Ave Maria.

It didn't make any sense, what reason would he have for coming to the island in the first place? Rushing up to her classroom, clad in a dark pair of jeans and a loose black t-shirt - it seemed as though the woman was trying to hide from something thanks to the fact that it was nearing midnight. In truth, it had just been the clothes that she had thrown on while going to the store to grab some food. The person she crossed paths with though, despite the fact it had almost been twenty years since they had last been in each other's presence - it was impossible to forget the person who had blinded her. What was he doing here? Was it possible that she had been wrong? There was no way that could possibly be.

Slamming the door shut behind her as she entered into her classroom, Serenity had no need for turning on the lights as she started to walk toward a stereo system that she kept in the back of the room. Rubbing her fingers over the top of one of the CD's nearby, the woman hesitated for a moment before sliding the said CD into an open slot on the stereo system. A few seconds passed as silence fell over the room and Serenity moved her fingers over the volume, turning it on max and finally moving away as music started to echo around the empty room. To most people Pavarotti's song, Ave Maria might be considered overwhelming - but as Serenity moved to one of the closest seats and rested her hands against her head - the teacher found it as a nice way to drown out her thoughts. As the song continued to play, the woman felt her heartbeat slowing down, as opposed to before if anyone had crossed her she probably would have broken down right there.

As the song neared the middle, Serenity took a deep breath and leaned back in the chair she was sitting in - admiring momentarily how she was seeing the classroom thanks to how the song echoed around the area. Naturally, it wasn't the most ideal place for such a song to be played - but for some odd reason Serenity found herself running back to the classroom instead of her own home. Serenity was silently thankful that most of the teachers near her classroom had already gone home for the evening, even though it wasn't completely abnormal for a teacher to stay up at the school all hours of the night. Even as the song continued on, there were still thoughts rampaging through her mind.

Why did she run?

[ooc; www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8aeUE89cT8 ]

Sandra was beginning to have second thoughts about the whole agreement thing. Sure it got her another cast member for her movie, but she didn’t expect to have to stake out until midnight for her teacher. A deal was a deal though and personally she was expecting to get a ton of extra credit for this. She was seated at one end of the hall, her eyes drifting away as she tried to keep awake. She usually stayed up for much longer after midnight, but she didn’t have her computer with her or anything to actually keep herself entertained. Mr. Lemaire said she would only be out for a couple minutes and of course he was a blatant liar.

Before the young woman could doze off though, the older woman exited from the stairwell and quickly into her classroom. Finally, she could get whatever crazy plan her superior had over with and get some sleep. She sluggishly moved toward Serenity’s classroom door as she began to rapidly assault her face with some wake-up slaps. Just get this done and then leave, the goal seemed so simple, yet she wasn’t completely up for it. Before she could forget though, she whipped out her phone and texted quickly before finally arriving at Ms. Hikaru’s door. At this point she held no fear or anxiety of being forced into the position, the teacher could throw her at a wall at this point and she wouldn’t even care that much.

With a carefully and loud knock, she attempted to get the attention of the teacher over her music. She could definitely hear it through the thin layer of wood that separated them, but she could really make out what it was. She didn’t care anyways. “Ms. Hikaru? I have a question” she questioned through the door fairly loudly. Hopefully she heard her and she didn’t have to attempt at getting her attention once more.

The song neared it's final stages, a beautiful mixtures of notes that Serenity was enjoying all by her lonesome... all the way up until a young woman's voice briefly broke her trance. What was a student doing up so late in the first place? Everything about today was throwing her off her usual pattern. Stepping out of her seat, Serenity made her way over to the stereo - turning the volume down before the next song could wash over the room. After doing so, the teacher proceeded to walk over to the door in a slow manner wondering if whatever the kid wanted was really that important.

Taking a deep breath before opening the door, Serenity's memory briefly flashed back to the scent of the man in the marketplace and how his voice assaulted her ears. Shaking her head, she opened up the door - unable to direct her head in any direction yet thanks to the fact that she had only managed to hear the girl outside her door while her music had still been playing. "Yes, what is it?" Serenity asked briefly then to what seemed like air instead of Sandra. As soon as the girl would respond, Serenity would be able to direct her head in whatever direction she needed - instead of looking and feeling like a fool.

