Well. Since I updated the original opening scene as a teaser last time, I was worried about this chapter being short. Then I got ideas on the way and it turned out to be the longest yet XP.

BUT, I promised myself I would include… a certain scene… in this here chapter, so I left it uber-long.

For those of you wondering, I took even looonger than usual because I've been busy studying for an insane number of tests, running around town fundraising, and I also wanted this to be particularly perfect :). Plus I wrote and then erased like half of this chapter because it didn't fit with the really important part— I could probably make a whole new fic with all the deleted scenes from this one… Maybe I will *plotting stance.*

Mail time! :3

Nitachi: I don't remember if I replied to you 0.o… but in case I haven't thanks a lot for the review x3. This is slightly AU though, but it's still in the cannon TDA universe which I think is what you meant, so thank you- that's exactly what I'm trying to do.

Frank15: Ooh, you soon will see my dear, MWAHAHAHAHA.

xD Seriously though, I was starting to get worried nobody wondered on the title 0.o… I'm a little relieved now.

There is a plan, don't worry ;)

italiachick13: Well you see, when I say 'America', I really mean the continent –that includes Canada. She wanted to bes lawyers in the continent. I'll take that detail in account though, it could cause misunderstandings in the future.

CarmillaD: Nada más te voy a decir como siempre gracias por la hermosa review :3 y que tu comentario sobre el video del Aftermath lo tuve en la cabeza mientras escribía este capítulo ;) …. Aunque ahora lo leo de nuevo y me doy cuenta que capaz que no se nota o.o… Ufa. Bueno, vos sabelo, si? xD

Iandin123: Awww, shoot I'm sorry I probably didn't update in time xP Believe me, I tried… u.u I do dedicate this chapter to you though, and hopefully it'll be something to cheer you up for when you get back. Erm… can I know what you're in the hospital for? *ish worried*

~The Machine~

# Chapter 7: I Never Expected This #

Willard Cohen was a 43-year-old lawyer of great renown. He was part of the important firm that bore his name, along with three of his associates'. He was also one of the lawyers who worked for Courtney, or, as they affectionately called her in the office, that screeching little nightmare.

Long and hard had they wished they didn't have to deal with her, but then, it wasn't as if they could just drop her: they still had her money, that bounded them legally to her, and her father still had their word that they would help her. Michael Bale was a remarkable ally, as well as a dear friend. And this firm –or Cohen, at the very least- kept their promises.

That didn't mean they had never gone out of line, either. The team had long ago started to feign out-of-office replies and sudden vacations, just so they wouldn't have to listen to her complaints; and for when their help was an absolute need, they took turns to respond to her, because otherwise they would all go completely crazy.

The ice treatment had seemed to work, because Courtney had hardly called at all lately.

The birds were chirping and the sun was barely peeking from over the horizon that morning when Cohen arrived to the office, unlocked the door and hung his coat and hat like every other day. Eying his surroundings, he was surprised to find a neat and quantious letter already waiting for him on his desk at that early hour.

His surprise turned to dread when he found it was from the nightmare herself.

He cursed under his breath. It was his turn to answer her.

Never one to postpone business, Cohen relunctantly sat down and opened the letter. Inside he found a note from Courtney explaining that she wanted them to look over a contract, and said contract enclosed. She also asked them to please transcribe the latter document, since the original was handwritten, and to keep a copy with them.

Feeling a sense of relief at the simple instructions -and at the unusually good mood the note let see through-, but knowing he should not sing his praises yet, Cohen started reading over the contract.

His first surprise came when he realized the document was not directed at Chris, like he had expected, but at another contestant. Her fellow castmate, Duncan.

Now, Duncan was a name Cohen was familiar with. Even if it wasn't for his pre-teen daughter's incessant chattering of the most famous couple of the Total Drama series, he could easily identify him as his evil client's love interest.

Cohen furrowed his brows as he realized exactly what he was reading. Line after line, page after page of agreements, conditions and restrictions. There were rules dictating in detail what the boy could and could not do, there were pharagraphs specifying every last one of his faults and explaining how to correct them. Cohen couldn't believe it –she had made a contract on their relationship.

At first, he felt enraged on behalf of the legal profession –this wasn't a licit document, it was a joke!-, but this was soon outweighed by even bigger bafflement as he read on through increasingly specific demands and ridiculous restrictions.

