking back, all Darien could remember was
the scent of her hair, her beautiful face scrunched up in concentration
as she struggled to understand the concepts and the gorgeous smiles
when she got something. And of course the horrified look on her face as
they read The Pit and the Pendulum, her blue eyes round with horror and
wet with tears, and the quivering breath. It all made him want to take
her into his arms and hold her till she stopped trembling.
	Now they were descending on Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. They both buckled
when asked and spent the time before they landed putting their stuff
away and checking to see if they had everything.
	"Have you got everything Serena? We can't leave anything on the
plane," he warned. She checked everything again.	"Yup, got everything!"
	"Great. Just think Serena, in only a couple hours we'll be at sea for
an entire week. I can't wait."
	'Yeah neither can I Darien,' Serena thought. 'An entire week of trying
to keep my emotions hid from you, when it was so hard to do it on the
flight? I don't think so! My heart was beating so fast the entire time
you were helping me with my homework, it took so much willpower not to
blush! I don't think I've ever concentrated on my work that hard in my
life, but I need to concentrate on something other than you. Why do you
screw me up so bad?
Hold it Serena! This has got to stop right now. You do not like Darien
you have a crush on Andrew. You are not feeling any of these emotions
do I make myself clear?'
	Just then the plane landed and everyone was busy getting up to get off
and they got caught up in it. Serena stood up and stretched and hefted
her carry on bag, but Darien took it out of her hands and swung it over
his shoulder with his own bag. 
	"Come on Serena, we have no idea how long it will take to claim our
bags and get to the docks so we have to hurry." They both rushed off
the plane as fast as possible and headed over to the baggage claim
area. Bags were already starting around the conveyor when they got
there. Within 10 minutes all of their bags except for one of Serena's
were sitting by their feet.
	"I don't understand where it could be," Serena said. "It should've
been with my other bags and this thing has gone around twice already."
They watched as a middle aged man grabbed for a piece of Sailor Moon
luggage and missed as it went into the back. They scanned the different
pieces of luggage as they went past, when finally the Sailor Moon
luggage appeared again and the man took it and left with his family.
	"It's not here," Serena said sadly. "And that's the bag that had my
swim suits in it and my formal clothes and…oh man! My comic books were
in that bag! Oh great! Now I have nothing to read during the trip.
Maybe I can get some American ones."
	"Well I'm afraid all we can do is report your luggage missing and have
them send it back to Tokyo and get someone to pick it up there," he
said pulling her over to the service desk. They registered her missing
luggage and arranged for it to be sent back and for her Dad to pick it
up when it arrived, then headed out to find a cab.
	Darien flagged down a cab and gave him directions. Shortly they were
where the MS Volendam was docked. 
	"Well Serena it's shortly after 4 and the ship leaves at 5. Let's
check our luggage then do some shopping to replace what was in your
misplaced bag. I don't think you can get comic books on the ship, but I
saw a comic shop a block away." They checked their bags then walked
over to the comic shop. Serena found some comics that looked
interesting enough. They were by a company called Marvel and the title
was X-Men. Serena grabbed a couple copies of those and some translated
manga, and Darien paid for them and they walked back to the ship andboarded.
	"We can get you a swim suit and some formal clothes here on the ship,
but lets head to our room first and get unpacked so we can see what all
you need," Darien suggested. Serena nodded in agreement so they stopped
a passing porter and asked for directions to their room. The porter
escorted them to the room and opened the door, nodded his head and
walked briskly away, before they could thank him. They gaped at their
room. It was huge. Their luggage was piled neatly by the door and the
sun was shining in the windows.
	"Wow," they breathed. Serena stepped inside and took in all the
furnishings. There was a little bar with a fridge, a TV and VCR on a
table a few feet in front of a couch, another table surrounded by a few
chairs with fruit in a bowl on it. She peered into one of the two open
doors, which was the bathroom and saw a whirlpool bath/shower and a
nice marble counter. The other open door, which was by a closed door,
showed a dressing room.