Sandra’s gaze focused upward as the much taller woman appeared in front of her. She would say that she was Amazonian in her height, but that might be due to the student’s inherent shortness to just about everyone. She seemed somewhat lost, but frankly any blind person would if they had no reference for where the person they were speaking to was. She lazily stared at the teacher for a moment or two before her cell phone buzzed once more. She slipped it out of her pocket for a moment to check the screen then went back to Serenity. “What does it mean when Mr. Lemaire instructs me to stall you?” she asked out of pure curiosity. She was never told what any of this was for, but she assumed revenge since she had heard the teacher was the one that broke his arm.

Not a mere moment after Sandra was finished speaking, a song slowly began to play over the loudspeaker and all around the school at that. It was a song that Cade had come across and through a series of contacts and invading Serenity’s home while she was out knew that she had a taste for the artist’s style of music. (song here). The young woman was somewhat off put by the sudden old timey music, especially since it was somewhat loud for her tired ears to handle. She was hoping that one of the two was getting a beating for whatever was going on because it quickly began to irritate her. The show would also be worth her wait, but the song suggested no fighting of any sort. She was helping her math teacher get laid wasn’t she?

With their last encounter, Cade had made a few blunders with Serenity. That was without a doubt. After being thrown against a wall like some sort of crash test dummy, he finally wizened up to her ways. She didn’t enjoy the sexual approach, which he found somewhat perplexing. His entire life he was under the impression that sex was what sealed the deal, but apparently that wasn’t the case. A new approach was needed. So far, his plan was being put into motion. Next step, he had to run to Serenity’s classroom from the office before the moment was ruined by some unexpected factor.

He sprinted down the halls, almost looking like a red blur that streaked across each corner. It was mostly his vest, which was freshly dry cleaned no less. This was a big day for him and he had to be prepared for it. He leapt up the stairs without much resistance and luckily the doors didn’t lock on him this time around. It’d be quite the unfortunate misstep if that were to happen.

At last, the spiffy looking man burst through the door and was within the hallway of the other two women. He was breathless, panting even. He tried to disguise this by attempting to whistle, but alas he was still unable to even do that. He decided to take a rest by the wall and allow the music to play and only hope that it disguised his breathing. Cade wanted to avoid speaking with Serenity in his breathless manner.

Hearing Sandra's voice finally, Serenity turned her head down toward the girl - her lips dipping down at the mention of Cade. She was just about to respond when music started to play through the speakers of the school, causing the woman's brows to rise slightly into her forehead. A minute or so passed and thanks to the music echoing through the hallways, Serenity was able to spot... or better yet, hear when Cade was near. It was then that Serenity's frown became even more significant than before and she turned back to Sandra - raising her voice over the loud music. "You should probably go back to your dorm, I have a feeling Mr. Lemaire will be getting in trouble with the Headmistress soon." She hoped that would be enough to dismiss the girl as the woman turned away from both Sandra and Cade, closing her classroom door behind her as she did so.

For the brief moment that she knew that no one could see her, a smile stretched across her face that seemed almost uncommonly placed. How was she supposed to react now to a man pursuing her even after she's broken his arm and injured him in several different ways? If she was psychotic then he was surely insane. Those thoughts faltered though as she remembered why she was in the school in the first place, Kane was somewhere on the island now. What did he want? Why was he here? The music continued on in the background of her thoughts, for once in her life - the woman was feeling way overwhelmed with everything going on.

Sandra nodded with the words of Serenity very simply and without question. She didn’t need to be dismissed, she didn’t really want to know what was going to happen if she stayed for just a little while longer. Her end of the job was over at this point anyway, the math teacher wasn’t too far out of her line of vision and that was her cue to call it quits for the night. Mr. Lemaire better be a fantastic actor. Although her movie didn’t call for anyone with decent acting chops. She lazily shook her head as she passed Cade. “I can’t believe you used me for a booty call” she commented while yawning.

“You’re too young to understand.”

“Pft, teenagers are the masters of booty calls. Who are you kidding?”

“You’re up past curfew”

“Under your command. You won’t win this one” she finished before walking off and most likely returning to her dorm for some much needed rest. The sooner she got to forget this entire endeavour the better. Although, she supposed she would be hearing the outcome by her co-worker if the math teacher ended up dead after their encounter.

