Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ On Horseback ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

On Horseback (Updated 21-Oct-04 23:06:28)

Author: Ree-B
ree_chan_angel@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/total_ai/index.html
Rated: R, for passionate interludes and foul language

AN: Author Notes in (parenthesis), thoughts in [brackets]

Disclaimer: I have only one claim to fame. No, it is not that I own Sailormoon. It
is that I live next door to Barbara Bush, wife of... Wathal Bush (heehee). Anyways,
Don't sue me.


On Horseback
Chapter 3:

***********RECAP*******************************************

The lightning was so close it was almost instant thunder and Endy raged out of control.
Serena tried as best she could to control him. Everyone had stopped and Ken and Alan
had dismounted to help control the horse. Before they could reach the animal, Endy
reared violently and sent Serena flying over the 50-foot drop. Emotion erupted in Darien
and he grabbed a flashlight and started climbing down the drop. His companions yelled
after him.
"Darien! Come back!"
"Dare, where are you?"
He couldn't hear them over his own calls for Serena. He couldn't find her. He was now
crying but you couldn't tell because of the rain. He yelled her name over the roaring
noise of rain.
"SERENA! WHERE ARE YOU? SERENA!!!!! ANSWER ME!!"

**********END OF RECAP****************************************

Just then he
saw a small figure sprawled over a rock. He rushed to her side, scanning her for injury
(like any good doctor would) and checked her vital signs. He concluded that she was
alive, but had been knocked unconscious. Her head was bleeding right above her
eyebrow, and she had some bad bruises. Her neck hadn't been injured so he
carefully lifted her limp form, and somehow carried her all the way up to where his
friends were waiting.
"She's unconscious. We need to get her to that shelter. NOW!" Darien yelled.
They all returned to their horses. Darien mounted his own horse, still cradling Serena in
his arms. Ken took the reins of Serena's horse and tied it to the back of his saddle. They
didn't go any faster than a fast trot because of Serena's delicate position. On the way
there, Darien whispered words of love and comforting to her as he gently brushed her wet
bangs out of her face. When they reached the shelter. Darien placed Serena on the floor
(since there was no furniture) and everyone crowded around as Darien and Mina started making
her comfortable with what they had. Darien pulled out a small bag of necessary medical
items he always had with him but everyone crowding was making Darien
nervous.
"BACK OFF! EVERYONE! GIVE US SOME SPACE!" He yelled surprising the group.
"GEEZ! We're just worried." Said Sammy annoyed.
"Just listen to him." Mina said calmly.
Mina And Darien whispered things to each other that made no sense to the others. Their
doctor's terms were to confusing to follow what they were doing so the group backed off,
waiting patiently.
After thoroughly checking Serena over, Mina got up from Serena's side and
approached the others. Sammy was frightened that something had turned for the worst.
To ease his mind, Mina smiled at Serena's worried older brother.
"She hit her head fairly hard. She might have a sprained ankle, but the rest are
just bumps and bruises. She really lucked out. Don't worry, Sammy. Darien is a really good
doctor." Her years of appeasing frantic family members at the hospital paid of when her sweet
smile calmed Serena's own frantic family member into just a concerned brother. Darien rose
at Serena's side.
"She shouldn't stay out on the trail. Her injuries are not very bad, but the last
thing she needs is to make them worse. Once she wakes up, she just needs to rest and let herself
heal."
Sammy immediately offered to take her back to the ranch and stay with her. But Darien
knew the better of it.
"Wait, Sammy. I know you just to see that Sere is safe, but I am the most logical choice.
If she gets ill I can be there to treat her. I am also the one that doesn't particularly want
to be on a horse for a week." He stopped and pulled out his cell phone, and handed it to Ken,
"When I get to the ranch, I'll call you." He kneeled down and gently lifted her into his arms.
Everyone was moved by the love he showed for her. Sammy stopped him and said close to Darien's ear,
"Take Lightning, He's the fastest. You take good
care of her!"
"I will. I promise. I would die before I let her feel pain." Darien turned and headed
out to where lightning was tied up.
"I know you would." Sammy said, recognizing the love Darien had for his sister,
but Darien was too far to hear him. Darien mounted the horse and sped of as fast as he
could without hurting Serena. In about 15 minutes he had made it to the ranch. He tied
Lighting up in the barn and carefully made it to the ranch. Inside it was dark. Darien set
Serena down on a nearby couch lit up by the lightning. Somewhere along the way, she had come
out of her concussion and was now just sleeping soundly. Once she was settled, he reached for
the light switch. Nothing. The power had gone out. Darien's next thought was to call Sammy.
He would want to know that they had gotten to the ranch okay. He picked up the phone. Damn, no
dial tone. The power lines were down as well. Sammy would just have to wait. Right now he had
to get Serena Comfortable.

