BEGINNINGS AND ENDS

Hailey left the hairstylist feeling light. Liberated even. The Hailey Bennett that everyone knew was gone, she had been replaced the moment she had driven that knife into her father's neck. She was irreversibly altered for better or for worst. And this new Hailey needed a new look. As she stepped over the threshold into her home she knew that the conversation she was about to have was going to be difficult. Her mother had been crying for the past 3 days, blubbering about how she didn't understand. How could she? Her boyfriend of almost a year had just up and told her that it was over, no real reasons to offer meager explanation as to why. Of course Hailey knew why, it was the same reason that she was leaving. Her heels clicked against the wooden floors as she walked up to the couch and stood in front of her sniffling mother.

"Mom." She spoke slowly and softy. Rita raised her head from the couch, "I'm moving out." She said firmly, "I'm going to go live with my friend and I'm not going to come back." Then without anything else to say, Hailey went to her room where her bags were already packed. Screaming and crying could be heard from the living room. Rita sprang from the couch and came running after her. But Hailey was strangely unaffected by the scene. In fact, she couldn't care less, "I don't belong here." She told her mother as the woman grabbed her arm, "I never did and I hope you understand that. I love you mom. I love you so much and I'm grateful for everything you've done for me. That's why I can't stay here anymore." The house was quiet after that and Rita let go of her arm, her searching eyes trailed on Hailey's face. Looking for answers that she would never find, "I'm going to be okay and so are you. You'll be better off now, you don't have to worry about me anymore." She grabbed her mother by the shoulders and looked her square in the eyes, "Mom, we're going to be alright. We're survivors right? Everything's going to be okay now, you have to trust me." Then she walked out the door. Suitcase in hand that carried everything that she would need. Anthony was waiting outside in a beat down Ford.

"What have you done to your hair?" He asked with an incredulous look on his face. Hailey just shrugged, "Well whatever you did it looks hot. Like I mean that baby doll, you look like a whole new person."

"That's the idea." Hailey answered with a smirk on her face, "Just drive okay, I'll tell you where you can drop me off."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Anthony asked glancing back at the house where Rita was still standing, shell shocked, on the front porch, "Move out? All for some guy you hardly even know."

"I know him." Hailey answered, facing directly in front of her, "I know him better than anyone else in his life and he knows me, maybe even better than I know myself actually." I laughed humorlessly, "I've changed Anthony and I can't stay in that house anymore, not with those people who don't even really know me. They can't see me the way that he does. If you're really my best friend then you'll understand that."

"I get it Hailey." He said with a sigh and revved the engine, "I just didn't think that it was so serious is all. I didn't even know you had a boyfriend until you called me yesterday and asked me to help you pack. It would have been nice to get some notice you know?" Hailey nodded and they continued the rest of the drive talking about mundane things, like school and boys and who was a flaming homosexual and who wasn't. She leaned back into the car seat and allowed the useless chatter to calm her, lull her into a false sense of normality because she knew that as soon as she exited the car things would never be the same again. Anthony dropped her off at Dexter's apartment building after swearing on his life that he would never tell anyone where she had gone. He didn't know the connection but someone else would. She dragged her suitcase up the flights of stairs before tiredly knocking on the door. It opened only a moment later, Dexter stood there in nothing but a towel and a pen hanging from his lips. He looked at her as if he almost didn't recognize her for a moment but then smiled lightly.

"The hair looks nice." He complimented her and then took a strand and moved it through his fingers, "You look good as a brunette." Hailey smiled and blushed, looking down at the ground.

"I needed a change I guess." She confessed and she wheeled the suitcase alongside her into the apartment.

"This isn't enough of a change?" He teased and helped her bring the large bag to his room. Then after they had successfully laid it on the floor of the closet he tackled her onto the bed. His towel was off in mere seconds and she was taken aback by how domineering he was being. He pulled her shirt off of her as well as her bra and started circling her nipped with his tongue. She moaned quietly but tried to push him back a bit.

"Wait." She panted, "You're going too fast." He grasped both her wrists in one of his large hands and flipped her onto her stomach. She squirmed around on top of the sheets as he hands her hands behind her back.

