Author's Note/ Warning: I would like to say that this story does contain some rather lewd implications but they aren't altogether too bad (or so I like to think). I had my younger sister read it and she said that it wasn't as bad as some movies so I leave my case to her. I just thought I would warn you, however, and add that though 'that simple magic' does have implications it's not going to advance to a lemon etc. So I'd say look elsewhere if you want something quite like that, ;-)

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~*~ That Simple Magic ~*~

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Chapter One: The Very Big Problem

I blinked drowsily, wondering how I managed to become so warm in my bed. I was in a nest of rumpled flannel sheets and thick comforters. Then I realized what was next to me.

It was a naked man.

"Oh shit, it happened again," I winced. How could this possibly keep occurring? I mean, what was wrong with us? I didn't even see the baka hardly ever. And then night after night, here I was. What was my problem? And this wasn't even my bed! How unfair can you get?

The object of my reflections groaned a little and rolled over. I'll be candid about this (and if you ever mention it to him, you've signed your death warrant and I can't be held responsible) but he was the single most gorgeous man I'd ever seen in my life. I'd seen quite a few. He was tall, certainly a lot taller than my own diminutive frame, with thick black hair and soulful blue eyes that were to die for. Then there were his muscles and honey colored skin. And his charisma! The list could go on and on but then again, I do NOT want to view him in those lights.

Because then there was his personality towards me. One that I certainly did not appreciate.

At this moment the handsome idiot opened his (soulful) cobalt eyes and looked at me blearily. He closed his eyes again and flopped towards the window. I waited and watched his back for the customary reaction. A few minutes past, and then the muscles on his back tensed.

"You're not here, I'm just having a bad nightmare," he stated calmly, still facing the window.

"Boy, do I wish you were right!"

Okay, so anyone else would be perfectly happy to wake up in this man's bed- that is if they were completely without morals. Please note the 'anyone else'.

"Well would you mind explaining how you got here again," he demanded sitting up. I glared up at him- sheesh, he acted like it was MY fault.

"Your guess is as good as mine," I snapped. "Besides, even if we don't remember I'm perfectly sure it was because of you." If all else fails: blame somebody else.

"Me?" he choked. Personally, I don't know why he was so shocked because this was exactly what I'd said the last eight…no wait, nine times we'd been in this position. Of course the first time I'd yelled at him, screamed, cursed, before threatening to claw his eyes out if he ever came near me again. But I digress.

"Naturally," I folded my arms protectively over my chest. "We all know how I would never start something like this. I prefer my men to come to me. So therefore the only reasonable explanation is…" well, actually there WAS no reasonable explanation for this type of experience. Come on, how many arch nemesis' do you know that repeatedly sleep together and have memory loss about it? I would at least like to know if he was good- then I could tease him if he wasn't. Unfortunately I wasn't offered the possibility.

"Your logic, or lack thereof, never ceases to amaze me, Meatball Head," he snorted before reaching for his robe. How come he always got the advantages too? It was always in HIS apartment too. He got HIS robe, HIS shower, HIS bed, HIS clothes and I got zip. Nada. Nothing.

But my real problem was the fact that I didn't know how this kept happening. I was never one to take sex lightly. What if there had been a youma attack? Granted, there hadn't been one in the past six years (gosh, I missed that sexy Tuxedo) but there was always the possibility. Just what would I have been able to say if one of the girls paged me and I had to leave? He isn't that stupid, he would get suspicious.

"This stinks," I grumbled as I watched the man leave the room. Soon came sounds from the kitchen vicinity of his penthouse and yummy smells drifted towards my nose. Hmmm, bacon. Possibly the best breakfast food ever invented.

I clambered out of the too-comfy-for-its-own-good bed and began to rummage through the dressers. I wasn't about to walk around the place stark naked just to find clothes. The Jerk would just have to sacrifice some of his clothing. Unfortunately it was almost embarrassing at how long one of his white silk shirts went on me- it extended to a few inches above my knees! Wow! Imagine if I tried to put on one of his pants, now wouldn't that be funny! As it was, I was rolling up sleeves that were far too long.

"I want breakfast," I announced as I entered the kitchen. He was flipping pancakes on the stove but the atmosphere was not what I'd call cheery. He definitely needed some warm slippers or something to lighten the mood.

"Well then I guess you'd better hurry on home and get some for yourself," he said with a twisted grin. I glared at him. How rude! And I knew for a fact that I didn't have more than a half gallon of OJ in my fridge anyway. I rummaged through his cupboards to help myself before his sharp glare froze me. Now this guy could ice a youma in its tracks! I bet Ami and him get along well.

"You're wearing my favorite shirt," he stated with what seemed like a pout forming on his lips. The thought made me giggle.

