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A Situation Like That

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This chapter is dedicated to Hikki, who so graciously offered to be my new beta-reader when I was in desperate need of one and puts up with my erratic sending of fanfics and my late replying of e-mails. Thanks for your bluntess, sense of humor, friendship and general delightfulness. Have a very happy new year.

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"You wanted to talk to me?'

Kel slid into a seat across from the sergeant in the soldier's mess.

"Mmh." Dom swallowed his mouthful. "Yes. Reports all finished?"

Kel nodded. "So what's this secret?"

"It's not really a secret," the sergeant appeared embarrassed. "I was just going to ask you to do a favor for me, but I know you wouldn't want to, so never mind."

Kel narrowed her eyes. "Now, that's not playing fair, Dom. You know I'm going to grant it."

Dom grinned. "That was the idea." He took another spoonful of soup, as if delaying the inevitable. "Um. There's this party. At my family's townhouse, in Corus. Anyway, if I go alone, every blasted woman in my family will ask why I haven't found a girl yet. Then my great-aunt Lucinda will lament my shortcomings at full bellow. You know; why I had to join the King's Own when I could have become a knight, why I haven't made more of myself, etc."

Kel looked indignant, but said nothing.

Heedlessly, Dom continued, "Then they'll contrive to set me up with every single woman at the party, who will inevitably be a vapid, insipid court lady who I wouldn't give the time of day to."

Kel tried to hide a smile. "Hence your reputation as a flirt?" she said dryly.

"Exactly." Dom slapped his spoon down on the table for emphasis. "So I really need someone to go with me, and I was wondering . . ." He ran a finger around the edge of his glass, avoiding her gaze.

"If I would come with you?" Kel finished. "But why don't you ask the lady who you're courting?" Under the table, she crossed her fingers.

Dom seemed confused. "But I'm not courting anybody."

"You're not?" asked the lady knight, feeling suddenly radiant with relief.

"No." Dom's clear blue eyes met hers with a steady gaze.

"Oh." Kel tried to hide her joy, but it was difficult.

"And I don't want to just ask some woman who I don't know well, or she might think that my intentions are more serious than they actually are. I can't get married, you know-" Kel did know- "not as long as I stay in the Own."

Kel smiled. "Okay. I'll go with you."

"Really?" Dom grinned at her, causing her heart to somersault. "Thank you so much. This is brilliant; you have no idea how much easier this makes my life. Thank-"

Laughing, Kel held up a hand. "It's nothing. But you owe me."

"Anything you want, ever," promised Dom rashly.

A wicked grin curved Kel's lips. "You might regret that."

"I'm trembling," Dom retorted, but he was smiling. "All right, I'll go and send a note to my mother."

"You do that." Kel couldn't stop smiling to herself as Dom left. Dom had asked her to come with him. Dom had asked her to come with him. And he would have to dance with her, at least once. And . . .

Kel was interrupted from this disgustingly, court-ladylike train of thought by his voice. "Oh, Kel?"

Rising to deposit her own silverware in the kitchens and leave, she saw Dom lingering in the doorway, a mischievious grin on his lips. "What would I have to do for you to wear a dress?" he asked teasingly.

"Oh," Kel retorted, thinking that he was joking, "kiss me, of course."

Though Kel had done certain things in life that would cause some to question her sanity, this certainly won the joust. She could not believe those words had actually escaped her mouth.

But Dom simply said, "Well, that's easy enough."

He was still smiling that heart-melting grin. She felt her heart begin to pound. Warmth was racing through her body. He closed the distance between them in two strides and covered her mouth with his. Kel's usually controlled and reserved mind focused completely on the feel of his lips. His mouth was warm and soft on hers, and he smelt, oddly enough, of leather and cinnamon.

A voice interrupted them from somewhere behind her. "Excuse me, milady? Are you finished with these?"

"What?" Kel couldn't remember ever being more flustered. She drew away from Dom in embarrassment, unable to meet his gaze.

Turning, she saw the servant who had addressed her, indicating her plate and cutlery. Thanking the Goddess several times over that the mess was all but empty, she said, "Oh, yes, thank you."

"Very well, Lady Kel," the young woman said, ruining Kel's tentative hope that the woman wouldn't recognize her. She looked up with an impish _expression. "Sorry to interrupt."

"No problem," managed Kel, inwardly thinking, Oh, damn. This is going to be all over the palace by tomorrow.

She turned back towards Dom, looking somewhere past his left ear. "So . . ."

"So you'll wear the dress?" asked the sergeant, as if nothing had happened.

Kel nodded. Speaking was probably beyond her by this point.

"Okay." Dom looked as if he wanted to say something more, but couldn't find the words. "Midwinter luck, Kel," he offered instead, and then left abruptly. If Kel had been herself, she might have noticed his dazed look, but being distracted herself, she saw nothing.

Instead, she collapsed back on the bench, two fingers pressed to her lips. She could only think one thing. "Why me?"

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"This looks lovely on you, milady," Lalasa assured her, after surveying Kel and the dress in the mirror with a critical eye.

