Title: Winter Snow
Author: Crystal Saturn
Rated: PG
Chapter: 17- One Last Kiss

Last time on "Winter Snow"...

"Hello everyone!" Serena greeted warmly.

"Momma Rena!" Sophy blurted out as she ran and hugged Serena.

"Hello Baby Bear!" Serena hugged back. They greeted each other affectionately. Darien turned around and looked at Serena accusingly.

"You, have a child?" He questioned, disbelievingly. His heart was beating loudly in his ears at the thought of his girlfriend having a child at such a young age. His mind swirled with confusion. How could he not know?


"What are you talking about, Darien?" Serena was confused. She had no idea what her boyfriend was talking about. Even Crystal looked at Darien strangely.

"Who's the father? Why did you keep such a big secret from me? How could you fall pregnant at such a young age?" Deep blue flames of anger and jealousy danced around in Darien's eyes.

"Darien, what are you talking about?!" Serena pleaded. Tears were forming in her eyes even though she had no idea what he was talking about.

"Umm... Sophy sweetie, do you want to wait in the room for a sec?" Crystal asked. Sophy nodded obediently and walked into Crystal's room and closed the door behind her.

"What are you talking about Dare?" Crystal asked. Darien turned to look at Serena.

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about. It's as plain as day!" Darien pointed to Crystal's room. Just then the doorbell rang. The three of them looked at the door in silence. Crystal unlocked the door and opened it.

"Hi Crystal! Hello Serena! I'm back early to take Sophy home with me." The woman smiled warmly.

"Ok, sure... I'll go get her." Serena returned the smile and cautiously walked past Darien to get the little blonde girl.

*What's going on Dare?* Crystal questioned.
*Well why don't you tell me? How long have you known about Sophy?* Darien shot back

*Since I've been here. Why? What has she got to do with this?* Crystal asked. Darien didn't reply.

"Here she is!" Serena let go of the little girl's hand.

"Byyyyyyyee!" Sophy smiled warmly.

"By Sophy!" Serena and Crystal replied in unison.

"See you later!" Darien added with a fake smile.

"Bye bye Doctor Darien!" Sophie giggled before she left with the older lady.

"Who was she?" Darien asked.

"Sophy's mother." Crystal raised an eyebrow, as if stating the obvious.

"Wait, what?!" Darien asked, confused.

"But I thought that-" He began

"No! You're wrong big brother... quite wrong!" Crystal interrupted. Serena looked at the two. Not quite catching on. "Sere, Darien here thought that Sophy was your baby." Crystal sighed. Darien turned around and stepped onto the balcony. He sighed as he looked down at the city below him. Visions of his nightmare flashed in his mind, taunting him and teasing him. Torturing him and haunting him. They just wouldn't leave him alone! They were like a painful reminder that he could never be near her again.

"Ohh Darien..." Serena whispered as she stood in the doorway of the balcony. Darien didn't turn around. He was too deep in thought. Serena walked up behind Darien and hugged him tightly. Darien didn't move. Serena walked up in front of Darien and looked him in the eye. "Darien... I'm sorry." She whispered as she hugged his chest. Darien wanted to hold her. To hug her back but he just couldn't. They wouldn't let her.

*Damnit! Why?* Darien thought to himself as he looked down at the angel hugging him. He placed an arm around her and another vision flashed before him. He winced and held her shoulders. She looked up at him. "Serena, I think you should go." Darien whispered stiffly. He turned to face the lights of the night time skyline of Tokyo. He just couldn't look at her anymore. "Your parents are probably worried about you" Darien added. Serena looked at him strangely. She nodded sadly and turned around to leave. She walked out the door, but not before expressing her gratitude and saying goodbye to Crystal. She walked onto the street and took one last look up at the balcony where Darien was staring at the horizon. She let out a disheartened sighed and began to make her way home. Darien looked down at the young blonde girl slowly walk home. He frowned and turned around to run after her. It was dark and Darien knew that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to his angel.

"Serena wait." Darien called after her. She turned around and smiled at him.

"What are you doing?" She asked as he caught up.

"I'm walking you home. Just to make sure nothing bad happens to you." Darien avoided her gaze.

"You're so sweet." Serena smiled, attempting to take hold of his hand, but he quickly shoved both his hands in his pockets. They walked in silence with about a foot separating them.

"Darien..." Serena meekly began.

"Yes?" He replied, looking at the path ahead of him.

"Is there something wrong?" Serena asked cautiously. Darien looked at her for a moment.

"No, of course not..." he averted his gaze back to the path in front of him "What makes you say that?"

"Oh, it's just, you seem a little distant. I mean, if it's about Sophy-" Serena began

"No it's not about Sophy. It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself for anything. You didn't do anything." Darien interrupted.

"Umm... ok." Serena said quietly. They began to walk in silence again. Serena couldn't stand the awkwardness between them. She spoke up once again, shattering the uncomfortable silence.

"Darien?"

"Yes?" Darien continued to avoid eye contact, staring at the horizon ahead of him.

"If anything happened, you would tell me about it, right?" Serena asked cautiously. She looked at Darien. He turned to face her with an unreadable expression before looking back in front of him.

"You're home." He replied simply. Serena turned around to see that she was indeed home.

"Oh, alright. Thank you for walking me home Darien... good night." Serena smiled wearily. She knew that she wouldn't get a good night kiss tonight so she turned around and began to walk up to the door.

