Hey people! Welcome to old Ch. 14. We're slowly winding down
this stage of the Serena/Darien romance, as you can see, more
trouble is in store for them...so let's cherish the happiness
while we can. Just a few more secret meetings coming up...and
then we hit TURNING POINT. Nothing terribly important happens
in this chapter, besides the picnic...and Raye reflects on what
she's finally realized about her best friend. Some plans for
the future are made. Read, and enjoy, and send all feedback to
slrunico@aol.com!
HIDE-OUT ADDRESS: http://members.aol.com/jlcavazos/index.html
~~~Ali~~~
Q.O.C.
DJ: Well, hey, hold on there, dream girl. You're not gonna
get off so easy. I mean, look at these guys. You got 'em
hanging on by a string, and I think you owe it to them, and
the K.R.O.Z. listeners, to make a choice here and now. Will
it be Doug, the dream man we chose for you...the ex-boyfriend, Lyle --
Kyle: *Kyle*
DJ: ...or Max, who kidnapped you, and vandalized your home?
What do you have to say for yourselves, men?
Doug: I thought she just wanted a normal date.
DJ: Okay, go for it Kyle.
Kyle: Hey, I'm just happy to be nominated...and I think I'm gonna puke.
DJ: All right. Well, convince her, Max.
::Max kisses Liz::
~ Roswell..."Blind Date" ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Weaving a Romance"
CHAPTER 14: Many Questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It was supposed to be pie..."
Darien hung his head in misery. Serena had happily demanded
to see all of the food, dessert first -- turned out she was a big
fan of eating (who knew with that skinny waistline?) -- the moment
he had appeared in the glen. He'd been startled to find that she
had already gone through the process of laying out a blanket, on
top of which were set such novelties as cups and plates and forks
and spoons and napkins. There was even a platter of cookies she
claimed to have stolen very cleverly from the kitchen...made by Lita
in a fit of boredom the night before. Gingerbread, with little silver
sprinkles layered on top.
The glen itself was a perfect spot, just as she had said it
would be the night before. The trees of the forest shaded them from
the sun, and the grass was soft and green. A blanket really wasn't
even needed for comfort. Serena had also gathered flowers on her way
there: some were laid around the blanket majestically, and others were
tied hanging from tree limbs. A large icebox sat by the trunks of one
of these old men of the forest, and was filled to the brim with crispy
chunks of ice scattered in between bottles of water and juice.
The prince found it grossly unfair to the woman he loved that she
had managed to do all of the work of getting everything required for
a picnic out here by herself...while he had completely ruined their
lunch. Now her preparation was going to go to waste -- just because
of Darien's pride.
"A chocolate mousse pie..." he clarified, as she lifted the top
of the box. "That's kind of why it's all --"
"Well of course it's a pie!" She glared at him. "You don't have
to tell *me* that."
Darien frowned. "You mean...you recognize it?"
"I'm not a dummy, you know."
"No...I know that..." All of his words seemed to jam into one another.
"I just. Um." He watched Serena inspect the pie, bringing it to her nose
and smiling in delight as she inhaled the aroma of chocolate. "I made it
myself," he finished meekly. "And that's why I think it might not...
look...right..."
Serena looked up at him, grinning. "Of course it looks right, silly.
Not that I approve of you trying to one-up the cookies I stole..." She
leaned over and gave him a light butterfly kiss on the lips. "But I can
honestly say that I can't wait for dessert..."
"Mmm..."
Suddenly Darien found himself playfully pushed away as Serena threw
herself down on the blanket in front of her place setting. "I can never
remember which side forks go on..." she mused, giving the silverware a
once-over. "I think I got it right though." When she noticed that Darien
was still gaping at what he perceived to be an interrupted kiss, she
laughed and shook her finger in the air. "For shame. We came to have a
picnic. That's what we're going to do, okay, mister?"
The prince of the Earth threw up his hands in mock-exasperation before
joining her on the blanket.
A few moments of staring went on before Serena carefully prompted:
"Darien? The food?"
He cringed. "Oh yeah. I almost...forgot." Inside his stomach was
turning over in knots. Sure, the pie might have *smelled* all right, but
he had his doubts that the tetrazzini and the flat bread would fare as well.
In fact, the only thing he was even remotely sure of was the salad, which
hadn't been hard at all. Just cut up vegetables and throw them in a bowl.
It was as good a place to start as any, however. So Darien uncovered
the earthen bowl holding the greens and loaded some onto the two plates.
