This is my third re-write of this chapter. I hope it's the last. I just want to thank everyone who have either emailed or left a review for this story. It means a lot to me and they're usually what keep me going!
************************************************************************
Wounded Souls
Chapter 14-Just Friends
By: ~crystal~rose~{@
July 22, 2002
******************************
Serena stepped out of her washroom, freshly showered and newly dressed, to a pounding on her door. 'Who could that be? It's only 8:15 in the morning.' Suddenly, she remembered all the events that happened the day before and was filled with dread. Seeing her therapist in the family room, which led to her near-breakdown; the haze that surrounded her vision and clouded her senses as she described her childhood to the Shields with no regard to what they would think of her afterward; the almost physical fight that took place between Darien and herself; all came rushing back into her mind with a vengeance, making her sit up in bed abruptly. The pounding on the door continued and she looked at it with slight trepidation. What if it was Mrs. Shields coming in to admonish her for her behaviour the day before?
"Serena! Are you awake? Can you open the door?" Darien called from behind the door. Serena sighed with relief, for she remembered their newly established 'friendship,' and sprung into action.
"Coming!" she called. She raced to the door and flung it open. Outside, Darien was sharply dressed in a charcoal grey business suit and cobalt blue shirt-which brought out his eyes-and matching tie. Although Serena thought that she looked rather nice in her favourite pair of dark denim flares and a black, sheer baby doll top with a red camisole underneath, she couldn't help but feel shabby in comparison to Darien in his designer suit.
"Serena, can you let me in please? This stuff is really heavy," Darien said, indicating the huge tray laden with food that he held in his hands. Puzzled, Serena held the door wider and stepped aside to let him in.
"What's all this about?" she asked as he set the tray down on the night table and sat down in the chair beside her bed, silently telling her with a nudge of his head to do the same. She sat on the mattress with both feet on the floor facing him. "Darien?"
"I just thought that it would be nice to have breakfast together now that we're friends again." He didn't mention that he was concerned about the amount of weight she'd lost and how alarmingly light she was when he picked her up last night and rocked her back to sleep when her nightmare threatened to wake her up. "It's been a while since we last had breakfast together, or even saw each other in the mornings."
Serena offered him a shy smile as she picked up a piece of toast at Darien's urging. "Oh that. Well, it's just that I wanted to avoid you, especially since..." The toast she had conveniently stuffed in her mouth muffled her last word, but he could distinctly hear the word 'Christmas.' Darien winced at that memory and looked at her apologetically.
"I'm really sorry about that day, Sere. I don't know what got into me, but I guess I was just feeling so frustrated at out situation that I felt like I had to lash out at something. Then when I saw you and Melvin..."
"You got jealous," she finished for him, nonchalantly digging into her omelet. Darien nodded sheepishly.
"Well yeah, you could say that. I know that's no excuse but I'm really sorry for the way I've been acting. Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?"
"As long as you can forgive me for not telling you about our daughter. I shouldn't have run away like that. We've both made horrendous mistakes but I think it's best if we try to move past them and work on getting to know each other again." She smiled when Darien nodded his head in agreement.
"I'm glad that we're getting to know each other again. It's been so long since we've last talked about anything that didn't have any hostility in it."
"You're right. We need to get back to way things used to be before we decide if we want to take it a step further." Serena lifted Darien's plate and slid the tray out from underneath it. She then set his plate down on the night table and the tray on the bed, in order for them to have more room to eat. She eagerly dug into what looked to be a ham and cheese omelette in front of her. "I've missed Lita's omelettes."
Darien smiled proudly and puffed out his chest, reminding Serena of Walter whenever he did something that pleased himself immensely. "She didn't make it. I made this all by myself. You should've seen her face when she walked into the kitchen and saw me at the stove. She looked like she was gonna cry."
"Ah..." When Darien wasn't looking, she discreetly spit out the eggshell she discovered lodged within her ham and cheese omelet. She quickly hid it in her napkin and looked up at him innocently. "It's wonderful. Almost couldn't tell it wasn't Lita's handiwork."
Darien's grin became wider as he dug into his eggs himself. He chewed thoughtfully, ignoring the distinct crunch he heard as he bit into an eggshell, and swallowed. 'I hope there weren't any shells in hers.'
"Oh you know, it's not so hard. If I can handle multi-million dollar accounts everyday, I sure as hell can make an omelet," he replied airily. Serena smiled in reply. "So what are your plans for today?"
"I was thinking of just kicking back here for a while. No doubt your mother has a few choice words to say to me about my little performance yesterday." Darien could tell from the way that she bit the corner of her lip and stared blankly at the door, almost as if she was daring Candace herself to walk into her room and chew her out, that she was nervous. And rightly so. Darien had no idea how his mother would react to everything that happened yesterday-from Serena's past being dredged up to Melvin's refusal to hand Isabella over to anyone unless Serena herself okayed it.
From the way Candace had been acting towards Serena, Darien couldn't tell whether she would feel as remorseful as he did, or even more vengeful in light of the sordid details about her ex-boyfriends and numerous one night stands, fueling Candace's accusations. For Serena's sake, Darien fervently hoped that his mother had reconsidered her stand on Serena and follow his example by apologizing profusely.
Darien stroked the back of her hand gently. "Don't worry Sere," he comforted, "I'm sure that mom feels horrible about how we treated you. I know I do."
Serena lifted her head to look at him pleadingly. "But you're not just feeling sorry for me, are you?" Darien felt a tug on his heart when he saw her eyes welling up with tears.
"No, Sere. I've felt this way for a long time now." He jumped out of his chair and sat down beside her on the bed, gently putting an arm around her shoulders. "I'm so sorry that I waited this long to tell you." Serena wiped away the last of her tears and sighed.
"I just don't want anyone feeling sorry for me. When I look into a person's eyes, I want to see him looking back at me with interest, not pity. I want your mother to apologize to me genuinely, not because she felt guilty about me being molested." She felt Darien flinch against her. "It's ok to talk about it, you know. I was molested. It wasn't my fault and I didn't ask for it. I see that now, but only after so many years of therapy and having a wonderful support system in my family and friends. I don't want you to feel sorry for me because there is nothing to feel sorry about. I survived."
"Yes you did." If Darien didn't admire her much before, he certainly did now. "But don't think for a moment that I pity you. Yes, I feel sorry that you had to go through such a terrible ordeal but if you see anything in my eyes, just know that it's awe. I'm in awe of you-among other things-and I can't help but be amazed that you were able to survive those years to become the wonderful woman you are today. Whenever I look at you I think, 'I hope Isabella grows up to be a woman just like her mother-a woman who doesn't let life's downs sour her on life itself.' Serena, there are no words to describe how happy I am that you are Isabella's mother." Serena blushed and mumbled a shy thank-you. Darien gave her shoulder one last squeeze and went back to his chair.
They continued eating their breakfast together in a quiet peace, which was soon broken by Isabella's babbling over the monitor. They turned to each other and smiled. "Looks like our little princess is finally awake," Serena said. "Doesn't she sound like she's humming or something?"
"What do you mean? She can't even talk yet," Darien said. Isabella gurgled in reply and he chuckled.
"Can't you hear it? You may not think she's really humming but her 'words' are flowing together as if she were. Just listen," she urged. Darien grabbed the baby monitor and held it closer to his ear. Serena watched as a delighted smile worked its way across Darien's face. He stared at the baby monitor as if he was staring at Isabella directly.
"It sounds like she's humming her own little song. I can't believe this!" Darien's eyes twinkled and he held the monitor to Serena as if he was the one who had discovered it. "My baby's gonna be star."
Serena chuckled at the proud father's antics. "Let's not go too far just yet. I admit there's a certain lyrical quality to her babbling but as for talent-that remains to be seen, especially since she's part Mathis. The Mathises aren't exactly known for their singing abilities," she joked. "In fact, it seems that I'm the only one with a halfway decent voice in the family, and that's only because the acoustics in the washroom are great. My voice bounces off the tiles while the water muffles out the actual sound. Sammy claims that I sing like a cat being skinned alive, although his voice doesn't sound any better. He used to have a passable voice too, until puberty decided to hit during a church choir practice. He's never been the same since."
Darien laughed at her long-winded story. This was the Serena he had fallen in love with more than a year ago. It felt good to hear one of her stories again and to hear it told with such gusto. "Well I must confess that I'm not any better. I learned my lesson after Drew and the guys dragged me to a karaoke bar and forced me to sing 'The Macarena.' I stunk so badly that Chad led the chorus of boos from the audience." He smiled fondly at Serena who was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe.
"What made you decide to sing that song?" she asked when she finally calmed down. Darien shrugged sheepishly and blushed wildly.
"I told them it would be funny if we all went up there and did the actions. I meant it as a joke but Chad had already requested the song before I could say anything. They assured me that they would be up there with me but as soon as the song started, those bastards snuck offstage and back to our table. I could hardly keep up with the song cuz it was in Spanish and it was going so fast. When I turned around, going through the stupid dance like the idiot I am, I noticed I was the only one left up there. Then I heard Chad start booing and it went straight to hell after that."
Serena laughed and soon Darien joined her when he heard Isabella start laughing for no apparent reason, as she was alone in her nursery. "C'mon, let's go see what she's laughing about," Serena said, jumping up and tugging on Darien's hand. Darien allowed Serena to pull him towards the nursery.
When they entered the nursery, they saw Isabella sitting up in her crib, clapping her hands and staring out the window. She was so entranced with whatever she was looking at that she didn't even notice her parents had not only come to visit her, but that they were holding hands. Isabella laughed again and clapped her hands excitedly. Darien and Serena exchanged looks of puzzlement and amusement.
"What're you looking at, sweet pea?" Serena asked, lifting Isabella up from the crib and bringing her to the window. Isabella ignored the question-not that she understood what the giant with yellow string on her head said anyway-and made grasping motions towards the window. Darien followed behind them and saw that a robin had built its nest on Isabella's windowsill and was now in the process of regurgitating worm bits into the tiny beaks of four baby birds. Serena and Darien turned away, slightly disgusted by the sight especially after having just eaten eggs a few moments ago, but Isabella just giggled.
"Funny what passes for entertainment these days, huh?" Darien asked Serena wryly as she took Isabella over to the changing table to check on the status of Isabella's diaper.
"Looks like you had a bit of what those birds had, sweetie," Serena said, wrinkling her nose. To their amusement, Isabella mimicked her mother by scrunching up her face. "Believe me honey, it's not so great at this end either."
Finally, when Isabella was changed into a fresh diaper and clean clothes, with her hair pulled back into two pigtails, Darien regretfully looked at his watch and whistled. "I'd better go or I'll be late. I'll see you later, princess," he said, kissing his daughter on the cheek. He turned to Serena and wondered what he should do. Finally, he decided on a friendly hug. Unfortunately, Serena had just decided on a friendly kiss on the cheek.
Seeing Serena's intentions, Darien changed his trajectory and moved to give _her_ a kiss when Serena awkwardly stretched out her arms for a belated hug. They both started laughing at their actions. "What do _you_ want to do?" Darien asked. Serena titled her head to the side, pretending to give this decision some serious contemplation.
"How bout both?" she suggested.
Darien smiled warmly. "_That_ I can do." Serena wrapped her arms around Darien's waist and gave him a huge hug. Then, as she was pulling away, Darien tilted her chin up and gave her a light peck on the forehead, letting his lips just barely touch her skin before pulling away. She blushed furiously and grinned. "I'll see you later, Serena."
Serena nodded and waved to Darien as he practically skipped out the door. She turned to Isabella, who was sitting up on the changing table, watching what was taking place between her parents curiously. "You know what, sweetie? Your father can be quite a charmer."
Isabella nodded absently and went back to watching the birds. To her dismay, the giant picked her up and took her away from her little friends. So she did the only thing a baby could do: she opened her mouth and let loose the loudest cry she could manage.
"It's ok honey. We'll see them again soon but first, I have to feed _my_ baby bird."
Once they got to the kitchen, Serena plopped Isabella down into the high chair and went to the cupboard to search for the baby food. She saw Lita cleaning up after cooking breakfast, looking a bit nervous, but she ignored her as usual and focused on the task of feeding her daughter. She grabbed two little jars and brought them back to Isabella for inspection.
"I have mashed carrots and strained peas. Of these two, which one sounds less disgusting and therefore somewhat edible?" Isabella scrunched her nose up. "I know they're not the best sounding meals in the world, but they're a whole lot better than the worm those little birdies had for breakfast. Tell you what, why don't we try the mashed carrots now and then we'll try the peas for lunch?"
Serena opened the jar and poured some out onto Isabella's serving dish. "Here comes the birdie," she sang, trying to coax the baby to open her mouth. Isabella, being a veteran in this little game they played every morning, opened her mouth obediently to let the spoon in, before promptly spitting out its contents as soon as it touched her tongue. She smiled a toothless smile at her mother who could only smile back lovingly. "C'mon sweetie. Eat this for mommy. That's a good girl."
This went on for another fifteen minutes until Isabella just wouldn't swallow any more food. Happy that her baby had eaten as much as possible, Serena began the process of cleaning up first Isabella, then everything else that was spattered with orange blobs of mashed-up carrots, namely the high chair and the floor. Just as she was about to wash the little plastic dish and matching spoon, she saw Lita's reflection hovering behind her in the window. Startled, she dropped the dish in the sink and gasped.
"Lita! You scared me to death!"
Lita's face turned pink and she looked down on the floor, avoiding Serena's eyes. "I'm sorry Serena," she mumbled.
Serena shrugged and turned on the faucet. "That's ok. I shouldn't have been so jumpy."
"Er, that's not what I meant. I mean that I'm sorry for the way I've been treating you."
Serena sighed and turned off the faucet. She wiped her hands on a dishtowel and faced Lita, who was still looking at the floor with keen interest and wrenching her hands. "You have nothing to feel sorry for. You and the others were just doing what you thought was right. I understand. I thought that taking Isabella away from her father was the right thing to do too."
Lita lifted her head and gazed at Isabella, who was happily playing with the little blonde plush doll that she constantly had by her side. One time, Serena forgot 'Loopy'-so named for the two braided loops of blonde hair on either side of her head-at Amy's and had to go back there when Isabella wouldn't stop crying a few hours later at bed time. When asked about the origin of the doll, Serena said that Loopy had once belonged to her as a child and had been a present from her mother on her third birthday.
"It's not okay, Serena. We treated you like crap just because we were afraid to stand up to Mrs. Shields like Melvin and Alan. Then, when we heard that you were, you know, molested..."
Serena raised her eyebrow and continued to wash the dishes, including the ones that were already in the sink before she got there. "So that's it. You heard what kind of skeletons are living in my closet and you felt guilty. Don't worry about it; I'm used to it."
"No, you've got it all wrong, Serena! I'm really sorry about how I've been giving you the cold shoulder lately. I'm not apologizing just because we found out about your past, I'm apologizing because I truly feel sorry for alienating you just when you needed to have as much support as you could get. Can you ever forgive me, Serena?" she asked.
"Of course I can but it won't be easy to forget everything that's happened. But I know that one day, we'll be able to go back to the friends we used to be," Serena replied. Lita nodded her head and smiled.
"Thanks Serena. I'd like that very much." Lita happened to catch the time on Serena's watch. "Well if you'll excuse me, I have to get to the market before all the fresh fruit is gone. It's strawberry day, you know." With that, Lita took leave and walked out of the kitchen, glad to have made her peace with Serena. She hadn't been able to sleep a wink all night, hounded by the thoughts that plagued her mind about Serena. She was finally able to fall asleep after having resolved to herself that she would apologize to Serena the next day.
When Serena had washed the last dish, she dried her hands on the towel and lifted Isabella up from her high chair, causing her to drop Loopy on the floor. Isabella whimpered and leaned over dangerously in Serena's arms in an effort to pick up the fallen doll. Serena jerked her arms up when she felt Isabella slipping from her grasp.
"Careful baby. Let mommy pick Loopy up for you." She bent down with her knees, her heart still pounding from her little scare, and scooped Loopy up in her hand. Isabella cooed joyfully at being reunited with Loopy and gave Serena a kiss, albeit a wet one.
Serena wiped her spit-covered cheek on her shoulder and kissed Isabella back on her silky cheek. "I'm glad that in a family that can afford to give you heirloom jewellery, hi-tech toys that most likely use uranium instead of the standard AA battery, and practically everything under the sun, you can still appreciate a simple plush doll that's twenty-five years old." She got a gurgle in reply.
Serena carried Isabella to her room and set her down in the little playpen she had set up in the corner before setting to the task of cleaning her already immaculate room. She made the bed and dusted the furniture, contemplating whether to vacuum the floor or not before remembering that she had already done so yesterday. She glanced at the digital clock beside her bed and noted that she had only been cleaning for fifteen minutes.
She stood in the middle of the room, hands on her hips, and set her sights on the little girl in the playpen who was staring at her intently. "Well honey, it seems that mommy's done cleaning her room and it's not even ten o'clock yet. Now what do we do?"
As if in answer to her rhetorical question, there was a soft knocking at the door. 'Wow,' Serena thought. Getting an idea, she turned her face to the ceiling and clasped her hands in front of her. "I want a million dollars." She waited for a second and was almost disappointed when the knock was heard again, only this time louder. Serena raised her eyebrows and gaped at Isabella, who laughed and smacked her face with her hands.
She opened the door and struggled to keep the crestfallen look off her face at the sight of Candace on the other side. 'Well she does have a million dollars. Hell, she's got several million dollars. Who says God doesn't have a sense of humour?'
"Serena, may I come in?" Candace asked after standing in the hallway for a moment while Serena just stared at her blankly.
Serena felt her stomach twisting into knots and she was sure that the blood drained away from her face. She nodded her head lightly and backed away from the door to let Candace pass. 'After all, this _is_ her house.'
Candace could sense the hesitancy in Serena's actions and was reminded of all that went on the day before. She walked into the room that she was sure had been Serena's refuge when things had gotten too hard for her living in her home.
Up to now, the only time she had been in Serena's room was the day before she arrived with Isabella, supervising the hasty redecoration of the room. Before she had learned of Serena's pregnancy, this room had been one of her more luxurious guest rooms. Relying on her own judgment to redecorate this room and the room adjoining it, she undertook the supervision of the renovation. The wall colour remained the same, but gone were the damask curtains, the numerous silk throw pillows piled high on the bed and the beautiful O'Keefe watercolours hanging on the walls. At the time of the renovation, she had convinced herself that a busy mother like Serena would have no need for such luxuries and would much prefer to be in surroundings that would be quite similar, she imagined, to her own home in Toronto. So she had everything removed and put in a storage closet somewhere in the mansion to be left with a blank slate of a room she was sure Serena would've preferred.
