Elisabeth james ejames000@ameritech.net Rating:PG- PG13 Second to last part, almost done, do you like it? Write me with anything death threats, praise, flames, I love everything (well except the death threats) Darien walked out the door of the guest bedroom quietly early the next morning. As he passed Serena's door, he stopped and stared at her for awhile. She was so beautiful, her long golden hair swept across her face, her eyelids closed peacefully on her pale cheeks. He smiled, He walked slowly into the room pulled a rose out of nowhere and placed it on her pillow. He left the room silently and went downstairs into the kitchen. He wrote a quick note of thanks to both her and her mother and left the house silently. Serena awoke a few hours later, still groggy but she couldn't sleep anymore. She had dreamt about Darien all night long, their conversation kept playing over and over in her mind. She turned over and found a red rose lying next to her on her pillow. She gasped and picked it carefully, afraid that it wasn't real. She inhaled the sweet scent, It was the most perfect rose she had ever seen, blood red in color, she clutched to her to her chest, and closed her eyes. "Serena are you up?" Ilene called from downstairs. "Yeah mom, is Darien still here?" she crossed her fingers in hope that he would have at least stayed for breakfast. "I think he left early this morning, before I even got up, he let you a nice note though." Serena shot up from her bed and raced downstairs, "Where is it?" Ilene handed her the note immediately, "You two must have been up late last night, I didn't hear you go to bed until after midnight." "We were talking, we both had a lot of stuff to sort out. He's a great friend mom, I never saw that side of him before, he was sweet last night." she handed her mother the rose, "And he left me this." Ilene gasped, "Where did he get a rose from?" "No clue, but it's the most beautiful rose I've ever seen, I'll keep it forever." she looked down at the note in her hand, the writing was scrawled and written in a hurry. "It's that just the nicest note, he's a sweet boy Serena, and I think he likes you too. He called you his angel." Serena smiled as she came across the word, "I'm going to go to the arcade today okay?" she raced upstairs note and rose in hand. She placed them on her dresser and got dressed. She did her hair and grabbed the rose and raced downstairs and out the front door. Outside smelled like rain, fresh and clean. Everything had been washed clean ready for a new day. She breathed in deeply and ran to the arcade, it was after 1:00, and her friends would be waiting for her. She passed by the fortune teller's shop as she ran and the woman was outside wiping the windows clean. Serena narrowly avoided hitting her and stopped only for a second to apologize. "Wait a second blondie, come here, you were here yesterday right?" Serena nodded slowly, "Yeah, what about it?" "Did that guy find you, he was looking for you." "Yes he did, in the park, was he the one from the vision in the ball right?" the woman nodded, "Sensed the same thing from him as I did from you, something different about the both of you. I swear I've never had anything like this happen to me before, at first I thought I was going insane, but let me ask you, did the vision come true." "As a matter of fact it did, in the park I was crying and he made me feel better." she smiled at the thought of him being so nice to her. "That rose is from him isn't it, it's beautiful." The woman felt the connection between them, it was strange, she obviously wasn't really psychic, so why was she getting these feelings, "He loves you." she blurted out unexpectedly. Serena's eyes widened, "I have to go, I'm late as is, thank you. Maybe I'll come back later and give it another try." Serena resumed her across town dash toward the arcade. The woman's words echoed though her head, 'he loves you, he loves you'. She prayed that he did, she loved him, or was it just a cruel trick to get her to come back for another reading. Tears brimmed up in her eyes at that thought, damn that woman if she was toying with her emotions, damn her for giving her false hope. She spotted her friends though the window in the back booth where they always sat. She pushed open the door to the arcade and walked quickly back to them. "Serena are you all right? Why are you crying, is everything okay?" Lita stood up at the sight of her upset friend. "I'm fine Lita it's nothing, can I sit down?" Raye slid over and Serena sat down in the booth. "So anyway Darien said hello to me this morning and he sounded really happy to see me!" Raye exclaimed, casting a sideways glance at Serena, she was staring across the arcade over at Andrew, "That's great Raye, Serena did you get caught in that storm yesterday?" Mina asked her, trying to keep the conversation off Darien, she didn't want Serena even more upset. "Yeah, but Darien walked me home. We were talking on the bridge when it started to pour, he was so nice yesterday. He ended up crashing at my house last night." she told them still focused on Andrew. "Darien slept over at your house last