Author's Notes:
Wow! The momentum! It all started when I realized I was almost in the perfect position to use a group of lines I'd come up with a couple of months ago! (It really is weird to realize this story has been going on for months! I really need to get myself a life!) The test prep classes are wrapping up today, but the story still needs to be finished. I have a couple of loose ends to deal with, and then I have to craft an ending.

Endings were never my strong suit.

I haven't quite decided what my next project will be. I have a M.A.S.K. story that people have asked me to finish. I have a Digimon story that I need to finish. My story files for both Yu-Gi-Oh and Fruits Basket are brimming with good ideas (including one for Yu-Gi-Oh that has a slight Descendants of Darkness touch to it). I'm sure something will occur to me when the time comes!

Anyway, you're probably far more interested in the story at hand...

Chapter 16

The drive back into Domino was as quiet as the drive away had been. Serenity sat and gazed out the window again, staring at the stars as they twinkled. Tonight had been almost perfect, if it weren't for the fact Kaiba worried her at the beginning of it. She let her mind wander back to sitting quietly at the river's edge, the memory lulling her into a light nap.

She hadn't even realized they were back in Domino when she felt a hand on her arm and heard her name whispered. Blinking the sleep away, she slipped her shoes back on and gathered her belongings. Kaiba watched her for a moment, and then got out of the car. She wondered if he intended to be a complete gentleman by opening her door for her. Then, she realized she didn't want Joey to realize why she was coming home late.

Then, she realized she'd be coming home much later than she thought. Yet again, the aloof billionaire had brought her to his home.

As she stared at the garage, Kaiba gently gripped her arm and led her into the mansion.

"Why are we here?" she asked.

"Well, I live here, and you were asleep. I really didn't think you'd want to wake up to me arguing with your brother." Serenity knew she had to still be asleep; Kaiba's explanation made too much sense. She nodded sleepily as he guided her to the couch in the game room, the same one they'd been curled up on together a week ago.

"Stay here," he commanded quietly. She realized that she was too tired to consider doing anything else, so she stretched out on the couch. By the time he returned with a blanket, she had already fallen back asleep.

Disappearing again, he returned with his laptop and sat on the floor beside the couch, working until exhaustion claimed him, too.

Serenity woke with a start. Her dreams had been pleasant enough, despite the fact they seemed to feature Kaiba. Rolling over caused something to catch her as she nearly fell off the couch that she was fairly certain she was still on.

The touch had pulled her quickly from her sleep. To her great surprise, Kaiba was sitting beside the couch, his head drooping. She quickly realized it must have been a reflex. He'd felt her roll into his shoulders and moved to push her back on to the couch.

I wonder how many times he's had to do the same for Mokuba.

Looking over his shoulder, Serenity could see that he had fallen asleep over his work, something else she was pretty sure wasn't unusual. For a moment, she wasn't sure if she should wake him, so she carefully slipped off the couch, moved the laptop, and draped the blanket over the sleeping CEO. She looked around for her purse, quickly finding it and extracting her cell phone.

She really didn't want to think about how angry and worried Joey was going to be when he answered. "Hrmmo?" came the groggy response.

She moved quickly to the foyer as she spoke quietly, "Hey, Joey. It's me. I just wanted to let you know I'm all right."

"Mokay." The line went dead. Serenity looked at her phone and shook her head. She wondered if her brother would even remember that she had tried to call and check in with him.

At least he's not worried about me.

She tiptoed back into the game room and placed her phone back in her purse. Kaiba was still sitting in the position she'd left him in, so she decided to try to help him lie down. Once she had the teen settled, she went exploring. She'd been to the mansion a couple of times a week ago, but she still really didn't know where anything was.

Mokuba managed to wake up before his brother. Kaiba hadn't been home when the black-haired boy went to bed, and that was normal. His brother wasn't in either of his normal places this morning, though, and that made Mokuba wonder.

The boy made his way to the top of the stairs and sat down to think. Today was a holiday for both of their schools, so it was possible he'd gone into the office. He usually didn't leave without telling Mokuba, though, and the boy knew there weren't any pressing projects going on at KaibaCorp that would require his brother to be there earlier than usual.

As he sat there stumped, a potential answer came into his view. His eyes lit up as he watched Serenity Wheeler walk into the foyer, but he sat quietly to see what she was doing. She definitely had not been in the mansion when he went to bed, so that meant his brother had to be somewhere about. He watched as the redhead walked to the door of the game room and stood there for a moment. So that's were his brother was! He'd fallen asleep in the game room, which was probably where Serenity had slept, too. He smiled. It looked like his plan was working!

She stood there for a moment, watching Kaiba sleep. His brown hair fell in his eyes, fluttering lightly as the fierce businessman all but snored on the floor of his own game room. Serenity wondered if she should wake him up and try to convince him to finish his sleep in his own bed, but she was afraid to think what he might do if she woke him up. She turned and walked out into the foyer, not quite sure what she should do next.

"Hi, Serenity!" The boy's unexpected greeting caused her to jump. When she looked in the direction of the voice, she could see Mokuba's smiling face at the top of the stairs. Returning the smile, she made her way up to join him in his thinking spot.

"You came back!"

"Accidentally," she explained. "I fell asleep, and your brother brought me here instead of home."

The boy shrugged, "That's fine. Probably better anyway!" Serenity looked at him confused, but he continued on, "Is Seto down there?"

She nodded. "He fell asleep with his laptop in his lap." Mokuba chuckled at that. His brother was notorious for doing that, although he usually did it in his office.

Serenity looked around. The foyer looked so much different from this spot, so grand. Disbelieving that she had once again ended up sleeping in this beautiful house, she turned to Mokuba, "I feel like Beauty."

"Who?" the little boy asked.

It almost didn't surprise her that he didn't know who she meant. Those kinds of things were probably frowned upon by both his stepfather and his brother. "You know...from that old European fairy tale?"

Mokuba's eyes unfocused for just a moment as he tried to figure out what she was talking about, but then he responded, "Yeah, my brother can be a real beast."

Serenity couldn't help but giggle.

"You want a beast? Fine. You can start taking up more of your duties at KaibaCorp. Paperwork...meetings..." Two pairs of eyes looked cautiously over the railing to see Seto Kaiba, wide awake and somewhat amused, standing in the doorway to the game room.

The boy quickly protested, "But Seto, you said I have to finish elementary school before you'll let me do any of the real work!" As KaibaCorp's vice president, Mokuba Kaiba was actually far more involved in what happened with his brother's company than people realized.

Kaiba snorted at his brother's attempt at innocence and walked off into the kitchen. Mokuba started down the stairs, dragging Serenity behind him. Things really were working out the way he wanted, and he didn't even have to do much work.

Many thanks to GenericHero for helping with this chapter. Please go read his recently updated story Virtually Perfect!