"Freelance Reporter" by C. Dreamer rating: PG >disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon plain and simple< E-mail any comments, suggestions, questions, etc to cdream_109@hotmail.com ============================== Chapter 2- Cancellation "Darien!" Raye exclaimed. "Darien, where are you?" "I'm upstairs." he yelled. Raye ran up the stairs. "Whose stuff is this?" "Oh, well I'm having a friend stay over here." "And where will I sleep?" Raye asked angrily. Darien frowned, "You can sleep in my room, okay?" Raye sighed, "Forget it. You sleep in your room, your friend in the guest room, and I will sleep at a friend's house or a hotel.--wait, why is your friend sleeping over here?" she asked. "He's gonna be in town for about two weeks," "Tell him to stay at a hotel, like most tourists do." "I told you, take my room, I'm going out of state in a week or so anyway." "I... really?" Raye asked suddenly interested, "where to?" "To California, wait a minute, why the sudden interest in my business life." "Darien, the only life you've got is a business life.." Raye commented. "Anyway, I have to get going, I've got places to go and places to be, bye." she said grabbing a bag and running down the stairs. Darien paused as he heard the door slam. "Two days, and she already has places to go and be?" **************** "Mina!" "Oops?" "What do you mean, oops!" Serena yelled from the living room, walking toward Mina's voice. "Serena, I'm sorry! I'll make it up to you, really, I will." Mina shouted from Serena's room. "I know that it was your favorite vase, but I'll find one exactly like it, from the shape, to the design to the contents." "Oh, and how do you plan to do that, exactly?" "I'll think of something." she mumbled. "Well you better think of something soon." she muttered. Unexpectedly the door rang. Serena looked at Mina, "Are you expecting anybody?" she asked. "No, and obviously since you asked I'm supposing that you aren't either." She replied logically. "Well, go get the door." Mina said. "Of course, your highness." she remarked sarcastically. "Raye! Hi, what are you doing here?" "Today's Saturday. Remember, we promised to go shopping for your big date." Raye looked around. "Nice place." she said pointing directly to the big screen tv. It was slightly messy, but rather organized. "I already told you that I had a meeting today and I have to work on this article about the history of art for a summer course I'm taking." Serena remarked with a slight smirk. She went to her laptop and shut it. "I know you have a meeting cause I'm covering for you, in case you didn't know. Now what was his name, Jud something?" Raye replied helping herself to some carrots on the kitchen table. "Listen Raye, if I'm going to go shopping all day, I'm going to make sure that at least you know his name. And we are going to repeat as many times as it takes for you to get it. I don't want you to blow him off, okay?" "You mean like I did your last boyfriend? What was his name? Damand?" "You think?" she remarked sarcastically. "Plus, his name was Diamond." "Just call him Jed. I already gave you his desciption, tall blonde handsome." "Yeah, yeah I know all about it." she replied quickly walking out the door, grabbing her purse from the coatrack. "Raye, I have to stop by the news office so we have to go by there first." "What for?" "I think Amy's going to talk to us about our flight or something." "Okay, let's go!" she replied, motivated. *************** "So Caldwell, how have you been holding up?" the visitor asked barging into the kitchen. "The usual. How about you?" "Actually I'm meeting someone tonight." "Let me guess, a girl." "How did you ever guess." he said with mock suprise. "All these years and you still haven't changed." "Oh, and I suppose you've changed a lot. Still same old SINGLE Caldwell." "You really need to get out more. Socialize with people." "I do enough socializing, Mr. Lowell." "Yeah, with your job." he remarked. "Right and with my sister's friends." he remarked listlessly. "Hey, at least someone in your family is socialable." "Shut up, Lowell." "By the way, you need to go grocery shopping." he added as he took out everything decent from the fridge. ********************** "Raye, slow down!" Serena screamed over the roaring wind. "I do believe the speed limit is 60 on the highway." "We can't if we want to be on time to your "meeting" with Amy." she yelled over the radio. "Plus it's 70" "As they slowed down to a stop, Mina looked in the mirror, quickly fixed her hair and reapplied