--------------------MOONBEAMS AND SUNSETS--------------------
Chapter 4

Kel welcomed the feel of sturdy armour being strapped around her body and the tingling anticipation that was building in her muscles. It had been so long since she had tilted, and now, here she was; psyching herself up for a tournament. Each piece of armour she donned made her feel more confident and excited, so much so that she wanted to tear out and launch herself onto her horse when she wasn't even done kitting up. Her dreamer's hazel eyes were clouded as Cleon tightened the straps around her sides with a determined expression.

"It's been a while since you've tilted, hasn't it?" he said, a shred of uneasiness in his voice. He was silent for a moment as he tugged on a leather buckle. "But I'm glad I can help you armour up. I don't want there to be any hard feelings about... well, you know..."

"Of course not. I think things have worked out for the best. You look happy - I'm glad."

"And I'm glad you have Dom," Cleon said, grinning slyly. He paused to check his handiwork. As he opened his mouth to continue, a blur rocketed through the tent flap and almost knocked the redhead over.

"KELADRY OF MINDELAN! HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" The emerald eyed healer and knight jumped forward, took her shoulders, and shook her hard.

Kel looked at him mildly as he leaned over, chest heaving. "I take it you aren't taking part in the tournament?"

"OF COURSE I'M NOT! ANY SANE PERSON WOULD SEE THE STUMP IN THE LISTS AND RUN A HUNDRED MILES!"

Kel began to stretch. She bent over and touched her toes with ease. "Well, you'd better start running if you want to be back in time for dinner." When Neal scowled, she stuck her tongue out playfully.

Beside them, Cleon looked a little uncomfortable. "Anyway... good luck, Kel. I'll be in the crowd." A brief breeze washed through the tent as he left.

"Don't expect me to be in the crowd. I don't really want to watch you get slaughtered," Neal drawled.

Kel raised her eyebrows in an extremely Neal-like way. "Thanks for having confidence in me, Neal. A true friend, you are."

Neal looked at her, an odd expression on his face.

"What?"

His expression switched back to blank. "Nothing." Kel waited, clearly expecting a better reply. "It's just - well, you've changed."

"So have you," she shot back. "Everyone changes, Neal."

Neal shook his head. "No, I mean... well, I know we're always changing. But it's only just hit me how different you are."

That wasn't quite the truth. He did look at Kel and see someone different, but he wasn't sure if that was his own doing; he couldn't ever remember looking at Kel and feeling something in his stomach stir, or being content to keep his eyes on her and only her for more than ten minutes at a time. He couldn't recall ever wanting to tie her up just so that she wouldn't go running out into battles, or flinching when he heard her name. Was it her who had changed, or was it him? How was he supposed to know if he was just seeing her differently?

He wished he knew the answers. But the point was, he didn't.

She was looking at him. "That was a really lame answer."

"Lame?" he repeated, trying to salvage his humorous mood. "Since when has Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan used the word lame?"

"Since you started going all sentimental on me," she retorted, dropping into a chair. "You're still giving me that look."

Neal struggled to find some words.

"If something's wrong, Neal, just tell me."

"I don't know," he said, for lack of any other words on his tongue. "I just - I'm not sure I like you going out to get your lungs punctured and have half your ribs snapped."

Kel snorted in an extremely unladylike manner. "Neal, I'm a knight. This is what knights do, if you haven't already realised."

Neal's stance shifted to one of indignation. "I know that! I just don't like it when you're hurt! Especially when I have to watch!" he burst out.

Kel stared, speechless. Did Neal just lose it? She didn't have the words to reply, struggling desperately to piece together a sentence in her mind.

Luckily, her loss for words was interrupted by a man entering the tent where tournament participators readied themselves for their run. "Excuse me, sir, Lady Knight," the young man murmured respectfully, "the next round is starting. It's time to mount up." The man's voice jolted Kel out of speechlessness, and she turned to Neal.

"Really, Neal, I'm touched, but I'm afraid I have an appointment with my opponent's lance. See you later, ok?"

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It was her second run at her former knightmaster, Lord Raoul, wind slamming into her skin and armour with considerable force. She revelled in the feeling of hardly being able to breathe properly because the air rushed by so quickly. Focus, she thought, pushing back the task of enjoying the breathlessness in favour of trying to hit the hand sized target on his shield. She began to raise her lance, liking the feel of the solid weight in her control, and levelled it at Raoul's shield.

