Title: A Family for Christmas-Chapter 2
Author: Sailor Bunny
Rating: PG

Here's Chapter 2!!! Happy Holidays everyone! (Yeah NOW
I can't think of
anything to say lolz) Please email me and visit my
site!
Sailor Bunny aka Lindz
sailorbunny21@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/smoonshroom/

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Over the week, Chloe and Monsuier Robert DeLomburg
became very close
friends. However, Chloe became very suspicious of him.
It all started
one night at dinner.....

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chloe had requested her favorite, spaghetti and
meatballs, and they all
agreed. She sat quietly slurping her noodles while her
mother, Darien,
and Robert talked. Chloe looked over at Monsuier
DeLomburg and he 
smiled and winked at her. Suddenly, as if out of
nowhere, bells started
ringing and sparkles danced around her.

"Mommy! Mommy, do you see?? Do you hear them?? Mommy
mommy!" Chloe
shrieked, bouncing excitedly in her chair.

"What is it honey?" Serena asked, calmy placing her
hand on her daughter's
shoulder.

"The bells! And the sparkles! Mommy mommy, do you see?
Do you hear?
Monsuier DeLomburg is..is..an ANGEL!!!" She pointed to
him.

"Angel? Honey, are you ok?" Serena flushed, placed a
hand to her
forehead.

"I'm FINE mommy! You're not listening! Monsuier
DeLomburg is...oh
NEVERMIND!!!" She huffed, crossing her arms and
sitting back with an
angry scowl on her face.

"Uh, Chloe..honey..maybe you should go to your room,
ok?" Darien spoke
up.

She glared up at him. "Okay DAD." She marched off to
her room.

Serena brushed back a strand of hair and laughed
nervously. "I am SO
sorry about that Monsuier DeLomburg. She's usually not
like that. I
guess it's...change of atmosphere or something."

Robert chuckled heartily. "Oh, it's quite alright Mrs.
Shields. I was
once a kid you know." He held up his glass and took a
drink, winking at
them.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next night, they all went ice skating at a local
ice skating rink.
Chloe had been taught by her mother how to ice skate
and was exceptionally
good. Monsuier DeLomburg glided on the ice as if he
was floating on
air. Darien didn't know how to skate and watched from
the sidelines,
struggling to stand on his ice skates.

"Come on Darien, come skate with me! Pu-leeeease!"
Chloe pleaded, grabbing
his wrists and shaking them up and down. She put on
her best puppy
dog face.

He groaned. "I don't know how to skate, sorry." He
protested.

"Pleeeeease?? I'll teach you!" Chloe continued her
cute face until he
could no longer stand it.

"Alright, alright." He complied, taking her hand and
holding tightly
to it for support as he stumbled out on the ice.

"There you go. Just one foor in front of the other.
Glide..glide..that's
it!! You're getting it!" She taught him.

He started gliding slowly and unsurely. "Hey...I AM
getting it!" He
broke out into a grin.

"Good good! How come you never learned how to skate
before? Didn't your
daddy ever teach you?" She asked innocently.

He slowed down, frowning. "No. He never cared enough.
Always to busy
working or something. Never enough time for me."

"Well...what about your mommy?"

"She was cold and cruel. Didn't even want to be a
mother." He shrugged.
Chloe took this as a sign and didn't ask any further
questions.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Meanwhile, Monsuier DeLomburg and Serena peacefully
skated with each
other. "You're very good." He commented.

"Thank you. You're not so bad yourself." She replied
with a smile.

"You skate with confidence. I've taken notice you're
very confident in
yourself. Aren't you ever afraid of a fall?" He asked.

She shrugged and shook her head. "I see no need to. I
live my life day
by day."

He stared somberly at her. "You shouldn't be so
confident. You never 
know when you will fall." He said.

Suddenly, her skates slipped from under her and she
went tumbling down
on the ice. She gasped and looked up at him who just
shook his head.
She got up, rather irked by this, and continued to
skate.

