A/N: I might take a break from this guys…I'll post more chaps soon (a few days?), but I have to make time for other stuff…I might just post chap 16- 17, but that's pretty much it :)

Groaning, I opened my eyes and shut them again as light proved too bright for my sensitive eyes. When I reopened them, I was in a strange, warm room with tan-painted walls and a strange, bright glow about the room.

The same old woman from the hut on the first day of my life in Tortall grunted at me and felt my forehead with the back of her hand. She grunted again and walked out of the room, then came back with Roald and Khalil trailing behind her.

'You have fifteen minutes, then you're out,' she growled at Roald and Khalil, her gaze threatening, with an edge to her voice.

Roald and Khalil nodded politely and watched her leave the room before coming and sitting beside my bed on the chairs set out for them.

I managed a weak smile, but it brought a throbbing, slow headache, so I let it drop. 'Hi,' I croaked, my voice strangely weak and throaty.

'Hey,' they replied, smiling just as mildly before dropping the fake smiles.

'How are you feeling?' Roald asked worriedly.

'Fine,' I replied.

'Well,' Roald said after an awkward silence. 'I'll go…tell your friends that you're fine.'

Khalil shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his eyes on anything but me as he coughed.

'Khalil,' I said softly.

'Hmm?'

'You don't have to be so quiet. I'm not allergic to noise, God knows I've lived with it ever since the day I met you.'

I smiled gently, but he just continued staring at the blanket, expressionless.

'You know,' he said timidly, after another long silence, 'I didn't know life could be such a big deal until I saw you lying on the floor, looking dead and pale. I didn't know what to think, I didn't want to think, because then thought would lead to conclusions and…you looked dead.'

'But I'm alive. Yes, it's me, Reem, in the flesh. As scary as that is, it's a fact, so face it bud.'

He chuckled and held onto my hand, 'Don't ever do that again, alright?'

'Yes, sir!'

'No, really now,' he said seriously, cupping my chin in his hand. 'You worried me half to death. You know how much I care about you…'

I gulped and smiled, 'Yeah, I know.'

Is it me or is it getting too hot? I thought glumly.

'Good,' he dropped his hand and combed his hair with his fingers, sighing. 'Now I'd like an explanation to why you fainted and scared the shit out of me?'

I frowned. 'I don't know. I just felt…it's hard to explain. It's like I had no control over my body, like voodoo or something.'

Khalil frowned back at me. 'This place is really…weird. I wish I'd read the books at least once, because I really don't get this…Tortall. I guess it was a mage who voodooed your body?'

I laughed. 'No, mages wouldn't waste their time on a pathetic excuse of a human girl.'

'You're right, nothing happened to Sandry.'

I laughed again, 'True, true. Why does everything bad happen to the gorgeous babes with the hottest bodies?'

'It's a curse for us beautiful people,' he grinned.

'Out you get, the lady needs her sleep and you're scaring the life out of her with that face of yours!' the old lady snapped, glaring at Khalil as soon as she was inside the room.

Khalil flushed and gave me a weak hug before scooting.

The old lady was a Healer, I realized, as she spread her healing magic over my body and relaxed every inch of it. I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

I nearly jumped when I saw the Yamani squire sitting beside my "bed" when I next woke. My eyes opened and my mind jolted awake as I laid my eyes on "him". I was getting sick of his face, his irritating smile and the fact that I didn't know his name and had to refer to him as the "Yamani squire" or plain "him".

'What the hell is your name, anyway?' I snapped, pulling the sheets tighter around me in sudden self-consciousness.

He raised one perfectly shaped (probably plucked) eyebrow. 'Why would you want to know that?'

'I dunno, maybe coz people have names for a reason? To call them by, smartarse.'

He chuckled and looked past me towards the window outside. 'In Tortall, they call me—'

'Who the hell are you, you mongrel and how did you get past me?'

We jumped and turned to the old hag, the Healer, with strands of the grey hair sticking about her head in a wild way, making her seem crazier than she sounded. Her bright blue eyes were glaring spitefully at the squire, while her lips trembled with rage. Obviously, she was very protective of her patients…and I happened to be one.

