Chapter Ten

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Darien pulled his car into the parking lot and looked over at Serena. She had fallen asleep, though he didn't blame her. They had been up awfully late last night, with going to the movies then talking about the training with Luna. He had been amazed when Luna left. She had managed the rooftops just as well as he did.

He had suggested they wait until later to come to the beach but Serena had loved his idea of watching the sun rise up over the ocean so much that she had insisted that the come. Leaning over to her seat he kissed her awake. When she opened her eyes, she smiled at him in the darkness caused by false dawn.

"I'm up," she assured him, "I'm barely up, but I'm up."

He got out of the car then moved around to her side to help her out. Together they carried their picnic basket, towels and umbrella down to a spot near enough to the water that the tide would just barely reach them.

Once everything was set up, Darien lay down and welcomed Serena into his arms.

"I don't know why I let you talk me into this," she yawned as she lay down.

Darien laughed. "You're the one who said you wanted to see the perfect sunrise. There is no place anymore perfect than this. If you fall asleep, I'll just have to wake you up."

"And how do you plan to do that?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

Pulling her closer Darien chuckled evilly, "See all the water out there?"

Serena gasped, "You wouldn't!"

"Go to sleep and you'll find out."

"Well," Serena huffed, "I just won't go to sleep then." Darien knew her and just as he expected, she was snoring gently within a matter of moments. Looking down at her, Darien almost changed his mind. She looked so peaceful, so unlike the girl that had mercilessly beaten him in training yesterday. That was a good enough reason to do this though. Another way to get back at her, besides the tickling. Also, she never had told him what she won. Carefully, so as not take wake her, he stood with her in his arms. He walked up to the ocean until the water was lapping at his feet.

He shivered; the water was a little cool. Good thing he had thought to bring an extra change of clothes for both of them. Holding his breath, he walked straight out until the water was at his waist, just barely touching Serena's back. Her feet trailed in the water. She shifted in his arms, attempting to pull away from the chill. When that didn't work, she opened her eyes. "Darien?"

Before she could say anything else, Darien let go of her legs. Serena gasped, suddenly finding herself half way submerged in cold ocean water.

"Why you... you!" she shrieked. "I'll get you for this, I promise."

"And just what are you going to do?" Darien laughed, stepping back out of her reach.

Serena's eyes gleamed with mischief. "Wouldn't you like to know," she taunted.

Suddenly Darien saw her arm sweep the water up toward him. Before he could move, he was soaked. Water dripped from his hair and the tip of his nose. Plastered his shirt to his front. Opening his eyes, he looked over at Serena. She must have sensed his intention, for just as he dived toward her, she dived backwards, staying just out of his reach.

Darien came back up to the surface, sputtering. The water was now up to his neck and he could see Serena was just a little farther out than he was. She was doggy paddling on the spot to keep her head above the surface. Smiling at her, he jack knifed toward her. Surprisingly, she was no longer in the same spot when he reached where she should have been. He looked around in confusion to see her surfacing just a short ways away.

They repeated this a few times before Darien finally decided that maybe he should keep his eye on her. This time he did manage to catch her, but they had made their way far enough out that when he grabbed her they both ended up below the surface. Reluctantly he let go of her and made his way back up. When he had his eyes clear of water, he saw her paddling only a few feet from him.

"Since when are you such a good swimmer?"

Serena laughed, "Since I passed all my swimming lessons with perfect scores." She pushed her wet bangs back out of her face. "I figured, why not learn to swim? There's nothing to trip on in the water."

Before he could respond, she dove down. There wasn't a ripple in the water to indicate which way she was going. Suddenly he felt something tighten around his ankle and he was pulled under. He came up gasping for breath. Serena was laughing at him from where she stood in waist deep water.

Shaking his head, he followed her into shore.

He collapsed on the blanket beside her, shivering slightly in the cool breeze. He watched as she pulled her hair down from its two meatballs and brushed most of the knots out with her fingers. Then she pulled it back up the same way. Instead of just leaving them as ponytails though, she braided each one so that there would be no more major knots.

"You do that way too much," he teased her efficiency.

She decided to ignore him, instead looking out across the ocean to where the sky was starting to lighten. Darien watched her as she watched the sunrise. He could see it reflected in her eyes, along with her joy. Finally deciding that he had been ignored long enough he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her down to join him.

"But Darien," she protested, "The sunrise!"

"There is another one tomorrow. Right now I'd rather kiss you."

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Serena laughed and placed her hands on the sand castle, trying to save it from collapsing. Looking over at where Darien watched her from their blanket she called, "You could get over here and help me instead of sitting there laughing at me."

