July 1

Kit woke to the sound of Nita's quiet sobs in the semidarkness of their bedroom. He groggily checked the clock on the nightstand; four thirty-two in the morning. He sighed and touched Nita gently on the shoulder.

"Neets? What's wrong, honey?"

Startled, Nita jumped, then clapped a hand over her heart and forced a smile.

"Nothing, Kit… go back to sleep…" she whispered, sniffing and suddenly wiping her eyes.

Kit watched her fold something and stuff it into an envelope. He decided she would kill him if he read it, but rebelled against her command to go to bed. Instead, he reached for his acoustic guitar he had taken up during college.

He plucked a few random chords, then quietly swept into the final guitar solo from Lynard Skynard's Freebird.

He got credit for trying, at least.

After Nita stopped laughing, he decided to try something easier.

As Kit plucked out the first two minutes of Sweet Home Alabama, also by Lynard Skynard, Nita watched him leisurely, laughing as he perfected his chords.

Finally tiring of the guitar, Kit placed it in a corner and glanced at the digital clock on the dresser.

Six AM.

So much time, so little to worry about.

"So, Neets… whatcha want to do today?"

Nita smiled demurely at him.

"Well, if we're going to get over to Catalina, we might as well get boat reservations."

Kit frowned.

"Why don't we just use the transport spell?"

Nita shrugged.

"Hey, I'd kinda like to get to know the city," Nita replied, stumbling off the bed and toward the master bathroom to change.

Kit called after her, "Fine, but I get to drive!"

Whatever.

Kit rolled his eyes, smiled, and changed into a pair of jeans, his favorite NYPD T-shirt, and slipped a slate gray Hawaiian print campshirt on over that, leaving it unbuttoned.

As he heard the water in the bathroom start to run, he sighed and slid into his desk chair, flicking on the ancient Compaq Deskpro 9080 as he did so.

Kit tapped his foot as Windows 98 loaded, then double clicked on the Internet Explorer icon. Heaving a sigh, he checked the doors sneakily, then hit Google and searched for directions to Long Beach Harbor.

Five minutes later, he had the page committed to memory, and he killed everything, including the PC, just as he heard Nita turn off the water.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Kit listened for Nita's approaching footsteps, then promptly hid behind a door as she walked in.

"Kit? Where…mmph!"

Kit reached out and covered her eyes, whispering, "You ready to go?"

Nita nodded, still blinded by Kit's firm hands.

Kit planted a kiss on her lips and cuffed her lightly on the back of the head.

"Let's roll."

Nita socked him in the back, made a grab for the Lexus's keys, but was beaten out by Kit.

"Ah-ah-ah… no touchie. My keys," Kit laughed.

Nita pouted for a few moments, then joined him in his run down the stairs and out to the Lexus.

"Kit, you know where you're going, right?"

"Of course," Kit lied with a totally straight face.

"We just passed 15th Street… again…"

Kit rolled his eyes.

"I know. I'm looking for PCH."

Nita sighed and flipped on the GPS Navigation system in the car.

"There. That better?"

Kit muttered something and took a left onto Golden West, then a right onto Pacific Coast Highway.

The Lexus braked to a halt in front of the Warner Avenue light and idled there. Nita sighed as she sank back into the leathery comfort of the Lexus seat.

"Dontcha think we ought to get something for, like, offroading?"

Kit groaned.

"Nita, two cars is enough. You have your V70… my Lexus… where we gonna get something like a truck or an SUV?"

Nita shrugged. "It'll come some way. As both of our cars."

Kit rolled his eyes, but didn't say a word.

The light changed , and Kit moved the Lexus up and away from the light.

A/N: I've never been up PCH more than 50 feet, so I don't know if there is a Warner Ave. Intersection on PCH. So bear with me.

Kit sighed and shook his head.

"Okay, Nita, maybe you went a bit too far on this one."

Nita shrugged.

"I like it."

