The next morning, Kel woke up feeling as if she had drunk too much wine the night before. It felt like there was a pounding in her skull, and it took Kel a moment to realize that the pounding was actually someone was at the door. Getting out of bed, the events of the night before came back to her in a rush. Suddenly none too eager to answer the door, all of the strength went out of her, and she fell back on her bed, realizing that the sun wasn't up yet. "Come in, but please keep down the noise, don't wake the whole fief!" Kel croaked, and then cleared her throat. If it was Neal she knew that it probably wasn't going to be good....Nealan hated getting up early.

The door swung open slowly and Kel lay back down in bed as Neal marched in and started berating her immediately.. "What the hell do you think that you were doing last night?! Cleon is married for Mithro's sake! What would his wife have thought if she walked in, might I add? If I had walked in and found Yuki trading spit with some other guy, he would have been beaten until he was no more than a grease spot on the floor, well, maybe not, but you get the idea." As soon as Neal paused for a breath Kel spoke up.

"What do you actually think we were doing? I saw him, alone, in the mess and I went over to talk to him. I don't know how we ended up kissing, really." 'Oh boy,' Kel thought, 'I really need to work on this eloquency stuff, I sound like some blonde harlot working in the tavern up the road aways!'

"Kel, that may be how YOU are looking at it, but what if Cleon's mother walked in, or your brother?? Then how do you think it would have looked? Or even if you walked in and he was kissing a woman other than Rosine, what would be your first suspcicion? I would think that you would have had more sense than that, Kel!"

"Nealan, I just wanted to make sure he was okay. He looked depressed. I talked to him. I felt bad for him, and we kissed. I'm sorry, okay, what's going to happen now? You are the only one who saw us, and I am leaving today, so what's the big deal?"

"What's the big deal?! You think that this is all about your broken heart, don't you? What about everyone elses heart, what if my cousin had walked in and found you, now how would you have felt? He would have been heartbro--oops." Neal suddenly realized that he might have said too much, and quickly tried to shut his mouth.

"What are you saying about Dom? That he wants me too? Ha, He's a SERGEANT Neal, and I'm just the first legal Lady Knight. Your cousin is part of the Kings Own! But you said that he would be heartbroken if he saw me kissing Cleon? Do you mean that he likes me Neal?!"

Suddenly a lot less angry, Neal tried to make amends, "Kel, I didn't say anything about Dom. You just keep your mouth shut that I ever said anything about him to you, if he knew what I said to you, he'd kill me. I, um, think I better be um, going now, can't have Yuki awake without her charming husband there, now can we?" Without waiting for an answer, Neal started to slink out of the room, looking for all the world like a dog after messing in the house. "Well, I'll be going now!"

"Neal, you come back here right now!" Kel yelled. "What were you going to say about Dom?"

"If you really want to know, why don't you just ask him yourself? But if you do, you might want to wait until you both would be dressed, we can't have any more rumors going around about our dearest lady knight, now can we?" Neal said, pointedly looking at Kel's skimpy nightclothes.

Blushing, Kel quickly pulled the covers back up to cover herself. "Neal, are you mad at me about last night?"

Turning, Neal came back and sat on the edge of the bed, his face serious. "Kel, I'm not mad at you, I just sometimes don't understand you. I know that you and Cleon had something special, but I think that you need to worry now about the friendships that you still have. He is now married, happily or no. I don't know how things will turn out with him and his doube-crossing wife, but whatever happens, it shouldn't happen because of you. Cleon is his own person and usually makes his own decisions. Maybe they will turn out to have a wonderful relationship, and maybe not, but now, it's none of your business, and if you think you need a man to be happy, just look around you."

With that, he got up and left, leaving Kel with her questions.

~*~

A/N Thanks to everyone who had R/R! It's v. helpful! And I'll keep going next weekend, cause I don't get much of a chance to write during the week.