Asuna's suddenly sat upright on her bed as the nightmare ended. She was panting heavily, recalling the details of the nightmare. Once again the night had brought her torment by showing Kirito dying before her eyes while she stood there helpless, unable to move past an unforeseen barrier. The details were coming back now; Kirito had looked back at her and said "Run!" right before the sword had slashed through him and he disappeared into blue squares floating through the air. Asuna hated this nightmare in particular; Kirito dying for her, telling her to run as he took his last breath.

Asuna glanced over to the bed next to her, and sighed in relief when she saw Kirito asleep under the blankets. They had teamed up when they first met, right before the boss raid on Floor 1, and they had stayed partners ever since. At first Asuna's nightmares consisted of herself dying, but she soon realized she would rather die than be trapped in this world alone; this resulted in Kirito dying in her nightmares, leaving her alone in this hell. She spent many nights similar to this one.

Something stirred in the bed next to her, and Kirito's figure slowly started to roll over enough to look at Asuna's bed. Asuna could now see that he was awake, somewhat. His eyes were barely opened, squinting into the darkness as he tried to comprehend what his eyes were attempting to tell him. "Asuna?" He said in a sleepy whisper. "Are you ok?"

Asuna was good at keeping a neutral face that told nothing, having dealt with many of her mother's suitors before, so she put on her best 'sleepy face' and said "Yeah I'm fine. I woke you didn't I?"

Kirito ignored the question as he slowly started to process the whole scenario in his head. His brain worked slowly but eventually came to a conclusion after a few moments of silence. "Did you have a nightmare?" He asked in a sleepy-worried voice.

Asuna paused as guilt flashed on her face for a short moment. I can't let him think I'm weak she thought. "No, what makes you think that?" She asked, trying her best to sound curious.

Kirito was still mostly asleep, but his concern for Asuna forced him to stay awake and remedy the problem. "You had a nightmare didn't you?" His tone was more accusing this time, still sleepy, but more accusing now that he was sure she had had a nightmare. He had been with her in this Death Game for months now, and knew when she was trying to hide something.

Asuna knew she was caught, but stumbled in her speech anyway, "I…well…..yeah." She looked down sheepishly, looking almost ashamed that she had had a nightmare.

Kirito scooted to one side of his bed and lifted up the blankets on the other side, his concern for Asuna now controlling his brain. His fully awake brain would have screamed at him that this was NOT 'strictly-partners behavior'. "Come here," he said in a soft voice.

Asuna started to turn red, "What?!" Surprised by the sudden unexpected behavior Kirito was showing.

"When I was little my mom told me that nightmares have a harder time attacking when there are two people together, and she seemed to be correct all through my childhood." Kirito explained. His voice was starting to fade back to nothing; he was falling asleep again.

Asuna hesitated. The idea of them sleeping in the same bed was awkward; she wondered why Kirito, normally the more aware of the two, was suggesting such an awkward idea. Then it dawned on her, He's still mostly asleep. He must not even fully comprehend what he's saying or doing she thought. But the offer was still there, and she was very tempted… My nightmares all revolve around Kirito's death, surely if he was right next to me the nightmares would stop? "Okay…" She hesitantly decided. If Kirito wakes up the next morning and thinks it's weird, I can point out that it was his idea in the first place.

She took the blankets off of her own two legs and slide out of bed, taking only two steps before she climbed into the empty spot next to Kirito. As she went to pull the blanket up, Kirito's arm stretched out and pulled the blanket up for her, stopping just short of her head and then retracting back next to his body as his eyes slowly started to close shut.

"Thanks," said Asuna as she started to fall asleep in the warmth of the blanket.

"Anything for you…" Kirito responded, his voice barely audible as he fell back asleep, but Asuna heard him just as she fell asleep too. Her nightmares didn't visit her that night.

Kirito woke up to…warmth? Kirito was still not quite awake, but could tell that the left side of his body was warmer than the right side for some reason. He looked over and saw Asuna's head on his shoulder, a small peaceful smile on her face. The rest of her body was snuggled close to Kirito's, with her arms wrapped loosely around his left arm. Kirito was confused and shocked at the same time, when did Asuna get in my bed? WHY did Asuna get in my bed? He thought to himself. He carefully removed his left arm from her embrace and grabbed a pillow with his right arm. Lifting her head slightly, he replaced his shoulder with a pillow and slide out of bed, replacing the blankets on Asuna.

