Chapter 29

AN: Ok, so this is probably the last chapter you'll get before the big reveal... dumb-de-dumn... not that it's all that unexpected. You do know right, that I never get a reviewer going: "Rakusa, I think you need to wait to have others learn about these two. It's more exciting to see the perils they get themselves into than just the lovely dovey stuff..."

AN2: Right, so I had/have an AN that I moved for another chapter but I think I'm going to shorten the sentiments here. The original was half a page. 3 promises about this story. 1. No Serena pregnant by accident arcs. Raye's already so and I don't think this story can handle two of them. Now... if it was intentional... oops... (NOT going to happen! Maybe a different story if it were a comedy). 2. Nothing forced. Often times its the mental trauma that's worse than the physical. The body heals. There was a reason I added this but I don't think its going to play out in the new version. 3. The reason for the shortening of this AN is because I had already planned to mention this then I was asked and I wrote about it earlier. Esmee is just nosy but she's lazy. I put that in there because people see things that aren't always there. It's more of a perception. We like to pretend that we never thought someone was planing ill behind our backs when it doesn't happen but sometimes we still thought it at one point. But the opposite is true as well, it can come out of left field at times and hit you on the back of your head.

AN3-other story blurbs: I'm going to edit ZZZ's second chapter. I realize I was reaching too far with it. I just had some funny lines in there and I'm going to try and keep them but make it cleaner. It was intended as a sort of Halloween rip since that's when I started writing it and I thought it was funny. I've got to script an outline for it and then start updating for you guys. Betraying the Heart- if ever brought up was intentionally short because of a few reasons, 1. it was a challenge to myself, 2. I have always thought if they just talked to each other we can save ourselves a hundred pages of grief, 3. I wanted to work on something else that was semi-light and fluffy while we have this epic. In that case I just edited something I had already written. So please don't hate me for working on other projects while writing this. It's my process. :) It helps get this story out too! And Cactus Ambush (there are others I'm sure, Endymion's next chapter is a stumper and I'm working on fixing something I had already written since I edited the few previous chapters and it no longer works. Bare with me there.) But I digress, CA- I'm still going to edit that one. I just need to refresh my memory about the American Southwest since I was there last. My trip there gave me new ideas. I just have to recall them or find my notes... oops.


So much for continuing on the way they had been.

Serena slumped over the desk and laid her forehead against the wood's smooth finish. She was tempted to lift it only to let it slam back down again. If she did it hard enough or often enough she might be able to knock herself out and get a moment of blissful peace.

What would it solve? Not much more than her current unhappiness. But it would only cause more mayhem around her and then people would start to fuss about her again. She'd never see him. Not that she saw him now. He'd holed himself away at the Ranch. Promised her it was about his prized cow. It was a cow all right, that cow was her!

He hadn't left it once to come back to town and see her. Hadn't invited her out either. In fact she hadn't talked to him since he'd made the comment and slipped away. He hadn't even touched her during that whole exchange. He hated her now in a way he never had before. She hated herself. Hated herself for the whole bloody mess she'd created.

He'd promised her, but now it really was over. He saw the error of his ways and realized he'd clouded lust with love. He was over her.

"Well don't you look terrible?" Hina leaned against the door frame and with a moan she turned her head to rest her cheek on the warm surface. She blinked wearily at Hina. She'd never felt so different from the woman as she did today in her sweats and ponytail. She hadn't even bothered to get properly dressed and Hina was forging yet another fashion statement. How to look French without the cliches. The woman was frowning lightly at her as her brown eyes rimmed with a medium amount of black flickered over her. "Why are you moping about? You won the man, if he can't see what he's giving up in me, I can't call him quite a catch."

"That made absolutely no sense." She wiped at her eyes and pushed herself up to a sitting position trying to make herself at least presentable. She never felt inadequate that that way before Hina. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Well I came to gloat but its not as fun as I thought it would be when this all blew up in your face. It's not exactly the way I thought it would go down. I was hoping for a fist fight and Darien's name raked through mud." Hina lifted her shoulders and let them drop again. The black gauze (almost but not quite a poncho, it was too round for that) fluttered as she did so. "And what I said made perfect sense. It was never about you doll-face. I just like real life drama. This though has been so boring. Even the drama now is just lame. You're here. He's there. And nobody's shouting or screaming. He made this big fuss about keeping you but now he's nowhere to be found. So much for that. He's such a loser, how could I have not seen that before?"

"He's not." Serena felt it was important to defend him even though she felt like bashing him over the head herself. "He's just mad at me."

Hina yawned loudly. "He could at least show it for me. Have some huge spectacle."

"I'm sorry that we didn't stage a whole production for you. I'll be sure to put on my dance shoes and rehearse my lines for when you come back. But you have to leave first."

Brown eyes flashed back to her in annoyance. Then a slow smile unfurled. "You're right. I've spent far too long here not getting anything of worth out of it. Please do call me when you're ready for the big reveal. I'm sure it'll be epic and you'll ensure that it is. I'll be back in the states sometimes next month. Make sure you have it coordinated by then. And if I do miss it, please feel free to have an encore or at least a good narrative."

"Of course." Serena had no intention of following through with her demented request but whatever it took to get Hina out of there, then great. "When will you be leaving?"

"In the hour." Hina turned and practically bounced out in her heels, the burgundy dress beneath the black gauze was not appropriate for the weather but she seemed unfazed by it. Hina turned at the last minute and smirked at Serena. "You do realize, of course, that I'm not leaving because you want me gone, but that you've just given me a reason to leave?"

"What kind of reason would that be?" Serena asked wearily. She wasn't sure what she'd said to set Hina off. Darien had probably been right, she shouldn't have antagonized Hina but the woman wouldn't go and she felt she had to be more direct. She was just taking up space for people who came to enjoy the amenities.

"Oh you'll see. It's going to be a great surprise." She gave a little laugh. "Better clean yourself up before it gets here though." With that Hina was gone and Serena collapsed against the back of her chair. She ran a hand through her hair and grimaced. The water had been out again but this time it decided not to run at all in her room. The electricity had been on the blitz but for the last few hours it had been up. That was the only reason she was here.