Now, as she stood in the room, she realized that she had done a great disservice to Serena by making her feel out of place in such a sparse room in comparison to the other tastefully decorated rooms in the mansion. Somehow though, the room had a different air to it, almost as if it had been infused with a feeling of quiet intimacy that had been lacking when she was through gutting it to its bare walls. There were pictures in simple black frames of people she identified as Ilene and Sammy, a woman who resembled Serena and her mother so closely that she assumed they were related, Amy and her husband Zach, a woman with long black hair that she didn't recognize holding up a baby and standing beside a blond man whom she surmised to be her husband. And of course, there were pictures of Isabella strewn throughout the room in various stages of her development. There were touches of Serena all over the once bare room that she wondered if she really had done a disservice after all.
"Mrs. Shields?" Candace snapped to attention upon hearing Serena's apprehensive voice, and realized that she had been standing still for quite a while now.
"Oh yes. Sorry about that. May I sit down?" Serena gestured to the armchair that Darien had rocked her to sleep in and pulled another chair closer to it in order to sit down herself. Off in the corner, Isabella watched curiously from her playpen, almost as if knowing that something important was about to transpire.
"How may I help you, Mrs. Shields?" Serena asked, trying to put forth more authority into her voice and failing miserably.
"I just wanted to talk about what happened last night." Candace saw Serena's lips press together in a tight line and her back stiffen. "I just came here to apologize to you and I hope that we can regain the friendship we lost."
Serena licked her lips before speaking. "No offense Mrs. Shields, but if this sudden apology is due to what you heard about my past, then I have no interest in hearing it. I will not be pitied."
Candace shook her head firmly. "No, no! That's not what I meant. Yes, it has something to do with that, but it's not what you think. I'm sorry that I had to make your life harder by alienating you in this house and practically forcing the staff to do so as well."
Candace paused for a moment, trying to read Serena's expression. She was sitting back in her chair with her arms folded in a defensive manner across her chest. Her face was blank, making it impossible for Candace to determine what exactly was going through her mind. "I want to apologize for my behaviour and tell you that I've felt terrible about it for so long but was too proud to do something about it. It was easier to blame you than to find fault with my own son. I'm sure that as a mother yourself, you think your child is perfect in every way. Well, that's how I felt about Darien. I wanted to believe your selfishness prompted you to take Isabella away from us. I didn't want to believe that my son had anything to do with this predicament you were in and so I chose to ignore his part in it. I truly am sorry."
Serena studied Candace's bowed head and slumped shoulders thoughtfully before determining that her words were genuine. "Thank you for the apology, Mrs. Shields. I appreciate it, but like I told Darien and Lita, it will take time for me to forget what I've gone through in your home and to rebuild our old relationships again. I'm just not ready to dismiss all the heartache I've been through just because you've had a sudden change of heart. I'm sorry too, for taking Isabella from you all but I did what I thought was best for my daughter and for myself. It hurt very much to have this entire house turned against me with the exception of three people and it hurt even more to see you spearheading the campaign. I thought of you as a good friend, one whom I could turn to for help or advice now that my mother is gone and my aunt is so far away from me. I didn't think you were the kind of person who made judgments before getting all the facts."
Candace smiled wanly. "Well, to be fair, you didn't exactly divulge all those facts beforehand," she said a little too sweetly.
Serena ground her teeth in an effort to keep the flip remark that was dancing on her tongue from escaping and making her situation worse. "I'm sorry about that, Mrs. Shields," she said with as much syrup in her voice as she could muster, "but I was more concerned with self-preservation than I was with your lack of information."
The sparks that flew between the two women were to make one's hair stand on end. Finally, Serena sighed tiredly and broke off the staring contest. "Look Mrs. Shields. We've all made mistakes when it came to Isabella and I'll be the first to admit that I'm one of them. All this blame that we're throwing at each other is getting us nowhere and is just going to make it harder for Isabella when she grows older. Can't we just call a truce or something?"
Candace nodded her head and gave her a tiny-albeit tight-smile. "Yes, a truce is a great idea." She offered her hand to Serena who shook it lightly. "For starters, why don't you call me Candace again?"
"Uh sure...Candace." Serena had a feeling that this 'truce' would be harder than she thought. She still harboured feelings of resentment towards Candace and actually wasn't sure if she really wanted to patch things up with the woman who made her life miserable for the past few months. Still, a truce would be beneficial for her daughter in the long run. And if she was willing to become friends with Darien, who played a big part in her misery, why _not_ form a truce with his mother?
"It's going to take some time, isn't it Candace?" she asked softly.
Candace recognized this fact and agreed silently. Then, she stood up and prepared to leave the room, but first, stopped by the playpen to bid her granddaughter goodbye. She turned to Serena as a thought entered her mind just as she was about to open the door. "Not to pry or anything, but where do you and Darien stand?"
Serena's face flushed as she thought about waking up in his arms the night before and the breakfast they shared this morning. "We're just friends," she mumbled.
"'Just' friends? He loves you Serena..."
"Yes, just friends. I know that he loves me, but I'm just not sure I'm ready for anything more than that. He understands and is willing to wait." Candace stepped out into the hallway and turned to Serena again.
"Just don't make him wait too long, Serena. He's waited more than a year to be a part of your life, and your daughter's, don't make him wait some more." With that, Candace started down the hall, leaving Serena alone in her doorway, hopefully considering her words.
Serena entered her room and shut the door. She thought about Darien and how long he waited to be part of her family with Isabella. 'How much longer is Darien willing to wait for me?' she wondered. 'What happens if he can't wait any longer? Will I be happier to let him go now, so that he can find the happiness he's been waiting for with someone else? I'm so confused...'
She went to the playpen and picked Isabella up, cuddling her in her arms as she gazed out the window, watching the leaves fluttering in the early morning breeze. As if sensing her mother's mental anguish, Isabella squirmed to get her attention, then flashed a wide toothless grin, blinking adorably as only babies know how to do and tried to stuff her tiny fist in her mouth. Serena laughed, releasing all the tension that had built up since she woke up this morning, and kissed Isabella's cheeks until she squealed.
Once they sobered up, Serena once again stared out the window and wished for simpler times when she and Darien were happy. 'I think the most important question is, would _I_ be happy if he found love with another woman?' Unknowingly, a tear slipped out of her eye and landed on Isabella's nose, causing the slightly affronted baby to utter a string of nonsensical babbles. Serena kissed her head absentmindedly, taking the time to softly say a quick, "sorry baby," before lapsing back into her private thoughts.
"Oh mom, I wish you were still here with us. I really need your advice."
*************************
Early that evening, Serena strapped Isabella to her stroller and was preparing to take her on a walk around the gardens when she heard someone call her name. She turned around and saw Walter dashing through the French doors and onto the deck where they were waiting.
"Phew girlie, I thought you'd leave without me!" Walter bent over at the waist and placed his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Serena reached out and gave him a few whacks on the back, trying to keep the smile off her face.
"I'm fine now, girlie. I'm out of breath, not choking, so you can stop with the hitting." Walter stood up to full height and smiled when he saw Isabella in her stroller, a bucket hat squashing her curls and star-shaped yellow sunglasses over her little face. Upon seeing her grandfather, she smiled widely and clapped her hands. He kissed her upturned face and patted her on the head fondly.
"What can I do for you, Walter?" Serena asked. Walter started making funny faces at Isabella, making her shriek with glee.
"Where're you two headed?" he asked, not taking his eyes away from his granddaughter.
"I was just taking Isabella for a tour of the rose garden, then maybe I'll bring her to the park and let her play on the swings. She's been cooped up all week," she explained.
"Mind if I tag along?"
"No problem. Can you help me get the stroller down the steps?" Walter nodded and lifted the bottom end as Serena held onto the handles. Together, they lifted Isabella like a queen on a covered chaise. They placed her down gently and proceeded on their walk toward the gardens.
"I sure am glad I got this stroller," Serena said, gesturing to the big, all-terrain rubber wheels propelling the stroller forth on the thick carpet of grass.
Walter looked at them thoughtfully and nodded his head. "Yes, it's kind of like the SUV of strollers, huh?" he joked.
"More like monster trucks." They chuckled at their little joke and laughed even harder when Isabella joined in when she felt left out of the loop. They walked around the garden in silence, with Walter looking like he had something to say but didn't know how to say it and Serena pointing out the various flowers to her daughter, who was quite impressed at the array of colour spread out before her, all the while knowing that Walter had something on his mind and she had a feeling she knew what it was.
"Is there something you wanted to talk about, Walter?" she asked wryly. Walter practically sighed with relief, as he had been wondering how to broach such a difficult topic with her.
"Uh, that is...I just, hmm..." Walter stammered. Serena hid a grin and looked into his eyes.
"Is this about last night?" she deadpanned.
Walter nodded. "Why didn't you ever tell me about that?"
Serena shrugged and looked away. "No offense Walter, but I hardly knew you when I came here to live the first time."
"What about now? I thought we had become friends," the injured tone in his
voice made Serena inwardly cringe with guilt.
"Of course we're friends but it's just something that I wanted to keep to myself. I don't go around telling everyone I meet that I was molested at such a young age and then raped. Even my own mother didn't know until I attempted to commit suicide." Serena gripped the stroller handles tighter until her knuckles turned white.
"Why did you keep it in for so long before you told her?" Walter asked. Serena stopped pushing the stroller when they got to a stone bench. She sat down and took Isabella out of the stroller, holding her in her lap.
"I didn't want her to blame me for my father's death and I also didn't want her to blame herself for what happened to me. So I kept everything bottled up until I couldn't take it anymore and I thought that the only way to escape was to swallow a whole bottle of sleeping pills. I remember regretting what I had done after I took the medicine but it was too late and I started to black out. Luckily, my mom came home a few minutes later and found me. When I opened my eyes and saw the white ceiling of my hospital room, I thought that I was in heaven and started to cry," she said softly, almost as if she seeing it happen right in front of her and she was giving Walter a play-by-play account of it.
"Why?" Walter whispered his question, not wanting to break Serena out of her trance-like mood.
"Because I wanted to go back and apologize to my mother and brother for leaving them. I wanted to tell them what made me the kind of person they had to deal with after my father died. I didn't want them to think that they did something to cause my suicide." Serena wiped away the lone tear that coursed down her cheek and gave Walter a watery smile.
He enveloped her and Isabella in a hug similar to the one he gave Serena the night before. "I'm so sorry that you had to go through that, girlie, but you're so strong. You're so strong," he murmured in her ear. "It's no wonder that you didn't want to stay here the year before. You got used to thinking that you could handle everything-including your pregnancy and motherhood-alone, that you didn't need anyone, most especially the one who hurt you in the first place. But I think you should know that Darien would never knowingly hurt you, girlie."
Serena laughed against his shirt and peered up at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh yeah?" she countered.
"Ok, he did hurt you these past few months but look at it from his point of view. He lost a child that he never knew he had, then when he finally learns about her existence-not from her mother, by the way, but from his father-he sees this six-month old child that doesn't know who he is. He missed out on everything, including her birth. He was just trying to inflict the kind of pain your leaving did to him. Immature yes, but valid nonetheless." Serena sat up, her cheeks lightly stained with pink.
"I messed up, didn't I?" she asked him meekly. He nodded soberly and her blush deepened. "But he messed up first!" she cried defensively.
"That he did but he didn't do it on purpose. You knew you were pregnant with his child and left without telling him. That's not to say that I don't empathize with you for leaving but you've gotta see where Darien's coming from," Walter explained gently.
"I do!" Serena cried despairingly. Isabella jumped at the sudden noise and patted her mother's neck. Serena smiled and set her back into the stroller where she could play with Loopy. "Don't you think I know that? I see it every time I look into his eyes-the hurt, the betrayal and the hate. I could stand everything else except for that!" she hissed.
"He never hated you," Walter soothed.
"Yes he did! Maybe he still does, I don't know..."
Walter looked her in the eye. "Do you really believe that, after everything he's told you?" he asked sternly.
Serena cowered under the intensity of his gaze and shook her head. "No...but he should. I've done a terrible thing to him and I can't believe he forgave me for it."
Walter rolled his eyes at the woman beside him. "Face it girlie, you two are made for each other. Speaking of which, where are you two now?"
"We're not anywhere. We're just friends," she said firmly. Walter raised his eyebrow at her.
"Friends who happen to have a daughter together. You know he loves you, right?" Serena nodded silently. "He was absolutely miserable when you left. I don't think he's ever gone out with a single woman in that time and for Darien, that's a record." Serena laughed lightly.
"You don't know that, Walter..."
"And here I thought you knew me so well. Don't you know that I know everything?" he asked loftily. Serena just shook her head disbelievingly and stood up.
"We're just friends, Walter. I'm not ready to get into a romantic relationship with Darien, especially since we never had one before I left."
Walter stood up himself, albeit more slowly, and eased the kinks in his joints. "But you _are_ open to them, right? Eventually, you'll be ready?" He heard his knee crack and groaned. "You are so lucky to be still so young."
"I don't know if I'll ever be ready, Walter. I'm not holding Darien to any promises. We're just friends," she repeated firmly. "Just friends."
"Just friends...for now," Walter added. Serena rolled her eyes and walked off, leaving him standing by the bench. He glanced at his watch and realized that Darien should be home in about ten minutes. If he timed this right, he could....
"I'm sorry, what was that girlie?" he asked when he heard Serena's voice calling his name repeatedly.
"I asked you if you wanted to go to the park with us."
"Oh! Sure! Well then, let's go." Serena threw him an odd look, which he pretended to not notice, and followed her in the direction that would lead them to the front of the house.
As they walked, Walter kept glancing at his watch to the point where it was starting to bother Serena. "Is there something I'm keeping you from, Walter?" she asked a little irritably.
Walter swallowed nervously and saw there were only about two minutes left before Darien usually got home. "Uh, well...there's this thing on TV with that crazy Australian man who likes to catch crocodiles and snakes with his wife..." he replied lamely.
"Go," she said resignedly and smiled when his face lit up almost triumphantly. She shook her head fondly at the old man, who was rushing up the front steps, eager to watch his favourite program.
She had just made her way to the end of the driveway when a sleek, red convertible pulled in, its driver being none other than Darien. 'Crocodile Hunter, my ass,' Serena thought. 'So that was his little game.' Serena rolled her eyes at the transparency of Walter's plan.
"Hey ladies," Darien said, peering at them over his sunglasses, "where ya headed?"
"To the park, right sweetie?" Isabella swung her legs happily in reply. Serena hesitated. "Er...wanna come?" she asked tentatively. Darien's face lit up and he unbuckled his seatbelt quickly, hopping out of his car with practiced ease.
He joined them on the sidewalk and they began to head for the park, only four blocks away. Isabella was keeping a tight grip on Loopy; occasionally letting loose a laugh or a shriek when something struck her funny. Darien smiled indulgently at her and turned to Serena. "She really likes that doll, huh?"
"I guess so," she replied lightly. "I've had that doll since I was three and I took her everywhere with me. My father named her Loopy because of her hair and the name just stuck. Of course, Sammy used to tease me mercilessly about her but when I started to tease him back about Mr. Hugginkiss, his favourite stuffed bear, I noticed a strange silence coming from him. From then on, all I had to do was threaten to tell his friends about Mr. Hugginkiss and he would be begging me to stop." They shared a laugh before another bout of silence settled over them. Thankfully, they were already at the park.
"So, where to?" Darien asked, surveying the park with the air of an explorer in the New World. Serena pointed to the playground, which featured rides for not only the older children, but also the smaller ones. Serena pushed the stroller along the sand until they reached the baby swings.
"You want to ride this, honey?" she asked. Isabella's eyes grew wide as she took in the sight of the swings, her favourite feature in the playground. Grinning at the look on her face, Darien lifted Isabella and placed her gently in the swing, but not before lifting her high above his head and bringing her down quickly, causing her to emit a series of high pitched squeals that made their ears hurt, in turn earning Darien a piercing glare from Serena and a stern lecture on the dangers of doing such things.
"Yes, mom," Darien replied unrepentantly. Serena rolled her eyes and began pushing Isabella gently. When Isabella got bored with the swings after a few minutes, Serena and Darien took her to the tiny slide. She giggled uncontrollably when her father went down the slide with her cradled on his lap and her mother catching them at the end. Her mom and dad took turns going down the slide with her until they protested that they were too tired to go on any more. She was about to cry when she noticed the teeter-totter and immediately turned in its direction, only to be reigned in by her mother.
"Where do you want to go, sweet pea?" Serena turned around and saw the teeter-totter that her fickle daughter wanted to try next. Isabella could do nothing but stare at it open-mouthed. Serena laughed at the seeming awe on her face and grinned at Darien. "C'mon _daddy_, she wants to go on the teeter-totter."
Darien, who had been sitting on the bottom of the slide, pretended to groan and let himself be hauled to his feet by Serena. He followed them to the teeter-totter with a stupid grin on his face and watched as Serena and Isabella sat down on the lower end, waiting for him to get on. Apparently, he was taking too long in getting over there, because Isabella shrieked with impatience. Darien looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Now listen here, young lady. Your old man isn't as young as he used to be so you have to learn to take it easy on him, ok?" he asked, with a mock sternness to his voice and tapped her nose lightly for emphasis. He got a raspberry in response.
He went to his end of the teeter-totter, muttering to himself about disrespectful kids these days and got on, raising Serena and Isabella all the way to the top. He grinned as he watched Serena squirming in her seat, holding onto Isabella tightly with one hand and the handlebar with the other, trying to bring their end down.
"Darien!" she cried, dangling her legs in frustration. Isabella offered her own squeak of protest. "I can't get down! You're too heavy!"
Darien laughed playfully and slowly got up to bring them down. Serena hopped off when she got to the ground, letting Darien get smacked in the rear end by the teeter-totter. "Hey!" he protested, throwing Serena a playful grin, who gave him one in return.
"I have to check on Isabella's diaper. I'm feeling something kinda questionable in this little girl's tushie." They pushed the stroller to a nearby bench; Darien grabbing the diaper bag and Serena spreading a blanket out before laying her daughter upon it. Serena lifted Isabella's dress and peered into her diaper, before drawing back with a sour look on her face.
Isabella giggled at the giant's silliness.
