No Man's Land (Private)

[Muffinsquire]

"I guess I am a li'l homesick," Danny pondered a moment, but then he shook his head. "But that's not the main reason...You see...I s'pose...today...you kinda surprised me. 'Shoppin' for boyfriends' kinda threw me off kelter cause I never s'spected you'd say a thing..." He paused a moment feeling like he really wasn't going in the right direction so he tried to start again. "Sera...I really like you, and I knew you was really shy 'round men, so I figured...if I take my time then she'll really open up to me. But it seemed the farther we went, the less real interest you took in me, 'specially when I told you that I'd slept with another girl before. But then I come to find you didn't like that, so I vowed to myself I wouldn't do it again and I would wait for that right one. I was kinda proud of myself. Then you turned around today and started talkin about gettin yourself a rich boyfriend from the city and even sleepin' with him and I felt all my time kinda crumbled. It seems really silly when I talk about it...considerin' we've only known each other for a few weeks, maybe a little over a month now. But, that's just how I felt."
He was at least glad to get all of that off his chest.

[WolfumsTheGreat]

Sera looked at Danny, trying to put the pieces together that he hadn't said. If she wouldn't have caught it, then she would have probably thought he still liked her as a friend.
"You... really like me?" she asked dumbly. Sera was quiet again before speaking. "I like you... a lot... but I constantly thought you were just being nice to me because you felt sorry for me... I said those things in front of you to hopefully get something out of you.. but instead, I really got kind of a big brother response which made me feel that you were just this mentor friend. Yes, I said I wanted to go boyfriend hunting... but I knew I wasn't going to find one. I was hoping that you'd speak up against it and somehow give me a hint... but I never saw one. And I never got... really upset... with you about sleeping with someone else. In all honesty, I feared you because I thought you were like all other men... but you're not... and I see that. The only reason I would sleep with someone is to make sure that I'm not afraid of it. I'd hate to get into a relationship and be in it for a while, then whenever they wanted to sleep with me for me to be too afraid too..."
Sera watched Danny a moment.
"Danny... I do... really... like you... I just thought... that you didn't like me... not that way..."

[Muffinsquire]

"I thought I'd made it at least kinda obvious," Danny replied, for that had been one reason he had been so kind to her, wanting to stay near her. Perhaps it had come off as a little older brotherly, but his reasons were different. "That's one reason I was so nice...but I guess I did give mixed signals...Cause the more I thought about it, the more I realized that...it might not work out anyway. I mean, you wanna stay here and work in the city, while I've been findin' out more and more that this just isn't the right place for me."
He prodded his fingers quietly against the armrest of the chair, looking out at the steady streams of traffic before looking over at her again.

[WolfumsTheGreat]

"I actually... don't care where I stay," Sera replied to Danny. "I've only seen the outside parts of the city for two years and the people aren't very nice. All I really want is a place with a nice job and a roof over my head. Which, I won't have to work for a while..." she said.
"Whenever I went to the bank and talked to the woman... she said that they had sent a search crew out there. She said that they found the dead bodies and accounted for the people. Up to twenty three families were completely wiped out and they didn't have any other relatives anywhere... so... I signed on for their money. I'm not going to do anything with it for the next two months, but after two months, it's mine... and it's a lot.." Sera said quietly.

[Muffinsquire]

"I didn't really know if you liked the country or not," Danny admitted. "You didn't seem very happy at my place...then again you coulda had other reasons. Also...I just didn't know if I'd be jumpin' the gun or not. Momma tends to think I move to fast, which she could be right."
He wasn't really sure where this conversation was going at the moment because he had certain plans made up in his mind, but he didn't know what she wanted. And there was still the mystery of this war and it's unexplained and unknown origins.

[WolfumsTheGreat]

Sera shrugged.
"Why do we have to plan?" she asked. "Why can't we just do things for the here and now and work on the problems when we come to them?" she asked him. She moved to look back out at the street.
"I liked the country. It was very nice and peaceful and... I ... could get used to it. I had just never been there and it was a little overwhelming was all..."