her makeup. "What are you doing that for?" Raye asked. "Hey, you never know what cute guys are working in a news building." she reasoned freshening up. "Not a whole lot." Serena replied as she walked toward the elevator. She looked back at them, "You two stay here. It won't take that long." she said reassuringly. "Of course not. Last time you said that I waited two hours." Mina remarked silently. "Oh, well. We could drive to a nearby shopping center." Raye said slyly, inching toward the door. ************** Serena walked in the door. "Hi, Amy." she said almost instantly. Then she saw Caldwell and wrinkled her nose. "Caldwell." she said in an indifferent tone. He glanced at her, acknowledging her presence and looked back at Amy. "Why are we here?" they both asked at the same time. "Well the flight we originally booked was cancelled due to some odd reason, engine problems, I think. It doesn't really matter anyway. So we moved the flight up. You are leaving tommorrow morning at half past nine, Flight 689. That's all. Wait." she added. She put two plane tickets on her desk. "These are your tickets. Don't be late. Don't miss the flight. Don't lose the ticket and don't get lost." She said strictly as she rustled through some loose papers. "Oh, and have a safe flight." she said with a bright smile. ************* Serena stared at her ticket. "9:30 in the morning?" she yelled. Serena blushed as she saw heads turning toward her. "Oh, sorry." "In case you didn't know, Carlyle, this is a newsroom." he added. "News to me." she remarked sarcastically. Ignoring her last statement, he continued. "Which means you should meet me at Gate 7 at 8:45." "Uh, maybe you didn't hear me. 9:30 in the morning and we're suppose to meet at 8:45? About 45 minutes earlier than the flight time." "Yeah, you know to get our luggage, find the gate, the usual." "And I suppose it's going to take us 45 minutes to...you know what, never mind. I'll meet you 8:45. Bye." Serena muttered with a slight grin on her face. "Okay, that was odd." Just then a sudden thought hit Darien and he grinned. ************* "Raye! Mina! I'm coming, thanks for wait..." Serena frowned, "Thanks for . . .nothing." she muttered. Just then she heard Mina's unmistakeable giggle. "Serena thanks for waiting." Raye said with a huge smile on her face. "Serena, thanks for waiting." Serena mocked then lauged, "well, you both had better gotten some good shopping done, or else I will be rather mad." "Oh, we got some great stuff, you have got to see it." Mina said as she laid the shopping bag on the floor. "Raye, um, the reason Amy called us here was because she told us that we are going to leave to California, tomorrow morning." Raye looked somewhat nervous, "You're joking right." she chuckled nervously. "Sorry, no such luck." she said. "I know, I know. Well then, we better get some good shopping out of the way-- "Serena! You're going to California?! That is great news." Mina said excitedly. "I kind of forgot to mention this to you, except that, well I have to go visit my aunt and uncle in California." Mina said almost unable to contain her excitement. "What an amazing coincindence. So I'll come with you, I hear that California is an amazing place for sightseeing. And you know what, Raye, since you're here visiting, you can come with us-- "Back up, Mina. I never agreed that you could come with me to Callifornia, this is well, my job, not some fun sightseeing vacation. And plus I actually have a place to stay and I have my plane flight booked, and I have something to do there, while I'm there what would you and Raye be doing?" Mina just waved it off, "Oh, don't worry about us, my parents booked reservations for two in case you wanted to come, and seeing that you have your own ticket, I guess Raye could take the other one." Raye looked like she could have hugged Mina, and Serena looked ready to strangle her. "MINA!" ************* Darien looked around his once clean living room. "Lowell!!" he paused waiting for a reply, "I guess he's not here." "Caldwell!" he heard him yell back. "I'm in the den." Darien made his way to the den. "Man, two days and this place is a pigsty." "It's not that bad," Lowell smirked. "I gave this place a great new look, a personality if you will." The den seemed to be bombarded with food and "Oh, of course you did. You actually accomlished something, besides girls and dates, you managed to make my den look even worse than my living room. Bravo." he muttered, picking up trash off the floor. "You make it sound like a