Spring Break. Why am I not all that excited? Dunno. It might have something to do with the fact that it is way too hot around here. Blargh. Warm not good for the Nehszriah. The only things I have to be even remotely geeked about is Quizbowl state tourney at the end of the week, I have semi-conquered chapter difficulty and this story officially reaching over one megabyte in size. -grins- I do not own Slayers, Major League Baseball, old movies and definitely not cures to men. If I owned the latter, I'd be so rich.

Juu-nana

Is This A Date? A Cured Woman!

Zelgadis's silver Scion rolled into the large concrete parking structure as the sun set on the Portland summer day. Amelia and Zelgadis had been completely silent on the ride over, but as they neared the parking spot for Amelia's apartment number, the woman decided to boldly break the ice.

"Thank you for dropping me off at home Mr. Gr...erm... Mr. Zelgadis... would you like to come up?" she asked kindly. Zelgadis looked at her questioningly as he stopped the car and put it into park.

"Don't you think it is a little much for just having gone to dinner once?" he replied. Amelia looked genuinely puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind," Zelgadis sighed as he turned off the car and got out. He locked the car once Amelia got out and then followed her up to her apartment.

"Would you like some tea?" she asked as she entered her apartment and walked into the kitchen.

"Sure," Zelgadis nervously said as he stood in the miniature hallway that was by the door. Amelia glanced over at the chimera as she put the kettle on and giggled.

"You can go and sit down in the living room. It's alright to come in. There's no killer attack-cat waiting to strike."

"Huh? Oh, yeah…"

Zelgadis walked further into the apartment and found where the main room was. He was intrigued by all the photographs that were placed everywhere. Some of them were of what Zelgadis assumed to be Amelia's family members and then there were some of people who were clearly her friends. Two of them looked vaguely familiar, as if Zelgadis knew exactly who they were without meeting them before.

"Hey Amelia, may I ask who these two are with you?" Zelgadis asked as he looked at a framed picture of her with two friends at Washington DC. The redheaded girl seemed bothered by the presence of Amelia and a tall, brown-haired man wearing a pair of dorky tourist's sunglasses. They were on either side of the red-head and both seemed to be much peppier than she could have ever been.

"Let me see," Amelia said as she came out of the kitchen for a second. "Oh, that's just Miss Lina and Mr. Kurt when we were in Washington DC a few months ago. We had a very fun time. Why do you ask?"

"They look familiar to me. I just can't place where I've seen them though," Zelgadis replied thoughtfully.

"Well, Mr. Kurt is on the Slayers and so is Miss Lina's cousin Liam."

"Really?" Zelgadis replied in surprise. A short silence followed before he spoke up again. "Did Liam go sightseeing with you guys?"

"He was the one with the camera," Amelia lied before returning to the kitchen. "Mr. Liam does not like being photographed at all so he went around and took pictures of the rest of us. It kind of ticked off Miss Lina, since she is the same way about most pictures taken of her." In all actuality, it was because they had asked someone else to take the picture for them that they got a shot with the three friends fully in it.

"It looks as if his cousin is the same way. The two of them look almost like twins instead of cousins."

"I do have to admit that they are very similar," Amelia confessed as she came out of the kitchen with a tray and set it down on the coffee table. On the tray was a pot of tea, two mugs and some cookies of the chocolate chip variety. Amelia poured the tea, handed Zelgadis his mug and sat down on the sofa. "Sometimes I even get them mixed up."

"I knew they looked familiar," Zelgadis said as he put the frame down and sat down on the sofa, next to Amelia. "It is a bit disappointing that I did not place them in my memory right away. They are on my team and I should be able to recognize them. I must be the worst owner in the entire league."

"It's alright Mr. Zelgadis," Amelia smiled sweetly as she picked up a cookie. "You have so many people you need to keep track of. I would bet that it is hard to remember them all sometimes."

"Whatever," Zelgadis scoffed as he took a sip of his tea. He leaned back into the sofa and let out a relaxed sigh. "Everything seems to finally be settling down now though."

"Things at the office are calming down! It is still fairly hectic if you ask me!"

"You came in when the bustle was on the verge of dying. My former secretary was able to do insane amounts of work without trouble and it was only when she left did I realize that she had been doing the work of two people."

