Overcoming Obstacles- Epilogue

by Sailor Em (Sailor Galaxia1@yahoo.com)

AN: finally, after HALF a year, this is finally done. will wonders never cease? 
Now i've got to finish my other stories. oh darn. will this cycle never end? 
^_^ just kidding! I love writing stories, and although this one isn't' my best, 
I certainly learned a lot. I'd like to thank all of you for giving me endless 
support. You guys are so great! Especially:
Diana: I don't know where you are, but I'd really like to thank you for giving
me courage to write in the beginning! Thank you so much!
Nicole: Aaah! I finished! After many proddings and pokings, I have finally 
finished this! Now onto Operation Rose...
Lisa: stop laughing! it's finally done. so there. :P
lastly, I'd like to thank all those lovely websites out there that have 
graciously accepted my stories onto their webpage. Arigato gozaimasu!
Now, please, enjoy!


>From a dark corner, there stood a Serena and a Darien surveying the couple.
   "Job well done." Serena cried as she watched Mina put her head on Andrew's shoulder.
   "Oh, so that's what you dragged me out for." Darien remarked, clearly disappointed.
   She scowled. "Well what do you THINK I did it for? Mina and Andrew, of 
course! Certainly not to talk to you."
   "Serena! That was mean." he said reproachfully.
   "Well, look who's talking. Mr. Deny-his-feelings. You may not be mean all 
the time, but you certainly are selfish." Serena replied, not a bit repentant.
   "What? How am I selfish?" He was rather insulted. He had always considered
himself very generous. 
   "For starters, you toy with girls' hearts to have fun. Secondly,--"
   "Serena!" he interrupted her, "I already told you, I was sorry. I don't 
know how to make you believe me. I do care for you. I....love you."
   She turned her head toward him, her eyes filled with tears. "That's what 
you said already. But do you mean it? Are you just saying it to make me shut 
up? You said sorry before. And it was apparent that you didn't mean it. So do
you mean it now?"
   He sighed. She was obviously feeling obstinate this evening."I'll be back 
in a minute." Darien disappeared, and Serena spotted him across the gym 
talking to the Deejay. He reappeared next to Serena and held out his hand. 
"Dance?"
   She eyed him warily. "Please, Serena?"
   "Oh fine." she took his hand and he led her to the floor. She put her 
hands lightly on his shoulders standing about two feet away from him. Darien,
however, had other ideas. He put his hands on her waist and pushed her closer
to him, forcing her to hug him. Serena finally gave up and put her head on his
chest, listening to his heart beat and the song play.


Love, I see forever in your eyes
I can see heaven in your smile
And when I hold you close
I don't want to let go
because deep in my soul I know girl
You are the only light I see
Your love means everything to me
I promise that we'll never part
Cause you'll always be in my heart

If the sun, should refuse to rise
And the moon, doesn't hang in the night
The tides won't change, seasons rearrange
When the world is through
I will still love you

   She coughed slightly to lessen the seriousness of the song. "Don't assume 
that dedicating a song to me will change things." She warned him.
   He smiled rakishly at her. "Won't it?" She settled back on his shoulder. 
Darien held her closer to him.
   He bent down to whisper in her ear. "Please, forgive me?"
   She shivered, now wondering if her decision to scorn him away was right. 
"I...don't..know. A song and a bunch of 'I love yous' definitely won't change
everything."
   He raised an eyebrow at her. "Then what will?"
   "Nothing."
   He nuzzled her ear. "There has to be something. A girl always wants 
something. And I'm prepared to give you anything your heart desires, Princess.
I'll do anything it takes for you to forgive me." Serena felt her heart melt,
but she tried to hang on to the dregs of her anger.
   "Absolutely nothing." she repeated.
   He left a trail of kisses down her neck. "Absolutely...nothing?" She 
shivered. "Aahh! That tickles!" she gasped.
   He laughed lightly. "And you'll go on being tickled until you tell me what
I can do to make you forgive me." 
   "Fine! Fine! Mercy!" she yelped. 
   "Okay." he stopped. "How can I redeem myself?"
   "How about a hug?" she suggested.
   He frowned. "Hmmm...a hug? Nah, not enough."
   "A smile?"
   "Nuh uh. Not personal enough." he winked.
   "How about a smile and a hug?"
   "Geez, Serena, can't you think about ANYTHING else except teddy bear hugs?"
he asked, pretending to be annoyed.
   "No, I can't. Sorry." she grinned.
   "Serena! Laaast chance! If you can't think of anything else, then prepare 
to be tickled!" he warned. 
   She blushed. "How about....a kiss?" 
   "Ah HA! So that was what you wanted, my little Meatball Head?" he smiled 
playfully at her. "Well, your wish is my command, Sweetie." He bent down and 
kissed her.
  