Before this, to the left of the door was a bed and two dressers
separated from the rest of the suite by a curtain. Serena's breath
caught as she quickly scanned the rest of the suite to see if she had
missed anything. Aside from the private verandah and the closet that
was behind the closed door, she had seen everything. Gulping, her eyes
drifted back to the king size bed by the door. 'Uh oh,' she thought and
unconsciously began to blush. 'Does that mean we have to share the
bed?' Darien noticed Serena's scarlet face and followed her gaze and
nearly laughed out loud. Instead he decided to see what she would do.
Obviously she didn't know that the sofa pulled out into another bed. He
picked up one of her suitcases and tossed it next to on of the dressers
in the 'bedroom.' Then he tossed one of his suitcases near to one of
the other dressers, but right next to the closet too.
	"Lets get unpacked first then we can get ready for dinner and after
dinner we can see about getting you some new clothes and a bathing
suit, kay?" he said, unzipping the first compartment of his suitcase.
He pulled out the garment bag, noticing that Serena was still blushing
scarlet. He pulled out his tux from the bag as well as a couple of
blazers and nice pants and headed to the closet to hang them up. After
finishing this task he came back to his suitcase and folded the garment
bag tucking it back in his suitcase. Before he could decide what do
next Serena solved the problem with her reaction.
	"Umm Darien…there's a bit of an problem…see there's umm only well one
uh bed," she whispered, turning even more scarlet in her embarrassment.
He smiled to himself.
	"I don't see any problem," he started then paused.  Serena turned
positively purple and stared at him gaping. "That bed can be converted
to two beds and the sofa pulls out into another bed," he finished,
picking up his suitcase and taking it to the dresser by the sofa. "You
can take that one and I'll take the sofa bed if you want." Serena was
recovering from the situation still and sighed in relief.
	"Oh, Ok I guess," she said absently, the colour just starting to drain
from her face.
	"Ok now lets hurry and get unpacked so we aren't late for dinner,"
Darien said as he arranged himself so he could watch her while he was
unpacking. She nodded and began to toss the thankfully for the most
part still folded clothes into the drawers randomly, keeping a tally on
what she had. Darien methodically put his clothes into the drawers, his
mind occupied with watching Serena. He was finished quickly and went
over to see if she needed any help. To his offer of assistance she
handed him a couple sundresses and asked him to hang them up. As soon
as his back was turned she grabbed the various articles of underclothes
and shoved them into the last drawer and slammed it shut, masking it
with a shout about finally being done. While she was doing that Darien
was sneaking a peak at the size of the dresses, a 3. 'Good now I know
where to look when I shop for her,' he thought.
	"We should start getting ready for dinner," he called to her from the
closet. "Why don't you shower first?"
	"Kay," she called back as he stepped out of the closet. She headed to
the bathroom with a small bag and closed the door. He walked over to
the couch and flopped down on it. 'Congratulations Darien, you made it
through one whole day of being around Serena and not kissing the life
out of her now 7 more days to go.' He sighed and fell into his
daydreams of kissing Serena and watching sunsets with her and swimming
with her and seeing her in a bathing suit…and what would have happened
if he hadn't told her about the sofa bed and that the big one could
pull apart. (AN: Not THAT for any one who's minds were in the gutter!!)
He was abruptly pulled from his daydreams when the door to the bathroom
opened and Serena peeked out then hurried over to the bedroom in a
towel that covered to slightly above mid thigh. Her legs seemed to go
on forever they were so long and shapely and…hold on that's enough of
those thoughts. It's time to go take a COLD shower Darien. Yes very
good idea,' he thought as he headed to the bathroom. The mirror was
sort of fogged and he looked at all the stuff littered over the counter
and shook his head. 'Man look at all this stuff. I don't think I'll
ever understand why women drag all this stuff with them, let alone
understand women,' he thought as he dropped his clothes and stepped
into the shower and turned on the cold water.
