I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, (you get the idea) sorry that it took me so long to update.

I have had an unbelievable amount of things come up the past month, but here is the next chapter! Thank you for your patience!

An absolute HUGE thank you goes out to my awesome beta, AngelONight.

Please Review! I like to know what you think!

Chapter 12 – Finding Courage

"Serena, wake up."

Serena didn't remember falling asleep, but when she opened her eyes, a harsh light was shining through the window and Amara was kneeling next to her.

"What time is it?" Serena sat up and winced at her stiff body while she tried to blink away the burning in her eyes. Serena looked around her to see pictures of her past strewn across the floor. She had been up most of the night looking through them and trying to remember a time when the only things she had to worry about were school and friends. Although part of her wished she had never known Chase so that she could have possibly led a normal and happy life, a bigger part of her knew that a life without Alyson, even for a short amount of time, was barely a life worth living. And without Chase, there would have been no Alyson.

The best things really do come from the worst times.

"It's a little after Noon." Amara had to admit that when Serena hadn't answered the door, she had gotten worried. Serena didn't seem like the type that would take her own life, but with the things she had been through, Amara wouldn't be surprised if the thought had crossed her mind once or twice.

Serena picked up a picture of Alyson's first birthday. Through the grin on Alyson's face, she could almost hear the innocent giggling of her happy daughter. Serena didn't look up when she asked the question that had been plaguing her. "Amara… what if I can't convince the judge?" Her voice was nothing more than a haunted whisper.

Amara laid a hand on her arm as a concerned expression spread across her face and her eyes noticeably softened. "Serena, don't worry about convincing him. Just tell him the truth and let the evidence do the rest." She stood slowly and held out a hand to help Serena up.

Serena nodded and forced herself to smile as she accepted Amara's extended hand. She let out a tired sigh as she was pulled to her feet, "What time is the flight?"

"1:53, so we have to hurry. You go take a shower and I will make you something to eat."

Two hours later, Serena and Amara were on a flight to Washington. Serena had wanted to tell Mina that she was leaving so that she could look after Luna for her, but Amara thought it had been best to just give Luna enough food and water for 2 days. Amara's reasoning was that Mina would just ask her too many questions about where she was going – and knowing Mina, that's exactly what she would have done.

Serena sighed. She wouldn't deny that she was terrified to be going back, but it was something that needed to be done. And if she couldn't find courage to stand up for herself, then she would have to find the courage to stand up for her daughter.

~*.*~

Mark took a sip of his coffee and turned the page of the newspaper to the sports section as a man hurried into the room and headed towards Chase's office. Mark lifted his head and frowned, "Max? Where do you think you're going?"

A look of disapproval replaced Mark's frown as he stared at the young man in front of him. Barely out of his teens, Max had only been working for Chase a little under a year and Mark couldn't recall more than one occasion where the two had actually crossed paths. Although he had a promising future ahead of him, Max was delirious if he thought that he could simply stroll into Chase's office to speak with him without being summoned.

Max looked back and forth between Mark and the closed door at the far end of the room, with a huge grin displayed on his face. "I have important information for Chase. Is he in?"

"No, he left an hour ago and won't be back for awhile." Max's grin faltered, but Mark continued. "What is it that you wanted to tell him? If I think it's important enough, I'll call him myself."

Max shook his head, "No. I'm getting the credit for this one."

Mark's brows furrowed, wondering what information Max could have obtained that could possibly be of any interest to Chase. "Of course, what good will I get out of it?"

Max nodded, understanding what he meant. Mark was Chase's right-hand man and already had his trust. Although he hadn't planned on telling anyone other than Chase, he knew that Mark was fair and honest. If Mark said he wouldn't take the credit, then he would be as good as his word. Max rushed over and took a chair beside Mark. "You have to promise me that I'll be the one that gets to tell Chase."

Mark folded his newspaper and set it to the side of the table. "You have my word. Now, what is it?"

