Heya ppel!
I know you're probably wondering where I've been but what can I say, schools a pain in the ass! Here's exactly 10 pages and hopefully this answers some questions and rants I've been getting about Serena and Darien's relationship.
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^Darien's POV^
'Hmm....I wonder what kind of house Serena has? It's probably some kind of shack, but then again the living down here is pretty cheap.' Darien tells himself as his plane lands in the local airport.
"Welcome everyone to the tropical paradise of the Balearic Islands and I hope you enjoy your stay." Says the pilot's voice over the intercom.
'Finally, I can't wait to stretch my cramped limbs and walk around a little.' Darien says to himself as he gets up from his aisle seat, grabs his stuff from the overhead compartment and walks out the crowded airplane and into the equally crowded and noisey tube, that connects the plane to the bustling airport.
'I wonder whose going to come and pick me up? Hope Raye's mother isn't coming, she'll start to lecture me on one thing or another. It's like me owning my own company and thousands of others just isn't enough for her.' He grumbles to himself as he heads straight to the carousel that every body's suitcases are coming out of.
"Hiya Darien!" says a bubbly voice from behind him.
"Excuse me?" he asks in a tired voice as he turns around to be face to face with a bubbly, blonde, Mina laughing with a huge cheshire cat grin on her face . "Oh, hey Mina." he replies as he grabs his laptop case and his first suitcase off the luggage carousel.
"How was your flight?" she asks as she hops around to help him.
"Like a usual plane ride." he shrugs as he spots his last piece of luggage coming now right behind a guitar shaped bag.
"Who all came with you?" he asks in an offhanded tone as he grabs the last suitcase and Mina taking one of the suitcases and starts to carry them towards the revolving doors.
"Just Raye and me. She says she'll meet us at the car since she had to use the bathroom." Mina tells him just as she stops at a 2004 Pontiac Grand AM Coupe.
"Oh" he replies simply as he helps Mina put the luggage into the trunk.
"Where are you coming from?" Mina asks as she unlocks the Pontiac and gets into the driver seat.
"Canada, Quebec to be exact." He tells her as he climbs into the backseat.
"Wow! Why were you up their?" she asks with excitement in her voice.
"To seal another deal, what else?" Raye tells her in a snippy tone as she gets into the car.
"Raye, I had to go. It was a get it or lose it kind of deal." Darien tells her in exasperation as he starts to rub his temples.
"Well next time you tell those deal makers that you don't do holidays!" Raye tells him as she sulks in the front seat.
'God! Why did I come? Why! I just know I'm going to regret this Christmas, I just know it!' Darien tells himself as his head sinks into his hands as he awaits the oncoming headache.
^Serena's POV^
"Lita, why did I agree to let HIM come?" Serena whines as she walks into the kitchen where Lita has started making Lunch.
"Because you....just did." Lita answers the question that Serena has been asking her for the millionth time as she starts chopping vegetables for a salad.
"God! This is going to be a nightmare just waiting to happen!" Serena moans as she plops down in one of the swivel chairs that are behind the island.
"Serena!" Lita says in a tone that clearly tells Serena that she's been pushed it over the line, "All I've heard is you moaning and bitching about Darien coming. If you don't want him here then tell him to go and find another place to stay." She tells her in a commanding tone.
"I-I can't do that." Serena mutters in a soft voice that would remind you of a little girl as she looks out of the untreated windows that look out into a beautiful garden on the side of the house.
"What was that?" Lita asks in a more casual tone.
"I said that I can't do that." Serena tells her in the same quiet voice as she stares at the climbing roses.
"Why's that?" Lita asks as if curiosity has bitten her butt.
"Because....I just can't do that, it wouldn't feel right," Serena tells her simply in the same quite tone as she gets up from the oversized swivel chair and walks out the kitchen.
"Okay, that was just plain weird!" Lita states to herself as she shakes her head and starts chopping the vegetables again. ~*~* *~*~
"What has gotten into me!" Serena mutters to herself as she walks under the grape flower tresses that lead into the garden on the side of the house.
'Maybe if you'd stop denying yourself what you really feel, you'd know what's gotten into you.' A voice in the back of her head snickers at her as if it's taunting her.
"Damnit! This is suppose to be a relaxing Christmas!" she tells herself as she seats down on a stone bench that has playful fairies etched into it.
'Well, if you'd stop ignoring your heart then this would be a relaxing Christmas.' The voice tells her in the same taunting voice.
"I'm not ignoring anything! I know what my heart is telling me and it's saying that Darien Spiron is dangerous and not to be trusted!" she states to herself in a firm and non-argumentative voice.
"Oh, so my step-son is dangerous and not to be trusted? I know he can be a pain in the ass, but isn't that going just a little too far?" comes a soft voice with a hint of an accent.
"Excuse me?" Serena asks aloud as her head shoots up and she sees Ms. Morlang standing under the grape flower tresses.
"You just said that my step-son is dangerous and not to be trusted and I was saying that I know he can be a pain in the ass but wasn't that going a little far." Ms. Morlang restates as she walks over to where Serena is seating down.
"You don't understand Ms. Morlang, it's not that he can't be trusted it's just that I-I..."Serena tries to tell her but she just couldn't get the words out.
'Why can't I explain it to her? It's her step-son for crying out loud!' she tells herself in frustration.
~Because you don't even understand it yourself so how could you possibly explain it to someone else?~ says the annoyingly always right voice in the back of her mind.
"I'm sorry but it's hard for me to explain what I mean." Serena tells her simply, as she looks down at the lush and meticulously cared for lawn.
"Well why don't you try and tell me why you think you can't trust Darien." Ms. Morlang tells her as she turns her gaze to Serena to see conflicting emotions on her face.
