Disclaimer: Dont own them. Not making any money.

A/N: Three days in a row! It must be a record for me :P Hope you like it!
Cyn

Shattered Dreams and Broken Hearts
Chapter Three

I held the wallet size photo in my hand, staring at it, wishing it would magically change. I've been holding it for the past hour trying to figure out how I could have done this. What happened in these past four years? How did my life get so screwed up? How could I have married the woman in this photo?

There we were, gazing into each other's eyes. Her dress was classy with a touch of sex to it. The beaded corset top clung to her chest and hips, until the bottom flared out into a typical ball gown style. Her hair was left down, falling around her face. A delicate tiara held her sweeping veil back. Delicate diamond earrings clung to her ears and a matching necklace swooped to the tops of her breasts. My black tux, so light looking, felt as if it carried the weight of the world on my heart now. One of my hands gripped her waist and the other held her own hand delicately. I looked happy. We were in the middle of our first dance, according to Tank, when the photo was snapped.

The photo was real.

I was married.

There was a soft knock on the door. Three guesses as to who it was. First two don't count.

"Come in," I said gruffly.

Serena walked in with her head down and closed the door behind her. She moved wordlessly as she pulled a chair up by the bed.

Neither of us spoke for a long time.

"You saved me three years ago." Her voice was barely a whisper. Tank had filled her in on what was happening.

"How?"

"You came to a bar I worked at during the night." Great. I married a fucking stripper. "There was a group of five guys that were harassing me a bit but I didn't want to make a big deal out of it since I thought they would get drunk and call a taxi to go home. You know, guys night out away from their girlfriends and wives." Her voice shook a bit but she cleared her throat and pushed on. "I'm always the last to leave. It's my job to lock up when everyone has left."

Now I was confused. "Isn't that the bouncer's job?"

She finally raised her head and her eyes burned with disgust. "I'm not a goddamned stripper if that's what you're getting at. Never was, and never will be. I was the bartender. We were a small bar so we didn't need a bouncer."

Interesting. I inclined my head in apology. It was stupid of me to try and judge her.

"They left after you came in and had a couple of beers in the corner booth. I thought they went home. I always parked my car right by the backdoor since I get off so late. On the left side of the door there's a dumpster. That's where they hid behind. They rushed at me and I couldn't do anything. I tried to fight but there was too many. I managed to knee one in the groin before they held me down. Every time I screamed they would slap me and tell me to shut up, that if I didn't co-operate they would kill me. They had torn my clothes and one guy was," she shivered, "touching me before you came around. It wasn't until later that you told me you were waiting in your car deciding whether you should just pack up and leave Trenton when you heard my screaming from the front lot. You . . . it was bloody. All of them ended up in the hospital. One of them, the guy who was touching me, died a couple hours later."

Her eyes met mine again and they were filled with tears. Not one of them fell though. She was trying to be strong.

I felt sorry that she had to go through that but I felt nothing deeper for her. She was just a woman I met today. I kept my face blank. She was innocent in all this. I'd try not to hurt her anymore than I had to. Try anyways.

"What happened after?"

She smiled a bit and it was like she was a different woman. She was practically glowing.

"You draped your coat over me and called the cops. I wouldn't leave your side. I clung to you like a monkey to a tree," Serena laughed and I swear I could feel it flow across my skin. "The cops let you came with me to the hospital since I freaked out when people would even look in my direction. I didn't know what it was about you, you looked scarier than anyone else at the scene and I knew you were dangerous since all I could think about was what you did to those guys, but I knew you wouldn't let anything else happen to me."

A tiny blush crept across her cheeks. "The doctors actually had to sedate me when they checked me out since you weren't allowed in the room. When I woke up later you had left a business card on the side table with a note that said to call if I needed anything." Serena shook her head. "I'm still not sure why you didn't just disappear on me when you had the chance."

I wish I knew why I didn't too.

"Anyways," her hand raised closer to the bed, near mine, but she caught herself before she touched me and ran her hand through her hair, trying to make it look natural. "I ended up calling you three days later. I hadn't left my apartment after I got home from the hospital. I didn't have much of anything there since I had only moved in the week before." She answered my unspoken question. "I used to live in the back room of the bar until I got enough money to get a decent apartment. I went to Trenton to get away from my old town up north. I just wanted a change in scenery."

