I'm back! And alive! Trust me, there were some points during the last week or so where I honestly thought the former was impossible and the latter highly improbable. With my return, I have a treat for you. While writing Chapter VI, it kept getting longer ... and longer ... and longer ... and at one point I just decided to cut it in half. As a result, you now have Chapters VI and VII for your reading pleasure. Both are shorter than the other chapters I've posted, but I think it's easier to take this plot arc in two medium-sized doses instead of one ginormic one.

Author's Warning: Both of these chapters have HIGH snort potential. Do not drink beverages while reading. You have been warned.

As usual, I'd like to thank all of those who reviewed since I last posted. You guys make it all worth it, and I love knowing that you're enjoying this story.

SpiritofEowyn: That was one of my first real dives into the romance between these two. I swear, once Mary-Lynnette gets over her inhibitions, it's going to get absolutely nuts.

Pyrope::blush: That was so nice of you to say! That's a crazy compliment, and I can't thank-you enough. I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

amber-rules: Ash is so easy to fall in love with. He really is a romantic at heart, he just needs to remember it from time to time. I loved your input – as always.

Lunatic: Mary-Lynnette was definitely acting irrationally. I think this is one of those situations where she'll have fewer and fewer outbursts the more that they grow to understand each other. She has a lot of passion inside of her, but she's had to keep it reserved for so long. Sort of makes you wonder what our poor vampire will do once she decides to let it go, eh:grins: You have awesome insight, as always.

Shattered Immortality: Yikes! I never knew I inspired such emotion! You gave me so many compliments, I don't know if I could thank-you for each of them, but I'm so glad that you're having fun reading this. It's nice know that my jokes are getting through; I have a tendency towards an odd sense of humor :grins: As to the characters and plot twists – I blame it on Ash and Mary-Lynnette. They're very vocal and creative characters! Thank-you so much for reviewing, and enjoy the new chapters!

laura: Well, you get your wish! This road trip has more than a few instances of humor. Be prepared for some introspection as well, though. The road offers an excellent opportunity for thinking. I hope you like it!

Emerald: Thank-you :grins: And, I'll see your request and raise you a second chapter.

Chrios: Aaaaah. Sharp eyes. Thierry was the first made vampire. Well, we can blame Ash's inaccuracies on the need to slowly introduce Mary-Lynnette to the Nightworld. chuckle If it gets bothersome, I can go back and change it. Thank-you for catching me on it, though. As to the other story idea, I'd never actually thought about doing something like that, but I wouldn't rule it out as a possibility. I'll just have to see how I handle the rest of these couples, first. )

crystleflys: You're right – it is time that she started to give in. Of course, there are various levels of surrender ...

BeautifulAli: 1) Daybreaker interaction is definitely on our agenda. 2) Ash and Mary-Lynnette seem to have a sort of air about them that make them almost everybody's favorite couple (myself included!) and 3) Since they're yours, too, I'm really happy you approve of my interpretations of them. Thank-you for your kind words.

Aglaia di Willow: I do feel lucky. You reviewed In My Sight, as well. If you're still reading that, it'll be updated ... eventually. :-D In the meantime, is your penname related to the community? If so, then we may be kin. :grins:

Deborah: The next chapter ... and the chapter after that! I hope you like them as well as the ones that came before!

:pant: Okay, that being said, let's get to the new chapters. Enjoy!

For A Knight's Lady

By: EarthDragonette

Disclaimer: Ash is not my original character. Mary-Lynnette isn't my original character either. Neither are Thierry, or Hannah, or, well, anybody really. Except Reina, the blonde kid from the club, and the pup. Those I'm rather fond of – even if Reina DOES vex me so. Anyway, I'm not making any money off of this story.

Rating: PG-13

Mary-Lynnette glanced at her alarm clock (the object having made it back into her good graces once she'd discovered that its lapse in loyalty had been caused by low batteries instead of a traitorous soul), and was relieved to see it was only a little after eleven.