"Umm...well.....he can't be trusted because....I said so!" Serena tells her in a stubborn voice.
"Now child, that is not an answer. That is a statement with no background except that stubborn hard head of yours." Ms. Morlang tells her in that same non-judging tone that she's been using since this bizarre conversation has begun.
"I don't know it's just what I feel so it's what I'm going on." Serena tells with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Do you know why you feel that way?" Ms. Morlang asks her as she starts to stare at Serena with those black eyes.
"I don't question what I feel; I just go with the flow." Serena stats to her in her still stubborn voice.
"Maybe,""Sere!!! Guess who's here!!!!" comes Mina's chirpy yell, cutting Ms. Morlang off.
"Well come on child," Ms. Morlang tells Serena as she pats her on the leg
"Yea, wouldn't won't Mina to come looking for us." Serena replies as she gets up and leads Ms. Morlang out of the beautiful and sprawling garden to the front of the house where Serena's silver Pontiac is parked and Darien is taking his luggage out of the trunk.
'He's gorgeous with his black ebony hair tousled like that and – wait! What am I thinking?! I don't like Darien at all and I most certainly don't have a crush on him!' she tells herself with a firm nod of her head and she agrees with her inner statement.
"Serena! Trista needs us to watch Hotaru for her, is it alright?" comes Ami's voice from her open window knocking Serena from her...what would she call what she was doing?
"Yea, tell her I'll come and pick her up." Serena shouts up to Ami's window as she grabs the keys out of Mina's hands for the Pontiac.
"Okay!" Ami shouts back to her.
"Serena, can you also stop and pick up a few things for dessert?" Lita asks as she walks out of the house with her apron still on.
"Yea, anything specific?" Serena asks with a small grin on her face.
"Not a lot of strawberries and nothing with liquor in it." Lita tells her with a stern look.
"Gotcha, momma" Serena replies in a sarcastic tone as she gets into the car and speeds off.
'I knew I had to get out of their with him just a few feet from me.' Serena tells herself as she turns onto the dirt and gravel road her house is set on.
^Darien's POV^
Darien just stares at her as she talks to Lita.
'Does she have to be wearing that outfit? Damn!' he tells himself as he snaps out of his reverie to see Serena driving down the road like a bat let out of hell.
"Darien, follow me and I'll show you up to your room." Lita tells him with a smile as she turns around and goes back into the house.
'God, this house is gorgeous and it's only the front. It's certainly not just a little shack. ' He thinks to himself as he just stands and stares up at the huge house for a moment before following Lita into it.
As he steps into the house, he notices it's decorated in a very feminine style, but even so, it looks like a professional came in and did everything.
"Up the stairs, Darien." Calls Lita's voice from somewhere upstairs.
"Alright" Darien answers as he lugs his luggage up the mahogany stairs and as he reaches the top of the stairs, he sees Lita waiting outside of a bedroom at the end of the hall.
'I wonder which room is Serena's?' he asks himself as he passes closed doors and only catching a glimpse of a few rooms that have their door opened.
"This is your room, Raye's room is 2 doors down from you and your mother's is right in front." Lita tells him, then walks off, and disappears down the stairs.
"Well that was certainly short," he mutters to himself as he walks into the room to see that it has dark blue walls, black bedding, and cherry wood bedroom suit.
"Certainly different from what I expected." He tells himself in shock at the difference of the colors compared to the other rooms he had seen on his way down here. Darien then puts his laptop on his bed, the suitcase that has his clothes in the rather big closet and, the bag that has toiletries in the bathroom that's done in a theme that reminded him of a Japanese garden, almost.
'Now what should I do? Probably take a shower.' He tells himself as he then reopens the closet door and takes out a black wife-beater and a pair of beige cargo pants that would kind of remind you of lounge pants. 'I am so glade I always pack a few leisure outfits.' He tells himself as he walks into the bathroom for a long hot shower.
~*~* *~*~
^Raye's POV^
"Mom, why are you so quit?" Raye asks her mom bluntly, as they walk down the private beach that came with Serena's house as the sun starts to set behind what seems is the vast and never ending ocean.
"I'm just thinking about some things dear." Ms. Morlang tells her rather impatient daughter as she continues to stare down at the sand as her feet leaves foot prints of their slow, leisurely walk.
"About what?" Raye asks as she starts looking at her mother's thoughtful looking face.
"Where did you meet Serena at?" Ms. Morlang asks, out of the blue. "We meet at a race, why?" Raye now confused at where her mother is going with this all.
"And what do her and Darien have in common?" Ms. Morlang asks still staring down at the sand that's starting to look scorching hot, from the setting sun.
"Well.....their love of cars and the whole mechanical thing, also their music tastes are sort of along the same lines. Not to mention she's really good friends with Nick, Darien's business partner and buys a lot of cars through him." Raye tells her with a shrug as she looks out on to the calm and quite, clear sea with the white foam washing up on the white sand.
"Hmmm..." Ms. Morlang says aloud as the lines between her forehead draw closer together.
"Mom, what is going on inside that conniving mind of yours?" Raye demands with a stomp of her bare feet into the mushy sand.
'Gods! I hate it when she does this, it's so exasperating.' Raye rants to herself and almost misses what her mother says.
"Nothing dear, just thinking through a few things. That's all." She tells her in a 'No-more-questions' tone that Raye knows all too well and actually uses herself.
'What is mom thinking about? I hope she's not trying to play matchmaker with those two, they'll probably end up limping away from each other before the nights over with.' Raye thinks to herself as she starts to smirk at the image of that.
"What are we planning on doing tomorrow?" Ms. Morlang ask her daughter, not even noticing the amusing smirk gracing her face or that the sky has now turned a dark bluish-purple.
"I'm not sure, why?" Raye tells her mom as she quirks her eyebrows up at the suggestion.