The way she looked away for a moment when she said that made me think that wasn't the real reason. I stored that piece of info away for later.

"Why did you call me?" I asked when she looked my way again.

"I kept reliving that night. Every sound I heard I thought it was them coming back for me. I was terrified of my own shadow. When I finally caved and called, you came over an hour later with tons of bags. Some had food, some had protection for me, and others were for a safety systems. Lester came with you and hooked up a small system that allowed me to see what was going on outside my apartment door and on the fire escape at all times. You had gotten me a stun gun, taser, a couple cans of pepper spray, and some kind of loud whistle type thing. I tried to pay you for everything but you refused.

"You came over the next day and we had lunch in the apartment. I cooked something from the food you brought me and you looked surprised that it actually tasted good," she laughed again. "It became our thing. You would come sometime around lunch and check how I was doing and if I needed anything. Sometimes you cooked, but most of the time it was me. I always had a billion questions for you about the food you made since you didn't seem comfortable talking about yourself.

"You would always give me a small smile at the right times in my stories but I knew you were only sticking with me until you felt I would be ok since I didn't have anyone here. It was two weeks later that you got me to go out. The first place you took me was to a gun range. You actually bought me a CZ 75b."

I couldn't have been completely out of my mind if I bought her that gun. It's an easy shot. The more you shoot from it the better it seems to get.

"After another week of practicing and slowly going places with you, like the grocery store, cleaners, stuff like that, I went out by myself for the morning. When you came to my place for lunch that day I jumped in your arms and kissed you on the lips." Serena's cheeks were a darker red this time when she looked back down. "I only meant for it to be a light, friendship kiss but one thing led to another and we were on my bed. I know this is going to sound really weird but. . ." her voice dropped so low I didn't hear one word she said.

"What was that?"

Her cheeks darkened even further. She stared picking off imaginary lint off her jeans. "I said you were my first," she mumbled quickly.

I felt my eyes widened in shocked. That has to be a lie. A girl with her kind of body would have most guys running after her like trained little pups. But if I took that from her . . .

Before I could feel even more sorry for her, I changed the subject. "After we," fucked, screwed, did it, "got together, what happened?" Why didn't I leave you?

Serena looked back up at me when her blush faded. "We kept seeing each other. You let me go to Rangeman and taught me some defensive moves." She grinned and her whole face lit up. "I was able to take Lester down a couple times. You said every time I was able to he got an extra shift of monitor duty. He kept coming back to 'prove his manhood'."

That's definitely something he would do. But I doubt it was for his manhood's sake.

"How did the rest of the guys treat you?"

She bit her lip and looked down again. "They didn't like me very much. They weren't mean, at least not to my face, but I knew they thought I was just a gold digger even though I went back to the bar after that happened and started working again. Lester slowly started to get the guys talking to me when he was teaching me some moves if you were busy or something. It took a while but they came to like me." Her shoulders tensed a bit. I'd bet it took more than just a while. "Two years later l moved into Rangeman with you but kept my job." Her eyes were bright when they caught mine for a moment. "You hated that I did. Not because I wanted to earn my own money but because your fists connected too well to drunken guy's faces."

I shook my head. If I really did care about her at all I could see why that would be an issue.

We fell quiet for a bit.

"How long have we been married?" I asked.

She didn't say anything for a minute. "Six months, three days."

Three days. . . . Something Tank said flew to the front of my mind. "Why did I go out?"

I didn't need to clarify. Tears slowly streamed down her face. She looked me in the eye again and tried to stop a sob from escaping her lips. "It's my fault. It's all my fault." She looked back down. "I wanted to do something special for that night but you were tired. It was getting late and you were up since 4 that morning." She shook her head. "I should have let you sleep. I should have just lain down with you instead of having a stupid meltdown. We got into a fight . . . I ran into the bathroom and started crying. When I wouldn't open the door you left." Her tears ran faster as her body started to shake. "Next thing I remember is Lester coming up to get me and bring me here."

I didn't want to comfort her and promise her things when I can't even remember ever caring for her. "Serena. . . "

I just didn't know what to say.

What the hell was I going to do now?

A/N: Crap. Now I bet you're feeling kind of sorry for Serena. . . How could you hate someone who went through something like that? Could she be hiding something? Or is she really that sweet of a girl who just had some bad luck? Please review!