Remember the old days when I updated weekly? Trying to go back to them… .

kagome-inu5: THANK YOU! 'Aww' is what I was going for! ^^

iandin123: Ooh, I get it. Hope your friend's okay :)

Haha, I just felt the urge to cackle like a maniac back there :D

Frank15: Oh, the Beth thing came on its own really… just thought she'd try something like that :). But I loved how you just summarized Courtney's situation there xD. I know, but watching Courtney it makes me wonder how so many people can hate her— I mean sure, she has her flaws, many many flaws… but she has good intentions, and it'd be so easy to love her if they gave her a chance… but Duncan and Bridgette are the only ones who seem to agree :(

CarmillaD: Nonono, gracias a vos por dejarme reviews ;)… Me alegro, me alegro, pero me re alegro que te haya gustado. 'Inesperada' es exactamente como quería que fuera la reconciliación, en especial la parte en que Courtney lo besa de pronto, como si sintiera que es el único camino lógico que le queda para salir de esa situación incómoda :| o algo así quise hacer. Bueno, espero que con lo que viene pueda satisfacer tus preguntas, jaja :)

By the way you guys— I loved, loved, loved the TDWT Premiere! Maybe it's just cuz the TDA Special left me with such low hopes for this season but… OHMIGOD! The cast! The drama! The SINGING! What else can you ask for? ^^

The Courtney-Duncan-Gwen interaction was exactly as I'd foreseen, which is a weird feeling because usually –and by what I've seen in forums and places, the sentiment is shared- they never seem to go the way we expect them to xD

I also love Noah coming back, I love Ezekiel coming back (and his newfound drive with his old naiveté), Alejandro and the part he plays (which is also exactly as I thought it'd be) and Sierra.

Something I noticed (in the Special too) was Courtney getting more screen time. Like, you know how in Camp TV there were eight main characters and then 'the rest' and they changed it in TDI and made it more homogeneous, yet there're still some characters that appear more than others- you know, Gwen, Duncan, Heather, Izzy, Leshawna-, and Courtney was always one of the secondary characters (TDI elimination order stigma, no doubt). But now she's thrust more into foreground, like, she has more dialogues, plays a bigger part, etc. I think it's the change of director, or maybe the Total Drama people finally realized she's one of the most popular characters too.

I'm also happy because if she follows Heather's path, she won't be as much of an antagonist this season; she was already nicer in this one episode -though I won't sing my praises yet-, besides nobody attacked her or criticized her or generally hated her like they did in TDA- except, of course, Gwen, but that's perfectly fine.

It so ruined it that Duncan had to go. But he's coming back… somewhere along the season. Seems like the stress of having to balance his girlfriend and his best friend finally wore him out, and he took it out on Chris and the competition itself, amiright?

Another thing- Courtney and Heather are like sworn enemies this season. And maybe Gwen and Heather will make amends, like Heather and Leshawna did– I don't know, but something's going to happen there… too much tension between those two.

But the Pyramid challenge made me FREAK OUT from a major deja-vu. I had a dream so very similar to it, back in december last year.

And from here on I start telling my dream, so if you want, feel more than free to skip to the actual chapter:

My dream was centered on Duncan, Courtney and Gwen, who, like in the episode, were interacting as a trio for the first time, Courtney with her animosity towards Gwen and Duncan trying to include Gwen in their group. Just like TDWT, Trent wasn't there. The contestants were too on the beginning of the third season, and as a challenge they had to go through Tutankhamun's tomb (only the three went under in the dream). And here it starts to differ from TDWT:

Courtney was proposing an alliance between her, Duncan, and Gwen, ("Listen, the three of us are the strongest players. We have to form an alliance"), seemingly having gotten over her suspicions and dislike for Gwen. They did form an alliance, and Gwen slowly started to trust and even like Courtney, as the CIT her so kindly, and didn't mind her friendship with Duncan one bit.

Of course, this was all an act, and in parallel, we could see Courtney's real feelings via the confessionals, as she ranted on an on about Duncan and Gwen and how she hated them being together. And on the sidelines, she was stirring things up to get Gwen voted off. Gwen got kicked off not even suspecting of Courtney, still believing her her friend. Courtney pretended to be sad like Duncan as they all said goodbye, and they parted as good friends.

