By the end of February, he had tracked down, with Katie's able assistance, most of the doctors and nurses who had seen Zan, and was compiling a comprehensive list of every procedure she'd undergone, every drug used, and every note made on her charts. The only area still lacking was a vital one, though. The doctor who had performed the original repairs on she crushed and shattered bones remained elusive, either on the other line, in consultation, or out of the office. Will was normally very patient, and he could understand that the doctor's current patients would come first, but in nearly a month, the man had found no time to return his call, and frankly, time was running out. The surgical team would have to be assembled in a matter of days, and the first thing he wanted to cover with them was her entire medical history.

Frustrated with yet another offer to leave voice mail, Will slammed the phone down. "Damn well go and get it myself if I have to," he muttered. He called out sharply at the knock in the door. "In," then regretted it. Katie had been put off by the doctor's staff at least three times for every one of his.

"Mrs. Stargazer from Earth to see you," Katie said, poking her head in the door.

"Thanks, Katie. Show her in. I'm sorry I snapped."

"I'll try New Light again," she offered.

"Don't bother. I'll probably have to go myself and make noise."

She nodded and opened the door further, ushering Carolyn in.

Will stood up to greet her, and hugged her warmly. "It's good to see you again, Carolyn."

"It's good to see you too, Will. I take it you got my little present?" She sat where he indicated, the fine wrinkles around eyes and mouth lending her a certain feeling of maturity and wisdom.

"I sure did. And I have a test for it that will really push the limits."

Carolyn smiled. "I heard something like that from Aurora. She asked me to bring you a little present of her own." She opened her briefcase on her knees and pulled out a brown envelope, handing it over. "She called it a reverse birthday gift, and that you would know what that meant."

Will opened the envelope and pulled out sheet after sheet of CT scans and x-rays. "I do know what she means. She's done me a huge favor." He studied each sheet quickly, then returned them to their envelope. "Will you thank her for me when you talk to her next? These are going to help a lot."

"Of course. May I ask what the project is?"

"I'll do you one better. I'll show you what we've done so far, and you can meet our volunteer tonight, as well. I'm sure she'd love to meet you." He escorted her out of his office and down the hall to a conference room where the project, nick-named "Bionic Woman" was taking shape. She studied the preliminary sketches, the lists of requirements, and the still forming lists of what was needed and available.

"You seem to have it under control, Will, but it's huge. Are you sure you can do this?"

"Almost certain. And we have a back-up plan in the works as well, to convert the old exo-frame to the new material and clean up some of the mistakes that were made the first time, just in case." He watched as she frowned at the close-up photos of Zan's current structures. "Carolyn, who do you work with at New Light Medical Solutions?"

Now she frowned at him. "I don't know that we have a contract with them at all. I don't remember every company off the top of my head, but I usually recall if I've seen their name on a project request." She pulled a thick black organizer form her shoulder bag and flipped it open. "I don't see any listing here for a New Light of any kind. Who are they?"

"They did that," he said, pointing to the pictures she had looked at.

Her eyes grew frosty. "If they did, it was without our permission. When was it done?"

"Spring 1988. I didn't think anyone had a contract for the Argentium at that time aside from the UESC."

"No one did," she said darkly. "Do you have the serial number from her armor?"

"Yes." He picked through a short stack of papers. "Here it is. LSA-6529-I. That 'I' is strange. No one else had a letter on the end."

Carolyn looked distressed. "No. They wouldn't. The 'I' stands for Incomplete. That armor was intended for someone else, but we had come up with the Mark II in the meantime, the decision was made to use it instead."

"Aurora was the first Mark II recipient." He stared at the photos. "So this was supposed to be Aurora's armor?"

"She was next on the schedule. After the UESC switched to the Mark II, this must have been stored somewhere, and someone with more greed than sense decided to sell it to some unscrupulous surgeon looking have the first private use." She sighed. "Will, I feel awful about this. How can we make it up to your volunteer? We should have requested this model back as soon as we knew it was going off-market."

He shook his head. "I don't think anyone would say it was your fault. You can't anticipate the greed of every random person. But if you think you would have any pull with the people at New Light, I'd appreciate your help getting the records from them."

"As good as done. Can I borrow your office for a while? And I'll need your fax number here, and a copy of the medical information release. I'm not letting them go until I have whatever it is you want."

She'd shooed him away from the office with instructions to take a break and see if someone would send her a cup of tea, When he returned a half hour later, she was standing behind the desk, watching the fax machine intently, phone still in one hand.

