Don't own, so don't sue.

Hurt Before

*Help Me*

*Show me the way

Show me, show me how

Help me be brave for love…*

The week passed and Serena was happily settled at her work. She had started great friendships with the colleagues that were of her age; these included Amy, Rei, Lita, and Mina. Her sunny personality had also caused Amara, Michelle, Andrew, and Damon to warm up to her. Even Trista—, who was seen as rather eccentric, was civil and behind that reserved tone there was respect and love, and something else that lead Serena to feel liked by Trista. She was intrigued by this female Shields, as she more than once had the feeling that there was a deeper meaning in Trista's respect towards her.

Trista, however was not the only one who interested her, there was the formers brother, Darien Shields. The only person who was unaffected by her personality, who still continued to spit out cutting remarks at her. Remarks which made her believe that she was falling in the abyss of unrequited love. And she could not avoid falling in love with that man. She felt it in the time the few times they had crushed into each other, when Serena got relapses of her clumsiness. There was tension between them, as if angels sang and a master plan was to be announced. Even though he was rude and against her most of the time, there were moments where she would notice that he did feel. Such moments were when he did little things like helping her with her seat belt, letting her pass first, helping her up from the floor when they collided, telling her where the right office was when she got lost. He was a mystery to her and she was eager to reach under that unfeeling mask that he put of for the world.

Without ever having talked about personal affairs to the older Shields, she came to know that Darien was once married to Rei, that they were married for two years, and that Rei had grown tired of his moodiness, so she packed her bags and left him. She learned of Trista's marriage to Damon, which had also ended, after four years, because Damon was unfaithful.

Then there were the happy couples; Mina and Andrew who were still so enamoured with each other that they could hardly keep their hands from each other. Amy, too, was married… to a college sweetheart. Rei and Lita were both seeing members of a relatively known alternative rock band. And from what she gathered Amara, Michelle, and Darien were presently single (Damon was dating a supermodel).

The weekend meant her things would finally be arriving, and that she was finally able to move into her apartment. But it also meant two days with Darien around, which made her heart flutter. Darien was to help her move in; this was his punishment for having scared the last secretary into resigning. Damon, his cousin who had given Darien this task didn't expect him to be so Darienish. The clueless man, expected his cousin to actually be nice to the new secretary— but he was greatly deceived.

As he had done throughout the week, he picked her up at eight o'clock sharp. This time she had her suitcases with her too, and was dressed in her jeans overall and a tank top. Darien, on the other hand, didn't seem to be dressed for work, in his casual slacks and shirt. They drove to her apartment in silence, and waited for the moving truck to arrive in… silence. The moving men liked her so much that they even helped her carrying the things to the third floor, her apartment.

The day passed by with Serena and Darien moving things into their rightful places in the apartment, and the only words uttered between them were instructions. By midday, however, they were finished. The bed, wardrobe, and nightstand were in the bedroom. The desk and shelves against the walls of the living room. Pillows, teddy-bears, books and pictures were still unpacked. And the clocks and stereo were on the floor.

"Oh, now that we've finished this," Serena chirped excitedly, "We can go to Ikea and buy some necessary furniture!"

"Ikea?" Darien repeated disbelievingly, and he saw Serena nod. "I will not be seen in Ikea," he said.

"Fine, then, Mister! You are dismissed!" she told him walking to the door to put of her shoes. She couldn't believe his arrogance! "I'll take the bus or something there."

"No you won't," Darien shouted at her, following her, sighing at the horror of spending a perfectly good afternoon at Ikea.

"Don't you even sigh," she growled at him, forgetting how scary he could become, "Double my pay check and we can go shop at expensive designer boutiques!"

"You wish," he told her nonchalantly.

"I don't," she told him, "I'm perfectly fine with Ikea furniture; you are the one with the problem."

Darien spent the whole afternoon following Serena around as she went shopping for chairs, a table, a couch, a coffee table, some more shelves for her books, and kitchen utensils, all of which would be arriving to her place the very next day around noon. Then after Ikea she forced him to pay a visit to the grocery store.

Serena bought food, cleaning chemicals, then, to Darien's embarrassment he followed to the part of the store where males usually try to stay away from. Serena chose, taking her time, among the brands of shampoos, shower gels, lotions, and such.

"Can't you hurry up?" he asked her pacing around.

"You don't need to stay," Serena answered him, disinterred in his concerns, "You can go if you want."

"Why do you have to stay here so long? Just grab a shampoo and go, they're all the same in content, it's just the name that differs," he scolded annoyed.

"Now, let's see, should I buy pads or tampons?" she asked coming up to him shoving both items in front of his face, to annoy him even more.

"How should I know that?" he yelled, going back a few steps trying to protect himself, blushing (anger or embarrassment not known), his horror written clearly on his face. The first time she could actually see emotion in his eyes, disgust. Serena laughed, putting the tampon box back in the shelf, taking another brand of pads starting to compare prices. She jokingly she continued to torment him, "Libresse or Always, what do you think? Hmmm?"

