Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon.

Serena jolted awake from the sound of her daughter's loud screaming down the hallway of her room. She hopped out of bed and threw on her robe making her way to the door.

"Serenity?" Serena screamed throwing the bedroom door open. For a minute it was silent in the hallway and then she heard small shuffled footsteps coming from around the corner. Serenity emerged from the dark corner of the hallway looking cautiously at her surroundings. Just as Serena was about to call her over Zachary popped out of the hallway closet with a werewolf mask secured around his head and roared loudly like a giant wilder beast. Serenity's high pitched scream filled the hallways once more as she ran to her mother.

Serena picked her daughter up in her arms and held her tightly feeling her tiny body shake from ether laughter or fright. "Zach!"

Zachary doubled over laughing hysterically his red hair poking out of the corners of the mask. "I'm sorry Serena but it's a week from Halloween and I couldn't help myself." He pulled off his mask and began to tickle Serenity's sides. She burst out in small giggles twisting wildly in her mother's arms. "Besides, I could hear Serenity laughing when she was hiding."

Serenity pulled away and snuck her tongue out at Zach playing. Serena put her daughter down gently and Serenity ran into the room.

"Ami's got breakfast ready downstairs. You better hurry before it gets cold." Zach reminded them and mad his way to the staircase.

Serena thanked Zachary and went back into her room. She sat on the bed and watched Serenity grab her socks from the dresser and slip them on her feet.

"Hurry Mommy!" Serenity exclaimed running out the door.

Serena smiled and reached for her ankle brace on the night stand. It had been almost two weeks now since the incident with Darien and he still hadn't tried to contact her. It hurt her a little she had to admit but what was she expecting? Darien showing up on Ami's door step with flowers? yeah, right.

It caught Serena off guard seeing Ami and her mother staring at a dress pinned together on a dress form in the middle of the dinning area. The dress was pretty extravagant with pale blue lace and a large tool skirt and a blue ribbon wrapped around the waist, it looked like something out of a Shabby Chic catalogue. Serenity sat at the kitchen table eating her waffles and bacon looking starry-eyed at Ami's dress.

"What's going on?" Serena asked poring herself a cup of coffee watching the black liquid fall into her cup. It had been so long since she had coffee and she missed the strong smell of it as it infiltrated her nose making her mouth water.

"The Harvest Ball is this weekend." Ami explained as her mother held up more blue lace fabric around the arms.

"What's that?" Serenity asked, her eyes sparkling with desire. Serena knew that Serenity would bug her to go endlessly until she agreed but Serena knew that everyone from town would be there, possibly even her father and she didn't know if she were ready to face that.

"It's a traditional ball the whole town goes to since the city was founded. It started out as a celebration for a great year of harvest and now its a formal event with music and beautiful dresses. Which ever girl has the most beautiful dress wins Bell of the Ball and this year I intend for Ami to win to help pay for this wedding. Ami hand me more of that ribbon." Ami's mother said pinning fabric to the shoulders of the dress form.

Ami sighed and grabbed the roll of ribbon from the bin of fabrics on the floor next to her mother. "Mother, I told you Zach and I have no financial need to win Bell of the Ball for the wedding. We're doing just fine."

"Fine, than you can use it for your honeymoon."

"Is it a ball like Cinderella?" Serenity asked the smile on her face getting even bigger.

"Oh yes, very much like Cinderella?" Ami's mother answered waving off Ami's protest on adding more tool to the already poofy skirt.

"Mommy!" Serenity jumped up from her seat "Can we go? Please, please, please, please, please!" She squeezed her hands together and got on her knees in front of Serena looking at her wide-eyed.

