We walked back into the living room where Hotaru used her innocent child charms and persuaded me to sit down on the middle of the couch. She then used the same tactic on Darien and made him sit down beside me and put his arm around me. She then climbed on his lap and pulled the covers around us. I found myself feeling safe and comfortable in his arms, which scared the hell out of me. I mean I wasn't suppose to feel like this, especially since I just met him and didn't know shit about him. Turning my head to look at him, I couldn't help but smile, they looked so cute together. Hotaru sat on Darien's lap telling him about the movie up until this point as he quietly listened, asking questions every now and then. He must have felt me staring because he tightened his hold on me and gave me a wink before he went back to listening to Hotaru. After a couple of minutes, Hotaru finally finished telling him about the movie and now we all sat in silence, watching it. A half an hour later the movie came to an end with the monster dead and only four families remaining in the small town, I looked over to find Hotaru asleep.

"Here, let me take her," I whispered as I stood up and reached for her only to have him pull her away.

"Nah, that's alright. I can take her, just show me where she's sleeping," he exclaimed as he too stood up with Hotaru still in his arms.

"Okay, follow me," I lead him upstairs and into my room. She woke up, just as Darien laid her down in my bed. Hotaru quickly sat up, said goodnight and gave Darien a hug and kiss. He returned the gesture and then left the room. I went to my closet and pulled out another blanket and placed it around her.

"Rena, do you like the man?"

"You mean Darien. He's okay. Why do you ask?"

"Me thinks he nice and that he likes you," Hotaru yawned.

"Taru, it's I thin- oh nevermind. Yeah, he does like me but right now it's time for you to go to sleep. Goodnight, I love you," I gave her a hug and kiss.

"Night, love you too," she mumbled, sleep already claiming her. As I left the room and closed the door, I was surprised to find Darien leaning on the wall, waiting for me.

"She's a smart kid," Darien commented after a minute of elapsed silence.

"I know. She's actually been tested. The doctors say her IQ matches one of a normal fifth grader, pretty good for a child who hasn't even been to kindergarten. She's just has a small problem with her grammar, but we're working on it."

"Oh, that's good. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what?"

"What happened with your last boyfriend? You know the one that made you cry."

"That's none of your business," I snapped. I could immediately tell from the look on his face that I handled the situation wrong and I once again felt guilty.

"Look, I didn't mean to snap at you like that, I apologize. That's just a really touchy subject for me. How about we go downstairs and I'll order us a pizza and we can forget about this."

"Nope, I was gonna take you out to dinner tonight and since I can't actually take you, I'm gonna bring it to you."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm going to cook you dinner. So you're going to go downstairs and watch TV until I tell you dinner is ready," he walked me downstairs and into the living room, where he left me. For the next 30 minutes I could hear him banging around in the kitchen, while the smell of something delicious continuously nipped at my senses. A little after the banging finally ended, Darien came and got me.

"Dinner is ready," he announced as he walked back into the living room.

"Good, I'm hungry as hell!" I jumped up and tried to walk past him only to have him grab my arm and stop me.

"Hold on. Close your eyes. It's a surprise," he could tell from the look on my face I wasn't about to close anything.

"Close your eyes, Serena. Trust me," he whispered into my ear, causing me to shiver. After hearing the soft plea in his voice, I couldn't help but listen and close my eyes. Darien grabbed my hand and led me into the dining room, where he sat me down.

"Open your eyes," I heard him mutter. Looking around, I saw that he had set the dining room table for two, with candles lit all throughout the room.

"God, this is beautiful. Nobody has ever done something romantic like this for me. Thank you," I took the initiative this time and kissed him.

"Hey, hey. First we eat, then we play," Darien broke the kiss.

"Okay," I mumbled as he went to go get dinner. He came back with shrimp stir-fry, which we both immediately started to eat. After we finished eating and placed the dishes in the dishwasher, we retired back into the living, where we started to watch TV again. It wasn't long before we started kissing. In an act to get more comfortable in his arms, I ended up straddling his lap. I'm not sure how long it was but I felt his right hand slip into my shirt and grab my breast, while the left hand lifted my shirt over my head. I knew that things needed to stop before they got out of hand.