"Your daughter is quite a remarkable girl. You taught
her to skate I
assume?" He asked, looking over at Chloe and Darien.

"Yes I did." She replied.

His grey-blue eyes twinkled. "I thought so."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Darien and Chloe laughed, skating over to join Robert
and Serena. "Hey
you two, you look like your having fun!" Serena
grinned.

"Yeah! I taught Dar...Daddy how to skate!" Chloe
grinned, catching 
herself.

"Well..how bout you come and skate with me and leave
these two alone?"
Monsuier DeLomburg asked, taking Chloe's hand and
skating away.

Serena smiled and skated around him. "You two sure hit
it off." She
said.

"Yeah. She's a great kid." He replied, running a
gloved hand through
his hair.

She grinned wider and winked. "I know." She started to
skate a bit
away from him, as he followed her.

He stumbled over his skates and a slim, pretty blonde
caught him. She
giggled and shot him a sexy smile. "Whoa there. You
alright?" He grinned
back and nodded flirtatiously. "How about I help you
out there?"

He started to comply, then caught sight of Monsuier
DeLomburg's 
questionally glared. He shook his head. "No I don't
think so."

She shrugged, disappointment glinting in her eyes.
"Suit yourself."
She skated away.

Darien skated over to a slightly frowning Serena. "I'm
sorry."

He looked at her. "For what?"

"Well..I know your the most eligible
bachelor..er..was..and I feel
that I've ruined your dating life." She shrugged,
looking down.

He lifted her chin up and stared into her baby blue
eyes, drowning in
them. He was mesmorized, until he regained his
composure and answered.
"No you haven't. I'm alright really. It's...a change.
Actually, our
whole situation is making me feel more...settled."

She smiled weakly. "Really?"

He nodded. "Besides, she wasn't my type." He pointed
over at the girl,
who had taken a new intrest in Chad and the two
flirted.

She laughed. "Oh yeah I'm sure. Not your type." Her
eyes glistened. "And
the question running through every girl's mind..what
IS your type?"

He grinned. "You have yet to find out my dear. Now,
come, skate with 
me." Darien held out his elbow.

Serena took it courtisly. "Alright." They glided off
around the ice
under a dark sky blanketed with stars.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Two nights later, Chloe was playing in Darien's study
area, making a
nusensce (AN: alright alright so I can't spell) of
herself. She saw an
antique model train on his desk and pushed it back and
forth making
train noises. 

Then, Darien strolled in and got slightly perturbed at
what he saw.
"Chloe what are you doing?!" He yelled angrily taking
her wrist. "This
is not a toy. I told you to stay out of here!!" 

"I was just PLAYING!!" She yelled back, running to his
couch and picking
up his nutcracker.

He snatched it away from her. "Well I told you not to
play in here!"

"I didn't mess anything up!" She argued.

"You shouldn't be in here, there's very important
stuff back here." He
opened his breifcase to find cracked pecans scattered
about. He groaned.
"CHLOE! You irresponsible little brat! Didn't your
mother ever teach
you anything about respect of people's personal
space??" His face
grew red.

Tears clouded Chloe's eyes. "I don't have to do
anything you say!!
YOU'RE NOT MY DADDY!!" 

Serena ran in, upon hearing all the commotion. "What's
going on here??"
She demanded.

"Your little brat is messing up my study!" He pointed
a finger at her.

She glared at Chloe then at him. "You have no right to
speak to MY 
daughter like that!"

"She should be taught a lesson in manners."

"She HAS manners thank you very much and she doesn't
need to take any
lessons from you. I never want to hear you yelling at
my daughter ever
again!" Serena yelled.

"Yeah!" Chloe added.

"Don't start young lady. I told you not to play in
here and you
dilebratly disobeyed me! I am quite ashamed. Go to
your room immediatly!"
She pointed towards Chloe's room.

Chloe stood for a minute, glaring at her mother, then
stormed off to
her room, slamming the door shut.