---'-,--{@ At the trail shelter @}--,-'---

It had been two hours since Darien had left with Serena and somewhere between being worried
for her health and ranting about how he should have gone with them he started to get angry at Darien
for not calling yet to let him know they were okay. There was plenty of signal on his cell phone.
"Perhaps, there is a reason He has not called yet." calmed Mina. "Maybe he isn't thinking
about it."
"I see where she's going, Sammy. You know how much Darien loves Serena,
Right? Well he needs time alone with her to tell her his feeling." Andrew said.
"Alone with her, NO WAY! He'll jump her if he's alone with her!"
"How dare you, Sammy! You know she is more to him than that and even though
I don't think she knows it, she's in love with him too." Ken said when he peeped up for
the first time.
"But she's my sister, she needs me!"
"There's nothing you can do to help that hasn't been done already." Mina said in
the I'm-all-knowing-so-listen-to-me voice. Sammy headed to the door, but stopped at her words.
"I guess she is in good hands. But if I get back and find her de-flowered, there will
be hell to pay!"
"Oh, come on Sammy. Your sister has been "de-flowered" for a long time. There's nothing
they can do she hasn't already done!"
Shocked and horrified that Alan would say something like that about his sister Sammy stood there
with his mouth hung open. But all he could do was believe him. With that Sammy reluctantly agreed
to stay put.

---'-,--{@ Late that night @}--,-'---

Serena had been sleeping right through the storm for about four hours now. Darien had occupied
the seat next to the bed for the entire time. He had left to retrieve a glass of water should she
awaken. Darien entered to see his sleeping beauty on the bed. He sat down in a chair next to her
and took hold of her hand. She now had her cuts and bruises tended to and a real bandage on her
head. He stared at her and he remembered how she looked when he watched her sleeping. She looked so
sweet. Just then her eyelids fluttered open.
"Darien? Sammy? Mina? Guys?"
"Sere! It's okay. I'm here." He kissed her forehead gently, "Go back to sleep."
"Okay, Dare..." Her voice trailed off as she fell back asleep. Soon after that,
Darien fell asleep with his head resting next to her on the bed and his hand in hers.

---'-,--{@ Tuesday, The next morning @}--,-'---

Serena woke to find Darien with his head on the bed next to her. He was sound asleep
and had his hand wrapped over her own. He looked so peaceful. He was the only one in
the room. She carefully crept out of the bed, trying not to wake this sleeping prince. She moved towards the door. Serena went to put on a change of clothes. Her ankle hurt really badly and she had some bruises, but she really needed to wash up some. She put on a comfy pair of jeans and a cute sleeveless button-up shirt. She grabbed a brush and hair tie and went back inside. She soon emerged and sat
down on the bed. Darien was still asleep and she didn't want to disturb his peaceful
sleep. She moved to stand next to him. She shook him slightly,
"Dare, wake up." He opened his eyes to see a pair of white tennis shoes. He followed
the bandaged ankle up the long slender legs, and up the beautifully perfect body until his sight rested on the eyes of
his love. For a second she just looked into his eyes. Before he turned from her intense gaze.
"You saved my life, Dare. Thanks." Darien blushed profusely
"It was nothing." He glanced sideways to see her smiling face stare back at him.
He didn't want to ruin the moment, but then a question crept into his head.
"Sere, why did you push me away at the river?" The question shocked her; she
didn't know how to answer..
"Um...um..."
"Do you not like me?"
"No Dare, that's not it. I just didn't think it was sincere because you had just
broken up with Jess."
"What do you think now?"
"I don't know..." [if he only knew how much I want it to be truly what he
feels. But I can't tell him ...yet ]
"Well let me tell you a secret, Sere. That day Jess broke up with me, I was about
to break up with her because I..." [ I can't tell her yet]
"Because you what?" [ Please say because you loved me ]. Just then the phone rang. Thinking quickly, Darien changed the subject to avoid a
confession,
"I guess the phone lines are back up. That must be everyone checking up on you!" Darien walked around to the other side of the bed and picked up the phone.
"RINNGGG...RRRINNGGGGG...Hello..." Darien recognized Andrew's voice on
the line, "Hey Darien. we just wanted to know how everything is with Serena."
"Tell everyone that Sere is fine. We're back at the ranch and She is healing fine. What's it like there?"
"It cleared up and now it is beautiful."
"Great! Well then you guys should stay on the trail. Don't let us spoil your fun.
Sere will be fine, no horseback riding for awhile, but fine."
"Okay, Dare. We'll leave you two alone together!!!" They had convinced Sammy
to stay and that Serena was going to be okay.
"What are you getting at Andy?"
"You know, man, you...and Serena...! Do I have to spell it out! Tell her what
you think about her!"
"I'll get to that. I'll talk to you later, Andy. Tell Sammy I'm still keeping my
promise. Bye!" Darien hung up the phone and turned to Serena. "They say it's beautiful
up there. They are going to stay on the trail, so we have a week until they come back."