Max's grin widened, thankful that he could finally tell someone. "I was talking to Frank's lawyer and he told me that he just got a fax saying that there was another witness. And they're adding a manslaughter charge against Frank. He didn't know the identity of this witness, but he knew it was a girl. What other girl could it be other than Serena?" He let out a self-satisfied smirk before he continued. "Frank told me that he was supposed to kill her and she was the only one of Frank's victims that ever got away. And the new manslaughter charge fits because of the kid. But if I'm right, this means that Serena will be in town tomorrow to testify before the judge."

A worried look flashed through Mark's eyes before a slow grin spread across his face. "Chase will be very pleased. Have you told anyone else about your discovery?"

Max shook his head quickly, "Of course not! The lawyer didn't even know what was going on. I just wanted to tell Chase before the idiot opened his mouth again and told someone else."

Mark nodded and glanced briefly at Max's shoes, "This kind of news isn't something I want to tell Chase over the phone. C'mon. I'll take you to him." They hurried out of the building and got into Mark's car. "He said he would be out by the river taking care of some business so we'll meet him there. I can't wait to see the look on his face."

Ten minutes later, Mark's car was parked in between a shipment of crates and an old warehouse. They both got out of the car and walked to the deck. Mark glanced around while Max fidgeted anxiously, obviously very eager to share his news with Chase and gain his approval.

"Where is he? I thought you said he wou-", Max breathed in suddenly when he felt cold metal pressing against his temple. His entire body stiffened. "Mark, what are you do-", but before he could finish the sentence, a pressured shot was heard in the air. A look of shock and pain crossed Max's face before his knees buckled. As Max went limp, he fell to the side and toppled over the deck.

Mark took a few steps to the edge and peered down, watching as Max's body quickly sank beneath the surface of the river. He tucked his gun back in his belt and turned around before he started to walk back towards his car. Mark smirked as he pulled out his sunglasses, "Steel-toed boots aren't a drowning man's friend." He shut the door behind him and put his car in reverse. Once he got back on the road, he adjusted his sunglasses and stole a glance into his rearview mirror at the river disappearing behind him before settling his eyes once more on the road. He had one more stop to make.

~*.*~

"Lily?" Mina waited a moment before knocking again, harder this time. "Are you home?" After another moment Mina sighed and headed back to her apartment. Although it wouldn't explain why Lily hadn't answered her door last night or why she wasn't answering her cell phone, Mina assumed that since it was already so late in the afternoon that Serena would be across the street at Crown's.

"Mina, this is what you get for being knackered enough to sleep until 3 in the afternoon. People wake up and go have fun without you. I think it's time to get an alarm clock. Oh stop chatting yourself up and get dressed." She rolled her eyes at herself and headed to the bedroom.

Half an hour later, Mina walked into Crown's and looked around before heading to the counter. "Hey, Andrew, have you seen Lily?"

Andrew shook his head, "Nope, I haven't seen her since yesterday."

Mina frowned and sat on a stool. "She's not home and she's not answering her cell phone. I wonder where she is."

Andrew noticed the look of worry on Mina's face and, although he knew Lily was probably out with the girls shopping for Mina's birthday, he didn't want to leave her worrying. "Maybe she's with the other girls and they didn't want to wake you up?"

Mina thought about it for a moment, "You think so?" At Andrew's nod, the look on her face changed from worry to sadness and a pout formed on her lips. "They didn't even try to call me?"

Andrew winced at her dejected tone as he tried to make himself look busy. "Uh, maybe they're out… doing something important… and maybe it was, um, last minute and they were going to call you later, I'm sure because that's what friends do and they're your friends and care about you a lot." He tore his attention away from fidgeting with the ice cream machine and smiled nervously at a customer entering the restaurant.

Mina just stared at him and raised an eyebrow at his speech. "Andreeeew… you wouldn't happen to know anything about this important thing they are doing, would you?"