'I am a squire,' he replied coolly, and I felt like smashing that pretty, calm head of his.

'And he was about to tell me his name, weren't you?' I eyed him sternly, unblinking.

He made a face at me. 'Atkin.'

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow, and the hag's turn to start swearing, in a very censored way, and push "Atkin" out of the hut, but he silenced her with a long, hard look and she, too obediently for my comfort, left the room.

I gawked at him and shuddered, realizing he'd used his magic…

'Why did you do that?' I screamed.

He smiled smugly and sat back on his chair to "eye" me. 'Because I can.'

'But…she didn't even fight you and I know she has the Gift!' I squealed.

'A lesser Gift doesn't have much of a chance against a powerful Gift,' he replied calmly.

I smirked. 'And you're the humble one aren't you? All modest and clean of guilt.'

'I say the truth, I am powerful.'

'And I'm Tinkerbell with her dusty magic.'

He raised his eyebrows and gave me the popular look of what-the-hell-you- freak? And as usual, the twinkle reappeared in his eyes.

'Don't worry…movie thing…from the future…maybe if you're powerful enough you'll live…oh, for another 5000 years or so and watch Peter Pan, it's really good you know…but I didn't really like the Return to Neverland as much, it was a good sequel and all, but it was no where near as good as the original! But you know…'

I stumbled on, wondering why the hell I'd gotten so chattery as I yawned and exhausted myself by all the talking I was doing.

'What time is it? I'm getting real sleepy, must be that old hag, probably slipped something in me with her magic and got me all talkative and now I'm bloody exhausted, would you mind handing me that glass of water, thank you, now where was I?—'

I stopped myself and bit my lip to stop talking…I just couldn't stop talking!

My eyes widened as I turned to look at Atkin, a strange, strangled noise came out of my throat as I felt a bubble of a scream waiting to be wrenched out.

It was him doing this to me! But why? Why would he want me to babble on like the insane retard I was?

The look on his face was impatient, waiting for something…

Waiting for me to say something maybe? All I knew was that I didn't care for anyone to use magic on me, especially him.

How dare he? I thought to myself, clenching my teeth as I tried to calm myself down.

But my anger boiled and bubbled in me and thanks to my wonderful temper, it exploded with a rather unpleasant burst of insane words and the like. 'You bloody bastard! What the hell are you doing? Don't you dare use that bloody magic of yours on me, if I wasn't so damn tired, I'd kill you! And if I wasn't half-naked, you'd be dead anyway! Get the bloody hell out of here!'

'Right… Look, I came here to see how you were. No need for the yells. And I am not using my "magic" on you.'

He got up, no emotions betraying his face, and left quietly, swamping me with guilt as I fell back against the hard bed, grumbling to myself. But he sneaked me a nasty grin as he closed the door behind him. I swore loudly, enough for him to hear me, and bit my lip and the insides of cheeks until the last drop of my steaming anger was calmed once again into nothingness.

Just what in the name of God does that moron want from me? I thought angrily.

'Hey again gorgeous!' Khalil's cheerful voice boomed as he entered and arranged the flood of flowers around in my room. I'd been put back in my room the night Atkin had come to "visit" me. That was three nights ago now.

'Hey,' I smiled back at him, throwing the sheets away and stretching and yawning as I slid into my slippers and gave Khalil a huge, engulfing, thankful hug. 'You rock…you know that? You are amazing!'

He laughed and kissed my forehead, 'Yeah I knew that, just been waiting for you to admit it.'

I made a face at him and tugged at his hair. 'My burly man speaks the truth…too plainly. Now get to it, burly man! Fix the flowers, fix my bed, fix the room and then fix my hair coz I'm a mess!'

'Now that I gotta agree to!'

I slapped his arm playfully, 'Yeah, yeah, the Mess of Hair has awoken, watch the people run!'

He laughed again and patted my tousled hair. 'Come on, wash up, get changed and go have some breakfast, everyone's waiting to see you out of that bed.'

