Chapter 13

A/N: I apologize for how awful this chapter is in advance. I think I'm suffering from a writer's block *sigh* I hate that.

Serena sighs, grabbing a towel from the rail on the wall, wrapping it around herself as she walks through the house to protect her skin from the sudden chill that overwhelms her. Or is it loss? She misses Dan's fingers on her skin, blazing fire through her veins and igniting in her heart. But- No. She's better to walk away. Especially with what she's going to have to ask him to do soon since she's so useless at finding this guy.

She doesn't hear Dan approaching.

Not until he takes hold of her arm.

In retrospect, he realizes it had always been a bad idea.

He'd done this once- 6 days ago in his own home and he knew what happened. When she was grabbed when she shouldn't be grabbed, unaware and walking away. Hidden away in her own mind. So honestly, he knew the consequences, knew that he'd only wind up with a sore back and a spinning room as he suddenly found himself on the ground. Except his mind hadn't exactly been thinking logically, instead some form of caveman blinded by raw lust had burst free and he'd chased after her, planning on spinning her into his arms, pulling her into a scorching kiss that made her knees buckle and her reservations were forgotten.

Only, of course, that doesn't go according to plan.

His fingerstips have only just brushed the hairs of her arms when she's spinning smoothly around, a leg rising to kick him in the chest as she twists his arm. He goes sprawling to the ground, Serena landing above him once again with a knee on his chest, glaring at him this time.

They're silent for a moment, before Serena breaks into soft laughter. "Damn, Dan." She sighs, stroking his cheek lightly with the tops of her fingers and sending shivers down his spine. "You scared me."

"I noticed." He replies, voice carefully low.

Serena releases his twisted arm, helps him sit up and briefly rubs the small of his back as she does. He stares at her with something akin to awe. Wondering how she can change from ninja to tender-hearted woman in the blink of an eye. It's disorientating, to say the least, but he likes the challenge of keeping up with her. It's refreshing. And she's extraordinary. And he really wishes he could kiss her right now.

The man just doesn't give up, does he?

Serena finds herself rubbing her fingers in soothing circles at the small of his back before she realizes what it is that she's doing, and gathers herself to remain composed, quickly snatching her fingers away and allowing them to fall into her lap.

A blush rises to her cheeks slowly when he catches the way he's looking at her. He's looking at her in that way he does. That way that makes her feel a better person than she is; a way that makes her feel as though she's the innocent 18 year old version of herself; a way that makes her feel weak and vulnerable and exposed for all to see.

"Why are you doing this?" She asks in a whisper.

His eyes focus on hers, unrelenting, when he replies. "Doing what, Serena?"

Loving me.

She reaches out for him and curls a hand around his shoulder, thumb digging into his collarbone. "Paying attention to me like I'm more than who I am."

Something shifts in his eyes, something uncurls into determination and he reaches forward, cradling her cheeks as he rests his forehead against hers. She tightens her grip on his shoulder before she drifts too far into worry, absentmindedly wondering when it was he became her anchor when the bad thoughts came to plague her in her darkest times.

"Because you are more than who you believe you are, Serena." He whispers reverntly.

Her heart pounds so loudly in her chest that she's afraid it's going to fall out from there altogether.

He waits patiently, watching the play of emotions skittering about in her eyes, like she's unsure whether to believe his most honest truth or not.

Her hands tremble as she reaches up and wraps them around his wrists, and he sighs at the contact, content. This is more than he could have ever hoped for from Serena. She's extraordinary and wonderful and it's killing him to see her doubt herself so much, but he is ever so glad that- out of anyone in the world it could've been- he is the one here to show her the truth of her beauty, the depths of her strength, her hidden heart.

"Dan." She sighs, lips inches away from his, eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks. "I've killed people. I was supposed to kill you."

It hurts. Hurts to know that this is who she is, a woman who's secretly afraid of letting anyone close, anyone near her- but most importantly, afraid of herself, all of her mistakes, everything that adds up to create her. He wants to help her build herself back up again. He knows that this isn't who she is, or who she belongs to be. If he could give her the world, he would.

But he can only give her this.

"You didn't though, Serena." He says, "You chose the good path."

Serena's breath stutters for a moment, grip tightening on his wrists. "I chose you." She whispers, trembling. "And you terrify me."

It's all too much at once and he's fairly certain that he's going to explode, that surely the words that had spilled from her lips were just his imaginings, that in honesty the wetness in her eyes was from a ghost of her past and not because of him. Surely. He's not expected this from her. He's not expected to mean so much to her. He just wants her to see how much she can be, he wants her to see what he can see.

He wonders what she can see in him.

Dan swallows back the tears that clog in his throat, lets his lips ghost over hers for a fraction of a second. Delights in how she sighs into the kiss comfortably, no longer resisting.