A sudden twinge in her bicep made the lance wobble, and it was thrown off to the side as it struck its target. Unprepared and startled by this mistake, she was knocked from the saddle and couldn't bring her arms forward in time to break her fall.

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The darkness smothering her senses began to lift, allowing a little weak light to filter through her eyelids. Heated voices were revealed to her ears.

"...but you could have gone easier on her -"

"We all lose sometimes, Queenscove, and we should learn -"

"I DON'T CARE... You hurt her! And you used to be her knightmaster, too - I thought that you might remember that before you smashed her in!"

"Letting her win wouldn't achieve anything - Kel would understand that!"

"Don't think you'll be jousting with her again - I swear, when she wakes up -"

"I've already woken up," Kel mumbled, wincing as her dry lips mashed against each other. She decided to leave the issue of Raoul and Neal's argument until later. "Did I break anything?"

"Just a few ribs," Raoul said cheerfully, moving to a seat by her bed. He poured water into a cup and held it to her lips. "You're healed up already, so it's fine."

"I'm sorry? How is it fine?" Neal interrupted, cheeks flushed.

"I think your healer friend is trying to get me to leave. Have a chat with him, Kel. Calm him down before he tries to run me through with a syringe." Raoul patted her arm reassuringly and departed from the room, leaving an agitated Neal in his wake.

"Neal, Raoul's right. Calm down."

"What, so I just sit back and let him get away with breaking your ribs?" he said, pacing to and fro in front of her bed in the infirmary.

"Yes. Yes, you do."

Neal stared at her. "I know you're a knight, Kel, but this is just, well, stupid!"

"I'm going to get hurt, Neal." She smiled faintly and said, "I want to get hurt. I endured eight years of training just so I could go out and get hurt."

Neal sucked in a gargantuan breath, ready to shout, when a voice from the door cut him off. "I can't remember raising such a brute! Sir Raoul practically ran out the door."

"Father, I'd appreciate it if you don't interrupt before I'm about to shout my head off."

Duke Baird strolled into view, a mild look on his face. "Kel can go now. Would you like me to wrap her up in cotton wool and bubble wrap((1)) first, or should I tie her to the bed and keep her here for eternity?"

Neal scrunched his nose up. "The latter, if you don't mind."

Baird rolled his eyes. Approaching Kel's bed, he pulled the sheets off her aching body and offered a callused hand. Taking it, Kel was securely brought to her feet. "Off you go. Take care of her, Neal."

"Of course I'll take care of her! I'm really going to risk my life shouting at a giant-killer, and then just let it all go to waste," Neal said, voice still a little strained.

Baird narrowed his eyes at his son. "Maybe we should talk, you and I. Kel, you should go and get something to eat."

Kel recognised a hint when she heard one. Pausing to bow and thank Duke Baird for healing her, she trailed out the door, resisting the urge to eavesdrop. Neal has been acting up lately. I hope he sorts whatever it is out with his father.

The palace halls were empty, yet full with the echoes of her footsteps. It unnerved her, the loneliness of those corridors, so she hurried down to the mess with as much speed as she could muster, taking into account her tiredness from her healing. The chatter from the mess hall hit her ear drums viciously.

One of the older palace servants ladled slop onto her plate with a grin (was it just Kel's eyes playing up, or had that grin been extremely malicious?) "What's this?" Kel asked, a little mortified by the lumpy brown gloop in question. It didn't look like anything she'd ever seen in her life.

"It's meat, dearie!" cackled the old lady, brandishing her ladle. "Nice and 'ealthy! Enjoy!" Kel was waved away. It seemed she was not alone in her unsure reaction; men and women all around the room were dissecting the contents of the slop with disturbed expressions. Hiding wide eyes and minor amounts of disgust, Kel headed over to her friends, taking a seat beside Cleon. The seat on her other side was empty.

"WHAT IS THIS? WHAT IS THIS? WHERE DID THEY FIND IT?"((2)) Merric was hissing, poking his meaty slop vehemently with a fork. It squelched violently in reply. Owen was wincing at the noise.

"Sorry about this, Kel! Where's Neal?"

"He's at the infirmary," she told him.

"I should think so! You should have seen him, Kel, he went so mad! I thought he was going to explode when you fell off your horse!"

Kel grimaced. "Don't remind me."

"It was a graceful fall," someone behind her said. "Brings to mind the first attempts of spring chicks to take flight and flow fluid with the breeze."((3))

The person crept up behind her, turned her head to the side, and kissed her gently. Kel felt heat rush to her cheeks.