Darien passed Serena a clean diaper and a wipe, glad that he wasn't on the receiving end. In the time that Isabella had come into his life, he had only changed handful of diapers, all of which were not as...dirty, as the ones Serena always changed. He snapped back to attention when Serena began waving the foul-smelling diaper in his face.
"Oi! That smells like a compost heap! What'd you feed her today?" he asked, pinching his nose delicately with his thumb and forefinger, much to Serena's amusement. She waved the diaper pointedly in his face until he finally snatched it from her and threw it into the nearest garbage can. Unfortunately, he missed, causing the diaper to open, revealing its soiled contents for the world to see. He cursed his dumb luck and turned away from the garbage can with the full intention of ignoring it until it 'went away'.
"Darien!"
He winced at the force Serena put in her voice. He looked at her meekly and rose from the bench to pick up the diaper gingerly from the ground and hurriedly-but carefully-tossed it into the garbage can. Darien breathed a sigh of relief when it went in without a hitch.
He returned to the bench to face a smug-looking Serena, who had by that time, changed Isabella into a fresh diaper and was busy strapping her in the stroller.
"I take it by the look on your face that you enjoyed that?" he drawled.
"You bet. You know, I don't think I've ever seen you change a diaper before. It's a miracle you managed to get away with it for this long," Serena commented. Darien's face paled slightly as he saw his days of pawning Isabella off to his mother or one of the maids whenever she needed a new diaper, coming to an end.
"I've changed some diapers..."
Serena cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest, tapping her foot on the ground. "Oh yeah?" she challenged.
"Well, maybe not as many as you..."
"You got that right. I've spoiled you long enough; next time Isabella needs a diaper change, you're doing it, got that?" she asked-no, commanded-authoritatively.
Darien nodded his head submissively and started pushing the stroller back home. Serena fairly skipped beside him, happy that she was able to once again able to joke around with Darien. Once they got to the house, Serena lifted Isabella out of her stroller and was preparing to take her upstairs when Darien stopped her.
"What is it, Darien?" she asked, heading back down the stairs.
"Where are you going? It's time for dinner," he said. Serena's face flushed and she looked down at the floor.
"I was just going to get a bite to eat later when everybody's finished," she softly replied, not looking up. Darien tilted her chin upwards and forced her to look into his eyes.
"Serena, I'd really like it if you and Isabella could join us for dinner tonight," he said. "C'mon Serena, how can we be a family if we keep avoiding this stuff?" Serena tried to look away, but he kept his gentle hold of her.
"I don't know, Darien..."
"Trust me, Serena," he replied softly. She looked into his eyes, shining with genuine concern...and love? Finally, she nodded and allowed herself to be led by Darien, who had taken Isabella from her arms, to the dining room. She followed them nervously, biting her lip all the way.
At the dining room door, Darien paused. "You ready?" He pushed open the door when she nodded. Serena hadn't stepped foot in this room ever since her first evening back and Candace bared her claws. She peered into the room from behind Darien and saw that Candace and Walter were already seated. They looked up expectantly when the door opened, and smiled-Walter's was a huge grin and Candace's a wary but seemingly sincere one.
"Oh good, you're back. We've been waiting for you three. Have a seat," Candace said, looking at Serena and motioning for her to sit down. Serena took a deep breath and gave her a tiny smile before sitting.
"Hi..."
*****************************
It was a week later and things were looking up for Serena. She had eaten all her meals with the Shields', got along better with the staff and was well on her way to re-forging her old friendship with Darien, which was what led her to make a decision to call her Aunt Celeste that day.
"Hello," Celeste said as she answered the phone.
Serena smiled as she once again heard her that familiar voice. "Hi, remember me?"
"Serena!" Celeste exclaimed. "How are you?"
"I'm good. How're the wedding plans?" Serena was positive her aunt was grinning from ear to ear now that they were about to discuss her favourite subject.
"I'm SOOO excited!" she squealed like the schoolgirl she felt she still was.
"Wait till you hear where it's going to take place!"
Celeste's excitement proved to be contagious for Serena felt herself leaning back on her bed and smiling into the phone. "Uh...I give up, where?"
"Casa Loma!"
Serena's eyes shot open and almost dropped the phone in her surprise. "No way! That place has, like, a six-month waiting list! How'd you manage to swing that?"
Celeste laughed over the phone. "Robert's friend is the curator of the place so he helped 'bump' us up to Valentine's Day."
"But...but, that's Valentine's Day. I'm sure that another couple had that day reserved beforehand," she protested.
"Well...you see, his friend told the couple that Casa Loma had to be closed for renovations and gave it to us," Celeste replied in one breath.
"Aunt Celeste! That's terrible! How could you do that to someone's wedding?" Serena cried. She could practically hear Celeste squirming with guilt.
"Well, Robert's friend promised them that they could get married the week after, half off," she replied meekly. "Anyway, this is _my_ wedding and I've been waiting all my life for this moment. They said they were fine with it, so why should I feel guilty? I have a feeling that they're happier with the discount than they are about marrying each other. I caught the bride-to-be checking out Robert's friend."
Serena laughed and they made small-talk for a while until Serena felt it was time to get to the point of her call. "Uh, Aunt Celeste, can I ask you a question about the wedding?"
"Sure sweetie, what is it?"
"Uh...am I allowed to bring someone?"
"You'd better bring Isabella with you or else don't even bother coming back! I've missed my little angel ever since you two left," Celeste said.
"Er...of course I'm bringing the baby. I just meant, could I _bring_ someone?" Serena's face turned bright red all of a sudden and she put a hand to her cheek in an effort to stop it.
"Ohh, you wanted to bring a date?" Serena turned redder.
"Well, no...it's not a date. I mean, he doesn't even know about the wedding yet but I just wanted to know in advance if I could bring someone before I even asked him."
"Well, who is it?"
Serena bit her lip nervously before answering. "Darien," she whispered, shutting her eyes quickly and holding the phone away from her ear, expecting her aunt to blow up at her.
"Sure you can bring him." Serena opened one eye in shock and then the other. She put the phone back to her ear and made sure she heard right.
"Aunt Celeste?"
"Yes Serena?"
"Are you alright?"
"Of course I am dear. Actually, I was expecting you to want to invite him so I gave him a spot at your table." Serena stifled a gasp of surprise. "Now, may I ask _you_ a question?"
"S-sure."
"Why have you been lying to us about how you were being treated over there?" At this, Serena really did gasp.
"What are you talking about, Aunt Celeste?" she asked, trying to play innocent.
Celeste sighed over the phone. "There's no use hiding this from me. We-your brother, Raye and Justin and even Amy and Zach-all know what you've been going through in that house. Why haven't you told me this before, instead of feeding us all these lies?"
Serena drew in a shaky breath. It was time to come clean. "I just didn't want to worry you needlessly. You've got a wedding to plan for, Sammy's got his career, Amy's got her new marriage and Raye's got her family. I didn't want to add my problems on top of yours."
"Now listen here, Serena. Your troubles are our troubles too. We're all family here and we've gotta stick together. How's everything going now?"
"Everything's better now-really. I'm not lying this time. Darien and I have become friends again, I'm getting along better with everyone and Candace and I have started a truce," she replied. "Darien and I have agreed to try to work at being a family with Isabella and that's why I've decided to bring him along with us for the wedding. Plus, Isabella would miss him terribly."
"So are you going to get married?" Serena blushed again.
"No, Aunt Celeste, we're just friends," she said. This was getting old. Suddenly, a thought struck her. "Hey, wait a minute. How did you find out?"
Celeste chuckled. "How do you think? Darien himself called all of us and told us the truth. He confessed that he overheard you lying to us about your relationship with him and apologized for making you do that."
Serena was shocked. "He-he did that?" she asked.
"Yeah. You should've seen your brother when he got home from work. Apparently, Darien had called him up at the office and told him everything. Sammy was about ready to go over there himself to haul you _and_ Isabella back home but I somehow managed to talk him out of it. He really does love you, you know," she finished.
"..." Serena was speechless. She couldn't find the words to express the shock she felt.
"It takes a big man to realize when he's wrong and it takes an even bigger man to apologize for it. That night, Raye and her family, Sammy and I talked with Amy over the phone and decided that we wouldn't bring up the subject until we saw that you were ready," Celeste explained.
"And you thought I was ready now," Serena concluded.
"Well, yes. You wouldn't be inviting Darien along if you didn't at least want a friendship with him."
"Thanks for telling me this, Aunt Celeste, but I've gotta go," she said, hanging up without another word. She stared blankly at the phone for a while before slipping into her most business-like pair of pants and a white Oxford shirt. Then she hurriedly went into Isabella's nursery and scooped her up.
"C'mon sweet pea. We're gonna see daddy." Isabella beamed at the mention of her father and allowed her mother to put a white straw hat with a pink daisy on it and her yellow star sunglasses. "Let's go."
************************
Serena reached Darien's office building forty-five minutes later, after having borrowed a car from Darien's collection. 'Damn traffic' she thought, carrying Isabella into the elevator and pushing the number for Darien's floor, ignoring the curious looks she got from the other passengers. Isabella flashed them all winning smiles and blinked prettily, fluttering her impossibly long eyelashes. The other passengers, mostly secretaries and receptionists coming back from their early lunch breaks, ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the sight of the pretty little girl with curly black hair.
Finally, the elevator stopped at Darien's floor and incidentally enough, all the women in the elevator got off with her. They rushed back to their desks, Serena thought, before their boss caught them away from their work. Serena walked boldly to the receptionist behind the desk, with Isabella in her arms, and waited until she finished her conversation over the phone headset. After a few minutes, the woman with long wavy brown hair and wire-rimmed glasses ended her conversation and turned to her with a look of thinly disguised disdain in her eyes.
"May I help you, miss?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and giving Serena the once-over. Serena stood up straight, letting this rude woman look over her all she wanted.
"Yes, I was wondering if I could speak with Mr. Darien Shields, please," she proclaimed with a regal air.
"Appointment?"
"Um, no I don't have an appointment but I'm sure if you just told him that a Serena Mathis wants to speak with him-"
"I'm sorry but without an appointment, I can't let you see him. Mr. Shields is a _very_ busy man as you may know. He's meeting with some prospective clients as we speak," the receptionist replied, turning away from Serena and looking at the computer screen in front of her. To Serena's annoyance, she clicked an icon, opened a Solitaire game window and started playing.
Serena bristled and shifted Isabella over to her hip. "Well then, I'll just sit here and wait," she said. At this, the woman turned away from her game and sighed in annoyance.
"Look lady, I already told you, Mr. Shields can't see you without an appointment. He only sees _important_ people," she replied.
Serena slammed her hand on her desk and leaned over her dangerously. "Just. Tell. Him. Serena. Mathis. Is. Here," she bit out, her patience running out.
"If you don't leave now, I'm gonna call security on you." Seeing that Serena had sat herself down in one of the seats, the receptionist pressed a button and started talking softly into her headset. After a moment, she smiled triumphantly. "They're on their way."
Serena shrugged flippantly and glared at her. "Bring them on."
About a minute later, the elevator chime rang and the doors slid open, revealing two burly men in security guard uniforms. "Ma'am, I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to leave," one of them said, gripping her by the elbow and trying to help her up.
"If you just listen to me, I know Darien! I just want to speak with him!" Serena cried.
"A lot of people want to see Mr. Shields but they book appointments first. Please come with us peacefully and no one gets hurt," the other one put in. Serena glared at them.
"What're you expecting me to do? Gun you down? I have a _baby_ with me for God's sakes and if you lay one hand on her, I swear to God I'm gonna be your worse nightmare," Serena said emphatically.
The men stiffened and put their hands to their holsters. "Is that a threat, ma'am?"
Serena rolled her eyes and stared at them in disbelief. "What are you talking about? I only come to about a third of your body weight and you're about to draw your guns on me? Get a grip Butch Cassidy and the Sun-dunce Kid. I'm no more a threat to you than this baby is."
"I'm afraid that you're going to have to come with us." The two men flanked her and grabbed her by the elbows.
"Get your hands off me!" she yelled. "Why can't you just call Darien and ask him to straighten this out?" One of the men tightened his grip on her arm and she cried out in pain. "Stop it, you're hurting me!"
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" Darien's voice bounced off the marble floor, making it louder than it really was. Behind him, three Asian men in suits looked on curiously.
"We've got the situation under control, Mr. Shields. She kept insisting that she knew you and wouldn't leave until we were called," the man who hurt Serena replied.
Darien's eyes narrowed dangerously, making him look more intimidating than usual. The guards and the receptionist cowered in fear-maybe the girl _was_ telling the truth after all.
"That's because I _do_ know her," he said in a low voice. The men on either side of Serena instantly let her go and began their apologies. Darien listened to none of it and went to Serena and his daughter. "Are you ok? Did they hurt you?" he asked worriedly. Then he began inspecting her arms, glaring at the guards when he spotted the makings of a nasty looking bruise in the shape of fingers.
"I'm fine, Darien. It was all just a misunderstanding, that's all." To her surprise, and to the others watching, Darien breathed a sigh of relief and gave her a tender kiss on the forehead. Serena blushed but didn't pull away.
"I'm glad." Then, Isabella cooed, getting Darien's attention. "How's daddy's little girl?" Taking Isabella from Serena, Darien raised her high over his head and blew on her stomach, much to her delight. "How's my little girl?"
Behind them, they heard an audible gasp coming from the receptionist who sat at her desk, her face ashen. Darien turned to her and glowered. "Are you responsible for this Ms. Olinite*?"
Ms. Olinite, better known to her friends and family as Kaye, nodded and gulped nervously. She turned to Serena with a look of panic on her face and tried to appeal to her sympathy. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know she was your daughter's nanny," she stammered. Any sympathy Serena had for her had gone out the window with her comment.
Frustrated, Serena threw her hands up in the air and fumed. "Why does everybody think I'm the nanny?" She whirled around and faced Kaye. "Let me tell you something, Ms. 'He-only-sees-important-people,' I'm NOT his hired nanny, I'm the MOTHER of his child. If you had just done what I told you to do in the first place and called Darien for me, your ass would've been saved and this never would've happened!"
Kaye paled as she realized her mistake. "I'm really sorry Ms.-"
"Mathis," Serena snapped. Kaye nodded hurriedly.
"Ms. Mathis. I didn't know who you were. We don't usually get unannounced visitors here and-"
"Pack up your stuff. I want you gone by the end of the day," Darien cut in. Kaye nodded, blinking back her tears.
Serena took in her distraught form and finally felt pity spark belatedly in her heart. "Darien, don't," she said wearily. "She didn't know who I was. She was just doing her job; they all were."
Darien surveyed his three guilty employees with narrowed eyes. "Alright. You can stay, Ms. Olinite. You guys too. But I want you to memorize her face and know it well. Ms. Mathis is not to be harassed when she comes in this building. She is allowed to come and go as she pleases. If I am in a meeting or am otherwise busy, then you, Ms. Olinite, are to direct her to my office and tell her to wait there. If ANY of you touches my daughter or her mother ever again, your heads, as well as your jobs, will be mine, got that?"
The three nodded their heads meekly and were dismissed by a wave of Darien's hand. He waited until the guards left and Kaye was behind her desk before he turned to Serena. "Are you sure you're ok?" he fussed. "They didn't hurt Isabella, did they?"
Serena shook her head. "No, I made sure of that." Darien breathed a sigh of relief and kissed Isabella on her hand.
"I'm glad. So, what brings you two by?" he asked.
"I just wanted to have a talk. Are you free?"
"Uh oh. Why do I get the feeling that I did something wrong?" Darien said worriedly. Serena smiled, reassuring him that wasn't the case and he felt the anxiety lift from his chest.
"I just wanted to ask you about some things, that's all," she said. Before she could say anymore, the three men who were observing the previous display walked up to them.
"Ah, Darien, you did not tell us that you were a family man," a man with brown hair slicked back into a ponytail that ended just below his shoulder. Serena noticed a slight resemblance between the three men, leading her to believe that they were somehow related.
"Oh yes," Darien had almost forgotten about them. "Serena Mathis, meet Seiya Kou and his brothers Yaten and Taiki. Serena, the Kou brothers own the second largest audio equipment manufacturing company in Asia. I'm sure you've heard of StarLights Technology?" Serena nodded and smiled at the men politely. "And this gentlemen, is our daughter, Isabella." Darien showed her off proudly while Serena noticed that Kaye was watching them with keen interest from behind her file folder.
The man with light brown hair streaked with gray-Yaten, she believed he was-stepped forward and smiled at Serena. "Yes, we are from Japan and are interested in developing a deal with Shields Financial. You are baby's mother?" he asked in halting English.
"Yes I am. Are all of you married?" Serena took Isabella back from Darien and jiggled her a bit, producing a series of giggles from the child.
"Ah yes, but they stay back in Japan. We are all going to Catalina Island this weekend to relax and how you say, hammer out deal?" spoke up the other brother, Taiki.
"I've heard that's a wonderful place. I've always wanted to visit it myself for the day but I've never had the time," Serena said. "I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time."
Seiya snapped his fingers excitedly. "Why you not come with us? We leave Friday morning, come back Sunday evening. What you say? You come?"
"Uh, Darien?" she asked.
Darien put his hands on her shoulders and bent his head so that he was staring directly into her eyes. "Only if you want to, Serena. No pressure here."
"But what about your deal?" she asked.
Darien shook his head dismissively. "The deal's pretty much done. We're just using it as an excuse to have a mini-vacation close to home. We're staying in Avalon, a tiny city on the island in a hotel. Us men will work out the deal for a few hours in the morning and adjourn for the day after lunch so we can go see the sights while it's still light out. So what do you think?"
"Are you sure I won't be in the way?" she pressed.
Darien shook his head. He could see the gears turning in her head, calculating her options. "We'll be done with business before you get too bored."
"Ok! Sounds like fun. How will we get there?" she asked excitedly. She had always wanted to go visit the idyllic island that was only a few miles out to sea from LA but never had the time or the company.
"We're taking my boat there," Darien replied. Serena's eyes shone with anticipation.
"Cool!" she exclaimed. "I can't wait." The men laughed at her enthusiasm.
"If you two will excuse us," Yaten said, "but we have other business to attend to. Gotta buy presents for our wives and children," he winked.
"So, you wanna go to lunch or something?" Darien asked. Serena glanced at her watch just as her stomach growled, much to her embarrassment. "I take it that means yes." So hand in hand, Darien and Serena went to the bank of elevators, waiting patiently for one to take them down to the main floor. Once they were gone, Kaye dialed a number, tapping a red acrylic nail impatiently on her desk.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Shields' office. How may I help you?"
