"For Argument's Sake."
By: Isis  @}->--
isis@moonkingdom.com
Rating: G
Disclaimers: Don't sue and don't copy!
AN.  Dreams.  Wonderful things aren't they.  But, uh, how 
many of you talk in your sleep?

You'll understand when you read it!  He.  He.  ;-)


Chapter 15
*@}->--*


 "'U.S. here we come.'  Why didn't anyone tell me this flight was 
going to take forever." Serena grumbled to no one in particular but 
of course Darien got the pleasure of sitting next to her.

"I told you it was going to be a long flight."

She looked over at him bitterly, "A long flight is three hours, not 
eleven."

He laughed at her as he continued with his book.  "We're lucky we 
got a direct flight or else we'd be laid over in Paris somewhere."

"At least we'd get to see France that way," she sniffed.

"You can see it.  Just look out the window.  We're probably 
somewhere over Europe by now."

"Oh, that makes me feel so much better."

He smiled.  "I figured it would."

She sighed and leaned over on his shoulder wrapping her blanket 
around her again.  "Aren't you even going to try to get some 
sleep?"

"I don't sleep very well while I'm traveling.  But you should try, 
after all we've got a fourteen hour time change to get use to once 
we get there."

"Oh man, who decided to make this country so far away?" she 
mumbled snuggling herself onto his shoulder.

He chuckled brushing her bangs away from her face.  "Only you 
would think of blaming God for making the world too big."

She giggled, "Yeah, you're right.  Maybe I should blame the 
manufacturer people for making airplanes so slow."

"We're on a commercial jet, dear.  You can't get on planes much 
faster without a military pass.  Just relax and try to get some 
sleep."

"Oh, I suppose.  What are you reading anyway?" she asked 
looking over at his book.

"It's a biography on Niels Bohr.  He was the Danish physicist that 
founded the modern quantum theory of matter.  He was one of the 
founders of the investigation into atomic structure and radiation.  
He even won a Nobel Prize for physics."

She looked up at him unbelievingly.  "You're sick you know that?"

"Huh?"

"You work through those lousy physics things five days a week 
and then you go and use up your free time reading about some 
other miserable person that had no life outside of that stuff either!  
I think all of those atom things have rotted out part of your brain."

He stared down at her for a moment wondering what he was 
suppose to say to something like that.

She frowned at him and reached over to close his book.  But he 
noted that she put his mark back in the right place.  He watched her 
curiously as she took it out of his hands and placed it on the other 
side of her.  "There, now you're going to try to get some sleep with 
me and no more physics for the entire rest of the week.  Except of 
course for all those horrible little convention people.  This is going 
to be a mini vacation and you're not spoiling it with work stuff."

He felt like he was being griped out by a teacher for not doing his 
homework.  Or maybe just being nagged on by an annoyed wife.  
Either way, he wasn't use to it and her tone didn't sit all that well 
with him.  But he did have to admit she had a point.  This was 
supposed to be a break for them and he was supposed to be 
enjoying this.  So fine, he'd humor her.

"All right, Meatball Head, I promise I'll avoid as many of the work 
related issues as possible."

She smiled at him thankfully and put up the arm rests between 
them.  "Good," she mumbled taking his arm and wrapping it 
around her as she snuggled closer.  "I like you better when you're 
not concentrating on something else."

He couldn't help but laugh at her.  She was so cute when she was 
trying to be forward.  He wrapped her up in his arms and tucked 
the little blanket the attendant had given her over one shoulder and 
laid his head on top of hers.  She wrapped an arm around him as 
well scooting a little closer.  "Good night, Muffin," she mumbled 
to him.

He smiled at the nickname he had somehow gotten in the last 
couple of months.  "Sweet dreams, Meatball Head."

"You bet," she said obviously smiling.  He wondered for a minute 
what was on her mind but decided it was probably best he didn't 
know.

He laid there with her wrapped up in his arms thinking that there 
should be some way he could get some sleep.  He really didn't fall 
asleep on planes very easily.  But he usually had something to 
occupy his time.  But now his reading material was lying on the 
other side of this little ball of blond hair.  He smiled at the thought.  
'I like you better when you're not concentrating on something 
else.'  Well then, for one whole week he'd concentrate on nothing 
else but her.

