Oops, sorry this took awhile. I'm a procrastinator, let it be known xD Plus, I just went on a field trip for Music in the Parks. Woot, we placed 1st and 2nd in our class for High School orchestra, and won best Overall High School Orchestra xD We're coo' like dat. So I'll finish this up now xD

Disclaimer thingummey: Er… none of this belongs to me, except for the plot. Tamora Pierce owns everything else. Like the characters, dur.

Oh, and on a funnier note, in the past week-ish I've had two bad sunburns. Oh the joy xD

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As small feet hit his head, Dom groaned and tried to roll over. However, he found himself lying next to someone, and quickly opened his eyes. As his surroundings came into focus, he sighed.

It's quite lucky, he thought, that the thing next to me is Jump. The animal in question 'woofed' quietly, and nudged Dom's head with his cold nose, forcing it backwards. As Dom's head moved, the sparrows who had taken up residence there chirped and flew up, and he noticed that they landed on something beside him. He closed his eyes, hoping that the person next to him would disappear, but as he opened them he once again saw the light brown head of Kel.

Mithros, he thought, Although this is very nice, it's getting repetitive. Meathead's going to come and find out, and then he'll- His thoughts were interrupted by a pounding knock on the door. Dom slowly slid out of his position between Kel and Jump, untangling Kel's arm from around him. Well, that's nice. I hadn't noticed that before- Dom's thoughts were once again interrupted by the continuous pounding.

"Coming!" He shouted, before he realized that this wasn't his room. Resisting the urge to hit his head on the wall numerous times before jumping out of the window, Dom slowly walked to the door and cautiously opened it, waiting for the attack of Meathead. Surprisingly, however, it wasn't Neal but Raoul who had been standing at the door. "Sir?" He asked sleepily.

"Dom?" The knight replied, quite surprised. "Why would you be in Kel's room?" He seemed to think for a second before grinning. "Ah, so you've finally told darling Keladry-" Dom groaned.

"No, Sir," He grinned as Raoul frowned. "I was making sure she slept." He ignored Raoul's laugh at that, and asked, "What are you here for, sir?"

"Would you stop calling me by that abominable name? I should change it to Sir of Goldenlake. Then maybe people would finally call me Raoul. But anyway," He continued, waving his hands around, "I need the reports. Did Kel finish them?" Dom nodded absentmindedly, and walked towards the nightstand where he had placed the reports before falling asleep. Raoul followed him, and whistled as he saw Kel.

"What in Mithros' name happened to her?" He asked.

"Oh, that? Sunburn."

"Has she been to a healer?" Dom laughed.

"She flat out refuses. Sir, could you order her?"

"Me, order her? Sergeant, that girl won't do anything she doesn't want to. Well, she will, but she's stubborn. Even if I ordered her there, she would come up with excuses as to why she couldn't." Dom nodded, and handed Raoul the reports.

"Could you give these to the others who need them? I wasn't sure who was supposed to receive them."

Raoul raised an eyebrow and commented, "Dom, why is this in your handwriting?"

Dom shrugged, and pointed to the sleeping Kel. "She wouldn't go to sleep, so I told her I would finish the reports. Sir, I don't know how you get through reading those things. I could barely make sense of it, myself."

Raoul thought for a second before grinning mischievously. "Ah, yes. The road map. Do you happen to know where it is?" Dom chuckled, guessing what Raoul would do with it.

"Well Sir, I had considered burning it, or feeding it to the charming Peachblossom, but I decided against it. It's right here." He picked up said report and handed it to Raoul. "And what are you going to do with it, Sir?"

The man laughed loudly, but started to exit as Kel started to wake up. As he fled the room, he said quietly, "I was thinking of giving this to Jon-" He cut off as Dom started laughing, with a look of mock fear on his face. That mock look of fear was replaced with a look of surprise as Kel said loudly,

"Dom, would you stop? I was trying to sleep-"

"Alright, Kel." He turned to look at Raoul again, but the man had fled. Shutting the door, Dom laughed and strode over to Kel, who was looking all over the room, albeit quite gingerly. "Kel, what are you doing?"