"May I ask why she left?"

"I was a right awful git."

"Someone has been watching too much Harry Potter," Amelia teased. Zelgadis looked over at her and laughed sarcastically, thankful that she caught the reference.

"That's the exact reason to why she left me," he said. "She really didn't like my taste in movies that much."

"Now why would a secretary quit over something as trivial as some films?"

"She was also my girlfriend."

"Oh..." Amelia said as she took another cookie. "I am guessing that it was the last straw, right?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"If you broke up over movies, then it had to be part of some longer and outstanding fight the two of you had going."

"You must be some Dr. Phil incarnation or something," Zelgadis said with a bit of acidity. Amelia just giggled and blushed.

"Thank you Mr. Zelgadis," she said through her laughter. "I guess I do need good mediating skills if I want to keep Miss Lina and Mr. Kurt in line. It seems as if I am the one who keeps them from beating on poor Mr. Metallium most of the time..."

"Do you mean the Slayer's manager: Xellos Metallium?" Zelgadis asked suspiciously. Amelia almost dropped her tea once she realized what she had said. "Amelia, is there something you are not telling me?"

Amelia stayed quiet. The less she said, less of a chance she would slip again. She took a sip of tea and shook her head from side to side with a tremor.

"Whatever," Zelgadis sighed with frustration. He put down his mug on the tray and got up to leave. "I'll see you at work…"

"Doyouwanttowatchamoviewithme?" Amelia asked quickly as Zelgadis stood up. He turned towards her and saw that she seemed to be trembling with her eyes down at her drink.

"What did you say?"

"Do you want to watch a movie with me?" Amelia repeated, looking up pleadingly at Zelgadis. The chimera looked at her with confused disgust whilst he debated whether or not he should agree.

"…just as long as it isn't one of those damn chick flicks…" he moaned, unwillingly giving in. Amelia put down her tea and happily scuttled off towards another room. She reappeared almost instantly with two DVD cases in her hand and a smile on her face.

"Ocean's Eleven or Harvey Mr. Zelgadis?" she asked congenially. Zelgadis looked at his choices, slightly surprised that they were both classic movies, and then picked out the one he had not seen recently.

"Ocean's Eleven," he said. Amelia went and joyfully put the DVD into the entertainment system and sat down on the sofa.

"Come on and sit down Mr. Zelgadis!" she smiled, patting the seat cushion next to her. Zelgadis warily took the seat as Amelia turned the movie on with the remote control.

I wonder where this is going to end up, Zelgadis thought as Amelia nestled into the sofa next to him as the opening credits began rolling. No, he didn't want to think about that. Instead, he stretched out on his own end of the sofa and decided to watch the movie in peace.

80808080808080808

"Ee-o leven," whistled the television as the movie ended. Zelgadis stirred from his sleep, having passed out during the casino steakouts. Stretching lethargically, he looked at the clock on the wall and discovered that it was getting close to midnight. He looked down to see a sleeping Amelia who was curled up next to him and using his lap as a pillow.

I highly doubt she meant to do that, he thought as he gingerly replaced himself with one of the various throw pillows that was on the sofa. He turned off the television set and looked at Amelia. It was apparent that she had been sleeping for a while, due to the fact she had accepted the new pillow without even the slightest disturbance.

"Good night," Zelgadis as he walked towards the door. As he passed the sofa, he flipped over the blanket that was draped over the back of it. He knew it would fall on Amelia and did not stop walking to check and make sure that it did. Zelgadis left the apartment silently as Amelia slept on, curled up underneath the warm blanket and completely unaware that her company had left.

80808080808080808

It was already hours past sunrise when Lina barged into Amelia's apartment on Saturday morning. The woman made no effort to be quiet in case her friend was sleeping and was determined to wake her up anyways.

"Amelia! Hey, Amelia!" she yelled as she made her way towards her friend's bedroom. Amelia, who was still on the sofa, sat up and rubbed her sleepy eyes with confusion.

"Mr. Zelgadis?" she yawned.

"No you silly, silly person," Lina laughed as she realized Amelia was in the living room. She bounded up to Amelia and got right in her face. "It's me!"

