Darien & Serena were sitting at his apartment, thinking. The little pink haired girl was currently sleeping in Darien's bed.
"We don't even know where to start." Serena said out loud.
Darien nodded. "We could ask her when she wakes up where she lives."
Serena nods. "I hope she knows. She looks about 5."
They hear a soft noise come from behind them. They turn to see the girl rubbing her eyes, sleepily. "Where am I?" she asks.
Serena & Darien exchange glances. "You're at my apartment." Darien walks over to her. "Is that fine with you?"
The girl looks between Serena & Darien & slowly nods. "That's OK. I'm hungry. Do you have something to eat?"
Darien nods. "Sure. What do you want?"
The girl's eyes popped. "Pancakes!" she exclaims.
Darien laughs. "So three servings of pancakes?" He looks at Serena for conformation.
"Three servings." She smiles.
Darien walks into the kitchen & Serena turns to the girl. The girl stares at her, cautiously. "Who are you?" she asks.
"My name is Serena. What's yours?"
The girl continues looking at Serena. "Rini."
"That's a pretty name." Serena walks over to Rini, but Rini backs away slowly.
Serena stops & slowly sits back down. "OK, I understand. I won't force you to talk to me." She turns her back & stares out the window.
Rini watches her to see if there are any sudden movements. When she realizes that Serena won't hurt her, she slowly walks over. "I'm sorry." she apologizes.
Serena turned to her. "Why are you sorry?" she asks, smiling.
Rini stares at the smile & thinks 'She looks a little like mommy.'
But before Rini can answer, Darien walks back in with the pancakes. "Pancakes!" he announces.
"Ya!" Rini runs over to him & takes the smallest plate. She sits down on the couch & begins eating.
Darien smiles & hands a plate to Serena. "So, did you find anything out?" he whispers, sitting next to her.
Serena stares at her plate. "No." Serena looks up. "I think she's scared of me."
Darien looks genuinely shocked. "Scared? Of you?"
Serena laughs softly at his face. "I know. But she backed off when I tried to talk to her."
Darien nods. "Well, maybe she's just wary of you."
Serena stares at her pancakes, tears forming in her eyes. "Maybe."
The three of them eat in silence, with only Rini's chomping. 5 minutes later, everyone's basically finished & Serena offers to take the plates to the kitchen.
As she begins washing, she hears laughter, then Darien's voice. Her eyes cloud up again. "Why is she scared of me & not Darien?" she wonders out loud, not realizing a dish dropping from her hands.
The crash brings her back down to Earth & she begins cleaning. Darien & Rini pop in. "What happened?" Darien asks.
"Nothing. Just being a klutz." Serena jokes, pricking herself with the glass. "Ow…" she looks to see her finger bleeding.
Darien walked over. "Go take care of it." he tells her, bending down to finish cleaning.
"It's just a cut." Serena tells him.
"It could get infected. Go clean it." he commands her.
Serena stares for a few moments, then goes to the first-aid kit he has in his room. As she takes out the peroxide, she notices Rini staring at her from the door.
Serena smiles. "Can I help you?"
Rini ducks back, then comes back out. "Um…I just wanted to make sure you're OK."
Serena nodded. "Yeah." She shows the cut. "Just a little cut."
Rini comes in, staring at the cut. "That looks like it hurts."
Serena shakes her head. "No. Not at all." She sees Rini eyeing the Band-Aids. "Do you want to help?"
Rini's eyes widened. "But I'm too young."
"Not to help put a Band-Aid on." Serena grabs the peroxide. "Let me just put this on." She dabs it on, it stings for a moment, then it goes away.
"Now, Nurse Rini, what do you prescribe for me?" Serena asks.
Rini smiles. "Well, Patient Serena, I prescribe a Barbie Band-Aid." She holds up a pink Band-Aid with a Barbie on it.
Serena nods. "I think so, too."
Rini walks over to put it on. When it's on, Serena smiles at her. "Thank you, Nurse Rini." She sees Rini writing on a paper. "What's that?"
"Your bill." Rini hands the paper to Serena. 'You owe 1000000 dollars' it reads.
Serena stares at it, then at the serious faced Rini & pretends to faint. Rini laughs & Serena joins it as well.
Darien can hear the laughter from the kitchen & smiles. "I don't think she's afraid anymore."
Wow, such a happy family image. Brings a tear to the eyes…As you can tell, this story has A LOT of subplots; Darien dying, Rini appearing, the whole new villain thing. This story is going to be LONGGGG! Hope you don't get bored!