Chapter Thirty-seven

A Warm Coat

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"RAYE!!" Serena yelled.

"SERENA!!" Raye yelled as she ran over and wrapped her best friend in a hug.

"I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too."

"So how have you been?"
"Terrible."

"Why?"

"Because my best friend wasn't here with me."

"Well I'm here now, so you and Kevin still together?"

"Of course." She said as a huge grin appeared on her face.

"I haven't been able to talk to anyone alone yet. The only time I was with anyone one on one was when Dan took my statement. Darien was in the room with me. The guys were filling me in on everything yesterday, but I kinda fell asleep."

"Nice one gi-"

"RAYE!" Came screams from the door.

"Hello to you too." She laughed.

"How was Cali?" Mina asked.

"Warm compared to here." Raye laughed.

"I bet. This Michigan weather is nuts!" Lita said.

"At least you guys weren't locked in a basement." Serena said.

"True. You're lucky you didn't get hypothermia." Amy said.

"Yah. It was quite cold down there." She said. "I thought that house would be warmer than it was."

"What do you mean?" Min asked.

"Oh. I was at my old house. Do you guys want to know the story?" She asked.

"Only if you want to tell." Raye said.

"Sure. Basically she blindfolded and cuffed me. She took me to my old house and locked me in the basement. She beat me everyday." She explained.

"How did you get out?" Amy asked.

"Well funny story about that…Darien and I can talk telepathically."

"Really?!" Mina shouted.

"That's so cool!" Lita joined in shouting.

"But why didn't you tell him sooner?" Amy asked.

"Well Nichole, the lady who took me, could read minds, so I couldn't. But she left to visit her son or something, so I waited a little bit then moved the blindfold. I saw my house and told Darien. She heard and came back and I passed out. I woke up in some weird place and heard her talking. I saw Dan with is guy aimed at Nichole and shook my head no. Then I whipped my leg into hers and she fell. Then I passed out again and woke up here." She explained. "So enough about me. What's been going on in the last three months?"

"Well…"

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"Oh, sure. Stay awake during their explanation." Darien said sarcastically

"You know it muffin." She grinned. "How are you guys today?"

"Good."

"Fine."
"Great."
"Tired."

"Perfect."

"Good. So what brings you guys here?" Serena asked.

"You." Darien answered.

"Oh, stupid question." She laughed. "I wish I could go home now." She sighed.

"You might get your wish." Said a voice from the door. "Well almost."

"Hi, Rose. What do you mean?"

"You are going to be released this afternoon."

"That's great." She yelled.

"In that case we'll be eating at home." Amy said.

"No more hospital food!" Stephen yelled as the group began to laugh.

"Yup." Serena said.

"Will Yella be coming today?" Rose asked.

"Not sure." Serena replied.

"If not, I can drive her home." Darien said.

"Okay. That'll be fine."

"I'm gonna go call her now then." Darien said.

"K."

"So do you know what time she'll be able to go home?" Amy asked.

"About two hours."

"YAY! Only two more hours of this place!" Serena cheered. "No offence, Rose."

"None taken. I can understand. It can be very depressing in here."

"Hey, I'm hungry." Raye said.

"Me too." Mina agreed.

"Why don't you guys go home and get some food." Serena suggested. "I'll only be here another two hours."

"You sure?" Raye asked.

"Yah, go ahead." She replied.

"I'll just stay with her until she can leave. Darien said coming back into the room. "Yella is fine with it. She is cleaning and wouldn't be able to make it for another hour or so anyways."

"So you guys can go ahead." Serena said.

"Okay. We'll meet up with you later." Zac said.

"Bye." Darien and Serena waved.

"Bye." The others walked out.

"Darien, I missed you so much." She said.

"You don't even know who much I've missed you." He said walking over and squeezing her in a hug.

"I love you so much." She looked up at him.

"And I love you." He said closing the space between them. "So what do you want to do when we get out of here?"

"Can we go for a walk in the park?"

"It's cold though. Do you have any winter clothes?"

"Oh, I don't think so."

"We can go to my house. I've got an extra winter coat. It might be big."

"But it'll be fine."

"So a walk it is."

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"Your coat is so warm!" Serena said as she shoved her freezing hands deep into the pockets "Hey, what's this?" She said pulling out a small box.

Shit. "Oh, uh, I guess I forgot that was in there. I'll just take that." He said grabbing the box from her.

"But what is it?"

"A present."

"For…?"

"You."

"You already got me something?"

"Yah. I've had your Christmas present planned for a while now."

"So what do you want?"
"Your love."

"But you already know I love you and always will

"I know."

"So what do you want then?"
"For you to marry me."

Serena stopped dead in her tracks. "W-what?"

He turned back to face her. He lifted her chin up so their eyes met. "Serena will you marry me?" Darien asked.

She lunged into his arms. "Of course." She said giving him a kiss. "I love you so much."

"And I love you." He said as he grabbed the box he had taken from her and opened it.

She gasped. "It's beautiful."

"Matches you perfectly." He said as he slipped the ring onto her finger.

"I love you so much." She said swinging her arms around his neck.

"And I love you." He said wrapping his arms around her waist.

She closed the space between them and they shared a passionate kiss.

When they finished their kiss, they decided to take a break from their walk and sit on a bench.

Serena rested her head on Darien's chest.

"Do you want to go to the Crown and get some hot chocolate?"

"Yah, we can visit Andrew while we're there too."

"Let's go."

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"They're on their way." Kevin said.

"Is everything ready?" Zac asked.

"Yah." Lita answered.

"Okay. Now we wait." Zac said.

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"I can't wait to get out of this cold weather and drink the warm hot chocolate." Serena said as they walked into the Crown.

"WELCOME BACK SERENA!"

"What?" Serena said looking shocked.

"Welcome back, my sweet." Darien said from behind her.

"It's just a little welcome back party." Andrew said walking up to give Serena a hug.

"Thank you guys so much! This is awesome." She said with glee.

"So what do you guys want?" Andrew asked.

"Two hot chocolates." Serena said. "Do you want one Darien?"

"And another for me." He laughed.

"What else do I want? My first day of no hospital food." She thought. "One hot fudge sundae please Andrew."

"Sure. Be right back." He said.

"You guys are awesome." She said again.

"We know." Raye said with a grin

"But how did you know I would come here?" She asked taking an empty seat.

"Why do you think I asked if you wanted to come and get hot chocolate?" Darien asked taking a seat next to her.

"Oh, good point." She laughed.

"So Serena, what's with the extra big grin today?" Raye asked.

'Should I tell them?'

'When ever you want.'

"Serena, hello. Anyone in there?" Raye waved a hand in front of Serena's face.

"Sorry, just thinking."

"So what's the grin for?" Lita asked the question again.

She simply held out her hand and showed them the ring.

"Oh my gosh, it's beautiful." Mina said.

"Is it…?" Lita asked.

"Yah." Both Darien and Serena said.

"Congratulations." Yella said giving Serena a hug then giving one to Darien.

"When?" Amy asked.

"While we were walking in the park, I found the box in the pocked of his coat."

"That's nice." Raye said.

"I'm so happy for you." Mina said.

"Here are your drinks guys." Andrew said placing the tray in front of the two. "Oh, Serena, your ring is beautiful."
"Thank you. I love it so much almost as much as I love you." She said looking at Darien. "So how have you been Andrew?"

"Okay." He sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"Rita and I broke up. The whole long distance thing wasn't working for us. So we had a mutual brake-up."

"I'm sorry, but at least it was mutual."

"Yah."