Hey guys, here's the last chappie for A Thing called Fate, sorry about the wait though.

I'm so glad I finally found the time and inspiration to finish this. Hope you enjoy it!

R&R!

'I didn't think that you might know eachother.' Annie smiled at Mai.

Mai returned it. 'It's not such a big world in tournaments that the top competitors don't know eachother.'

'He's quite good isn't he?'

'Better than me, or he was when we dueled but that was way back in Duelist Kingdom and we've both changed since then.'

'You haven't dueled him in what, three years?'

Mai paused for a second before replying. 'No, I haven't.' Not fairly, she thought, glancing over to the barbeque where Joey was arguing with Annie's husband how long the meat should go on for.

'You like this boy?'

Mai made a face. 'It shows? I thought it might.'

'It shows in the way you two look at eachother. And that you keep looking around for eachother.'

Mai smiled, 'yeah, I guess it would, I mean, this is all so new.'

Annie patted Mai's arm. 'But you like him? He's good to you?'

'He's the most important person in my life besides Vivian. And yes, he is good to me, he always has been. He's always been a much better man than I deserve. And I got him anyway.' Mai shook her head in disbelief.

'You're a good girl Mai, of course you deserve someone nice.' Annie smiled at her. 'And Fate plays a large part in these things too.'

Mai considered this. Fate? Yes, that seemed about right. Their paths always seemed to intersect until whenever they needed one another and now again when they were finally ready for eachother.

I've never actually heard of you being with a guy until today.'

'No, I've been hung up on him for the past three years,' Mai gestured to Joey with her can of coke.

'Ah, I see. You love him?' Annie smiled knowingly.

Mai blushed, but she was delighted she could finally say it out loud. 'Yes, I do.'

'Wonderful. So now what for you two?'

Mai shrugged. 'I don't know. We're leaving on Wednesday to go to a series of tournaments and then...I think I'll end up going back to Domino with him and we'll see from there. But...I don't think we're ever going to be separate for long again.'

'That's great Mai. If you don't mind me saying, I've never seen you so happy.'

'I don't mind you saying it.' Mai grinned at her. 'It's nice to hear that I finally look completely happy.' Mai saw Joey turn to her and she waved and turned back to Annie. 'I'm going to go join Joey, I'll see you later.'

'Yes, and Mai? Next time you're here, give me a call and we'll get together for dinner.'

'Will do. Thanks Annie.' Mai moved over to stand next to Joey and have her plate piled high with steak, sausages and onions.

'Hey.' He grinned at her.

'Hey. You stopped fighting with Bill over the meat now?'

'An infidel!' Bill exclaimed. 'He does not know how a proper steak should be cooked!'

Mai chuckled as Joey rose to the bait. 'Alright boys, alright. Enough! Come on Joey, let's go for a walk, leave poor Bill in peace.'

'Poor! I should hope not-'

Mai flapped her hand at him and dragged Joey away before they could start another spat.

'You've got nice people 'round here.' Joey told her once they were alone.

'I know. It's so nice to be around people who I finally have a chance to get to know properly.'

'So I'm guessing you'll want to be here quite a bit?'

'Mm-hm. But I'm guessing we'll be in Domino alot too.'

Joey looked at her, startled. 'You'd be willing to settle down some with me?'

'Joey, I will still travel, but the reason I didn't settle in one place for so long was because I got restless, and you were a good part of that feeling. So I moved alot, because when I stayed in one place for too long, the memories had space to creep in once the novelty of the place wore off and often became too much to bear. But now those memories are somewhat more at rest, I'm willing to stay in one place longer. Goodness knows I don't need to go to all the tournaments. And Japan is one of the countries with the most tournaments. I'm sure I'll be fine. We'll manage. We'll make it work. Because I don't want to be separate from you for very long ever again.'

'Suits me just fine.' Joey grinned at her, then swept her against him for a long kiss.