"Val! You'll never what I found out about our favourite bachelor!" Kaye exclaimed. "Hold on, let me put this on conferencing with Natalie..."
****************************
Darien squirmed uncomfortably in the hard plastic seat and scowled when a group of boys, ranging in ages between five and eight, came crashing through the doors from the play area, followed by two harried women, obviously their mothers. "Uh Serena? Are you sure this was where you wanted to go eat? We can still go to that little café I was telling you about..."
"Oh Darien, Mc Donald's is fine. I've been hankering for a Big Mac for the longest time, and besides, I wanted to get the latest Disney toy for my-er, Isabella's-collection," Serena said, dipping a French fry into her barbecue sauce. Darien wrinkled his nose a little disdainfully and dipped his fry into a container of mayonnaise. "That's nasty, Darien."
"Oh? And I suppose barbecue sauce is the accepted norm?" he teased. Serena stuck her tongue out at him and dipped another fry into her sauce just to spite him. "So what did you want to ask me about?"
Serena wiped Isabella's sticky mouth before answering. "Why did you call my family and friends and tell them what happened?" she asked bluntly.
Darien sucked in a breath. "I asked them not to say anything about that."
"So..." she prompted.
"I wanted to tell them that I was sorry for making you feel like you had to lie to them. I don't know...I guess it felt like the right thing to do. I wanted to start over with them because I know I didn't make a good impression the last time I saw them," Darien explained, feeling rather self-conscious.
"Thank you, Darien. You don't know how much that meant to me," Serena whispered. "I'm so happy you made that first step in mending fences with my family. How did they take it?"
"Sammy was understandably suspicious, as was Justin but Celeste, Amy and Raye were grudgingly forgiving," Darien answered. "Was there something else you wanted to discuss?"
Serena smiled from ear to ear. "I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to come with me and Isabella to Toronto for Aunt Isabella's wedding in February. Please say you'll come with us," she pleaded.
Darien bit his lip thoughtfully. "I don't know, Serena...what about your aunt?"
"I've already cleared it with her this morning. She says that she was expecting me to ask her about you coming ever since she got your phone call." Serena paused to give Isabella another spoonful of her mashed bananas.
"What about Sammy? I'm sure he won't be too thrilled to have me along," Darien replied. He took a sip of his Coke and tickled Isabella's bare feet as they dangled from the high chair.
Serena rolled her eyes at the mention of her overprotective brother. "Let him be mad. It's my life and I get to choose who my friends are," she scoffed.
"Please Darien? Her wedding is scheduled for Valentine's Day, but I have to be there at least a week before the big day to help with any last-minute preparations and to get my dress fitted. Then, after the wedding, we could stay another week and I could show you around town." She looked at him hopefully.
Darien wrinkled his forehead as he tried to envision what his schedule would look like in February. "You're planning on leaving a week before Valentine's Day and staying there another week, right?" Seeing her nodding, he continued. "Well, I have a big meeting scheduled with some clients that took three months to plan the week before so how bout this; you and Isabella fly to Toronto the week before and I'll come join you two before the wedding?"
Serena's eyes lit up. "Really? You'll come?" she asked. "Wait till you see where the wedding's gonna take place. It's a small castle built in the early nineteen hundreds by a man who wanted to give his bride a beautiful gift for their wedding. Unfortunately, she died during construction and he never had the heart to finish it after that. The castle went to ruins over the decades until a historical society or something like that, decided to restore it and turn it into a museum of their life and the period it was built. It's called Casa Loma and it's right in the middle of downtown Toronto," she said dreamily.
Darien cocked an eyebrow. "Your aunt wants her wedding to take place in a museum?" he asked. Serena shot him a look of annoyance and continued.
"It's not just a museum, Darien! The wedding will take place in the conservatory and the reception will be held in the ballroom, I think. I saw a wedding there on TV once and, while I thought the bride looked prettier than the groom, the place was absolutely gorgeous! I'm so glad that she managed to get that place because there's a long waiting list," she concluded at the same time as she stuffed the last bite of her burger into her mouth. She stared at the empty box her burger had come in thoughtfully. "Have you ever noticed that the layers in a Big Mac always shift so that the last bite is usually all bun or all meat? No matter how hard I try, it always ends up that way. I don't understand this phenomenon. They all start out on equal footing, then the middle bun starts to slide out and the rest goes to hell after that."
"Focus Serena," Darien said jokingly and chuckled when she pouted at him. "So it's settled then. You'll come with me this weekend to Catalina and I'll come join you in Toronto in February." He extended his hand out as if to seal the deal.
"It's a date," Serena said, taking his hand and shaking it firmly. Then she turned and spotted a familiar dark hair walk through the door. "Hey Trista, over here!" she called.
Darien groaned inwardly as Trista turned her head to see who was calling her, the blood rushing from her face as she laid her eyes upon them. Serena was waving her over, oblivious to Trista's pale face and Darien's discomfort. As soon as Trista was close to the table, Serena jumped from her seat and enveloped her in a hug, which the other girl reluctantly returned.
"How are you, Trista? I haven't seen you in a while but I heard that your career is doing great," Serena gushed. Trista nodded weakly.
"Y-yes, I've just finished designing my latest collection a few weeks ago," she replied, carefully avoiding Serena's eyes. Suddenly, Isabella gurgled and banged her toy on the high chair tray. Serena's eyes lit up and Darien had to fight the groan working its way up his throat.
"I'm sorry, honey! Trista, I'd like you to meet our daughter, Isabella." Darien doubted Trista's face could get any paler but it did at the mention of Isabella.
"Y-your daughter?" she asked quietly. Serena nodded happily.
"Yep-long story-but the short version is that she's Darien's and my baby." Trista stared at Isabella intently.
"So you're married?" she asked. Serena had the grace to blush as she shook her head no. "H-how old?
"She just turned nine months old," Serena said proudly, then launched into one of her 'You should see what my daughter did the other day' stories.
Darien watched Trista's face as she realized that Serena had been pregnant the night of their encounter so long ago. She looked at him with a hurt expression and he nodded almost imperceptibly. Trista looked away and blinked back the tears.
"I'm sorry, Serena," she said, interrupting Serena's speech about the cuteness of Isabella, "but I've gotta order now. My boyfriend's waiting for me in the car."
Serena's eyes lit up. "Oh, what's his name?" she asked curiously.
"Michael Rubeus," Trista replied monotonously. At this, Serena's eyes grew to resemble saucers.
"_The_ Michael Rubeus? As in male supermodel Michael Rubeus?" she asked incredulously. She squealed as Trista nodded and pointed out the window to a car parked just outside. Sure enough, Michael Rubeus' trademark shock of red hair could be seen clearly through the windshield. Seeing that he had an audience, Michael waved weakly and turned away, pretending to be looking for something in the glove compartment. "Wow Trista, how'd you guys meet?"
Trista looked more uncomfortable in Darien's presence. "He was one of my models in a fashion show," she mumbled. Then, she straightened up and forced a smile on her face. "I really have to go now, Serena. Nice seeing you again, you two. Bye Isabella," she said as she hastily retreated from them to line up at the counter.
Serena looked at her strangely before sitting back down in her seat. "Is it just me or did she look like she was about to be shot in the head?" she asked Darien, who shrugged nonchalantly.
"Who knows?" he asked, avoiding her stare. "You know how temperamental those fashion types can be." He reached over to tickle Isabella's neck. "So, how's your apple pie?"
"Great!" Serena enthused, forgetting about Trista and her strange behaviour, as she took another bite. "You sure you don't want some?" she offered.
"No thanks, I'm fine." Darien watched Trista rush out the door and jump into her car. "I'm definitely fine with what I've got."
*************************
It was Sunday morning-almost time for lunch-and Serena was waiting for Darien to come back from his meeting with the three brothers. Their weekend was coming to a close; they would have to leave the island in a few hours if they wanted to be back in LA before nightfall. It had been a magical weekend and Darien had kept up his promise of wrapping up business before lunch. They toured the island like tourists, despite the fact that Darien had been there numerous times before and had even considered building a retreat here at one point before deciding that the French Riviera was a much better locale.
They-Serena, Isabella, Darien and the Kou brothers-set sail early Friday morning in Darien's boat. 'Boat,' Serena had scoffed when she first set her sights on the 100-foot yacht docked at the marina. It was closer to a cruise liner than the sailboat she pictured in her mind. Darien had it custom built about a year before he met Serena and had christened her 'Lady Serenity.' When Serena had pointed out to Darien that he had unknowingly named his yacht after her, all he could do was smile.
"I guess it was fate," he said lightly. In all this time, he had never made the connection between the name of his boat and Serena's real name until now.
'Maybe it _is_ fate.'
So now, Serena waited for Darien to come back to their two-bedroom suite so that they could spend their last few hours relaxing on the hotel grounds as a family. Just as she was about to get a glass of water from the fully functional kitchen, Darien walked into the room, looking tired but happy.
"How did the meeting go?" she asked as Darien flopped onto the couch and tossed off his shoes.
"Great. It's finally done. They've decided to invest with Shields Financial." He groaned and leaned back into the soft couch cushions.
"What's the matter, Darien?"
"I've got this killer headache. I think it's from all the work I've been putting into this deal," he explained, rubbing his temples.
"Here, let me," Serena said. She wordlessly hoisted Darien into a sitting position and sat behind him on the couch. Then she slowly started giving him a massage starting from his tense neck muscles all the way to the top of his head. Darien moaned as he felt her fingers running through his hair. Her light touch was starting to make him feel light-headed and he felt goose bumps rising on his arm.
"You're really good at this," he said, his voice raspy. Serena giggled nervously. She too, was beginning to feel the effects her massage was having on herself.
"That's my job, silly. It's my business to make people feel better." Darien moaned again, his headache slowly disappearing and being replaced with something else, something he hoped Serena wouldn't pick up on: arousal. He grit his teeth in an effort to control himself and was on the verge of excusing himself to go to the washroom and 'take care' of the problem when Serena announced that she was finished and quickly got up off the couch.
Serena walked away from Darien and busied herself with tidying the already clean living room. She hoped Darien didn't notice her red face or the fact that she was breathing rather heavily. During the massage, Serena felt herself getting more and more aroused, despite all her efforts to control herself. As she was running her fingers through his hair, she looked down at her t-shirt and noticed that her nipples were already getting hard. Stifling a gasp, she abruptly pulled away and practically flew off the couch.
After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, during which time Serena and Darien tried to get hold of themselves, Darien asked her what she would like to do before they went back to LA. Serena bit her lip, trying to think of an activity they could do that wouldn't be too tiring before their trip back.
"How about swimming?" she suggested. "We haven't gone for a swim yet and I just got Isabella the cutest little bathing suit." Darien nodded his head in agreement.
"Swimming it is," he said. "I'll just go to my room to change into my trunks and you ladies can go to your room to change into your suits." Serena agreed and both disappeared into their respective rooms to change.
A few minutes later-or rather, a few seconds for Darien, a few minutes for Serena-they emerged from their rooms in their swimsuits, ready for an afternoon of swimming. Darien, as usual, had on his black swim trunks that went down to his knees, showing off this six-pack beautifully. Serena had on a silver tankini; a healthy compromise between her regulation one-piece and the bikini Amy was pushing her to buy on their recent shopping trip. But Isabella had stolen the show with her swimsuit hands down. It was a pink one piece with a yellow ruffle around the waist and a big yellow duck on the front. Her swimming diaper puffed out adorably in the back, peeking out the sides, and around her upper arms were orange water wings. She looked so cute with her star sunglasses on that Serena couldn't help taking a picture of her and Darien before they left.
"She looks so adorable doesn't she, Darien?" Serena cooed. Darien ruffled Isabella's curly mop of black hair and kissed her shoulder.
"She sure does. I'm just glad she took after her mother instead of me," he replied. Serena raised her eyebrow and looked at him over her sunglasses.
"She looks more like you than she does me. Have you not _seen_ the black hair?" she asked. Isabella started pawing at her father's face, trying to get his attention.
"Now that you mention it, she _did_ inherit the Shields nose," Darien mused.
Serena rolled her eyes. "Yeah, perfect for sticking it high in the air," she teased. Darien growled playfully and chased her all the way to the pool, with Isabella shrieking in his ear the entire way.
Once they got there, they found that every available lounge chair was taken except for one so they hurriedly grabbed it before it was taken too. They piled their stuff on the chair and headed for the shallow end. Serena went in first, shivering as the shock of being immersed halfway in water hit her, and opened out her arms, enticing Darien and Isabella to come forward. Darien began walking into the water but as soon as Isabella's foot touched the water, she emitted another ear-piercing shriek and began trying to climb her father's chest.
"It's ok, baby. Daddy's got you," Darien whispered in her ear. Little by little, he lowered her into the water, lifting her up when she got too scared, until she was finally comfortable enough to have her entire body-head and all-quickly dipped into the water. Serena laughed when Darien lifted her from the water, sputtering and waving her chubby arms and legs angrily.
"My poor baby. What did daddy do to you, huh?" Serena said, taking Isabella into her arms. "Why don't we teach daddy a lesson?" Darien watched them with a smirk on his face, which was quickly wiped away when Serena splashed him with water.
"That was a dirty trick, Serena!" he exclaimed. Isabella, having been vindicated by her mother, clapped her hands enthusiastically. Darien narrowed his eyes at her and pretended to growl dangerously. Then he sent a little splash of his own to Serena, which also hit Isabella, much to her annoyance. Soon, a small water fight erupted between Serena and Isabella against Darien, with neither side having an obvious advantage because Isabella hampered Serena's efforts to get a good shot at Darien, who didn't want to splash Isabella. So, they settled for flicking their wet hands at each other. Though they both knew that made for a poor water fight, Serena and Darien had the time of their lives watching Isabella trying to get in on the action, although her arms didn't even reach the water's surface.
Finally, when their fingers and toes were sufficiently wrinkled, they left the pool for their lounge chair, hoping that another one was vacant but to their dismay and consternation, all chairs were still occupied. Darien offered to let Serena lay down with Isabella but she stubbornly refused, saying that she was perfectly fine sitting upright on the end.
"Are you sure?" Darien asked. He had been sufficiently taught that women tend to say one thing and mean another when it came to what they wanted.
Serena smiled. "Yes! Now go on and lay down so Isabella and I can have a seat."
And so, being the obedient male that he is, Darien did as he was told and lay down on the recliner. Finding it too low for his taste, he adjusted the back so that he was semi-upright. Serena watched him fussing over the chair with a smirk upon her face. "You done now?" she asked, cocking her eyebrow.
Darien scrunched up his face. "Yes, I'm done now," he replied mockingly. Serena sat down by his knees and turned to face him.
"This has been a really great weekend, Dare. I'm glad we went along," she said.
"Doesn't it suck that by this time tomorrow you'll be back in your power suit and up in that glass tower of yours, wrangling another deal for Shields Financial?"
Darien groaned. "Don't remind me. I think this is the first vacation I've taken in a year or so. My secretary goes on more holidays than I do!"
Serena, noticing that a cool breeze had blown in, opened up a towel and wrapped Isabella up in it. "At least you have something to do during the day. Between taking care of Isabella and cleaning my room, I have nothing else to do," she said. Darien tilted his head thoughtfully.
"Have you thought about going back?" he asked a little fearfully.
Serena shook her head. "Well, I've gotta admit that while we were still fighting, going back was all that I could think of. But now that we've decided to seriously get our act together and work at being a family, I've decided on putting off going back, at least for now. It's just that I get so bored during the days with nothing to do in that big house of yours. At least when I was there a year and a half ago I had your dad to take care of but now, he's healthy as a horse and stubborn as a mule."
Darien breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't said she was going back now, just that she wasn't happy being so alone all the time. He thought about her predicament. "Have you thought about finding a job here?"
Serena shook her head. "If I get a job, I'd have to leave Isabella here. I want something I could do from time to time and still be able to take care of Isabella."
"Like a hobby?" Darien asked. Serena nodded but then looked downcast. "What's the matter?"
"I don't have a hobby!" she exclaimed. Darien smiled at her pouting face.
"What about photography? I've seen Isabella's photo album and the pictures are all very well done. They look professional," he said gently. Serena looked at him with a hopeful gleam in her eye.
"You think so?" she asked in a small voice. Darien nodded then sat upright.
"Come here," he said, enveloping her in his arms. Serena's eyes widened in surprise as he began pulling her down with him.
"What're you doing, Darien?" she asked in a high-pitched voice. Darien didn't answer her as he settled back in his seat with Serena laying on her back on top of him and Isabella lying on _her_ chest.
"There. Doesn't that feel better?" he asked. He could feel Serena's whole body stiffen as her back hovered a few centimeters away from his body. Darien rubbed her arms gently, trying to get her to relax.
"Darien..." she protested weakly. Darien shushed her gently, his breath tickling her ear and giving her goose bumps.
"It's ok, Serena. Just relax," he whispered. Eventually, Serena did as she was told and let herself be eased into a more comfortable position on his chest. On top of her, Isabella had decided to take advantage of her position and readied herself for a well-deserved nap. She yawned, rubbing her face into her mother's chest and closed her eyes, shutting them away from the world.
The three of them lay there in silence, as if the whole world just stopped and only they were aware of it. To Darien and Serena, and even Isabella, time had stopped and only they existed. The swimmers in the pool vanished, the sun stopped moving in the sky and the hubbub around them faded to nothing.
Eventually, the spell was broken when Darien glanced at his watch and saw the time.
"Serena," he said softly, trying to hang onto the mood for just a while longer,
"it's time to get ready."
Serena moaned softly. "I don't want to go back," she replied, a thousand different meanings behind her words. Darien kissed the top of her head gently.
"Neither do I but we've gotta keep moving forward. Always forward," he said, catching her meaning, as she was sure he would.
"Forward," she repeated softly.
***********************
July 26, 2002
Wow, I got that done faster than I thought! Well, tell me what you think of this chapter. Review, review, review! This is probably the last update I'm going to do in a long while cuz I'm going on vacation for the whole month of August so I hope this tides you guys over until I get back! Thanks again for the reviews some of you have written and the emails that you've sent. They really do help to motivate me when I'm at my laziest (and trust me, I can be pretty lethargic). I'll see you in chapter 15 hopefully!
* this refers to Kaye Olinite's name. I didn't come up with that spelling; I think it was from Jason Ulloa's story called Seeing Stars that I first saw it. I just wanted to give credit where credit is due.
