Well, this is sort of a Karma fic, but it's supposed to be Felicity/Kartik. So, take it however you want to. It's more Gemma/Kartik than Felicity/Kartik, but…oh, you'll see!

Story Ten

Title: For A Night

Rating: K+

Summary: Felicity was Gemma for a night.

Gemma had it good. Sure, her mother was killed by Circe. Sure, she was expected to become a very important member of the Order. But people loved Gemma in ways that they would never love me.

Like Kartik. I always felt jealous when I saw them together, whether I'd caught them in a kiss or in a tense argument. The attraction between them was more than sexual. It was not a friendly attraction or a romantic attraction, either. It was a practical, real, true attraction. Kartik wanted Gemma just as badly as she wanted him, if not more. He loved her, and I'm sure she reciprocated the feeling, but that's not the point. Kartik loved Gemma in a way that I would never be loved.

When I first realized that Kartik was so devoted to Gemma, I thought that perhaps he was that way with any girl he was interested. Perhaps he fell head over heels every time he met a girl that he liked, a lady who interested him, a young woman who whetted his sexual appetite. In thinking this, I knew that Kartik would never like me, for I was nothing like Gemma, and therefore not his type. I knew that I would never interest him—I was sure that he'd seen plenty of girls like me before by the offhand way he looked at me. Sure, I was charming and pretty, but there were plenty of women out there who had those two qualities as well.

But there was one thing on my side that wasn't on Gemma's: sexuality.

It was jealousy that drove me towards the gypsy camp that night. I'd seen Kartik making eyes at Gemma earlier that day and it wasn't like when most men made eyes at a girl. It was different. There wasn't just want there; there was love and interest and so much more. It's not that I wanted Kartik to look at me that way. I just wanted someone to, and thought that perhaps he was my best bet.

To be honest, I was glad to see that the fire had already gone out, even if it made things colder and harder to see. I was glad that I heard snores coming from the men littered across the ground and the tents surrounding them. I was glad that I didn't spot Ithal in the darkness, which I was now growing accustomed to.

I knew which tent Kartik was in.

I headed towards it without hesitation and pulled a flap aside before crawling in. Kartik was quicker than I had expected and immediately he had pulled me to the ground, a dagger at my throat and his hand to my mouth.

The hand was loose though, so he heard me when I murmured against it, "It's just me."

To this day, I'm still not sure if Kartik knew who I was, or what happened in that moment. I'm particularly certain that he thought it was all just a dream by the way he looked at me and by the way he kissed me and by the way he called me Gemma. He certainly didn't seem abashed around Gemma or me after that night, so I'm fairly certain he did think it was all a dream.

Looking back on it, that night was one of the best nights of my life. We did not sleep together, no. He just kissed me, and I didn't kiss him back. I just rested there, thinking about how special, how loved I felt. When I remember that night, I still feel the same way. There were no amorous words between Kartik and me but I could tell that he loved me, or whoever he thought I was.

And so I was Gemma for a night, and I was loved.