Touch the Fire

11/27/04

Summary: Remember that fire while warm and lovely is an element to be aware of, sometimes it burns. This is a story of one person who got to close to the fire and got burnt. Twists included

"Do we have a deal?" The black haired man behind the desk asked sternly. The only signs of aging were tiny lines gathered at the corners of his eyes and sparse streaks of gray gathering at the edges of his hair. He looked more characteristic than old and he still held energy to match even his much younger son. Those were the only similarities between the two men.

"We do." Serena agreed without a hesitation, the idea being thought out as she had listened.

He hesitated. "No fight?" He questioned.

"No fight." Serena shook her head with a thin line of confusion around her lips. "What fight would I put up?" She was seated in a small rounded back chair and she had leaned against the back and crossed her long legs.

"Well most other gold diggers would argue for more benefits and other things before they sell out." He explained.

"I'm not like other women." She shrugged.

"No, no your not." He agreed giving her a once over of her small frame. "I found things on other women so they never go the chance."

"Surely not all women were gold diggers." Serena pretended to look astounded.

"Of course not, but they were innocent, more innocent then you pretended to be, I saw through your act right away."

"My innocent act?" She asked.

"Of course, you had my son fooled but not me. You seemed more innocent than them but you aren't."

"Then how on earth did you get the rest of them to leave him?" She wondered politely.

"They were easy to scare off or give them what they wanted." He explained.

"I see. I have a couple of stipulations however." She just changed her mind about what she was going to do.

"I knew it." He sounded smug. "What would these be?"

"I want two copies of this document." She told him.

He nodded and produced a copy. "Already set for you to sign." He explained.

"No, because there's another thing to add."

"All right." He sighed and put it away and called in his secretary to type in the additional portions to the contract.

The secretary nodded her readiness and he continued.

"List it."

"Well it's only one actually with many portions." Serena began. "It has to be an agreement that no matter what happens you cannot take away your money from Darien."

"What are you talking about?"

"You are not allowed to give away huge portions of your money to anything but charity and you are not allowed to find loop holes to make sure that this money goes to anything else, that includes taking large risks that will render you penniless. If you die your money will go directly to Darien, without any variables, it goes to him no matter what. If I void our contract and marry Darien, the money still goes to him. If he, god forbid, isn't alive when you die, then the money goes to his wife, unless it is I. If it is me, then it goes to any children Darien and I have."

"So if you void this contract, the money still has to go to Darien?" He paused. "But you no longer get the deal we have just agreed upon?"

"Correct." She nodded.

"But you don't get a dime? Even if he dies and wants to give it to you as a gift or in a will?"

She didn't pause to reflect this; she had known her answer before she was asked it. "Yes, I will never get a dime of you money if I marry Darien."

He looked her over again, trying to find a weakness or a lie in her words but couldn't find one. "All right." He agreed and looked at his secretary. "Are you finished?"

"Yes sir." She answered. "I will have a print out ready soon."

"Wait." Serena walked over and removed her right hand glove and moved the mouse. "I have to fix one thing before you send it off to the printer." She fixed it and then moved the curser back to the beginning. "Would you like to look at it before it goes?" She asked Mr. Shields.

"Yes." He glanced through it but not finding what she had changed and nodded to the secretary to print it out.

The secretary left and went to grab the copies and brought them back in and was the witness for the signing.

"To our very separate futures." Serena said with a small smile.

"Yes…" He drawled off.

"Is something wrong?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Why do I feel as if you have the upper hand?" His hard eyes glinted at her.

"I don't know." She signed her copy and passed it over to him to sign.

He sighed and signed his copy before passing it to her to sign as well as he signed the other one.

When both were signed they stood up and he shook her hand. "A pleasure to do business with you Miss Rosemary."

"Of course, but please don't call me that." Serena grinned broadly pocketing her copy securely in her pocket.

"What shall I call you?" He questioned.

"Why, Serena Shields of course!" If possible her grin widened even further as his smile dropped and his clenched knuckles white around her hand. Although it hurt, she was taking great amusement from his unnoticed shock.

"Serena Shields?" He demanded an explanation.

"Yes, I married your son late last night." She tugged her hand free and removed her other glove, there a shining diamond ring gleamed in the dim artificial light in the office.

"You intentionally voided your contract." He asked amazed.

"No, I found a loop hole." She told him proudly.

"Which loop hole is this? You married my son, which is against the entire contract." He sounded less sure of himself than he strived for.

"No." She shook her head. "The dates say from when we signed the contract, today, not yesterday. It also says that I'm not allowed to marry your son, nothing about having married him as in past tense."

"You still aren't getting a dime of my money." He said hotly. "You even made your own downfall by adding the fact that I didn't have to if you married him."

At least he didn't deny the loophole she thought silently. "Your right, that's because I don't care about your money, I've got my scholarship and the money you've put forward to allow me to advance my education, which you can't take away or falter with because you don't have any contacts working there who owe you money or a favor. I chose this school especially based on that."

"You've got everything worked out do you?" He looked positively livid.

"Yes." Serena shrugged. "Good bye Father-in-law." She said perkily and walked out the door.

------

Unedited 11.27.04

I was contemplating adding another chapter, what do you think?