'I cannot believe I slept for two days in a row!' I breathed, shaking my head with disbelief. 'Well, I'm off…'

'Reem!!!!'

I took deep, deep breaths and counted to ten before I entered the room and listened to the continuous squeals of 'OH MY GOD' 'REEM' 'YOU'RE AWAKE' 'YOU'RE HERE' 'GODDESS' 'YOU LOOK SO MUCH BETTER' 'SIT DOWN!' etc, etc…

'Well yeah, I'm here, thanks, yeah I feel much better, mhm, I'm starving,' I replied, smiling as politely as possible and physically stopping myself from rolling my eyes and telling everyone to chill.

I looked around the table, watching the faces and their emotions carefully with a sweep of a glance as they chattered on without a care.

Hayley: face cheerful and openly kind as always, the hint of softness in her voice, she was as happy as ever. Serena: clinging to Khalil's arm with a satisfied smile on her face as she looked calmly and tenderly at Khalil, while he squeezed her hand back affectionately and smiled at me before turning back to Serena.

And Roald…

I turned away from his smile and looked out the window, unfocused and my mind swirling with different thoughts and emotions; like a washing machine, filled with dirty things that needed to be cleaned.

'…and so later on…a week or so…not much…just fun…out…'

Khalil was rambling on about a few things, but I was only half-listening, my mind and heart on other matters as my head continued to twirl with uncontrolled, wild thoughts of home, school, life, Tortall, friends and anything that came to mind.

I sighed as questions came back to flood my mind.

How was my mother? How was she coping? How was she paying the bills? Was she paying the bills? Has she begun binge-drinking again, or has she remained sober? Has she gone back to her depression and wallowing?

If I had a choice, would I willingly go back to the modern earth? Or would I stay here in Tortall, where I'm comfortable and less aggressive and closed up? If I had a choice…

It's always "if", there's always going to be an "if this happened" or "if that had happened", but will there ever be a real answer? Ever?

'Reem! Pay attention!'

I snapped back from my "daydreaming" and turned to Khalil. 'I am!'

Suddenly, a messenger walked into the room with the usual serious tone and look. 'Reem?' he questioned, looking around the room.

'That's me,' I said.

'The Majesty requests an audience with you…privately,' the messenger stated blandly, opening the door and ushering for me to follow.

Khalil gave me a small, sly smile as I closed the door. I knew what he was thinking: me, alone with Jon, oh no, sexual assault on the king!

A few minutes later, I was alone in the room with Jon, sitting on a chair in front of his desk while he bowed his head in concentrating and scribbled down some notes on parchments that I would never even begin to understand.

I tapped my fingers against the arm of the chair and looked about the messy room; it was a typical office with bookshelves and papers and candles strewn everywhere.

Jon finally put the papers down and looked at me with those dazzling blue eyes, just as I felt my stomach flip over ten times. I gulped. He was so darned sexy.

'So, Reem,' he said, smiling kindly.

I had to pinch the insides of my palm very hard to stop myself from going gaga over him. 'Uhuh…' was my stupid reply.

'I've heard of the two incidents that occurred while I was away from the Palace. Would you like to explain those… adverse incidents?'

I stifled a laugh. 'Well…Atkin insulted me and Khalil—being my best friend and all—decided to play macho man and defend my honour by thrashing the Yamani squire, so they threw each other into my quarters and fought it out until Khalil had a broken jaw and nose, and many bruises. So I got very pissed and went looking for Atkin, threw a few punches of my own at him, and then I was kicked out by Roald. And then Lord Wyldon came and took me to his office.'

Jon raised a perfect eyebrow and unlike other people, he hadn't paid big bucks to get them perfect, his were original and God/Gods' gift. 'Oh?'

I was melting; I was, with as much honesty as possible, melting. He was so perfectly beautiful, gorgeous, sexy and damned handsome. I'd started obsessing over him ever since I read Tammy's books, the wonderful Goddess she is, and the obsessing increased—and that was surprisingly possible—tenfold when I reread the books at age fifteen. From then on, I loved Jonathon far too much for anyone's sanity around me, so I let it all out on Sheroes Central, the best website on Earth.