---'-,--{@ @}--,-'---

The time passed quickly. They did everything there was to do. On Wednesday, they
went for a swim in the lake, Darien would dunk her under and they would play around
like children, and Darien would watch her silently as she lay in the sun in her string bikini
to get a tan. On Thursday, Darien helped her stretch her ankle to keep it healthy, he
would gently place his hands on her leg and extend it and Serena loved how he would
then run his hands back up her leg to her thigh. On Friday, they stayed in, popped
popcorn and watched classic movies, they would discuss the scenes and why one movie
was better, and Darien noticed how her cheeks reddened slightly when she would become
frustrated with his masculine thinking and how beautiful it made her. On Saturday, they
went for a walk through the fields; they talked about the world today and Serena
discovered how the loss of his parents had made him bitter towards the people who took
their parents for granted, and it amazed her how he could be so serious one minute and
then the next he was gathering flowers for a bouquet he gave to her. On Sunday, they
went into town to a small church service, and afterward they went to play with the
children at the playground, and Darien noticed how she had instantly made lifelong pals
with all the children and Serena noticed the same about Darien. On Monday, They kept
doing each other's hair over in odd styles, then took pictures and made funny faces, and
that night Serena painted her nails and toenails, then painted Darien's, and they fell
asleep together on the couch; curled in each other's arms. On Tuesday, they made a cake
in the kitchen and ended up circling the dinning room table in a flour fight, and that night
when they ate it they shared childhood stories about friends and girlfriends/boyfriends.
On Wednesday, they went to the barn to get hay for the horses and ended up playing hide
and seek in the loft. On Thursday, they went horseback riding on the same horse, and
came back and sat in each other's arms in front of a fire, and it was then that their reverie
was shattered. Darien realized that they had still ignored what they had said and done
that hurt each other. He pulled his arms from around her waist.
"Sere, I can't do this."
"What's wrong, can't do what?" Serena was confused. Had she done something
wrong?
"I can't keep pretending that we are in a healthy relationship. Ignoring that you
pushed me away when I kissed you. Ignoring that I still don't know how you really feel
about me or you know about how I feel for you. Ignoring the confusing signals I get from you.
Come on, Sere, are we a couple or just good friends?" Darien had put so much feeling in
his words that he was pacing the room and flailing his arms, never making eye contact with
Serena. When he stopped talking, he stopped in front of her and stared deep into her
soul. It left her speechless for a moment.
"Darien?" she nearly whispered.
"Yes?"
"I love you." She said it so calmly as if it was the only thing in her life she was
completely sure of. Darien looked at her. Serena couldn't tell if it was a look of disgust
or of victory or maybe a mix of the too. "I wasn't sure for awhile but now I'm sure I love
you. I can't believe I didn't figure it out earlier..."
"Serena." When he spoke she looked up to his caring face, "You're rambling." A
playful smile graced his face.
"Oh sorry." She blushed and looked at the floor. He lifted her face and said,
"That's okay, it's cute. And Serena, I love you, too. I have known it since that
morning on horseback."
"Oh, Darien." She stood and laid her head to his chest. Darien looked down at the
blond in his arms. He lifted her head by placing his hand under her chin. He gazed at her
then leaned down to place his lips on hers. Darien moved his hands to rest on her lower
back. Serena had her arms draped around his neck. They kissed passionately for a long
time. They sat on the couch and kissed in each other's arms until they fell asleep with
Serena on top of Darien with her head on his chest.
On the porch, five heads peeped in the window to see the couple embracing. Mina then
pulled her head away and ordered the guys to do likewise.
"Let's leave them alone." They crept upstairs and left the two lovebirds sleeping
on the couch. That night Serena and Darien dreamt of their wedding together.





---'-,--{@ ---'-,--{@ ---'-,--{@ THE END @}--,-'--- @}--,-'--- @}--,-'---
Well how did you like it? I know it was very long. Please write me and tell me what you
think. Tell me even if you hated it. My e-mail address is ree_chan_angel@yahoo.com
Bye!