"Darien, Darien, stop," I muttered, after breaking our kiss. Darien still not fully comprehending what I said tried to pull me back into a kiss. As his lips came closer to me, I turned my head and he met with my cheek. I thought that he would take the hint and stop his attack on my body. I WAS WRONG. Instead of stopping, he started to kiss up and down my neck. I began to let out small moans and I knew that if I didn't stop him soon, that I would break and let him have his way with me.

"Darien, STOP," I pushed myself off his lap and away from him. Once I was out of direct contact with him, he seemed to recollect his senses. I quickly grabbed my shirt out of his hand and put it back on.

"Darien, are you okay?" I questioned after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah, sorry. That's never happened before."

"What?"

"I wanted you so much, I lost control. I wasn't even listening to you when you said no. I COULD HAVE RAPED YOU," he placed his hand on my cheek, which I leaned into.

"Please, any longer and it would have been anything but rape. I was enjoying it just as much as you," I put my hand over his.

"But even if you weren't enjoying it, Serena, I wasn't liste-," he began until I cut him off by kissing him. We kissed for a few minutes before I started to feel my control slipping again.

"Damn, you're intoxicating," I heard him whisper into my ear after I ended our kiss.

"Thanks, I think. Can we just watch TV and cuddle? Would that be okay?"

"Fine by me," he answered as I snuggled up to him. He covered us with a blanket and then wrapped his arms around me. We started to watch some romantic comedy. Half way through the movie I started to feel sleepy and it wasn't long before darkness claimed me completely.

The next morning I woke up in my mother's bed. I started to piece together the events from last night, when I decided to check on Hotaru. A sudden wave of terror spread through me when I looked into my room and found it empty. Just as I was about to start freaking out, I heard giggling. Following the sound I found myself downstairs in the kitchen. Darien and Hotaru were almost done cooking what appeared to be a feast; bacon, eggs, French toast, grits, and waffles.

"Rena, Rena, look at what us made," Hotaru exclaimed as she ran and jumped into my arms.

"Baby, it's look at what WE made, not us. All this food looks terrific," I eyed all of the food that was laid out on the kitchen table.

"We were just waiting for the biscuits to get done, then we were gonna come and wake you," Darien explained, just as the timer went off.

"YAY, NOW WE CAN EAT," Hotaru squealed.

"Grab a plate and dig in," Darien exclaimed as he got the biscuits out of the oven. I grabbed a plate and made what I thought was going to be Hotaru's plate until I saw that she had gotten Darien to make it, so instead I ate it.

"So... what do you two plan on doing today?" Darien questioned as we all finished eating breakfast.

"I WANNA GO TO THE ZOO!" Hotaru screamed.

"Well I guess that settles that," I chuckled.

"Can Darien come too?"

I shook my head, "I don't think Darien wants too. He probably has other things to do."

"Actually I don't. I would love to go to the zoo with you two. That is... if it's okay with Serena?" Darien cut in.

"It's fine with me, we would love to have you."

"YYYAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY," Hotaru threw her hands up in the air.

"Okay munchkin, let's get you showered and dressed, so we can go," I picked Hotaru up and took her upstairs. After putting her in the shower I found Darien in the kitchen putting dishes in the dishwasher.

"So, what's the deal? Do you really wanna go to the zoo or-," was all I could get out before I was cut off.

"I'll do anything if I get to spend more time with you," Darien backed me up into the wall.

"Oh," I muttered as his lips captured mine.

"All I gotta do, is stop by my place for a quick shower and a change of clothes. Unless you wanna share a shower with me," Darien suggested, right before he kissed me again.

"Something tells me that if I share a shower with you, washing would be the last thing on our minds," I could feel his hands on my waist.

"I think you might be right, Ms. Conner," Darien nipped at my neck.

"I'M DONE NOW," Hotaru yelled down the stairs, effectively ruining the moment.

"ALRIGHT, I'M COMING," I yelled back. I looked back at Darien to find him laughing.

"You two are too much alike," he shook his head.

"Shut up," I snapped as I left the room and made my way back to Hotaru. I dressed her in a light blue sundress and sent her downstairs to Darien, while I showered and washed my hair. 10 minutes later I was out of the shower, I put my hair in a sloppy bun and dressed in a khaki Capris with a pale blue spaghetti strapped shirt, and my matching sandals. I went downstairs and found Darien and Hotaru sitting on the couch watching TV, waiting for me.

