I know I know. Bad me! It's been soooooo long since I've updated and now that I do it's so short. School has taken number one priority and so I may not update again fro a while. I'm going to try to update a few others but we'll see how it works out. Until next time! Oh, and don't forget to REVIEW!
Third Time's a Charm
Serena breathed a sigh of relief after the girls left. She was glad that they had come to visit and at the same time, she had wished they hadn't. "Oh, that wore me out. Lots of things to pretend to remember." She smiled and turned towards Darien who seemed to be disturbed about something. "I know what Raye was trying to do Darien. It's okay." She prompted and laboriously wheeled the chair over to him.
"I know that you know. I'm just conflicted over it. You know? I'm bothered that she would even ask, and even worse, that for a brief second I considered it." He sighed and let himself sink into the couch. He pinched the bridge of his nose then looked at her and stood. "Nonetheless, Doctor Mizuno wants you to try and walk at least once a day so let's try." He held out his hands, allowing Serena to take them.
Pulling herself up she tentatively stood up. She could feel the weakness in her legs and looked into Darien's deep ocean eyes. "You can do this." He whispered tenderly and stepped back a bit while releasing her hands. "I know you can." He nodded in confirmation.
Slowly Serena began to shift her weight and lift her right foot. She began to move forward and fell, Darien catching her in his arms. "Okay, that's enough for today. Tomorrow I have an idea to get you stronger." He squeezed her tightly to him and froze as he realized he was slightly physically excited.
He heard her chuckled lightly as she pushed her arms against his chest and looked up at him. "Little happy?" She smiled and rested her head against his chest again.
"A little. It's been a rough day… not to mention the fact that Raye pointed out that I've been sex deprived for seven months. If you remember anything about me, you ought to remember that two days is too long for me much less seven months." He smiled and picked her up to place her in her wheelchair. "I'm okay though. I promise."
"Good because I can't walk as it is, I don't need you complicating things." She chuckled and began to wheel herself down the hall towards her room.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Darien laughed then quieted as she disappeared into her room. He knew the conflict with Raye wasn't over. It had taken everything in him not to storm into Serena's room and strangle Raye when she was yelling at her blonde "friend".
He was even more puzzled by the fact that Serena didn't throw Raye out of the house at that point. If he had been her he would have thrown Raye out and never looked back. The woman was way out of line, perhaps he would have to tell her off himself.
Serena woke the next morning and sighed. What was she going to do with Raye? She was Angry, that much was certain, and she wasn't so sure she wanted to be Raye's friend any longer. She wasn't sure she wanted to be any of the girls' friend, Save for Amara and Michelle.
She smiled as she thought of them, the two women had helped her immensely over the past months. Reaching for her phone she flipped through her caller ID and found their number. Hopefully they would answer so she could thank them for all of their help.
The phone rang and rang, until Michelle finally answered, her voice cheerful but with a slight edger. "Hello Serena! How are you doing? We've been wondering when you'd call."
"Oh, well, I'm calling now aren't I?" She laughed slightly then quieted as she heard silence on the other end of the line. "Is something the matter?" Serena knitted her brow and waited for the response.
"Actually, there is." Amara's sharp voice cut through the phone. "How can you, even for a second, return to those people? Honestly Serena I thought you were doing better but now you seem to have regressed. When you started to get your memory back did your spine start to dissolve as well?" Serena sat in her bed, wide-eyed and shocked. "When are you going to realize that you don't need them? They don't deserve you! I mean look at them! They've all been using you in some form or another. I want to see you on your own, away from those abusive people. You can always find more friends and there are certainly plenty of men out there who would love to date you!"
"I think what Amara is trying to say is that we're worried about you. If you stay around those people you're going to fall into your old habits again. You're going to just let Darien use you and the girls manipulate you." Michelle said in a soft tone that was obviously mean to diffuse the harsh tone Amara had used.
Serena let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and sighed. They were right. All ready she had fallen into old habits. She had let Raye say all of those nasty things to her and had simply taken it. She was letting Darien back in, and while it was evident he was trying to change, the fact that he hadn't thrown Raye out when she made her proposition spoke volumes to the person still residing within him.
"You're right. Both of you." She sighed and closed her eyes. "I need to distance myself from them but I don't know how. Darien's taking care of me right now… I need him."
"The hell you do! Come move in with us. We're not far right now. We diecided to stay until you were better so we won't be going back to Paris for a while. We'll take care of you and help you through this." Amara insisted. "When you move in though, we need to sell everything you have. The house, the stuff in it. We need to give you a new life. It was working when you were in Paris but you let Darien back in. You have to stay away from him."
Though she knew the masculine blonde couldn't see it she nodded her head in agreement. "Okay, I will, but give me a day or so to think about this. I mean, what you're proposing is huge and I need them to understand what I'm doing."
