It was only natural for Téa to be nervous, what with being an hour away from achieving what she had been waiting for. It seemed like only yesterday that she had bought her first pair of dancing shoes and attended her first lesson.

"I've come a long way," she realized, trying desperately to quell the butterflies in her stomach. "I just wish that Yugi and the others could be here to see this… But Kaiba will be here; that means something…"

Téa yelped as someone started to knock upon the door of her dressing room; her nerves were especially jumpy that night.

"Kaiba!?" she asked, upon opening the door. "What are you doing here--?"

He entered the room, indicating her to be quiet.

"Kaiba, what's going on?" she asked.

"You can't perform tonight, Gardner," he said. "You need to get out of here."

"I thought we went through this already," she said. "This is the last dance for me; I'll quit the troupe after that."

"And if you don't quit right now, it just might be your last dance," he replied, handing her the letter he had received.

"Well… they can't do anything to me during the show," she said, after reading it. "I'll quit immediately after it; I'll go straight home after that."

"Don't you understand!?" he growled, through gritted teeth. "This isn't some little game of Duel Monsters that the Rare Hunters are playing here; your life's at stake, Gardner!"

"So what do you want me to do!?" she asked. "I'm forty-five minutes away from my dream, and you want me to leave now?"

"If you leave, at least you'll still have a chance to dream," Seto informed her.

"Look, Kaiba, I already told Kayser when we got back to Philadelphia that I wouldn't be joining them for the European tour," she informed him.

"You told him you were quitting!?" Seto asked in disbelief. "Do you realize that's going to make him more suspicious than ever!? They won't let you go, Gardner; why else would they send me this letter? Believe me; they have plans for you, and you won't like them."

"What are you trying to say? Do you think that they're going to open up a trapdoor at the very end of the show and throw me in a dungeon?" she asked, sounding more like Seto than herself.

"If they do, good riddance," Seto retorted. "Why did I even come here?"

"Why did you?" asked Téa, her voice softening slightly. "You came because you wanted to help me."

"Gardner, I already told you that you were just a part of the case; I never intended--"

"I never intended to get caught up in this case, either," she said. "I was here to chase after the dream I've had since I was little. But I got involved for the same reason that you're here right now: we care about each other."

"Maybe you do," he replied. "I'm only giving the help that I'm expected to give. And in spite of all of my warnings, you still insist on placing yourself at risk. I've done all I can, Gardner. I'm going back to Domino."

"I thought you were staying for the performance!" she asked, slightly shocked.

"I realized that it doesn't matter what I do," he said, turning to leave.

"But you have to stay!" she said. "I told you, it means so much to have someone there on an evening such as this. And it meant so much more when I thought that it was going to be you."

"Don't you think that Yugi or Wheeler would be a better audience than me?" he asked, derision evident in his voice

"Don't get me wrong, Kaiba; I would have loved for all of my friends to be here in the audience tonight," Téa said, absentmindedly grasping the photographs in her valise. "And they would love to be here, too. But your being here is something altogether different. I've learned to care about you in the past, Kaiba. But sometimes, caring turns to love." There was a long pause, as she realized what she had just said. "And that's what's happened here; that's why I had to help you. That's why I tried my best to stay with the case."

"I figured as much," Seto replied. "I suppose I should give you credit for summoning the courage to finally tell me, instead of yet another vague confession. How long has this been going on?"

Téa turned away for a moment, sighing as the weight of her emotions left her. She glanced into the mirror, gazing at his reflection.

"I finally realized it that night you were knocked into the pier," she said. "Everyone thought that you had drowned, and I realized that you had left without knowing how I really felt… just like Atem; I never got to tell him, either. I don't know why I waited this long to tell you."

"You hinted at it well enough," Seto admitted. He said nothing else, until he glanced at the clock again. "Your dance is in twenty minutes."

"I know."

"You aren't leaving, though?"

"No, but thanks for your concern," she said, still glancing at the mirror.

"Good luck," he said, somewhat brusquely. He started to leave.

"Kaiba!" she said, turning around. He paused, his back still to her. "Kaiba, are you leaving just like that?"

"I really shouldn't be back here in the first place," he pointed out, speaking rather hastily, in Téa's opinion. "It'll provoke suspicion. Neither of us can afford that, but you especially can't."

"Kaiba, I just told you something—a secret that no one else knows!" she said. "Didn't that mean anything to you?"

He turned to face her, the two pairs of blue eyes momentarily gazing at each other. He looked as though he was about to say something, but, in the end, he decided against it.

"I'll be in the audience somewhere," he said at last. And with that, he departed the dressing room. He shut the door behind him but didn't leave at the moment; he was too busy gathering his thoughts. He knew what she had been asking for; she had wanted to know if her feelings had been returned.

Seto couldn't help but frown; he thought that he knew himself better than anyone. But this was a question that he wasn't able to answer just yet. And yet, he knew that the fact that he was once again delaying his return to Domino might very well mean something.

But it still wasn't enough.