"Looking for the reports, what do you think? I never finished them, and-" She broke off as Dom shushed her.

"Kel, if you forget, I was finishing the reports for you. I already handed them to Raoul." She sighed.

"Thank you." She went back to her searching, however, and Dom asked timidly,

"Kel, what are you looking for now?" Kel sat on her bed dejectedly, and said,

"My original report. But I can't find it anywhere. And you would have needed that to copy the reports. So where did you put it?"
Dom put a thoughtful look on his face. "Hmm, was that the one with the arrows pointing to different paragraphs?" She nodded. "And the stars announcing which paragraphs were important?" She nodded again. "And the numbered paragraphs to announce which of the starred paragraphs one should read first?" Kel nodded for a third time. Dom pretended to think for a few moments before replying, "Raoul asked for it."

"Oh." Was Kel's simple reply, and then she said, "Dom, I'm going to go back to sleep now. I'll see you later."

"All right," Dom said quietly, and started to edge out of the room. His futile hopes were in vain though, as Kel sat upright.

"Wait, why did Raoul want the original report?"

"Er…" He tried to think of another response, when he caught Kel's gaze flickering to her glaive on the wall. Swallowing an audible gulp, he said quietly, "He might have mentioned something about giving it to the King…" Dom sighed as Kel jumped up and tried to get out of the room. "Kel, where are you going?"

She glared at him before replying, "I need to find Raoul so he won't give His Majesty that report, what else?"

"Well, you could have been going to the healers, or going to eat breakfast, or-" She waved her hands at him.

"What direction did he go in?" Dom shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I was responding to your call, my dear Protector." Kel glared at him, but her gaze softened as he pouted.

"Dom, I really have to get that report back. You read through it. You noticed the page-"

He grinned cheekily. "Ah yes, that page. The one where you were cursing Mithros' for the King's existence, and his subjects who seemed to all need a report?" Kel nodded dully. Dom seemed to think about it for a moment before opening the door. "I guess we could go and find him-" He broke off as Kel started to run down the hallway. "Kel, get back here!" He bellowed, hoping Raoul would hear him and give the report to the King as fast as he could. Dom chased after Kel, quickening his pace as he heard her yelling. Dom spun around a corner and-

"Dom, I'm so sorry!" A shocked Kel said, crouching over him. Dom gingerly reached up to feel his nose, and was surprised to feel a wetness around it. Breathing in, he decided it wasn't broken, just badly hit, and focused his gaze on Kel. Shaking his head slightly, he muttered,

"Curse your hard head." That got a chuckle out of her, but she quickly stopped and offered Dom a hand up. Shakily rising, he took the handkerchief Kel offered him and gingerly wiped his nose. Kel paced back and forth, and after he was done cleaning up she peered up at his nose intently.

"I don't think it's broken," She said quietly. "Anything I could do to help? Do you need ice or something?" Dom grinned slightly.

"You could always kiss it and make it feel better," He replied, half joking, half serious. Kel looked at him, and visibly gulped before replying,

"Again, Domitan, I think I'll refuse the offer. Now, you should really go to the healers."Dom raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, so I should go to the healers, but you shouldn't? I don't think so. I've had worse. And I don't want Meathead to tease me about getting injured by you running into me." Kel started to speak, but he interrupted her. "And you know you can't lie to him. Or me. Must be the family charm. If anyone is going to get healed, it'll be you." Kel glared at him, and stalked off. "Hey wait! Kel! Get back here!" Dom shouted nasally as he followed her.

He ran into Kel's back, almost knocking her over, but caught her as she started to fall. She winced, and Dom quickly let go of her arm, which he had been gripping.

"Kel, what happened?" She shook her head, and chuckled weakly.

