I was good friends with both of them, so I didn't really care what they did. When I walked in on the tail end of sex, it didn't really faze me. I could have sat in his room with a book in hand and they wouldn't have cared. It was casual for them—so casual that when I walked in, they were just hopping up from the bed, Amy giving her rich-lady panties a tweak to straighten them, and Danny just yanking his soft cotton pants back up.

Amy was looking a little rosy as she strode over to me, running her fingers through her hair.

"Breakfast's ready," I said, and Amy—my best friend since cribs—threw me a wink.

"Marry a farmboy, Miki," she said as she walked past. "They're the last real men alive."

Yup. My eyes swept over to Danny as he was walking up. He wasn't a big, hulking guy, but I doubt there was a single ounce of fat on the guy. And he looked so good in those loose pants. They hung just perfectly on his hips, the soft material loose enough that it hid his perfect form until he moved, and then…My brain's just as dirty as the next girl, I suppose, but I'd never really felt any romantic attachment to Danny. He was like a brother to me, and I respected him because he was tough, and because he was working all this land on his own. I just happened to be happy I was alive when he got up in the morning and walked downstairs in those pants.

"Sure thing Ames. Just not this farmer," I said, and Danny chuckled as he walked past me and dropped a kiss on my cheek.

"You all packed up, Ames?" I asked as I padded along behind them, comfy in the huge shirt I'd stolen from Danny after he'd worn it too thin to work in. It had a lot of holes in it, but it served just fine. Amy yawned as she skipped down the stairs.

"All packed up," she said. "I was just saying my goodbyes," she said as she leaned back against Danny. Surprised, he grinned and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off the ground. She squealed in delight as she was hefted out onto the porch, where I'd set up the table for breakfast.

Amy was leaving for school in the Glades, where all the rich kids went to get their training for a journeyman's knot—and any rich kid that graduated from that bunch was almost guaranteed a position in the higher classes. They would serve the king, building up their own reputation and family business, and then would leave to claim their own lands. It was a good opportunity, but this was probably the last time the three of us would see each other for a while.

I dished up the eggs, bacon, biscuits, butter, and pancakes I'd made. The butter looked a little like a blob of goo, but I was still getting used to having a cow to milk in the mornings, let alone make butter with the cream. I will never claim to be a farmer, but I have to admit, the home-grown stuff is tasty.

The biscuit fight didn't start until half way through the meal, when Amy tried to toss a piece of biscuit into Danny's mouth and missed. She dissolved into laughter when it hit him in the eye and bounced off his shoulder, and he grinned before tossing another piece back at her. I tore off a chunk of my own biscuit and wound up. Amy mimicked me, and Danny threw up his hands.

"WAIT! Hold up, that's not fair," he said, and me and Amy shot a glance at each other before letting loose.

It was fine. We had extras, since I always count on Danny eating like a horse, and besides, it was Amy's last day.

When we finished, Danny and Amy went inside to throw on some clothes. I cleaned up as the carriage came, and watched through the front window as Amy walked down and got in. The attendants picked up her luggage and tossed it on top.

Then she was gone, just like that. We hadn't said goodbye today because we'd tearfully agreed not to last night.

Technically, Amy owned this place. Her parents were both rich and absent, so she spent most of her time here. Her brother ran their plantation (and oh my god I have never seen a more beautiful mansion anywhere). Danny kind of took us both in. He'd lost his family too, and was doing a fine job holding up the place. It was a lot of work, but he had never been one to whine.

I finished washing the dishes as Danny came back down the stairs. He was wearing a faded blue cotton shirt and boots now, and his sun-bleached blond hair was slicked back. The sun was easy here, unlike to the west, so he usually didn't wear a hat except for the hottest days of summer.

"Heading out then?" I asked. He nodded.

"I'm going to miss her," he said.

"Me too." It was the truth. In fact, I was fairly sure that I would cry myself to sleep tonight. I never cry, but I still felt like I was in shock, waiting for the realization to dawn on me that she was really gone.

He chuckled and walked up to kiss me. "Take care," he said, and with one hand on my back he reached around to grab up the bottle of water I'd gotten for him. He liked to use the old wine bottles I'd saved, so I always had one ready when he went out.

"You too. Don't let that demonic horse get the best of you," I said, and he laughed outright before dropping another kiss on my head.

He occasionally trained horses for Amy's brother, and I occasionally helped. He'd never asked a lot of me though, ever since I all but died in the edge of the woods on his property—neither him nor his parents, who had taken me in at the time. I was born a gypsy, and sometimes I walk out into the woods at night to practice my tumbling, but I like living here much better. It's only been ten years, but I feel like I've always lived here.

