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" ~