The Path to Love Ch. 05-06

CHAPTER FIVE

-2 weeks later-

Serenity couldn't believe what she heard when she walked into the restaurant after school for her shift. Melinda had passed out while helping with prep that morning and had been taken to the hospital. Serenity wanted to leave and go to the hospital, or at least call her father to find out if Melinda was okay, but two of the wait staff had already called in sick and she couldn't leave.

Today of all days, they were swamped. Serenity was anxious and nervous, but despite this, she was spot on and had her biggest day in tips ever. Serenity smiled to herself as she helped close up the restaurant. After the money had been put away and while Serenity waited for the kitchen staff to finish cleaning the kitchen, she grabbed the phone and called her father's cell phone. "How's Mel?" Serenity asked when Mark answered the phone.

"She's fine Serenity. We'll talk more when you get home," Mark assured his daughter. Satisfied with his answer, at least for that moment, Serenity hung up the phone and looked up as Gavin the chef walked into the dining room.

"Have a good night," Gavin said after he locked up and escorted Serenity to her car. Serenity drove home as fast as she could, barely putting the car in stop before she climbed out and raced into the house. Fourteen year old David was the first person Serenity saw, which surprised her, it was nearly eleven thirty and he was hardly ever up past eleven.

"What are you doing up?" Serenity asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Finishing up a paper my history teacher assigned," David grumbled. "I probably will fail it, but at least it's done," he added. Serenity looked at David in surprise; he was a good student, and hardly ever failed at anything, except for sports.

"What is your paper on?" she asked.

"The Cuban Missile Crisis. We can only have three sources, and they have to be approved by the teacher, and he'll only allow certain sources and the ones he allows, doesn't give very much information," David answered. They looked up as Mark walked into the kitchen.

"I'll be up in a minute David, why don't you show me your paper and I'll see if I can help you with it," Serenity offered. David nodded, grabbed a glass of milk and ran up to his room.

"How's Melinda?" Serenity asked.

Mark smiled. "She's fine Serenity, really," Mark assured his daughter.

"Then what happened? Gavin told me she passed out while helping with prep this morning," Serenity said.

Mark nodded. "She did. Mel hasn't been sleeping well lately and she's had that nagging stomach flu," Mark began. Serenity nodded. "Apparently, Mel never had the stomach flu; but between being sick and not sleeping well, Mel became very exhausted," Mark said.

"So if Mel doesn't have the flu, what's wrong with her?" Serenity demanded. Mark grinned.

"She's pregnant," Mark answered. Serenity's eyes widened and Mark grinned again. "I know, I was as shocked as you are. Mel's been instructed to get some rest; she needs to spend a week in bed, unless she's eating or going to the bathroom, but she can't go to work. I know winter break is coming up, and I know you were going to go back to your mom and Jake for your vacation, but could you stick around and cover at the restaurant?" Mark asked.

"No problem," Serenity agreed. She grabbed a bottle of orange juice and ran up the stairs to help David before going to bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How's Melinda feeling?" Gavin asked two weeks later as he and Serenity closed up the restaurant again.

"Better. Her morning sickness has eased and her doctor is going to let her come back to work a few hours a day, as long as someone is here to keep an eye on her," Serenity answered. A knock at the front door had them both looking up.

"Who is that?" Gavin wanted to know. Serenity sighed.

"That's Pyro, he's, well, I guess you could call him my boyfriend," Serenity answered.

"He looks dangerous," Gavin commented. Serenity nodded.

"He can be," she agreed. Pyro banged on the door again.

"We'll go out the back," Gavin said, helping Serenity with the last of the closing procedures.

Serenity was weeding Melinda's garden when she heard the familiar sounds of Pyro's motorcycle coming to a stop. "Why didn't you let me into the restaurant last night?" Pyro demanded to know, standing in front of Serenity.

"We were closed," Serenity answered.

"You should have let me in," Pyro told her. Serenity stood up from the weeds and stepped out of the garden.

"Heaven was closed and even if we were open, I'm not allowed to have visitors while I'm working," Serenity answered.

"I'm not a visitor," Pyro reminded her, his voice low and full of anger.

"Shove off Pyro, I'm not yours anymore," Serenity retorted.

"What do you mean you're not mine anymore? I own you Serenity. You were supposed to be home a week ago. What are you still doing here?" Pyro wanted to know.

"I'm sticking around to help out," Serenity answered. Pyro grabbed Serenity by the arm.

