
      Dreams & Deceptions


      Author: aria


      Rated: NC17



      Chapter 1
      Serena unlocked the door to her apartment and walked in. she kicked her 
      shoes into the pile in the closet. Padding across the floor to the kitchen 
      she noticed that the light on her answering machine was flashing. She 
      pushed the button on her way to the coffee machine.
      There were several calls from Lita. One from her father and one from her 
      editor. Walking out with a steaming mug, she stopped to listen more 
      closely to the latter one.
      "Serena, I need you to get back to me as soon as you can about a new 
      story. I was thinking of getting you to do the story on love in the new 
      millennium. Call me as soon as you get this message. Bye."
      "Sounds interesting." Serena put the mug on the table and picked up the 
      phone. She dialled and waited approximately a second before it was 
      answered.
      "Yes?" the voice sounded incredibly tired.
      Serena took a look at the clock it was well after midnight. "Oh sorry 
      Audrey. I didnt realize how late it was."
      "Dont worry about it. Where were you anyways? Out on a date or something? 
      Whatever. Why are you calling?"
      Serena could hear her sitting up. "I just got your message. Whats up?"
      "Oh right. Weve got an assignment for you. How good are you with 
      computers?"
      "Im ok. I havent burnt one down yet or smashed one in a murderous rage. 
      Why?"
      "I want you to go online to find love."
      Serena choked on her coffee. "What?"
      "Were doing a story on love in the new age. And statistics prove that 
      more and more people are finding love online. We want you to pretend to be 
      a single woman, no stretch there eh? And see how easy or hard it is to 
      find a man." She sounded excited about the idea and when she was excited 
      about a story there was no way to talk her out of it.
      Serena sighed. "Ok but Im not guaranteeing anything. Goodness knows that 
      people dont look at me in real life let alone on a computer screen."
      "Thats the great thing though! No one will know what you look like. Even 
      though I think youre absolutely gorgeous. Come on Ive seen guys nearly 
      kill themselves to get a look at you. But thats not what were talking 
      about. Gus found a nice little chat room that you can go into. You pick a 
      nickname and you talk to people. Thats all."
      Serena couldnt believe how much that woman could talk without taking a 
      breath. "Alright. Ill give it a try."
      "Thats my girl. Ill see you in the morning!" she hung up.
      Replacing the receiver, Serena blinked a few times. What had she gotten 
      herself into?
      ----
      Serena walked into the office the next morning and said hello to everyone 
      on her way to her desk as usual. A tall dark haired woman with a pixie cut 
      and a power suit came out of her office and came over to Serena, dragging 
      her into the brightly decorated office.
      "Serena! Come!"
      "Morning Audrey." Serena let herself be led. She wondered what Audrey 
      would do if she knew her true identity. Smiling she sat at the other 
      womans desk. "What can I do for you?"
      Audrey pulled open a drawer and took out a box of cigarettes. She offered 
      one to Serena.
      "No thanks." Serena put up a manicured hand. Audrey promptly filled it 
      with a folder stuffed full with info. Serena flipped through a few pages 
      that looked like statistics and other reports on the subject.
      "Mine if I do?" Without waiting for an answer, she picked up an expensive 
      looking lighter and lit it. Audrey took a deep drag and smiled at Serena 
      through the wisps of smoke. "Are you ready to start on your new 
      assignment?"
      She nodded. "Yes I think so."
      "Good. Do you have a computer at home?"
      "Yes."
      "Good I want you to spend as much time as you can on the net. Got me?"
      "Sure." Serena had nothing better to do. Work was her life.
      "Have you spent much time on the net?" Audrey took another drag.
      "Not really. Just email and the occasional surfing."
      "So you wont need Gus to run over the basics with you?"
      "No I think I can handle it. Just tell me what you want me to do." Serena 
      ran her fingers through her pale strands of hair and sat back. This could 
      take a while.
      "Well you know pretty much everything. We want you to find out how hard it 
      is to find someone and then write about it. Just be yourself and have 
fun."