Andrew's eyes shot briefly to hers as he shook his head quickly, turning back to the ice cream machine and placing a bowl below the lever as he pulled on it, "Nope. Not a thing. Not a thing at all." He brought the bowl over to Mina and set it down in front of her, "Ice cream?" He saw Mina narrow her eyes and he gulped, his hand hesitating on the bowl before pulling it away. "No ice cream then. How about some coffee? Yes, coffee. You like coffee." Andrew turned and tried to make a run for it but before he could take more than a step, he stopped at a noise behind him.

Mina slapped her hands down on the counter and leaned forward. "Andrew! What's going on?"

He cringed and turned back slowly. He was always bad about hiding secrets… "Okay, so maybe they're out planning something special for a certain day that's coming up."

Mina's eyes went wide, "My birthday! They're going to throw me a birthday party!" Mina grinned and sat up straighter, "Well, I wouldn't want to disturb them then, now would I?"

Andrew rolled his eyes, thankful that her interrogation-face was replaced by a happy smile. He wiped a nervous hand across his forehead, not surprised to find a few beads of sweat. "Now do you want coffee?"

"Yes, please! And since you already made that delicious looking bowl of ice cream…"

~*.*~

It was early in the evening when Amara checked them into the hotel. They headed upstairs to their room and Amara opened the door for her. Serena walked in and looked up when she saw movement. Serena let out a soft cry as she dropped her bag and ran into Michelle's open arms.

Michelle held her tightly, gently stroking her hair. After a moment the two pulled away from each other, neither with a dry face. Michelle looked Serena over quickly, "Did everything heal all right?"

Serena forced a smile, "Everything on the outside."

Michelle nodded slowly, understanding that the wounds Serena had suffered on the outside barely touched the wounds she had suffered in her heart. Michelle took Serena's hands and led her over to the couch and sat her down. "So, Amara filled me in on some of it, but tell me what's been going on since… since I last saw you."

Serena smiled at the thought of her new friends. On her way past the couch, Amara bent down and placed a soft kiss on Michelle's forehead before taking a seat on the chair next to her. Michelle smiled lovingly over at her before returning her attention to Serena. "Tell me everything."

~*.*~

It was late Sunday night before her cell phone rang and Mina went to pick it up. "Hey, Raye!"

"Hey, Mina. Do you know where Lily is? We've been trying to call her all day and she hasn't answered her cell phone."

Mina's heart skipped a beat with worry, "No… I knocked on her door around 3 this afternoon but she wasn't there. I went over to Crown's and Andrew hadn't seen her… I just assumed she was with you guys."

"No, we haven't seen her either… We just got to Crown's, are you where you can join us?"

A few minutes later, Mina slid in next to Raye at a booth, across from Amy and Lita.

"Mina, you really have no idea where Lily is?"

Mina shook her head, "No…"

Raye sighed, "Well, she did just move here. Maybe she met somebody on Saturday and is hanging out with them today. We can't expect to be her only friends."

"Then why isn't she answering her phone?" Lita asked strongly, shaking her head. Even though she had only known Lily for a few weeks, it just wasn't like her to up and leave without saying anything.

Amy's brows creased with concern as she numbly focused on the cup in front of her, "I don't know, but I'm sure she'll be back by tomorrow." Amy looked up at the others with a confident look on her face, "I mean, after all it is a school day and school is important." When she noticed the others rolling their eyes, she sighed and took another approach. "Besides, she's an adult, I'm sure she's fine."

Mina smiled, "I'm sure you're right." She pursed her lips together. "But I'm still going to get onto her about not answering her phone and worrying us though."

Lita smirked, "Get in line for that one." Amy and Raye nodded their agreement.

The next morning however, Mina failed to wake up early enough and was running late. On her way to the stairs, she knocked on Lily's door. "Lily?" She knocked again but when the door remained closed, she sighed and hurried to her car. All she could hope for was that Lily would be waiting for her in the Union at lunch, but when she got a text message from Amy saying that Lily wasn't in her first class and she saw it for herself first-hand when Lily didn't show up to her second class, Mina's heart felt heavy.