 A brand new, gray 2004 Toyota Tundra sat in front of them, decked out with a few extra options.

Kit had to smile at Nita's enthusiastic look.

"Not a Dodge…?" he managed to protest.

Nita shrugged.

"Dodge is okay… but the Ram is 2 grand more."

"So?"

"I'd kinda like to eat in Hawaii…"

Kit gave her a look.

"You're spoiled, you know that?"

He laughed at the look on Nita's face and added quickly, "That was a joke."

Nita rolled her eyes and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears good-naturedly.

"It's only our third car…"

"Second in two days."

"Be quiet."

Kit laughed, then hugged Nita.

"I guess we can… but remember, I'm not a millionaire."

Nita gestured to the sticker on the side window.

"Twenty-eight grand… that's not too bad…" she maintained. "Besides, Kit, it's a truck. A really, really nice truck. And no, I don't want an SUV," she added. "Too big for me."

Kit sighed and muttered, "Not too much… of course not… just a good month's worth of my salary…"

Nita prodded Kit playfully.

"Kit, Hawaii isn't all paved roads…"

Kit rolled his eyes again.

"How do I get myself into these situations?" he asked to no one in particular, then waved the salesman over.

"Um, yeah… this one?"

The salesman rubbed his hands together in anticipation of a good sale.

"Sure… this Tundra here?"

Kit, with one last despairing look at Nita, nodded.

"Yeah. This one."

The salesman nodded.

"Okay. Beautiful truck, huh? Alright, follow me, chaps."

 Nita smiled innocently at Kit, then followed him inside the building.

Three hours later

"Ok, Nita, I'll admit it. This is a nice truck."

"I told you so," Nita laughed.

Kit shook his head and switched lanes, diving onto the Westminster Avenue/2nd Street exit.

"But I still think…"

"Nope. Nuh-uh."

"Fine… be that way."

"I will, thank you for caring."

Kit laughed and slowed at a light, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of Surf City.

They say they never roll the streets up

'Cause there's always somethin' going

You know they're either out surfin'

Or they've got a party growin'

Well, it's two swingin' honeys for every guy

And all you gotta do is just wink your eye…

Nita sighed.

"Escape from the Mental Ward…A Biography of My Fiancée," she grinned.

Kit rolled his eyes and hit the gas as the light turned green.

One half hour later

"Okay, Nita. This is it."

She looked scornfully at him.

"Kit, it's 9:43 AM. Give it a few hours, alright?"

Kit smiled tersely.  "Sure."

Nita sank into their loveseat and buried her face in her hands.

"I…I'm sorry, Kit… I...I guess I'm just stressed out."

Kit's forehead wrinkled, and he sat down beside Nita.

"Don't worry 'bout it, Neets. I've probably got it worse…"

Nita gave him a shy, grateful smile; the sun breaking out from behind the clouds. She stood abruptly and shook her silky auburn hair back from her face. Kit watched, enthralled, as she quickly pulled it into a tight ponytail and jammed a dark blue Mossimo cap onto her head, pulling her ponytail through the back.

"So, whatcha want to do the rest of today?" she asked, her slate gray eyes sparkling like faceted diamonds in the morning light.

Kit smiled at the enthusiastic look on her face and gave in.

"Whatever you want to do."

Nita stared at him, disbelieving.

"You're not serious, right?"

Kit stood with arms akimbo.

"Take it or leave it," he smiled widely.

Nita hugged him gently.

"Thanks, honey."

Kit kissed her cheek and gently ran his fingers through her hair.

"Nita, look at this! A gray hair!"

Nita panicked, then, realizing that Kit had just choked on his own laughter, smacked him hard upside the head, hard enough to leave him slightly dazed, but gently enough to let him know she loved him.

"Let's go, baldy," she needled him.

Kit rolled his eyes, grabbed the Volvo's keys, and promptly had them snatched out of his hand.

"My car. I drive," Nita chided him.

Kit rolled his eyes, then called shotgun and climbed in.