Serena pushed herself to her feet and decided that she wasn't going to get any work done. She left the office and stomped down the stairs. She didn't know what she was going to do but it knocked right into her before she could really bother to think about it.

"Ok, seriously are you stalking me or something?"

Michelangelo laughed as he held Serena steady. She had practically run headlong into him. "I was on my way to see Mina actually to discuss class sizes but now it seems as if you need me more than I need bigger groups. Come on, we're going to go have a chat." He directed her towards the movie theater but they didn't go in. Instead they skirted the premise and found a small park that was vacated during the winter season with all the activities near the mountains at this time of year.

It was a sunny enough day that it wasn't cold. At least not outwardly. Serena settled onto a cold bench but she ignored it and huddled into her jacket, turning her face up towards the only heat emitter. "It really wasn't that necessary to bring me all the way out here to talk. We've done plenty of that elsewhere."

"Yes but we've never cut straight through the bull. I was content to know that we both knew what was being said in what wasn't. Now I think its time we laid it all out plainly."

"I haven't a slightest clue what-"

"Get it a rest Serena. At least respect me enough to admit to what I already know." Michelangelo cut across her and she huddled deeper into her coat.

"Fine. I guess the secret really isn't such a secret."

"Oh I think you're safe there. Only I seem to be aware of exactly what's going on. Now what seems to be the problem between you and Shields now?"

"I'm not entirely sure. At first I would have said it was because Darien wanted me to come clean with Andrew but then something happened when he went to talk to Andrew himself. He came back out of that room and told me we'd continue having an affair. But then the next time I see him, he's headed for the hills. He's out on the ranch and isn't likely to come back any time soon."

"Is he waiting for you to tell Andrew? Is it some sort of ultimatum in silent form?" Michelangelo unzipped his coat showing her exactly how different the two of them were as he sat beside her.

"I don't think so..."

"Why won't you tell Andrew?" Michelangelo looked her directly in the eye and made her think about her own response carefully.

"I made Andrew a promise. I can't break that promise by calling it off with him. I owe it to Andrew to stick it out and not spill everything and telling him will only complicate matters further. Because nothing will change and then Andrew will start treating Darien differently and all of this will fall apart so quickly-"

"Look forget all of that. Why not just tell Darien? Surely that would solve matters. Tell him what's really going on. The two of you can then work it out. He's already in deep, a little more won't hurt and might make things smoother between the two of you."

"I don't know-"

"Do you trust him?" Michelangelo tossed aside all of her doubts, seeing the real problem instantly.

"Of course I do."

"Then why can't you trust him to know that he loves you without all this stuff in the way? Why can't you trust him to know his own heart?"

"Because it's not him that I don't trust, it's myself! Nothing in my life has ever worked out and I know it's me. I know I'm the reason why its all fallen apart. It's better if it breaks here and now before I get in too deep, before I ruin what I have with Andrew too." It felt good to admit all of that out loud even if it did just kind of blurt out of her without forethought.

Michelangelo shook his head not believing a word of her backpedaling and was the voice of reason once more. "Eventually it will come out to Andrew. Somehow someway when you least expect it. It's better to control the message, to own your own actions before someone else casts another slant on them. Something you can't come back from. Or it'll come to the point in time when you must make a decision. But it might be better to know your answer ahead of time. Who would you choose if it came down to Andrew or Darien?"

Serena sighed and removed her ponytail to run a hand through her long hair starting at her forehead. "I already made my decision about that and it started a long time ago. But I'd rather have both in my life forever. I've already tried to live without Andrew and I hated it but I don't think I could survive even half as long without Darien." She gave a bitter laugh. "Half? Who am I kidding? I wouldn't last a month if I couldn't even see him. Look at me and how readily I fall apart without him!"

Michelangelo gave her a once over much as Hina had and nodded. "You need a shower then you will go to your man and beg forgiveness."

She sighed wearily and looked at the sun's position in the sky. "You're right, but tomorrow, when I look like something more than pale and horrid. By then maybe the water will come back on."

Michelangelo rolled his eyes. "I can see that I've gotten through to you. Just use Mina's, I've got a spare key." He pressed it into her hand and then pushed her on her way. "I'll be in the living room and walk you back when you've finished."

Serena agreed and together they went to Mina's. She was holding back. She would take the day to think it over and come to a decision about what Michelangelo suggested. No matter what though she'd push through Darien's door tomorrow and figure something out with him. Even if his reason was perfectly legit, these things needed to be sorted out, at least a little.

So much for wooing Serena completely away from Andrew.

Here he was standing in the empty office, Serena's computer shut and a coffee cup in his hand as he stared out at the life below.

He was supposed to be coming up with ways to make it impossible for Serena to stay with the blond, not push her away. The fact that his cow had its offspring was only a kick in the pants for him. He had hoped that some time spent apart might make her more keen for him and have her waiting impatiently for his return in the one place she'd known he'd be, eventually.

Well that didn't work. Seemed as if his half-baked plan went awol somewhere near its conception. All he's managed to do was push her further towards her husband and away from him. The problem with Serena was that she made him react without thinking it through first. Often times he reacted badly. Now for the first time in his life he was unsure with how to proceed and it just made him even more irritated.

He was still absolutely inflamed by her gall in believing that she could just string two men along. Like she had been. Like she still was. Hell he'd agreed to go along with it before and he'd just dug himself a little deeper by confirming it all over again with his push for solidarity standing in her life. He'd caved like a weakling at the first sight of those big blue eyes glittering up at him in fear and pleading to take her side. He'd always take her side. He just wished it wasn't so difficult or opposed to his own views.

Darien should have just stood aside and let Andrew patch things up with his relationship. As long as Darien was in the picture, he was just graying the issue. Serena wouldn't even think about leaving him as long as he was available to be had. But on the other hand, if Andrew did manage to pull her completely back into his grasp, then that was it. He wouldn't have Serena at all, he'd lose her completely and he couldn't have that.

