Hello everyone.  It’s been a while and I apologize for my lack of 
updating.  Anyway, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy 
New Year.  Here’s the next chapter to the story.  When I call Rini, 
Chibi-Usa, it will be because I’m telling the story from Darien’s 
and/or Andrew’s perspective, since they call Usagi Chib-Usa instead of 
Usagi, and don’t know it’s Rini.  Same thing with Rini being called 
Usagi.

Usual disclaimers apply!!

Enjoy!!!
The Parent Trap: Chapter 4 - The Trap is Set but... Houston We have a Problem.

Tokyo, Japan - Tokyo International

	Darien Chiba’s best friend, Andrew, stood at the international 
terminal, waiting for Usagi, or Chibi-Usa has her ‘Uncle’ and Father 
call her.  Andrew barely had a chance to meet Darien’s now ex-wife 
shortly after Usagi and Rini were born, and he had to admit, he liked 
the women, and saw how lucky Darien was during the time the two were 
married.  He never saw the reason why the two got a divorce in the 
first place, and just viewed it as one of Darien’s biggest mistakes, 
but never voiced his opinion out loud for he knew he would have gotten 
no where with Darien on that argument.  Since Darien came home from 
California, after the Divorce was final, Andrew had been a great Uncle 
to the little pinked haired kid, even though he wasn’t really her 
Uncle, and Andrew had never heard of Serena since then.

	“Flight 403, service from Los Angeles, is now arriving at 
international terminal 1,” the announcement blared from the intercom, 
interrupting Andrew’s train of thought as the walkway set next to the 
plane to disembark its passengers.  He watch as many passengers got off 
before a pink blur launched itself at him.  Fortunately, Andrew was 
quick enough to catch Chibi-Usa and give her a hug as she shouted for 
joy, “UNCLE ANDREW!!!”

	Andrew could only laugh at the child’s excitement.  He missed 
her and was looking forward to catching up on what went on at camp, 
“Hey, how’s my little niece doing, Chibi-Usa?”

	“ I’m fine, we 
had loads of fun,” was Rini’s reply.

	“We,” Uncle Andrew asked.

	“Oh, I met a friend at camp.  She and I got real close.  Uncle 
Andrew, when are we going home?  I want my DADDDDDDYYYYYY,” Rini 
wailed.

	Andrew only chuckled, “You defiantly haven’t changed one bit 
Chibi-Usa.  Come on, lets go get your luggage.”  With that, the two 
made their way to the Luggage claim and got Chibi-Usa’s luggage before 
beginning the 1/2 hour drive back home, which would have been shorter 
if not for the traffic.

	During the drive, Rini gave Andrew the details about camp, 
excluding the pranks, and the punishment she and Usagi got into for it.
Andrew pulled into a nice looking two story home with a stone wall 
around it, and the two got out to get the luggage out before entering 
the house.  As soon as Rini was out of the van, she went into the 
house and took a good look around, “” Rini thought in aw of the place.

	Andrew went around to the trunk to get out Chibi-Usa’s luggage 
as he noticed his niece go in the house, ““  Ever since Andrew saw Chibi-Usa get off the plane he 
noticed something different about her, but Andrew, for the life of 
him, couldn’t figure out what.  Just as he got in the house, he saw 
Chib-Usa in the entry way, looking in wonder as if she never saw the 
place before.

	Rini felt a presence behind her and saw Uncle Andrew walk in 
the door, so she asked, “Uncle Andrew, do you know where my Dad is?”  
No sooner did she say those words, before something covered her eyes 
with one hand and picked her up with another.  Rini squealed in fright 
and excitement as the person that grabbed her said, “Right behind you 
pumpkin.”

	Darien let his daughter down, and she turned to stare at him.  
Chibi-Usa gasped before flinging herself into his arms, and Darien was 
only too happy to give her a hug, welcoming her back, while Chibi-Usa 
just kept saying, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, 
Daddy, Daddy, Daddy...”  Darien could only laugh at Chib-Usa’s bubbly 
excitement.  She always reminded him of her Mother at times like 
these, and often wondered what would have happened had things been 
different.  ““ Darien thought as 
he remembered something he had to tell his daughter.  Darien let 
Chibi-Usa go and told her, “Why don’t you and Uncle Andrew go unpack, 
while I take care of something.  When your done, I’d like you to come 
back down so I can tell you something.”  With that, Chibi-Usa and 
Andrew went upstairs to unpack.  

	As soon as they were upstairs, someone walked in from the 
living room and asked, “Have you told her yet?”