Kirito, still wondering why Asuna had joined him in his bed last night, went to the kitchen and pulled out some virtual eggs and sausage from the virtual refrigerator. He had decided to pick up the cooking skill for moments like this, where Asuna was still asleep and he didn't want to wake her for something as small as food. Due to Kirito's love of food, he always had a knack for finding his way around a kitchen and making pretty good food, but surprisingly Asuna easily outmatched him in cooking. As he put the sausages and eggs in different pans and started to turn the stove on, he heard blankets rustling.

"Good morning!" He called over to Asuna. He had decided to pretend that nothing had happened; Asuna could get embarrassed and upset sometimes in awkward situations, and he decided he didn't want to be called a pervert again.

"Good morning," was the reply. Asuna was still kind of sleepy, so it was hard for her to sound cheerful. "Hey Kirito-kun, thanks for last night," she said in the same voice.

Now Kirito was confused. He hadn't done anything in particular last night, unless she was referring to however she had gotten in his bed. "What did I do last night?" He asked curiously.

Now it was Asuna's turn to be confused. "Do you not remember?" And seeing the confused look on Kirito's face, she decided he indeed did not remember. "I woke up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare. And you…well…invited me to your bed, and the nightmares stopped." She of course had no idea that in her sleep she had cuddled up next to Kirito and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I did?" Kirito asked; his voice laced with curiosity and shock. "Huh, I don't remember that at all. I don't even remember waking up."

"Well you were still mostly asleep, but you were talking intelligibly," Asuna responded. Then she thought to herself so he doesn't remember at all? That's weird.

"Anyways I'm making breakfast if you want some," Kirito said. Asuna had eaten some of Kirito's cooking and she had to admit it was good, but Kirito always insisted hers was much better, even if she wouldn't admit it. "Sure," she responded.

All throughout the breakfast of sausage and eggs Kirito was stiff, the awkward kind. Any conversation Asuna tried ended up feeling awkward, even when it was about what quests they would do today. Asuna had noted that Kirito was always kind of stiff, and when she had brought this up to Kirito he had replied saying: "Well I've always been a bit of a loner at school and home; it's just weird to have a partner that is always with me, even in the same room." But today he was stiffer than normal, and Asuna knew it. "Alright Kirito-kun," she said as she finished her breakfast. "Let's go grind some exp!" The one thing she knew was guaranteed to make him forget all about this morning.

-TIME SKIP-

A pack of wolves hopped down onto Kirito and Asuna just as they were exiting the dungeon cave. These wolves weren't the weak kind you found on Floor 1, but a much stronger kind that often took 5 hits apiece from even Kirito's blade to kill. "Asuna run!" yelled Kirito; even he knew there were too many wolves to take on. "I'll hold them off for a second and then run after you!" Asuna didn't have time to count, but she could tell there were dozens of wolves starting to surround Kirito. The wolves didn't seem to pay her any attention, and she was paralyzed to the spot. She couldn't draw her sword to fight for some reason, it was stuck.

As a wolf jumped towards Kirito he slashed it with his sword, driving it sideways and away from him while damaging the wolf's health bar; but the wolf was still in the green. Several wolves started jumping at Kirito, and using the same style Kirito side-stepped, slashed, spun, and slashed some more. "RUN ASUNA!" He screamed while slashing another wolf. Asuna's weapon seemed to be glued to its sheath, so she did. As soon as she was clear of the cave, she turned around, and could still see Kirito fighting in the middle of the pack of wolves. The wolves had completely surrounded him and he couldn't keep up with the wolves for much longer; Asuna could see that.

Kirito side-stepped one wolf and slashed at it, but was quickly tacked from behind by another wolf, knocking him to the ground. Almost immediately the wolves all pounced on Kirito when he was down, and Asuna feared the worst. Within seconds she couldn't even see Kirito through the thick pile of wolves, but she saw his health bar on her party, and it was dropping fast. Yellow; she started to turn pale, this can't be happening. Red; NO! NO! And then it was gone. There was a blinding light of white and then blue rectangles were floating out from the pile of wolves. "NOOOOO!"

