Miya's POV

You rolled your eyes and flopped backwards on the couch. As Joey's loud yawn echoed over the phone, you let out a small laugh.

"Now that's a sign that you really need to go to bed. I'll talk to you after class tomorrow okay? I'll meet you guys at the Duel Dome...as long as Kaiba's not working there."

"You should come even if he is there. I doubt he'd try to start any trouble with all of us there."

"As if that's ever stopped him before?"

"Besides, I'm sure he'll want to stay away from you so he doesn't make his new girlfriend jealous."

"Jealous?"

"Yeah, you're the best thing he'll ever get and he knows that. You can tell in the way he still looks at you."

"Joey?"

"What?"

"What's the matter?"

"I just don't like the way he looks at you. He still looks at you as if he's just going to up and hide you away."

"Joey, you know he can't possibly do that. As if he could. I told you...things are done with Kaiba and he'll never get another chance. You don't have to worry."

"You know how I feel about him, Miya. And you know how I feel about you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean...I don't deserve someone like you Miya."

"Oh Joey..."

"I mean it Miya. You're an amazing person, and..."

"And I'm yours Joey. That's all that matters."

"If you say so Miya."

"Now, I'm going to hang up the phone, and you'd better get to bed."

"Alright, alright. Good night Miya."

"Good night Joey."

"Sweet dreams..." Joey said, before getting really quiet and whispered something into the phone.

"What did you say Joey..." you asked, when Joey suddenly hung up. "Huh, what the hell was that about?" you asked your self before setting your phone down on the floor next to you.

Joey's POV

You smothered your face in your pillow, muffling your screams of aggravation. You couldn't believe you had just said that and you were praying that Miya hadn't heard you. You jumped as a light knock echoed through your room.

"Joey, it's me." Serenity's small voice came from the hallway. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure." you said, throwing the pillow towards the foot of your bed.

"Hey, you okay?" Serenity asked, poking her head into your room.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You're never up this late. Who were you talking to?"

"Miya had the night off."

"Oh, so what was the screaming about? Hope you know you could have woken mom or Aaron up."

"Sorry bout that. Just did something stupid."

"Oh I'm sure it can't be that bad."

"Yeah...It's bad," you said groaning. "I told Miya, I loved her...but I'm not sure she heard me."

"Oh Joey...What did she say?"

"She didn't say anything. She just told me good night and I hung up."

"I don't think she heard you Joey, but you shouldn't have hung up on her."

"I know, I know. I just panicked. I just can't believe I said it."

"Well, did you mean it?" Serenity whispered while taking a seat on the floor near your bed.

You turned onto your side, facing your sister and propped yourself up on your elbow. You kept replaying the conversation over and over until your head started to throb. Thinking about the year you'd known Miya, all the times you'd be scared to death that you would never see her again, and it made your head swim.

"Yeah...I guess I did."

"So what's the problem?"

"She's still dealing with Kaiba and that's the last thing I want to throw on her, ya know?"

"She seems over Kaiba to me."

"Yeah, that's what she says too. But I can see it in her eyes when he's around. She's still hurting."

"Joey, just because she's still dealing with the damage doesn't mean she's not over him. You can't worry about Kaiba, you just need to worry about you and Miya."

"But Seren...There isn't a me and Miya."

"Wha..What do you mean?"

"Well, when I asked her out, she said no."

"Wait...What? She said no? But you two..."

"Yeah, It caught me off guard but after she explained why...I guess it made sense to me."

"Why'd she say no?"

"She just doesn't think she's ready for a full on relationship right now. I mean, they've only been separated for a short while so I'm okay with it."

"Oh Joey..." Serenity yawned.

Serenity's POV

You watched as your brother turned over onto his back and stared up at his ceiling with a sigh. This whole thing with Miya had been near hell for him. Sure, you liked her but you didn't like the fact she seemed to keep toying with Joey. First she'd been friends with him, then after breaking up with Kaiba the first time she'd lead him on. This time, it was almost the same thing.

Furrowing your eyebrows, you jumped up off the floor and nearly ran out of Joey's bedroom. You weren't going to sit here and let Miya play with him like this anymore.

"Serenity? Where are you going?"

