A.N: If I don't update by Thanksgiving, I'd like to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone! And God bless.

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Chapter 25: Confession

Someone knocked on Darien's door at around 7 a.m. He was still asleep.

"Darien, sweetheart, when you're ready breakfast's downstairs," he heard Irene say through the door.

He groaned and stretched. Six days left, he thought as he climbed out of bed.

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Just across the hallway, Serena was looking at herself in her full length mirror. She saw a big purple spot near her ear on her neck. How the hell did I get that! She thought, touching it. Then she knew. It's a hickey… from Darien, she thought, smiling. "I got a hickey from Darien!" she said out loud, grinning. You're not supposed to be happy about this! Her conscious told her. What if your dad found out? Then Darien's DEFINITELY dead.

"Crap." She thought about how to cover it up. "Let's see… there's always make-up." She went over to her makeup table. She put some foundation over it. It covered it up some, but you could still tell. "Turtle neck sweater!" she thought as she went over to her closet.

She found a fuzzy pink turtle neck sweater, and put it on quickly. She smiled at herself in the mirror. "Perfect."

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Ken came by Darien's room and knocked on his door. Last night, Ken had stayed in that chair all night. He fell asleep sometime during his watch. He was happy with himself, thinking that nothing had happened.

Darien opened the door. He was in his boxers and a shirt still. His hair was all messed up, and his face still looked half asleep.

"Good morning, Darien," Ken said smiling.

"Morning, sir," Darien mumbled.

"I was thinking that we could go get a bite to eat during lunch sometime. You know, to get to know each other more," Ken said, his hands behind his back.

Darien nodded, forcing himself to smile. "Sounds great," he lied.

"Good. Well, see you downstairs for breakfast," Ken said as he walked away from Darien.

Darien stood there still, his door still opened, looking out. Great. Lunch with Serena's dad. What's he gonna ask this time? Darien thought as he stared at nothing.

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Darien quickly got ready and came downstairs. The whole family was already eating breakfast, laughing gaily at one another.

Irene got up as soon as she saw Darien and grabbed him some pancakes. "Here you go darling," she said joyfully, handing him a plate of stacked blueberry pancakes.

"Wow, thanks Irene," he said kindly, smiling. He looked at Serena since he hadn't seen her all morning. She looked radiantly beautiful as always. Her hair was down in soft cascade curls, and she was wearing jeans with her fuzzy turtleneck sweater, and suede boots. Darien smiled secretively at her.

"Darien, I'm going to take you around New York today," Serena said happily as she poured syrup on her pancakes.

"Well, you better do it before lunch sweetheart, cause I invited Darien to lunch with me. Just us two men," Ken said, looking over the rim of his glasses towards Serena. Then Ken looked towards Darien.

Darien smiled and nodded at Ken with a mouth full of pancakes.

Serena's face fell into a frown. What's he got up his sleeve? Serena thought as she chewed on her pancakes. She looked over at her mother to see if she could read anything on her mother's face, but her mother looked just as surprised as Serena did.

"That's nice, isn't it Serena? Your father and Darien spending time with one another," Irene said, sitting down.

"Oh… yeah. Great," Serena answered, with lack of enthusiasm. She gave her dad a questioning look.

Ken saw and ignored it. He was going to see Darien's motives with Serena. See if he could find anything wrong with this boy that had gotten his daughter so smittened with him in such a short amount of time.

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Right after breakfast, Serena left with Darien to go see New York. Her father was reluctant to let them go at first, but he gave in, in the end. Besides, he was going to have his time with Darien soon enough.

They had about 6 hours before the Darien's lunch date with Ken.

"I can't believe my dad persuaded you to go with him to lunch," Serena said as they rode in the back of a taxi.

Darien looked towards Serena. "It's fine Serena. I've got nothing to hide. It's not like we've done anything," he said honestly.

"That's true," Serena answered, looking up into his gorgeous deep blue eyes. He was wearing a gray sweater with dark jeans and a black jacket over his sweater. He looked handsome as usual. "I still don't like him interrogating you like you're some kind of child molester or something!"

Darien laughed at Serena's last remark. He wrapped an arm around her. "I can handle it."

They got into New York City within 20 minutes. Darien looked out the window at the tall, majestic skyscrapers and buildings he only saw in pictures or on t.v. Now he was here! The buildings were breathtaking. He got a glimpse of the statue of liberty as they drove down the street in the distance also. Snow had started to sprinkle just as they got out of the car.