I realized Jon had asked me a question, so I stopped the daydreaming and said, 'I really am sorry, but that shit—ah, I mean that idiotic, moronic squire went too far and I was so bloody mad—'

'Shh, I understand. I merely asked if you enjoyed the ball.'

I flashed back to the night and I felt myself groan as I finally remembered Khalil's little "experimentation". How could I forget something like that? I really do have the worst memory.

'Well, other than the fainting bit, it was alright.'

Jon laughed. 'Yes, that was quite a dramatic scene.'

Then he fell silent and frowned. 'The Healer told me that there was something unusual…in you that is. She said that she had trouble getting that virus out of you and it only came out when she'd been spent for both, strength and magic.'

I shuddered, remembering Atkin's silent grin at the ball, while I'd been dancing with Roald. I knew he had something to do with what had happened to me, but all I said to the King was, 'It's probably coz I don't have any immune against bugs in Tortall, so it looks different in me or something. I dunno, I'm no Healer.'

He nodded solemnly and took my hand in his. My heart raced and raced and I had to keep reminding myself that he was married and that no matter how my imagination may work, there was no way Thayet was turning gay and running off with Verice to leave Jon for me…

'If anything happens at all, anything,' Jon was saying in a serious tone, 'you come to me and tell me! You hear me?'

I nodded, politely slipping my hands away and onto my lap. 'Yes, your Majesty.'

Jon smiled with satisfaction and told me I could go.

I sat in my room, on my bed, trying to figure out a way to go back home, to see my mum and tell her I was ok, that she needed to start looking after herself from now on. That I couldn't watch her every step and help her through every other step every second of the day. She needed to become independent and rely on herself.

The door knocked and interrupted my thoughts.

I opened the door to greet a boy who seemed a year or so older than me. I frowned at him after a long silence. 'Yes?'

'Ah, it's Kael…remember? From the training fields?' he said softly, smiling.

I groped for a memory of the guy and finally remembered the day I'd went down to the training fields and he'd taught me to shoot a bow right. 'Oh,' I laughed. 'Come in! Sorry, didn't recognize ya! I swear I've got the worst memory.'

'That's alright,' he replied politely, stepping into the room like a true gentleman and stood there quietly, waiting for me to say something.

'Please, sit down,' I said, not used to a guy so gentleman-like. It scared me. The only guys who'd treated me with respect were Khalil…and Roald. All my life, the guys I'd known were complete assholes who wouldn't care less if I just died right at their feet, they'd just step over me and walk away.

So he sat down on a chair and I sat on the bed, facing him with uncertainty.

I wasn't really sure why he was here…

'So…how's the life of a squire?' I asked, grinning.

He chuckled in return. 'Oh, tiring, irritating but fun and exciting at the same time, not what I expected when I'd first sought out to be a Knight.'

'You don't know how much I envy you squires!' I said.

'Why?'

'Look how much fun you have! You get to learn how to fight and survive, so that in an emergency, you're ready for practically anything and you get to meet lots of friends and your life is an adventure, unlike mine! I just sit around and wait for trouble to come my way so I can just have some fun instead of just lounge around pitifully and—' I stopped and laughed. 'I'm sorry,' I apologized with a grin, 'I ramble a lot, you just gotta learn to tell me to shut up…'

'Trust me man, that does not work!'

We turned to see Khalil grinning, with his arms folded over his chest, leaning against the doorframe.

I made a nasty face at him before introducing Kael to Khalil. 'I know you won't find anything in common, I'm sorry, since Khalil, you're boisterous and a pain in the arse and my dear friend Kael is such a gentleman and damn spunky too!'

'Are you calling me ugly?' Khalil questioned, his expression daring me to challenge him.

I burst out laughing and shook my head. 'Ugly's an understatement!'

'Oh really? And what are you?'

'As you've told me many times, I am a drop-dead sexy hot babe with the best bod to ever walk the face of Earth and the Universe!'

