It was the fifth apartment that she'd been to that day. Even with the generous starting salary from ZP Bank of $70000 she wasn't going to be able to afford anything nice in New York City. Commuting from her parent's house on Long Island was just too tiring especially with the late hours she kept. Since the night at the restaurant Rai's been complaining about the pace of Serena's work and now about what time she showed up in the morning to get started on that work.

She'd spoken to human resources about finding an apartment and they'd set her up with one of their real estate agents that they commonly recommend clients and employees to. It was just that all the apartments the real estate agent showed her were dumps. They were tiny closet sized rooms with a mini kitchen and living room space. Somehow they expected a person to be able to fit the bedroom and dining area into that same space as well. When Serena asked if there was anything bigger, the real estate agent told her point blank that it wasn't going to be affordable for her in her income bracket. At least the woman was professional Serena thought and there hadn't been any eye rolls or even smirks when she replied.

When she went home that night her family were waiting for her in the dining room already.

"Honey, how did the apartment hunting go?" Her mom asked.

"Not well apparently I can rent a closet for $2800 a month." Serena replied as she dropped into one of the dining chairs.

"You can always stay here. After all you are still in the probationary phase of your employment. Didn't Rai tell you that you aren't entitled to anything during the first year and will be evaluated on your job performance? They can still let you go at the end of the year. Is it wise to move into the city before the year is over?"

Her mother had a good point. The reason she tried so hard to get on Rai's good side was of course at the end of the year her evaluation would be written by Rai. So far it wasn't looking good, Serena didn't think she had much of chance of remaining at ZP Bank if the decision rested with Rai. But if she could get a place closer to the bank then maybe she could put in even longer hours. She didn't have kids or a love life so it was easy choice between spending an extra hour in the office or on the train.

"It's just better for my job if I move into the city. I think Lita mentioned that her lease was up and maybe I can move in somewhere with her." Serena said, even though she'd yet to check with Lita.

"Oh how is Lita doing? She's such a sweet girl."

"She's good. She's working downtown at a large accounting firm. Some of her clients are companies that I'm researching now."

Serena loaded a generous helping of her mom's mash potatoes onto her plate. She hadn't eaten all day. The mash, corn, and rotisserie chicken smelled delicious.

"Serena put that down. We are waiting for your brother."

"Oh is Sammy coming home today? I didn't know that." Serena said as she chewed on a chicken leg.

"Serena, that's it no more until Sammy comes home."

"Oh, mom, he won't care."

Irene Starr looked over at her husband. Her expression clearly implored for his input on controlling his daughter. Serena's father was a quiet man who only ever stepped in when things got out of hand. Otherwise he enjoyed his TV, his food, and his work at his own photography studio, where he worked often with gurgling babies both smiling and crying. Sometimes Serena thought that her dad viewed his family like a bunch of gurgling babies and he could pretend that he didn't understand any of them. Once in a while he'd put his foot down, but then all was pleasant again.

"Would you like some corn, dad?" Serena asked sweetly.

"Thank you, Serena."

Irene Starr got up and took her husbands plate off from the table before he could spoon corn onto the plate. Serena found her own plate floating away as well.

"Sammy better come soon," Serena grumbled.

Sammy blew in with a large weekend bag.

"Oh Sammy is home!" Irene put the plates back on the table and walked quickly into the hall to greet her son.

Sammy had hay blond hair and clear blue eyes just like Serena's. They'd been adopted together by Irene and Edgar when they were just babies. They were fraternal twins from a mother who'd been aware enough to know that she couldn't raise her two babies. They'd been told when they were just going into elementary school that they had another mom and dad, who couldn't take care of them so Irene and Edgar were their substitute mom and dad. Even if they hadn't told them, they would've figured it out soon. Both Irene and Edgar had dark hair and brown eyes. Their fair-haired children looked nothing like them. Over the years they'd learned that family was about love and support regardless of blood. They'd met their birth mother in a rehabilitation home once when they were in middle school and she was coherent but drugs had permanently left their mark on her mind.

Sammy was much more boisterous than his sister and ran into the dining room, his jacket was still on. He dragged Serena up from her chair into a giant bear hug and clapped his father on the shoulder hard. Edgar grimaced but chuckled good humoredly. Sammy was home finally from his studies in Australia. He was pursuing a degree in Marine Biology.

When Serena was in Japan, Sammy was the only one who had come to visit her. She'd shown him Keio University's campus and then they'd gone to dinner, Sammy, her, and Darien. He'd been the only person who'd met Darien while they'd been dating. She'd wanted to keep the relationship secret while she was still attending the University. There was just so much publicity that went with dating Darien Kingsley that she hadn't been ready for. Thinking back on it all now, Serena was quite thankful that she'd kept her relationship a secret. What a joke it had turned out to be.

Of course, Sammy wasn't aware of the secrecy. When they were finally settled around the dining table as a family, the first words out of Sammy's mouth knocked the chicken Serena was chewing right out of her mouth.

"Are you getting married, Serena?"

There was uproar at the table as Irene gasped and even Edgar seemed to be shocked at the question.

Sammy continued indifferent to everyone's surprised expressions, "Darien's a nice guy but how do you know that he's the guy that you want to be with forever. You haven't really had much dating experience, unless you are pregnant then I guess I understand the rush."

Serena wanted to jam her fork on Sammy's hand as she watched all eyes at the table turn to stare at her. Sammy grinned at Serena, he'd thrown the last comment in just for a reaction. He wasn't going to survive his first night home. Serena thought as she pictured different ways she could skewer him with her fork.

"Serena is this true?" Edgar asked his daughter. His brows furrowed the beginnings of anger simmering below the surface. His fatherly protection instincts were kicking in and he was about to get really angry if Serena had been so rash as to get herself entangled into any trouble with some foreign guy. It was one thing to have a baby and a loving relationship, but by the look on his daughter's face, there was some bad news mixed in with this Darien character.

"No, no, Dad! Sammy is making it all up." Serena rushed to assuage his concerns.

"SAMUEL!" Her father turned his ire on her brother.

"I just heard it on the news that Darien Kingsley was getting married soon. I figured that it was probably true after all it was BBC World News and not some gossip channel. Did you guys know that Serena was dating Darien Kingsley, the CEO of Kingsley Industrials? I didn't know either until I saw his face on the news after we all had dinner together in Japan."

"Sammy is confused. He was just one of the guest speakers at the University."

"You were dating a teacher!" Irene cried out.

"You better explain yourself, young lady." Edgar menacingly.

"I wasn't dating Darien Kingsley. He was a guest speaker at the University and I had a few questions for him because I had a term report that I had to submit about one of his talks. It was getting late, so he suggested that we go to dinner, and when I explained that my brother was flying in he was kind enough to invite Sammy to come as well. That's why we picked him up at the airport and went to dinner together."

That story seemed to pacify her family.

Sammy was the only one looking at her skeptically. He'd seen the way Darien had leaned in to talk to Serena. He'd seen their goodbye kiss, but if Serena wasn't talking about their upcoming nuptials, it could only mean that Serena wasn't the one Darien Kingsley was marrying and if Sammy saw Darien Kingsley again he was going to give Darien Kingsley a piece of his fist if he was the reason for that sudden sadness that floated across his sister's eyes as she spoke.

The remainder of the meal went without any other upsetting comments. Sammy talked and talked, about his classes and whatever sea creatures he'd been able to see during one of his trips to the Galapagos Islands.

They were one happy family again, all under the same roof. Serena was definitely going to ask Lita about getting an apartment together as soon as possible, maybe as early as tomorrow morning.