Uh...

*clears throat*

So, uh, how are you all today? I'm good. Sleep deprived, but, y'know, can't complain...

Okay, screw it, THIS IS THE CHAPTER YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR, ENJOY IT!

The constant drizzle in the area made it impossible for me to use dye powder to blend into the dark surroundings, so I had to stick to the very highest of the rooftops to keep from being seen. The upside to that was that I had a lot of places to choose from for my photos. The downside was that the binocucom only had so powerful a zoom.

I was trying to get a good shot of the castle gates from a weird angle when the bridge to the moat abruptly crashed down, revealing the Black Knight. Eyes widening, I took in the Knight and the guards and the fact that they were transporting what looked like a very futuristic container and immediately contacted Bentley.

"From the level of security," he said excitedly, "I'd bet the farm it's Galleth's cane. I'll send Sly that way immediately, you stay put and keep an eye on things! If what Galleth says is true, the Black Knight almost never leaves his castle." In the background, I could hear Galleth berating Bentley for 'doubting his word, "And when he does, it's only briefly to visit the Blacksmith shop. This may be the one opportunity we have to steal the can back!"

"It does look like he's on his way to the Blacksmith shop," I said, zooming in on the Black Knight. There was some kind of icon on his breastplate, but I was too far away and the zoom wasn't powerful enough to clearly make it out. "Yeah, send Sly quickly, it's not a very long walk."

"Okay, he's on his way. Try and get some pictures of the Black Knight and that cane, we need to figure out who and what we're dealing with."

I put my binocucom away, grimacing. I was going to have to be careful about this. Leaping from the clock tower, I landed on a banner rope carefully before dropping again and ducking into an alley that would bring me around to the front of the Black Knight's path. I wasn't going to be able to take a lot of time with the shot before I was seen, so I pulled out my binocucom and zoomed a little in advance.

The red light in front of the Black Knight reflected in the puddles in the path when he came around the corner. I stuck my head out, barely made sure the Knight was in the binocucom frame, snapped a photo, and dove back into the alley.

When no footsteps immediately started running in my direction, I ducked behind a barrel and pulled up the shot I'd taken. It wasn't bad, I was pretty sure it would work, but I still couldn't make out the symbol on the front of the armor.

"It's a little dark," Sly commented from his position on the ledge above me, giving me what felt like a stroke, "Too bad the binocucom doesn't have a flash."

"Sly," I panted, clutching the front of my shirt, "You're my closest friend, but if you ever do that to me again, I will murder you in cold blood."

Dropping down to land next to me, Sly quirked an eyebrow, "Do what?"

"Sneak up behind me in an alley on dark stormy night and scare me half to death!"

He laughed, "Okay, I guess you have a point."

He was smiling again and I couldn't look away, this whole situation was getting totally ridiculous. Then he frowned and opened his mouth, but before he could ask anything I saw the hovering case containing the cane slide silently by out of my peripheral vision and quickly whirled around to snap a photo, before it passed out of sight of the alley.

"Oh I could hack that in my sleep," Bentley said over the earbuds, having received the picture. "Sly, catch up to the case and I'll hack it remotely."

Laying a hand on my back as he went by, Sly said, "Wish me luck," and vanished into the street. I waited a handful of seconds before taking the opportunity to hit my head against the nearest wall. I needed to take up meditation or something. We had a job to do and just being near Sly made me feel like I'd downed ten espressos in the span of a single minute and was suffering the consequences.

It was stupid and frustrating I just needed to tamp it down until this whole Le Paradox thing was over and done with. After that, I hoped it would have dissipated, but it was more likely I was going to have to talk to Sly about it. Either way, it was going to have to wait.

"Kaia," I jumped at Bentley's voice, "head on back to the Safehouse, we need to make a plan of attack with the photos you and Sly have gathered."

"Alright, on my way."

Galleth was so enthusiastic about the return of his cane that there was another wrestling match to keep him from going after the Black Knight then and there. This one was curbed by Bentley saying he'd never seen a cane in the style of a lance before and he needed Galleth to demonstrate what it could do in order to properly incorporate it into our plans.