"I wish you'd say hello normally," she said, completely embarrassed. It felt like everyone was staring at her.

"That wouldn't be any fun," Dom remarked, grinning at her mischievously. "Got to spice up our relationship, huh?"

Kel was mortified. She slipped the stray emotion behind her mask, and mock-glared at him.

"Ah, don't mind me, Kel. I'm just teasing." He looked around the table. "Neal's taking his time, isn't he?"

"He'll be here soon. He'll collapse if he doesn't have something to eat soon."

"Excluding vegetables, of course," joked Cleon, which drew out a few laughs.

"About Neal," Dom began, putting his fork down and turning his full attention to his lover. "Kel, do you think he has feelings for you?"

Kel dropped her cutlery, choking. "What? Are you joking?"

"Of course not! Think about it!"

"Don't be stupid," she said, but couldn't deny that he had a point. "He's engaged to Yuki!"

Dom looked at her intently. "And...?"

Kel shook her head, mind numb. "We're best friends. We're both with someone. We're both sane. Neal does not have feelings for me," she said, loud enough that any of her friends that hadn't been listening were now. She almost cowered under their gaze.

"Maybe I'm wrong," Dom said, returning to his meal. "But he's acting differently around you, I know that much. Think about it, Kel, there's enough signs, if you only care to read them."

Kel lowered her gaze, head reeling.

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Solemn, thoughtful and weary were the best words to describe Kel's mood as she trudged up the steps to the palace wall. It was her turn on scouting duty that evening, and despite her solid desire for sleep, she was glad. It gave her time to think, or, if she was sick of those thoughts, perhaps it would distract her. At that moment in time, there was only one thing she was sure of - that her situation with Neal was like a huge knot that would take so much time and effort to unravel that it was hardly worth unravelling at all.

She knew he'd been acting differently. Of course she knew; he was her best friend. She'd noticed it a while ago, and it had made her feel almost... itchy - or maybe there wasn't even a word to describe it, because it was just plain weird. She wasn't even sure it had been getting worse. Neal swung into moods she'd never seen him in before. That day when she'd fallen off her horse, he hadn't even talked to her, but watched her with a kind of arrogant sorrow in his eyes. Even though they'd made up (the tension had been unbearable), Kel still felt that Neal wasn't telling her something, or hadn't really forgiven her at all.

There were other times, when he'd been violent or uncomfortable around his cousin. That in itself was completely odd; Kel always had the feeling that Neal and Dom got along so well it was impossible for them to even think bad thoughts of each other (dare she say it, they were "like two peas in a pod"?). Maybe she was wrong. It just worried her, because suddenly Neal seemed so alien and cold. She couldn't reach out to him anymore, because she didn't even know what she was trying to grasp. It was like searching for help in the dark.

There was very little she understood anymore, not even why their friendship was being gently distorted. Now, when she saw him, she felt a mixture of worry, dread and thrill consuming her body, and never knew why she might feel any of these. It rushed to her veins and intoxicated them, making her feel both hot and cold, and it was the most bizarre sensation she had ever felt. But it made her head spin, and for that, she hated it.

As she thought back to the conversation with Dom over her meal, she felt her low spirits sink even further into the shadows. What she would have given for him to have at least say it somewhere private! All her friends had heard. Surely if Dom had felt the need to scramble her sanity like that, he could at least have done it when they were alone. The only thing she'd felt like doing at that moment was impaling Dom's tongue with her fork (well, maybe that was just a little over exaggerated). Yes, she knew that he had not meant to disorient her, but she could not help feeling bitter at him for saying something so bluntly and so publicly.

This won't do, Kel thought, and tried to think of something else. She settled at the wall, leaning against the stone in front of her and watching the sun leak down to the horizon. Pink, purple and orange glazed the clouds and treetops. The skies were an interesting fiery pink, streaked with rosy purple and decorated with a few birds drifting on the calm breeze. The vivid colours reminded Kel of the blossom viewing parties in the Isles, and it calmed her.

Slowly, she settled into a kind of limbo between reality and her dreams.

"Kel! I didn't know you were on scouting duty too."

Kel was wrenched out of her peaceful limbo. In a way, it made her angry, but at the same time, she felt suddenly very light-headed and cool.

"Neal... I'm not really in the mood for talking right now. If that's okay."

"Oh," he said, joining her at the wall. "Sure."

They were silent for a long time, absorbing the view.

"Unless you want to tell me what's wrong."

Kel regarded him wearily. "I would if I knew what it was myself," she said.

