Title: A Family for Christmas-Chapter 2
Author: Sailor Bunny

Rating: PG
Here's Chapter 2!!! Happy Holidays everyone! (Yeah NOWI can't think of
anything to say lolz) Please email me and visit mysite!Sailor Bunny aka Lindz
sailorbunny21@yahoo.comhttp://www.geocities.com/smoonshroom/

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Over the week, Chloe and Monsuier Robert DeLomburg
became very closefriends. However, Chloe became very suspicious of him.
It all startedone night at dinner.....~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chloe had requested her favorite, spaghetti andmeatballs, and they all
agreed. She sat quietly slurping her noodles while hermother, Darien,
and Robert talked. Chloe looked over at MonsuierDeLomburg and he 
smiled and winked at her. Suddenly, as if out ofnowhere, bells started
ringing and sparkles danced around her.
"Mommy! Mommy, do you see?? Do you hear them?? Mommymommy!" Chloe
shrieked, bouncing excitedly in her chair.
"What is it honey?" Serena asked, calmy placing herhand on her daughter's
shoulder."The bells! And the sparkles! Mommy mommy, do you see?Do you hear?
Monsuier DeLomburg is..is..an ANGEL!!!" She pointed tohim.
"Angel? Honey, are you ok?" Serena flushed, placed ahand to herforehead.
"I'm FINE mommy! You're not listening! MonsuierDeLomburg is...oh
NEVERMIND!!!" She huffed, crossing her arms andsitting back with an
angry scowl on her face."Uh, Chloe..honey..maybe you should go to your room,
ok?" Darien spokeup.She glared up at him. "Okay DAD." She marched off to
her room.Serena brushed back a strand of hair and laughednervously. "I am SO
sorry about that Monsuier DeLomburg. She's usually notlike that. I
guess it's...change of atmosphere or something."
Robert chuckled heartily. "Oh, it's quite alright Mrs.Shields. I was
once a kid you know." He held up his glass and took adrink, winking atthem.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next night, they all went ice skating at a local
ice skating rink.Chloe had been taught by her mother how to ice skate
and was exceptionallygood. Monsuier DeLomburg glided on the ice as if he
was floating onair. Darien didn't know how to skate and watched from
the sidelines,struggling to stand on his ice skates.
"Come on Darien, come skate with me! Pu-leeeease!"Chloe pleaded, grabbing
his wrists and shaking them up and down. She put onher best puppydog face.
He groaned. "I don't know how to skate, sorry." Heprotested.
"Pleeeeease?? I'll teach you!" Chloe continued hercute face until he
could no longer stand it."Alright, alright." He complied, taking her hand and
holding tightlyto it for support as he stumbled out on the ice.
"There you go. Just one foor in front of the other.Glide..glide..that's
it!! You're getting it!" She taught him.
He started gliding slowly and unsurely. "Hey...I AMgetting it!" He
broke out into a grin."Good good! How come you never learned how to skate
before? Didn't yourdaddy ever teach you?" She asked innocently.
He slowed down, frowning. "No. He never cared enough.Always to busy
working or something. Never enough time for me.""Well...what about your mommy?"
"She was cold and cruel. Didn't even want to be amother." He shrugged.
Chloe took this as a sign and didn't ask any furtherquestions.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Meanwhile, Monsuier DeLomburg and Serena peacefully
skated with eachother. "You're very good." He commented.
"Thank you. You're not so bad yourself." She repliedwith a smile.
"You skate with confidence. I've taken notice you'revery confident in
yourself. Aren't you ever afraid of a fall?" He asked.
She shrugged and shook her head. "I see no need to. Ilive my life dayby day."
He stared somberly at her. "You shouldn't be soconfident. You never 
know when you will fall." He said.
Suddenly, her skates slipped from under her and shewent tumbling down
on the ice. She gasped and looked up at him who justshook his head.
She got up, rather irked by this, and continued toskate.
