Sessediz

Rated M: Language and love scenes

D/S

Thank you to all who have reviewed and followed this story so far!

I know that with just a few chapters this story has already taken everyone on a wild ride and I'm sure we're starting to get some Team Serena versus Team Darien angst... but that's how it is. :)

Both characters have misconceptions about the other and for each it's from a combination of jumping to the wrong conclusions as well as not having the full story. The next chapter (or two) will focus more on their past so get ready for a bit of time travel!

Again, thank you all for reading and I hope to have an update for you all by Monday night. Cheers!

Serena Tsukino:

"Lita! I thought it was your turn to take out the trash," I shouted from the kitchen. It was almost time for us to head to the restaurant and I needed to get rid of this stuff. A minute later she came bouncing in.

"Hmm? It's not that full."

I looked down to the large wad of fabric in my hand, "Yeah, well this won't all fit." Lita opened the cabinet under the sink to pull out the box of trash bags.

"Just use this," she opened a new bag and held it for me, "Why are you throwing that out? I thought you loved those sheets? You're obsessed with anything that has moons or stars on them."

"Well, they weren't even mine to begin with and I have a decent income now; I can afford new sheets." Lita still seemed puzzled, "Okay, there's just something weird about them now. Maybe Bed, Bath & Beyond has a night sky set or something."

"I guess. So how's the planning going?" I knew that Lita wanted more to do with the restaurant but she already had her hands full trying to come up with some new dishes to add to the menu. The new place would have a kitchen three times the size with more cooks at her disposal and I wanted nothing more than for her to enjoy being the head chef of such a large restaurant.

"So far, so good. I got the order in for the new sign and they said they can have it finished and installed eight days before the grand opening. I was surprised at how much the banner to cover it for that week cost but at least that's taken care of," I tied off the bag.

"What about the tables and chairs?"

"All dealt with. I just have to be there to open it next Tuesday for the carpet installation, Thursday and Friday for the booths and then the tables and chairs will be in the following week."

"You sure you have everything under control? I can help, you know, and so can others on the staff. Everyone's excited for the move," Lita beamed.

"Well, not everyone. A couple of the waiters told me yesterday that they didn't like the idea of commuting across the bridge every day."

Lita shrugged, "So? Not everyone is going to work there forever. Besides, you'll have NYU students who need employment and we already have the hiring process started for the new positions."

"I guess so," I poured a mug of coffee, "I just didn't think about how some of our people wouldn't want to commute so far for work and now they have to look for a new job."

"You'll give them a good reference, though. It'll be okay." My eyes widened at the thought of more work. "What?"

"I don't know. I—I just keep feeling like the list of things for me to do is getting longer," I saw down on one of the barstools and put my head in my heads. "I'm normally a very organized person, Lita; you know that. But it's hard having to figure out how each of these things is supposed to get done on time. When we first opened the restaurant there was no definite timetable. I mean, the sooner we could open the better but now we have this big event looming over us. Seriously, George Clooney and Amal are coming and I haven't even had time to pick out a dress yet!"

I honestly couldn't even remember all the people that were invited and the thought of invitations scared the shit out of me, "I have to go to Kinkos today to order flyers. This—this is too much, Lita."

Lita rested her arm on my shoulder and pulled me into a hug. "Have you called Darien?"

I rubbed my weary eyes and turned to her, "What?"

"Have you seen him lately? He does own a consulting firm. He could probably help you out with everything."

"Well, I do see him on Sunday, but there's so much to do before then!"

Lita smiled, "Why would you make him work on the weekend? Just go to his office for a meeting. I'm sure he has packages for different businesses and you can choose the one that'll work best for us."

"Oh." I honestly hadn't thought about getting outside help or advice and seeking out Darien was definitely the last thing on my mind. "I don't know, Lita. He was acting kinda strange last weekend."

She furrowed her brow, "How so?"

"I don't know he just kept talking about the past and everything. I think he's under the impression that I'm his girlfriend or something."