"I'm giving you ten minutes to pack and then I'm taking you home," Pyro told her.

"I don't want to go anywhere with you. We're done Pyro," Serenity retorted, trying to pull away.

"We're done when I say we're done and not until, do you got it?" Pyro snapped

"I'm not a slave Pyro and you aren't the person I thought you were! I'm done being dominated by you, now get the fuck out of here and leave me alone!" Serenity shouted.

Mark stepped out of the house, phone in his hand. For the moment, he chose to stay out of sight; Serenity was handling herself fine.

"How dare you talk to me like you're an equal. You women are all the same. Wanting equal rights and shit. All you're good for is spreading your legs and having children," Pryo growled. Serenity pulled her arm free and backed up as the police pulled up in front of the house.

"Well well well, if it isn't Carl "Pryo" Jones. The state police have been looking for you for months," one of the police officers said, pulling his gun. "Back away from the girl," he added.

Pyro looked at Serenity and was surprised by her lack of fear.

"You lose Pyro. Have fun in jail," Serenity smirked. Defeated, Pryo stepped back away from Serenity and held his hands out to be cuffed. Serenity walked to where Mark stood who put his arm around her shoulder. "Are you okay?" Mark asked. Serenity nodded as Gavin walked over to them.

"What are you doing here?" Serenity asked in surprise.

"There's a food critic in the restaurant. He wants to speak with the owner!" Gavin said, the look on his face half way between excited and terrified.

"I'll go get Mel," Serenity volunteered before running into the house. Gavin looked at Mark nervously.

"Is there anything else?" Mark asked, recognizing the look of infatuation on Gavin's face. He used to look at Ashira the way Gavin was looking at Serenity.

"I was wondering if I could take Serenity out some time. Maybe to dinner and or a movie," Gavin rambled. Mark resisted the urge to laugh at the look of terror on Gavin's face. "I know I'm older than Serenity, but ..." Mark couldn't keep from laughing any longer and Gavin stopped talking.

"If Serenity agrees to go out with you, then it's fine. Just don't do anything she does not want to do, clear?" Mark said. Gavin nodded as Serenity and Melinda walked out of the house.

"Which critic?" Melinda asked. Gavin answered and Melinda's eyes widened. "Let's get the hell out of here and talk with her," Melinda said, practically leaping to the car. Gavin and Serenity exchanged looks of confusion as Mark headed to the car. Before climbing in, he turned back to Serenity.

"Stay home and watch the kids for me, will you?" Mark asked. Serenity nodded and watched as her father and step mother drove away.

CHAPTER SIX

Mark opened the door and smiled when he saw Jake, Ashira and the kids on the front porch.

"Serenity, your mom's here," Mark called. Serenity walked to the front door and gave her mother a reluctant hug. It was the first time she had seen her mother or step father since they had sent her to live with Mark and Melinda.

"Ren!" Allyson exclaimed, pushing past her parents, Dylan not far behind. Serenity gave her brother and sister a tight hug before looking for her youngest sister Sara. The ten year age difference between Serenity and Sara had been a strain in their relationship until this point.

"I don't bite silly," Serenity told Sara, sticking out her tongue. "I have your birthday present inside," she added. Sara finally smiled and took a step forward and allowed Serenity to give her a hug.

"She looks happier," Ashira observed before she saw Meliinda walk down the stairs. "Hey!" Ashira said, giving her friend a hug. "You okay?" Ashira asked, seeing her friend wince. Mark heard the question and was by Melinda's side in an instant.

"I'm fine, but I think it's time," she murmured. Mark's eyes lit up and he glanced back at Ashira who was smiling.

"Go, go, have that beautiful baby you're carrying, we'll keep things under control here," Ashira said. Melinda nodded and was almost to the door when Serenity came back into the hall.

"What's going on out here?" she wanted to know before she zeroed in on Melinda, holding on to Mark with one hand and the door frame with the other. "The baby?" Serenity asked. Ashira nodded.

"Sorry for ruining your birthday," Melinda managed. Serenity shook her head and before she could answer, Mark had the door open and was pulling Melinda out the door. Jake started to close the door when Gavin walked up to the door.

"Mom, dad, this is Gavin. He works with me at Heaven ... we've been seeing each other the last few months," Serenity introduced. Ashira smiled politely as she watched her daughter greet her boyfriend. Jake coughed and Allyson giggled.