************************************************************************
Wounded Souls
Chapter 14-Just Friends
By: ~crystal~rose~{@
July 22, 2002
******************************
Serena stepped out of her washroom, freshly showered and newly dressed, to a pounding on her door. 'Who could that be? It's only 8:15 in the morning.' Suddenly, she remembered all the events that happened the day before and was filled with dread. Seeing her therapist in the family room, which led to her near-breakdown; the haze that surrounded her vision and clouded her senses as she described her childhood to the Shields with no regard to what they would think of her afterward; the almost physical fight that took place between Darien and herself; all came rushing back into her mind with a vengeance, making her sit up in bed abruptly. The pounding on the door continued and she looked at it with slight trepidation. What if it was Mrs. Shields coming in to admonish her for her behaviour the day before?
"Serena! Are you awake? Can you open the door?" Darien called from behind the door. Serena sighed with relief, for she remembered their newly established 'friendship,' and sprung into action.
"Coming!" she called. She raced to the door and flung it open. Outside, Darien was sharply dressed in a charcoal grey business suit and cobalt blue shirt-which brought out his eyes-and matching tie. Although Serena thought that she looked rather nice in her favourite pair of dark denim flares and a black, sheer baby doll top with a red camisole underneath, she couldn't help but feel shabby in comparison to Darien in his designer suit.
"Serena, can you let me in please? This stuff is really heavy," Darien said, indicating the huge tray laden with food that he held in his hands. Puzzled, Serena held the door wider and stepped aside to let him in.
"What's all this about?" she asked as he set the tray down on the night table and sat down in the chair beside her bed, silently telling her with a nudge of his head to do the same. She sat on the mattress with both feet on the floor facing him. "Darien?"
"I just thought that it would be nice to have breakfast together now that we're friends again." He didn't mention that he was concerned about the amount of weight she'd lost and how alarmingly light she was when he picked her up last night and rocked her back to sleep when her nightmare threatened to wake her up. "It's been a while since we last had breakfast together, or even saw each other in the mornings."
Serena offered him a shy smile as she picked up a piece of toast at Darien's urging. "Oh that. Well, it's just that I wanted to avoid you, especially since..." The toast she had conveniently stuffed in her mouth muffled her last word, but he could distinctly hear the word 'Christmas.' Darien winced at that memory and looked at her apologetically.
"I'm really sorry about that day, Sere. I don't know what got into me, but I guess I was just feeling so frustrated at out situation that I felt like I had to lash out at something. Then when I saw you and Melvin..."
"You got jealous," she finished for him, nonchalantly digging into her omelet. Darien nodded sheepishly.
"Well yeah, you could say that. I know that's no excuse but I'm really sorry for the way I've been acting. Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?"
"As long as you can forgive me for not telling you about our daughter. I shouldn't have run away like that. We've both made horrendous mistakes but I think it's best if we try to move past them and work on getting to know each other again." She smiled when Darien nodded his head in agreement.
"I'm glad that we're getting to know each other again. It's been so long since we've last talked about anything that didn't have any hostility in it."
"You're right. We need to get back to way things used to be before we decide if we want to take it a step further." Serena lifted Darien's plate and slid the tray out from underneath it. She then set his plate down on the night table and the tray on the bed, in order for them to have more room to eat. She eagerly dug into what looked to be a ham and cheese omelette in front of her. "I've missed Lita's omelettes."
Darien smiled proudly and puffed out his chest, reminding Serena of Walter whenever he did something that pleased himself immensely. "She didn't make it. I made this all by myself. You should've seen her face when she walked into the kitchen and saw me at the stove. She looked like she was gonna cry."
"Ah..." When Darien wasn't looking, she discreetly spit out the eggshell she discovered lodged within her ham and cheese omelet. She quickly hid it in her napkin and looked up at him innocently. "It's wonderful. Almost couldn't tell it wasn't Lita's handiwork."
Darien's grin became wider as he dug into his eggs himself. He chewed thoughtfully, ignoring the distinct crunch he heard as he bit into an eggshell, and swallowed. 'I hope there weren't any shells in hers.'
"Oh you know, it's not so hard. If I can handle multi-million dollar accounts everyday, I sure as hell can make an omelet," he replied airily. Serena smiled in reply. "So what are your plans for today?"
"I was thinking of just kicking back here for a while. No doubt your mother has a few choice words to say to me about my little performance yesterday." Darien could tell from the way that she bit the corner of her lip and stared blankly at the door, almost as if she was daring Candace herself to walk into her room and chew her out, that she was nervous. And rightly so. Darien had no idea how his mother would react to everything that happened yesterday-from Serena's past being dredged up to Melvin's refusal to hand Isabella over to anyone unless Serena herself okayed it.
From the way Candace had been acting towards Serena, Darien couldn't tell whether she would feel as remorseful as he did, or even more vengeful in light of the sordid details about her ex-boyfriends and numerous one night stands, fueling Candace's accusations. For Serena's sake, Darien fervently hoped that his mother had reconsidered her stand on Serena and follow his example by apologizing profusely.
Darien stroked the back of her hand gently. "Don't worry Sere," he comforted, "I'm sure that mom feels horrible about how we treated you. I know I do."
Serena lifted her head to look at him pleadingly. "But you're not just feeling sorry for me, are you?" Darien felt a tug on his heart when he saw her eyes welling up with tears.
"No, Sere. I've felt this way for a long time now." He jumped out of his chair and sat down beside her on the bed, gently putting an arm around her shoulders. "I'm so sorry that I waited this long to tell you." Serena wiped away the last of her tears and sighed.
"I just don't want anyone feeling sorry for me. When I look into a person's eyes, I want to see him looking back at me with interest, not pity. I want your mother to apologize to me genuinely, not because she felt guilty about me being molested." She felt Darien flinch against her. "It's ok to talk about it, you know. I was molested. It wasn't my fault and I didn't ask for it. I see that now, but only after so many years of therapy and having a wonderful support system in my family and friends. I don't want you to feel sorry for me because there is nothing to feel sorry about. I survived."
"Yes you did." If Darien didn't admire her much before, he certainly did now. "But don't think for a moment that I pity you. Yes, I feel sorry that you had to go through such a terrible ordeal but if you see anything in my eyes, just know that it's awe. I'm in awe of you-among other things-and I can't help but be amazed that you were able to survive those years to become the wonderful woman you are today. Whenever I look at you I think, 'I hope Isabella grows up to be a woman just like her mother-a woman who doesn't let life's downs sour her on life itself.' Serena, there are no words to describe how happy I am that you are Isabella's mother." Serena blushed and mumbled a shy thank-you. Darien gave her shoulder one last squeeze and went back to his chair.
They continued eating their breakfast together in a quiet peace, which was soon broken by Isabella's babbling over the monitor. They turned to each other and smiled. "Looks like our little princess is finally awake," Serena said. "Doesn't she sound like she's humming or something?"
"What do you mean? She can't even talk yet," Darien said. Isabella gurgled in reply and he chuckled.
"Can't you hear it? You may not think she's really humming but her 'words' are flowing together as if she were. Just listen," she urged. Darien grabbed the baby monitor and held it closer to his ear. Serena watched as a delighted smile worked its way across Darien's face. He stared at the baby monitor as if he was staring at Isabella directly.
"It sounds like she's humming her own little song. I can't believe this!" Darien's eyes twinkled and he held the monitor to Serena as if he was the one who had discovered it. "My baby's gonna be star."
Serena chuckled at the proud father's antics. "Let's not go too far just yet. I admit there's a certain lyrical quality to her babbling but as for talent-that remains to be seen, especially since she's part Mathis. The Mathises aren't exactly known for their singing abilities," she joked. "In fact, it seems that I'm the only one with a halfway decent voice in the family, and that's only because the acoustics in the washroom are great. My voice bounces off the tiles while the water muffles out the actual sound. Sammy claims that I sing like a cat being skinned alive, although his voice doesn't sound any better. He used to have a passable voice too, until puberty decided to hit during a church choir practice. He's never been the same since."
Darien laughed at her long-winded story. This was the Serena he had fallen in love with more than a year ago. It felt good to hear one of her stories again and to hear it told with such gusto. "Well I must confess that I'm not any better. I learned my lesson after Drew and the guys dragged me to a karaoke bar and forced me to sing 'The Macarena.' I stunk so badly that Chad led the chorus of boos from the audience." He smiled fondly at Serena who was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe.
"What made you decide to sing that song?" she asked when she finally calmed down. Darien shrugged sheepishly and blushed wildly.
"I told them it would be funny if we all went up there and did the actions. I meant it as a joke but Chad had already requested the song before I could say anything. They assured me that they would be up there with me but as soon as the song started, those bastards snuck offstage and back to our table. I could hardly keep up with the song cuz it was in Spanish and it was going so fast. When I turned around, going through the stupid dance like the idiot I am, I noticed I was the only one left up there. Then I heard Chad start booing and it went straight to hell after that."
Serena laughed and soon Darien joined her when he heard Isabella start laughing for no apparent reason, as she was alone in her nursery. "C'mon, let's go see what she's laughing about," Serena said, jumping up and tugging on Darien's hand. Darien allowed Serena to pull him towards the nursery.
When they entered the nursery, they saw Isabella sitting up in her crib, clapping her hands and staring out the window. She was so entranced with whatever she was looking at that she didn't even notice her parents had not only come to visit her, but that they were holding hands. Isabella laughed again and clapped her hands excitedly. Darien and Serena exchanged looks of puzzlement and amusement.
"What're you looking at, sweet pea?" Serena asked, lifting Isabella up from the crib and bringing her to the window. Isabella ignored the question-not that she understood what the giant with yellow string on her head said anyway-and made grasping motions towards the window. Darien followed behind them and saw that a robin had built its nest on Isabella's windowsill and was now in the process of regurgitating worm bits into the tiny beaks of four baby birds. Serena and Darien turned away, slightly disgusted by the sight especially after having just eaten eggs a few moments ago, but Isabella just giggled.
"Funny what passes for entertainment these days, huh?" Darien asked Serena wryly as she took Isabella over to the changing table to check on the status of Isabella's diaper.
"Looks like you had a bit of what those birds had, sweetie," Serena said, wrinkling her nose. To their amusement, Isabella mimicked her mother by scrunching up her face. "Believe me honey, it's not so great at this end either."
Finally, when Isabella was changed into a fresh diaper and clean clothes, with her hair pulled back into two pigtails, Darien regretfully looked at his watch and whistled. "I'd better go or I'll be late. I'll see you later, princess," he said, kissing his daughter on the cheek. He turned to Serena and wondered what he should do. Finally, he decided on a friendly hug. Unfortunately, Serena had just decided on a friendly kiss on the cheek.
Seeing Serena's intentions, Darien changed his trajectory and moved to give _her_ a kiss when Serena awkwardly stretched out her arms for a belated hug. They both started laughing at their actions. "What do _you_ want to do?" Darien asked. Serena titled her head to the side, pretending to give this decision some serious contemplation.
"How bout both?" she suggested.
Darien smiled warmly. "_That_ I can do." Serena wrapped her arms around Darien's waist and gave him a huge hug. Then, as she was pulling away, Darien tilted her chin up and gave her a light peck on the forehead, letting his lips just barely touch her skin before pulling away. She blushed furiously and grinned. "I'll see you later, Serena."
Serena nodded and waved to Darien as he practically skipped out the door. She turned to Isabella, who was sitting up on the changing table, watching what was taking place between her parents curiously. "You know what, sweetie? Your father can be quite a charmer."
Isabella nodded absently and went back to watching the birds. To her dismay, the giant picked her up and took her away from her little friends. So she did the only thing a baby could do: she opened her mouth and let loose the loudest cry she could manage.
"It's ok honey. We'll see them again soon but first, I have to feed _my_ baby bird."
Once they got to the kitchen, Serena plopped Isabella down into the high chair and went to the cupboard to search for the baby food. She saw Lita cleaning up after cooking breakfast, looking a bit nervous, but she ignored her as usual and focused on the task of feeding her daughter. She grabbed two little jars and brought them back to Isabella for inspection.
"I have mashed carrots and strained peas. Of these two, which one sounds less disgusting and therefore somewhat edible?" Isabella scrunched her nose up. "I know they're not the best sounding meals in the world, but they're a whole lot better than the worm those little birdies had for breakfast. Tell you what, why don't we try the mashed carrots now and then we'll try the peas for lunch?"
Serena opened the jar and poured some out onto Isabella's serving dish. "Here comes the birdie," she sang, trying to coax the baby to open her mouth. Isabella, being a veteran in this little game they played every morning, opened her mouth obediently to let the spoon in, before promptly spitting out its contents as soon as it touched her tongue. She smiled a toothless smile at her mother who could only smile back lovingly. "C'mon sweetie. Eat this for mommy. That's a good girl."
This went on for another fifteen minutes until Isabella just wouldn't swallow any more food. Happy that her baby had eaten as much as possible, Serena began the process of cleaning up first Isabella, then everything else that was spattered with orange blobs of mashed-up carrots, namely the high chair and the floor. Just as she was about to wash the little plastic dish and matching spoon, she saw Lita's reflection hovering behind her in the window. Startled, she dropped the dish in the sink and gasped.
"Lita! You scared me to death!"
Lita's face turned pink and she looked down on the floor, avoiding Serena's eyes. "I'm sorry Serena," she mumbled.
Serena shrugged and turned on the faucet. "That's ok. I shouldn't have been so jumpy."
"Er, that's not what I meant. I mean that I'm sorry for the way I've been treating you."
Serena sighed and turned off the faucet. She wiped her hands on a dishtowel and faced Lita, who was still looking at the floor with keen interest and wrenching her hands. "You have nothing to feel sorry for. You and the others were just doing what you thought was right. I understand. I thought that taking Isabella away from her father was the right thing to do too."
Lita lifted her head and gazed at Isabella, who was happily playing with the little blonde plush doll that she constantly had by her side. One time, Serena forgot 'Loopy'-so named for the two braided loops of blonde hair on either side of her head-at Amy's and had to go back there when Isabella wouldn't stop crying a few hours later at bed time. When asked about the origin of the doll, Serena said that Loopy had once belonged to her as a child and had been a present from her mother on her third birthday.
"It's not okay, Serena. We treated you like crap just because we were afraid to stand up to Mrs. Shields like Melvin and Alan. Then, when we heard that you were, you know, molested..."
Serena raised her eyebrow and continued to wash the dishes, including the ones that were already in the sink before she got there. "So that's it. You heard what kind of skeletons are living in my closet and you felt guilty. Don't worry about it; I'm used to it."
"No, you've got it all wrong, Serena! I'm really sorry about how I've been giving you the cold shoulder lately. I'm not apologizing just because we found out about your past, I'm apologizing because I truly feel sorry for alienating you just when you needed to have as much support as you could get. Can you ever forgive me, Serena?" she asked.
"Of course I can but it won't be easy to forget everything that's happened. But I know that one day, we'll be able to go back to the friends we used to be," Serena replied. Lita nodded her head and smiled.
"Thanks Serena. I'd like that very much." Lita happened to catch the time on Serena's watch. "Well if you'll excuse me, I have to get to the market before all the fresh fruit is gone. It's strawberry day, you know." With that, Lita took leave and walked out of the kitchen, glad to have made her peace with Serena. She hadn't been able to sleep a wink all night, hounded by the thoughts that plagued her mind about Serena. She was finally able to fall asleep after having resolved to herself that she would apologize to Serena the next day.
When Serena had washed the last dish, she dried her hands on the towel and lifted Isabella up from her high chair, causing her to drop Loopy on the floor. Isabella whimpered and leaned over dangerously in Serena's arms in an effort to pick up the fallen doll. Serena jerked her arms up when she felt Isabella slipping from her grasp.
"Careful baby. Let mommy pick Loopy up for you." She bent down with her knees, her heart still pounding from her little scare, and scooped Loopy up in her hand. Isabella cooed joyfully at being reunited with Loopy and gave Serena a kiss, albeit a wet one.
Serena wiped her spit-covered cheek on her shoulder and kissed Isabella back on her silky cheek. "I'm glad that in a family that can afford to give you heirloom jewellery, hi-tech toys that most likely use uranium instead of the standard AA battery, and practically everything under the sun, you can still appreciate a simple plush doll that's twenty-five years old." She got a gurgle in reply.
Serena carried Isabella to her room and set her down in the little playpen she had set up in the corner before setting to the task of cleaning her already immaculate room. She made the bed and dusted the furniture, contemplating whether to vacuum the floor or not before remembering that she had already done so yesterday. She glanced at the digital clock beside her bed and noted that she had only been cleaning for fifteen minutes.
She stood in the middle of the room, hands on her hips, and set her sights on the little girl in the playpen who was staring at her intently. "Well honey, it seems that mommy's done cleaning her room and it's not even ten o'clock yet. Now what do we do?"
As if in answer to her rhetorical question, there was a soft knocking at the door. 'Wow,' Serena thought. Getting an idea, she turned her face to the ceiling and clasped her hands in front of her. "I want a million dollars." She waited for a second and was almost disappointed when the knock was heard again, only this time louder. Serena raised her eyebrows and gaped at Isabella, who laughed and smacked her face with her hands.
She opened the door and struggled to keep the crestfallen look off her face at the sight of Candace on the other side. 'Well she does have a million dollars. Hell, she's got several million dollars. Who says God doesn't have a sense of humour?'
"Serena, may I come in?" Candace asked after standing in the hallway for a moment while Serena just stared at her blankly.
Serena felt her stomach twisting into knots and she was sure that the blood drained away from her face. She nodded her head lightly and backed away from the door to let Candace pass. 'After all, this _is_ her house.'
Candace could sense the hesitancy in Serena's actions and was reminded of all that went on the day before. She walked into the room that she was sure had been Serena's refuge when things had gotten too hard for her living in her home.
Up to now, the only time she had been in Serena's room was the day before she arrived with Isabella, supervising the hasty redecoration of the room. Before she had learned of Serena's pregnancy, this room had been one of her more luxurious guest rooms. Relying on her own judgment to redecorate this room and the room adjoining it, she undertook the supervision of the renovation. The wall colour remained the same, but gone were the damask curtains, the numerous silk throw pillows piled high on the bed and the beautiful O'Keefe watercolours hanging on the walls. At the time of the renovation, she had convinced herself that a busy mother like Serena would have no need for such luxuries and would much prefer to be in surroundings that would be quite similar, she imagined, to her own home in Toronto. So she had everything removed and put in a storage closet somewhere in the mansion to be left with a blank slate of a room she was sure Serena would've preferred.