Time to clean the house. There isn't a whole lot to do besides sweep, because I had one of my fits yesterday and cleaned everything. It was probably because Amy was leaving, but anyway it didn't leave much to do today. A few of Danny's clothes needed patching, but that took all of twenty minutes. I had the bedrooms straightened twenty minutes, and dinner prepped and stored in the cellar another hour after that. I didn't feel like making much today, so I would just serve the rest of last night's meat pie and a few extras. I'd patched the leaky roof a couple days ago, and the cow had already been milked and fed this morning. The chickens never needed to be let out, unlike the neighbors', because their pen was large enough for them to wander in. They were fed and happy, and the eggs were brought in. So…all I had left was the scribing Amy's family had hired me to do. It made for a good bit of extra money, but I'd been up late and finished most of it last night. It wasn't due until the day after tomorrow, so I had plenty of time.

I sighed and decided to go for a swim in the glade before I started dinner. Then maybe Danny would need some help with the afternoon chores.

Nobody but Amy and her family can afford swimsuits around here, so my favorite place to swim is a small glade at the north end of the property, where the stream came over the side of a small cliff and a large pool had gathered. It was a lovely spot, surrounded by woods, and private enough to serve a girl without a swimsuit. The walk to it was nice, and the sun was warm on my back. I've never had to worry about burning, because my skin turns a nice golden tan in the summer. In winter it gets a little yellow if I don't get out in the sun, but I've never burned more than my nose and a little skin on my shoulders, so I never wear a hat and my shirt can hang off my shoulders to warm my skin. The lovely ladies at court like to keep their skin white, but I look awful if I haven't been out with Danny in the fields.

Of course, he didn't need much help now, which left me with little to do each day.

The woods were cool and quiet when I walked into them. Everywhere else, bugs were making that oddly pleasing racket, and the breeze was rustling through the field. Mm, the flowers smelled lovely. My leather shoes don't make much noise on last year's layer of dead leaves, which has always been kinda nice because I've always enjoyed sneaking up on Danny. The tree bark felt good against my palm as I walked along, running my hand along every tree as I pass. The sound of the stream came to me after a while, and I grinned before picking up the pace. No one was around, so as soon as I broke into the little glade, with its moist air and sparkling sunbeams, I started peeling off my clothes. Ah, what a beautiful day. The water in the air had been warmed by the sun, and the soft grass under my feet felt like a lush carpet. The mud felt good too as I trudged into the water, then dove in.

There was no place more beautiful for hundreds of miles, and no one knew about it but Danny, me, and Amy.

The sound of the water lapping around me made for a beautiful melody. The waterfall's continuous crashing was loud enough to drown out most other noises, but the gentle gurgle of the stream is something special.

I hadn't been swimming long, however, before I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. Danny was standing at the edge of the clearing, his shirt tied around his waist.

He grinned at me. "What are you doing here, Miki? You shouldn't have worked up a sweat in the house."

"Danny!" I swore, and ducked down into the water. He laughed.

"That doesn't help, just so you know. The water's as clear as a cloudless sky in the middle of summer."

I rolled my eyes and turned away to swim farther away. I heard a splash a moment later, and looked back to spot Danny's clothes by mine on the shore. Uh oh.

I had already started panicking by the time he grabbed my hips and pulled me under. I kicked and let out a rush of bubbles that was supposed to be a scream, and tried to pull away from the arm he wrapped around me. I had to wiggle around to wedge my foot between us, and I shoved off from his chest to erupt into the air. I took a great gulp of air just before Danny came up, laughing of course, and I promptly sent as much water in his direction as my cupped hand could handle.

"Dammit, Danny!" He was sidling up to me again, and I splashed him to keep him at a distance as I tried to kick away. He laughed and grabbed one of my ankles, and pulled me back to dunk me under the water.

Damn him. I twisted out from under his hand and came back up, spitting out threats that I fully intended to carry through…at the time. He just kept on grinning like a schoolboy, and dashed in for a kiss. His lips were surprisingly cool against mine, and I splashed him again.

"You lech," I said, and started swimming for shore. "I'm going back to start dinner."

Danny had grabbed my wrist before I got very far though. "Not yet. I have to get back to work soon too, so just stay for a minute little sis."

My answer was planting a foot against his conveniently hard stomach and shoving myself out of his grip. He bobbed in the water, probably pouting at my back as I swam over to the side and got to shallow water. I glanced back.

"Don't look!" I said, and he rolled his eyes before turning around in the water.

"As if you have anything worth looking at!" He teased, and I grabbed a handful of mud and tossed it at his head. My aim is good, so it hit him right on his crown and started dribbling down onto his shoulders.

"Hey!" He shouted, and started turning around.

"Don't!" I scrambled for my clothes. "Or you can make your own dinner!" I glanced behind as I grabbed up my shirt, and caught him looking. "Damn it, Danny! Don't look!" I maneuvered my skirts around behind me and picked up my pants and shirt before dashing out of the glade.

