this is kind of a nothing chapter, just more of the characters 'thinking' about stuff. the next chapter will be more exciting, but i probably wont update for about two weeks because i have to go somewhere so...i guess your gonna have 2 wait till then

Disclaimer: I don't own Summerland or any of its characters

Sienna was good at hiding bruises by now, and her stepfather was good at hitting her where it would leave no bruise, or it where it wouldn't be detected. She sometimes felt like she wanted someone to accidentally see the bruises and scratches that seemed to cover her body. Sometimes, she wanted someone to care enough to ask her what's wrong. She only felt this way when she was alone in her room though, after another of Reece's little visits. Sienna would cry for about fifteen minutes and then wipe her last tear away and go look at the damage. She had gotten not only good at hiding her physical pain, but emotionally, she remained untouchable.

She no longer allowed herself to weep over what Reece does to her for longer than those 15 minutes, and she never, ever cried in front of other people anymore. Sienna didn't want anyone to see her while she was weak, and to her, being weak meant crying. And weaknesses led to people taking advantage of you, which was happening enough in Sienna's life without someone else coming along to use her. That is why she chose not to screw around; it just wasn't worth it. The last thing she wanted was to be reminded of Reece, and that's exactly what sex would do, so she chose not to have it.

If only Boston had known that that was the reason she couldn't be with him. It wasn't because she didn't want to; it was just that she only saw sex as something scary. When other people did it, Sienna didn't find it frightening. Like when Vegas fucked Braden, she didn't think that was scary at all, it was only when she thought about herself being with a man in that way that she found it repulsive.

She would eventually get over her fears of having sex once she found someone worth getting over those fears for, but for now she didn't even worry about it. All she thought about was not letting her stepfather ruin her life. Sienna wanted to prove that a bastard like that hadn't fazed her, and that means that Reece wouldn't win. Every time he savagely raped her in her room, he was expecting her to give up and stop having hope. She would never give him that satisfaction.

Sienna was driven to be great in spite of what she has been through. She will be happy goddamn it, no matter how bad it gets. She will lead an exciting and normal life, while ignoring the darkness. She would be strong and never let the tiniest inkling that something is wrong get the best of her.

How long though, could she keep a charade like this up? It was only so long until someone would see it, until someone would care enough to rescue her.

……………………………..

"Can you pass the potatoes please, Jay?" asked Braden loudly for the fourth time. Jay was staring at his fork absentmindedly and either was to entranced to hear Braden, or he was just ignoring him.

"Here you go, Braden," instead Susannah gave him the potatoes as she gave a sideways glance at Jay. She nudged him, but all that did was make him stop looking at his fork, and instead look at his spoon. Oh boy, now this was improvement! Braden was starting to get really worried about Jay only he couldn't voice this because Jay had long since stopped listening to anyone. He was so in love with Erica, and Braden wondered if his friend would ever be the same again.

"I'll take some more stuffing please," came a sweet voice from right next to Braden. He smiled at her as he watched her pile on the food. Thank god he finally got a girlfriend that ate! His other girls might have eaten, but they would always do the whole "Omigod! I shouldn't be eating this, I am fat enough already" speech. It got old and for once it was nice not to have to reassure her that she was sexy. Vegas knew she was and didn't need him to tell her, even though he did all the time.

"So Vegas, that's an interesting name. Is there a reason your parents named you that?" asked Aunt Ava in efforts to start a good conversation.

Vegas smiled wickedly for a moment before putting on a more innocent face and replying, "Well, my dad is a businessman through and through, so he named all of his kids after the cities his companies started off in. First he started off in Milan, which is my sisters' name, and then Boston, which is my brothers name, and then Vegas, and so on."

"Wow, talk about taking your work home with you!" laughed Ava.

"If you had anymore brothers and sisters what would there names be?" asked Susannah who seemed to like this conversation.

"Um, my father just got his secretary pregnant actually, and I think he was wanting to name a girl Miami and a boy Kent. He just got a company in England so I guess he wants to show that off." Vegas then spooned some vegetables in her mouth, and she didn't notice the uncomfortable silence that followed her remark about her father. Why did people get so awkward about it? So her father was a horndog, big deal. Her mother wasn't much better, she was a little bit on the tipsy side. Every family had their problems, and for most families, their problems considered money, and since her household had lots of it, they had lots of other problems.

Braden didn't take this silence as well as Vegas had. He knew everyone at the table was trying to think of what to say. When no one said anything he decided to come to her rescue, "What about your mom's companies?" he asked, "Doesn't she want to name any of her kids after the cities she's set up companies in?"

"She is more of the sort to just go with the flow really. She doesn't really care what were named as long as she can pronounce it, she is just peachy." Vegas said this in a laughing manner and even though everyone else smiled at her, they couldn't help but feel uneasy again.