I should get to sleep by one, she thought, walking back to her closet to see what else she wanted to bring with her. If I get up at seven, that'll give me six hours of sleep – plenty of time to be alert and ready to help drive and navigate.

Normally, the thought of voluntarily awakening at such an early hour would have been out of the question as far as Mary-Lynnette was concerned, but after a day of preparations, she was willing to forfeit some sleep if it meant getting the trip underway.

After all, she mused, tugging down her all-purpose black dress from a hanger and sweeping down to get the heels that went with it, Charles Dubois once said it was important to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.

"I am: well rested," she declared, carefully folding the dress into her suitcase. "However, I shall become: a traveler. I'll drive, explore, and discover sights never before encountered. Well," she amended, returning to her closet once again, "At least, sights I've never before encountered."

Part of Mary-Lynnette's newfound excitement over the trip came from Ash having shown up on the doorstep that morning to thank her parents for dinner and to see if she wanted a ride to Klamath Falls. Briar Creek was completely useless insofar as stores were concerned, and although Chiloquin had a few small shops, Klamath Falls was big enough to host a Wal-Mart, which fit Mary-Lynnette's last minute shopping needs perfectly. The drive with Ash had given her a road-trip teaser of sorts, and the reality of the adventure had finally set in for her.

Stumbling a little on her descent from the second floor, Mary-Lynnette was surprised to hear the doorbell ring as she made her way to the kitchen. Taking a slight detour, she went to see who it was, feeling a rather potent burning from the chord as she peered through the peephole and saw a bristly-looking Ash. Much more awake now, she opened up the front door and was cut off before she could speak.

"Klamath Falls."

"What?" she asked, yawning and feeling slightly disoriented.

"I'll drive you to Klamath Falls today to get anything you need." Here he gave her such a desperate look that she couldn't help but be distracted by an onslaught of fuzzy feelings.

Her brain somewhat waking up, she tried to point out, "But I can take –"

"I know you have your own car," he explained as she stepped aside to let him in. "But I NEED to get out of that house."

Wiping the sleep from her eyes and moving towards the kitchen, she gave him an amused glance. "Sibling issues?"

Ash leaned against the kitchen counter as she slowly moved to get breakfast together. "I can't stand it anymore," he complained. "Jade keeps sneaking up on me to give me tips on how not to argue with you, Kestrel switches off between winking at me and threatening me if I let anything happen to you, and Rowan ..." here he paused, shuddering.

"What's she doing?" Mary-Lynnette held up a glass and gave him a questioning look.

Shaking his head at the glass and declining the implied beverage, Ash continued, "She keeps giving me this empathetic, gentle look. And patting my arm. And whispering romantic advice." He scowled, "As if I need it."

Mary-Lynnette slid on a stool next to Ash, unable to keep a grin off her face. "Okay, okay. We'll go into town, just give me an hour."

Mary-Lynnette's amusement had only increased when Ash nearly attacked her father a few minutes later, almost begging the older man for some sort of household chore to help with while Mary-Lynnette got ready. As such, by the time she was showered and dressed, over half of the front yard had been weeded and she was hard pressed to get Ash away from her father as he lamented the loss of the "best backhoe" he'd ever hired.

The drive, first to Mary-Lynnette's bank in Chiloquin, and then to Wal-Mart, had taken a little over an hour and the couple used the time to sort out a few general driving dynamics. Some things had been refreshingly simple – Ash had turned on the ignition and Mary-Lynnette a) had not been deafened by overly loud music (given that vampires had sensitive hearing to begin with) and b) had been pleased that the music was a Pearl Jam CD. Deciding not to ask about the human-or-otherwise status of the band, she merely took it in stride that she and her soulmate shared some basic musical interests. One issue, however, had been slightly more difficult.

Ash liked to drive fast.

