Outlaws

Chapter 2

By Kayla Chavi

Rating PG-13

Genre: Alternate Romance

Email: kaylachavi@yahoo.com

webpage: http://www.angelfire.com/ky2/todream/index.htm

* * *

Darien was tired of waiting patiently for Serena and Rei to come back. He was sitting in the Cave very nicely tied to a chair. They were out on another robbery and this time they had decided not to take him with them. 

Serena still didn’t trust him. Rei did, she said that she did anyway. At the oddest times Serena would decide to have Darien tied up. 

And every time he let her. 

He swore to himself as he thought about this, he never fought her on this. Sure they fought, but it was only because Serena was so damned infuriating! She was so logical and intelligent that it was annoying him. And God damn it all! She was right almost all of the time.

And its not like he couldn’t take her, in more ways than one. He was stronger than her physically, and he should have been smarter than her. He was after all, a man. But no, she had to be so perfect!

He sighed and closed her eyes, wishing that he had circulation in his hands and that he could massage his temples. His head was starting to pound, somehow she had managed to annoy him without even being there!

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

Then he heard her laughter and it stopped all of his thoughts cold. It was her cold, ironical, defiant laugh. She had just gotten away with something, he could tell. And she had had fun.

She all but bounced into the small home, her eyes sparkling and her face flushed from the ride. 

Rei did not look so happy when she came in. She was glaring furiously at Serena. “I can’t believe that you did that,” she was muttering.

“Did what?” Darien asked from what he now considered his chair. He spent way too much time tied to it.

Serena just laughed and twirled around, plopping on her bed. “Come on Rei, it wasn’t that bad,” she said. Rei just said something vulgar under her breath and went to her bed.

Darien was still tied up and getting more frustrated.

“You didn’t have to do that! I was handling the entire situation!”

“Sure Rei, whatever you say. Next time why don’t we just invite Marshal Sinclair to come with us?”

“You know, Sere, you could lighten up!”

“I did,” Serena laughed and then laid down on her bed, staring at the roof of the cave.

“This is all fine and dandy, but when have you decided to untie me?” Darien cut in before they could go into a full fledged fight and forget about him. His wrists really were hurting.

Both Serena and Rei blinked at him, as if noticing that he was there for the first time. Then Serena began to laugh again and Rei smiled slightly.

“Sorry, I forgot about you,” Rei said and went to untie him. Soon she became exasperated with the knot that held the ropes together. “Sere, how in the hell did you get this so tight?”

Serena just smiled, and again Darien was annoyed. Slowly she sat up on the bed and looked Darien over, “I don’t know, Rei. I kinda like him like that. I find it,” she paused looking for the word, her head tilted to one side. She smiled once she had obviously found the word she was looking for, she let her gaze travel Darien’s body, “Attractive.”

Rei just sighed melodramatically, knowing that in a moment an argument full of innuendo was about to start. **You would think that stone cold Sere would think of something else** she thought to herself slightly annoyed, **but no, she has to top Darien every single time.**

Darien raised an eyebrow and twisted slightly in his chair. Two could play this game, “I aim to please,” he said, managing to move so his shirt was pulled tight against his chest, outlining strong muscles.

“I’m sure you do, just like you get a bull’s eye every single time?” She laid back on the bed, propped up on her forearms as she kept his gaze.

“What can I say, I’m one of the best.” This time it was Darien’s eyes that traveled her body, pausing to look long in several places. Serena flushed slightly and swung her legs off of the bed, standing and using her hair to cover her flush.

“I’m sure you are,” she muttered and then walked over to him. Rei had since moved to the small table, giving up on the rope and knots. “Just like you are a conceited, self centered, sexist pig,” she said calmly and leaned over him.

Darien wanted to snap back at her, but suddenly found that talking or even breathing became very difficult as her hair brushed against his cheek and shoulder as she reached behind him. In only a few moments time she had undone the knot and his hands were free.

Free to grab her by her wrist as she pulled away from him. 

Her wrists were tiny, his fingers wrapping all the way around them as he glared up at her. They stood like that for a long moment, Darien slowly increasing the pressure on her wrist, wondering what would happen if he held it to hard.

**Ice would probably shoot out and freeze me. God, I have never known a woman to be so cold.**

But Serena just glared at him, meeting his fierce gaze. ‘I dare you to try’ is what her eyes were saying.

Darien just smiled back at her coldly and released her wrist. “I knew you wouldn’t have the--”

“Serena, shut up before you get yourself killed!” Rei interrupted finally.