Cade didn’t know why all the women in his life carried so much sass along with them. That was beside the point though, Serenity was the number one priority at the moment. She did retreat back into her class, which in all honesty was the best place she could run off to. Unless she had some sort of secret escape route in her classroom and for some reason he felt he wouldn’t be surprised if there actually was one. He finally mustered the strength to pick himself off the wall and approached the door. From his pocket he swiped a tiny velvet box and hid it within his fist.

He didn’t bother to knock on the door because he was expecting no answer and if not that then a very hostile or raged remark. Given the time she took to re-enter her classroom it seemed unlikely that she looked the door, but he checked with a cloned copy of the school’s skeleton key just in case. When that was all said and done, a simple flick of his wrist opened the handle and he was in. Phase two to his plan was now complete.

Cade casually cruised into the room, eyeing the surrounding as he approached the woman with the most gleeful smile that his face has been seen with to date. Legend said that his pearly whites doubled the moon’s glow on that night, but the only sources were quite unreliable since Cade was the only one to see them.

He knocked the tiny box against Serenity’s shoulder and craned his hand over hers afterwards, preparing to drop the little container into her hands once they were ready to receive. He didn’t place his mouth next to her ear, but he kept it fairly nearby in order to reassure that his words could be heard over the music playing in the background. His heart began to race, this was finally the moment of truth. It was a good week of planning and collecting resources and he just hoped it worked as well as he had thought it would. Serenity was a difficult person to please, this he’s learned from a long time of experience. “Good evening Madame, my mother helped me pick this one out.”

As she felt a slight tap of a small box on her shoulder. Serenity turned toward where she assumed that he would be, and as he came in close with his words - Serenity frowned curiously. "I thought you didn't have a mother?" She asked the other teacher with a slight tilt of her head which in turned caused it to lightly knock against Cade's. Serenity stepped back then as the song that played over the speakers neared it's ending. "And unless you've been stalking me I can't see how you could possibly know that I like Dean Martin." Really, she was just a bit of a sucker for old music. The way the sounds drifted over rooms was fantastic for her sometimes.

Without bothering to hold her hand out for whatever thing that Cade seemed to have wanted to give her, Serenity moved back to her original seat... still slightly lost in her own thoughts from what had just happened a few hours earlier. "I don't want to hear what you have to say, Cade. But if you want too, you can come sit with me." Serenity scooted over then, and even if she didn't want it to be it was obvious that there was something wrong with the woman as she patted the seat next to her as if trying to invite Cade over with just hand gestures.

Cade was slightly disappointed that out of all things the box captured the least of her curiosity. To be expected, the woman always had a knack for derailing any sort of course for conversations he attempted to set up. It was an itching peeve, but he supposed he’d let where she was going run its course and wait for her to setup for his present. She had to have some sort of interest in the item even if it was very little. Besides it ran better in his head that the woman willfully took interest in it instead of him forcing her to be.

Her inquiry wasn’t uncalled for as he had let her know about his past, but he also explained to Serenity that he had found his parents. Perhaps it was something she overlooked. “I don’t know where you would get that notion, I have told you about her before. In fact we’ve had a fairly in depth conversation about her and her… defensive nature. Albeit it was quite some time ago.”

As for her next comment, technically it wasn’t him that was doing the stalking. He had a couple students keep an eye out for her and report to him anything that would further his cause. He snuck into her house, but to only investigate a couple things and leave. It wasn’t like he was wreaking the place or raiding her underwear drawer. Technically not stalking in his book. Besides, it wasn’t like Serenity was an open book and he could just simply learn these things through conversation. “I listen” was his very brief explanation. He went the easy route this time around to avoid twisting himself in lies again.

She made it apparent that she wasn’t in the mood for whatever he had to get off his chest, but yet she didn’t out right throw him out of her room. Progress? She offered a seat and the man gladly took her on her charity. As he paced himself over to the seat, he answered her yet again. “Good good, I have very little to say. I talk too much.” He placed the slightly smaller than palm-sized rounded package on her desk near her position. The box made a soft hollow clunk on the surface, which might not have been heard if the song was still playing over the loudspeaker. He casually sat himself down next to other teacher and kept his mouth shut under her request.

Serenity listened curiously as she sat, realizing that indeed she was mostly likely being forgetful as Cade mentioned the brief conversations that they had already had about his mother. "Oh, well then. I guess I've forgotten." Serenity's worn out tone wasn't anything like her normal exhausted tone, it suggested something else completely. She stayed silent though as he explained his knowledge of her musical interests and as he finally went to sit next to her, Serenity let out a long sigh - laying her head on the man's shoulder. The action was so strange, even for Serenity that to ignore the fact that she was leaning on him - the teacher reached her hand out letting her fingers wrap around the box that had been placed near her.