Unable to believe even his client would have the gall to make another person abide to this, Cohen flew to the end of the contract, to the part of the signatures. There, right below a horizontal line, was the name of the boy, Duncan Robert Mancuso- clearly indicating she had every intention of making him sign.

Cohen took a second to pity the unsuspecting boy. Leaning back on his chair, the only words this eloquent, educated member of the legal system could articulate in that moment were,

"Poor bastard."

The contract had happened by accident.

Beth had asked Courtney in passing that morning if she thought her and Duncan's relationship still had a chance, to which the taller brunette had replied to with indignation and a resounding denial- but which she had nonetheless found herself thinking about later on the day.

She only knew she still had a bunch of unresolved issues with some aspects of Duncan's personality –as she had always had and always would- as well as a few unresolved issues with herself. At the brink of a lake, she had started to listing off in her mind all the things that Duncan would need to change for her to consider him as serious boyfriend material, and suddenly she had thought how much easier and organized this would be if she wrote it down.

She had began writing without even remembering her promise of no writing down her thoughts. But she guessed as long as she didn't go and get mushy like last time, it was alright.

And just in case, she had turned the writing into something far from a diary entry and a little closer to her comfort zone: a contract.

It wasn't until she had finished that it had ocurred to her that this could just be the thing that would mend her and Duncan's relationship.

She had sent it to her lawyers to make it official, and the rest was history.

Courtney figured that once she got it back, she would put it by with the rest of her stuff, stored safely until the day Duncan decided to come around and beg her to take him back, apologizing for everything he'd done, and she considered he'd had enough torturing.

She had no idea of what was coming down in a matter of mere hours.

"Can someone tell me what we're doing here again?" Duncan grumbled.

"Dimwit here is trying to make us bond." Courtney supplied.

The three remaining contestants of Total Drama Action were sitting in a circle around an old box turned upside down, that was their make-shift table for now. Two of them were there by force; the other was forcing them to be there.

Hearing Courtney's statement, Beth's previously enthusiastic face fell. "I really think we should take time to actually get to know each other," she explained emotively. "This is our last week in the competition, and one of us is gonna win, and I don't want there to be any ill feelings when…-"

"Yeah, yeah, okay, just get on with this stupid game," Courtney snapped.

"Okay!" Beth conceded. "So the name of the game is 'I've never'. One of us says something they have never done, like for example, I say… 'I have never been kissed'," she then realized what she had said, and gave the others a misdirected glare. "Which I have!" she clarified with a little more force than necessary, snapping her onlookers awake. "And then, if you have done it, you hand in a coin," she placed a quarter on the tattered box. "The person who gets the more coins at the end wins."

Duncan, who had been following the explanation in a daze, took notice of the last part and shook his head. "Wait. What coins? That's a drinking game. You play it with beer."

"Uh, there's no beer here, we're all minors, and this is how me and my family have always played it," Beth listed off with a smile.

"Oh reeally," Duncan assumed a plotting stance, rubbing his chin with is index finger and getting a mischevious glint on his eyes. "I could just make that change. If I sneak into Chris' trailer, I bet I could get us some alcohol, then we'd have a real party…"

"How is this supossed to bring us together?" Courtney piped up critically.

"Why do you think Chris and Chef would have alcohol?" Beth answered. "And duh, it's supossed to bring us together because we'll all know more about each other."

"How else would Chris stand this camp?" Duncan said. "I bet he comes high to work. That's why he acts like he does. Don't tell me you haven't thought it."

"Like I'm gonna tell you anything about me," Courtney said to Beth, folding her arms over her chest. "Like you're gonna know more about me from a few facts…. Like we're in this contest for knowing people instead of anything other than the money!"

As her tone got increasingly higher and bitterer, a warning bell seemed to go off in Duncan's brain, and he transferred his full attention to Courtney. Said brunette, taking notice of her own outburst, suddenly stopped herself and sat back with a scowl.

"Jeeze, downer!" Duncan said, with an expression that said he really wanted to ask 'Are you okay?'. "What was that about?"

She rolled her eyes stiffly. "Forget it. Just get this game over with, Beth," she told the other brunette.

"O-kay," she conceded, trying to get over the weirdness. "So I'm giving you each ten coins," she did as she said. "Now who wants to start?"

She was awarded with two idle expressions (although Duncan kept taking concerned little glances at Courtney).