More than happy to oblige, Galleth ranted at length about the admirable qualities of the particular way he'd crafted his cane while Sly and Bentley used some sort of complicated eyebrow language to draft Murray into going along so he could sit on Galleth if the knight decided to go another round with the Knight while out of the Safehouse.

Though we were curious, Sly and I opted to stay behind with Kristian, who maintained he had no part in our 'crazy schemes to get yourselves killed'. I'd grabbed a short nap, but it wasn't nearly enough after waking up in the Ice Age, jumping to the Old West, target practice, jumping to Paris, getting arrested, breaking Sly out, jumping to Medieval England, and everything that had happened since. For that matter, Sly hadn't slept at all. It was a miracle he was still on his feet and hadn't passed out while taking recon photos.

We slept through the entire day. I have no idea how, Galleth wasn't exactly quiet by nature, but he didn't wake us up until just after sunset.

"... Find me a catapult! And a very large rock!"

Part of me wanted to be concerned about what Galleth was on about, but a significantly larger part was still asleep and insisted that caffeine was necessary to keep me alive. So I dragged myself out of my sleeping bag and over to the van. Sly started shifting, so I made an entire pot of coffee. He was going to need it.

I'd poured myself a cup and was in the middle of luring Sly out of his sleeping bag with the rest of the pot when Galleth bolted out of the Safehouse, raving about destroying 'that mechanical demon before it can turn its wicked eye upon us!'

"The blimps around here have surveillance equipment," Bentley explained as I took a seat at the table and Sly reached up from where he'd crawled over, took the coffee pot, and pulled it down to ground level, "Galleth has a climbing technique that can destroy the equipment easily."

"So there's future tech and we can assume the Black Knight knows how to use it, especially because of the guards, but what we don't know is if he learned from Le Paradox or if he really is from the future?" Sly asked for clarification from the ground.

"Essentially, yes. That's correct."

I'd picked up the roll of cloth Sly had brought from the circus the previous night and unrolled it as I listened to their conversation. After the initial snort of amusement at the subject matter, I found myself frowning and looking over the text on the scroll.

"Kaia?" Bentley asked, "What is it?"

The scroll was one of the advertisements for Galleth's 'act' at the local circus. I flipped it around so Bentley could see it. "You see the text? 'Goode Olde Family Entertainment'?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

Sly's pulled himself into a chair and was squinting at the scroll as well. His eyes widened in realization even as I started to explain.

"Well, I have no idea if that's actually correct spelling for this time period, but I know that in ours, it's a parody of this period. Also, I'm pretty sure 'Family Entertainment' is a modern concern and phrase rather than a medieval one."

"You could be right," Bentley said in a voice of dawning realization. "That raises the probability of the Black Knight being from our time significantly."

"Not to mention the whole jester thing," Sly pitched in. "Rioichi was imprisoned. So was Tennessee. Bob was captured too. Galleth, though, was captured and humiliated. That's personal. It's either personal against Galleth, which is a point for the Black Knight being from here, or it's personal against us, which would mean that the Black Knight is someone we've gone up against in the past. Given Jinx's theory, I'd bet on the latter."

The gears were turning in Bentley's head, "Whoever it is would have to have a lot of mechanical expertise, assuming they're behind the guards and other equipment. The only person I can think of who's still alive is Raleigh."

"I can't see him hiding in that armor. He'd want us to know it was him." Sly paused, "It would explain the weather, though."

Sir Raleigh the Frog was a member of the Fiendish Five, if I remembered correctly. The first one Sly had gone up against. To be safe, I asked Bentley, "And who can you think of that's supposed to be dead?"

"Well... Clockwerk," he admitted. "Arpeggio too, but he's definitely dead."

"And so is Clockwerk," Sly said firmly. "We made sure of that."

"Ugh," I buried my hands in my hair, "This is all too weird."

"Isn't it always?" Sly mused.

"Well, yes, but this is weird in a bad way."

"Sitting around here isn't going to get us answers," Bentley pulled up the map, "Sly, I have a job for you. There's several locations in the area that are similar to places I've seen in Japan, the Old West, and the Ice Age. I need you to gather some data on them for me..."