When Mina got to the Union, she found Amy and Raye talking seriously while Lita paced.

Raye looked up, "Mina when is the last time that you saw Lily?"

"On Saturday. We were going to watch some TV and then some girl knocked on her door and said that she needed to speak privately with her."

"What do you remember about this girl?"

"Well, to be honest, she looked like a man. But sh-"

Lita cut her off, "A man? Tall with dark blonde hair?"

"Yeah! Lily said her name was Amara. You've seen her?"

Lita nodded, "Yes… Lily introduced me to her last Tuesday when she walked her to the Self-defense class."

Raye frowned, "You don't think that this Amara would hurt her, do you?"

Lita shook her head, "No, I don't think so... They were laughing with each other and Lily said that she was a childhood friend."

Amy let out a frustrated sigh, "Well, I think we should call the police. This just isn't like Lily." With the other girls in agreement, Amy pulled out her phone and called. After arguing with an officer for five minutes, she hung up and threw the phone on the grass next to her with a huff.

Despite the situation, the others raised their eyebrows at the usual shy Amy expressing her anger.

Lita glared at the phone, "He didn't believe you, did he?"

Amy shook her head, "He said that Lily is an adult and a college student. So despite the fact that we haven't seen her since around 3 pm on Saturday, he's not going to do a damn thing about it."

The conversation was interrupted as Alan strolled up and put his arm around Mina's waist, "Hey there gorgeous. What's with the frown?" He looked around, expecting to see another beautiful blonde. "Where's Lily?"

Mina shrugged and leaned against him, "We don't know… We haven't seen her since Saturday."

"Oh, well I'm sure she's all right." Alan sighed to himself. Since Lily wasn't here, there was no reason to put up pretenses in liking Mina. He shrugged Mina off and stuck his hands deeply into his pockets, tossing a grin at the other girls. "Well, I just wanted to stop in and say 'Hey'… So, I'll see you later." Without waiting for a response, he turned and wandered away with his shoulders slumped slightly.

Mina frowned after him but turned her attention back to the other worried girls.

~*.*~

Amara ceased her pacing of the judge's chambers and threw an irritated glance up at the clock, "Where is he?"

The judge shook his head, "I'm not sure, but if a representative of Mr. Downs isn't present, I cannot hear Ms. Thompson's testimony."

A moment later, a man burst into the chambers. "I apologize for being late, but Mr. Gibson couldn't make it, as he's in the hospital. I'm Brad Wisley, and I will be taking over representation for Mr. Downs."

Serena looked over and saw a man that appeared to be in his mid-thirties wearing a slick grey suit. She watched as he set his briefcase on the chair and unlocked the latches to retrieve some papers.

The judge nodded, "Will he be all right?"

Brad stood back up, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his pointer finger and shook his head slowly, "No, sir. It appears that he lost control of his car. He's in surgery right now and they don't believe he will survive."

The judge sighed, "This rain makes the roads so slick. I take it you have reviewed this case?"

Brad nodded, motioning to the papers in his hand. "Yes, just briefly before I got here." He hurried into a seat and ran a hand through his thick brown hair.

"Well, let's get on with it then." The judge adjusted himself in his seat and turned to Serena, "Go ahead, Ms. Thompson."

~*.*~

At 9 that night, the girls met up at Mina's apartment hoping that Lily would have shown up by the time they all got out of work. Each time they knocked on her door however, there was no answer. Lily still wasn't picking up her phone and the girl's were losing themselves in their worry.

Lita shook her head, "First thing tomorrow morning I am going to go down to the police station and demand that they listen. This just isn't like Lily!"

After deciding that they would meet up at Crown's at 9 in the morning, they left Mina's. As Mina was about to get ready for bed, a thought occurred to her and she ran down to the lobby. "SAMMY!