	Darien just turned and looked at the women before him, “No 
Beryl, I haven’t.  She just got home for peat sakes, I have no 
intentions to bombard her with it right after she walks in the door 
from camp.”

	Beryl Blake just walked up to Darien before kissing him on the 
cheek, “Well, I’m off to work at the office.  Call me later, ok?  ”  Darien nodded as she left, totally unaware that his 
daughter saw and heard all the talk.

	When Rini walked back into her room, she looked up at Uncle 
Andrew, “Who was the ugly red head downstairs?”  Rini saw Uncle Andrew 
stifle a giggle at the comment, obviously her Uncle Andrew didn’t seem 
to like her either.

	“I’m not going to deprive your father of telling the story, so 
to make it short, she’s Darien’s new Secretary at the hospital.  He 
hired her after Lisa retired in May.  Personally, I think she’s not 
your Dad’s type but don’t take my word for it.  Judge her for your 
self,” Uncle Andrew said.

	Rini was tempted to ask what Uncle Andrew meant by ‘not his 
type,’ but decided to let her Dad explain and went downstairs to join 
him.  Rini found her father reading the newspaper on the living room 
couch before he noticed her and he patted the seat next to him.  Rini 
walked over and sat next to him as he set the paper down to give his 
daughter his undivided attention.

	“So how was your time at camp squirt?  Make any new friends,” 
Darien asked.  Darien noticed that his daughter seemed to be not 
telling him everything about her trip, as she went on about how fun it 
was.  It was becoming even more obvious as she managed to dodge any 
questions about what her new friend looked like, but just decided to 
leave that topic be for now, as he wanted to discuss something else, 
“Chibi-Usa….”

	Rini decided to interrupt her father for a sec to ask a 
question, “How come you always call me Chib-Usa instead of Usagi?  
Sure if someone named Usagi, who was older then me, lived in this 
house I’d understand, but that’s not the case, and Dad, please don’t 
evade the question this time.”

	Darien was startled by his daughter's questioning.  He had 
managed to dodge this question ever since Chib-Usa was 5, but now his 
very clever daughter had him in a corner with no way out.  Truth to be 
told, he called his daughter, Chib-Usa, cause calling her Usagi 
reminded him too much of Serena, but he didn’t want to hurt Chibi-Usa 
by lying either, and with that puppy dog look she now had plastered 
all over her face, he couldn’t refuse her request, “  Because your mother’s 
middle name is Usagi, and it’s hard to picture two Usagis, Chibi-Usa.”

	“Another thing,” Chibi-Usa said, “How come we never talk about 
Mom.  I’ve never met her, and all I have of her is a photograph.  At 
least tell me what she’s like Dad, please?!?!”

	Darien took Chibi-Usa in a hug, and held her tightly as he, 
with difficulty due to how painful it is to remember, began telling 
the tale of how he and her mother met, and how it was the happiest 
time of his life to have known her.  Chibi-Usa asked why they broke up,
and Darien told her the truth, that they had a number of arguments, 
most of which were because he was too stubborn, and it just didn’t work
out.  Darien decided to get off this depressing topic and back to what 
he wanted to say, “Chibi-Usa, I have something to tell you.”

	Rini decided to help her dad get to the point, “Does it have 
to do with that women I saw you with after I went upstairs?”

	“Yes it is,” Darien said, surprised that his daughter saw what 
happened, “Her name is Beryl Blake, and she’s been wanting to meet you 
all summer.”  Darien decided to hold back the rest of his news till 
Chib-Usa met Beryl and got to know her first, “I’m expecting her for 
dinner tonight so you’ll be able to meet her then.”

	Rini saw a light in her father’s eyes.  It wasn’t as bright as 
it was when he was talking about her mother, but it was similar.  Rini 
decided she needed to make a long distance phone call, *immediately.*

Napa, California

	Usagi and just finished grilling her Mother a few hours ago on 
how her Mother met her Father, which looked rather painful on her 
Mother’s part.  She felt sad for her Mom and wished she had a way to 
speed up this little trap she and her sister were playing on their 
parents, “”  Usagi had just finished this thought when the phone 
rang.

	When she answered, it was Rini, “Usagi, listen….”

	Usagi interrupted Rini, “Rini, I can’t believe I spent my 
whole life without Mom.  She is so nice and…”

	“Usagi!”

	“pretty.  Listen, I got to talk to Mom about Dad and….,”  

	Usagi was interrupted by Rini, ”USAGI!!!!  LISTEN, we have a 
problem, Dad is in love.”