Girl, you're like an angel from above
Sent here to shower me with your love
Hold me beneath your wings
Tell me all of the things
All the hopes and the dreams we can share
Cause I'll be your shelter from the storm
I'll be the fire that keeps you warm
I'll be your light in the dark
Cause you'll always be in my heart

   As soon as their lips touched, they both felt a jolt of electricity flowing
through them, binding together. Something warm went through Darien's body, 
causing his heart to pump erratically and make him shiver. He marveled at the
feelings Serena was stirring in him; was this true love? Did she really love 
him? He didn't really care. All he wanted to do right now was live in the present 
and hang the future. After all, what would be a future without Serena? 
Unless...they stayed together forever. Then he would welcome the future. They
broke the kiss and smiled at each other. Darien held Serena closer to his heart.

If anything could last forever
It's what I feel for you
Oh baby, you touch my heart in ways
That words could never say
That's why I'll always love you

If the sun, should refuse to rise
And the moon, doesn't hang in the night
The tides won't change, seasons rearrange
When the world is through
I will still love you

I will still love you


   "Oh, Darien, I'm so sorry about what I did to you. I didn't mean--" Serena
broke down, silently sobbing into his shoulder.
   "Sshhh..." he murmured, rubbing her back. "It's okay. It's all okay."
   She stopped her sobbing for a minute to look up at him. "Do you forgive me,
Dare? I'm so sorry...I was just angry..and I didn't understand what you were 
going through. I forgot what you told me at the hospital, about your past and
everything..." she trailed off, not knowing what to say.
   His heart rejoiced at the use of his nickname. "Of course I forgive you, 
Rena. I love you, remember?" His beautiful eyes smiled back at her, promising
a thousand more promises of their future. She put her cool hand to his face, 
gently touching the smoothness of his skin. "I'm glad." she whispered.

   Ami stared at the embracing couple. "Hey! Mina! Psst!" she nudged Mina. 
"When did this happen?"
   Mina looked where she was pointing. "Aaahhh! Andrew, honey, we did it!!"
   She got everyone's attention. Raye spoke up first. "What the heck is that? Serena and Darien together? No way!" 
   Andrew shouted jubilantly. "Whoo whee!"
   "Hey, dude, like, what do you know about this?" asked Chad.
   "Yeah! Andrew, why didn't you tell us to help?" demanded Lita. "I rock at 
this kind of stuff!"
   "Surre" snorted Mina. "How about you and Ken? It took you twenty billion 
years to figure out that you liked each other! How were we supposed to know 
how long it would take you to set those love birds up?"
   "Minako!" she growled. "Do you want me to kill your precious Andrew?"
   Mina held her arms out in front of Andrew in a mock-protective stance. "Oh,
heaven forbid!" she cried. Everyone laughed and turned their attention back to
Serena and Darien.