Sammy froze mid-step and turned his head towards her, "Mina? What's wrong?"

"Look, I'm really worried about Lily and we're afraid something has happened to her and I just want to make sure she's not bleeding to death on her living room floor, so I need her apartment key."

Sammy frowned, "Mina, I'm sorry… but I can't… You know that."

Mina stalked towards him, "Look, please. None of us have heard from her since Saturday and she wasn't in classes yesterday. I'm worried something's wrong."

Sammy's shoulders sank. That was definitely not like Lily. He looked around before walking behind the desk, "Okay, I'll get her key but I'm going up with you to unlock the door. If I get in trouble for this, I'm so blaming you."

"Fine, fine, let's go!" Mina huffed, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she impatiently waited for Sammy.

When they got up to Lily's apartment, Sammy unlocked the door and Mina rushed in. She looked in the living room quickly before making her way to the bedroom, "Lily?" When she got to the bedroom, she saw Luna curled up on the bed and a box sitting open in front of the bed.

Mina frowned as she kneeled in front of the box and pulled out a picture of Lily with a beautiful baby girl. Then she saw another picture with Lily holding an award for a Serena Thompson. When she saw the man standing next to Lily in the picture, a lump formed in Mina's throat.

She heard Sammy getting closer to the bedroom so she stuffed the picture in her pocket as she pushed herself to her feet. She intercepted him in the doorway and shook her head, "Lily isn't here."

"Okay, well, let's get out of here. I don't want to get in trouble."

Mina nodded, still a little shocked. After making sure that Luna was fine on food and water, they left the apartment. "Sammy, thank you… It's at least one less thing to worry about."

"If you guys are really that worried why don't you call the police?"

"We did and they laughed at us. But believe me, we're going to the police station tomorrow morning and we'll make them listen, whether they like it or not."

Sammy shivered at Mina's tone and was glad that he wasn't one of the officers that would encounter Mina or her friends the following morning.

Once Mina was back in her apartment, she sat down on the edge of her bed and pulled out the picture. After staring at it for a long time, she still couldn't understand why Lily would be holding an award for a Serena Thompson. More than that, however, Mina couldn't understand why her father was in this picture standing next to Lily.

~*.*~

When they all returned to the hotel, Michelle squeezed Serena's shoulder. "Serena, I'm really proud of you."

Serena didn't need to look into Michelle's eyes to recognize the sincerity of her words. Her lips twitched upward on one side, "Thanks…"

Michelle went to the far bed and pulled out two cases, one for a violin and one for a keyboard. "Look what I brought. To celebrate!"

Serena's smile faltered slightly. "Michelle, I'm sorry… Thank you for the gesture, I just… don't think I have it in my heart to play right now." She knew Michelle was just trying to make her feel better, and playing the piano usually did… it's just today had been exhausting on both her body and her soul.

Michelle nodded and set the cases down, "I understand."

Amara came over and put an arm around Michelle's waist. "We need to get some rest anyway, as we have a plan to catch first thing in the morning. We don't want her to miss another day of classes."

Serena dropped down onto her bed. "I could definitely put up an argument for missing one more day."

Tuesday morning, Amara dropped Serena off at her apartment. Finding nobody in the lobby, she quietly headed towards the stairs. When she got inside, she dropped her bag to the floor and smiled as Luna came running down the hallway. Serena scooped her up as she headed towards the couch and flipped her phone back on. When she saw how many missed calls and messages she had, she slapped a hand to her forehead.

She couldn't believe that she had listened to Amara about not leaving a note for Mina. The girls must have been so worried about her! She immediately sent a text message to all of them saying that she was back and exhausted, but that she would explain her absence to them at lunch. She received a couple messages back soon after but she was already falling fast asleep on the couch.

Two hours later, she found herself in the kitchen, yawning as she flipped the coffee pot on. She stood there breathing in the smell of coffee when there was suddenly a pounding on her door. Serena frowned and had barely opened the door before Mina flung herself at Serena, hugging her tightly, causing her to step back a few inches.

