If Kim Crawford knew ahead just what kind of day it was going to be, she might have cancelled on the invitation - international and royal protocols be damned.

She should have realized it would be a bad day though. It started with the necklace delivered to the dojo that was shiny and pretty, but also felt like a cliché from a Pretty Woman movie: here was the rich guy giving a girl a fancy (and expensive) bauble and she felt like a princess. She kind of wanted to return it then and there, but Jack was with her making his sarcastic (and jealous) asides and reminding her of his own gifts. Yeah, so she accepted the gift because of reasons. Reasons that were important and involved showing him up. She would admit that she was petty, but he was doing this to her a lot: dangling his jealousy and interest and not doing anything about it.

Kim has decided: this year was going to be a success. It was going to be productive, it was going to be peaceful, and it was NOT going to have any of the usual Wasabi Gang craziness. At the end, she'd have passed all her classes with top or near-top marks, and everyone would still be good friends. It's all going to go smoothly. She was visualizing it. She could see it. It was going to work. Nothing was going to go wrong. There would be absolutely no problems.

Except possibly the near kissing.

No, no, that was just a lapse (a few lapses) of judgment and wouldn't affect anything. They weren't important. They were minor misdemeanors, an easy mistake to make. This semester was going to be perfect, and anything that wasn't perfect would just have to – to shape up or ship out. She had a good group of friends, close friends, an unstoppable team of friends, and so what if maybe sometimes she almost kissed one (or two) of those friends? It's not like she was a serial kisser. Please... One time was to help a friend with mental block. Another was to help the same friend with the ghostly possession. And lastly... Well, lapse of judgment. So very much what? They could get through anything, they've proven that time and again, and a near kiss (or two actual kisses) was nothing in the grand scheme of things. After all, they've survived much greater problems (break up after Rudy left came to mind). It was only to be expected in a group of unrelated teens with nothing to stop any one of them from looking at any of the others as a potential dating prospect. Not that she was going to date him... any of them! It was just the tension! The chemistry! He was good looking and she's been told she's cute so, it was normal. And besides which, they've basically stopped before it happened. And the situation has not been repeated. That near kiss was, like, months ago (she may have caught him looking at her lips), now, so it's over.

Probably.

No, definitely. Definitely over. Finished. The temporary kissing lapse has passed, and just because a certain person kept looking at her, that didn't mean anything. He looked at her – so what? He looked at everyone. It's called social interaction. It meant nothing. She wasn't going to read into things. And really, he looked terrified, after that near kiss, so wasn't that a sign that it was a mistake? Yes. Yes, it was. And she was not dwelling. She was not thinking about how soft his lips looked or what they might taste like, did he use tongue (which brought up a whole separate concern that she was also not thinking about right now, like, who did he learn from?) or the strong arms around her as he'd clutched her close. She might permit herself to think of the way he stepped away, though, and the panic in his eyes when he did. He'd basically grabbed the first excuse to flee the scene, after that. That was a good reminder of why a) it's a bad idea, and b) it did not mean what she'd once wanted it to mean, although b1) it didn't matter anyway because she moved past that long ago.

And okay, so, well, this was not the first time they danced around the chemistry between them. After the Ricky incident, he'd not looked terrified. More like relaxed and friendly. Not, the second time when they exchanged the letters he'd looked, well, kind of teeth-gritted and resolute and maybe a bit relieved, and the third time, when he had amnesia, he been all kind of… ooh… confident and stuff – but that didn't mean that he's changed his previous firmly-telegraphed position of not doing anything about the chemistry and suddenly wanted it to mean something or go somewhere. It just meant… what? It meant WHAT? It meant NOTHING. Besides which, they almost all drifted apart and she even dated someone else and it still did not move Jack to do anything... She even broke up with Brett because Jack looked lost and jealous...

NO. No, she didn't care. She wasn't going to confront him about it, this time. She wasn't going to fall into that same old trap. Because it didn't matter, it was just a meaningless lapse, and it was not going to happen again, and she had better things to think about because this year was going to be perfect and she had an actual prince paying her attentions and sending her expensive gifts.

So, she was going to the Royal Reception at the Seaford Tower, all dressed up in a fancy dress and the strappy shoes with the mile-high heel had been an impractical splurge. Retail therapy, her friend Grace called it when she had helped Kim shop after the summer break. Nothing says 'I'm going to walk right over you on my way to someone better' than sexy shoes, Kimmy.