	“Dad in love?  Rini, get real, Dad never falls in love, not 
seriously anyway,” Usagi said.

	“I think he’s serious about this,” Rini said, “I don’t know 
why I’m thinking this, but it was the way he was looking when he 
talked about ‘her.’  Usagi you have to bring Mom here, ASAP!!!”

	“WHAT,” Usagi said as if she thought her twin sister was nuts, 
“Rini, I just met my Mom, and you want me to bring her to Tokyo, 
NOW?!?!  Sorry but I want more time with her.”

Tokyo, Japan

	Rini couldn’t believe this.  She and her sister have been 
working on this plan for a month, and it’s fixing to go down the tubes 
cause Usagi wants more time with Mom.  “Usagi, please get Mom…,” was 
all Rini got before a dial tone was on the phone, “down here cause I 
think he’s considering a marriage proposal.  THANKS A LOT USAGI!!!!!”  
Rini hung up the phone in disgust, just before Uncle Andrew came into 
her room.

	Andrew was in the kitchen at Darien’s place, cooking dinner 
for Chibi-Usa since her Dad got called to work, so Chibi-Usa‘s meeting 
with Beryl was postponed till Morning.  He was about to call Chibi-Usa 
down when he heard her, faintly, talking on the phone upstairs.  He 
walked upstairs to tell her it’s time to eat.  Before he walked into 
her room, Andrew heard Chibi-Usa shout.  He didn’t catch it all be he 
definitely heard, “…..USAGI!!!!!”  Andrew walked in and asked, “What’s 
wrong Chibi-Usa?”

	Chibi-Usa just groaned, as if annoyed with something, “Nothing 
Uncle Andrew, just had a small argument with one of my friends.  So, 
is dinner ready?”

	Andrew wasn’t fully convinced, but brushed it aside for now, 
“”  Andrew just brushed it off and announced, “Yep, I cooked 
your favorite, besides pancakes.  I cooked Spaghetti and Meatballs.”  
Andrew began to grin at what he knew Chibi-Usa was about to do.

	Rini got off the bed before running downstairs to the dinner 
table, shouting, “YA!!!!”

Napa, California

	Usagi woke up the next morning and went to the dinning room 
for breakfast.  On her way, she passed by the kitchen, and what she 
saw, made her scream in terror and run to her Mother’s room.  

	Serena, being the Mother she is, ran out of her bed room to 
see what the commotion was about, “Sweety, what’s wrong?”

	“Mom, run for it.  Your worst nightmare has come true,” Usagi 
said in a panic.

	“What’s wrong? And why would it be my worst nightmare,” Serena 
asked.

	Usagi, still in a panic said, “Aunt Mina is cooking in the 
kitchen!!!!!”  With that said, the two couldn’t get out of the house 
fast enough, and drove to a nearby Mc Donald’s for breakfast.  Usagi 
heard of the horror stories of Aunt Mina’s cooking skills from Rini, 
when she was a camp.  Usagi felt sorry for Rini for all the mutated 
Chicken Noodle soups she ate when she was sick.

	Serena eyed her daughter while they ate their food.  Since 
Rini came home yesterday, she’s been asking a lot about her Dad, more 
then usual, and she also was curious as to why her daughter was up at 
1 am, talking on the telephone.  

	Her thoughts were interrupted by Rini asking, “Did you sleep 
good last night Mom?”

	“Not really, cause I spent most of the night trying to figure 
out why you were on the phone at 1 am,”  Serena said, just before Rini 
spit out her orange juice she had in her mouth.  

	The act brought a fit of laughter between the two before Rini 
answered, “Oh, I was talking to my friend from camp.  She lives in 
Texas.”

	“So you wait till 1 am to call someone where it’s 3 am in the 
morning?  That makes sense,” Serena said, finding it odd how her 
daughter was behaving.

	Rini replied, “Well, she wasn’t home, she was visiting 
relatives in London.”  

	Serena didn’t buy this, but just decided to drop it for now and 
said, “Right now I feel sorry for your grandparents, having to try to 
eat your Aunt Mina’s food.  Good thing your Uncle Sammy is in UCLA, or 
he‘d probably be suffering too.”  This put laughter to their table 
before finishing their breakfast and returned back to the house.  When 
they got home, they found Serena’s parents, gagging at Mina’s food, 
and Mina eating it like it was nothing.  ““ Serena thought, just before she noticed a 
guest, or should I say unexpected family member, also gagging on the 
food, “SAMMUAL TSUKINO, what are you doing home?  I though classes 
started in a few weeks.”