	Serena sat on the bed behind the curtain and pulled on some underwear
and a bra then wondered if there was a dress code for dinner. She
decided she'd ask Darien after he got out of the shower then plugged in
her hairdryer and started drying her hair.
Darien dried off, wrapped the towel around his waist and stepped out of
the bathroom. (AN: DROOOOL!!! Darien in a towel!! Sigh, Serena is one
lucky gal! *Snicker* If only Chibi Chibi were here!^_~) He heard a
hairdryer going in Serena's room so he walked into the closet and
grabbed some pants and went over to his dresser and grabbed a pullover
sweater. He went into the dressing room and got dressed, coming out and
heading over to the curtain. Serena poked her head out through the
curtain, holding it shut tightly below her neck.
"Is there a dress code for dinner Darien?"
"Yeah, but I think your blue sundress will be good. Do you want me to
grab it?" She nodded and he returned with it a second later. She
reached for it and Darien caught a glimpse of her pink bra strap.
'That's so like her to even have pink on underneath her clothes.' He
shook his head.
"Hey Serena can I borrow that hairdryer?" In response it came out of
the curtain so he took it and plugged it in over by the sofa and he
started drying his hair. Serena came out with the dress on as well as
some white sandals with her hair down. Darien's breath caught. Her hair
flowed to about an inch above her feet. She disappeared into the
bathroom and reappeared about 10 minutes later with her hair up in its
regular meatballs and a bit of lip-gloss on and her teeth brushed.
"Ready to go?" Darien asked. "We don't want to be late." She nodded and
he offered his arm and they walked out of the room, locking it and
towards the dining room.
They walked into the formal dining setting and took an unoccupied
double table. Service was prompt and the food was good, a wonderful
change from the awful airplane food they had been eating. Too soon
dinner was over and it was time to go shopping. They wandered around to
a few little shops that sold clothing items, stopping first at the only
bathing suit shop. Serena sweatdropped and turned red when she saw what
was being offered. She had forgotten what bathing suits were like in
tourist spots and on ships; skimpy things.
"Umm Darien, is there any other shops that sell swim suits on the ship?
These ones are a bit…revealing."
"No Serena, sorry we have to find something here. I'm sure there's
something you'll like." They looked around the store together, Serena
rejecting most of the swim suits there as about 80% were thong bikini's
or nearly there. Finally near the back of the store she came across a
bikini that wasn't too bad and tried it on. When she came out Darien's
eyes nearly fell out of his head. It was a light lavender suit with
small pink roses on it, fashioned in a sweetheart bandeau top and
normal bottoms, cut low on her hip. All in all it accentuated her
figure extremely well. She kept her eyes down and one foot played with
the floor as she waited for his opinion, so she didn't notice his eyes
roving up and down her.
"It looks really good Serena," he said, carefully controlling his
voice. Serena started to look up at him but a suit on the lowest rack
caught her attention. She rushed over to it and held it up. It was navy
with silver metallic like stripes up the sides, and it was in her size!
'Thank you God! You do look after me!' she thought as she hurried to
try it on. When she came out of the dressing room again Darien, still
stunned by the other, nearly went into a coma. Although this one was a
one piece, it was high cut on her hips, making her legs seem to go on
even longer than the forever they were before and it had a very low cut
neck line. Darien wanted to often see her in both.
"Do you want those two?" he asked. She looked up startled. "Two?"
"Well you'll need two cause of the amount of water activities on thecruise."
"Ok I guess these two seem to be the best." She changed back into her
clothes and Darien took the suits to the counter and paid for them with
pleasure. Then they walked out of the store and headed to the dressshop.
As soon as they walked through the entrance of the dress shop a
saleslady came up to them. Darien explained that they were looking for
some formal wear for Serena and she showed them some nice dresses.
Serena tried on many and was always annoyed when Darien would never let
her see the tag. After many outfits had made their way onto Serena and
out to be modeled, they finally chose some stuff. A long white dress
that looked exactly like the one she would one day wear as Neo-Queen
Serenity was bought for her as well as a long skirt with some nice tops
and a cute little slip dress. Serena protested all the way up to the
cash register about not being able to see the tags. When they left the
store she was still in the dark about how much Darien had spent and
protested that she should know all the way back to the suite. 