"Took you long enough," Darien muttered, as he and Hotaru stood up. Just as I was about to respond to him, Hotaru ran over to me, grabbed my hand and began to pull me towards the front door, followed closely by Darien.

"Now we can go," she sang, as I locked the front door and we all walked over to the Escalade and got in. We stopped at Darien's just long enough for him to take a quick shower and change clothes, then we were off to the zoo. Michelle told me once that I looked a lot like her late husband that I could be his little sister, but I never paid it any mind until now. You see, Taru is a spitting image of him, which in turns makes her look like she could be my daughter. For the majority of the day many of the elderly couples made it their point to tell Darien he had a beautiful family. It kidda surprised me, that instead of telling them that I wasn't his wife and Taru wasn't his daughter, he would just agree with them and give me a kiss on the cheek. By the time we left the zoo, Hotaru was exhausted. She had already fallen asleep in Darien's arms as we walked back to the car. He laid her down in the back seat and then we proceeded back to my house.

"Darien, can I ask you something?" He simply nodded his head to let me know he was listening and continued driving.

"Why didn't you correct them? You know, tell them I wasn't your wife and Taru wasn't your daughter."

"I don't know. It didn't really bother me. Why, did you want me to say something?"

"No-no, it's not that. It didn't matter to me either, I just wanted to know," Again he merely nodded his head and continued to drive. Minutes later we pulled back into my driveway. Darien carried Hotaru, while I led the way and unlocked the door. It became apparent that somebody had been home when we walked through the door. The lights and the TV were on and dishes were in the sink.

"Mom's home or at least she was," I exclaimed, looking around the house.

"Do I need to leave?" He asked, still holding Taru.

"Not unless you want too."

"Well, what if your mom comes back?"

"It's 7:00 at night, she's not coming back, not until tomorrow at least. Trust me. I know my mother's schedule. Why don't you take Taru upstairs and put her in my bed, while I order us a pizza. Is pepperoni okay?"

"Sure that's fine," was all he said before disappearing up the stairs.

"Serena, who's Seiya?" Darien questioned after we finished eating our pizza. As soon as the name came out his mouth I knew the color was draining from my face.

"Se-Seiya, where did you hear that from?" I was well aware of the fact that I had started to shake.

"From you. Last night, when you went to sleep, you started to cry and say that name. What did this Seiya do to you?" he pulled me in his lap.

I took one look at his face and knew that I was gonna tell him, so I didn't try and fight it. "He was my boyfriend. The one that made me cry. Before this makeover no guys except for this one guy ever really looked at me unless they were playing a joke on me. Seiya was no different, he was the all-American boy. Played sports, did average in school, and had a lot of friends. Then one day out of the blue he came up to me in the hallway and started to flirt with me, OPENLY. At first I was suspicious, but about a week later when Raye and Beryl started to talk about me, he stood up for me in front of everyone. I thought that if he stood up for me to the most popular girls in school then he must have some like me somewhat, so we started a quiet relationship. It went on for about 7 months before I found out the truth, but by then it was too late because I had already fallen in love with him, along with slept with him. Beryl paid him 150 dollars to seduce me and make me love him, then they were gonna publicly humiliate me in school. But for some reason when Monday came around Beryl didn't do anything and Seiya just denied that it ever happened." Darien wiped my tears away from my face and I could tell by his facial expression, that he was PISSED.

"Where. Is. This. Seiya? Where. Can. I. Find. Him?" he managed to get out.

"He's gone. A month after the breakup some school in Georgia wanted him to play on their team. They promised him he'd get better coverage and way more game time, so he agreed and left. I was all too happy to have him leave. I just kidda buried the experience in the back of my mind but sometimes I have nightmares about it."

"He's one lucky bastard. If he was here I'd kill him. Serena, I'm not gonna lie to you. I really haven't been too faithful in my past relationships but I never really had a reason to be. Not until now, at least. I honestly do like you and I can promise you that I'm never gonna hurt you like that."

"I hope that's true because I don't think that my heart could handle another heartbreak to that magnitude again," I shook my head trying to get the image of Seiya out of it.

"No-no, there is no reason to hope because I won't, I place that on my life," he swore. The look in his eyes was unexplainable and I had no doubts in his sincerity. He pulled me into an innocent kiss that I soon let turn into more as I responded. I felt myself starting to lose control again and I didn't care. He made me feel safe and all I wanted to do was be in arms, so I gave up and stopped fighting it.