Then Gwen got to Playa de Losers 3, where all the losers knew of Courtney's schemes, naturally, since they'd watched the tapes. Watching the video of the episode where she was voted off, Gwen's surprised when she sees Courtney's confessionals showing her true feelings whenever she was with Duncan and shows her concern for her poor friend ("I didn't know that bothered her! Why didn't she tell me?"), but then sees how Courtney stabbed her in the back, getting the shock of her life. She calls Duncan, who by the way had been living in a state of bliss seeing the two girls of his life get along, and lets him know his girlfriend is as two-faced as ever. And then I woke up :| but got the idea that would come to be chapter 9 of the current fic ;D

(sigh) Okay, longest A/N ever. With no more ado (thankfully) I present you:

~The Machine~

# Chapter 8: The Second Letter #

"Princess? Tell me, what's it that I have to promise?" Duncan prodded.

"You'll see," Courtney replied non-comitally.

Duncan was starting to get a bad feeling about all of this; nonetheless, he still followed after Courtney as she led him by the hand towards campsite. The couple reached their apparent destination, the girls' trailer, and Courtney opened the door.

Beth, who had been dozing off in her bed, jolted up when the couple barged in. "Oh hi, guys," she greeted them as they went in direction of Courtney's bed. "I-I left the game earlier because…" she stammered, racking her brain for an excuse.

"Hey, this is pretty comfy," Duncan commented in surprise, bouncing up and down on the matress of Courtney's bed. He laid down completely, set his head on the pillow, and let out a grunt of pleasure. "Aaagh, a real bed. Chris wasn't lying about the goose down pillow."

"Of course not," Courtney remarked, frowning at the mention of their host. "Chris is not allowed to lie anymore. I made sure of that," she assured, eyes narrowing.

"Uh…," Beth trailed off. Maybe they hadn't exactly cared that she left. She debated on whether or not she should be offended, and then just shrugged and went back to her business.

Meanwhile, Duncan was wondering what they were doing in there. In any case, if they were going to be in one of the trailers, he preferred it be hers. If they went to his instead, he took the risk of her finding her photograh under his pillow at some point, the one she thankfully still didn't know about.

That is, unless she had watched the episode in which Gwen stupidly told Trent what he had told her in secret –seriously, not one of her brightest moments-; then she would surely know. And Courtney wasn't likely to miss any episode while she was in Playa des Losers.

Well, he hadn't thought about that before. He mentally palmed his face. Now that was embarrassing, especially after finding out she had moved right on and thrown every souvenir of their relationship out the window, something he still could not wrap his mind around. Duncan felt some of the old resentment come over him when he remembered that fact, as well as the uncertainty as to where he stood in—

No. Duncan stopped his thoughts.

They had agreed to start over. That didn't matter anymore.

All that mattered was the now— and why Courtney was digging through her luggage like that.

"Babe?" he called. "What're you doing? I thought you wanted to talk conditions or whatever."

"I do." Courtney finally incorporated, with a stack of papers in hands. "These are they."

Duncan stared from her to the stack of papers, then back to her. He opened his mouth, discovered he had nothing to say, the closed it again.

She had to be joking. Of course she was joking. She wouldn't really….

Duncan looked at Courtney's awaiting face, and after a few more seconds of silence, he let his surprised expression fall off.

Of course she would. She was Courtney.

"…Hm," he commented. He stretched his arms and took the papers from her hands. He calmly skimmed through them, as if this was the most normal thing in the world. He arrived to the final part and saw his name under a line, awaiting a signature. "This is a contract," he stated.

"It's actually a letter," she corrected with an sweet smile. "A contract has a different format." She took it from his hands. "Inside you'll find everything I think went wrong with our relationship, everything I think you should change –basically everything you need to know about how to make me happy."

Despite himself, Duncan raised his eyebrows, interested. This was a free pass into a girl's mind she was granting him. That was something tempting. He shook his head to regain focus, and looked down at the stack of papers again, considering his options. He sighed. "But did you have to write it down?" he asked.

"I'm an organized person," she replied innocenctly.

"How many pages are there on this thing?" He asked, turning over the pages.

