"So," Emma began as she sat in the passenger seat some time later with her clean pants on, "are we there yet?"

"Gees," Shalimar raised an eyebrow to the psionic, "remind me never to travel with you again," she teased her.

Emma smiled and turned to watch the sights out the window as she noticed they were getting more and more away from civilization. She questioned whether or not to mention all the things that had been crossing her mind all morning. She knew if she didn't it might cause more strain then she already felt on both of them and possibly problems on their trip.

"Shal," she began as she turned back to the feral, "do you think we should talk?"

"About what?" the feral asked seemingly oblivious to Emma's doubts.

"Our relationship."

"What about it?" Shalimar suddenly felt a little ball of worry build up inside her gut at the sounds of the psionic's words. She wondered if she was about to say something that would hurt her as she braced her heart for any blow that might come.

"Well, what do you think about it? Is it ok in your opinion?"

Shalimar felt taken off guard by Emma's question. She felt her head spinning as she was trying to catch up with the psionic's words. Why was she asking her this? Shalimar's relaxed attitude quickly turned to a tense one upon hearing the unnerving question from her lover.

"Emma," Shalimar began as she tried to find the correct words, "why are you asking me this? We talk about our relationship all the time. Do you think there's something wrong we need to address?"

Shalimar didn't know what to say or even think. What if Emma did think there was something wrong in their relationship? Shalimar couldn't imagine what she could have done to make the psionic feel that way. She suddenly felt like blaming herself for the way she thought Emma was feeling. She quickly dismissed that and became very confused and focused more so on Emma's thoughts and feelings.

Emma wasn't sure how to answer the feral's question. She thought their relationship was wonderful. She'd never experienced so much love in a relationship before. She'd only been dating Shalimar a short time and already knew she loved her more than she'd ever loved anyone. But still Emma couldn't ignore her intuition. She felt like there was something, maybe something very tiny and small, that was still hidden somewhere in the dark between the mists of their open relationship and she couldn't stand it. She felt it gnawing at her from the pit of her stomach. She heard it calling to her consciousness from the back of her mind and no matter what she did she couldn't turn it off.

"No," Emma replied thinking it must've taken her forever to do so. She hoped she hadn't made Shalimar more suspicious with her attitude towards her.

"Then what?" the feral asked.

"Are you hiding something from me?" she flatly asked. She couldn't stand it any longer and had to come out and ask her and hope the feral would stay true to her promises of honesty in their relationship.

Shalimar furled her brow at the blunt question.

"Only where we're going," she answered as a confused look spread across her face. "Why?"

"Just asking," Emma answered as she tried to brush it off.

Shalimar's face shifted as to hint she didn't believe the psionic. She knew Emma asked that question for a reason and whatever reason that might be worried her. She had always been honest with the psionic and if Emma didn't think she was being honest it both hurt and bothered Shalimar.

"What do you mean just asking? There must be a reason."

"I don't know, Shal, I was just asking to see what you'd say," Emma tried to convince the feral.

"There must be some truth to it, Emma."

"Well, I don't know, Shal. It was just a question. Forget it."

Shalimar couldn't forget it. She felt the uneasiness make a home inside her stomach that she knew wouldn't be going away anytime soon.

"If you want me to forget it, you shouldn't have mentioned it."

Emma's eyes and heart searched for reason within the feral. Was she actually trying to start an argument?

Shalimar was unsure of why she said that but knew it must be due to the uneasiness settling in her stomach that Emma had put there.

"I was just asking a question, Shal."

"I thought we stopped playing truth a long time ago," Shalimar seemed to speak harshly and bluntly but wasn't quite rude enough for Emma's defenses to go up. The last thing either of them wanted was a fight and neither of them was even sure what had brought this conversation to the point it was now at.

"I have a headache," Emma sighed as she reclined in the seat, "I think I'm gonna rest a little." She reached to the back seat to pull out a pillow to place her head on. She didn't want to add any more fuel to the fire of tension that was quickly beginning to build up between them.

As Shalimar drove onward she tried desperately to push all the newly arrived doubts from her mind. She felt bad about what had happened earlier and knew Emma wasn't having the best possible time, which is all she ever wanted to give the psionic. And after hearing her unsettling question it only made Shalimar wonder just how happy Emma really was. Was it the trip that made her unhappy? Or was it her? Was Emma displeased with their vacation so far or was she displeased on a much deeper level that stretched to Shalimar herself? Shalimar's doubts only made her eager to ensure a perfect getaway for the psionic.

Shalimar drove on and sometime later turned to notice Emma was waking up from her small nap. Emma slowly sat up in the seat and reached for her drink in the cup holder. She sipped and turned to smile at the feral. She saw how the sunlight hit her face as she smiled back and remembered even if she was feeling doubts she still loved the feral with all her heart. She had clamped onto her heart and Emma knew even if the worst happened and they were no longer together that she'd always have a part of it no matter what she did.

"Hey there, sleepy head," Shalimar said with a smile at the psionic.

"Hey," Emma replied with a smile. Shalimar leaned over to place a kiss on her cheek and turned back to the road. Emma looked around to notice there seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. She saw no more than trees and road ahead.

"Where are we?" Emma asked as she looked at her watch to notice she'd been asleep for a couple hours.

"Still driving," the feral replied.

"Aren't there any stops around here?"

"Yeah, every so often anyways there's a gas station or diner or something like that."

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Emma asked as her intuition began to act up again.

"Hey, who's the one driving here?"

"I saw a few roads like this back there are you sure you took the right one?"

"Yes, Em, why?"

"I just have a bad feeling is all."

"Well don't worry," Shalimar grinned as she reassured the psionic, "as soon as we get there I'll take care of that too."

"I'm serious, Shal," Emma insisted. She reached into the glove compartment and began to check over the map. "I don't think this road is right. It only comes out to small off road and that's not for a while."

"Emma, you don't even know where we're going but you think I'm going the wrong way?"

Emma noticed the surprised look on Shalimar's face and caught her glancing at the map in question. She thought she picked up a slight sense of wonder and question from the feral which only added to her intuition that told her something might be wrong.

"Why don't we stop at the next place and ask to make sure," Emma suggested.

"Emma, I don't need directions," Shalimar said flatly and certainty.

"Shal, if I wanted to put up with that kinda attitude I'd be dating a guy."

"Well, I don't think we need directions."

"Can we just double check to be sure, please?"

"No, we don't have the time."

"It would make me happy, please," Emma pleaded further.

"Emma, trust me ok."

"Ok, so are you gonna wait 'til we're in the tar pits to ask if we're going the right way?"

"If I have to," Shalimar said with a grin over to Emma.

"Fine," Emma gave up knowing there would be no changing of the mind once the feral had made it up. She lay back down to rest. "I'm going back to sleep. Wake me before we hit the tar pits."