   "Oh, Dare, we should have done this a long time ago."
   Darien considered this. "Actually...I think my accident brought us together
in some nasty way."
   "Oh yeah. I guess so. By the way...did you REALLy call for me to feed you?"
   He blushed. "Well....yeah. I mean...I wanted to meet you! How else was I 
supposed to get you to notice me? Half the time at school you were scared 
half to death of me! I tried to talk to you one day in the hall."
   "Really?" Serena was puzzled. "I don't remember that at all."
   Darien rolled his eyes. "No DUH. After I had said 'hi' and you had FINALLY
turned your head to look at me, I had already been whisked away by a mob of 
girls."
   "Well, you are the most popular guy at school, and the head of the football
team and--"
   "The guy who is so totally, completely, thoroughly in love with Serena 
Tsukino." he finished for her, kissing her nose.
   She giggled. "Oh Darien. What I was going to say was that you're so 
perfect....that I would never have imagined that you would ever be interested
in me."
   "How could I NOT? You're so beautiful and bright...you stand out from the 
rest of the crowd. How could I not notice you? Actually, I ignored that little
feeling inside of me for a while, but after I found that you were working at 
the hospital, I had decided to give it a chance."
   Suddenly, their beautiful reverie was broken by a raucous voice. "Oh, 
Darien, DAH-ling, why, what are you doing with that little blond tramp?"
   Serena felt Darien's arms tighten around her. "Don't worry." he whispered. "She won't hurt you." he turned to Christina. "What do you want?" he demanded.
   Christina looked at him in mock-surprise. "I want to claim what's rightfully mine. 
You."
   "Just go away. You don't own me. I don't care about your father's stupid 
money or his stupid law. You can never own me. If anyone can own me, it's 
Serena. (AN: lol, I think that's just the funniest thing to say.) I don't 
need you, so just take your flaky makeup and cheap hairdo and second-hand 
dress and get out of my face!" (AN: go Darien! That's showing her! ^_^)
   "Aahh!" she screamed in indignation. "I'm going to tell my father! He'll 
see that you stay with me! I'm warning you, if you don't step away from that 
cheap little kid right now--"
   "HOW DARE you call me a little kid!" Serena had risen up in outraged majesty. 
How dare this...SLUT call her a cheap little kid! "I'll have you know that 
just because you have inflatable boobs and a bleached out wig doesn't mean 
that you are worth more than me! In fact, it's the exact opposite! Nobody 
cares a whit about you. You are worthless. You have no class. Who's the 
tramp? If anybody, it's you!"
   Darien nodded with confirmation. "You got that right, Rena!"
   Christina had been eying Serena impassively, but by the end of Serena's 
little tirade, her face was burning bright red. She walked up to Serena and 
slapped her face.
   Serena stood there, stunned by the blow. Her eyes were wide open, her 
mouth a big O from shock. A red handmark soon appeared on Serena's pale cheek.
Darien growled as he saw his love being battered. "You lay one more finger on
her, Miss, and I'll blast you into next week!"
   Christina waggled her hips obnoxiously at Darien. "I'll leave. Honey, by 
tomorrow, you'll come running back to me."
   Darien snorted. "Don't hold your breath, witch!"
   She ignored him. "You need me. If my father didn't like you, you could be 
in jail right now."
   Andrew interrupted her. "Actually, hold that thought for a minute, okay 
Christina?"
   He ran outside to the street, searcing for a car. "Dad? Dad? DAD!" he 
hollered. Suddenly, a car came around the corner. It was the county chief, 
his dad. His dad got out, and strolled pompously to him. "What is it, son?"
   "Dad, you know all about laws and stuff, right?"
   "Now son, you know I do. What do you need?"
   "Come in with me." Andrew ran inside, with his dad huffing and puffing 
behind him. They got to the center of the crowd, and Andrew spoke up. "Hey, 
Christina, I was lucky enough to find the Chief of Police outside. You want 
to settle this jail thing once and for all?"
   She stuck her nose up haughtily. "Fine by me."
   "Okay," Andrew proceeded. "Mr. Chief of Police, sir, is it true that 
charges can be pressed for uncooperating with your guardians as a minor?"
   "What?"
   "Can you be put to jail if you don't cooperate with an orphanage AFTER 
you've been released?"
   Mr. Chief of Police snorted. "Of course not! That's just a bunch of mumbo 
jumbo. After you're released, you are fully independent. There are no strings
tying you to your previous home." (AN: I totally made this up. I'm sorry if 
this is totally inaccurate.)
   Andrew turned to Darien. "So, Darien, I pronounce you officially free from
that wench Christina." he grinned at his best friend.
   Darien suddenly smiled. "Thank you so much Mr. Crown! You don't know how 
great that news is!" he turned to Serena. "Will you do me the honor of officially 
becoming my true love?"
   Serena blushed. "Of course, Mr. Chiba. My pleasure." His smile grew even 
wider as he swept her into an earthshattering kiss. All the guys present 
blushed and all girls swooned at the romanticism of it all. All girls except 
Christina. Christina just gave a little squeal of outrage and was about to 
stomp out of there with that guy she hired to be her date when Mina stopped 
her. "Hey! Christina! Wait for a minute!"
   Christina stopped, growling. "What do you want?"
   CLICK! "I want to know...how do you feel being dumped by the hottest guy 
at this school?" CLICK! CLICK! Mina took pictures of Christina's progressing 
anger.
   "WHY.....you little...." Christina stormed out of the gym. Her date stood 
next to Mina, watching her leave.
   "Uh Miss?"
   Mina turned to the date. "Yes?"
   "Are you available?"
   Mina saw Andrew's shadow approaching her. "Actually, I am free tonight. 
Hello, My name's Minako Aino and--"
   "And she's TAKEN." hissed Andrew. The poor nameless guy scurried out of 
the gym, leaving Mina with a steaming Andrew.
   "WHAT was that little performance, Miss Aino?"
   Mina grinned. "You jealous, sweetie?"
   Andrew took one look at her and swept her into his arms. "That was NOT f
unny." She hugged him back, patting his hair as she would do to a little boy.
 "Andy, sweetie, don't worry. Don't be jealous. I was just playing around. 
I'll dance with you later, okay?" Mina, being the official photographer of 
the yearbook, jumped out of Andrew's arms and began hopping around smooching 
couples taking loud pictures.