"No, you may not go now," she was saying. "I don't see pages printing out on my end. And I suggest if you want to get those films here overnight, you get someone there to shift themselves. It's a twelve-hour flight, as I am keenly aware, and you are running short on time. The address is Mr. Will Hart, care of Phoenix Medical, New Ziveu, Huntington, New Eden."

She listened to someone on the other end for a moment.

"No, I would not say that at all. There is still the matter of your company using technology that was reserved for military use only at that point. Is that espionage or treason?" The fax started to offer up black and white pages, and she turned around. "Well, I suggest you get your lawyer to explain it to you. Good day!" She dropped the handset into its cradle.

"You got it?" Will asked, handing her a cup of tea. He immediately started riffling through the faxed sheets.

"Yes, after pointing out that they may never be considered for a NexTech contract if they didn't become a great deal more cooperative. The films are being overnighted, and if they're not here before I leave in the morning, I'll call and rant at them again."

Will tore himself away from the grainy pages covered with cramped writing. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Do you mind if I go back and look at some more of what you're planning."

"No. Go ahead." He waved, buried back in the messy writing.

She chuckled softly and left.

Zan looked up as the door opened, then smiled as Will stuck his head in. "Hi. Did they come out?" she asked hopefully.

He nodded, coming in and closing the door. "They're going over them now. They'll ready to see you in just a few minutes." He stood in front of her as she sat on the side of the examining table, holding her hands. "How do you feel? Still want to see them all at once? We can do it one at a time."

"So I can be a guinea pig 6 times over instead of once?" She shook her head. "No. I'd rather just get it over with."

He leaned in and kissed her brow. "I want to be sure they understand, so they may be a while looking at you."

"I know. I'm just glad to be doing something now." She squeezed his hands. "Did I ever thank you for this?"

"Thank you for trying with me." He was hovering in close when there was a knock at the door. "We always get interrupted," he murmured, then straightened up and moved over to the door. He looked back at her. "Yes?"

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes."

He opened the door. "Doctors, the Duchess is willing for you all to conduct your examinations at once."

Zan lifted her chin as the doctors filed in, casting aside the feeling of being a single goldfish in a very large bowl. She nodded as the murmured introductions, then stood and let then do their work.

Will saw the tension creep across her face and slipped around the edge of the room to stand in front of her. He took her hands again and held them. "Try to ignore them," he said softly. "It won't last forever, I promise."

She nodded and set herself to endure the prods and questions.


The doctors had gathered across the room, talking in a quiet circle as they compared notes.

"Do you think they're done?" Zan asked as Will handed her a robe infinitely more comforting than the hospital gown.

"I'm not sure." He frowned as he looked at them.

"Something wrong?"

"No. Not really." He shook his head. "I never liked the 'I am the Hand of God' complex doctors seem to have. I'll see where they are now." He squeezed her hand reassuringly, then moved to join the doctors. On the way, he caught the door as it popped open.

"Is this the room? Sorry I'm late." Will watched a young man almost bounce into the room. "I'm Brad Daugherty. Someone said I could see the Duchess of Huntington in here?"

Will blinked as his hand was grasped and shaken enthusiastically. "Uhm, yeah. I'm Will Hart, the-"

"Oh, I know all about you, Mr. Hart. I've been following your advances in Cybernetics for a while now. I've got to say it's a real honor to meet you. I saw your conceptual Sentroid plans when I interned at NexTech. I have got to say that's the most creative stuff I've seen yet. At least, it was. Mrs. Stargazer told me about what you were planning, and when heard you were looking for a doctor to do the surgery..."

"You're a doctor?" Will asked, still trying to catch up on the one-sided conversation.

"Orthopedic surgeon, yes. I got my MD at Harvard, and I've done residencies in a lot of different hospitals. And I worked one summer in the Research Lab at NexTech. That's where I met Mrs. Stargazer. She said you were looking for someone to do something new with the Arg."

"Arg?"

"Argentium. That's got to be the coolest stuff I've ever seen. And the way it's super malleable until it's been kindled? That's so amazing. You don't still have any of the original on you, do you? No. I didn't think so. I did a paper while I was still pre-med on cybernetics, but I never dreamed I'd really get to see any. This is like a dream come true." He looked past Will to where Zan sat on the table. "Hey, hi there." He walked over as Will watched.

He approached Zan with his hand out. "Brad Daugherty. I'm a doctor."