Mina pulled away and placed her hands firmly on Lily's shoulders. "WHERE have you been? You had us worried sick!"

Serena's face flushed as she looked into the eyes of her friend and saw the sincere concern in their blue depths. "Mina, I'm so sorry. I had some things I had to take care of and I should have told you guys, I know. I wasn't thinking and I'm sorry."

Mina narrowed her eyes for a moment and then hugged her again, more gently this time. "I'm just glad you're all right. We were so worried about you." Mina hesitated slightly, fighting over whether or not she should ask Lily about the picture. Finally, deciding against it, she smiled brightly. "Shall we celebrate your return by having a cup of coffee?"

Serena laughed as they made their way to the kitchen.

Amy and Raye were not happy with her when she met up with them in her classes, but once Serena had convinced them that she was genuinely sorry, they dropped it. When Lita joined them for lunch, she quickly hugged Serena and gave her the same speech that the others had given her before pulling out a fresh apple pie. "I started making it when I got your text message this morning."

Serena's mouth watered, "Oh, thank you Lita!"

Lita grinned, "I know it's your favorite."

Serena smiled at all of her friends as she blinked away tears. It was still hard to believe at how quickly the girls had managed their way into Serena's heart. "Guys, I really am sorry… and I know I still haven't told you where I was, but for now, I can't. Just know that if I ever have to go away like that again, I will not make the same mistake by not telling you. I didn't know how much you would worry…"

The girls smiled at her and Raye wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Lily, we understand that we all have secrets… but just know that we're all here for you. All of us." The other girls gathered around her as they nodded their agreement and Serena smiled. How could she have gotten so lucky to have friends like these?

The girls left unsaid that, although Lily smiled and carried on like nothing was wrong, one look into her baby-blue eyes told them differently. But it was obvious that whatever it was, she was not ready to talk about it.

"You'll be at Self-defense class tonight, right?"

Serena's heart felt heavier than her eyelids as she looked up at Lita. "Not tonight, I'm just so exhausted."

Before anything else could be said, Alan strode up and wrapped an arm tightly around Mina's waist. "Hey guys! Lily – I saw you in class, I'm glad you're all right. I was worried." He dipped down and placed a loving kiss on Mina's temple and an ecstatic grin slowly appeared on Mina's face.

Alan joined the other girls for lunch and although Alan seemed to obviously like Mina, Serena couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Despite the fact that something seemed off about Alan, he had seemed to like her and now suddenly he liked Mina. Despite her reservations about Alan, however, Serena was glad that Mina was so happy.

Serena couldn't help but wonder, however, what was up with Ann and Alan as she watched him settle in beside Mina. She assumed they had broken up, as every once and awhile she would see Ann in the distance, watching as Alan whispered something into Mina's ear to make her laugh.

After Mina dropped her off at her apartment, she made her way upstairs and collapsed on her bed. She was more exhausted than she realized, falling asleep within seconds of her head hitting the pillow.

~*.*~

Lita walked into the room and made her way to the front of the class. "Hey, Darien."

Darien looked up and glanced around first before frowning, "Hey, Lita."

Lita grinned, "Looking for Lily?"

She could have sworn an embarrassed blush crept onto Darien's cheeks. "No, but that brings me to another question – where is she?"

Lita sighed, "At home. She's too tired to come tonight."

"Why is that?"

Lita shrugged, "She won't tell us the details but she had been gone since Saturday. She wasn't at home and her phone rolled over to voice mail each time we called. Then first thing this morning we get a text message saying she's back and she's exhausted."

Darien frowned, disappointed that he wouldn't see Lily tonight. "Where did she go?"

Lita shrugged her shoulders. "We don't know. All she told us was that she had something important to take care of and that she won't make us worry again."

Before they could talk about it anymore, a couple of students came up to him, drawing an abrupt halt to their conversation. However, during the entire class his thoughts remained on Lily. There was something going on with her and he was determined to find out what it was.

