At first she felt hurt by Gunner's words but then anger flared, she wasn't sure if it was at him or at herself for thinking she could make any of this right. If he'd been angry then maybe she could have accepted it gracefully but his complete and utter lack of shits given... maybe she'd been right all along and he had gotten tired of her. Either way the anger fueled her words. "I knew this was stupid, I shouldn't have let Sebastian talk me into coming here to see you. Staying away was the better plan... obviously."

Tears stung her eyes as her anger deflated, leaving her feeling defeated... again. She'd hurt him... she'd known she would that's why she'd avoided him for so long. "You weren't the only one hurt, Gunner. You know what, if you want to drink yourself into oblivion be my guest. In the meantime I'm going to try and get our schedules sorted so we see as little of each other as possible... For Seb's sake... if you even care."

She brushed a stray tear away angrily and left, slamming the door behind her. Her hands shook, she needed air. For the first time in three years she headed to her old hiding place. Once there, she stripped off her sweatshirt and down to her tank, tied up her hair,took the wraps from her back pocket and bound her knuckles, and went to town on the nearest tree. She ignored the pain in her hands, knees, ankles as she pummled the thing till her knuckles bled. She ground her teeth as she went, refusing to cry until she threw a bad punch and felt the shock run up her fingers and into her wrist.

With a loud curse she stepped back and leaned against the tree behind her and cradled her wrist. She was pretty sure she'd heard something crack but no way in hell was she going to go to Sebastian like this, he had enough darkness and right now she was sure that she'd bleed too much onto him. She painfully unwrapped her knuckles and used the binding to tightly wrap her wrist, she'd get a brace later. For now, she slid into a setting position and let the tears flow.

~*~

Seb laughed and pulled her closer to him, "Well, if my parents have their way it'll feel like the world IS against us soon. Coming here bought us some time but..." He sighed, "My father is a... determined man." He almost bristled when he remembered the many times his father had eyed Serena, watching her a bit too closely for his liking. Seb had made it a goal to not leave Serena alone in the house when his father was there but that didn't mean his mother wasn't just as bad in other ways. She was always bringing up Serena's scars.. putting down her clothing, pointing out that she wasn't moroi... Just little things that would wear on her bit by bit. Seb had almost lost it... it's why he'd agreed to take this job. Much longer living with his parents might have resulted in murder...

He heard the door and groaned dramatically, "I suppose I should go fetch the pizza."

He kissed her lightly and slid off the bed before nabbing the pizza and coming back. Luckily, Seb remembered a Dhampir's appetite and so he'd ordered two pizza's... One that he'd eat over the next two days and one for Serena that she'd probably finish off tonight... It wasn't that Dhampirs were fattys... they needed the food to keep them going.

"For you m'lady," he teased and passed her the pizza before playfully messing up her hair and taking a seat by her.