ting I'm back again. I've had some good inspiration and some time during the restless nights that have stricken me as of lately. I hope you like the story so far, and I'm kind-of proud how this next chapter turned out. Well, it's about to storm so let's just hope my computer holds this story and doesn't be mean and lose it!

Oh… and fair warning.. This next chapter.. is LONG! I mean it! I warned you, so can't hate me for it..

Italics- thoughts

'Flashbacks'

I'm sure you all are smart enough to figure it all out. Hehe I believe in you! Haha… And now, without the further ramblings of a teenage girl, here's the story..

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

But the storm may last over-night…"

"That's alright…"

Darien raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"What I meant to say," Serena said, feeling her turning about the color of the stop sign that she had collided with earlier, "was that we have a pull-out bed in the couch… and.. And I have a lock on my door!" she finished defiantly.

"I see," Darien said, an amused smirk starting to creep onto his face.

"Well, are you coming in or not!" Serena asked, getting irritated as he took pleasure from her agitated.

With one side of his mouth still twitching slightly as he tried to contain his amusement, he followed her inside…

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Chapter 8

Taking off his shoes in the front entrance way, they both laughed as they left puddles on the tiles and Darien joked about Serena's lack of shoes completely. His face turned serious as he saw the gash on her forehead.

"Serena, you're bleeding!"

She blinked at his outburst, then, following his gaze, she lifted her hand to her right temple with a nervous laugh.

-They always tell you not to run in the road because you might get hit my a car… not a stop sign..-

Darien, who was studying to be a doctor, pulled her gently by the wrist into where he remembered the kitchen to be. Steering her into a chair, he asked where a clean towel could be found. After instructed which drawer to open, he got a towel wet and added a mild soap to it. He found a mini-first-aid kit hanging on the wall and brought it with him as well.

Kneeling before her, Darien started tending to her wound. She felt like a small child in his care, but she couldn't help watching him with a strange fascination.

"There you go," he said with a smile (a rarity), "All done."

Staring into his eyes, now level with hers, she felt her heartbeat quicken. He looked at her and saw her staring at him with a dreamy expression in her eyes… and what else? Surprise? Fear? A bit of both he guessed. But why?

He began to feel worried. She looked a bit pale. Maybe this injury was too much for her.

Darien watched as her eyes widened a bit and she shifted her gaze to the floor at her feet. She began worrying her bottom lip. Concerned, he placed his hand under her chin and tilted her head up so he could see her face. Too late, he realized what he had done. Time stopped momentarily as they both froze.

Darien's eyes trailed down from her azure eyes to her pink, full lips. He felt something stir inside him he hadn't truly known had existed until now. Oh, how he wanted to kiss her.

Serena's mind was full of similar thoughts; of surprise, of amazement, of questioning whether this was a dream. She saw something in his eyes she couldn't quite place. Suddenly she wondered what it'd be like to kiss him…

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

After what seemed to be an eternity, Darien let his hand slip away and he stood up.

He couldn't take advantage of her…

She glanced down at her hands, puzzled…

…and perhaps disappointed? Serena?

"Thanks…" Serena whispered.

"Hmm?" he asked.

"Thank you for cleaning up and bandaging my cut." She still couldn't force herself to look at him.

"Oh, yeah. No problem."

The dreaded awkward silence spilled into the room once more, surrounding the unlikely couple as it had been seemingly doing more and more often lately. Seeking anything to break the pressure of the silence, Serena said, "If you don't mind me asking, why were you out driving now? You left my house almost an hour ago…"

Suddenly the memory of how he had left came back to her and she cringed. She glanced up to see Darien with a similar look of pain of his face… But then, Serena could've sworn she saw tears almost come to his eyes.

-Had she caused that? Or was it something more? Something she didn't know?….-

Darien shifted his gaze from the floor to some distant corner of the room.

"I.. I'd rather not talk about it, Meatball Head."

-Meatball Head! But he'd called me Serena earlier…- Serena could feel Darien growing colder, distancing himself.