He looked at me for a few seconds with a shocked look on his face and then burst out laughing like I had. 'You? Sexy? Aw come on man! That's pitiful!'

'Well, I'll have to say I'll always look better than you ever will!'

Next thing I knew, my burly man had pinned me against the bed and was tickling the life out of me—only one thing, and he knew it—I wasn't ticklish.

'You moron,' I laughed, pushing his head away. 'Get off me!'

But he looked at my wrists with an evil, sly grin that just spelled out E V I L!

'Oh no you don't!' I shrieked, thrashing my way out of his grasp, but he'd locked his arms tight about my waist and laughed mock-evilly.

He tickled my wrists and I screamed and started giggling—that was the only place I was ticklish and he knew me too bloody well not to know that.

'AH! Get off me! Off—'

I screamed and giggled, screamed and giggled until Khalil stopped all of a sudden and turned around. And that's when I remembered that Kael was still sitting on the chair a few inches away from us, trying to look distracted and like he had nothing to do with the insanity that was Khalil and me.

I stifled laughter and pushed Khalil away and straightened out my ruffled clothes. I coughed courteously and said, 'Ah, sorry, where was I? Oh yeah…thank you for the training with the bow and all, that was real nice of ya…'

Khalil coughed as well and nodded, just like me, stifling laughter.

We really, truly were idiots on the loose.

'Um, yeah, well…yes. I think I'll go now.'

The poor guy was beyond freaked out as he left the room as quietly and quickly as possible.

I pouted and pulled at Khalil's hair. 'You've scared off my future- husband!'

'I didn't do nothing to Jon!' he protested.

I sighed. 'No, Jon is too old now!' I sighed mock-dreamily, 'Now Kael's my burly man!'

'Hey! I thought I was!' Khalil growled, tugging at a loose strand of my hair.

'Alright, alright, since you're so jealous, you can be my burly man!'

'Jealous?' he huffed.

I nodded with a pitying look on my face. 'I know, I know, you don't have to tell me, I'm simply irresistible!'

'Yes you are,' Khalil replied gently, a smile tugging at his mouth.

'Now that I didn't expect!' I said. 'Usually you're all, "my ass you are Reem" or "if you're irresistible, then I'm Bill Gates, ugliest man alive!" or even—'

'Yes you are?' he cut in.

'No, never yes you are!'

The hand that was at my side was held hostage in his as he looked down at me with those big brown eyes.

'But really now, don't—'

'Shh…you know the night…at the ball?' he cut in, shushing me.

I nodded, wondering where this was leading.

'Do you remember…ah, well, do you remember when you were sitting outside in the garden?'

I scowled and knew that it was leading to the "kiss". 'What about the kiss, Khalil?'

He smiled wanly. 'It wasn't an "experiment".'

'Oh?' I snapped. 'Then what the hell was it?'

'Reem…I've—well,' he floundered and then sighed. 'It was real, ok? Something I never planned…but wanted.'

I tried to tug my hand free and just leave the room, but he held on tight and cupped my chin with his other hand so that I had to look at him.

'But what about me, Khalil?' I growled. 'Did you ever ask how I felt? If I wanted to kiss you? No! You just went on and did it and said all this bull that you knew would get me pissed, you didn't even—'

He pressed his lips against mine—mainly to shut me up—and then brought his arms around my waist and then kissed me for "real".

I shuddered and let my hands slip around his neck.

He tore away a few moments later and smiled at me, while I tried to regain the breath that had been knocked out of me.

'That wasn't so bad, was it?' he whispered, caressing my cheek tenderly.

'You still didn't ask,' I mumbled weakly.

'Fine,' he replied. 'Can I kiss you again Reem?'

I glowered at him and knew I was defeated—but then so did he—because once again he brought his lips against mine and gave me one of those long-sweet- I'm-melting-give-me-a-bucket-of-ice sort of kisses.

And I enjoyed every millisecond of it.

But I wasn't thinking of Khalil while kissing, and that made me feel guiltier than I've ever been my whole seventeen years of life.