A Train Ride in an Another Dimension
Serena got out of her bedroom the next day with her suitcase and her things. It was six a.m., and she decided that she needed to start looking for a place to live in Washington DC right now. She’d leave early. A week early, but it didn’t matter. She was NOT going to stick around and listen to all the teasing about her and Darien.
She had packed up all her things, and she planned to go to Washington and find an apartment to stay in while she stayed in Washington to do her Attorney General duties.
She had typed up her resignation letter for the law firm last night when she found she could not fall asleep. She planned to stay as the head of the Harvard law department. As she took the last bag out, ready to meet the cab that she had called for about five minutes ago, she found that another person had the same idea.
“Morning,” she mumbled to Darien.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yeah.”
“Aren’t you supposed to stay the whole week at this thing?”
“Well you aren’t!” Serena bit back quietly, not wanting people to wake up. In one hand he held a travel bag and across his shoulder was the strap to a laptop. On the floor by his feet was a briefcase.
“But I’m not family,” he whispered quietly.
He had a point, but Serena wasn’t going to let him gloat over that. “Well I have some business to attend to.”
“As do I, and I want to catch my taxi, so if you’ll excuse me.”
Darien went ahead, and Serena, after taking her luggage bag and picking up her work bag, laptop, and her purse, went up behind.
There were two taxis outside, and Serena went to one and said, “Good morning, I’d like to get to the train station please.”
“All right.”
Serena noted as they pulled out of the driveway, which was a huge “U”, that Darien’s taxi just pulled out as well.
Serena leaned back in her seat, and determined not to think about the strange man in that car, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
She decided in her mind that she’d come back for New Year’s Eve to satisfy her mother. *But if she thinks I’m going to stick around for all the Larynce women to look at me like I’m a spoiled brat and hear all that teasing, well she’s got another thing coming!*
“Miss, we’re here.”
Serena woke immediately, and got her things ready. When the cab pulled to the train station , she got out and paid the taxi driver, and went to the platform to purchase a ticket. To her surprise, Darien Dredsdale got into line behind her. She ignored him.
She checked her appearance in the reflection in the ticket window anyway. She looked nice. Tired but nice. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, which was more like a bunch of golden curly tips bundled at the nape of her neck. Her eyes looked sleepy, and a smooth serene blue. His reflection was behind her. He was slightly taller, his blue eyes dark with restfulness. He looked nice in that forest green coat, with a black scarf around his neck. He was about four inches taller than her five foot ten.
She noted that they LOOKED like a nice couple. Nothing more.
As the old man in front of her walked away with his ticket for the 7:15 going to New York, Serena stepped forward. “I’d like one for the 7:10 to Washington DC, please.”
He had the nerve to sit next to her. She didn’t take into account that the seat next to hers was the only one empty.
For being a 7:10 train the day after Christmas, this train was crowded. *This is TOO weird!*
At least she got the window seat. She looked out as the scenes passed by quickly. She watched the sun fight through the clouds to brighten the snow to an intensity that was brighter than the sun itself. Serena reached into her purse and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. She then leaned her cheek on the cold window and fell asleep.
Darien sat up surprised when he the train made a right turn and Serena’s head ended up on his shoulder.
He looked at her golden head, the sun reflecting off the strands making a pretty halo. She looked so pretty and harmless like this. She didn’t look like an Ice Queen now. Of course when she woke up she’d be ready to fight with him again, all rested up and full of that energy that he’d seen in her.
*Drat.*
“Sir, ticket please?” the railroad official asked.
Darien passed his ticket to the official.
“And your wife’s?”
“My-“ “In my pocket,” Serena said softly. “Darien reached into her pocket and found nothing. So he reached around her, letting her fall into his arms as he checked the pocket on the other side, finding the ticket there.
He blushed slightly he conceded that the Ice Queen was VERY soft and warm.
The ticketman smiled. *Now THERE’S a wonderful couple! Probably just got married, too!*
Darien handed the ticket to the official and the official punched holes in both. “Hope you and your wife have a good time in Washington DC.”
