AN: Here's some more! I have a better idea of where this is going, now I just need to get it there… and Darien needs to get on a plane.

Chapter 5:

"What are you doing in here? Don't you have a plane to catch?"

Darien looked up from packing his briefcase to find Andrew standing in the doorway of his office, looking like he just woke up. Glancing at the clock on his desk, he was a bit surprised Andrew had even made it in this early.

"I just wanted to grab some work for the road," he said, holding up a small stack for Andrew to see before turning back to pack them in carefully, "And my plane doesn't leave for another couple hours, so once I've packed this I'll just grab Luna and my bag and – Hey!"

Darien looked up in shock as Andrew grabbed his briefcase and held it against in chest in mock outrage.

"You're bringing work? On your vacation?!"

Darien raised his eyebrows and extended his hand calmly, "I've told you already, this isn't a vacation. Now give me back my – Andrew!"

He watched in exasperation as Andrew backed away from his reach and froze before the doorway, as if prepared to rush out quickly at a moment's notice.

"Andrew, don't be ridiculous." He said, starting forward only to stop when Andrew dramatically threw out a hand toward him.

"Not another step, Dare!" Andrew exclaimed, pulling back his arm to point threateningly at the briefcase, "Or the paperwork gets it."

Darien raised his eyebrows and leaned back against his desk, fighting his amusement. "And what, may I ask, would you do once you had destroyed that oh-so-valuable-to-our-company paperwork."

Andrew rolled his eyes, "Oh please, Darien. Like I know you don't have three copies of each of these documents somewhere else in this room or at home – you probably have some hidden under your mattress the way you are!"

Darien snorted. That would have been going a bit too far, even for him. Though he couldn't deny that Andrew was right about him having extra copies… One could never be too careful!

Darien pushed himself off his desk and started across the room, but stopped again when Andrew held the briefcase behind his back. "Drew, are you serious? You're going to make me late."

"Darien, you just told me you had plenty of time to get to your plane."

Dammit, he's got me there, Darien thought.

"And I've already told you, you're not taking this briefcase with you!"

Darien crossed his arms and tried to cool his growing need to throttle his best friend. That wouldn't be good for business.

"Andrew." He said, seriously.

"Darien." Andrew replied, in the same tone. "I'm serious. You need a break! You're a workaholic and you know it! Plus, this work doesn't need to be done right now."

"I won't be doing work all the time," Darien said, trying to reason his way into the possession of his briefcase. Andrew was right that it didn't need to be done right away, but that didn't mean he should put it off either. "I mean, what else am I supposed to do on the plane?"

"I don't know," Andrew said, looking mockingly thoughtful, "Maybe...read? Have you even picked up that book I got you for your birthday?"

"Are you talking about that self-help book on finding happiness that you gave me, or the copy of The Notebook you snuck into my room that one time?"

Andrew grinned, "Okay, that one was just a gag gift and you know it! I mean that book Rita recommended you'd like – the one about when English people came to ancient Japan or whatever?"

Darien sighed, "Shogun?"

"Yeah!" Andrew said, excitedly, though his face quickly fell, "I think..."

"Look, if I promise to bring it along too, will you give me back my stuff?"

Andrew looked at his friends outstretched hand and then shook his head, his face taking on the stubborn look Darien knew so well. And ultimately, feared. "No."

Darien's mouth fell open in shock. Andrew didn't often decide he wanted his way, but when he did...

"I'm serious about you needing a break." Andrew continued, his tone conveying his conviction, "And more than that, I think this work needs a break from you."

Darien raised his eyebrows in surprise. Now that was a new one.

"You just go pick up another couple books, get on the damn plane, and I will make sure that Molly hangs up on you if you even dare attempt to call into the office."

Darien's head fell forward in defeat. There went his plan B. He felt Andrew's hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry buddy, you'll have plenty to do. Didn't you say the area was really nice?"

Darien nodded numbly. No work, for two whole days. What the heck was he going to do with himself?

"So walk around! Take in the sights." Andrew leaned forward slightly and wiggled his eyebrows, "Maybe Serena will offer to be your tour guide."

Darien snorted and pushed Andrew off, but made no move towards his briefcase. There was no arguing with Andrew now. And it wasn't like Darien didn't have a stack of books by his bed he had been planning to read anyway. Plus, the area was really nice... Maybe he'd be okay?

"I'm sure she has other stuff to do, Drew," he said, turning back around to grab his jacket off the couch and trying not to stare forlornly at all the beautiful stacks of papers he was leaving behind.

Andrew shrugged, "Maybe. Have you been in touch with her recently?"

"I told her what time my plane was coming in and she let me know what time I could come by her apartment with Luna."

"So you called her again?" Andrew exclaimed, "And didn't tell me?"

Darien rolled his eyes and faced his friend, "First off, I don't need to tell you about any phone calls I may choose to make on my own time" – it was just like Andrew to get upset about missing anything worthy of gossip – "and secondly, I didn't call her. I messaged her on Facebook."

Andrew gasped, "You're Facebook friends?"