"Where are we going?" Darien asked as he took Serena's hand.

"Anywhere you want! It's New York City! We can walk anywhere," she said smiling. She loved New York. She loved the smell, the feel, the tourists, and the stores.

"How about Central Park?" Darien asked.

"Oh, I love it there. It's just a few blocks away," Serena said as she led the way.

As they walked, Darien took in everything he could; the famous buildings that towered over everyone, the funny tourists and their cameras, the carriages and hotdog stands, he took in everything he could.

When they reached Central Park, it looked beautiful! It was supposed to be aserene place where you could escape from the city feel. Tree's and bush's blocked the buildings, and it was like an enchanted fairytale garden, snow softly landing ontop of one another.

"Wow, this is amazing," Darien said as he looked around. Small man-made ponds had frozen, but if you looked, you could still see the fishes swimming underneath it. "How are they still alive?" Darien asked as he looked at the moving spots in awe.

"Well they feed off of the algae under the pond that has built up. And the temperature down there is actually warm," Serena said, smiling at Darien.

Darien nodded, turning his head and looking around. He saw couples walking around the sidewalk, laughing and talking.

As Darien turned to look at Serena, BAM! He got hit in the face with a snowball. He stumbled back in surprise, and his face stung with the sudden impact of snow.

He wiped the snow off of his face, and looked towards Serena, who was giggling off to the side. Darien grinned and ran towards her. She screamed, and took off, her scarf and hair blowing in the wind. When Darien was close, another snowball was whirled at him, but he dodged it in time.

"Hah!" he yelled triumphantly, bending over to form his own snowball in his gloves. Darien wasn't as quick as Serena was. She had formed three snowballs in time it took Darien to form just one. Right when he was done with his first one, Serena took aim, and threw it at him, hitting his shoulder. She pointed and laughed in victory, and took off running with her other two snowballs.

Darien still had the one he made in his hands. He chased after her, a huge grin spread across his face. Darien threw the snowball at Serena as she ran, but he missed, which made her laugh even harder.

"You throw like a girl," she teased, throwing another snowball at him quickly. Darien managed to duck that one, and right as it soared over his head, he sprinted towards Serena, and tackled her down in the snow. She was surprised at first, but then giggled and laughed, out of breath. She lie in the 3 feet deep snow, grinning up at Darien, who was on top of her, panting heavily. "I win," she said happily, smiling up at him.

Darien smiled down at her. She looked adorable to Darien. With her knitted winter cap on, and her golden hair spread everywhere, some on her face; and her pink nose from the cold, she just looked adorable. Darien closed the gap between their faces and kissed her. Serena opened her mouth invitingly, and Darien obliged, his tongue twirling and dancing with hers. Warmth spreaded through his entire body as soon as their lips had touched. He forgot about the snow and how cold he had felt; all he could feel was Serena, and the heat and chemistry between them.

He gently parted from her, smiling lovingly down at her. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, returning his smile.

"I love you," she whispered to him. Her arms were still around his neck, twirling a strand of his hair in her fingers.

Darien looked into her beautiful baby blue eyes. That was the first time she had ever said that to him. She searched his eyes and tried to read his face. She didn't know if it had shocked him, or what, but she suddenly felt rejected. She could feel her heart slowly break with each passing moment.

Then, she saw him smile. One of his smiles that he only gave her. He leaned down and kissed her again. But this wasn't like any of the other kisses they've shared. No, this kiss was different. This kiss was full of meaning, emotion, passion, and love. It was the sweetest, most breathtaking kiss he had ever given her. She could tell, just by the way he was kissing her, that he loved her. The kiss was slow, long, and lingering. He parted away from her reluctantly.

"I love you too," he finally whispered back.

She knew he meant it. Not because of the kiss, but because of the way he said it, and the way he looked at her when he said it. Her heart exploded with joy, and her stomach flipped and turned in happiness.

They had finally said it. They had finally said the one thing that both of them were afraid to say for a long time now. They loved each other. They made a promise never to say it unless they were completely, and absolutely sure it was true. So now they knew that every time they would say those three words to one another, it had weight behind it. It truly meant something, it wasn't something to joke around about; but that it really did mean," I love you."