Asuna sat up from her bed suddenly, panting heavily; it had been a nightmare. She turned her head and looked over at Kirito's bed, which was occupied. How many more nights do I have to go through like this? She thought. I thought after last night the nightmares would stop…but I guess they didn't.

"Asuna," The voice cut through her thoughts, startling her and causing her to jump. "You had a nightmare again huh?" It was Kirito's worried-sleepy voice.

"Yeah," She responded; she was no longer sheepish or ashamed about it, but rather saw it as more of a burden. "But its fine, I can deal with it."

Kirito yawned and scooted to one side of the bed before he responded, "I'd personally like it if you didn't have nightmares." He lifted up the blankets on the other side of the bed again.

Asuna knew she would also like these nightmares to not visit her tonight again, but she didn't want to seem like she was relying on Kirito too much. But her decision faltered when she saw the empty spot next to Kirito, and within a few seconds she had changed her mind completely. She slipped out of her own bed and into Kirito's, pulling the blankets up and laying down. She listened to Kirito's breathing, and when she was certain he was asleep, leaned her head against his shoulder. She was caught by surprise when his head was suddenly leaning on hers, but a smile quickly formed on her lips as she slipped away to sleep; she had a nice dream that night.

Asuna woke up before Kirito this time, and immediately noticed that she was snuggled up against Kirito with her arms wrapped around his left arm. She quickly scooted away from him and slipped out of bed, embarrassed. She couldn't bear to think how Kirito would have responded if he had woken up first. Asuna got changed and made sure all of her gear was properly equipped or in her inventory for the day and then got to making breakfast. She decided to a breakfast omelet, and started gathering the ingredients from the virtual fridge when she heard Kirito wake up with a large yawn.

"Good morning Kirito-kun!" Asuna said cheerily.

"I take it you got a good night's sleep?" Kirito asked in response.

"Yeah I did!" Asuna said. "You don't remember do you?"

"Nope; I don't remember anything." Kirito answered.

"Well, it was basically the exact same thing." Asuna said. She had decided to leave out the part with her waking up to find out she had been clinging to him like a teddy bear, because she wasn't sure how he would respond to that and it was a little embarrassing on her part as well. She had no idea that Kirito had already woken up to that exact scenario.

-TIME SKIP-

The next night Asuna drew the conclusion that if she wasn't next to Kirito in her sleep, she would have nightmares. However, she didn't want to ask Kirito if she could just sleep with him, because the idea and the question were both awkward. So Asuna decided that she would wait until Kirito was asleep, and then slip into bed next to him, and have a nightmare-free night.

Kirito had climbed into bed on the side, fully aware that he would probably wake up to Asuna right next to him anyways, so Asuna simply slid into the empty spot next to him. She was careful not to wake him though, so she didn't touch him as she pulled the blankets over herself and went to sleep.

It was morning again, and Asuna woke up to being in her own bed. What? She thought. I swear I was in Kirito's bed. She looked around and realized there even though there were two beds in the room, only one of them was occupied; Kirito was nowhere to be seen. "Kirito? Where are you?" Asuna called out. There was no response. She checked her menu to see if there were any messages sent to her from Kirito, but there was none.

Wait. She stared hard at her friend's list, no longer looking for the message notification. Where's Kirito's name?! She stared to go frantic, double and triple checking the friend's list for his name; but it wasn't there. That was when she saw a note, tucked under the pillow she had been sleeping next to. Asuna closed her menu and pulled the note out from underneath the pillow.

Asuna,

I've decided it's best if we part ways. I've decided that I can go much faster and become much stronger with no one with me. It's nothing personal, two people together is just much more inefficient for obtaining experience than one person alone. I'm sorry and I hope our paths cross again. Best of luck to you, -Kirito

Asuna's eyes snapped open, but all she could see was the dark ceiling. A nightmare… she realized. She looked over to the side of the bed Kirito was sleeping on, and nearly had a heart attack when she saw two onyx orbs staring at her. "You ok Asuna?" Kirito asked softly. It was then that Asuna realized her cheeks were wet, I've been crying in my sleep… she realized.

"Kirito-kun…you aren't…you aren't going to leave me right?" Asuna asked, her voice faltering. Suddenly Kirito's arms reached up to the back of Asuna's head and pulled her head to his chest. His arms stayed there, with his hands resting on her hair. Asuna turned red in the face but was too flustered to do anything. "Never," Kirito responded. "I'll stay with you forever."

