Chapter 6

Dom's Counsel

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Neal woke the next morning wondering why his head felt as if he had let Kel take a hammer to it all night. He sat up in his bed, groaning as sunlight hit his eyes, and remembered the events of the night before. He rubbed his temples, and cursed the inventor of whiskey. Stumbling over to his water-pitcher and grabbing a mug from a shelf, he poured himself a mug of water and added the drops that would cure his hang-over.

After splashing more water on his face and slowly dressing, Neal decided that he could make it the mess hall just in time to eat whatever was left of breakfast before the servers cleared everything away.

He passed Kel on his way into the mess; she was giving her used plate to the servers as he helped himself to the last of the porridge.

"Good morning," Kel said to Neal. "You look horrid. Late night?"

"Mmm," Neal mumbled by way of an answer.

"Alright," Kel said, raising an eyebrow. "You didn't have too much to drink, did you?"

Neal glared.

"I'll take that as a yes. Try to get to feeling better by this afternoon. We don't need the new soldiers to see our healer hung-over."

"What new soldiers?" Neal asked, confused.

Kel sighed. "I told you about them last night."

"Oh, yes. The King's Own and the Riders. I remember now." Neal grimaced. Forget the impressions of the new soldiers: he didn't want Dom to see him like this. It would only give his elder cousin another reason to tease him.

Kel started to leave, then seemed to remember something else she wanted to ask Neal. "Do you know where Skye is? I haven't seen her all morning."

"Wha--why would I know where Skye is?" Neal answered, a little too quickly.

Kel looked at him oddly. "Never mind. I'll see you later. I'd like you to be there to greet the new troops when they arrive. They should be here around mid-afternoon."

Neal nodded, then headed to a table to eat his rapidly cooling breakfast. When he was about half-way done with his meal, the door to the mess flew open and a tousled Skye hurried in.

He watched her as she made her way across the room, but she evaded meeting his eyes. Seeing that any left-over food had been put away, she ducked into the adjoining kitchen and out of Neal's sight.

Neal sighed. She was avoiding him. He knew that he probably shouldn't have taken advantage of her drunken state the night before. But she had fit so perfectly in his arms, and their kiss had evoked strong feelings in him. He supposed she didn't feel the same.

Dejected, Neal headed to the infirmary. Hopefully there would be enough work for him to do there to get his mind off Skye.

Arriving at the infirmary, Neal began his daily routine. He had just finished checking the supply of vervain when a pretty young hedgewitch whom Neal recognised to be named Mirandel strolled into the room. Neal glanced up briefly, meeting her bright blue eyes for a moment, before returning to his work. It must be her day on duty, he presumed, before his mind returned to his task.

"Need some help?" Mirandel asked suddenly from behind him a few minutes later, causing Neal to jump.

"Oh! Erm…oh. No, I'm fine," he answered.

"Are you sure?" Mirandel asked coyly, her smile flirtatious. She put a hand on his arm and moved closer.

"Quite sure. I am perfectly capable of handling this undertaking on my own, but thank you," Neal told her. She was being too forward for his liking, especially since Skye was looming in his mind.

Mirandel, however, was not deterred in the least. Flipping long blond hair over her shoulder, she pressed closer to Neal, wrapping an arm around his waist, about to speak again.

Skye chose this most inopportune moment to walk in the door to the infirmary. Seeing Neal and Mirandel cuddled together, she assumed the affections were mutual. Filled with hurt, anger, and jealousy, she turned back out of the room without saying a word, slamming the door behind her.

She knew Neal had been drunk when he had kissed her the night before, but a small part of her had hoped that there was some sort of desire in him that had prompted the action. But the sight of him and the other woman had convinced her otherwise.

She heard rapid footsteps behind her, then Neal's voice called out, "Skye!" She quickened her pace, but he managed to catch her. Spinning her around to face him, Neal started to say something, but Skye cut him off.

"Don't think that after the way you've been acting, that I'll listen to you."

"The way I've been acting? But I--"

"No! I don't want to hear it. After last night, I thought there might be something between us. But I must have been wrong, since I see you and that hedgewirch seem to be on quite 'friendly' terms with each other. I was hoping…but I guess since you were drunk that kiss didn't mean anything. Still, you might have told me you were otherwise occupied with another woman. I let myself think…but it doesn't really matter any more, does it?" Her word spent, Skye turned away miserably, trying not to let her hurt show, but failing. She hurried off down the corridor, leaving Neal too stunned to say a word.

A gentle hand on his shoulder startled Neal. "Having trouble with romance, Sir Meathead?" asked a teasing voice behind him.

Neal whirled around, causing Dom to jump back. "Easy there. It's only me," Dom told him.

"I should have known." Neal scowled at his older cousin.

Dom shrugged. "Well, am I right?"

Neal sighed. "And what would you know about romance troubles?"

"Plenty," Dom replied. "My girls have always told me--"

" 'Your girls' are exactly what make me doubt your knowledge of love. You've had girls, but none of them were ever kept for long."

"Maybe I like it that way."

"Maybe I don't. Have you ever been in love, Dom?"

Dom frowned slightly. "Why? Are you in love? I thought we were discussing romance, which doesn't always mean love."

Neal groaned."You're evading the question. Oh, nevermind. I knew you were useless." Neal turned away and walked right into Kel, who had just come around a corner in the hallway.