You don't know obsession until you find yourself trying to beat Bentley's high score on an arcade machine.

"Kaia, get off the game, you've been playing it for the last hour."

"No!" I ground out, twisting the joysticks in my hands. "I beat Sly's score already and I'm only seven hundred points from beating Bentley's!"

The turtle had been watching me try to vanquish his score with a smug grin, but then Galleth had called on the binocucom and the two were arguing.

"As I told you Bentley, a loathsome creature does indeed guard the castle!"

"Well, if that's true, advanced geological theory indicates the only place this 'Moat Monster' could hide is inside that cavern." Bentley declared smugly.

"Forsooth!" Galleth agreed, "Perhaps also because it is the only cavern in the area?"

"Err, right, if this thing exists at all. It all sounds like superstitious nonsense."

"Bentley, have you forgotten Prague?" I called, dragging the joystick so the onscreen avatar would pick up a bomb.

"You doubt the veracity of my tale?" Galleth demanded, insulted, "Then allow me to vanquish this evil beast and quell your disbelief!"

"Whoa! Wait a sec, Galleth!" Bentley attempted while my little avatar finally ran out of health and I resisted the urge to steal Kristian's pistol and unload a clip into the arcade machine. "Just navigating that cave's interior could be hazardous to your health!"

"Nay, Bentley! Fear not! I will show you the true valor of the Cooper name!"

I assumed that the noise coming from the table behind me was one of frustration and that Bentley wasn't actually choking on his own tongue after Galleth disconnected and ran off. Turning I saw that, indeed, his hands and those of his robotic arms were half extended toward his laptop screen, fingers twitching with the urge to strangle.

"He," Bentley said fiercely, "is worse than Sly ever was."

I had to raise a brow at that, "What, seriously?"

"Sly knew what he was doing. Galleth just has no sense of his own mortality."

I had to try really hard to keep myself from smiling at the frustration on Bentley's face. "Want me to go get him?"

"Please!" He paused to consider. "Though, maybe do check out the cavern a bit. Whoever's running the place has mechanical guards and high tech surveillance. There's definitely no real monster here, but that doesn't mean the Back Knight doesn't want us to think there is."

"You got it." I checked my belt, swung my backpack onto my shoulders, and bolted from the Safehouse.

If it weren't for the mechanical guards and the evil overseer, the castle town and the hamlet surrounding it would have been really nice. The area was pretty and quaint and I enjoyed running through it toward the waypoint Bentley was projecting.

I ran into Sly at a bridge that spanned a small stream just in front of the cavern.

"What's the hurry?" he called as I ran past.

I slowed to a jog and looked over my shoulder to call back, "Galleth thinks there's a moat monster in this abandoned, potentially unstable cavern, so I'm saving him from himself."

Sly looked fondly amused as he leaned against the bridge railing. "And what if there is a moat monster?"

"I'll take pictures?" I guessed as I climbed up to the cavern entrance. "In between running for my life, of course."

"Let me know if you need backup!"

"Will do!"

The cavern entrance was sealed by a metal door. Galleth had already pried it open, but it had still been sealed. That wasn't a good sign in regard to the existence of a moat monster.

Inside, at least, looked more like what I'd expected, dank, full of spider webs. But it smelled like heat and metal and there was light coming from farther in.

I could hear shouting that sounded like Galleth. That, in and of itself wasn't concerning, his volume control was nonexistent. But if there really was something...

Running farther in, I dodged around barrels that were blocking my path and stopped dead when the winding path opened into a massive cave. There was some kind of massive mechanical tower looming in front of me, full of moving, red hot parts. Galleth was halfway up the tower already, way out of earshot, especially with the whirring gears and hissing steam of the machine.

My earbud crackled in my ear when I tried to contact Bentley. It made sense, the cavern being deep and probably lined with metal. There wasn't time for backup and I had a feeling that Galleth was expecting a flesh-and-blood monster, not whatever was going to be at the top of the tower.

I couldn't scale the tower like Galleth did with his lance. My baton had been modified for climbing, sure, but Galleth had a totally different skill set. Barriers he could break through, I had to settle for climbing over or around. The tower was massive and the heat from it and the actual waterfalls of molten slag maybe the climb tortuous.