"Umm.. hi." Zan tentatively accepted the hand, glancing past him to Will with an arched eyebrow as it to say, Is this guy for real?

Will shrugged, but Brad didn't notice. "So I hear everyone calls you Her Grace. That's cool. I'm not graceful at all myself. More of a klutz, especially when I'm nervous. But don't worry. I've never like, dropped anything in a patient. So it's cool."

"Uh-huh." The other eyebrow went up. She shrugged slightly. "It's just part of my title."

"That's cool. Last girl I knew who had a title, man, it should have been 'Queen Bitch of the Universe.' Wow. So I have these papers, my resume and recommendations and stuff.?" He turned back to Will, handing over a folder with papers hanging out the ends. "I should give them to you, though, right? Cause you're the guy in charge."

Zan reached up and covered the beginnings of a grin. shoulders shaking slightly as she muffled her laughter

"So what do you do, Your Grace? I mean aside from being graceful and all?"

She cleared her throat a moment to get rid of the laughter. "Graceful is not something I am. Just watch me limping about after a sparing match with my head of security." She shrugged again, but she was smiling. "You mean besides getting into trouble every now and then?"

"Her Grace is the Duchess of Huntington," Dr. Lonergan put in.

Brad was paying him no attention. "Well, if the big man's right, we can fix the limping some. Unless you totally suck. Can't do much about that from my end. You tangle with other kids a lot when you were young? Healing injuries during bone growth are different than later on."

"Shot down while defending New Eden." She left it at that. "And I'm not THAT bad, he's just that damned good."

"Okay, so I'm guessing you were more than 10 or 12. That's cool. Tough girl. Works for me."

"We have her Grace's medical records available." Dr. Lonergan tried again.

"Cool. I just like to check for myself." He turned back to Zan. "Okay. This is the part where I have to get touchy-feely, but only if that's cool with you. Okay?"

She nodded absently, finding him amusing if nothing else.

"Okay. So hop on down and..." He looked over to the cluster of doctors. "Hey, guys. Can we have the room? The lady's not wearing rabbit ears or a tail."

Will opened the door. "Gentlemen, why don't we give Dr. Daugherty a few minutes." He waited as they filed out, then closed the door, remaining inside.

"So you're with her?" Daugherty asked. When Will nodded, Daugherty did as well. "Cool. Okay, your Grace. I'm gonna have a look. Tell me if I bug or anything."

"'Magic and technology, voodoo dolls and chants, electricity will make, weird science. Fantasy and microchips, shooting from the hips. something different will make weird science,'" she muttered as she got down off the table.

"Cool. Boingo. Only the best, right?" He peeled the gown apart a little at the back and slid it down over her shoulders. "You mind holding this a minute, Mr. Hart? I'd like her Grace to let her arms hang down naturally."

He pulled a stethoscope out of his inside jacket pocket. "I'm gonna start with some normal doctor-type stuff." He set it to her back, and it was warmer than some of the other devices she'd felt that day. "Go ahead and breath for me. In and out, deep as you can."

"Weird Science movie soundtrack, Fast rifts on the guitar." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She felt relaxed, less tense than she had during the exams by the others.

"Oh, yeah. I just like most of their stuff. It's different. Now take a deep breath and hold it, and I'm going to make sure you're still alive." He didn't see Will flinch, but she did, and smiled at him, mouthing, it's okay. "Well, good news, your Grace. You are officially alive. Now I'm gonna have a closer look at this bionic suit of yours."

"Good thing, I'd hate to find out I was a zombie all this time."

He parted more of the back of her gown. "Wow. I hope you're not offended or anything, but this sucks. I mean really. I've seen real Argentium applications, and this looks nothing like them, almost. I mean, it's the real stuff and all, but whoever did this knew jack about it. No offense."

"None taken and your right. It does."

He pressed her in a few places with careful fingers and noted her reactions, then crouched down to examine her hips and legs. Finally, he stood. "Okay. You can go ahead and put the gown back on, or your clothes or whatever."

"Do you want to review with the other gentlemen?" Will asked.

Brad shrugged. "Not really. I know their type. They're all out there trying to decide if they want to gamble their reps on something like this. I know I'm not what you really wanted, Mr. Hart. I'm not mature, I'm not experienced from here to Jupiter and back again. And I probably talk too much. But I have something they don't have. I believe in it. I've seen what Arg can do, and I think you're headed in the right direction. I don't care about fame or money. I care about science and people. I'm probably not what you thought you wanted, but I'd bet I'm what you need."

