A\N: I like cliffies...I don't have to work so hard to start the next chapter! (Sorry, guys, I'm tired. Big reasons haven't kicked in yet.)

SUMMER

She stopped. Just stopped, right there in the desert.

Okay, so maybe that question was below the belt. Maybe, just maybe, I should have been listening to the tiny inkling in my head that said she probably stares at me for the same reason I stare at her.

But I need to know. I don't know why I need to know, I don't know what the point is when we're going to be leaving each other in a week, I just know that I need to know.

Please, Tenaya.

Please say you're just watching to be sure I don't escape, anything so that I can pretend I don't think you're the most beautiful woman on the planet, right down to your name.

Please say you like how I look.

Tenaya starts to move again, shaking her head. "You sure you want to know?"

"Wouldn't have asked if I hadn't been." I point out.

Tenaya considers.

"I don't know. I think...I think it's because Venjix programmed me to have feelings." She sighs, and I suddenly realize she's probably never actually talked to anyone before. Not this way, not opening her heart to someone else. I hate Venjix with a passion now for not letting her have that.

Tenaya doesn't notice that. "These feelings say that you're beautiful, Summer. They tell me that I should kiss you and hold you when you're tired. But logic says something different."

I look at the desert, the place where Spencer died, and I realize I'm crying slightly. "Logic might be right."

Tenaya's eyes look suspiciously shiny suddenly, but she nods. "Yes. I assumed so."

We walk in silence. At first I'm not sure how long the silence will last, but when I realize I'm marking time by the sun's progress, I have a sinking feeling it's not going to go away easily.

Finally the sun sets. We can't start walking again tonight, the moon's rising too late and we've been walking all day anyway. So we make camp. It's pretty easy, and therefore done in silence, again.

By the time Tenaya offers me food (I don't know how she found freeze-dried rations, and I don't care), I'm just ready to go to sleep. Maybe Tenaya'll feel like talking tomorrow, or maybe I will.

"You know," I offer slowly, "I think someone got paid to make this freeze-dried stuff taste nasty."

Tenaya grins suddenly. "Why do you think I don't eat?" She asks. "I mean, I don't actually need to, but I like it. Just not when everything tastes like that." She shrugs. "You'd think that 'gourmet' freeze-dried stuff would taste good. That's why I stole it. Guess it's lucky I did, hunh?"

"Yeah. Definitly." I smile. "Thanks, by the way."

"For what?"

I shrug. "Finding me. Not killing me. Giving me food and stuff without screwing my head up." I grin wickedly. "You know, you're actually pretty decent when you're away from the robots. Think that's a one-time thing?"

"I don't know." Tenaya admits. "Probably."

Then she smiles at me.

"So, it's my turn, right?"

I nod, frowning. Great. What now?

"Truth or Dare?" Tenaya asks.

Damn. Not saying Truth, she'll ask if I like her and I'm a crappy liar. And if I say Dare...

Well, do I have a choice?

"Dare." I sigh, admitting defeat.

Tenaya considers. "I dare you to kiss me."

I blink in surprise. Wasn't expecting that.

Tenaya shrugs. "I need to know something." She looks slightly shy. "Please, Summer?"

My body overrides my brain, and I walk over to her and gently kiss her. I don't intend for it to go farther than our lips, but she slides her tounge into her mouth and I moan, giving up and kissing her wholeheartedly.

We part, and Tenaya smiles.

"Maybe logic," She whispers, "Isn't always a good thing."

"No." I tell her. "It was."

We kiss again anyway.