Normal and Henry Griffin; it was an oxymoron. Maggie Winnock watched, bemused, as he did some overly complicated dance step and then leapt back as if he was startled by something large and poisonous. He twisted his hip, jumped, landed, and turned again.

"Henry, what are you doing?"

"The Akembe. Ms. Hillerson is teaching a chapter on courtship and how practices are determined by existing social norms and conventions. I thought for my project I would present the traditional dance of the Iteso of Uganda and show how in tribal culture dance is the primary form of celebration and union."

"Courtship, huh," she drawled, trying not to notice how incredibly good he looked in a thin blue tank top that was molded to his chest. He smiled up at her and Maggie looked quickly away to hide the blush that was rapidly spreading over her cheeks.

This was getting ridiculous. She'd known Henry for almost two years now and he shouldn't be affecting her like this. Studying him clinically, Maggie was willing to admit that Henry was attractive. After all she was a normal, healthy teenage girl and she could appreciate eye candy just as much as the vapid and brain dead cheerleaders could. The difference between her and them was that she was able to note the attraction and forcefully dismiss it not long after she'd met him. Attraction was chemical, it was easy to ignore. She'd done it before when she felt she was drawn to other hot but inappropriate guys. The problem lately was that those defenses she'd cultivated didn't stop her from admiring his character.

Being friends with Henry and Jasper led to deeper involvement, and deeper involvement led to her carefully constructed internal defenses being shot to hell. She had to find out what a fascinating person he was, had to find out how sweet and sometimes naïve he could be, and how smart he was in a way that was so different for her own bookish intelligence. He had to go and make himself real to her instead of just tempting eye candy.

A shadow crossed her expression and she shivered slightly. She could have continued ignore her evolving feelings if he hadn't been the one to find her in the Doum rooms after…She cut that line of thought off. There was no way she was going there right now, or come to think of it, ever again. Not if she wished to keep her sanity. Sighing, she hoisted herself up on a nearby table, the denim legs of her jeans rubbing against her skin as she slid back to rest her shoulders against the wall. He was dancing again and that nervous twisty feeling in her gut intensified.

"Speaking of dances, who are you going to take to the black and white ball?"

He didn't pause in his routine as he twisted again and shrugged. "I haven't really thought about it. Wasn't even sure I was going to go until Uncle Brian pointed out that since this is a ball that brings all of the people who donate to and are in charge of grant funding, and my parents relay on grant funding, perhaps it would behoove me to attend so they can understand the import of said funding to those in the field. His words not mine."

She smirked. "I can't see you networking."

He paused, that adorable puzzled look he sometimes got on his face. "Networking?"

"Making business contacts in order to get what you need at a later date. Schmoozing, making nice with the people who hold the purse strings."

A vague hint of distaste crossed his features. "That sounds…really awful. Does Uncle Brian really believe I am capable of…schmoozing?"

She hopped back down off the counter and approached him. "I think he just expects you to be yourself. You don't need to schmooze. You have that weird sort of charm that people respond to. You'll be fine."

She absentmindedly patted him on the shoulder, enjoying the feel of his skin under her fingers and feeling conflicted and annoyed that she enjoyed it. She went to remove her hand and he caught her wrist. Startled, her brown eyes shot up and collided with his hazel ones. He caressed the pulse point and she felt heat clench her stomach. Praying he couldn't see her silly feelings written all over her face she tugged free of him. He was looking at her rather intently.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" Her hands went up to rub against her cheeks. His regard didn't waver.

"Would you go with me?"

"What?" He couldn't be asking what she thought he was asking.

"Would you go with me…to the ball?"

Maggie couldn't answer for a moment, she just stared slack jawed.

"I-I…that is…what?"

Hastily he rushed to explain. "I could use a friend there and I thought it might even be fun. After all they are unveiling Dr. Sorreson's latest discovery from that dig in Mexico. You don't have to though. I'm sure you already have a date so we can just disregard the last few moments if you…"

She jumped in to interrupt. "No, no I don't have a date and yeah it would be fun."

"Just as friends Maggie, I swear."

A little disappointed, vexed with herself that she was feeling disappointed, and trying not to show it she smiled. "Right…just as friends. Don't worry Henry you'll be great." She glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Well I have to go. My Dad is expecting me for our weekly father-daughter brunch date. Tell Jasper to e-mail his part of the lab report to me tonight so I can put it all together."

He smiled, boyish and handsome. She melted a little more. Maggie felt a headache coming on and was starting to wonder when she'd become such a simpering…girl.