“Like he could hurt me,” she scoffed walking away from him.

Arrogant bitch.

That’s all she was, Darien decided, an arrogant bitch. 

Darien just stood up, “If you will excuse me, I think I’ll go outside.” And with that he stalked away.

He stayed away for an entire two hours before deciding that he couldn’t afford to get Serena angry. Too much was at stake, he had to get her to trust him and then lead her to Denver. And he couldn’t do that if she hated him.

But damn it all! She was so infuriating. 

And cold! 

Darien couldn’t even remember the last time he had been unable to make a women fall into bed with him. They were always so predictable and naive. Women didn’t think for themselves, strong capable men did that for them. Women let men take care of them, and damn it Serena wasn’t like that at all!

She was smart. She was good at what she did. She took care of herself and Rei. And she was strong and capable. 

Serena was a paradox. She disproved everything that Darien knew to be true about women.

And she wasn’t gay.

Which at this point, in Darien’s mind, was a good thing. He knew that she didn’t have any semblance of feelings for Rei other than the love between sisters.

And Rei was most certainly not in any way attracted to women. In fact she had a problem of being overly attracted to men.

So why was she like this?! he nearly screamed. WHY? WHY? WHY?

He sighed and began walking back to the Cave, slowly when he heard Rei and Serena outside talking. He stopped behind a boulder, listening to them.

“You know, Sere, if you wouldn’t push him then maybe he would be nice to you,” Rei was saying.

“You don’t understand Rei. I don’t want him to be nice to me. I was perfectly fine the way I was before he showed up.” Serena was resting against the wall of rock, her knees pulled up to her chest.

“Serena, you were an Ice Queen! You were alone, like that was a happy way to live,” Rei’s words were harsh, but her tone was very gentle and kind. “Before Darien you had this dead look about you. You only come alive when he’s around or we’re in a life or death situation.”

“It is a life or death situation when he’s around,” Serena muttered and then closed her eyes. She was quiet for a long moment, “He’s a sexist pig.”

“And you hate men and think that the entire lot of them are evil.”

“Correction, I hate most men, and I actually have respect for one,” Serena said impishly and then looked down again when Rei glared at her.

“You know what I mean. Ever since That Day you haven’t so much looked at a guy. And now I see you looking at Darien a lot.”

Serena blushed and Darien found that surprising. Serena didn’t blush, it was part of the paradox, or so he thought anyway.

Now her blushing made him even more confused. The Serena Paradox was becoming more and more complicated all the time.

“Rei he doesn’t treat me like an equal. I’m ready to just leave him in the middle of the desert. How can I feel anything for someone who doesn’t believe that I’m on the same level as they are?”

“I think that instead of asking how or why, you just should,” Rei said gently.

“Never,” Serena whispered, “Not until he treats me like an equal and really means it.”

“Then prove it to him Sere. Make him see he’s wrong.”

Serena just closed her eyes, “I don’t need anyone Rei. I’m not like you, I don’t need a man to complete me. I’m fine being alone. And besides,” she tried to smile brightly, “If I ever do let someone melt my heart, it’s not going to be Darien.”

Darien decided that he had eavesdropped enough and made enough noise to single his arrival. “Speak of the Devil.” Rei muttered with a wry grin. She stood and then with a flip of her hair went back inside the cave, leaving Serena and Darien alone with each other.

Serena was fully prepared to stalk off, but Darien gently grabbed her by her arm. “I believe that I owe you an apology,” he said quietly before she had a chance to react. “There was no excuse for the way that I behaved.”

Serena raised an eyebrow, “I don’t know what you mean,” she said.

Darien sighed quietly, she was going to be difficult. 

Great. 

“I grabbed your wrist and almost hurt you. There isn’t any excuse for the way I acted.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I baited you, I tried to make you mad. You reacted like--”

“Any man would have?” he interrupted finishing her sentence and lifting an eyebrow.

Serena clenched her jaw, “Exactly.”

Darien sighed and let go of her arm, “I still lost my temper and that was inexcusable. I’m sorry,” Serena was about to argue with him again when he stopped her, “Don’t you know how to just shut up and accept an apology?” he asked her exasperated.

Serena looked up at him surprised, her aqua marine eyes widening, “I--” Darien sighed and stopped her again. 

This time with a kiss.

He meant it to be a harsh and punishing kiss. He meant to prove something to her, maybe it was that he was the man around here. 

He meant to conquer her.

