A/N: This chapter picks up exactly where the last one ends. Let's see what happens now!

Chapter Nine: Attraction & Avoidance

"Oi, Dom! Where are y' lad?"

Kel and Dom sprang apart, breathless and reluctant. As far as both of them were concerned, they wanted that kiss to go on forever.

But being discovered by one of the men was a different story.

Much like their mouths during the kiss, Dom and Kel's eyes never left each other's once the kiss was broken.

They looked at each other silently, neither one saying a word. By the way her lips were still tingling and her mind was still racing, Kel doubted she would be able to talk anyway.

And by the way Dom was looking at her, it looked like he wanted to kiss her again.

And she wanted him to, too.

And that's where the problem stood, because she had enjoyed that kiss entirely, too entirely, for a girl who already had a sweetheart. A sweetheart that wasn't the man she had kissed. And yet, even when remembering this, she still wanted Dom to kiss her again.

Shame washed over her and Dom could immediately tell what was going through her mind. Cleon.

Much like Kel, Dom suddenly felt guilty. He had kissed another man's sweetheart. A good man who was off fighting Scanrans while Dom lazed about with the Progress, flirting and enjoying kissing that man's girl.

Dom knew he was being hard on himself. It wasn't his fault that Third Company had been assigned by the king to stay with the Progress, but it still didn't excuse him from kissing Kel. The problem was that he had enjoyed it so much and he was fighting back the urge to kiss her again. For such a strong woman, her lips were the softest thing he had ever touched, and he wanted to touch them many times over again with his own.

But he had to control himself. As much as he was attracted to her, he couldn't ask her to break it off with Cleon. That would be entirely too selfish, and Kel was too noble a person to do so in a letter- even though her eyes seemed to mirror Dom's feelings of attraction and her lips had said the same.

Dom cleared those dangerous thoughts out of his mind. Thinking along those lines would get him- them- in trouble. The best way was to probably forget about the kiss and keep their friendship the way it was.

Glancing at Kel, Dom cursed silently in his head. There was absolutely no way in which he would ever forget that kiss.

"Ah, here he is!"

Somewhat relieved by the arrival of one of the men and a reason to avoid Dom's gaze, Kel turned to see Wolset looking down at them from atop the rock.

"An' look at tha', Qasim, Squire Kel's here too!" Wolset announced.

Soon Qasim appeared beside Wolset, who wiggled his eyebrows and said jokingly, "Hm, I wonder wha' they could hav' been doin'."

Kel's face burned scarlet before she was able to control it.

Qasim, taking notice of Kel's inability to hide her blush and noticing the redness in Dom's face as well, laughed along, though suddenly curious.

"Well, don' jus' stand there," said Wolset, "The game's over. Raoul's callin' us back t' camp. It's time fer supper."

Qasim watched as Kel and Dom walked to the edge of the bank and got out, careful not to make eye contact or any other kind of contact at all. Qasim followed them, his mind clicking. He always did think they fit well together.

That night at supper, neither Kel nor Dom could concentrate on their food or the conversations going on around them. They were both too preoccupied thinking about each other.

When Kel was in line for her food, she had the feeling someone was watching her, and she had a very good guess at who that could be. Sure enough, when she turned to find a spot to sit, her eyes immediately found Dom, their gazes drawn to each other like magnets.

She started to walk toward his table, Dom watching her closely. She was almost there when Fulcher, who was sitting beside Dom, asked him a question. This caused Kel and Dom's gazes to break, and suddenly Kel stopped and wondered what she was doing.

When Dom glanced back at her again, she found herself giving him an awkward smile and heading toward an adjacent table…

Talking to Fulcher, Dom stole a glance at Kel and was surprised to see her stopped in her tracks. Then she gave him a shy smile and sat at another table. Dom frowned. Why had she sat there? She almost always sat at his table.

Pretending to be listening to Fulcher, Dom nodded his head every so often, but his eyes kept wandering back to Kel.

When their eyes finally caught again, he knew his own held a question in them, and once again she gave him a small smile before returning her attention to her meal.

