The ride home started with some fond memories of the times they had all spent together, laughter and smiles and clasped hands all around. After a while, though, the limo descended into a silence, though not an awkward silence like the one that punctuated the ride to the dance. Instead, the driver had opted to play some mood music, and judging by the light sound of lips meeting and parting, it seemed to be working pretty well.

Of course, Lance had to ignore that some of those sounds came from his sister right across from him, but that wasn't a hard thing to do when you're making out with a princess.

When they reached the Lunis household, the music dimmed and the lights flicked on as the chauffeur opened the door from the outside with a low bow. The six exited the limo, and the driver's eyes gleamed with approval as Newton thanked him with a sizeable tip. Their limo was out of sight before the sextet had reached the threshold of the house, the driver determined to leave before Newton realized how much he'd just 'spent' and demanded his tip back. Needless to say, no one paid any heed to the sleek black car as they walked slowly up to the front door, despite the rush they were supposed to be in.

Feet slowly shuffled forward as their owners' thoughts raced. The inevitable grew closer and closer until the six teenagers were finally under the porch light, looking at each other, waiting for someone to break the silence.

Eventually, the ticking clock caused Newton to clear his throat awkwardly, breaking the spell. "We should really be preparing to leave…" He trailed off as Kimmy looked up at him with a sad smile and gave him a peck on the lips.

"We know, honey."

Both Newton and Amy turned to their respective dates with bittersweet smiles and crooked grins, but before they could get halfway through their good-bye speeches, they were interrupted by Andre and Kimmy making eye contact and chuckling, effectively killing the moment and causing curious glances from the trio.

"Andre, honey", Amy began, unsure of whether to be irritated that he had killed the mood or confused as to why he was laughing. She settled on both. "I had this whole dramatic speech planned out and you're kind of ruining it."

Newton chose to be more straightforward, turning to his date and asking, "Why are you laughing?"

"Because, silly", Kimmy giggled, bopping him on the nose with her index finger and smiling as Newton's confused gaze went cross-eyed to look at it. "You think we're not going to spend every last second until you leave spending time with you and milking it for all it's worth!"

"Yeah," Andre confirmed, a good-natured smirk on his face as he looked down at his own date, who was wrinkling her nose in confusion. "I'd say we'd drive you to the airport and walk you to TSA, even, but considering you're apparently not doing air travel, well…." Andre rubbed the back of his neck in confusion. "I guess we'll just walk you guys as far as we can, really. I'm not wasting a second of this," he concluded, reaching down to pull Amy up for a quick kiss.

"Well, technically, we are flying by air", Amy mumbled, still in a dazed state from the kiss that left fireworks on her lips. Andre raised an eyebrow, but before he could ask her to clarify, Lance butted in to cover for her blunder.

"And this is as far as you can walk us", he insisted, the faint trace of nervousness only perceptible to the two women beside him that knew him the most. "Really."

The two outsiders frowned at him, looking towards their respective dates - Andre with a quirked eyebrow and Kimmy with a hand on her hip. The tension in the air grew as the Galalunians realized that neither Earthling would give in easily, if at all. They began to consider different ways they could convince the pair to leave so they could get preparations to return home underway, but their respective trains of thought were suddenly derailed by a low humming sound and a sudden light-blue glow that began to seep under the side fence to their backyard.

Andre and Kimmy glanced at each other, and then began walking toward the source of the light with mixed parts confusion and curiosity. The Galalunian quartet, however, just looked at each other with slight horror on their faces before dashing to stop the two from advancing any further.

"Eh, hehe, hey, Andre", Amy stuttered nervously, a stark contrast from the confident young girl they had all grown to know as she stepped between her date and her backyard and put a hand on his chest to stop him from moving forward. "You know, uh, we really need to - I mean to say, that is -" seeing that her words weren't slowing him down, Amy suddenly stopped stuttering and gave Andre a firm push back, looking him directly in the eye. "Will you stop and listen to me?!"

Kimmy likewise stopped her forward motion to the backyard's side gate, Newton's own attempts at distracting her from the mysterious glow having proven futile. The entire group stopped for a second to look at the younger redhead, who simply sighed and rubbed a hand over her face, smearing a bit of her mascara. After a second, she removed her hand and looked up to Andre with a pleading expression to match her tone.

"Look….remember what I said earlier tonight? About secrets that I'd tell you -" Lance and Ilana stiffened a bit, shooting each other a slightly concerned look, "- but that I can't, because they're not mine?" Lance and Ilana relaxed, and Andre sighed. Nodding his head in confirmation, he shot a sideways glance at Kimmy and explained a bit further.

"They're always rushing about, yeah? Doing stuff behind our backs that they think we don't notice, and they never tell us what it is?" Kimmy nodded, while the Galalunians started a bit at the unanticipated perceptiveness of the pair of Earthlings. "Well, what Amy was telling me earlier is that, though they'd like to tell us, they can't, because they don't, well…. Have permission, in a sense."

Andre hesitated a bit, and a small, devilish smile crossed his face. "I kind of think of it," he glanced briefly at Lance and Ilana, then back to Kimmy - "like when you know that two people like each other, but each one of them has made you promise not to tell the other person."

"Even though it'd be so much simpler if they both just knew," Kimmy finished, smiling as Lance and Ilana briefly looked at each other and blushed.

Lance regained his composure enough to clear his throat and clarify, "Yes, but it's quite a bit more complicated than that."

Kimmy looked up at the stars and let out a soft sigh. "Yeah, I think I understand that. We've all been in situations where it would be easier if we could say something, but it's not our place to help." She looked at Newton and gave a sad smile. "I remember the first night you came to see me after you came back from your 'extended vacation'. You said that there were some things that were beyond your control..."

"...that aren't my secrets to tell", Newton finished with a nod, the memory of that night clear in his processor. He smiled gratefully at Kimmy, who reached for his hand and took it."

Andre and Kimmy looked at each other once more, then nodded in what seemed like resignation. The latter turned to her boyfriend and draped her arms around his neck, giving him a quick peck on the lips. As she pulled away, she smiled sadly at him. "Honey…. If this is really something that you can't explain, we'll respect that."

Andre nodded, wiping away the slight streaked section of Amy's mascara and smiling down at her. "Don't get us wrong - we still really want to know what's going on", he chuckled. "But both Kimmy and I know that there are some things that you just can't share, and we can respect that-"

The humming that had been emanating from the house's backyard had slowly been increasing in volume throughout their entire conversation, and try as they might have to ignore it, pretending that whatever was in the backyard didn't exist was suddenly no longer an option when the humming ceased abruptly, followed by a loud whooshing that cut off with mechanical clinks. Right as Newton started suggesting that, perhaps they should move away from the gate to the backyard, what appeared to be the end of a metal ramp suddenly dropped down to the right of the group, smashing the gate and revealing a fairly large, glowing circular pod with a ramp leading up into it.

As the cliche alien-mist and accompanying blue glow surrounding the pod started to fade, the group was left with its Earth-dwelling pair gawking open-mouthed at the scene in awe, while the four Galalunians slapped a hand to their respective faces in equal parts astonishment and irritation.

"...Houston, it now appears we've lost any chance at subtlety."

A/N: Hey look guys told you I wasn't dead and was working on the next chapter

wow

I actually followed through for once since my freshman year of high school go me

Please review, it really makes my day~

EDIT: Got a great review from JD Write on a few suggestions for the chapter (like editing out the unnecessary comic relief part where Kimmy compares the situation to a friend with a huge zit.) and I took their ideas to heart. Also made the scene a bit more continuous with the story, throwing in a reference to chapter 2 (where Newton returns).