Chapter Six: Surprises

Dom was left seething for only a few minutes, though, as that's when Kel chose to rejoin him. She took no time jumping straight to the point. "So? What did he say?" she asked.

Dom sighed, letting his anger go. Something about Kel always made him relax. "Sorry Kel, I tried," he said after a few moments silence. "He didn't believe me when I said you weren't interested."

"What?" she asked, confusion entering her eyes, with a touch of curiosity. "Why wouldn't he believe you?"

Dom felt heat creep into his face. "He…err, thought I had…well, alternative motives for breaking you two up." He avoided her eyes by looking up at the starry sky.

"Alternative motives?" Kel laughed. "Like what?"

He colored a little more deeply. "He…err…suggested that I might have…well…some feelings of my own…towards you." He cleared his throat, quite uncomfortable with this conversation. "Romantically, speaking," he added needlessly.

A small silence.

Please don't ask please don't ask please don't ask please don't ask.

"Do you?" she asked. It was soft, but clear.

He ignored the question, pretending not to hear, though he could feel his face heat up further. "Look! A shooting star," he lied, pointing randomly at the sky. "Oh, it's gone now. Someone once told me you could make a wish on those. I think they said it was a Yamani custom. Is it? I don't remember. Maybe it was just an old Tortallan. Or maybe—"

His ramblings were cut off when a pair of lips timidly touched his. This shocked him like a bolt of electricity.

To his own surprise, and horror, he pulled away, stunned. Kel, usually so guarded and unreadable, looked as though she had been slapped. No matter how hard he tried, Dom couldn't form any words in his mind—let alone saying them out loud. All he could do was stare at her, eyes wide in complete shock.

"I'm." Kel was at a complete loss for words as well. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't—I thought—" They stood starring at each other for several more moments in complete silence. Then without another word, Kel turned to make her escape.

Perhaps the silence had given his mind time to register what had happened, or perhaps it was just the sight of her leaving that snapped him into action. Whatever it was, Dom grabbed her wrist, roughly pulled her to him, and crushed his lips against hers, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her with more fire and more passion than even he knew had been built up inside him over the years.

Suddenly, the last few days—the last few years—made perfect sense.

-

Neal shook his head in only slight disbelief as he watched his cousin kiss his best friend on the terrace. "You're good," he told Emris. "I'll give you that much."

Emris grinned. "I told you I could get those two together," he said matter-of-factly. "But hey, anything to help my little brother out. Now how about that bet?" Emris held out his hand, laughing as he did so.

Chuckling as well, Neal put five gold coins into his cousin's hand. "You earned it. You achieved in a day what the rest of us couldn't do in five years."

"Five years?" he repeated. He'd known this had been going on for a while, but five years? "They've been dancing around each other for that long?" he whistled appreciation for the long duration. Neal nodded in agreement. "Well it's about time then."

"I'll drink to that." Neal raised his drink in a mock toast, which Emris matched, then returned to his new wife.

A/N: Tada! What do you think? Bet some of you think a little more highly of Emris now, don't you? I hope you liked it. Currently, there's no plan to continue on this story, but I might do a kind of bonus chapter, showing how this whole bet between Neal and Emris came up. So tell me whether or not you'd like that.

Please review! And feel free to check out my other fics, as well.