Diclaimers: don't own, don't sue.

So, here's another chapter... finally!

serena79: sorry it wasn't so soon… I had a philosophy essay to write… heh! That mumbo jumbo is good for class discussions but to do an essay on it is just too far fetched for me!

Princess of Enchantment: the plan is to take the story to the end… I think… meh

daisy31:  oi, I guess you had to kinda… er.. um.. wait… I put the blame wholly, and solely on school!

mimi: here's a fresh chapter.

sally: Thank you, I'll try my best to, er, "keep it up".

aurora: the poor guy is just confused, for all I know he could turn out to be gay… you never know ;)

dayfreshie: here's another update! yay?

Fiy-chan: *the fairy!!!* Thank you!

Lady Trista Rogue: Thank you milady.

Selphie: Darien soften? *laughs manically* Damon falling off a cliff? *clutches stomach* We'll see…

Hurt Before

*Unlocking the Door*

*You see she's

Turning the key, unlocking the door

Embracing the roller coaster world

Stepping outside, body and soul

Taking whatever future holds*

Serena walked to his kitchen confused. She really enjoyed his kiss— no wonder Michelle had a hard time letting go— but she didn't want her feelings for him back. She decided that such a kiss could not reawaken her feelings from him. It was a meaningless kiss, it happened by mistake, because he was too overwhelmed, weary, and baffled. Nothing more!

She then remembered that Darien still had not called his family. So she took the phone to him.

"I think you should call your family," she told him, coming in, moments later with the cordless phone. "They should be worried about you."

"If they were, they would have called earlier," he said involuntarily taking the phone which Serena handed him, "but I guess I'll call them, now that you're here with the phone."

He dialled a number, and didn't wait long until he was speaking.

"Oh, hi Amy," he greeted, then waited, then answered: "I'm fine. I should have called earlier, I know… Explanation?... Well, Michelle and I just broke up, and I got into a tiny accident so I missed the plane… Don't worry, I'm fine. It was nothing… No! Don't come, I want to be alone… Listen, I need to be alone… Good, I'll miss you… Tell everyone Merry Christmas for me… Bye."

"What was that all about?" was Serena's first question when he threw the phone away from him of the bed.

"What?" he asked passing a hand through his messy hair.

"You're not fine, Darien," it was her first time to say his name in front of him. He gave her a surprised glance, but had to admit that he liked hearing her say it. "And you're not alone," she ended frowning.

She couldn't believe he told Amy not to come! Now there was no chance of her going home! She couldn't believe him! What did he want to do? Kill her over the vacation? Selfish, obnoxious, little—

"Look, if I told then the truth they'd be here in no time," he answered.

"Of course! That wasn't that the point?" she nagged.

"I'm aware that you want to leave, but you committed yourself to take care of me," he told her, "If I told them that you were here, they'd be running to come… They'd never stop asking questions, or forcing me to do Christmassy things, leaving the house in frenzy. Right now, I don't feel as if I could handle them. I don't want to be bothered, I need to think… so I'd rather be with you— you don't ask too many questions, or bring up childhood memories," he said, muttering the compliment. Serena sweat-dropped, she didn't ask too many questions he said? Heh.

"And has it occurred to you that I might not want to be tormented by you for the whole week?" she questioned him annoyed at his way of thinking. The selfishness! That man really did not care about others! He knows that they don't have good relations, so why pour out his misery to her too?

"It has," he nodded sinking into a laying position, "So I'll try to be nice. It wouldn't hurt getting you know you, either."

Serena was flattered; she couldn't hide her delightful smile. So he wasn't planning on tormenting her all holidays… "Fine then, I'll call my parents and tell them that I won't be coming home."

"You are home," Darien corrected, and she looked at him awkwardly, so he felt that he needed to explain his train of thought. "Only children think that their parents' house is their home. For adults, like you, home should be where you made your life. Now, you work here and are likely to stay here for some time, so your home is here… in Toronto."

"That might be logical, but to me home is where I have my heart," she told him, "And my heart is in Baltimore."

"Then I suggest that you bring it here because by the way you're going, you are not likely to live there again," he commented with his usual aloofness.

"How do you know that? What makes you think I won't go back to open my practice there?"

"Don't be stupid, your clients are here, when you decide to open your own shrinking place— God forbid— you'll open it where people know you, obviously."

"You're the business man around here, so I guess you're right," she sighed, frowning at the way he stated the facts for her. Then she joked, "I should have looked for a job in Mexico, where the weather's a little warmer!"

Darien rolled his eyes. "You're here now…" he said, almost lightly.

She called her parents, and talked for a long time. She left Darien's room when she saw that he was beginning to be annoyed, and continued to talk to her mother until around sixty minutes were up. She came back to him laughing and bouncy; he just stared at her with surprise.

"So it's almost Christmas, you have no tree, your house looks like a minimalist museum, I don't know what to do," she spoke.

"Well, we could talk— or not. There are books; you could read. There's a TV, you could listen to music just as long as you don't disrupt my organization. You could take a walk— you don't have to stay inside all the time, you know," he suggested.

Serena groaned and muttered that he was boring indeed.

"So what would you do, if you were in Baltimore?"

"Well, help my mom cooking, decorate the Christmas tree, go out with Molly to buy last minute presents, pester my brother, go around singing carols with the neighbourhood kinds, and talk to my dad…" she counted dreamily.

"Well, you can talk to me," he noted, causing Serena to laugh. Darien was stunned; it was not often that people laughed around him, let alone at him! So, he just ogled at the amazed, watching Serena act all beautiful and merry.

"Talk to you? Impossible! We've never talked before: you just mocked me, and I answered what makes you think we can talk now?"

"We are talking," he observed, causing Serena to abruptly stop laughing and look around. That was a strange behaviour, according to Darien.