"You see… I was just walking… and the corner… and-" She broke off, and pointed to her arm, which was covered in scratches. Dom raised an eyebrow.

"So the wall attacked you?"

"Of course Dom. No, what do you think? I ran into it." He shrugged.

"Then why did you stop walking?" She motioned from her sunburn towards the wall, and back to herself before Dom got it. "Oh, so it hurts a lot?" Kel started to nod, but the shook her head.

"No, it's not that bad." Dom shrugged before gripping her shoulder.

"Yes, it's bad," He murmured as Kel had to cover her mouth to keep from yelling. She gritted her teeth before replying,

"So what are you going to do about it? I refuse to go to the healers. I need to find Milord, and-"

"Well, I could always kiss it and make it feel better." Kel looked at him for a second before throwing her hands up in the air and walking away from him.

"Sure, go ahead. Kiss my shoulder and make it feel better. Now, do you know what direction Raoul went in? Dom? DOM!" She turned to face him, and was surprised by the fact that he was only inches from her. "Dom," Kel asked hesitantly, "What are you doing?" He grinned, and leaned over, kissing her shoulder gently. "Dom?" He just kept smiling at her, and she prodded him gently. "Dom? Why did you do that?"

The question seemed to break him out of his thoughts. "Kel, you told me to."

"I didn't think you were serious!"

"Oh, but Kel, I am serious." (A/N: Oops, sorry, but I'm having a totally odd HP relapse here… No, he's not Sirius, unless his last name is Black! And back to the fanfic… oddly, my cousin's last name is Black. I'm going to call him Sirius instead of Stephen from now on xD) She tilted her head to the side, and Dom mimicked the motion. "What," He said, "Do you think I'm going to be less serious if you look at me sideways?" Kel grinned slightly, and Dom had to chuckle.

"What?" She asked hesitantly, as if scared of the answer.

"From this angle," He replied, "Your face looks even redder." He dodged the swipe she sent at him, and then said, since he thought Kel looked a bit repulsed at the fact he kissed her shoulder, "I was just joking around with the kiss."

She sighed visibly, and then said, "I figured as much." Dom strode forward, but in doing so missed the disappointed look Kel had, and she missed the identical look on his. After a few moments of walking, she timidly asked, "So, do you have any clue where Raoul is?"

Dom started to shake his head no, but then slyly stated, "Now that I think about it, he did say something about needing to go to the healers…" He chuckled to himself as Kel tore off in that direction, completely absorbed in her thoughts and not realizing the predicament she would find herself in.

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"Oh, of course Raoul would be in the healers," Kel grumbled as she performed a pattern dance with her glaive a few hours later. "Of course. I should have realized what Dom was doing." Here she jabbed at the air, and went back to the pattern dance. A knock on the door interrupted her dance, and she yelled, "Come in!" Completing the pattern dance, she calmly wiped her glaive clean and hung it up before glaring at Dom. "Yes?" She asked, trying to keep herself from yelling at him.

Dom just grinned. "Aw Kel, you can't kill me for bringing you to the healers. Meathead wasn't even there." Kel just sighed, and asked,

"What do you want? Since there's no hope of me getting my report back, I figured I would catch up on my sleep. Again." Dom chuckled.

"We can't have you falling asleep in soup bowls again, can we?" Kel just glared at him, and he continued, saying, "I came to extend an invitation to come swimming with us tomorrow. And," Dom said in response to Kel's questioning look, "I will make sure that all the men are wearing breeches. And," He continued, gesturing to Kel's noticeably paler skin, "It's not like you can go and sit outside by yourself. We don't want you falling asleep in fields again." He grinned widely, and Kel sighed.

"Fine, I'll come."

"Brilliant!" Dom exclaimed. "Meet us in the mess for a late breakfast. I'll see you then!" He hesitated a second before hugging Kel and leaving the room.

What was that about, Kel thought to herself, and shook her head to clear her thoughts before going to get changed.

