Fragmented

By Natasha Conley

After only a year of marriage, the spark between Darien and Serena has disappeared. With Serena believing Darien no longer loves her, she seeks a relationship elsewhere. Meanwhile, Darien is desperate to save his marriage and prove his love to his now unfaithful wife. Will love truly conquer all or will Darien have to give up and mend his broken heart?

Chapter One

Spaghetti stains covered white ceramic dishes, spoiled formula soaked into plastic baby bottles on the kitchen counters, making them rancid forever. The silver sink piled high with stainless steel pots and pans. Any guest who surprised Serena Shields with a visit would have thought she was trying to build a new Mount Fuji in her kitchen with chocolate ice cream containers, pizza boxes and takeout bags.

The dining room wasn't any better...paperwork piled up to the top, almost reaching the ceiling, or at least, that's how it felt to her. An assortment of bills, unsent thank you letters from a year prior, and medical information for a two month old daughter that was never sorted into the filing cabinet fanned out on the dining room chairs. Dust bunnies collected in the corners of the floor where they hadn't been vacuumed or swept since the birth.

Serena sighed as she gazed from the living room at the mess of things she still needed to do in between caring for her clingy baby while juggling her college courses at the academy.

Her young, pink haired child suckled at a bottle Serena had placed into her mouth. With large red eyes, Rini stared at her mother while she inhaled her milk.

"Your daddy will be home soon." The young mother whispered as she poked her baby's little button nose.

Serena groaned as she looked at the catastrophe around her. She knew her husband, Darien, wouldn't be very happy with her. Ever since Rini came, she hadn't been able to keep the house neat, or focus on doing the extra little things he wanted her to do. Things had changed so much, and at the time she wasn't sure how to take care of everything. She was overwhelmed as a new mom and felt incapable of being the perfect wife Darien had expected her to be.

With so much to do, Serena protested by blowing out a puff of hot air, aimed directly at her disheveled, unwashed bangs, causing them to soar up and stick in place. "Ewww." Serena pulled her bangs back down with disgust. She frowned at the bundle in her arms and said. "Mommy needs a shower."

Rini released the plastic in her mouth, and looked quizzically at her mom, her lips shaped in the form of an O the size of a pinky. Almost as if to ask what a shower was, but of course not able to speak or even wonder the question in the first place. That didn't bother Serena though, she simply laughed at the wide-eyed child and said, "Of course you don't know what a shower is. You're just a baby!"

…

Darien's heart was beating slowly as he began to drift off to sleep at his desk yet again. His face squished into the files he had just a few minutes ago been writing symptoms on for his newer patient, James Martinez. When drool began to pool onto the paper, Darien was awoken by a loud slam on his desk.

"Hey, Shields!" A blonde man called out cheerfully above Darien, smacking his hands against the wooden desk. He was annoyingly optimistic, and painfully cheerful for a man who had also been awake, working for the last eighteen hours straight right alongside Darien.

Darien blinked his eyes again and again, trying to focus his eyes on the blurry Andrew, his new coworker, and apparently new best friend.

Andrew had joined the field only a couple months prior, having just left university with a doctorate's degree. When he joined the hospital, Darien had felt wary, not only because of the man's chirpiness, reminding the dark haired doctor of his incredibly perky wife, but because Darien just couldn't understand how you possibly could be so happy with sick and dying people surrounding you. Okay, so maybe it was the chirpiness, but still...

The life of a doctor wasn't necessarily a happy one. Especially in his field. Repeating the same apology speech to the families of patients who had passed on the night before was wearing Darien down. Looking at the heartbroken mothers, wives, fathers, sons, and daughters... There were days when Darien simply didn't want to wake up in the morning to go to work. He had decided to be a surgeon in hopes that he would save lives, but it seemed like more often than not, he ended them instead. Or maybe that's just how it felt because the euphoria of saving a life ended a lot more quickly than the guilt of ending one by mistake.

Then there was the pure exhaustion he felt. Every night, after having little to no sleep, and working all day and night long, he would have to help at home. Knowing that he just wanted to spend time with his wife and daughter, he just wished he could relax before he may have to get called in again, just like that. Darien was exhausted, and any opportunity he could get to doze off on the couch in his office was warmly welcomed. No matter how cramped his space seemed to be at times with the desk, the filing cabinets, the chairs, and couch; he couldn't help but fall asleep at any free moment.