*What am I doing? This is most likely my last time I'll ever be with her...* Darien thought to himself as he gently took hold of Serena's wrist and pulled her backwards, towards him.

"Dare?" Serena was surprised as Darien looked deeply within her eyes. He leaned forward and Serena instinctively closed her eyes, tilting closer to him.

*This is our last kiss Serena... I'm sorry.* Darien thought to himself as the gap between the couple closed. The kiss began gentle, soft and sweet but soon grew with passion. Darien wanted to make it the best that she would ever have since it would be the last that he would ever give her. Serena moaned softly as she caressed the back of Darien's neck with her hands. She leaned against him and massaged her hands through his thick jet-black hair. Neither of them wanted the kiss to end, holding each other tightly. They both enjoyed the joy of electric passion running through their bodies coming from a simple yet intensely powerful kiss. The energy coming from the kiss could've been enough to keep Darien awake thinking about it for a whole week. He held her fragile body in his arms and realized just how small she was. He channeled his love for her through the kiss and Serena willingly accepted it and in return, kissed him back with equal passion and love. They unwillingly pulled away as they ran out of breath. Serena looked up at Darien. She gave him a puzzled look.

"What was that for?" Serena asked, cheeks flustered and stained pink.

"Oh... Well... I...ah..." Darien began to blush. He had totally forgotten about the dreams. The intensity of the kiss had taken him by surprise. He had totally forgotten about everything and was still quite dazed. Serena laughed softly. "I umm... just wanted to tell you that I-" Flashbacks of his nightmare swirled in Darien's mind. *Damn it! No! I will tell her this! It's the least I can do!* Darien argued with whatever it was controlling his mind.

"Darien?" Serena waved a hand in front of his face.

"I just wanted to tell you that I love you." Darien stated, a little too quickly for his liking.

"I know that already." Serena smiled. "I love you too."

"Good night." Darien whispered. "Sweet dreams." He winced at the stupidity of his own sentence, though he did indeed want her to have rest... something he was not having much luck with lately.

"Good night." Serena smiled and gave Darien a little kiss on the cheek before turning around and walking to the front door. Darien watched intently as Serena entered the safety of her house. He sighed and stressfully ruffled his hair.

"I can't stand it!" He growled softly, making sure that no one heard him- especially not Serena. He turned around and decided to run back home to help relieve his anger.

He reached the apartments in a record time and decided to take the stairs. By the time he reached his apartment he was exhausted and was considerably calmer.

"What's up with you? Why are you so angry?" Crystal asked as Darien closed the apartment door behind him. She had sensed his anger.

"No reason. Just… I... don't know." Darien puffed.

"Why are you gasping for air? What happened?" Crystal poured Darien a glass of water, which he downed in seconds.

"I went for a little run." Darien slowly began to regain his breath.

"Darien is there something you're not telling me?" Crystal asked. Darien looked at his little sister, surprised. "Darien, you know that you can tell me anything. I'm your sister and I'll find out sooner or later." Crystal added.

"Nothing's wrong." Darien lied. "I'm just a little tired. That's all. Good night." Darien yawned as he walked down the hallway to his room.

"Sweet dreams." Crystal replied. With that Darien froze in mid step. *Could it be? Does she know about my dreams?* Darien asked himself. He turned around to see Crystal reading a book while listening to her mp3 player. *Nah...* He shook off the thought and closed the bedroom door behind him.

*What dreams?* Crystal thought to herself. She had tapped into Darien's thoughts to see if there was more to the story than him just being tired, and it seemed like there was. She wasn't about to push him though. She would probably get into a lot of trouble if he found out that she had been spying on his thoughts again. And besides, it probably wasn't anything important anyway. Crystal was going to let Darien tell her in due time, when he was ready. Even still, Crystal wondered if she could tap into Darien's dreams. Maybe she could find out what was going on. *Then again, if the dreams have anything to do with Serena... I probably don't want to know what's going on!* Crystal smirked. She closed her book and placed her mp3 player on the table. It wasn't even on in the first place. She got up and retired to her bedroom.

That night, Crystal woke up with beads of sweat clinging to her forehead. She breathed heavily, gasping for air as if she was not getting enough oxygen.

"What in the world?!" She whispered, huffing to the dark room around her. She had had a dream where fragments of visions were flashing past. They were quite blurry but something in the pit of her stomach told her that they were not good visions. Something bad was either happening or going to happen. Something told her that the future depended on these visions, these blurs of white, black and red. Oh yes, the vivid splashes of red. Crystal tried to remember what had happened in her dream.

Light spilled here and there like a splatter painting. Laughter could be heard amongst the blurs of white, black and small bubbles of color. Then, suddenly, almost as quickly as it would take to turn off a light, cries of pain and anguish echoed in Crystal's mind, bringing tears to her eyes. She didn't know what was going on but the pain in the voices was evident. She wanted to stop whatever was happening to these people, make the pain subside but there was nothing she could do. They were just blurs, fragments of a dream. Nothing more, but deep inside, Crystal knew that there was more to this dream than what seemed logical. There was something about the blurry vision and the sudden turn of events. Something was very wrong. Crystal wasn't used to getting dreams of such intensity unless it was urgent. She knew that this dream was very important to someone very close to her. In some sense it was like a premonition of the future. The future happiness, and possibly even the life of someone she knew, was in jeopardy. But whose future pain was she predicting?


Crystal Saturn