"I just need to go and do some shopping, that's all." She tells her daughter with a smile that just screams, 'I'm up to something!' to anyone who looks.
"Mom!" Raye starts as she opens her mouth only to be cut off but Lita's loud voice calling them in from the porch.
"We'd better head in, don't you think?" Ms. Morlang replies as she starts the track up the sand filled beach to the house.
'I think I had better warn Darien of mom.' Raye tells herself in exasperation as she tracks up to the house right behind her mom.
^Serena's POV^
'Why must I torture myself, and willingly? I've gotta be a masochist!' she tells herself in a defiant voice as she helps Amy set the table while Lita and Hotaru start to bring in dinner into the dining room.
"Serena, am I staying the night?" Hotaru asks as she looks up at Serena with imploring deep violet eyes that just beg for an answer, makes her look so needy for just a 8 year-old.
"If you want to," Serena tells her gently as she helps Hotaru into her seat at the table, since the chair is just a little too tall for her.
"Serena, we can take Hotaru shopping with us tomorrow!" Mina explains in her bubbly voice as she comes hopping into the room.
'How does she always stay so perky?' Serena asks herself as she shakes her head slightly in wonderment as she takes her seat next to Hotaru while they wait for everybody else to get in and situated.
"Yea, but don't forget Christmas is coming up though." Serena tells her in a mock exasperated tone as she starts to sip from her strawberry shake.
"Yippie!!! We're gonna need to get outta here really early tomorrow!!!!" Mina squeals as she flops down in her chair with excitement just bubbling out of her.
"What's gotten Mina so excited?" Lita asks in a 'what-this-time' kind of tone as seats down a huge bowl of salad and seats down in front of Serena.
"We're taking Hotaru to the main island tomorrow while we do some shopping." Serena tells her simply with a roll of her eyes as she takes a sip of her drink.
"What about going to the main island?" Ms. Morlang asks as she walks into the dining room from the back porch.
"Serena is gonna take me and Hotaru shopping on the main island tomorrow!!!!!" Mina replies in a extremely giddy voice as she then gets up and goes into the kitchen.
"Would it be to much of a problem for me to tag along? I still need to do some Christmas shopping." Raye asks Serena as she takes a seat on the other side of Serena.
"Sure, we'll be leaving kind of early." Serena tells her with a smile, "Early? Sere, you don't know the meaning of getting up early and even then you'd just go back to sleep." Says Sammy's mocking voice as he walks into the room with Rika in tow, both looking as if they've been in the sun all day long.
"Whatever! Did you two have fun?" Serena asks with a small smirk on her face as she looks at their wet bathing suits.
"Yea, Sammy showed me this awesome cove that's right by the house that has this really neat underground waterfall with fish in it and everything." Rika exclaims as she take a random seat.
"I love that cove, it's one of...our special places. No eating at the table looking like a wet rat. Go change and get dried off first!" Serena tells them with a stern glare at both of them.
"Gotcha, momma Serena!" Sammy says with a cheshire cat grin on his face as he runs out of the room and then a few seconds later you hear wet slaps run up the wood stairs.
"I'd better go and change then." Rika tells Serena as she to leaves with a small blush on her face.
"That was certainly interesting" she hears Darien mummer from the French doors, the cause of Rika's blush.
"mhmm" Serena replies as she tries to look anywhere else but at him whose standing almost right behind her.
"So, what are we having for dinner?" Ms. Morlang's voice drifts into the room from behind Darien as it breaks the unsettling silence that has formed in the room.
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After Dinner and a meal of tense, silence being broken by Mina unknowingly and Ms. Morlang, knowingly.
Serena is seating on the back porch as she lays back in one of the sun chairs as she relaxes and takes in the night noises and waves breaking down on the beach. She looks up at the black night with the twinkling silver orbs up in the too high up sky, "Why can't it always be this peaceful and carefree all the time?" she asks herself and not expecting any answer as she sighs into the night.
"Because if it was then what would be the point of living if it was always peaceful? That's what makes living worth while, the peaceful moments." Comes Darien's deep voice from behind her somewhere.
"That's true," she mutter idly, not even realizing who spoke as she continues to stare up at the silver orbs for a few more brief moments before it hit home whose voice it was and then jerked up in her plastic chair.
^Darien's POV^
'It was so beautiful just standing here and watch her be relaxed as she stared up at obviously nothing and hear her actually agree with me on something. Of course, it's now ruined by her hatred for me which I don't even understand. We were friends for awhile and could have been more than that, but ever since that god awful night nothing's been the same.' He tells himself as he sees her jerk up and looks at him with shock and distain in her eyes.
"What are you doing out here?" he hears her ask even as he continues to look at her.
'She's gorgeous.' He tells himself suddenly.
"Just thought I'd get away from my step-mother's endless nagging and get some fresh air. You?" he tells her with a small half-smile evident on his face.
"What's it to you?" she asks and almost as if the relaxed expression wasn't their it's replaced in not even a blink of an eye by a look of guard and tension.
"Nothing, just wanted to know." He replies as he goes and seats down next to her.
"If you must know, I came out here to clear my mind of everything. I hate always being surrounded by chaos." She tells him simply as she then lays back down, but the expression still on her face.
"I know what you mean." He replies as looks out over the rail that ended the porch, and onto the beach as he noticed that it was deserted of anything including trash and seagulls.
"Whatever" he heard her mutter, he looked over to her and started to get annoyed with her attitude.
"What's your problem? You always seem so...pissed off as soon as I come around." He demands as he continues to look at her.
'I hope I can fix this right here and now, hopefully.' he tells himself.
"My problem is you!" she tells him heatedly, not moving from her spot on the plastic chair.