She would admit that spending time with Grace to dress up for the Royal Receptions was just what the doctor ordered to get Kim out of her self-imposed funk. For the last two years her whole life revolved around Jack and the Wasabi Warriors. Embarrassingly so. From the moment he caught the apple and a wink during the fight, Kim had found herself drawn to him. It didn't hurt that he was cute and oozed charm.

It turned out he used that charm on every girl. Even Donna 'pony tail to the left' Tobin and if there was a girl more self-involved, Kim had not met her yet.

"Guys don't think with their brains, Kim," Grace told her over a pint of rocky road and a bag of Doritos. "That's why we have sexy shoes."

She could tell that he had not focused on any girls recently. Not that it affected her one way or the other. She was done. Or at least, that was her mantra. Every time Jack said something that reeked of jealousy or done something like let his eyes linger on her too long. I'm done. I'm done. Every time he stood close to her in the dojo and sat next to her during lunch with hand on her chair. I'm done. I'm done. If she said it enough, maybe she'd eventually believe it herself.

Truth was, he had thoroughly friend-zoned her. Not that there was anything wrong with friendship. Friendship, she liked. She could deal with that, but this felt exasperating and agonizing and just dishonest. And she sort of hated herself for thinking that and then she hated him for making her hate herself. HE did not owe her anything and her crush did not entitle her to anything either. But try as she might, she kept thinking that there was more between them and she invented reasons for why he did not take a chance on them. Like, he did not want to ruin a great friendship. Which she understood, but also thought it was cowardly.

And so she was done. So done with hoping.

She almost had herself believing it.

Almost.

The fancy get-up with even fancier necklace were symbols of her moving on. And she felt great. Prince Uval was charming (hah, prince charming!) and everybody in his delegation was noticing his attentions and was treating her with a great deference. She sat by his right hand and at some point he kissed her hand and she almost believed that she could pull it off.

But then Jack, of course its always him, came crushing in and threw something at her shouting that she get rid of it. Its because of the previous two yeas of constant adventures with him, where she came to rely on him to have her back, that she listened and threw the object in her hands outside.

Where it exploded.

Then there was a frantic swarm of bodyguards and the government agents and Prince Uval was taken somewhere safe, though she caught his parting glance and it looked like he wanted to take her with him. No matter. She could take care of herself, thank you very much. She hid herself behind a column and watched as Jack was fighting someone in the center of the ballroom. And it was as impressive as always.

She did not want to, but comparisons sprung up any way. Heroic and handsome, Jack would give any prince run for his money. Too bad she was not good enough for a prince or even simply a best friend.

I'm done. I'm done.

But she could still feel the warmth of his eyes on her and the knowledge that he relied on her, just as she relied on him.

She was so not done, but she needed to be.

There was a bit of the courtly dance of Prince's gratitude to Jack, brave warrior and a royal friend on the battlefield, which was fancy but true. Jack started to cockily say something about the money owed for lunch and she nearly rolled her eyes. Only Jack would try and antagonize a royal.

But then the Prince's focus was on her and suddenly Kim was at the epicenter of some seriously Kafkaesque play, because she was called fair Kimberly and she blushed, but Prince Uval was weirdly intent and kept saying she was one of a kind and she got the first inkling of...

Nope. Just nope.

She was already shaking her head and Prince Uval got an annoyed expression on his face.

"My fair Kimberly, your courage and determination to see to my safety are admirable. Any royal companion should be so brave and decisive."

Crap... companion? He did say conpanion.

She kept shaking her head no and his face turned even more annoyed and determined.

"I have searched for one, who is both fair of face and strong of spirit, and I am pleased to have finally finished the quest."

Double crap... Why did she think it was a good idea to accept gifts from visiting royals again? She shook head head one more time and actually opened her mouth to say no...

"Your modesty does you justice, fair Kimberly. I understand that praise given by one such as myself is a great honor indeed. You deserve it though. And you should cease this maidenly reticence."

The Prince nodded at someone, who was pulling out some suspiciously small jewelry boxes that looked like...

Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no, no...

That's when she felt Jack's presence by her side and she relaxed a little. 'Be ready,' he told her and she almost said something sarcastic back to him about needing clearer instructions, when he put his large hand on her waist.

Improvising was so not her strong suit, she practically huffed to herself. She liked being prepared, having everything planned out. She had always been that way from the time she was a small child, carefully choosing her outfits for the entire school week.

But how was she supposed to think on her feet with his hand on her waist? It was warm, large, and strong. And being close to him—he smelled incredible.

What were they talking about again?

Jack was in a sour mood. That entitled little peacock, Prince Uval, was causing all sort of disruption in their settled life. He was smarmy and obnoxious. And throwing money at them like they grow on the trees. Whatever...