When was it right to be selfish?

Now, for the first time in his life he was unsure how to proceed. He was unsure what he wanted. It was a new position to be in. He loved her, he knew that. He loved her in a way he had never loved another woman. Not Mia, and definitely not Hina even though he'd been engaged to her. Serena made him feel for the first time in his life what it was really like to really love. But he thought loving her came at too high of a price. He couldn't even fight for her. To do so would destroy a man he truly cared for. (That revelation had been a surprise too).

Then there was the fact that all of their names would be mud in this community. His actions, done knowingly and unknowingly, would destroy what was left of Amy and Raye's too. Their businesses would be in shambles. The resort would have to close and they'd have to move from their home. Darien could handle that, he had a life outside of this town that he could easily go back to. Serena and Andrew had a life somewhere else too, though a flicker of a thought intruded there but was lost to the knowledge that Serena could never go back home again. Her family was gone and the family she cherished and acted as if it were her own were actually her husband's. She'd lose that too and wouldn't even have his to compensate. Not that she'd shared any of that with him, he'd just had to deduce it from the clues he'd been given.

He stood by the window contemplating this for far longer than he should, he had work to be done, high class, high sensitivity, very important work to be doing. He couldn't be worrying over his own little love affair that in the grand scheme of things didn't matter outside his own little world. But there he stood, coffee cup in hand and watched all the happy people pass by him.

His fingers clutched the cup harder as he saw Serena, she had her hair up in a style only she could pull off and she was dancing around a tall blond man. She was holding his hand and talking with him as if she didn't have a care in the world. That man wasn't Andrew and he could feel the cup straining under his fingers, tiny fissures were forming, invisible to the human eye below the glassy surface.

Jealousy hit fast and hot into his gut. He wasn't even allowed to be so friendly in public with her for fear that people would realize that there was more going on. Yet here she was with yet another man. Just how many of them was she actually with? It was a question he could no longer idly sit by and let it float in his mind. The answer might not be one he liked but he'd have a concrete number to face. She knew all there was to know about him, or at least what was important, he was barely scratching at the top layer.

Just what had gone down in Delware that made it hard for her to return? That she had to run off to Florida and use it as a shield from going North, unless it was far west? Perhaps she couldn't return, that there were skeletons in her closet that restricted her from doing so. And did Andrew know? It would explain why he allowed her to get so far from him.

Speaking of the man, he had been a mess that night. Was he worried that her attention was waning? He was married to the woman. At any moment he could decide to change focus and decide his marriage was more important than anything else and take her away to work on it. Of course she wasn't a piece of luggage, she wouldn't go as easy as that. Or so Darien hoped. That might be her perfect solution, disappearing within a moment's notice so she didn't have to deal with anything.

As he watched Michelangelo gave Serena a hug and then left her standing there while he went somewhere else. What Michelangelo did didn't matter to Darien, the only thing that ever mattered was what she did. She was facing him and she had pulled back her shoulders, ready to start towards him and a smile tilted his lips. She was coming to him. She had chosen him over all the other males in this area.

He half turned, wanting to meet her at the door when she finally crossed the distance but stopped as someone did the same but on skis right next to her. He didn't know what was said but she had thrown her arms around the man and her embrace was returned.

It was her husband.

The sheer size was a decent giveaway. Had Andrew ignored his advice and decided to woo his wife back? It sure seemed like it as she nodded and went with him towards the lodge. He pulled himself away from the window that only offered him bad news and set off to work. He'd find out in time. He was sure it would be hard to miss. He told himself that he could wait it out until he could see what happened next.

His empty cup lay broken on the floor where he had once been standing.

Serena's intentions had been to go back to work after Michelangelo left her. She would finish for the day and then go to the ranch if she had to confront Darien on his behavior. Instead Andrew surprised her with his timing. It really was very good timing.

Andrew had caught her before she could resolve anything in her own mind. He had announced something privately in her ear that she didn't believe would ever come and she had been so happy and concerned for him at the same time that she vowed to spend the rest of the day with him. It seemed to be exactly what he wanted and they hadn't wasted a moment. The day stopped being about her and begun to be about him.

Their day together was fun, they spent time acting like kids. They'd gone downhill skiing, they'd gone ice skating, they'd made snow angels where the snow had been untouched. Andrew even let her bury him in the snow, it compacted a lot harder than sand did and it took them awhile to get him out of it. But she had plenty of blackmail pictures. They drank hot chocolate by the fire. They didn't once mention anyone else. It was a day just for the two of them to be kids again, all the worries and the burdens and their mistakes were just gone for the day. True she couldn't put it completely out of her mind, it was there, but she didn't dwell on it like she would have if she wasn't so focused on him.

The day had passed her by and she found herself looking at the clock as Andrew slept with his head on her shoulder while they sat on the couch watching one of his favorite movies. It was far too late to be going anywhere and she was kind of trapped.

She had been the only one to know what was really going on and so had been the only one he could tell. She was glad he did, that had taken one thing off of her list of problems. She was also glad to still be his first go to person. That despite their unspoken problems that they were still so close. She ran her fingers through his blond hair. She felt like she had betrayed him with how much time she'd spent away from him. Sure they both had other jobs but they had come here together to try and work things out. They hardly ever saw each other most days. It was something she resolved must not be allowed to continue. They couldn't grow any further apart. Though she had to admit they had made great strides to repairing the torn relationship they'd had since coming here.

Since making that decision, she felt herself relaxing with a clear path ahead of her for both her problems and her eyes closed on their own accord before the credits ran.

In the morning she found herself lying length-wise with Andrew and his arm around her. She snuggled in, it was far too early for either of them to be up yet and there wasn't enough room for the both of them.

When they finally got up for the day they breakfasted in the dinning room and ate a lot of Lita's delicious food. Andrew's arm was along the back of her chair. Mina had come in and when her eyes rested on the two of them sitting so cozy she changed her intention and only grabbed something to go. Serena watched her curiously but her thoughts couldn't put anything together for Zolton joined them.