"And what problem is that?" he asks, trying not to sound hurt from that small statement.
'Why is it so important for me to straighten things between us?' he asks himself, but not in the mood to ponder that.
"Let's see, you walked out on me when I was having a mental breakdown. You won't race me for some unexplainable reason, and why do you even want to know? So you can get me into bed?" she asks him as she points steely blue eyes on his form.
'Wow,' he thinks to himself.
"If I remember right, you literally shut the door in my face and I did not know you were having a breakdown of any kind or...I would of...done something, I don't want to race you because what is the purpose of racing an equal? I want to know because if not then I'd have to deal with the stoniness from you." He tells her as his eyes become as soft as possible towards her and he starts to see her in a new light.
'All business deals are off. I can't go through with it.' He tells himself.
"Whatever, I'm going inside. You wanted to know so now you do." She tells him as she swiftly gets up from her chair and walks inside, not even turning back.
'How was I to know that she was at the ends of her rope that night? I would have...done something. I hope it's worth blowing a deal this big.' He tells himself as he gets up and follows her, intent on finishing what he started just a few minutes ago.
Darien follows the sad and soft music that has suddenly started playing and walks into the Den, which is basically a huge seating room and sees Serena seating in an overstuffed bean bag chair.
"What were you breaking down about?" he asks as he just stands at the entrance and watches her and sees how her face suddenly just tenses up and then changes to an expression that sadness wouldn't do justice.
"That day...was the anniversary of my parent's death and I also just so happened to meet my ex-fiancé at the grocery store. Not to mention as you're aware of I walked in on my younger brother about to have sex with his girlfriend." Serena tells him softly, just simply tired of everything, "I think everything just started to compress on my shoulders and that day was the day it had just gotten a little too heavy and large a load for me to carry."
"Serena...if I had known then I wouldn't have acted how I did." He told her gently as he went and joined her on the beanbag without a second thought.
"Nobody knew, not even Sam." She tells him simply as she snuggles deeper into the chair.
'Damn! Now I feel like a total jerk for how I treated her and everything else.' He tells himself as he starts doing the proverbial kicking of his ass.
"You know, the world doesn't have to rest on your shoulders." He tells her gently as he puts an arm around her.
"Their are just some things that I need to worry about and those things just keep getting to much all the time. It takes awhile for me to make room for the newer things." She tells him in answer.
"How about if you start sharing those things with someone else so they can help you with the load, new and old?" he asks her with imploring eyes as he looks at the back of her head with something akin to sympathy.
"I can't do that. I'm the leader and the big sister, I've got to protect everybody regardless of everything else." She tells him simply in a voice that reminds him of someone defeated.
"Serena, you don't have to protect everyone. They're all adults, including Sammy it wont be a crime to let them take the brute of things." He tells her quietly, hoping not to upset her since she's just now starting to talk to him.
"I've always protected Sammy, ever since everybody we know died trying to protect us. I swore when Molly's mom died that no more, I take care and protect Sammy and me by myself and I have. Even when we were in racing gangs such as the Dragons Flames I protected us including Lita, Mina, and Ami." Serena explains to him as she tries to ball up into herself as if to protect herself from the world and not show him that tears are starting to leak from her eyes.
"Serena, you're not in a gang anymore and everybody can protect themselves you don't need to and shouldn't." he tries to tell her but is getting the feeling it's just going in one ear and out the other.
"Why?" she asks so softly it's almost lost on his ears.
"Because it's not fair to you and you should be allowed a life of your own that's not mixed up with everyone else's." He explains to her softly as he starts to stroke her hair in a comforting motion.
'Her hair is so soft and gorgeous among other things." He tells himself as he hopes his not pushing things to far with him doing this.
She tenses up slightly, but then forgets about it, "What would you know about it anyways?" she asks in a voice the conveys that he should butt out.
"My step-mother is the same way with me and I hate it. I don't want her worrying about me like that, but she's the same way with Raye even though I'm only her son by marriage and even when we lived under the same roof it was worst." He tells her softly, almost as if this conversation shouldn't leave this room.
"But she's your mother, regardless if it's by blood or marriage. It's ever mother's right to worry about her children." Serena tells him in a reprimanding tone, completely taking Darien off guard.
He stalls a moment with his stroking of her hair as he takes in that bit, "True, but....I don't know you're probably right. I just hate it when anybody worries about me, I feel as if their just wasting their time and energy doing it. I was never really worried about when my father and biological mother we're alive so I guess I just liked it that way." He explains as he starts to think about a past he would prefer to forget about.
"All parents should worry about their kids, regardless how much help you've got in your house. I remember my parents would always worry about us the moment we left the house and if we went over a friends house, they'd call every 30 minutes to make sure we were okay. It would annoy those parents because I think it made them feel like my parents didn't trust them with us." Serena tells him as she laughs a little at the memory.
Darien chuckles a little for her sake as he becomes comfortable just lying their with one arm around her and the other stroking her hair in comfort.
"I like this" Serena mumbles in a voice the betrays sleep is approaching.
"What's this?" Darien asks as he watches her.
'She really is beautiful, regardless if I can see her face or not, but she hates me right?' he tells himself as he leaves that question among others to be pondered later, when his less content with himself.
"This, you and me. We're not at each other's throats and I'm comfortable...." Serena tells him as sleep starts to take her as the sad and soft music just continues to repeat itself and she snuggles up to Darien unconsciously.
"Yes, I like it to." Darien mumbles to her as he rest his head on his arm that is around her as he too starts to drift off to sleep.
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I hope this was good enough for you, and that you liked it!!!!! Please let me know who else you want me to bring in and it can even be a character that's not introduced yet!!!!!
R&R, PLEASE!!! I'd really like that!!!!!