"Mmm," he replied quietly, flexing his hands against the cold stone. His eyes swept across the sky once again. "It's peaceful, isn't it? And beautiful."

She didn't reply.

"It's odd being back here. We've been away for so long that sometimes I doubted we'd ever get to come home." He was suddenly smiling faintly at the air in front of him, the vibrant colours of the sky reflected in his eyes. "I guess that's what life is always going to be like, until we get killed or we turn into old prunes. It's a little frightening, don't you think? It's going to get tougher than this, surely. And we'll barely ever see our family." At this point, he shifted to cover her gloved hand, sprawled on the chilly stone, with his own. "But at least I know my best friend will always be there at my side."

Kel began to lift her gaze to look at him, almost reluctantly.

A horn started to blow loudly, accompanied with a shout and the echoes of footsteps. "Bandits in the forest!"

The two knights exchanged wide-eyed glances before speeding down the wall to the steps.

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"How many are there?"

"About twenty, milady. We were thinking of attacking head on-"

"Don't be stupid," Neal interrupted. "They'll definitely anticipate that. They'll have scouts, even if they haven't heard anything already - we should split, and sneak round."

"Lady?" asked a young soldier, wanting confirmation on Neal's suggestion. "We only have twenty-one as it is, including you and Sir Nealan, and splitting up would make us weaker-"

"But we would have the element of surprise, and... hm. Listen to Neal. Split into two groups, and go to the sides. Pick off any archers or scouts first, and then look for weaknesses where we can enter. Stealth is essential - one man more than them is hardly an advantage, so we need to be sure of our chances. Got it?"

With that, their group split into two, Kel's group to the right and Neal's to the left, and they crept into the Royal Forest. It was hard to keep quiet with the crunch of leaves and plants under your feet, and the darkness only made things worse. Neal almost walked into a tree trunk several times.

"I can see movement in the trees," Kel whispered, and her group slowed. "We won't be able to hit any archers or scouts from here. There's a hillock near here, at the spring - one of you come with me to scout, and take down any threats with arrows."

A very young man with a broadsword volunteered, and she had him stand a few metres down from her position and look out for anything suspicious. Kel lay down as flat as she could behind a mess of bushes, and squinted for movement. She spent a while like this, trying to determine whether the shaking leaves were animals or bandits. Eventually, she peered over the bushes and pulled her bow up, nocking an arrow and letting it loose as quickly as she could. Leaves rustled as someone fell from a treetop. That was a fluke, she thought, unless my accuracy became near-perfect overnight. She swallowed, and tried to focus. In her concentration, she didn't hear the muffled footsteps as her scout fled.

"Hey! Why are you here?" Neal whispered hotly to the flustered man who'd just crashed through the trees. "Are you trying to kill us? Be quiet and calm down. Did you get separated?"

"They know we're here!" the young man announced, dropping his broadsword on the floor. Sweat dripped down his face. "Their archers tried to shoot me! I bet that they've some on this side, too! And there's nowhere for you to shoot them down!"

"Did you get separated?" repeated Neal, suddenly feeling light-headed.

"No, I was scouting for the Lady Knight while she used her bow, and -"

"Is she alone? Why did you leave her?"

"The archers, sir, I just -"

"You idiot! When you're scouting, and you see something, you have to tell whoever you're scouting for!" Neal turned to the oldest man in his group. "You carry on, I have to find Kel." As he rushed past, he deliberately crashed into Kel's runaway scout, aiming his elbow to knock the air from the man's lungs. The man buckled over, groaning. Neal didn't look back.

He didn't have a clue where Kel was, which was going to make things hard. There was no communication between the two groups, as Neal was the only mage (when he'd found that out ten minutes earlier, he'd felt very superior. Now he cursed and regretted this completely). He ought to have swallowed his pride and gone back to ask, but he didn't want to. The only thing he knew was that this might be urgent with archers prowling scant feet from her position. He had to hurry, he had to run, this could be everything - life or death. Just pushing himself a little harder might be the difference between losing her or keeping her.

He was hardly even bothering to stay quiet now, moving as quickly as he could without stumbling over the various obstacles in his path. The further he went, running with enough fervour to convince an onlooker he was running purely for his own life, the more he became angered; by the way he couldn't find her, and the way the bushes and brambles seemed to be reaching out to catch him like spider's webs. Thoughts raged in his head, searching frantically for a way he'd find her quicker. Where could she be?