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Kel was vaguely surprised as, upon entering the mess of the King's Own, she was surrounded by the men of Third Company. As she walked through the group towards an empty seat near the back, she was pounded on the back and hugged by various men, and murmured a quick hello to each of them before settling herself in her seat. Grabbing a muffin from the basket placed on the table, for at this late breakfast the cooks had just placed food on the tables and left them to it, she turned to the man sitting next to her.

"Excuse me, but would you know where-" She broke off as someone else entered the mess, and made his way sleepily over to her. The man Kel had been sitting next to rose and settled himself at another table, and the man who had entered the mess late fell into his seat, placing his head on the table and emitting a soft snore. Kel just grinned, and grabbed a plate from the center of the table and started to fill up her plate. After a few minutes of him snoring, Kel started to shovel food into her mouth.

"Mmm, this food is so good," She said around a mouthful. She waved her fork laden with food in front of the man's mouth, and one blue eye opened.

"Stop tormenting me," Dom moaned. "So tired…" He closed his eye again, and seemed to all of the men to go back to sleep, but Kel would not be dissuaded. Loading up her fork with ham, she shoved it into Dom's mouth. He sat upright, and chewed the mouthful before opening his mouth again. When Kel only wiped off her fork before going back to her own meal, he said loudly, "Feeeeeeed me!" She just ignored him, and he sighed before grabbing his own plateful of food. The other men at the table just grinned, and laughed heartily as Dom glared at Kel while eating, not taking his eyes off of her.

After everyone was finished eating, Dom stood up and said loudly, "All right men, to the swimming hole!" He was knocked down in the mad rush that ensued his words, and opened his eyes to see the grinning face of Kel. "You enjoy seeing me in pain, don't you?" She just smirked in response, and offered him a hand up. "Now then, youngin' " He said jokingly as he took the hand, "Let's go swimming!"

As the walked into the clearing that was the swimming hole of the King's Own, Kel grinned. It was a large enough pond that the men could swim without worrying about swimming into each other too much, but it wasn't big enough so that they would feel dwarfed in it. A rope swing hung from a willow tree and Dom, after tearing off his shirt and thrusting it into Kel's hands, ran to it. Screaming a bloodcurdling yell, he tore off in the direction of the swing, grabbed it, and launched himself into the pond. The men, after seeing who it was, proceeded to splash the sergeant as much as they could before turning to Kel. The woman in question, a bit scared by their looks, proceeded to back up and shield herself with the only object in close range, which was Dom's shirt.

"Men, really," She stammered, "I'll just sit on the bank and-" Her words were cut off as Dom shot out of the water, closely followed by Wolset, and picked Kel up by the arms. Wolset grabbed her feet, pulled off her boots, and then they dragged her over to the water. "Dom!" She shrieked, and the men started to laugh, for she was trying her best to shake off Wolset, but wasn't doing a thing to Dom except yelling at him. The man in question just grinned before taking her into deeper water.

"Having fun, darling Keladry?" Dom asked, and she twisted her head around so she could glare at him. "I'll take that as a yes. Well, here's more fun for you!" He and Wolset started to swing her back and forth, and after the fourth swing Kel realized what they were going to do.

"No, Dom! No-" She broke off as they let go of her, and she swung into the water. "Dom!" She spluttered as she rose out of the water, and crossed her arms over her chest, for she was wearing a white shirt. Kel looked around for a few moments, but could only catch a glimpse of Wolset trying to escape. She just sighed, and walked back to the bank, where she pulled Dom's shirt on over hers. Settling herself back down on the bank, she glared at each of the men in turn before realizing Dom was no where to be seen.

"Has anyone seen Dom?" She asked after a few minutes, and the men all shrugged and went back to swimming. Kel sighed, rose, and started to walk around the pond. After she had walked halfway around, and hadn't seen Dom at all, Kel walked over to the water and stuck her feet in. Catching a glimpse of a few bubbles, she thought nothing of it until a much bigger group of bubbles came up. The bubbles caught her interest, since none of the men were in this area, and she waded in closer to them. Once she was at waist height, she could vaguely make out a shape in the water about twenty feet away from her. Deciding to swim, she waited until she was directly over the object before looking down at it.

