What the hell was that all about? Emma pondered as she lay on her bed. It had been a while now since Shalimar had fled from her room and Emma was worried for her friend, she had honestly never suspected that the feral may be gay, ok so she was very tactile with her, but wasn't that just Shalimar and her feline side? Wasn't Shalimar tactile with the others? As Emma thought about it, the more it became a little clearer, she had felt Shalimar's happiness when they were together and she has also detected another powerful emotion, one she had dismissed. Love. Emma had thought it was only the love that was between best friends or sisters, never had it crossed her mind that Shalimar may be slightly attracted to her. Neither had the thought that she may actually be attracted to women had ever crossed her mind, yet that kiss had set something off inside of her, something unexplainable, yet something so powerful and amazing she wanted more.

Emma slowly walked towards the older woman's room, figuring that is where she would be hiding. As she approached she realised that she didn't have a clue what to say to her friend. Stopping short outside of the feral's room, Emma leant her head against the cool wooden surface of the door, knowing that Shalimar could probably tell she was there, but not too bothered. Emma raised her left hand to her lips which still had a slight tingling sensation. After a couple of deep breaths Emma knocked on the door, waiting anxiously for Shalimar to beckon her inwards.

"Em, go away. I really don't want to talk about this right now," Shalimar called out from her position on the bed.

"No, that's not going to happen. I'm not leaving until we have spoken about this,"

"Well you're going to be waiting a long time Emma," The feral said impatiently.

"Shal, you can't just kiss someone out of the blue and expect them to forget about it," Emma tried to reason.

"Just leave it Em please," Shalimar pleaded before turning up her CD enough to get the message across to the psionic outside her door.

Emma sighed at the stubbornness of the feral and sat herself against the door, prepared to wait as long as it took. Shalimar however growled in agitation at the persistence of her red headed friend.

After roughly 20 minutes, Shalimar had decided that enough was enough and therefore decided to get it over with. Opening her door roughly, Emma fell backwards landing at her feet. Shalimar looked down upon the red head with a look of confusion and bewilderment.

"Em? What the?"

"Oh hey Shal, you finally decided to open up,"

"Yeah I guess, come in why don't you," Shalimar replied almost sarcastically as she cocked an eyebrow.

"Give us a hand up," Emma asked, extending one hand which was met by one of the Shalimar's helping her to her feet, before leading them into the room fully. Shalimar sat herself back down on her bed, followed by Emma, who sat directly in front of her, maintaining eye-contact.

"Why did you run from me?" Emma asked straight out, causing Shalimar to become slightly uneasy.

"I uh guess I was umm well I guess I was scared," Shalimar spoke the last word barely audible for Emma to hear.

"Scared? Of me?" Emma asked getting more confused by the second.

"I wasn't scared of you, I was scared of me, of what I had let myself in for,"

"What had you let yourself in for?" Emma pushed gently, wanting to help and understand her friend.

"Rejection, being hurt. Em I'm so sorry for kissing you, I know I shouldn't have but…" Shalimar trailed off, hanging her head in embarrassment.

Emma took Shal's chin in her thumb and index finger, raising it slightly to regain eye-contact. "Shalimar Fox I would never do anything to hurt you well at least not intentionally. As for rejecting you, well you kissed me then scarpered before I could get a word in edgeways. I'm not that bad a kisser am I?" Emma asked playfully.

"Em you're an amazing kisser, honestly. Emma this wont ruin our friendship will it?"

"No way, you don't get rid of me that easily," Emma nudged Shal gently, before pulling her into a hug. Neither one wanting to let go, as they felt comfort replace the earlier tension.

"Shal are you gay?" Emma asked once they had parted.

"Yeah, through and through, does that bother you?" Shalimar answered seeing a hurt look flicker through the blue orbs.

"Not in the slightest, I'm sorry I never told you before, it's just I didn't know how exactly to raise the topic in conversation. You're straight right?"

"Well I always thought I was, but then again my parents were rather open minded, which I guess made me become open minded. As they say, 'never say never'," Emma stated matter of fact, in a flirtatious tone.

"If you don't mind me asking, you have never been with another woman?" Shalimar enquired.

"Well not fully, I experimented slightly when I was younger but never went all the way,"

"Emma, would you like to have dinner with me tonight, you know as um a sort of um date? That is if you would like to," Shalimar asked nervously.

"Shal honey, I don't want to rush into anything. This happened all of a sudden, I'm still trying to get my head around it all, if anything is to happen between us, I need us to take it slow,"

"Emma I would do anything for you, I would never pressure you or rush you into anything that you didn't feel comfortable with,"

"Thanks, so if that dinner invitations still open, I'd like to accept," Emma smiled; causing the feral's stomach to do back flips.

"Great, how do you feel about us just getting a take-away in, and maybe a DVD?"

"Sounds perfect to me," Emma said reaching over and placing a delicate kiss on the feral's cheek, before leaving the room.