"I like it like this." He answered and used his free hand to remove her skirt.

"Dexter!" She cried out, "Wait!"

"I've waited long enough." He proclaimed but before he could move any further she used her feet and kicked him in the stomach, forcing him back a bit. Dexter was winded for a second before rage overtook him. Hailey turned onto her back and pushed herself towards the backboard of the bed, "Was that really necessary?" He asked with one eyebrow raised, crawling over to her again on the bed.

"You were acting like a savage." She told him flatly.

"I thought you liked me like that." He laughed and put his head on top her knees so that he was looking up at her. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. She then moved so that she was on her knees and moved on top of him, straddling his waist.

"Yeah, I do." She moved her hands down his chest sensually, "It's just that sometimes, I want to have a little control to, you know?" She looked at him straight in the eye and he smiled up at her.

"Now that's something I understand, completely."

Hailey was lying on her stomach mid afternoon flipping through a magazine when she got a phone call. She grabbed the phone from the bedside table. Dexter was at work, writing up some kind of blood spatter report for about a cop who shot some guy he saw on the street. The same cop who had been practically harassing him for as long as he worked for the Miami police. She had opted out of going to school that day, in another desperate attempt to avoid Mr. Daniels class as well as cheerleading and the now really pissed off Andrew. She checked to make sure that it wasn't her mother when she answered the phone, it wasn't but she recognized the number immediately.

"Hey." She said into the phone, "How's work?"

"I just got a very interesting letter." Dexter said. He was sitting on his desk looking down at the manila envelope in his hand, "Apparently my dad's dead."

"Is that news?" Hailey laughed, "Last time I checked he's been dead for quite awhile."

"My biological father." Dexter reiterated, "According to this he's left me, his only kin, a house."

"I thought you said that your real dad was dead too?" Hailey asked, confused. They had just had a very long and very complex conversation about his extremely complicated family history. He had told her all about Harry, how close they were, how he saw him sometimes when he needed advice or was in the middle of identifying a target. She had found it very interesting if not slightly off-putting.

"He is. This man made some kind of mistake. But anyways I still have to go up there and figure things out with the morgue. You know, it's due process. Thought you might want to tag along for the ride, we'll leave tomorrow morning and we should be back by nightfall. Might be fun, hitting the road. Clearing our heads." Dexter said. He could see his sister raise an eyebrow skeptically at him from where she stood at the door. She didn't approve of him breaking it off with Rita, he didn't even want to know how he would react if she found out he was living with his ex's daughter.

"Oh yes, going to visit some dead guy. Sounds like oodles of fun." She said sarcastically, flipping the page of the magazine. She rolled her eyes and looked up from the pages, "Should I pack a bag or something?"

"Yeah, probably, you know, just to be safe." He answered, nodding at his sister as she entered his office and sat in the chair next to him.

"Fine." Hailey said, "Oh, I made reservation as La Rosa for 8 okay? I thought it would be nice to have a night out." Dexter didn't understand her need to go out and experience the city at night but he didn't argue.

"Sounds good." He answered, "I'll see you soon." He then hung up the phone to face Deb, "Hey, what can I do for you?"

"Who was that on the phone?" Deb asked.

"My girlfriend." Dexter smiled. He liked calling her that. It made him feel almost free to talk about his relationship.

"You and Rita got back together?" She asked excitedly but Dexter just shook his head. Deb's smile fell off her face as she looked at him with scorn, "You moved on that quickly!"

"It's not like that." Dexter answered, "I met someone, I didn't want to cheat on Rita so I ended it. Now, I'm free to be with whomever I want." Deb just shook her head and changed the topic quickly. She offered helping him clear up the whole mess with his so-called dad but he refused gracefully. The last thing he wanted was his sister tagging along on his "romantic" road trip. Deb eventually left the room and Dexter was left to his thoughts. He had let someone into his life, even the grimy parts of it. It was a new feeling for him, knowing that he trusted someone with his secret. It was almost, liberating. But he had gotten so sidetracked recently that he hadn't been able to nail down the evidence for his homicidal schoolteacher. He wrote down the man's address and decided to swing by on his way home from work.