"32," she said, and seeing his expression, quickly added "It's very specific stuff." Seeing he was still unconvinced, she took one of his hands in hers and appealed to his sensitivity, saying, "This is what I need to feel comfortable in this relationship, Duncan. A real relationship. Not like before," she gave him a meaningful look, and he understood what she meant. Or at least, he thought he did.

"You need… all of this?" He insisted, looking at the so-called letter that was his current worst enemy.

Courtney didn't say another word. Instead she looked at him, bit her lower lip and nodded, and she looked sincere (not to mention cute).

Duncan sighed. Rolling his eyes and thinking he must've finally gone crazy, he said "Let's see it."

Courtney's face instantly lighted up, and she leaned forward to give him a kiss on the cheek. Despite himself, Duncan smiled at the burst of affection.

"You have made the right choice," she assured him, delighted, as she took back the contract. "Okay," she said, getting ready to start reading, when Duncan nudged her in the soulder. "What?"

He nodded towards the other side of the room, where a very awake Beth was watching them, interest caught by the show they were mounting.

Courtney extended her arm towards the door and uttered a single word, "Leave."

Beth gaped. "Bu-but, where will I sleep?"

"You can sleep in the boys' trailer. It's empty now," the other brunette replied matter-of-factly.

"The boys' trailer? But the boys used it, ee-yuck!"

"Well you can't stay here," Courtney argued. "We're about to discuss something personal, and we need our privacy."

Duncan decided to cut the dispute for good. "Oh, let the nerd stay. She's gonna be asleep anyway."

Courtney glared at him –although he was pretty sure the gesture was meant for Beth-, as the other girl piped up with a, "Yes! That's right! I won't even listen to you. I just want to sleep… Swearsies."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Ugh! Fine!" she gave in, and sat down on her bed next to Duncan. She watched Beth roll over, presumably getting ready to fall sleep, and turned to whisper to Duncan, "Do you really think she'll be asleep?"

"Girl doesn't know how to lie," he stated in an equal whisper.

Courtney looked unconvinced, but didn't press on it, and turned her focus back to the contract. "Okay, let's get this started with, shall we?" She cleared her throat and begun reading the first page, "Part 1. Conventions, conditions and restrictions."

Duncan's good mood evaporated.

He sighed in resignation, perfectly concious he was in for for what would be a very, very long night.

"Section six. The receiver compromises do all in his power to become and exemplary boyfriend. This includes,"

Only ten minutes into the night and Duncan was already feeling suffocated.

"To always listen to me. To be mature and responsible. To always tell me the truth."

And though he was rather pleased with the way they were laying down –on her bed, propped on their elbows next to each other, very close together so they could both read from the contract-, it just wasn't quite enough to make up for the circumstances.

"To surprise me by means of gifts, invitations to places, and such, every at least ten days," she smiled as she said this, and he rolled his eyes. "Section seven. The receiver will abolish commenting on private aspects of the relationship to third parties."

"Wait. What?" he stopped her.

"No telling Geoff and DJ stuff about me behind my back," she explained in a normal tone, and immediately went back to the paper. "Oh, this is important" she said as she remembered the part of the letter she was reading, causing Duncan to perk up. She cleared her throat, and read severely, "The receiver will abolish any suspicious bonding activities with other females, that may bring up the subject of infidelity."

Duncan's eyes widened. Oh, he knew exactly what that one meant.

He opened his mouth to protest, but Courtney beat him to it "Save it, Duncan. I don't care anymore," she said with a frown. "We said to start over and I will. We won't talk about this again after this, I just want to make sure history doesn't repeat itself."

"But I just don't know where the hell you got those ideas," he retorted in a frustrated tone, talking quickly before she could cut him off.

"I've got eyes!" she exclaimed angrily in his face.

"Well you should get them checked," he retorted, irked as well. "because nothing happened wi…-!"

"Duncan, just drop it!" she finally shouted, eyes wide with an anger that took Duncan aback. She was raging, and at the same time more vulnerable than Duncan had ever seen her. "Forget it, and just promise to not make me wonder from now on!" She stopped abruptly and whipped her head towards the bed across from them, where Beth had just stirred.

"She's asleep," Duncan assured dismissively, gently grabbing Courtney's chin to make her look at him. "Listen, babe… I don't know what you might've heard, but nothing happened between Gwen and I." Courtney was looking down at Duncan's goatee, up at his mohawk, at the wall of the trailer, anywhere that wasn't his eyes. He jerked her chin slightly, trying to get her to look at him. "I promise."