Dom cursed himself silently, wondering if he had just ruined their friendship. They had never acted this awkward toward each other before. Then again, they had never kissed before either. Gods, that kiss was amazing. But seeing what it had caused already between them, Dom almost wished that he had never kissed her. Almost.

But the truth was, he didn't want to take the kiss back. Guiltily, he had already caught himself wishing many things- and a lot more kissing between them was one of them. He also wished that he could be her sweetheart, the man she would turn to for comfort, guidance, and affection. He wanted to be both her best friend and her sweetheart.

But then again, he also wished that the Scanrans would stop creating trouble on the border, King Jon would take Third Company off of Progress duty, and Neal would be less stubborn, and as much as he wished these things to come true, the chances were slim, and he felt the same about him and Kel.

As he watched Kel trying to avoid his gaze, Dom started to figure if they couldn't be together, he should at least try to get their friendship back to the way it used to be.

Kel silently called herself every form of stupid she could think of. Why had she sat at a different table? She recalled the question in Dom's eyes when she had smiled stupidly at him and then sat elsewhere. Why hadn't she just sat at his table as usual? Why did she have to go and make things more complicated?

She would've hit herself, except it would make her feel even more idiotic. She was currently feigning to be very interested in her food, which any normal person would find very unappealing to look at, while trying to avoid Dom's eyes. It wasn't easy since almost every time she looked up he was looking at her, still with that question in his beautiful blue eyes.

Why didn't I just sit at his table? she asked herself again as she pushed her vegetables around on her plate. She started to move them around into shapes, and as she did so she thought of Neal. She wished he was here so she could talk to him. Of course, she wouldn't tell him about what happened between her and his cousin, but he would at least give her someone to talk to- and to bug about eating his vegetables.

As she continued to push her vegetables around, Kel smiled softly at the thought of suggesting Neal make a suiting portrait of himself made out of vegetables. She then grinned when she thought it would be more suitable to sculpt his picture out of meat. Meathead. Kel smiled, knowing Dom would get a kick out of it if she told him.

Glancing up from her plate, she looked across to the other table. Dom was still talking to Fulcher, but as if sensing her gaze, soon their eyes met once again. Kel's stomach did flip-flops. For a moment their eyes searched one another's. Kel could hardly breathe. In her mind, she was realizing why she couldn't sit at his table. Their gazes and the pounding of her heart said it all.

Dom affected her in a way she had never felt before- and it felt good and scary at the same time. She had never felt this way with Cleon, and it frightened her a little. She couldn't deny the fact that she was attracted to Dom, because there was definitely no doubting that, but was it more than attraction?

It definitely felt like it.

Dom was the first to look away, because Fulcher again asked him another question. Kel looked back down at her plate. No wonder she had sat at a different table. Being close to Dom was dangerous. Her usually rational mind seemed to disappear, and she was afraid her emotions would again take over- like they had that afternoon when he had kissed her. She had had plenty of time to pull away from him, but she hadn't. She had wanted that kiss and had enjoyed it.

She made up her mind. She was just going to have to avoid Dom. It was as simple as that.

Simple? Try impossible.

Everywhere she seemed to go, Dom was there. She knew it would be difficult since they were both a part of the Own, but still it seemed like she ran into him all the time, and it was awkward. With the way they now acted around each other, Kel was almost sure everyone had guessed their secret. They avoided each other like Raoul avoided parties, and Kel hated it.

She still considered Dom one of her good friends, kiss or no kiss, and the awkwardness and avoidance was killing her. She missed being around him and talking to him, and to try and get her mind off him, she started spending most of her free time with Shinko and Yuki. They were still traveling together because of the Progress, but even that would be ending soon.

One morning in mid-October, Kel and Yuki were walking through Third Company's temporary camp. Shinko was busy with the King and Queen, so it was just the two of them.

"I can't wait for this Progress to be over with," remarked Yuki as they walked along. The Progress had a little under a month left, and they were getting nearer to Corus every day. Everyone traveling with the Progress seemed to be happy- all except Kel.

