Chapter 12

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, I love you guys!

Shoutout to Hannah, I hope you get better soon bby! Ily.

"Couldn't sleep?" She asks him, though it sounds more like a purr as the words fall from her luscious lips.

Dan blinks at her blearily, all of a sudden very aware and self conscious of the fact he's simply dressed in this rumbled pajamas whilst she's dressed in a very sexy, very red bikini. He pulls at the bottom of his top and runs an embarassed hand through his messy hair, wincing.

"Eh, no." He answers, taking a few steps closer to the pool. "You?"

Serena smiles slowly and he watches the way it spreds and slowly lights her face, tints amusement in her blue eyes. "Obviously not. Why else would I be swimming at 3am?" She teases, pink tongue caught between her teeth.

He stares, transfixed, before slowly lowering himself to sitting cross-legged before hre. She leans back slightly as he does, eyes a little wider than necessary, but by the time he's sat down on the tiles surrounding the pool she's settled back to how she was before, looking comfortable as ever at his proximity. All of his smooth moves from theses past 6 days and he's not quite sure how to say it; how to try and tell her that she is the most gorgeous woman he's ever seen and he often wonders how she'll look beneath him, writhing, as his lips write passion and lust and love on her smooth skin.

"Not getting anywhere with the guy who's after me, huh?" He says instead, letting his eyes roam away from her to study the reflection of the water on the windows.

"No," she murmurs softly and he startles when he feels a wet hand wrap around his wrist, a thumb stroking circles on his skin.

Once again, he finds himself just studying her- And he's content enough with that. Watching the way her hair clings to her face as it drips with water, highlighting her cheekbones, the golden shine of her hair. He wonders what that skin feels like there; if she'll ever allow him to touch it properly- Touch her. Learn her. He wants to- Oh, he wants to.

But it's not all he wants. He wants her in the very literal sense but then he also just wants her. He's spent six days with her here now and he likes to think that he knows her, in some way, in ways others haven't tried to know her in so long. And he wants more. He wants her to stay a permanent fixture in his life- He thinks that he can help her get there. Because he can still see the flame of something more in her eyes; he can still see the determination of a lawyer when she tries to figure out the puzzle; he can still see a trapped, lost little girl grieving for a parent trapped in the shell of a lonely woman.

"I'll get you back to your daughter soon." She tells him softly.

"I know."

Serena rests her head on her arm, shuddering slightly when he tilts his wrist so that they're palm-to-palm, hands kissing when he twines his fingers with hers and squeezes reassuringly.

"My Dad..." She mumbles, lips trembling so much she can't finish the sentence.

He sits and waits patiently as she works through it, frowning against the sudden tears she feels working their way into her eyes, breathing deep and harsh as she clenches her jaw. Strong. She needs to be strong.

It's just- She's never told anyone about this before. She told the therapist in order to get through it; but everyone else- They heard about it. Read the file. Spread gossip through the firm as she kept on working harder and harder, the whispers of poor little girl, poor crazy girl, and how they pitied her for it; for her mom.

But Dan deserves to know. Dan deserves this because he needs to know how he's idolizing her in the wrong way. He's making her into something that she's not. And he deserves to know her truly. Because it's the story he's interested in and she's left so many gaps, and he's trying to fill them in through his writing and she knows that he's not right. He needs the real story, not a make believe. She is not a hero. She will never be a hero. This- whatever it is she's doing for him doesn't change a thing.

"When you asked if I'd lost a parent, you were right." She admits.

He startles at the confession, at the honesty, at the low, sad tones in her voice. This is surreal- She's still in the pool looking like the physical embodiment of sexuality and suddenly he's feeling pity for her?

"It was my Dad." She murmurs, pulling his hand close so she can kiss his knuckles, continues her story by breathing it into his skin. "I was 18. My Mom and I, we were out for a meal, and he didn't turn up. We didn't think anything of it."