"Dom?" She shrieked, and then dove under the water. Opening her eyes, she grimaced as she saw Dom's foot caught in the weeds and his closed eyes. Kel tugged at his foot, but that did nothing to get him loose, and she hurriedly swam to the surface. "Wolset! Anyone!" She yelled, and then took a deep breath before diving below the surface again. This time she went for the weeds, and managed to untangle them from around his foot. Grabbing him by the arms, she kicked for the surface and was met by Wolset and some of the men from Dom's squad. They took one look at the pale Dom and the panicking Kel, and helped her drag him to shore. Kel knelt next to Dom, and the men gathered around them.

"Someone go get a healer!" She heard one of the men yell, and saw Wolset run in the direction of the palace. Kel felt for a pulse while trying to remember what Neal had taught her about drowning victims.

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"Now Kel," Neal said thoughtfully at dinner one night, "Would you know what to do if someone was drowning and you had to save them?" Kel just raised an eyebrow.

"Why ever would I need to know that?"

Neal shrugged. "Because I feel like telling you. Now then-"

"Neal, I'm eating." The arrival of Dom took her attention away from her food and the annoying mage, and she muttered a "Hello" before going back to her eating. Dom just grinned.

"Ah, trying to bore out Lady Knight to death with your lectures?" He queried. Neal grinned slightly, but went back to talking.

"Now, what you should really do would be to…"

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Kel sighed. Dom had distracted her from Neal's speech by making faces at his cousin, and flicking peas at Neal's face, and nothing she could do at the moment would bring back Neal's half of the conversation. But…

You would need to breathe for them, Neal's voice rang through her head.

All right, she answered back, but then realized she was talking to herself and snapped out of it. Pinching Dom's nose closed, she hesitated a second before lowering her mouth to his and breathing. She watched his chest rise, but he didn't breathe for himself. Kel kept repeating this motion, but after a few tries she stopped and rocked back on her heels. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she looked to the men and then back to Dom. She buried her face in her hands, and didn't hear some of the men gasp.

Dom was currently trying to discreetly cough up water. Looking up, he noticed the men looking at him and winked. The men all looked surprised, but when Dom went still again and Kel lifted her head out of her hands, they wiped the looks off their faces.

"Don't give up, Kel!" One of them shouted, and Kel once again breathed for Dom.

However, this time, instead of Dom just lying there, Kel felt one of his hands come up to cradle the back of her head. She pulled away from him, but Dom just pulled her head and lips back down to meet his. After a few moments of that, Kel managed to pull away from his grasp and sat up straight.

"You- you… you!" She managed to stutter, and Dom looked at her with a weak grin. Suddenly a wracking cough went through his body, and he spit up what looked to be half the pond and a small lily pad.

"Guess we found out where the water went!" One of the men shouted, but shut his mouth at Kel's glare. She turned said glare on Dom, and asked quietly,

"Why did you do that, Domitan?"

Dom just grinned slightly before trying to hoist himself up, and failing. He motioned for one of the men to help him up, which they did, and then he looked down at Kel. "You started it, Kel."

"I was saving your life!"

"I can hold my breath forever!" He scoffed, but was interrupted by one of the men saying,

"You did look pretty blue, Dom-" He broke off at Dom's glare, and Dom looked back to Kel.

"So, was this a joke?" She asked calmly. Dom, a bit scared, answered softly,

"Well, I was trying to hide from you. The drowning part was just accidental." Kel smiled wickedly, and the men all took a collective step backwards.

"Good. Then the drowning you get now will compensate for the accident earlier." She rose and charged Dom, who turned tail and fled into the water from which he had been dragged minutes ago. Swimming as fast as he could to the other side, he soon realized that he was more tired and weaker than he had previously thought, and Kel soon caught up to him. She held on to his arm, and Dom turned to face her.