Princess
I know you're probably wondering where I've been but what can I say, schools a pain in the ass! Here's exactly 10 pages and hopefully this answers some questions and rants I've been getting about Serena and Darien's relationship.
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^Darien's POV^
'Hmm....I wonder what kind of house Serena has? It's probably some kind of shack, but then again the living down here is pretty cheap.' Darien tells himself as his plane lands in the local airport.
"Welcome everyone to the tropical paradise of the Balearic Islands and I hope you enjoy your stay." Says the pilot's voice over the intercom.
'Finally, I can't wait to stretch my cramped limbs and walk around a little.' Darien says to himself as he gets up from his aisle seat, grabs his stuff from the overhead compartment and walks out the crowded airplane and into the equally crowded and noisey tube, that connects the plane to the bustling airport.
'I wonder whose going to come and pick me up? Hope Raye's mother isn't coming, she'll start to lecture me on one thing or another. It's like me owning my own company and thousands of others just isn't enough for her.' He grumbles to himself as he heads straight to the carousel that every body's suitcases are coming out of.
"Hiya Darien!" says a bubbly voice from behind him.
"Excuse me?" he asks in a tired voice as he turns around to be face to face with a bubbly, blonde, Mina laughing with a huge cheshire cat grin on her face . "Oh, hey Mina." he replies as he grabs his laptop case and his first suitcase off the luggage carousel.
"How was your flight?" she asks as she hops around to help him.
"Like a usual plane ride." he shrugs as he spots his last piece of luggage coming now right behind a guitar shaped bag.
"Who all came with you?" he asks in an offhanded tone as he grabs the last suitcase and Mina taking one of the suitcases and starts to carry them towards the revolving doors.
"Just Raye and me. She says she'll meet us at the car since she had to use the bathroom." Mina tells him just as she stops at a 2004 Pontiac Grand AM Coupe.
"Oh" he replies simply as he helps Mina put the luggage into the trunk.
"Where are you coming from?" Mina asks as she unlocks the Pontiac and gets into the driver seat.
"Canada, Quebec to be exact." He tells her as he climbs into the backseat.
"Wow! Why were you up their?" she asks with excitement in her voice.
"To seal another deal, what else?" Raye tells her in a snippy tone as she gets into the car.
"Raye, I had to go. It was a get it or lose it kind of deal." Darien tells her in exasperation as he starts to rub his temples.
"Well next time you tell those deal makers that you don't do holidays!" Raye tells him as she sulks in the front seat.
'God! Why did I come? Why! I just know I'm going to regret this Christmas, I just know it!' Darien tells himself as his head sinks into his hands as he awaits the oncoming headache.
^Serena's POV^
"Lita, why did I agree to let HIM come?" Serena whines as she walks into the kitchen where Lita has started making Lunch.
"Because you....just did." Lita answers the question that Serena has been asking her for the millionth time as she starts chopping vegetables for a salad.
"God! This is going to be a nightmare just waiting to happen!" Serena moans as she plops down in one of the swivel chairs that are behind the island.
"Serena!" Lita says in a tone that clearly tells Serena that she's been pushed it over the line, "All I've heard is you moaning and bitching about Darien coming. If you don't want him here then tell him to go and find another place to stay." She tells her in a commanding tone.
"I-I can't do that." Serena mutters in a soft voice that would remind you of a little girl as she looks out of the untreated windows that look out into a beautiful garden on the side of the house.
"What was that?" Lita asks in a more casual tone.
"I said that I can't do that." Serena tells her in the same quiet voice as she stares at the climbing roses.
"Why's that?" Lita asks as if curiosity has bitten her butt.
"Because....I just can't do that, it wouldn't feel right," Serena tells her simply in the same quite tone as she gets up from the oversized swivel chair and walks out the kitchen.
"Okay, that was just plain weird!" Lita states to herself as she shakes her head and starts chopping the vegetables again. ~*~* *~*~
"What has gotten into me!" Serena mutters to herself as she walks under the grape flower tresses that lead into the garden on the side of the house.
'Maybe if you'd stop denying yourself what you really feel, you'd know what's gotten into you.' A voice in the back of her head snickers at her as if it's taunting her.
"Damnit! This is suppose to be a relaxing Christmas!" she tells herself as she seats down on a stone bench that has playful fairies etched into it.
'Well, if you'd stop ignoring your heart then this would be a relaxing Christmas.' The voice tells her in the same taunting voice.
"I'm not ignoring anything! I know what my heart is telling me and it's saying that Darien Spiron is dangerous and not to be trusted!" she states to herself in a firm and non-argumentative voice.
"Oh, so my step-son is dangerous and not to be trusted? I know he can be a pain in the ass, but isn't that going just a little too far?" comes a soft voice with a hint of an accent.
"Excuse me?" Serena asks aloud as her head shoots up and she sees Ms. Morlang standing under the grape flower tresses.
"You just said that my step-son is dangerous and not to be trusted and I was saying that I know he can be a pain in the ass but wasn't that going a little far." Ms. Morlang restates as she walks over to where Serena is seating down.
"You don't understand Ms. Morlang, it's not that he can't be trusted it's just that I-I..."Serena tries to tell her but she just couldn't get the words out.
'Why can't I explain it to her? It's her step-son for crying out loud!' she tells herself in frustration.
~Because you don't even understand it yourself so how could you possibly explain it to someone else?~ says the annoyingly always right voice in the back of her mind.
"I'm sorry but it's hard for me to explain what I mean." Serena tells her simply, as she looks down at the lush and meticulously cared for lawn.
"Well why don't you try and tell me why you think you can't trust Darien." Ms. Morlang tells her as she turns her gaze to Serena to see conflicting emotions on her face.
"Umm...well.....he can't be trusted because....I said so!" Serena tells her in a stubborn voice.