Ok, so maybe for him money did grow on the trees: he was the crown prince of the entire country. Whatever that meant. Of course, he knew what it meant thanks to Milton, who as usual was a fountain of information. Prince was rich all right. And could do pretty much anything. And the U.S. authorities wanted to maintain good relationship with Hakhmakhistan and keep its business coming to the U.S. So they would suck up to the little princeling, who had diplomatic immunity and he, Jack, should be more careful about who he offended.

Whatever. He did not plan to offend, but the princeling was obnoxious and threw money and compliments around like nothing. And people were blinded by it all. Some people even were flattered by those insincere and practiced words. Some people swooned and blushed. He thought some people had more sense in them.

Of course, he kind of suspected that it was his jealousy talking. And he tried to rein it in. He and Kim were not dating and she was free to do anything she wanted, be with anyone she wanted. He blamed himself for this sad state of things. He totally blew his chance to lock this thing in. It was so perfect. She just broke up with Brett, and he was sure it was him she had feelings for. But then the date was just fine and they had fun and there was a moment where there was that hesitation of should they kiss or not and he blew it. He suddenly got the performance anxiety and could not for the life of him make himself move. Last time they almost kissed, during Karate Games, the adrenaline and her soft eyes drove him on and he was leaning in almost unthinkingly. But at that moment after the date, he froze and he could see the exact moment when Kim was fed up and her eyes dimmed a little.

So, yeah, he was in a bad mood. According to Milton, Hakhmakhistan was pretty old-fashioned culturally and practically medieval in their notions on honor and obligations. Prince could bestow favors and commit his country to debts of honor, but also could make someone persona non grata in his own country. Milton mused that it was a good thing that Kim was so young, as Prince's marked attentions would otherwise spell marriage or a betrothal back in Hakhakhistan. Jack bristled at that, but according to Milton, he had other things to worry about. His behavior towards Prince was borderline offensive and if he were a Hakhmakhi man, he'd be in trouble already.

So naturally, Jack was not invited to the Royal Reception. And Kim was. She was invited with a great pomp and the Prince even sent her expensive diamond necklace to wear. Jack made couple of sassy comments and only got a glare from Kim in response. So when the chance came in, he got into the Seaford Tower if only to make sure that nothing untoward went on.

The whole thing was insane. The explosive device, the man with Phil's face like a mask, the fight. The only part that felt normal was when he threw the bomb at Kim and she did what she always did: she had his back and did not hesitate. That felt familiar and comforting. When the dust settled and she came to him for answers, he thought he would have his chance again. The adrenaline of the fight and adventure, the working together, her looking exceptionally pretty and him in a tux.

But of course life interfered and Prince and his thankfulness had to butt in and interrupt.

Suddenly, Prince was appreciative to him and told him of the debt of gratitude. Jack was still in a sassy mode, riding high the adrenaline of the fight, and neatly told the Prince off.

However, before his barbs sunk in, the Royal headache took Kim aside and was professing his affections (and thanks) to the 'bravest and fairest of maidens' who now held his heart in her hands. Jack barely had time to wince at the flowery language, when Prince was surrounded by his entourage, his guards on bent knees and the rest of the delegation with bowed heads. Prince stopped for a moment and motioned to the guys by his side and it was like a slow motion car wreck. The man walked up with a box in his hand and Prince was taking it without looking away from Kim and suddenly Jack knew exactly what was going to happen.

No. Just no.

He saw the movement in the corner of his eye and looked to see Milton making bug eyes at him and motioning with his one hand to point at the ring finger on his other and then pointing at him.

What?

He recalled vividly talking about the crazy customs in Hakhmakhistan: the arranged marriages between kids, the bridenapping that occurs if the bride is unwilling, the debts of honor, the power that the Prince had.

Like in a dream, he walked up to the couple in the center of everyone's attention and stood next to Kim. She looked at him with wide eyes and was gratified to see that she was more shocked and dismayed than elated by the whole thing.

The Prince looked at Jack annoyed and frowned when Jack put his hand on Kim's waist. "Be ready," was all he said to her quietly.

"Jack Brewer. You saved my life and you have my gratitude, but right now I need to speak with the fair Kimberly. She, who is brave and beautiful, has the attention of the Royal clan. I shall bestow the greatest of honors on her." With that he went to open the little box in his hand.

"Then I shall be doubly honored by you, Your Highness. For Kim is my betrothed and in honoring her, you honor me and mine."

Well, crap...