Sweaty was a gentle term to describe the state I was in when I finally reached the top of the tower. It was a simple platform, but there were three scorch marks that responded to the... three heads... of the mechanical dragon... that Galleth was currently Ninja Spiring across.

I took a moment to process that before cupping my hands around my mouth and shouting, "Sir Galleth!"

He whirled at his name, not wobbling in his position at all because Coopers were apparently born with perfect balance. Beaming, he straightened, "Fear not, dear lady! The behemoth sleeps!" He rapped his lance against the side of the head he was currently perched on, as if to prove this. It clanged loudly, but remained inert.

Relaxing slightly, I pulled out my binocucom, snapped a picture as promised, put it away, and looked around some more. If the robot wasn't active at the moment, we might be able to find a way to disable it. There were what looked like large computers stationed behind the dragon, maybe we could find something there.

"Okay, sleeping is good," I said loudly, though I was mostly talking to myself. "We might find a way to disable it over there."

"Quite! I shall descend and assess the area."

I nodded absently as he hooked a nearby cable with his cane and slid down it. How Galleth had gotten up to the dragon, I had no idea, but I was going to need to find a way to get up there and follow him.

Excited shouting knocked my train of thought off course. I peered over the edge and saw Galleth tugging at a... power cord? This thing had a power cord? Huh. Galleth must have figured out how cords worked from Murray's arcade game. That was actually clever. But the dragon wasn't active. And it probably wasn't plugged in when it was in the moat. Which meant it was most probably plugged in to-

"Galleth!" I shouted as loud as I could, "Wait! It's charging! If you pull out that cord-!"

He didn't hear me.

After he pulled out the cord, there was a second that lasted for something like an eternity where nothing happened and I dared to hope that nothing would. Then six eyes started glowing red and long necks attached to massive heads filled with sharp teeth arced upward. The dragon heads screeched and one of them twisted around to face Galleth.

He tried to attack it with his sword, but a broadsword versus a giant metal dragon really didn't hold a lot of weight. The dragon reared back, screeched again, and then snapped Galleth up in its jaws.

I just stood there, dumbfounded, as the dragon snapped its teeth a couple of times, then looked like it was swallowing. That couldn't be the end of Galleth, no way. If it was, Sly would never have been born, and I never would have met him, which meant I would never have been standing on the platform that was solid under my feet. It would be a paradox.

Galleth was still alive in there, I just had to get him out.

The dragon screeched again and the end of its power cord landed with a clunk at my feet. Swallowing, I pulled out my baton.

"I don't suppose I could just leave and you'd eventually run out of batteries?"

The dragon screeched.

"Yeah, didn't think so."

The triad of scorch marks on the floor suddenly made much more sense when one of the heads leaned down and started spewing fire. I dove to the side to avoid it and nearly crashed into several mini-dragons that hissed sparks at me.

I'm not exactly sure what drove me to do it, probably a fit of frustration, but I picked up one of the small dragons and pelted it into the large dragon's mouth. The flamethrower behind its teeth bore the brunt of the impact and the dragon's mouth snapped closed while its head lay on the platform, stunned.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I jumped on top of the dragon's right head. I wasn't sure how advanced the AI in the thing was, but I was hoping for intelligent enough to respond to audio stimuli, but not intelligent enough to figure out what I was up to.

Taking a deep breath, I whistled as loud as I could. It wasn't as loud as the whistle I still hadn't gotten around to making Sly teach me, but it was, apparently, loud enough.

I wasn't very good at climbing or fighting. I was pretty good at first aid, but the only thing I could really own, skill wise, was timing.

The middle head dove for me and I waited until the last possible second before leaping onto it. It crashed into the right head and I nearly fell off, had to cling tightly to keep from losing my balance. Metal screamed and I saw the right head plummet into the lava, wrenched clear off its neck, before the head under me writhed and I had to jump to the left to avoid falling.

The middle head whipped around quickly and struck toward the left head and my next jump was pure instinct, because it had to be. I landed on the middle head again, sparks flying all around as the left head was destroyed and tightened my grip on my baton. There was still the one head left, though half its face was crumpled inward from impact.