He shook Zan's hand again. "Good luck, if I don't see you again." Then he walked out of the room.

She was humming softly under her breath, lost in thought. "Hmm? Thanks.. " she said to the closing door. "Don't know about you, but he's interesting. If nothing else for his chatter."

"He's right that he's not very experienced," Will said, flipping through his file, "but what he has is in all the right places. It would take two of any of the others to match his areas of study."

Zan nodded absently as she dressed, then started chuckling. "Damn, now I have that song stuck in my head."

Will sighed. "So what do you think? It's more your decision than mine. He's not operating on me."

She hopped back up on the table, swinging her feet and looking at the ground while in thought. "I like him," she said, ticking off numbers on her fingers. "1- He spoke to me as a person. 2 - He asked first before prodding around. 3 - He's got good taste in music 4 - Are you SURE he doesn't have the energizer rabbit logo on him somewhere? Oh, and 5 - his stethoscope WASN'T ice cold!"

"I wasn't looking for body art, myself. He was the only one who didn't treat you like their personal project. I don't know if his taste in music is relevant, but his bedside manner is. Okay, Zan. You have yourself a surgeon." Will opened the door to the hall, finding it nearly deserted. Only Brad Daugherty remained, leaning against the opposite wall. "Where did everyone go?"

"Off with Dr. Lonergan to tour the facility."

"You weren't interested?"

He shrugged. "I wanted to wait and hear what you decided first. But it looked like a cool place from what I saw getting up here. I might hang around a while before I head home."

"You'll be hanging around a long while." Will held out his hand. "Welcome to the project."

Brad shook it enthusiastically. "Wow, you mean it? This is too cool. You won't be sorry. Mr. Hart." He ran in and shook Zan's hand again as well. "You'll see, your Grace. You won't be a bit sorry."

Chuckling again at his enthusiasm, Zan glanced at Will with a smile. "I hope not."

Brad pumped her hand a few more times, then realized what he was doing. "Oh. Sorry, You're gonna need that." He turned back to Will. "When do you need me to start?"

"I have some files ready to-"

"Cool. I can do that right away. This is great. It's moments like this that made me become a doctor." He looked from Will to Zan. "I'll just wait in the hall, okay?" He was out again in a flash.

Still smiling, she slid off the table and walked over to Will. "Well, looks like that part is out of the way, what's left?" She reached up and draped her arms over his shoulders, threading her fingers through his hair.

He smiled at her touch. "Everything, it seems. One more thing off the list just adds another somewhere else. I have to get the good doctor started on the files and fill him in on where we are with the designs for the replacements and pain management.... Maybe it's a hundred new things for every finished thing."

"One step at a time." She rested her head against his shoulder. "One step at a time and everything will get done."

"So how are we doing, Brad?" Will asked, pausing in the young surgeon's open door.

"On schedule, Mr. Hart. I sent the specs for the pieces we need to NexTech and gave them our deadline. The promised on a stack of Bibles to have it here in time. We're still up in the air about the cartilage replacement. And I think I have a lead on an anesthesiologist for us. Can you meet him this afternoon?"

"I think so. Call Katie and have her write it down for me. Let's go over the cartilage replacement again. What's wrong with the saline implants?" Will asked, entering and sitting down.

"I just don't think we're going to see the best performance out of them. You know the stress Arg puts out at joints. If we use saline, even in the high-test format, I think we're going to find Ms. V. developing joint pain in a few years. We could always go back in later and make replacements, but this is a one-shot self-contained deal. No one wants to go back every 7 to 10 years to upgrade things." Brad leaned back in his chair, feet up on the desk. He referred to it often as his thinking pose.

Will nodded. "So sell me on silicon."

"It's a much higher grade than used previously used, and the containment material is super-strong. I'm absolutely certain we won't have a leakage problem. And it's resilient enough to provide 35-40 years of use before it loses elasticity. And it will hold up during that time even taking into account Ms. V.'s activities. And three days ago, I would have said go for it without hesitation."

"But now?" Will asked.

"When I talked to Mrs. Stargazer, she said to hold out a little while. There's something cookin' in her kitchen, and she wants us to have the first taste."

Will's mouth twisted in a wry grin. "Why does that sound so awful?"

"She's serious. It has something to do with the Arg IV. I told her I'd let you know."

"Okay. When is your anesthesiologist arriving?"

"Supposed to be here at two. Bring him by your office then?"