"You'll be the death of me," he told her, walking away from her, then stopping when he was about five meters away. He saw her drop a package of Always into the shopping bag. "You have no shame!"

"I don't see any reason to why I should be ashamed," she said, walking away from that scary shelf.

"I'm a man, you know, male," he explained to her angrily.

"Funny, you act like a boy to me," she muttered loud enough for him to hear. "But, anyway, your point is?"

"Keep your female things to yourself," he told her, "and if you ever pull one of those tricks again, you'll be out of a job."

Serena leaned her head to the left innocently, "Fired because I played a little with my boss's ego, Dad would have a laugh."

"Watch it," he told her sternly.

With that they finished shopping and drove back to Serena's apartment. He helped her carry the cases up, and put the food in the fridge, as Serena ran around placing things in her bathroom drawer, and in her room. When they finished, it was about six in the evening. Darien leaned against the wall, sighing with relief.

"This was the worst day in my life," he said out loud.

"That just shows how spoiled you are," Serena commented stretching her body, "How dare you say that when there are people in the world living in a nightmare everyday starving, or being killed, or infected with HIV?"

"Sufferings are relative, just because I am not likely to suffer so drastically does not mean that I'm not entitled to have a worst day," he told her gravely.

"Okay then," she shouted at him annoyed, "Why are you still here, then? You can go!"

It only took a couple of minutes before he was gone, leaving Serena wondering why Darien hated her so much. A though that remained with her as she ate from the cartons of Chinese food with she ordered just after he left. Well, she knew that her little joke at the store and pissed him off, but to her it seemed that he hated her generally, and she couldn't understand what she had done! Frustrating! Why did she feel as if she needed please everyone anyway? Did she really need everyone to like her? Grrrr.

The next day she started to unpack her mats and books before the new furniture arrived. The Ikea people were really friendly, and even went as far was to carry the boxes, chairs, and couch into her apartment. Then even put the couch in the living room for her. They couldn't stay much longer and she was all alone putting together the tables and shelves, but not for long because the dutiful Darien showed up. His intention was to tell her that his punishment was over, and to blow her off, but as he found her working hard on the floor putting together the kitchen table he felt his conscience urge him to stay.

So they were together again on Sunday, exchanging commands and irritated remarks at each other, putting together furniture. But when that was dome, and the shelves were all up against the walls, and the big table was in the kitchen, and the coffee table in front of the couch, Darien remained to help her unpack the rest of her books, pictures, fuzzy animals, and pillows, taking every opportunity to tell her that she was girly, a baby, and (although he never said it straight on, he implied) that she was stupid.

She was so used to his way of talking by now, that whatever he criticism he threw at her passed though one ear and went out through the other.  When the apartment finally looked somewhat finished, Serena ventured to speak to him in a friendly tone.

"I'm making pre-done lasagne heated in the oven instead of a microwave," she chirped going into her kitchenette, "You could eat here if you want."

"I've never had fabricated food before, so I guess I'll have to try it when I have the chance," he accepted, and Serena put the lasagne in the oven, then while waiting she lay the table, and tested how her stereo worked by putting one some pop station that Darien found very disagreeable to listen to. She switched the radio off when the food was done.

She watched Darien as he took his first bite.

"This is horrible," he told her gravely, "one might as well feed this to the pigs!"

"It tastes delicious to me," was Serena's comment.

"Well, I guess you grew up with this sort of food," he said meaning to offend her.

"At least I was lucky enough to not go hungry," she returned back at him, shrugging.

This made Darien smirk a little, and conversation ended for that day, for after 'dinner' Darien went away, much to Serena's relief. She was annoyed at him for dissing a perfectly good lasagne… That was the Christian in her talking.

Nyhahaha…

serena79: *turns into a chibi* Hey again! *bounce, bounce* I only do SandD stories… although I've done one Michiru+Haruka one a long time ago.

koldy: thanks!

aurora: *looks at you searching* you're not the Aurora that I know, are you? Anyway, Thanks.

Lady Tristana Rouge: here is another freshly baked chapter! Cool name by the way!

TheEvilManatee: thank you! *grin* me likes ur name, it's insanely cute!

SilverAngelFeathers: Wow, thanks for that compliment, you don't know what it means to me.

Fiy-chan: thank you *and here's another cute name that makes me turn into a chibi, just by trying to pronounce it!*

princess serenity: thank you, I will write more, don't worry *pat pat*. *puppy eyes* I can't help that the chapters are so short…sorrie…

Lara1786: hope I didn't leave you waiting for too long.

so, I hope there aren't too many mistakes on this one. I had to beta reader it myself this time, as my sis didn't do a good job with the last chapter, and she's still hang-overy and Darienish (heh, guess how I came up with Darien's personality? ^_^). anyway, commercial break: *I know it's a pathetic idea but, hey, I think it's fun* Ikea! Good Furniture and all! And best of all, it doesn't really hold for long, so it gives you a reason to go shopping for cool new things every season! I hope no one from Ikea is reading this...heh *sweatdrops*.