Tea's heart leapt when she saw Mai and Joey standing at the end of the barriers. It fully hit her then that she was actually home, and home to stay. It felt right.

Mai was right there when Tea came through. Tea dropped her suitcase and flung her arms around Mai. 'God it's good to see you again.' Tea held onto her tightly. She pulled back. 'You've hardly changed at all. Well, physically anyway.'

Mai grinned. 'Is that a bad thing? You haven't changed much either, though all this muscle tone is new. You're looking great! Apart from the grey face.'

'Yeah, thanks for that.' Tea grimaced then broke out into a grin. 'Joey!'

'Hey!' He picked her up and spun her round. 'I've always wanted to do that,' he told her when he dumped Tea back on her feet.

'Yes, well.' Tea grabbed her suitcase for balance. 'From now in do it with Mai.'

'I thought dancers weren't supposed to get dizzy.'

'They don't, not when they're actually prepared for spinning around in circles.' Tea glared at him.

'Ah, well, shall I warn you next time?'

'No. Like I said; do it with Mai. I'm sure you'll like her end reaction better.'

'Yes, well,' he glanced over at her. 'That's a given, but it was fun to see yours.'

Tea stuck out her tongue. 'Look at us; I'm not back for five minutes and we start behaving like we're still in highschool.'

'Hey, who ever said you had to grow up?'

Tea shot Mai an exasperated look. 'Why do you put with him?'

'That's an easy enough question for me to answer, but why did you put up with him for all these years?'

Tea shook her head despairingly. 'It's a long and sad story.'

'Yeah, yeah.' Joey picked up Tea's suitcase. 'Thanks ever so. I'll leave you two girls to discuss, my virtues in private since you don't want to say how great I am in front of me in case it'll inflate my head.'

'Virtues? You?'

Joey stuck out his tongue at Tea as he walked away, and almost crashed into a harassed looking business man as he made for the door. Readjusting his hold on the suitcase with a quick apology to the man, Joey stuck his nose in the air and made for the door.

'It's so good to be back.' Tea slipped her arm though Mai's as they began to follow Joey.

'It's great to have you back Tea. I've really missed you.' Mai glanced after Joey. 'Perhaps not as much as him, but-'

'I know.' Tea smiled at Mai. 'It's gonna be great to have another girl around, not just all these guys.'

'You're telling me.'

'Yep. You know, I was so happy when Joey rang up and said you were here in Domino with him and an item. I think we've all been waiting for it since Battle City at least. I'm so glad you two are finally together...hmm, that's a bit of an understatement.'

'Never mind, I'm just happy you aren't against it. I had a few bad moments when I came back with Joey-I didn't know if you guys would approve after everything I put him through, even if Joey said you'd be fine with it.'

'I can imagine. But we've really missed you and now look; the whole gang's gonna be together again for the holidays for the first time in years.'

'And we actually get to spend time together without dark duels and crazed maniacs trying to destroy the planet and steal our souls.'

'Yeah, that's a definite bonus.'

***

Tea got everyone over for an early dinner-early because she knew jetlag would soon catch her up. She wanted to hear all about what Mai had been doing in the year since California, and how she met up with Joey-just hearing it over the phone once wasn't enough for her. She didn't think she'd ever seen Joey or Mai so ridiculously happy. The only time that came close was when Joey talked to his sister again for the first time in six years to tell her she would be able to keep her sight. That had been an emotional day, and if Joey had shed a few tears, the gang had turned a blind eye to it for his sake.

Tristan joined them once his shift was finished. He came, not even bothering to change, and swept Tea into a huge hug. Tea couldn't remember the last time she felt so warm inside and so safe and utterly content.

She watched how Tristan was with Mai, but apart from maybe being a little hesitant around eachother, they got along just fine. Mai had told her Tristan had picked her and Joey up from the airport, and had clapped her on the back and helped them with their luggage and that was it. There was still some tension between them, but Tea thought that-now seeing them together-that would go with time.

Tea's parents had cooked shellfish for dinner-all her favourites. She would be staying with them until she started her job, and then would see about getting a flat with someone. Not Mai and Joey, but perhaps with Tristan. Yugi, she knew, would probably still stay with his grandfather to keep him company and give him a hand around the place. Perhaps in time she could get a flat with Serenity too, Tea thought. That would work out nicely.

When Tea's eyes began to droop and she could no-longer hide her increasingly regular yawns, her friends bade her goodbye and left for home. Tea crawled into her bed in her old room with relief. Tonight had been great, and she was sure the next few days would be too. But when Yugi flew back in...things would change. She would meet him at the airport and give him time to recover from his flight, but then, she would have to find out how he felt-there was no-way she could keep living in limbo any longer. Tea just wished her own feelings were more concrete and less tangled.