Darker London

The crash from downstairs had them all looking up, attention snatched away from the board game pieces on the table. Truth be told Joss wasn't paying all that much attention the game anyway, because Hope kept distracting him with her gorgeous intensity, and he'd really rather be doing something else instead of playing with Serenity and the empty chair that Leon had left.

The wind was making a racket around the house but that didn't disguise the crash, and it did absolutely nothing to disguise the scream that ripped through the house afterwards. Joss found himself on his feet, frozen in the middle of the room, his blood sprinting through his veins as he stared at the door that lead downstairs. He hadn't noticed that he'd grabbed Hope's wrist and pulled her to her feet too, not till she spoke.

Rachel scrolled through the pictures Danny had sent her of his new home, the way he'd decorated his bedroom, the cakes in the kitchen, the backyard, the cat, Deirdre making a ridiculous face at the camera, barely dressed even though it was the dead of winter. Alex was in the background of a couple of them, and Rachel stopped scrolling for a few moments to look at her. She couldn't tell if Alex looked more relaxed than before, couldn't tell what her feelings were about living in this new place just from two pictures. But god, Rachel wanted to know.

Zoe had told Rachel all about what they'd done; going to Alex's house to strip it of her stuff, make a clean break from her awful mother. Zoe hadn't hidden how proud she was of Alex, as if there was any pride to be had in a family's final death throes.

( ... )

When Peter heard someone enter his office, he did not expect it to be Serenity Dawson standing there in his doorway. Not that it was an unpleasant surprise, but a surprise nonetheless. "Serenity?" he said, standing to indicate she could sit in his chair if she wanted. "How can I help you?"

Serenity glanced around, and then instead of heading for his chair, she headed for his sofa and collapsed onto it. "Is Razvan here?" she asked, instead of saying hello.

"Razvan? I don't think so. I haven't seen him, at least. Let me check," he said, taking his seat again. After a few quick calls to Katia, Abby, Stuart and Joe, he was fairly sure Razvan was not at the hospital. "No one here has seen him. I can call Nova, but I didn't want to alarm her if someone else had seen him. Is he not home, Serenity?"

Serenity shook his head and chewed on her lip, "not for days. And he's always been a bit hit or miss and I get that, but he texts me. I mean. He texts the stupidest things because he's fucking terrible at it, but he stays in touch, you know? I think we should call Nova," she said thinly.

Peter sighed and keyed her number in.

Hope was nervous as she climbed out of the Uber and stepped towards Joss' door. Of course nervous on Hope just looked like 'loud'. Joss was the first person she had liked in this way for a long time. After losing Tasha she had lost hope she might ever feel anything like it again, but those fuzzy feelings were starting.

God she had missed them.

Clutching the flowers she had brought for Leon's family in her hand, Hope rang the bell and then stared up at the most impressive house she had ever seen. Sure, Hope lived in a manor, but this place was unbelievable.

Serenity's best friend was gone (Godric and Noah didn't count as friends, they were family) up North somewhere being a hero. She was both terrified for him, and she missed him terribly. What was she supposed to do around the place without him to bother about wearing his damn hat inside. Because who did that? Was he smuggling something under there? And sure she had other housemates, including her incredible partner, but none of them got quite as huffy and ridiculous as Razvan did.

Serenity took herself to the kitchen where Leon was making a cup of tea, and she flopped herself dramatically across the island. "I miss Razvannnn!" she whined. "I miss his stupid hats. All your hats are too cool to make fun of."

Upon hearing of Carly Malec's situation, Serenity had done everything she could to try to make it so Carly could come work at Mariposa. They did have an employee leaving, but not for a few weeks. She figured if she switched some shifts around she could fit Carly in ASAP.

She texted Carly and asked her to come into Mariposa for a meeting. Sure, Serenity was already pretty decided, but she had to at least pretend to do the official thing. When Carly arrived Serenity told her to order whatever she wanted on the house and then she led her back to a more private booth.

"How are you doing today?" Serenity asked, trying not to give the girl a worried once-over.