Kel stepped through the doorway behind Neal "So I finally get to know what this 'surprise' is do I Neal? I mean, after all, you've been bragging about it for days" she teased as he really had been going on about her surprise for days, holding it over her head. "What even is the occasion? It's not my birthday, Christmas, Hanukkah or some other holiday I do or don't celebrate"
Neal turned to face her, his hands on his hips, blocking her view of the room "No occasion, and you do NOT know how hard it has been for me, really I have been suffering dreadfully" he drawled in that insufferable tone of his.
Kel raised an eyebrow at him, mimicking one of his favourite expressions "Really, you've been suffering?" She highly doubted that, Neal loved to know things that other people didn't, loved to have that superior position, if only to gloat about it.
A third voice chimed in from behind one of the fully loaded (and then some) bookcases in the room "Oh yes, I've been getting on Meathead's nerves, or so I figured from his constant shrieking"
Kel looked over Neal's shoulder to see his cousin Domitan Masbolle walk out from behind the books. He smiled at her with that warm, familiar grin of his "Hey Kel, how you been?"
Kel returned his smile, matching the warmth in his "Dom, so you're my surprise?" she asked as she stepped around Neal to give him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek.
Dom hugged her back and released, allowing her to step back so she could see his face, "Yes, I was originally just going to rock on over to your house the other week when I arrived but Meathead here detained me and said –" Dom pulled a face and put on a high voice "- It's for the best dear cousin" he dropped back to his normal voice and shrugged his shoulders "Whatever that means".
Kel chuckled at his impersonation of Neal, who was at this moment scowling at his cousin, "I do not sound like that!" he cried, his voice reaching a pitch similar to that of Dom's mockery.
Kel grinned at him, her defences lowering as she only could around these two fools. "Well, I didn't want to tell you Neal, but now that you know-" she was cut off as he pushed her playfully.
"Oh Shut it", Dom met her gaze and winked at Neal's frustration.
A thought struck her as she mulled over Dom's phrasing and she turned to Neal, "Wait, what did you mean 'It's for the best?', the best for who?" she inquired.
Neal flicked his gaze from Dom to her and away, and shuffled on his feet, "Oh, it's nothing Kel", he mumbled, not meeting her eyes which meant that it was definitely something, Neal was usually a better liar than that, it was only when it seriously bothered him that his evasions broke down.
She stepped close and looked up into his eyes, her expression serious and said his name, her tone insisting. She noted in the corner of her mind that Dom was staying out of her questioning of Neal, obviously also interested in what he was hiding but willing to let Kel handle it.
Neal fidgeted a bit more before relenting, his shoulders slumping in resignation, "It was the best for you Kel, I knew you were working on something dangerous and I didn't want to distract you and put you at risk, you were just so focused" he explained softly, only meeting her eyes after finishing.
Kel realised that this was the reason she hadn't heard much from Neal over the past week or so and the colour drained from her face. How much did Neal know about her current investigation? Was he just generalizing? Or was he implying more? She quickly pulled down her mask before he could notice all the expressions and thoughts that must be flitting across her open face.
"Kel, are you alright?" Dom asked, his tone cautious, and she cursed inwardly, this was not a conversation she wanted to have around him just yet, so she would just have to talk to Neal later about this. She made herself smile at him, noticing the concern on his face as his eyes bored into her.
"Yes, I'm fine Dom, Neal was right, I was busy and I would not have given your return the attention it deserves" Kel responded, hoping he would leave it at that.
Dom frowned and her stomach churned as he searched her face for something, she wasn't sure what, so she kept up a calm façade with a will born from a tough life filled with tough choices (and a big family). He seemed to take comfort from this and his frown moved into his more customary smile. "well, now that you have time, we should get everyone together and go out for drinks" He came up to her and nudged her with an elbow "If what Meathead says is true, you're working yourself to death".
Kel had to stop herself from flinching at Dom's choice of words, death was a very real possibility in her line of work and she hoped it wasn't a prediction.
Neal recovered from his fit of awkwardness and almost dragged them to the setting centred around a low, rustic coffee table "Sit, sit, what's the point of these ridiculous comfy couches if we don't use them?"
Kel eyed the couches with reproach, they certainly were ridiculous, all bright green and blue stripes. Neal's taste is colour certainly leaned towards the eccentric, but she settled into one of the armchairs, Neal and Dome sharing one of the loveseats. She had to stifle a giggle at that, she didn't want to ruin the atmosphere. She gazed around the room while Dom and Neal chatted and despite the hideous seats it really was a lovely place, certainly it showed Neal's true personality. It was wall to wall books, almost a maze in fact, and each section had a different type of genre. She'd once mentioned off hand to Neal that she wouldn't be surprised to find a section dedicated to those tawdry historical romances and he'd looked away from her and blushed. Kel remembered gaping at him in a very unladylike way until he'd snapped at her to shut her mouth. It was now a long standing mission of hers to find them, for she knew he would not leave them on display, one day she would find them, most likely hidden away in a secret room behind one of the bookshelves, but Neal got suspicious when she went around systematically pulling book after book of the shelves in hope of finding one that triggered a hidden doorway.
She leant back in the armchair and looked at the cousins, both good friends and very much like brothers, after all, Neal had lost his elder brothers in the war and Dom fit that position very well. Kel was glad that she knew the two, they were always around when she needed them.