[Muffinsquire]

"I s'pose we'll just have to see how things turn out," Danny replied as he followed her gaze. He didn't want to become involved in a relationship only to have it blow up in their faces. Also he didn't just want to uproot her from a spot she planned on getting comfortable in case it didn't work out. He wasn't sure what her exact plans were besides finding a job and place to live, but at the end of the week, he was going home...possibly for good.

[WolfumsTheGreat]

Sera nodded her head in agreeing with him. But she didn't like how they hadn't really worked anything out. She guessed she was back to searching around and trying to find a boyfriend again. Although she didn't like that, it seems that she couldn't really get out of Danny if they should be together or not.
If she did ask him, he'd probably tell her to just wait and see how things turned out again. But with Sera... her life was always unpredictable and she didn't know what was going to happen from one day to the next.
Maybe Danny was right. They shouldn't be together just because they didn't know where the other was going or doing with their life. They shouldn't jump into anything. But deep inside, Sera's hopes had been crushed.

[Muffinsquire]

Danny wasn't a very smart man, but he could recognize the fact that they were right back where they started. He was still waiting for Sera to give her opinion on the relationship matter. She had talked about what she wanted to do occupationally, but she hadn't really said anything about whether she wanted to be in a relationship with him. She told him she liked him and she hoped for something. But what did she want now?
It seemed they were both waiting for the other to talk.
He supposed he would try one more time.
"Sera, I want to be with you," he said. "But things just seem to be really complicated right now. I'm saying it would turn out badly, but that's what I'm afraid of. That one of us might uproot themselves for the other only to have the whole thing blow up in our faces."

[WolfumsTheGreat]

Sera turned to look at Danny once more instead of out at the traffic. She wanted to tell him that he was right about how it would blow up on the two of them, but she wanted to be with him. She wanted to learn what it meant to have a relationship. Even if it didn't last, she wanted to experience it and learn from it. She trusted Danny and Danny was her friend. She didn't want to go through the whole deal of learning someone else again.
"I want to be with you... and I'm willing to take that chance. Even if it does end badly, then we both can learn from it... I want to be with you Danny..."
Sera felt her shoulder slump a little as if she was afraid of his next answer. She did want to be with him, but he believed that things wouldn't work out, then she would trust him.
"I trust your opinion," she told him and bit her bottom lip.

((bye bye))

[Muffinsquire]

"Well...I s'pose we still have the rest of the week at least," Danny suggested, trying to find a happy medium for the both of them. "After that we have three choices...one of us moves...we try long term...or we break it off completely."
All three options were going to be difficult, most likely.

[WolfumsTheGreat]

Sera watched Danny a moment, then nodded her head.
"Okay," She said to him in a reply. "We'll make that choice whenever it gets here then.."
She moved to stand up and took the two plates that still had some crumbs on them, then gathered the napkins and such. Then, Sera headed into the house to wash the plates, leaving Danny with a 'be right back.'

[Muffinsquire]

"Alright," Danny replied as she left, although she hadn't really answered his question. Perhaps he hadn't been clear enough though. He had meant to try dating for the rest of the week, but perhaps that wouldn't really be a good idea for so short a time. There probably wounldn't be any point.

[WolfumsTheGreat]

Sera had come to understand that they were dating now and that they would be for the rest of the week. She thought that was what she had said okay to. She washed the dishes and then brought out a pitcher of lemonade that she had made with two glasses and sat them on the table back out on the balcony.
"So, I take it that you're going home at the end of the week?" Sera asked Danny as she filled their glasses.

[Muffinsquire]

Danny didn't really understand what 'okay' was supposed to mean. He just thought she was saying 'okay.'
"That's what I plan," Danny answered. "It doesn't look like I really have a place here." He sighed, then preceeded to tell her about what had happened at the military office and his heated argument with the secretary there.