"Now child, that is not an answer. That is a statement with no background except that stubborn hard head of yours." Ms. Morlang tells her in that same non-judging tone that she's been using since this bizarre conversation has begun.
"I don't know it's just what I feel so it's what I'm going on." Serena tells with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Do you know why you feel that way?" Ms. Morlang asks her as she starts to stare at Serena with those black eyes.
"I don't question what I feel; I just go with the flow." Serena stats to her in her still stubborn voice.
"Maybe,""Sere!!! Guess who's here!!!!" comes Mina's chirpy yell, cutting Ms. Morlang off.
"Well come on child," Ms. Morlang tells Serena as she pats her on the leg
"Yea, wouldn't won't Mina to come looking for us." Serena replies as she gets up and leads Ms. Morlang out of the beautiful and sprawling garden to the front of the house where Serena's silver Pontiac is parked and Darien is taking his luggage out of the trunk.
'He's gorgeous with his black ebony hair tousled like that and – wait! What am I thinking?! I don't like Darien at all and I most certainly don't have a crush on him!' she tells herself with a firm nod of her head and she agrees with her inner statement.
"Serena! Trista needs us to watch Hotaru for her, is it alright?" comes Ami's voice from her open window knocking Serena from her...what would she call what she was doing?
"Yea, tell her I'll come and pick her up." Serena shouts up to Ami's window as she grabs the keys out of Mina's hands for the Pontiac.
"Okay!" Ami shouts back to her.
"Serena, can you also stop and pick up a few things for dessert?" Lita asks as she walks out of the house with her apron still on.
"Yea, anything specific?" Serena asks with a small grin on her face.
"Not a lot of strawberries and nothing with liquor in it." Lita tells her with a stern look.
"Gotcha, momma" Serena replies in a sarcastic tone as she gets into the car and speeds off.
'I knew I had to get out of their with him just a few feet from me.' Serena tells herself as she turns onto the dirt and gravel road her house is set on.
^Darien's POV^
Darien just stares at her as she talks to Lita.
'Does she have to be wearing that outfit? Damn!' he tells himself as he snaps out of his reverie to see Serena driving down the road like a bat let out of hell.
"Darien, follow me and I'll show you up to your room." Lita tells him with a smile as she turns around and goes back into the house.
'God, this house is gorgeous and it's only the front. It's certainly not just a little shack. ' He thinks to himself as he just stands and stares up at the huge house for a moment before following Lita into it.
As he steps into the house, he notices it's decorated in a very feminine style, but even so, it looks like a professional came in and did everything.
"Up the stairs, Darien." Calls Lita's voice from somewhere upstairs.
"Alright" Darien answers as he lugs his luggage up the mahogany stairs and as he reaches the top of the stairs, he sees Lita waiting outside of a bedroom at the end of the hall.
'I wonder which room is Serena's?' he asks himself as he passes closed doors and only catching a glimpse of a few rooms that have their door opened.
"This is your room, Raye's room is 2 doors down from you and your mother's is right in front." Lita tells him, then walks off, and disappears down the stairs.
"Well that was certainly short," he mutters to himself as he walks into the room to see that it has dark blue walls, black bedding, and cherry wood bedroom suit.
"Certainly different from what I expected." He tells himself in shock at the difference of the colors compared to the other rooms he had seen on his way down here. Darien then puts his laptop on his bed, the suitcase that has his clothes in the rather big closet and, the bag that has toiletries in the bathroom that's done in a theme that reminded him of a Japanese garden, almost.
'Now what should I do? Probably take a shower.' He tells himself as he then reopens the closet door and takes out a black wife-beater and a pair of beige cargo pants that would kind of remind you of lounge pants. 'I am so glade I always pack a few leisure outfits.' He tells himself as he walks into the bathroom for a long hot shower.
~*~* *~*~
^Raye's POV^
"Mom, why are you so quit?" Raye asks her mom bluntly, as they walk down the private beach that came with Serena's house as the sun starts to set behind what seems is the vast and never ending ocean.
"I'm just thinking about some things dear." Ms. Morlang tells her rather impatient daughter as she continues to stare down at the sand as her feet leaves foot prints of their slow, leisurely walk.
"About what?" Raye asks as she starts looking at her mother's thoughtful looking face.
"Where did you meet Serena at?" Ms. Morlang asks, out of the blue. "We meet at a race, why?" Raye now confused at where her mother is going with this all.
"And what do her and Darien have in common?" Ms. Morlang asks still staring down at the sand that's starting to look scorching hot, from the setting sun.
"Well.....their love of cars and the whole mechanical thing, also their music tastes are sort of along the same lines. Not to mention she's really good friends with Nick, Darien's business partner and buys a lot of cars through him." Raye tells her with a shrug as she looks out on to the calm and quite, clear sea with the white foam washing up on the white sand.
"Hmmm..." Ms. Morlang says aloud as the lines between her forehead draw closer together.
"Mom, what is going on inside that conniving mind of yours?" Raye demands with a stomp of her bare feet into the mushy sand.
'Gods! I hate it when she does this, it's so exasperating.' Raye rants to herself and almost misses what her mother says.
"Nothing dear, just thinking through a few things. That's all." She tells her in a 'No-more-questions' tone that Raye knows all too well and actually uses herself.
'What is mom thinking about? I hope she's not trying to play matchmaker with those two, they'll probably end up limping away from each other before the nights over with.' Raye thinks to herself as she starts to smirk at the image of that.
"What are we planning on doing tomorrow?" Ms. Morlang ask her daughter, not even noticing the amusing smirk gracing her face or that the sky has now turned a dark bluish-purple.
"I'm not sure, why?" Raye tells her mom as she quirks her eyebrows up at the suggestion.