"Kya!" Amelia exclaimed when she opened her eyes and discovered Lina less than two inches away. "What are you doing here Miss Lina? Don't you have to still be in Chicago for the team?"

"It's ten in the morning Amelia. You over-slept and missed picking me up at the airport earlier," Lina half-snickered. "I guess you had another late-night movie marathon again, am I right?"

"Oh no!" Amelia cried. "I'm late to work! Mr. Zelgadis is going to kill me!" She threw off the blanket and tried to rush over to the door to leave, but Lina held onto her arm and wouldn't let go.

"'Tis a Saturday 'Melia," she said. "You don't need to go to work today."

"Oh…" Amelia replied, calming down so that Lina let go of her arm. "Where is Mr. Zelgadis?"

"What do I care? I am not your boss's keeper. Why in the hell would you ask me that?"

"He was here last night and I don't remember him leaving…"

"You had you boss over here last night and you didn't tell me!" Lina snapped. "Do you realize what could have happened between the two of you!"

"Yeah. If I had stayed awake, we could have watched another movie."

"Movie…?"

"Yeah, we were watching a movie. The last thing I remember is laying down on the sofa and being tired. I guess I fell asleep and he left once that happened."

"Considering I found you curled up underneath a blanket while you were on the sofa, I guess he made sure you wouldn't freeze in the A/C and left," Lina observed.

"I sure do hope he got home alright..."

"Amelia, stop it. You sound as if you like the guy or something." The ever-supportive Lina made a fake retching noise and screwed her face up as if she were going to hurl.

"Oh stop it Miss Lina!"

"You have the hots for your boss..." Lina said in a sing-song voice.

"Do not!"

"Do too."

"Miss Lina!"

"You may have yet to be cured of men, but I have!"

Amelia looked at Lina in sarcastic disbelief.

"Cured of men?"

"You bet I am!"

"Impossible," Amelia sighed as she went into her room to change into clean clothes. She came back out a minute later in blue jeans and a green Slayers t-shirt, only to find Lina rummaging around in her cupboards.

"Don't you have anything to eat?" Lina asked as she opened the refrigerator. Amelia shut the refrigerator door on Lina, startling her.

"Stay out of my kitchen." Amelia ordered. "Now, Miss Lina, what did you say about being cured of men?"

"I think I finally found out what makes me freeze up when I am facing Gourry Gabriev!" Lina proudly announced.

"Really? How did you discover this?"

"By going out with him."

Amelia almost fell to the floor. "You went out on a date with him? How did you manage that!"

"Easy, we were both in Chicago at the same time and we happened to be in the same bar," Lina said, quite snugly. "...and before I knew it... he asked me out. He does seem like a real idiot though…"

"...the hell Miss Lina!" Amelia panicked. "What if he had recognized you! Then he would report you and Mr. Zelgadis and Mr. Metallium and we would all be banned from baseball and…"

"Calm down Amelia," Lina laughed. "He's got a jellyfish for brains. He's not going to go around saying that I am Liam Inverse. I told him both my first and last name and he did not even blink towards the notion. This is awesome!"

"You need to control yourself Miss Lina!" Amelia scolded. "You should not be recklessly testing your luck like that! What if your wig had accidentally come off, huh? Then what would you have done?"

"I dunno."

"You don't know...?"

"Amelia!" Lina whined. "I was thinking on an impulse!"

"You always think on impulses!"

"Is that bad?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

"Miss Lina, I thought you were getting better at going out in public by yourself."

"I am..."

"That's it! I am going to tell Mr. Kurt that he is not allowed to leave your side while you guys are traveling!" Amelia announced. Lina did not like this suggestion one bit and tried to put Amelia in a headlock to get her to take it back. When that failed and Amelia wriggled free, thus began a race around the apartment that ended with Amelia giving up and offering Lina some food in payment... which Lina took to heart.

Things To Know

"Right awful git": That, my friends, was from the fourth Harry Potter movie, which was a fair movie but a disappointing book adaptation.

Dr. Phil: Yeah, I really don't like the guy. I think he's unnecessary and a quack. No offence to those out there who like him.

Ocean's Eleven and Harvey: Movies. Old. I'll never leave Ocean's Eleven alone. Learn this now. Harvey has the predecessor of Frank from Donnie Darko. -grins- All hail Frank.