Where were the best places to shoot arrows from? Where would Kel have the clearest view, the most cover? There were several places, Neal decided. She could've climbed a tree - but that was hardly practical - she might fall - and he knew she still disliked heights. Where else?

The thought occurred so quickly he almost tripped over his own feet. He turned sharply but ended up skidding on the leaf litter and falling into an extremely painful position - straddled on a large tree trunk. Allowing himself only a few moments to shrivel up in pain, he forced himself up and sprinted frantically through the trees. The trees began to thin a little, and he burst out into a mass of bushes and thick nettles. A silhouette was stark against the sky.

Something drew Neal's eyes to the side where the trees were still growing thickly. He saw a shadow shift in the leaves of a big oak, and then he realised what was happening. Before he even knew it himself, he had torn through the nettles like a monster and leapt onto Kel's silhouette. A squelch resounded in the air as they hit the muddy ground, and a whistle followed as an arrow flew over their heads. They lay still and silent for several minutes, trying to suppress their heavy breathing. When there was complete silence, Neal twisted so that Kel could breathe better.

"Sorry," Kel whispered, voice choked. For a moment he thought it was due to tears, but he dismissed that thought immediately. It turned out she'd fallen into the mud with her mouth wide open in surprise. She spat a few times, grimacing. "You want to get off now?"

"Sorry," he murmured back, grinning sheepishly. "Better mud than blood, right?"

"Neal." She paused, stewing up some words, and looked up into his face. They were startlingly close, just a few inches away from each other, and it made Neal feel suddenly breathless. Her gaze wondered around his face and the sky behind him, and she opened her mouth to begin to speak, but closed it again a second later. As he waited patiently for her to formulate a sentence, a few shouts echoed over from the middle of the forest. The fight had begun.

"Let's go join in, shall we?"

And they lurched up, mud clinging to their clothes, skin and hair, and headed back through the nettles.

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The battle was short, and lasted no more than fifteen minutes. By the time Kel and Neal charged into the fray, there were only ten bandits left. By the battle's end, seven bandits had been taken captive, and the rest were lying dead messily on the cold soil. They did, however, suspect that at least two had gotten away - they were probably archers, like the one who had tried to shoot Kel. The man who had scouted for Kel and then ran away was also in the battle with his broadsword, and Neal had found it difficult to resist the temptation of run him through with a swift jab of his sword, under the pre-rehearsed speech, "I thought he was a bandit. I'm very sorry, sir, I won't do it again". Kel had almost been shot because of him, and that was enough justification for death in Neal's mind. It was practically attempted murder, what that scout had done.

Some of the palace men-at-arms checked the bodies strewn on the floor were all devoid of life, while others set to work caring for any wounded. Neal headed for Kel like some sort of homing missile, having watched her out of the corner of his eye the entire battle. He'd seen her get cut across her thigh - it looked shallow, but it was long and bled quite profusely. He ordered her to sit on a short tree stump while he examined the wound.

"That scout you had? He ran off, squealing about archers. I'm trying to decide the best way to slaughter him right now."

"Calm down, Neal," Kel said, shaking her head with a smile. "He's not seen much battling yet. He's as green as grass! You can't blame him for running." The look on Neal's face told her he clearly did blame him, but she ignored it. Neal's fingers probed her tender skin, and she winced. "Aren't you being just a little bit overprotective?"

He turned his head up to meet her eyes. "I already told you. I hate it when you get hurt."

Kel tried to stare him out, but gave up and shrugged. "Back to the palace with you, Queenscove. Leave my cut alone."

Neal pretended to scowl. "Don't blame me if you wake up to the smell of rotting flesh," he said, sticking his tongue out. "Come on, then."

Half the men stayed behind to bury corpses, while everyone else had to lead the way up to the palace with the captured bandits. Luckily Kel and Neal had been spared the duty of digging messy graves for the bodies. Neal especially felt that they'd done far too much of that at the Scanran border. They were about to head into the palace when someone stepped out the doorway in front of them. "Hey, you! I was worried to death."

Neal suddenly realised that the speaker sounded remarkably like him in his overprotective state, and looked on as Dom and Kel embraced tightly. Was he really becoming as guarding and defensive about Kel as Dom was?

"Ick! You're all muddy! And you too, Neal. What in Mithros' name have you been doing? Wallowing in the mud like pigs? Oh - well, we do that every day with the Own, I suppose. Kel, come over to my room once you're washed up, okay?"

"Sure, Dom."

Neal decided he didn't like the way that Dom's request sounded more like an order, so he glowered at Dom's back as he left again.

