Serendipity || Rosalie Hale

- 6 -

It hadn't been cleared in one day, but the bedrooms were nearly done. There were just a few boxes that Daria had to sort through and she had convinced the school that she needed another day. They didn't even bother in trying to say no, knowing that Penny would show up if they did. Though Daria didn't know that.

Penny was in the house this time and Daria preferred it that way. She didn't want to be all alone. Yesterday was a bad day and she had been glad that her friends were around. They took her mind off of things. And so did Penny.

"Here's your lunch." Daria looks up from the photograph that she was holding and sees Penny with a very bright smile before her. She was carrying a tray with sandwiches and different kind of beverages for her to choose from.

"I'm not really hungry." Daria replies with a weak smile and she motions for the woman to place the tray on one of the cabinets. Penny obliges and though she knew that Daria wanted to be left alone, she starts to rummage through one of the boxes. "Could you please not?" The youngster asks and Penny turns around swiftly.

"I know you're hurting." Penny winces at the harsh tone and takes a deep breath. "They were your family, but I cared and still care for all of you deeply." Daria frowns and glances back at the picture in her hand.

Coincidentally, it was one of all of them with Penny. They had gone on vacation to a sunny country. Daria couldn't even remember which one it had been that time, something that she knew was a privilege given to her by her hard working parents. But the beaches were white and the water very blue and everyone was taking care of them very well. They were having the time of their lives and even Penny could rest a bit.

"I'm sorry." Daria softly says. There were multiple times where she and Penny had gotten into a fight and the woman had shut her mouth, knowing that Daria was in a bad place. The normally soft and easy spoken Daria had called her all kinds of things but the youngster knew that the harshest of them all was 'just the help' and she regretted saying it ever since.

"I know." Penny replies equally softly before taking a seat besides Daria on the bed. She glances over her shoulder and a small smile plays on her lips as she remembers the photograph being taken. "Your father really wanted me in the picture." Daria snorts.

"No wasn't really an answer to him that holiday." Penny nods. "Samuel and I took way to much advantage of that."

"We all did." Penny smirks and Daria raises an eyebrow. "Taking care of all of you was hard. I needed some down time too."

"Is that why mom and dad made us all take the bus and go on a horrible sight seeing trip?" Penny starts to laugh.

"It was just as much my holiday is what your parents said, so I made sure that they knew how much I did." Daria smiles faintly and nods. She knew how much the woman did.

On the rare occasion that they would bump into one another in the past 8 months, the woman would ask her if everything was still up to her wishes. Not that Daria had any. She didn't particularly enjoy the food or the silence or the schedules. But it had made things easier and better for her. Because if she would have had to take care of the food and the schedules herself, she would probably be a very depressed mess. And even if that was 'allowed', she didn't want that. She knew that her family didn't want that.

"How's Frankie?" Daria suddenly asks and Penny looks up. She didn't know that Daria had thought about the young woman every once in a while.

"She's.." Penny purses her lips and sighs deeply. "She'll be okay. She's getting there." Daria nods.

Frankie and Daria hadn't really talked after the accident. Frankie had been there at the funeral and Daria had placed her right beside her for the condolences, she loved Samuel in a way that Daria would have loved to have for herself someday. Though Daria had invited Frankie to stay for a while, the latter had to go home to her job. To her family. She still had one.

It wasn't easy for either of them to say goodbye and it was even harder to stay in contact. Because neither wanted to be truthful about their hurting and they didn't want to talk about Samuel or Stella or Enzo. But Penny kept tabs on her and Daria knew that.

"She had that promotion yet?" Daria asks and Penny slowly nods. "Good." The youngster whispers. "She deserves it." Penny lowers her head. "Thank you for doing that for her." Penny smiles and nods slowly.

"There aren't a lot of things that get by you, are there?" Daria shakes her head as she stands up and places the photographs back in the box, kneeling to close it for a long while. "Can you promise me one thing?" Daria looks up at the woman who was now taking care of her. "I had Steven follow you."

Realisation dawns on Daria and she nods. She knew that he was following her yet she didn't care, she just wanted to think about something else for a minute.

She gets up and sits next to Penny who wraps an arm around her.

"It was a one time thing." Daria replies. "It felt good to not be burdened by the pain for a while but-.." she shakes her head before leaning it on Penny's shoulder. "I think it's better if I feel the pain. To work through it." Penny smiles softly at the young woman and kisses the top of her head before leaving. Not realising that that was something Daria missed and made her break as soon as the door closed behind the majordomo.