"Dar, you gotta wake up man." Andrew tousled his hair, and laughed at his tired coworker. "You've got to splash some water on your face or something, we've got that surgery in like half an hour."

"Yeah, yeah." Darien grumbled, rubbing his face with his hands. He looked up at Andrew and then at the water cooler in the corner of his office, right next to the window showing off Tokyo's downtown view. "Grab me a cup, would ya?"

"Sure thing." Andrew strolled towards the cooler, grabbed a tiny plastic cup, and proceeded to turn the knob to fill it with water. When he placed the water filled dish on Darien's desk, he grinned widely. "So, are you looking forward to the Christmas party? Will I finally get to meet this Serena you're always talking about?"

"Yeah." Darien gratefully nodded to Andrew before drinking the water. It felt cool and refreshing going down his throat. "Well, if she can make it. She's usually got classes on the weekends and has her mom watch Rini."

"Classes?" Andrew's curiosity perked up, what could Darien's wife need a college degree for? After all, she was a stay at home mom with a husband who could afford nearly everything she could possibly need or want. That was why his friend was working so hard after all, to provide for her. "What's she going for?"

Darien smiled, reaching for the photo on his desk of his beautiful blue-eyed, blonde wife wearing a long white wedding gown. Although she was smiling brightly at the camera, her arms were wrapped around his shoulders, clutching on to him tight, refusing to let go. In the picture all he could focus on was her. Nothing made him happier in that moment than to know that Serena was happy to be his wife. She was everything he had ever wanted.

Then his mind focused on Andrew's question. He thought of Serena's artwork all over the living room furniture and on her desk in the study. Her digital art, her homework assignments, her drawings, all the video game ideas…

"She wants to create video games for girls." Darien answered.

Andrew's eyes widened. His nephew, Derrick, was a huge gamer, enjoying games like Halo and World of Warcraft, not to mention League of Legends. Then there were the classics like Diablo 2, and all the old Sega and Nintendo games he was constantly going on about. There was one thing Andrew had learned from his thirteen year old nephew and that was, "Girls don't play video games unless they are ugly, dude."

Darien scoffed. He picked up another picture of Serena laying on her side in the sand from their last vacation on the beach, before she was pregnant with Rini. Serena was trying to look seductive, and was quite successful at doing so in her tiny black bikini. Darien handed the picture to Andrew and asked, "Does my wife look ugly to you?"

"I believe that question, my friend, is a double edged sword." Andrew answered, a laugh quickly following.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, Drew." Darien laughed alongside Andrew, taking his picture back and returning it to his desk.

Realization hit Darien suddenly. "Did you say we have another surgery? I was supposed to fill this paperwork out and spend the evening with my wife!"

"Sorry, man." Andrew frowned, putting a reassuring hand on Darien's shoulder. "The guy needs surgery for his heart. We can't put it off any longer. You're already here. I thought you were beeped. You were called first, like half an hour ago."

Darien looked begrudgingly at his beeper. There were three missed messages on it. "I must've slept through it." Darien groaned. Maybe he had slept longer than a few minutes then...

He thought of all the things he had wanted to pick up for Serena on the way home. A stuffed bunny, chocolates, even a golden necklace with a heart shaped pendant that said Mom on it...but all of that would have to wait, because now Darien wouldn't be getting off work at seven. The malls would all be closed when he got off.

And when he got home, Darien would have a very angry wife to answer to.

Darien put his face in his hands for a moment to console himself, then proceeded to get out his office chair. While glaring at his desk, Darien said, "Let's just get this over with so I can go home."

…

With Rini settled down after finishing her milk, Serena quietly began to put together a list in her mind of the things she needed to do before Darien got home. Of course there was the obvious. Make dinner, clean up the kitchen, take a quick shower, but the question wasn't so much what to do as it was what can she actually get done before Rini wakes up again.

"Hm…" Serena skipped through her hallway to grab the phone on the other side of the kitchen wall. There were so many choices for dinner, so long as she was willing to answer the door in about half an hour. What was she in the mood for? Greasy burgers with cheese melting under a bun, or sub sandwiches? Maybe some stir fry?

