Serena POV

He quickly jumped to his feet, cerulean eyes widening as he stepped closer to me, taking in my clearly beaten face. A look of horror swept over his face. I hung my head, my eyes suddenly brimming with tears at the look he gave me. That was the reason I hadn't been to school all week, for fear that my peers would look at me like that. Only May and Dawn had seen me in my bruised state and their faces had worn looks similar to the one on Mark's face.

"Oh, my... Serena," he breathed, reaching down to cup my cheek in one hand. His voice strained. "He did this to you?"

The floodgates opened at the concern laced into his voice and the tears rolled down my cheeks, splashing onto the worn linoleum floor. Quick as a flash, Mark pulled me into a hug, murmuring into my hair.

From the corner of my eye, I saw my mom wipe tears from her face, standing up. "I'm sorry. I should have realized-." Her voice broke and she wrung her hands, a distraught look on her weary face. "I should have stopped him from hurting her."

"It's not your fault, Grace," Mark said adamantly, patting the back of my head soothingly. "I just wish- I wish I could have saved you from all this pain, Serena."

Although my tears stopped, I clung to Mark as we sat down. He explained that my mom called him last night and he caught the first plane he could as soon as he got off work today. He interrogated me, asking me how often Alain had hit me. When I told the story about Maria, he squeezed my shoulders, muttering to himself.

My mom remained silent as we caught up as best we could. When we finally stopped monopolizing the conversation, she fixed me with a direct look, her eyes sad. "Serena, how would you like to spend your summer with Mark?"

A complete Shockedness washed all over me as I looked up at her, noting the tight lines around her mouth and the determined air around her. She looked like a woman who had made up her mind. My heart quailed. Is she trying to get rid of me?

"W-What? Why?" I spluttered, my voice not even sounding like my own.

Was Mark gunning for full custody of me? Is that why he's here? Was this the beginning of the end? This was my home, though! I hugged my knees, staring blankly at mom, who seemed to be avoiding making eye contact with me. I didn't want to leave Vanville behind! My friends, my school, and my family- almost everything that was near and dear to me was here! Ash was here...

Maybe he caught an emotion playing on my face, because Mark chuckled. "It's not what you think, Serena," he assured me. "We're just doing it as a preemptive measure."

"Alain gets out in July," Mom told me quietly. I flinched, not wanting that to be true. Just how angry would he be when he got out? Would he hunt me down, restraining order be damned? I don't want to think about it. "I don't want you to be around until I get things settled with him."

Mark nodded, clearing his throat. "In light of all that's happened, Grace and I think time away from Vanville would be good for you."

"Are you trying to get full custody?" I whispered downheartedly but managed to let them hear me with my throat dry.

Looking stunned by my blunt question, Mom shook her head immediately, as Mark smiled at me wistfully. "No. Don't get me wrong, I wish I could. But Grace has done a marvelous job of raising you and I feel that you're more her child than mine." He patted my free shoulder. "I just want to use the summer to get to know my daughter a little better."

I glowed at his words, beaming up at him as he continued. "We've got a lot of catching up to do."

"Sure," i nodded in response "I would love to visit you this summer," I said, glancing at mom for confirmation that this was what she wanted. She smiled at me, but I noticed that her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

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My first day back at school was drama filled, to say the least. Dawn and May were my bodyguards, shielding me from inquisitive glances and 'what the hell happened to your face' questions. Lumiose students aren't known for their subtlety. Concealer helped, but I still looked like I'd come off worse in a boxing match. Still, it was nice to be back at school, pretending that I had a normal life. Ash was still in a coma. Dr. Brock didn't know what to tell Mr. Ketchum, who had taken to walking around the hospital with a bewildered look on his face. At least school would keep my mind off of Ash for a while.

"It'll die down," Dawn predicted, glaring at a couple of nosy freshmen who scuttled off as soon as they met eyes with her.

May nodded, her arm linked into mine. "Most of them are talking about Ash, too. I guess everybody wonders what's up."

I shot a covert glance at Dawn as May said this. When did she heard about Ash's aneurysm, she had demanded to know how long I had known about it and why I hadn't told her.

May understood better than Dawn about how people needed some things to be kept secret. I loved Dawn, but when she got her hands on juicy gossip, she didn't rest until everyone in her vicinity knew about it. Somehow, I don't think Ash would have appreciated having his business spread around the entire school, which was undoubtedly what would have happened if Dawn had gotten her hands on the scoop.

She had clearly forgiven me and was relishing being in the know while other students had to rely on hearsay to figure out what had happened to Ash.

As we walked out of History class, the unexpected happened. Misty, Calem and Miette swarmed around me. Dawn's eyes widened in surprise, and expression that I knew was mirrored on my own face. The sneer on Misty's face made it clear that I probably wasn't about to enjoy what was going to happen.