Serena sighed heavily and looked at her daughter. She could never say no to that face. Serena nodded softly and her daughter jumped with delight screaming with victory but Serena felt a small twinge of regret knowing that the Harvest Ball was a tradition for everyone and the last time Serena had went was with her family when her mother was still well and healthy. She remembered how her mother won the Belle of the Ball that night, her father being so proud of his family, Sammy trying to make conversation with his crush and Darien asking her to dance. That was the night when he had asked her out on a date, when he told her that he liked her more than a friend. She wondered if he would be there this year with Beryl, if all the memories of going to the ball as a child with her family would be too much, if everyone in town would see her and think disapprovingly of her, if her father would be there. All these thoughts floated around her mind during the drive downtown to shop for a dress. She had been so preoccupied with her thoughts she hadn't realized Serenity stopped in front of the Crowne Arcade staring at a poster pasted on the window.

"Serenity? What is it?"

"Look Mommy." Serenity pointed at the poster.

It was advertising the new Sailor V game that was just released. Back in Seattle Serena had a copy of the original game and she use to play it all the time with Serenity and her daughter knew how excited she was when she discovered that they were making a new game.

"Sailor V!" The mother and daughter said in unison. There were reasons that Serena stayed out of the arcade but this was serious, this was reason enough to risk everything. Serena reached into her overalls and grabbed a quarter. "Okay Serenity. Heads-we play the Sailor V game. Tails-we keep looking for a dress."

The small child nodded and held her breath as she watched as her mother flipped the coin in the air. It landed on the floor and Serena jumped with excitement. She grabbed her daughters hand and headed towards the automated sliding doors. "Come on munchkin. Let's see of we can get the top score."

...

The Crowne Arcade was usually packed with kids of all ages crowded around all the games cheering on their friends or waiting their turn, on hot summer days the cafe counter was full of patrons sharing ice cream sundaes and fountain drinks talking of summer plans and bucket lists before school started again. But on this cold winter day in the early hours of the afternoon it was practically empty save for a couple of high schoolers probably ditching school and two individuals intensely invested in the newly launched Sailor V game. Mina stared at the small child dressed in overalls and a turtle neck anxiously shouting at who she could only guess to be her mother furiously tapping the buttons. The mother seemed to be hiding her identity by pulling the hood of her pink windbreaker completely over her head leaving just the profile of the lower half of her face visible. The young child looked to be in destress as she repeated moving her hands from her head to shaking her mothers shoulders. It was the mother that Mina couldn't seemed to look away from. Even though she was obviously trying to conceal her face her figure and composure reminded Mina of a high school friend.

She tapped her tall brunette friend who was sitting next to her on her shoulder. The brunette looked up from sipping her hot chocolate and turned to her and Mina motioned towards the mother and child. "Lita, do you think that could be her?"

Lita looked at to where Mina pointed. "Who?"

Ignoring her friend's question Mina grabbed Andrew's attention from behind the cafe counter. "Andrew, did you see who that young woman was over there?"

"No, the kid came up and asked for game coins while the mom sat down over there. Sweet kid though."

High pitch screams erupted for the child and women who jumped up from her seat in victory and threw her head back knocking off her pink hood revealing long golden locks falling loose from the single bun atop her head.

"Serena?!" Mina, Lita and Andrew screamed.

Mina could see Serena freeze instantly realizing she had been recognized. The child looked from Mina and Lita to her mother and asked her something. Serena nodded and turned to face her old friends.

Within an instant the two taller girls and Andrew were at Serena's side taking turns screaming at her for disappearing then hugging her.

"Holy crap Mina, you're pregnant?!" Serena pulled away from her friends embrace and looked at her rather large belly.

Mina held up her finger. "We'll get to that in a minute. First you tell us what the heck happened to you? Where did you go?"

Serena sighed and picked up the child clinging to her leg. "We should sit down for this story."

The hot chocolate that Andrew served them was cold by the time Serena finished telling them the reasons for why she left, Serenity had gotten bored of the conversation and dragged Andrew along to play another round of the Sailor V game, Lita had to practically coach Mina on controlling her mood swings from crying to angrily screaming about Darien and the whole Beryl situation before she sent herself into early labor.