"You're right we are!" she exclaimed at last. "This must signify that the apocalypse is nearing… do you hear the four horse riders? Hide!"

"So, you have a brother?" he asked, ignoring her immature statement.

Serena glared at him, blinking a couple of times, and then she shrugged and answered:

"A younger one; he's a cute little pest! He's studying economics in Pennsylvania and wants to be a college professor just like dad! Ha!" she told him.

"You don't think he will?" Darien pushed, smiling at her cute face.

"That dummy?" she said impulsively (AN: for all of you with siblings, this should feel familiar to you), then she thought about it for a moment, "Oh, yeah… he's always been excellent at school, so I guess he has a chance."

They talked about each other's families, and much to Darien's surprise he found himself telling her about his parents, and his childhood memories. He felt like she understood him, and she did. She knew that he didn't need her to pity him; she found out that once he was just a happy child like everyone else. And time pissed quickly; as evening approached Serena felt that she should make dinner.

"How does homemade pizza sound on a Christmas Eve?" she suggested as it was one of the only foods she could cook really well, "It will be square and all, but it's yummy."

"We're talking your idea of yummy, here," he commented.

"Hey! Fine then, if you're going to be evil you won't get to have a say in the matter. I'm going to make pizza and you'll have to eat it!"

"Spoken like a true communist," he mocked, as she was leaving. Before going out the door, Serena stuck her tongue at him.

Darien's head was full of Serena. She entertained him so well that he found himself smiling a few times. Even when she was not there, he was still smiling. She wasn't really that bad, he concluded to himself, as he found himself feeling friendly towards her. He knew that she was worth befriending when he noticed how she seemed so happy all the time: helping him— someone who she really should hate— without rubbing it in his face all the time. She was a kind hearted person, and he felt that he could depend on her. With what thought he saw all the months of fighting her go down the drain! He knew that this would have happened if he wasn't careful. But as he lay there in his bed, with his stomach aching like hell, unable to move, he found that depending on her wasn't so bad, after all, because she was reliable…

He went on, deciding that he should learn more about her, because somehow she always managed to turn the conversation to him, and he didn't notice that he'd be talking about himself. Maybe it was her shrink habit. He was afraid that she'd leave knowing everything about him, and he knowing nothing about her. With so many new thoughts in his head he was able to forget the accident and Michelle for a while.

"That doesn't taste so bad," he said after having tasted her pizza.

Serena smiled. She was beginning to get used to him; she knew that she could get him to smile sometimes, but she could never change his personality. However, examining more closely, she didn't really mind that his personality was that of a stern, half-laconic, moody man.

"I think it's delicious," she told him eating a bunch.

"You think every food is delicious. And you eat a lot," he commented when he watched half of the pizza slices disappear… not into his belly.

"That's news," she laughed.

"You'll get fat," he remarked.

"That's what everyone's been telling me since I was fourteen!"

And so, it was time to go to sleep.

"Darien, where do you keep you blankets?" she asked coming into his room, in her pink pyjamas (AN: she was going home, so obviously she had a suitcase with her…). Darien threw her a mocking smile.

"You sleep in that?" he asked thoroughly amused. "I won't let you live it down!"

"I don't see anything wrong with it. So it's pink, I like pink," she just stated. "Now, about those blankets?"

"What do you need them for?" he asked confused.

"I have to sleep too, you know," she frowned at him, "And it isn't exactly summer."

"You can't sleep on my couch, I tried it once, and woke up with pain all over my body, hardly able to walk," he warned her, then continued: "so much for expensive design furniture."

"You want me to sleep of the floor then?" she growled.

"Trust me, the floor is more comfy than that couch," he mocked, but then he added with utter indifference, "You can sleep here, this bed was made for two… if not three."

"What?" she said shocked. "I can't do that!" she yelled, and turned red as he lifted one eyebrow with a questioning look. "It's not proper and— and—"

"It isn't as if you'd go to jail for sleeping here. And I couldn't possibly do anything to you even if I wanted to, as I can't move without feeling like I'm being stabbed by a chainsaw… Not that I would do anything, of course," he stated the fact sternly, but Serena still had that 'What?!' expression of her face, which annoyed him. "Look, sleep where you want. I don't care what you do, but don't tell me I didn't warn you! The blankets are in one of the kitchen drawers, the one furthest from the sink.

Serena stood there thinking for a moment, it wouldn't hurt to share that bed with Darien. Honestly, she'd rather sleep by him than risk muscle pain because then there would be no one able to do anything around the house.

"Do you want me to turn off the lights?" she asked awkwardly.

"Yeah, do that," he answered, even though it was a dumb question, but he spared the poor girl this time, thinking about how uncomfortable she looked.

She went around turning off lights in the apartment, then came back, walked around his bed to the other side and got in between the sheets, staying as far away from him as she possibly could, curled up in a ball-like shape.

It was only when Darien closed his eyes that it occurred to him how strange that idea of his sounded. He was just being logical, that he forgot that Serena was actually a woman (AN: not that it would have seemed more natural if she was a man… I mean we've all read FAKE! Ugh, sorrie, for all of you who hate these interruptions), a beautiful one no less! He'd forgotten that he had kissed her earlier in the day too. He felt himself blush with embarrassment. What did she think he was thinking?  

"Good night, Darien," he heard her say sleepily, and relaxed knowing that she wasn't really thinking— that she was just sleepy. Then it occurred to him how tired she must be from acting like his maid the whole day.

"Night," he said gently, and then added: "Thanks…"

"Yeah, yeah," she said three quarters asleep.

Darien fell asleep almost immediately too; after all it was very tiring to lie around in the bed all day doing nothing.

Hehe! I love Mondays when school is over… or should I say that I love Tuesdays, cuz It's a day with few hard lessons? Anyway…

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