"I will. Have fun with your dad, Maggie."

She graced him with one last smile and then let herself out the back door. Henry watched her go until he could no longer see her. Jasper chose that moment to enter the kitchen.

"That was smooth, cuz, real smooth." Henry stifled a groan and sunk down into a nearby kitchen chair.

"I'm sorry Jasper but my experience in this area is limited."

His cousin flopped down in the chair next to his with a smirk. "Yeah well, I know from personal experience that asking Maggie Winnock on a date is enough to make the most courageous of us feel faint. Should I get the smelling salts before you swoon Aunt Ester?"

Henry glared at him. "You are enjoying this entirely too much."

He shrugged and placed his hands behind his head, leaning back. "What can I say? The great charismatic Henry Griffin, world traveler, adventurer, and for some unfathomable reason, babe magnet has met his match. I am going to love watching her lead you around by your freakishly sensitive nose."

Henry met his cousin's eyes, serious. "Are you sure your okay with this Jasper? Me pursuing Maggie? I know that you use to…"

Jasper cut him off. "I know where your going with this and don't worry about it. Part of me will always have a soft spot for Mags, but whatever crush I had on her when we were younger has changed." He abruptly stood and turned to face his cousin. "I will say this. Hurt her and martial arts guru or no, I'm gonna kick your ass."

He started to walk away and when he had just about turned the corner Henry replied.

"Whatever happened to Henry you're faster, stronger, and braver than I am." Jasper gave him a one finger salute and continued through the door and towards the stairs.

Henry was left alone with his thoughts. He'd pulled his legs up into the lotus potion and sat quietly. In the two years he'd been in the states he, Jasper, and Maggie had done some extraordinary things. They were almost legendary now at Smithson High. Jasper had spun most of their adventures to pad his application for Yale while Maggie was considering M.I.T and Stanford for their programs in Aerospace Engineering. Henry…wasn't sure what he wanted to do after High School. For as long as he could remember his biggest goal was to get back into the field and resume the type of lifestyle he'd enjoyed with his parents. Now though, with everything, he was seriously considering continuing his education in a more traditional setting.

He realized that much of these changes were due to Maggie. Maggie scolding him, pushing him, making him wanted to do better, to be better…to grow up. He was finding more and more that when she entered a room his eyes were immediately drawn to her. He admired her loyalty to her friends, her dedication to her studies, her analytical mind, her compassion, and her dry humor. He was also enough of a male to admit that he enjoyed watching her move. She was sinuous grace and beauty. She was all long dancer's legs, pert breasts, slender neck, fine boned hands, soft lips and liquid eyes. He reacted pretty much as any healthy teenage male would even when he tried not to because he didn't want to be disrespectful to her. He was also having vividly explicit dreams about her on a frequently reoccurring basis.

He'd wake up hard and panting and would have to meditate until he got his body back under control.

The breaking point came last month when she'd suddenly started dating Michael Stansville III. He was such a pompous, arrogant asshole that both Henry and Jasper hadn't known what to think. She'd seemed to really be into him though and then three weeks into their relationship Henry had found Maggie in the Doum rooms, crying.

"Maggie?" The girl before him started and hastily started wiping her eyes.

"H-Henry? What are you doing here?"

He smiled at her. "I work here, remember?"

She blushed, embarrassed. "O-Oh…right. Well I'll just…get out of your way."

She'd tried to bolt past him but he stepped in front of her and caught her, wrapping his arms around her so she couldn't get free. She struggled for a minute and growled.

"Henry let me go."

He loosened his hold but didn't release her. "No Maggie, not until you tell me what's wrong? Why are you down here crying?"

She tried to push past him again and instinctively his hold tightened. Her reaction was instant and much too extreme. "No!" She screamed and started fighting him as if her very life depended on her getting away. He abruptly released her and she collapsed, bawling. Cautiously, he lowered himself to her level and in a soothing voice.

"I'm not going to hurt you Maggie. It's me…Henry. I would never hurt you."

His tone was one he'd mastered over the years traveling through uncharted wilderness and dealing with all sorts of wild animals. He very slowly reached out to touch her shoulder and she recoiled. Not offended, he pulled his hand back and simply sat there, patient as a stone statue. Maggie gasped for air and control. She was humiliated and horrified that she couldn't seem to get her body or her emotions back under her command. When he tentatively reached for her hand again she grasped it like a life line. Slowly, as not to startle her, he pulled her into his arms. She went willingly and clutched at him.

Henry simple held her, stroking her back and whispering nonsense. His calming presence had the desired effect and she eventually quieted.