He almost said, "It's salad," -- just in case there was any confusion, until
he remembered how insulted Serena had seemed the first time he had tried to
identify the pie. So he kept his mouth shut and watched as she proceeded to...
"Why are you picking all of the carrots out?"
She looked up from her task. "Sorry. Does it bother you?"
"That was the only thing I knew how to cut right -- I mean, um, no.
I remember you told me once you didn't like carrot cake, but...do you really
hate them?"
"Always have." She picked up a tiny orange nubbin. "Ever since I was
a little girl. We grew them here in the gardens. Did you know they are
an original import from Jupiter? Only there, the royals long ago at first
thought them to be just roots. The peasants ate them, though, and somehow
the trend began. At least, that's what the tutor says. At any rate..."
She placed the carrot back into the careful pile of the rest of the rejects
on the side of her plate. "At any rate, a long time ago, when I was four
or five, I remember I pulled up one all by myself when I was playing in the
garden. I tried to eat it -- little did I know it was raw." She made an
unpleasant face. "And it started from there."
"You poor traumatized child," he teased, lifting a bite of lettuce into
his mouth. The familiar, crispy coolness of the leaves reassured him. The
salad, at least, was a success.
"I was scarred for life." Serena threw her head back in a melodramatic
gesture. "I can honestly say I haven't been quite the same since."
"Naturally. A lack of carrots does that to the system." Darien nodded
knowledgeably, and they both laughed.
After the salad Darien brought out the flat bread...and to his startled
surprise, Serena loved that as well. This is just too lucky, the prince
thought to himself...watching her devour her portion and babbling about how
she would have to get the recipe for Lita. Can it be that I didn't ruin the
kitchen for nothing...that this is going to be a success?
And it was time for the main course. Chicken tetrazzini. He eyed the
noodles skeptically as he served Serena, and then himself. They looked just
a little too thin...and there was too much sauce... God...it all comes down
to this. He bowed his head for the inevitable blow.
"Darien?" Serena spoke through a mouth full of noodles.
"Yes?" Darien looked up, his breath caught in his throat. Complaint,
or compliment?
"What did you say this was again?"
Oh damn. "Chick-chicken tetrazzini."
"Oh...are you sure?"
Darien paused to consider this. He could lie and say that he was positive,
and profess his culinary talents from the highest branch of the tallest tree.
Or...he could admit he had probably made a mistake.
Somehow, with Serena, his pride always lost to truth. "I don't really
know."
She raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?" She stopped chewing her current
mouthful.
"Um. No. Well...I mean, that is...errr..."
Serena, waiting for his explanation, swallowed and took another bite. At
that, Darien practically pounced on her and exclaimed, "Ha ha!!"
"What!?!?" she screeched, dropping the spoon.
"I might not know what it is," he declared triumphantly, "but YOU are still
eating it!!! Ha ha!!"
She stared blankly at him. They stayed like that for a while, the Moon
Princess calmly blinking back at the suddenly confident Darien. Finally she
said, slowly, and carefully, as if he might miss a syllable, "It's good."
He returned her blinking stare. "But I thought you thought it was something
different."
Serena shrugged. "Lita made something like this once for us. She called
it spaghetti."
She watched in amazement as the prince of Earth threw back his head and
laughed. "What did I say that's so funny?" she mused, digging back into her
plate of food.
"Nothing...nothing..." He grinned at her. "Just..."
"Just...?"
"I'm relieved."
"Why are you relieved?"
"That you like the dinner."
"Well why wouldn't I like it?" She waved the last piece of her bread
around in the air for emphasis. "Did I do something to give you the impression
I'm a picky eater?"
"It's the first meal I've ever made for someone, is all." Darien smiled,
a little sheepishly. "I'm just glad it came out all right."
"This is your first meal??" she demanded. "Wow. It's really, really good."
He laughed again. "If I had known you would be so cordial about my lack
of cooking experience, I would have told you sooner. I don't know why I wanted
to keep it a secret."
"I don't know why either." She raised an eyebrow. "Unless you were scared
of showing me something behind that macho-Earth-man exterior. The one that says,
'Oh-Look-At-Me-I-Can-Wave-A-Sword-And-Ride-A-Horse-While-My-Cape-Billows-
Dramatically-Through-The-Air'..."
Darien rolled onto his side and smiled lazily at her. "Is that your
impression of my...'exterior'?"