He was by himself and he had a whole tray full of food. He chatted with them for while. Then when there was a lag in the conversation Serena finally learned what his intentions really were. "I managed to track down the poison to a specific area, it was in the D.C. region rather than the general one I had given you before. It was a specific strain of the plant that was more combatant to occasional cold weather. From there I analyzed and cross-referenced the residues from other chemicals or substances it might have gotten into contact with. I even found the glass. Do you usually drink Alaskan Ice Teas?"

"Eh, no?" Serena didn't even know if she knew for sure what it was.

"I figured as much. So it's someone who has either been on a resort setting in Alaska or who is very familiar with drinks. It had enough sweetness and alcohol in it to mask the poison's taste. It also had enough in there to mix too much with the natural progression the poison would have taken. More and more I'm thinking not only was it intentional, but they knew what they were doing with the alcohol. If you'd died it would have looked like an alcohol overdose and not what it really was. There would have been special tests to look for poison and they wouldn't have looked for this poison."

Andrew lifted his other hand to cut Zolton off. "Zolt man, you're bombarding her and that is very depressing news."

"Oh? I thought it was good news. We're closer to narrowing down who did it to her." Zolton rose to his feet, his meal done. "I'm sorry if I was a hindrance."

"No, wait, you weren't. It is very good news. I'm just in shock. It was a lot to take in and I'm not sure what feelings I should be feeling." Serena held him in place to apologize for her state of paralysis.

Zolton nodded. "Well I better be going anyway, it was nice talking with the two of you."

After he'd left Andrew slanted an amused smile down at her. "Think Amy's told him he can't just jump into the topic he wants to talk about?"

Serena shook her head. "Amy does the same thing. That's why they're great together. Or at least part of the reason."

"How are you feeling about all of that?"

"Fine. I mean I already knew most of it. It's nice to know that the case is being followed and that there has been an update with a good lead."

Andrew nodded and ran his thumb over her upper arm without realizing. It was a somewhat comforting gesture. "I just wish they were more than once a month."

Serena laughed and rested her head on his shoulder. "Then we'd know and we can't have such interesting talks with Zolton."

Andrew chuckled too and kissed the top of her head. "That's right. I would miss these talks."

He seemed reluctant to leave her and she knew that they needed to talk but she was reluctant to tell him about all of her transgressions, especially in such a public setting. She'd admit freely to the fact that she was avoiding the subject. "Talking can be good though."

"Look, tomorrow I'm going to be up early to do a check. After that we can talk, ok? There's a lot I need to tell you." Andrew surprised her by this announcement and Serena for a moment almost volunteered to go with him so they could talk then instead but held back and she nodded.

"That sounds like the perfect plan because there's something I need to tell you too."

"It can wait though until tomorrow right? I have to go to work." He glanced at his watch. "In about twenty minutes." His gear was all ready and waiting, he'd already delayed as long as he could and she gave another short nod.

"We'll talk tomorrow afternoon." She decided that she'd need to have it out with Darien before that. She wondered if she could handle two big revelations in as many days. But she'd have to, she'd already put all of this off for as long as she could, it was starting to get ridiculous. She'd tell Darien today and would go see him at his ranch.

Except things didn't go exactly how the plan forming in her head dictated.

For starters she hadn't expected to be pulled off her feet on her way back to her room for her coat and dragged into an empty room with a hand over her mouth. She struggled against her grabber before realizing who it was and gave his hand a bite for good measure. "What do you think you're doing?" She snapped when he yelped and removed his hand from those wicked teeth.

Darien was scowling at her but she could see the amusement lurking in his gaze before before his face fell into something even more serious. "We are long overdue for a talk."

"You didn't have to drag me off like that. If anyone saw we'd be facing some serious questions."

"So glad you've brought that up. It's exactly what I wanted to do myself, ask you some very serious questions which will get serious answers. I'm not letting you off the hook anymore, you're not going to spin this around and leave me wondering what just happened."

She kept the smile from creeping up but she was privately grinning and she couldn't help but put a dig in there. "Must mean I'm good at my job."

"Focus Serena."

Oh she was, on his face, his hair, his body. All of which she hadn't seen for days and she ate all of him with her eyes like a woman starving. In many ways she was, it was too long of needlessly self-imposed distance. She wanted to take him to task for it. It was one thing if necessary another altogether when he decided to go for no particular reason.

"How's the cow?"

"Both the cow and calf are fine." He waved it away. "That's beside the point."

"All of this just sounds so serious." Serena jibbed just because it had been the word of choice for the moment and he nodded but she'd gotten what she'd wanted out of him, the smallest of lifts at the corner of his mouth.

"It seems like that's something you really can't be." He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "All right, we are going to do this here. Nobody will walk in on us because nobody knows where we are." There was something to his plan that she felt linger as a doubt but she couldn't pin it down and so she sat across from him. He had his elbows on his knees and his fingers tented and had look of concentration on his face as if he hadn't thought out what he was going to ask her and now only had a small amount of questions that he could ask her and had to choose wisely.

Perhaps that was true, she'd probably only hang on for a few before she got cagey and ran away. Especially if he continued taking this long to get one out. "Are you having an intimate relationship with Michelangelo?"

Whatever she'd expected him to ask her that certainly wasn't it and she sprang forward in shock. "What? No."

He believed her at her word and drew in a deep breath. "I've been thinking about what I said to you the other day..."

"Are you taking it back?" Her fingers were white as she clenched her hands into fists on her knees. Was he backing out completely on her? Had he only been concerned about Michelangelo in regards to the rule he had laid down at the beginning?

He waved that aside not even bothering to give her words real thought. "I recall another person saying something and backing out on it just as quickly." He let her hang there for a second before giving her a reprieve. "No, I'm not. But I'm not going to be the only one making concessions anymore."

She understood what he meant and she knew she had to finally tell him the truth, she had been on her way to do it anyway. Perhaps he'd wait more patiently if he knew there was a deadline. She had to tell him, there wasn't a way out of it, was there? "What kind of concessions?" She'd hear him out first and then decide where to go from there.