Asuna was relieved and embarrassed at the same time, but relief won out and told her it was ok to sleep now. She fell asleep with her head and hands resting against Kirito's chest, and Kirito's hands holding her close.

Asuna was the first to wake up; finding herself still snuggled up against Kirito's chest, with his arms wrapped protectively around her head. Her first instinct told her that this was awkward and weird, but then a smaller portion of her brain started to speak up, telling her it was comfortable and safe. It took only a few seconds for that smaller portion to win, putting her back to sleep, feeling safe with Kirito's arms wrapped around her.

Kirito woke up about 10 minutes after Asuna fell back asleep, to find Asuna sleeping on his chest. Kirito was more surprised however when he realized his arms were wrapped around Asuna, and were holding her close. Kirito thought for a second and realized there was no possible way to get out of bed without moving Asuna off of him; her head was leaning on his chest in such a way that it made it impossible to move around without also moving her. He thought through his options for a second and decided to carefully transfer her onto a pillow. He reached behind himself with one of his hands and grabbed a pillow, carefully lifting her head up with his other hand and slipping the pillow underneath. As soon as Kirito had placed her head on the pillow Asuna woke up.

"Oh I'm sorry, I woke you huh?" Kirito apologized. By now he was sitting on the side of the bed, with his legs already over the edge, but he was looking at Asuna.

"Yeah, but it's ok. It's morning anyways," Asuna responded, stretching her arms out to the ceiling.

Kirito couldn't help but think of his arms wrapped around Asuna while she slept. Does she know? He thought to himself. "Hey Asuna, I'm…uh…sorry if I do anything while I'm asleep. I don't remember anything, but I'm sorry if I do anything weird." Kirito was looking at the wall, his back to Asuna when he said this. He was struggling to form the apology, unsure of exactly what he might be apologizing for.

Asuna then realized that he had woken up before she did, meaning he had woken up to discover himself hugging her in her sleep. "No you don't do anything weird," she reassured. "It's kind of…sweet." She finished. Kirito turned away from the wall and looked at her, noticing a small smile on her face.

"Anyways," Asuna interrupted the short silence, "I'll go make breakfast!"

-TIME SKIP-

Normally Asuna liked to be independent when she trained and take out monsters herself when training and Kirito was much the same. The two of them would often find a large horde of monsters and each chooses a side to attack and meet in the middle. They weren't at any risk of dying because both of them were holding a teleport crystal and heal crystal; not to mention they were both extremely high-leveled and skilled.

However, today Asuna opted to fight alongside Kirito, much to his confusion. "We should practice working as partners in combat," she had said. They worked excellently as partners in combat, only needing to communicate a short "Switch!" every once in a while. Throughout the rest of the day they fought with this style, but around lunch they took a break and sat down in the shade of a large tree.

"I brought your favorite!" Asuna exclaimed, pulling two sandwiches out of her inventory. Kirito's head snapped in Asuna's direction as he realized what she had brought.

"You brought spicy sandwiches?!" He asked excitedly. Asuna nodded and gave Kirito one of the sandwiches, which he quickly started to devour. Asuna giggled and started to eat her sandwich as well.

"Oh look!" Kirito exclaimed, pointing out into the field near where they had been training. "More people are here." Asuna looked at where he was pointing and could make out a small group of girls. "Are you ready to train some more?" Kirito asked.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Asuna responded, getting up from the grass.

"The monsters should all be respawning pretty soon." Kirito said. "It's been about an hour." As if on cue a monster suddenly appeared several yards away, and was soon followed by more and more monsters that spawned farther and farther away from the two. Kirito drew his sword and glanced at Asuna, who already had her rapier drawn. She glanced back at him and nodded, and the two took off to slay some monsters.

About half of the monsters were dead when Asuna noticed that the group of girls Kirito had noticed earlier had stopped training and were watching the two of them. They were close enough to Asuna and Kirito that she could see their faces, and if they looked at her they would see hers pretty clear as well. One of the girls pointed at Kirito and all five of them started giggling. It was at that moment that Kirito yelled "Switch!" Asuna rushed past Kirito and performed a perfect combo on the enemy wolf, bringing it down into the red, before dodging its attack and stabbing at its side, killing the monster. Asuna looked over at the group of girls and gave them a piercing glare that three of them noticed.