Miette spoke first. "We need to talk," she said in a demanding voice, running a hand through her blue pluff hair.

"I have nothing to say to you," I replied mulishly. Just because all of the popular girls jumped when Miette snapped her fingers didn't mean that I was going to do it. I didn't need to obey her every command like a drone!

Rolling her eyes, Misty snapped "Well, we have something to say to you."

Leaning in, his grey eyes concerned, Calem asked "What happened with Ash?"

Involuntarily, my eyebrows rose. Calem's face actually knew how to process complex emotions. I glanced at May, who was gazing at the floor, her cheeks tinged with pink. She hasn't told them about Ash. I wasn't surprised; May was one of the best secret keepers I knew.

"What?" I put my hands on my hips, staring defiantly from Misty, Calem to Miette. Anger engulfed my body. Their concern is too little, too late. "All of a sudden you care about Ash?" I asked incredulously.

Calem pressed his lips together. "What's that supposed to mean? Of course we care, we're his friends!"

"Oh, really?" I cocked my head to the side. "That's funny; I thought you all ditched him when he chose financial aid girl over you rich posers?"

Beside me, Dawn sucked in a sharp breath at my bravado, her eyes darting from one face to another, taking snapshots with her mental camera.

Miette tossed her head. "Enough with the sarcasm," she said disdainfully. "Just tell us what happened."

"You're supposed to be his friends! Shouldn't I be asking you what happened?" I was mad enough to lose my cool, my eyes flashing. What poor excuses for friends this trio was. Ash deserved so much better. "If anything happened to me, May and Dawn would be the first to find out because they're my best friends and they're real as it gets! But you guys-." I snorted derisively, shaking my head in astonishment.

"We are his friends!" Misty exclaimed vehemently. "Why do you keep saying that?" She sounded like a wounded puppy, like I was the one who was picking on her! How did they turn into the victims here? Weren't they the ones who told him it was supposed to be 'bro's before hoes'? And now they were playing innocent?

"If you truly are his friends, where were you when he had those terrible headaches? Did you even notice that he kept popping pain medication or were you all wrapped up in your own little useless soap opera lives?" They stared at me sulkily as I turned on them, not wanting to believe what I was saying, even though they knew every word I said was true. "Where were you right before he was taken into surgery and when he came out? Where the hell were you 'friends' throughout this whole ordeal?" My chest heaved with anger. "You call yourselves friends? I would hate to be your friends. You're all selfish, arrogant people. Fake friends are what you are."

And with that, I stomped off, my back rigid with fury as I left the trio in shocked silence. May and Dawn traipsed behind me. I could feel their eyes on me, even as May cleared her throat. "Damn, Serena. You went off!"

Her voice was tinged with admiration, but I didn't admire myself for what I'd said. My hands were clammy and shaking with delayed reaction. "They deserved to hear it."

"I'll say," Dawn chimed in. "With friends like those..."

Ash POV

I woke up in a bed that was unquestionably not mine. The sheets were scratchy, the air smelled weird and I was definitely not in my room. Groggily, I fought to open my eyes, groaning as the light hit them. My mouth was dry as hell, but water wasn't my first priority. Nope, first order of business was finding out where the hell I was.

"Ash?" a quiet voice said a couple of feet away. "Ash, can you hear me?"

Straining against the bright light, I turned my face in the direction of the voice, wincing as my head started pounding.

I squinted at the dim figure standing in what seemed to be a hospital room. Yeah, that would explain the scratchy sheets and the faint medicinal smell in the air. My neck felt stiff and I tried to think back, tried to remember how I got here. But everything was a blur. The figure hovering at the end of my bed came closer and I realised that it was a woman. Short light-brown hair, milky skin, deep brown eyes almost exactly like mine...

A sharp breath fell from my lips as I found myself blearily staring at a face from my past. This wasn't happening. Was it? Or was it just a cruel dream?

"Ash," she whispered, her eyes, so much like mine, exactly the same shade of brown as mine, overflowing with tears as her mouth worked with emotion. I could feel my eyes getting wet too as I looked at her, my head and heart thumping in unison. This was it. The moment I had been waiting for since I saw her on that documentary on TV, since I learned that she was still alive somewhere. And now, through some miracle I had yet to fathom, she was standing right in front of me. My mother was finally by my side.

I swallowed hard, the tears in my eyes blurring my view of her face. But I didn't have the energy to wipe them away, couldn't even try. Besides, my arm was connected to one of those IV's. The fact that I had a needle in my arm would have freaked me out any other occasion, but this was hardly an ordinary event. Even though I couldn't see her properly, now that my eyes had adjusted, I realised that the lighting in the room was super dim. I knew exactly who she was.

Opening my dry mouth, my voice cracked as I said "Mom?"