"I won't hurt you." He promises.

He's shocked when Serena laughs against his lips, presses a light kiss there when she notices the hurt look crossing his face.

"That's not half the problem, Dan." She says. "I can't promise I won't hurt you."

"I don't mind." He says immediately because, honestly? He doesn't. He doesn't mind at all.

"You should."

"But I don't."

He's so endearingly frustrating with his loyalty to her. It makes her burn with anger when he ignores her warnings, but some selfish part deep inside of her is pleased that he does. Some selfish part of her wishes that he'll continue to ignore her warnings, that he'll push past her barriers and her walls persistently, because she doesn't quite think she'd mind all too much having him around for what she's never let herself hope is forever.

She pulls away from him slightly to stare at him, and she enjoys simply watching him watch her, a thrill running through her at the way he studies her.

Serena wonders what it is he writes about her.

One of the hands wrapped around his wrist tugs his hand away from her face, whilst the other shoves her towel away. She watches the way his eyes bulge, knows exactly where his mind is going when she tugs his hands towards her chest. Smirks at the knowledge that it's not what he thinks, though there's something sad hiding behind her smirk.

She presses his hands against the scar between her breasts, from the gunshot wound 12 years ago that had torn her life apart.

For a moment, she can't think about him, how he's reacting to this whole scenario. Because the weight of his palm against her scar, heavy to hold but warmth all the same, makes her feel lighter all of a sudden, carefree. As though she's been keeping a secret she hasn't even been aware that she was keeping.

In that moment, she doesn't think she'd be so against keeping him around forever.

The skin is bumpy beneath his palm and he curls his fingers around the spot between her breasts, studying the ridged pattern of the skin and trying to figure out what it could be.

"Serena." He breathes, watching the way something light travels to her eyes and they haze out. "Is this-?"

"A bullet scar."

He forgets how to breathe.

Yet his mind is racing a thousand questions.

"It happened 12 years ago." She tells him plainly, reciting the fact as though they bore her. But he can see beyond that, see the true fear in the downward curl of her lips as she talks about it. "It- It was at my Dad's funeral."

He's not saying anything. He fears that pushing too far will force her back into her lonely prison of mind again.

"I was talking, and then there- I don't know. Suddenly it hurt. It hurt so much and..." Serena takes a moment to breathe, and he brushes away a stray tear with the pad of his thumb. It's all he can do to comfort her, for now, and it saddens him immensely.

But he'll let her work through this. Because he doesn't think she's ever spoken to anyone about this before, and he feels privileged enough as it is that she's chosen him, yet heartbroken by the fact she's not had anyone to turn to for twelve years.

"And I could just see the sky. It was so blue. It was so calm. And I didn't feel calm at all, I felt so, I-" Her hands scrabble for the towel again, shoves it away completely and moves his hands to the surgical scars on her sides.

He can feel his heart breaking in his chest.

"And I woke up and I had all these scars, and they told me that I'd been shot, and I didn't understand anything. I didn't understand how nobody had noticed the shooter was there. I didn't understand why nobody had even tried to save me. I didn't understand why they didn't feel I was worth saving."

Her wide, vulnerable eyes turn to him, and he sees a fragile question hidden whitin their depths. Will you still love me in spite of all these broken things?

Yes, he wants to say, Always.

Instead his mouth descends on hers.

He fills her up with joy and hope and all these wonderful, euphoric feelings she hasn't felt since the day she came home to find her Dad had left her life forever.

She lets him pick her up, winds her legs around his waist and squeezes, chuckling lowly at the growl he releases.

She doesn't exactly know how he manages it, since her mind is foggy with lust and all this pleasure filling up inside of her is threatening to spill over, but he manages to get them up the stairs towards his room. Though they stop occasionally, him pressing her against the wall as she mewls, scrabbling at his shoulders madly as their lips, tongue and teeth battle with eachother.

And then somehow she's lying on his bed and he's there, above her and hovering, studying her with dark eyes that promise they'll never hurt her.

It's the first time she's believed in in what feels like forever.

"Dan." She pants, chest heaving, one arm wrapping up around his neck to bring him crashing down on her.

"I know, I know." He says, and she doesn't know what they're agreeing to anymore, or why there are suddenly hot, wet tears in her eyes.

But she knows that she's never been happier.

A/N: Kudos to everyone who's managed to read until here. And thank you so, so much for all the reviews, you guys seriously rock!
I would've made this m-rated but I suck at writing smut, I honestly do, I've tried it, but I failed, so i'm sorry for everyone who's been expecting that now. I've been in an emotional state while I've written this and it kinda shows off in that chapter, so I'm sorry if I disappointed anyone.