"I'll go!" The wannabe said excitedly. "Let's see. I've… never swam with a dolphin in the ocean." Courtney and Duncan both gave her a weird look. "No one's done that? Okay, that wasn't a very good one. You go, Courtney."

"I don't know," she said with a signature frown and eye roll.

"Oh, c'mon!" Beth urged. "I know you can think of something."

"Say something," Duncan urged her, blocking out Beth and ignoring she could hear them anyway. "That way this game will be over sooner."

Courtney looked from him to the coins in her hand. "Fine," she conceded. "I've never gone skinny dipping. There."

Beth didn't budge, but Duncan threw three coins on the table. Courtney gave him a look of disgust. "What?" he asked with a smirk. "You're the one who brought it up. Don't ask questions you don't wanna hear the answer of, sweetheart."

"Your turn!" Courtney screeched, to keep him from saying more. "And make it quick."

Duncan assumed a thinking stance. He 'hmmed' boredly for a moment, before he caught sight of Courtney –with a scowl on her face and her arms crossed tightly over his chest, looking as cute as ever-, and his lips tugged into a smirk. "Gee, I don't know… I've never been on a singing contest, talent contest, dancing contest, violin recital or fashion runway."

As he talked, Courtney's eyes had increasingly widened, feeling identified and realizing what he was doing. When he was done, Beth threw in a single coin, explaining, "Singing contest. Once," and smiling sheepishly.

Courtney, meanwhile, counted her coins on the palm of her hand with an unhappy look on her face, and Duncan knew it wouldn't be long until she reached the same conclusion he had. Sure enough, she suddenly looked up at him with a fierce glare on her face, before surrendering all ten of her coins to the table.

Then she stood up in a huff.

"Wait!" Beth called. "Don't you wanna know which of us is gonna win?"

"I've never kissed a guy," Duncan told her.

"…Okay, Duncan wins," Beth said turning in her own coins on the box.

Duncan smirked as he gathered all the coins close to him in a Vegas fashion.

Beth clapped her hands, "Round two!"

Duncan chuckled. "Uh, I don't think so, loser…-"

Suddenly Courtney was on his face. "What's the matter? Don't think you can win this unless I'm not prepared?"

Duncan was taken aback. "What? Are you serious?" He took in her fairly serious expression. He frowned, slightly ticked off. "Babe, the only reason I said that was so we could get this stupid game over with!"

"What'd you think, I was born yesterday?" she retorted. "I'm not gonna let you retire now and walk away with the glory, Duncan! So hand out the coins."

"But…-"

"Hand out the coins!"

"Fine! I will!" Now completely fed up, Duncan took the coins and divided it between the three of them, internally shaking his head at the situation. Leave it to Courtney to make a competition out of everything and anything.

The brunette in question was holding onto her coins like a lifeline. "You first, Beth. Quick!" she barked.

"Okay, I've got a really talk-provoking one," Beth said delightfully. "I have never changed a diaper."

Courtney froze in the middle of her competitive parade. Duncan, knowing she had a little niece she had taken care hundreds of times before, smirked readily at how Beth had inadvertently frustrated her plans.

With a growl, she slapped all of her coins on the box, followed by Duncan who did the same.

"Rematch!" she demanded.

"No, wait!" Beth stopped her. "You have to tell the story, that's the whole point of the game! Like, I've never changed a diaper because I'm an only child."

Courtney didn't budge. "I've got a a two-year-old niece, he's got twin baby sisters," she said pointing at Duncan. "Now rematch!"

"See? I feel like I know you guys better already!" Beth rejoiced as everyone retrieved their coins. "Okay, I have never, I have never… I have never had a tooth cavity."

Both Duncan and Courtney threw one coin each. Then it was Courtney's turn, and she took it with pleasure.

She straightened her back and cleared her throat. "I have never shoplifted," she declared, looking pointedly at Duncan.

Duncan turned in all of his coins, as he had been prepared to do before he even knew what she'd say. Then he regarded her superior demeanor with a careless expression. "Yeah, you won. You're queen of the world. Kudos."

Her haughtiness turned into fluster and then into a growl, her superior mood completely ruined.

That was just as well, thought Duncan with a grin. He hated it when she got all smug and proud over nothing at all, hated it with unexplainable passion. Sometimes the way she acted made him want to jump into her brain and fish the traits of her that he hated and eliminate them from her system forever. She just drove him crazy like that.