"So?"

"But you're going to contaminate it. I'll have to run it through at least three laundry cycles to get rid of the smell."

"I don't smell!" Maybe it's just that he'll be insulted by his co-workers if he shows up to work smelling like lavender. Yeah, that's it. He just doesn't want to be mistaken as anything but manly.

"Think again Meatball Head."

Gosh I hate Darien Shields.

"You're late," Molly Fitzpatrick informed me as soon as I entered Silver Moonbeams Ink. She was my secretary and a third mom as far as I was concerned. I already had a real one, Luna just acted like one, and then there was her. She was a tall, slim red head with a busy schedule and four terrifyingly evil kids at home. What a shame that she adored them.

"I think that as owner of this publishing corp. I'm allowed to be late and get away with it," I sniffed indignantly before taking a sip out of my coffee. Damn that Darien! I'd barely had time to get home and change to something half way decent let alone eat. Don't even get me STARTED on how I looked getting a taxi dressed in his shirt (I still hadn't found my clothes. That was the fifth outfit in as many days! I'm going to have to go shopping pretty soon.) I stole a pair of socks too but he deserved it. See if I wash HIS "favorite" shirt three times!

I DON'T smell.

"You are shirking your duties!" Molly admonished. I rolled my eyes while grabbing the days schedule and proceeded to tune her out. Only a mom would use that sort of phrase. This afternoon I had some boring interviews to go through with since Rae had resigned two months ago just because she was getting married. I mean, really! Speaking of Rae, I had to call her soon….

But anyway, this left me with one dastardly difficult sales position to fill. Were people not qualified anymore? Did colleges just hand out diplomas to any old person with a 'we're tired of you so go wreck havoc on the world'? Well it sure seemed like it. Especially with all the weirdoes applying for the position. Once upon a time, this company used to get some respect!

"A couple of your interviews have been bumped up because of that emergency meeting you wanted to schedule before the weekend," Molly continued, flipping pages over her clipboard as we walked towards my office. "The first one is at ten and then you have one at eleven also."

"But that's my lunch break!" I cried. "You can't have anything there! I barely even had a breakfast!" I plopped into my nicely upholstered chair and frowned at my manicure. Automatically I reached for my crystal necklace- one of the moon crystals the girls and I had collected once upon a time. We all had one now, strung around out necks in safe keeping. I narrowed my eyes as my hands found nothing but air. Dang it! I must have forgotten it by the bathroom sink. It was because of that jerk, Darien, I knew it! If he hadn't have kicked me out instead of feeding me breakfast this never would have happened. Breakfast… food… that returned my mind to my vanished lunch hour. I opened my mouth to speak.

"I know and there's a lunch in the refrigerator for you. Your mom dropped it off since you two won't be able to have lunch today," Molly said calmly. I smiled happily- I love my mom.

I woke up leisurely the next morning, fanning out my arms and legs and wallowing in the familiar sheets. Then I sat bolt up right. My bed. My blankets. My apartment.

"Yes yes yes yes yes!" I chanted, leaping up on my bed and doing a victory dance. "Go Serena, it's your birthday, it's your birthday!" Oh yeah! Hallelujah, I am SAVED! No more Shields, no more waking up in strange beds! I stared at myself in the mirror as I slowly and deliberately fixed the clasp of my necklace around my neck. Oh this day was going to be awesome, I could feel it.

"Good morning Molly," I said cheerfully when I entered the office… on time at that! Molly look flustered as she hurried to get the papers in order. I whistled. I loved myself sometimes!

"Good morning Serena," Molly answered. And the rest of the day went just like that. Well, I didn't say good morning to everyone all day but I'm sure you know what I mean. Everything was fine, everything was perfect, every once in a while I broke out and did a jig. This was a happy, happy day. Of course Shields just HAD to ruin it- he has such a sick, demented way of torturing me when I'm most happy.

"Hello Meatball Head," he said, looking dashing in his Armani suit. He was standing outside our office building as I headed out at the end of the day. Nevertheless I remained undeterred in my joy. I even ventured so far as to compliment the jerk. Eerie…!

"Don't you look spiffy!" I giggled as I walked towards my car. My beautiful baby, a red convertible, was there waiting for me in the setting sun. "So nice to see you for the first time today."

"Why thanks, Meatballs." Evidently that meanie had had a good day too. Although he should have had an awful once since he couldn't begin it seeing me. "Long time no see."

"Yep!" We had successfully avoided fate, if fate was what you called ending up in his bed every morning.