night, and you got permission from your mother to do this?" Amy was taken aback, Raye was red with fury, Mina and Lita leaned forward to get more details, "It was her idea, it was raining too hard for him to walk home, he slept in the spare bedroom. We got closer last night, I know things about him that he's never told anyone except Andrew before." "Whose the rose from?" Lita asked her, Raye was trying not to explode at Serena, everyone was watching where this was heading, "Darien, it was on my pillow this morning, he left really early, but he left this nice note too. He's so sweet to me lately. has he been here yet?" "Not that I've seen Serena, but I'm sure he will be." Amy told her. Serena finally turned to the table and noticed Raye's face, "Oh I'm so sorry Raye, I forgot all about how you like him too." it was a sincere apology, but Serena couldn't help but feel a bit happy at making Raye mad. It was part of being human. "Don't worry about it Serena, we agreed to let him choose, I can't help it he's pretty much chose you. What can I do?" Andrew spotted Serena just then and motioned for her to come over to him. Serena stood up slowly and walked over, "What's up Andrew?" "Have you seen Darien today?" "No not since last night, when he went to bed." she felt a light blush creep over her cheeks. "Back the boat up here Serena, he slept over at your house last night?" Andrew couldn't hide the look of surprise that covered his face. "Yeah, do you have a problem with that?" a deep voice made Serena jump. She spun around and found Darien standing in front of her, "Oh hi Darien." she said softly, he looked down and noticed the rose in her hand, "I see you got my present." he smiled warmly at her. "Yeah, it's beautiful, where ever did you get such a gorgeous flower?" she glanced behind him and saw Raye looking sad at the sight of them together. Serena felt her heart break, she was hurting her friend. "I'm sorry Darien I have to go, I can't take this anymore." Before he could utter a single word she was gone. The girls stood up after her, except Raye lingered behind hoping to talk to Darien alone. "Raye are you coming, it's your fault she's upset." Lita yelled to her as they ran out after her, she paused quickly at the doorway waiting for an answer, "No I need to talk to Darien alone about this." Lita sighed, "Whatever Raye." Lita took off after the others and Raye slowly approached Darien. "Darien we need to talk." he spun around to face her, her eyes were filled with tears, "Sure Raye, about what?" he followed her outside of the arcade, all the time thinking about Serena and why she was suddenly so upset. "What's up Raye? You can talk to me." he smiled at her. "Darien, do you like Serena?" Darien quickly looked away, "Yeah I like Serena, she's a great person." "I mean LIKE like Serena, would you ever date her?" she focused her eyes on the ground, this was so hard, but he if he loved her, she couldn't stop them. She couldn't deny Serena the happiness that she deserved with him. Darien decided it was time to be honest with both himself and everyone else, "Yes I like like Serena, and I would ask her out in a second if I knew I had a chance of her saying yes." he looked down at her and heard her sniffle, "Raye what's wrong?" "I like you Darien, and she likes you too. I think she's holding back her feelings because of me, she doesn't want me hurt." did he hear her right, Serena likes him, what a dream come true! "I like you Raye but only as a friend. My feelings for Serena go so much deeper than anything. I feel a connection to her, I love her." he choked out the words, and Raye gasped, "You need to tell her Darien, tell her now. She loves you too, all of us can tell. What you two have is so much more than just a silly fling, you guys could be together forever." she suddenly smiled at him, knowing in her heart that there was someone out there for her and only her. She couldn't stand between them anymore, she wanted them to be happy, "Now you go and find her and you tell her exactly how you feel. Don't worry about me, I'll get over it." he hugged her and kissed her cheek, "Thank you Raye, just know I'll always be here for you, as a friend." he took off in the same direction as Serena, he would tell her today. Suddenly he stopped, a sharp pain intensified in his chest. Sailor Moon needed his help, Serena would have to wait. Lita, Amy and Mina caught up with Serena easily, she had only made it a few blocks away. She was crying and they took her to the park to try and calm her down. "Where's Raye?" she finally asked after her tears were drying. "She stayed behind to talk with Darien, cheer up Serena, everything will be fine." Mina knelt down beside her and gave her a hug, "Yeah Darien loves you, everyone can tell. Raye can't change that, no matter what she does." Lita added. "Raye can be mean and hurt my feelings but I can't live with myself if she's unhappy. I can't be with him if she loves him too, I don't want her to hate me." Suddenly a scream echoed though the park, Serena stood up, "Let's go!" they raced off toward the screams. Sorry so short, longer next time, I promise! :)