Grabbing the keys to the van off the kitchen counter you threw on your shoes and jacket before bolting out the door. As you slammed the driver's door closed, you saw Joey nearly rip the front door open. Not wanting Joey to stop you, you jerked the van into drive and sped away with Joey in your rear view mirror.

Taking a deep breath, you dug your phone out of your pocket as you turned onto the main street. Holding down '6', Miya's picture showed up on the screen.

"Hello?"

"Hey Miya...We need to talk." you said sternly.

"Okay? What's going on Serenity?"

"I'm on my way over, I'll be there in a few minutes. Was just calling to give you a heads up."

"Serenity...How are you getting here? You're not walking here are you? It's freezing outside."

"I...I'm in Mom's van."

"Serenity! You go back home right now and I'll come get you. You can't be driving with the weather like this."

"I can't go back home. Joey will stop me from saying what I need to say."

"Oh, well in that case. Pull over in a parking lot the next chance you get and I'll just meet you there."

"Okay, Miya. I'll meet you in the gas stations parking lot by the house."

"Now, please stay there. I'll be there as soon as I get dressed." Miya said, hanging up.

Sitting silent in the parking lot, you smacked yourself in the head. Miya had been right. Not 30 seconds later, the wind and icy rain picked up and immediately covered the windshield in a thick sheet of ice that was nearly impossible to see through. As you turned the heat up in the van in vein, Joey's picture popped on your phone's screen. As you answered, you couldn't even speak before Joey's crazily worried voice came screaming over the speaker.

"Serenity! Are you crazy?! The weather outside is horrible and you don't have your license yet! What if you get hurt!"

"Joey! Calm down okay? I'm not driving, and Miya's on her way here to get me."

"Miya? Why'd you call her? I'm right down the road."

"Joey, you just stay home. You can't drive with that broken arm anyway."

"Well, do you mind telling me what the hell that was all about? Why'd you just storm out of the house like that."

"Joey, I have to talk to Miya."

"About what?"

"I can't just sit here and watch her toy with you anymore. You're my big brother, and I won't let her hurt you."

"Seren...She's not..."

"No, Joey. She is and this has to stop now. Either she wants to be with you or she doesn't...It's as simple as that."

"No it's not. You can't possibly understand what's going on in Miya's head right now."

"Well, I'm going to find out when she picks me up."

"Serenity, please."

"Joey, that's enough. Miya just pulled in the parking lot so I've gotta go."

"No, you let me talk to her to make sure you're okay."

"Fine..." you said with an exasperated sigh as you turned the engine off and rolled down the driver's side window. "Hey Miya, can you come here for a second?"

You leaned back in your seat as Miya cut off her engine and pulled the hood of her coat up as she stepped out of the car. You motioned for her to take a seat on the passenger side.

"What's going on Seren?" Miya asked closing the door and rubbing her hands together to fight off the cold.

"Joey wants to talk to you, to make sure I'm okay or whatever." you said, handing over your phone.

Joey's POV

"Hey Joey..What's going on?"

"I could ask you the same thing Miya..Did she tell you why she stormed out at 1 am?"

"Nope, but I'm sure it was for a good reason."

"So she's okay?"

"Of course she's okay, so stop worrying and go to sleep Joey. I'll make sure she gets enough sleep and gets home safely tomorrow."

"Mi..."

"Joey, just do it." Serenity called from the background.

Before you could even respond all you heard was the dial tone. Miya had hung up on you? Deciding against calling her back and interrupting whatever Serenity was trying to do you plugged your phone back into the charger and threw it on the nightstand. You sat, staring at your wall, finally admitting to yourself that trying to understand girls was never going to happen. Giving up and saving yourself a headache you weren't ready to handle you huddled into your blankets and finally passed out.

Miya's POV

You knew this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation simply by the look on Serenity's face, and the fact that she drove out in an ice storm at 1am just to talk to you about something that could have waited until morning.

"So do you want to come back to my apartment and we'll talk? Or do you want to talk right here in the van?"

"Do you mind if we go back to your place?"

"Of course not. Just be sure to lock up and we'll take my car." you said pulling your hood over your head and hopping out of the van and carefully making your way back to yours. Somehow you managed to make it in one piece back into your leather seats without slipping on the sheet of glass that now covered the whole parking lot.

