Hi again!

Well, here we are; the third and final part of Where the Heart waits. The first two are Dreams, listed under Ishizu/Kaiba, and the second is Going Back, under Mai/Joey, you don't have to read them to understand this, but it would help with some of the references.

This one has both previous couples plus Tea/Yugi in it, I may put in a few more couples. I'll put it up at the start of another chappie if I do, but this stoy will focus mainly around those three couples.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh however much I wish I did. If I did own it, you may have been watching this on TV instead of reading it here.

The story so far: Kaiba went to Egypt to seek Ishizu's help for the dreams he was having about ancient Egypt, he ended up getting more than he bargained for when they fell for one another. Ishizu now has her own place in Domino and is working at the Domino museum, her work starts in the New Year-it is the beginning of December now. It's only been two weeks since Kaiba went to Egypt and a week since Ishizu moved to Domino permanently.

Mai met Joey in San Francisco at the parking lot where their last duel took place. They faced eachother in a rematch there and Mai won, with her last few moves being the same as her and Joey's last duel. After admitting how they felt, Mai came back to Domino to live with Joey. They've been back for four days.

It's the second of December...

Tea glanced nervously out the window. She knew there was no real reason for her to be so jittery, well, that's what she tried to tell herself anyway. She knew she should be delighted-and she was-to have all the gang together again for the summer, but she hadn't seen some of them in so long, not that that really bothered her, after all, she'd talked to Mai on the phone for two hours without stopping and it had been wonderful to finally have a really good girlfriend to talk to besides Serenity. But when it came down to it, it wasn't Mai she was worried about seeing, it was Yugi.

She'd seen him during his summer holidays about six months ago and that was part of what was worrying her now. She'd hoped the feelings she'd had for Yugi that had been so tangled up with her feelings for the pharaoh all through highschool would have sorted themselves out or faded. No such luck, in fact, they'd escaladed and they were still tangled even though the pharaoh had been gone for around a year.

She'd had plenty of contact with all the gang-apart from Mai-all the time she was in New York, but it wasn't the same as being with them. Tea knew it was much easier to hide feelings behind text on a screen than while you were actually talking in person. Even talking on the phone wasn't the same as seeing them face to face. And soon she would-be face to face with them that is.

Yugi wasn't actually due back from Cairo for another couple of days. He attended Domino University, but often flew to Cairo to study with Professor Hawkins for periods of time. He'd been there for a couple of weeks-the weeks after his University exams, studying there for extra credit but mainly just for experience. Yugi had debated in taking Egyptology but had decided in the end to go with archaeology first and then narrow down. His field of study did lean towards Egypt, but it also covered other areas. As he said to Tea once he'd decided what to do, he knew the focus of the maniacs in their lives had usually been Egypt, but they'd had other focuses too, namely Dartz, and Yugi was curious about those fields too.

Tea had gone after her dream of becoming a ballerina in New York, but she missed her friends and when she'd been offered a job in Domino by the theatre there, she'd jumped at the chance. Her work there would start in the New Year. It was early December now. She'd be attached to the main theatre, as well as the two smaller ones which ran under the same board. Basically she would fill in whatever dance parts-mostly chorus-that needed to be filled in when a dancer got injured or sick or was changed in different cities. She would have some easy shows where she only had to do basic work or one role, and others where she would be run off her feet because each night someone new was injured or sick and the replacement had not yet flown in or the understudy had come down with something too. Tea would join the ranks of twenty other performers; various dancers, singers and acrobats, all doing the same sort of job as her, but mostly in different areas. It boded for an interesting job and a challenging one. Tea was looking forward to it. But she was looking even more forward to being with her friends.

Joey was of course in Domino, and now Mai was with him. Serenity would join them there for Christmas and New Years and would be back at regular intervals until in another year and a half or so she came back permanently to attend Domino University, studying to be a doctor, and later she wanted to specialise in eyes. Tea thought that was fitting, or a calling, really. She'd had problems with her eyes ever since she was born and now that her eyes were perfect after her operation over two years ago, she wanted to pass on what she had to others. Duke would be flying in in a week or so and staying until after the New Year. He had an office in Domino for Dungeon Dice monsters-not the main one but still important-and was there maybe a third of the year, so Tea would get to see him often enough. Tristan was now a policeman in Domino, so he would be there too, and Yugi.

