Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Seduction ❯ Some Silly Fluff ( Chapter 16 )

Serena lay in her bed feeling lonely, but it was something she was rapidly becoming used to. How strange that she had become used to the idea of waking up with Darien there. Three nights was all it had taken. She closed her eyes and tried to grasp sleep, but it eluded her as effectively as wood smoke. She sighed and rolled over, another sleepless night, and she had a test tomorrow. Luna grew weary of her turnings and leapt down, slipping out of the room to seek a more stable bed. She sat up and turned on the light. Pulling out one of her school books she resigned herself to trying to bore herself to sleep. She was pulled from her solitude by a soft rapping at her bedroom window. Curious, she crawled over the coverlets and peered out. Darien sat on her roof, a soft smile on his lips. She opened the window and climbed out to join him. He gripped her hand, steadying her until she found a perch.

“What are you doing here?”

He flushed slightly. “I couldn't sleep. Are you mad?”

“No. I couldn't sleep either.”

“Why not?”

Now it was her turn to blush. “Because…it's not the same without you there.”

He wrapped an arm around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. “I would stay, but…”

“I know.”

He watched as her face became sad. “What's wrong?”

“I miss you. This is worse than before. You were gone so often, but now…now you're there and I still can't be with you. It's torture.”

“I know what you mean.”

She turned her head to bury her face in his shirt. “Will you stay, please? I don't care if my mother finds you in the morning. Please stay.”

“Serena…”

“We'll just sleep, please.”

He ran his fingers through her long blond hair. The sight of her moon-bleached skin, her eyes shut fast against the tears near broke his heart. It was too much like before. He never could take her begging.

“Let's get some sleep then.”

They crawled in through her window and were soon tangled in each other on the bed. Serena sighed softly as her head rested on his shoulder. Darien could sense just how exhausted she was. He stroked her hair as she drifted toward sleep. It was almost five in the morning when the sound of footsteps in the hall stirred him. He cracked an eye open long enough to realize Serena's mother was standing in the doorway, watching them. Slowly he removed himself from her embrace. Relief flooded the woman's face when she saw that he was almost fully clothed. He stepped out into the hall, pulling the door shut behind him.

“If this takes too long she'll wake up.”

“How often do you do this?”

He glanced at the close door. “This was the first time. I…we couldn't sleep.”

“Do you…have you…do you love my daughter?”

He looked her in the eye. “With all my being. I will marry her.”

“Marry…” She seemed to be having trouble forming words. “She's too young.”

“I am more than willing to wait. I'll wait years, decades if I have to.”

She took a step back and he saw wonder come into her eyes. “You really do love her.”

“Yes, I do.”

She glanced toward the closed door. “She has to be up by seven-thirty to be at school on time. I'll call from the kitchen. Her father will be gone by eight.”

“Thank you.”

Her eyes found his. “No, thank you. I don't think…my daughter seems to understand who she is better now that she has found you. I am grateful to you, she's happier now than she has ever been in her life.”

Remembering the sadness in her eyes that night, the tightness of her grip, and the tears so close to the surface he could smell them he wondered if she had ever known happiness before. He touched the doorknob then paused, but she merely nodded to him, so he let himself it. Serena curled around him when he rejoined her. He closed his eyes, glad that they had come to some sort of understanding.