Kel's hands balled into fists within the confines of her jacket pockets. She hoped to hell that what she'd given Anders would help as much as she wanted it to, she'd been waiting for that information to fall into her lap for a while now. She let her shoulders relax and loosened her neck, there was no point meeting Neal when she was all worked up, he would notice and she'd ruin his surprise, he was always worried about her although he hid it well. Kel smiled softly, she was glad she had a friend like Neal, he was always there for here, there for her with extra dramatics, but there for her none the less. So forcing herself to relax and loosen up she turned down the street where she'd parked her bike. She chuckled when she saw a couple young guys on their bicycles paused next to the motorbike with wide eyes. It was a Triumph Rocket III Roadster and it was one of her joys of life. She wished she'd been able to afford it herself, but it had been a gift, Neal and all her friends and put in money, Neal and Roald more than the others, mainly because they had more money than the rest. Neal, because of his family's hospital and his own job as a doctor, Roald because his family was majorly loaded, which is what happens when your father has been a prominent politician for years and is the current President. She felt bad for letting them spend that much money on her but every time she looked at her bike it put a smile on her face and she just felt so free every time she rode it.

"Like what you see boys?" She smirked as they glanced up at her.

"Is this yours?" One of the boys asked, his gaze flicking between her and the bike.

She nodded as she grabbed her helmet off the back of the bike "Yep, Triumph Rocket 3 Roadster"

The boys oohed and aahed over her bike a bit longer and as much as she liked sharing the love of her bike, she really did have to go. Straddling the bike, she slipped her helmet on and flicked down the visor.

"Sorry boys, I gotta go" Starting the engine, she revved it as they rolled back from the bike and with a large grin hidden behind her helmet she raced off down the street, chuckling as she heard the cries of exclamation.

Dialling her speed back to legal, she drove down the freeway to where Neal's house was situated. He lived in a pricey area, but the house was not too over the top, Neal liked simple and his main interest was the huge library he had built in the house, mostly filled with obscure texts, medical journals and philosophical books. She would occasionally do some reading if she was visiting but today was not for reading.

As she pulled onto Neal's long driveway she pondered on what the surprise would be, Neal hadn't hinted at anything, odd for him, usually when he was excited he couldn't help but blab about it but not an inkling did she have. Slowing down even more, she admired the entry to Neal's house, gorgeous gardens filled with trees and ponds and flowers lined the driveway and she remembered playing in them when they were younger, her getting into everything with Neal trying to avoid as much dirt as possible. Chuckling at her memories, she came to a stop at the front of the house and sprang off her bike, took her helmet off and glanced up at the dark foreboding skies. She grimaced, if she left her bike out it would be soaked with rain by the time she came out, it was wet enough already.

She looked around and shrugged "A couple minutes more won't hurt him" she muttered to herself before rolling the bike round to the side of the house, she knew Neal had a small garage back here. Locating the garage she unlocked the door, Neal had given her the key when him and the others had given her the bike, so she always had somewhere to put it. Not that her own family were poor or something, but even a reasonably wealthy family would be stretched a little thin with nine children, and being the youngest she usually avoided relying on her parents. Pushing the door open she rolled the bike inside, just in time, as the rain really started to pour. Kicking the door shut behind her, she slid her motorcycle in beside boxes of Neal's old stuff, he'd made her promise that she would help him sort through all this crap one day, she'd agreed but they still hadn't gotten round to it.

Thinking of the pouring rain outside, Kel was thankful that when this garage had been built someone had been bright enough to add in a connecting door to the house, she wasn't averse to a little rain but she hardly wanted to sit around Neal's house sopping wet for a couple hours, especially since she still had no idea why she was here. Patting the bit of water sitting on her jacket and stomping her boots on the coarse floormat she entered Neal's house.

Kel called out, "Neal? You told me to come and I'm here" She walked further into the house, the door had come out into the laundry, which was hardly suitable to meet friends in she supposed, so now she was at the foot of the dual stairs that curved up and out to the next story.

"You didn't bring that dog of yours?" asked a voiced that got louder as Neal moved into her area of vision from one of the side rooms that housed a large fireplace and a lounge suit, as well as a chess table that Neal absolutely adored that she'd given him for his 18th birthday.

She shook her head "He's getting a bit long in the tooth and I can hardly fit him on my bike" she replied as she moved to give him a friendly hug. Neal returned the hug and raised an eyebrow at her when he stepped back, a favourite expression of his.

"Well, I guess that explains why you're late, whenever you're out on that thing you get stopped by people looking"

Kel chuckled "Well yes, but I was also dropping some stuff off to Anders" She looked into Neal's eyes as she mentioned this piece of information.

Neal's mouth quirked to the side "Ah, I see, well, late is better than never so come, follow me if you will your highness"

Kel rolled her eyes at Neal's back as he turned and made his way back to the room, she trotted up next to him and put her hand on his shoulder to stop him. "I'm careful Neal, you know me" She knew he would be thinking about her 'job' if that was what you wanted to call it.

Neal's shoulders drooped and he looked at her from the corners of his eyes "I know Kel, but I worry about you constantly, I never know where you've been or where you're going, it was so much easier when you were with the police but this new thing? It's not good for you and you know it"

Kel sighed and removed her hand from his shoulder "Neal…" she tried to find the right words that would convince him "… I need to do this okay? As soon as I've done what I need to I promise I'll go back to my normal life and you can worry about me like you used to"

Neal threw his hands up "Yes, worry about you getting shot and stabbed, what a relief" he dropped his arms and grabbed one of her hands "At least you'd have a partner to look out for you, I can't do anything for you until after something bad has happened"

Kel met his gaze and saw the muted pain in his eyes and knew he was remembering the last time he had had to 'help' her. It was not a memory she liked to remember. She squeezed the hand he held and let go.

"I am always thankful you're here to help me Neal, don't forget that, you're my best friend and I love you" She said softly.

Neal blushed and shook himself "Enough of this sappy nonsense, I promised a surprise!" He grinned at her and led her into the room he'd left from earlier. Kel laughed quietly and followed him into the room, genuinely curious about what he had in line for her.