Now, as she stood in the room, she realized that she had done a great disservice to Serena by making her feel out of place in such a sparse room in comparison to the other tastefully decorated rooms in the mansion. Somehow though, the room had a different air to it, almost as if it had been infused with a feeling of quiet intimacy that had been lacking when she was through gutting it to its bare walls. There were pictures in simple black frames of people she identified as Ilene and Sammy, a woman who resembled Serena and her mother so closely that she assumed they were related, Amy and her husband Zach, a woman with long black hair that she didn't recognize holding up a baby and standing beside a blond man whom she surmised to be her husband. And of course, there were pictures of Isabella strewn throughout the room in various stages of her development. There were touches of Serena all over the once bare room that she wondered if she really had done a disservice after all.
"Mrs. Shields?" Candace snapped to attention upon hearing Serena's apprehensive voice, and realized that she had been standing still for quite a while now.
"Oh yes. Sorry about that. May I sit down?" Serena gestured to the armchair that Darien had rocked her to sleep in and pulled another chair closer to it in order to sit down herself. Off in the corner, Isabella watched curiously from her playpen, almost as if knowing that something important was about to transpire.
"How may I help you, Mrs. Shields?" Serena asked, trying to put forth more authority into her voice and failing miserably.
"I just wanted to talk about what happened last night." Candace saw Serena's lips press together in a tight line and her back stiffen. "I just came here to apologize to you and I hope that we can regain the friendship we lost."
Serena licked her lips before speaking. "No offense Mrs. Shields, but if this sudden apology is due to what you heard about my past, then I have no interest in hearing it. I will not be pitied."
Candace shook her head firmly. "No, no! That's not what I meant. Yes, it has something to do with that, but it's not what you think. I'm sorry that I had to make your life harder by alienating you in this house and practically forcing the staff to do so as well."
Candace paused for a moment, trying to read Serena's expression. She was sitting back in her chair with her arms folded in a defensive manner across her chest. Her face was blank, making it impossible for Candace to determine what exactly was going through her mind. "I want to apologize for my behaviour and tell you that I've felt terrible about it for so long but was too proud to do something about it. It was easier to blame you than to find fault with my own son. I'm sure that as a mother yourself, you think your child is perfect in every way. Well, that's how I felt about Darien. I wanted to believe your selfishness prompted you to take Isabella away from us. I didn't want to believe that my son had anything to do with this predicament you were in and so I chose to ignore his part in it. I truly am sorry."
Serena studied Candace's bowed head and slumped shoulders thoughtfully before determining that her words were genuine. "Thank you for the apology, Mrs. Shields. I appreciate it, but like I told Darien and Lita, it will take time for me to forget what I've gone through in your home and to rebuild our old relationships again. I'm just not ready to dismiss all the heartache I've been through just because you've had a sudden change of heart. I'm sorry too, for taking Isabella from you all but I did what I thought was best for my daughter and for myself. It hurt very much to have this entire house turned against me with the exception of three people and it hurt even more to see you spearheading the campaign. I thought of you as a good friend, one whom I could turn to for help or advice now that my mother is gone and my aunt is so far away from me. I didn't think you were the kind of person who made judgments before getting all the facts."
Candace smiled wanly. "Well, to be fair, you didn't exactly divulge all those facts beforehand," she said a little too sweetly.
Serena ground her teeth in an effort to keep the flip remark that was dancing on her tongue from escaping and making her situation worse. "I'm sorry about that, Mrs. Shields," she said with as much syrup in her voice as she could muster, "but I was more concerned with self-preservation than I was with your lack of information."
The sparks that flew between the two women were to make one's hair stand on end. Finally, Serena sighed tiredly and broke off the staring contest. "Look Mrs. Shields. We've all made mistakes when it came to Isabella and I'll be the first to admit that I'm one of them. All this blame that we're throwing at each other is getting us nowhere and is just going to make it harder for Isabella when she grows older. Can't we just call a truce or something?"
Candace nodded her head and gave her a tiny-albeit tight-smile. "Yes, a truce is a great idea." She offered her hand to Serena who shook it lightly. "For starters, why don't you call me Candace again?"
"Uh sure...Candace." Serena had a feeling that this 'truce' would be harder than she thought. She still harboured feelings of resentment towards Candace and actually wasn't sure if she really wanted to patch things up with the woman who made her life miserable for the past few months. Still, a truce would be beneficial for her daughter in the long run. And if she was willing to become friends with Darien, who played a big part in her misery, why _not_ form a truce with his mother?
"It's going to take some time, isn't it Candace?" she asked softly.
Candace recognized this fact and agreed silently. Then, she stood up and prepared to leave the room, but first, stopped by the playpen to bid her granddaughter goodbye. She turned to Serena as a thought entered her mind just as she was about to open the door. "Not to pry or anything, but where do you and Darien stand?"
Serena's face flushed as she thought about waking up in his arms the night before and the breakfast they shared this morning. "We're just friends," she mumbled.
"'Just' friends? He loves you Serena..."
"Yes, just friends. I know that he loves me, but I'm just not sure I'm ready for anything more than that. He understands and is willing to wait." Candace stepped out into the hallway and turned to Serena again.
"Just don't make him wait too long, Serena. He's waited more than a year to be a part of your life, and your daughter's, don't make him wait some more." With that, Candace started down the hall, leaving Serena alone in her doorway, hopefully considering her words.
Serena entered her room and shut the door. She thought about Darien and how long he waited to be part of her family with Isabella. 'How much longer is Darien willing to wait for me?' she wondered. 'What happens if he can't wait any longer? Will I be happier to let him go now, so that he can find the happiness he's been waiting for with someone else? I'm so confused...'
She went to the playpen and picked Isabella up, cuddling her in her arms as she gazed out the window, watching the leaves fluttering in the early morning breeze. As if sensing her mother's mental anguish, Isabella squirmed to get her attention, then flashed a wide toothless grin, blinking adorably as only babies know how to do and tried to stuff her tiny fist in her mouth. Serena laughed, releasing all the tension that had built up since she woke up this morning, and kissed Isabella's cheeks until she squealed.
Once they sobered up, Serena once again stared out the window and wished for simpler times when she and Darien were happy. 'I think the most important question is, would _I_ be happy if he found love with another woman?' Unknowingly, a tear slipped out of her eye and landed on Isabella's nose, causing the slightly affronted baby to utter a string of nonsensical babbles. Serena kissed her head absentmindedly, taking the time to softly say a quick, "sorry baby," before lapsing back into her private thoughts.
"Oh mom, I wish you were still here with us. I really need your advice."
*************************
Early that evening, Serena strapped Isabella to her stroller and was preparing to take her on a walk around the gardens when she heard someone call her name. She turned around and saw Walter dashing through the French doors and onto the deck where they were waiting.
"Phew girlie, I thought you'd leave without me!" Walter bent over at the waist and placed his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Serena reached out and gave him a few whacks on the back, trying to keep the smile off her face.
"I'm fine now, girlie. I'm out of breath, not choking, so you can stop with the hitting." Walter stood up to full height and smiled when he saw Isabella in her stroller, a bucket hat squashing her curls and star-shaped yellow sunglasses over her little face. Upon seeing her grandfather, she smiled widely and clapped her hands. He kissed her upturned face and patted her on the head fondly.
"What can I do for you, Walter?" Serena asked. Walter started making funny faces at Isabella, making her shriek with glee.
"Where're you two headed?" he asked, not taking his eyes away from his granddaughter.
"I was just taking Isabella for a tour of the rose garden, then maybe I'll bring her to the park and let her play on the swings. She's been cooped up all week," she explained.
"Mind if I tag along?"
"No problem. Can you help me get the stroller down the steps?" Walter nodded and lifted the bottom end as Serena held onto the handles. Together, they lifted Isabella like a queen on a covered chaise. They placed her down gently and proceeded on their walk toward the gardens.
"I sure am glad I got this stroller," Serena said, gesturing to the big, all-terrain rubber wheels propelling the stroller forth on the thick carpet of grass.
Walter looked at them thoughtfully and nodded his head. "Yes, it's kind of like the SUV of strollers, huh?" he joked.
"More like monster trucks." They chuckled at their little joke and laughed even harder when Isabella joined in when she felt left out of the loop. They walked around the garden in silence, with Walter looking like he had something to say but didn't know how to say it and Serena pointing out the various flowers to her daughter, who was quite impressed at the array of colour spread out before her, all the while knowing that Walter had something on his mind and she had a feeling she knew what it was.
"Is there something you wanted to talk about, Walter?" she asked wryly. Walter practically sighed with relief, as he had been wondering how to broach such a difficult topic with her.
"Uh, that is...I just, hmm..." Walter stammered. Serena hid a grin and looked into his eyes.
"Is this about last night?" she deadpanned.
Walter nodded. "Why didn't you ever tell me about that?"
Serena shrugged and looked away. "No offense Walter, but I hardly knew you when I came here to live the first time."
"What about now? I thought we had become friends," the injured tone in his
voice made Serena inwardly cringe with guilt.
"Of course we're friends but it's just something that I wanted to keep to myself. I don't go around telling everyone I meet that I was molested at such a young age and then raped. Even my own mother didn't know until I attempted to commit suicide." Serena gripped the stroller handles tighter until her knuckles turned white.
"Why did you keep it in for so long before you told her?" Walter asked. Serena stopped pushing the stroller when they got to a stone bench. She sat down and took Isabella out of the stroller, holding her in her lap.
"I didn't want her to blame me for my father's death and I also didn't want her to blame herself for what happened to me. So I kept everything bottled up until I couldn't take it anymore and I thought that the only way to escape was to swallow a whole bottle of sleeping pills. I remember regretting what I had done after I took the medicine but it was too late and I started to black out. Luckily, my mom came home a few minutes later and found me. When I opened my eyes and saw the white ceiling of my hospital room, I thought that I was in heaven and started to cry," she said softly, almost as if she seeing it happen right in front of her and she was giving Walter a play-by-play account of it.
"Why?" Walter whispered his question, not wanting to break Serena out of her trance-like mood.
"Because I wanted to go back and apologize to my mother and brother for leaving them. I wanted to tell them what made me the kind of person they had to deal with after my father died. I didn't want them to think that they did something to cause my suicide." Serena wiped away the lone tear that coursed down her cheek and gave Walter a watery smile.
He enveloped her and Isabella in a hug similar to the one he gave Serena the night before. "I'm so sorry that you had to go through that, girlie, but you're so strong. You're so strong," he murmured in her ear. "It's no wonder that you didn't want to stay here the year before. You got used to thinking that you could handle everything-including your pregnancy and motherhood-alone, that you didn't need anyone, most especially the one who hurt you in the first place. But I think you should know that Darien would never knowingly hurt you, girlie."
Serena laughed against his shirt and peered up at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh yeah?" she countered.
"Ok, he did hurt you these past few months but look at it from his point of view. He lost a child that he never knew he had, then when he finally learns about her existence-not from her mother, by the way, but from his father-he sees this six-month old child that doesn't know who he is. He missed out on everything, including her birth. He was just trying to inflict the kind of pain your leaving did to him. Immature yes, but valid nonetheless." Serena sat up, her cheeks lightly stained with pink.
"I messed up, didn't I?" she asked him meekly. He nodded soberly and her blush deepened. "But he messed up first!" she cried defensively.
"That he did but he didn't do it on purpose. You knew you were pregnant with his child and left without telling him. That's not to say that I don't empathize with you for leaving but you've gotta see where Darien's coming from," Walter explained gently.
"I do!" Serena cried despairingly. Isabella jumped at the sudden noise and patted her mother's neck. Serena smiled and set her back into the stroller where she could play with Loopy. "Don't you think I know that? I see it every time I look into his eyes-the hurt, the betrayal and the hate. I could stand everything else except for that!" she hissed.
"He never hated you," Walter soothed.
"Yes he did! Maybe he still does, I don't know..."
Walter looked her in the eye. "Do you really believe that, after everything he's told you?" he asked sternly.
Serena cowered under the intensity of his gaze and shook her head. "No...but he should. I've done a terrible thing to him and I can't believe he forgave me for it."
Walter rolled his eyes at the woman beside him. "Face it girlie, you two are made for each other. Speaking of which, where are you two now?"
"We're not anywhere. We're just friends," she said firmly. Walter raised his eyebrow at her.
"Friends who happen to have a daughter together. You know he loves you, right?" Serena nodded silently. "He was absolutely miserable when you left. I don't think he's ever gone out with a single woman in that time and for Darien, that's a record." Serena laughed lightly.
"You don't know that, Walter..."
"And here I thought you knew me so well. Don't you know that I know everything?" he asked loftily. Serena just shook her head disbelievingly and stood up.
"We're just friends, Walter. I'm not ready to get into a romantic relationship with Darien, especially since we never had one before I left."
Walter stood up himself, albeit more slowly, and eased the kinks in his joints. "But you _are_ open to them, right? Eventually, you'll be ready?" He heard his knee crack and groaned. "You are so lucky to be still so young."
"I don't know if I'll ever be ready, Walter. I'm not holding Darien to any promises. We're just friends," she repeated firmly. "Just friends."
"Just friends...for now," Walter added. Serena rolled her eyes and walked off, leaving him standing by the bench. He glanced at his watch and realized that Darien should be home in about ten minutes. If he timed this right, he could....
"I'm sorry, what was that girlie?" he asked when he heard Serena's voice calling his name repeatedly.
"I asked you if you wanted to go to the park with us."
"Oh! Sure! Well then, let's go." Serena threw him an odd look, which he pretended to not notice, and followed her in the direction that would lead them to the front of the house.
As they walked, Walter kept glancing at his watch to the point where it was starting to bother Serena. "Is there something I'm keeping you from, Walter?" she asked a little irritably.
Walter swallowed nervously and saw there were only about two minutes left before Darien usually got home. "Uh, well...there's this thing on TV with that crazy Australian man who likes to catch crocodiles and snakes with his wife..." he replied lamely.
"Go," she said resignedly and smiled when his face lit up almost triumphantly. She shook her head fondly at the old man, who was rushing up the front steps, eager to watch his favourite program.
She had just made her way to the end of the driveway when a sleek, red convertible pulled in, its driver being none other than Darien. 'Crocodile Hunter, my ass,' Serena thought. 'So that was his little game.' Serena rolled her eyes at the transparency of Walter's plan.
"Hey ladies," Darien said, peering at them over his sunglasses, "where ya headed?"
"To the park, right sweetie?" Isabella swung her legs happily in reply. Serena hesitated. "Er...wanna come?" she asked tentatively. Darien's face lit up and he unbuckled his seatbelt quickly, hopping out of his car with practiced ease.
He joined them on the sidewalk and they began to head for the park, only four blocks away. Isabella was keeping a tight grip on Loopy; occasionally letting loose a laugh or a shriek when something struck her funny. Darien smiled indulgently at her and turned to Serena. "She really likes that doll, huh?"
"I guess so," she replied lightly. "I've had that doll since I was three and I took her everywhere with me. My father named her Loopy because of her hair and the name just stuck. Of course, Sammy used to tease me mercilessly about her but when I started to tease him back about Mr. Hugginkiss, his favourite stuffed bear, I noticed a strange silence coming from him. From then on, all I had to do was threaten to tell his friends about Mr. Hugginkiss and he would be begging me to stop." They shared a laugh before another bout of silence settled over them. Thankfully, they were already at the park.
"So, where to?" Darien asked, surveying the park with the air of an explorer in the New World. Serena pointed to the playground, which featured rides for not only the older children, but also the smaller ones. Serena pushed the stroller along the sand until they reached the baby swings.
"You want to ride this, honey?" she asked. Isabella's eyes grew wide as she took in the sight of the swings, her favourite feature in the playground. Grinning at the look on her face, Darien lifted Isabella and placed her gently in the swing, but not before lifting her high above his head and bringing her down quickly, causing her to emit a series of high pitched squeals that made their ears hurt, in turn earning Darien a piercing glare from Serena and a stern lecture on the dangers of doing such things.
"Yes, mom," Darien replied unrepentantly. Serena rolled her eyes and began pushing Isabella gently. When Isabella got bored with the swings after a few minutes, Serena and Darien took her to the tiny slide. She giggled uncontrollably when her father went down the slide with her cradled on his lap and her mother catching them at the end. Her mom and dad took turns going down the slide with her until they protested that they were too tired to go on any more. She was about to cry when she noticed the teeter-totter and immediately turned in its direction, only to be reigned in by her mother.
"Where do you want to go, sweet pea?" Serena turned around and saw the teeter-totter that her fickle daughter wanted to try next. Isabella could do nothing but stare at it open-mouthed. Serena laughed at the seeming awe on her face and grinned at Darien. "C'mon _daddy_, she wants to go on the teeter-totter."
Darien, who had been sitting on the bottom of the slide, pretended to groan and let himself be hauled to his feet by Serena. He followed them to the teeter-totter with a stupid grin on his face and watched as Serena and Isabella sat down on the lower end, waiting for him to get on. Apparently, he was taking too long in getting over there, because Isabella shrieked with impatience. Darien looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Now listen here, young lady. Your old man isn't as young as he used to be so you have to learn to take it easy on him, ok?" he asked, with a mock sternness to his voice and tapped her nose lightly for emphasis. He got a raspberry in response.
He went to his end of the teeter-totter, muttering to himself about disrespectful kids these days and got on, raising Serena and Isabella all the way to the top. He grinned as he watched Serena squirming in her seat, holding onto Isabella tightly with one hand and the handlebar with the other, trying to bring their end down.
"Darien!" she cried, dangling her legs in frustration. Isabella offered her own squeak of protest. "I can't get down! You're too heavy!"
Darien laughed playfully and slowly got up to bring them down. Serena hopped off when she got to the ground, letting Darien get smacked in the rear end by the teeter-totter. "Hey!" he protested, throwing Serena a playful grin, who gave him one in return.
"I have to check on Isabella's diaper. I'm feeling something kinda questionable in this little girl's tushie." They pushed the stroller to a nearby bench; Darien grabbing the diaper bag and Serena spreading a blanket out before laying her daughter upon it. Serena lifted Isabella's dress and peered into her diaper, before drawing back with a sour look on her face.
Isabella giggled at the giant's silliness.
