She sighed. *This is going to be a long day.* Plastering on a fake smile and quickly straightening out her daughter's dress, she knocked on the door in front of her.
"Coming! Sammy could you get the door please?" Serena smiled as she heard her mother's voice for the first time in a year.
A young man of about 12 opened the door. "Yeah, what do you want?"
Giggling, she answered, "I need to talk to your parents."
Muttering to himself he pointed to the living room and went to get them. Taking a deep breath Serena readied her self for the line of questioning she was about to receive.
"Hello, I'm sorry about the wait, but I was in the middle of making some cookies for my son. Anyway, how can I help you?"
Sitting Terra down softly on the couch she turned around and answered, "Well, actually I think I may be able to help you. Would you like to know what happened to your daughter?"
Praying to herself, she watched as her mother's eyes teared up and she sat down in a small chair close by. "Do you know what happened to her?"
Smiling gently she answered, "I can tell you, but first I need to know if *you* want to know."
Ellen looked up from where she was sitting, "I can't tell you how much I want to know, but I will tell you this. I love my daughter more then anything in the world and I'd do anything to get her back."
Smiling like the world would never end she said, "Then I will tell you that your daughter is right here."Ellen stared at the young girl in front of her. Looking at her from head to toe the woman also broke into a smile and hugged the young girl. "Oh, Serena, I never thought I'd see you again. Where did you go?"
"That's quite a long story, but where's Dad?"
"He's still at work, but he should be back soon. And when he gets back, you are going to tell us where you were, young lady. Now, where did Sammy go." Smiling to herself yelled at Sammy to join them.
"WHHHHHAAAAAAAWHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
Smiling Serena picked up a bottle out of the baby bag at her feet, then turned and picked up the young infant. Feeding the baby she turned to face her mother whom was looking at her like she'd grown two heads. "Mom, I would like you to meet Terra, your granddaughter."
Ellen looked at Serena then at Terra, and then she fell back into the chair. "You mean you have a daughter?"
"Yes, that's one of the reasons I left." Sighing she added, "As soon as Dad gets home I promise I'll tell you all about it."
Artemis glanced around. This wasn't his day. Somehow, Luna had managed to talk him into telling the scouts what had really happened when Serena didn't show up to the fights during the last two weeks before she left. Walking up the endless stairs to the temple, Artemis thought about the way Andrew had taken Serena's disappearance.
Andrew frowned. She should've been here by now! He and Serena were supposed to have left for the movies about twenty minutes ago.
*RING RING*
Hoping that it was Serena, Andrew picked up the phone. "Hello."
"Andy, I'm sorry but I won't be able to make it to the movies."
He frowned. Her voice sounded like it was breaking, "Sere, what's wrong?"
"I can't tell you over the phone, but Lita should be bringing you a letter soon. Listen, I'll call you as soon as I land. Bye."
She hung up, and with precise timing Lita entered the arcade with a letter in her hand.
"Andrew, she's gone!" Lita said, breaking down again.
"What do you mean?"
She shakily handed him the letter, which he promptly tore open.
Dear Andrew and Lita:
I know you guys are probably worried about me, but don't be, I'll be fine. I'm sorry, I just can't take it anymore! You guys are the only people who really care about me, but I promise I'll be back. Andy, Dad (Zeus) bought me a small house in LA so I should be OK. But I guess I should tell you guys that I'm pregnant. Andy, please don't go kill all the Inner scouts and Darien. They're not worth the power. I'll call you as soon as I get settled in.
Andrew shakily sat down, then broke down crying. Not once that night did he move from that spot.
Artemis had found both him and Lita the next morning still crying their hearts out, both swearing to kill the inners. Pushing away his thoughts, he entered the temple. "Well guys it's time to call this meeting to order."
"Come on, Artie, can't we just gossip for a while?" asked Mina.
"Mina, you know that with this new evil that we need to start having regular meetings," answered the logical Amy.
"That's true, but this is not about the Negaverse," cut in Artemis.
"Then what is it over?" asked Rei.
"Serena."
All three remaining scouts froze. They hadn't talked about Serena since she left and they sure didn't want to start now.
"Artemis we are not going to talk about Serena," Rei said calmly but confidently.
"Yes, Mars, you are, you are going to listen calmly and take note of everything I say. As soon as I'm finished, you can do whatever you wish," said Artemis. Amy looked to Rei, both knowing from the tone in his voice that he would not tolerate any arguments. Defeated, they nodded their consent.
"It is time you scouts face the truth, Serena was not late because she irresponsible, she was late because she was at the doctors office," started Artemis solemnly.
"She was at the doctor's everyday for 2 weeks?" said Rei sarcastically.
"Yes, Mars, she was! And I told you not to interrupt me!" he snapped, "Anyway the doctor didn't figure out what was wrong with her until the day she left-"
"Well, what was wrong with the Meatball Head then?" Rei interrupted again.
"MARS!!!!! It is not my story to tell. When she want's you to know, you will. You guys on the way to the fight she ran into another monster, and she couldn't leave it and let it hurt innocent people. So she took it, on her own, getting hurt badly in the process, and then you guys just screamed and yelled at her, without thinking twice," Artemis was very steamed by the time he got through.
Mars, looked to Mercury, Mercury looked to Venus, the all three looked down, ashamed, "Do you know where she is?" Rei finally swallowed her pride.
"Yes, I do, but I can not and will not tell you," he said and left leaving three very shocked and very ashamed scouts.
Serena sighed. That had been one of the longest explanations of her life. She had completely explained why she had left, avoiding the subject of Sailor Moon, of course. Her dad had looked as if he was going to kill Darien and her mother just looked happy for her. Slowly her thoughts disappeared as she kissed Terra goodnight and crawled into bed herself.
