It was Serena's birthday! To be exact it was the day that marked her 18th year of life! If the young British girl had been living in England this would have been a momentous occasion! She probably would have even been taken out by drinks by her father or brother if they weren't working.

Unfortunately that would have been another time, another life. The reality was, Serena was not in England, she was in New York. And there were no longer any family members that could celebrate her 18th with to speak of, her father had been gone for quite a long time, she had never known her mother, and her brother had died around 1 year ago.

In fact, it had been exactly a year and a day since he had been taken from her.

So here Serena sat, in her lonely room tapping away at a keyboard which happened to be attached to her beloved laptop. She was writing poetry, at a loss for other things to do. And it was also a good way for her to vent some of her pent up emotions and other feelings.

She had some music playing at a decent volume from her speakers, it was something fast, with a sweet guitar line and a fantastic voice behind it. It could only be rock. Serena was somewhat addicted to it.

It was a healthier addiction than the others she had to speak of. Like for example... Her severe tea drinking problem. Mentally noting of which, she had a cup resting on her desk right now. It was her 3rd or 4th cup of the day and it was only around 12pm...

There were also very few people who knew of Serena's birthday. It wasn't something she really spoke of often. Leon had known, Liz had known and Amelia knew of it.

Serena's hands fell on her blood red hair pins, which had been a late birthday gift from her brother, which she had received from his partner after his death. She let out a small sigh.

She gave a small glance to her poetry, it was filled with metaphorical references to confusing and alien feelings. Serena hadn't even realised that it was an accurate description of how she had been feeling as of late about some things. Or rather people. Or rather person.

Vrooom. Tsss. Vroom. The sound of a tiny electrical motor pulling wheels back and forth as it adjusted the small plastic body of the RC car on the carpet. The bumped bumped into Serena's door for the second time in a few seconds. Hey, she was knocking. She was being polite. This was just a unique way to get Serena's attention.

It was Serena's birthday. The car was for her. She may have taken it for a test drive already. Maybe a few. But she had other gifts. This wasn't the only one. It wasn't her only trick. So. Thud. Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

The bumper bumped again.

"Serena," Amelia called through the closed door. "Open. Up!"

Serena suddenly remembered that she had left her hair pins on the dresser, and decided to go and collect them. She was dressed in skinny jeans and a sleeveless tank top which was black. As she removed her headphone's she nearly fell out of her chair from the sudden thudding and noise.

"Comingg- Give me one second!" Serena yelled back. Then she heard a voice. It was Amelia.

Serena felt strange. A slightly weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. She didn't quite get what it was, but she needed to answer the door. She quickly grabbed her teal hair pins off her dresser and placed them in their allotted space in her hair.

As she rushed to the door, the thought crossed Serena's mind... Did she look okay? She had a little make up on, not too much though. And she was in fairly casual clothing. Why was she thinking about this, she normally didn't care too much.

Serena quickly pulled the handle and swung the door open to see a small teal RC car at her feet.

The little teal remote control car was Serena's favorite color, and it was rolling over her toe. Roll, roll, it rolled back off it, onto the floor. Amelia passed the car's controller to Serena, and smiled warmly. "Happy birthday. This is for you. Can I come in?"

They'd been hanging out for a while now, so she'd gotten to know Serena pretty well. Well enough to know her favorite color, and to know her birthday... and also to know that her birthday might not have been a detail a lot of other people knew. Hence why she wanted to make sure Serena's birthday didn't go uncelebrated. Because that would be sad.

Once Serena invited her in, she followed her into the room and sat down on her bed.

Serena couldn't help but smile as Amelia wished her happy birthday. She hadn't been expecting it, or asked for it for that matter. But it would be rude and disrespectful to protest, so instead she smiled, and invited Amelia in.

She grinned as Amelia walked in. Still a little nervous about how she looked. She wasn't exactly dressed up. But Amelia had clearly come across town, in her pretty scarf and jacket.

She sat down next to Amelia on the bed, cross legged. "Well this is a bit of an unexpected surprise. A pleasant one though." she giggled.

Serena fiddled with her hair pins a little... The teal ones that where in her hair, not the blood red ones which were lying on her desk. She was a little nervous around Amelia, but she still couldn't quite put her finger on why. It wasn't as if Amelia was a bad person, she was the exact opposite, lovely, friendly and caring.

Amelia set the RC car down on the floor in front of Serena. "No problem," she replied sunnily. "What are friends for?" Her gaze rose to Serena's eyes as she sat up from her bent position in front of the girl, then she sat back on the bed, lacing her hands behind her head and stretching. "I got something else, too. I figured you'd get a kick out of it. Go ahead, ask me what it is!"

What was it? Well. It was wrapped in her jacket, and what it was was a secret. She wasn't going to go and spoil that surprise like she had with the remote control car.