A sparking blue eye was the only thing I could target and I could only pray that the rubber grip on my baton would be enough to keep me from being electrocuted as I stabbed it into the machine.

I rode the head until I could safely jump for the platform that held the majority of its body and all the computers. The head splashed into the lava below and I took a moment to hope that Galleth was in the body and not the necks.

As if on cue, something that sounded like small metal bits clinking together came from behind the remains of the dragon. I ran around to see just in time to watch Galleth fall from a pipe and land in a puddle of oil and metallic runoff.

I ran over as he struggled his way to his feet, "Are you okay Galleth?"

He looked fine. Soaked in oil, but fine. "Alas and alack, I feel as though I have been ground into sausage."

"Ah, metaphorically speaking? Or are you actually hurt?"

"Methinks I am still whole," he said slowly, looking over at me. "I thank you, Milady, but must confess, rescue by a fair damsel wounds me deepest."

I stared blankly at him, processing that. "Galleth. I just fought and killed an actual dragon and saved you from being literally ground into sausage and you choose to be insulted the fact that you got saved by a girl?!" I started off calm, but I'd definitely lost some composure by the last word.

"I do not mean to sound ungrateful-"

"No." Under different circumstance, I'd have been more understanding of the time period and culture and, peripherally, I still understood it. But at that exact moment, with blood still rushing through my body so fast it was making me dizzy and adrenaline making me hyperaware of the stinging burn on my shoulder that I didn't even remember getting and the way sweat was matting my hair and fur down, it was all I could do not to conk Galleth over the head with his own lance. "I'm not talking to you."

I turned on a heel and walked back toward the tower. One of the severed necks had landed conveniently enough that it made a bridge directly to the narrow cave to the surface. I walked across it carefully, remembering the balance techniques Tennessee had helped me with, and before long I was striding out into the cool air and sighing at the feeling of the drizzle against my overheated skin.

My earbud finally crackled to life. "Kaia! I lost your and Galleth's signals, what happened?"

I hopped down from the ledge and nearly crashed into Sly, who looked like he'd been about to climb up. After one look at me, his eyes got wide, "Are you okay?"

"I," pausing a moment to decide how to answer their questions, I catalogued the fact that I was actually feeling pretty triumphant, "have just slain a dragon. I am perfect."

Galleth's armor clanked as he caught up, "Milady, I meant no offense-"

"Nope, still not talking to you." I was moderately high on adrenaline, so when I looked over at the castle moat, and remembered that the Safehouse was not equipped with a shower, I decided to do something impulsive. "Here, hold this."

Sly took my belt when I handed it to him, "You're burned-"

"And sweaty and otherwise gross, but I'm pretty sure the moat is safe considering the thing that was guarding it is dead now." I put my backpack into his hands, tucking my earbud into one of its pockets before stooping to unlace my shoes, "And you know what? I really like swimming. Have Galleth fill you in. I'll be back in a few."

I handed my shoes over as well before getting a running start and diving into the moat before either raccoon could attempt to stop me. It was possible that I might have been abusing the fact that I knew neither of them could swim but, ultimately, the cool, clear water felt so good that I really didn't care either way.

The moat and the river bled together seamlessly, so I was able to follow the water all the way back to the Safehouse. I took my time, the water felt amazing and I really needed to burn off the excess energy from the cavern.

By the time I made my way around to the large tree that held the Safehouse, there was a rope ladder hanging down the rocky face and into the water. Well, that certainly made getting out easier. Not to mention that rope ladders were about ten million times easier to deal with when there was a solid surface behind them.

A hand caught mine as I neared the top. Sly grinned down at me, "Nice swim?"

"Very," I agreed, pulling myself up onto the small ledge between the massive tree roots and the water. "You ought to try it some time."

He dropped a towel over my head, "Yeah, I'll get right on that."

"Have you just been staking this spot out?" I asked, obligingly squeezing as much water as I could out of my braid.

"Well I figured I could either stay out here and make sure you didn't get hypothermia again or I could go in the Safehouse and listen to Bentley explain to Galleth why you got angry."