And not just fast as in, "this is the backwoods of Oregon and there is obviously a lack of law enforcement" fast, but also the "I have superhuman reflexes and refuse to acknowledge wildlife, natural land formations, and other traffic" fast. Clenching the door handle with a white-knuckled grip, she'd used a few choice words to tell him to slow down. He'd responded with a few words of his own to remind her that it was his car and that he could drive it as he pleased.

The argument lasted throughout most of the drive.

By the time they'd reached the outskirts of Klamath Falls, however, she and Ash had managed to compromise. Given an absence of adverse driving conditions, Mary-Lynnette would keep quiet about his driving and try to trust him. In turn, Ash would actually slow down if she ever became genuinely frightened or carsick. Furthermore, in the event that he decided to drive over eighty miles per hour, it was agreed that the convertible's cover would be used, as Mary-Lynnette had no desire to go flying out of the car at high speeds should something run amiss.

The shopping itself had taken a little less than an hour, but when Mary-Lynnette mentioned heading back to Briar Creek, Ash tossed her such a look of horror that she'd agreed to stay in town a little while longer for a late lunch. Stopping off at Old Town Pizza Co. (Ash's preference for Italian food becoming even more obvious as he'd cajoled her into the restaurant), they'd begun to discuss the particulars of the trip.

"It's a fourteen hour drive," he informed her, nodding to their waitress as she set their pizza in front of them. One of the things that Mary-Lynnette was quickly learning about her soulmate was that even though his primary diet consisted of hemoglobin, he was very much a foodie, and with the raging exception of vegetables, had few culinary dislikes.

"That's pretty long," she commented, pulling a slice on to her plate. "You did it all in one day?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah. It's not so bad once you get started – if you have the right music, and you keep yourself from getting hypnotized by the road, things are fine. Besides," he added with a smug look, "I don't need a lot of bathroom breaks."

Groaning slightly at the superior tone, Mary-Lynnette chose to ignore that detour. "Okay, so should we drive it all at once?"

Ash scooped up some cheese from his plate and answered, "Two days would be better. I left around midnight last Friday to get in by early afternoon on Saturday. You may be a night owl, but that's probably too much."

Mary-Lynnette added, "And there's no need to rush, right? It's our vacation after all."

Ash grinned at her. "Right."

"So ... where do we stay Tuesday night?"

He chewed for a minute before responding, "Our route takes us through California – I like it better than going through the country. Besides, it solves our problem. My family has a house in Beverly Hills. Technically, it's about eleven hours to get there from here, but I think we could probably make it in nine or ten. That way, we can relax in the morning and take our time getting to Vegas."

Mary-Lynnette mentally winced. It looked as though her meeting with the Redfern Fortune was going to happen sooner than she'd anticipated. Glancing up at him, she saw that he was trying hard to ease her into his family's lifestyle, and she felt herself relax. "Why not?" she said. "This trip is going to be full of big houses – I might as well start getting used to them. It could be fun."

Relieved, Ash grabbed another slice and assured her, "It is fun. My parents won't be around – they don't use it a whole lot – so we should have the place to ourselves." He gave her slightly leering look. "It has a private pool. With a fence around it."

Coughing primly, Mary-Lynnette decided not to address that subject, either. "So what time do you think we should leave?"

Unable to drop it completely, Ash teased, "Early enough so that we can get in some quality swimming time." He dodged a napkin that Mary-Lynnette aimed at his chest. "You are bringing bathing suits, right?" And another, this one targeting his head. "I mean, Thierry has a swimming pool, too." A third, again aimed at his head, finally made contact.

Holding his hands up in peace, he suggested, "How about seven?" Mary-Lynnette blanched, her entire body rejecting the notion of getting up at six a.m. "That's really ... really ... early," she observed, pushing her plate away to keep from grabbing a fourth slice.

"Well, it is a ten hour drive," he reminded her.

True, she thought. But seven is so early. "Let's leave at eight. I can handle eight."