"It's the impression we all have of Earth men," Serena admitted. She put
down her plate and lay on her side also, facing him. Her knees bent so that her
legs were sprawled behind her, in a very unladylike fashion. "Even though no
one had ever been to the Earth before...we all heard rumors about what Earth
men were supposed to be like."
"Really?" Of this Darien was skeptical. He personally didn't see
anything thrilling about the way he or his generals were built, or acted.
Then again, he *had* seen some Moon Kingdom men, and he had to admit that
there was a certain, well...
"The other boys I used to date lacked something." Serena had the words
out of her mouth before Darien could find an appropriate term to complete
his thought. "But...you don't. And when my friends and I would talk about
the men on Earth...we'd all heard...well..." She blushed. "Nevermind."
Darien blushed too, deciding it was better not to prompt her. "It might
have been the mystery factor," he said helpfully. Suddenly his eyes opened
just a little wider. "Um...Serena?"
"Hm?"
"...*Other* boys?"
She nodded, not seeming to find this a big deal.
"...Many, uh, others?"
Serena began to slink over to Darien, almost like a white cat, until
she was right up against him, face level with his own, blue pools staring
straight into blue pools. "If I told you," she said breathily, "I'd have to
kill you."
"Really?" He tried to look unimpressed.
He wasn't succeeding, and Serena just inched a little closer. "No one
could *willingly* offer information about the dating habits of the Crown
Princess of the Kingdom...without a fight, anyway -- AHH!"
Darien enveloped her in his arms, as a kind of punctuation to her
statement, and much to the surprise of the aforementioned Crown Princess
of the Kingdom, he immediately began to tickle her.
"Stop it!" she squealed, trying to squirm out of his grip.
"You wanted a fight," he laughed, lunging for her stomach. "Well,
you get a good chuckle at the same time! Bonus!"
"Bonus!?" she gasped shrieking with laughter. "Chuckle!? This isn't
a -- DARIEN, STOP IT -- this isn't a chuckle! This is me hyperventilating!
DARIEN!"
They continued to banter like that for a little over five minutes,
both laughing hysterically -- and not for entirely different reasons.
Darien continued to insist that she was lucky he wasn't forcing her to
kill him, and reminding her that she had practically begged for a showdown...
and this was the least violent way to get one. Serena could hardly manage
a coherent sentence...she just kept going back and forth between taking
deep gasps for air and giggling like an insane little girl. Sometimes
she did both at once, making in Darien's opinion some very cute noises!
When the bout was over, both ended up laying on the large blanket,
Serena's head over her prince's stomach. "We have way too much fun,"
Darien whispered, stroking her hair.
"I think there's a law against attacking innocent young ladies like
that," she huffed in response.
"What? You mean you didn't --"
"For the last time, I didn't ENJOY it, Prince Darien!"
There was a minute of silence, before his voice broke the still. "Liar."
"Yeah," she agreed. "That was fun."
"I'd normally take that as an unwitting plea for another round..."
"...but you know I'd win, right? So you won't suggest it?"
"No...I know *I* would win, princess. But, this isn't playtime, remember?"
She shifted her eyes to look at him. "What is it, then?"
"Question and answer time. I want to know more about you."
"Besides the fact that I'm ticklish?"
He made his voice serious. "I already knew that. But now I know
*where* you're ticklish."
"Okay...you win...what do you want to know?"
"Well...let's see...how are we going to go about this?"
"I have just as many questions about you as you do about me, I'm sure."
Serena smiled. "Remember that mystery factor?"
"Of course. I guess I could ask a question, then you answer, then I
answer the same one, and we go from there. Agreed?"
They shook hands. "Agreed."
Well...there was absolutely no doubt about it. Raye blew some stray
bangs out of her face, and tried to concentrate on the book in front of
her. It was a reading assignment from her last tutoring session...an
account of the colonization of the moon Phobos. She stretched out on
her bed and forced her eyes to focus on that one long paragraph about
ancient warfare. Boring as rocks, but that wasn't the reason why she
was having a hard time keeping her thoughts on the page.
There *was* no doubt about it. It was the only logical explanation,
in fact.
Serena was having an affair with the Earth prince.
Raye was ashamed it had taken her so long to figure it out. Some
best friend I am, she silently berated herself. I should have known
all along. Those looks, those "arguments" of theirs, those suggestive
comments...
She banged her fist on the mattress and slammed the book shut.
"Serena, carrying on!" she exclaimed. "And no one knows...not her
mother, or Bruce, or Amy or Lita, or Mina...they have the whole UNIVERSE
fooled!" At this point she could only assume that she was the only one
to have finally seen through the veil of deceit.