Her eyes locked on his for a milli-second, before she teared her gaze away and broke free from his hand. She hesitated for an instant before saying, "Duncan, I genuinely don't care what you did or didn't do. I'm more interested, in the future," she told him, in a tone that showed she considered the subject over with. She focused back on the papers and tucked her hair behind her ears, trying not to show she was clearly flustered.

Duncan pulled away, disappointed with her reaction, especially because it meant he was now officially out of resorts. He had wanted to sit her down and talk straight to her about the rumors ever since she came back on the show, but that had gone unsuccessful. And just now it had ocurred to him that she might never actually believe him when he tried to tell her he and Gwen were just friends.

Courtney had begun reading again –something about compliments once an hour-, but he purposefully abstracted from her voice. Maybe she would never truly trust him. Maybe he would have to permanently walk on eggshells for fear that she might misinterpret his actions, and there would be no chance she would listen to reason afterwards. Damn it.

Duncan laid down his head on his crossed arms, burying his face inside and closing his eyes.

Was it him? Were his words that unconvincing, that short on weight? Was he that untrustworthy in her eyes? Was it so freakin' difficult to believe that he wouldn't cheat on her?

Duncan stayed in that position for a while, until he suddenly felt Courtney's hand on his back, and realized she hadn't been reading from the contract in the last moments. "Duncan?" she called softly. "I know you're tired… but the sooner we get done with this, the sooner you can go to bed." When he didn't respond, she started moving her hand up and down his upper back, and then moved up to his neck, stroking the ends of his hair with her warm touch.

There was something else he had forgotten he loved about Courtney. She was always warm, always. Even when it was ten degrees outside. It was almost unnatural, and he had missed that terribly about her during the time they were apart. It was like he had been missing the personal sun of his life –even though he would never speak that sentence aloud.

Without thinking, he snaked his right arm from under his face and placed it around her waist, hugging her. Her hand stopped caressing his head, he could sense confusion coming off her. Duncan turned around, wrapping his other arm around her as he did so.

"Duncan?" Courtney questioned with an eyebrow furrowed as she found herself being pulled closer to the boy.

He just looked at her with tender, drowsy eyes and a serious face. "I'm glad you're considering me," he told her, rescuing the good side of this predicament. It was easy when she was so beautiful above him.

She smiled. "I'm glad we're talking," she replied sincerely.

And judging by the look of bliss in her eyes, she really was.

A good hour later, they were still at it.

"Part 12," Courtney read to a dozing Duncan. "The receiver compromises not to subject my person to public embarrassment. This includes- no engaging on the use of pet names, which will hereby only be executed by yours truly."

Duncan perked up at this. "Excuse me? What was that?"

Courtney ignored him and went on. "No teasing in public, especially taunts of sexual nature."

Duncan was bewildered. "Wait, wait, wait" he stopped her. "I have to stop teasing you?" he asked, saying these words as if it meant his whole world ending.

She turned to face him with an air of authority. "Only if you wanna be with me," she clarified lightly, with falsely innocent eyes.

Duncan's eyebrows were raised so high you could actually see there were two of them. "But-but… If I can't tease you, or call you names… what the hell will we talk about?" he asked, hands alongside his face in mock-horror.

Courtney wasn't amused. If anything, these words seemed to fire her up. "See! That right there! That you just said!" she exclaimed, frustrated, like a tired mother to a difficult child. "That implies an unperfect relationship!"

Duncan couldn't help but break his mock-concerned stance by chuckling at this, surprised at her absurd worry. "Princess, c'mon, you know that's not true," he said, circling her waist with his arms.

Courtney's fire didn't descend. She rolled her eyes. "I know it, and you know it," she jabbed a finger at his chest. "But other people don't know it!"

He shrugged obliviously. "Who cares what other people says?"

"I do!" she shouted, shaking with rage, and in that moment Duncan saw it clear.

This wasn't about her, or him. It was about other people, and how they saw their relationship.

"Ooh," he said as it dawned on him. Courtney stopped shaking and relaxed when she saw he was finally catching on. "So… this is just when there's people around."