Privately, Kel still felt uncomfortable, like a plain sparrow in borrowed plumage. But the complaint dissolved in her mouth like spun sugar as she looked at herself. "I look good," she murmured in awe.

"I told you," Lalasa said in satisfaction. As she began to fold away the myriad of dresses that Kel had tried on and rejected, she asked curiously, "What made you finally decide to wear a dress, milady? As I recall, you used to hate to wear one."

Kel choked slightly. Deeming it better that Lalasa not know about the circumstances surrounding the dress, she simply said, "I don't know. I just thought it would make a nice change."

"It certainly does," Lalasa declared, to a knock at the door. Her former maid swept up the discarded dresses into her arms as Kel opened the door. "Good day, sir Nealan," the woman curtsied, and brushed past the knight as he entered Kel's rooms.

"Hello, Lalasa," Neal called back. He looked at Kel. "Lost her shyness, hasn't she?"

Kel smiled. "Completely. How are you, Neal? I haven't seen much of you since you got back from your honeymoon."

Her best friend had been glancing around the room. "Me? My dear Keladry, I'm touched by your concern for my health. But as you can see, I'm absolutely fine."

"Yes," teased Kel. "I can see you're still touched in the head. Anyway, what brings you here?"

"Well," Neal said, settling himself comfortably on Kel's bed. "I've been hearing some rumors . . ." He looked up at Kel expectantly.

"Congratulations," Kel said tartly, trying to hide her growing panic. If he heard about the kiss, I'm never going to hear the end of it.

"Don't play me for a fool, Kel," retorted her best friend. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

Neal threw up his hands in exasperation. "That you and my cousin are courting."

"We're not," said Kel calmly, feeling her heartrate decrease to normal.

Neal snorted. "It looks like that to me."

"Then you're blind, Meathead," she said with finality. "I'm only going to the party tonight as a favor for him. You knew that; you came with him this morning when he came to ask me."

Her best friend grinned. "Yes, but I felt beholden to ask you and watch you blush about it. It is a best friend's duty."

"Satisfied?" snapped Kel.

"Not at all. You didn't even look conscious. You always spoil my fun, Kel," Neal told her, mock-sadly. His eyes alighted on the dress, thrown across a chair, and his jaw dropped. "What is that?"

"Nothing," Kel said hastily, snatching it up to hide.

Neal grabbed it from her and held it out to admire, a river of green silk flowing from his hands. "Keladry of Mindelan! Never say that you're going to wear a dress."

"I'm not," Kel attempted. "That's just a sample of Lalasa's; she left it here." Seeing Neal's _expression, she gave it up. "Well, I was going to," she admitted. "But catch me doing it now."

"Please." Neal put up a hand. "Don't deprive my cousin of such a vision on my account. He'll be so touched to see the sacrifices that you go through for him. Oh, sorry, I forgot. You're just doing him a favor."

Kel longed to smack the grin off his face. She snatched the dress from him and threw it back on the bed. "You're never going to let me hear the end of this, are you?"

Neal shook his head, still grinning. "When you and Dom get married, maybe."

Kel shook a finger at him. "You will pay for that out on the practice courts."

"Spare me," pleaded Neal. "I'm going to go tell Yuki about this. I'll see you this evening." Still smirking, he departed.

Damn it seemed to be fast becoming Kel's mantra. "Why on earth," she asked the offending dress, "am I cursed with friends?"

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Seven o'clock found Kel wrapped in the green dress, nervously pacing the room. "How am I supposed to face Dom after that-that kiss?" was the uppermost question on her mind. Forgetting about her carefully brushed hair, she ran her fingers through it, then focused on twisting her earbobs around and around until they nearly fell out.

"This is ridiculous," she declared aloud. For the next few minutes, she occupied herself with finding places to conceal a knife and a few throwing stars in her dress. Warrior that she was, she had absolutely no intention of being caught unawares by any attack, dress or no.

After all, the Scanrans could always decide to mount an attack on Corus tonight. It was better, she thought, to be safe then sorry. Lastly, she selected a shuksen, more for its decoration than because she thought she'd have any real reason to use it. Though if Dom's stories about his fearsome relatives were correct, she might be hard pressed not to by the end of the evening.

"Ready for battle, are you, Protector of the Small?"

Kel whirled around, opening the shuksen on reflex. Dom leant casually against the doorframe, his hands spread in a gesture of peace. "Spare me, O Protector, " he pleaded teasingly.

From the moment she caught sight of him, she completely forgot to tell him not to call her by her nickname. Dom was devastatingly handsome even covered in mud; he cleaned up to be nothing short of gorgeous. She knew that she was blushing furiously.

For his part, his bright blue widened as he took in her appearance. Realizing that he had never seen her in a dress before, she felt her blush deepening.

He came forward, his eyes alight. "Commander Keladry in a dress. Very nice."

"Well, don't get used to it," she told him, and then cursed herself. That was not what she had meant to say.

Thankfully, he just grinned and offered her his arm. "Don't worry. I won't. Shall we go, milady?"

After a moment's hesitation, she placed her arm on his. "Indeed, good sir."

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