DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters or setting. Tamora Pierce does.

"Sergeant Domitan reporting for inspection, sir!" Kel smiled internally when she heard him burst in. Apparently, the Meathead had been telling stories of their page days again.

Lalasa turned around from working on Kel's hair to see a frazzled, yet very handsome, man standing just inside her Lady's door. "I'm done here, my Lady. Just don't go messing up your hair or getting wrinkles on your dress," she said wryly. Lalasa winked at Kel on her way out. Kel glared at her former maid as Lalasa left the room. Only when Lalasa was gone from sight did Kel see Dom.

Something about the way he was looking at her made her stomach do flips. That wasn't his usual flirting smile. In fact, he wasn't smiling at all. It looked as though his world just came to a screeching halt. Not only that, he was looking at her – just her. When she realized this, she tilted her head down just in time to hide her deep blush.

When they were pages, Neal and all the other boys who were part of their study group would burst into her room just before they were due to take their end-of-the-year exams and beg her to inspect their appearance to make sure they hadn't missed anything. At first she though she might be annoyed at this, but she soon realized it was a good excuse to be able to stare at and touch the boy she had a crush on – none other than the Meathead himself.

To get rid of her blush she put up her Yamani mask and thanked the gods that she had the same good excuse to study and touch her current crush. This almost made her smile, until she began to walk toward him and begin the "inspection". He was still staring at her. She gathered herself and briskly said, "At attention, Sergeant."

He seemed to come back to himself at last. She walked around him slowly taking in every detail. He was to be standing with Lord Raoul during the ceremony, as she was to be standing with Buri, and needed to look impeccable. Not that he doesn't already, she thought.

He was wearing a deep crimson silk tunic over even deeper crimson breeches and a white silk shirt. Lalasa had, of course, made these and had done a fantastic job. She embroidered white leaves and vines on the collar, wrists, and hem of his tunic. Kel's dress matched. It was completely crimson except for the matching white embroidery in key spots. He, however, was allowed to wear a sword, she noticed with a scowl. No matter, I'll just wear my shukusen.

"Dom, there's nothing to fix," she pouted.

"I know, I just wanted to see you in a dress before anyone else got the chance," he smirked.

She wanted to swat him but was afraid of dislodging her hair. I sound like a bloody court lady.

He laughed, knowing she wanted to hit him, and held out his arm gallantly, "Lady Knight, may I escort you to the festivities?"

She grabbed her shukusen, put her hand on his arm and glanced at him speculatively as they made their way to the wedding tent that had been erected in the center of the fort.

The ceremony was simple. There were no fancy speeches or rituals. It seemed that Raoul and Buri wanted to give their guests as much time for celebrating as possible. Under ordinary circumstances, Kel might have enjoyed it and listened to every word the priest said. However, she could feel Dom's eyes on her constantly. She felt as though her face was red through the entire affair and was silently grateful that so was her dress, ensuring that she blended with it perfectly. Every time she glanced over to see if he truly was staring at her, he would immediately look as though he was enraptured with what the priest was saying.

What is happening? He never acts like this around me. It's usually the other way around! Kel thought desperately.

Before she knew it, the ceremony was over and she and Dom were walking, with arms linked, down the aisle behind the newly married couple. Her mind was still focused on why he kept staring at her and she barely noticed that Dom never let her arm go. He guided her to the table to which they were assigned and left to find their drinks – cider for both of them. He knew she didn't like the feeling that liquor gave her and he thought it in poor taste to drink it if she did not.

When Raoul and Buri finally wandered over the table the four of them were to share Kel stood up to hug them both and congratulate them. As Buri hugged her she said in Kel's ear, "You know, if it had been anyone else but Dom, I would have been jealous that all eyes were not on me." Buri laughed heartily at the shocked look on Kel's face.

She didn't have enough time to recover before Dom made it back with their drinks. Fortunately though, Raoul was busy joking with him about something. Kel realized she didn't want to know what Raoul was saying since it caused Dom to blush slightly.

It didn't don on her that she was watching the dancers so eagerly until she felt, more than she heard, a deep voice ask, "May I have this dance?"

There go the stomach flips again. "Yes." She was going to have a talk with her stomach later. This can't carry on.