Although, she wasn't sure what upset her more: being Serena's best
friend and realizing that this very important secret had been kept from
her...watching Serena get away with just one more thing that she shouldn't
be getting away with...remembering that her sacred fire must have been
wrong... Raye had always prided herself on being the most perceptive of
the court of princesses...she knew when to be quiet, when to speak up,
and she could always see through secrets. How had her best friend managed
to hide such a suddenly obvious romance?
Most importantly, when did it happen!? The prince and princess had
seemed to start out hating each other. Raye was almost certain that they
*did* despise one another -- for a time. Had the reunion ball been a sham?
They had shared a dance together, she remembered that much. But they had
seemed at the same time to be openly hostile to one another. Serena had
spent half the night hiding from the man, for pity's sake.
Yet, all clues pointed to *something* going on the night of that
dinner. So many signs... She cursed herself again. Gift of perception?
Gift of fire-reading? Serena was in love, and these gifts had failed her.
Love? Possibly not. How deep had her friend fallen? More plausible
that she was under some sort of a spell, and it was up to Raye to shake
her back to her senses. Earth prince? Darien, the Rouge of the Earthen
court? Hadn't she heard the rumors? The gossip, none of which had been
denied by the subject of speculation himself? How --
"Raye!?"
The princess of Mars whipped her head around to stare at the intercom.
"What??" she barked.
Mina's chipper voice responded. "Remember that sleepover we talked
about today, at the gazebo?"
That was the furthest thing from Raye's mind. "What about it?"
"We're going to have to hold off on it till tomorrow. Amy was called
back to Mercury -- an unexpected visit from some duke. Earth, I think.
Queen Sistine just sent word. Is tomorrow night all right? Since I heard
about Amy I decided to make a quick trip back home also. Please tell
Serena if you see her before me." Before Raye could respond, the princess
of Venus ended with a quick good-bye and there was an audible click
indicating that the connection had ended.
Raye sat back down on the end of the bed. Sleepover. Right. Maybe
Serena would come clean to them then. So she decided to wait until
tomorrow night, to confront her friend about the affair.
After all...there *was* something undignified in forcing someone to
spill a secret the very day it had been discovered.
"Best friend?"
"Raye...no contest. You?"
"Jedite."
"Odd names, your friends."
"And Raye isn't strange?"
"She was named for a ray of hope, by her mother."
"They named a stone after Jedite."
"Where is it?"
"What?"
"The stone."
"No...that's not what I meant."
"What did you mean?"
"They named a *type* of stone after him. After all of the generals,
as a matter of fact. It's a sign of honor."
Serena rubbed her temples. "Too much information...going into brain..."
Darien looked around at the messy picnic area. Plates strewn this
way and that, crumpled napkins, a little chocolate mousse spread over the
ground here and there, (another tickling match -- Serena won, and he made her
believe he had let her), and the remains of food still in their containers.
Then he looked up at the afternoon sun, already beginning its descent for
the evening. "Just a few more questions. After that we'll have to start
cleaning up and out."
"What haven't we covered?" She began to tick subjects off on her
fingers, counting. "Best friend, favorite color, favorite food, favorite
place to visit..." Each subject had led to its own conversation, weighing
pros and cons, and of course, learning about one another. "I guess I
have one to ask..."
"What?"
"Do you think of me, when you're on Earth?" Her eyes locked onto
his, hopefully. "Because...because I think of you...when...you're --"
"Every waking minute." He cut her off mid-sentence. "Every waking
minute."
"Really?"
"Why, sure!" Darien waved his hand around in the air, pointing up at
the sky. "Sometimes I make excuses, just to go out into the gardens,
because that's where you can see the moon at it's brightest, in the early
evening, and then again at night..."
Serena gasped, and her face shown a pink glow. "What does it look
like?"
This caught Darien rather off guard, and he looked at her curiously.
"What do you mean -- what does what look like?"
"What do we look like from Earth?" Serena's eyes were shining.
"I've...I've never seen the Moon Kingdom the way you can, from the Earth.
We can see the Earth, every day, but we can't see our own world...and..."
Her voice became excited. "You must tell me what we look like -- can you
see the palace? Does it glitter? Is everything silver? Or is it gold,
or is it...can you see the trees, and our lake...is it big? Or small?
Or...or..."
Darien smiled at her excitement. "Well, it's...um...it's like a
ball."
"A ball?" Somehow she didn't seem very impressed. "A ball, like a
circle, or can you tell it's a sphere?"