Contemplating Serena.  Somehow that sounded a lot easier than he 
figured it would be.  The hardest physics problem known to man 
had to be easier than solving her.  He quietly brushed back some of 
her bangs that where tickling his chin.  She didn't move.  Asleep 
already was she?  Well, at least she was getting some rest.  And 
she seemed to be comfortable enough.

Of course he was quickly beginning to think that this was a very 
comfortable position.  Maybe it was the length of the trip or maybe 
it was the fact that ninety percent of the cabin's occupants were 
also asleep but he could tell he was nodding off.

Then again, it could just be her

The next thing he knew he was snapped back into the land of the 
living from a very nice dream about a hot-tub by the captain's 
voice waking the cabin in order to tell them that they had a half an 
hour left before their arrival.  He raised a hand to rub some of the 
sleep out of his eyes but found that part of his dream was actually 
real.

Serena still laid comfortably snuggled next to him.  And obviously 
still asleep.  He smiled down at her little hairballs that were lying 
on his shoulder.  He gently pushed her bangs back behind her ear 
and brushed his hand over her check.  "Serena."

"Hum?" she mumbled probably still asleep.

He chuckled at her and bumped her forehead gently with his chin 
to make her wake up.  "Come on Sleeping Beauty.  Time to wake 
up and meet your prince."

She giggled at him still not moving.  "I thought I already met you," 
she muttered, slurring her words slightly.

He stared at her for a minute trying to figure out if she was awake 
and just pulling his leg or not.  "Serena?"

"Hum?"

All right, so maybe she was still asleep.  He glanced around to see 
if anyone was noticing them before turning back to her with an evil 
little smile.  "Serena, Darling, we're all most there."

"All most where, Love?"

Love?!  He suppressed a laugh and continued, extremely enjoying 
this.  "Don't you remember?"

"No, you wouldn't tell me where you were taking me."

"I didn't?" he asked wondering exactly where they were at in her 
dream world.

She giggled lightly.  "No.  You were being mean and keeping our 
honeymoon a secret."

"Honeymoon!"  He didn't mean to say it but it just slipped out of 
his shocked mouth.

She giggled again, "You're suppose to forget our anniversary, not 
that fact that we're married."

He stared at her wondering what to do now.  How could she even 
be dreaming about  Wait, what had he been dreaming about just 
now anyway?  After all he should have been thinking that they 
were married to be dreaming about her in a bikini likeAnyway!  
"Uh, Serena."

"Hum?"

He was going to shake her in order to actually wake her up but he 
stopped looking down at her sleeping form next to him.  What 
would he do if they were actually married?  He leaned his head 
back on hers, for a moment contemplating something he never in 
his life thought he'd seriously think about.  "Serena, would you 
marry me again if I asked you?"

She sighed contentedly, "Of course I would Muffin.  How could I 
ever say no to you?" she mumbled.

"Very easily," he said quietly knowing that her dream was 
certainly not real.

She laughed lightly.  "Wasn't that the reason you waited so long to 
ask me?  You really need to lighten up on yourself, Love."

He stared down at her for a moment knowing that he really 
shouldn't listen to anything that she was saying but he couldn't 
help but wonder at her words.  Was he too hard on himself in this 
department?  If she were awake she probably would have agreed 
that he was, but  OK, time to wake her up and forget this whole 
little practical joke that just backfired on him.

"Darien?"

He paused not knowing whether or not to answer her but he let his 
curiosity get a hold of him.  "What is it Meatball Head?"

"What would I do without you?"

He smiled knowing that this sounded much more like her.  "You'd 
be just fine without me.  You have a good head on your shoulders 
if you'll just use it."

"Humph.  Yeah, I don't use my head and you need a heart."

He chuckled at her.  "If I didn't have one then why did you marry 
me?" he asked teasing.

She chuckled, "You took mine.  So I had to marry you to get 
even."

He couldn't help but laugh at her.  "I knew there was a reason."

"Yeah, I like verbal abuse I guess."

"You are well skilled in it."

"I just have to keep up with my love interest."

He smiled into her hair thinking of how often he'd teased her when 
they'd first met just in order to see that cute little pout of hers.  "I 
can't help it if I think you're cute when you're mad."