"We're not really that muddy, are we?" Kel asked him, tugging at her tunic and scratching at the semi-dried mud caked onto its surface. She squinted at Neal's tunic for a minute, then reached out and ran her fingers over it. This unexpected action made Neal shiver, but he tried to steel himself to be as emotionless as a Yamani. "Look, your tunic is ripped to shreds!How did you manage that?"

"I was trying to find you. It was very... brambly..." he explained, trailing off lamely. He couldn't help but shudder, even though it was still fairly warm outside.

Kel's gaze rose to his face. "You're all scratched, too." Her eyes drilled into his for a moment. "If you think my cut is bad, then maybe you should look in a mirror. You're practically red raw." She lifted her hand and swept it through his hair as he did when he was nervous or impatient, and dried mud cracked and showered down onto his shoulders. "Your dandruff problem isn't looking too good either, Meathead."

Neal half expected her to start adjusting the collar of his tunic as she used to when they were pages, ready for exams or banquets. He remembered with some humour that he and his friends had reported to Kel for inspection, and Neal had almost never passed her standards. There was always a tunic to straighten, a collar to tug. Seaver was always impeccably neat, and Cleon's hair always looked like he'd just rolled out of bed. Come to think of it, Neal's had as well, but someone had once mentioned that this made him look gruffly handsome. He doubted anyone had ever said the same of Cleon, though.

When he ripped himself out of memories and random musings, he looked fleetingly at Kel - her eyes, bright with moonlight and amusement, her flushed skin, and her full lips that were curved upwards ever so slightly at the sides. He was instantly flooded with emotion, but he couldn't puzzle most of it out - he thought he felt regret, but didn't really understand what he could be regretting, and then affection and awe and excitement, joy and dread, and lots of others that rushed past so quickly he couldn't read them in time.

He flinched away in a sudden bout of self-consciousness, and then realised Kel had done the same. She hurriedly bade him goodnight, and rushed off.

Neal brought a hand up to his cheek, missing the warmth of Kel's breath on his skin.

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Additional Notes

((1)) Well, obviously they didn't have bubble wrap, but I couldn't think of anything else to put. Plus, bubble wrap is so cool (it's the best part of getting something in the post...o.O) I didn't want to delete it.

((2)) A mockery of Nikki from Big Brother in the UK. Yeah, I know, I've been sucked into the huge reality TV market. Oh well. I laughed so hard at Nikki (damn, she was evicted!) that I thought my lungs would pop. Some of the stuff she said was classic. "I can feel the venom pouring out of me as I BREATHE!"

((3)) Very poetic, huh? Completely soppy. Not like Dom at all. Meh. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. Sorry.I know I'm not very good at writing Dom in character. I admit it. He's not really in the books that much, so I don't have a lot to build on.

Also, you'll get to find out what Baird and Neal discussed in a later chapter. It'll be a flashback - I know, cheesy. But the bandit thing was too.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, I thought I'd be kind and update early, even though I haven't finished Chapter 6 yet. I had such a hectic week - my last four days at school. I'm a little sad to see it go, though I can't even explain how ecstatic I am that it's the summer holidays. I'm also remodelling my profile, but that's only half done so far. Another reason for not finishing C6 yet is that my dog, Lulu, who is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, gave birth to six beautiful puppies Thursday morning! It's not possible to put into words how cute they are. They're so small and pwitty. We have to keep an eye on them, though, and we'll be selling them in September -tear falls from eye-. Though we might be keeping one. I hope.

One thing that's been mentioned in reviews is how Kel and Neal don't appear to be getting together any time soon. Well, I should apologise about that - I'm the kind of person who prefers that they don't get together for ages. And I don't really plan on changing that because it's what you might prefer. I probably have the strongest opinion on writing just because you want lots of reviews and readers to like you, rather than writing for enjoyment. I feel like screaming when someone says, "give me five reviews and I'll update." That isn't what writing is about at all.

Talking about reviews, thank you so much for all the comments and support. It means a lot to me to get so many, although if you're commenting anonymously then remember I won't be able to reply. Hopefully I'll be able to update quite soon as I have much more spare time now, but we'll see. Next chapter is quite long again, so maybe you'll look forward to it. And of course I'm not going to abandon this story - this is my absolute priority. And jeez, this is the longest note I've ever written. I apologise muchly.

And I'm very much looking forward to reading your comments, ideas and questions. Thanks for reading, hope you liked some of the more fluffy moments, and I'll see you next chapter.