*the lil thingy that goes here saying that I know I don't own Slayers or am making money off of this*

Thoughts, After Dinner

Zelgadis watched Lina from the other side of the table. The meal was over with and she was trying to explain something complicated to Gourry. Why Lina always tried amazed Zelgadis, she knew that he was more than likely going to forget it or not even understand it all together, but still she tried.

He watched her emotions range from pure frustration, to the momentary hope that Gourry did understand what ever it was she was trying to teach him and finally to anger as she pounded Gourry into the table. Zelgadis would never admit it, but it was nice to see someone try the red head's patience. The gods only knows how many times she had drove him to the point of wanting to pull his wire hair out.

As the night moved on and everyone had moved off to their own rooms, Zelgadis still sat down stairs alone. It was a nice time of night, no one else was around. He allowed himself a small grin as he remembered how Lina looked as Amelia scolded her for picking on Gourry. He knew Lina was sorry for hitting him hard enough that Amelia had to use a Recovery spell on him. He was sure Amelia was still lecturing her and when Lina started to yell at Amelia, he had simply reminded her that it was better Amelia be the one giving the lecture, than Sylphiel. That had shut Lina up quickly.

'Lina.' He let his thoughts drift back to how she had seen past that stone skin and heart to see him as simply Zelgadis. She had been the first person in a long time to tease him, just because she could. She didn't care how strong he was or how stubborn he could be, she knew what she expected from him and wouldn't take anything less. Was it any wonder that he had developed feeling toward her.

Sighing, he sipped his coffee. He heard the crash come from upstairs and knew someone just became a target for Lina's personality. The shriek from Amelia told him it was Gourry that once more endured the wrath of the "Enemy of All Who Lives". He shook his head and knew the blond man was in good hands with Amelia upstairs. Gourry wasn't stupid, he knew better to think that. He was just, absent minded and mostly clueless when it came to Lina. Zelgadis knew Gourry was like Lina, he didn't care that he was a chimera he probably didn't fully understand what a chimera was.

Zelgadis sat watching Amelia come down stairs and get a bag of ice before returning upstairs. She had said Miss Lina had used a table on Gourry when he walked into the bath without knocking first. That made Zelgadis almost laugh. He knew that Gourry didn't mean to hurt Lina's feeling about her body, but he did.

Zelgadis always stayed firm to his belief that he left the two at the road to Atlas City because of his freakish appearance. Deep down inside, the real reason he had left was because he knew Lina and Gourry had already fallen into that trap called love. Though neither will admit to it, and it still hurt him sometimes to be around them, but it was the right choice to make. They completed each other, in many ways.

An hour or so passed and Zelgadis heard Amelia come down stairs again. He watched her get a glass of milk and sit at the same table as he. She didn't speak much, he could she was tired. Lina was tossing in her sleep and was keeping her awake it seems. He chuckled at her rant about the injustice of depriving someone of sleep and that caused her to make a face at him.

Sitting alone with the Princess of Saillune, Zelgadis studied her features. She was the youngest and had the most growing to do, but he figured that in another couple of years she would out grow Lina. That would be interesting to see happen, he mused. She was full of energy and had a zest for life that he didn't and he found it annoying at times. He smiled watching her doze off in the chair her milk half finished.

Meeting Amelia had all be in thanks to Lina, and that made him feel even more towards her. True sometimes those feeling were the urge to strangle Lina, but it had grown into a small feeling of gratitude. Amelia was a good partner for him in magical fights, both were stronger than Lina in white magic and with the enemies they fight, it was a good thing. Amelia also tried to get close to him, and he retreated most of the time. He wasn't used to girls trying for his affection, but every once in a while before he could put his mask in place, Amelia would make him smile.

Setting his cup of coffee down, Zelgadis walked around the table and picked the sleeping Princess up. He carried her up to the room she and Lina was sharing and placed her back into her bed. Pulling the cover up over her, he smiled as she murmured in her sleep. Slipping out of the room he gently shut the door, but not before looking back one last time at the two most important women in his life.