"Have you told him you were?" I shook my head. "Then don't worry! I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding. What exactly did he say?"

"Well, he got defensive when I found out he's slept with Beryl before," Lita got wide-eyed and I nodded to indicate it was the same Beryl we knew, "and then he started talking about…" I trailed off and got lost.

"About what?"

"Oh, um, these sheets."

"He had a problem with your sheets?" I didn't know how to answer her. "Is that why you're getting rid of them?" Then in a mocking kid voice she asked, "Did Dare-wee-in make fun of wittle Sere-wee-na's bedding?"

"Oh, shush. That's not what I was going to say," though it was still true, sort of. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Suit yourself. Are you going to drive to Manhattan?"

"Lita, I've barely been at the restaurant this entire week."

"And? We're opening the new restaurant in six weeks. We can manage without you while you juggle your other forty-nine jobs, Sere," Lita walked over to the fridge. "Let me make you some food and then you can head out."

I was nervous to see Darien again so soon. He did seem to drop the whole dating thing but the drive that man had was almost carnal. He's definitely proved to be one of my more experienced lovers and it made me excited about trying new things with him. I had been so lost in a rut with guys that I didn't realize it had lost a bit of its thrill and luster.

Darien made me want to be risky again but now with the restaurant opening I couldn't afford to give so much attention to an insatiable lover.

I called his company, Atraxis Fiore, and scheduled an appointment with his secretary. On the drive over, I kept telling myself that this would be strictly business and that it wouldn't have to be anything more. Until Sunday.

"No," I said firmly, pulling into the parking garage. His company was on one of the many floors in a short-rise office building. "Focus on the task at hand, Serena. Don't lose sight of what's going on."

I groaned to myself as I beeped my car and walked to the elevator.

Darien Shields:

I walked passed the cubicles of my employees and watched as they interacted with each other. Everyone was happy and chatting about their weekend plans and they didn't even seem to care that the 'boss' was walking by. Just the way it should be. On my way to my private office, I stopped for an update.

"Amara, did you get the Melbourne files copied? I need to prepare an outline for Friday's meeting," I smiled at her as she sat down her tea and adjusted her glasses. Amara was a fifty-five-year-old woman who reminded me of my eighty-two-year-old grandmother. She wore those beaded necklace things on her glasses and enjoyed staying in with her cat on the weekends.

Honestly, if I had a cat I might do the same thing.

"Yes, Mr. Shields. Everything is in order and on your desk."

"Amara, I told you, I'm a Millennial. We don't really like those formalities. How many times do I have to ask you to call me Darien?"

"But you are the boss. It's proper."

"And you are my elder. Would you like me to call you by your last name?" she wavered for a second, "Ah, well then Mrs. Tenou, thank you for getting the copies."

I was almost to my office when she spoke up, "Oh, you have a last minute appointment. I saw that there was an opening and the client said that it was urgent she speak with you." I had been hoping to get a head start on the Melbourne plan but I guess work was work.

"Did you get a name?"

Amara Tenou stood up from her desk and walked to me with a small appointment card in hand, "Serena Tsukino of the Moon Rise Restaurant." I tried to conceal the shock I had at that moment. She's not going to try and seduce me here is she? I have a reputation to uphold. "And I don't mind it if you call me Amara, sonny."

I fell out of my trance and smiled, "Sonny? Well, I guess that's better than Mr. Shields." Amara reacted with a closed-mouth smile. "Let me know with Ms. Tsukino has arrived." She nodded and I closed my office door behind me.

The appointment card said that Serena was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. which gave me forty minutes to start on my current work. If she shows up in that little jacket again… I almost seethed. Serena couldn't just come in here and disrupt my work like this. I was working hard to build our clientele and at the same time I was trying to gain a larger office. More clients equals more money and more money equals a better and bigger location, all together helping to give my employees better retirement packages and benefits.

Amara depended on her insurance to take care of her granddaughter's medical bills, after the car accident that took the girl's parents' lives. The elderly woman had been looking forward to retirement when she was suddenly a parent again.