Dom took her hand and guided her to a spot that, unfortunately, was visible from what seemed like the entire fort. As he took her waist with his other hand she realized that she'd completely forgotten how to dance and told him as much. He laughed and said, "Just relax. The music will take you where it wants you to go."

He watched her struggle with herself, and when she finally looked up at him, he held her gaze. He had to know what in the world he was feeling. It had never gone this way before. He would meet a beautiful lady and know exactly what to do with her. His flirting and gestures and expressions were a dance for him, an easy one at that! But he was completely at a loss now. His friend – his friend! – Kel looked like one of those ladies tonight. He'd never thought the girl he saw on her first day of tilting could grow up to look like this. That was the day she almost fell off that beast she calls a horse, and he proudly won a bet when she didn't.

He wasn't sure what he was feeling. It was as though his court world where he knew what to do with ladies and his military world where he knew what to do with comrades were colliding. This was truly the strangest thing he'd ever experienced!

Hesitantly, he said, "Kel, you look stunning."

She blushed and looked down. "I look like a knight playing dress up."

After what seemed like hours of dancing, food, and joking with friends Dom couldn't stand it anymore. He needed to be alone with her. "Kel, may I escort you to your room whenever you're ready to leave?"

She loved it when he switched to his gallant tone of voice. "That would be nice, thank you." She smiled warmly. "I'm actually ready to leave now. It's been a long day."

She put a hand on his arm and let him lead the way. She wasn't sure what had been happening this evening. He seemed distracted some moments, then in the next instant he was drowning her with his eyes. She would give anything to know what was going on behind them. Oops, my mind was wandering. I think he said something.

"I'm sorry, Dom. I was thinking. What was it you were saying?" she apologized.

"I was just asking if you enjoyed yourself?"

"More than I expected, thanks to you." She smiled when he looked mock-surprised.

Before she knew it they were at her door. She was enjoying his company so much she would have kept walking if he hadn't remembered where her door was and stopped.

He shifted so that he could hold her hands, then he faced her. "Kel, I meant what I said earlier. You look stunning."

She looked down and opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off and lifted her chin to face him. "No, I mean it. You need to remember that while you're a warrior you're still a woman – an amazing woman, Kel. No man I know could have taken what you did for eight years and still come out with his head high. You astound me.

"Just after we crossed the Vassa on our Scanra adventure, when you told the story of talking to the Chamber a second time, you scared me more than you can know. I realized that all you wanted to do was hunt Blayce and finish the mission with which you'd been entrusted, but Lord Wyldon stuck you with watching over refugees. Instead of pouting and taking it out on everyone around you, you did your duty and you did a damn fine job of it.

"So Kel," he paused. "It's not just the dress that makes you stunning – it's the woman inside of you. The dress just helped this lug finally understand what I've been feeling for you all these years."

All she could do was look at him. How could he possibly see all this good in her - and for years - when she had a hard time seeing it herself? Since when does Dom say things like this to her? Dresses make men do funny things, she concluded.

"Dom, what are you saying?" She couldn't get her voice to come out as more than a whisper.

"Keladry," that got her attention. "The stars themselves would fall for you... I already have."

He leaned in slowly and kissed her. At first, no other movement existed but their beating hearts – which were very loud, by the way. As the shock of what they were doing wore off they began to deepen the kiss. Dom moved one of hands to the back of her neck and the other wrapped around her not-too-thin waist and pulled her tight against him. He was delighted that his arm didn't wrap around her waist six times like the other court ladies. He was also delighted to note that she was not wearing a corset, ensuring that he could feel her flesh move beneath his hand.

They continued for what seemed like an eternity, hands roaming free but steady, until there was no breath left between the two. They broke their lips apart only to put their foreheads together while their eyes remained closed. That kiss was unlike any either of them had experienced and it was taking a toll on both of them. Dom silently wondered why none of the other ladies had ever made him feel like this.

Wait, where did she go? He opened his eyes when he didn't feel Kel. All he could see was her back turned to him. He was afraid he'd scared her off and she was upset with him. He was about to ask if she was okay when he heard the lock to her door click open.

She wasn't sure what in the name of the Goddess was making her this bold for the first time in her life. All she knew was that the hallway was not the appropriate place to do what she wanted. She turned around abruptly and unlocked her door. When she turned her head to see if he was following, she saw the shadow of confusion cross his face to be replaced with comprehension, then unbridled excitement.