"Exactly," she breathed, relieved.

"Just for the camera," he confirmed.

"Well, for the camera and the people there at the time," she clarified.

He furrowed his brows. "So I'm never teasing you in public again," he asked, but it wasn't a question.

Courtney chuckled. "You can live through that," she played it down, reaching out to caress his cheek.

Duncan cast his eyes down. "…I guess."

The night so far had seemed endless for Duncan. In the sky the moon got consistently higher, as the trailer got darker and darker, and the lone light above their heads appeared brighter by the minute. It had been a while since the whole staff had gone to bed, and not a creature around them was stirring, except for a restless Beth who suspiciously enough had not snored once in the whole night.

Duncan was exhausted, wanting nothing but to go to sleep, but the same emotional stress that was bringing him down was also keeping him up. He didn't even have the energy to fight her ridiculous rules anymore, and had resorted to a silent acceptance.

The only thing constant in the whole setting was the girl next to him, preaching out rules as firmly as almost two hours ago.

"The receiver will compromise to be more motivated and future-concious," she read. "This includes…," she turned the page. "Actually start working on his school work, and start making plans for a future employment," she said, each word like a whip. "To have goals and dreams, and the drive to acheive them."

Courtney had done all on her power to word everything in a way that Duncan just had to listen. Unfortunately for her, while she was trying her best to make him listen, he was trying his best to ignore her voice.

A little ago, on Page 22, section 3, she had made him promise to become a cleaner, tidier person; to change his clothes, his hair, his walk—basically to become a whole other person on the outside. Now, she was trying to change him on the inside, change his attitude towards life in general.

Duncan hadn't expected to have to deal with a contract until he decided to get married. When he settled down, which would be, say, a good thirty years from now- when he was old, and starting to bald, like his father.

He had been hoping he and Courtney would just get back together and that would be it. Now he realized that thought was foolish. With Courtney it was never that simple.

"Duncan, are you even listening?" Courtney suddenly asked.

Duncan whipped up his head, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. "Uhh…"

"Come on, this is important!" she urged, sounding nearly desperate. Duncan guessed that from this point on she could go two ways; break down in tears, or start yelling like a madwoman.

"No, I am! I am listening!" he promptly assured her, not even completely concious of what he was saying. "Just… go on."

She looked at him in resentment, but then turned away and closed her eyes as she massaged the bridge of her nose, sighing. Duncan noted she looked like a bundle of nerves. Even though she was the main author of this difficult situation, he couldn't help but feel a pang seeing her like this.

Little did he know, she was about to drop a bomb on him.

She opened her eyes and resumed her reading. "Part 25. The receiver will ask for permission," she started. "every time he intends to kiss, hug, grope, glomp, throw an arm around, squeeze, pick up or perform any other kind of intimate display of affection-slash-lust, to my person."

Duncan was suddenly very awake. "W-what?" he exclaimed in disbelief. She looked up at him, and he shook his head darkly, "No."

Courtney narrowed her eyes at him. "Duncan…"

"Nononono, that's it! I will not agree with that!" he stated decisively, surprising himself with his newfound strenght.

It was about time he imposed himself.

All the other things were… tolerable, barely… but this, he couldn't and wouldn't put up with. Imagine having to ask first every time he wanted to kiss her. Imagine in the cinema when he wanted to simply put an arm around her, but had to ask for permission first. Imagine never again being able to reach out and touch her hair, kiss her randomly, or surprise her in any way.

"Okay," she said angrily, before slapping the letter on the pillow. "picture this scene. A potential future employer and I meet. We're talking, I'm making a good first impression, and then" she made a swift motion diving the edge of her hand into her other palm, making Duncan pull back. "comes my punk, delinquent boyfriend, hugs me from behind, and makes an innapropiate joke. How does that look for you?"

Duncan nodded hotly. "Uh-huh. Okay. Now picture this scene," he closed in on her face and continued, "I'm about to ask you to marry me. I've the ring in my pocket, about to kneel down, except I can't- because I have to ask you for permission to propose."

Courtney had seemed to forget her anger and just looked caught off-guard, although Duncan wasn't sure if it was because she had never looked at it that way or because of the particular scenario he had used as an example. "…Okay. I see your point. I… may be able to be a little more flexible when we're in private."