Darien looked down to her, wondering what she’d say next. She didn’t jump up and deny the fact that the railroad official thought that they were married, and she hadn’t budged when she fell into his arms as he looked in her pocket.
She looked so…so…she just belonged there, and the embrace was sweet, and made him feel heady and warm all over. He liked holding her. It made his arms tingle, and his heart overflow with an inexplicable sensation. It sprouted warmth in his cheeks, and he had the impulse to just kiss her forehead, but decidedly vetoed that notion, as he remembered this was Serena Larynce, not his wife.
And what was going on with her anyway?
She fell in his arms to rest her head on his lap, face up. Before he realized what he was doing, he reached out, and played with her blond hair in his fingers, and traced the curve of her face.
“But honey, I thought we were going to the Christmas thing at the Castle. The Castle is in Massachusetts, an hour outside of Boston. It’s no where near Washington DC. You know how my mother gets when I don’t attend family things. But if you want to go to Washington, that’s fine too. Then we can finally spend some time away together away from work, Darien. Wait. Washington is where we work. Where are we?” Serena asked lazily, as she took his hand in hers, brought it to her lips, and kissed it, and held it at her breast, right about her heart, where he could feel it beating peacefully.
So she had been dreaming. Was he supposed to feel flattered that Serena dreamt that he and she were married? And the feeling that came over him at this moment. It was pleasing to him. The tingling warmth in his hands, and the whole happiness she seemed to exhale enveloped him.
“I guess even that doesn’t matter much. As long as I’m with you. I love you,” Serena smiled in sleep, turned into his chest, and hugged his waist.
Darien was surprised.
So was Serena. You didn’t touch things when you were in dreams. What was going on? She opened her eyes slowly to find herself in his lap…apparently, there was a weird twist in her dream.
She pinched his forearm, painfully.
“Ouch…what was that for?”
She sat up. Color was flooding quickly into her cheeks, as she realized that she was in his arms, like her dream. What mortified her even more was that she felt just like she had felt in her dream: safe, loved, and warm. The feeling of being with someone whose every touch sent a warm thrill to her heart, the feeling of being with someone whose every breath she wanted to share with. The feeling of being with someone she loved.
She suddenly backed away, confused, and focused on Darien. “What is going on here?”
“That was what I was going to ask you.” Darien stuttered, coldly. How did she get that Ice Queen tone so fast after she had been so warm and loving? He composed himself quickly. “I wasn’t the one who fell into my lap and kissed me!”
“I did NOT fall into your lap and kiss you!”
*True, but who knew?* “What if you did?”
“What if I did? It doesn’t matter. I was dreaming I was with someone else.”
*Someone else named Darien. Sure.* Darien mused inside. He wanted to laugh by decided that they’d leave it at that.
“It was such a nice dream until you just had to take me into your arms and let me kiss you!”
*And I thought she loved me.* Darien burst out laughing.
His laugh was rich and deep. Serena liked it, even IF she didn’t like Darien. It melted her insides clean. But she wasn’t about to let him laugh at her. “What are YOU laughing about?”
“Nothing.” Darien decided that he WOULDN’T tell her what she had said in her sleep. Besides that might start something in her and who would like Serena Larynce to follow you around, thinking she was in love with him?
Not that he would have minded much.
Darien rubbed his temples. WHAT WAS GOING ON WITH HIM?
Darien gladly stepped off the train. *What was that? A train ride in another dimension?* But he was feeling normal again, and he had rationalized it. They were in sleepy moods and weren’t really aware of what was going on. His mind was turned off and that was why he actually thought those strange things.
Serena followed him off, back to her normal commanding self. She walked with ice in every step, and she held her head high. *Just forget the whole train ride happened. You don’t even know what happened, so it didn’t.*
It had been a pleasant dream, she smiled inside. She didn’t know who that husband of hers was, but he was extremely sweet.
*Wait. He was Darien.*
She nearly hit herself in the head, but she decided to hit herself later. It wasn’t a dream. It was a nightmare, and that train ride was just the beginning.