"Is this supposed to be another one of your gifts?" Serenity asked the man quietly as the music finally finished playing over the speakers. She let her fingertips gently caress the material of the box, pondering whether or not she should bother opening it up in the first place. A few seconds passed then as she continued to lay her head on Cade's shoulder, the action only seeming more awkward to her the longer that it went on. There was really no one else though that she could go too and after all it wasn't like she hadn't told him about this person that had made her blind in the first place. Letting out another sigh, it was way more obvious know that there was something wrong. Instead of talking about it though, the woman curled her fingers around the box so as to open it - finally deciding to figure out what was inside of it.

Something strange was going on. There were very few times that Serenity allowed herself to get close to Cade and those times were reserved for when she had a nasty plot to harm the man or when one of them was corrupted by some sort of substance. The lack of any sort of alcohol in the room broke one of them and she was acting far too subtly for her to be planning to harm him yet again. Perhaps there was something else going on in that raging psychopathic mind of hers. What exactly it was he couldn’t determine. Maybe it was related to the music he played, the song may have a different sort of meaning to her on a personal level. Although it could be based around something that happened to her earlier in the day. The woman probably wouldn’t tell, but she could surprise him.

His hand stroked the top of her head, trying to comfort her for whatever reason she seemed upset about. His face was somewhat neutral about it, but it soon glowed as she picked up the item he brought into the class. “Yes, but the ring’s not meant for you. It’s too big for your fingers, might fit on your thumb though if you really wanted to wear it. The gift is yours though, but its intended for me should you choose to bestow it on me” the man explained simply, though his tone sounded somewhat winded. If Serenity chose to remove the jewellery from its case and feel its surface she would find it quite smooth, like most metals in ring form, up until she felt a small inscription that spelled out ‘Purity.’

Cade’s head lowered a bit as he came to the point where he actually had to own up to what the thing was. He sighed as he tried to keep a neutral complexion about it. There were so many things that he was against by the mere thought of it, but it was the only route he could take to keep something stable between him and Serenity. “It’s a… Uh… It’s an abstinence ring” he stated somewhat hesitantly.

Serenity stayed quiet as Cade explained to her his reasoning for the ring inside the box, frowning quite a bit as she let the pads of her fingers run over the smooth metal. The concept really didn't make sense to her at first, but the feeling behind it she could somewhat understand. "So, what's your telling me is that you've given me a ring to give to you when I want you to be true only to me?" The words seemed even more strange coming from her lips. Was this his way of really showing that he cared? Serenity set down the little box then, moving one of her hands up to her face to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"Wouldn't you rather me buy a gift for you that I spent the time thinking about, isn't this just sucking the fun out of giving a gift in the first place?" It wasn't like she was trying to put him down at this point, but the whole action of giving her a ring to give to him was a strange idea for her to grasp at.

"Well, you know what - never mind."

She had spent so much time destroying any sort of good thing that he tried to give her, it was difficult even know to try and accept a gift that seemed heartfelt (despite how idiotic she thought it was). Instead, Serenity moved her head off the other teacher's shoulder - instead turning her face toward him and moving on her hands up to cup one of his cheeks. "Thank you." She said to him simply then, leaning in to give him a gentle kiss on his lips - but instead accidentally kissing the corner of his mouth instead. "Oh, oops." Even if Serenity was capable of walking around by herself, the simple things like kissing someone without vision was still something she was bound to mess up every now and then.

Cade should have figured that his gesture would seem somewhat confusing to anyone other than himself. In his mind it made perfect sense. It was also a bit strange to anyone that knew he wasn’t a religious man, but the topic hadn’t crossed their mouths in earlier conversations, as far as he remembers at least. The religious symbolism wasn’t the purpose of it though, it was more so the emotional indication behind it and its promotion of celibacy that Cade wanted to display to her.

