Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Little Older, A Little Wiser ❯ Family Interlude ( Chapter 6 )

The legendary heroin, Sailor Moon, valiantly fought against the never-ending stream of enemies, dodging attacks left and right. And finally, finally the goal was within sight. The prize that she had fought so long and hard for.

"Yes! Double stuffed mint Oreos!"

As Serena grabbed the package of cookies, a woman with a screaming child came around the corner and barely missed hitting the blonde full on with her shopping cart. The battle wasn't over yet. There were still some things left to get on her grocery list. Back into the maze of aisles we go!

* * * * *

Serena laughed at her own thoughts. She usually loved grocery shopping even though she never could seem to be able to stick to her list. It was just that there was all this great food everywhere she looked. And then there were these ladies giving out samples. And once you tasted it, well, it tasted so good so you wanted to have some a home too and then before you knew you had a grocery cart full of food that wasn't on the list.

But there were more people than normal, the holiday season coming up fast. People were out buying groceries for their big family meals. And for the first time in a long time, she had a family too. Granted, it was an odd one, including two talking cats, a Priestess, a model and a med student, but they were her family. And there were others out there too. And she was going to find them.

After grabbing a few more things, Serena decided that it was time to go before she did more damage to her checking account than she really afford. As she turned into a new aisle, one leading towards the check out area, and had another cart, this one pushed by a teenage boy ram full on into her.

'And the great heroin was within sight of her final goal' Serena almost giggled.

"Oh my god, Serena?" The boy asked.

Serena turned to look at the boy for the first time and frowned. He looked familiar but she just couldn't place the face...

"Sammy?"

Serena was speechless. She hadn't seen any member of her family since that night that she had been kicked out. She had thought of going home a couple of times, to see if everyone was alright but she just couldn't bring herself to. She hadn't wanted to deal with being kicked out again, with seeing the disappointment on her parents faces again. And the result was she had barely even recognized her own brother.

The two stood staring at each other for a while, each trying to think of something to say.

Finally Serena smiled slightly, "How are you doing?"

Sammy seemed to snap out of his daze with her words and smiled shyly back, "I'm good. You?"

"Good. How are Mom and Dad?"

"Oh, they're okay." Sammy said. After another uncomfortable pause, "They miss you."

"Really?" Serena asked, surprise and wistfulness coloring her voice.

"Yea. You should come home and see them." Sammy said.

"Umm...well, I'm really busy right now and..." Serena began, torn. She wanted to go home but she didn't want to and she needed more time to think and deal with all her emotions.

"Hey. It's okay. How about you give me your phone number so that I can call you? Please? I can at least fill you in on all that's happened while you were gone." Sammy said.

Serena gave a nervous laugh and pulled a pen out of her purse, "Um, I don't have any paper. Do you?"

Sammy grabbed the pen from her hand, "No problem. What's the number?"

Serena gave him the number and he wrote it on the palm of his hand. Then he clicked the pen shut again and handed it back to her.

"So, when's a good time to call?" He asked.

"Well, I work Monday thru Friday till 4. So, probably anytime after five. But if I'm not there leave a message, okay?"

"No problem."

Just then a large woman shoved passed them, pushing the two of them out of the way.

"I guess I better go." Serena said.

"Yea, me too. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye."

"Bye."

* * * * *

At home Serena put away her groceries slowly, not really paying attention to what she was doing. Instead, her thoughts were focused on Sammy and what he had said.

They missed her. Maybe she should go home, let them know that she was okay.

And Sammy had changed so much. He was taller than she was now and his voice had gotten deeper. She had never really thought of her family as changed. On one hand, if asked she would have said that of course things were bound to change over several years but that had never quite registered fully. But now the possibility of changes had hit her fully and she wondered what else had changed. Were they still living in the same house? Were her Mother and Father still working at their same jobs? What school was Sammy going to these days and how was he doing in school?

* * * * *

Darien was in the kitchen cooking. He had offered to cook dinner for her tonight if she actually went grocery shopping. Serena was a horrible cook and tended to get things that required minimum effort on her part but if her offered to cook she would buy healthy food for a change. Offering to cook on her shopping days ensured that there would be decent food in her apartment and gave him an excuse to hang out at her place. Not that he really needed an excuse.

But tonight she was acting strange. Normally she would have been in the kitchen with him, talking about her day and trying to sneak tastes when his back was turned but tonight she seemed distracted and quiet. It was times like this that he realized how little he about her. He knew their past on both the Moon and on Earth before he was stripped of her memories for the second time. But he had never had a chance to just be with Serena on Earth, not like Endymon had been with Serenity on the Moon. He hadn't known who she was at first and then Beryl had turned him against her.

That must have been like a nightmare for her. He was never sure how much she had remembered of the Moon when they were fighting Beryl the second time. He knew that his memories had been much more incomplete than they were now but he also knew that Serena, as the Princess, had always known more than the rest of them. Did she know that Beryl's Generals were her Scouts old lovers? Had she remembered how the Scouts had been forced to fight their Generals over and over again, until all of them had died in that final battle? And if she had, what must it have been like to have Beryl finally get her love too?