      Thats it? No lecture? "And thats all you want? No meeting the other 
guy?"
      "No. Not unless you want to." She wriggled her eyebrows at her. "Now go 
      get started. I want a progress report every other day, alright?"
      "What? Youre sending me home?"
      "Yeah unless you want to have everyone watching what youre doing here. I 
      dont know." She waved her cigarette. "Now go!"
      Serena wasnt about to argue. Grabbing her bag she got up and walked back 
      out. On the elevator ride back down she decided to call Lita and she what 
      was going on with her. She pulled out her phone, pushed a button and 
      waited.
      "Hi! Howd it go with your dad?" the cheerful voice answered on the other 
      end.
      "Awful as usual. Howre you doing?"
      "Great! You know that guy we met on the beach?"
      "Which one Lita?" Serena moved to the back of the elevator when more 
      people got on.
      "The buff dark haired one. His names Dave. Hes such a dream! Anyways, he 
      lives in the city too!"
      "Thats great!" Maybe shed managed to find Mr. Right finally.
      "Yeah! So what did youre dad want? Another ball?"
      Serena pursed her lips. "Want to meet for brunch? Its kind of a long 
      story."
      "Yeah sure. Where?" she sounded concerned now.
      "How about at my place. I have to get started on a new story anyways."
      "Sure. Ill bring the wine."
      It was almost a ritual with them now. Whenever Serena had an argument with 
      her father Lita would come over with a bottle of wine and they would spend 
      hours talking. Most of the time it was Lita trying to cheer Serena up or 
      make her laugh. She had a great sense of humour and it didnt take long to 
      bring out a smile. Of course Serena did the same for Lita whenever she had 
      another failed relationship, which seemed to happen on a monthly, if not 
      weekly basis.
      On the cab ride back to her apartment, Serena tried to think what she 
      could possibly say to a person she didnt even know and couldnt see. "I 
      guess I could talk about my job. Definitely not my family and stuff."
      At the apartment she started making salads and sandwiches with what she 
      had in her fridge. Minutes after she finished there was a knock at the 
      door.
      Setting the plates on the dining table, she wiped her hands and headed to 
      the door. Lita was on the other side with a bunch of flowers and a bottle 
      of red wine. "Got here as soon as I could. Whats up?" She walked in and 
      put the stuff down on the coffee table. "Must be pretty bad huh?"
      Serena nodded and sat down beside her friend. "You would not believe what 
      my father has done."
      "Is it worse than the bodyguard downstairs?"
      "Much." The day that she found out that the man living in the apartment 
      under hers was a guard sent by her father was imprinted in her mind. 
      Serena had thought that he was some sort of stalker. Shed seen him almost 
      everywhere she went. She even went so far as to call the police on him 
      because she seriously started to fear for her life. It turned out that he 
      was an employee of her fathers and sent over to keep an eye on her. They 
      laughed at her and sent her away. Serena was furious with her father for 
      weeks for not telling her. Sighing heavily, she thought about her new 
      situation. "It seems that Im engaged."
      Lita spilled the wine on the table. "Youre what?" she ran to the kitchen 
      and brought back a towel to mop up the mess.
      "Yup. You heard me. Apparently Im engaged and have been since I was a 
      kid."
      Lita took a long gulp of the red liquid. "To who? Have you met him? Is he 
      nice?"
      Serena shook her head, her long pale hair moving against her face. "I 
      didnt stay long enough to hear his name." A fat tear slowly rolled its 
      way down her cheek.
      Lita took Serenas hand. She could see that the news wasnt exactly 
      welcome to her friend. "Im so sorry. Is there anything we can do? Im 
      sure your father wouldnt force you into anything that you didnt want to 
      do."
      "Well Im not sure he feels the same way. He sees it as a way to secure 
      our countrys future. And you know that the country always comes first 
      with him."
