The fan in the window was just cool enough to keep Jenny's room cool all night long, it wouldn't have been cool enough for Jenny to be comfortable but it was just perfect for the five month old princess as Serena laid her down in the eyelet lace cradle. Midnight hour was quickly approaching and after a feeding Sariah had fallen into a deep sleep in her arms as Dan watched on with the amazed face he'd had the first night she'd spent with Sari in the loft. She still loved the feel of his eyes on her as she fed Sari, it was admiration and beauty that was displayed in the chocolate brown, and just the thing that made her feel even better then she did.

He was standing close to her, his arm brushing with her own every once and a while as she leaned over the bassinette and placed a loving kiss to their daughter's temple. Her perfect brown eyes were shut peacefully and her little fist had found its way to her perfect lips so she could suck her thumb. She always slept like that, from the time Serena stopped feeding her or took her paccy out of her mouth her thumb was always blocking her from screaming. She looked like a little angel, her little blonde curls matched so perfectly on the little white sheets and against white Bonpoint onsie Serena had changed her into to sleep for the night, a nice cool outfit.

"Good night baby girl"

Serena whispered and backed up for Dan to have some room. Her eyes stayed close on him as he bent over her and kissed her little cheek before pulling the pink satin blanket up on her. There he went again, always worrying that she would catch a cold. Serena couldn't get over how quickly and how well he'd snapped right into 'Daddy mode', how perfect a father he was with their child already. Serena herself had never gotten the warm loving father bit, the only things she could really remember from her father being around was hiding under a desk as he used Lily as a punching bag.

"Mommy and Daddy love you"

He finished off as he backed up and took a mental photo of his five month old daughter who could easily have passed for a two month old with how tiny she was. Yet every bit of her eight pound four ounce body was perfection. Serena watched him as he watched his daughter, she could tell his mind was already worried about leaving her and going to Dartmouth, worried that he'd miss too much, that she wouldn't know him when he came home to visit, everything Serena knew she wouldn't let happen.

Trying to yawn quietly she pressed a hand over her mouth, she knew all to well that she only had four hours now to catch some sleep. Sari like Dan wasn't a big fan of sleeping. Her noisy sounds had caused Dan to break from the captivation Sari had had over him.

"Come on; let's get you to sleep too"

Dan smiled as he turned to her and squeezed her hand gently. She nodded her head right away reaching out to make sure the monitor was turned up on high before following him out of Jenny's room and into his own. Jenny spending the night at Hazel's with Penny and Elise had been a surprise, and Rufus 'Pulling and all nighter at the gallery' they both knew wasn't the exact truth.

"Here, you take the bed and I'll sleep on the floor"

Offering to do the polite thing even though he wanted her to stop him and to pull him into bed with her and hold her all night she caught him off guard when she tightened her grip on his arm and backed up to his bed.

"I can't believe you're leaving tomorrow"

Her voice was more quiet and thin now as he looked at her and studied her sad emerald eyes, she looked upset and broken and he hated it. He didn't want to leave, but in order to attend Dartmouth and make her happy he didn't have much of a choice. Sure they weren't in a relationship but he'd tried to make it nothing but clear to her that it was her that he loved her and only her. There wasn't anyone else that he wanted. Serena and Sariah were a sealed deal to him, his family.

"You know that I'll be home whenever I can be."

He said raising his hand to cup her cheek, the soft skin under his hand made him smile. Even if it was a bitter sweet smile this time it was none the less a smile. He felt her slip his arms around his waist and move herself close to him. It caught him completely off guard when she raised her head and kissed him. It wasn't a simple kiss either as he felt her tongue was suddenly on his lips begging entrance and he would have been the last person to deny it.

Even more surprise over came him as she forcefully pushed her body to his leaning them both back on his bed. His hands were on her perfect skin under the cotton of her tank top, the skin he hadn't touched in this way in months. Her soft bronzed sides give him all the magic they had before. Everything about her made him weak and all he wanted to do was hold on and not let go.