Darien tried to move past Andrew to get to the door, but quickly gave up as his friend matched him step for step. "Yes, she friended me yesterday."

If it was possible, Andrew gasped even louder, a silly grin taking over his face, "Wait, she friended you?!"

"Oh for the love of..." Darien muttered, putting a hand to his forehead. "Yes. She did." He stated, trying not to sound too proud. In fact, he had been rather surprised and pleased about it himself. "So what?"

Andrew shrugged, the dopey grin still on his face as Darien finally succeeded in getting past him. "So did you message her to ask her what she's wearing yet?"

With one hand on the doorframe, Darien looked back at his friend, aghast. "What? Drew, that's-that's – no. Just no."

"Aw, come on. Why not?" Andrew asked, following his now furiously blushing friend out the door.

"Do I have to remind you that she," Darien quickly reverted to a whisper as they walked toward Molly's desk by the elevator, "she has a boyfriend."

Andrew shrugged, and leaned on the front of Molly's desk as she politely handed Darien his plane tickets and hotel information. "What was that wine I saw at the grocery store the other day?" He asked, examining his fingernails while he watched Darien slyly through his lashes, "Ménage à trois?"

If it was possible, Darien turned an even brighter shade of red as Molly looked on in shock.

"I'm not – that doesn't – how could," he stuttered, unsure what to do as Molly broke out into giggles, while Andrew watched on in vicious triumph. Darien was such an easy target.

Finally, he settled for turning on his heal and all but running to the elevators, leaving with a muttered, "Gotta get Luna."

As the elevator doors closed he heard Molly and Andrew erupt into laughter and leaned his head against the cool side of the metal compartment, trying in vain to get the mental image Andrew had unwittingly conjured for him out of his head.

"I really need some new friends," he sighed.

Darien soon found himself sitting on the airplane with Luna's cat carrier occupying the neighboring seat as they flew out of Boston. It hadn't been cheap to get her a seat, let alone a place in first class, but Darien had a lot of money saved up. And what was money if you didn't have someone to spend it on?

He was a lot calmer now – deciding not to go through with his plans to murder Andrew until after he got back to Boston – and packing up Luna and her favorite toys had been easy compared to the trauma that had been the rest of his morning.

Don't think about it, don't think about it, he muttered to himself, over and over again, but somehow the image of a mussed Serena lying naked in his bed just wouldn't quite disappear. Darien groaned softly and then leaned down to grab a book from his bag, coming up with Shogun. Maybe he could distract himself.

Always an avid reader, Darien quickly found himself thoroughly enjoying the world James Clavell had created, though far too soon he found himself imagining the Lady Mariko more and more with long blonde hair instead of black and bright blue eyes instead of brown and… Darien snapped the book shut with a sigh. This wasn't working so well. He barely knew Serena, so why couldn't he stop picturing her like, well, like that? It probably didn't help that he hadn't been with a woman in that capacity in almost a year, but surely he had more self-control than this?

A small shuffle from the crate next to him caught his attention and gave his thoughts a much needed turn of direction.

"Hey Luna, how's it going?" he asked, softly, not wanting to disturb the other passengers. Sticking his fingers past the door, he smiled as she rubbed her face against him and did his best to pet her through the bars. "You'll be home soon, don't worry."

Darien smile turned a bit sad. Things were definitely going to be different without Luna around. He wasn't quite sure how, but in a matter of only two days this little animal had wormed her way into his heart and his life. He'd miss her greeting him at the door after work, he'd miss her keeping him warm as he read a book before bed, he even thought he'd miss the way he sometimes woke up in the middle of the night to find her lying across his face.

Of course, thinking about how much he would miss her reminded him of how much Serena must want her back. With a sigh, Darien returned to his reading, this time determined to keep a certain blonde woman out of his imagination.

Serena eyed her living room critically. She'd never been a very neat person, but she was determined that Darien would not find her apartment a mess. Not that she wanted to impress him or anything. She just wanted to make a good impression. Wait...

Before she could figure out how she had just contradicted herself, she was distracted by the ring of her cellphone.

"Hello?" she asked, absently.

She was quickly pulled to attention by the breathy excitement of Mina on the other end. "Is he there yet?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, Mina, but he should be getting here any minute."

"How can you sound so calm?" Mina exclaimed and Serena bit back a grin. Leave it to Mina to get excited enough for everyone, though Serena was not about to admit to her that her stomach was currently an odd mix of knots and butterflies...

"Well I don't see why there's anything to get excited about." She replied primly, "Except for Luna of course," she hastily added. "I'm excited to see her." Serena shook her head at herself and checked to make sure, for the eighth time, that she hadn't left any embarrassing items hanging around. She sometimes had a nasty habit of taking off her bra after a long day and throwing it wherever. She often found them in the weirdest places...

"But, Serena, you're about to have a Greek god in your apartment! Aren't you just a little, teeny, tiny bit excited about that?"