"You sure its okay to drive in this?" Serenity asked as her teeth chattered away in anger at the cold.

"I wouldn't say its okay, but I've driven in worse. Plus Sam makes sure my cars can handle just about anything. Probably the only thing that could take this baby down was maybe a flood. He's working on way to keep the engine from flooding, but until then, I guess I just have to steer clear of those."

"Must be pretty nice."

"The car?"

"No, I meant living the life you have. Seeing the things you've seen, ya know?"

"Uhm, Not really. Maybe it would have been better if they had been for different reasons."

"What do you mean?"

"All that travel came at a price. Working for Lex was no holiday. All the times we had to move...it was always for another assignment or some type of relocation. You wouldn't want to have seen the things I've seen and been through Serenity. It's not what you think it is at all."

"Oh? Joey and the gang never talk about what you did for Lex."

"It's because they don't really know to be honest. Yeah they know I did some of his dirty work when it came to spying on corporations that he wanted to be a part of, but they don't know what I really was." you said, knowing what Serenity was going to ask next and you weren't sure if you were ready to answer.

"What did you do Miya?"

"I was a licensed killer. Anyone Lex wanted out of his way...that was my job."

"You've killed people?"

"More than I'd ever like to admit, sadly."

"But why?"

"It was the only choice I had. I needed a way to escape Pegasus after my parents disappeared and Lex was my only option. I couldn't have done it without him, so I guess in a way...I owed him my and Aaron's lives. I didn't really have any other choice."

"But you're done with now right?"

"Thanks to everyone here...Yes."

"So what's the hold up with Joey?"

"Joey? What are you talking about?" you asked, slightly confused as to what Serenity was trying to get at.

"He told me you two aren't really a couple."

"Oh...That."

"So what's going on Miya? Joey loves you and would do just about anything for you. So I just have to know why you won't date him. It's honestly killing him."

"Serenity...I explain everything to Joey. And he seemed..."

"Yeah he seemed. He's good at holding up a front when he think his reaction is going to hurt someone."

"I'm sorry Serenity. It's just not a good time for me to be having a boyfriend. With everything going on with Kaiba and the media, I just couldn't risk it. You weren't there the night Kaiba and I got into a fight. I don't think he'd react well to me and Joey being together."

"But he's got a new girlfriend now. That shouldn't be a problem anymore should it?"

"I honestly don't know. But that's not my only reservation. You just have to realize, this is the first time in my life that I haven't had to run for my life and not have to depend on anyone. I'm so stressed with the new job, and the new apartment...I just don't want to drag Joey full force into that."

"Miya, Joey just wants to help. We all do. But you have to let us help."

"I have to figure this out on my own."

"No you don't Miya. We're your friends. It's our job to help you."

"But I've done nothing but rely on others.."

"Miya, just stop. We're not like those other people. We're not part of your job. We're here because we want to be. So stop being so damned self-reliant and just let us help you."

It shocked you to hear the anger in Serenity's voice. She was always so soft spoken and quiet, very much the opposite of her brother. Yet, you knew she had every right to direct it at you.

"Okay."

"Okay? Okay what?"

"I'll talk to Joey tomorrow when I drop you off at school." you said, sliding your car into park and cutting off the engine.

FF Next Morning Domino High

Serenity's POV

You sat under the tree on the picnic bench watching the parking lot. Miya had gotten you here early, much earlier than you were normally here.

"Sorry, Serenity. I'm just use to being here this early."

"I know. But Joey should be here soon. I gave him a wake up call this morning and told him to be here about now."

"Oh I'm sure he enjoyed that."

"He didn't take it too bad actually. I'm only here once a week for that one class, so he figured it had something to do with that."

"So he doesn't know I'm here?"

"Nope, not a clue. So once he gets here, I'm heading into class. This is between you and him."

As you watched the parking lot, you froze as you saw Kaiba's limo pull up at the front gate. Moments later, Joey came around the corner.

"Oh great..."

"What?" Miya asked, her focus on the drawing she was working on.

"Kaiba's here...and so's Joey."

"Go ahead and head inside Seren. Maybe I can flag Joey down without getting Kaiba's attention."

"Umm, Miya. That girl's with him."