HI all, sorry for leaving Serena "unsatisfied" in the last chapter but I promise she will have many more orgasms in the future.

However I am sad to announce that Under the Covers is wrapping up soon and for all the people who had been whining and complaining about me dragging it out to long...... Congratulations the story will conclude in another few chapters.

Warning this chapter does get very fluffy.

Chapter 28:

Darien's eyes snapped open as he stared at Serena in horror as the three tiny words still hovered heavily in the air. Three tiny words that could bring them closer or send them on a one way ticket downwards.

Darien shook his head numbly in denial as his arms around Serena slackened and he watched with growing uneasiness as she pulled back from him too.

He tried calling out her name expect it caught in his throat and he couldn't seem to get past his lips no matter how hard he tried.

He knew it was too late to take back the words now. It was already out there.

Darien's heart raced frantically in his chest; if he was 50 years older he was sure he would have had a cardiac arrest. Then it stopped.

Sad, remorseful eyes watched Serena retreat from the overheated shower and disappear into the foggy tiled bathroom. He strained his eyes to her the soft click of the door as she closed it behind her.

Darien only waited a few seconds before his body sprung into action on its own accord. He knew he couldn't just let Serena walk away without fully ever knowing how he felt – how he truly felt.

He stumbled over his own feet as he hastily wrapped a towel around his waist and flung open the bathroom door, his face red with the force of his frenzied exertions.

"Serena!"

"Over here Darien," Serena's voice reached Darien's ears but not in the direction he had anticipated it coming from.

Darien cocked his head slightly to the side as he walked over to the lounge room where Serena was calmly seating on the couch, dressed only in her fuzzy pink robe; her wet, tangled blonde hair was twisted over one shoulder, leaving only one wet patch on her robe.

Darien could tell she was nervous, her hands were twisted on her lap and she was biting on her lower lip anxiously. Her normally joyous gay blue eyes were now more subdued and troubled as she looked up at him when she heard him slowly pad over towards her.

He stopped short of her before actually coming in direct contact with her.

"Do you mean it?"

Darien didn't have to ask what Serena was referring to but his own answer surprised him just as much, "Yes, I do love you Serena, very much in fact sometimes I feel like I can't live without you, you light up my life not to mention my apartment," Darien threw in causing Serena to give him a watery smile as she looked around the apartment. It still had the masculinity of Darien yet she had over the years soften it up and made it not look so sterile and techno as it first was.

"You give me the will and strength to make it through each hard day and truth be told Serena, I have loved you since the day you entered my classroom back in high school and I will continue to love you when you walk out my lecture hall now,"

Serena stared at Darien in shock. It was so easy to side step Seiya's love and ignore the blossoms of Michaels adoration but Darien standing in front of her, wearing nothing but a white towel which hanged dangerously low on his narrow hips, water droplets sliding down the smooth expense of his exposed skin causing Serena to shift slightly in her seat as she gained her bearings.

She knew he was bearing his heart on his sleeve as he looked at her so pitifully, so earnestly with pure love which until recently been bottled up for far too long.

Serena opened and closed her mouth like a suffocating fish before one question tumbled from her parched lips, "Why now?"

Darien shrugged helplessly as he looked at anywhere but her before drawing her off the couch but still holding her away from him slightly so he could see directly into her crystalline blue eyes.

"Because of Beryl, because her death made me see that each day I take for granted, each day that we are together you could just as easily not be there and I couldn't let you go without you ever knowing how much I feel for you," Darien lowered his voice as he rubbed her cheek with the pads of his fingertips, "How much I love you,"

Serena shivered under his ministrations as she unconsciously leaned in towards his touch, her eyes fluttering close and then opening again.

"So now you know," Darien added in a whisper.

Serena nodded her head dumbly as she stared at Darien in a whole new light. Everything he had done for her, everything he put on the line for her, putting his job and reputation in jeopardy every time they went out together he had done it because he loved her and she was more important to him then wealth and popularity.

"Darien," Serena murmured her own hand coming up to caress his slightly stubbled check.

Darien sighed, "I know this is unfair to you when we haven't ever really discussed-"He was abruptly cut off when Serena reached up and silenced him with her own mouth. He reacted instantly and wrapped one firm arm around her waist while keeping his other hand on the side of her face to keep it upturned.

They broke away hesitantly as Darien wrapped both of his arms around his waist, securing her to his chest so she could barely move.

Serena sighed and closed her eyes against his broad chest, "I love you too," The whispered admission which Darien was sure he wouldn't hear escape from Serena's pink lips nearly brought him to his knees.

"Let's go back to bed Darien, show me what it feels like to be in love," Serena whispered.

"My pleasure," Darien said sweeping Serena's feet out underneath her as he carried the laughing blonde back into his bedroom.

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Sorry if Serena's reaction was a bit non realistic considering everything she's been through and sorry about the shortness of the chapter.