She grinned at him as he pushed her inside the room. He closed the door behind him then moved in for the second most passionate kiss in recorded history.

Abruptly, she stopped and pulled back a little. "Tobe…"

He wheeled around thinking the boy had walked in when he hadn't been paying attention.

"He'll be coming to bed soon."

"Oh, let me take care of that, dear." He rolled up Tobe's pallet then opened the door and laid it outside. Then he locked the door just to make sure the boy didn't try to come in and ask why his bed was outside his Lady's room. It was more for his protection than theirs.

Dom walked slowly back to his Kel – his Kel! – and stopped mere inches from her. "Are you sure?" he whispered searchingly.

The look he received in answer was soft but determined. That was good enough for him.

He slowly reached around her to begin untying the laces of her dress. She watched his face as he did this. He was so gentle.

He met her eyes just as he slipped his hand inside her dress to caress the newly bared skin on the small of her back. He used that hand to pull her closer to him and proceeded to kiss her again. This gave her the courage to use her previously limp arms.

She found the bottom of his tunic and slid her hands inside. As she did so, she began to lift the annoying piece of cloth off of him. He backed up and broke the kiss just long enough to help her and, while he was at it, also removed his shirt.

When he returned to her, instead of kissing her lips, he moved his head down and kissed the small indentation between her earlobe and her jaw. Dom grinned into her neck when she let out a small gasp and he felt her hips move closer to him.

He traced soft kisses down her neck until he reached where her shoulder met the cloth of her dress. He pulled the cloth back slightly and kissed where it had been. Then he used both hands to slowly push the dress off her shoulders. He didn't stop there. He held her eyes with his own while his hands pushed the dress to the floor.

She became a little bolder when she saw his adoring gaze and decided it was time to help him out of his breeches. She undid his belt and the fastener on his pants. With this done, she looked up at him again and lifted her hands to his chest. She began to trace it with her hands. Her gaze dropped to his shoulder to a round scar and her hand found its way to it. Her face clouded at the memory.

"I remember when you took this arrow. I was so scared I was going to lose you. Then we got our first glimpse of those wretched killing machines." She shook her head, bringing herself back to the present. She couldn't help but smile though when she saw the grin on his face.

"You surprised a lot of people that day." He moved in to kiss her again, but she pulled back. When he met her eyes to try and figure out what was wrong, she clucked reprovingly.

"I wasn't done yet, Domitan."

He lifted his eyebrows in slight surprise.

She smiled back and continued tracing his chest, memorizing every inch. She slowly moved downward and didn't stop where the waist of his breeches were moments ago. She moved her hands just inside his breeches and loincloth at the sides. Just like he had done moments ago, she held his eyes with hers - she wanted to see his reaction.

She turned her hands around so that the backs of her hands were against his skin and slowly moved them towards the front. She smiled. She could see he was clearly enjoying this. She used this new position of her hands to grip all of his remaining clothing and push it down to join her dress on the floor.

She'd seen a few men naked before. After all, she lived closely among them for eight years while training. But she had never seen one when he was "anticipating." She hid her shock at the difference pretty well, but he could still tell she was surprised. That confirmed his suspicion. She's never done this before.

That almost moved him to tears. She was going to share her first time with him.

When she looked up at his face again, he grabbed her up in a passionate kiss and lifted her from the floor and out of the confines of the dress still laying around her feet. She broke the kiss and giggled softly hiding her face in his neck. He carried her to the bed, landed on top of her, then finished removing the last of her clothing. She smiled through the whole thing, encouraging him.

He smiled back at her, then it finally hit him. "Kel... I love you so much. I want this, but I need to know you're ready."

"Dom, I've been ready for this step since we returned from Scanra. That's when I finally realized there was no reason for us to not be together like this."

Dom, sighed slightly. That was exactly what he needed to know. This is going to be unforgettable, I'll make sure of that.

When Kel woke up, she kept her eyes closed while she recalled every detail of the night before. She smiled slightly when she remembered how she had finally fallen asleep. She and Dom were still covered in a thin layer of sweat and clinging to each other as though the other might disappear suddenly. Sleep had come easily to her at that moment.

She finally opened her eyes, but Dom wasn't there. She looked around. All of his clothes were gone and her bed was cold where he had been laying before. The only sign that he had been there was the indentation his head had made on her pillow.