Pausing, I pushed the towel back on my head to properly look at Sly, "Is he really?"

"Oh yeah."

"Is he filming it because I would buy tickets to that and I definitely want to see it from the beginning."

Laughing, Sly tugged the towel back down over my eyes, "I don't know, you'll have to ask him. I think he made an entire slideshow over it, though."

"That is the most amazing thing I have ever heard." I pulled the now-soaking towel from my head and grimaced at my now-mangled braid, "I keep being tempted to just cut this off, but it's actually easier to deal with when I can just braid it to keep it out of the way."

Sly handed over another towel, which I draped around my shoulders, "I'm sure long hair suits you, but I'd be able to give a more reliable opinion if I'd ever seen you wear it down."

I snorted, "It's not like I'm hiding it from you. But I'm not showing you while it's all wet and gross and tangled."

Huffing in amusement, Sly paused for a moment, giving me the calculating look he'd seemed to wear more and more frequently lately and warning sirens had just started blaring 'DANGER DANGER' at me when he said, casually, "You seem like you're in a really good mood. More than usual."

Not being what I was expecting, the statement threw me, "Well, yeah. I slayed a dragon, I deserve a lifetime achievement award. Plus, I dunno, it was... different. I mean, I'm almost always plugged in to you guys. Even when we were in Paris and I needed to bust you out, I had help from Dimitri. But in the cavern, it was just me. I couldn't get advice from Bentley, you weren't around to help, but I won anyway. It was... affirming, I guess. It felt like I was finally able to give this thing a hundred and ten percent. I like it a lot."

Cocking his head at me, face unreadable, Sly asked, "What thing?"

"You know," I waved my hand to encompass the Safehouse and immediate area, "the being part of the gang thing. I mean, I know I've technically been a part of the gang for a couple of years, but I haven't really had to buckle down and commit because I always had back doors, even if I didn't want to use them. When we were back in Paris I actually had to look my dad in the eye and commit. It's kind of a relief, not being in between anymore."

"So..." now Sly just looked straight up confused, which was weird to me. Bentley may have been team strategist extraordinaire, but Sly was incredibly smart as well. It wasn't like what I was saying was complicated, "you like being part of the gang?"

I gave him the same flat stare I'd given Galleth just an hour before, "You keep asking me that. Do I need to draw you a map? How many times do I have to choose the gang?"

"No, it's not-" Sly cut himself off, breaking eye contact and scratching at the back of his neck. He sighed. "Sorry. I trust you know what's best for you, I'm just... confused."

What? "What about?"

With a bracing breath that made my feeling of impending doom return with a vengeance, Sly looked at me, looked out at the water, then looked back, "You look sad when you think no one's watching, ever since you got sick back in the Ice Age. You acted weird like that once before, while we were sailing to Kaine Island, and we never got to talk about it. I just wanted to make sure you know we want- I want- you to be happy and if that's not here-"

"No, no, no, that's not- that's not it at all." I had to cut him off. He was just being so sincere and while I appreciated it, I felt awful that I'd led him to think I wasn't happy with the gang, unintentional or not. "It's really, very much not that. I love being with you all, absolutely completely adore it and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It's just, um..." Now it was my turn to look away, because I didn't want to go there. "I'm kind of- that is to say-"

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Sly said, and of course he knew I was scrambling for a believable lie. And he was lying too because his eyebrows were starting to do something that looked like resigned disappointment and I could not handle having that look directed at me.

"No, I'll tell you. You deserve to know. I just, uh..." I'd known I'd have to tell him more likely than not for ages now, but I still hadn't ever figured out how exactly I was going to do it.

The biggest problem was that I wasn't sure how he'd react. I kept thinking over and over how to phrase 'So, funny story, I might maybe have a couple of non-platonic feelings for you' in a way that I could actually get through and that wouldn't sound like I was playing some kind of ill advised prank.

Sly was pretty patient about watching me pace the small ledge, twisting a corner of the towel around my shoulders until I nearly ripped it off, but finally he asked, "Would it be easier to show me?"

I paused, "Um." Because it would, he'd at least take me seriously, but I wasn't necessarily sure how good an idea that was. "Maybe?"