bad thing." he grinned. "Oh, of course not. Living in a pigsty isn't a bad thing. Now why don't you stop grinning like an idiot and make yourself useful." he said hitting him with a pillow. "Yes, sir." he jumped off the couch and saluted him. ************** "Okay, I'm ready." Raye yelled across the room. ?A suit case and a sports bag. That all you?re bringing?? Mina asked, sticking her head in Serena?s room. Serena looked up and shrugged. ?I don?t need that much. Only a few weeks, that?s all. Besides, I'm taking my purse.? ?When you leaving?? She zipped the sports bag and smiled at her friend. ?Tomorrow at 8:45.? "PM, right?" "AM." Mina?s eyes widened. ?What? 8:45 AM? You don't even wake up that early. ? "I can too," said Serena with a smile. "Yeah, if you can sleep all day the rest of the day." Raye replied with a slight smirk. ?Ha, ha. Very funny, Raye.? Serena frowned, "So what flight did you book?" "The 12:00 flight." "First-class" Raye chimed in. "It's not possible, is it? I mean, you just booked the flight today." "Mom and Dad have connections." Mina said brightly. Serena muttered, as she packed her purse. ************** "Raye, I need to talk to you." Serena said. "Since I have to go to California, I don't think I can make the blind date. I mean, I have to pack and get ready and you know, things like that." "That's okay, I'm sure I can reschedule." she said suddenly. "That'll be. . . uh, great." Serena said without enthusiasm. "Okay, I'll go call him right now." ************** "Zoycite! Kunzite!" Darien yelled waving at them. "Hey, Thomas, what are you doing in New York?" he asked. "To get away from work." he said sarcastically. "To see you and Raye, pyro." He asked curiously, "How's she doing anyway?" "Same as always." he said with a sigh. "So, Zoycite, what are you doing here?" "Well, I had some business in town and I thought, 'Well since I'm in town, I might as well visit my old friend, what's his name, Caldwell.'" he said with a mockful look on his face. "Nice to see you haven't changed much." he said. "Same to you, Caldwell." he said with a smile on his face. "So Jed, are all three of you going to California with me?" he asked. "and why are you all going to California with me anyway?" "Well, since it's been a while since we've seen each other, and well I thought since we're all here we might as well visit Neph in California, just the five of us." he said. "Except one thing, I HAVE TO WORK, did you ever think of that?" he asked. "I kind of left out that factor, it just slipped my mind." he supplied. "That's just great, oh well. I guess it will have to be a reunion without me. Did you even call Neph?" "Of course I did, I'm not that stupid." he said. "Of course you aren't, Anyway, keep yourselves busy, and away from me." he said with a smile. "Whatever you wish, your highness." Zoycite said with mock formality. "Let's just get our bags and leave." Kunzite said. ************* "Mina, tell Raye that I'm leaving to meet Jed when she comes back." "Where you going?" she asked watching the TV. "Jaqulin down the street?" she said grabbing her purse. "Alright, I'll do that." she said disinterested. Serena thought disdainfully. ************ "Mina, where's Serena?" Raye asked as she entered the room. Mina focused on the TV said, "She's somewhere." "Gee, you're a lot of help." she said sarcastically. She walked to Serena's room and knocked, "Serena? Are you in there?" she paused, "I'm coming in." Hearing no disagreement she walked in to find a messy room, but no Serena. She walked around aimlessly, but couldn't find Serena. "Mina! Are you sure Serena didn't tell you where she was going?" Raye asked exasperated. "Serena, oh, she said she was going to meet someone, Jed someone or something." Mina said looking at Raye. "Mina, you're joking right?" she asked knowing perfectly well what her answer would be. ************ "Emerald!" Diamond called. "how long till it begins." Emerald's eyes flashed, "Another week or so. . .at best." she said. "And the tiny...interference." he asked. She smiled, her teeth shining in the dark room. "Taken care of." she replied with a smile. "permanently." Sapphire smiled, "at this rate, everything will go perfect." ************ Hi, everybody. Is anyone reading this? Sorry it took forever to get out. I already have Chpt. 3a finished. ^_^ It's gonna move starting from Chpt. 4, rather slowly, but move in plot. I do have a sequel written. Just the prologue and Chpt. 1. What'd you think? I'll never know unless I get e-mail. ^_^ Cdream_109@hotmail.com.