He froze when she pulled away from the kiss, he didn't want it to end and he didn't want to stop. He'd missed being with her and it was the first time they'd actually kissed since the day he'd asked her if she was pregnant with Jenns's child. Things he still regretted, but it was all no more then a memory. They had a beautiful baby that was a piece of the both of them right in the next room. For the moment the only place Dan wanted to be was right where he was. They were laying on the bed now, his hands so delicately and contently on her sides. His eyes were stuck on her as she sat up, straddling his mid section. She was every bit of beautiful that she'd been the first time he'd laid eyes on her, just as every time he looked at her. Every bit of perfection and grace she left traces of where ever she went. As he zoned back into where he was she was suddenly pulling her shirt over her head. Dan was completely transfixed in her, the way the moonlight shown in from the sun roof above his bed and hit her in all of the right spots.

The shimmer powder she always put on in the mornings made her sparkle, the light beads of sweat were appearing on her shoulders from the heat since she'd insisted the air conditioner was to loud to hear Sariah. She didn't even faulter under his touch as he slipped his hand up her side, just grazing the top of her cleavage as he went up to rest on her neck, pulling her closer to him for another kiss which she wantingly granted. Her hands were then suddenly attacking the buttons on his shirt as fast as she could get them undone. There was a certain desperation of need and want laced with passion and hope in both her touch and her kiss. They needed each other just as much as they always had, but he still felt complied to stop her and ask as he broke the kiss and held her back from him.

"Serena… um, are you… um, sure about this?"

He knew she was before she even nodded her head, it was all in the way she was looking at him. Not pushing right away to resume their activities he just looked at her, taking in all of her beauty in a single glance. She bit her lip for a moment as she reached behind her and removed the clip that had had held her hair up in the simple twist so Sari didn't pull it. The color gold cascaded her shoulders and surrounded her like an angel's halo.

"I've only ever been more sure about two things in my life, our first time on Christmas eve and looking at our daughter for the very first time and knowing that she was perfect because she was from both you and I."

Hearing her words was like chancing his composure as everything he knew and wanted was right in front of him. He reached his hand from the side of her neck to simply run through her hair, every inch of her he wanted to touch and make sure he wasn't dreaming. She smiled her seductive smile at him as she leaned down and began to place slow kisses on a trail from his jaw line down his neck. Light teasing kisses in all of the right spots that drove him wild, she'd always known just exactly how to get him going had just looking at her body not been enough.

"You're tormenting me Serena"

He managed to mutter out as both of his hands slid from where they'd been to slowly push down her short shorts, he was suddenly thankful for the summer time. It meant less articles of clothing he had to get through. She obliged to his pulls right away as she pushed the shorts and the La Perla panties from her legs and let them drop off of the bed to the floor. His bed in the loft had been her second home, they used it so many times for the same activity she couldn't even count. It was something she loved doing, and not in the sex sense, in the showing him just how much she loved him side of it. His hands were station on her hips as she sat up again, his stomach feeling the warmth from between her legs as she straddled him. She could tell he was becoming more and more impatient with her every move. That was the way she liked it, torturing him. She reached her hands behind her undoing the clasp of her bra and giving him something to occupy his time with as she finally got his boxers off.

Finally when his too were discarded off and to the floor she knew for a fact that she still had the same effect on him she'd always had. Unlike times previous she took the time to open the draw beside his bed and extract what so many times they'd forgotten. One miracle alone was enough for the time being, they both knew that. It took no time for things to resume to how they'd been once upon a time. The puzzle piece fits, controlled breathing, and syncopated thrusts all brought the things they both already knew, the other way to spell forever was Dan and Serena. Everything was just as it had always been and just as it was meant to be, the whole thing felt so good and so waited for, just like it had been that Christmas. He knew her body like no one else had ever. All fights, squabbles, incidents, and mistakes were in the past for the night, not to be brought up or thought of. Nothing was more important then one another, with the acceptation of the baby sound asleep in the next room.

When their highs finally ended she was cuddled so tightly and close in his arms she knew it was because he was afraid she would run and that was the furthest from her mind. She closed her eyes and concentrated on his labored breathing and his fingers gently dragging through her mused hair. She loved the feel of being safely and protectively in his arms.

"I love you Serena"

The words meant so much more to her then they could ever express, and knowing that he meant every letter of them with his whole heart she found it in herself to completely trust him. With all the mistakes they'd made there were so many things they'd done perfectly right also.

"I love you too Dan"

She said quietly as he leaned his head down enough to kiss the top of hers. She marveled in the moment of just being able to peacefully lay in his arms with no interruptions or thoughts about anything at all.