      "Serena you know thats not true. He loves you. He just wants to see that 
      youre happy." Lita tried to reassure Serena, even though she wasnt sure 
      if her words were true. From all the stories of Serenas childhood that 
      shed heard over the time shed known the princess, the ruler of Lidaria 
      seemed more interested in matters of state than his family.
      "Yeah well hes got a strange way of showing it." Serena wiped at her 
      tears. "I was thinking I might find someone else and try and convince my 
      dad that hell make a good king."
      "Do you have anyone in mind?" This was a turn of events. Serena wasnt 
      much for dating and now she was looking for a possible husband!
      Serena shook her head again. "No. But I have a new assignment that might 
      actually help." She pulled out the folder. "Im supposed to go online and 
      find out how easy it is to find a man."
      Lita jumped up. "Thats perfect! Well just have to find you a perfect guy 
      online."
      "Easier said than done. What if I find a serial killer or something? 
      Besides neither of us have ever done this."
      "It cant be that hard! I read this story in Cosmo about a girl who found 
      her true love online. They never would have found each other if it hadnt 
      been for the Internet. He was in South Africa and she was in Des Moines. 
      Now theyre married and their second child is on the way."
      "Im glad it worked for someone." She turned on her computer. "What if it 
      doesnt work for me?"
      "Sure it will. Just think positive."
      Within minutes they were scrolling through a list of chat rooms.
      Lita pointed at the screen. "Look at this!" she put her finger on some of 
      the more risqu names. "What kind of person would go into that?"
      Serena shrugged. "Who knows?" she was busy scanning the list for something 
      promising. "How about this? Twenty Something Chat."
      "Lets try it!"
      They entered the room. The screen immediately went black.
      "Look. Its asking for stats." Lita started typing in Serenas age and 
      gender. "What do you want youre nickname to be?"
      "Nothing too sleazy."
      "How about Lily?" Lita always thought that Serena looked like a Serena 
      lily. She was lightly coloured. Her hair and eyes shining almost silver, a 
      colour Lita had never seen on anyone. She didnt know how Serena concealed 
      her identity from anyone. Her bearing and the way that she carried herself 
      belied the idea that she was a regular person. Serena was a true beauty 
      inside and out. It was only fair that she married someone who was not only 
      the same, but was worthy of such a woman.
      "Sure. Why not?"
      With the information entered, conversations between people in the room 
      started to scroll up the screen. On the right in a separate window was a 
      list of all the names of everyone in the room. Serena looked over the 
      names. Everyone one of them had the age and gender of the user posted 
      right next to it.
      "So now what?" Serena looked over at Lita.
      "How am I supposed to know? Lets just wait and see what happens."
      So they sat and read conversations between other people. After about 
      twenty minutes the screen went black again.
      "Hey! Whats going on?" Lita clicked the mouse a few times in an attempt 
      to bring the screen back. A message appeared.
      Lurking is not allowed. You are banned from this room.
      Serena looked at the master list of rooms that appeared once again. 
      "Whats lurking? How can I be doing it when I dont even know what it is?"
      Lita took control of the mouse. "Who knows? Lets try another room." This 
      time she picked Thirtys Chat. "It cant be that bad."
      They were immediately taken to the room. Almost as soon as they appeared 
      another window appeared. This one was titled Private Chat Window. 
      Someone calling themselves Tarzan was waiting for them. According to the 
      info Tarzan was 31 and male.
      "This looks promising!" Lita smiled at Serena and went to get the salads. 
      "Talk to him!"
      Tarzan: U r not 30.
      Lily: So?
      Tarzan: Nuthin. Not a biggie. So where r u?
      Lily: Vancouver. And you?
      Tarzan: San Antonio.
      Serena was getting bored at this point. Shed had better conversations 
      with her dentist! She took one of the bowls from Lita.
      "So how is it going?" Lita sat herself down beside Serena.
      "The guy is dull." Serena pointed a slender finger at the monitor. Lita 
      could read the conversation herself.
      "Oh dear. Well say something."
      "Like what?" Serena stared at the screen.
      "Something interesting." Mumbled Lita as she munched on some Romaine.