"Yes, Kel?" He asked hesitantly, treading water as if his life depended on it, for it did.

"I did not appreciate you doing that, Domitan. I was trying to save your life, and I was worried for you, and then you-" She broke off as Dom pulled her towards himself, and whispered,

"Then I what?"

"Then you," She gulped visibly before continuing. "Then you kissed me." Dom just grinned.

"Kissed you, did I? Well, I seem to have been half-drowned when that occurred. Could you repeat the action for me?" Kel went to hit him over the head, but Dom dodged her hand and kissed her. Kel gasped, and started to pull away, but Dom just tightened his one-armed grip on her and deepened the kiss.

Neal ran into the clearing, followed closely by Wolset. "He… said… Dom… what?" He panted. One of the men grinned, and cheerfully announced,

"Dom almost drowned."

"And you're happy?" Neal asked, outraged.

"Well, he survived," One of the other men shouted, and Neal visibly relaxed.

"Well, where is he now?"

"Drowning, again."

"What?" The man who first spoke pointed towards the center of the pond, where one could see Dom and Kel. "Oh." Neal said cheerfully. "Well, that's fine." He then realized what he was seeing. "Wait, what? DOM AND KEL?" The men nodded, and Neal grinned. "Finally!" He said, echoing the thoughts of most the men there. But his look of glee changed to a look of curiosity. "But why did she come swimming with you men? After last time…" The men looked at each other, and grinned, for the story of why Kel was coming swimming had been found out from Raoul.

"Well," Wolset said cheerfully, after catching his breath, "You see, Lady Kel fell asleep out in the field…"

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King Jonathon IV of Tortall looked quizzically at the large stack of papers in front of him. The maid had said that Raoul had dropped them off in a hurry, and informed him that the papers were indeed Lady Keladry's report. However, Jon could make neither hide nor tail of what was written. Tilting his head, and then the papers, he managed to figure out that the little stars and dots meant those paragraphs were added in.

Well, that's odd, he thought to himself. Keladry usually organizes the reports very nicely. He sighed. Maybe the extensive report writing she had to do was taking a toll on the poor knight. Still trying to make sense of the report, Jon managed to make out various scribblings, including a page of odd sayings, such as 'Neal is such a meathead' and 'King's should write their own reports'. He grinned, remembering how none of his friend's liked to write reports, and this was seeming to rub off on Keladry, but then came across a note slid in between the pages.

Why, hullo Jon, he read, and grimaced as he recognized Raoul's big scrawl. Enjoying the report? I sure am. My nice, clean, organized copy is so nice. How is yours?

Jonathon grimaced, and wrote a note reminding himself to find Raoul and make him attend the next few balls as the guest of honor.

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Aaaaaaand it's done! Completed! El Fin!

Now, if I could login to I could upload this. But I'll try and upload it tomorrow (May 31st) and feel happy. I wrote this last chapter instead of working on my Spanish final project. Which I'll do now xD

After you read this, please review and tell me what you think. And if I need to make any necessary changes xD

Trilian225: Oops, i went back and fixed that now xD And yeah, did I forget to mention that i was watching Sandlot when i figured out taht it should end like that? lol xD And OMG you like That Thing You Do? That's like, one of my fav movies! xD

Annmarie Aspasia: Lol, however major HP relapses are fun xD

A/N Edited: Okay, finally managed to upload this June 1st. Be happy xD

Oh yeah, and i've decided I'm going to write a book this summer. Well, two books, really. Book 1 will be "The Art of being a Procrastinator" xD And Book 2 will be "The Art of being a Blonde" xD I think i can make big money.

Seriously, my mom IS after me to write a book... so i was just wonderign if everyone who told me they liked my writing could tell me like, what grade you're in... so i can see what age group I should write for, heh xD