"Hum, and I can't help it if I think you're cute when you think 
you're always right."

So that was it.  *Well my little bride, I'll have to remember that.*  
He leaned toward her ear and whispered, "I am always right."

She giggled turning slightly in his embrace.  "Stop," she mumbled 
still giggling lightly.

"OK."  He removed his arm that he had around her and lightly 
bumped her head off of his shoulder so that her sleeping form fell 
backwards onto her seat back successfully waking her with a start.

"OH!" she squeaked as her eyes flew open.  She righted herself 
back out again looking around trying to place where she was and 
finally finding Darien sitting there laughing at her.  "What's so 
funny?" she snapped at him rubbing at her eyes.

"Sorry.  I couldn't figure out how else to wake you."

She dropped her hand and stared at him.  "So you threw me 
overboard?"

"Overboard?"

She looked around her again and sighed.  "Never mind" she said 
rubbing her forehead.  "These weird dreams are going to kill me 
yet."

"You had a dream about me throwing you overboard on a ship?" 
he asked innocently.

"Yeah, and we" she stopped opening her eyes wider.  She 
looked over at him quickly and laughed nervously.  "Nothing.  I 
guess it was pretty atypical.  You were insulting me and then you 
threw me over the railing.  It was actually a very pretty setting 
though," she said side stepping the point.  "The Earth was out and 
everything."

"The Earth?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."  She shook her head 
again and tried to work out a crink in her neck.

"Try me," he said curiously.

She looked at him as if trying to decide whether or not to say any 
more.  Finally she shrugged and started in.  "OK, so lately I've 
been having all kinds of weird dreams but their all set in the same 
place.  The moon."

He looked at her for a moment letting it sink in.  "The moon?  Let 
me guess, you're some fairy princess and your best friend is an elf 
right?"

She looked at him sourly and sniffed.  "No, actually Luna is my 
best friend," she lowered her voice for a minute, "and she talks."

He continued staring at her.  "Luna.  Your cat.  Talks."

She nodded silently.

"Have you been taking all of your pills?" he asked as seriously as 
he could.

She growled at him and turned away folding the blanket that she'd 
been using.  "I don't see why I tell you anything."

He laughed at her knowing that she told him a lot more than she 
would have ever wanted to just now.  "I'm sorry.  So tell me about 
the moon.  Any problems with the gravity?"

She paused to glare at him.  "No."

"Oh, come on.  I'm interested, really."

She sighed.  "All of my dreams revolve around this palace on the 
moon.  Luna and Mina's cat Artemis are like my cat advisors or 
something.  They talk, and Luna really sounds a lot like my 
mother.  Although it's funny because Mom, Dad and Sammy are 
the only ones that don't seem to pop up in them."

"Odd.  But I do huh?" he asked amused.

"Yeah," she giggled looking over at him.  "You're just like you 
always are, except for the fact that you're the prince from Earth."

He raised and eyebrow to stare at her.  "A prince?"

She continued to giggle.  "Yeah, well, I guess I'm suppose to be 
some moon princess or something.  Anyway, all of the girls are 
like a part of my court and princesses from their home planets."

"I always knew you guys were from outer space."

"Do you want to hear this or not?" she asked impatiently.

"OK OK.  Sorry."

"So anyway, they're all there with me and you just kind of pop in 
and out usually" she stopped thinking for a moment.

"Usually?" he asked pressing the issue.

"Well, usually.  This was different," she muttered rubbing her eyes 
again.

"How different?" he asked trying to sound just curious.

She looked over at him shyly.  "Very."

He looked back at her purposefully letting her know that he 
expected more.  Like a full review.

She turned away sharply hiding a blush.  "Doesn't matter anyway.  
We basically have the same relationship as we always do.  We 
argue and you always seem to pop up at the worst times and 
everything.  It's really kind of funny.  Especially you in armor."

"Armor?"

She giggled, "Yeah, somewhere in my dreams it seems normal, but 
I really don't think it fits you all that well in real life."

"Sounds uncomfortable."

She laughed at the comment.  "Anyway, we've like known each 
other forever too, just like here, and I'm always telling you about 
everything and you always turn it around and make it into some 
stupid joke, and you still end up helping me.  Although even there 
I really hate that armor.  You always feel so cold."