"I just need to go and do some shopping, that's all." She tells her daughter with a smile that just screams, 'I'm up to something!' to anyone who looks.
"Mom!" Raye starts as she opens her mouth only to be cut off but Lita's loud voice calling them in from the porch.
"We'd better head in, don't you think?" Ms. Morlang replies as she starts the track up the sand filled beach to the house.
'I think I had better warn Darien of mom.' Raye tells herself in exasperation as she tracks up to the house right behind her mom.
^Serena's POV^
'Why must I torture myself, and willingly? I've gotta be a masochist!' she tells herself in a defiant voice as she helps Amy set the table while Lita and Hotaru start to bring in dinner into the dining room.
"Serena, am I staying the night?" Hotaru asks as she looks up at Serena with imploring deep violet eyes that just beg for an answer, makes her look so needy for just a 8 year-old.
"If you want to," Serena tells her gently as she helps Hotaru into her seat at the table, since the chair is just a little too tall for her.
"Serena, we can take Hotaru shopping with us tomorrow!" Mina explains in her bubbly voice as she comes hopping into the room.
'How does she always stay so perky?' Serena asks herself as she shakes her head slightly in wonderment as she takes her seat next to Hotaru while they wait for everybody else to get in and situated.
"Yea, but don't forget Christmas is coming up though." Serena tells her in a mock exasperated tone as she starts to sip from her strawberry shake.
"Yippie!!! We're gonna need to get outta here really early tomorrow!!!!" Mina squeals as she flops down in her chair with excitement just bubbling out of her.
"What's gotten Mina so excited?" Lita asks in a 'what-this-time' kind of tone as seats down a huge bowl of salad and seats down in front of Serena.
"We're taking Hotaru to the main island tomorrow while we do some shopping." Serena tells her simply with a roll of her eyes as she takes a sip of her drink.
"What about going to the main island?" Ms. Morlang asks as she walks into the dining room from the back porch.
"Serena is gonna take me and Hotaru shopping on the main island tomorrow!!!!!" Mina replies in a extremely giddy voice as she then gets up and goes into the kitchen.
"Would it be to much of a problem for me to tag along? I still need to do some Christmas shopping." Raye asks Serena as she takes a seat on the other side of Serena.
"Sure, we'll be leaving kind of early." Serena tells her with a smile, "Early? Sere, you don't know the meaning of getting up early and even then you'd just go back to sleep." Says Sammy's mocking voice as he walks into the room with Rika in tow, both looking as if they've been in the sun all day long.
"Whatever! Did you two have fun?" Serena asks with a small smirk on her face as she looks at their wet bathing suits.
"Yea, Sammy showed me this awesome cove that's right by the house that has this really neat underground waterfall with fish in it and everything." Rika exclaims as she take a random seat.
"I love that cove, it's one of...our special places. No eating at the table looking like a wet rat. Go change and get dried off first!" Serena tells them with a stern glare at both of them.
"Gotcha, momma Serena!" Sammy says with a cheshire cat grin on his face as he runs out of the room and then a few seconds later you hear wet slaps run up the wood stairs.
"I'd better go and change then." Rika tells Serena as she to leaves with a small blush on her face.
"That was certainly interesting" she hears Darien mummer from the French doors, the cause of Rika's blush.
"mhmm" Serena replies as she tries to look anywhere else but at him whose standing almost right behind her.
"So, what are we having for dinner?" Ms. Morlang's voice drifts into the room from behind Darien as it breaks the unsettling silence that has formed in the room.
~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~
After Dinner and a meal of tense, silence being broken by Mina unknowingly and Ms. Morlang, knowingly.
Serena is seating on the back porch as she lays back in one of the sun chairs as she relaxes and takes in the night noises and waves breaking down on the beach. She looks up at the black night with the twinkling silver orbs up in the too high up sky, "Why can't it always be this peaceful and carefree all the time?" she asks herself and not expecting any answer as she sighs into the night.
"Because if it was then what would be the point of living if it was always peaceful? That's what makes living worth while, the peaceful moments." Comes Darien's deep voice from behind her somewhere.
"That's true," she mutter idly, not even realizing who spoke as she continues to stare up at the silver orbs for a few more brief moments before it hit home whose voice it was and then jerked up in her plastic chair.
^Darien's POV^
'It was so beautiful just standing here and watch her be relaxed as she stared up at obviously nothing and hear her actually agree with me on something. Of course, it's now ruined by her hatred for me which I don't even understand. We were friends for awhile and could have been more than that, but ever since that god awful night nothing's been the same.' He tells himself as he sees her jerk up and looks at him with shock and distain in her eyes.
"What are you doing out here?" he hears her ask even as he continues to look at her.
'She's gorgeous.' He tells himself suddenly.
"Just thought I'd get away from my step-mother's endless nagging and get some fresh air. You?" he tells her with a small half-smile evident on his face.
"What's it to you?" she asks and almost as if the relaxed expression wasn't their it's replaced in not even a blink of an eye by a look of guard and tension.
"Nothing, just wanted to know." He replies as he goes and seats down next to her.
"If you must know, I came out here to clear my mind of everything. I hate always being surrounded by chaos." She tells him simply as she then lays back down, but the expression still on her face.
"I know what you mean." He replies as looks out over the rail that ended the porch, and onto the beach as he noticed that it was deserted of anything including trash and seagulls.
"Whatever" he heard her mutter, he looked over to her and started to get annoyed with her attitude.
"What's your problem? You always seem so...pissed off as soon as I come around." He demands as he continues to look at her.
'I hope I can fix this right here and now, hopefully.' he tells himself.
"My problem is you!" she tells him heatedly, not moving from her spot on the plastic chair.
"And what problem is that?" he asks, trying not to sound hurt from that small statement.