Duncan imagined she felt the same way towards him– I mean come on, anyone with half a brain cell could tell she would jump at the chance to shave off his mohawk, take all of his piercings, change his whole wardrobe and turn him into an respectful member of society. He could see the pressing urgency in her eyes, whenever did something illegal, said something inappropiate, or simply reminded her of his existence by walking into the room.

Duncan turned his attention back to Beth, who was announcing the fourth round while distributing the coins.

The game contunued for a while; sometimes Duncan won, sometimes Courtney did, and sometimes Beth intercepted all of their coins before they got a chance to.

For example, Courtney would say "I have never broken a school rule," and Duncan would have to turn in all of his coins.

Or Duncan would say "I have never been in an extra-curricular activity," and Courtney would automatically lose.

Or, Beth would say something like "I have never thrown a party," and automatically beat the both of them thanks to her inexperience and lack of exposure to the outside world.

The game went on relatively peaceful like this for a while. And then, hell broke lose.

"Round twelve," Beth announced. For an instant, a certain something glinted in her eyes, that neither of her two castmates noted, before she said, "Um, I've never dumped anyone."

It took Courtney two seconds to realize what was wrong with that statement. "Wait," she stopped Duncan from throwing his coins, looking at Beth. "Yes you did. You dumped Bradley, didn't you?" Although she knew there had never been a Bradley or Brainy or Brady in the first place, Courtney wasn't about to let go of anything that might have been a rule violation.

But at this statement, it was as if someone had kicked open a box of lit fireworks. "No, I, didn't!" Beth cried, overjoyed, throwing her arms. "I almost did, but I took it back the next day, and now we're back together, isn't that great!?" she chattered on without so much as a pause, blowing her companions away. "Oh my God, I so wanted to tell you, Courtney, but you never ask me about my…" she trailed off at Courtney's held up hand telling her to stop talking.

When she was properly quieted, Courtney lowered her hand. "Um, the reason I don't ask you is that I don't care," she bluntly clarified. "Are we clear?"

"Aww," Beth's face fell. "I wished Lindsay was here." Then her face brightened, "Oh, can I borrow your PDA to call Lin…-?"

"NO!"

"Aww…"

Duncan rolled his eyes as he counted three coins and threw them in the box. By the corner of his eye, he saw Courtney throw an equal amount of coins, and did a double take.

By mutual agreement, when he and Courtney were still together they had shared a list of their past relationships. At first neither had wanted to let go of that information, but in the end the temptation of knowing the other's past conquers had won out.

Because of that, Duncan knew Courtney had had four relationships (or flings) before him, all short-lived and none too special. One of them had ended by mutual agreement, in another there had been a cheating episode –surprisingly, on Courtney's side-, and in the other two she had been the dumper.

So why was she throwing in three coins?

Duncan didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling about what she had just done.

"Okay, my tu…-" Courtney started.

"Hold on," he stopped her, and the mocha-skinned teenager directed her scathing gaze at him. He pointed at one of her coins, the one closer to him. "Who's that one?"

She looked down to where he was pointing. "That one?" she confirmed.

He nodded.

"That would be you," she said non-chalantly.

Even though he should've expected something like this, Duncan chocked on air. "Excuse me?" he exclaimed. "So now you dumped me? Sincen when?"

Courtney looked at him dead in the eye. Duncan took the opportunity she was giving him to gaze into her beautiful dark onyx eyes, while a voice in the back of his head was concious that look meant danger. "Do you think we're together now?" she asked calmly.

Duncan, taken aback, tried to respond, "Well, no, but…-"

"And somebody has to end a relationship, right?" She didn't wait for an answer. "And if it was up to you we'd still be together, right?"

"I…-" Duncan hesitated, not prepared for the decisive question.

"So there," she finished with a pleased smirk. "We know who decided to end the relationship." Then she turned her head, smiling smugly at no one.

Duncan narrowed his eyes at her. Little bitch knew his real answer was 'yes'. She was perfectly concious that he wanted to get back together, and that she was making him go through Hell waiting for her.

Duncan let out a sardonic, humorless laugh. "Okay fine, if that's how you wanna play it," he said, and then he threw in one extra coin of his own.

Courtney perked at this broad attack, as he knew she would. "Hey—is that supossed to be me!?" she looked at him, found his unconcerned smile, and frowned. "You can't do that!"

"Why not?" he asked, leaning back pleasantly.

"Because you didn't dump me, I dumped you!"