"Fine, I was just curious…"

"Didn't anyone ever tell you, 'Curiosity killed the cat,' Meatball Head."

"Didn't anyone ever tell you my name is S-E-R-E-N-A, not Meatball Head! Oh wait, I did, only a hundred million times!" Serena said, her voice rising as she could feel herself getting agitated again.

-Why does he have this power of me!-

She stood directly in front of him, glaring up at him, practically daring him to make one false move, like call her Meatball Head again. What happened next, she could never had guessed.

"Fine, you really want to know? I left your house and went straight to Drea's. I was planning of making it up to her since our anniversary had practically been non-existent. However, when I went to kiss her and tell her I loved her, I said another girl's name. I don't know where it came from, but Drea took my surprise as guilt and kicked me out. Seeing as the storm still continues, I don't think her saying, 'It's over,' had anything to do with this cantankerous storm."

Serena stood there before him, shocked as his unexpected speech… his confession. She certainly wasn't expecting that, and so, when he stopped speaking, she waited a few moments longer…To see if his story was complete perhaps… Or maybe to see if he was going to add a 'just kidding' on to the end. But he didn't, he just stared at her with such an intense gaze into her eyes, until she felt she couldn't move even if she had wanted to. Her anger drained out of her, to be replaced with sadness and concern at seeing the sadness he was trying to hide behind his deep blue eyes.

"Oh, Darien… I don't know what to say…"

She couldn't take looking into his eyes anymore. She felt her heart leap, to want to comfort him, to hold him and tell him everything would be alright.

Time seemed to be non-existent as the two just stood staring into the other's eyes: one searching for something, the other trying to keep their composure and not let their feelings show.

Unexpectedly, lightning flashed, followed soon after by a gigantic boom of thunder, causing Darien to flinch and Serena to gasp and jump. The magic disappeared, as if Mother Nature herself had sent them a gift to free them from doing something they might have regretted.

Serena shook her head, as if waking from a trance. She realized she couldn't remember breathing the whole time she'd found herself lost in the ocean held behind Darien's eyes.

I'll get some sheets and pillows to use for the pull-out…" Serena said, glad to have an excuse to get away from him and compose her thoughts and the knowledge she had just obtained.

Without waiting for Darien to respond, Serena disappeared out of the room.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Darien stood looking off at the door she had disappeared through. He couldn't believe he had just admitted that to her. Somehow, the words had just come flowing out before he could stop them. At least he hadn't slipped and told her everything. He thought back to the event he had exposed to Serena…

'Drea had forgiven him for not calling, understood about the storm, and after some smooth talking on Darien's part, had even been impressed he had gone out to a store and then traveled to her house in this dangerous storm just for her (even though she had chided him about it being so dangerous). She had giggled as he took her into his arms and kissed her forehead. But then, as she snuggled against his chest, he found himself thinking of a certain blonde… Of how she had clung to him as if he was her only hope…

He had shook his head, confused on why he had been thinking of her at a time like this. A bit troubled, he had pushed it aside as just being concerned for a distressed girl being all by herself.

-All by herself! Maybe he should go back and check on her….-

After this thought had passed through his head, he had mentally slapped himself. What's the matter with me!

Slyly, Drea had "stolen" the wine from Darien's hand and giggled to herself as she walked to the living room, swinging her hips a bit more than necessary as she walked to entice him to follow.

Feeling a little off, he still had no problem following his girlfriend into the house he'd been in several times. He had watched as she placed the wine and two glasses on a small coffee table and lit the fireplace at the end of the room. Grinning at him, she'd turned off the lights and invited him to sit down next to her on the couch. Obeying, he had sat down and filled the two glasses half-full with red wine. She had scooted closer and snuggled into his side.

"Mmm… You smell like roses," Drea had purred.

-Roses?- Darien's mind had suddenly shifted back to a few hours earlier. Again, unexpected and seemingly spontaneously, his mind had been invaded by thoughts of the blonde-haired princess, this time in her semi-conscious state, when had heard her whisper "roses" and had seen the look of pleasure touch her features.