"I do not want to see you kiss Andrew." He speared her an icy look. "I've had to see it far too much as it is. That means no inviting him here and if we get into an argument I do not want you to go running to him or kissing him to get back at me."

"That's... reasonable." She conceded that it wouldn't be a huge issue. She blinked as if blinded, now that he'd brought it up... she realized that they hadn't shared even a pretend kiss in weeks. Interesting. What did that mean?

"I know there are going to be occasions where you can't help it, but I would like you to not actively seek it out." She nodded, hoping that would be the only thing he demanded of her and if she told him all then he'd relax a little when he happened to see something he didn't like. "I'm coming first from now on unless its something major."

Her face scrunched up. "I don't know what you mean by that."

"If and when your conflicted between spending time with Andrew or spending time with me, I come first, every time. If we both need to talk to you, I'm the one you deter to unless he's got some type of emergency that you two need to deal with."

"That's very well and good to agree with now, but it'll make it hard to maintain appearances. I don't think that's something I can keep." Serena folded her arms, suddenly he'd put her back up after that reasonable kiss demand. The rest weren't going to fly and she wasn't sure she could agree to them all. "Any other ridiculous demands?"

"Just one. You won't like this one."

"Then why make it?" She huffed.

"Because it is something I need. I want you to tell me, afterward of course, whenever the two of you get truly intimate." She just stared at him for a minute, an entire minute ticked by on the face of his watch, but he wasn't watching it, he was watching all these different emotions cross her features, it was quite memorizing actually, and somehow enchanting. She finally settled on anger, and he'd known that would be the case as she pushed to her feet raving.

"So you can keep track? How sick and depraved! There's something wrong with you if you'll think I'd do anything of the sort. Isn't there an honor you're supposed to stick to-" Whatever honor she was talking about, he didn't want to hear it as he got to his feet too, but he didn't dare touch her, it would be his undoing and he'd retract his demand and that's not something he could live with. This time he wouldn't be the bad guy, he wouldn't let her turn him into that again. He was the victim and she'd own up to her true role now.

"No. Not to keep track, but to keep myself calm and sane. I'd go mad if I had to imagine the figure. Do you realize that I think you've been going at it like bunnies?"

"But we've been-"

"I know. But in my head you leave my bed and slip into his and it doesn't stop, all night long. Plus he's got the added bonus that he gets to see you on days that I don't. Part of me wants to keep up."

Her face contorted again and she opened her mouth about to say many different things, not all of them nice, and some made her blush. Finally she gave a sharp nod. "Fine, I can handle that."

"Do you have anything for me?"

She thought he meant confessions and at the moment she was so furious with him and his outlandish demands that she was rethinking telling him anything at all. That last one was akin to being personally investigated, like he had asked her how many men she'd been with! Rage boiled beneath her skin and the glare she leveled at him made his hands raise in protest.

"I meant for the time being at least, now that you've reminded me, if you had any concessions you wanted me to make."

A hiss of breath escaped her lips as the anger was leeched out of her as quickly as it'd swelled. Perhaps it wasn't a behind the scenes investigation but rather a frank discussion about experience if the metaphor still held up. He was offering to share his own number to put his curiosity at ease. The not knowing was killing him and she hadn't helped by dangling different thoughts. She gave in to him, more relaxed now but that cagey feeling was starting to bubble up. "Not at the moment but I don't imagine I will."

His hands reached her before she knew she'd tried to escape, and he had a raspy laugh as he brought her head down onto his shoulder. "I've embarrassed you. It wasn't my intention. It was just what I needed to continue on with this situation." One of his hands kept her head where it was while the other ran down her back in soothing motions. He found it incredibly endearing.

Her hands came up between them and rested on his chest and though she didn't press hard he let her go so she could put some distance between them. Her hands didn't move when she was able to lean back to look up at him and for that he was eternally grateful whether she was aware of it or not. "I can understand that. I really do. I went off into a jealous rage when Hina was in your room and felt it the entire time she was around. I know its not easy to see someone you love in a potentially intimate situation with someone else."

He nodded, placing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I came to all of these conclusions on the fly because frankly yesterday I was terrified."

Her eyes widened and she looked up at him with concern etched on her features. "Terrified? Of what?"

Darien let out a bark of laughter and dragged her hips closer to his. "That Andrew had swept you off your feet and that you'd go back to him completely and leave me in the dust." That fear had only settled when he'd seen the two of them acting no different than all the times he'd seen them together recently since their return to Pony.

She was frowning now and he tried to reduce the lines that she created by easing it away again. "Why on Earth would you think that?"

"Because you'll see when he finally gets around to telling you everything he hasn't yet. When he does you'll realize your husband is still completely smitten with you and it won't be easy to turn him deny him access to what he technically legally should."

Serena ignored that last part of his sentence focusing instead on what made absolutely no sense to her. "Smitten with me? Still? Where did you get the idea for something like that nonsense?"

"You really have absolutely no inkling do you?" He held her face between his palms and he shook his head in wonder. "He's in love with you."

"He's not." Serena denied instantly. "That last demand won't be very hard to comply with-"

His words crossed over her second sentence, focusing instead on what he heard first. "Oh he is, he ranted on and on about his feelings for you that night I went to confront him. Andrew's regretful that he let so much space get between the two of you but he's hoping that it wasn't too late."

Serena was going to kick Andrew if she ever got the chance. Serena decided right now would be the perfect opportunity to come clean with everything. To hell with it! "Well he's right. We were very close for a long time and then things happened, life happened you could say, and we kind of grew apart. This trip was to try and bring us closer together. Andrew and I have always been very good friends we started out that way and continued on that path for a long time until something happened which drove a wedge between us."

Darien nodded and his hands were distracting, she had trouble concentrating on her story but he pressed her forward.