"Fine, but you have two days then we're coming over to convince you." Amara affirmed and hung up. Serena pushed the end button and sat on her bed thinking. Amara was right. She needed to get away, start a new life. Just, forget about this one. She'd been given the opportunity to do just that and she was going to take it before she regained too many memories.
Just as she started to scoot to the edge of the bed Darien walked in with a tray of breakfast. "Hey, hey! Wait one second will you?" He laughed and set her tray down on her nightstand then went to pick her up. He quickly moved her to her chair and smiled. "Sleep well?"
"Yes but… Darien. We need to talk." She sighed and noticed his happy demeanor melt away into something far more uncertain. "I can't do this." She shook her head and looked into his eyes. "I can't be around you anymore. Yesterday made it clear to me as to why I ran. Admittedly I shouldn't have run like I did but I don't think I knew what else to do. You've always held some sort of power over me and I couldn't escape that. I need to though. I need you to let me go so I can live my own life."
"Sorry Serena, I can't do that." His eyes darkened dangerously as he knelt in front of her. "I won't let you go, not again. I've lost you twice and I'm not going to do it again. If you want to go somewhere far away from the girls I'm fine with that but I'm going too."
"I don't want you to Darien. Don't you understand? I don't want you." She bit angrily glared at him. "I can't do this to myself anymore and I know you're the reason I have for so many years. You claim to love me but the truth is, you're so Goddamned broken that you don't know how to! We both know you want to run to Raye right now. You want to roll around with her!" She shouted angrily, tears now flowing from her eyes. "You don't love me!"
He looked up at her from his position in front of her and felt confused. Where had this come from? He knew it wasn't because she was pregnant, that much was certain. "Don't tell me what I love and don't love. I love you. Do you have any idea what it's like to finally feel like you know what your purpose is and then watch it crash into the ground? Do you have any understanding of how I felt when you left? Or when that plane crashed? When you woke up and looked at me without any recollection of who I was? I was devastated! All three times! So don't you DARE sit there and accuse me of NOT loving you! I love you so fucking much that if you leave me, I swear to God I'll kill the both of us. I really will because I don't see a point in living without you with me." He growled and placed his large hands on her cheeks.
His outburst scared her to the core because she saw the truth in his eyes. He would kill her if he had to, kill them both.
"I want time away from you. Time now. I was never away from you, not even in Paris because you were with me, a part of you. I want time Darien. I want to go out and live my life away from you and the girls. I want to date other men, I want to know what I could have. If I find that I'm happier here then I'll come back. I just need a chance." She said quietly and avoided his eyes. The moment she had mentioned dating his entire body had stiffened. "If you're not going to let me have it of your own free will, I will take it Darien. You don't have a say in this really."
"The fuck I don't. Where do you think you're going to go that I won't find you? The media will follow you. You can't hide anymore." He challenged. "You're not leaving."
"Now I know you're abusive. If you keep me here against my will then I will do nothing but hate you."
"No you won't. You said it yourself, the reason you need to get away from me is because you do love me. I have some sort of power over you remember? Stop trying to fight this. Stop trying to find fault in something that was just fixed." He smiled and began to lean into her, his face nearing hers. "Don't pretend not to love me." He whispered and went to press his lips to hers.
She quickly put a hand between her lips and his then gently began to push him back. "No Darien. You're not going to win by trying to be all loving." He removed his hands from her cheeks and took a hold of the hand currently pressed against his lips. Moving it aside he smiled and shook his head.
"You've made up your mind then have you?" He asked with a dangerous undertone and watched as she nodded. "Fine, if you're going to leave… when do you think you're leaving? How long do I have to show you how serious I am?" His grip tightened ever so slightly on her wrists and she felt herself becoming aware of the danger in him.
He had always fought to keep her his and only his. The violence that dwelled within him was far too dangerous and until now, she had never thought of that violence as being directed at her. "Two days." She swallowed and he nodded.
"Two days it is then." He released her and walked to her bedside table and grabbed her cell phone. "Eat your breakfast and be ready to go in two hours okay? I'm taking you out."
"Why are you taking my phone?" She stared at him with alarm and felt her breath catch in her throat.
"You don't need it silly. Now, do as I say and we'll be off in no time." With that he walked out of the room and shut the door behind him. Holding the object in his hand he took a deep breath in and flipped it open to locate the last call. Of course it was Amara and Michelle. They were always causing trouble for him.
Closing the phone he leaned against the door and felt panic within him. What was he doing? He should just let her go. For some reason however, he felt a strong need to keep her with him. Even as the words had left his mouth he had regretted them. He would never hurt her, ever. Would he?
He thought on it and sighed. He just wasn't sure what was going on with him anymore. Maybe something in him had snapped. Maybe she was right, he was broken.
Looking back at the phone he frowned. No, he wasn't broken, Amara and Michelle were just trying to get her to leave him. They had been trying since day one. He tightened his grip, his knuckles turning white from the pressure. "Calm down Darien, she's not leaving." He whispered to himself and pushed off the door. "Everything's going to be fine."
