Masked Mystery

Moments

Darien’s POV

I slowly opened my eyes. It took a few minutes to adjust, but brightness of the lights dimmed and I could start to make out the shapes in the room. I turned my head to the left and saw a white board on the wall with the date written on it. January 7th. Seriously? It’s been a whole week? I opened my mouth to speak, but I found that my throat was extremely dry. Then I felt something irritating my nose. I reached up to it and felt a tube going into it, and I pulled it out. I can breathe just fine, thanks.

I heard laughter and muffled voices coming from the hallway. I found the control panel for the bed and pushed the button to move myself into a sitting position. A small pain moved through my stomach. I raised my shirt and saw the many stitches that closed up my wounds. Those look really gross. I wrinkled my nose and put my shirt back down as they walked in the room. She stood there for a moment, frozen. I felt my smile stretch across my face.

“Darien!” She rushed to my bed and threw her arms around me. Another pain shot through my stomach, but I didn’t react to it. All that mattered was that she was in my arms again. I actually had control of my body and could hug her back.

“I love you too. I heard you every time you said it to me. All 37 times,” I said with a laugh.

She was smiling and crying. “You counted?”

“Well, I might have slept through a few, so it may have been more than that.”

She pressed her forehead against mine. “Well I do. I love you and you can never, ever scare me like that again.”

I kissed her on the forehead. “Never. I promise.” Then I tilted her chin up and kissed her on the tip of her nose. “Never ever.” I moved my lips to hers and my heart melted. I was so afraid I would never kiss you again…

We just looked at each other, smiling and kissing, and touching each other’s faces for what seemed like forever, but the good kind of forever. The one that you don’t want to ever end. I wiped away her tears and she wiped away mine. I told her of how scared I was when I realized that I could hear her, but she couldn’t hear me. “It was so frustrating. I had to listen to you for days, crying over me and begging me to pull through. In my head I was screaming, ‘I’m here! I can hear you! Don’t cry…’ but you didn’t know. It killed me to hear you going through that. I just wanted to hold you and let you know that I was okay… Then when Doctor Montgomery and Rei came in and told you that I could hear you, I knew that I had to move. I focused so hard on remembering how to move my hand and just when I felt that my head was going to explode, I felt my fingers twitch. Ever since then I’ve been focusing on opening my eyes and moving. Then today, I just did it. I don’t know how to explain it.”

She rested her head on my shoulder, “I’m just glad that you did it. I don’t really care how you did… It happened and you are here and that is all that matters…”

I heard a few sniffs and deep breaths that weren’t mine or Serena’s and I looked at the door. Lita reached over to a shelf and grabbed the tissue box and passed it around. “Please… tell me someone thought to get all that on video.” She wiped her nose.

A red faced Ami raised her hand and continued to point her phone at us, “I’ve got it…”

I whispered to Serena as I watched them all wipe their eyes, “Okay, I think you are going to have to let them all get a hug in…”

She stuck out her lower lip, but I raised my eyebrows and shrugged and she hopped up. “One hug a piece, and then he is all…” They didn’t let her finish.

They all carefully pounced on me at once, and they didn’t bother to take turns talking. I heard a couple say, “So glad you’re okay.” And I heard another, “We were scared too, you know,” and finally I heard a “We all love you so much!”

I chuckled, “Okay… Alright, I love you guys too, but you’re making her jealous.”

Serena’s POV

I watched as my friends dog piled Darien. It made me happy to see him smile. It made me happy to see him sitting up and talking, and breathing on his own. While they were all cooing over him, I went to find his doctor. She would need to examine him, and make sure he was okay so we could go home as soon as possible. I received a phone call from Luna and Artemis wondering when we would be home. It’s so weird… I talk on the phone with cats… There was so much about my life that was weird. It had been almost 5 years since I found out who I was and what I could do, or what I was destined to do. So much had changed. I was no longer the same whiny baby that I used to be. I still whined occasionally, and I was still very clumsy, but I wasn’t as bad. Everything was different. Everything was changing.

Two days after what Darien’s doctor called, “A miracle recovery” we were checking him out of the hospital. “Are you excited to be going home?” I squeezed his arm that I was holding on to as we walked to the taxi.

He smiled down at me, “Most definitely.”

The flight home was a smooth ride. I sat next to Darien, and he held me in his arms for almost the entire flight. Ami sat to his right reading a book. Mina was sound asleep with her headphones on, and Rei and Lita were whispering about something that I couldn’t hear. The gangs all here. It feels great…

Once I had unpacked all of my things, I made my way to Darien’s place. “Knock, knock,” I said as I opened the door.

He walked swiftly around the corner and pulled me close to him. He kissed me and spun me in a circle. “Careful there… You’ll bust a stitch.”

“I’m fine. I feel better now that we’re home.” He smiled and pulled me over to the couch and grabbed a bag that was laying on the coffee table. “I bought these in a store at the airport. The guy mentioned they were a big hit in the States. Want to watch one?”

I read the titles. The Titanic. The Lucky One. The Notebook. “Are you sure? They all seem pretty cheesy.

He grabbed a DVD out of my hand, “This one. Apparently all the American girls love it.”

I turned my head and looked at him. “Are you okay? You’re acting weird.”

He sat back down on the couch and reached for my hands. “Wait. Hold that look.”

I held my confused look, but only out of sheer confusion. “Darien, what is…”

He put a finger to his lips, “No, shh. Hold it, for just a few more seconds… Okay, there.”

“What are you doing?”

He sighed, “When I was stuck inside my own head, I kept thinking about what would happen if I could never open my eyes again. I started thinking about how I would never see your beautiful smile, or the way you roll your eyes at me when I tell you how amazing you are. I was so worried about missing all these little moments, and I don’t want to. So from now on, when there’s a little moment, no matter how tiny, I’m going to take the chance to look at it and get in in my head while I still can.”

I didn’t know what to say other than, “Okay.” He nodded and kissed me again. He stretched out on the couch and I snuggled up against him, resting my head on his chest. I could hear the steady thump of his heart beat and I took a moment to listen to and memorize its beautiful rhythm.