"Let's go have some fun," Allyson said, giving her sister an out. At fifteen, Allyson was beginning to show an interest in boys and Dylan rolled his eyes as they followed Serenity and Gavin to the back yard.

"You just want to check out his butt," Dylan announced tactlessly. Allyson blushed and Serenity cracked up.

"Dylan, stop picking on your sister," Jake said from behind them, exchanging an amused look with Ashira.

"So what's up with your parents? I thought Mark is your dad," Gavin asked quietly.

"Biologically, he is. It's a long story, but lets just leave it at the fact that when mom got pregnant, he wasn't ready to be a father," Serenity said. "Mom and Jake worked together at a tanning salon in Chicago; when their boss opened a second salon out in San Diego, and they got really close, and fell in love and Jake legally adopted me; in fact, Mark was never even listed as my father on my birth certificate," Serenity added. They looked up as Ashira walked up to them.

"What's up mom?" Serenity asked.

"Just checking in; you and Gavin are looking pretty cozy," Ashira answered.

"I'm seventeen now mom, you don't have to keep checking on me," Serenity couldn't help but snap at her mother. While they had had a really good relationship when she was younger, the minute Serenity showed an interest in Pyro, Ashira had cracked down; trying to keep her daughter from making a horrible mistake. Ashira sighed.

"I didn't say you needed checking up on, but I'm still your mother, and you've been whispering away here for hours," Ashira said, trying to keep her temper in check. She had hoped that the year she had spent with Mark and Melinda would have improved Serenity's attitude, but her fears were being realised when ever she spoke a word to her daughter.

Ashira was finishing up the last of the dishes when Mark walked back into the house.

"So, what'd she have?" Ashira asked, setting a plate of leftovers on the breakfast nook.

"Another boy," Mark answered with a grin. "Joshua Michael," he added. Ashira smiled and gave her former fiancee a hug.

"I'm happy for you," Ashira said.

"What'd Serenity do?" Mark asked, as Ashira's smile faded. Ashira shook her head.

"What makes you think that she did anything?" Ashira wanted to know.

"I haven't seen your eyes look that sad since Chicago," Mark answered, taking the mug of coffee from Ashira. Ashira sighed.

"I just want to know what I did that made her hate me so much. You and Mel have told me everything she has done here; that she has been such a big help, and I'm glad she hasn't given you too many problems," Ashira sighed and took a sip of her water.

"She doesn't hate you, she loves you. You got tough on her when she needed it, and since she's a teenager, she got defensive. When you moved her here to live with us, you took Pyro out of the equation. It wasn't as easy as we made it out ..."

flashback:

"Where will you be going and who will you be going with?" Mark asked as he looked through the financials for the restaurant.

"I'll be going to the pier with some kids from school. There's going to be a big party at Maddie's house," Serenity answered. Mark looked up.

"Maddy Lopez?" Mark asked. Serenity nodded. "You can't go," Mark told her.

"Why not? Don't you want me to have any friends?" Serenity whined.

"Of course I want you to have friends, but Maddy Lopez is eighteen and a senior in high school; she's already been arrested three times for prostitution and she's at least seven months pregnant. She's a bad influence. You are not to hang around Maddy Lopez or any of her friends," Mark answered. Serenity pouted for a minute. "You're just as bad as mom!" she shouted before running up the stairs and into her room.

"What ended up happening?" Ashira wanted to know, her eyes narrowing.

"She tried to sneak out. But, going on what you and Jake had told me about her behavior, I was waiting in the driveway on a lounge chair and Melinda was waiting in the back yard which is the direction her bedroom window faces. "We told her if she tried to sneak out again, for any reason, we'd ship her butt off to military school and leave her there until she turned eighteen," Mark answered with a grin. Ashira shook her head.

"Well, I guess I feel better knowing she didn't just disobey me and Jake then," Ashira joked. Mark laughed.

"She tried a few more minor things, but she got involved with the school band again, and she's been a huge help to Mel at Heaven," Mark told Ashira. Ashira smiled. "We have a beautiful daughter Ashira, and she is so smart. Ashira smiled again.

"I know," she murmured.

Jake walked into the kitchen, a grim look on his face. "Jake, what's wrong?" Ashira asked.

"Joe Johnson escaped from prison," Jake answered as Serenity walked into the kitchen.

"Who's Joe Johnson?" Serenity asked. Before anyone could answer, Ashira's eyes rolled back and she went down; her head hitting the edge of the counter. Mark managed to get one arm around Ashira's waist and the other around her shoulders and eased her to the ground.