(a/n...a lot of making out...a little more...i'll leave it up to your imagination!) ;)

Kel stood in the courtyard, clad in a green silk dress, waiting for Merric. She looked at the sky and
uttered a prayer, just because she could feel nerves taking over.

"I am stone," she whispered. She had never felt this way before. When Merric had kissed her, she'd been
speechless. She'd kissed Cleon before of course, and once Neal had gotten incrediably drunk and kissed
her. Cleon's kisses didn't mean anything, and Neal's were sloppy and wouldn't have happened had he been
sober. But when Merric kissed her...

"Hello, my beautiful lady," Merric said, bowing formally. "Might I have the honor of walking with you?"

"Stop that," Kel said, smacking his arm. "Your formality makes me nervous."

"The Yamani Lump is nervous?" Merric asked. "Goddess above!"

Kel giggled. "C'mon, let's walk around then."

They had walked for only about five minutes, when a strange feeling arose in Kel's stomach. Her heart
began to race. She stopped suddenly.

"Kel, what's wrong?" Merric asked.

She moved foward and kissed him, hard, on the lips. Merric, though a bit shocked at Kel's
aggressiveness kissed her back. Their kisses got softer, but still frantic. Kel was overcome with
emotion. She sort of fell into Merric's arms, so all of her weight was on him. He held her up, still
kissing her. Kel looked into his eyes, breaking off for a minute.

"I'm so happy," she murmured.

"Me too," Merric told her, leaning down to kiss her again. Kel closed her eyes. This was bliss. She
felt like she was floating! Then, Merric placed his hand on her breast. He touched her delicately, but
suddenly Kel felt as though she were going too far, right there in the garden for anyone to see!

"Merric," she said, grabbing his hand. "We can't do this."

He nodded slowly. "You're right, we can't do this."

"No," Kel said. "We CAN do this. Just not here."

Merric cleared his throat. "Want to go inside?" he asked.

Kel smiled at him. "Sure."