And now, she was not the Moon Princess that Endymon had fallen in love with and she was not the young girl that Darien had bumped into everyday and delighted in teasing. She was a woman who had fought for her life daily, seen the deaths of her friends and risked her life too keep from seeing it again. But regardless of what life had made her, he still loved her. He had wondered for a while if he still would. But there was something about her, something he couldn't explain even to himself, that called out to him and he knew that he would always need that certain thing to make his life complete.

But that didn't mean that he understood Serena. Though, come to think of it, Endymon had never really understood Serenity either. And his Serena had had several years to learn how to keep her own council. All Darien could do was keep reminding her that she wasn't alone anymore.

* * * * *

Serena stared at the book she was pretending to read but her mind was on her family. Sammy was going to call her one of these days and then what? Was she going to try to go home? Could she ever go home? She had left. And if she were being completely truthful with herself she would admit that she was angry with her family. Angry that they had not known what she was going through and that they had abandoned her. The rational part of her argued that they hadn't known that she was Sailor Moon and there had been no way for them to know what she was going through because she couldn't tell them. But no matter how many times she told herself that, there was still a part of her, irrationally, insisting that as her parents they should have known and supported her.

Serena glanced up at Darien working away in her kitchen. The smell of cooking food was beginning to fill the apartment and caused her stomach to awaken. She stretched, getting up from the couch, and decided to not worry about this until dinner was over. For right now, there was a raven-haired hottie in her kitchen cooking for her. He deserved attention too.

Serena snuck quietly up behind him and made a grab at one of the pieces of chicken in the frying pan. Popping it into her mouth she let out a gasp as the piece of meat began to burn her tongue. Sucking in air she made a dash towards the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water and took a long pull from it. She turned around after replacing the water bottle to see Darien silently laughing at her. She glared at his helplessly shaking shoulders for a moment before poking him in the ribs.

"Don't laugh at the misfortune of others."

Darien grabbed her finger and used it to pull Serena into his arms. She tried to struggle free but she was effectively pinned to his chest.

"Don't poke the other children." He said, leaning down to smile into her eyes.

"Who are you calling a child?" Serena said, mock anger in her voice.

"Hmm? You're not a child? Really? And how are you going to prove it?"

"Like this." Serena leaned forward and captured Darien's lips with her own. As she deepened the kiss she felt his arms around her loosen slightly. When she was sure that she was free, she suddenly nipped his bottom lip and made a mad dash for the living room.

"Hey! No biting either!" Came an angry shout from the kitchen.

"You can't come out of there or something will burn!" Serena yelled as the chef started to leave the kitchen.

Darien stopped and looked at the pans simmering on the stove and then glared at the flushed blonde. Finally he turned back to his cooking, muttering under his breathe. Serena collapsed on to the couch, giggling.

* * * * *

After dinner the two of them were curled up on the couch together, watching television in a comfortable silence.

"Darien?" Serena asked hesitantly as the show they were watching ended.

"Hmm?" he turned towards her slightly and turning off the television.

"Do you...tell me about your parents." Serena asked hesitantly.

"What? Why?" Darien asked, sitting up and pushing away from her slightly so he could see her face better.

"It's just that I was thinking about family, you know, with the holidays coming up, and I was just realizing that neither of us really has one, a family, I mean, and I was wondering what yours was like...before...I've never heard you talk about them." Serena trailed off, looking into his eyes.

After a few moments of silence, Serena dropped her eyes and, staring at the center of his chest, said "Never mind. It was stupid. Forget I asked."

"No!" Darien said, surprised at his own outburst, "No, it's okay. It's just I don't remember that much about them, I was so young when they died."

"You don't remember anything?" Serena asked.

"Well, I remember things like the way my mother smelled and that my father used to carry me on his shoulders so I could see over people's heads but most of the things I remember are more like feelings. Nothing I can really tell someone else. Is there some reason why you wanted to know?" He asked, painful memories swimming in his eyes.

"I told you. I was just curious." Serena said, defensively, regretting asking him and reawakening all that old pain.

"Serena, you know that Rei and Mina and I are your family, right? And Luna and Artemis too." Darien said, trying to figure out what was going on.

"I know. I just...you know, wonder sometimes. About my family." Serena finally admitted.

"Have you ever gone back? Or even called them?" Darien asked gently.

"No. I didn't think they want me." Serena said quietly.

"Shh." Darien said, pulling her against him in a hug, instinctivly trying to protect her from this hurt.

She clung to him like he was the last sane thing in her world and he simply held her, pushing back his own inner demons to help her face hers. The two of them sat there for a long time, clinging to one another, seeking and giving comfort to each other. And as they held each other, the rest of the world fell away for a short time and all their problems were forced into the background by the strength of a simple hug.

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