"We got here and decided that we needed to work on our relationship from the ground up. Start over in many ways. We had promised that sex wouldn't be involved." It had been taken off the table, there were too many things in the way for them to cross that boundary and really Serena hadn't thought it would be an issue between them, never had in the past. It had surprised her when she found them making out on the couch but her emotions had been running high and she had suddenly been aware of the dangers of living in such tight quarters with a man for so long. She was pleased when the situation had never arisen again, they had both learned from their slip.

"I can acknowledge that you were frustrated when you met me. But-" His eyes slammed against hers. "Promised that there wouldn't be?"

"Yes." Serena stressed trying to get him to understand without having to spell it all out. Maybe she could keep something in tact- hell she had to just tell him but he kept distracting her with these questions and she was so programed to deflect, respond without really answering, that it kept slipping further and further away from her. She wanted to just shut him up and confess everything without being interrupted but knew that wouldn't happen. She thought maybe it would be better going back to the ranch so others didn't overhear if it got loud and angry. So he couldn't run before she got a chance to explain everything because she knew he'd be pissed.

"I'm trying to understand the time table. How long were you living apart?"

Serena bit her lip and wanted to deflect this because her answer would cause serious questions and she wanted to get him away from here first. "Look, perhaps we should just-"

"So I'm just a frustration release because you can't have it with your husband?" A black brow lifted clearly not pleased with that idea.

"Er..." He hadn't been, but in a teeny tiny way he had too. She hadn't been with a guy in ages at that point and she had seen him and felt an overwhelming attraction to him she couldn't deny but there was something else there too, something that had spurred her on, and now she recognized that as love.

He surprised her again with another laugh. "Well I guess I can accept that. What's done is done. Is there any chance you'll leave me when Andrew confesses his feelings?"

"He's not going to." Serena shook her head. "Andrew doesn't have feelings like that for me. Whatever else you think, you're mistaken on that accord."

"He does." But he spoke before she could argue more. "I just want to know what you'll do."

"If Andrew ever confesses to an intense burning love for me then of course I'll leave you for him." She added an eye roll just for good measure.

"Witch." He dragged her closer and squeezed her behind. "All right I've gotten what I came for. Come spend the night with me. I'll expect you around nine." Then he'd let her go bereft without even a kiss goodbye and she was still trying to wrap her mind around it as she called out to him to wait but he still disappeared into the lodge.

She lowered her arm and shook her head. "So much for coming clean." She ignored the fact that he'd in a way just set up a booty call, she knew it wasn't like that and if it was, he was just punishing her for the set up. Serena ran her hands down her face. This was turning into a disaster. She had no idea just telling someone the truth could be so hard, it had always been so easy in the past. Right. She'd mocked herself, only when they listened.

Tonight, she vowed. She'd gag him if she had to just to get it all out. Maybe tie him down onto the bed as well but she couldn't open up his ears and make him comprehend. That was up to him, but she might have fun trying... perhaps she could find some fuzzy handcuffs to bring over...

In the interim, she decided on a swim.

She had just finished her tenth lap when she came up for air and found a pair of killer legs standing near the edge. She lost the grip of her fingers in surprise and went under for a second before coming back up spluttering. It took her a minute to realize it was just Mina.

Although it didn't look like Mina. Though Serena knew she didn't look like herself either with the swim cap and goggles and a lot more of their bodies revealed by the tight swimsuits than their everyday were allowed, except for what Mina had orchestrated when she first got there.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. Like minds I guess." Mina did a stellar dive into the lane next to her and reappeared several feet away cutting across the water's edge. She got to the end of the lane, did a flip and made great progress back. She stopped before doing a flip again and rested on the side with Serena. "How long have you been here?"

Serena shrugged. "I think I've been here for..." She glanced at the clock. "Twenty minutes."

Mina nodded. "How many laps?"

"Ten."

Another nod. "I'll go do eight, rest for a few minutes with you and then we can race if you'd like."

Serena opened her mouth to say she didn't know about that, seeing how fast Mina could go she'd probably burn her energy off by the time she got through the first length and that was the deep end. Mina didn't wait around to find out Serena's answer and went to work cutting back and forth in her lane.

Serena didn't do anything but watch her and as she did she realized Mina got slower with each lap. Was it intentional? Was it to put her at ease? Everybody got slower but the gaps seemed somewhat larger than she expected with Mina's skill. Finally Mina's warm up came to an end and she rested on the rope next to Serena. They could very well stretch them out but there was nothing else to do. It was too deep to stand even on this end comfortably and wadding would just defeat the purpose of a break.

"Can I ask you some questions?" Mina inquired in a tone Serena didn't usually associate with the other girl. There wasn't a hint of humor in her voice.

Serena felt like Mina was about to ask her something important and probably game changing. She wondered what that could possibly be. "Sure. Ask away." She would answer whatever she could and admit she couldn't if it wasn't possible at the moment.

"Is it true that you and Andrew lived together in high school?"

"Where did you hear that?" It hadn't been the topic of conversation Serena expected.

"Andrew had his phone on speaker and Lizzy said something to the effect. He quickly changed it to the ear piece but I feel like he's trying to hide that fact."

"Well... it is true." Serena hadn't really told anyone in years about that. She wasn't ashamed she just didn't think to bring it up. Apparently Lizzy and her brother weren't of the same mind set all the time. Then again she didn't really want to come out and blurt that truth to Darien. He didn't need to know about that right now.

Mina nodded. "I thought so. Andrew wouldn't talk about it. Were you pregnant or something? Had your parents found out and kicked you out and you had to go live with the baby's father?"

"I don't have any kids." Serena reminded Mina, feeling a bit edgy with these questions now.

"I know that but it seemed like the result of a bad experience rather than not wanting them. I thought maybe you'd lost the baby."

Serena's nose twitched. "I have never been pregnant. Its just never seemed like the right time to think about having kids."

"Oh, well good. I would hate to think that you're with Andrew because you had been forced into the situation. It's still nice to think of you guys though as a high school sweetheart couple that made it."