An hour after class ended, Darien headed back into the lobby of his apartment building. He walked to the elevator but stopped mid-stride when piano music, sad enough to make his heart heavy, drifted to his ears. He swallowed past the lump forming in his throat as he made his way down the hall towards the lounge.

When he rounded the corner, he saw Sammy sitting on the floor next to the door, tears streaming quietly down his face. When Sammy looked up and saw Darien he quickly got to his feet and brushed a hand across his cheeks to wipe away the tears. Darien held a finger to his lips to make sure that Sammy stayed quiet and walked passed him to peek into the door. There, sitting on the piano bench, was Lily.

He noticed the tears trailing down her cheeks as she played. After watching and listening for a few minutes, Darien couldn't stand the sight of her crying anymore and turned away, leaning his back on the other side of the door. The first time he met Lily, something stirred within him and each time he saw her after that, the feeling just grew stronger. Although he couldn't understand his feelings towards her, it was breaking his heart to see her like this.

He was thankful that Sammy left the hallway because Darien had to clench his jaw in his efforts to hold his own tears at bay. He didn't know if it was the song that was having this effect on him or if it was seeing Lily cry… or if it was a mixture of both. All he knew was that right then, his entire heart ached to comfort her.

His body stiffened when the music stopped and he heard her soft cries. If he went in there right now, he knew she would just turn him away. He sighed quietly and started to walk back down the hallway but his hand caught hold of the door frame and stopped him. He gripped it tightly as he looked back over his shoulder at Lily. Taking a deep breath, he turned back around and slowly made his way towards her.

"Lily?"

Serena's head snapped up and she wiped her cheeks quickly before looking at him. "Darien? What are you doing here?"

"I was just heading back from class and I heard someone playing the piano…" He left it unsaid that he had been standing there for a few minutes and had heard her crying as well - Although one look at her face and it wasn't much of a secret. He sat down on the bench next to her. "Are you okay?"

Serena nodded and faced the piano again, letting her fingers gently stroke the keys. "I just had a tough weekend, that's all. Other than that though, I'm fine."

Darien didn't believe a word of it. But as much as he wanted to know, he was raised to respect a person's right to keep their own secrets, even if the pain from those secrets destroyed them. "I know something's wrong, but I'm not going to force you to tell me anything that you don't want to." He waited a moment, hoping that she would say something. Despite the fact that he was the last person she would open up to, he couldn't help but feel hopeful. When he got no response from her, he sighed and changed the subject. "Who taught you how to play the piano?"

"My mother." Serena's eyes went wide a little. "I mean, my adopted mother." She stood, not wanting to give him the chance to ask anymore questions. She wasn't in the mood to try and conceal her true identity. "Anyway, I'm tired. Night, Darien."

Before he knew what he was doing, he reached out and gently caught her wrist. He heard her gasp and saw her look down at his hand. He loosened his grip and let it slide down, taking her petite hand into his own, ignoring the nervous fluttering in his stomach. He let his thumb drag across her impossibly smooth skin and finally looked up into her eyes. "Lily, I just want you to know that if you ever need anything, all you have to do is ask."

The intense look in his dark blue eyes made her breath quicken and her knees to go weak. She felt the tiniest tug on her hand and took a step closer to him. Her gaze left his eyes to search the rest of his face before finally resting on his lips.

Serena slowly leaned down until their faces were inches apart. She could feel his warm breath against her lips. She glanced once more to his eyes as he brought his face closer to hers. Before their lips met, however, Darien's elbow tapped the keys and reason flooded back into Serena's head. Her eyes snapped open and air filled her lungs as she pulled back a few inches. She smiled softly at him and leaned down again, brushing a soft kiss against his cheek. She lingered for a moment before she pulled away and started out of the room. She turned back with one hand on the door frame. "Darien… thank you."

Darien only had time to nod before she disappeared.

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