After a little more discussion where they'd agreed to plan on the whole trip lasting about two or three weeks, the topic had shifted as Mary-Lynnette began to describe some of the things that she'd done during the year. She was happy to see that Ash was genuinely interested in the astronomical observations she'd been making about Venus, and as they'd left the restaurant, he'd asked her how much she'd read about the history of astronomy.

"Not much," she admitted.

Pleased that he'd finally found a realm of information that he knew more about then her, Ash had lead the conversation on their drive back to Briar Creek, explaining to her some of the theories of Ptolemy, one of the original geocentric astronomers from Egypt. Although she had been familiar with the school of thought that placed the earth at the center of the universe, she enjoyed hearing Ash describe the scholar's relentless use of the circle in tracking the movement of heavenly bodies.

"How do you know all of this?" she asked as they'd parked in front of her house.

Ash shrugged and climbed out of the driver's side, reaching into the backseat to help her with some of her bags. "There a few advantages to growing up in an enclave filled with weird books. We have old copies of the Almagest."

"The what?"

"Ptolemy's treatise."

Before she could reply, Mark and Jade had wandered out of the house to see if they needed any extra help – Mark's generosity stemming from a fervent desire to avoid any and all future encounters with invertebrates in his bed. Although originally tempted to retaliate, he knew the prank war would only escalate and was forced (for the present time) to acknowledge his sister's superior intelligence. Jade had also been against him antagonizing her when Ash was in town and already doing a good job of it.

A brief discussion of the day had lead to plans for the evening, and the four had decided to watch a movie. Although Mary-Lynnette had protested at first, thinking of all the packing she had to do, Ash managed to convince her that a couple of hours wouldn't make a difference. Thus, it wasn't until after watching Wayne's World that Mary-Lynnette was able to get upstairs, leaving Ash vehemently arguing with Mark about, of all things, video games.

Which brought her to the present, and the dilemma of packing for weeks of travel.

I have the dress for shows, shorts and jeans for desert travel, camping and sightseeing, as well as shirts and shoes for all of the above, she thought, critically inspecting her suitcase. Just as she was wandering to her chest of drawers to retrieve her bathing suits, she heard a knock at her door and felt the tingle of the soulmate chord.

"Come on in," she called.

Ash opened the door and walked in, leaving the door slightly ajar as he took a seat on her bed. She noted that he'd fed recently, his eyes (now blue) almost wild with an inhuman intensity, and the rest of him taking on a graceful, ethereal look.

It's like he's glowing from the inside, she thought, but it's not the same way hydrogen and oxygen make the stars glow. It's ...

She glanced at him again, his resemblance to a contented lion touching something primal inside of her and making her shiver slightly.

It's power. Raw, sacred power.

Clearing her throat to keep her mind from wandering down a certain gutter, she asked him, "So, who won the great debate?"

Ash grimaced. "Nobody. He's delusional – there's no way to reason with him."

"You're preaching to the choir," she informed him, switching around some things in her suitcase so her bathing suits would fit. "I've been trying to reason with him since the day he was born. Dare I ask what the disagreement was about?"

Ash flopped onto his back, examining the ceiling with interest. It was his first time in Mary-Lynnette's room, and he was more than a little curious as to what kinds of things she kept around. "He's misguided. He thinks Final Fantasy VII is going to 'change the gaming world as we know it.' I told him the graphics aren't going to be that great, but he wouldn't listen to me." He grabbed one of her pillows and tucked it under his head, deeply inhaling the traces of her scent the movement stirred up. Watching her intently as she packed, he couldn't help but feel content and relaxed.

Mary-Lynnette smiled, kneeling down to grab her backpack from under her bed so she could fill it with CDs and books. "First ancient mathematicians and now modern video games. I never knew I had a Renaissance man for a boyfriend."

Standing so that he could get a better look at the awards and trophies that she had on her bookshelf, he tossed out, "Well, I'm multitalented."