Why else would she come?

I guess it's possible that Serena could be enlisting my help with her new restaurant and Amara did state that that was her business for being here. But it's not like she would be honest if her true reason to come here was for a short afternoon office scandal.

I had gotten so caught up in my thoughts of Serena that I was startled to hear a knock on my door and the time on the clock. "Come in," I announced as I tried to look busy with my work. When I looked up, Amara was showing Serena in.

She was wearing dark denim capris with a white button-down shirt. Her long blonde hair was held back with a large pair of sunglasses and her smile was brightened with a fresh gleam of lip gloss.

"Sorry for scheduling you at that last minute. Is it alright that I'm here?" she looked hopeful.

Depends what for, I thought again. "It's quite alright. I actually had an opening. What brings you here?"

Serena moved to the side and took a seat in one of the two chairs across from me. "I need help."

I leaned back in my office chair and brought my left index finger to my lips, "Alright, with what?"

Serena opened up a light-colored leather filofax, "I am up to my ears in work. There are permits I still need to get, companies I still need to call, work orders to fill out, interviews to hold, the liquor license, a grand opening party to plan, a restaurant to decorate…" she kept going on. Serena was anxious and in the beginning stages of a panic attack.

"Whoa, hold it now," I put my hands up, "Let's start from the beginning." I waited for her to regulate her breathing before continuing, "So you need help getting the new restaurant opened?"

She nodded, "Yes. I just thought that I could do it myself but there are so many things to do and only so much time to do it. I feel completely drained."

I opened one of my desk drawers and pulled out a legal pad, "Alright, let me write down all the stuff you already know you need to get done and we'll start from there." I was starting to feel like Serena might be changing. She made it evident last Sunday that we weren't dating; so much so that I would have a hard time asking her if we could start but the fact that she could put everything aside and admit she needed my help was comforting.

Here she was, in the office of the company that I have spent the last three years building, asking for my help. Of course, it was help that I had to charge her for but there were many other consulting firms in New York City that she could have chosen to enlist. Instead, she swallowed her pride and came to me.

Serena and I worked for nearly two hours on developing a schedule and plan for her to follow over the next seven weeks, including a week of follow-up to evaluate her success for the restaurants' business profile. She started to calm down as I showed her what tasks needed to be done when and an outline of how to do each. It was only a rough draft but she was already starting to act like herself again.

"Thank you so much, Darien. I don't know what I would do without you," she reached her hand forward and placed it on mine.

"You're welcome."

"When Lita told me to come—."

"Wait," I pulled my hand away, "Lita told you to ask me for help?"

"Yep. She saw how much I was stressing out and I told her about how I was running out of time to be with myself and—," her voice trailed off in my mind as I pondered what she told me. So she didn't want to involve me. She only did because she was told to by her friend.

I began to feel the heartbreak of losing Serena again. This time around we didn't even get much time together. At least we got two months when we were in high school, and that was a consistent block of time unlike this. Don't make me do this, Serena. Show me that Lita's wrong. "So even with your plan I still have a lot to do. I know we said Sunday we could hang but I should really get some of these things ready for next week," she began putting her papers back. "Can I get a copy of that?" She's pulling away. It's now or never.

I looked down at the outline, "Of course. I can bring it to your place on Sunday and I'll help you get started."

Serena looked put-off by that. "I couldn't ask you to work on your day off. You should find something fun to do."

I blinked; as if that hadn't been what we were originally making plans for. Even with work would we have time for a break together; Serena knew that. And Serena didn't want it. Not with me.

I didn't want to do it but it was the only thing left in my plan to do. "Alright, I suppose that we are now in business together and shouldn't mix pleasure into it." Serena's eyes shot up and I saw that look of defeat. She saw that she had lost.

I'm sorry, Serena; I wanted to say, but I couldn't. I had to regain control of the situation and I wouldn't let her destroy me again.

"I understand."