A/N Okay, so these last few chapters are the end of the story. I decided to re-post the entire story in one page at the end for two reasons. First, I haven't been so hot at editing along the way, so the full story that comes after the last chapter is well-edited and without all the pesky author's notes. Secondly, whenever I come across a finished story from fanfiction, I like to download the whole thing at once and read it at my leisure offline. So, for those of you who like it that way too, you can just cut and paste the final-final chapter into Word or something and viola! Hope you've enjoyed the fic, reviews are welcome.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Kay couldn't take it anymore. Now that they had finished the supplementary reading list, Kay and Nicholas had taken an unspoken break from working together and seeing each other in general, and it was making her crazy. They had barely spoken since the incident at Haven two weeks earlier. In the department, Nicholas stayed holed up in his office, and Kay had moved into a cubicle in the hallway.

"I'm going to call him, Simone," she declared.

Simone dived for the phone. "No, Kay!" she shouted. "You have a good plan, Kay. Stick to it. Nicholas has got to come to terms with all of this on his own. You pushed as much as you can, you'll only make it worse for yourself now."

Kay knew she was right, but briefly considered wrestling Simone for the phone anyway. As she sized up Simone's position and the easiest way to flip her onto the sofa, the phone rang, making her thoughts moot.

Simone looked relieved; she had caught that mischievous glint in Kay's eyes. "That'll be Charity, the girl has flipped over something to do with Miguel. See, this is why I don't tell y'all my business, just melodrama all over the place," she continued muttering as she brought the receiver to her face. "Hey, girl, what's up?" she began.

"How did you know it was me?" Charity asked over the phone line.

"Because, you and Kay seem to have the uncanny ability to want to act crazy at the same time. Kay's being goofy, I figured you'd call with a bit of goofiness," Simone reasoned.

Charity laughed, incapable of arguing the veracity of Simone's point. "Too true. I'm going to come over in a few, just have some munchies ready, you guys have got to help me with Miguel." Charity hung up, already halfway out the door by the time Simone realized that the conversation was over.

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"Charity, what's the matter with you? I thought you and Miguel had finally decided that you are together; what could be the problem now?" Simone asked her friend as they both flopped on the sofa. Kay joined them.

"It is driving us both insane; I can't stand it anymore, you guys have to help us," Charity finished melodramatically.

"Well, cousin dear, it would help if we knew what the problem was," Kay said sardonically.

"Okay, Kay, don't get offended or anything, but I just don't want Miguel acting like that weirdo Nicholas is behaving," Charity began.

Kay snorted and replied, "You're not offending me by calling a spade a spade. Nicholas is acting like a weirdo."

"Yeah, well, it's all because of blue and so I haven't..." Charity paused and a sheepish look came over her features. "I haven't umm... well, I haven't told him about it yet," she finished on a mumble.

"WHAT?!" Simone and Kay yelled at once as Charity winced.

"But how is that possible, Charity? You don't have to tell someone you love about blue, they figure it out soon enough when you...." Kay faded out as she thought of something. She gave Charity a sharp look. "No! Charity, please tell me that you have not been...."

Simone got it and shrieked with laughter. "Charity, he must think you're the biggest prude on earth. You haven't been touching your live-in- boyfriend?!"

Charity groaned and buried her head in a pillow that she had been clutching on her lap. "It's so horrible, you guys, you cannot imagine."

"Charity, that has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard. The air crackles when Nicholas and I get mad at each other, we don't even have to be touching. You can't tell me that everything has been going so peachy keen over at Chez Shrew that you haven't gotten in an argument with Miguel."

"Oh my God, that is so hard to explain. We don't have to even be mad at each other, the err... uh... tension, shall we say, is so high since we aren't touching that us being in the same room for extended periods of time makes our hair stand on end," in spite of herself, Charity let out a giggle as she continued. "I think I have him slightly convinced that our apartment has abnormal microwaves or something, whatever the hell that means. Thank God Miguel isn't a physics major."