"It would seem so." Arranging things in the various pockets of her backpack, she offered, "If you see any books that you want for the trip, let me know. You probably didn't bring a lot with you on the way down."

"I have stuff back at the Vegas mansion if I want it," he said, impressed by her wide spread of academic awards. He was amused to note that tucked at the back of the bookcase were two tiny awards for third and fourth grade bowling leagues.

"I mean," Mary-Lynnette clarified, "For the drive."

Ash gave her a confused look. "For all that I'm not human, I only have two eyes. I can't read and drive at the same time."

Looking up at him with an almost identical confused expression, she tried again. "I was talking about for when I'm driving."

When you're what?"Whoa. Hold on," Ash said, leaning against her desk. "Who said anything about you driving?"

She stood up, feeling the familiar buzz that she got whenever the two of them started to disagree on something. Still, she didn't want to overreact, so she calmly explained, "Nobody, I guess, but I assumed I would be since both of us can and it's a long drive."

Ash gave her a lazy grin. "Oh," he replied, "that's simple enough then. It's my car. I'm the only one that drives it."

Starting to lose the grip on her temper, she gently (very gently) pointed out, "Ash, it's a fourteen hour trip."

He shrugged. "I've got crazy stamina. I can handle it."

"Ash," she grit out, the room taking on the telltale pink haze. "I wasn't worried about your stamina. I don't want to sit and do nothing for fourteen hours."

Ash sighed and looked at her as if he were patiently explaining something to a small child. "Mary-Lynnette, a man's car is like a special part of his body. Nobody touches or handles it except the man himself."

Now she was mad. "Ash Redfern, I'm your soulmate. If I can't touch and handle all of your special parts, then who do you suppose can?"

Ash opened his mouth to respond, but found himself completely unable to produce words. Mary-Lynnette, the silence giving her a moment to calm down, was horrified once she realized exactly what she had said. Both of them stood there giving each other owlish expressions until a knock at the door made them jump.

Mark stuck his head in, oblivious to the tension in the room. "Hey, Ash, want to check out some cheat codes I found for Diablo?"

Coughing slightly, he gave Mark a nod. "Yeah, that sounds great." Walking to Mary-Lynnette, he gave her a light kiss. "I'll be by a little before eight," he said, her shock letting her do little more than nod at him.

After Ash shut the door, Mary-Lynnette collapsed on to her bed, cursing all forms of soulmate chords and attractive vampires.

Seven fifty-five the next morning found Mary-Lynnette waiting in the driveway for Ash to arrive. Given her world-renowned dislike of getting out of bed before ten o'clock unless school or astronomy was involved, she was extremely pleased with herself.

Her father and Claudine had risen early with her so that they could go over some information and, to Mary-Lynnette's relief, so that her dad could give her his credit card to use for emergencies. Although she knew Ash could handle any financial crisis that popped up, she was happy to have a little more individual flexibility.

Mary-Lynnette scowled in the early summer air. The nerve of that bully, she thought, still somewhat seething about the link between his male ego and his car. I could totally drive that thing – probably better than he could considering he uses his brakes as an afterthought.

The sound of a car engine chased away some of her dire thoughts and she squinted against the rising sun, eventually identifying Ash's red convertible in spite of the glare. Leaving her luggage by the driveway, she jogged back to the house, calling out to her parents that Ash had arrived and then making her way to the kitchen to toss some drinks into a small cooler. Once she emerged back outside, she noted that her father and Claudine were already speaking with Ash in quiet tones, no doubt giving him some last minute "friendly advice." Hearing phrases such as "speed limit" and "designated driver," she could tell that the make and model of Ash's car made her father more than a little nervous. Tossing him a cheerful grin, Mary-Lynnette went to gather her luggage, but then noticed that Ash had taken the liberty of putting her suitcase in the trunk and that her purse and travel bag were on the floor of the passenger side. Grumbling slightly about gender roles, she set the cooler in the backseat and prepared to say her goodbyes.

