"Dan, what are you doing?" Serena giggled as he searched for something frantically.

"I am doing nothing. We, on the other hand, are going out on a date." Dan opened another suitcase and triumphantly pulled out two black cases. "Tell me, are you any good at photography?"

"Sort of." Serena shrugged, watching him delicately place the two cases into a picnic basket. "Are we going on a picnic?"

"Ah, the basket always gives it away." Dan laughed, pulling Serena close to kiss the top of her head. "Its a surprise."

"Dan...tell me, please?" Serena pleaded, her lips forming into a pout. "Remember the last time you planned a surprise date?"

"Yes I do, but this time you're dressed perfectly for it." Dan chuckled, wrapping an arm around her waist, leading her out of their room. "We're going to the beach okay?"

"Dan, if you haven't noticed, we are on the beach." Serena pointed out, giggling as she kissed him lightly on the lips.

"Yes I have noticed, thank you very much." He said, rolling his eyes. "I'm taking you somewhere private, somewhere I'm pretty sure you've never been before."

--

He led her to a small quiet section of the already private beach. Helping her down from a series of rocks, they arrived at a little wooden cabin, looking very comfortable after the long trek.

"When we were little, my mom and dad used to take Jenny and I here. Its one of my favorite places to be because after a while, with the whole divorce, we stopped coming down here and I kinda wanted to share it with you."

He led her into the small cabin and set the basket gently on the ground. "Dan...its amazing." Serena breathed looking around the small cabin. There were two cots, a small stove, a fireplace, a coffee table, and two small wooden chairs. It looked like something out of a movie. Something that someone wouldn't normally find.

"Also I should mention, the cabin isn't really ours. We sort of hoped that it was abandoned, so if anything happens..you can blame me." Dan admitted sheepishly, crouching down to start the fire.

"Great, so there's a chance we might be killed?" Serena asked sarcastically, earning a laugh from her boyfriend.

"I'll protect you, I promise." Dan said playfully, standing up and wrapping his arms around her. "No one will hurt you while I'm around."

"I love you." Serena whispered, leaning in to kiss him softly. Dan broke the kiss gently, one hand tangled in her hair.

"I love you too." He brought his lips to hers again, the kiss turning steamier by the second. Their tongues dueled impressively in their mouths as Serena pressed herself closer to Dan.

"Kiss me," She whispered, breaking the kiss to tug on his earlobe gently. "Kiss me everywhere."

"Normally I would agree with that, darling, but I do have something planned." Dan mumbled, resisting the urge to slam her onto one of the small beds.

"Dann" Serena snaked her arms around his neck, bringing their lips together again. "I want you."

Dan suppressed a groan and detached Serena's arms from their hold around his neck. "I want you too, but don't you want to do what I have planned?"

"No, I want to do you." Serena complained, lips swollen from the ferocity of the kisses.

Dan laughed and walked over to the picnic basket, taking out the two cases he was looking for earlier. He unzipped one and pulled out an old Polaroid camera, holding it out to her. "You know how to use one of these right?"

Serena ignored him and sat defiantly on the bed, arms crossed and pouting at him. Dan rolled his eyes at her before walking over and wrapping his arms around her. "You can do me later after what I have planned, alright?"

"We wouldn't be in this situation if you weren't so good looking." Serena giggled, the pretend silent treatment over. She picked up the camera by the strap and slung it around her neck. "So we're gonna take pictures?"

"Exactly," Dan said, opening the other case. "We're gonna go around and take pictures of whatever the hell we want. Sound good?"

"Okay." Serena linked her arm with Dan's. "I'm not making porn for you though." She joked, laughing at Dan's confused expression.

--

Dan watched as Serena trained the camera on a nearby wave crashing. She beckoned to him excitedly, blonde hair flowing in the breeze. Smiling, he took a picture of her, the Polaroid falling into his hand.

He walked towards her, waiting for the picture to develop. "You're so beautiful," He whispered, showing her the picture.

"I thought we were supposed to take pictures of the beach and all that." Serena said, eyes meeting Dan's.

"Nope, I said whatever the hell we want." Dan grinned as he slipped an arm around her waist. "You're very nice to photograph, did you know that?"

"Yeah...um, Aaron..he.." Serena trailed off, ashamed of herself for mentioning him during their otherwise perfect date.

"Its okay." Dan muttered, holding her close and looking over her head. Serena could feel how tense Dan had become at the mention of his name.

"I'm sorry."

"Its not your fault." Dan kissed the top of her head and started walking towards the picnic blanket he had laid out earlier. "Its mine for letting you go."

There were no words spoken between them as he laid her gently on the blanket and started pulling out various foods. He handed her a succulent, plump strawberry and picked up his camera again, taking random pictures of her giggling and eating the strawberry.

Picking up another strawberry, Serena moved the camera from its position on Dan's face and held the strawberry to his lips. Her fingers brushed against his lips and his lips parted, taking in her fingers.

"Dan..." His name came out breathless and for a moment their eyes locked and all the passion that had been in the cabin came out bursting like a volcano. The next thing she knew, they were trading passionate kisses on the small blanket, food and cameras long forgotten.

She fumbled with the buttons on his shirt, desperate to feel him – all of him. Her plan was brought to a stop when he reached for her hands and pulled them away. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like Dan?" The words came out more sharply than intended and she could see the hurt on his face. "Sorry – I just thought that we could finally...you know."

Dan rubbed the back of his neck wearily. "Serena...we're on a beach."

"That never stopped us before." She retorted feeling the sting of tears reach her eyes.

She rolled off of him, wrapping her jacket tighter around herself. She felt him wrap his arms around her and tried to shrug him off.

"What are we doing Dan?"

"What are you talking about?" His voice sounded so far away, so lost, so confused.

"Why are we fooling ourselves?" Serena asked miserably, the reality of it all hitting her. "No matter how many times we go through this, we aren't just right for each other."

"Hey..where's this coming from?" He asked, concerned.

"Every time we're together, all we do is dismiss the things that are in the past instead of talking about them. This isn't going to make us better Dan!"

He was silent for a while, doing nothing except kissing her tears away. His voice came out raw, broken as he said, "I'm sorry, I – I thought today we could just get away from everything and just be ourselves, but you don't think thats enough, do you?"

"I don't know." She said softly, leaning into him. "I want to make us work Dan, I really do."

"I do too."

Resting his chin in the crook of her neck, he kissed the side of her head. "I care about you and we are going to make this work." Her eyes closed as he kissed her deeply. For once she didn't feel the urge to have sex and just enjoyed the feeling of him kissing her.

Sometimes going on a beach trip can bring revelations, surprises and romance. For Dan and Serena, they learned that sometimes a trip to get away from everything doesn't mean they can rid the baggage they come with, so you have to learn to make the best of it.