When they got back into the room and Serena had hung up her formal
clothes and put away her new bathing suits she peered over at Darien.
"Can I borrow your laptop now?" she asked him. He nodded and set it upfor her.
"Just go ahead now, it's all ok for you to use."
"Thanks!" she grinned and gave him a small hug. Darien nearly went into
shock, the only thought coming through the haze of his mind was 'My god
did she just hug me? Oh wow those slender arms around me what I
wouldn't give to feel her arms around me again…' he thought as he idly
drifted over to the couch and plopped down and picked up his book and
pretended to read it as he gave way to his rushing emotions and
romantic fantasies, never once noticing that the book he held wasupside down.
Serena logged onto hotmail and skipped immediately to the message she
was waiting for. Opening it she read over what Kaylee said and smiled.
She clicked reply and sent her a note back wishing her a good recovery
and that it sounded to her that she was doing just fine. She also put
that she wished that she could be there to see her, but soon she would
be back with her special surprise. She added some of the more humorous
points so far to cheer up the girl then sent it. She checked all her
other e-mail and answered it then went to e-greetings and chose a ton
of birthday postcards to send to her. Placing them on order for the
appropriate day, she signed off that and did a little bit of chatting
in the message boards before signing off the Internet. She looked up to
see Darien on the couch reading his book…upside down?!?!
"Umm…Darien? Why is your book upside down?" She asked curiously. At the
sound of her voice Darien came out of a particularly nice daydream
about rubbing Serena's back with some of Urd's Suntan oil… and looked
up startled.
"Huh?" She repeated her question and Darien frantically tried to think
of an excuse. "Umm...it's not upside down, the paper cover is," he
lied, not willing to admit that he hadn't been reading while she was on
the Internet. Fortunately she accepted it as he took off the paper
cover and put it on upside down, pretending to correct it. He got up
and wandered over to her and the laptop where she was trying to figure
out how to unconnect the Internet. He took the proper cords and did it
for her then looked at her trying to hide a yawn.
"Serena don't fight the jetlag, just go to sleep and it'll be gone when
you wake up. We haven't adjusted to this part of the world's time yet,"
he said as he pushed her over to the bed. "Goodnight," he stated firmly
as he shut the curtain and headed over to the couch.
Serena sat unmoving on the bed, the feeling of his hands on her
shoulders still lingering. With a sigh she stood up and got out her
boxers and tank top that she slept in, changed and pulled the covers
over her. She barley had enough time to tuck Mr. Floppy under her arm
before she was fast asleep.
After Darien had pulled out the couch, put blankets on it and got
changed for bed, he walked over to the curtain. Serena's steady
breathing sounded from behind it, so he pulled back the curtain. Serena
was curled up around her bunny looking so angelic his breath caught.
Slowly he walked over to the side of the bed and ran his fingers
through her loosened hair, then leaned down and placed a soft kiss on
her temple then went to bed to dream about the angel sleeping only a
few steps away.

Hey ppl's!! Sorry this has taken awhile. I am soooo swamped with all my
IB work and extra curricular activities. Also I've been working on some
of my other stories that I hope to post after CC is finished. Part b
should be out in a few weeks depending on my workload and it will be
longer!! That part will deal with the rest of the week, then there'll
be an epilogue then CC is finished! Suggestions and comments are
welcomed and feedback especially is essential!! Please e-mail me! Oh
and if any of you were wondering about the Chibi Chibi thing, basically
in Stars, during one ep. Seiya has to take a shower while at Usagi's
place cause Chibi got him good with a pie. But when Seiya walks out in
just a towel, the senshi are standing at the door with Usagi they see
him and Chibi tried to pull the towel off! I was laughing sooo hard in
that scene! *Wipes tears from eyes*  
Ja matta ne!
Selene.