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 is terrified by "Them": an unknown entity whose conspiracies are everywhere (except Bobby Kennedy's assassination, that was the Commies). She introduced Jake to the concept of "The Man" (he didn't quite grasp it), though even "The Man" works for "Them". She once wrote a letter to President Johnson and is now afraid that "the Feds" are following her.

In 1968/9, she was part of the group that took over the dean's office in a successful protest against Middleton College's segregationist policies.

When Jake and Helen left the commune, Serenity warned them that the system would change them - what else was she right about?!

In other 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.

In Brother Grimace's "The Winters of Those Gone Before," a pre-law student Serenity (given the name Paige Turner) met an uber-wealthy heiress named Forbes Carlyle, 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 and Paige is a Federal appellate judge. Helen and Jake aren't as close with Paige as they were after Jake refused a position in one of Forbes' father's companies out of pride (and, Helen suspected, because he was intimidated by how they were 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."