Kirito, as oblivious as ever, had noticed absolutely nothing. "Asuna, there's a big one up ahead!" He said, pointing to a large golem that had spawned a good ways into the field. "The spawn rate for those is really low, and I heard they drop a lot of Col. Should we try and get it?"

Asuna gave the girls another glare and said "Yeah, let's do it."

Asuna rushed ahead of Kirito and started the combat by stabbing it a few times with her rapier, and then dodging the fist it swung at her, letting the attack instead connect with the ground where she had been standing. "Switch!" she yelled. Kirito rushed into combat past her, and with the golem's arm still on the ground, performed a deadly slash across its chest, bringing its HP into the low-green. The golem staggered backwards and held its arms defensively across its chest for a second before returning to its normal stance. Asuna rushed past Kirito and stabbed at the golem some more, before being forced to jump back from a swing the golem had thrown horizontally. Kirito once again rushed forward, not needing the "Switch!" and proceeded to slash at the golem, bringing its HP into the middle of the yellow bar before the golem took defensive maneuvers and used its arms once again to protect its chest. Kirito slashed a few times more, before realizing that apparently the golem's arms were impervious to damage.

"Alright Asuna," said Kirito, taking the moment to discuss strategy. "When that golem's health hits red it's going to attack faster and heavier; at least that's what I heard. Let's attack it at the same time and kill it before it can switch its attack patterns."

"Alright," Asuna agreed.

Right then the golem's arms went down and Kirito and Asuna both charged at it. They slashed and stabbed at the golem, but their strategy fell to pieces as soon as its health hit red. A small shockwave blasted out of the golem's middle, just enough to knock Kirito and Asuna back a few feet.

"Great. Well that plan is done for," Kirito said as he got back to his feet. "Let's charge it anyways. We're both full health and it can't stand many more of our attacks."

With that both of them charged the golem, who was now swinging wildly with greater force and speed. Kirito and Asuna were ducking and dodging left and right, but also managing to fit in a slash or a stab every once in a while, slowly lowering the golem's HP to 0. They were dodging flawlessly until Asuna went in for the final blow. The golem swung from the left, making Asuna dodge to the right, only to realize that the golem had predicted her and his other fist was about to come swinging down on top of her. Right as the golem's attack was about to hit her, she was pushed out of the way by something and fell to the ground. She heard the golem's attack connect with the ground next to her, and she wasted no time in slashing at its legs, finishing the golem off.

Asuna got to her feet and looked over to see what had pushed her out of the way, only to see Kirito on the ground. "Kirito are you ok?!" She asked, clearly shocked.

"Yeah I'm fine," he responded. His health was still well into the green; he hadn't taken much damage. As he got up from the ground there was a deep imprint in the ground, in the suspicious shape of a man.

Asuna realized that must have hurt. "You really didn't have to push me out the way," she said. "You could have just finished it off right there. Why didn't you?"

Kirito thought for a moment and then responded, "I don't know. It was instinct I guess." Kirito thought for a moment and then added, "I didn't have time to think, I just saw you in danger and I instinctively pushed you out of the way."

-TIME SKIP-

For the next few days Asuna continued to insist that they should fight as partners in combat. Asuna also continued to glare at any girls that appeared to take an interest in Kirito, to which Kirito was completely oblivious. When night came Asuna would stay up later than Kirito and wait for him to fall asleep, then would slip into bed next to him; she knew she would get nightmares otherwise, but she didn't want to ask the rather awkward question of 'Can I sleep in your bed with you?" while he was fully awake. This continued for about two uneventful weeks.

-TIME SKIP-

Asuna woke up in the middle of the night to find herself cuddled up against Kirito for what would be about the 17th time. Kirito had grown used to this and no longer found it strange when he woke up in the morning to find Asuna sleeping on his chest; although he never found himself hugging her again.

Asuna could feel Kirito's warmth as she woke up, and was glad she wasn't waking up because of a nightmare; it had been weeks since she had last had one. She had woken up because she needed a glass of water. Asuna lifted herself up off of Kirito's chest and slid out of bed, making her way to the kitchen. When she returned from the kitchen refreshed, she saw two eyes staring at her from Kirito's bed. "Kirito are you awake?" she asked while whispering.