Serena chuckles slowly, shoulders slouching, and with his free hand he reaches up to tangle his hands through her wet hair, cradle her skull in his large hand. She leans into his touch, sighing, and he doesn't mind that she's getting his arm wet; he doesn't mind at all.

"We got home and there was this detective- Collin...My Dad had been stabbed." Serena barely whispers, almost simply mouthing the words.

His heart stays still in his chest for a moment before it sinks, low, like an anchor and resides somewhere down in his stomach. His mouth opens to say something, anything, but closes without a word. He's not quite sure what to do anymore. This is not the story he had written for her in his mind; this changes everything.

But her blue eyes are wet with imprisoned tears and he no longer cares about how this changes the story.

He just cares about her.

"Serena..." He sighs.

She releases his hand and untangles his other from her hair and suddenly she's dragging herself up out of the pool and onto the side, half-naked and wet and shivering and she just looks so lost and alone and frightened that he doesn't stop to think when he reaches out and grabs her around the waist, pulls her shivering form into his lap and lets her curl into his chest.

Dan's soaked through now, but he doesn't care. Doesn't care at all. He pulls her closer into his body, and she clings to him around his neck, fingers toying with the ends of his hair.

"I'm not a good person, Dan. I've done so many bad things." She whispers into his neck, jerking when he simply squeezes her tight.

"You are, you are." He chants, closing his eyes and blocking out the sound of her whimper.

"I started investigating on my own because they never caught his killer, they never cared, they just said- gang violence." Her voice hitches and she hiccups, curling her fingers tighter in his hair. "I manipulated my own job so badly, Dan. I was sinking, I was sinking so much- And then I hurt everyone around me, everyone, I just-"

"Stop." He orders.

She freezes, "What?"

"Stop."

Serena pulls away, staring up at him with red-rimmed eyes, mouth slack in shock.

"No, Dan, you need to know- Need to understand-"

"Stop, stop." He orders, hands rising to cup her cheeks, thumb tracing her lips.

Some part of him is yelling at him. Because here it is. Here's her story. She's giving it to him without any hesitation, showing him the truth he's so greedily demanded from her.

But- The look on her face. So lost and broken and fragile. It is killing him to watch her live through her memories again and he can't do that to her. He can't cause her more pain. She looks so small in his arms.

"Dan-"

She's not listening and he doesn't want to listen anymore and she is so beautiful and he is so completely clueless as to what to do.

So he captures her lips with his, swallows her gasp with his mouth and his tongue and delights in the way that her wet body presses into him with the arch of her spine. Lets his fingers travel down and make contact with the bare skin around her waist, tracing patterns into her skin as her own fingers release his neck, trail down and ghost the outlines of his chest through his shirt.

She rises onto her knees above him, breaking contact with his mouth and he loses himself in the sight of the dark arousal swirling in her eyes. Loses himself there because he's never seen it in there before, not in these eyes, not with this woman and he loves it. Loves her. Oh God, he loves her.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into."

"Yes, I do."

Her hands trail down and play with the hem of his pajama top, smirking. "Dan."

"Serena."

She's a goddess.

Serena stares down at him, the adorable aroused yet completely caught off guard look on his face, his swollen lips, mussed hair. He's- He's gorgeous. And so forgiving of her, and she doesn't deserve it, none of it.

But she wants to deserve it.

"Let me go, Dan."

His hands stop tracing patterns on her waist.

"What?"

"Let me go."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to bed. You should do the same."

"Yeah, see, I was thinking we could go together-"

Serena twists her ear, laughing halfheartedly at the way he jumps and groans in pain. He releases her waist at the same time she releases his ear and she slips from his waist with a small grin, climbing to her feet and away from him before he can do something stupid.

It's just- His hands are so large- And he's so good at kissing that she can't help but wonder what other talents that mouth of his has, and-

Stop it, Serena.

She runs a hand through her wet hair and moves into the house.

He watches her, all the long lines and curves and shapes of her, as she walks away. Long legs and swinging hips, bare skin slick with water from the pool. Water he's currently covered in.

And, her rules be damned; her issues be damned, he goes after her.