He ended up gently kissing her, lightly pressing his lips to hers as he pulled her closer to him. She resisted at first, stiffing at the alien feeling that was invading her body and mind. He was so warm and so gentle. So unlike the harsh man who she argued and fought with.

She tore away from him, violently throwing herself out of his arms. For a moment she looked almost afraid. Her eyes were fierce and cold in the light of the sunset as she stared up at him.

She didn’t say anything. She just turned around and slowly walked back into the cave.

Darien stood there for a long moment, very, very confused. He closed his eyes and tried to resume breathing. 

No, Serena wasn’t like any other women he had ever met. She was a paradox. One that he meant to discover.

Two days later, Serena announced that they were moving to another hideout. 

She also announced that Darien would come with them.

* * *

Jedeite sighed, “Darien, where the hell are you?” he muttered. The last time he had heard from his friend was two months ago, when Serena and Rei had robbed a bank. He had been there and there was a period of three minutes when they had talked. 

According to Darien things were getting held up. Darien wouldn’t say why exactly, just that it was complicated.

“Great, that’s just what we need, more complications.” Jedeite sighed again. 

*Washington* wanted to know about Darien’s progress. *Washington* wanted to know when they would have Flamethrower and the Bitch in custody. Washington wanted everything.

Jedeite made a sound of disgust. *Washington* was sending one of their best out to help.

“We don’t need help,” he muttered to himself, “What we need is a god damn miracle.”

“I’ll say,” a voice said from behind. Jedeite jumped out of his chair and turned to see Darien standing there.

Darien slumped into one of the chairs, “A miracle would be very, very nice.”

“Not going good?” Jedeite asked sitting back down, looking around carefully to make sure that they weren’t being watched. Darien had come in disguise, looking like Priest, but still it was clear that both were worried.

“It’s complicated,” he said quietly, looking off into the distance for a moment. “I’m just here to tell you that I’m still alive.” He got out a map, “This is where we are. I want your boys to surround us and bring us in. I can’t take her to Denver,” he said flatly, “but incase this fails, I still want Denver as an option.”

“Fails?” Jedeite raised an eyebrow, “How many men should I take? How hard is this going to be Darien?”

“Just a few. Two or three at the most. Just remember that I’m going to be keeping up the pretense that I’m helping them.” Darien sighed and rubbed his temples. “Like I said before, there are complications.”

“What complications?” Jedeite demanded.

Darien sighed and was quiet, not answering his friend.

“Darien, what complications?”

“Serena,” he said simply and stood up and went to the door, “Hurry. You don’t have much time until we move again.”

“SERENA?!”

“Good-bye Jedeite.”

Jedeite’s jaw dropped and he watched as his friend disappeared into the night.

**He’s falling for her.** He realized, **Darien the man who thinks that women-are-only-good-for-one-thing is falling in love with a man-hater** Jedeite suddenly grinned. 

**I think that they deserve each other.**

* * *

**I don’t understand why he has to ride on my horse** Serena complained to herself, **Its not fair. Rei can deal with having an overly sexy very handsome man ride behind her. I don‘t want to.** 

They were coming back from a job and he was riding behind her again. His hands were lightly on her waist, resting on her hips and she found it very disconcerting.

In the dark it was easy to pretend that he really wasn’t Darien. That he was her Knight In Shining Armor. She sighed quietly. Who was she kidding? If she did want a Knight In Shining Armor he would be exactly like Darien.

**But he’s still a sexist pig** part of her argued. **He just wants to bed you. He’s a man.**

Her mind drifted to the other night. Rei had been gone, staying overnight in the town. It was just her and Darien; a very dangerous situation.

He had tried to help her unsaddle the horse, getting behind her and his arms had practically been around her waist. She had swiftly kicked her heal up into between his legs. As he doubled over in pain she said, “I can do this myself.”

He bit of a curse and glared at her.

In a matter of seconds he whipped her around and she looked up at him definitely. “What are you going to do? Hit me?” she taunted, “I bet you’d feel like a big strong man, beating a defenseless little girl.”

He nearly shook her, but he just kept his hold on her, “You are hardly defenseless, Rena.”

Rena. That damned nickname that he had come up for her.

“What?” she raised an eyebrow and looked him over, “You think you could take me?”

Darien raised an eyebrow and suddenly an arm was around her waist, the other was buried in her hair, forcing her hat off and tangling his hand in her blond curls.

“Is that a challenge?” he breathed in her ear and Serena’s stomach dropped. Again he had managed to change the mood from anger to something even more dangerous.