   The Deejay was tired of being ignored. "Ladies and Gentleman, please resume
your dancing." He messed with his discs for a while and found a slow song. 
Serena and her friends all gathered in a circle, chatting about what had just
happened.
   "So Serena! Now will you admit there was something going on between you 
and Darien?" grinned Raye.
   Serena stuck her tongue out. "Don't start Raye!" she turned to Mina. "So, 
how do you like my matchmaking, Mina? It appears that you are satisfied with 
the results."
   Mina gasped. "So THAT'S what you were doing! I had been wondering why you 
had suddenly befriended Darien."
   Darien laughed. "You should have seen her face when we met up the first 
time! It was like she was going to marry a cockroach or something!"
   "Yeah," she laughed. "I had very reluctantly partnered up with him to get 
you guys together, but it seems that we were meant to be!"
   Mina winked. "You had a bit of help, too."
   Serena's eyes widened. "You MUST be kidding! You and Andrew set us up?"
   Mina grinned. "Yupparoo. Now smile!" She took a picture of Serena's mouth 
wide open. 
   "Mina!" howled Lita. "And you didn't tell us!"
   Mina shrugged. "Well, I couldn't have a bunch of girls tagging along ruining 
our cover."
   "Yeah." piped up Andrew."It was already tough as it is. We had to stage a 
fight and everything."
   "What?! You mean that whole car thing was a hoax?" exclaimed Darien.
   Andrew blushed. "Well, actually...that part was real. But I wasn't really 
that mad at you. I just wanted to give you some time alone with Serena."
   Darien began huffing and puffing. "So you actually embarrassed me on 
purpose?" CLICK! Went Mina's camera.
   Everyone began backing away. "Uh..Dare..what do you mean?" asked Andrew.
   "Remember how you told the whole beach that I kiss my car goodnight? And 
that I wash it every day? Remember that?" he growled.
   "No?" asked Mina.
   "And how about when you announced that I had hand fed Darien in the hospital?"
asked Serena innocently.
   "Well, wasn't that true?" defended Andrew.
   "Yeah," snarled Darien, "But you said it like we were perverts!"
   "Uh, BYE!" Andrew and Mina (still taking pictures) raced out the door with
the rest of the gang trailing behind them, leaving a steaming Darien and a 
laughing Serena.

   "Are they gone?" asked Darien.
   "Yup. You really scared them good." giggled Serena.
   "Yes, my acting debut was quite good, if I say so myself." Darien puffed 
up proudly, rubbing his fingernails against his chest.
   Serena snuggled up against him. "Thank you for saving me from their third 
degree. My hero!"
   He laughed, pulling her closer. "Anything for you, fair maiden." he held 
out his arm. "May I have the pleasure of escorting you home?"
   She giggled bewitchingly, holding out her soft hand. "You may." 
   They intertwined each other's fingers, savoring the warmth shared between 
them. "I love you Darien." Serena whispered.
   "I love you too, Meatball Head."

   The couple walked out of the crowded gym into the cloudless night, content
on being alone with one another. As they walked home, the moon shone full and
bright, guiding their path. They stopped for a moment as Darien kissed Serena.
   Suddenly...CLICK!
   "MINAAAAKKKOOOO!!! Gimme that camera!"


~END~


AAAhh!!!!! I finished it! It's been forever! It seems like a miracle...I've finally finished this story. ^_^
How did you like the ending? Tell me at :SailorGalaxia1@yahoo.com
Watch for the ending of Operation Rose and Love Will Find A Way! 
I don't own 'Still' written and performed by 98 degrees. 
God bless you guys all...you've been so wonderful. ::sniff:: I appreciate it!

~Emi-chan