Will nodded. "Sounds good." He stood up. "I'll see you later, Brad."

"Cool. Later, Mr. H."


He sat at the desk in the study, a book open in front of him. The only light came from the desk lamp. It illuminated the text in the book and not much else, but he didn't see those words. He hadn't for some time now. His mind was in some far distant place. He didn't hear when the door opened and closed behind him.

"You Ok?"

He blinked then looked up and let out a sigh. "Yes.. no I don't know anymore." Reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes.

"It's Emily isn't it?"

He just nodded. "How did you know?"

"Call it a good guess." She laid her hands on his tense shoulders, rubbing them. "Besides, I know what yesterday and today are."

"And what is that?" He leaned back in the chair and into her hands.

She turned the chair so that it was facing her. With that she slid into his lap, arms about his neck. She felt him tense even more when she did. They had come to an understanding about what happened several months ago, but he was still shy about some things.

"Happy Birthday Will."

"How'd you..?" He was taken aback that she knew it was his birthday. No one had ever asked and very rarely was it even celebrated. He looked into her eyes, searching for a moment.

She chuckled softly. "I own ZIV Enterprises Unlimited, which is the parent company of Phoenix Medical, whom you currently work for. So in essence, you work for me. And don't you go shutting me out." She tapped him on the nose with a finger. "I've never stood on formality, and I'm not about to start."

He smiled somewhat at her. "All right."

"I'd offer you a birthday present, but I don't have anything at the moment. And what I would love to give you Well" she chuckled again, "you'd turn as red as a beet"

He got the picture and started to blush. "I.. uh umm"

"See I told you."

He couldn't help but chuckle some. "You're a wicked woman Zanna."

"I try to be. But still, let me at least give you this.." With that she leaned in and kissed him.

He hesitated at first but soon enough, he returned it.

They spent the rest of that night, or rather early morning, enjoying each other's presence and talking about small things that had nothing to do with the upcoming events.

"MacMac!"

"Here, Master Hart. Can I help you?"

Will stormed out of the study, face cloudy. "Where's Zan? I can't find her anywhere I the house."

The seneschal wrung his hands, an old nervous habit. "She's gone out, Master Hart."

"I could have guessed that much. But she left without a word about where she was going or when she would be back." The long days at the office as the surgery drew closer had started to wear even on Will's long-suffering patience.

Mac, the former Yes-Man, still twitched occasionally when the former SilverHawk's eye fell on him. "She She was called away."

"By who? What happened? Where is she now?"

"Out in the Plains, sir. She received an e-mail from someone with some troubling news and immediately made plans to travel to Earth. She contacted David before she left."

"When was this?"

"She left early yesterday morning to collect David then go on to Earth."

Will stopped in his tracks. "She's been gone over 24 hours, and I only just noticed?"

Mac nodded. "You went to the office before she left yesterday. Then when you returned today, you locked yourself in the study and left orders not to be disturbed."

Will scarped a hand through his hair. "Sounds like a good chunk of it's my fault. Okay. Put everything on hold here. I'll head out and see if her folks have seen her." He started to walk away, then turned back. "Thanks, Mac. Sorry if I was a little abrupt."

"Not a problem, sir. Next train to Cherokee leaves in 15 minutes. You should hurry."

Will waved and jogged off.


The bench under the tree was quite comfortable to Will's way of thinking, and he sipped at his steaming coffee appreciatively in the cooling night air.

A bonfire blazed cheerily in at pit at the center of the clearing, and rings of figures danced around it. Though invited to join them, Will had declined. He still knew too little about the observances Zan's adopted family followed to feel completely comfortable trying them himself. One thing was completely clear to him, however. Whatever their particular beliefs entailed, they were all completely serious about them. As soon as the fire had been it, the champagne bottles and glasses had been whisked away, and clans had settled themselves in different areas, listening intently as Michael Sr., Kestrel in Flight, had stood and began speaking. The sing-song quality of his Cherokee was beautiful, even though Will had comprehended next to nothing. No one had seemed surprised when David and Adryanna had bid everyone goodnight early in the evening and returned to the cabin they were borrowing from David's older brother, James.

The dance broke up, and Zan slipped onto the bench next to Will, leaning into him and panting a little. "Gods," she breathed when she had the breath to spare. "I haven't done that in a long time."

"Really?" he asked flatly. In the first rush of his arrival, his nervous irritation had evaporated, but now, in spite of the beautiful night and the celebration, it was returning.