	Usagi was excited at their unexpected guest and ran into 
Sammy’s arms shouting, “UNCLE SAMMY!!!!”

	Sammy hugged her niece as he answered Serena’s question, 
“Apparently there was some huge electrical problem on campus, so 
classes this semester were cancelled till they fix the problem.  Now, 
Rini, tell me all about camp.”  Usagi then began launching into the 
topic about camp.

Tokyo, Japan

	Rini got out of bed, and went downstairs for breakfast when 
she woke up.  What she saw when she got there she sarcastically 
thought, ““  Sitting in a 
dinning room chair, next to her father, was Beryl Blake.

	Beryl turned toward Rini and saw her.  She got up and extended 
her hand, saying rather too happily to be genuine in Rini opinion, 
“So, you must be Usagi, or should I call you Chibi-Usa?”

	Rini, was tempted to sneer at this women who was threatening 
her plans, but thought she should appear to be nice for now, or she’d 
suffer her father’s wrath, “Hi, I’m Usagi. you must be Beryl Blake.”  
Rini then got a good look at this women.  She was definitely tall, had 
red hair going well past her shoulders, and was wearing a blue 
sleeve-less dress.  Her face immediately made Rini think about a 
snake, ““

	Beryl, for her act, pretended to like this girl immediately, 
“My, what good manners you have young lady.”

	Darien, for his part was pleased with how the meeting was 
going so far.  Despite the thought that, for some reason, he felt some 
friction between the two, and thought it was an act between the two.  
But Darien just brushed it aside, thinking it was his imagination 
going wild on him.  Chibi-Usa, and Beryl sat at the table and had 
breakfast.

	The rest of the meeting was in silence, and after breakfast, 
Beryl had to leave, so she said good-bye to everyone and left.  Some 
hours later, after lunch, Darien decided it was time to talk to 
Chibi-Usa about Beryl, so he called her into the family room.  When 
the two sat down on the couch, Darien asked, “So, Chibi-Usa, what do 
you think of Beryl.”

	Rini looked puzzled at this, but inside, she was fearing where 
this was heading, “As what Dad?  Your secretary, your friend?”

	“As a person, generally,” her father clarified.

	“To be totally truthful, Dad I don’t know.  The women is still 
a complete stranger to me.  Why do you want to know anyway?”

	“Well, what do you think of making Beryl part of the family,” 
Darien asked her daughter.

	Rini was in a panic, “ You mean you 
have...”

	Rini let the statement hang, but Darien knew what she was 
asking and answered, “Yes.”

	Darien saw Chibi-Usa hang her head, as if thinking about 
something, when she asked, “So when is the wedding?”

	“Two weeks, kido,” was Darien’s reply before he left and went 
back upstairs thinking, ““

	Unbeknownst to Darien, however, Rini was busy drawing a 
picture of a bunny saying ‘911!!’ and faxed it to Napa, California.

Napa, California

	Mina was in the office looking for the documents on last 
quarter’s sales of grapes for Serena.  Her twin sister, Serena, had to 
look them over for a scheduled review coming up, and Mina was about to 
leave the office when a fax came in.  She picked it up and thought it 
was weird, ““  Mina put the fax behind her and walked out to Serena to hand her 
the files.  Mina walked in on her sister and niece talking about their 
plans before school started up again.

	Usagi, turned to see Aunt Mina bringing her mother’s files.  
While Mina handed the files, Usagi noticed something behind her Aunt’s 
back.  When she saw the fax, she immediately ran out of room, telling 
her Mom she had to take care of something.

	Mina, found it odd that her niece would just run out like 
that, so she followed her.  She noticed Rini go into the office and 
close the door.  When she pressed her ear to the door, she heard Rini’s 
muffled voice inside, obviously speaking on the phone with someone, 
so Mina went to the phone in her room and picked it up to listen.  
What she heard shocked her after the third ring on the phone and 
someone sounding just like Rini said, “Hello!!!”

	Mina then heard Rini say, “Rini what is it?!?!  What’s 
wrong?!?!”

	“Usagi, in the words of Apollo 13, ‘Houston we have a 
problem.’  DAD IS GETTING MARRIED TO AN UGLY RED HEAD NAMED 
BERYL!!!!!!”

So what did you think of this chapter?  Send all comments to 
gbess@iname.com.  Visit my web site at 
www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Courtyard/2058.  Hope to hear comments soon.

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