July 6

8:14 AM

Nita sighed and, cupping her face in her hands, stared out the hotel window at the rain that was currently pouring down onto the islands of Hawaii. Idly drawing a circle in the condensation that had formed on the inside of the window, she looked at the digital clock on the dresser. Eight fourteen. Not a huge improvement at all. She looked over at the lump on the bed that was Kit and decided to entertain herself for a short while. She slid her elbows off the windowsill and crept stealthily toward Kit's snoozing form, a wicked grin flitting across her face. Agonizingly slowly, inch by inch, she stood up behind Kit, ready to grab him and smash him into the bed.

One moment, her hands were whisking through the air, ready to grab and tickle Kit, then, she was whizzing through the air as Kit grabbed her and swung her over him and onto the bed. A startled gasp was all she could manage before she hit the bed, forcing all the air out of her in a wheeze. Kit laughed at the expression on her face, then leaned in and kissed her gently.

"G'morning, honey. What, 'chu think I was sleeping?"

Nita shrugged, brushing her hair out of her eyes and smiling at Kit.

"Yeah… I did," she admitted. "Okay… it's pouring rain on a Sunday morning. Whaddya want to do today?"

Kit shrugged. "NASCAR's on at ten. Talladaga today, I think."

Nita mock glared at Kit. He had managed to drag her to Richmond Int'l Raceway on what he called 'a date', and Nita, at first complaining and calling him selfish, had to be pulled away from the speedway gates, having become a diehard fan in the space of three hours.

Kit laughed and hugged her. "So, you wanna watch for a bit?"

His wife laughed. "I guess so…"

Kit sighed, then looked at Nita. "Did you want to do something today?"

She looked back at him, then shrugged. "Nothing in particular…"

Kit put an arm around her and walked with her toward the window, and they sat together, watching the raindrops hit the glass panes with increasing force as the storm raged on. Nita's stomach growled, and, embarrassed, she looked at Kit.

"Um… sorry, Kit, but I'm hungry. Room service rounds ended about ten minutes ago."

Kit nodded, looking somewhat ashamed. "Sorry, sorry… my fault."

Nita shook her head, smiling. "No, no, Kit… c'mon… let's hit like a McDonalds or something."

Kit nodded, snapped his car keys out of the air, and, taking Nita's hand, popped out of existence in the room.

The rain was now coming down so hard that Kit could feel it through his shield he had up. He looked at the dark sky and said, "Man, Neets, I really hope… no, never mind. I'm not taking those kinds of risks. The truck…"

Nita nodded, yelled something that was lost in the roar of the storm, and shrugging, hopped into the cab. Kit followed suit, and the pickup threw a roostertail of rainwater up behind it as it hydroplaned for a second on the water, then surged forward.

Kit gunned the pickup down the wide, eight-lane blacktop, keeping the truck moving at a steady sixty mph, twitching the wheel slightly as the wind buffeted the truck about. At one point, the wind got so bad that Kit had to spin the wheel from left lock to right lock to keep the truck under control. White-faced and shivering, Kit looked out to sea, taking his eyes off the road, and uttered a phrase containing no more than four swearwords. Nita instantly followed his gaze and her jaw dropped.

A yacht was careening toward the shore, on fire, leaking gasoline, and sinking fast. The crew clustered on the top deck of the yacht, beating at the flames and watching their imminent doom draw closer and closer. Suddenly, the flames roared up, and all was lost to sight.

Kit stomped on the brake and impressively spun the truck around, spraying water, and shot down the embankment to where the boat sat, setting fire to the surrounding fauna. Nita was out and tending to the injured crewmen as Kit dealt with the flames.

Five minutes later, the flames were out, and Nita was walking toward Kit, a strange look on her face. She stopped, looked at him, and said, very slowly, "We've got trouble."

It was all Kit needed to hear.

They were back in their hotel room a half hour later with food, having delivered the injured crew to the nearest hospital, and discussing what had happened.

Through a mouthful of bacon, egg, and cheese McMuffin, Nita explained in a muffled sort of way.

"Fee, the yacht waf on a woutine courfe toward Miami and the enginef caught fire," she said, swallowing the lump of food and clearing her throat.

"They don't know how the engines caught fire… but they do know that someone had spread gasoline all over the first deck. And so when the engines went…"

Kit nodded, looking miserable. "You know, we're probably gonna get told to go home, to postpone our honeymoon for a bit. Man… the Lone One is dead when I get my hands around his neck…"

Nita elbowed him, but not too hard. "Heyyy, Kit!" she said in a warning tone. "He's still a power, you know."

Kit nodded, shrugged, and was about to say something when Nita's phone rang.

After a few minutes, she hung up and turned to Kit with a gloomy face.

"Bingo. Leave your stuff here, we'll pop back here in the evening. We're to go to our house for the rest of the day."

Kit nodded, sighed, and prepared the transit spell, alternating the coordinates to match with their house's, and dropped it.

He turned to Nita, looking miserable and apologetic as he murmured, "I'm sorry about this, Nita…"

Nita walked over and gave him a huge kiss on the lips that left him bright red. She smiled coyly up at him, whispering, "It's never been better. We're coming back, too, remember?"

Kit nodded, sighed, and, taking her hand, stepped onto the circle and vanished.