"Mina..." Her tone slipped into a warning. "It wasn't like that with Andrew and me. I was best friends with his sister when I moved it. It isn't like we shared a room or anything. Andrew was firstly a really good friend then a sibling to my best friend. We didn't even date in high school. Our relationship started out slow, probably the slowest relationship in history of relationships."

Mina's eyes sparkled behind the goggles. "I'm sure there's been slower. You're together now. I just to hear about how people ended up with together."

"Is this about the man you're interested in that's married to someone else?" At Mina's surprise she sighed. "I'm not dumb, if its advice you'd wanted or a guidance I'm not going to advocate an affair. They're disastrous and hurts everyone involved even ones you wouldn't realize are invested in it. You should just back off this guy and make him come to you as a free man. If not its pointless. If you've already crossed over that mark, well, I'm not sure what the right move would be. All I can advise is going slowly and carefully."

"Sure you weren't a psychic in another life?" Mina teased, water dripped down her cheeks. "That was some good advice right there."

"If I had been, I think I would have some indication, don't you?" Serena hopped off the rope and tredded over to the edge of the pool. "Ready for that race?"

Mina joined her but in her own lane. "Sure thing!"

"How many lengths?" Serena rotated her shoulders to warm up a little.

"I think a lap should suffice. Do you agree?" At Serena's nod they both readied for their cue to start and when their eyes connected they took off. Mina beat Serena's first length by half a body but Serena made up for the distance in a perfectly executed flip. Mina had to work on straightening out but managed to keep up with Serena and her hand came out for the ledge first, winning the race. She pulled herself up onto it and moved her goggles onto her head. "Wow. That was close."

Serena joined her and took off her goggles altogether and smiled. "That was fun. We should do it again sometime. At least plan it next time. I'm sure you'll beat me by even greater distance."

"And when we do you need to teach me that spin kick. I've been working on it but I haven't seen anything like yours."

Giving her a nod, Serena pushed herself to her feet and found a whole hour had gone by between their chatting and swimming and she could feel it in her muscles. "I'm going to rinse off and then head over to the studio. I have a class this afternoon."

"See you sometime tomorrow." Mina agreed lowering herself back into the pool for more laps. Serena glanced behind before going into the locker room, thinking she'd see Mina in full form but the girl was still watching her. Seeing Serena turn she pulled her goggles back down, gave a wave and kicked off into a backstroke.

Serena let herself into the changing room and thought about that as she rinsed both her suit and her body with non-chlorine water. The other blond looked like she wanted to call out and say something more but had decided against it, surprised when she'd gotten caught and tried to cover up her actions.

She shook her head, not wanting to believe the worst of the girl, she knew Mina well enough to know she wasn't the one to poison her. Besides Mina wasn't from the D.C. area, she was was from NYC. But... no. Serena pushed that from her thoughts. There had to be another reason for Mina's sometimes strange behavior, it wasn't a guilt trip.

Quickly, she dried everything that had gotten wet and threw her stuff into a water-tight sealed package and threw it into her back with her dance clothes. She pulled the strap across her body and jogged out into the cold winter air and across town. At least she had things to keep her busy today and keep her mind off of what she would reveal tonight.

It was eight and she picked up her back with her overnight clothing and a change of clothes for tomorrow. Nobody would be likely to suspect she stayed the night anywhere if they happened to catch her in the hallway when she came back. She'd just leave her bag in the car until a time she could bring it in without drawing attention to it.

She had a lodge truck, finally giving up on Andrew's. She'd stay away from that for as long as she could. She was bad luck when it came to that vehicle. She pulled the door shut behind her and winced as she heard it latch wrong. Why on Earth couldn't she get that stupid thing to latch right? Andrew was already sleeping and in the morning he'd know she left since he came in after her. There was no way she was going to get back before he left. He had to be up before the sun even thought about warming their state of Delaware back on the East Coast.

Serena ran her thumb against the bridge near her eye where she felt a nerve tick. She'd have to deal with that when the time came. She and Andrew needed to talk anyway, it just wasn't the sort of intro she had planned.

Firming her shoulders she continued on her path to the truck and then out to the ranch. Darien met her at her door before she could even turn the engine off. He grabbed her pack and threaded it over his shoulder before pulling her out and into his arms.

He distracted her completely for the rest of the night. Just before she fell asleep warmly cocooned in his arms with a spitting fire and thick covers over her nude body she thought a fleeting thought of regret. She'd talk with him in the morning. He'd been too happy to slice in a word of reality and he'd pulled her along with him. He'd even taken both of their cellphones and turned them off. He'd unhooked the phone from its ringer and turned down the volume of the answering machine. Tonight was theirs.

A nightmare woke her up at dawn. Or maybe it was the light breaking in through the window but either way Serena found herself getting out of bed and getting dressed. She was working on autopilot and was intending to go back to the lodge. She wasn't even thinking too clearly about why or what she was doing, just doing it.

Darien stirred and blinked at her tiredly. "What are you doing?"

"Going back." She shuddered as the cold of the room seeped into her bones.

"Come back to bed." He curled into the pillow and his eyes started closing but when she shook her head he pushed himself up again. "Why not?"

"I- I have to go. I should have stayed in my room last night. It's tricky coming back in so early in the morning. I'm not usually even up so early if I'm not seen with Andrew." She found her socks and pulled them on, leaning against the bed to accomplish her task.

"Serena? Are you ok?" The blanket had slid down to his waist and she had to tear her eyes away from that expanse of muscular flesh.

"I-" She paused and wondered what she was doing. She spent a moment thinking through her course of actions and she shook her head. "I'm fine. I just have a really bad feeling. I need to get back to the lodge."

Darien slid out of bed and stepped into his jeans, pulling them on and then snagging his shirt as he came around to her side of the bed, he got it up and over his head and had to spend a second getting his arms through and smoothing it down. His hand slipped along her jaw and his thumb brushed against it in an intimate caress. "What do you want to do? Leave me here or have me come with you?"

Either way was fine with him and he was being really understanding about their change in venue and her strange behavior. Her heart swelled painfully in her chest and she took handfuls of his shirt into her hands. "Come." All she needed was one word for him to understand and his head dipped forward to take her lips.