The prince of Earth didn't consider himself to be very eloquent in
speech. He had spoken most beautifully that one time in the cafe when he
had professed his love for her...leading him to believe that in her
presence he could speak with quite a flair. But now... "It's a circle,
really, that's shaded grays and whites..." Her face seemed to fall
somewhat, and he hurried on, "But it does shine, it kind of glows...
ethereal..."
Serena looked thoughtful. "Ethereal?"
"Like it's too beautiful for Earthen eyes to behold." He settled
back on his arms, well-pleased with this.
"But...how does it shine?"
"Oh, I don't know...like a, um...pearl?" He sighed. "It's really
indescribable. You'd have to see it yourself."
Serena had a very happy look on her face as she rolled onto her
back to look up at the ceiling of leaves over them. "I will...someday...
I will get to see..."
Darien was watching her, and as he did, he seemed to spin an
idea. "You *will* see the Earth!" he exclaimed, "I promise!"
"Well of course I'll see the Earth," she teased. "Sooner or later,
Mother will drag me down there on some kind of political mission, and I
can see the palace you live in, and the gardens with the roses you told
me about, and the forests, and the lakes, and the oceans..."
He shook his head. "I can almost guarantee...if your mother does
bring you along on a diplomatic voyage, you won't get to see very much
except a little countryside on your way down."
"I would see all of those things eventually," she argued. "I know
I must have time to take a vacation before...um, before..." She
couldn't complete the sentence. "And anyway, I would get to see the
Moon," she rushed on. "We would be there at night, wouldn't we?"
"It's hard to see things in the sky from the palace," he admitted,
a sly look coming onto his face, for even as she talked and planned, he
had his own ideas that were churning along in his head. "I mean, you
can see them, but not the way nature intended...why, there are all kinds
of lights and sky scrapers and things...remember, the beam-port is right
there next to the palace...it would subtract from the glow of the moon,
somewhat."
Serena rolled back onto her stomach and glowered at him. "If you're
trying to make me feel better, you are not succeeding!!"
"I know I'm not," he said smoothly. "Because I have an idea."
"An idea?" Her ears practically perked up. "What do you mean?"
"I am going to take you to Earth myself, and I'm going to show
you the most beautiful sights there are to see, and we'll do it alone,
and I'll make sure you see...I'll make sure you see everything!"
Her eyes widened in pure delight. "Darien, you would!?"
"Of course." Her excitement made him even more enthusiastic.
"Just name the date. I'll come for you in my magical carriage -- er,
transportation beam -- and whisk you away for a night of sight-seeing.
We'll hit all of the most beautiful sights on Earth. It'll be
wonderful. And I'll have you home before anyone suspects a thing."
Serena frowned. "I want to go tonight...but I ran into my friends
this morning and Mina mentioned that she wanted to have a big
sleepover this evening. I...I'd cancel...but..."
"Of course, don't cancel." He shook his head. "I need some time
to get things going anyway. Planning takes time. How about tomorrow
night, then?"
She grinned. "That would be great! I really do need to spend
some time with Raye and the others. I think they think I've been
kind of distant lately, probably because of --" She stopped herself
from mentioning the wedding just in time. It wasn't really the place
to bring it up. "Well. I'm glad. We can do it tomorrow."
The plans in motion, the two began to clean up the picnic area,
pausing only briefly for a few kisses here and there. When they had
gone, the glen was right back to the way it had been before. Darien
snuck back to his beam, hidden safely among the trees along side the
palace walls, and Serena returned the dirty dishes to the kitchen.
How could she have known that a reporter for the Moon Kingdom
Grapevine had come to the palace to interview Queen Serenity's
ambassador to Saturn on recent trade delegations? How could she have
known that this same reporter watched her returning alone to the
grounds of the castle, arms full of the remnants of her picnic lunch
with an anonymous stranger?
How could she have known what an *excellent* story it would make
for tomorrow's edition?
~ end of chapter ~
Hm, it's been awhile since we've had a cliffhanger. This, also,
was never planned...but, it came to me as I was trying to close up
this chapter. Originally it was going to be Raye who watched her
returning, but that would have been kind of redundant...we already
know she knows the secret anyway.
Comments welcome: slrunico@aol.com
Bye for now!
~~~Ali~~~
Q.O.C.
"Did you really mean everything that you said...when we were
alone tonight?"
"I don't remember. What'd I say?"
~ Liz and Max, "Blind Date" from the series "Roswell" ~
(
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