Hailey picked out a cute short dark blue dress for the night and started on her hair and makeup. She curled her new dark brown locks into loose waves and let them frame her face. She was almost done getting ready when she heard the front door open and close.

"I'm home!" Dexter called.

"You're late." Hailey walked out of the bedroom to meet him, "We're going to be late if we don't leave soon. Where were you?" He could have told her that he had spent the last couple hours routing through his next victim's home. Looking for evidence, very well hidden evidence but evidence that he had found nevertheless. But he didn't. He didn't know why he still felt as though he needed to lie to her, even though she practically knew everything. But he did.

"LaGuerta had me stay late to finish a report." He lied and she sighed and pursed her lips. He looked her over and smiled, "You look nice." She leaned up on her tippy toes and kissed him quickly.

"Thank you. Now go get changed." She winked at him as she moved out of his way. He smirked and went into the bedroom, leaving the door open behind him. She slipped on a pair of black heals and went to the kitchen to pour herself a drink to ease the shaking. She didn't want Dexter to see her tremble. She didn't want to explain that only 5 minutes ago she had looked at herself in the mirror and didn't recognize the girl staring back at her. They were the same eyes and the same facial features but they looked… hollow.

Dinner was a quiet affair, as were most things when Dexter was around. Dexter was reveling in the silence, he finally felt comfortable enough with someone that he didn't feel the need to talk. She however was shifting uncomfortably in her chair and downing drinks that she wasn't legally aloud to have.

"Hey, you should slow down. They haven't even served the appetizers yet." He put a hand on top of hers. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Sorry, you're right." She pushed the drink away from her and squeezed his hand, "So tell me, when you look around this restaurant what do you see?"

"What do you mean?"

"You must be good at reading people, choosing the ones capable of murder from the innocents. How do you do that?" She asked.

"There's just something different about someone whose killed before. There's something a little bit dark in their eye." He answered, "You can see it too. I know you can. You saw it in me." He reached across the table and cupped her cheek in his palm, "And now I can see it in you." Her face darkened a little and she pulled away from her. Resting her hands firmly on her lap and staring down at them.

"Yeah, right." Her voice suddenly sounded sad.

"I'm sorry." Dexter apologized. He was unfamiliar with the guilt that came from killing one's first victim. He didn't see it in many of the people lying on his table nor did he ever feel it himself, "I shouldn't have said that."

"No." She shook her head, "It's true. I'm just not used to it yet, I guess."

"You will be." He said just as the waiter came and placed food in front of them. Dexter quickly dug in, Hailey, on the other hand, didn't feel all that hungry anymore. Dexter grunted in approval, "Good." Hailey nodded and took a hesitant bite out of her salad. He was right. It was good.

By the time they reached desert Hailey the alcohol had kicked in. She took exited bites out of a piece of cheesecake as she talked quickly about anything and everything. Dexter thought that she was kind of cute when she was drunk, but if she didn't shut up soon he would have to duck tape her mouth and tie her down like his targets.

"Anyways, so I decided that I want to go to a university here you know? I guess I made that decision mainly because of you and I did apply to tons of other universities around the country but you know I had never thought about staying at home at all before you. In fact the opposite, I was excited to get as far away from home as possible. I mean. I even applied to Queens. You know where Queens is? Fucking Canada." She giggled, "Can you imagine me in Canada? With the snow and the politeness. No. But I was willing to go if it was between there and Miami. I had my mind set on literally anywhere but here." She stopped for a moment to finish off her food, "But now everything's changed. I can see myself staying here, with you. I mean, the future actually looks pretty clear for once, well in this regard at least, I still have no idea what I want to do with my life." Dexter nodded automatically and tried to look as if he was engaged in what she was saying. As soon as the waiter passed he asked him to bring the check, and quickly, "You know what? We should go dancing. I know this great place like literally like half a block away from here. It's outside and right next to the beach. We've never been dancing before."

"That's because I cannot dance." Dexter spoke seriously.

"That's okay." Hailey grinned, "I'll teach you."

PLEASE REVIEW! Also, I need help figuring out where this story is going. I know where I want it to end up but middles are the bane of my existence and I NEED YOUR HELP!