"Pizza." Serena concluded, putting the black device up to her ear and reaching for a take out menu from a kitchen drawer.

After ordering Darien's favorite, because truthfully, she didn't care so long as it was pizza, she began to work on her list. Serena switched the wet clothes in the washing machine over to the dryer before hopping into the shower. She scrubbed her body from head to toe, washing every crook and cranny, perfuming her hair with a green apple shampoo. The shower was such a simple and basic need, but it was the best feeling she had experienced in nearly a week. In there, Serena knew she could soak and cleanse away all her troubles. She could simply forget about the baby, the chores, and even her homework assignments for a good ten minutes.

A wail shattered the silence in the apartment, pushing Serena to wash all the soap out of her hair as quickly as possible. She sighed, knowing that unless she was at school, she wouldn't get anything done for a while. Stressed and tired, she turned the hot water off, stepping out of the glassed in area as steam followed behind her, fogging up the mirrors.

Another cry echoed through the halls.

"I'm coming, Rini." Serena called from the restroom, pulling a dark purple towel off the hanging rod built into the wall. She wrapped the towel around her chest, tucking an edge in between the front of her breasts. She took another towel to hold her golden locks in. Quickly, she raced out of the restroom and into Rini's bedroom.

Rini's cries pierced Serena's ears again as she pulled her emotional daughter from the crib. She held the baby against her chest, letting the child rest her head on her shoulders as the tears continued to fall.

"There, there." She consoled her child, rubbing the girl's back. "Mommy's here, you're okay."

The doorbell rang.

"Shit!"

Serena stomped her way to the front door, beyond frustrated. Turning the handle without a thought about decency, nor a care or concern about it, she smiled at the surprised pizza man.

The pizza guy stood in place, uncertain of what to say or do. Usually it was the larger men with nothing but briefs on that didn't seem to care that they were basically naked. Instead, he was pleasantly surprised that this sexy, and attractive blonde was showing off her near nudity. He couldn't help but feel slightly aroused, that was, until he noticed the baby.

"Uh…"

"Just hold on a moment, kay?" Serena smiled again at the man in the hall, turning to step into her living room to find her wallet.

Holding two pizza boxes in his hands, the man couldn't help but check out Serena's figure, watching her walk down the hall in what seemed like a seductive strut. He wiped a bead of drool away that had begun to form at the corner of his mouth. "Okay, ma'am."

'If there wasn't a baby, it'd be like a porno in the making!' the delivery man thought to himself. He waited patiently for Serena to fish the proper amount of paper bills out of her purse and place them into his hand as he ogled at her body. 'Darn kids!'

When they exchanged the money and pizzas, Serena thanked him, waving goodbye, and shut the door with her foot. Her hands were overfilled with meat lover's pizzas and her young one. Rini was content so long as she was in her mommy's arms, able to listen to the heartbeats beating against her mother's chest.

Serena dropped the purse on the living room floor, and sat on the couch, bending over to put the pizzas down beside her. Now all she had to do was get dressed and wait for Darien, because it was clear that she wouldn't be able to get anything done that day. She still had a pile of math assignments waiting for her in the study, due in just two days.

Stretching an arm out above her head, Serena turned and looked down at Rini. She admired her little girl, the sole creation of her and Darien's love for each other. With every coo, Serena felt her stress melt away.

Buzz.

Serena looked at the clock on the wall, and smiled knowing that Darien must be calling her to ask if she needed anything on his way home from work. It had been a week of late nights for him, and he promised today he would be home by eight o'clock. She knew he would keep his promise because today was their 5 year anniversary.

She picked up her Iphone off of the end table with her free hand, using her thumb to swipe the little bar to unlock her phone. One text message showed up from Darien that made her once happy face fall.

"I'll be late, so please don't wait up."

Hey all! So, this is my new chapter fic. Please review and tell me what you think! Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing The Second Chance, and please know that I will be updating the story soon. In other news, I've fractured my spine and I'm unable to do anything besides sit and sleep really, so I am actually serious when I say I'll be updating my stories more often. There's only so many computer games you can play before you get bored! Many hugs to you all! -Natasha