The pair of eyes responded "Yeah I'm awake. Are you ok?"

Asuna realized at that moment that Kirito wasn't fully awake. This was the Kirito that woke up whenever she had nightmares to comfort her; she hadn't seen this Kirito for weeks. He must have woken up because I left the bed she realized. "Yeah I'm fine," she said while slipping back into bed next to him. They were both lying down on their side, looking each other in the eyes now. "I haven't had nightmares in weeks, thanks to you." Asuna moved closer to Kirito and wrapped her arms around Kirito, pulling her head to his chest as she closed her eyes with a small smile on her face. Kirito embraced her back and placed his head top of hers, his eyes starting to close.

"You won't leave me right?" Asuna asked with an unfaltering voice. She already knew the answer to this question, and only wanted to hear the answer again.

"Never," Kirito responded, just as Asuna had expected. Asuna closed her eyes as a smile formed on her face. "I'll never leave you, because I love you."

Asuna eyes snapped open and she stopped breathing for a solid second. "Kirito; Kirito wake up!" But he had already fallen asleep again. Asuna loosed her arms from around Kirito and broke free of his embrace, slipping out of the bed. This will wake him up, she thought. But it didn't; for some reason Kirito would not be woken for a second time in one night. After half an hour of trying everything short of pouring water on Kirito to wake him up, Asuna sat down on her spot in the bed. He just said he loved me. Did he mean it? Was that just night-mode Kirito talking? Will he remember that? Her brain was swimming with questions that made it impossible for her to sleep.

5 hours later Asuna still had not gotten any sleep, and now the clock at the side of the bed read 7:00 AM. Asuna sat on the bed the entire night, asking questions to herself only Kirito would be able to answer.

Asuna's attention was suddenly drawn to Kirito as the blankets around him shifted; he was waking up. Kirito sat up, rubbing his partially opened eyes when he noticed Asuna sitting next to him. "Morning Asuna," he said while yawning.

"Kirito," Asuna's voice was devoid of any emotion. "Last night…you said you loved me." Asuna's face was also devoid of emotion, but she was staring straight into Kirito's eyes.

Kirito eyes shot open, "I-I did?!"

"Did you mean it?" Asuna asked in the same voice.

Kirito was suddenly interested in looking at the blanket on the bed next to her legs, and he was rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand. "Well, I…uh…well I mean…" he stuttered, unsure of what answer she wanted and what answer he wanted to give.

"Kirito; do you love me?"

Still rubbing the back of his neck and refusing to meet her stare, Kirito stuttered out his answer. "I mean…I guess I…" Kirito took a deep breath and then let it out, "Yes." His hand stayed on the back of his neck and he continued to stare at the blankets, unsure of Asuna's thoughts on his confession.

Next thing Kirito knew he was being tackled down by Asuna, who had a wide smile on her face. Asuna leaned down, and kissed him, catching Kirito by surprise. Before Kirito had any time to recover and kiss back however, the kiss was ended. Asuna was hovering just above him, with her arms on either side of him; she was close enough that Kirito could feel her breathing. "I love you too!" Asuna confessed as she went for another kiss; this time Kirito had collected his nerves and kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her back and holding her close as they kissed.

When they finally broke the kiss for air, Kirito noticed the dark bags underneath Asuna's eyes. "Asuna did you sleep at all last night?" Kirito asked, clearly worried.

"No," Asuna admitted. "When you told me you loved me I couldn't sleep, and you wouldn't wake up."

"Then you should sleep now," Kirito responded, lifting her off of himself slightly and lowering her into the empty spot on the bed next to him. As he pulled the blankets over her he could already see her eyes start to close.

"Wait Kirito," Asuna said, her voice waning as she started to fall asleep. "Will you stay here with me while I sleep?" Asuna asked hopefully. She kept her eyes open to stare into Kirito's, asking him with her eyes as well to stay here with her.

"Of course," Kirito responded, lying down next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close again, resting his head on top of hers and closing his eyes in content. Asuna did the same, resting her head on his chest as she held him close, quickly falling asleep in his warmth. Kirito thought after just waking up he wouldn't be able to fall asleep, but Asuna's aura of warmth soon convinced him otherwise as he too fell asleep, never happier to do so before.