Duncan grunted. "Gee, sweetheart, don't spoil me," he said bitterly, facing away from her.

"Duncan!" she scolded him shakily, insulted by his lack of consideration. "I wouldn't be asking you all this if I didn't need it." Finding no reaction in him, she continued, "Do you have any idea of all I'm sacrificing to be in this relationship?"

"Then why are you in it?" He snapped, genuinely curious.

She stared at him with an unreadable expression for a few seconds, but at the end, she avoided the question. "Duncan, all I'm asking you is to tone it down," she said softly, persuasively. "My reputation is important to me." He didn't respond. "Can you understand that?"

"Yeah," he said. "I understand we're never having a romantic moment ever again."

Her eyes widened. "That's not-!" she stopped herself, and growled. "Okay look," she said, pulling out a pencil from somewhere, and took the letter. "Let's make a little clause here," she said as she wrote. "So it won't be so strict, okay?" She finished writing and passed the papers over to him with a triumphal smile, internally congratulating herself on her negotiating skills.

Duncan took the contract, which now read:

The receiver will ask for permission every time he intends to kiss, hug, grope, glomp, throw an arm around, squeeze, pick up, or perform any other kind of intimate display of affection/lust, to my person. Not so when it is a lesserly personal display, namely:

- holding hands,

- touching my shoulder, and

- a kiss on the cheek or forehead.

Duncan examined the additions, not looking all that convinced. Courtney studied his reaction carefully, her own prideful expression slowly falling at his lack of response. Too nervous to wait, she decided to break the silence.

"See? This is good," she told him. He looked up at her, and she looked at him straight in the eyes. "We're talking," she said meaningfully, and tenderly grabbed his hand. "We're working things out," she said. Then her eyelids dropped and her lips formed a flirtatious smile, "And besides," she chuckled, inching close to him. "I'm still alowed to do stuff without notice."

Despite himself, Duncan felt a smirk tugging at his lips; he couldn't help but respond to her teasing. "Do you promise me to surprise me often, babe?"

She hmm'ed, "We'll see," she said as she closed in for a short kiss.

Duncan gladly returned the kiss, and once she pulled away he threw his head back and sighed, not believing what he was about to say, "Anything for you, sweetheart."

Not too long later, the fatigue finally started to catch up with Courtney. The tedious and emotionally draining process of going over each rule was beginning to get to her. She was rubbing her eyes, and making pauses to tell herself to wake up more and more often.

Duncan had rolled over so he was laying on his back, and Courtney had to continually nudge him to keep him from falling asleep. In reality, she wanted nothing more than to lie down next to him and let herself fall into the arms of Morpheus, even though she knew that was an impossible wish—even if she did lie down and close her eyes, she hadn't slept in weeks, and tonight would be no different. Maybe that was why she wanted it so much.

She was reading some rule establishing the limit of time to return text messages, when she stopped to stiffle a yawn. She then rubbed her eyes, exhausted, and couldn't find the will to go back to the norm-reading.

"You know what," she told Duncan. "This part is pretty self-explainatory, why don't you read a little on your own while I rest my eyes for a sec." She proposed, relinquishing the hold of the papers to her partner.

Duncan snorted. "Sure Princess, get your beauty sleep while I stay up reading this."

"I'm not going to fall asleep," Courtney said distractedly, knowing that he wouldn't understand how much truth there was in her words.

"Whatever," grunted Duncan, skeptical.

Courtney didn't say a word. Instead she just sneaked in between Duncan's arms and made a space for herself on his chest, where she immediately closed her eyes.

At this unusual course of action, Duncan felt irritation vanish against his will, as his mind was occupied by other matters; like what the prize would be for swallowing down that contract, and stand by its ridiculous rules. After a moment, the punk teenager used his left arm to wrap around her waist and pull her closer, eliciting a sigh of pleasure from the dozing girl.

Duncan hated himself for thinking, in that moment, that all the shit she was putting him through was worth it.

Duncan looked down at her in slience for a while. Then he sighed and raised the contract to his eye level, diligently reading and memorizing every line.

The sun was shining on their faces when Courtney started to stir awake. She let out a soft, baby-like yawn with her eyes still closed, feeling strangely warm and comfortable where she was.