"Are you doing anything this evening?" Darien asked, taking my briefcase away from me. His hair ruffled in the wind and I couldn't help noticing how sexy he looked. Okay, gross! Scratch that comment. But still, walking next to the most wanted bachelor of the year was attracting some very jealous looks in the parking lot. I scowled, some of those glares looked positively hostile! "I was wondering if you wanted to go to a celebratory dinner at Ringo's with me."

I looked at him in amazement. For a minute, I could almost see what attracted all those women to him. Of course, the minute ended.

"Sure as long as you pay." I was never one to give up free food and if I made my nemesis pay for the most expensive thing on the menu all the better! Rae would be so proud of me, her little prodigy. She has a thing about making males pay- mostly because she kind of has an inflated ego, although she'd KILL me if she heard me say that.

On the way to the restaurant I spent the time properly admiring Darien's DEMON VEHICLE OF TRANSPORTATION. Not that it was really demonic or anything but by simply being owned by him automatically took it down a few notches. It was sleek, black, and sophisticated but I had no idea what kind of car it was. Probably expensive. Guys towards shoes and me towards cars was practically the same thing (except of course my baby the convertible). My shoes were 'black' after I had spent three hours searching for the perfect pair. His car was just plain old black to me too. However I did like fiddling with the temperature in the car. It was awesome! I could digitally put it up to 90 degrees!

The car slowed as we reached the circular driveway at the restaurant. What I hadn't realized was that Ringo's was a premier restaurant and even though my clothing was tailored and pretty, it didn't compare at all to the elegance around me. All the ladies were gorgeous and almost every single one knew my damn meal ticket. After the tenth damsel came for a 'chat' and to show her bust, I was completely disgruntled. There weren't even breadsticks on the table either. Naturally Darien didn't look out of place with his Armani suit. But my cream colored linen just didn't cut it compared to these fine gowns. I reached for the wine with a grimace. I wouldn't put it past Darien to have planned this course in humiliation on purpose.

"I didn't realize you would let yourself get completely sloshed," Darien grumbled as I held onto his hand for dear life and stumbled blindly.

"I'm not drunk," I mumbled. "Only a little tipsy." Oh my gosh. I stared at Darien as we waited for the valet. His muscular body was a firm rock when I fell against him. While Darien rolled his eyes and stood me up again I smiled. Look at those pretty blue eyes. Why had I never realized what a hunk he was? Stupid, stupid me! I should have seduced him instead of yelled at him.

Darien must have seen the way I was looking at him through my lashes. I have an unfortunate way of looking like a hunter when I spot a delicious man. Someone once told me I was a vulture before running.

"Oh my god, no way is this happening to me," he muttered staring into the dark where the valet had disappeared. "Come on! What's taking so long!"

"Darien," I murmured softly. "Darien…."

Darien tapped his foot and looked at his watch. I pouted. He was ignoring me! "Finally!" he sighed, literally pushing me into the car right as it pulled up.

"Ooo, I don't feel good," I moaned, gripping my stomach. My eyes must have become blurry- how else would you explain that my moon crystal necklace had begun to glow?

"My pent is just around the corner. Try to hold it….please." Darien looked green at the thought of vomit in his car. Hmph! Did he care what kind of pain I was in? My head was aching! I hoped viciously that I did throw up in his car but unfortunately, I wasn't thinking clearly enough to try to push my stomach further.

"I want to go to sleep," I demanded standing in the middle of Darien's immaculate living room. I had just paid a nasty visit to his bathroom and now I wanted a bed. Wait a minute- I knew this place! I knew where the bed was! I made a beeline straight for his bedroom.

"Oh I don't think so ditz!" Darien choked, diving for my heels. "You're sleeping on the couch."

"But your bed's so nice," I whined. "And you have yummy pillows! All nice, and warm, and smooth…." After I would realize his 'pillows' were actually him- luckily Darien didn't seem to make the connection.

"There is no way you are sleeping in my bed." Darien snarled grasping my wrist. He stopped and his eyes widened as he stared at my throat, or my crystal necklace to be more exact. In my eyes it was glowing and pulsing. I wasn't sure what he was seeing. AS soon as Darien's grip loosed on me, I leapt for the bed and burrowed deep within the covers. If he couldn't find me, he couldn't kick me out.

"Oh no you don't," he snarled and he came in after me.

"You should always give your bed to a lady," I retorted. Darien's mouthwatering face and tousled hair suddenly appeared before me. I reached out to touch his hand.

All I saw was a warm glow.

"Hmm," I sighed sleepily, snuggling further into the covers. My teddy bear growled and nestled his face into my neck. I giggled as he kissed it; it tickled! I turned my head and rubbed noses with him… giving my great big teddy bear Eskimo kisses, hee hee. My eyes opened and I blinked blearily. Cobalt blue eyes blinked back at me.