"Your daughter is quite a remarkable girl. You taughther to skate I
assume?" He asked, looking over at Chloe and Darien."Yes I did." She replied.
His grey-blue eyes twinkled. "I thought so."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Darien and Chloe laughed, skating over to join Robertand Serena. "Hey
you two, you look like your having fun!" Serenagrinned.
"Yeah! I taught Dar...Daddy how to skate!" Chloegrinned, catching herself.
"Well..how bout you come and skate with me and leavethese two alone?"
Monsuier DeLomburg asked, taking Chloe's hand andskating away.
Serena smiled and skated around him. "You two sure hitit off." Shesaid.
"Yeah. She's a great kid." He replied, running agloved hand throughhis hair.
She grinned wider and winked. "I know." She started toskate a bit
away from him, as he followed her.
He stumbled over his skates and a slim, pretty blondecaught him. She
giggled and shot him a sexy smile. "Whoa there. Youalright?" He grinned
back and nodded flirtatiously. "How about I help youout there?"
He started to comply, then caught sight of MonsuierDeLomburg's 
questionally glared. He shook his head. "No I don'tthink so."
She shrugged, disappointment glinting in her eyes."Suit yourself."
She skated away.Darien skated over to a slightly frowning Serena. "I'msorry."
He looked at her. "For what?""Well..I know your the most eligible
bachelor..er..was..and I feelthat I've ruined your dating life." She shrugged,
looking down.He lifted her chin up and stared into her baby blue
eyes, drowning inthem. He was mesmorized, until he regained his
composure and answered."No you haven't. I'm alright really. It's...a change.
Actually, ourwhole situation is making me feel more...settled."
She smiled weakly. "Really?"He nodded. "Besides, she wasn't my type." He pointed
over at the girl,who had taken a new intrest in Chad and the twoflirted.
She laughed. "Oh yeah I'm sure. Not your type." Hereyes glistened. "And
the question running through every girl's mind..whatIS your type?"
He grinned. "You have yet to find out my dear. Now,come, skate with 
me." Darien held out his elbow.
Serena took it courtisly. "Alright." They glided offaround the ice
under a dark sky blanketed with stars.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Two nights later, Chloe was playing in Darien's studyarea, making a
nusensce (AN: alright alright so I can't spell) ofherself. She saw an
antique model train on his desk and pushed it back andforth makingtrain noises. 
Then, Darien strolled in and got slightly perturbed atwhat he saw.
"Chloe what are you doing?!" He yelled angrily takingher wrist. "This
is not a toy. I told you to stay out of here!!" 
"I was just PLAYING!!" She yelled back, running to hiscouch and picking
up his nutcracker.He snatched it away from her. "Well I told you not to
play in here!""I didn't mess anything up!" She argued.
"You shouldn't be in here, there's very importantstuff back here." He
opened his breifcase to find cracked pecans scatteredabout. He groaned.
"CHLOE! You irresponsible little brat! Didn't yourmother ever teach
you anything about respect of people's personalspace??" His facegrew red.
Tears clouded Chloe's eyes. "I don't have to doanything you say!!
YOU'RE NOT MY DADDY!!" Serena ran in, upon hearing all the commotion. "What's
going on here??"She demanded.
"Your little brat is messing up my study!" He pointeda finger at her.
She glared at Chloe then at him. "You have no right tospeak to MY 
daughter like that!""She should be taught a lesson in manners."
"She HAS manners thank you very much and she doesn'tneed to take any
lessons from you. I never want to hear you yelling atmy daughter ever
again!" Serena yelled."Yeah!" Chloe added.
"Don't start young lady. I told you not to play inhere and you
dilebratly disobeyed me! I am quite ashamed. Go toyour room immediatly!"
She pointed towards Chloe's room.
Chloe stood for a minute, glaring at her mother, thenstormed off to
her room, slamming the door shut.Serena glared at Darien and repeated an ongoing
onslaught of insultsand the two bantered it out. After a while, Darien
started to give into Serena's stuborness and motherly ways.
