Serenity

Serenity is a hippie friend of Helen and Jake in C.E. Forman's The Lost Seasons series, making her first appearance in "Fireworks." Incredibly shrill and paranoid, Serenity sees "The Man's" conspiracies in everything.

Fanfiction
In "The Age of Cynicism," Kara Wild indicated that by 1980, Serenity was going by her given name, Vanessa. Although Helen criticizes her for having "sold out," it is clear that Vanessa has not lost her touch, worrying about the "nuclear winter" that President Reagan might unleash and imagining that her son is drawing bombs instead of clouds. It is also mentioned that Vanessa wound up marrying Keenak, who is now known by his first name, Calvin.

Aternate versions of Serenity
In Brother Grimace's "The Winters of Those Gone Before," Serenity has a somewhat different life-path. Helen recalls how Serenity (in this reality, her real name is Paige Turner, and she is a pre-law student like Helen) met a young woman named Forbes Carlyle, an art history major and uber-wealthy heiress, and overnight all but fell away from the fiery, outspoken persona she had as she began a relationship with Forbes. It is also mentioned how Paige and Forbes are still a couple and living together in a ultra-wealthy suburb of Denver, Colorado, where Forbes is a wealthy international antiques broker while Paige was appointed to the bench as a Federal appellate judge.

Helen recalls that they are no longer close because of Jake; he was offered a position in one of Forbes' father's companies but refused out of pride (and, Helen suspected, because he was intimidated by Forbes and Paige—not because of their sexuality, but because they are such a solid couple).

The "red onionskin" lingerie that Helen wears in "It's All About Respect" was picked out for Helen by Serenity (Paige) as a gift when they, along with Forbes, were in Amsterdam as part of a summer vacation trip across Europe.

A second version of Serenity/Paige also exists in the Legion of Lawndale Heroes universe, whereshe has been the longtime domestic partner of Forbes Carlyle and the adoptive parent of Julia Carlyle, who fondly addresses her either as 'Mommy Paige' or 'Mommy'. This Serenity/Paige has an nearly identical life as her counterpart, but in the LLH universe, Jake was not driven by jealousy to force an end to Helen's friendship with Paige and Forbes.

Trivia

 * Forman developed Serenity and the other characters after viewing clips from "That Was Then, This Is Dumb."