He should shed a bit more light on it, but at the same time allow her own mind to wrap around it. As she had pointed out to him many times before he had a tendency to exhaust an idea with his usual onslaught of words. “I know how my attempts at sexual advancements make you uncomfortable, so I leave the decision of whether or not it is necessary up to you. Besides, I’m a much easier person to buy for than you” he stated easily, trying to restrict the number of words he used. Speaking in a simple manner was so difficult, especially when there was so much for him to say and defend when it came to Serenity’s questions. In the end though, she seemed quick to quit her pursuits of picking apart his personal present. If one could even call the purity ring a present. With that though, the man place his hand onto her lap with each of his fingers spread evenly and awaiting her decision on the matter.

Cade’s attempts did not go unrewarded though and he got a bit more than a simple thank you this time around. Serenity’s lips had missed his own, but the intention was still there all the same. There was a strange lightening of his heart at her near miss. His free hand then grazed the tip of her chin as he leaned closer to her face in return. “We’ll give it another go” he spoke softly as he pecked her back more accurately. This probably meant that he should be the initiator more often than not, but then again him being the initiator never worked all that well in the past. Although, the woman may be more accepting of his ways in the future, however, that was wishful thinking.

It was odd that something about the situation of them not being at each other's throats or doing any sort of rough housing made Serenity see, or rather feel about Cade in a different light. Even as he tried to explain himself to her about the ring though, Serenity didn't even bother to understand at this point. Instead, as she missed the kiss and Cade placed his fingers back on her face to try once again - Serenity felt her heart opening up at the idea of Cade being around more often.

As it did so, Serenity felt herself leaning forward more as if she were trying to get more of what he was giving. Even if at this point she was using Cade as a distraction against her own thoughts, it was working. In just a few seconds, Serenity moved to where she was straddling Cade - the desk behind them pushing slightly into her back. "I like you better when you don't ramble," Serenity said to the other teacher then with a hint of a smile. Touching her forehead against Cade's this time to get some anchoring so that she wouldn't miss another kiss, Serenity connected her lips to Cade's - and despite the fact that her kiss seemed a little bit stronger this time, her body remained relaxed the whole time.

Wait. Did something that Cade planned out actually pan out into his favour? It was one of the few moment where he could say yes, bringing him to a score of two to… an uncountable number. Two was still a good number though, a pleasant reward behind two. The woman mounted him and returned yet another kiss. She was drunk wasn’t she? Serenity never showed this much compassion, at least never around Cade in when they were both sober. Maybe his act was more effective than he realized? Speaking of which, she didn’t answer his question, but at this point he was hoping the act in it of itself was what wooed her and that he didn’t actually have to give up on sex. He recently lost alcohol and drugs, he didn’t need to lose another of his favourite activities, not so soon.

Serenity answered him with another bout of their lips, the ease in the moment feeling so refreshing to the man after being tossed around like a ragdoll every other time they had an encounter. She spoke a few words before the fact, but it was hardly anything to split his attention upon. Telling Cade not to ramble was like telling Serenity to use her words instead of her fists.

“Oh, you are going to be so disappointed after today then” he chuckled back to his co-worker. “I give my mouth more of a work out than you do your entire body” he silently retorted as he lightly nuzzled his forehead against hers. As much as Cade was enjoying the time with Serenity, something was up. Even if what he presented her did make her feel grateful, this seemed to be more than she would usually offer. She seemed too nice, but that could be linking back to any number of things. One thing though, she still acted repellent toward him before he entered the room. Besides, she shrugged off his gift fairly early on after he gave it to her. “You never treat me this well” he commented offhandedly as he slide his lips along hers once more.

Their kiss broke just for a brief moment and with the proximity of their bodies along with Cade's easy chuckle, the older woman felt a tingle run up her spine which caused her to tighten her grip briefly on Cade's arms. How could one sound cause such an effect on her body? Even as she tried to question it, she realized the faulty ways in her thinking. After all she had just been trying to listen to classical music to drown out bad memories, what was wrong with enjoying someones laugh? "Right and I'm positive I could give your mouth more of a work out than you could my entire body." Even as she words drifted almost lazily out of her mouth, Serenity caught was she was saying moments after it was already said. Was she challenging him to have sex with her? Why out of all things did she have to make this a competition?

It was his last comment though, that caused the woman to back up briefly from Cade - still nonetheless straddling him - but briefly putting some distance between their faces after his momentary kiss. "What do you mean?" the woman asked him quietly then, wondering if she would have to talk about what had been bothering her earlier. Did he really have to know in the first place? It would be easier to just avoid the subject all together and move onto different and more interesting things.