Aware of his moods, Zan studied him through narrowed eyes. "What stick crawled up your butt?" she asked.

"If I knew you were going to have a family reunion this close to the surgery date, I would have pushed it back some."

"It's just one of those things, Will. I couldn't control the timing."

"Maybe not, but you could have left me a note. 'Hey, I'm flying off in an experimental craft to rescue my brother's girlfriend from her family, most of whom no one really understands.'"

She stared at him as if he'd gone daft. "I called your office. Repeatedly. Katie swore she'd give you the message."

"I didn't get anywhere near my office until well after Katie left." He studied her a moment in the flickering of the bonfire. "We're probably both to blame here, aren't we?"

"There's probably more than enough to go around," Zan replied non-committally. "Will, you have to understand something here. This is my family, the only one I really had growing up, and if they call, I'm going to do my darnedest to come running."

"Adryanna has a family quite a family of her own to take care of her."

Zan closed her eyes and shook her head a moment. "You're not seeing the whole picture here, Will. First, her family was responsible for essentially abducting and confining her against her will, and her parents were forbidden from interfering. Second, she's one of my fledglings, too. Not like the others; she's too old for it. But she was still a very bitter child six years ago. And third, David is my brother, and he is completely devoted to her. If anything got between them, including her so-called relatives, he'd be crushed. So it's as much in his best interests as hers."

He thought back, to the times he had run to Emily's side with less consideration or concern for others. "I was worried when I realized how long you'd been gone," he confessed, wrapping an arm around her. "It only occurred to me then how long it had been since I'd seen you last."

"Can't go a day without me?" she teased.

"Not by choice."

She kissed his cheek and stood, pulling him to his feet as well. "Come on. We'll say good-night to everyone and catch the early train back in the morning. Neither David nor Adry are going to be noticing anyone but each other for quite a while."

She had been feeling edgy lately and she knew why, she just didn't want to say anything to anyone about it yet. At least, not to anyone other then those already involved. She would have preferred to work out the tension by sparing with Kit, but that might cause more problems then it solved. So instead she retreated to one of the smaller rooms, to stand in the dark and brood.

She stood there staring out the window, watching the moonlight play on the fountain of the courtyard below. The lights were off and on the stereo the soundtrack to the movie Backdraft played. She didn't turn as the door opened then shut softly behind her.

"Mac said I would find you here"

"Mac's a tattle tale sometimes."

She could see his reflection in the window as he walked up behind her. Gently he placed his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them.

"Nervous?" he asked.

"Me? Never. I mean what's there to be nervous about? Only going in for a life changing surgery in the next few days." She hugged herself tighter.

He knew how much of what she said was bluff and how much was the truth. He slid his hands down her arms wrapping her in a hug of his own. "We can cancel.."

"No.. I made my decision and I'm sticking to it. I never back down on my word. You know that by now." She leaned back into his embrace. It always felt like she was being covered in a warm blanket. Safe and protected. "Will?"

"Hmm?" His chin rested on the top of her head.

"Are you sure your not a broadcast empath?"

"No. Why?" Curiosity colored his voice.

"Anytime you're with me I feel like I'm surrounded by a warm blanket, safe, protected and loved." She said turning in his arms, bringing her arms up to drape about his shoulders, burying her face against his chest.

"Because you are." He placed a finger under her chin and gently lifted her face up so that he could look at her. "Because I love you." He leaned down and kissed her. Not on the cheek, but on the lips this time. A gentle, chaste kiss.

Which soon blossomed into something more as she returned it, letting him know without words that she loved him in return. After it ended, by mutual consent, they stared each other in the eyes, lost within each other. "Stay with me tonight? Stay with me always?"

"You only have to ask." He rested his forehead against hers. He reached down and picked her up, cradling her against his chest as he turned. "It's late and we both need sleep." He took her to her room. He watched as she slowly started disrobing.

"Nothing between us tonight. Just you and me. Please?" Her dress slipped off her shoulders as she asked.

His breath caught as he watched her. He had seen her nude before, but that was always during an exam or a test. This was something completely different. Sensual, without the overlay of lust or sex. He nodded and started to get undressed, not trusting his voice at the moment.

They slipped into the warm bed together, adjusting to each other with an uncanny easy. As if they were meant for each other. That night they slept together, nothing between them, heart to heart. Her arms about his neck and shoulders, head cradled against his neck. His arms about her waist, hands gently stroking her back and sides.