Noting how Serena was dressed, an idle thought slipped through Amelia's head. She liked the teal hair pins.

Serena smiled warmly as Amelia chatted to her. She was already feeling pretty great, simply her friend's presence made a large difference to the outlook she would have on her day.

She giggled at Amelia. "Okay then, what is it?" she giggled lightly a little more.

Serena wondered what Amelia had there. Two presents? She wasn't even expecting one from anyone to begin with. She didn't exactly want presents but the thought, and the careful thought that went into them before hand certainly was very much appreciated.

Zip. Amelia tugged the zipper on the front of her leather jacket down. Her hand slipped in, and fumbled for an inner pocket. Then, she found what she was looking for, and pulled it out, passing the red-wrapped gift Serena's way. It had a little yellow bow on it, and wasn't a hard box. It wasn't even a box. It was a little lopsided, and flexible.

"Open it up," She smiled mysteriously.

Inside, there were a pair of IV bags that looked almost hospital grade, filled with a red liquid that looked like blood. It wasn't, of course. The label said 'blood candy', and ingredients listed sugar as the main component.

Serena's smile widened as Amelia handed her a gift. She slowly opened it, wandering what may dwell within. She gently pulled the packs out, and looked at it enquiringly for a moment.

She was quite familiar with the site of blood packs after all, she had filled more than a few. And she had also needed a couple used on her, due to blood loss. She had also encountered them in bulk when working at the blood drive with Katrina. That had been a fun experience, apart from the coughing blood after. That not so much.

She realised what it was as she examined it and smiled brightly. She turned to Amelia "Thank you!" She wrapped her arms around Amelia, attempting to pull her into a gentle hug.

It was a very thoughtful gift. One which would only have meaning if a person knew about Serena's particular gifts.

Returning the snug hug, she laughed. "It's candy blood! For when you get low blood sugar from using your power. I figured you'd get a kick out of it! Glad you like it. I've got a good source."

She'd found it on the web, after hearing about it when she'd watched a documentary about candy on the history channel, and something in her head had clicked 'Serena.'

"How old that this make you now?" She asked, as they broke the hug. "I turn 19 on the 20th." Serena was taller than her by a little. Maybe she was older, too?

As Serena was hugging Amelia she realised something. She was hugging Amelia... Why did this make her feel weird? She hugged friends all the time... Unless they were James, then she avoided it at all costs for fear of him passing out.

She felt herself blush a little. As she broke the hug she apologised for the sudden embrace. "Sorry, I tend to hug people a lot." the colour began to fade from her face slightly.

How old was she? "Today's my 18th." she responded with a smile. Amelia was older than her? Not by too much, that was a slight relief.

"Wow, your Birthday is really close to christmas." she noted.

Serena apologized for the hug, and Amelia slightly arched an eye. "Don't worry about it." A small chuckle softened her voice. "Hugs are nice." Then, she changed the subject with her question about age.

Serena answered.

"Yeah. You notice a lot of December birthdays. Around 9 months ago, it was Valentine's day. Makes sense. My folks were probably love birds for days." She joked, shaking her head back and forth with a small smile at the thought. "Dad always was a hopeless romantic. Still is," she realized, corner of her mouth turning up.

Serena giggled slightly at the 'hugs are nice' comment. She was always one for the hugs. She was known for hugging her friends quite often, she had even hugged Tses previously.

Serena thought about Valentine's day. It had been in February (As usual) And she had spent it completely on her own. It had only been 2 months since her brother had died, so she hadn't really been in a particularity fantastic mood at that time in any case.

"I don't know if my father was at all, I didn't really see all that much of him to be honest." she said flatly.

"My brother was though, I kind of got my love for romance novels and poetry from him." she added softly.

Serena was opening up now, about her father. And her brother. Amelia hadn't really heard her talking all that much about either of them, so her interest was piqued. She didn't quite know why Serena never talked about her family. For some people, family was a taboo topic. Some didn't like their family. With some, it made them sad... but she wasn't sure if Serena hadn't brought her family up on account of something like that, or if it had been for another reason.

"You don't really talk about your family that much. I'm interested in hearing about them." Amelia said softly. Her hands rested on her knees as she sat forward, leaning slightly towards Serena. "Your brother sounds cool."

>>"You don't really talk about your family that much. I'm interested in hearing about them."

Those words took Serena aback a moment. That's right. Amelia didn't know. Serena had never spoken about her family around Amelia, ever. Her gaze lowered slightly, staring at the bed sheets for a moment.

>>"Your brother sounds cool."

Serena felt a weak smile form on her face, her gaze was still lowered. "Yeah, he was the best." she replied softly.

She didn't really talk about her family with anyone, James could probably hazard a guess as to her situation in terms of family, due to their joint encounter with Leon months earlier.