After a holiday and an awful cold, the next chapter is ready. I know I have a few return readers so I hope you're all enjoying it. Please review if you get a chance - I'd love more feedback! And without further ado…

- Chapter Seven -

Plumed Punishment

When I get back from my lunch Maya is still there. I expect her to be hard at work, but she's sitting on a cushion, her eyes fixed on a television set that was previously not in the room.

I cough, alerting her of my presence.

She doesn't turn around, "Oh, hey Apollo. How was your lunch?"

"Good?" I lie, "what's all this?"

"Figured I'd take a little break, wanna join?" she asks, patting the cushion next to her.

I pause, "I mean, is that a good idea? There's so much to do. I'm so stressed that the idea of watching tv actually makes me more stressed…"

Maya grins, "Apollo, come on, give yourself a break!"

"I just had lunch," but Datz's words play in my mind. Why am I denying myself this? If I want to take another break I should. Heck, if I want to hang out with Maya I should do that too. She's made it pretty clear nothing is going to to happen, so why not just go with the flow? "Ah heck, go on then."

She grabs my hand and pulls me down onto the floor, even scooting up to make room on the cushion. When I position myself on the ground I realise we're still holding hands and feel myself turning red. I'm grateful that this room is naturally dark. It's not that deep, I repeat to myself. I try to enjoy the episode. It's difficult to ignore the fact that Maya is right there next to me. She still seems to get bafflingly excited about the smallest fights and occasionally she mouths along with the words. I try to find it annoying, because in a way...well, it is annoying, but it's also adorable. A fact that's quite hard to ignore once you've noticed it.

No wonder Mr. Wright let her get her way all the time. He probably felt like this too…the thought trails off as I decide maybe that's not such a great line of questioning.

I only have a very casual interest the The Plumed Punisher and yet, worryingly, as the episode progresses, it hits me that I've already seen this one. A thought that I voice to Maya.

"And you've only just noticed? It's almost halfway through!" she says indignantly.

I roll my eyes, "yeah, well, I'm not exactly well versed." I say, only half paying attention as I watch The Punisher enact a particular complex series of cartwheels jumping onto the roof of of a building.

"Why not? You should be. It's good entertainment."

I pause, my lips pursed slightly.

"Is it? I mean, it's okay? I hate to jump on the bandwagon, but it's really just a rip-off of The Steel Samurai…the theme tune just unabashedly uses nearly the exactly same tune."

Maya turns from the screen, "how dare you insult The Punisher! That's really unfair. Y'know, I've watched quite a bit of backstage stuff. You might be surprised to see how much work the writers and production team put into the show."

"I would be surprised," I mutter, smirking a little, "was most of the work just watching episodes of The Steel Samurai so that they could tweek miniscule parts of it and rewrite it?"

This really gets her attention, her eyes widen and she sits up a little, "Wow," she says, "I don't think I've ever seen this side of you, Apollo," I worry a little, but she's grinning - it's infectious and spreads across her whole face. She's smiling at me as though I've said the funniest thing in the world.

"Well, I guess a lot of it gets saved for the inner monologue," I reply, pointing to my head.

"Hmph, even so, I don't agree. I think you're being unfair on the good people of Worldwide Studios - The Punisher is a feminist icon I'll have you know!" she pauses and turns her head to the side slightly, her hair falling over one side of her face. My first instinct - a totally incorrect one which I quickly vito - is to push it away from her face and tuck it behind her ear. She does it herself anyway. "No matter," she continues, "you'll soon learn when we watch the backstage DVD's."

I can't help but smile - partly because of the way she's still grinning - but also at the thought of spending time with her. I know I need to play it cool. "Oh yeah? And when will we be finding the time to do that?"

"I'm sure we can fit in an episode here and there," she says, turning back towards the television, "now shh, I like this part."

"You like all the parts…" I murmur thinking she won't respond. I'm wrong, she lightly taps me on the arm. I think she's trying to chide me, but the effect is lost as I just tingle slightly where's she's hit me.

It's. Not. That. Deep. I remind myself, almost mantra-like in my determination. But as I look over, I can see a faint blush across her cheeks. Or is it?