He chuckled at the image.  "Do you remember studying Sigmund 
Freud's theories on dream images in Psychology?"

"Wasn't he the guy that was obsessed with sex?"

"Basically."

"No, I don't remember," she said pointedly.

He laughed as their flight attendant walked to the front of the cabin 
and asked them to strap in for landing.

"We're here already?" she asked surprised.

"Why do you think I woke you up?"  He chuckled, "I would have 
been more than happy to keep influencing your dream for as long 
as I could."

She stared at him openly dropping the seat belt that she had just 
picked up.  "You what?"

He laughed at her innocently as he adjusted his own seat belt.  
"You talk in your sleep."

"I I-I do?"

He chuckled at her, "Well, you did now.  I think I started it when I 
told you to wake up.  Something about Sleeping Beauty and 
meeting your prince."

She recomposed herself and giggled, "I guess it fit in with my 
dream at the time.  I mean we were"  She looked over at him 
nervously again.  "Uh, how much did youuhyou know 
hear?"

"Oh, I came in on the 'you didn't tell me where you were taking 
me for our honeymoon.'"

"Oh," she sounded relieved, which was the not the emotion he 
figured she would be feeling.

"Did I miss out on something better?" he asked staring at her.

"No!" she squeaked.

He tilted his head to the side waiting for her to explain herself.  
She laughed nervously and looked down blushing from ear to ear.  
He leaned over taking her chin in his hand and tilting her face up to 
look at him.  "Don't worry about it.  After all, if you told me about 
yours I'd have to tell you mine."  Her eyes widened at the news.  
He smiled down at her mischievously, "And I'm not about to tell 
you mine."


 "Did anyone else find that to be an extremely long flight?" 
Romola asked as they stood in line for their baggage claim.  The 
Bentons had been seated several rows back from them due to the 
odd ticket numbering.

*Thank goodness they didn't hear that dream,* Serena thought 
glancing over at Darien again.  *But I will figure out what his was 
about.  The snake, he'll tell me whether he likes it or not!*

"Tell me about it," Darien mumbled rubbing at his shoulder.  "I 
think I was set on permanent press."  Romola laughed at him and 
Serena rolled her eyes.

"I was perfectly comfortably," she said.

He stepped up next to her to sufficiently tower over her.  "That's 
because of this very slight height difference."

She laughed and punched him lightly in the stomach.  "Gee, I 
never noticed you were taller than me," she mumbled acting 
completely blond.

He rolled his eyes and shoved her towards the baggage station as a 
hint to keep moving.

She looked around her for a first good look at American society 
and realized that she wasn't missing much.  People scuttled by in 
all directions and none of them seemed the least bit interested in 
her.  Nothing new there.  She could make out the conversations of 
groups around her and realized that she could understand them 
well enough.  It seemed a lot like a normal Japanese airport.  
Except that there seemed to be more diversity to the races of 
people wondering around.  Every color, every nation, every creed 
seemed to be waltzing by.

"Well, don't have to worry about fitting in," she mumbled to 
herself, the words dying in the noise of the crowd.

The trip in from the Washington National airport to the city itself 
didn't take long.  But she couldn't believe that the subways 
weren't full.  Compared to the ones at home they were only half 
filled.  She looked curiously at the advertisements on the walls 
trying to judge a fashion sense.  But the more she tried the more 
she came to realize that American's had no fashion.  Anything 
went.

But now the lay out of the city was taking some adjusting to.  Once 
the Metro subway dropped them off as close to their hotel as 
possible they began the journey to actually find the place.

"All right, we're in the North West quadrant.  So now we have to 
find twenty second street," Dr. Benton mumbled going over the 
map again.

"We're on twenty second," Darien noted pointing to a traffic sign.

He looked up at the sign and then back down at the map.  "Oh."

Romola frowned at the map from the side of her husband's 
shoulder.  Darien looked around trying to get a feel for the city.  
Serena wrapped her arm inside of his and kept close in case she 
would get separated and lost.  Not to mention that is was late in the 
day here and it was extremely cold.

