Hopelessly in love

He was in love. Hopelessly in love. 'It wasn't like it had happened on purpose,' he defended. It was just suddenly there. How was he supposed to stop it? He wouldn't. 'And probably couldn't if he wanted to,' added a part of his mind. He continued to brood.

Suddenly there was a hand waving in front of his face. "Hey, Dom. Earth to Dom!" Said her voice. Startled out of his thoughts, he realized he was getting stares from his cousin and the lady knight. However, there was one difference between the stares: his cousin's was full of annoyance, while Kel's was full of worry. It made him warm inside to know that she was concerned about him.

"What?" He asked, grinning sheepishly.

"What's wrong? You've had your head in the clouds since we got here," stated Kel, looking at him strangely.

He sighed dramatically. "I was mooning over your beautiful face, wishing that I could kiss your rosy lips."

Kel laughed merrily, but her cheeks where slightly tinged with pink. "Dom, are you sure you aren't a player?" She asked jokingly, "Because they are the only ones foolish enough to say something that foolish."

"You wound me, fair maiden!" He declared. "You would do better stabbing me, for my death would be much less painful than your unkind words!"

Kel was giggling helplessly. Neal, however, was watching this show with an odd expression on his face. Finally, he said, "If you two are done flirting, I wouldn't mind leaving."

They both blushed, and Kel shot a glare at her best friend. "You do the same thing with Dom, Neal. Should we call that flirting, too?" She asked, a deceivingly sweet smile on her face.

"One for Kel, zero for Neal!" Dom shouted, acting like an announcer at a jousting match.

"Hey," Neal screeched indignantly, "How do you call that zero? I scored one better than she did! Hers was a lie. You two, however, do flirt! It's not my fault that you don't want to realize that you have-" He was cut off, though, by someone stepping on his foot-hard. "Hey, Dom! Watch where you're stepping! You got my bloody foot!" Neal complained. Noticing that his friends had already left, he ran to catch up.

"Hey, do you want to practice?" Kel asked Dom as they walked. "Sure, just let me get my gloves from my room first. You coming?" She nodded her head, and they walked towards the Kings Own barracks, forgetting all about Neal for the moment.

They walked into his rooms and Kel sat down on the bed as he dug through his stuff. She would have preferred sitting somewhere else, but there were papers, shirts, and weapons covering the chairs. She moved around, and heard a crunch as her hand hit a piece of folded parchment. She picked it up and looked at it, though she knew it was none of her business. It was covered in hearts.

"Hmm, what's this?" She asked teasingly. "A letter for a court lady who has caught your interest?" He looked at what she held and snatched it from her hand, then muttered, "Rmm, yah, something like that." He was blushing a deep crimson, which surprised her. He had never been embarrassed when someone had teased him of his conquests before. With a pang, she realized that his feelings for this nameless, faceless girl might be deeper than what he had felt before. She pushed it aside for the moment. It caused her too much pain to even think of him falling in love. However, she did promise herself to ask Neal later, since Dom obviously didn't want to tell her.

After practice she headed for Neal and Yuki's quarters. She knocked several times before Neal answered the door and let her in. They sat down and began to talk, Kel speaking of everything accept what she had come to ask him about.

Finally Neal put an end to their idle chatter by asking bluntly, "What's wrong? You obviously wanted to talk about something."

Kel shifted uncomfortably in her chair before answering. "Well, you see, I was in Dom's room this morning and found a letter with hearts all over it. He got all embarrassed about it, and he's never done that before when we tease him about his current court ladies. I was wondering if you had any clue as to what was wrong?"

Neal schooled his features before replying, "Nope, no idea. Might explain why he's dreamy all the time, though. Sounds like love, to me." He watched in glee as his best friend pulled on her Yamani mask. He knew what she was trying to hide. The hurt and disappointment that Dom was supposedly in love with someone. It would be very amusing to see her expression when Dom told her the truth, but alas, he would be unable to see it, for his stupid cousin wanted to do this in private. He didn't see why.

Kel got up to go, obviously ready to go back to her room and cry into her pillow, which Neal knew she did when upset.

Kel heard the knock at her door but ignored it while silently cursing the person for interrupting her peace. The knocking didn't stop, however, when she didn't come to the door. Finally, Dom's exasperated voice could be heard outside. "Kel, Neal told me you where in here! Open up!" When she didn't open it he went away and Kel collapsed back onto her bed, tears forming in her eyes once more.

A few minutes later Dom was back. "Kel, you have two seconds to open this door before I do it myself!" He threatened. Still, she didn't get up. There was a green glow on her doorknob, and the door suddenly swung open. She glared at the two people on the other side, but Neal just smiled and left. Dom walked into the room, and when Kel made no move to get up, sat beside her and stroked her hair and back. It startled her, at first, but then she relaxed, enjoying the feel of him comforting her.

"I thought you said you where going to break the door down by yourself." She said into the pillow.

"I was, but then thought that it would be much less of a mess if I didn't. Also, this way we can have privacy. Then the fact that Neal now feels useful all made this the better plan." He smiled slightly.

"Now that you're here, why are you here?" She asked.

"First you are going to tell me why you where crying," He ordered.

"I didn't feel good." Came her muffled reply.

"That's funny." Dom said, shrugging. "Neal told me it was something about me. Obviously he was mistaken."

"Obviously," she agreed.

Dom sighed. "Kel, I know why you're crying. Neal told me."

Kel muttered, "Oh," then said something that sounded remarkably like, "Stupid Meathead needs to learn how to mind his own business."

Do laughed slightly. "I agree, but I'm glad he told me. Otherwise I wouldn't have had enough courage to come and tell you what I've wanted to for a long time." Kel still had her head buried in the pillow, he noticed.

"Kel, look at me." He ordered. She ignored him. Sighing, he picked her up and flipped her over, laying her back down in his lap. She had tear stains on her cheeks and her eyes where red. Her face held embarrassment and a little bit of shock.

He continued with what he had been trying to say. "The letter that you found earlier was for you. That's why I was so embarrassed about it. The Meathead, of course, knew, and was just telling you that to be a pain in the arse. He probably thought he was helping by making you sad and not wanting to talk. After all, he is the Meathead. However, he was right about one thing. I do love the girl the letter was meant for."

It took her a moment to realize what he was saying, but when she did, her face broke out into a brilliant smile. "I love you, too, Dom." She told him. He smiled and bent down to brush his lips with hers.


AN: Why do all my fics always end in someone kissing? Its like the only way to do it for me. How tragic. Neway, hope you liked it. Please Review!