His eyes (now a light blue) lit on her once she'd dropped the cooler in the backseat, and his arm was quick to snake around her waist once she'd gone to stand beside him. Doing her best to keep a rein on her irritation at being confined to her relatively useless role, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning her attention to the conversation.

"And you're sure the … car … can take you the whole trip?" her father asked, eyeing the red vehicle with distrust.

"I'm sure, Mr. Carter," Ash answered, rubbing the top of the car affectionately. "I know she doesn't look like a whole lot, but she's very reliable, and I've had some extra work put into her. She'll definitely get us where we need to go."

"That doesn't make me feel better," her father grumbled, leaving the group to personally examine the wheels.

"And you have enough to eat?" Claudine probed, tucking back her curly, dark hair behind her ears. "You have a long drive and it doesn't sound like you will be stopping much."

This wouldn't be the time to mention the cooler I brought, Ash thought. "We'll be fine," he assured her. "We can always go for fast-food if we need to."

"And you have enough money?" this from both parents, as Mary-Lynnette's father returned, looking somewhat more satisfied with his daughter's form of transportation.

"And we have enough money," both Mary-Lynnette and Ash answered, following it with mutually startled looks.

Oh, no, Ash thought.

We're doing the OLD-couple-thing, Mary-Lynnette fretted.

Mary-Lynnette's father shook his head ruefully and moved to give her a hug. "Just be careful," he instructed. "And call us when you get to Ash's house."

Mary-Lynnette nodded and gave her stepmother a hug, grateful that they had gotten through the last of the interrogations. Ash did the same, feeling slightly surreal as he received not only hugs, but also obvious acceptance from each of Mary-Lynnette's guardians.

After the couple settled into the car and adjusted the music to mutual satisfaction, Ash put the car into reverse and backed out of the driveway. They hadn't gone more than a half-mile before he pulled over on to the side of the road. Having been busy rifling through her CDs, Mary-Lynnette looked up and was alarmed to see that Ash, formerly composed and alert, was currently looking exhausted and rumpled. "What's wrong?"

Ash unbuckled his seat belt. "Climb out," he ordered, opening his own door and getting out of the car. Confused, but not sure what else she should do, she followed suit. She was further startled when Ash scooted past her and almost fell into the passenger side seat, buckling up before looking at her expectantly. Still baffled at the turn of events, she finished the switch, sitting in the driver's seat and adjusting it for her shorter legs.

"Can you get to US-97?" he asked, his voice sounding empty.

"Uh... yeah," she answered, turning on the ignition.

"Follow it to I-5. You'll stay on the former for about a hundred miles. Then you'll stay on I-5 until we get near Santa Monica. Wake me if something goes wrong. Don't ride the breaks, and if you hit anything, I may never forgive you." Here he turned on to his left side and started to shut his eyes.

Mary-Lynnette sat there for a moment before it dawned on her. "Ash Redfern," she prompted.

He opened one amber eye at her. "What?"

"How late did you and my brother stay up last night?"

Ash winced, his body contracting in pain at the memory. "I left your house at six thirty."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What about your legendary stamina?"

Ash grumbled. "Kestrel wanted to go hunting at seven."

"So you last slept ..."

"Two days ago."

"And you started driving because ...?"

"I have an image of responsibility to maintain with your parents."

She was about to push the subject some more but then she realized how, well ... cute he looked curled up in the seat next to her. Unable to stay mad at him when he looked so sleepy, she couldn't help but grin and pull the car back out on to the road.

"You know," she informed him as she settled into the drive, "You can't just look cute and tired whenever you act like a chauvinistic pig."

Ash yawned. "I know," he said. "But let me get away with it just this once."

From here, I encourage you to continue to Chapter VII. As an added bonus, you'll find it to be mostly author-note free. Enjoy!