Title: Cliché
Author: Alse
Part 7: Conclusion
Rating: PG-13
E-mail: alsepang@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: It is a widely known and indisputable 
fact that Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs only 
to Naoko Takeuchi and whichever companies and
their franchises she has assigned whatever 
copyrights of merchandise, television, film, etc. to.
This story was not written for profit on the writer's 
part and was never intended to be used for any such 
gain.

~*~*~*~*~*

I nearly fell out of bed in my haste to get 
off.

"Hey, hey, watch it, Hurricane Sere."
Darien latched on to my wrist. "I'll send 
you home and we can give our parents 
something to talk about. I think they'll 
be very happy." He swung me around to 
face him. "Besides, aren't you forgetting 
something? Don't you want your gift? 
The crystal rose?"

Everything suddenly fell into place when 
I looked at the bed, where the crystal 
rose still lay. Sean's humming and 
hawing, his inept excuses, and Lizzie's 
knowledge that Darien was with me...

"I've been set up!" I cried. "You bought 
me the rose, not Sean!"

Darien pulled me further into his 
embrace. "Guilty as charged." He then 
touched my cheek softly and spoke in 
quieter tones. 

"I was heartbroken when I saw you with 
Sean that night. I thought you were 
more than friends and that I had no 
chance with you. I went home and tried 
to get drunk-how juvenile, huh? I was 
so jealous and depressed that I couldn't 
think straight. My parents weren't home 
that night, you know. Alex knocked me 
unconscious-she used a karate chop to 
the back of my neck!!! -and locked the 
dining room and kitchen doors while I
was out cold. She didn't want me dead 
drunk and spent the night lecturing me. 
God, she sounded like a nagging 
grandmother!"

I *like* that girl.

"After what happened between us this 
afternoon, I told Alex everything. She 
got fed up-Alex has always had very 
little patience-and hunted down your 
friend Sean, who swore that there was 
nothing between the two of you and said 
that you were in love with me. I believed 
he used words to the effect of 'madly', 
'desperately', 'hopelessly' and all that."

"I am *so* going to kill that big mouth," 
I muttered. So much for my conjecture 
that he didn't know how deep my 
feelings ran.

Darien smiled at me. "Well, if he hadn't 
told me that, I might not be here with 
you right now. Alex cooked up this 
scheme and bullied us all into it. I only 
agreed to it after what Sean said because 
I was afraid you'd reject me or worse, 
laugh at me. What Sean said gave me 
some hope that you might care after all."

This very interesting conversation was 
interrupted by Lizzie knocking on the 
door again. "Whatever it is you two are
doing, I don't care and I'm coming in 
now!" There was the sound of a key in 
the lock and then the door was pushed 
open and Lizzie poked her head in, 
giggling a little. Her eyes brightened 
when she saw us.

"Have you two kissed and made up?" 
she teased.

"We've done a lot of that," agreed 
Darien. He glanced at me. "I'd have 
preferred doing more than just that, 
though," he murmured sotto voce, a world 
of meaning in his words.

"I had better go home now," I said 
hastily, feeling the heat in my cheeks. "I 
really should go...I think my parents 
must be worried...you did say my mum 
called, didn't you, Lizzie?"

Andrew appeared at the doorway, 
grinning. "Oh, it's all been taken care of. 
We told your mother you were busy 
making out with Dare here-" 

" *Andrew*!" I steamed and Darien 
laughed.

"I didn't tell her you were doing 
anything more, if that's what you're 
asking-" went on Darien's best friend 
unrepentantly.

Lizzie smacked her brother in the head. 
"Stop it, Andrew! Get your mind out of 
the gutter!" She turned to me. "Don't
worry, Serena, this big clod here did no 
such thing. But I did tell your mother 
that you and Darien were working things 
out. She sounded both surprised and 
pleased."

"A good thing you two are finally 
together," Andrew put in. "You two 
made it very clear at the party that there 
was something very hot going on 
between the two of you." He grinned. 
"Dare was so jealous that he was ready 
to kill your friend Sean. Then he got 
hopelessly depressed." He looked sternly 
at me. "You're one of the best women I 
know, Serena, next to Rita, but I swear, 
if you break Darien's heart, I won't 
forgive you."

"I won't break it, Andrew. I love him 
too much," I said honestly, giving 
Darien's hand a gentle squeeze.

Andrew nodded. "As for you, Dare, 
buddy, old pal-Serena's like a little 
sister to me. Give her reason to cry and 
I suggest you start looking for a new 
face 'cause I'll be rearranging yours. 
Alternatively, you'd have to start looking 
for a burial plot. She's a real gem, buddy, 
so don't let her get away from you." 

Darien muttered under his breath, "Why
 is it that *I* get the death threats?" He 
glanced down at me, then up at Andrew. 
"Andrew, *buddy*, *old pal*, you must be 
off your rocker if you think I'd ever let 
Sere go."

Andrew and Lizzie beamed at us, then 
decided that we could leave.

Since I had driven here, Darien couldn't 
possibly drive me home, so he escorted 
me instead, keeping his car behind mine 
all the way. The porch light was on and 
there was a soft orange glow coming 
from the living room windows, though 
the rest of the house was dark. That 
meant that my parents had retired for 
the night, but had left the wall lamps on 
in the living room so that the house 
wouldn't be too dark. 

I eased the car into the garage and 
Darien parked his car in the driveway. 
We walked to my house together 
without speaking, but the night was 
beautiful and our reluctance to make 
conversation was no impediment to the 
silent looks we exchanged. 

"So-I'll see you tomorrow?" Darien 
said softly, looking down at me as we 
stood on the porch. 

"We have a lot of lost time to make up 
for," I answered. "Over twenty years."

He held me close and I slid my arms 
around his neck, reaching up to meet his 
kiss. It was some time before we finally 
pulled away from each other, trying to 
catch our breaths.

"I'd better go before I succumb to the 
temptation of staying here on the porch 
with you all night. I've only just found 
you, Sere, and I hate to let you go," 
Darien said, tracing my lips with his 
fingers. "At least I know you won't be 
far away."

"I wouldn't call being next-door 
neighbours 'far away'," I agreed, smiling 
back affectionately and reaching up to 
brush his hair out of his eyes. "Good 
night, Darien."

"Good night, Sere. I do like the way you 
say my name..." He touched his lips to 
mine briefly, then withdrew with a sigh. 
"I'll go now."

I shut the door and watched from the 
living room windows until I saw him 
back out of the driveway and turned in 
to his own home. Then I locked the 
door and went up to bed, smiling to 
myself.  There were still many 
unanswered questions, but there would 
be time enough to get the answers 
tomorrow. For now, I was more than 
content to know that I loved and was 
loved in return.