Serena glared at Darien and repeated an ongoing
onslaught of insults
and the two bantered it out. After a while, Darien
started to give in
to Serena's stuborness and motherly ways.

"Well what can I do about it now?" He asked quietly.

Her expression softened a bit, but still remained
stern. "You can go
into her room and apologise to her."

"Apologise? To her? I don't think so..." She glared
sternly at him.
"Alright alright I'm going." He dragged himself to his
'daughter's'
room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Darien took a deep breath and entered Chloe's room.
She was lying in
bed with her stuffed rabbit. He sat on the edge of her
bed. "Hi."

She looked up, expressionless. "Hi." She replied.

"I, uh, I'm...well..you know. I shouldn't have yelled
at you. And...well,
you know what I'm trying to say...don't you?"

A tiny smiled creeped up her mouth. "Yeah. You're
sorry."

He flushed and ducked his head. "Yeah. Sorry."

"You're not too good at this." Chloe commented.

He chuckled nervously and ran a hand through his hair.
Darien turned
his head and caught sight of a picture of Chloe and a
tall blonde man.
He picked it up and studied it. "Who's this?"

She looked up at it. "Oh that's my daddy."

"If you don't mind me asking...what happened to him?"
Darien asked 
quietly.

"Oh..he's..an astronaught. He got called out on an
important space
mission so he's been gone a long time." She chirped.

"An astronaught, eh?" Darien said, knowing she was
making it up.

"Yeah...what about your daddy, Darien? Tell me about
your daddy."

"Well, Chlo, there's not much to tell. He was never
really around. He
was usually in business meetings or something. He
barely had time for
me." Darien looked down, fiddling with one of Chloe's
many stuffed
animals.

"What did he do with you when he WAS around?" Chloe
hugged her rabbit
closer.

"Baseball." He gave a wry smile at a memory. "I was
never good at it.
My glove...it was too big, and I could never catch the
baseball. Dad
would throw it and throw it and I kept missing it. He
was so disappointed
in me. One day...one day I almost caught it."

"What happened what happened?"

"He threw the ball..it was so high..I made a huge leap
for it...I had
it in my glove..but it was too big. I couldn't get a
hold of it and it
fell out of my glove. Dad never played baseball with
me after that..in
fact, we barely spoke after that." Darien lowered his
head and closed
his eyes.

Chloe took his hand in hers and squeezed it. "I'm
sorry Darien."

He looked up and her and smiled. Then, he noticed the
rabbit she was
clutching so tightly. "Hey, where'd you get this?" He
asked, poking it.

"Oh, my daddy gave it to me. He's gonna come back you
know. He is." She
insisted. 

Darien ruffled her hair and kissed the top of her
head. "Night kiddo."
He turned off the light and left.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Darien looked through the house until he found Serena
out on the balcony.
She was leaning over the side, staring at the
beautiful full moon.
"Hey." He said, coming up behind her.

"Hey." She responded, not turning her head.

He came up beside of her and leaned on the railing. "I
talked to Chloe
and apologised. Ya proud?"

"I know. I kind of overheard you guys in the hall."
She said.

"Oh...if you don't mind me asking..what's the TRUTH
behind Chloe's 
father?" He asked.

She sighed. "He worked as an accountant and was a golf
fanatic. He
joined a golf tour and...well..I guess it was more
important than his
family. He left one morning for work and didn't come
back. I managed to
catch up with him long enough so he could sign divorce
papers, but that's
it. Sometimes I even get a phone call, and he fills
Chloe's head with
lies about how he's coming back. I know he never will
though. James
never cared about anyone but himself. (AN: YAH YA HEAR
THAT JERKYBUTT)"

Darien put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed it.
"Then he never
deserved either one of you."

Serena managed a weak smile and leaned her head
against his shoulder.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Finally done with Chapter 2!! This took longer than
expected, but oh
well. I am seriously doubting that I'll finish it by
X-mas, but oh well,
live with it. Please email me and visit my site! Luv
ya!
Sailor Bunny aka Lindz
sailorbunny21@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/smoonshroom/