      "Lets see what he says next. I dont want to spill my guts to someone I 
      dont know."
      So they sat and waited for Tarzan to write something else. They werent 
      kept waiting long.
      Tarzan: What do u do? Im a computer technician.
      Lita groaned. "A computer nerd. Great!" She speared another green leaf 
      with her fork and stuck it in her mouth. "Remember Karl? For the entire 
      time we dated it was like my modem this and my hard drive that."
      Serena laughed, "Maybe hes not that bad." She started typing again.
      Lily: Im a columnist for a magazine.
      Tarzan: Thats kewl, you like it?
      Lily: Very much.
      Tarzan: U dont talk much do u?
      Lily: Not really.
      Tarzan: I have to get going. R u going to be on again 2morrow?
      Lily: Maybe.
      Tarzan: Hope to talk to you l8ter!
      The window closed leaving the two women looking at the main chat room 
      again.
      Serena let out a breath in relief. "That wasnt too bad for my first 
time."
      "What did you expect? A serial killer to announce himself and come on to 
      you right from the start?" Lita laughed.
      Serena laughed at the absurdity of the idea. "No! Of course not! I really 
      didnt know what to expect."
      "Should we try another one?"
      "Sure. Why not?" Serena took the mouse this time and started looking 
      through names. "How about this one?" she moved the cursor over to 
      Reporters Haven.
      Lita shrugged. "Nah. You want something fun." She ran a nail down the 
      screen. "Ah, how about this one? Royalz Only has a ring to it eh?"
      "Youre kidding me. Do you really think that royals go and chat here?"
      "Only one way to find out." Lita grabbed the mouse and clicked.
      This room had at least 120 people in it all with names like Princess S 
      and Prince of the Galaxy.
      Serena laughed. "Youre kidding me. With names like that they could be 
      some of the princes I know."
      Giggling, they read some of the conversations going on between several 
      people. Apparently Prince of the Galaxy and Queen of Sheba had a thing 
      going. They kept flirting and writing things like LOL and HH which 
      made no sense to either woman.
      Suddenly another window opened up again. Prince Charming seemed to like 
      her name. Serena took note of his info. Male, 29. That was all for the 
      info on him. She hazarded the first word this time.
      Lily: Hi
      Prince Charming: Hi there. Go easy on me ok? Its my first time.
      Lily: Yeah? Me too
      Prince Charming: So what brought you to this room?
      Lily: I was just drawn to it I guess. And you?
      Prince Charming: Thought I could pick up some royal babes!
      Serena gasped but he kept writing.
      Prince Charming: Just kidding! I was bored so I thought Id try this out. 
      My friend seems to think its fun. I really doubt if any royals are 
      actually here.
      Serena laughed and wondered what he would say if her knew that she was 
      probably what he would classify as a royal babe.
      Lily: And is it?
      Prince Charming: It is now.
      Lita smiled giggling at the last comment. "Hes quite sweet isnt he?"
      Serena looked over at her friend. "How can he say that? We havent even 
      had a proper conversation yet."
      "Are you going to at least keep talking to him?" Lita knew Serena would 
      need more than sweet words to get her interested. "Do you think hes 
      really royalty?"
      "Lets find out." Serena decided to ask him a few questions that she knew 
      the typical princes responses were.
      Lily: So what do you do?
      Prince Charming: Im a race car driver. How about you?
      Lily: Im a columnist for a magazine.
      Prince Charming: Sounds interesting. You must get some interesting 
stories.
      Serena laughed. "Wouldnt he like to know."
      Lita slapped her in the back. "Come on! Talk to him! He sounds like a nice 
      guy."
      Serena gave her dark haired friend a wry look and starting typing again.
      Lily: Yeah I get a few. How about you? It must be exciting to race.
      Prince Charming: Its definitely a rush.
      Lily: Youre pretty good at it then?
      Prince Charming: Im alright.
      Well he wasnt conceited. Serena still wasnt sure. He could be feigning 
      modesty.