Snapping himself back to the current present, Darien had seen Drea closing her eyes as she looked so beautiful then, Darien had wondered how his thoughts could have ever strayed from her. Something has still nagged at him in the back of this mind though, making him feel a bit uneasy and as though something was wrong, although he couldn't for the life of him figure out what.

Drea had pushed away from him then, joking complaining about how she had no idea he had gotten all wet. She had stood and motioned him to join her in front of the fireplace. After they had gotten situated, Drea had proposed crossing arms and drinking out of their glasses like in the old-time movies. Darien had smiled and agreed.

After taking a sip, Drea had leaned in, a sign Darien knew to mean she wanted him to kiss her. He had looked at her, her brown hair shimmering in the firelight, her eyes closed expectantly. She was beautiful. He had tilted her chin up with his hand, gently, until his lips met hers.

"I love you."

"I love you, too, Serena."

Suddenly, Drea's eyes had fluttered open. Darien had drawn back as if struck. His eyes had been wide in surprise and confusion.

-Had he really just said what he thought he had!-

Drea had just stood up and pointed towards the front door. Her eyes had held a hurt and cold look to them, a look he had never seen before.

"I knew it! I'm not blind, you know, I see the way you look at her when you think no-one's watching. I was foolish to think I could capture your heart. Do you know you sometimes whisper her name in your sleep? I knew this would happen one day. Now, get out. It's over."

Darien had stared at Drea, shocked by her speech.

"But Drea, wait, I…"

She had just shook her head and pointed towards the front door once more. Confused about what was happening, he had obeyed her silent command.

He had opened the front door and took a few steps out into the rain, when he had turned around to face her. He had seen her try to manage to smile as she said, "Good bye, Darien."

"Good bye, Drea…."

And with that, he had had no choice but to leave.'

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

When Serena returned to the kitchen, she found Darien sitting at the table with his head in his hands. For a moment, she thought he might be crying, but when he felt her presence and raised his head, there were no tears, only weariness.

-So this day has taken a large toll on him as well- Serena thought with a sigh.

"Are you.. Are you okay?" Serena asked carefully.

"Yeah… I'm fine," he said, ironically mimicking her response to his questioning her earlier that evening. Serena saw his half smile that spoke of anything but truth in his response.

"Well, maybe if you wouldn't make fun of people all the time, this wouldn't have happened to you. There's such a thing as karma, y'know?" Serena teased, trying to lighten the mood. She hated seeing him so sad like this.

"Oh, so you did this to me?" Darien said sarcastically, wanting to almost laugh just at the subtle double meaning of his statement.

Serena, came closer and wagged a finger at him. "Not uh, don't you go blaming this on me. You've got no one to blame but yourself!" she said, giggling. The uneasiness inside of Darien subsided as he suddenly felt a strange warmth fill him.

Unfortunately, Serena, as we all know, is quite a klutz. As she hadn't been paying much attention, she went to take another step forward, tripped over the leg of another chair, and fell forward. Instinctively, Serena put her arms out in front of her to help protect her from the imminent fall. However, instead of hitting the floor, her hands came to rest on Darien's shoulders, pinning him to the chair as she loomed over him. The sudden shift of control and space was a shock to the very atmosphere around them.

The room felt warmer, heart rates skyrocketed, lightning flashed outside, all breathing seemed to cease, and then, time itself seemed to stop, for they never heard the thunder.

They locked their gazes once more on each other's wide eyes. Once more, they found themselves in a very sacrificing position, this time with Serena in control however.

"Serena?" Darien whispered…

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Okay, I have no idea how many of you read this whole chapter.. I probably should've spilt it up into two, but I wrote it as one, so I guess I just kept it that way. I really hope you liked this chapter. I think I did alright with trying to get Darien and his girlfriend to break up without making him look like a complete jerk.

Well, I have no idea when I'll be able to update again, but please, stick with me! I hope you enjoyed it!

Thank you to all of you who've read it thus far and have commented, added me, and all other wonderful things!

Love!

.:PhoenixFeathers:.