Something that Serena wasn’t prepared to deal with.

Especially when he leaned down and kissed her.

This time it was a violent kiss. He held her to him tightly, practically crushing her. Not thinking, Serena’s arms linked around his neck, pulling herself up to him. Her breasts were pressed tightly to his chest and he picked her up slightly, shoving her up into the wall of the small stable. Again, not thinking, she locked her legs around his waist as he continued to kiss her. He plundered her mouth with his tongue, delving it deep into her.

Then suddenly he found that he was on the ground. Serena was next to him, but she was rolling away from him. That’s when he heard the sound. Rei was back early.

He swore and then sighed, standing up. He turned to look for Serena. 

She was standing in the doorway of the stable. Her face was flushed and her hair was tousled. Her lips were slightly swollen from the kiss. Her blue eyes were on fire. She glared at him and then walked back into the house that they were staying in.

Serena sighed at the memory, absentmindedly touching her lips in memory of the kiss.

It had been a perfect kiss, Serena realized and flushed, glad that it was dark and that her face was hidden from Darien.

Unknown to Serena, Darien was thinking about the exact same moment. Though his view were slightly different.

He had wanted the kiss to continue.

God, he wanted that kiss to last forever.

What would have happened if Rei hadn’t come back? Would he have really taken her then and there? Would she have let him make love to her on the stable floor?

Not thinking, he let his hands move up Serena’s hips and waist, ending up on her sides. Serena didn’t stiffen this time, she just leaned back.

Darien blinked several times and then smiled to himself slightly. He knew that she wouldn’t be able to resist him for long. Then he winced, and he also knew that he was practically unable to resist her. After tasting her it he had wanted more. So instead of being happy about the situation, he just got depressed.

So being depressed, he locked his arms around her, linking his hands in front of her and resting his head on top of hers.

**Just one more day and then tomorrow she’ll be out of your life for good** he told himself, **Then you wont have to think about how beautiful she is ever again.**

Later that night Darien watched Serena sleep from his place on the floor.

His emotions were starting to conflict, but he couldn’t pull his gaze away from her.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to stop watching her sleep.

“You’re falling in love with her aren’t you, Darien,” Rei’s quiet voice said from her bed. Darien pulled his eyes away from Serena and looked at the violet eyed gangster.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Rei smirked and laughed quietly from her sitting place on the bed. “Sure,” she said, “and that display on the ride back meant nothing?” she raised an eyebrow. “You weren’t even thinking when she rested back into you.”

Darien scowled and rolled over, his back to Rei. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said gruffly. “Now I’m going to sleep.”

Rei laughed again, “Have it your way, Dare, but you and I both know the truth.”

Darien didn’t answer her.

He was afraid that she might be right.

* * *

Rei and Darien were cleaning up the small cave when there was a gunshot. A second later it was followed by two more.

Rei’s head shot up and she ran to her horse. Darien looked at her confused.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded, getting on behind her before she could ride away.

“It’s Serena,” she said looking visibly worried. “That was our signal for trouble. She’s only used it one other time.”

Darien clenched his jaw. So the marshals were here. That meant that his troubles were over. He and Rei rode until they saw a figure surrounded by three men holding guns.

Rei paled considerably.

“Let’s split up,” Darien suggested, “That way--”

“I can take two and you can get the other one and Serena,” Rei cut in and dismounted. “Get off, the horse will wait here for us.”

Darien did as commanded, he was too worried that something might go wrong to think about the fact that he was taking orders from a woman.

“Let’s do it.”

* * *

Serena glared at Alan hatefully. He just smirked. “So we finally have the Bitch in our hands.”

One of the men laughed. Jedeite was also there and he didn’t. He just glared at Alan, “Careful, Shields won’t like it if you mess with her.”

“Shields can shove it,” Alan snarled, “I just want to see if she’s as stone cold as the rumors say.”

“Touch me and I’ll kill you,” Serena spit in his face. 

Alan back handed her and she fell to the ground.

“Marshal control yourself!” Jedeite shouted and lifted Serena from the ground. Her lower lip was bleeding and her cheek was red. She was going to have a rather large bruise soon.

Alan was about to say something else when he heard a gun click behind him. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you never to hit a lady?” a calm deep voice said behind him.

* * *

I've gotten a lot of requests for a sequel to AAFH.  If I write one it won't be until I finish this fic, or one of my others that I've started.  *shamless self promotion* go to my site and see which one ^.^