Serena shook her head in exasperation and then realized Mina couldn't see her. "Don't let Alan here you talking about Darien like that. I already had enough trouble convincing him he didn't need to be here when he came."

"Was he mad?" Mina asked, sounding as if she was already angry if he was.

"Well I told you before, he wasn't exactly pleasant when Darien was first here, so I don't think he's exactly happy that he's coming again. But he knows how important Luna is to me and luckily he's been really busy this week working with Melvin on the sound system for the club opening, so it's not like he has much time to spare anyway."

"So he was mad."

Serena sighed, "He wasn't happy, but he didn't push it, okay? And honestly, that's pretty good coming from him."

Mina made an indecipherable noise on the other end, but didn't say anything more on the subject. Serena knew her friends wanted her to be happy, but they had never really warmed up to her relationship with Alan. It had always bothered her a little bit, but Alan was better than any other of the boyfriends she'd had – at least he had a job – and so they usually kept their comments to themselves. Luckily for them, however, their silences often spoke loud enough. They didn't like him.

"Look Mina, I should go, but I'll stop by sometime soon when I can and – "

She abruptly cut off at the sound of a knock at her door. Glancing at the clock she huffed out in surprise. Right on time. So he's the punctual type.

"What? What is it?"

"I gotta go, Meens. He's here."

She hung up to the sound of Mina's squeals and headed to the door, checking her hair on the way. She stopped in the middle of smoothing her shirt and silently berated herself. What did she care how she looked? She was acting ridiculous! This is Mina's fault, she growled inside.

But then she found herself in front of the door and she couldn't deny that she was nervous. Wiping her palms quickly on her pants, she put her hand on the knob and opened the door.

The flight passed smoothly for Darien, besides his occasional mental slips into some rather dangerous daydreams, and all too soon he found himself headed out of the city towards Serena's house in his rental car. It was an odd, almost backward form of Déjà vu, to be headed toward her home from the airport, rather than away, but he decided not to dwell on any of the sentimental musings his heart sought to throw his way.

This was strictly business.

Looking down at the cat carrier next to him Darien caught a glimpse of Luna's eyes as she peeked out at him. He smiled. Okay, technically this was pleasurable business, but still.

Darien let himself relax and enjoy the colors that flashed by his window as he drove. The world outside was well on its way into spring and he hadn't been lying when he told Andrew that this was a beautiful area.

He had always loved riding in cars or buses when he was younger, on the rare occasion that the orphanage had a fieldtrip, and when he was old enough he found that he loved driving even more. The soft hum of the car, the world flying by, the sense of being in control – he always felt oddly free.

Perhaps too soon, though, he found himself turning down a familiar street. Pulling up slowly he found her apartment and put the car in park. He let the car idle for a moment, his hand itching to put the car back in drive and...and what? Actually kidnap Luna?

But as much as he was going to miss her, Luna wasn't the issue. No, the issue was the girl he knew lay just up those stairs and behind that door.

As much as he'd tried to deny it to Andrew and to himself, there had been something about Serena that had made him feel alive in a way he hadn't since…well, since he could remember. He hadn't thought about it much while actually in her presence, but ever since he left he couldn't get her out of his head. With a sigh, he turned the car off and reluctantly opened his door.

While he was used to dressing almost constantly in suits, he had decided to try and look a little more casual – opting for a nice white shirt, tan pants, and a navy blazer – but suddenly he felt himself wishing he had a tie to straighten. For some reason, he always felt safer with a tie.

Stepping through the grass, Darien carefully extricated Luna's carrier and locked the car.

"You ready, Luna?" he asked, quietly.

She looked up at him and blinked.

"Right," he said, clearing his throat. "Me too."

As he made his way up the stairs, the rational part of Darien's brain went into overdrive. Technically, if Darien hadn't thought of Serena that way while in her presence, then maybe he wouldn't have an issue being here now? Maybe the only reason he had thought about her so constantly since leaving was because he had been so personally in her home – the only other home he had glimpsed so intimately was Andrew's – and it made him realize how much he wanted something like that with someone. That didn't mean he wanted it with Serena, his brain had just come to associate that idea with her!

Suddenly feeling much more confident about the entire situation, and his own emotions, Darien happily reached forward to knock on the door. This was going to be easy. He would return Luna, perhaps converse more with Serena – like he had enjoyed so much previously – and then be on his way to explore the area or maybe even return to the city and –

But then the door opened in front of him, revealing a big pair of cornflower blue eyes, and he swore a voice in his head, sounding a lot like Andrew, started laughing maniacally.

AN: In case anyone doesn't know, ménage à trois is a French term that people often use to mean "three-some," though in actuality I think it refers more to a polyamorous relationship in which all three members of the relationship are part of the same household. And there is, in fact, a brand of wine called that – my sister keeps joking about trying it :)

Sorry if you haven't read Shogun, but the Lady Mariko is the protagonist's love interest and there are some rather steamy scenes ;) I thought it would be a neat book pick!

And finally, can I just say how much I enjoy making Andrew pretty much the male version of Mina? I swear, they are just too much fun to write!

Please review :)