'Why is it so important for me to straighten things between us?' he asks himself, but not in the mood to ponder that.
"Let's see, you walked out on me when I was having a mental breakdown. You won't race me for some unexplainable reason, and why do you even want to know? So you can get me into bed?" she asks him as she points steely blue eyes on his form.
'Wow,' he thinks to himself.
"If I remember right, you literally shut the door in my face and I did not know you were having a breakdown of any kind or...I would of...done something, I don't want to race you because what is the purpose of racing an equal? I want to know because if not then I'd have to deal with the stoniness from you." He tells her as his eyes become as soft as possible towards her and he starts to see her in a new light.
'All business deals are off. I can't go through with it.' He tells himself.
"Whatever, I'm going inside. You wanted to know so now you do." She tells him as she swiftly gets up from her chair and walks inside, not even turning back.
'How was I to know that she was at the ends of her rope that night? I would have...done something. I hope it's worth blowing a deal this big.' He tells himself as he gets up and follows her, intent on finishing what he started just a few minutes ago.
Darien follows the sad and soft music that has suddenly started playing and walks into the Den, which is basically a huge seating room and sees Serena seating in an overstuffed bean bag chair.
"What were you breaking down about?" he asks as he just stands at the entrance and watches her and sees how her face suddenly just tenses up and then changes to an expression that sadness wouldn't do justice.
"That day...was the anniversary of my parent's death and I also just so happened to meet my ex-fiancé at the grocery store. Not to mention as you're aware of I walked in on my younger brother about to have sex with his girlfriend." Serena tells him softly, just simply tired of everything, "I think everything just started to compress on my shoulders and that day was the day it had just gotten a little too heavy and large a load for me to carry."
"Serena...if I had known then I wouldn't have acted how I did." He told her gently as he went and joined her on the beanbag without a second thought.
"Nobody knew, not even Sam." She tells him simply as she snuggles deeper into the chair.
'Damn! Now I feel like a total jerk for how I treated her and everything else.' He tells himself as he starts doing the proverbial kicking of his ass.
"You know, the world doesn't have to rest on your shoulders." He tells her gently as he puts an arm around her.
"Their are just some things that I need to worry about and those things just keep getting to much all the time. It takes awhile for me to make room for the newer things." She tells him in answer.
"How about if you start sharing those things with someone else so they can help you with the load, new and old?" he asks her with imploring eyes as he looks at the back of her head with something akin to sympathy.
"I can't do that. I'm the leader and the big sister, I've got to protect everybody regardless of everything else." She tells him simply in a voice that reminds him of someone defeated.
"Serena, you don't have to protect everyone. They're all adults, including Sammy it wont be a crime to let them take the brute of things." He tells her quietly, hoping not to upset her since she's just now starting to talk to him.
"I've always protected Sammy, ever since everybody we know died trying to protect us. I swore when Molly's mom died that no more, I take care and protect Sammy and me by myself and I have. Even when we were in racing gangs such as the Dragons Flames I protected us including Lita, Mina, and Ami." Serena explains to him as she tries to ball up into herself as if to protect herself from the world and not show him that tears are starting to leak from her eyes.
"Serena, you're not in a gang anymore and everybody can protect themselves you don't need to and shouldn't." he tries to tell her but is getting the feeling it's just going in one ear and out the other.
"Why?" she asks so softly it's almost lost on his ears.
"Because it's not fair to you and you should be allowed a life of your own that's not mixed up with everyone else's." He explains to her softly as he starts to stroke her hair in a comforting motion.
'Her hair is so soft and gorgeous among other things." He tells himself as he hopes his not pushing things to far with him doing this.
She tenses up slightly, but then forgets about it, "What would you know about it anyways?" she asks in a voice the conveys that he should butt out.
"My step-mother is the same way with me and I hate it. I don't want her worrying about me like that, but she's the same way with Raye even though I'm only her son by marriage and even when we lived under the same roof it was worst." He tells her softly, almost as if this conversation shouldn't leave this room.
"But she's your mother, regardless if it's by blood or marriage. It's ever mother's right to worry about her children." Serena tells him in a reprimanding tone, completely taking Darien off guard.
He stalls a moment with his stroking of her hair as he takes in that bit, "True, but....I don't know you're probably right. I just hate it when anybody worries about me, I feel as if their just wasting their time and energy doing it. I was never really worried about when my father and biological mother we're alive so I guess I just liked it that way." He explains as he starts to think about a past he would prefer to forget about.
"All parents should worry about their kids, regardless how much help you've got in your house. I remember my parents would always worry about us the moment we left the house and if we went over a friends house, they'd call every 30 minutes to make sure we were okay. It would annoy those parents because I think it made them feel like my parents didn't trust them with us." Serena tells him as she laughs a little at the memory.
Darien chuckles a little for her sake as he becomes comfortable just lying their with one arm around her and the other stroking her hair in comfort.
"I like this" Serena mumbles in a voice the betrays sleep is approaching.
"What's this?" Darien asks as he watches her.
'She really is beautiful, regardless if I can see her face or not, but she hates me right?' he tells himself as he leaves that question among others to be pondered later, when his less content with himself.
"This, you and me. We're not at each other's throats and I'm comfortable...." Serena tells him as sleep starts to take her as the sad and soft music just continues to repeat itself and she snuggles up to Darien unconsciously.
"Yes, I like it to." Darien mumbles to her as he rest his head on his arm that is around her as he too starts to drift off to sleep.
~*~*~*~**~* *~*~*~*~*~*
I hope this was good enough for you, and that you liked it!!!!! Please let me know who else you want me to bring in and it can even be a character that's not introduced yet!!!!!
R&R, PLEASE!!! I'd really like that!!!!!
Princess