Darien passed Serena a clean diaper and a wipe, glad that he wasn't on the receiving end. In the time that Isabella had come into his life, he had only changed handful of diapers, all of which were not as...dirty, as the ones Serena always changed. He snapped back to attention when Serena began waving the foul-smelling diaper in his face.
"Oi! That smells like a compost heap! What'd you feed her today?" he asked, pinching his nose delicately with his thumb and forefinger, much to Serena's amusement. She waved the diaper pointedly in his face until he finally snatched it from her and threw it into the nearest garbage can. Unfortunately, he missed, causing the diaper to open, revealing its soiled contents for the world to see. He cursed his dumb luck and turned away from the garbage can with the full intention of ignoring it until it 'went away'.
"Darien!"
He winced at the force Serena put in her voice. He looked at her meekly and rose from the bench to pick up the diaper gingerly from the ground and hurriedly-but carefully-tossed it into the garbage can. Darien breathed a sigh of relief when it went in without a hitch.
He returned to the bench to face a smug-looking Serena, who had by that time, changed Isabella into a fresh diaper and was busy strapping her in the stroller.
"I take it by the look on your face that you enjoyed that?" he drawled.
"You bet. You know, I don't think I've ever seen you change a diaper before. It's a miracle you managed to get away with it for this long," Serena commented. Darien's face paled slightly as he saw his days of pawning Isabella off to his mother or one of the maids whenever she needed a new diaper, coming to an end.
"I've changed some diapers..."
Serena cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest, tapping her foot on the ground. "Oh yeah?" she challenged.
"Well, maybe not as many as you..."
"You got that right. I've spoiled you long enough; next time Isabella needs a diaper change, you're doing it, got that?" she asked-no, commanded-authoritatively.
Darien nodded his head submissively and started pushing the stroller back home. Serena fairly skipped beside him, happy that she was able to once again able to joke around with Darien. Once they got to the house, Serena lifted Isabella out of her stroller and was preparing to take her upstairs when Darien stopped her.
"What is it, Darien?" she asked, heading back down the stairs.
"Where are you going? It's time for dinner," he said. Serena's face flushed and she looked down at the floor.
"I was just going to get a bite to eat later when everybody's finished," she softly replied, not looking up. Darien tilted her chin upwards and forced her to look into his eyes.
"Serena, I'd really like it if you and Isabella could join us for dinner tonight," he said. "C'mon Serena, how can we be a family if we keep avoiding this stuff?" Serena tried to look away, but he kept his gentle hold of her.
"I don't know, Darien..."
"Trust me, Serena," he replied softly. She looked into his eyes, shining with genuine concern...and love? Finally, she nodded and allowed herself to be led by Darien, who had taken Isabella from her arms, to the dining room. She followed them nervously, biting her lip all the way.
At the dining room door, Darien paused. "You ready?" He pushed open the door when she nodded. Serena hadn't stepped foot in this room ever since her first evening back and Candace bared her claws. She peered into the room from behind Darien and saw that Candace and Walter were already seated. They looked up expectantly when the door opened, and smiled-Walter's was a huge grin and Candace's a wary but seemingly sincere one.
"Oh good, you're back. We've been waiting for you three. Have a seat," Candace said, looking at Serena and motioning for her to sit down. Serena took a deep breath and gave her a tiny smile before sitting.
"Hi..."
*****************************
It was a week later and things were looking up for Serena. She had eaten all her meals with the Shields', got along better with the staff and was well on her way to re-forging her old friendship with Darien, which was what led her to make a decision to call her Aunt Celeste that day.
"Hello," Celeste said as she answered the phone.
Serena smiled as she once again heard her that familiar voice. "Hi, remember me?"
"Serena!" Celeste exclaimed. "How are you?"
"I'm good. How're the wedding plans?" Serena was positive her aunt was grinning from ear to ear now that they were about to discuss her favourite subject.
"I'm SOOO excited!" she squealed like the schoolgirl she felt she still was.
"Wait till you hear where it's going to take place!"
Celeste's excitement proved to be contagious for Serena felt herself leaning back on her bed and smiling into the phone. "Uh...I give up, where?"
"Casa Loma!"
Serena's eyes shot open and almost dropped the phone in her surprise. "No way! That place has, like, a six-month waiting list! How'd you manage to swing that?"
Celeste laughed over the phone. "Robert's friend is the curator of the place so he helped 'bump' us up to Valentine's Day."
"But...but, that's Valentine's Day. I'm sure that another couple had that day reserved beforehand," she protested.
"Well...you see, his friend told the couple that Casa Loma had to be closed for renovations and gave it to us," Celeste replied in one breath.
"Aunt Celeste! That's terrible! How could you do that to someone's wedding?" Serena cried. She could practically hear Celeste squirming with guilt.
"Well, Robert's friend promised them that they could get married the week after, half off," she replied meekly. "Anyway, this is _my_ wedding and I've been waiting all my life for this moment. They said they were fine with it, so why should I feel guilty? I have a feeling that they're happier with the discount than they are about marrying each other. I caught the bride-to-be checking out Robert's friend."
Serena laughed and they made small-talk for a while until Serena felt it was time to get to the point of her call. "Uh, Aunt Celeste, can I ask you a question about the wedding?"
"Sure sweetie, what is it?"
"Uh...am I allowed to bring someone?"
"You'd better bring Isabella with you or else don't even bother coming back! I've missed my little angel ever since you two left," Celeste said.
"Er...of course I'm bringing the baby. I just meant, could I _bring_ someone?" Serena's face turned bright red all of a sudden and she put a hand to her cheek in an effort to stop it.
"Ohh, you wanted to bring a date?" Serena turned redder.
"Well, no...it's not a date. I mean, he doesn't even know about the wedding yet but I just wanted to know in advance if I could bring someone before I even asked him."
"Well, who is it?"
Serena bit her lip nervously before answering. "Darien," she whispered, shutting her eyes quickly and holding the phone away from her ear, expecting her aunt to blow up at her.
"Sure you can bring him." Serena opened one eye in shock and then the other. She put the phone back to her ear and made sure she heard right.
"Aunt Celeste?"
"Yes Serena?"
"Are you alright?"
"Of course I am dear. Actually, I was expecting you to want to invite him so I gave him a spot at your table." Serena stifled a gasp of surprise. "Now, may I ask _you_ a question?"
"S-sure."
"Why have you been lying to us about how you were being treated over there?" At this, Serena really did gasp.
"What are you talking about, Aunt Celeste?" she asked, trying to play innocent.
Celeste sighed over the phone. "There's no use hiding this from me. We-your brother, Raye and Justin and even Amy and Zach-all know what you've been going through in that house. Why haven't you told me this before, instead of feeding us all these lies?"
Serena drew in a shaky breath. It was time to come clean. "I just didn't want to worry you needlessly. You've got a wedding to plan for, Sammy's got his career, Amy's got her new marriage and Raye's got her family. I didn't want to add my problems on top of yours."
"Now listen here, Serena. Your troubles are our troubles too. We're all family here and we've gotta stick together. How's everything going now?"
"Everything's better now-really. I'm not lying this time. Darien and I have become friends again, I'm getting along better with everyone and Candace and I have started a truce," she replied. "Darien and I have agreed to try to work at being a family with Isabella and that's why I've decided to bring him along with us for the wedding. Plus, Isabella would miss him terribly."
"So are you going to get married?" Serena blushed again.
"No, Aunt Celeste, we're just friends," she said. This was getting old. Suddenly, a thought struck her. "Hey, wait a minute. How did you find out?"
Celeste chuckled. "How do you think? Darien himself called all of us and told us the truth. He confessed that he overheard you lying to us about your relationship with him and apologized for making you do that."
Serena was shocked. "He-he did that?" she asked.
"Yeah. You should've seen your brother when he got home from work. Apparently, Darien had called him up at the office and told him everything. Sammy was about ready to go over there himself to haul you _and_ Isabella back home but I somehow managed to talk him out of it. He really does love you, you know," she finished.
"..." Serena was speechless. She couldn't find the words to express the shock she felt.
"It takes a big man to realize when he's wrong and it takes an even bigger man to apologize for it. That night, Raye and her family, Sammy and I talked with Amy over the phone and decided that we wouldn't bring up the subject until we saw that you were ready," Celeste explained.
"And you thought I was ready now," Serena concluded.
"Well, yes. You wouldn't be inviting Darien along if you didn't at least want a friendship with him."
"Thanks for telling me this, Aunt Celeste, but I've gotta go," she said, hanging up without another word. She stared blankly at the phone for a while before slipping into her most business-like pair of pants and a white Oxford shirt. Then she hurriedly went into Isabella's nursery and scooped her up.
"C'mon sweet pea. We're gonna see daddy." Isabella beamed at the mention of her father and allowed her mother to put a white straw hat with a pink daisy on it and her yellow star sunglasses. "Let's go."
************************
Serena reached Darien's office building forty-five minutes later, after having borrowed a car from Darien's collection. 'Damn traffic' she thought, carrying Isabella into the elevator and pushing the number for Darien's floor, ignoring the curious looks she got from the other passengers. Isabella flashed them all winning smiles and blinked prettily, fluttering her impossibly long eyelashes. The other passengers, mostly secretaries and receptionists coming back from their early lunch breaks, ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the sight of the pretty little girl with curly black hair.
Finally, the elevator stopped at Darien's floor and incidentally enough, all the women in the elevator got off with her. They rushed back to their desks, Serena thought, before their boss caught them away from their work. Serena walked boldly to the receptionist behind the desk, with Isabella in her arms, and waited until she finished her conversation over the phone headset. After a few minutes, the woman with long wavy brown hair and wire-rimmed glasses ended her conversation and turned to her with a look of thinly disguised disdain in her eyes.
"May I help you, miss?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and giving Serena the once-over. Serena stood up straight, letting this rude woman look over her all she wanted.
"Yes, I was wondering if I could speak with Mr. Darien Shields, please," she proclaimed with a regal air.
"Appointment?"
"Um, no I don't have an appointment but I'm sure if you just told him that a Serena Mathis wants to speak with him-"
"I'm sorry but without an appointment, I can't let you see him. Mr. Shields is a _very_ busy man as you may know. He's meeting with some prospective clients as we speak," the receptionist replied, turning away from Serena and looking at the computer screen in front of her. To Serena's annoyance, she clicked an icon, opened a Solitaire game window and started playing.
Serena bristled and shifted Isabella over to her hip. "Well then, I'll just sit here and wait," she said. At this, the woman turned away from her game and sighed in annoyance.
"Look lady, I already told you, Mr. Shields can't see you without an appointment. He only sees _important_ people," she replied.
Serena slammed her hand on her desk and leaned over her dangerously. "Just. Tell. Him. Serena. Mathis. Is. Here," she bit out, her patience running out.
"If you don't leave now, I'm gonna call security on you." Seeing that Serena had sat herself down in one of the seats, the receptionist pressed a button and started talking softly into her headset. After a moment, she smiled triumphantly. "They're on their way."
Serena shrugged flippantly and glared at her. "Bring them on."
About a minute later, the elevator chime rang and the doors slid open, revealing two burly men in security guard uniforms. "Ma'am, I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to leave," one of them said, gripping her by the elbow and trying to help her up.
"If you just listen to me, I know Darien! I just want to speak with him!" Serena cried.
"A lot of people want to see Mr. Shields but they book appointments first. Please come with us peacefully and no one gets hurt," the other one put in. Serena glared at them.
"What're you expecting me to do? Gun you down? I have a _baby_ with me for God's sakes and if you lay one hand on her, I swear to God I'm gonna be your worse nightmare," Serena said emphatically.
The men stiffened and put their hands to their holsters. "Is that a threat, ma'am?"
Serena rolled her eyes and stared at them in disbelief. "What are you talking about? I only come to about a third of your body weight and you're about to draw your guns on me? Get a grip Butch Cassidy and the Sun-dunce Kid. I'm no more a threat to you than this baby is."
"I'm afraid that you're going to have to come with us." The two men flanked her and grabbed her by the elbows.
"Get your hands off me!" she yelled. "Why can't you just call Darien and ask him to straighten this out?" One of the men tightened his grip on her arm and she cried out in pain. "Stop it, you're hurting me!"
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" Darien's voice bounced off the marble floor, making it louder than it really was. Behind him, three Asian men in suits looked on curiously.
"We've got the situation under control, Mr. Shields. She kept insisting that she knew you and wouldn't leave until we were called," the man who hurt Serena replied.
Darien's eyes narrowed dangerously, making him look more intimidating than usual. The guards and the receptionist cowered in fear-maybe the girl _was_ telling the truth after all.
"That's because I _do_ know her," he said in a low voice. The men on either side of Serena instantly let her go and began their apologies. Darien listened to none of it and went to Serena and his daughter. "Are you ok? Did they hurt you?" he asked worriedly. Then he began inspecting her arms, glaring at the guards when he spotted the makings of a nasty looking bruise in the shape of fingers.
"I'm fine, Darien. It was all just a misunderstanding, that's all." To her surprise, and to the others watching, Darien breathed a sigh of relief and gave her a tender kiss on the forehead. Serena blushed but didn't pull away.
"I'm glad." Then, Isabella cooed, getting Darien's attention. "How's daddy's little girl?" Taking Isabella from Serena, Darien raised her high over his head and blew on her stomach, much to her delight. "How's my little girl?"
Behind them, they heard an audible gasp coming from the receptionist who sat at her desk, her face ashen. Darien turned to her and glowered. "Are you responsible for this Ms. Olinite*?"
Ms. Olinite, better known to her friends and family as Kaye, nodded and gulped nervously. She turned to Serena with a look of panic on her face and tried to appeal to her sympathy. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know she was your daughter's nanny," she stammered. Any sympathy Serena had for her had gone out the window with her comment.
Frustrated, Serena threw her hands up in the air and fumed. "Why does everybody think I'm the nanny?" She whirled around and faced Kaye. "Let me tell you something, Ms. 'He-only-sees-important-people,' I'm NOT his hired nanny, I'm the MOTHER of his child. If you had just done what I told you to do in the first place and called Darien for me, your ass would've been saved and this never would've happened!"
Kaye paled as she realized her mistake. "I'm really sorry Ms.-"
"Mathis," Serena snapped. Kaye nodded hurriedly.
"Ms. Mathis. I didn't know who you were. We don't usually get unannounced visitors here and-"
"Pack up your stuff. I want you gone by the end of the day," Darien cut in. Kaye nodded, blinking back her tears.
Serena took in her distraught form and finally felt pity spark belatedly in her heart. "Darien, don't," she said wearily. "She didn't know who I was. She was just doing her job; they all were."
Darien surveyed his three guilty employees with narrowed eyes. "Alright. You can stay, Ms. Olinite. You guys too. But I want you to memorize her face and know it well. Ms. Mathis is not to be harassed when she comes in this building. She is allowed to come and go as she pleases. If I am in a meeting or am otherwise busy, then you, Ms. Olinite, are to direct her to my office and tell her to wait there. If ANY of you touches my daughter or her mother ever again, your heads, as well as your jobs, will be mine, got that?"
The three nodded their heads meekly and were dismissed by a wave of Darien's hand. He waited until the guards left and Kaye was behind her desk before he turned to Serena. "Are you sure you're ok?" he fussed. "They didn't hurt Isabella, did they?"
Serena shook her head. "No, I made sure of that." Darien breathed a sigh of relief and kissed Isabella on her hand.
"I'm glad. So, what brings you two by?" he asked.
"I just wanted to have a talk. Are you free?"
"Uh oh. Why do I get the feeling that I did something wrong?" Darien said worriedly. Serena smiled, reassuring him that wasn't the case and he felt the anxiety lift from his chest.
"I just wanted to ask you about some things, that's all," she said. Before she could say anymore, the three men who were observing the previous display walked up to them.
"Ah, Darien, you did not tell us that you were a family man," a man with brown hair slicked back into a ponytail that ended just below his shoulder. Serena noticed a slight resemblance between the three men, leading her to believe that they were somehow related.
"Oh yes," Darien had almost forgotten about them. "Serena Mathis, meet Seiya Kou and his brothers Yaten and Taiki. Serena, the Kou brothers own the second largest audio equipment manufacturing company in Asia. I'm sure you've heard of StarLights Technology?" Serena nodded and smiled at the men politely. "And this gentlemen, is our daughter, Isabella." Darien showed her off proudly while Serena noticed that Kaye was watching them with keen interest from behind her file folder.
The man with light brown hair streaked with gray-Yaten, she believed he was-stepped forward and smiled at Serena. "Yes, we are from Japan and are interested in developing a deal with Shields Financial. You are baby's mother?" he asked in halting English.
"Yes I am. Are all of you married?" Serena took Isabella back from Darien and jiggled her a bit, producing a series of giggles from the child.
"Ah yes, but they stay back in Japan. We are all going to Catalina Island this weekend to relax and how you say, hammer out deal?" spoke up the other brother, Taiki.
"I've heard that's a wonderful place. I've always wanted to visit it myself for the day but I've never had the time," Serena said. "I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time."
Seiya snapped his fingers excitedly. "Why you not come with us? We leave Friday morning, come back Sunday evening. What you say? You come?"
"Uh, Darien?" she asked.
Darien put his hands on her shoulders and bent his head so that he was staring directly into her eyes. "Only if you want to, Serena. No pressure here."
"But what about your deal?" she asked.
Darien shook his head dismissively. "The deal's pretty much done. We're just using it as an excuse to have a mini-vacation close to home. We're staying in Avalon, a tiny city on the island in a hotel. Us men will work out the deal for a few hours in the morning and adjourn for the day after lunch so we can go see the sights while it's still light out. So what do you think?"
"Are you sure I won't be in the way?" she pressed.
Darien shook his head. He could see the gears turning in her head, calculating her options. "We'll be done with business before you get too bored."
"Ok! Sounds like fun. How will we get there?" she asked excitedly. She had always wanted to go visit the idyllic island that was only a few miles out to sea from LA but never had the time or the company.
"We're taking my boat there," Darien replied. Serena's eyes shone with anticipation.
"Cool!" she exclaimed. "I can't wait." The men laughed at her enthusiasm.
"If you two will excuse us," Yaten said, "but we have other business to attend to. Gotta buy presents for our wives and children," he winked.
"So, you wanna go to lunch or something?" Darien asked. Serena glanced at her watch just as her stomach growled, much to her embarrassment. "I take it that means yes." So hand in hand, Darien and Serena went to the bank of elevators, waiting patiently for one to take them down to the main floor. Once they were gone, Kaye dialed a number, tapping a red acrylic nail impatiently on her desk.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Shields' office. How may I help you?"