He had that fondly amused look back on his face and I hated myself a little because I knew I wasn't going to get to see it much longer, "Give it a shot?"

Well. Okay.

Taking the few steps over to stand in front of Sly was one of the hardest things I have ever done. When I finally managed to look up at him, though, he was calmly staring back at me and his expression hadn't changed at all. It was comforting, so much so that when I put a hand on his shoulder and leaned up to press my lips against his, I was hardly panicking at all.

I'd never kissed anyone before. Apparently there were skills levels to kissing. Mine was probably not very high. But I was hardly paying attention to that. What I focused on most of all was the warmth he exuded where I was holding onto his shoulder and the fact that he had yet to shove me back into the water.

Pulling away, I really didn't want to open my eyes and look up at him, but I knew I had to. He looked a little stunned, but not angry or anything. Suddenly, the words that had fled me earlier were clamoring at my lips and falling out in all the wrong order, "So, um, yeah. That. A lot of that, actually. Really, a spectacular amount. Sorry. About... that... I'm just going to go sit over there until the blushing stops."

I was not expecting him to reach out and reel me back in.

"Sly?"

"Hang on," his voice was distant, his expression blank, eyes staring at some point miles over my left shoulder, "I'm having an epiphany."

He actually looked like he was having a minor stroke, which was not helping the suspense of the situation or the fact that my heart rate had reached stratospheric levels due completely to nerves.

I shifted my weight nervously at first before becoming impatient enough to finally ask, "Do you plan on sharing your epiphany with the class or...?"

An amused huff seemed to bring him around and when he finally looked me in the eye again, it was like he was looking differently, like something had shifted in his head. It was the same look as earlier, the one I'd been scared of losing. It was fond and amused and a little indulgent, but it was something else too, something I couldn't pinpoint.

And then he started to laugh.

It wasn't a mean laugh, which was good because we were standing on a cliff over a river and I had poor impulse control, it was just... The laugh of someone who'd just watched something particularly brilliant happen and couldn't contain their amazement.

"That's it," he managed through giggles, clutching one of my hands in both of his. "That's it!"

"Did I break you?" I asked, stunned temporarily out of my own nervousness.

Shaking his head, still breathless with laughter, he leaned forward and kissed me. And, wow, suddenly everything I'd ever heard about there being different skill levels to kissing made an abundant amount of sense, that was exceptionally nice. It was warm and comfortable and not at all like I'd expected this conversation to end.

Then he was pulling me back and letting me go through my own minor stroke at this sudden reversal of circumstance.

"What." I finally managed and it wasn't a question, it was a demand for information.

"I didn't know," he said, still grinning so brightly that I wasn't wholly convinced he was sane. "I didn't know until you did that."

I was a completely mature adult, so I did not give into the urge to kick his shins out of frustration. "You didn't know what?"

"What you felt," he said, like that explained everything. "Why you were acting the way you were. What the things I felt meant."

"Hang on," I said, trying to force that information to process. It didn't want to register, it seemed too good to be true. "You mean... you too?"

"Me too," he grabbed my other hand so he could hold both of mine in both of his. "All of that. Me too."

"What?" I did kick his shin then, just a tiny kick and it only made him laugh harder anyway. "Since when?! You could have saved me a lot of awkward panicking!"

"I didn't know!" he protested, dancing away from my foot without letting go of my hands, still grinning so hard it had to hurt. "I don't think there's was any one event anyway."

I thunked my head against his shoulder, "This is going to be so dysfunctional." Then I paused and looked back up at him, "Uh, I mean, is this going to be a thing?"

"If you want it to be a thing, I want it to be a thing."

"Oh. Okay. Then, yeah, this is going to be really dysfunctional."

Laughing more softly now, he laced our fingers together. "That's what makes it fun."

...

*coughs discreetly*

So, how bout them yankees?

I kid, I know the fanbase for these stories is about 80% in favor of Sly/Kaia as a couple and about 20% against. For those 20% who were hoping I wouldn't go that way, sorry to disappoint, but I hope you can still enjoy the rest of the series. For those 80% of you in favor, feel free to leave me screaming reviews, I do love them so.