"Well what can I do about it now?" He asked quietly.
Her expression softened a bit, but still remainedstern. "You can go
into her room and apologise to her."
"Apologise? To her? I don't think so..." She glaredsternly at him.
"Alright alright I'm going." He dragged himself to his'daughter's'room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Darien took a deep breath and entered Chloe's room.
She was lying inbed with her stuffed rabbit. He sat on the edge of herbed. "Hi."
She looked up, expressionless. "Hi." She replied.
"I, uh, I'm...well..you know. I shouldn't have yelledat you. And...well,
you know what I'm trying to say...don't you?"
A tiny smiled creeped up her mouth. "Yeah. You'resorry."
He flushed and ducked his head. "Yeah. Sorry."
"You're not too good at this." Chloe commented.
He chuckled nervously and ran a hand through his hair.Darien turned
his head and caught sight of a picture of Chloe and atall blonde man.
He picked it up and studied it. "Who's this?"
She looked up at it. "Oh that's my daddy."
"If you don't mind me asking...what happened to him?"Darien asked quietly.
"Oh..he's..an astronaught. He got called out on animportant space
mission so he's been gone a long time." She chirped.
"An astronaught, eh?" Darien said, knowing she wasmaking it up.
"Yeah...what about your daddy, Darien? Tell me aboutyour daddy."
"Well, Chlo, there's not much to tell. He was neverreally around. He
was usually in business meetings or something. Hebarely had time for
me." Darien looked down, fiddling with one of Chloe'smany stuffedanimals.
"What did he do with you when he WAS around?" Chloehugged her rabbitcloser.
"Baseball." He gave a wry smile at a memory. "I wasnever good at it.
My glove...it was too big, and I could never catch thebaseball. Dad
would throw it and throw it and I kept missing it. Hewas so disappointed
in me. One day...one day I almost caught it.""What happened what happened?"
"He threw the ball..it was so high..I made a huge leapfor it...I had
it in my glove..but it was too big. I couldn't get ahold of it and it
fell out of my glove. Dad never played baseball withme after that..in
fact, we barely spoke after that." Darien lowered hishead and closedhis eyes.
Chloe took his hand in hers and squeezed it. "I'msorry Darien."
He looked up and her and smiled. Then, he noticed therabbit she was
clutching so tightly. "Hey, where'd you get this?" Heasked, poking it.
"Oh, my daddy gave it to me. He's gonna come back youknow. He is." Sheinsisted. 
Darien ruffled her hair and kissed the top of herhead. "Night kiddo."
He turned off the light and left.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Darien looked through the house until he found Serenaout on the balcony.
She was leaning over the side, staring at thebeautiful full moon.
"Hey." He said, coming up behind her."Hey." She responded, not turning her head.
He came up beside of her and leaned on the railing. "Italked to Chloe
and apologised. Ya proud?""I know. I kind of overheard you guys in the hall."
She said."Oh...if you don't mind me asking..what's the TRUTHbehind Chloe's 
father?" He asked.She sighed. "He worked as an accountant and was a golf
fanatic. Hejoined a golf tour and...well..I guess it was moreimportant than his
family. He left one morning for work and didn't comeback. I managed to
catch up with him long enough so he could sign divorcepapers, but that's
it. Sometimes I even get a phone call, and he fillsChloe's head with
lies about how he's coming back. I know he never willthough. James
never cared about anyone but himself. (AN: YAH YA HEARTHAT JERKYBUTT)"
Darien put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed it."Then he never
deserved either one of you."Serena managed a weak smile and leaned her head
against his shoulder.

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Finally done with Chapter 2!! This took longer thanexpected, but oh
well. I am seriously doubting that I'll finish it byX-mas, but oh well,
live with it. Please email me and visit my site! Luvya!Sailor Bunny aka Lindz
sailorbunny21@yahoo.comhttp://www.geocities.com/smoonshroom/