She groaned in frustration and screwed up her face. What was I thinking? Of course, he would just see me as a warm body so far from the city. He only said those things to get me into bed. How could I be so stupid?

She started to sob silently into her pillow.

That's how Dom found her when he came back to her room.

He had felt on top of the world when he woke this morning. After watching her sleep for a few minutes last night, he finally fell asleep with a slight smile on his face. When he woke, he was still smiling. Never before had he slept so well after being with a woman. In his mind, that meant that all of them had just been practice... for Kel.

He decided he'd go and get breakfast for them both and bring it back to her, so they wouldn't have to be apart. After all, he didn't have to go on patrol until the next day. There's no reason for us to have to leave her room for quite a while, he thought wryly.

He dressed quickly and went to her privy to borrow some tooth cleaner and wash his face. When he opened his door, he almost tripped over Tobe. He'd forgotten that he laid the boy's palette just outside the door.

Tobe woke quickly and said without opening his eyes, "If you're going to start sleeping in the same bed, I'm finding my own room when we get home. That means I'm going to have to teach you how to make her tea just the way she likes it. She won't admit it, but she's not very nice until she has her tea."

Dom chuckled. Tobe had sounded so stern that he couldn't help but be amused. "Well, get up and you can teach me now."

So when Dom came back to Kel's room proudly holding a perfect cup of her favorite tea along with some bread and fruit for breakfast, he was distraught to see her sobbing form. He'd never seen her cry before. He rushed to her side, placed the tray gently on her nightstand, and scooped her up in his arms while settling himself next to her.

"What's wrong sweet?"

She stiffened and looked up at him through her tears. "What are you doing here?" she sniffed.

"What do you mean, 'What am I doing here'?" he demanded.

She took on a confused expression, "I woke up alone and thought you left because... because maybe this had been a mistake." She couldn't meet his eyes.

He was angry at himself for not leaving a note, so he took his time to respond. He wanted to make sure he said just the right thing. He sighed. "I'm so sorry. Love, I could never think that anything about you was a mistake. I told you I love you and I meant it with every ounce of my being. I have never been so sure of anything in my entire life."

She gripped him tightly and buried her face in his tunic. "Thank you," she whispered.

He decided this was the moment he was looking for to talk to her about what he had been thinking since they started this little adventure. He pulled back from her embrace and made sure she was looking him in the eye, "Kel I want to ask you something. You don't have to respond right now but I want you to think about what I'm going to say. And I want you to think about it selfishly, don't try to be my Protector for once."

She scowled at his use of her nickname and his rambling. "Out with it, Dom."

"Will you marry me, Kel?" He saw her expression start to change to something he didn't like, so he added hastily, "Not anytime soon!" Then more slowly, "I just want everyone to know I'm serious about you and just courting isn't enough for me, Kel. I want you to be my betrothed. I want to introduce you to people at Court as my betrothed. I want you to meet my parents as my betrothed. I want to meet your parents as your betrothed. I want my cousin to have a heart attack when I show him this ring on your finger."

When she was focusing on his words and not on his movements, Dom had reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring. She looked down at it and gasped. It was a plain gold band, just thick enough to not be considered delicate, and had small emeralds and sapphires embedded in it all the way around.

"It's a family heirloom. My mother gave it to me years ago as a 'subtle' hint. You're the only person I've considered even showing this to. If you'll agree to wear it in the open, it's yours." He stopped talking before his emotions could carry his words away for him, and waited for her response. He knew he was asking a lot of her - she doesn't like to show emotions - but he didn't think he'd be able to keep her a secret anyway, whether or not she said yes.

He watched her stare at the ring for a while. Then she set her face and he knew she had made a decision. She slowly lifted her eyes, "Dom... the only reason I'm going to give the response that I am is because we've been friends for so many years and I know without a doubt that I can trust you; after all, I've trusted you with my life countless times." She paused, looked down at the ring again, and said so quietly he had to lean in, "I'd be honored to marry you."

He let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding, and laughed in relief hugging her tightly. He pulled back from the embraced excitedly and grabbed her hand so he could put the ring on her. When he was done with that, he looked into her face and saw such love. He kissed her passionately. He realized suddenly that this kiss was different from their previous ones - it was better... much better.

He pushed her back on the bed and thought with a grin, We're not going to be leaving this room for a while.