"Val! You'll never what I found out about our favourite bachelor!" Kaye exclaimed. "Hold on, let me put this on conferencing with Natalie..."
****************************
Darien squirmed uncomfortably in the hard plastic seat and scowled when a group of boys, ranging in ages between five and eight, came crashing through the doors from the play area, followed by two harried women, obviously their mothers. "Uh Serena? Are you sure this was where you wanted to go eat? We can still go to that little café I was telling you about..."
"Oh Darien, Mc Donald's is fine. I've been hankering for a Big Mac for the longest time, and besides, I wanted to get the latest Disney toy for my-er, Isabella's-collection," Serena said, dipping a French fry into her barbecue sauce. Darien wrinkled his nose a little disdainfully and dipped his fry into a container of mayonnaise. "That's nasty, Darien."
"Oh? And I suppose barbecue sauce is the accepted norm?" he teased. Serena stuck her tongue out at him and dipped another fry into her sauce just to spite him. "So what did you want to ask me about?"
Serena wiped Isabella's sticky mouth before answering. "Why did you call my family and friends and tell them what happened?" she asked bluntly.
Darien sucked in a breath. "I asked them not to say anything about that."
"So..." she prompted.
"I wanted to tell them that I was sorry for making you feel like you had to lie to them. I don't know...I guess it felt like the right thing to do. I wanted to start over with them because I know I didn't make a good impression the last time I saw them," Darien explained, feeling rather self-conscious.
"Thank you, Darien. You don't know how much that meant to me," Serena whispered. "I'm so happy you made that first step in mending fences with my family. How did they take it?"
"Sammy was understandably suspicious, as was Justin but Celeste, Amy and Raye were grudgingly forgiving," Darien answered. "Was there something else you wanted to discuss?"
Serena smiled from ear to ear. "I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to come with me and Isabella to Toronto for Aunt Isabella's wedding in February. Please say you'll come with us," she pleaded.
Darien bit his lip thoughtfully. "I don't know, Serena...what about your aunt?"
"I've already cleared it with her this morning. She says that she was expecting me to ask her about you coming ever since she got your phone call." Serena paused to give Isabella another spoonful of her mashed bananas.
"What about Sammy? I'm sure he won't be too thrilled to have me along," Darien replied. He took a sip of his Coke and tickled Isabella's bare feet as they dangled from the high chair.
Serena rolled her eyes at the mention of her overprotective brother. "Let him be mad. It's my life and I get to choose who my friends are," she scoffed.
"Please Darien? Her wedding is scheduled for Valentine's Day, but I have to be there at least a week before the big day to help with any last-minute preparations and to get my dress fitted. Then, after the wedding, we could stay another week and I could show you around town." She looked at him hopefully.
Darien wrinkled his forehead as he tried to envision what his schedule would look like in February. "You're planning on leaving a week before Valentine's Day and staying there another week, right?" Seeing her nodding, he continued. "Well, I have a big meeting scheduled with some clients that took three months to plan the week before so how bout this; you and Isabella fly to Toronto the week before and I'll come join you two before the wedding?"
Serena's eyes lit up. "Really? You'll come?" she asked. "Wait till you see where the wedding's gonna take place. It's a small castle built in the early nineteen hundreds by a man who wanted to give his bride a beautiful gift for their wedding. Unfortunately, she died during construction and he never had the heart to finish it after that. The castle went to ruins over the decades until a historical society or something like that, decided to restore it and turn it into a museum of their life and the period it was built. It's called Casa Loma and it's right in the middle of downtown Toronto," she said dreamily.
Darien cocked an eyebrow. "Your aunt wants her wedding to take place in a museum?" he asked. Serena shot him a look of annoyance and continued.
"It's not just a museum, Darien! The wedding will take place in the conservatory and the reception will be held in the ballroom, I think. I saw a wedding there on TV once and, while I thought the bride looked prettier than the groom, the place was absolutely gorgeous! I'm so glad that she managed to get that place because there's a long waiting list," she concluded at the same time as she stuffed the last bite of her burger into her mouth. She stared at the empty box her burger had come in thoughtfully. "Have you ever noticed that the layers in a Big Mac always shift so that the last bite is usually all bun or all meat? No matter how hard I try, it always ends up that way. I don't understand this phenomenon. They all start out on equal footing, then the middle bun starts to slide out and the rest goes to hell after that."
"Focus Serena," Darien said jokingly and chuckled when she pouted at him. "So it's settled then. You'll come with me this weekend to Catalina and I'll come join you in Toronto in February." He extended his hand out as if to seal the deal.
"It's a date," Serena said, taking his hand and shaking it firmly. Then she turned and spotted a familiar dark hair walk through the door. "Hey Trista, over here!" she called.
Darien groaned inwardly as Trista turned her head to see who was calling her, the blood rushing from her face as she laid her eyes upon them. Serena was waving her over, oblivious to Trista's pale face and Darien's discomfort. As soon as Trista was close to the table, Serena jumped from her seat and enveloped her in a hug, which the other girl reluctantly returned.
"How are you, Trista? I haven't seen you in a while but I heard that your career is doing great," Serena gushed. Trista nodded weakly.
"Y-yes, I've just finished designing my latest collection a few weeks ago," she replied, carefully avoiding Serena's eyes. Suddenly, Isabella gurgled and banged her toy on the high chair tray. Serena's eyes lit up and Darien had to fight the groan working its way up his throat.
"I'm sorry, honey! Trista, I'd like you to meet our daughter, Isabella." Darien doubted Trista's face could get any paler but it did at the mention of Isabella.
"Y-your daughter?" she asked quietly. Serena nodded happily.
"Yep-long story-but the short version is that she's Darien's and my baby." Trista stared at Isabella intently.
"So you're married?" she asked. Serena had the grace to blush as she shook her head no. "H-how old?
"She just turned nine months old," Serena said proudly, then launched into one of her 'You should see what my daughter did the other day' stories.
Darien watched Trista's face as she realized that Serena had been pregnant the night of their encounter so long ago. She looked at him with a hurt expression and he nodded almost imperceptibly. Trista looked away and blinked back the tears.
"I'm sorry, Serena," she said, interrupting Serena's speech about the cuteness of Isabella, "but I've gotta order now. My boyfriend's waiting for me in the car."
Serena's eyes lit up. "Oh, what's his name?" she asked curiously.
"Michael Rubeus," Trista replied monotonously. At this, Serena's eyes grew to resemble saucers.
"_The_ Michael Rubeus? As in male supermodel Michael Rubeus?" she asked incredulously. She squealed as Trista nodded and pointed out the window to a car parked just outside. Sure enough, Michael Rubeus' trademark shock of red hair could be seen clearly through the windshield. Seeing that he had an audience, Michael waved weakly and turned away, pretending to be looking for something in the glove compartment. "Wow Trista, how'd you guys meet?"
Trista looked more uncomfortable in Darien's presence. "He was one of my models in a fashion show," she mumbled. Then, she straightened up and forced a smile on her face. "I really have to go now, Serena. Nice seeing you again, you two. Bye Isabella," she said as she hastily retreated from them to line up at the counter.
Serena looked at her strangely before sitting back down in her seat. "Is it just me or did she look like she was about to be shot in the head?" she asked Darien, who shrugged nonchalantly.
"Who knows?" he asked, avoiding her stare. "You know how temperamental those fashion types can be." He reached over to tickle Isabella's neck. "So, how's your apple pie?"
"Great!" Serena enthused, forgetting about Trista and her strange behaviour, as she took another bite. "You sure you don't want some?" she offered.
"No thanks, I'm fine." Darien watched Trista rush out the door and jump into her car. "I'm definitely fine with what I've got."
*************************
It was Sunday morning-almost time for lunch-and Serena was waiting for Darien to come back from his meeting with the three brothers. Their weekend was coming to a close; they would have to leave the island in a few hours if they wanted to be back in LA before nightfall. It had been a magical weekend and Darien had kept up his promise of wrapping up business before lunch. They toured the island like tourists, despite the fact that Darien had been there numerous times before and had even considered building a retreat here at one point before deciding that the French Riviera was a much better locale.
They-Serena, Isabella, Darien and the Kou brothers-set sail early Friday morning in Darien's boat. 'Boat,' Serena had scoffed when she first set her sights on the 100-foot yacht docked at the marina. It was closer to a cruise liner than the sailboat she pictured in her mind. Darien had it custom built about a year before he met Serena and had christened her 'Lady Serenity.' When Serena had pointed out to Darien that he had unknowingly named his yacht after her, all he could do was smile.
"I guess it was fate," he said lightly. In all this time, he had never made the connection between the name of his boat and Serena's real name until now.
'Maybe it _is_ fate.'
So now, Serena waited for Darien to come back to their two-bedroom suite so that they could spend their last few hours relaxing on the hotel grounds as a family. Just as she was about to get a glass of water from the fully functional kitchen, Darien walked into the room, looking tired but happy.
"How did the meeting go?" she asked as Darien flopped onto the couch and tossed off his shoes.
"Great. It's finally done. They've decided to invest with Shields Financial." He groaned and leaned back into the soft couch cushions.
"What's the matter, Darien?"
"I've got this killer headache. I think it's from all the work I've been putting into this deal," he explained, rubbing his temples.
"Here, let me," Serena said. She wordlessly hoisted Darien into a sitting position and sat behind him on the couch. Then she slowly started giving him a massage starting from his tense neck muscles all the way to the top of his head. Darien moaned as he felt her fingers running through his hair. Her light touch was starting to make him feel light-headed and he felt goose bumps rising on his arm.
"You're really good at this," he said, his voice raspy. Serena giggled nervously. She too, was beginning to feel the effects her massage was having on herself.
"That's my job, silly. It's my business to make people feel better." Darien moaned again, his headache slowly disappearing and being replaced with something else, something he hoped Serena wouldn't pick up on: arousal. He grit his teeth in an effort to control himself and was on the verge of excusing himself to go to the washroom and 'take care' of the problem when Serena announced that she was finished and quickly got up off the couch.
Serena walked away from Darien and busied herself with tidying the already clean living room. She hoped Darien didn't notice her red face or the fact that she was breathing rather heavily. During the massage, Serena felt herself getting more and more aroused, despite all her efforts to control herself. As she was running her fingers through his hair, she looked down at her t-shirt and noticed that her nipples were already getting hard. Stifling a gasp, she abruptly pulled away and practically flew off the couch.
After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, during which time Serena and Darien tried to get hold of themselves, Darien asked her what she would like to do before they went back to LA. Serena bit her lip, trying to think of an activity they could do that wouldn't be too tiring before their trip back.
"How about swimming?" she suggested. "We haven't gone for a swim yet and I just got Isabella the cutest little bathing suit." Darien nodded his head in agreement.
"Swimming it is," he said. "I'll just go to my room to change into my trunks and you ladies can go to your room to change into your suits." Serena agreed and both disappeared into their respective rooms to change.
A few minutes later-or rather, a few seconds for Darien, a few minutes for Serena-they emerged from their rooms in their swimsuits, ready for an afternoon of swimming. Darien, as usual, had on his black swim trunks that went down to his knees, showing off this six-pack beautifully. Serena had on a silver tankini; a healthy compromise between her regulation one-piece and the bikini Amy was pushing her to buy on their recent shopping trip. But Isabella had stolen the show with her swimsuit hands down. It was a pink one piece with a yellow ruffle around the waist and a big yellow duck on the front. Her swimming diaper puffed out adorably in the back, peeking out the sides, and around her upper arms were orange water wings. She looked so cute with her star sunglasses on that Serena couldn't help taking a picture of her and Darien before they left.
"She looks so adorable doesn't she, Darien?" Serena cooed. Darien ruffled Isabella's curly mop of black hair and kissed her shoulder.
"She sure does. I'm just glad she took after her mother instead of me," he replied. Serena raised her eyebrow and looked at him over her sunglasses.
"She looks more like you than she does me. Have you not _seen_ the black hair?" she asked. Isabella started pawing at her father's face, trying to get his attention.
"Now that you mention it, she _did_ inherit the Shields nose," Darien mused.
Serena rolled her eyes. "Yeah, perfect for sticking it high in the air," she teased. Darien growled playfully and chased her all the way to the pool, with Isabella shrieking in his ear the entire way.
Once they got there, they found that every available lounge chair was taken except for one so they hurriedly grabbed it before it was taken too. They piled their stuff on the chair and headed for the shallow end. Serena went in first, shivering as the shock of being immersed halfway in water hit her, and opened out her arms, enticing Darien and Isabella to come forward. Darien began walking into the water but as soon as Isabella's foot touched the water, she emitted another ear-piercing shriek and began trying to climb her father's chest.
"It's ok, baby. Daddy's got you," Darien whispered in her ear. Little by little, he lowered her into the water, lifting her up when she got too scared, until she was finally comfortable enough to have her entire body-head and all-quickly dipped into the water. Serena laughed when Darien lifted her from the water, sputtering and waving her chubby arms and legs angrily.
"My poor baby. What did daddy do to you, huh?" Serena said, taking Isabella into her arms. "Why don't we teach daddy a lesson?" Darien watched them with a smirk on his face, which was quickly wiped away when Serena splashed him with water.
"That was a dirty trick, Serena!" he exclaimed. Isabella, having been vindicated by her mother, clapped her hands enthusiastically. Darien narrowed his eyes at her and pretended to growl dangerously. Then he sent a little splash of his own to Serena, which also hit Isabella, much to her annoyance. Soon, a small water fight erupted between Serena and Isabella against Darien, with neither side having an obvious advantage because Isabella hampered Serena's efforts to get a good shot at Darien, who didn't want to splash Isabella. So, they settled for flicking their wet hands at each other. Though they both knew that made for a poor water fight, Serena and Darien had the time of their lives watching Isabella trying to get in on the action, although her arms didn't even reach the water's surface.
Finally, when their fingers and toes were sufficiently wrinkled, they left the pool for their lounge chair, hoping that another one was vacant but to their dismay and consternation, all chairs were still occupied. Darien offered to let Serena lay down with Isabella but she stubbornly refused, saying that she was perfectly fine sitting upright on the end.
"Are you sure?" Darien asked. He had been sufficiently taught that women tend to say one thing and mean another when it came to what they wanted.
Serena smiled. "Yes! Now go on and lay down so Isabella and I can have a seat."
And so, being the obedient male that he is, Darien did as he was told and lay down on the recliner. Finding it too low for his taste, he adjusted the back so that he was semi-upright. Serena watched him fussing over the chair with a smirk upon her face. "You done now?" she asked, cocking her eyebrow.
Darien scrunched up his face. "Yes, I'm done now," he replied mockingly. Serena sat down by his knees and turned to face him.
"This has been a really great weekend, Dare. I'm glad we went along," she said.
"Doesn't it suck that by this time tomorrow you'll be back in your power suit and up in that glass tower of yours, wrangling another deal for Shields Financial?"
Darien groaned. "Don't remind me. I think this is the first vacation I've taken in a year or so. My secretary goes on more holidays than I do!"
Serena, noticing that a cool breeze had blown in, opened up a towel and wrapped Isabella up in it. "At least you have something to do during the day. Between taking care of Isabella and cleaning my room, I have nothing else to do," she said. Darien tilted his head thoughtfully.
"Have you thought about going back?" he asked a little fearfully.
Serena shook her head. "Well, I've gotta admit that while we were still fighting, going back was all that I could think of. But now that we've decided to seriously get our act together and work at being a family, I've decided on putting off going back, at least for now. It's just that I get so bored during the days with nothing to do in that big house of yours. At least when I was there a year and a half ago I had your dad to take care of but now, he's healthy as a horse and stubborn as a mule."
Darien breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't said she was going back now, just that she wasn't happy being so alone all the time. He thought about her predicament. "Have you thought about finding a job here?"
Serena shook her head. "If I get a job, I'd have to leave Isabella here. I want something I could do from time to time and still be able to take care of Isabella."
"Like a hobby?" Darien asked. Serena nodded but then looked downcast. "What's the matter?"
"I don't have a hobby!" she exclaimed. Darien smiled at her pouting face.
"What about photography? I've seen Isabella's photo album and the pictures are all very well done. They look professional," he said gently. Serena looked at him with a hopeful gleam in her eye.
"You think so?" she asked in a small voice. Darien nodded then sat upright.
"Come here," he said, enveloping her in his arms. Serena's eyes widened in surprise as he began pulling her down with him.
"What're you doing, Darien?" she asked in a high-pitched voice. Darien didn't answer her as he settled back in his seat with Serena laying on her back on top of him and Isabella lying on _her_ chest.
"There. Doesn't that feel better?" he asked. He could feel Serena's whole body stiffen as her back hovered a few centimeters away from his body. Darien rubbed her arms gently, trying to get her to relax.
"Darien..." she protested weakly. Darien shushed her gently, his breath tickling her ear and giving her goose bumps.
"It's ok, Serena. Just relax," he whispered. Eventually, Serena did as she was told and let herself be eased into a more comfortable position on his chest. On top of her, Isabella had decided to take advantage of her position and readied herself for a well-deserved nap. She yawned, rubbing her face into her mother's chest and closed her eyes, shutting them away from the world.
The three of them lay there in silence, as if the whole world just stopped and only they were aware of it. To Darien and Serena, and even Isabella, time had stopped and only they existed. The swimmers in the pool vanished, the sun stopped moving in the sky and the hubbub around them faded to nothing.
Eventually, the spell was broken when Darien glanced at his watch and saw the time.
"Serena," he said softly, trying to hang onto the mood for just a while longer,
"it's time to get ready."
Serena moaned softly. "I don't want to go back," she replied, a thousand different meanings behind her words. Darien kissed the top of her head gently.
"Neither do I but we've gotta keep moving forward. Always forward," he said, catching her meaning, as she was sure he would.
"Forward," she repeated softly.
***********************
July 26, 2002
Wow, I got that done faster than I thought! Well, tell me what you think of this chapter. Review, review, review! This is probably the last update I'm going to do in a long while cuz I'm going on vacation for the whole month of August so I hope this tides you guys over until I get back! Thanks again for the reviews some of you have written and the emails that you've sent. They really do help to motivate me when I'm at my laziest (and trust me, I can be pretty lethargic). I'll see you in chapter 15 hopefully!
* this refers to Kaye Olinite's name. I didn't come up with that spelling; I think it was from Jason Ulloa's story called Seeing Stars that I first saw it. I just wanted to give credit where credit is due.