"Oh, hello, Neal," she greeted him, then turned to Dom. "I was just looking for you. I need to show you the barracks where you and your men will be housed."

"That reminds me," Neal put in. "Dom, what are you even doing here now? I thought you weren't scheduled to arrive until mid-afternoon."

"Well, we got ahead of schedule," Dom told him, then addressed Kel. "Lead on, Lady Knight."

Neal watched them leave together, then sighed. He didn't want to go back to the infirmary, not with Mirandel still there. His presence in the infirmary was not absolutely necessary anyway, not unless there were wounded from a battle or the like. He considered going after Skye for a moment, then decided against it. He needed to work out what he was going to say to her before he saw her again.

His conversation with Dom, however brief, had brought some things to his attention. What he really needed to do right then was to clear his mind, to think about what he felt for Skye. Was he in love?

Half an hour later, Neal was still pacing the walkway that was built up on the walls surrounding New Hope, still trying to sort out his feelings. He wasn't being very successful. He was watching a Rider group take packs off their ponies and head towards the barracks when his cousin startled him for the second time that day.

"Copper for your thoughts."

"Dom! Stop sneaking up on me!"

"I'm not sneaking! I've been standing here for several minutes. It's not my fault if you're too lost in thought to hear me." Dom grinned at him. "What's on your mind that's so important?"

"Do you really care?" Neal snapped.

"Of course I do, Meathead. I'm your cousin, in case you've forgotten. What's wrong? I saw you and the other woman were having a…disagreement in the corridor."

Neal sighed. "Do you know how infuriating it is when there's…someone…who…misunderstands your actions, and won't listen to your explanations?"

Dom nodded. "I see. So you've got a girl, and you care for her very deeply, and she saw someone else cuddling up to you, and now she thinks you don't care about her, and she's angry and won't talk to you."

Neal gaped at Dom in shock. "How…what…did you…"

Dom chuckled at Neal's open-mouthed surprise. "Well, most of it I pieced together from what Kel's told me, and from your reactions to things I've said. The rest, I guessed."

"Since when are you privy to Kel's thoughts?" Neal asked, scowling, upset that Dom had figured him out so easily.

Shrugging, Dom told him, "We're not discussing my ro--we're not discussing me, we're discussing your romantic life."

"Or lack thereof," Neal put in gloomily. "I'm not even sure I should have a romantic life at the moment."

"Why? Because of Yuki?"

"How do you know that?!"

"Kel, again," Dom told his estranged cousin. "Look, if you really care for this Skye girl, then you should tell her. She has a right to know the truth."

Neal looked thoughtful for a moment, then turned abruptly and walked off, leaving Dom to ponder his odd demeanor.

"So did you correct matters?" Kel asked, coming up behind Dom.

"Yes. Well, at least, I think so," he told her. "With Neal, it's always hard to tell."

"He is rather unpredictable."

In the brief silence that followed, Dom made a decision.

"Kel? Would you care to accompany me back to my room? I have a…mathmatical supply problem I could use your assistance on."

She studied his face for a moment before smiling and replying, "I'd love to…help with with that supply problem."

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Meanwhile, Neal had reached Skye's bedroom. Knocking, he waited impatiently for the door to be opened.

As soon as Skye's face appeared, he spoke. "Can we talk? I have some things I need to tell you."

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To be continued…

A/N-- Some may say that my summary is misleading. I say that it is simply improving the truth to attract attention. :) And there was some Kel/Dom, if you're good at reading between the lines. Just pretend you're Alianne, and this is some sort of spy-thing, and your task was figure out how much Kel/Dom I could incorporate in a story that's supposed to be about Neal.

Mary/constantine's lover- Thank you always for your continuing input and encouragement. I don't know how I'd survive without you. Hugs!

oceanspike- I'm dreadfully sorry I didn't send you this chapter beforehand, but I was in a hurry to post it because I'm going on holiday in about… (checks watch) 15 minutes. I'll be sure to send you my next chapter, though, so look out for it! Thanks again for all your reviews!

megster- It's true. Always beware of that poisonous broccoli!

Starlit Niphredil- Did I spell that right? Hehe, thanks again for everything, you know what I'm talking about.

the eternity- Thanks for your confirmation on Neal's character, that's something I'm always worried about. I really hate reading fics where he's just completely wrong, it annoys me so much, and I definitely don't want my Neal to be like that. And I've always thought it would be terribly hard to be a healer that also fights as a warrior, like Neal. It's as if the two occupations completely contradict each other. It would probably mess with my mind, but that's fairly easy, so… Also, I'd just like to say to the people reading this, the eternity has an awesome story about Kel and her friends, please check it out, it's brilliant, witty, and funny!

Saraswathi- Thanks for your review and I'm pleased to hear that you think Skye has fallen short of Sue-ishness. As to the implausible situations, now that you mention it, I probably could have done something else with Neal and Yuki's break-up, but that was my first chapter, so it's a little late now, eh? :) And the kitchen duty, well, I know that probably would only be cleaning and such, but I couldn't resist the idea of a food-fight, so I simply ignored the voice of reason grumbling in the back of my mind and wrote it anyways. And here's my Dom chapter, so I hope you enjoyed it!

To everyone else who reviewed, including calemra, DestinyHunter, dreamerdoll, PsychoLioness13, Jowa, TheWildMage, thank you for taking the time to type up and send me your thoughts. Like I said, I'm in a hurry right now, or I would say more to you all. But thanks!