Snow covered the ground and there was a frigid January wind 
blowing from the north.  She shivered slightly and snuggled a little 
closer to him as Dr. Benton signaled for a taxicab.  Darien of 
course noticed and took his arm out of hers and wrapped it around 
her waist pulling her closer.  She welcomed the warmth and the 
comfort.

The cloudy gray skies didn't offer much in the way of sunshine but 
the sun tried to peek out every now and then just to let everyone 
know that it was still up there somewhere.  She knew now exactly 
why she liked summer so much more.

The Marriott hotel was a tall rock building with probably about 
twenty-five to thirty floors to it.  And Serena had to admit that she 
was impressed by the surroundings.  She had envisioned this 
convention thing using the cheapest place they could find to house 
their members.  But it seemed like someone was forking over some 
yens for this place.  And she didn't mind one tiny bit.

"You know, I think I could get use to this," she commented as the 
Bentons saw to their checking in.

He chuckled at her.  "Only you would get all excited about the 
hotel you were staying in."

She gave him a sour look and began inspecting the lobby around 
her.  People roamed around the place some working there and 
others seemed to be doing the same thing she was.  She heard 
Darien laugh from behind her and turned to find him and Romola 
looking at something on the counter.  She hopped over to peek 
around him to see what was so funny.

"Say Serena, you wouldn't happen to have an old ID with you 
would you?" he asked amusedly.

She gave him a queer look and shook her head.

"Rats," he mumbled to Romola who tried to hide her laughter.

"What's so funny?" she asked slightly irritated with the both of 
them.

He pointed to the paper that they'd been reading and looked at her 
perfectly serious.  "One of their benefits is that children eighteen 
and under stay free.  We were going to try to see if we could pass 
you off as still being eighteen."

She growled very low in the back of her throat but then 
recomposed herself and turned back to him.  "Well it is a shame 
I've already had my birthday.  But why don't we try it with you?  
After all, you have the personality of a six year old."  She crossed 
her arms over her chest and smiled with self-gratification.

He looked at her only a second to see if she was serious or not.  
Poor Romola must have thought that she was because she had lost 
some of her coloring and her eyes were the size of quarters.  But 
Darien was never without a comeback.  "Funny.  I could swear that 
your sense of humor hasn't matured since junior high."

"At least I have a sense of humor.  Of course, yours probably just 
hasn't come in yet."

"Yes, it must be kind of like your brain cells.  They don't start 
forming until they're needed for actual use."

*Ouch.  That wasn't a fair shot!*  But then she noticed the look he 
gave her.  The small flick of his eyes back in Romola's direction.  
The poor woman was standing there looking completely lost.  She 
still assumed that they were being serious!  She smiled instead and 
turned back to him.  "I guess that makes them sort of like your 
romantic side.  If it never sees the light of day then why bother to 
form."

He smiled evilly at her.  "You've never seen my romantic side."

"You have one?  Oh gee, I'm sorry, but I think I'll pass on being a 
test subject for it."  She rolled her eyes and turned away slightly.

"Serena, Darien, stop this," the older woman interjected.  She had 
obviously come to the end of her rope.

They both looked at her keeping straight faces.  That was until 
Darien turned back to her and grabbed her elbow.  Serena found 
herself wrapped up in his arms before she even knew what 
happened to her.  She looked up to see the mischief in his eyes and 
he smiled down at her.  "Yeah, stop being so mean," he mumbled, 
cuddling her tightly.

She couldn't help but laugh at the little pout he wore.  "You started 
it," she said pouting herself.

They laughed at each other and then turned back to Romola who 
looked as though she could have fainted dead away right there and 
then.  "Sorry, Romola.  Our arguments take a little adjusting to," 
he commented to her.

She giggled lightly, "Yeah, and the adjustment is to just never take 
us seriously."

Romola opened her mouth to say something then closed it again 
looking back and forth between the two, still noting the embrace 
that he held her in.  She nodded silently and stiffly walked back to 
where her husband was still talking with the hotel manager.

They continued to laugh at her expense not really paying attention 
to the looks they were getting from other people and couples in the 
lobby.  Neither one noticed, and neither one cared.


_____________
@}->-- "Half our life is spent trying to find something to 
do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save" -Will 
Rogers.