"I can't help it. It's these damn hormones." Mina wiped a tear away.

"I can only assume that Malachite is the father." Serena smiled at the thought of her friend starting a family with her high school sweetheart. She remembered back when they were teenagers when Darien introduced Malachite to Mina and how the two practically became inseparable ever since.

"Of course he is. He proposed to me when we found out I was pregnant but I told him I wasn't about to rush my dream wedding so I could waddle down the aisle in a maternity gown just so he could have a piece of mind."

"'Told him?' Mina your face turned so red and you screamed at him so loud that you probably woke the dead." Lita smirked.

"Well what could he expect for suggesting that?" Red began to stain Mina's cheeks again.

"What about you guys? What are you doing here? Ami told me both of you moved to Portland."

"Well since I finished culinary school Andrew and I are moving in together. Mina's mainly back for the Harvest Ball."

"Don't be so modest Lita! You should be celebrating the reason why you're moving back." Mina wrapped her arm around her much taller friend. "Lita's opening up her own restaurant with Andrew. They just bought the old diner a few blocks down from here. Renovations are starting in a month."

"Lita, thats amazing! You always talked about owning your own restaurant when we were in high school." Serena exclaimed. There was that feeling again, the feeling of guilt for abandoning her friends and missing some of the most important of their lives and not being able to share it with them. This time I'll make things right. This time I won't miss anything and I'll be here for them.

"It's nothing really, Andrew was the one who did most of the work of finding the perfect spot and saving while I was finishing up school."

"You'll have to let us help you decorate!" Serena's eyes lit up.

Mina gasped. "Yes! We could paint the walls pink! And the table cloths could be lace! Or what if you do a themed restaurant?! Like Baywatch? the servers could be dressed in swimsuit!"

"Or an animal theme?! The servers could be dressed up as animals!" Serena could see the cute outfits already.

"Or the servers could be animals! Could you imagine a cute little Kohala bringing you your plate?"

"How cute!" The two starry-eyed blondes exclaimed together.

Lita brought her palm to her face and shook her head. "Oh brother. You two haven't changed one bit when you're together."

"Hey Mina, where is Malachite?" It now struck Serena as odd that Malachite wasn't attending to his very pregnant girlfriend.

"Oh, he and Darien went to Salem for some reason but he wouldn't tell me what for."

...

The university was quite big and it had taken them awhile to find the field where Seiya and his team were practicing. The clouds above brought a strong cold wind that blew through the trees and Darien's hair making him straighten it out by the time they reached the stone blenches of the field. The men were scattered across the grass kicking the soccer ball back and forth yelling terms Darien did not know. Seiya stood with his back facing the stone benches, coaching the team. He was lucky that Malachite and Seiya were on the same soccer team in high school and still kept in touch throughout the years or else he didn't know if he would get a chance to talk to him.

"Are you sure it's okay that we're interrupting his practice?" Darien asked his old friend from high school.

His platinum blonde, almost white hair blew in his face and Malachite tucked his long locks behind his ears with a gloved hand. "Yeah, don't worry. He said its fine. If Mina found out the real reason we're out here and drove two and a half hours for nothing she'd bet me into oblivion."

Darien slumped his shoulders slightly afraid of what he might find out form the conversation about to take place, afraid that this man might actually be Serenity's father instead of he.

"Besides, I kind of already told him what the situation is."

"You told him?! Malachite!" Darien's face felt hot with anger and embarrassment.

"Seiya!" Malachite shouted putting his hands on either sides of his mouth to project his voice. "I had to tell him Darien. Do you understand how awkward it would be driving all the way out here with no context and straight up ask him about his physical relationship with Serena?" He whispered harshly.

Seiya turned around suddenly and waved his hand in the air. As he came running over Darien felt nervousness rise in his chest and started to regret this decision to peruse the truth.

"Malachite! It's been a long time, man." Seiya said shaking Malachite's hand and then turning to Darien and smirked slightly. "I know you. You're...Uh..."