Duncan frowned, coming out of his unconcerned pose, and stood up, causing her to do the same on reflex. The punk boy leaned in close to her face. "You didn't dump me either! Nobody dumped anyone!"

"Oh really," Courtney droned. "Then what do you think happened?"

"We spontaneously fell out!"

She scoffed. "We spontaneously fell out? Do you even hear yourself talking?"

He jeered. "Well it's hard with all the bullshit coming out of your mouth!"

She shoved a finger on his chest. "If anyone's talking trash here, it's you!"

As a side note, it is worth mentioning that Beth had already taken off by this point, seeing the escalating argument and deducing they would not be resuming their game.

Back to the action.

"Hey, we were still together when I left for the shhtupid second season!" Duncan pointed out.

"Oh, and we were so totally together when I threw you on that jar pit!" Courtney taunted.

"You hit me and tortured me and stabbed me in the back while we were together! Actually I think I'm in less danger now!" Duncan retorted.

Courtney looked at him with rage filling her face, insulted at the claim, and brought out the bigger guns, "And I suposse we were together when you decided to stoop down by hooking up with that goth wannabe!"

He rolled his eyes. Here we go again. "I did not…-"

"You think we were together," she angrily went on, ignoring him, "when I threw all your belongings, everything you ever gave me, and everything that reminded me of you to the trash!"

"HEY! …You threw my stuff?" He asked, his mind just catching up with that last part, thus making him say something entirely different than what he intended to. "…Did you throw the skull?"

She looked at him skeptically. "What skull?" she demanded.

Duncan, not believing what he heard, looked at her searchingly. "The skull I gave you right after you were voted off!" he exclaimed, his bafflement and disappointment momentarily overcoming his sense of pride.

She was unbelievable. How could she have forgotten something like that? She even said she'd never forget. Wasn't 'I'll never forget you' a sign of 'I'll keep and tresure your last gift, even though I think it's creepy, forever and ever'?

"Ooh," she said, apparently remembering now. "Yep. I threw that too."

Was that a smug smirk attempting to make its way through her clueless façade?

"Why did you do that!?" he demanded, still not quite catching up with himself.

"Do you normally keep your exes' mementos?" she asked rethorically.

Yes. Yes I do, Duncan thought, thinking back to his picture that laid behind his pillow like a dirty little secret.

Seeing his taken aback and almost guilty expression, though ignoring what was going through his mind at the moment, Courtney rolled her eyes haugthingly. "My God, Duncan, move on," she spat, and then she turned her back on him, thus missing how his expression suddenly hardened.

That last comment had had a grave effect on Duncan, although he wasn't exactly sure what had particularly pissed him off. Maybe it was the hint of morbid delight she seemed to get from hurting him.

Maybe it was simply the fact that she was acting as if she called the shots in this relationship, when it should've been him.

Or maybe because deep down, he knew she didn't mean it, and it made him furious that she still said it.

Move on. Those words had been spoken so contemptuously, so effortlessly, that they would have fooled a smarter man. But Duncan, he knew what he knew. He knew Courtney, he knew their relationship, and knew it had been perfect –perfect in everything that really counted-, and he couldn't begin to see where it had gone wrong.

Duncan was sure it was his rage taking the best of him, but right now he couldn't remember why he didn't just grab her by the shoulders and ask her straight out why she was being such a bitch. Without leaving room for pondering, he decided.

Screw his doubts. He wanted answers.

"Is this all because of Gwen?" he demanded, the forceness of his voice surprising the both of them. "Because you think I hooked up with her? Huh? Is that what this is all about? Or is there something else?" He concluded, and for a split second he thought he had her cornered.

Then she whipped around.

"Stop flattering yourself," she spat cruelly, the hardness in her eyes matching his. "Who's to say I'm even dwelling on that? Who's to say I didn't just lose interest in you and you're making all this fuss about nothing?"

Duncan didn't widen his eyes or lean back in disbelief or yell at her; instead he kept his expresionless gaze on her, on her firmly proud and seemingly unregretful form, and he didn't think he had ever been this dissapointed of someone, or this scared, ever before.

"Well?" He asked gravely, slowly, his terrible gaze still locked on her. "Is that the reason?"

Silence rung in the air. Courtney stared back at Duncan, the look of hesitation in her face making it seem like she couldn't quite grasp what he had just said. She knew herself cornened now.