"It's not so bad," replied Kel, trying to sound convincing.

Yuki gave her a curious look. "Since when do you think that? You were complaining about it before I was."

That's also before Dom kissed me, Kel thought to herself, a lot of things have changed since then. That included her outlook on the Progress. Before, she couldn't wait to be back on the road, hunting down spidrens and chasing bandits. However, now the end of the Progress meant that she would be on the road again alone with Third Company- and Dom.

If she thought the awkwardness between them was bad now, she could only imagine the mess it would be when she rode out with Third Company without Yuki, Shinko, or anyone else to turn to. What if Raoul assigned her to Dom's squad for some reason? What if he sent only the two of them on a scouting party?

There were too many opportunities for discomfort. Gods, I can't wait, she thought sarcastically.

To Yuki, she replied, "I don't know, at least you and Shinko have gotten to see the kingdom."

"True," Yuki agreed, "but it would be nice to have a permanent room and comfortable bed again. I'm tired of traveling."

Kel laughed. Hadn't Neal said something similar a while ago? She secretly wondered if he and Yuki would get together one day. They seemed so alike- so stubborn.

"What's so funny?" her friend asked, obviously not seeing the humor.

"Nothing really," replied Kel, smiling, "it's just that my friend Neal said almost the same-"

She was cut off when someone suddenly rounded the corner of one of the big tents, running right into her.

"Mithros, I'm so- Kel?"

Kel looked up and her breath caught. It was Dom- and he had his hands on her shoulders, steadying her from their collision.

"Are you alright?" he asked, overly concerned.

"Yeah. Of course. I'm fine," she replied stupidly.

Besides my inability to speak, and my inability to breathe that your nearness seems to cause, I'm great! she thought dryly.

"Good," he replied simply.

For a moment they just stood there, looking at each other. His hands were still on her shoulders although she was perfectly steady…or as steady as she could be with him so close.

As if realizing that he was still touching her, he let go suddenly and looked away, clearing his throat. Then he ran his hand through his already rumpled hair. After that he rubbed the back of his neck as he smiled uncomfortably and tried to avoid looking at her.

An awkward silence passed between them.

Then he rubbed the back of his neck again. Kel was beginning to notice that he seemed to do that when he was uneasy. She suddenly found the gesture very attractive, and she almost rolled her eyes at her own thought. Almost anything he did she found attractive anymore.

When she looked up at him, it looked as though he wanted to say something to her. Finally, he started, "Kel, there's something I wanted to say-"

But then he stopped. Wondering why, Kel watched as his eyes suddenly flicked to Yuki standing beside her. She had been there the whole time, but it seemed as though Dom had just realized.

"Oh, hey," he said, smiling sheepishly at her.

Then he looked back at Kel with the same smile. "Actually, I have to go do something for Raoul. I'll see you later."

He was gone before Kel could even respond. As she watched him walk away, his hand again running through his hair, she began to wonder what he had wanted to say to her…

Meanwhile, as Kel was watching Dom, Yuki's eyes were flicking back and forth between the two, trying to interpret what had just taken place. As her thoughts started to come together, she found herself thinking, There's certainly something going on between them, and friendship is not the right word…

Dom was having a mental battle with himself as he walked away. Part of him wanted to keep walking and tell Kel what he had wanted to tell her later, and the other part of him wanted to turn right back around and tell her right then.

But he didn't.

His mind, however, could agree on one thing- that he was going to get Kel's friendship back, even if he wanted more. The game of avoidance they both seemed to be playing was driving him crazy. She no longer rode next to him when traveling; they only exchanged pleasantries when necessary, like complete strangers; and she seemed to be spending more and more time with her other friends and as little time as possible with the Own.

And he knew it was because of him, and there was only one way to fix it. He had to confront her about the kiss.

He didn't know how or when, but he knew it had to be soon…

A/N: Well, there's the next chapter! The next one will be up soon! It will prove to be interesting- will Dom really talk to Kel about the kiss? You'll find out!