Danny, of course, was still laughing.

I didn't care what he did with Amy. I'd seen both of them nude before, and it wasn't a big deal. It became a big deal when it was me.

I dressed just before I left the woods and walked back to the house barefoot, realizing too late that my shoes had been forgotten. Then I fumed the whole way back to the house. Danny had never had much shame, the jerk. I wouldn't really care except that I'd been dreaming about him lately.

Dinner was hot and ready by the time he came in the door. He dropped by shoes next to his, and walked over to kiss me on the cheek.

"Sorry," he said with his hand on the small of my back, and I sighed. He knew I couldn't stay angry with him when he did that. Sometimes, I have to admit, I like to pretend to be crabby just so he has a chance to work his charm on me. Danny was one of those cunning jerks who knew how to use sweet remarks like a weapon. Meany. I never stand a chance.

I looked up at him with a frustrated expression in my face, determined to at least keep up a front—and hopefully make him worry that I wouldn't forgive him. He reached up to touch my nose and I melted.

"Fine!" I said, and gave up. "Just go wash up or you can eat outside with the horses."

Danny laughed as he dropped his water bottle by the sink and went back out to clean off. He came back in with a soaked shirt—idiot had practically immerged himself—and peeled it off to run up the stairs for dry clothes. I loooooove to watch him take off his shirt…though I made sure to be covert about it.

I set the food on the table, and he came back down in my favorite pair of pants and a light cotton shirt that hung very nicely across his shoulders. He slapped my butt as he walked to the other end of the table, and I kicked him in the side. He laughed.

"Idiot," I said, and plopped down in my chair.

The rest of the evening went by in a blur. I did the dishes, worked on the scribing, and then went to bed. I couldn't sleep though, and lay awake for several hours just staring at the ceiling. It had finally hit me that Amy was gone, I think. It was just me and Danny now, and my chest ached. I was already missing her terribly, and she'd only been gone a day.

I heard the front door close after a while, and listened to Danny's footsteps come up the stairs. He went into his room and shut the door, and silence fell again. I sighed and rolled onto my side. When staring at the wall didn't help, I finally decided it was time to practice my meditation. My gypsy family had taught it to me, and it was the only thing that helped me sleep some nights.

It took several attempts, but I was finally able to clear my mind and relax my muscles. Sleep, I told my brain, and finally felt myself drifting into unconsciousness.

Well, it was just my luck I suppose, but it was waiting there for me again tonight. I felt Danny touching me the way he touched Amy, and I loved it. I loved the warmth of his skin against mine, and the feeling that ran through my body with his fingers against my flesh. Mm…his kisses tasted sweet and salty, and his skin smelled like a sharp spice and clean sweat. My fingers were in his hair. I knew what his hair felt like, because I'd touched it often enough in the past. It ran through my fingers like warm spider's silk.

Ah…he was kissing me again, and in me. Ah…I love him…

I woke up with a start, shaken again by the strength of the dream's emotions. Dammit, I'd been losing sleep for the past month because of that dream, and because I saw Danny as my brother. It was messing with my head, and I couldn't sleep.

I stared at the ceiling again, unable to gather my thoughts enough to meditate back into oblivion, and sighed. I have no idea how much time passed, or when I finally threw the covers off, but suddenly I was leaving my room behind and knocking on Danny's door.

"Hmm?" He didn't sound like he'd been sleeping, so I opened the door and walked in.

"I can't sleep," I said, and pulled back the covers on the empty side of his bed to crawl in. He made room for me and stretched out his arm for me to settle against his side. It was almost disgusting how quickly I started relaxing when I felt his arm wrap around me. I loved how easy it was to be with him.

"You miss her that bad?" he asked.

"You didn't seem to be sleeping either," I said.

"Mm. That's why I asked," he said, and sighed. He sounded sad, so I decided to change the subject.

"Remember when all four of us used to sleep together?" I settled my cheek against his bare chest and took in a deep, contented breath.

He chuckled. "Yeah."

When his family first took me in, there were many nights when I couldn't sleep. When Danny found out, he told his parents, and they got just about as mad as I've ever seen anyone. They told me to come to them whenever I couldn't sleep, and for some reason, the next time I spent half the night staring at the ceiling, I found myself in front of their door, with Danny right behind me, holding my hand. We both climbed into bed with his parents, and even though it was a tight fit, it felt like the safest place in the world, with Danny still holding my hand and his mother's arms wrapped around me. When they died, Danny and I spent the first month in their bed, too heartbroken to seek our separate beds. I hadn't done this in a while because Amy had been here, but tonight it felt like old times.

He kissed the top of my head again, and I drifted off to sleep, so content that the damn dream didn't bother me again.