"That's quite all right," he called back, "I'm perfectly fine over here, away from the water." The last time he had come down to help her, she had taken her bucket of water and dumped it over his head. When he asked for a reason she had been to busy clutching her stomach and laughing to give him one.

Serena stuck her tongue and him and gave up on that particular wall. "Oh well," she mumbled, "We can pretend that they just finished defending themselves from the nasty Darien the Destroyer."

"I heard that!"

"I intended for you to hear that!"

"Whatcha doin?"

Serena looked up at the young voice to see a young girl, perhaps around seven, with bright red hair. "Making a castle.'

"Can I help?" the little girl asked, her green eyes full of hope.

"Sure. I'm Serena. What's your name?"

She looked up from where she had immediately started filling the bucket with sand. "My name is Melissa."

"Melissa, do you want to do a favor for me?" The little girl nodded. "See that man over there," she pointed at Darien, who was lying with his eyes closed. "His name is Darien and he's a friend of mine. Why don't you take that bucket of dirt you have there and go dump it on him."

Melissa looked like she really liked that idea but there was a bit of worry in her eyes.

"Don't worry," Serena assured. "He won't be mad at you. More than likely he'll come after me."

At this, Melissa's eyes widened even further.

"I can run real fast and he would never hurt me. I just want to get him up."

"All right," Melissa agreed. Then she picked up the half-full bucket and with exaggerated attempts at being quiet that only a child could master, she crept up to the blanket. When she stood over Darien she said, "Mister, Serena says this is for you." Then she proceeded to dump the sand on him.

Serena burst out laughing when Melissa ran back to her, a wide smile on her small face. "That was perfect," Serena managed. Then she saw Darien getting up to walk over to them. "Don't worry about anything Melissa. We'll just continue to work on the castle."

She knew when Darien stopped behind her and suddenly she felt small pebbles of sand and dirt hit her back through her shirt. Turning, she saw that he was shaking his head and all the dirt was flying out of it. "Hey!" she cried, trying to sound innocent and mad at the same time, "What was that for?"

In response, he grabbed a handful of dirt from the wall that had collapsed and slowly poured it over her head. Melissa broke out in high pitched, childish peels of laughter. Serena couldn't help but join her, but in the process, she turned on Darien.

He looked down at her and said, "At least I had the courage to do it myself."

"Courage?" Serena managed through her laughter. "And just who happened to beat who yesterday?"

"That didn't take courage," Darien insisted, "But it you think you can do it again. By all means." He stepped back from her and spread his arms, giving her chance at first shot.

"Land or water?" she asked.

"Both."

"You're on."

Then she did the exact same thing she had done to Lita. Bracing herself on her hands, she swung her leg out. She just barely hooked her foot behind his leg but she did manage to bring him to his knees. "Your turn," she laughed, and started to run towards the water. Her only chance at winning this contest was if she could just make it.

She didn't have a chance. Darien's legs were longer than hers were and he caught her before she even reached the edge. Grabbing her, he picked her up by the waist and swung her over his shoulder. "You want to go in the water?" he asked her. She didn't much like the way he said that, so she shook her head no. "That isn't what it looked like to me." Then he started toward the ocean.

Unfortunately, with the way he held her, her head would be one of the first things under water. Still, on the way there she did have a nice view of his butt. He wasn't wearing a shirt and at the sight of the smooth skin at his sides, she got an idea. Freeing one hand from his grip, she started to run her nails up and down his side. At first, nothing happened but then she saw his muscles contract away from her touch. 'Gotcha,' she thought triumphantly. It wasn't long before he was trying hard to hold his laughter in. Serena knew she had him then and she moved her tickling fingers around to his bare stomach. Suddenly he flipped her off his shoulder and into the now slightly warm water.

"Two to one. Looks like I'm winning!" she called as she swam away. When the laughter died, she knew he was coming after her.

That night Serena sat on the floor, her damp hair spread around her. She had just showered, washed her hair twice and she was still pulling bits of sand out of it. "Never again Darien. Never again. I swear, I brought home half the beach in my hair."

"You started it," he replied from the kitchen, where he was making popcorn.

"Like even! You did when you dumped me in the water when I fell asleep."

"At least you had warning."

"So did you. I never break a promise."

"You win," Darien conceded as he sank down into the couch behind her. "What movie did you pick?"

"That's five to three, in my favor," Serena sing-songed. Glancing down at the television guide in front of her she said, "There is 'Grease', 'Aliens 3', and 'Face Off' to choose from. Which do you want?"

"'Face Off,'" Darien suggested. He held the bowl down for her, "Want some?"

"Thanks," she grabbed a hand full and dumped it on the floor in front of her.

"Hey! I'd like it if you'd keep the carpet semi clean."

Serena smiled over her shoulder at him, "You know me. There won't be a crumb left."