Serena tried to tune out the faint buzzing as she listened to the ringing on the other end of her cell phone. She was sitting with Roman. Serena felt a slight pinch and she sucked in a breath as she heard the familiar voice stumble through his words. Serena looked out the shop window at the bright sunlight and cocked an eyebrow in surprise. But her excitement quickly took over and she grinned.
"Dean, you're never going to believe this! They're dropping the lawsuit!"
Huh? Ohuh…What? Serena?"
At his home, Dean was still halfway trapped in the realm of sleep, face-down in his bed with the blankets up to his waist. In his blind grab for the phone, he had knocked his alarm clock off the nightstand and onto the floor. He rolled onto his side and stared at the slits of sunlight that invaded his room through the closed blinds. Sitting up, he picked up his clock off the floor and saw it was ten-thirty in the morning. Dean couldn't remember the last time he had slept so late. He flopped back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Serena looked over at Roman. Her face darkened. "Dean, are you there?"
"I'm here, Serena," he quickly assured her. She was sure he could hear the buzzing. "Where are you?"
"Just out running errands with Roman," Serena answered. "Anyway, Jerry met with the attorneys today. He said they were real parasitic ambulance chasers. You know - the kind you see on Maury with the eight hundred telephone numbers." She paused to take a breath. "Anyway, Jerry said they were hostile, so he was right in thinking that having me there would make things worse. Jerry's ace in the hole was he threatened to countersue the estate for the wrongful deaths of Shaun and the others, along with medical bills for injuries you, Roman, Seth and Wade suffered at their child's hands. He also threatened to sue them for defamation and harassment. I guess they had gave a few less-than-positive interviews about me to the press in Staten Island. Jerry really left no stone unturned."
"They can do all that?" Dean asked, yawning. Serena sucked in a breath. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," she assured him. "Anyway, I guess after convening with their lawyer, they decided this isn't the way to go. Their son did way too much for them to come out unscathed in a countersuit." She breathed a deep sigh of relief. "I think it's over, Dean. I think it might actually be over."
"That's great, Serena," he yawned.
"When did you get to bed last night? You're never tired like this," she pointed out.
"To be honest, Serena, I don't even remember. I got caught up playing Black Ops with the guys last night." During their time off, sometimes they guys liked to do online co-op gaming. Everyone always wanted to be on Kofi Kingston's team because he was considered to be one of the best video game players on the roster. "Where are you? Are you busy today? I was thinking we could meet up for lunch or something."
"Lunch sounds great," Serena told him. "I should be done by then. Did you want to hit that bistro? You know the one that's by Seth's place? I haven't been there yet."
"It's good. That sounds great. Make it for twelve?"
"You know it. I'll see you then, Dean. Get yourself a cup of coffee," she teased.
"I'm way ahead of you," Dean told her. They said their goodbyes and hung up with each other.
"Thanks for coming with me, Roman," Serena told him. She looked down at the hot pink-haired tattoo artist working on her inner right wrist. "I didn't think this was something for Dean and Seth."
"No problem. I wanted to get my arm finished up," he told her. There was a black-haired kid working on completing Roman's sleeve. "You're handling your first tattoo very well. Are you hurting?"
"It's not that bad," Serena confessed. "I thought it was going to be a lot worse."
It only took an hour for Serena to get her tattoo finished. She watched as the tattoo artist, introduced to Serena as Libby, carefully cleaned the excess ink from her inner wrist. Roman was talking with his tattoo artist about a new movie he'd seen. Serena hadn't heard of it. She stayed until quarter to twelve, before paying for her tattoo, giving Roman a hug goodbye and taking off to meet Dean for lunch. Roman wasn't upset she had to cut their time short; he didn't expect Serena to spend an entire day sitting in a tattoo parlor with him while he got his arm inked.
Dean was already sitting in the bistro, sipping on a cup of coffee when Serena arrived. He stood and she hugged him. He hugged her tightly. "Hey, Serena," he greeted. They sat down and Dean noticed the clear wrap around her wrist. He cocked his head in the direction of her wrist. "What's that?"
"It's a tattoo," she told him. "Roman came with me. He's still getting his arm done."
"You did not get a tattoo," Dean said incredulously. Serena nodded.
"What did you get?"
"Just a word," she answered.
"Can I see it?" he asked. Serena nodded and pulled the plastic off. Dean peeled it back, staring at the red and puffy wrist. He saw the unmistakeable cursive of 'SURVIVOR'written on the inside of her wrist. He looked up at her and smiled. "Just so you never forget?" he asked. Serena nodded. He pulled his hand back and Serena fixed the wrapping. The waitress arrived and they ordered lunch. Serena waited until the waitress was out of earshot before she spoke.
"Don't you ever get tired of hanging out with me?" Serena asked.
"What? No," Dean told her. "I love every minute hanging out with you."
"I do, too," Serena confessed. "But lately I kind of feel like you don't have a life."
He laughed. "I have a great life," he told her. "It took a little while to get there, but it's great." There was a comfortable beat. He wondered why he couldn't just come out and say something. He opened his mouth to speak, but the waitress arrived with an iced tea for Serena. And just like that the nerve was gone. "I'm glad the lawsuit is behind you," he told her.
"Me, too; I was afraid this was going to last years and I'd be dragged through the mud all over again." She smiled. "We should split some cheesecake to celebrate. Would you be okay with that?"
"Absolutely," he told her with a smile. He stared out the window and sipped his coffee. While Serena chatted on and on about how strange it felt to get tattooed, Dean thought about imposing a deadline on himself, but he wasn't sure he could follow through. He knew at some point, he needed to tell Serena how he felt. He prided himself on being a ballsy individual, but she was definitely making him cautious.