"What's happened Maggie?" She tensed and he continued those long, soothing strokes along her spine. She shuddered.

"I-It was Michael. We were in one of the empty classrooms…kissing. It was getting a little…enthusiastic when he put his hands up my shirt and grabbed me. He s-squeezed hard and it hurt. I-I pushed him off and told him to s-stop, that I liked him but I wasn't r-ready for that. He—oh God Henry, the look on his face, it was s-so angry. He pushed me hard up against the desk and knocked the wind out of me. I was gasping for breath and he started pulling my s-shirt up and fumbling with my zipper. H-He called me horrible names and said that n-no one said no to him, e-especially not some lonely pathetic ice-queen that should b-be thanking God that he'd been willing to give her the slightest bit of attention. I was so freaked out. I-I managed to get a hold of his thumb somehow and I-I remembered t-that thing you taught me, the pressure point. He screamed and let me go and I r-ran. That was almost an hour ago and I-I've been too afraid to go back up there."

Henry didn't get angry often. Too many years of countless lessons from shamans, monks, witch doctors, priests, and every other type of holy man imaginable had given him a steady peaceful aura that was deeply ingrained. None of those lessons helped him right now. His state of Zen was non-existent as he battled the churning rage that demanded he go and find Michael and beat on him until he wasn't recognizable as human.

He flashed back to one of his family's last trips to the Congo. He'd been hiding in an abandon shack with his mother and father while outside rebel and military forces collided in a battle that spared no innocents. He'd been barely seven at the time, but in the repressed part of his mind the held his darkest nightmares he never forgot what he'd seen. One of the villager's wives was being brutally raped by a solider and the villager pulled the man off his wife. He should not have stood a chance against the solider but he'd fought like a berserker and killed him—then he'd killed his wife and himself.

It was one of his darkest memories, and at that moment, holding Maggie, soothing her, he finally understood the type of rage that could drive a man to that kind of horror. Clawing for control he applied every once of his training and managed to keep his heartbeat steady and slowly released the rage. Maggie didn't need vengeance right now, she needed comfort.

Henry was jerked back to the present by the sound of a car door slamming. From the sound of the footfalls it was his Uncle Brian returning home from his meeting. Henry got up and headed for the back door. He needed some fresh air and room to move. He let himself out and headed down the street towards the park.

He and Maggie still hadn't talked about what happened that afternoon. She broke up with Michael and he was livid that she didn't report the incident. Henry had tried to persuade her to go to Uncle Brian or her father with what happened, especially since Michael had started stalking her in the halls at school but she wouldn't. He'd done what he could with the restrictions she'd given him. He walked her to and from all of her classes. Made sure he was with her after school if she had to stay late.

He became her shadow until she finally got fed up with him and told him in no uncertain terms that she was suffocating and needed some space. Frustrated because this wasn't the jungle and he couldn't go around beating the crap out of people he'd finally sat down with Jasper one night and told him an edited version of what had happened. Jasper was just as enraged as Henry had been but he was also less of the physical action hero type and more the brilliant devious mastermind type.

Two weeks ago Michael Stansville III was expelled permanently from Smithson High for multiply violations of the school's Academic Ethics Code. His permanent record was destroyed beyond recovery and he was going to be lucky to get into a third rate tech school much less realize his dreams of Harvard.

Jasper didn't admit that he'd had anything to do with it and Henry hadn't asked. Maggie still refused to talk to either of them about the incident but she did apologize to Henry for losing her temper with him. The important thing was that Maggie wasn't walking around terrified any longer and jumping at shadows. Henry frowned and shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful that Jasper handled Michael but he was still unable to reconcile himself to how useless he'd felt.

It the face of Maggie's pain all he'd been able to do was attempt to protect her and comfort her. He still wasn't so sure that he'd succeeded but it seemed that Maggie had been more or less back to normal these days. The incident, however, had woke Henry up to feelings he'd been having for awhile now but had been unwilling to face. For a fearless teenager with the skills of a shaolin monk and an Indiana Jones complex he quailed in the face of pursuing these changing feelings for Maggie.

For two years, she, he, and Jasper had solved countless mysteries, found ancient artifacts, and thwarted thieves. She was one of the best friends he'd ever had. He didn't want to lose that. It took something like what had happened to drive home to him something he always applied to the rest of his life. Life was too short to shy away from risks. His experiences taught him about balance and the truth was that his life was out of balance when he ignored his growing feelings for his best friend.

It was time to take the biggest risk of his life. It was time to risk his heart.