Nikki managed to cut through the silence by questioning, "So do your parents have to go to these awesome cities all the time for work?"

"Yeah," answered Vegas earnestly, "If the trip is short enough I'll go with my dad, but usually he's gone over a month at a time."

"But what about your mom?" asked Nikki. She couldn't help herself.

"She lives in Paris, so I only go on an annual back to school trip to visit her and shop there. Other than that, I only see her at Christmas" Vegas was finishing up her stuffing slowly and Braden wanted her so bad to finish already, and then they could be excused. She was taking her sweet time though.

"Those vacations must be nice," Jay cut in, with a vacant look in his eyes.

"Yeah, but after like a couple weeks, I am ready to go home. I can only hang around my mother so long. She likes to go to dinner parties too much, while I like to stay in sometimes." Braden thought that that was a little weird. Vegas loved to go out all the time, maybe not to fancy places, but if you were required to wait twenty minutes for a seat, it was a night out.

"I see." Replied Jay darkly, "how are the bars in Paris, any good?'

"I am not old enough to get in the bars so I wouldn't know." Vegas had been to plenty of bars, but didn't want that kind of impression on Braden's Aunt. She wanted all of Braden's family to like her because she really cared about Braden. His family was important to him, so she wanted to be important to them.

Vegas was unaware of everyone's wary glances about the table. They were concerned over all this talk of Europe, it was the very place that Erica was supposed to be and Braden hadn't really told her much about it. They had been too busy making out everywhere to even have time to talk. He told Sienna though, which he thought was weird. Suddenly he felt kind of guilty about telling Sienna something that he hadn't even bothered to tell his girlfriend.

"I heard the guys are real different there. Very forward, is that true?" Jay's eyes shone determinedly as he was intent on hearing what Vegas said.

"It's very true!" Vegas answered while nodding her head, "Last time I was there one guy I hadn't seen before in my life bought me a bouquet of flowers and another one took me on a ride with his mo-ped."

This time, she noticed how everyone around the table winced. Jay drew a quick breath and said with a smile, "Dinner was lovely Ava, but I think I should really get going." He put his napkin nicely on the table and rose from his chair.

"But where are you going?" asked Nikki confused.

"I'm just going out with some friends. I used to have a lot of friends you know." He seemed different somehow in the way he said this. Jay had more desperation in his eyes.

"What about—" Ava began before being cut off as Jay slid the door closed behind him. She sighed and sat down helplessly.

Vegas couldn't help but feel awkward and guilty after this, even though she did her best to pretend that everything was fine, she still felt the stiff silence. She didn't want to have to think that she blew this. That Braden's family now thought she was an idiot. Vegas tried hard to keep these agonizing thoughts out of her mind.

…………………………

"She couldn't have done that bad Braden," commented Sienna while pinning up some new surfing posters along the walls of the shop. He had just finished telling her how dinner had been a complete disaster.

"It wasn't even the fact of what she said," stated Braden a little aggravated, "It's how Jay had reacted to her talking about Paris and how the guys were so forward."

"She said that when she knew what Jay was going through?" asked Sienna shocked that Vegas would be that insensitive.

Braden looked a little uncomfortable. He bit his lip and shoved his hands into his pockets as he muttered, "I guess I had forgotten to tell her…"

"Jesus, Braden! Why couldn't you have forgotten to tell me? I had to listen to you for hours bitching and moaning about Jay."

"I was not bitching!"

"You were bitching worse than a hooker whose got rent to pay!" she laughed at her own joke as she stepped back and admired her ability to levelly stick up posters on the wall; Braden couldn't help but chuckle as she titled her head to the side like a little puppy dog.

"I guess me and Vegas aren't really one of those talking couples…" he sighed. They truly didn't even talk at all. Every time they started to tell each other something, they were pawing at the other's clothes before anybody had even finished a sentence.

"You two are more of the physical type I take it," stated Sienna while taping another poster to the wall. She had her back to him, but he heard something in her voice that he had never heard before. His heart leapt as maybe he thought she might be…jealous? Braden continued staring at her lean back and shook his head, she didn't like him that way and he needed to accept that. He had to stop getting more excited over thinking about Sienna being jealous than he got excited about having sex with Vegas.

Never would he aloud state that he was getting kind of bored with all the sex him and Vegas were having. While it felt great and Vegas was extremely good at it, there was just something not right. Maybe it was the fact that when they screwed each other, it was kind of the same thing over and over again. He never allowed himself to think of these things before, but now with these feelings for Sienna rising up, he was questioning some things. Wait, wait, he said to himself, I don't have feelings for Sienna. I care about Vegas. I love the girl for god sakes! Braden was shocked by his own thoughts sometimes, but this last one came as even more of a jawdropper. He started to evaluate though, whether or not he really felt that way about her. After a few minutes, he knew.

Finally he answered Sienna's previous question, "Yeah, but I think I love her."