She felt something stir under her. "Good morning, Princess," a husky voice greeted, sounding newly awaken as well.

Memories from last night came flooding back to Courtney's head, and she felt herself smiling happily. "Good morning," she said softly back.

Then it hit her. Morning.

Her eyes fluttered open and she suddenly incorporated, comfirming the presence of the sun through the window. "Oh my God," she said to no one in particular. "I fell asleep."

From below, Duncan opened one eye to look at her strangely, and then closed it again. "No shit, babe," he said, letting out a huge yawn.

Courtney started to smile, basking in the feeling of this small miracle. She had just had the first good night's sleep in a long time with no tossing and tumbling whatsoever; she felt completely refreshed and happy in a way she didn't remember being in a long time.

She looked down at the still slumbering Duncan, and let herself fall back in her position on his chest and close her eyes again, "Mmhh, five more minutes," she said, nuzzling her face on his neck.

She could tell Duncan was smiling gladly as he hugged her tighter. "No problem with that."

However, the mushy moment lasted for only about ten seconds.

After which Courtney's eyes flew open once again, this time in alarm. "Wait a sec- this is the girls' cabin!" she exclaimed at the boy. "You can't wake up in the girls' cabin!"

"You should've thought of that when you invited me in last night," Duncan said, smirking, but Courtney had already climbed off him and halfway down the bed. Duncan wondered how she could be so energetic and fresh-looking already, while he felt like he had closed his eyes for fifteen minutes, tops.

"Get out. Get out." she ordered, sweeping him with a pillow to get him off the bed. "C'mon!" Beth groaned and rolled in her sleep, which moved Courtney into lowering her voice. "Duncan, if somebody sees you here and it evolves into a situation where I get embarrassed, I want you to know you are violating the contract."

Duncan's whole vibe turned irritated. "Right. The contract. The freakin' contract," he muttered, beginning to slowly sit up on the bed, preparing to jump.

"Duncan…" Courtney urged him.

"I'm coming, I'm coming, don't get your panties in a-gah!" not looking where he was going, he had hooked his feet on Courtney's open bag, and produced a flawless face-plant on the floor.

He grunted, pissed off, as he heard Courtney rush to his side. "Dunky! Are you okay?"

He propped himself up with his arms, Courtney's hands in his chest and back steadying him. "Peachy," he grunted, dusting himself off. He saw he had scattered the contents of her bag all over the floor.

"Well, at least now you're awake," she chuckled, worry now over, and bent down to start picking up her things. "Talking about the contract," she started as he kneeled next to her and started handing her her belongings, that she put away in her bag.

"Oh boy."

"We didn't finish it," she said, ignoring him. "You're gonna have to read it today."

"Today?" He repeated, not to thrilled about the idea, as he lingered staring at a portrait in his hands.

"Yes today," she replied, taking the portrait from him and storing it inside her bag. "I want to get started on it as soon as possible. And I expect that we put immediately into operation what we did discuss."

"I didn't sign it either," he observed.

"Well no," she said matter-of-factly. "How can you sign a letter you haven't read? That's why you have to hurry." She watched him let out an inaudible sigh. "Duncan." He turned to her to meet her serious eyes. "Do you promise me to memorize that letter?"

He rolled his eyes, but looked serious. "Yeah I promise."

She stared at him; he looked honest. "Okay."

Having finished helping her pick up her stuff, Duncan took the contract and stood up, shuffling through it. Much to his surprise and horror, he found a lot of things they had gone over last night that he didn't remember. Had he been so tired yersterday? Or was this during the times he was distracted thinking how unfair this situation was?

Duncan turned the pages forcefully, frustrated. Apart from a little number of importants bits he did recall from last night, the contract was practically a mistery to him. He might as well start all over again.

He was distracted from his worrysome thoughts by Courtney's arms wrapping around his shoulders. "See you at breakfast, honey?" she asked sweetly, touching her forehead to his –acting like a girlfriend would.

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist. "See you at breakfast, Princess," he replied, but his smile fell when he saw her frown.

"Dun-can. No pet names, remember?" she chided, separating their faces and letting her arms fall from his shoulders to his arms.

Duncan looked sad, and the fatigue from yesterday was reflected in his features again. "Oh… right, well… shit."