And on the other side of the door, Téa merely continue to stare blankly at the painted wood. Whether veiled confessions or a true confession, Seto's reaction had been exactly the same. His face hadn't shown any sign of emotion (aside from slight bemusement), and his true feelings were still a mystery—more mysterious than the Case of the Morse Code Dancing.

Five minutes later, Kayser appeared at the door, telling her to get onstage. Silently, she joined the others.

"Aww, come on, Téa," said Aurus, as he noticed her pale. "This is no different than our other shows, aside from the few changes in steps. You've nailed every performance down cold; why should this one be any different, just because we're in a huge theater in a huge city with a huge audience watching us?"

"It's not the audience," Téa thought. "It's just one of them…"

"And what's this I hear about you leaving us?" he asked.

"Listen, Aurus; it's been a great time, traveling around with you guys," she said. "But I'm just too homesick to stay. I'll be going with you guys on the flight to Boston tonight, and I'm going to Domino from there while you guys head to Salem for your next short vacation before the European tour. But you can bet that I'll be keeping in touch with you guys."

"I was hoping that my cousin was trying to make some sort of crazy joke when he mentioned that you were going to quit," he replied, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice. "You were the best dancer we've had in ages, Téa… not to mention a good friend, too. You know, those guys back in Domino are very lucky to have you as their friend."

"And I guess I'm lucky to have them," she said. She couldn't help but wonder… if the Rare Hunters hadn't been affiliated with the elder Kayser, would she have stayed for the European tour? Or would homesickness have lured her back to Domino regardless of what would have happened? And would Kaiba have found some excuse to come?

She would never know. All she could do was wait for the evening to be over, and it wasn't easy; each passing second seemed like a millennium. Finally, the music began as the thick curtain parted, and that was when she made her decision.

This performance would be her best. She would dance on Broadway as she had always dreamed, and she would be sharing it with someone dear to her… even if she wasn't as dear to him.

And Seto was in his seat, writing out the Morse code message as the dance began. But his eyes eventually began to follow Téa, without even realizing it. He couldn't help but notice how all of her nervousness had seemingly vanished… all of those mixed, confused emotions… most of which were directly caused by him. It was almost admirable…

And it was slightly ironic; it had only been a couple months ago that he had been sitting in the audience, watching her in The Sound of Music. Then, he had been certain that he could never be able to love her. Now though, she was, for all practical purposes, a Broadway star (albeit for one night only), seeming more than ever like the free spirit she always was, in spite of carrying the weight of her emotions. Being so far from her home and her friends was one weight; trying to confess her feelings was something else altogether. And as the CEO watched her, even he was wondering if maybe, by some chance, his feelings from two months prior had somehow changed. Was that even possible?

He shook the thought from his head; now wasn't the time to worry about that. He continued taking down the rest of the message.

The show ended, finally, after what seemed like an eternity for both Seto and Téa. She could see him applauding along with everyone else, and she wanted to thank him again (also wondering as to what he had done with the Thank You chocolate bar that she had bought for him back in Pennsylvania). Even if he didn't share the feelings she felt, he had still bothered to be there tonight. And for Téa, that meant a lot, especially when Seto's personality was taken into consideration.

Seto was in the theater lobby, getting ready to head back to that hotel, as the decoding results appeared on his pocket computer screen.

"I'm beginning to think that you may have been right about Miss Gardner after all; she told me that she wanted to leave the troupe as soon as I had arrived back in Philadelphia. And if that was not enough, Kaiba showed up in New York the same day we arrived; one of the Earth dancers recognized him. I wasn't sure if it was a coincidence, so I will be slipping a message into his room, warning him to stay away from my troupe. And I'll add in a mention about Gardner, too; I'm still not sure as to what her connection to him is. We'll have to suspend any further progress with the plan until the European tour. As for Miss Gardner… I am still unsure as to how much she knows about our operation, but I'm not taking any chances. She thinks that she'll be leaving when we arrive in Boston later tonight. I'll convince her to join us for our two-day stay in Salem. That will give me the time I need to forge her signature on the European tour contract; she will have no choice but to join us. And if she still refuses to join us for either Europe or Salem… we'll put the backup plan into effect. She cannot return to Domino now; according to Miss Vulsor, there will be trouble if she alerts Muto about this."

The CEO halted in his tracks, staring at the screen with a mixture of shock and fury.

"Gardner, why didn't you listen to me!?" he mentally yelled at her. "I knew something like this was going to happen! You're so innocent and unassuming, you think that everyone else is the same way… that isn't the way things are, Gardner, and you're about to find that out the hard way…"

He knew very well that she had brought this upon herself, but that still didn't change the fact that she would need help. His return to Domino would have to be delayed again.

Checking his email, he was unpleasantly surprised to discover that Téa had sent him a quick message.

"Thanks again for watching the show, Kaiba. We're heading to Boston right away; I expect I'll be in Domino in about a day."

"If you only knew…" the cerulean-eyed youth muttered under his breath. There was no other alternative; somehow, he would have to meet with Téa when the troupe reached Massachusetts.