Simone giggled with Charity, as Kay turned pensive. "You know, Charity," she began thoughtfully; "I don't think you've got Nicholas read properly. It's not the blue that freaks him out, it's the loss of control over the situation that makes him freak out so badly. I don't think Miguel's such a control freak that he wouldn't learn to accept it," she finished.

"I think, Kay's right, Charity," Simone chimed in. "And if you don't want me making out of context references to microwaves whenever Miguel is around, you should work this out, because it is just too funny to let go, girl."

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"So, Charity, I take it that you still haven't told Miguel," Kay said a couple of weeks later to her cousin as they practiced using their powers. They figured out that with practice, they have been able to put the blue to less love-intense related uses... such as cleaning Miguel and Charity's apartment without lifting a finger.

"How can you tell?" Charity asked, attempting to sip her milkshake without breaking tactile contact with Kay.

"Because that pipe cleaner is doing a number on that sink over there; I figure it's symbolic of all that tension you've been letting build up," Kay snickered.

Charity turned furiously red and concentrated. The pipe cleaner went back into its cabinet, the blue haze around it fading, and the vacuum cleaner started up, glowing with the blue power that was propelling it. "It is not," Charity began to protest. "Oh what the hell, Kay, I have to tell him, otherwise, I'm gonna explode the next time I see him from pure frustration, and seeing little bits of frustrated me all over the place has got to be more traumatic than finding out about something as useful as this blue thing is turning out to be."

Kay had a thought, "Charity, are you sure Miguel isn't coming home anytime soon?"

"Nah, Simone has him helping Chad set up things over at Earth, he should be there for awhile," Charity said idly.

"Yeah, but Simone is tricky, you never know when she's pulling..." Kay's voice faded as the door to the apartment opened.

"Simone sent me home early, something about a lighting problem that needed to be worked out before..." Miguel began to announce as he burst into the apartment. He shut up when he noticed the Hoover hoovering happily in its own blue light behind the sofa Kay and Charity were lounging on.

Kay and Charity abruptly dropped each others hands, and the vacuum cleaner ceased its activity.

"IT WAS REAL," Miguel screams. He looked at Charity with slightly wild eyes. "You kept telling me it was microwaves or something, but all this time you were controlling it!" His gaze whipped to Kay. "And you knew too!! Is this some sort of sick game the two of you play? Drive Miguel crazy?"

Charity looked ill. Kay, sensing that she would be no help if she stuck around, quietly left the apartment.

"Well?" Miguel said to Charity. "What the hell has been going on around here?"

Charity, still not making eye contact with Miguel, began to explain, but was quickly interrupted.

"Dammit, however you're doing it, would you stop it now?" Miguel said, furious as he felt the air around him snap and crackle with tangible blue light.

Charity winced at his tone and forced her own voice to remain calm. "I'm not doing it this time, Miguel, you are," she began. "If you would just sit down and try to listen calmly, I can explain," she finished.

Miguel, hearing the plea in her voice, even as she tried to hide it, attempted to regain control of his temper. The tension in the room became less palpable, and he relaxed even more in response. He sat across from her and raised his eyebrows expectantly.

Charity took the next hour to explain things to Miguel, much as she had with Kay, and ended by adding, "So when are you moving out? Because, I'll be damned if I'm giving up this great apartment just because you can't handle a little bit of blue haze around every now and again, I don't care if you did find the place, Miguel, I'm just not leaving and..."

Miguel grabbed her hand, and, as blue ripped through them both, he kissed her thoroughly. "Charity, I'm never leaving you," he said by way of an answer to her first question. She grinned back and the entire apartment glowed blue as they sealed the deal with another heart searing kiss.

From below on the street, Kay looked up and grinned when she saw the blue heat radiating from her cousins apartment. Her faith that she and Nicholas too will make amends was strengthened, and she walked back to her and Simone's place with her resolve to wait out his stubbornness reborn.