"Darien. Shields." Darien said shaking Seiya's hand somewhat resentfully.

"Darien. That's right." The stupid smirk on Seiya's face grew bigger. "That's pretty crazy about Serena, huh?"

"That's what we came to talk to you about." Malachite pointed out nudging Dairen slightly as if he read his negative thoughts about Seiya.

Seiya removed the sweatband from his forehead and straightened out his bangs. "You're trying to figure out if Serena's kid is mine or your's, right Darien?"

Darien felt his eyebrows furrow at Seiya's playful tone and didn't know if he could hold himself back from punching the egotistical man. "Y..yeah."

After a moment of silence Darien realized that Malachite was not going to ask Seiya the dreaded question. He took a deep breath and prepared himself. "Did you and Serena have a physical relationship?"

Seiya took a minute to answer and Darien could hear his heart beat loudly in his ears as he waited for Seiya's replay.

"I honestly don't feel comfortable sharing that information with you."

Anger arose in the pit of Darien's stomach. "What?! Do you understand what kind of situation we're in?"

"Yeah, I understand. One of us could be a father of neither of us could be a father. I think that's what's going to make this fun." Seiya looked directly at Darien. "This semester is almost over and I haven't been home since last year since my band went on tour this summer. Maybe it's time I head back to Astoria for winter break and drop by Serena's to meet this little girl that could be my daughter. Even if you maybe the father I could always win over the affection of Serena and her little girl."

"WHAT?! You're going to try and make this into a game." Malachite had to hold Darien back as he almost charged at Seiya.

"Darien go wait in the car." Malachite stood in between the two tall dark haired men.

"But..Malachite."

"Just go wait in the car." He scolded Darien like a child about to go in to Time-Out.

Darien breathed through his noise, sneered at Seiya and walked back to the car. He couldn't believe the nerve of that guy and he remembered now why he hated him so much in high school. Even though Seiya knew that Darien and Serena were a couple he always tried to win Serena over with small gestures like leaving flowers on her doorstep or helping her carry her books to class. God, he even remembered when those stupid bandmates of his distracted him long enough for Seiya to steal a dance with Serena during prom. He trusted Serena so it never bothered him too much but that damn Seiya clearly didn't understand boundaries.

Once he was in the car Darien ran his fingers through his dark hair and sighed. This whole trip turned out to be a disaster and he was no closer to finding out the truth than he was last week. He leaned his head on the dashboard. "What am I going to do?"

He wasn't aware of how much time had passed when Malachite entered the car. The platinum blonde man had a look of annoyance on his face.

"Well," Dairen questioned. "Did he tell you?"

Malachite sighed. "No. He didn't tell me."

"Fuck." Darien grumbled. "I should have known better than to try to ask Seiya. The guy always hated me."

"He doesn't hate you. Seiya's a competitive person and he always saw you as a worthy opponent. I think he admires you actually."

"Yeah, right." Darien scoffed.

"So," Malachite looked over at the dark haired man looking out the window rustling trees. "Now what?"

Darien bit his thumb nail as thought. "I don't know."

"Are you going to tell Serena that you might know that you're Serenity's father?"

"Do I know?" Darien rested his head against the head rest, his mind ached from all of this. "I don't even know Serenity's birthday. What if she's not even mine or Seiya's? What if Serena cheated on me?"

"Darien, this is Serena we're talking about. She would have died for you. You know as well as I that she would have never cheated on you. Besides, you said the night that it happened was around late March or April, right? So Serenity would have been born around December. Just find out when Serenity's birthday is and we'll go from there."

Dairen nodded.

"And you might want to keep an eye on Serenity and Serena around the holidays. I think Seiya was pretty serious about coming home." Malachite said starting the car and putting it in gear.

Darien looked over at the soccer field where Seiya had went back to coach his team. He'd be damned if he was going to let that egotistical man near Serenity and Serena. Malachite reversed the car and they began he two and half hour journey back home.