Tea knew the Hawkinses were flying in for New Year, and she wasn't too impressed about that. She still found Rebecca an annoying little kid, even if she had let up on the 'boyfriend' stuff with Yugi. Word on the street was Marik and Odion were coming to spend the holiday in Domino with their sister, Tea was looking forward to seeing all the Ishtars again. She had been as shocked as anyone in the gang when the news came out that Ishizu and Kaiba were an item. She still couldn't quite wrap her mind around the idea of the two of them of all people being a couple.

There was one other person coming for New Years. Tea decided she was the person she least enjoyed having in Domino, but for Mai's sake, Tea vowed that she would try to put up with Vivian Wong. But she'd better stay away from Yugi! Tea ground her teeth together, then realised she was behaving like a jealous schoolgirl and tried to relax. She would be civil to Vivian, and that was all anyone could ask of her.

Tea was jolted out of her revere when the request came over the speaker to fasten their seatbelts as they were beginning their decent into Domino airport. Well, here goes nothing. I need...Me and Yugi, no; I need to sort this web off feelings out this holiday. Or at least try too...

***

'How much longer do you think she'll be?'

Mai glanced up at the airport clock. 'I don't know, perhaps another ten minutes? Give her some time, her flight landed twenty minutes ago, and she has to get through customs and get her bags.' Mai smiled at Joey's restlessness.

'I know, I know. But I haven't seen her in six months!' Joey glanced back towards the airport terminal again.

'Hey, look who's talking! I haven't seen her in a year, two if you only count civil meetings.'

'Yeah, okay.' Joey grinned sheepishly.

Mai wondered how one person could suddenly go from having so little to so much. She'd wanted her friends back, she'd wanted Joey, but she'd never thought that dream would come true. And it had, to a point beyond what she had once dared to dream, even her wildest daydreams fell short of this; living with Joey in Domino with all the friends she had known coming for New Years.

'Mai?'

She blinked and Joey's face snapped back into focus.

'You went away for a bit there.'

It was Mai's turn to look sheepish. 'I'm just thinking, how lucky I am to have all of this. I never dreamed it would be like this. I never thought it could. That I could feel so accepted and like I finally belong. I've never had that.'

Joey slipped an arm around her waist. 'I'm glad, and don't you worry; it'll get better. New Years will be great with dinner probably at Yugi's, then games until about eleven, and then this amazing display of fireworks in the park at midnight. It's a night you're not gonna forget in a hurry...I'll make sure of it.'

Mai smirked at him. 'Oh really?' Then she sobered. 'I've never had a night like that; a celebration with friends.'

'Well, then we've got alot to make up for. Don't worry, with so many of the gang here permanently, at least for the time being, you'll have all the gatherings and celebrations you can stomach.'

Mai slipped her hand into his. 'Good.'

They waited in silence for a few minutes before Mai spoke again. 'I'm glad Tea's coming back here to live; it'll be nice to have a girl around, not just you, Yugi and Tristan...and...' Mai trailed off.

Joey frowned, 'and what Mai?'

'I guess, if she wasn't here, and it was just me and you three boys, I'd feel like I was taking her place.'

Joey's frown deepened for a second, then it cleared and he shook his head, 'you couldn't take her place Mai; you're too different.'

Mai slapped his shoulder lightly, 'you know what I mean.'

'Yeah, I do. But I mean it Mai, don't worry about it; her place can't be filled by anyone but her, after all we've been through. And then there's the fact that you already have your own place in the gang; as the stubborn female duelist who refuses to back down.'

'I don't know whether to be insulted or flattered,' Mai remarked tartly.

'It was meant as a compliment...I think, hey!' Mai elbowed him. 'And then there's the fact that Tea's Yugi's girl and really always has been, while you,' Joey smiled at her, 'you said it yourself; you've always been mine.'

'That is true.' Mai leaned her head on Joey's shoulder. 'Anyway, I don't have to worry; Tea will be here for the foreseeable future...I wonder if she and Yugi will get together, there seems to be something in the air at the moment; you and me, Kaiba and Ishizu.'

'You compare us to them?!'

Mai laughed. 'It's not a death sentence Joey, but think about it; I didn't ever think you'd want me, you had the same thoughts about me, and Kaiba and Ishizu we wouldn't have ever fingered as a couple, so something happened there, and Tea and Yugi have their own web of emotions to get through concerning them and the Pharaoh.'

'You're right about that. Who knows, they might. I certainly hope so, it'll be great to see them finally together.'

'Mm-hm. Joey, look!' Mai grasped his arm.

'Eh-?'

'There's Tea!'

So there's the first chapter. What did you think?

Review and tell me.