The thick silence was prolongued for a while, until Courtney suddenly shot forward, lunging straight for Duncan's lips.

Duncan felt his heart rise to his throat and his stomach drop as soon as their lips made contact. A wave of emotions washed over him, the most prominent of which being relief.

As always with Courtney's kisses, it was over too soon. She pulled away, but kept their faces close together, enough to feel their breaths on each other's faces, and that was when he discovered that her hands were cupping his face, and that his own had come to rest at her hips somewhere along the line.

This was about the time Duncan also found out he had a thoroughly stupid look plastered on his face, looking down at her dumbfounded, lips slightly parted and replaying what had just happened in his mind.

Duncan half-heartedly cursed her in his mind. She always did this kind of thing unexpectedly, so that at the end he was left a gaping, giddy idiot, devoted to her will like a lovesick puppy. And she… she always seemed to know exactly what she was doing.

Courtney was currently holding his cheek with one hand, and using the other to caress the back of his neck, stroking the short hairs at the end of his buzz cut. Her half-clouded eyes were focused on his lips, and she was biting her own, as if yearning to kiss him again.

Yes. Please. Go ahead, he encouraged her in his mind. In truth, a part of him still wanted to grab by the shoulders and shout 'What the hell just happened?', but it didn't really matter. The bigger part kept him there, hands on her hips, hypnotized by her sweet breath on his face and the feeling of her heart beating fast against his chest; eagerly waiting to see how this would turn out.

Courtney spoke, immediately gaining his full attention. "Duncan, why don't we just…" she paused, faltering. "Just forget everything… and start over?" she proposed softly, looking up into his eyes at the last part, and he understood exactly what she meant.

She meant forget about Gwen, about the dubious story of their so-called hook-up, forget about what she thought had happened and what he said had happened. Forget about the competition, about the friction they had had since the season started, about their fights and misunderstandings and falling out's.

And just start all over.

Duncan gulped, trying to make his heart descend from his throat. He affectionately circled his arms around her waist, pulling her closer, and nodded slowly, as in a trance. "I'd like that," he said softly, all he trusted himself to say without his voice breaking.

Then he lifted her head to deposit a felt kiss on her lips. It was softer and sweeter than the first one, which had been rough and desperate and exciting. He found he didn't have a clear memory of that kiss, unexpected as it had been.

Upon separating for the second time, Duncan realized for the first time how serious Courtney looked. Well, serious for a girl who would normally in this situation be smiling smugly at the power she had over him.

She looked crossed, as if still debating what she had done in her mind. Maybe she didn't completely agree with it. Maybe she had kissed him on impulse back then, not being really able to control herself. If that was the case, it was a new sight for Duncan; everything she did usually had an ulterior motive.

It just seemed like it was a day of oddities today, what with this and before when she made a point of staying close together after she kissed him, instead of separating immediately. Duncan liked it. It made him feel like she needed him as much as he needed her.

"But Duncan?" her voice made him come back to Earth. She sounded like she was struggling to keep her voice firm. "You have to promise me some things."

Duncan just looked at her inquiringly, waiting for her to elaborate.

At the time, he had no idea what she had in store for him. He could only guess it had to do with Gwen, about not making her get suspicious by getting too close to other girls, and for all it was worth, he was okay with that. But really, even if he had whole-heartedly disagreed with what she was asking, he would have had a hard time saying no.

Because, to put it plain and simple, this wasn't just any girl… this was Courtney they were talking about.

Courtney, the girl who had given him more trouble, things to think about, stress and sleeless things than any other girlfriend of his combined; the girl he had been waiting for for what seemed like an eternity; that girl was now in his arms, present the possibility of never letting go.

Duncan knew he would have given her anything she asked for in that moment. She was talking in a soft whisper less that an inch away from his lips. She was looking up at him with beautiful big, pleading eyes. She was beautiful, so close to him under the moonlight, and he loved her.

How could he have denied her?

Duncan nodded, accepting. "Okay," he said.

And so Duncan sealed his destiny.

Courtney exhaled, relieved, and then embraced him. Duncan let a smile grow on his face as he hugged back, happy to have made her happy, though not entirely understanding the consequences.

In the semi-darkness, with her head resting on her newly reconciled boyfriend's shoulder, Courtney's triumphal smile appeared slightly diabolic.

The 'I never' game idea originally came from a Frasier episode, where they called it 'I'm the dullest person ever (because)…'.

~The Lighthouse