Welcome to the second chapter! Hope you like it!

Read on!

You're Still The Same Girl?

Vincent stared at Serenity, shock evident on his face.

"You're the same girl that set fire to my cloak, poured ice down my shirt, hung my boxers on a flagpole and put bugs in my soup, right?"

Serenity flushed slightly and hung her head shamefully as the others laughed.

"Yeah… Sorry about that. I was reckless back then."

Reeve smiled fondly. "You still are."

Serenity looked up and poked her tongue out at him. "Only for you, darling."

She smirked as Reeve shuddered slightly. Only Vincent didn't find it funny.

For some strange reason he found it somewhat painful that she had addressed him like that, even if it was only a joke. The unfamiliar pang of jealousy cut into his heart like a knife.

Serenity picked up his uneasiness. "Hey, Vince, what's eating ya?"

Vincent looked up, trying to force the unwelcome feeling away. "Nothing."

Serenity shook her head. "Ah, well." Yawning loudly, Serenity got up and looked around. "Well, I need some sleep. I've been traveling too much without any rest."

She stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Has anybody taken the room at the very top of the west wing?"

Everybody shook his or her heads.

"That's door locked tight."

Serenity smirked. "Good, then my magic has improved after all." Waving goodnight to all, Serenity ascended the stairs all the way to the top. Walking down the familiar corridor to her room, she stopped at the only spare room on her side of the manor.

Curious, she tried the door. It was unlocked.

Opening it slowly, she took one good look and immediately knew whose room this was.

Closing the door shut, Serenity wondered why Vincent, of all people, would leave his door unlocked when he was so finicky with people touching his stuff.

Boys. Serenity waved a hand over the locked door of her room. The lock clicked and the door swung open. Stepping in, she could she that her loyal companion had kept his promise. Her room was clean, free of dust, cobwebs and other things.

"Ruby did a good job." She mused.

"Glad you liked it." A slender fox had appeared on the windowsill, tail swinging gracefully in the wind.

Ruby jumped in and took a look at his handy work. "It was a killer, trying to clean the windows, but Sapphire and Emerald gave me a hand."

Serenity smiled, remembering the unicorn foal and the dragon hatchling she had found a week before she had left.

"How are they? I hope they didn't give you too much trouble."

Ruby just chuckled. "Naw, they were fine. Although they didn't like the fact that you let others live here without them knowing."

"Yeah, about that," Serenity sighed. "I was meant to warn you. But I wound up in hospital after a car crash on a highway. They didn't get hurt or come near the manor, did they? I never told my brother that I had some friend on this estate."

"Hmm, which one's your brother?"

"The one with a hair like a nest."

"Golden? Like a sun ray?"

"Yeah! That's the one!"

The two friends stayed up all night catching up on gossip.

Meanwhile, Vincent was trudging back to his room.

"I still can't believe that that girl is my little Serenity. The same girl who used to cry whenever I teased her, or get her brother on me when I hurt her. She seems so mature now."

Vincent sighed and opened the door to his room. Everything was still the same, save the fact that there was a lingering smell of roses in the air that wasn't there before.

It opened up a memory from a long, long time ago.

Yeah, well, second chapter up!

Still stuck on my other story.

Next chapter: vincent remembers a certain memory that reveals a stunning secret even Vincent doesn't realize!

What is it? R&R to find out!