      Lily: So what do you do in your off time?
      Prince Charming: Relax. You know hang out at home, read, cook, hang out 
      with friends, climb a mountain. What do you do?
      Serena stared at the screen. She often did the same thing.
      Lita, who knew this, let out a little squeal. "Hes like you! Except for 
      that mountain thing." She patted Serena on the shoulder. "This is so 
cool."
      Lily: I do pretty much the same thing. Though I doubt I need it as much as 
      you do.
      They spent another hour talking, with Lita on the side as commentator. 
      Serena had to admit she was having fun. Prince Charming named himself 
      well. She found him funny and interesting while at the same time very 
      charming. They agreed not to share specifics beyond what they already knew 
      about each other. So, Serena knew that he was male, 29 and a race car 
      driver. And he knew she was female, 25 and a writer for a magazine.
      It was quite liberating to be able to talk to someone who didnt have any 
      preconceptions about you based on looks or status. Serena couldnt even 
      begin to count all the misconceptions people had about her because of her 
      beauty and her being a princess. It seemed that because men saw her as 
      being beautiful, they thought that she was an airhead. Little did they 
      know that she had been schooled in some of the best schools in Britain and 
      graduated at the top of her class in languages. And being a princess 
      didnt make matters any easier for her. As soon as people found out who 
      she really was, they immediately treated her like she was made of glass. 
      No matter what she did, she was right and, as far as they were concerned, 
      could do no wrong. Serena found the whole thing so frustrating that she 
      created a new self, Serena Stanton. With her new persona, Serena was able 
      to do things that Princess Serena was never able to do. She found a job, 
      made friends and was able to do pretty much everything she had dreamt of 
      doing while she was hold up in the drab boarding schools.
      Serena read the latest line from Prince Charming, leaned back in her chair 
      and laughed. It was only then that she realized that it was getting dark 
      out. It didnt seem like they were talking for that long, but the orange 
      sun dipping into the dark horizon contested that. Sighing, Serena decided 
      to call it a day.
      Lily: I didnt realize how late it was! I have to get going.
      Prince Charming: Me neither! I guess we should get going huh?
      Lily: Yeah I guess so.
      Prince Charming: Will you be on again soon?
      Serena was brought back by Litas squeal. "He wants to talk to you again! 
      This is so exciting!"
      Ignoring her friends obvious delight, Serena returned her attention to 
      her flashing cursor.
      Lily: I should be on again tomorrow. How about you?
      Prince Charming: Ill be here at the same time then.
      Lily: Great! Talk to you tomorrow.
      Prince Charming: Its a date! Good night, Lily.
      Lily: Good night. Prince Charming.
      She and Lita were transported back to the main chat room again. She turned 
      off the machine and turned to a wildly grinning Lita.
      "So what do you think? He could be the guy to get you out of this mess!"
      Shocked, Serena turned to Lita. "Are you crazy? I just met him! I admit we 
      had a great conversation. But I dont think that makes him marriage 
      material!
      "Come on Serena. You know Im not saying to marry him right now. But from 
      what Ive seen so far you two seem right for each other."
      "And you can tell that from a conversation between two people who not only 
      are not in the same room but also have only just met and know only each 
      others ages and jobs."
      "I saw the way your eyes lit up, Cal. You cant deny it youre 
interested."
      Serena raised her chin a notch. "I dont know what youre talking about. 
      Im only interested in the story."
      Lita raised a skilfully arched brow. "So youre not interested in Prince 
      Charming at all? You dont find anything about that conversation the least 
      bit enticing?"
      "Not at all."
      Lita gave her a big grin. "Mind if I have him then?"
      Serena coolly retorted, "What about your darling Dave? Isnt he the new 
      love of your life?"
      "See you are interested!"
      "How does that prove that Im interested?"
      "If you werent youd have handed him over without a word." Grinning 
      triumphantly, Lita tugged Serena out of her chair. "Come on. Lets go 
      celebrate! I think weve just found your husband to be!"