Before Courtney could scold him for swearing, more movement from Beth's bed reminded her of the situation at hand.

"Oh, oh, get out!" she urged Duncan, pushing him to the door from her place in the middle of the room.

Duncan did as he was told, but before closing the door behind him, he snuck his head back in to blow a playful kiss at his newly restored girlfriend, if only to see her distress.

Sure enough, Courtney mouthed a frantic 'go' one last time, after which Duncan finally left, closing the door with a smirk and a thud.

She turned around stiffly, just in time to greet a newly awakened Beth. The dorky brunette opened her eyes and looked around for a moment, until she located Courtney's form. "Good morning," she said mechanically, as she felt around for her glasses.

"Good morning," Courtney returned, still not moving from where she was.

Beth halted, causing the other brunette to stiffen. "Did you just say good morning back to me?"

Courtney looked at her strangely. "What? Yes," she responded matter-of-factly, crossing her arms. "That's what you usually do when a person says 'good morning', isn't it?"

Beth adjusted her glasses. "Sure. It's just that you've never said it before. Usually you just tell me to 'zip it' or that it'll 'be a good morning once you've achieved something significant other than sleeping'."

Courtney frowned at the testimony. "Well, I happen to be in a good mood, okay?" she screeched, her tone contradicting her words.

"Okay," Beth was quick to agree. She didn't say another word as she got out of bed, gathered her clothes, and left for the bathroom.

During that time, Courtney had been rummaging through her bag, acting busy. She was still in yesterday's clothes, having never changed into her pajamas, and she knew Beth probably thought she had already showered and changed. She would have to wait until after Beth was done to take a shower.

Once she was by her lonesome, Courtney started picking out a new set of clothes, when she saw something from the corner of her eye that made her do a double-take, and caused her heart to jump. Not losing a second, she crossed the room and kneeled down, quickly collecting a small object from under Beth's bed. She thanked God Beth hadn't seen it- she thanked God Duncan hadn't seen it, when he was recovering the rest of her things that had rolled off her bag.

Courtney sneaked a glance at the door as she made a dash back to her bag. She fell on her knees with her back to the door, so as to block the sight from anyone who happened to come in.

Looking down at the object in her hands, she paused before putting it away, and suddenly felt the strange urge to hug it to her chest.

In her hands she held a hand-crafted wooden skull.

Yes. In reality, Courtney had never really thrown away the little token Duncan had made for her. But the only reason for that was that she had forgotten she even had it. She had told Duncan she had thrown it away because that hit more than just leaving it aside, and at the moment, she had wanted to hurt Duncan. In any case, right now she was glad she had never disposed of it.

Courtney let a corny smile take over her face as she recalled the events from last night, to mere minutes ago. She and Duncan had only been back together for a few hours, and he was already making her life sweeter. Just now he had given her the first night of full rest in at least four weeks. And she felt so happy, she could just cry.

Duncan agreed to the contract, she thought as she bit her lip delightfully. He had agreed to fix everything that was wrong with their relationship. Words could not express how happy she felt, or how thankful she was to Duncan for accepting her conditions. Those thoughts alone were enough for her to give in and bring the skull to her chest with force, closing her eyes tightly.

"Oh," she whispered, unable to control herself. "From now on, everything'll be perfect," she stated passionately to herself, savoring her words and at the same time vowing to fulfill them.

Perfect. Flawless. An exemplar of a relationship.

To Courtney's delight, she felt she had shaken off that steel-like feeling that had accompanied her from the start of the season- she felt very much open and real. She held the skull tighter.

For the first time in her life, it felt like the whole Cosmos was conspiring in her favor; like the world had broadened and at the same time shrinked down to her size, become something understandable, simple, and beautiful. Like life was full of wonderful possibilites; it was safe and exciting at the same time; and most of all beautiful… and it was all thanks to him.

Courtney felt goose bumps rise on her skin that certaintly did not come from a sudden rush of air. She opened her eyes, still smiling.

Everything was alright in her world.

…

And this was the first time in weeks that she said that sentence and felt it true.

To clear things up, I have never in my life seen a contract— even though I should've, because I have signed one, but the company kinda swindled us so we didn't even get to see it—anyway. I apologize to the knowing people who might know better. Sowy :) Me no speaky law mumble-jumble.

~The Lighthouse