"It won't take long." He went around and gathered up his stuff and she resolved that when they got back and reassured herself that everything was fine, she would tell him everything. There was nothing she was going to hold back anymore. She already knew she loved him and now she was going to trust him with everything and trust was based on risk. But she didn't feel like it was a risk at all, she was sure about him.

Although her plans went a little astray as she drove the lodge truck back and after getting into the apartment found that nothing was amiss. The building was still sleeping. She'd never heard it so quiet and if it wasn't so nice she might have found it spooky. She felt reassured, she didn't know why she'd thought something had happened. Everything was fine. "I need to tell you some things."

She turned towards the kitchen to put a pot of coffee on when she was swept up into Darien's arms. "It can wait." He told her, heading towards the room she occupied. "Right now you're going back to bed. There's no point for us to stay awake when its so early. You're dead on your feet. Whatever needs to be said can wait until it's properly morning."

Serena looped her arms around his neck allowing him to lead. She rested her head against the column of his neck and nodded. "I'm turning you into another version of me."

"Heaven forbid." He gave a slight shudder and she managed to whack the shoulder furthest from her. He laid her down into bed and stripped both of them and then pulled her into his arms, wanting to sleep skin to skin. She snuggled in, not arguing and her eyes shut almost instantly.

Serena woke up to raised voices in the hallway. She looked bleary eyed across Darien's chest at the table next to him to see what time the clock read. It was 9 in the morning. She knew they overslept this morning, but it was a slow day. That didn't give anyone the excuse though to come search for her or give her any type of grievance calling like this for being late to work. She didn't usually go in for another hour.

Pounding soon followed and Serena pulled on her silk robe and tied it. Darien was still slumbering, she gave him a soft smile. It was nice to see him slowly relaxing more and more. Last night she'd teased him but she wanted him this way, it meant that he trusted her too, that he wasn't hyped up about every little nuance that was different than what had come before. He was letting go of the outside world and allowing himself to just be with her.

More pounding pulled her out of her reminiscences and she closed the door behind her, making sure to pull it all the way closed and padded her way over to the one that had people behind it. She yanked on it but it wouldn't budge. Great, she had pulled it too tight when they'd come in. She frowned trying to recall this morning, hadn't Darien needed to pry it open or was that just her overactive imagination recalling all the other times she'd done this. It really needed to be replaced, it was the only thing that was creeping up on her nerves.

She rubbed her eyes and raised her voice to tell that to whoever was being so insistent. She almost called Darien to come help but stopped herself in time.

"I'm getting Jace to come help." Raye's voice responded back and she didn't know where to begin in the surprise. She unlocked everything so it would be ready for Jace and took up a seat at the bar. She was wearing underwear under her robe but made sure to pull it as tight as she could without being too tight and if Raye came in afterward and disliked it, well she was in her own home, Raye would have to deal. Even if Serena's home happened to be in Raye's.

Jace managed to get the door open and he rubbed his shoulder after. "Ow, how do they all manage? Oh hey Serena." He gave her a mini wave and walked off.

"Wimp!" Raye called out after him and he didn't argue as he continued his path back upstairs.

Serena just stared at Raye who was looking over her shoulder at the disappearing man. "What is the big deal?"

Raye turned to Serena and she started dancing from one foot to the other suddenly at a loss for words. Somewhere something creaked and Serena hoped it wouldn't be obvious where it had come from. Maybe she could pass it off as an old house doing its natural groaning, since it had come from some place that shouldn't have anyone in it at the moment.

She prayed that he'd be smart and not open the door, her concentration was intent on that, trying to will him to be the man with the brains that he knew he was. That he'd realize they had company and that's why she wasn't in there with him, still sleeping.

Serena almost missed what Raye said and the gravity of it almost bypassed her completely even when she repeated the words in her head, then again more slowly. She was still struggling with them when Raye started rambling about next steps.

"Wait." Serena reached out and grasped Raye's wrist, probably not very lightly but blood was rushing in her ears and she wasn't sure she was seeing more than Raye's face. "Repeat that please. Andrew is where?"

"Andrew..." Raye hated having to repeat it, Serena could see it in one unimportant detail that her brain latched onto. "Andrew's been caught be an avalanche."

"Andrew's dead?" She whispered coming to the obvious conclusion and it felt like her heart struggled to beat.


EAN: Ok so most of the original chapter/2 chapters that was supposed to have been here have been cut. Remind me and I'll post outtakes/originals, it's 60 some pages worth and some of it is similar in the beginning but then it darts wildly out of control for awhile but both swing back around to a middle ground later. It's worth reading. Really. Its all in a separate document so it's easy to post. Either at the end of this story or in a different file. I'd actually prefer at the end I think. Keep my numbers more accurate to actual stories written vs documents posted. I say this because there are some things of importance in it that I'm editing out of this version that are of some note and some tongue in cheek/ironic things said. PS I got confused for a moment in the rewrite about whether or not Serena had been to Mina's apartment before and I decided she had before I got to it in the original version I'd written and realized that it came later. So that might also influence your opinion of some things said. I have other deleted scenes saved somewhere else that I thought would work in the rewrite but I'm to lazy to re-rewrite them just for a clever sentence or two (or paragraph). It'll have to do as is, which is fine, but missing in the Mina's apartment bit which I thought was cool. That'll also be in the deleted bit if I still have it. None of it really changes this story though, since I've gone through and actually typed out a bunch of it so it flows just using that as a guideline in some parts. I had written all of that I think in a night because I got really motivated and started skimming on details and rereading it I didn't like it as much as I thought so I came back in to edit and edit and edit and decided on a different path. It's taking longer than it would have but I actually think its better this way. You can decide when it gets posted and let me know for yourself. It's kind of like an 'alternative ending' without actually being an ending.

EAN2: I did tell you that this was the last chapter before answers start coming forth and so it will be. I'm working on the next chapter as you read this sentence. :)

Oh and... EAN3: Hands up on how many of you are hating me right now?